St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Pickering
English
Reading Test
2004
45 min
50 marks

1.	Questions and Answers
	In this section, there are different types of questions for you to answer in different ways. The space for your answer shows you what type of writing is needed.
·	short answers
Some questions are followed by a short line or box.
This shows that you need only write a word or phrase in your answer.
·	several line answers
Some questions are followed by a few lines.
This gives you space to write more words or a sentence or two.
·	longer answers
Some questions are followed by a large box.
This shows that a longer, more detailed answer is needed to explain your opinion. You can write in full sentences if you want to.
·	other answers
For some questions you need do no writing at all and you should tick, draw lines to, or put a ring around your answer. Read the instructions carefully so that you know how to answer the question.
	Marks
	The number in the margin tells you the maximum number of marks for each question.
	Please wait until you are told to start work. You should work through the section until you are asked to stop, referring to your reading resource when you need to.
	You will have 45 minutes for this test.

2.		www.paralympic.org.uk
	
UK PARALYMPIC ASSOCIATION	
	Sport for All
	Welcome to the homepage of the Paralympics
	Everyone has heard of the Olympic Games, a sporting competition between different nations every four years.
	But have you heard of the Paralympic Games?
	These are held in the same city as the main games but they are for athletes with disabilities. They are called the Paralympics because they are ‘parallel’ to the Olympic Games.

		www.paralympic.org.uk
	
UK PARALYMPIC ASSOCIATION	
	History
	The first international games for disabled athletes were held in 1952.
	In the 1960 games in Rome, approximately 400 competitors from 23 countries took part.
	Almost 4000 athletes competed at the Sydney games in 2000, representing 122 nations.
	The next games are to be held in Athens during 2004. More than 4000 athletes from about 130 countries are expected to take part.

		www.paralympic.org.uk
	
UK PARALYMPIC ASSOCIATION	
	Range of Sports
	Eighteen different sports are played at the Paralympics. Most are adaptations of sports also played at the Olympics, including:
Basketball	a wheelchair version of basketball	
Archery	a version of archery
with arrows shot at
an extra-large target	

	The other four sports have been specially devised for disabled people. These four ‘unique’ sports are:
Boccia	a sport based on an ancient Greek
ball-tossing game	
Goalball	a goal-scoring team game with
blindfolded players	
Powerlifting	an individual event of strength;
athletes lie on a bench and lift a
weighted bar	
Wheelchair Rugby	a team game combining the rules
and skills of basketball and rugby
played with a volleyball	

3.	These questions are about the information Sport for All.
1.	In which year did the first international games for disabled athletes take place?
............................................................
1 mark
2.	Fill in the table using the information about the Paralympic Games on the second page.
Year	Place	Number of
athletes	Number of countries	
1960	Rome			
2004		4000		
2 marks
3.	Which of the sports mentioned in Range of Sports (third page)
were specially created for disabled players?
Tick two.
	Basketball
	Wheelchair Rugby
	Archery
	Volleyball
	Powerlifting
2 marks

4.	Each section of the information on the third page has a different function.
	Label each arrow with the correct letter:
a)	A – phrase defining the sport
	B – web-link
	C – heading

1 mark
b)	What is the function of D
(the two lines of text in the middle of the list of sports)?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
1 mark

4.		www.paralympic.org.uk
	
UK PARALYMPIC ASSOCIATION	
	Range of Sports
	Goalball Scores!
	Fast, furious, skilful and fun! That’s the way people describe goalball, a sport that is winning new fans every day.
It’s a thrilling indoor game for teams of three. The aim is to score by getting the ball over the opposing team’s goal line.
	But this is no ordinary ball. So that sighted and blind people can play on equal terms, all players have to be blindfolded, and it is the rattling sound produced by the ball that guides them through the game. The spectators of this sport have to remain totally silent during the match so that the players can concentrate on listening to the sound of the ball. There’s no other sport quite like it.
“Goalball’s really exciting – you’re not allowed to keep the ball for more than eight seconds, and that makes the game move fast. We hear some special protective gear because the ball is quite hard. I’ve had a few bruises! My team practises every Saturday and I always look forward to it.”	
Paul Dobson, goalball player	

5.	These questions are about the information Sport for All.
1.	Use the information in Goalball Scores! to complete these instructions.
How to play goalball
Equipment:
·  ......................................................................................................
·  ......................................................................................................
Rules of the game:
·  ......................................................................................................
    ......................................................................................................
·  ......................................................................................................
    ......................................................................................................	
3 marks
2.		Fast, furious, skilful and fun!
	Why do you think the writer described goalball in this way?
Explain as fully as you can.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2 marks

3.	The last paragraph has been put in a shaded box.
“Goalball’s really exciting – you’re not allowed to keep the ball for more than eight seconds and that makes the game move fast. We wear some special protective gear because the ball is quite hard. I’ve had a few bruises! My team practises every Saturday and I always look forward to it.”	
Paul Dobson, goalball player	
	What is this paragraph?
Tick one.
	a commentary	
	a summary	
	a personal opinion	
	a synopsis	
1 mark

6.		www.gbwbf.org.uk
British Wheelchair Basketball Forum

19/03/2004
Latest Sports Report	

Eagles			Silver Arrows	

Close
Contest
The Woodbridge Arena was buzzing last night as this year’s basketball championships reached their climax, writes John Wilkinson.		
	The favourites made their mark early on and set the pace for the game as the Eagles struggled against the superior height of Johnson and Murray. The pair dominated the passing and made sure the Arrows ended their second quarter with an overwhelming 34 point lead.
	Rob Lane’s long passes brought the Eagles back to life just after the break and upset the opposition for a time.
	But the Arrows kept their nerve to secure a narrow victory.
	Gomez, the victorious captain, later praised the newly redesigned wheelchairs the team are trying out. “We really noticed the extra flexibility of the wheels. It made turning easier and that helped our confidence.”
	The future of the game certainly looks bright an the evidence of this final.

7.	These questions are about the information Sport for All.
1.	Fill in the following table of information about the event reported in Close Contest.
What was the event?	...................basketball final..................	
On what date was the event held?	..................................................................	
Where was the event held?	..................................................................	
2 marks
2.	Close Contest is a report of a match between disabled players.
How do you know the players are disabled?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
1 mark
3.	Close Contest is a sports report which includes specialist sports language.
Explain the meaning of the phrases listed.
One has been done for you.
Specialist sports language		Explanation	
the favourites		.....the team that people.................	
		.....expected to win.........................	
dominated the passing		.........................................................	
		.........................................................	
the opposition		.........................................................	
		.........................................................	
2 marks
4.	What features of the text tell you that it has only just been written?
Find two.
1. ................................................................................................................................
2. ................................................................................................................................
2 marks

8.	You Can Do It
by Theresa Breslin
	‘Fiona, for goodness’ sake, hurry up!’
	Her mother’s voice, sharp with annoyance, sounded all the way up the stairs to the attic. Fiona scowled and stuck her chin out. ‘Do this, Fiona. Take that, Fiona. Bring this downstairs. Carry that upstairs. Don’t slouch about, Fiona. We don’t have much time.’
	Fiona picked up the last of the boxes she was bringing down from the attic, and as she did so, it burst. Without warning it gave way, spewing bills, old photographs, postcards and letters all over the floor. She gazed down in bewilderment at the mess.
	She disliked change, she decided, as she gazed at the chaotic pile of papers at her feet, and this change she especially hated. Moving Grampa out of his big old house into that flat. There was never going to be enough space for all his things, and hardly enough room for her to stay every weekend with him as she had done ever since she was small. As she knelt down and began to gather up some of the bits and pieces, she heard her mother’s voice again.

	‘Fiona! Come down this minute!’
	Fiona dropped the papers she had in her hand and went to the door.
	‘Coming,’ she shouted.
	She trudged down the narrow attic stairs. She could see her mother’s face peering up at her from the stairwell.
	‘Whatever is keeping you up there? We’ll have to leave now. I don’t want to have Grampa waiting too long on his own at the new flat.’
	Fiona walked down the next flight of stairs to the bottom hall. She passed her father on his way out to the back garden.
	‘Are you going with your mum?’ he asked.
	Fiona shrugged. ‘Looks like it,’ she said.
	She went out of the front door and helped bundle some boxes and carrier bags into her mother’s car.

	‘You won’t be able to get in here now, Fiona. You’ll have to stay with your dad and come on later,’ her mum was saying.
	Fiona watched her mother drive off and then went slowly back upstairs. Her dad must still be sorting out the contents of the shed. She had time to go back up to the attic and gather up the broken box. It was mainly photographs which had spilled out. Memories of her Grampa’s, life and family.
	There was an old one of him in uniform. She picked it up and squinted at it.
	He smiled out at her. A strong face with a dark moustache. Fiona sighed. He wasn’t like that any more. Not since a stroke(*) had left him with shaky legs and quivering muscles.
	She decided to get a box to put the photographs in. She twisted round and ran to the stairs.
	‘Those who hurry fastest are the first to fall’ was one of her Grampa’s sayings, and it was as if she heard him saying it now, right out loud in her ear as she stumbled on the top step. Seconds later she landed with a crash at the foot of the stairs. Her head hurt, her bottom hurt and her legs throbbed painfully.

(*) A stroke is a sudden illness affecting parts of the brain, which can cause speech difficulties and loss of feeling in the body.

	Fiona was quite alone in the big empty house. She started to get up. Her legs were caught underneath her body and she tried to heave herself up and straighten them out.
	‘Oww,’ she yelped. A stabbing pain flared in her knees. She moved again, this time more carefully.
	The pain was terrible. There were tears crowding in behind her eyelids and her hands were shaking. When she tried to move, both legs hurt badly.
	‘Now what am I going to do?’ Fiona asked herself, looking at the steep, uneven stairs below. She couldn’t stand up. She was a prisoner.
	Both her parents were so busy at the moment with Grampa being unwell and moving house, that they might not realise anything was wrong, not for a while anyway. But then, Fiona thought, there was someone who usually noticed immediately that she wasn’t around. Grampa. Well, he used to, anyway. Things were different now.

	The first day he had come home from hospital she hadn’t recognised the sick old man whose clothes seemed too big for him. She had pictured herself helping him get better, sorting his cushions, picking flowers for his room. She imagined him smiling and saying, ‘Thank you, Fiona’. Then they would play cards and she would win most of the games. But it hadn’t been like that at all. He sat slumped in his chair by the fire most of the day, his eyes were vague and sometimes he dribbled his food. Just like a baby!
	She didn’t want to sit on the little stool beside his chair and talk. His eyes were always sad, and he hardly ever answered anyone anyway. ‘He’s not even trying,’ Fiona’s mum complained. ‘He’s supposed to exercise his fingers and practise those words, but he just sits all day.’

	As the weeks passed and he didn’t get much better, he finally agreed to sell the big house and move closer to the rest of the family.
	Fiona looked at her watch and groaned. She might have to wait ages before Mum or Dad came. She moved her position. Something was pressing into her back. Something hard with sharp corners. It was a photograph album. Carefully written on the front in her Grampa’s writing was

	Fiona made a face. She hated baby photographs of herself. Still... it would pass the time, and take her mind off the pain. She flicked it open. There was one of Grampa with his arm around her as she stood in the swimming pool. It seemed silly now she was older, but she had been scared to stand by herself in the water. Her legs had trembled as she stepped away from the tiled side.

	‘You can do it, Fiona,’ Grampa’s voice whispered in her ear. ‘You can do it.’ And he had steadied her until she was confident enough to stand on her own. ‘Thanks, Grampa,’ she’d said. And he had pulled her hair and said, ‘What are friends for?’
	What were friends for? Helping each other, she supposed. She could do with some help now... and so could he, she suddenly thought.
	A friend to help him now that he had trembling legs, now that he was unsure, with no confidence, maybe a little scared of trying. Fiona felt more tears coming, and this time she didn’t stop them.

	And she was still tearful, with a grubby, streaked face, when she heard the back door open an hour or so later.
	‘Dad! Dad!’ she yelled frantically as he ran up the stairs.
	‘You poor thing!’ he cried when he saw her.
(* * * * * *)

	They got back from the hospital at six o’clock.
	Grampa was sitting in his chair, hands resting on each knee. He looked up as Fiona came in. His eyes followed her as she limped slowly across the room.
	‘I suppose neither of us will be able to manage stairs for a while.’ Fiona sat down beside him. ‘How about a trade?’ she suggested. ‘I borrow your wheelchair, and you get a turn of my crutches?’
	The old man looked at her uncertainly. Fiona giggled.
	‘We could have races,’ she said. She looked at him, full in the face, the first time she had done so since he had been in hospital.

	‘Where’s your mirror?’ she asked.
	‘Mirror?’ he repeated.
	‘You’re meant to have a hand mirror by your chair and do your vowel sounds every day,’ she said. ‘You’ve not been doing them, have you?’ He shook his head slowly.
	‘Well, it’s not good enough,’ said Fiona. ‘We’ll have to make a start right away.’ Then she winked at him, and leaning forward close to his head, she whispered.
	‘You can do it, Grampa. You can do it.’

9.	These questions are about the story You Can Do It.
	Choose the best group of words to fit the passage and put a ring around your choice.
	Fiona’s grandfather was moving out of his big old house because he had been ill. While she was helping to pack up his belongings Fiona came across a photograph of
1.	
1 mark
	As she was sorting things out, Fiona fell down the stairs and hurt her legs.
	She couldn’t move and as she was waiting for help she found
2.	
1 mark
	While Fiona waited she remembered how Grampa had
3.	
	when she was younger.
1 mark
	Fiona waited for a long time but then her dad came into the house and found her
4.	 at the foot of
	the stairs. He took her to hospital where she was treated.
1 mark
	Then they went to
5.	
1 mark
6.	Why did Fiona’s mother feel annoyed at the beginning of the story?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
1 mark

7.	Fiona did not like Grampa’s new flat because she disliked change.
Find another reason why she disliked the flat.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
1 mark
8.	Grampa said to Fiona,
	‘Those who hurry fastest are the first to fall.’
	Explain what he meant.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2 marks
9.	… pain flared in her knees.
	Why is this an effective way of describing how Fiona felt after she fell down the stairs?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2 marks
10.	When the box split open:
	It was mainly photographs which had spilled out.
Memories of her Grampa’s life and family.
There was an old one of him in uniform …
A strong face with a dark moustache.
	Why do you think the author included these details about how Grampa used to look?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2 marks

11.	But it hadn’t been like that at all.
	What does this sentence tell you about Fiona’s feelings after Grampa came out of hospital?
Explain your answer fully.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
3 marks
12.	Just after he came out of hospital, Grampa felt depressed.
	How do you know?
	Find and write down two pieces of evidence.
1. ................................................................................................................................
2. ................................................................................................................................
2 marks
13.	How does Fiona’s accident change how she feels about Grampa?
	Explain your answer as fully as you can, using parts of the story to help you.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
3 marks

14.	Many people write down their thoughts and feelings in their diary.
	What do you think Fiona might have written in her diary after visiting Grampa two weeks after he had moved to his new flat?
	Think about:
·	what she thought of the flat;
·	her friendship with Grampa.

3 marks

15.	a)	What made Fiona remember things that happened in the past?
...................................................................................................................................
1 mark
b)	Why are Fiona’s memories important to this story?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2 marks

10.	The reading booklet contains some information about sport called Sport for All and a story called You Can Do It.
	Why do you think You Can Do It was chosen as a title for the whole reading booklet?
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
3 marks