POI LAM HIGH SCHOOL
IPOH


ENGLISH LANGUAGE
HOLIDAY ASSIGNMENT (NOV.�"DEC. 2007)
(FOR CLASS S2A/E/SN)

Answer all the questions on this assignment booklet.
Pass up your work to your Senior 3 English Language teacher in 2008 within the first week of schooling.

Name:…………………………………………………. Class: S2 A/E/Sn


Part 1: Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions which follow. All answers must be in complete sentences and written on the answer sheet provided. (10%)

Lotteries, in order to be successful, must be well publicized to encourage participation. Lottery publicity stimulates a fantasy of wealth, luxury as well as an instant blissful life. The millions of dollars lost, and the astronomical odds of winning a fortune, are rarely mentioned.

New games are continually being developed to keep people interested. Media highlight lotteries by announcing the prizes offered, the winning numbers and the lucky winners. Lottery administrators hope to form a lottery buying habit among the masses, to the extent that people will continue playing their games of fortune. They would be successful if people are so indulged in these games of chances that they do not see themselves as gamblers, since the practice of lottery buying has been subtly integrated into their daily life.

In many countries, lotteries have been legalized. It is hoped that such legalized lotteries would reduce illegal gambling. But they have not. Once people start playing the lotteries, they can easily be drawn into other forms of gambling, including illegal ones. Legalized lotteries have merely reduced the stigma against gambling.

One of the most undesirable side-effects of the lotteries is that they make poor people even poorer. Lottery tickets are affordable, require no skill to play and are readily available, making them appealing especially to those desperate for immediate hard cash.

Most people risk and lose small amounts. But a sizable minority lose more than they can afford. Though the poor may spend about the same amount of money as the rich, it is a much higher percentage of their income. A dollar spent on lottery is a dollar less for purchasing daily provisions. Once a grocery store discovered that their food sales dropped by the amount that their lottery sales increased. The store owner felt guilty about it and subsequently stopped selling tickets, saying, “We feel it is wrong to offer our customers the opportunity to gamble with their food dollars.” But not many store owners nowadays are that public-spirited and sympathetic.

The lottery buying habit arouses in people the dream and hope for attaining success through pure luck and risk-taking. Schools, educators, social workers and religious groups try to convince people to refrain from playing lotteries and encourage them to make money via proper channels. People are reminded that the correct way to make money is doing business or taking up an occupation. Although risks exist in all undertakings, the risks of doing business or being employed are expected and calculated risks. In business, likewise in employment, success depends more on knowledge, skills and experiences rather than on chances. Lotteries, by promoting luck, are diverting people’s attention from running a business or getting a job to the thirst or hunger for fast cash.

Most people do not play the lotteries for fun, but for that lucky strike. Even if they do win a fortune, the quickly won wealth is often quickly squandered. The man of fortune, not having sweated for the money, tends not to value it. He gets temporary physical comfort and settlement of problems, but not real lasting joy, nor life wisdom.

To get money, one must be willing to give something in return --------- time, effort and expertise, in accordance with the principle ‘no pain, no gain’. The desire to get rich quickly and effortlessly is outright coveting. Although lotteries do not seem to hurt anybody and are socially acceptable, they are based primarily on greed. Thus one begins to wonder whether a society that approves lotteries has gone somewhat astray in their social development, economic planning and human resources management.

Anyone with some extra money in hand had better put it to work in savings or investments. While lottery players are losing their money, a saver or investor is increasing his. Despite inflation and the small rates of returns, they will end up reaping more than the habitual gamblers.

Another investment is spending money on useful knowledge and skills acquisition. Any society, to have a future, needs people willing to make such investments. Such a measure will not create instant riches, but is reliable. It will help one obtaining more in the long run. Honest work, valuable knowledge and essential skills in one form or another will generate an inner satisfaction that lucky winnings cannot.

Success comes from wise choices, not wild chances. Since the probability of getting rich by buying lotteries is extremely slim, it is far more sensible to place our limited monetary resources upon something that will bear more tangible, rewarding, productive and desirable fruits at the end of the day.



1 What are the truths usually concealed in lottery publicity ?





2 Why are lottery buyers usually not aware that they are in fact gamblers ?





3 Explain the reasons why lottery tickets are so appealing to the public.

4 What made the store owner finally stop selling lottery tickets to his customers ?





5 To what extent does success in business or employment depend on luck ?




Part 2:Error identification

Each sentence below contains an error. Underline the error and write its correction above or below it.

1 In spite of his diligent, he did not pass his examination.
2 Nowadays busy people like to communicate with one another by means of electron mails and short messages.
3 When she joined the company, she had complete her university study.
4 I have been studying at Poi Lam High School for the passed three years.
5 The truck driver dead of a heart attack before his vehicle fell into the ravine.
6 Not sooner had he got married, he left his wife behind to work in a foreign country far away.
7 In my opinion, English should be make an optional subject rather than a compulsory one in primary and secondary schools.
8 There are too much universities and graduates, so having a degree today is no guarantee of a good and well-paid job.
9 She made her decision after consulting her husband, her good friends, her family members and a thorough consideration.
10 Ever the best doctor cannot do much to help a patient who is terminally ill.

Part 3: Language forms and functions

Yoke Lin is discussing her higher education plan with Miss Chin, the school counselor.

1 To inform:

Yoke Lin: I’ve completed my Senior Middle Three education. ………………………………………………………………………..………….
(further ….. study)

2 To ask:
Miss Chin: ………………………………………………………………….…………
(fields of interest)

3 To express preference:

Yoke Lin: I’m very interested in Engineering. However, ……………………………………………………………………………..
(Business Administration)

4 To advise:

Miss Chin: ……………………………………………………….
(American university)

5 To request:

Yoke Lin: ………………………………………………………….
(details)

Part 4: Sentence structure

Using the word given in brackets, rewrite each of the following sentences. You must not change the form of the words given and the meaning of the original sentences.

1 Those visiting Sarawak need not apply for an International Passport. (necessary)



2 Despite his ability, he did not do well in his business. (although)




3 When there is a heavy rain, road users cannot see clearly. (visibility)




4 All students must wear uniform in school. (compulsory)




5 She likes to compose songs during her free time. (interested)




Part 5: Close test

Brainstorming ……..1……… a method for participants in a meeting to suggest possible solutions to ………2……. problem. Every participant must give his suggestions, no matter how ……..3…….. the suggestions may appear at first. One common way to brainstorming is to use a topic, …….4……. as ‘improving customer loyalty’ as the starting point. This topic …….5……. help participants to generate related ideas. During the ……6….. session ……7…… should be no comments. The …….8……. purpose is to get ideas, ……..9……. can be analysed and the best solution can be …….10……. basing on the participants’ knowledge, skills and experience.


Part 6: Direct and indirect speech
Change the following sentences from direct speech to indirect or reported speech. Do not change the meaning of the original sentences.

1 Ket En said, “Help ! Help ! The dog is chasing me.”



2 “Can you complete this job by tomorrow ?” said the manger.



3 “If you are proficient in Chinese, Malay and English, you’ll find it easier to get a good job.” Said the counselor.



4 Kiah Lan said, “If I were a bird, I would fly to your house every morning.”



5 Mr. Lam said, “What is the name of this insect ?”

Part 7: Word forms
For each blank, fill in the correct form of the word given in brackets.

1 As a person grows older, he should grow …….. (wise) too.
2 The ………. (remove) of a tumour from his lungs took the surgeon many hours.
3 In ancient times, it was ………… (believe) that the earth was flat.
4 His success is most ……….. (probable) due to his hardwork and wisdom.
5 She has decided to leave the company. Her ……… (resign) will take effect from the first of next month.
6 Very few students from our school participated in the essay ……………. (compete)
7 Is Komtar the ………. (tall) building in Penang ?
8 Mr. Yong has been ………… (teach) English in secondary schools for many years.
9 If you are eighteen and you are selected for National Service, you will hardly have any ………. (choose)
10 Nearly everyone wants money, power and ………. (famous)

Part 8: Composition (about 200 words)
Continue with another piece of paper if necessary.

How did I spend my year-end long school vacation ?

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
HOLIDAY WORK (NOV.-DEC. 2007)
(for class 3J1)

Name: ………………………………………………………………………………. 3J1


Write your answers on this assignment booklet.
Pass up your answers to your Senior 1 English Language teacher in 2008 within the first week of schooling in January.


Part 1:
Read this passage carefully and then answer the questions that follow:

Our first daughter, Shee Fee, seemed to have understood baby development when she was a tiny tot. She sat up at six months, and by the time she was nine months old she had learned to get around by rolling over. That turned into crawling pretty quickly, and by ten months she was making tracks on her hands and knees.

"She turned one in April, and we thought for sure she'd start walking soon," my wife told her friends, "but she crawled for a few months. She crawled on the cement, on the grass, everything. Nothing seemed to bother her �"--------- and she could move pretty fast."






By fifteen or sixteen months Shee Fee made an easy transition from crawling to walking, starting by holding onto furniture or mom’s or dad's hand. But our next daughter, Mee Ling, was rather different. "Mee Ling sat up at about six months, just like her big sister," said my wife. "But she was very interested in building with blocks. She'd sit for a long time making towers and things and always had something in her hands."

Even though Mee Ling could roll over, she didn't do it much. When she got interested in moving around, my wife said, "she'd pull up her knees, move her feet and scoot her bum forward. That way she could still carry things in her hands."

We tried to put Mee Ling down on her stomach in a crawling position, but she'd just use her hands to push herself into a sitting position and go right back to bum-scooting. The only time she crawled was when she went up the stairs.

All young children are really different. There are just as many different crawling styles as there are babies. Consider, for example, the "commando crawl," where the baby puts his elbows on the floor and keeps his legs flat as he drags himself forward as though under enemy fire; the backward crawl which, to the baby's total frustration, often takes him where he doesn't want to go; the "push up" crawl, where the baby has his hands and feet on the ground and his bum up in the air; the "pacer crawl," where the baby moves first his left arm and leg forward, then his right, instead of alternate arms and legs.

And then, of course, there are babies like Mee Ling who don't crawl at all.

Is not crawling unusual ? Some parents say their babies just don't bother to crawl. Mr. Loh, our friend, recalls that none of his children motored around on their hands and knees. Instead, each one mastered walking at an early age -------- around nine or ten months. Other babies do take up crawling eventually, but may be happy to just sit until age one or so. Unless your baby doesn't seem at all interested in becoming mobile after his or her first birthday, you might want to talk to the doctor.

What is important is that babies get plenty of opportunity to try crawling (or rolling or cruising) if they want to. A 1998 study by Case Western Reserve University in America found that babies who spent a lot of time in baby walkers were more likely to experience what researcher Carol Siegel called "an exploration deficit." These children scored lower on tests of physical and mental development. "Infants often spend too much time confined to strollers, baby seats and walkers. This restricts the time available for free exploration, which is important for mental development," said Siegel.

Do recognize that your increasingly mobile baby is now capable of getting into dangerous territory. In the few minutes that it takes you to run to the bathroom, your baby can hustle across the room to chew on a lamp cord or taste the leaves of a poisonous plant. Get down on the floor and look at each room from your child's point of view, removing hazards as you go, and make a habit of taking him with you when you leave a room.

If your baby isn't thrilled about hanging out on the floor while everyone else is walking around or sitting on the couch, try getting some enticing toys and placing them just beyond his or her reach.

Dress your tot in good crawling clothes. Ordinary cotton pants or overalls are good because they keep baby's legs protected while leaving him or her relatively unencumbered.



Our youngest daughter, Kwee Fong, likes to go on the carpet, but at seven months, she's not crawling yet. While we don't want to rush her, we are looking forward to discovering what her unique approach to getting around will be.

1 At what age was Shee Fee when she started crawling ?

……………………………………………………………………………………


2 How did Mee Ling move about by means of bum-scooting ?

……………………………………………………………………………………..


3 Describe two styles of baby crawling.

………………………………………………………………………………………


4 Which type of babies face the problem of ‘exploration deficit’ ?

……………………………………………………………………………………….


5 What should parents do if their baby becomes increasingly mobile ?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..


Part 2:
Language forms and functions

Mun Leng is discussing with Yoong Soon the worsening crime rates in the society.

1 To inform:

Mun Leng: As I was walking to the Giant Supermarket last night,

………………………………………………………………………..………….
(handbag…….. snatched…..motorcyclist)

2 To express shock:

Yoong Soon: …………………………………………………………………..….…………
(……… frightening…………….)


3 To express relief:

Mun Leng: Fortunately,

………………………………………………………….………………………………..
(twenty ringgit……….no IC)

4 To enquire:


Yoong Soon: …………………………………………………………………………….
(….recognise ….. snatch-thief……)

5 To describe:

Mun Leng: Although it was not bright enough, ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
(….. small …… dark…….)


Part 3:
For each blank, fill in the correct form of the word given in brackets.

1 Chai Hong asked me ….............. (polite) whether I could lend her my mobile phone.

2 Being poor is bad, being ill is even worse, but the …………… (bad) thing that can happen to a person is being sorrowful all the time.

3 A low salary of course gives little ………… (satisfy) to any employee.

4 He has been …………. (work) as an insurance agent for twenty years.

5 The …………. (likely) of writing two long compositions which are exactly the same by two students is very small indeed.


Part 4: Error identification

Underline the error in each of the following sentences and write its correction above or below the wrong word.

1 “Switched on the air-conditioner please, Miss Chin, it’s too warm,” said the chief clerk.





2 Chee Hang could not furthered his education overseas because his father was only a labourer.

3 Despite his intelligent, he failed to solve the puzzle.

4 The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong take only three and half hours.

5 Many students are not learning English properly because they think it is a foreign languages and is not useful in their daily work.


Part 5: Cloze text
Fill in each blank of this passage with a suitable word:

One morning I went to a park nearby for jogging. It was still early, so the park was very ……1……...
While I ……..2………. jogging, I suddenly heard a scream. I immediately went to see what had …….3……. I saw a snatch-thief snatching a ………4……… handbag. ………..5……… snatch-thief was holding a dagger in his hand.
……..6……… nobody came to help her. Quickly, the snatch-thief ………7……… away after snatching the handbag. Without ……..8………, I called the police with my handphone.
Soon ……..9…….. policemen arrived. I showed them the direction of escape of the snatch-thief. The two policemen hurriedly went after the thief and …….10…… arrested him.

Part 6: Short composition (about 200 words)
How did you spend your year-end long school vacation ?








(Continue overleaf)

by Chai Wai Siong
S3S2
2007

Teens, leaders of the future, ‘stick’ to computer more often nowadays. We can always see many people commenting on the disadvantages of using a computer. And more and more cyber cafes have been closed down as a result of the complaints.
If you tell me that computer is more of a menace than a blessing, I will strongly disagree. There are several reasons that make me disagree with the statement made.
Firstly, computer is the utmost important invention in the recent
history of human beings. We can do a lot of things by using a computer, like
storing and retrieving data, listening to songs, watching movies and finding
information. We have a huge amount of storage that is available to keep
our data in computer. The wonderful storage capacity of the computer
can greatly reduce the storage space in a typical office.
Secondly, computer is able to work very fast and the speed of computer is increasing tremendously. The computer specialist has predicted that the
speed of computer will almost double each year. The development of computer is
progressing in such a fast pace that makes our life progressively easier. The use of Internet enables us to find any information conveniently, cheaply and quickly.
People nowadays have almost replaced writing letters with sending e-mails. E-mails can reach the destination in a very short time and no charge is imposed for the
service.
Thirdly, computer can be used to do a variety of work. We can enter information into it and process it into the form we want. We can even use computer to do a lot of calculation work. And we can have our calculation work done in the computer very accurately and rapidly.
Actually, there is no reason to say that the computer is more of a
menace than a blessing. The real problem lies with human attitude. There may be much undesirable information on the Internet, such as pornography and violence. It is just that the people misuse the computer. If everyone uses it properly, I am sure that the computer will only give us benefits and no evil.

By Chow Yiing
S3S2
2007

Computer is a ubiquitous feature of this modern world. Its importance has never been denied and its usefulness is well appreciated. Whether it is at office or school, we depend on it to get our job done efficiently. Our increasing dependence on it may be a menace. However, in my opinion, computer is more of a blessing than a menace.

The computer is useful because it offers fast and efficient communication between people through Internet. Whenever our friends or relatives are in different countries, we can chat with them through Internet. It is easy to use. So, we can say that computer connects people from all around the world. Exchanging information quickly and accurately is no more a problem

On the other hand, computer gives us promise that a work of good quality can be produced. It is neat and the most importantly, the speed of producing the work is high and unbeatable. The computer makes our lives easier by producing high-quality work. Even a layman can produce works of professional standard.

In addition, computer is a real blessing when it comes to storage and retrieval of information. We do not need to keep information in several files in a room where they are hard to manage. A small space in the computer can store tons of information which is easily available at any time.

However, it is very inconvenient when the computer breaks down. Much information will be lost and e-business will be adversely affected. Technical problems will lead to great loss.

We can also easily get addicted to the computer especially the online games. Parents and teachers have always complained about this. Students will do badly in school if they do not control themselves well enough.

In conclusion, anything being misused will be a menace more than a blessing. So we should be able to discipline ourselves in order not to abuse tools, facilities and equipment.

Do you agree that the computer is more a menace than a blessing?

by Chong Kar Wei
S3S2
2007

Computer is a very great invention; it can bring much convenience to us. It can also let us complete our work punctually and in the shortest time. So, I disagree that the computer is more a menace than a blessing.

There are too many advantages of computer to say, so let me touch on just a few advantages.

Many companies in any country also have a lot of computers in their office, because their staff need to use computers to do their work or to find some information on the Internet. Computers have become so useful that they are now almost indispensable.

Computers not only can be used in business firms but also be used elsewhere. In our society, computer is needed by some professionals such as an architect to design buildings. In school, teachers use computer to teach their students.

Elsewhere, just like at a hospital or clinic, they need computers to stock their patients’ information and case histories. In police station, police also need computers to save many malefactors’ records. In hotel, the staff also need computer to check whether their hotel is fully booked or not. At home, there are many people who use computer to do their work and to find information or make some friends on Internet.

So, computer is very important to us. Of course, computer has its disadvantage. There are some people who use computer to commit crimes. Computer also has radiation that can cause some harm to our body.

Finally, I think people should use the computer correctly, because computer can be harmful if improperly used.