Inferential Questions 2

Banded Time Table Lessons Term 4 Week 3.2010 SHSS

Questions selected by Mdm NorhaniSuggested Answers by Yeo Yam Hwee

Contextual clues are told to you MORE THAN ONCE in the paragraph:

But nature has decreed that both the hunter and the hunted are equally matched in this contest for survival. Many of the grazing animals, such as gazelles, have exceptionally keen sight and hearing to alert them to possible danger. They also have great speed, which they can sustain over long distances. Through the ages the predators have continued to evolve in both agility and cunning, while their prey have become ever faster and their senses ever keener. Thus, nature has fine-tuned the disparate abilities of both sets of participants in a fight. (GCE O-level 2005)

QUESTION 1:

Why do you think that, over time, gazelles have developed the ability to run fast over long distances? [2]

1] “Hunter” = “predator” “Hunted” = “prey”Both are born with equal ability to play the survival for the fittest game in the wild. If the predator wants to hunt down its prey, it has to work hard for it. If the prey wants to live another day, it has to escape effectively from its predator.

[2] Predators continue to improve on their “agility and cunning”. Their prey on the other hand have also “become faster and their senses keener”. [3] Nature has improved the different abilities of the hunter and the hunted.

ALSO: The answer lies in you taking the initiative to ask yourself this – what if the gazelles do not have the ability to run fast over long distances and their attackers are going after them?

Why do you think that, over time, gazelles have developed the ability to run fast over long distances? [2]

Gazelles have developed the ability to run fast over long distances because they need to match the agility and cunning of their predators to live for another day. Otherwise, they will be hunted down and become fodder to their attacks.

The divers swam to the humpback’s barnacle-encrusted head and began slicing the net in which it was caught. It was exhausting work. The weight of its shackles kept the head of the whale largely under water so the men had to dive, cut, then surface for air. Since the whale was moving forward, they then had to swim back to its head to start again. The men felt like car mechanics doing repairs to a lorry while it was motoring down the road. The humpback was struggling to obtain enough air but it watched the divers intently, one black and one white eye the size of a human fist following their every move. As the men worked, the mammal seemed to sense that they wanted to help and it grew calmer. Then one of its companions swam underneath and nudged its head to the surface, assisting the creature to breathe. As the whale broke the surface and exhaled through its blowhole, it threw up a fine, cool mist. (GCE O-level 2006)

QUESTION 2:

Why did the whale have to struggle to obtain enough air? [1]

[1] the weight of the shackles around the whale’s head forced it to remain largely under water.

[2] it took quite a while before the whale grew calmer when it realized that the human rescuers had meant no harm but were trying to help.

Why did the whale have to struggle to obtain enough air?

The whale had to struggle to obtain enough air because the weight of the shackles around its head forced it to remain largely under water. It also took quite a while before it grew calmer when it realized the good intentions of the human rescuers.

The long hours spent enmeshed in a shroud of rope and chains had weakened the whale and it made no reaction as the divers lined up for the final cut. Eventually the rope parted and the snare fell away. Minutes passed and still the whale did not respond. At last, with a gentle sweep of its tail, it slowly swam away from the boat. Picking up speed, it headed towards its companions. When it reached them, all four mammals began tail-slapping the water, as if applauding the achievement of the rescue team. Then, turning together, they swam south towards Antarctica. (GCE O-level 2006)

QUESTION 3:

Why did the whale not swim away as soon as it was freed? [1]

[1] The long hours spent enmeshed in a shroud of rope and chains had weakened the whale.

[2] it made no reaction as the divers lined up for the final cut.

Why did the whale not swim away as soon as it was freed? [1]

The whale did not swim away as soon as it was freed because it was weakened by the long hours of getting entangled in a shroud of rope and chains.

OR

The whale did not swim away immediately after it was freed because it was weakened by the long hours of getting enmeshed in a shroud of rope and chains.

The life of a cat god was one of lavish pampering. At night, after having fed from a golden bowl on the Pharaoh’s table, Mau often slipped out unobserved to tour the granaries. He prowled around the vast store-houses and diligently inspected the corn bins for rodents before returning to sleep on a gold silk cushion in a special shrine in the Temple. It was here that he made the acquaintance of Thut, a servant boy who was afforded the task of sweeping away the dirt and dust with a broom fashioned from wood and rushes. Thut sometimes even stroked Mau, quite forgetting that he was a god and treating him like an ordinary cat.Mau’s fortunes changed quite suddenly one night with the death of the great Pharaoh. The funeral procession would carry the mummified body from the Mortuary temple to the Great Pyramid, where the Pharaoh would be laid to rest, and Mau would accompany him. Thut wept as he bade farewell. (GCE O-level 2008)

QUESTION 4:

Explain fully why Thut was

weeping. [2]

[1] Mau was Thut’s friend and he treated it not as a god but an ordinary cat.

[2] Mau was to be buried alive together with the dead Pharaoh in the Great Pyramid.

Explain fully why Thut was weeping. [2]

Thut was weeping because firstly, he had treated Mau, not as a god but an ordinary cat. Mau was like a friend to him. Secondly, Thut was saddened by the fact that Mau was to be buried alive together with the dead Pharaoh in the Great Pyramid. He would never see Mau again after that.

CLUE: What were the implications? In other words, what happened when Mau was buried alive? Thul no longer got to see his feline friend anymore. He should be logically be saddened by that.

She followed a cow path that rimmed the lake, planning to veer off north and then walk back towards the farm after an hour and be home in time for tea. In the evening she wouldn’t dare to strike out into the bush like this, as hippos came ashore to graze, and leopards slipped down from their trees to hunt. Now she just had to keep a wary eye out for buffalo and choose paths through open ground. Whenever she did walk through an area of scrub, she felt her body tense and her senses sharpen, as eyes, ears, nose and brain scanned the air for the presence of one of the hulking grey beasts. Passing into the open again, she felt a small thrill of victory, as if she’d cheated one of those old brutes by slipping past unnoticed. (GCE O-level 2009)

QUESTION 5:

Explain fully why May Lin would be afraid to enter the bush in the evening. [2]

[1] Hippos came ashore to graze

[2] Leopards slipped down from their trees to hunt

Explain fully why May Lin would be afraid to enter the bush in the evening. [2]May Lin would be afraid to enter the bush in the evening because she would not want to get in the way of wild animals such as the hippos which came out of the lake to feed on land and leopards which slipped down from their trees to hunt for food.

OR

May Lin would be afraid to enter the bush in the evening because she would not want to risk running into wild animals such as the hippos which came out of the lake to feed on land and leopards which slipped down from their trees to hunt for food.

The shadows were gaining ground. As she sat on the bare earth, with her back against a tree, the whole scene took on a dreamlike quality. She wanted always to be still, with the sky cooling, wanted the sun to wait and the whole world to hold its pose. And just then, as she exhaled, a single male antelope stepped into a space between the trees. He had neither seen her, nor smelled her in the breathless air. He moved on mute hooves, his tail and ears flicking, his dark liquid eyes glancing back towards the open grassland, not expecting her alien presence. And, for that moment, May Lin felt she was not there, not bodily in the clumsy human form that trips and stamps and crushes; it was her dream self which was watching and waiting. In another instant, the antelope saw her, or sensed her, and shied away with a sharp bark and skittered from the trees. He looked back at her, as if annoyed that he’d fallen for her ruse of silence, then twitched his tail and watched as she left the wood, following the zebra down towards the lake. (GCE O-level 2009)

QUESTION 6

Explain fully why the antelope had been unable to sense the presence of May Lin by smell. [2]

May Lin consciously wanted to always be still, the time to stop ticking away and the surrounding to “hold its pose” – to remain still and unchanging.

“The breathless air” tells me that there was no wind.

May Lin thought it was her “dream self” which was watching and waiting.

May Lin’s clever trick of keeping silent.

Explain fully why the antelope had been unable to sense the presence of May Lin by smell. [2]

The antelope had been unable to sense May Lin’s presence by smell probably because at that moment, there was no wind and she was sitting very still and silent in her dream state.