Ordinary Level English paper 1 CGCE

SECTION A

LISTENING COMPREHENSION (5 marks)

QUESTIONS

Using only the material read to you from the Listening Comprehension passage, answer each of the following questions as directed.

Choose the best answer from the alternatives (A, B, C and D) for each of the questions below.

SECTION ONE

1. Which attitude contributed most to Akame's poor performance?

 A. He sneaked out of the class when test had to be written

B. He did not copy notes.

 C. He came to school late 

D. He skipped most of his classes

2. Mr Okons' instruction to Akame was to ___

 A. take to his advice

 B. drop out of school 

C. seek admission elsewhere

 D. act like the empty-headed boy

3. You have heard the word 'enough' read to you. Which word from the list below has the same vowel sound as the underlined sound, 'enough' ____

 A. enable

  B. engine

 C. enter 

D. entertain

SECTION TWO

4. Akame felt ashamed of himself because

 A. he was moving around for jobs

 B. he strained to make a living 

C. of the odd jobs he did for a living 

D. he was not a banker too

5. The expression, ‘Akame passed in flying colours’, means he had ____

 A. excellent results 

B. barely acceptable results

 C. good results

 D. in eleven subjects

6. You heard the word ‘alma mater’ read to you. Which expression below is closest in meaning to ‘alma mater’?

 A. the primary school someone went to

 B. secondary school someone went to 

C. the high school someone went to 

D. the school someone went to

7. Akame sprayed banknotes as a sign of ____

 A. honour to his former school

 B. gratitude to his former teacher 

C. provocation and pride 

8. The phrase, ‘Mr Okons straightened - up’ implies that he had been ____

 A. gathering 

B. kneeling 

C. bending 

D. bowing

9. Mr Okons’ reaction when he saw Akame was that of ____

 A. confusion

 B. uncertainty 

C. fear

 D. surprise

10. From the passage, it can be deduced that _____

 A. what teachers predict always come true 

B. even empty-headed students pass the GCE Examination 

C. determination is the key to success

 D. intelligent students always succeed in life

SECTION B

READING COMPREHENSION(7 1/2)

Read the following passage and answer the questions which follow.

      Most of our societies are becoming increasingly fatherless societies. Fatherlessness is fast taking over fatherhood as another characteristic feature of childhood: This astonishing fact is reflected in some societies where about 40 percent of children go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. Children spend significant portions of childhood living apart from their fathers. Most regrettably, many children have been abandoned by their fathers. Besides, many children 5

have grown without knowing what it means to have a father.

      Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. It is the leading cause of the decline in the well-being of children. It is also the engine driving our most urgent social problems from crime to adolescent pregnancy, to domestic violence. Yet, despite its scale and social consequences fatherlessness is frequently ignored or denied; especially within our elite 10

discourse, it remains a problem with no name.

      My criticism is not simply of fatherlessness, but of a culture of fatheiiessness. For, in addition to fathers, we are losing something larger: our idea of fatherhood. Unlike earlier periods of absence of fathers in our history, such as wartime, we now face more than a physical loss affecting some homes. The 1940s child could say: my father had to leave for a while to do something important, but 15

a modern day child says my father left me permanently because he wanted to.

      Like motherhood, fatherhood is made up of both a biological and social dimension. Yet, across the world, mothers are far more successful than fathers at fusing these dimensions into a coherent identity. Is the nursing mother playing a biological or social role, feeding or bonding? We can hardly separate the two, so seamlessly are they woven together. But fatherhood is a different matter.20

A father makes his sole biological contribution at the moment of conception, nine months before the infant enters the world. The phrase ‘to father a child’ usually refers only to the act of insemination, not the responsibility for raising the child. What fathers contribute after conception is largely a matter of cultural devising.

      Even though men are not ideally suited to responsible fatherhood because they are inclined to 25

sexual promiscuity and paternal waywardness, fatherhood constitutes what might be termed a necessary problem. Child well-being and societal success hinge largely on a high level of paternal investment: men’s willingness to devote energy and resources to the care of their offspring. It is a problem because men are frequently unwilling or unable to make that vital investment.30

      Because fatherhood is universally problematic, cultures must mobilise to enforce the father’s role, guiding men with legal and extralegal pressures that require them to maintain a close alliance with their children’s mother and invest in their children. Only an authoritative cultural commitment to fatherhood can fuse biological and social paternity into a coherent male identity teaching them to nurture their offspring.35

      In personal terms, the main result of men’s failure to sustain norms of fatherhood is the spread of me-first or personal happiness. In social terms, the results are a decline in children’s well-being and a rise in male violence, especially against women. The most significant result is our society’s steady fragmentation into atomised individuals, isolated from one another and estranged from the aspirations and realities of common membership in a family, a community, a nation.40

      Divorce and out - of - wedlock childbearing are here to stay. Growing numbers of children will not have fathers. Nothing can be done to reverse the trend itself. The only solution is to remedy some of its consequences: more help for poor children, more sympathy for single mothers, better devorce policies, more child-support payments, more prisons, and more programmes aimed at 45

substituting for fathers. Our essential goal must be the rediscovery of the fatherhood idea: for everychild, a legally and morally responsible man. A good society celebrates the ideal of man who putshis family first.

QUESTIONS

11. Modern societies are becoming increasingly fatherless societies because.

 A. many fathers have abandoned their wives 

B. many children have never known what it means to have a father 

C. many children do not sleep in homes. 

D. many fathers are hardly at home with their children.

Answer :

D. many fathers are hardly at home with their children.

Explanation: This answer is found in the first paragraph of the passage: "Children spend significant portions of childhood living apart from their fathers".

12. In the expression ‘fatherlessness is fast taking over fatherhood’ (Iines l-2) ‘fatherlessness’ is ____

 A. a noun 

B. an adjective 

C. an adverb. 

D. an interjection.

Answer :

A. a noun

Explanation: The word "fatherlessness" is a noun but "fatherless" is an adjective. As a general rule, words that end with the suffix "-ness" are nouns.

13. The greatest consequence caused by the phenomenon of fatherlessness to the present generation is that children ____

 A. sleep in fatherless homes 

B. are ignored by their fathers 

C. do not live decent lives 

D. have lost the idea of fatherhood

Answer :

B. are ignored by their fathers

Explanation: In paragraph 1, the answer is clearly stated: "Most regrettably, many children have been abandoned by their fathers".

14. The sentence ‘it is also the engine driving our most urgent social problems...’ (line 8) is an example of____

 A. a metaphor 

B. a simile

 C. personification 

D. Hyperbole

Answer :

A. a metaphor

Explanation: In this sentence, "fatherlessness" is compared to an engine without the use of "like" or "as" This means that it is a metaphor.

15. In the third paragraph, the writer is ____

 A. comparing the situation of fatherlessness over two periods 

B. contrasting the situation of fatherlessness over two periods

 C. alluding to two different periods

 D. referring to two different periods

Answer :

B. contrasting the situation of fatherlessness over two periods

Explanation: The writer is contrasting the situation of fatherlessness in the 1940s and nowadays in paragraph 3 of the text.

16. According to the passage men can properly perform their paternal responsibilities if they combine ____

 A. biological and financial roles 

B. social and financial roles

 C. biological and social roles 

D. biological and cultural roles

Answer :

C. biological and social roles

Explanation: In the first sentence of paragraph 4, it is stated: "Like motherhood", fatherhood is made up of both a biological and social dimensions.

17. According to the text the phrase ‘to father a child’ (line 22) means to _____

 A. give birth to a child 

B. get a woman pregnant

 C. bring up a child 

D. become pregnant

Answer :

B. get a woman pregnant

Explanation: In paragraph 4 of the text, "to father a child" is defined as "the act of insemination" which refers to getting a woman pregnant.