This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page.
SP (CW) T58074/3
© UCLES 2008
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UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS
General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST
This insert contains the passage for comprehension.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
1115/02, 1120/02
1123/02, 1125/02
Paper 2 Comprehension
October/November 2008
INSERT
1 hour 30 minutes
2
1120/02/INSERT/O/N/08
© UCLES 2008
Benjamin
1
The alarm clock buzzed into life. Benjamin resisted the temptation to switch it off and snuggle
back into the pleasant dream he had been enjoying. He experienced the familiar nagging
feeling of anxiety as he thought of another day’s teaching ahead of him. Still, it was nearly the
end of the working week, he remembered, as he reluctantly got out of bed.
2
It had seemed only logical that Benjamin should become a teacher of literature, as his
grandmother had been. She had filled his boyhood imagination with tales of wonderful
students, and sacrifices had been made by his parents to ensure his education. He had a
passion for literature, nurtured by a series of excellent teachers.
3 However, thinking of the senior class in general and of Ahmed in particular, Benjamin realised
that his preconceptions of the job were different from its reality. He admitted to himself that
yesterday’s poetry lesson had been a disaster. How confident he had been, remembering the
hours of preparation that had produced the worksheets. His own love of poetry could not fail
to win over the students; he had been sure of that.
4
But Benjamin had scarcely finished reading the poem to the class when Ahmed’s hand shot
up. ‘Sir, I don’t understand this.’ This was accompanied by a smirk to the rest of the class, who
giggled obediently. Ahmed was the entertainer and the classroom was his theatre. Benjamin
continued the lesson with dogged determination, but more unnecessary questions from
Ahmed were followed by his exaggerated coughing fit. Gone was Benjamin’s aim of inspiring
these y