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Kirima District English Paper 2 Question Paper
Kirima District English Paper 2
Course:Secondary Level
Institution: Mock question papers
Exam Year:2009
101/2
ENGLISH
(Functional Skills)
Paper 2
July/ August 2009
Time: 2 ½ Hours
KIRIMA JOINT EVALUATION TEST - 2009
Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E)
101/2
ENGLISH
(Functional Skills)
Paper 2
Time: 2 ½ Hours
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
• Answer ALL the questions in this question paper.
• All your answers must be written in the spaces provided in this question paper.
For Examiners Use Only
Question Maximum Score Candidates Score
1 20
2 25
3 20
4 15
Total Score
This paper consists of 10 printed pages.
Candidates should check the question paper to ensure that all pages are printed as indicated
and no questions are missing
1. Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow. (20 MARKS)
Happiness arises largely from the mental qualities of contentment, confidence, serenity and active good-will. It includes the pain of losing as well as the pleasure of finding. It thrives best in a crowded life. The men and women who are recorded in history and biography as the most happy were with always somewhat more to do than they could possibly do. Every waking hour of their lives was occupied with ambitious projects, literature, love, politics, science, friendship, commerce, professions, trades, their religious faith, and a thousand other matters. The secret of happiness may be found by making each of these interests count to its utmost as part of the fabric of life.
We need to avoid the extremes of sluggish placidity and feverish activity. We are not going to be satisfied with felicity which resembles that of a stone, unfeeling and unmoving, but will look back from future years with sorrow and regret if we run to and fro, giving in to what Socrates called ‘the itch’.
Happiness obviously includes two sorts of behavior: active and passive. We may say that the active part consists in searching and sharing, while the passive part is made up of security and possession. Neither part is complete in itself, nor neither yields full satisfaction if it is over-emphasized. Philosophers from the ancient Greeks to the present day have been extolling a balanced life as the most happy life, and many unhappy people can, when they face the issue, trace their discontent to imbalance.
The recipe for happiness cannot be given in any single word, because its many virtues have to be combined in their proper quantities, at the proper times for proper purposes.
It is legitimate to seek happiness. We cannot help observing that while followers of some schools of thought are telling us to avoid seeking happiness; they intimate that if we do so we shall be happy.
The search requires a plan. We need to know what sort of happiness we seek, what the ingredients are, what are our strongest wants, and what we have to start with. We should train ourselves to keep the programme simple, and free from complications and side trips, to pay attention to little things, to deflate quickly after being praised and to bounce back quickly from disappointment, to seize to create opportunities to put our special abilities to work, to seek excellence in everything we do, to remain modest, and to review and revise periodically.
Most of us do not really have to seek far and wide. Happiness grows at our own fireside, if we cultivate it.
a) According to the writer, what is the source of happiness? (2mks)
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b) What two sorts of behaviour does happiness include? (2mks)
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c) What does the writer mean when he talks about a balanced life? (2mks)
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d) In a paragraph of about 30 words, summarise the things we must know as we search for happiness.
(4mks)
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e) Explain the writer’s point in the last paragraph of the passage. (2mks)
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f) The recipe for happiness cannot be given in any single word.
(Rewrite the sentence beginning: No single word…) (1mk)
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g) Identify and comment on the figures of speech used in the following: (2mks)
(i) It (Happiness) thrives best in a crowded life.
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(ii) …as part of the fabric of life
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h) Describe the tone of this passage. (1mk)
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i) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage: (4mks)
(i) Extolling ………………………………………………………………………………………...
(ii) Intimate………………………………………………………………………………………….
(iii) Felicity…………………………………………………………………………………………..
(iv) Legitimate……………………………………………………………………………………….
2. Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow (25mks)
Joshua fumed with fury. He would not let her finish. And Waiyaki was still in a dream. But still he was hurt and a burning anger was urging him to go out. Outside he heard a faint noise. At first it had seemed distant but now he could hear some words. Teacher….traitor… A heavy dejection came over Waiyaki. He knew now that he was not wanted by them in spite of all he had done for the hills. And the words of his father came back to him. But they rejected Mugo, his thin boy’s voice had queried. Let them do what they like. A time will come when they shall cry for a saviour:
Had the time come? Was Kabonyi the saviour they were crying for? And what would Kabonyi do? He would only destroy what Waiyaki had built. But no. He could not. Surely there was a soul, a heart where at
least what Waiyaki had done had taken root. And the teachers who were coming! They would carry on the work. The voices signing death became louder and louder. He thought they were coming towards Joshua’s house. He went back to the hut to one more desperate appeal.
“Be careful. They may be coming here.”
“Go, go out from here. Get thee behind me, Satan”
Joshua was fierce. He hated the young man with the hatred which a man of God has towards Satan. There was another murmur in the room. The silence reigned as Nyambura walked across towards Waiyaki while the eyes watched her. Waiyaki and Joshua must have been struck by her grace and mature youthfulness. She held Waiyaki’s hand and said what no other girl at that time would have dared to say, what she herself could not have done a few days before.
“You are brave and I love you.”
Joshua woke up from his stupor. He would never have thought that this meek, quiet and obedient daughter could be capable of such an action. He rushed towards her and was about to lay his hands on her when he realized that this was another temptation brought to him by Satan. Christ in him must triumph at this hour or trial. Waiyaki and Nyambura were standing near the door.
“For me and my house we will serve the Lord,” Joshua declared, pointing at Nyambura with the forefinger of his right hand. “You are not my daughter. Yet let me warn you,” he continued, his voice changing from one of fiery anger to one of calm sorrow, “you will come to an untimely end. Go!”
As if in a dream, Waiyaki and Nyambura went out. Miriam was weeping and saying, “Don’t let her go. Don’t, while the others remained silent wondering what curse had befallen Joshua’s house.
QUESTIONS
a) Place this extract in its immediate context (4mks)
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b) Other than Mugo, who else had been rejected by the people when he warned them against the white man? (1mk)
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c) “He would only destroy what Waiyaki had built”. State what is being referred to in the above statement. (3mks)
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d) “For me and my house we will serve the Lord”, Joshua declared.
(Convert into reported speech) (1mk)
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e) Describe the character of Joshua and Nyambura as seen in this excerpt. (4mks)
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f) “You are not my daughter……” who else had been disowned by Joshua and why? (2mks)
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g) Why was the crowd calling Waiyaki a traitor? (4mks)
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h) Identify and illustrate one theme evident in the excerpt. (2mks)
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i) From your knowledge of the rest of the text, make notes on what happens later ot Waiyaki and Nyambura (4mks)
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3. Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow (20mks)
FROM: LETTERS TO MARTHA
Cold
the clammy cement
sucks our naked feet
a rheumy yellow bulb
lights a damp grey wall
the stubbled glass
wet with the three o’clock
is black with glitter edges;
we sit on the concrete
stuff with our fingers
the sugarless pap
into our mouths
then labor erect
form lines
steel ourselves into fortitude
or accept an image of ourselves
numb with resigned acceptance
the grizzled senior warder comments
“Things like these
I have no time for;
They are worse than rats:
You can only shoot them”
Overhead
The large frosty glitters of the stars
The southern cross flowering low;
the chains on our ankles
and wrists
that pair us together
jangle
glitter
we begin to move
awkwardly.
a) What do you think this poem is about? (4mks)
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b) Identify the speaker in the poem. (2mks)
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c) Explain the two themes evident in this poem (4mks)
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d) Identify and explain two stylistic devices used in this poem (4mks)
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e) Describe the tone of this poem. (2mks)
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f) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (4mks)
‘Things like these
(i) I Have no time for
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(ii) ‘The grizzled senior warder’
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(iii) ‘Clammy cement’
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(iv) ‘The sugarless pap’
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4 a) Rewrite the following sentences as instructed. Do not change the meaning (5mks)
i) You will only succeed if you work hard.
(Rewrite using ‘unless’)
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ii) The teacher on duty punished the latecomers
(Rewrite in the passive)
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iii) The birds flew up in the sky.
(Rewrite to end in ‘flew’)
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iv) We light fire in the kitchen.
(Rewrite in the past tense)
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v) ‘Will you girls help with the speech training?’ Kerubo inquired.
(Rewrite in reported speech)
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b) Complete the sentences below by using the correct form of the word in brackets (3mks)
i) The news came as a _______________________ (reveal)
ii) I find your attitude most ______________________ (ridicule)
iii) A ____________________approach to teaching helps pupils to learn quickly. (vision)
c) Complete the following sentences with the most appropriate preposition (4mks)
i) The ball landed right ____________________ thorns
ii) The teacher was angry ___________________the delay
iii) She was living ________________ her means
iv) What exactly is he guilty __________________?
d) Replace the underlined word with phrasal verbs. (3mks)
i) She invented an excuse for not going to the party.
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ii) I’m trying to calculate how much money I owe you.
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iii) I will not tolerate that kind of behaviour in the classroom.
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