Extended Response [0500/11, Nov 2021]

 Text C: The long hot walk

 

This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point, the writer is touring a foreign country. He decides to walk through countryside to a local city.

 

There had been a definite chill in the early morning air and the idea of walking to the
city and enjoying my surroundings had seemed a good one. However, as I walked east
along the road and towards the morning sun, which was already huge and bloated, I
began to realise that the temperature was changing rapidly. After a while it seemed
that there was little air to breathe. I remember stopping at a farm where unmoving and	5
silent labourers scooped up water from wells and handed it to me warm and green.
They stared at me with disbelief and pity in their eyes as I moved away again.
By mid-morning, the violence of the heat seemed to bruise the whole earth and turn its
crust into one huge scar. The sun struck upwards, sideways and down, while the wheat
went buckling across the fields like a solid sheet of copper. I kept walking because there	10
was no shade to hide in and because it seemed to be the only way to agitate the air
around me. Also, in my optimism, I really did hope I would soon see the evidence of
the city. I walked on, conscious only of the red-hot dust grinding like pepper between
my toes and the vast empty spaces on either side of me.
By mid-day, I was parched. Fantasies of water rose up and wrapped me in cool wet	15
leaves or pressed the thought of cucumber peel across my stinging eyes and filled my
mouth with dripping moss. I imagined drinking whole monsoons and winter mists and
reclining on the sponge of a deep, cooling sea.
Then I saw the spire of a church rising from the plain like the jet of a fountain. There
was a shower of eucalyptus trees brushing against a roadside café and I was standing	20
there calling out for a cold drink.
‘No! You mustn’t drink too much. You may pass out.’ The café owner threw up her
hands at the sight of me, then turned, alarmed, to shout at a couple of well-dressed
gentlemen eating at a table in the corner.
The older man bowed: ‘The lady is right – you are too hot for sudden drinking.’	25
Everybody tutted at me and shook their heads. I could only stand there croaking,
desperate with thirst. The owner gave me some ice to suck. Then she told me to rest
indoors, while everyone asked me questions: Where I had come from? How I had got
here? Where I was going?
At my replies, the owner threw up her hands again. ‘To the city? On foot? And you are	30
carrying no water? It is unthinkable!’ The gentlemen started rapid-fire expressions of
disbelief, spitting their food at each other like furious exclamations. ‘These idiots who
walk all over the place! Up and down mountainsides! Round and round the plains in
this heat! It is straightforward and cheap to hire a car!’
‘This is the third one in a month we have had to look after!’ exclaimed the owner.	35

I heard their voices fading and booming around me. Then the owner’s husband was leaning over me. ‘Give the young man a little drink. If he doesn’t pass out, and still wishes to go to the city, we can take him in the car. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.’

        The first mouthful of mineral water burst in my throat and cascaded like frosted stars.

 

Then I was given a plate of bread and cheese. A deep languor spread through my limbs. I remember no more of my benefactors, or what they said, only the drowsy glories of eating and drinking to my full. After that I was lifted to my feet and led outside. Then, stretched out across the back of the car, I was driven to the city by the café owner and her husband.

Questions

Question 3

 You are the eating-place owner. You are interviewed for an article about tourist safety in the region. The interviewer asks you the following three questions only:

 •        What do tourists need to know about your region?

 

•        What effects can extreme thirst have on people and how should this be managed?

 

•        What could be done locally to make the region safer?

 

Write the words of the interview.

Base your interview on what you have read in Text C, but be careful to use your own words. Address each of the three bullets.

Begin your interview with the first question.

Write about 250 to 350 words.

 Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 10 marks for the quality of your writing.

Suggested Responses

3              A1 What tourists need to know about your region

 

•          region’s weather (det. extremely hot, very little air) [dev. dangerous / life threatening / foolish to walk in it]

•          temperature changes (det. cold first thing in the morning, but heats up by mid-morning) [dev. suddenness of temperature change / deceptive, misleading / different from other countries]

 

•          landscape (det. plains and mountains, the sun hits from all angles - upwards, sideways and down; vast empty spaces; no shade / red dusty road [dev. painful]

 

•          remoteness of area (det. a few farms; city long distance away) [dev. no-one around to help]

•          water quality / carry own water (det. warm and green, taken from a well) [dev. could be dangerous / cause disease]

 

A2 What effects can extreme thirst have on people and how should this be managed

 

•          physical effects (det. trouble breathing; thirst; unmoving and silent labourers, lose voice) [dev. no energy even to speak / potentially fatal]

 

•          mental effects (det. fantasies of water) [dev. could lose sense of direction / place / unaware or only partially aware of activity around]

•          desire to drink too much (det. can pass out, too hot for sudden drinking) [dev. need to prevent anyone drinking too much]

•          need for rest (det. indoors) [dev. temperature is cooler]

•          gradual reduction of temperature / rehydration needs to be slow (det. sip ice cube) [dev. slower hydration safest ]

 

A3 What could be done locally to make the region safer

 

•          improve information for tourists (det. no obvious information at present ) [dev. tourists seem to have little knowledge of the area or risks / making poor decisions based on limited understanding and knowledge / need to be better prepared for the trip / need to be educated on risks / need to wear suitable clothing]

 

•          signs on road(s) indicating distances to village / city (det. walk for hours; looking for signs of a city; village still a car drive away) [dev. it’s far too far to walk / tourists will always want to walk despite distance]

•           improved water provision / advise tourists to carry own water (det. scarce natural water sources) [dev. replace wells with piped drinking water / healthier for the farm workers too]

•          improved transport / publicise car-hire more effectively (det. cheap and straightforward to hire a car) [dev. taxi / bus service]

•          provide shade (det. eucalyptus trees) [dev. would encourage tourists to split their journey up and not keep on walking]

•          more support for the locals (det. help tourists regularly; three tourists to deal with in a month; have to take to city in car) [dev. authority involvement / medical provision / transport provided / learn from the experience of café owners]