📄 O/L English Language — December 2018

Match the following places with their descriptions. Write the correct letter in the blank. The first one is done for you.

A — Hospital · B — University · C — Library · D — Temple · E — Zoo · F — Airport

(1) A place where planes land and take off → F
(2) A place of religious worship
(3) A place where animals, birds and reptiles are kept for exhibition
(4) Sick people are given medical treatment here.
(5) An institution of higher education
(6) Books, magazines and newspapers are kept here.

Fill in the blanks in the following dialogue. Use the words given in the box. The first one is done for you.

Word box: inside · around · for · with · behind · from

Policeman: Where were you exactly when the accident happened?
Raveendra: I was (1) ...inside... the school bus.
Policeman: Did you clearly see what happened?
Raveendra: Yes, a motorbike was coming (2) ........... our bus. The driver stopped the bus because of heavy traffic.
Policeman: After that...?
Raveendra: The motorbike tried to overtake us and collided (3) ........... a van coming (4) ........... the opposite direction.
Policeman: When did this happen?
Raveendra: It was (5) ........... 7.00 a.m.
Policeman: Thank you (6) ........... the information.
Raveendra: You're welcome.

Study the picture. Fill in the blanks with the words given in the box. The first one is done for you.

Word box: buying · salesman · leaving · buyers · tent · man · heavy · busiest · crowded · lamp posts · lady

This picture shows a market place. People seem to be busy (1) ...buying... various things. Some (2) ........... are waiting in a queue before a stall where a (3) ........... with a cap is selling goods. There is a (4) ........... with a walking stick in the middle of the picture. A man carrying two bags is (5) ........... the place. The bags look (6) ........... . The area around the counter is (7) ........... . Two (8) ........... can also be seen in the picture. There is a (9) ........... between the lamp posts. A (10) ........... standing near one lamp post seems to be talking to someone. This is one of the (11) ........... days at the market place.

Study the content page of a text book given in Box A. Write the relevant page numbers of the units against the titles given in Box B. The first one is done for you.

Box A — Units / Pages
A Brief History of the Earth — 26-30
Agricultural Equipment — 31-36
The Human Waste Stream — 37-40
The Challenge of Homeless People — 41-45
The War of Pests — 56-55
International Waters — 56-60

Box B — Titles / Pages
(1) Water pollution → 37–40
(2) The tools that ancient people used in farming
(3) How the planet in which we live looked like in the past
(4) Oceans in different parts of the world
(5) Low cost housing schemes
(6) Insects that are harmful for crop growing

Read the following dialogue. Fill in the blanks of the summary given below. Select a suitable word / phrase from the dialogue. The first one is done for you.

Teacher: Amal, is everything ready for the trip?
Amal: Yes, almost everything.
Teacher: Have you decided on the destination? Kandy or Nuwara Eliya?
Amal: Yes Madam, everyone's choice is Kandy.
Teacher: Why are you so interested in visiting Kandy?
Amal: I think it is the Botanical Gardens, Madam.
Teacher: Will your parents join too?
Amal: Only a few.
Teacher: Well, I want to meet all of you tomorrow at 10.00 a.m. to discuss more about the trip. We have not yet decided on the cost per head. I suppose it won't be more than five hundred rupees.
Amal: Madam, do we have to inform the principal about the trip?
Teacher: Yes, of course. We need his written permission.
Amal: Madam, do you think he will give us permission?
Teacher: Why not! He is the one who suggested me to organize the trip.

Summary:
The discussion is about a trip to (1) ...Kandy... . The students' one and only (2) ........... is Kandy. The most attractive place for the students is (3) ........... . A few (4) ........... also will join the trip. Students will not have to spend much as the (5) ........... per person for the trip will not exceed Rs. 500. The written (6) ........... of the principal is yet to be obtained.

You are interested in joining an English Camp with your best friend after the examination. You went to inform him/her about it. But your friend was not at home. Write a note to be left in his/her letter box telling him/her about it. Use about 40–50 words.

Include: • when you came • why you came • ask him or her to call back.

Read the following text and answer the questions.

The pupils stopped talking as Miss Yapa entered the classroom. Then they stood up and greeted, "Good morning, teacher." Miss Yapa smiled and greeted them back and asked the children to sit down. There were thirty pupils in the class. All the pupils were watching her intently, waiting to know her name.
"I suppose you want to know my name." she said. But before she could tell them, someone called out, "You are Miss Yapa." Everybody laughed including Miss Yapa.
"News travels quickly." she said.
Miss Yapa opened the attendance register and called their names in turn. When she came to the last name on the list, Naveen, she noticed that he had been absent for over a month.
"What's the matter with Naveen?" asked the teacher. "Naveen has been ill and is still in hospital." said a girl in the front row.
"Did you all go to see him?" asked the teacher. No one replied.
It was the time to start the lesson.
"Please tell us a story." The pupils shouted.
"No, first of all I want you to write letters to your friend Naveen. We will send the best ones to cheer him up in hospital. I'll tell you a story, later."

(1) What were the pupils doing before Miss Yapa entered the classroom?
(2) How many pupils were there in the class?
(3) Complete the sentence. The pupils wanted the teacher to ........... .
(4) Write the line which says that Naveen would receive letters from his classmates.
• Underline the correct answer.
(5) The word 'intently' in line 3 means
(a) by chance. (b) attentively. (c) silently.

Write a paragraph on one of the following topics. Use about 50–60 words.
(a) My best friend
(b) The book that I like most

Select a word from the box which has a similar meaning to the word/phrase given within brackets and write it in the space provided. There are three extra words.

Word box: ancient · attractions · common · destinations · located · prevails · stay · tourists · identical

Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are two (1) ........... (belong to distant past) cities in Sri Lanka. They have a lot in (2) ........... (similar in many ways). Both these cities are (3) ........... (situated) in the North Central Province. Usually, dry weather (4) ........... (exists) there in most of the months of the year. These two cities are famous tourist (5) ........... (places of interest). Many local and foreign (6) ........... (persons visiting places) visit these cities throughout the year. They have a fast growing economy with the development of infrastructure facilities.

Underline the most suitable word within brackets.

Exercise is one of the best ways of keeping depression away. It improves your body and your mind and (1) (enable, enables, enabling) you to perform better in the work place and at home. Proper (2) ........... (breathe, breath, breathing) is essential if you want to get the most from exercise, and you should take into (3) ........... (consider, consideration, considering) your heart rate. It can be (4) ........... (harmful, harmfully, harm) to do exercises too much. All good (5) ........... (fit, fitness, fitting) instructors emphasize the importance of 'listening to your body'. When you first start, you should use good (6) ........... (judgment, judge, judging), because it's easy to make the mistake of using the equipment (7) ........... (incorrectly, correctly, incorrectness). Exercise should not be seen as a (8) ........... (demand, demanded, demanding) task. To increase your fitness, exercise (9) ........... (steady, steadily, steadying) for 20 minutes a week. And you will notice a (10) ........... (different, differentiating, difference) in your body and mind in a few weeks.

Fill in the blanks with the words given within the box. There are three extra words.

Word box: also · to · and · numerous · after · of · for · have · first · money · fashion · do · clothes · come · century · who · not

Throughout history, people have worn clothing of one description or another. Apart from protection against the weather, (1) ........... were also often used (2) ........... show the wearer's status (3) ........... wealth. Over the years, (4) ........... fashions in clothing have (5) ........... and gone while some (6) ........... those have been popular (7) ........... relatively short periods. Meanwhile, others (8) ........... lasted longer.
Until the (9) ........... half of the 20th (10) ........... the ability to follow (11) ........... was limited to those (12) ........... had the money to (13) ........... so. Following fashions (14) ........... only demand money but also require large amounts of leisure time.

Complete the following passage using the most appropriate form of the verb given within brackets. The first one is done for you.

P Sara Oval is one of the oldest cricket grounds in Sri Lanka. It (1) ...is considered... (consider) a historic cricket venue of the country for many reasons. First, this ground (2) ........... (host) Sri Lanka's first test match, against England in 1982. Further, in 1985, it (3) ........... (become) the venue for Sri Lanka's first-ever Test win, over India. Next, the ground (4) ........... (use) as a neutral venue for a test match series between Australia and Pakistan in 2002. So far, 15 Test matches, 12 ODIs and four T20 (5) ........... (play) at P Sara Oval. This historic stadium (6) ........... (locate) in Colombo, the commercial capital of the country.

Here is a page from a dictionary. Refer to it and answer the questions given below it.

spic /spɪk/ noun (US slang, especially AmE) a very offensive word for a person from a country where Spanish is spoken, for example a Mexican or Puerto Rican.
spice /spaɪs/ noun [C] aromatic vegetable substance used to flavour food.
spider /'spaɪdər/ noun [C] 8-legged arthropod.
spike /spaɪk/ noun, verb (various senses including a long sharp piece of metal, wood, etc.)
(full dictionary extract on the paper)

Find a word/phrase for each of the following descriptions.
(1) A phrase similar in meaning to 'neat and clean'.
(2) A metal point set into the sole of a running shoe.
(3) A creature that feeds on insects.
(4) An outdoor tap.
• Complete the sentence selecting a word from the dictionary.
(5) Sri Lankan food is very ........... because the cooks add many things to flavour them.

Write on one of the following. Use about 100 words.

(a) Your English teacher asked you to read some English story books after the exam. Write a letter to the manager of the Lake House Bookshop, Colombo asking for information about the books for children.
Ask for the following information:
(a) The titles of the books available
(b) The prices and discounts, if any
(c) Mode of payment
(d) Mode of delivery

OR

(b) The following bar graph shows the results of a survey conducted among 100 Grade 11 students in a school about the choice of the subjects for Advanced Level streams. Study the chart and write a description about their choices. Use about 100 words.
Use words: more, most, less, least, equal, highest, lowest, higher, lower.

Bar-graph values (No. of students): Biology 30, Maths 22, IT 18, Art 12, Accounting 10, Music 8.

Start: "This bar graph shows the choice of the subjects of Grade 11 students in a school."

Read the following text and answer the questions given below it.

① Penguins are one of the world's most interesting birds. They waddle when they walk. They have flippers instead of wings. The bones in a penguin's flippers are heavier and more solid than those in the wings of a flying bird. This helps the penguin 'fly' through the water. The penguin's black back and white front has an important function too — camouflage in the water. Penguins blend in with the sea from above and with the sky from below. This makes it harder for predatory birds, leopard seals, sea lions, orcas and sharks to see them. Many people think all penguins live in the cold and ice of Antarctica. However, only 6 of the 17 species or types of penguins live in Antarctica. The others live in parts of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and South America and on the Falkland and Galapagos Islands.
② Let's talk about the Emperor penguin of Antarctica. The Emperor penguin is the world's tallest penguin. Its oily outer feathers help keep it dry. Its dense inner down feathers and thick fat layer help keep it warm. Emperor penguins also often huddle in groups to conserve heat. A mother Emperor penguin lays only one egg at a time. After the mother Emperor penguin lays the egg, she travels to open sea to feed on fish, squid and krill (shrimp-like ocean creatures). The father stays behind with the egg. He keeps it warm and protected by balancing it on his feet and covering it with feathered skin called a brood pouch. The mother returns two months later, to feed the newly hatched chick, then stays with it while the father goes out to sea to feed.
③ The loss of sea ice harms Emperor penguin chicks and adults. Emperor penguins rear their chicks on land-locked sea ice. When sea ice breaks up before their chicks have matured and grown their waterproof feathers, chicks that are swept into the ocean are likely to die. For adults, the loss of sea ice can lead to lower food availability, which can result in increased mortality.

(1) What is special about the way penguins walk?
(2) Which sentence in paragraph 1 says that people think all penguins live only in one place in the world? Copy the sentence.
(3) T / F:
(i) All types of penguins are found in Antarctica.
(ii) The major challenge for the Emperor penguin is the loss of sea ice.
(4) Find the words from the text which mean the following.
(i) The colour or shape that protects an animal from attack (paragraph 1)
(ii) To come close together in a group (paragraph 2)
(5) Pronoun reference:
(i) 'those' in paragraph 1 line 3
(ii) 'she' in paragraph 2 line 5
(iii) 'his' in paragraph 2 line 7
(iv) 'their' in paragraph 3 line 2
(6) Word closest in meaning:
(i) 'Blend in' (paragraph 1 line 5) — (a) mixed with (b) dive (c) join
(ii) 'Conserve' (paragraph 2 line 3) — (a) reduce (b) slow down (c) save
(7) Best subheading for the last paragraph: (a) Safety measures for penguins (b) World penguins are at a risk (c) Food for penguins.

Write on one of the following. Use about 200 words.
(a) An article to the Junior Observer on the following topic: 'Public property belongs to all of us.'
• What public property means — schools, buses, trains etc.
• Use of public property
• How to protect them — e.g. awareness programmes for school children
(b) An essay on 'Sports as an important part of a student's life'.
• The place for sports in the school calendar (sportsmeets, matches, tournaments)
• Facilities provided (playground, courts for netball, basketball etc.)
• Importance — promotes team spirit, good health, friendship, unity, leadership, accepting victory or defeat
(c) Write the speech you would make at the school assembly on 'The Effects of Using Polythene'.
• Why people use polythene
• How the use of polythene affects the environment
• Steps that you could take to prevent the harmful effects of using polythene
(d) Complete the dialogue between Rizvi and Anupama. They have just met after the GCE (O/L) exam.
Rizvi: Now the exam is over. What's next? Have you planned anything to do?
Anupama: Yes, I have a lot of plans.
...