FAMILY NAME:

FIRST NAME:

Christs Hospital
Entrance Examination
January 2012
ENGLISH EXAM
ANSWER BOOKLET
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

This exam takes ONE HOUR.. Please spend FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE
EXAMINATION READING THE PASSAGE Use the guide below to divide your time up
between the questions::
SECTION

AMOUNT OF TIME TO SPEND

READING TIME

5 MINUTES

SECTION A: COMPREHENSION

30 MINUTES

SECTION B: COMPOSITION

30 MINUTES

You should use the PASSAGE of reading materials sheet to answer Section A (Comprehension).
When you have finished both sections of the examination check each of your answers as fully as possible.
Try to make your work as neat as possible and use blue or black pen only.

GOOD LUCK!
FOR MARKERS USE ONLY
SECTION A/50

SECTION B/40 S,P & G/10

TOTAL/100

ENGLISH
Read the following passage carefully. Then answer the questions in the booklet.
For 42 years, Lewis and Benjamin Jones slept side by side, in their parents old bed, at
their farm which was known as The Vision. The room always smelled of lavender and
mothballs. One of the windows looked out over the green fields of England; the other
looked back into Wales, at the Black Hill.
Both the brothers hair was even whiter than the pillowcases. The brothers were identical
twins. As boys, only their mother could tell them apart. Now, age and accidents had
weathered them in different ways.
Lewis was tall and stringy, with shoulders set square and a steady long-limbed stride.
Even at 80 he could walk over the hills all day, or wield an axe all day, and not get tired.
His eyes were set well back into the skull and capped with thick round lenses in white
metal frames. He bore the scar of a cycling accident on his nose and, ever since, its tip
had curved downwards and turned purple in cold weather.
Benjamin was shorter, pinker, neater and sharper-tongued. His chin fell into his neck.
He had less hair. He did all the cooking, the darning and the ironing. He kept the
accounts. No-one could be fiercer in a haggle over prices and he could go on for hours and
hours until the dealer would throw up his hands and say, Come off it, you old skinflint!
For miles around the twins had the reputation of being incredibly stingy and mean but
this was not always so. They refused, for example, to make a single penny out of hay.
Hay, they said, was Gods gift to the farmer. Providing The Vision had hay to spare, their
poorer neighbours were welcome to what they needed. Even in the foul days of January,
Lewis would drive the tractor over with a load of bales.
In winter and summer, the brothers went to work in striped flannel shirts with copper
studs to fasten them at the neck. Their jackets and waistcoats were made of brown
corduroy. They wore moleskin hats with the brims turned down. Since Lewis had the
habit of lifting his to every stranger, his fingers had rubbed the peak bare as the hill
behind the farmhouse.
From time to time they consulted their silver watches not to tell the hour but to see
whose watch was beating faster. On Saturday nights they took turns to take a bath in
front of the fire. Because they knew each others thoughts, they even quarrelled without
speaking.
Sometimes, after one of these quarrels, they needed their mother to unite them and they
would stand over the patchwork quilt made from her old dresses and remember when she
was alive in pink, walking through the oatfield with a jug of cider, or in green, at a
sheep-shearers lunch. Or in a blue striped apron, bending over the fire.
Nothing in her kitchen had changed since the day of the funeral. It remained unchanged
by time, like a stone monument.
From On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

Section A: Read the passage on the sheet carefully, and answer the questions
which follow.
1. Read paragraph 1. How do you know the brothers house is on the border of
two countries? Answer in a sentence of your own words. (1 mark)

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2. In paragraphs three and four there are several phrases which describe the
appearance of the brothers. In a sentence of your own words say what the
following phrases tell you about the way the brothers look. (12 marks)

(i) tall and stringy _____________________________________________________

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(ii) with shoulders set square ____________________________________________

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(iii) his eyes were set well back into the skull _______________________________
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(iv) His chin fell into his neck ___________________________________________

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3. Re-read paragraph 6 and answer the questions. (10

marks)
Find and write down four NOUNS which describe items of clothing that the
brothers wear.
1. ___________________________

2. _____________________________

3.___________________________

4. _____________________________

Find and write down the names of three types of cloth or material that their clothes
are made of.
5.__________________

6. ____________________ 7 _____________________

There are two words in the paragraph which COULD be adjectives describing a
particular colour. Write them down.
8. ________________________ 9. _____________________
Which one of the words you have chosen in numbers 8 & 9 is not actually being
used to describe a colour in the passage?
10. ________________________

4. At different parts of the passage the authors descriptions give you ideas
about the ways in which the brothers are similar or different. For each of the
sentences below write one or two sentences in your own words describing
what ideas the author wants you to have about the brothers at this particular
moment in the story.
Make sure you say whether the description suggests how they are similar or
different, and remember the author may be trying to give you more than one
impression. (12 marks)
(i) The brothers were identical twins now age and accidents had weathered
them in different ways. (paragraph 2)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(ii) They wore moleskin hats with the brims turned down since Lewis had the
habit of lifting his his fingers had rubbed the peak bare.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(iii) From time to time they consulted their watches not to tell the hour but to
see whose watch was beating faster.
______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(iv) Sometimes, after quarrels, they needed their mother to unite them and
they would stand over the patchwork quilt made from her old dresses
___________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

5. The author uses a number of interesting images or comparisons

(metaphors) in the passage. Reread each of the following sentences and
answer the questions on them. (15 marks)
(i) even whiter than the pillowcases (paragraph 2)
(a) Exactly what is the writer saying about the old mens hair? Use a sentence of your own
words to describe what picture the image puts in your mind.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(b) Using your imagination and trying to think of the best words you can, suggest another
image that could have been used in exactly the same place in the passage.
_______________________________________________________________
(ii) as bare as the hill behind the farmhouse (paragraph 6)
(a) Exactly what is the writer saying about the peak of Lewiss hat? Use a sentence of your
own words to describe what the hat looks like.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(b) Using your imagination and trying to think of the best words you can, suggest another
image that could have been used in exactly the same place in the passage.
_______________________________________________________________
(iii) like a stone monument (paragraph 9)
(a) Exactly what is the writer saying about the kitchen? Use a sentence of your own words
to describe the impression the author gives.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
(b) Using your imagination and trying to think of the best words you can, suggest another
image that could have been used in exactly the same place in the passage.
_______________________________________________________________

SECTION B
Imagine that Lewis and Benjamin have to go to a big city such as London or
Cardiff for day. Your task is to write a story about what happens when they get
there.
First, think about what their characters are like, what you know about them
from the passage and how they might behave if they had to deal with being in
a big city environment.
Write a quick plan on this page which shows that your story will have a
beginning, a middle and an end.
Then, write up your story, using the best language you can to make your story
vivid and well-written.
PLANNING SPACE

START YOUR STORY ON THIS PAGE. AIM TO WRITE BETWEEN ONE AND
TWO PAGES.

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