GENERAL PAPER 8806/01

Transcription

1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE in coaboation with UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE Genea Cetificate of Education Advanced Leve Highe GENERAL PAPER 8806/0 Pape Octobe/Novembe 2008 hou 30 minutes Additiona Mateias: Answe Pape READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Wite you Cente numbe. index numbe and name on a the wok you hand in. Wite in dak bue o back pen on both sides of the pape. Do not use stapes, pape cips. highightes, gue o coection fuid. Answe one question. Note that 20 maks out of 50 wi be awaded fo you use of anguage. At the end of the examination. fasten a you wok secuey togethe. A questions in this pape cay equa maks. ~~GA'!IBAB,.-." ~ 'ijii Singapoe Examinations and Assessment Boad.~ This document consists of 2 pinted pages. UNIVERSITYofCAMBRIDGE Intenationa Examinations UCLES &MOE 2008 [Tun ove

2 2 Answe one question. Answes shoud be between 500 and 800 wods in ength. Does the pesence of a foeign powe eve hep a county with pobems? ~ I J 2 How impotant ae deams? 3 'The moe science advances, the moe eigion wi decine.' To what extent do you agee? 4 How fa do physica featues, such as size and ocation, detemine a county's pogess? 5 'Nowadays, the peasues of eading can neve compete with the peasues of visua entetainment.' To what extent do you agee? 6 To what extent does the migation of peope have a positive effect? 7 'Ai tave shoud be discouaged, not pomoted.' To what extent do you agee? 8 Many deveoped counties ae paying inceasing attention to the needs of the disadvantaged. How fa is this tue in Singapoe? 9 Discuss the view that too much faith is paced in statistics. 0 'Contempoay music has no atistic vaue.' Is this a fai comment? How fa is it possibe to ensue that a poduces offood and goods ae faiy ewaded? 2 To what extent is design impotant in you society?,i,.i,) I J i! ~ J!,I Pemission to epoduce items whee thid-paty owned mateia potected by copyight is incuded has been sought and ceaed whee possibe. Evey easonabe effot has been made by the pubishe (UCLES) to tace copyight hodes. but if any items equiing ceaance have unwiingy been incuded. the pubishewi be peased to make amends at the eaiest possibe oppotunity. Univesity of Cambidge Intenationa Examinations is pat of the Cambidge Assessment Goup. Cambidge Assessment is the band name of Univesity of Cambidge Loca Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). which is itsef a depatment of the Univesity of Cambidge. UCLES &MOE /0/0/N/08 I

3 = 0== ~- ==== --- ()Q _A_d_d_ tio_n_a_i_m_a_te_i_a_s: I_n_se_t READ CANDIDATE NAME CENTRE NUMBER MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE in coaboation with UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE Genea Cetificate of Education Advanced Leve Highe s GENERAL PAPER Pape 2 Candidates answe on the Question Pape. THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST INDEX NUMBER [[]]] 8806/02 Octobe/Novembe 2008 Wite you Cente numbe, index numbe and name on a the wok you hand in. Wite in dak bue o back pen on both sides of the pape. Do not use stapes, pape cips, highightes, gue o coection fuid. ~\~ ~~ ~~~. Answe a questions. The Inset contains the passages fo compehension. Note that 5 maks out of 50 wi be awaded fo you use of anguage. At the end ofthe examination, fasten a you wok secuey togethe. The numbe of maks is given in backets [ ] at the end of each question o pat question. hou 30 minutes Fo Examine's Use Content /35 _ { Language /5 Tota /50, L This document consists of7 pinted pages and bank page and Inset..-""'''\. I!IMB,...", ~ CiVi) Singapoe Examinations and Assessment Boad. UCES & MOE 2008 UNIVERSITYofCAMBRIDGE :.: Intenationa Examinations [Tun ove

4 Read the passages in the Inset and then answe a the questions. Note that up to fifteen maks wi be given fo the quaity and accuacy ofyou use ofengish thoughout this Pape. NOTE: When a question asks fo an answe IN YOUR OWN WORDS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE and you seect the appopiate mateia fom the passage fo you answe, you must sti use you own wods to expess it. Litte cedit can be given fo answes which ony copy wods o phases fom the passage. Fom Passage What is the diffeence between histoy and what histoians study, accoding to paagaph? [ ] 2 What is meant by 'achiva evidence' (ine 5)? How might its 'dissemination' stimuate new intepetations of histoy?... [2] 3 What do the wods 'o indeed impose' (ine 8) te you about human natue? In paagaph 3, Anna Banatvaa gives fou possibe expanations of histoy in a seies of fou questions. Which expanation woud suppot the idea of humans possessing fee wi?... What do you undestand by 'the annihiation of distance' in ine 44? [2] [ ] [] Fo \ Examine, Use. UCLES & MOE /02/0/N/08

5 3 6 Using mateia fom paagaphs 2 to 6, summaise what Anna Banatvaa has to say about the vaue and attactions of the study of histoy, both geneay and especiay in today's wod. Wite you summay in no moe than 20 wods, not counting the opening wods which ae pinted beow. Use you own wods as fa as possibe. Fo Examine's Use Athough histoy has aways been a vauabe and attactive study,, [8] UCLES & MOE /02/0/N/08 [Tun ove

6 4 Fom Passage 2 7 'the ony esson to be eant fom histoy is that 'thee ae no essons to be eant fom histoy' (ines 7-8). Expain why this is a paadox , [] 8 What kind of 'natua happenings' (ine 9) may Lee Min Yen be thinking of, and how do they suppot his agument?... [2] 9 Expain in you own wods as fa as possibe why Lee Min Yen thinks it unnecessay to 'keep aive the memoy of fome conficts and atocities' (ines - 2) Expain in you own wods as fa as possibe how and why 'Evey age, evey county, ewites histoy to suit its needs' (ine 26) UCLES &MOE /02/0/N/08 [2] [2] Fo "\ Examine,, Use,!

7 5 Fom both passages Give the meaning of the foowing wods as they ae used in the passages. Use one wod o a shot phase. Fo Examine's Use (a) pesumptuous (Passage, ine 4) (b) cude (Passage, ine 4) : (c) detemined (Passage, ine 25)... (d) inticatey (Passage, ine 42),. (e) popaganda (Passage 2, ine 30)... [5] UCLES & MOE /02/0/N/08 [Tun ove

8 2 Anna Banatvaa thinks an undestanding of histoy is essentia, wheeas Lee Min Yen thinks histoy has no vaue. How impotant is an undestanding of histoy fo you and you society, and how fa has you view been chaenged o confimed by these two passages? Fo Examine's I UCLES & MOE /02/0/N/08

9 7.... Fo Examine's Use UCLES &MOE /02/0/N/08 [8]

10 8 BLANK PAGE.,) Pemission to epoduce items whee thid-paty owned mateia potected by copyight is incuded has been sought and ceaed whee possibe. Evey easonabe effot has been made by the pubishe (UCLES) to tace copyight hodes, but if any items equiing ceaance have unwittingy been incuded, the pubishe wi be peased to make amends at the eaiest possibe oppotunity. Univesity of Cambidge Intenationa Examinations is pat of the Cambidge Assessment Goup. Cambidge Assessment is the band name of Univesity of Cambidge Loca Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itsef a depatment of the Univesity of Cambidge. 8806/02/0/N/08 }

11 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE in coaboation with UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE Genea Cetificate of Education Advanced Leve Highe GENERAL PAPER 8806/02 Pape 2 INSERT READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This Inset contains the passages fo Pape 2.! Octobe/Novembe 2008 hou 30 minutes I MB,...", "..""" ~?,)[\ Singapoe Examinations and Assessment Boad.~ UCLES & MOE 2008 This document consists of 3 pinted pages and bank page. UNIVERSITYof CAMBRIDGE Intenationa Examinations [Tun ove

12 2 THE PAST Passage. Anna Banatva/a thinks eveyone shoud take an inteest in the past. Eveything that has eve happened is histoy - the past. It begins with the oigins of ou soa system, the bith and physica changes of ou panet and the evoution of ife foms on its suface, and extends to the headines in this moning's newspape. Pehaps it woud be a itte pesumptuous fo histoians to caim a this 'past' as thei fied of study. In fact, we ae happy to eave whoe aeas of it to the ikes of astonomes, geoogists and zooogists who 5 investigate what is sometimes caed 'natua' histoy whie we confine ou attention to 'human' histoy. Not eveyone is fotunate enough to be abe to devote thei ives to this study. But I fimy beieve that eveyone shoud have some knowedge of the past, as membes of a famiy, as citizens in a community o as 2st centuy inhabitants of panet Eath. 0 2 Thee has neve been a bette time, and neve a moe ugent need, to expoe ou past than exists today. Technoogies such as aeia mapping, cabon dating, thema imaging and deep-sea submesibes affod histoians fa geate oppotunities to ecove the distant past than the cude shoves and diving bes of thei pedecessos. Futhemoe, the use of advanced technoogy to stoe, cataogue and disseminate achiva evidence moe efficienty 5 is stimuating new intepetations of the histoy of ou panet. 3 'Intepeting' the past is, in fact, the essentia business of the histoian, who is esponding to one of the most fundamenta of human instincts: the desie to discove - o indeed impose some kind of ode on the seemingy haphazad ebb and fow of happening. Is thee a discenibe movement towads an eve-impoving condition of the human ace, which may 20 be diviney panned o simpy the inevitabe outcome of a mateia pocess of evoution? Has the couse of wod events been pimaiy infuenced by the acts of gifted individuas, be they uthess conqueos o sainty visionaies, whose wods and deeds have changed the wod map and inspied the beiefs and daiy ives of succeeding geneations? Is ou histoy detemined fo us by cimatic, topogaphica and economic foces which dictate what we do 25 and what we ae? O is histoy an endess cyce of ecuing - and theefoe pedictabe events accoding to the dominance of negative, feminine, dak Yin o its Yang opposite? 4 Whethe o not we find a satisfying expanation of the past, ou study satisfies anothe basic need - cuiosity. It is pesent in ou desie to find out about ou famiy and the pace whee we ive. Accoding to how we spend ou eisue, we might be inteested in the histoies of 30 jazz, o of footba, o of food. Aways we ask, "What came befoe this?" Put togethe, these vaious stoies amount to the cutua histoy of the paticua society we ive in, and this shaed knowedge of what ou pedecessos thought and did in thei eveyday ives is essentia if we ae to have a sense of common identity. 5 Reassuingy, we discove that undeneath supeficia diffeences eaie geneations wee 35 vey ike ouseves, and it is this continuity of human expeience which is the basis of anothe of the benefits of histoy: given that simia causes poduce simia esuts, it can teach us how to avoid thei mistakes and inspie us to emuate thei tiumphs. Fo the beneficia changes they bought about teach us that we do not have to put up with things as they ae, and this gives us the humiity to ecognize that ou geate knowedge does not 40 make us any wise than ou ancestos. 6 Technoogy is apidy knitting the eath's inhabitants togethe moe inticatey, but they emain fa fom united poiticay. We ae sti stanges to each othe in ou oca ways of ife estabished befoe the annihiation of distance. We must gow into something ike a singe famiy o we wi annihiate ouseves, and it is ony by undestanding ou vaious 45 'famiy' histoies that we can ean to ive togethe in toeance and mutua espect. ':: (, UCLES & MOE /02NSERT/O/N/08

13 ',',:",',I:! I' '/", II :, ',""i,"! i ::'','", 3 Passage 2. Lee Min Yen takes a diffeent view of studying the past. Most peope know two things about Heny Fod. He buit the fist mass-poduced popua ca and famousy wote in 96: 'Histoy is moe o ess bunk... we want to ive in the pesent...'. Though they woud pobaby say 'ubbish' instead of the sang wod of Fod's time, his sentiments woud be echoed by geneations of boed schoochiden stuffed with dates and 'souces' and 'conside-the-causes-and-effects-of essays. 5 2 Histoians often caim that they ook backwad in ode to show the est of us the way fowad. Bunk! Paadoxicay, the ony esson to be eant fom histoy is that thee ae no essons to be eant fom histoy. The daiy inteactions of the biions of peope on ou panet - not to speak of the equay unpedictabe natua happenings on and ove its suface - poduce an infinitey compex web of causes and effects which ae whoy 0 unepeatabe. You often hea it said that we shoud keep aive the memoy of fome conficts and atocities to pevent them happening again. I don't think so. The descendants of fome aggessos and victims happiy visit each othe's counties with no feeings of guit o esentment about thei ancestos' histoy. As someone said: 'The past is a foeign county; they do things diffeenty thee.' 5 3 The histoy of the vey wod 'histoy' is eveaing. It oiginay meant the naative of mythica o aegedy factua events, but gaduay changed to mean the subject of the naative. Its abbeviated fom - stoy - is now used excusivey fo fiction. As if thee is any diffeence! The futhe we get fom the past, the moe histoians have to specuate and fi the gaps with pobabiities, theoies, hetoic and pue invention. It's entetaining stuff but 20 et's not petend that histoy is anything moe than stoies based on facts. Even the detais of events occuing within iving memoy, such as the tagic deaths of Pincess Diana and Pesident Kennedy, ae sti hoty disputed, despite the mass of evidence that has accumuated aound them, and these facts ae subject to diffeent intepetations accoding to the pejudice of the commentato A histoy is biased. Evey age, evey county, ewites histoy to suit its needs - at wost by fasifying the ecod, as in the fictiona wod of Owe's book 984 o the eaity of the Nanjing Massace, o by seection and omission to justify cuent poicies and suit the pevaiing cimate of ideas. This is hamess enough, but it becomes dangeous when distoted and patia histoy becomes the basis of popaganda to whip up nationaist o 30 eigious hateds. 5 Yesteday has happened - it's a safe pace to be. If you ae a timid, cautious, unadventuous sot of peson, take up histoy. You can meande ound museums, o uminate in uins, and you won't get mugged o bown up. But ife is not fo the faintheated. We don't know what wi happen tomoow: it may bing something deadfu, it 35 may offe something exciting and wondefu. But whateve it is, histoy won't hep us to cope with it. In this extaodinay centuy, which wi be quite unike anything that has gone befoe, we need to focus a ou facuties on the way ahead. UCLES & MOE B06/02NSERTIOIN/OB

14 4 BLANK PAGE Univesity of Cambidge Intenationa Examinations is pat of the Cambidge Assessment Goup. Cambidge Assessment is the band name of Univesity of Cambidge Loca' Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itsef a depatment ofthe Univesity of Cambidge. 8806/02NSERTIOINIOB