Comprehension / Vocab/ Question 2 [0990/12, Nov 2021]

 

Text C: Moving on upwards

 

This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point in the story, the narrator is taking part in a bicycle ride uphill for his fiftieth birthday celebration.

 

Their car rounds the bend ahead, Sonny’s phone screen winking at me from the window.

 

Time for another gulp of water. My bottle crackles as I squeeze it and a thick stream

 

shoots into my mouth. Too much. The excess liquid splatters fatly on the greedy asphalt,

 

and I realise it may be the one crucial drop I will be crying out for on my final kilometres

 

to the summit.

5

This novel adventure was a gift to myself. I’d reached the big 5-0. More a milestone

 

than a birthday. Inviting the family around for cake and crisps wasn’t going to be enough.

 

No, what I needed was a challenge to prove that what my teenage son, Sonny, called

 

my ‘sinking into old age’ did not have to match a decline in physical fitness. My friend

 

Rob, agreed to come along with me – in the comfort of his car.

10

So here they are, Rob at the wheel and Sonny, who has brought along his mobile phone,

 

so that he can capture the whole event. His job is to make an ‘official birthday video’

 

(with soundtrack) on his computer when we get home. This, I am assured, will provide

 

much family entertainment in years to come. ‘After all, Dad, you’re really brave wearing

 

lycra at your age,’ he had informed me.

15

I hear the car change gear ahead of me. As if I need reminding that things are going

 

to get steeper.

 

Though I am keeping to the outside of the bend, I feel the tension in my thighs increasing

 

in a matter of metres. Ahead lies the notorious forest where many a dismayed cyclist

 

is forced to dismount after kilometres of hard labour.

20

The car has slowed down and is back alongside, Sonny capturing every second of my

 

first metres through the forest in glorious close-up. I can see the print-out of the ‘gradients

 

per kilometre’ stuck to the folding table in front of him. I can see my own contorted

 

expression, looking out, gargoyle-like, over the bike handlebars, forming part of that

 

‘family entertainment’.

25

‘Dad, this is the forest, right?’

 

I nod and pant.

 

‘It’ll soon be ten per cent gradient, Dad.’

 

I change my gear, and my legs heave a sigh of relief. Six kilometres are behind me,

 

and another fifteen to go, but I must have something in reserve.

30

 

The steep road ahead meanders lazily through the trees. Not a kindly flat section in sight, only the mocking gravelly promise of worse to come. Unforgiving gradient for as far as the eye can see and wisps of warm exhaust fumes tickling my nostrils.




Questions

Question 2

 

(a)    Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined: 

(i)      Sonny’s phone is sparkling in the sunshine. 

(Sonny’s phone screen) winking (at me from the window)     [1]

  

(ii)    The narrator expected his bike ride to be a new, exciting experience.

                          novel adventure    [1]

  

(iii)   The narrator considers his fiftieth birthday to be a significant stage in his life.

                          milestone    [1]

  

(iv)   Sonny plans to record the entire bicycle ride on his mobile phone.

                         capture the whole event / make an official birthday video [1]

  

(b)    Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

 Though I am keeping to the outside of the bend, I feel the tension in my thighs increasing in a matter of metres. Ahead lies the notorious forest where many a dismayed cyclist is forced to dismount after kilometres of hard labour.


(i)

increasing:  become greater / rising / becoming worse / intensifying / growing

[1]

(ii)

notorious: widely known for a bad reason / generally (and unfavourably) known

[1]

(iii)

dismayed: confidence shaken / demoralised / discouraged / dispirited

[1]



(c)    Use one example from the text below to explain how the writer suggests the father’s experiences and feelings as he starts the sharp incline on the hill.

 

Use your own words in your explanation.

 

I can see my own contorted expression, looking out, gargoyle-like, over the bike handlebars, forming part of that ‘family entertainment’.

 

‘Dad, this is the forest, right?’ I nod and pant.


 ‘It’ll soon be ten per cent gradient, Dad.’


 I change my gear, and my legs heave a sigh of relief.

 

 ...........................................................................................................................................

 ...........................................................................................................................................

 ...........................................................................................................................................


[3]



Suggested answers:

•   contorted expression: grimacing / features appear distorted /

 

suggests his face is twisted in pain / concentration / out of comfort

zone

 

•   (looking out), gargoyle-like, (over the bike handlebars): suggests

(like the architectural gargoyles / water spouts that look out over the

sides of buildings) he is open-mouthed (panting) / pulling grotesque

faces / pushing his upper body over the handle bars / stony faced

determination / feeling ancient

 

•   ‘family entertainment’: the inverted commas (quoting Sonny)

 

suggest his ironic tone / unamused or engaging in self-deprecating

humour, knows he won’t be allowed to forget this

 

•   I nod and pant: short sentence suggests he can’t speak and needs

oxygen in order to perform any additional movement / focused on

effort of cycling

 

•   ‘It’ll soon be ten per cent gradient, Dad.’: (unwelcome) reminder

that the ride is going to get tougher; feeling (un)supported/ mocked;

specific detail (‘ten per cent’) / anticipated point in the ride

 

•   (my legs) heave a sigh of relief: suggests his legs are feeling the

benefit of the changed gear, his overall feeling of exhaustion is

 

emphasised by his legs having a reaction of their own (personifying

them) / brief moment of physical comfort

 












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