Review and Practice worksheet

Read Text A, and then answer Questions 1(a)–1(e) on the question paper/ in your English books.

Text A: Project Mammoth

This text is an article about a new scientific project.

Of all the incredible possibilities presented by controversial new scientific techniques, perhaps the
most intriguing are efforts to bring animals back from extinction. Candidates for ‘de-extinction’, as the
process is known, include species like the passenger pigeon (the last one died in captivity in 1914)
and the dodo (last seen in 1662).

These projects are not just distant dreams. 5

Scientists working on such projects estimate that a variation of the first new woolly mammoth (which
disappeared some 4 000 years ago) may soon be born. They hope these animals will play a role in
slowing or reversing the effects of climate change.

The basic idea behind how it would work is that scientists would first retrieve DNA from the remains
of a woolly mammoth that had been preserved for centuries in the frozen tundra1 and 10
use that to alter the DNA of modern Asian elephants. According to scientists, the two species are so
closely related that if mammoths were alive today, they could successfully breed with elephants.
Tweaking the Asian elephants’ DNA to more closely resemble that of their ancient relatives could
mean elephants might be able to give birth to a furrier, fattier hybrid.

Scientists say this work is decidedly not about creating Mammoth Park – the creature would not 15
be a perfect copy of a mammoth anyway. The hope is that these mammoth-like Asian elephants will
be more resistant to cold and will repopulate the tundra and coniferous forest in Eurasia and North
America. Scientists feel that this will help to protect endangered Asian elephants and revive an ancient
grassland in the tundra, which could prevent the melting of Siberia’s permafrost.

The project is not without its critics who claim the idea is no more than a gimmick, seducing 20
scientists into thinking they are saving the world and distracting us from guaranteeing our planet’s
biodiversity for future generations with promises of being able to fix mistakes later.

Scientists defending the idea explain, ‘We’re just bringing DNA back from the past to improve modern
survival and diversity. The Asian elephant faces threats to its existence – it’s going extinct, just like
the mammoth did, and mainly because of humans. Bits of mammoth DNA can 25
give them a better chance of survival.’

1
tundra: a vast treeless plain in the Arctic where the subsoil is permanently frozen
Question 1

(a) Give two examples of extinct species (other than the mammoth) according to the text.

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(b) Using your own words, explain what the text means by:

(i) ‘candidates for “de-extinction”’ (line 2):

.............................................................................................................................................[2]

(ii) ‘not just distant dreams.’ (line 5):

................................................................................................................................................[2]

(c) Re-read paragraph 3, (‘Scientists working on such projects … climate change.’).

Give two reasons why scientists might be excited by the possible birth of a woolly mammoth.

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(d) Re-read paragraphs 4 and 5, (‘The basic idea … Siberia’s permafrost.’).

(i) Identify two main tasks that scientists will need to complete in order to breed the hybrid.

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………………………………………………………………………………………………………....[2]

(ii) Explain why Asian elephants were chosen for Project Mammoth.

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 (e) Re-read paragraphs 6 and 7, (‘The project is not without ... chance of survival.’).

Using your own words, explain why some people disagree with Project Mammoth.

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Read Text-B, The Gift, and then answer Questions 1(a)–(d) on the question paper/ your books.

Text B: The Gift

This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point in the story, it is the night of Natalia’s sixteenth
birthday. Her grandfather, a doctor, has arrived back late at night from visiting patients. He has woken
Natalia and asked her to follow him quietly through the streets of their city.

We were nearing the end of our side street and I assumed the silence of our walk would be shattered
by the bustle along the tramway. But when we got there, nothing, not even a single passing car. Every
window was dark. The hazy moon seemed to gather the silence up around it like a net. Not a sound:
no sirens, no rats in the bins that lined the street. My grandfather
stopped, looked up and down the street, then turned left. 5
‘It’s not far now,’ he said.
I caught up with him long enough to see that he was smiling. ‘Not far to where?’ I said, out of breath,
angry. I drew myself up and stopped. ‘I’m not going any further until you tell me.’
He turned to look at me, indignant. ‘Lower your voice you fool,’ he hissed. Suddenly his arms
went over his head in a wide arc. ‘Can’t you feel it? No one in the world awake but us.’ And off he
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went again.
We passed empty windows of shops that had gone out of business; lightless buildings; a beggar
sleeping so soundly that I would have thought him dead if I hadn’t realised that the moment had closed
around us, making everything still.
Suddenly grandfather stopped ahead of me and stood, pointing into the distance, his hand 15
shaking with excitement. ‘There,’ he said. ‘Look!’
I peered out into the street. On the other side, there was a street lamp with a dying bulb. I was opening
my mouth to say ‘What?’ and then I saw it. Half a block from us, an enormous shadow
was moving along the street. 20
At first I thought it was a tram, but its shape was too organic, too lumpy, and it was going far too slowly
for that, making almost no noise. It was swaying, swaying up the street with an even momentum in a
rolling motion that was drawing it away from us like a tide, and every time it rocked forward, something
about it made a soft dragging sound on the rails. As we watched, the
thing sucked in air and then let out a deep groan. 25
‘That’s an elephant!’ I said.
© UCLES 2017 0500/01/SP/20
 My grandfather said nothing. His glasses had fogged up during the walk, but he wasn’t taking them off
to wipe them. He took my hand; we watched the animal.
Its ears were folded back against the domed, bouldered head with big-lidded eyes; the arched
roll of the spine fell away into the hips; dry folds of skin shook around the shoulders and knees 30
as it shifted its weight. It seemed to take up the whole street. It dragged its curled trunk like a fist along
the ground.
Several metres in front of it, holding a bag of something that must have been enormously tempting, a
short young man was walking slowly backward, drawing it forward with whispers.
‘I saw them at the train station as I was coming home,’ my grandfather said. 35

The elephant passed: slow, graceful, enchanted by the food in the young man’s hand. ‘No one will ever
believe this,’ I said.
My grandfather looked at me like he’d never seen me before. ‘You must be joking,’ he said.
‘Look around. Think for a moment – do you think anybody would understand? Do you think it will
matter to them?’ 40
Later that year, we would read about how some soldiers had found an elephant near death at the site
of an abandoned circus; about how, despite everything, despite closure and bankruptcy, the zoo
director had said, ‘Bring him in – eventually the kids will see him.’ The newspapers ran a picture of him,
standing stark-ribbed in his new pen at the zoo, an advert of better times to come,
hope for the future and the end of the war.

Question 2

(a) Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words
underlined:

(i) Natalia was expecting the quietness of their walk to be broken suddenly.

. .................................................................................................................................. [1]

(ii) Natalia slowed herself down and made herself as tall as possible before refusing to go
any further.

. .................................................................................................................................. [1]

(iii) Her grandfather spoke to her in a low, angry voice.

. .................................................................................................................................. [1]

(iv) The homeless person was fast asleep.

. .................................................................................................................................. [1]

(b) Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

I peered out into the street. On the other side, there was a street lamp with a dying bulb.
I was opening my mouth to say ‘What?’ and then I saw it. Half a block from us, an enormous
shadow was moving along the street.

(i) peered ......................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) dying............................................................................................................................ [1]

 (iii) enormous .................................................................................................................... [1]

(c) Use one example from the text below to explain how the writer suggests Natalia’s experiences
and feelings that night.

Use your own words in your explanation.

I peered out into the street. On the other side, there was a street lamp with a dying bulb.
I was opening my mouth to say ‘What?’ and then I saw it. Half a block from us, an enormous
shadow was moving along the street.

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(d) Re-read paragraphs 9 and 12.

• Paragraph 9 begins ‘At first I thought it was a tram …’ and is about the elephant and how
it was moving when Natalia first saw it.
• Paragraph 12 begins ‘Its ears were folded back …’ and gives Natalia’s impression of the
elephant as she watches it come towards her.

Explain how the writer uses language to convey meaning and to create effect in these paragraphs.
Choose three examples of words or phrases from each paragraph to support your answer. Your
choices should include the use of imagery.

Write about 200 to 300 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer.

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