GOZO COLLEGE HALF YEARLY EXAMINATIONS 2017 YEAR 6 ENGLISH TIME: 50 mins READING COMPREHENSION STUDENT S PAPER NAME: CLASS: Total: 30 marks
Reading Comprehension 1 (6 marks) Look at this invitation carefully. Read it and then work out the exercises that follow. Come and have a splash! Simon is turning 10! Pizza, cake and waterslide fun! On the 13 th of July from 3.00pm onwards At Splish Splash Waterpark Malta Pizza, snacks and cake will be served! If you cannot come, please sms Sarah on 99887766 Don t forget your swimsuit, towel and sun cream and please remember to present this invitation at the entrance. See you there! Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 2
1. Fill in the blanks: (1 x 2 = 2 marks) a) is having a birthday party. b) The party is going to be on the. 2. Fill in with a word from the invitation: (½ x 4 = 2 marks) a) The party will begin at b) The children will be able to eat, and. 3. Read the following sentences. Put a T if the sentence is true, an F if it is false and an NIG if there is no information given: (½ X 4 = 2 marks) a) Simon s mother will be bringing the sun cream. b) The party is at a waterpark. c) Simon s birthday is during the summer. d) The party is going to be on a Saturday. Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 3
Reading Comprehension 2 (24 marks) Adapted from the BFG by Roald Dahl Read the following passage which has been divided into sections to help you. Then, answer the questions that follow each section. Section 1 Sophie couldn t sleep. A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on her pillow. The other children in her hall had been asleep for hours. Sophie closed her eyes and lay quite still. She tried very hard to doze off. It was no good. The moonbeam was like a silver blade slicing through the room on her face. (paragraph 1) The orphanage was absolutely silent. No voices were heard from downstairs and there were no footsteps on the floor above either. The window from behind the curtain was wide open, but nobody was walking on the pavement outside. No cars went by on the street. Not the tiniest sound could be heard anywhere. Sophie had never known such a silence. (paragraph 2) Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour. The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves. (paragraph 3) The moonbeam was brighter than ever on Sophie s pillow. She decided to get out of bed and close the gap in the curtains. Children got punished if they were caught out of bed after lights-out. But there was no one about now, Sophie was sure of that. Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 4
She reached out for her glasses that lay on the chair beside her bed. They had a steel rim and very thick lenses and she could hardly see a thing without them. She put them on, then slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to the window. (paragraph 4) Questions on Section 1 Answer the following Questions: 1. Where did the story take place? (1 mark) 2. Why did they call it the witching hour? (1 mark) 3. State whether these statements are True or False (½ X 4 = 2 marks) a. It was pitch black in Sophie s bedroom. b. Sophie heard footsteps from the storey above her. c. Sophie fell asleep easily. d. Sophie was used to this kind of silence. 4. Why did Sophie wear thick lenses? (1 mark) Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 5
5. Why did Sophie decide to get out of bed? (1 mark) 6. Why do you think Sophie tiptoed out of bed? (1 mark) Section 2 When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. Quickly she ducked under the curtains and leaned out of the window. In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well seemed completely different. The houses looked bent and crooked, like houses in a fairy tale. Everything was pale and ghostly and milkywhite. (paragraph 5) Across the road she could see Mrs Rance s shop, where you bought buttons and wool and bits of elastic. It didn t look real. There was something dim and misty about that too. (paragraph 6) Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the opposite side. (paragraph 7) It was something black Something tall and black Something very tall and very black and very thin. It was four times as tall as the tallest human. It was so tall its head was higher than the upstairs windows of the houses. Sophie opened her mouth to scream, but no scream came out. Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright. (paragraph 8) Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 6
This was the witching hour all right. The tall black figure was coming her way. On and on it came, nearer and nearer. It would stop, then it would move on, then it would stop again. What on earth was it doing? It was stopping in front of each house. It would stop and look into the upstairs window of each house in the street. It actually had to bend down to look into the upstairs windows. That s how tall it was. (paragraph 9) It was much closer now and Sophie could see it more quickly. Looking at it carefully, she decided it had to be some kind of PERSON. Obviously it was not human. But it was definitely a person. A giant person, perhaps. (paragraph 10) Sophie stared hard across the misty moonlit street. The Giant was wearing a long black cloak. In one hand, he was holding what looked like a very long, thin trumpet. In the other hand, he held a large suitcase. (paragraph 11) The Giant was peering through the window into the room where Michael and Jane Goochey were sleeping. From across the street, Sophie watched and held her breath. (paragraph 12) In the moonlight, Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long pale wrinkly face with the most enormous ears! The nose was as sharp as a knife, and above the nose there were two bright flashing eyes, and the eyes were staring straight at Sophie! (paragraph 13) Sophie gave a yelp and pulled back from the window. She flew across the dormitory and jumped into her bed and hid under the blanket. There, she crouched, still as a mouse, and tingling all over. (paragraph 14) Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 7
Questions on Section 2 Answer the following Questions: 7. What could you buy from Mrs. Rance s shop? (1 mark) 8. Why did the village street look different? (2 marks) 9. Explain this phrase in your own words Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright. (par. 8) (2 marks) 10. Why did the figure stop in front of each house? (2 marks) 11. How do we know that the black figure was very tall? (2 marks) 12. Did the giant see Sophie? How do you know? (2 marks) 13. Why do you think Sophie ran across the room and hid under the blanket? (2 marks) Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 8
14. Fill in with one word from the passage: (½ X 4 = 2 marks) The Giant s face was wrinkly and, its ears were. Its nose was so pointed that it looked like a sharp and its eyes were flashing and. 15. Give another word for the following words to show their meaning as used in the passage (words taken from both Section A and Section B). These words are underlined and in bold in the passage): (½ x 4 = 2 marks) a) brilliant: b) floor: c) rim: d) yelp: Half Yearly Examination Paper 2017 English Reading Comprehension Student s Paper Year 6 Page 9