Passage 4 - Making A Difference
Read the following passage.
Paragraph 1
Peter woke up with a start to the loud beeping of his alarm clock at five o’clock on the last day of school. Remembering why he had set it for earlier than usual, he leapt out of bed and dashed into the bathroom to get ready for what promised to be an exciting day. According to the forecast, it was going to be warm and partly cloudy, but not rainy. It was perfect weather for the event that Peter’s class had been planning ever since the rousing short talk he had given about ocean pollution in a Social Studies lesson. The whole class had pledged to clean up the local beach! It would be hard work, but after the main activity there would be time for swimming, beach games and even a picnic.
Paragraph 2
Everybody in the class had promised to chip in to make the event a success. Some were contributing food for the picnic. Others were bringing equipment for the cleanup, or things they would need for the beach games afterwards. The Deputy Principal, PE teacher and Mr. John, their class teacher, were all joining in too. The Deputy Principal had organized transport from the school to the beach and back. Mr. John had contacted the town council to arrange a lorry to take away the rubbish after the clean-up. Washed and dressed, Peter packed a yellow Frisbee into his rucksack, together with the largest water bottle he could find. “I mustn’t forget these,” he murmured.
Paragraph 3
The previous week, Peter had invited an environmental volunteer group, called the Beachcombers, to come to school to give a talk about local sea life and the importance of keeping beaches clean. The week before this, under Peter’s direction, the class had staged a drama production to highlight the effect of human activities on marine animals. With some of his friends, he was also working on a spectacular entry for a poster-making competition on the theme of ‘Protect Our Ocean Creatures’. Conservation had become important to him.
Paragraph 4
After a big breakfast, Peter’s mother dropped him off at the meeting point at school. On the bus, he sang songs with his classmates, and they talked excitedly with one another. The accompanying teachers were obviously in a good mood too and didn’t mind the students being a little boisterous. In fact, they even sang along with some of the songs and told silly jokes.
At the beach, everyone organized themselves into groups. Armed with rubbish bags and gloves, they combed the beach for litter left behind by beachgoers or washed ashore by the sea. They were surprised by the vast quantity of plastic bottles, food packaging containers and baby napkins strewn across the sand.
Paragraph 5
After two hours of hard work the beach looked pristine, apart from the enormous ugly pile of black sacks waiting to be taken away. In total, Peter’s class had gathered fifty sacks of rubbish. The lorry that Mr. John had arranged arrived on time and took it all away, while the whole class cheered loudly. Several students had taken ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs of the beach and everyone left very satisfied when they compared them and saw the difference their efforts had made.
Paragraph 6
After a short rest, the students were free to do what they liked. Those who could swim jumped into the sea, safe under the watchful eye of the PE teacher who was a trained lifesaver. Others who couldn’t played on the beach or in the water close to shore. Everyone had fun splashing around, building sandcastles, and playing games until it was time for lunch. They wolfed down the picnic without a scrap of food being left over, and then sat in the shade for a while before playing more games.
Paragraph 7
Later, as they travelled back to school, Peter suggested that they make the beach cleanup an annual event. The deputy Principal enthusiastically welcomed the idea.
Paragraph 8
Peter arrived home delighted with the event’s success. His parents were very proud of him. As he went to sleep that day, he thought of other projects that he can do with his friends that will help save the environment.
Questions
Answer all the questions. Marks allotted for each question is given at the end of the question.
From paragraph 1
1. What woke Peter? Write no more than 3 words in your answer. (1)
2. “The whole class had pledged to clean up the local beach!”. What does this sentence mean? (1)
Choose the best answer (A, B, C or D), and write it in the space given
A. All the members of the class were excited to clean the beach.
B. The students in the class had all avoided cleaning the beach.
C. The entire class had made a promise to clean the beach.
D. Everyone in the class had polluted the beach.
From paragraph 2
3. How many adults were going to the beach with the students?
Write the number in the space below. (1)
4. What does ‘these’ mean on line 14? (1)
From paragraph 3
5. Put Peter’s conservation activities in the order that he finished doing them. Write 1 for the first activity he finished, 2 for the next, and 3 for the last. (3)
a. He asked a volunteer group to visit his school.
b. He directed a performance.
c. He made a poster for a competition.
From paragraph 4 and 5
6. Why was it important for Peter to have a big breakfast? (1)
7. “Armed with rubbish bags and gloves, they combed the beach for litter…...” (What does the writer of the story want the reader to understand here? Choose the best answer (A, B, C or D), and write the letter in the space below. (1)
A. The students didn’t need a lot of equipment to clean the beach.
B. Peter and his friends had to carry their own bags and gloves.
C. The students were fighting pollution on the beach.
D. Cleaning up the beach could be dangerous.
8. “They were surprised by the vast quantity of plastic bottles, food packaging containers and baby napkins strewn across the sand.” Pick out and write down a word used in Paragraph 6 that has a similar meaning to ‘vast’ in Paragraph 5. (Your answer should be a single word.) (1)
9. “Several students had taken ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs of the beach and everyone felt very satisfied when they compared them and saw the difference their efforts had made.” In the table below, write 2 words that the students might use to describe the beach before the clean-up, and 2 words to describe the beach afterwards. (2)
Before:
Afterwards:
From paragraph 6
10. What does the phrase ‘wolfed down’ tell us about the way the students ate the picnic? (1)
From paragraph 7
11. What idea did the deputy Principal enthusiastically welcome? (1)
A. Inviting more classes to join in.
B. Arranging to clean up the beach every year.
C. Organizing a party to celebrate the beach cleanup.
D. Planning another beach cleanup for the following week.
From paragraph 8
12. Pick out and write down the word that describes how Peter was feeling at the end of the day (Your answer should be a single word.) (1)
From the whole passage
13. Decide if the following statements about the story are true or not, or whether there is no information to help you decide. For each statement, state the best answer – TRUE, FALSE or NO INFORMATION. (3)
(i) On the way to the beach, the teachers told the students to stop being noisy.
(ii) Some of the students who went to the beach couldn’t swim.
(iii) The rubbish that the students collected on the beach was too much to fit in one lorry.
14. Think of something Peter could plan to do at his school for his next project and explain how it would help the environment. (2)
Answer Key
1. His alarm clock.
2. C
3. 3
4. A yellow frisbee, his water bottle and his rucksack.
5.
a. He asked a volunteer group to visit his school. 3
b. He directed a performance. 1
c. He made a poster for a competition. 2
6. He needed to have enough energy for the beach cleaning.
7. C
8. enormous
9. Before: dirty and polluted (any synonyms of dirty)
Afterwards: clean and neat (any synonyms of clean)
10. They ate it very quickly and hungrily.
11. B
12. delighted
13.
(i) On the way to the beach, the teachers told the students to stop being noisy. FALSE
(ii) Some of the students who went to the beach couldn’t swim. TRUE
(iii) The rubbish that the students collected on the beach was too much to fit in one lorry. NO INFORMATION
14. Any reasonable answer can be accepted.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Peter could plan a recycling project as the next project. This will help the environment as recycling waste into useful things will lessen pollution.
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