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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-69306-6 - IGCSE: First Language English, Second Edition Marian Cox Excerpt More information Part 1 Leisure: sport, travel, pastimes Unit 1: Reading This unit focuses on reading for gist and for specific information, and on the selection of key points for summary and on writers’ choice of language. 1 You are going to read a passage about an island. To get you in the mood, with your partner jot down words associated with islands. Create a spider diagram, with islands as the central ‘body’ and associated ideas (e.g. tropical, remote, coconuts) as the ‘legs’. 2 Looking at your spider diagram, think about possible answers to the following questions: a Which islands or types of island are you imagining? b Why are islands generally considered attractive? c What are the disadvantages of living on or being on an island? 3 Skim read the passage on page 2, written by a travel writer about the island of Corsica. 4 Without looking at the passage, answer the following general questions. Compare your answers with your partner’s. a What is the most noticeable feature of the scenery? b Where can tourists spend their time? c What is the main means of transport? d What is the basis of the Corsican economy? e How do the locals appear to visitors? Exam tip! relates to Exercises 3, 4 and 5 Time is allowed for you to read exam texts twice. First, skim the text to get the gist (the main ideas and features). Second, scan for specific information to answer the question. You are expected to spend 15 minutes reading the two passages of 600–700 words each, linked by a common theme, on Paper 2. The first passage may be from a literary text. You are advised to answer questions 1 and 2 before reading the second passage, which relates to question 3 only. Unit 1: Reading 1 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-69306-6 - IGCSE: First Language English, Second Edition Marian Cox Excerpt More information A circuit of Corsica Corsica is France, but it is not French. It is a bad drivers die very quickly.’ But he was mountain range moored like a great ship with a wrong – I saw many and I still have damp palms cargo of crags a hundred miles off the Riviera. to prove it. I had decided to make a circuit of In its three climates it combines the high Alps, Corsica, to rent a car and drive slowly around the ruggedness of North Africa, and the the edge of the island, then pause and make my choicest landscapes of Italy, but most dramatic way over the mountains, from Moriani-Plage are the peaks, which are never out of view and via Corte to Île Rousse, arriving where I had show in the upheaval of rock a culture that is begun, in Ajaccio, the capital city. violent and heroic. The landscape is just weird Two decades ago the island was dying enough to be beautiful and too large to be economically, but the arrival of ex-colonials pretty. On the west are cliffs which drop straight from Algeria brought mechanised wine-making and red into the sea; on the south there is a true methods and the growing of mandarin oranges fjord; on the east a long, flat, and formerly to Corsica. And now there is a degree of malarial coast with the island’s only straight prosperity in Corsica’s agriculture, with the road; on the north a populous cape; and in the export of cheap wine. The good wine – and it is centre the Gothic steeples of mountains, fringed not the plonk the mainlanders say it is – is drunk by forests where wild boar are hunted. locally. The Corsican table wine that is exported There are sandy beaches, pebbly beaches, is little more than red ink. boulder-strewn beaches; beaches with enormous The Corsicans have a reputation for being waves breaking over them and beaches that are unfriendly. They certainly look gloomy, and little more than mud flats; beaches with hotels their character is incontestably sullen; but they and beaches that have never known the taint of a are not smug or critical, they can be helpful, and tourist’s footprint. There are five-star hotels and they seem genuinely interested in strangers. hotels that are unfit for human habitation. ‘Simple in manner and thoroughly obliging,’ A car seems a necessity, but cars are easy to wrote the English poet Edward Lear, ‘anxious to hire, and, driving, one discovers how small please the traveller, yet free from compliment and Corsica is, how much can be seen in a week. All servility.’ One old woman in the market at Île the roads are dangerous; many are simply the Rousse told me in pidgin Italian that she thought last mile to an early grave. ‘There are no bad Americans were ‘sweet’. It is not a sentiment I drivers in Corsica,’ a Corsican told me. ‘All the have heard expressed anywhere else in Europe. Source: Adapted from Paul Theroux, ‘A circuit of Corsica’, Atlantic Monthly, November 1978 5 Now scan the passage and highlight the single word in each paragraph which could be used as a heading for that paragraph. Are your choices the same as your partner’s? Exam tip! A summary is a reduced version of a text and its aim is informative. When you write a summary of a passage, you need to identify the key words in the text (single words or phrases which tell you what each part of the text is about). It is useful to have two highlighters, in different colours, with you in the exam so that you can select different kinds of summary material for the two-part question. 2 Part 1: Leisure: sport, travel, pastimes © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-69306-6 - IGCSE: First Language English, Second Edition Marian Cox Excerpt More information 6 Skim read the passage below and divide it into paragraphs as you read, using this symbol: // Cape Town With its majestic Table Mountain backdrop, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. A harmonious blend of architectural styles reflects the tastes of the past as well as today’s more functional requirements. Between the high-rise office blocks, Edwardian and Victorian buildings have been meticulously preserved, and many outstanding examples of Cape Dutch architecture are found. Narrow, cobblestone streets and the strongly Islamic presence of the Bo-Kaap enhance the cosmopolitan ambiance of the city. Cape Town’s shopping options invite you to endlessly browse. Elegant malls such as the Victoria Wharf at the V & A Waterfront, antique shops, craft markets, flea markets and art galleries abound. Specialist boutiques offer an enticing array of unusual items not readily obtainable elsewhere. One of Cape Town’s biggest tourist attractions, the Waterfront, evokes images of the early activities of the harbour. Much of its charm lies in the fact that this busy commercial harbour is set in the midst of a huge entertainment venue with pubs, restaurants, shops, craft markets, theatres and movies. Table Mountain is undeniably the biggest tourist attraction in South Africa, drawing local holidaymakers as well as tourists from the four corners of the globe. The summit can be reached by trails or cable-car, but mountaineers do it the hard way. On a clear day, the spectacular views from the summit (1,086 metres above sea level) stretch across the mountainous spine of the Cape Peninsula and beyond Table Bay and Robben Island. Robben Island, which lies about 11 kilometres north of Cape Town, has over the years become synonymous with the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. It was here that activists like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, among many others, were imprisoned because of their opposition to apartheid. The historical importance of Robben Island (meaning ‘Seal Island’) can be gauged by its designation as a cultural heritage site. Stretching away from Table Bay Harbour, the Atlantic seafront features virgin beaches along undeveloped frontages to the north, and densely populated Sea Point to the south, leading on to the Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno beauty spots, among others. The western coastline is characterised by rocky outcrops and beautiful beaches. Major national and international windsurfing competitions are held at Bloubergstrand. Seal watching is an amusing diversion. Boat trips around the harbour and along the coast are always popular. Source: Adapted from http://www.sa-venues.com Exam tip! A paragraph is a logical way of dividing text into topic areas. Paragraphs group similar information together, and a break between paragraphs shows a change of idea, time or place. As well as being necessary for structuring text, paragraphs are a courtesy to the reader. 7 How many paragraphs did you make? Compare and discuss with your partner why you put breaks where you did. 8 Scan the passage and, in the margin, give each of the paragraphs a heading to indicate its topic, as if for a tourist brochure. This time, instead of using words from the passage, try to think of synonyms (words or phrases with the same meaning). Exam tip! See next page Unit 1: Reading 3 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-69306-6 - IGCSE: First Language English, Second Edition Marian Cox Excerpt More information Exam tip! relates to Exercise 8 If you are asked to respond in your own words, be careful to avoid ‘lifting’ from the text – i.e.

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