1 You are a reporter for a newspaper and are asked to write a newspaper report of a burglary in your neighbourhood. You talked to the neighbours and the police and managed to gather some of the following information :
When writing the report you should mention :
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It was midnight in our quiet Edinburgh house.
My wife was finishing the
packing for a holiday. Crossing the hallway, she dropped her glasses, which slipped through a small hole in the floor. |
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It was a solid, 19th-century stone floor,
but by removing a small section,
we could see the spectacles glinting below. Lying prone beside the hole, I inserted my left arm and reached down. |
5 |
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My fingers searched in
the dust, scrabbled unavailingly, then gave up.
The spectacles were out of reach. I started to withdraw my arm. It wouldn't come.It was stuck, the elbow jammed in a gap between rock-hard stone and iron beam. I pulled, slowly at first, then more brutally. It wouldn't budge. |
10 |
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I twisted it, to no
effect. I lay trapped, face down - an undignified
position. My wife, who could not see the seriousness of the situation,suggested greasing my arm with olive oil. We poured some into the hole. It had no effect. For a moment I thought I heard the sounds of suppressed laughter, but, denied proper eye contact, I could not be certain. |
15 |
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"We'll have to call the fire department," she said. | |
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I decided to struggle. It
is one thing to be exposed to humiliation in the
privacy of one's own home, but to reveal it to a team of firemen was too awful to contemplate. I tugged and twisted. Ten minutes later, I gave in. |
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My wife telephoned the local police
to seek advice. They said we should
call the fire department. |
20
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There is, apparently, no means of summoning
a single fireman. Once the emergency number has been dialled, all emergency
services are alerted.
Minutes later, down the gently sleeping street roared a fire engine, blue lights flashing. From it leapt three yellow-helmeted firemen, axes swinging from their belts. I was able to study their boots, which were enormous. They crouched around me, assessing the situation from a professional point of view. Not one, so far as I could tell, was laughing. |
25 |
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Another vehicle pulled
up outside - a police van. Two officers, walkie-
talkies crackling, strode in and began taking particulars. They, too, had large boots, but as to whether they were smiling or not, I cannot say. |
30 |
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They were joined by an officer from the Criminal
Investigation Division
(CID), drawn to the scene by a report that a man was "up to his arms in concrete." He said he had never heard of such a thing before and had come to see what it was like. |
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Seconds later, with another screech of brakes,
an ambulance drew up, and
two eager paramedics jumped down, bearing large bags with medical equipment, oxygen cylinders and much of the paraphernalia associated with sophisticated resuscitation procedures. They crouched sympathetically beside me and asked questions about my medical condition. I told them I was as well a s I could be expected. |
40 |
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At this stage there were eight
men in the house and three vehicles with
flashing lights outside. My line of vision, at floor level, was directly out through the front door. A passer-by was watching curiously. All he could see was a body, face down, surrounded by the entire range of the city's emergency services. What he made of it I shudder to think. |
45 |
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One of the paramedics suggested the
olive-oil treatment again. The half-
empty bottle of (rather expensive) Olio Extra Vergine de Oliva was produced, and more of it was poured down the hole while he manipulated my bodyaround to the point where it felt as if the entire arm were being twisted off. "Now, pull," he said. |
50 |
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I pulled, and suddenly up it came - bloody, bruised, soaked in mud- colored oil, but a whole arm nevertheless. "Wiggle your fingers, " said the paramedic. They wiggled. "Next time," he said, in the only note of reproof I heard the whole night, "try a coat hanger." |
55 |
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The policemen snapped their
notebooks shut. The CID man shook his
head disbelievingly. The ambulance men packed up their oxygen cylinders, and the firemen replaced their axes, rather reluctantly I thought. Engines roared back to life, and the emergency team pulled away. |
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Revived by a cup of tea, I tried a coat hanger.
I retrieved the spectacles
in about 2 minutes. |
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Write a summary of the events that happened from the moment he got his arm stuck until he got himself freed.
Use only material from line 8 to line 54.
Your summary, which must be in continuous writing (not in note form), must not be longer than 160 words, including the 10 words given below. Credit will be given for use of own words.
Begin your summary as follows :
“He started to withdraw his arm but it was stuck …”
(30 marks)
3 Write a composition between 350 – 500 words on one of the following topics.
(a) Imagine you were one of the astronauts who had landed on the planet
Mars. Give an account of what you saw and did.
(b) Friends, like books, should be few and good.
(c) Describe a scene at a shopping complex.
(d) What can we do to keep the environment clean and free from pollution.
(e) Time