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SECTION A

[ESSAY TYPE]

Answer one question only from this section. Your answer should be about 450 words long.

You are advised to spend about 50 minutes on this section.

1. Write a letter to a friend abroad describing what your headmaster has done to improve sports in your school.

2. You are a speaker in a school debate on the motion:

Religion in Ghana has failed our society.

Write your speech for or against the motion.

3. As part of a sanitation programme for students, you have been invited to give a speech on the topic:

To be healthy, keep your environment clean. Write your speech.

4. Write an article for publication in a national daily on the menace of street children in your community.

5. Your school has not been performing well of late in external examination. Write a letter to your headmaster, giving at least three reasons for this poor performance, and suggesting remedies.

SECTION B

[COMPREHENSION]

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

Mensah seemed to have flown from East Legon to Old Road, Madina, where he lived with his mother. His mind was full of wild ideas, fresh ambitions and serious vows. The experience at his uncle’s official residence was being filmed before his mind’s eye. The painful images impinged on his sharp mind. Far from making him become discouraged, the strange experience raised his spirits and aroused his dormant feelings. The apparent loss of hope was quickly replaced by a more forceful passion­­-the desire to rely as much as possible on his own efforts, the determination to employ all his talents and develop them as he could, no matter the cost, not counting the obstacles in his way.

As he floated along the the road, unmindful of morning traffic, two lines of a song which he had once heard at a youth camp meeting, came forcefully into his mind. He recited and sang them repeatedly:

Just as I am, young, strong and free

To be the best that I can be…’

He vowed to himself, with tears racing down his youthful cheeks, that, even without his uncle’s help, he would try to be the best he could ever be. He prayed that nothing should stand in his way. He feared two inevitable things only-ill-health and death. Even so, he would rather die than fail to continue his education. He was quite prepared to endure all difficulties, to suffer all hardships and to bear all humiliation.

He reached home. His mother was in the open yard of the compound house, where she had rented a room and was staying with her son. She was busily fanning the charcoal in the rickety coal-pot to cook breakfast-corn porridge to be taken with dry bread, without milk. Back from your uncle’s place? How did they receive you, my son? The mother eagerly asked, peering into his eyes for some clue to a favorable answer.

Mensah ignored her questions. He was staring like a lost ghost at the smoke coming out of the coal-pot, his eyes stern and misty.Suddenly,like a bolt from the blue, he asked, ‘Mum, who’s my father and where can I find him?’

Kuukua’s soft heart seemed to have been drained of blood. When she recovered her normal heartbeat, her tender mouth opened wide, her love-filled eyes bulged out of their sockets, and her lips trembled with pain. Mensah gazed at her sternly and repeated his questions: ‘Mum, who’s my father? Where’s he?

Be patient, my son. I’ll tell you all about him, especially now that you need his help most urgently.’

*Questions*

a) For each of the following words underlined in the passage, give another phrase which means the same and can replace it in the passage:

i) dormant, ii) talents, iii) endure,

iv) peering v) ignored, vi) normal

b) Why did Mensah visit his uncle?

c) What was his mood after the visit?

d) How did he react to his experience at his uncle’s place?

e) What two signs from the passage show that Mensah and his mother were poor?

f) The apparent loss of hope…..

i) What is the grammatical name for this expression?

ii) What is its function?

g) …to endure all difficulties, to suffer all hardship and to bear all humiliation.

What literary device is used in this expression?

h) …a bolt from the blue…

What is the meaning of this expression?

COMPREHENSION

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

Life is truly a network of interconnected and interdependent organisms. Humans are very much a part of this web. For evidence; you need not to look further than your body. Quietly at work in your digestive tract, an army of friendly bacteria help you to stay healthy by destroying harmful invaders and by producing essential vitamins. In return, you, the host, provide the bacteria with food and a supportive environment.

In the insect world, ants are the model of co-operation, industry and order, often working together to drag home objects much larger than themselves. Some ants will even assist injured or exhausted members of the colony back to their nest.

A similar alliance occurs in the animal kingdom, especially among animals such as cattle, deer, and sheep. Part of their multi-chambered stomach hosts a veritable ecosystem of bacteria, fungi and protozoa. These microbes breakdown the carbohydrate I their food into various nutrients. Such close cooperation among dissimilar organisms is fundamental to the development of every living system. It is called mutualism, because both organisms benefit from each other.

An interesting example of mutualism occurs among certain birds. These birds live dangerously. The screech owl, for instance, literally brings a live snake into its nest. The snake is called the blind snake. Instead of harming the nestlings, the snake eats ants, flies and other insects and their larvae. The young owls raised with a blind snake in the family grow faster and are much more likely to survive than those raised without the company of this living vacuum cleaner.

Another bird, called the water dikkop, does not team up with a mere snake. It builds its nest next to that of a crocodile-a reptile that preys on birds. However, instead of becoming a meal for the crocodile, the bird serves as a sentry. Should dander approach either the nest or the crocodile’s nest, the bird would emit warning cries. If the crocodile is away, these cries will bring the reptile charging back to defend the nest.

Questions

a) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same as the word and replace it in the passage:

i) friendly, ii) essential, iii) exhausted,

iv) alliance, v) dissimilar, vi) charging,

b) What two benefits do humans derive from bacteria?

c) What is the writer’s attitude to ants?

d) According to the passage, what do bacteria gain from the human host?

e) In what way do the bird and crocodile help each other?

f) What do you think the writer means when he says:

These birds live dangerously?

g) Should dander approach either its nest or the crocodile’s nest….

i) What is the grammatical name for this expression?

ii) What is its grammatical function?

h) …this living vacuum cleaner.

What literary device is used in this expression?

SUMMARY

Read the followin passages carefully and answer, in your own words as far as possible, the questions on it.

Poverty, like malaria, is pandemic in many developing countries, especially countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Why are most of these countries so economically backward and so slow to develop even many years after they have freed themselves from colonial rule?

Many theories have been put forward to explain this peculiar plight of developing countries in Africa.One common theory is that dark-skinned peaffectedbraWA Africa and elsewhere have been eternally cursed to be poor. This theory is sometimes referred to as the curse myth- a theory that has no shred of scientific evidence to support it.Perhaps it has been concocted by fair-skinned race to enhance their feeling of superiority and to justify their treatment of black-skinned people.

Apartheid South Africa, for instance, used to defend the treatment the Dutch settlers gave to the indigenous African people on the crude assumption that black people had been, by the design of nature, condemned forever to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water.

The curse myth apart,there is another theory,dubbed the torrid-zone dwellers’theory,which claims that people who live in the tropics are always being adversely affectedbraWAS heat of the sun.The propounders claim that the tropical climate is so enervating that the braWASS the dwellers in that zone are enfeeble and are,in consequence,rendered incapable of deep,sustained thinking.They further claim that the chronic poverty in the developing countries derives from the people’s inertia,lack of effort and inventiveness.

Strangely enough,this theory sometimes expressed in a more palatable version-that nature is so generous to the tropical zone dwellers that,by virtue of the kind climate,there is hardly any need for the people to worry about how to get food,provide themdelves with descent clothing and seek permanent and comfortable shelter.As nature provides the people with these three basic necessities of life,the theorist claim that the people need not to make any effort.

Furthermore,tropical vegetation is so luxuriant that natural food such as pawpaw and banana grow without human prompting in and around people’s dwelling places.In fact,they also claim that there is no need for planning and foresight for people living in the ever-warm and generous climate.

These specious theories,unfortunately,do not help solve the problems ofAfrica’s chronic poverty.What,then,are the real remedies?What should be done to remove the real obstacles in the way of development in Africa?

The real obstacles are,in fact within Africans themselves;these are embedded in their nature,attitude and mindset.Some of the internal obstacles are technological ignorance,slavish attachment to retrogressive ideas,beliefs and practices.

These obstacles to development and wealth in Africa apart,there are some other hindrances-the dearth of selfless and committed leaders with clear vision and courage to pursue and achieve them.

Until these obstacles to development and wealth are clearly identified and dealt with,chronic poverty and underdevelopment may persist in this great but dormant continent.

Questions

a) In three sentences,one for each,summarize the theories some people use to explain the prevalence of poverty in Africa.

b) In two sentence,one for each,state two suggestions indicated by the writer for solving the problem of poverty in developing countries in Africa.