Cambridge International Examinations

Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/13

Paper 1 Reading Passages (Core) October/November 2016
READING BOOKLET INSERT
1 hour 45 minutes
*4488522515-I*

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

This Reading Booklet Insert contains the reading passages for use with all the questions on the Question
Paper.

You may annotate this Reading Booklet Insert and use the blank spaces for planning. This Reading Booklet
Insert is not assessed by the Examiner.

This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page.

DC (RW) 111814/2
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Part 1

Read Passage A carefully, and then answer Questions 1 and 2 on the Question Paper.

Passage A: Stranger in the Snow

In this passage the narrator describes an unexpected meeting while on a journey through remote
countryside.

The wind was blowing east; the month, December; the place, a bleak wide moor in the far north
of the country, and I had lost my way. It was not a pleasant place in which to lose one’s way, with
the first feathery flakes of a snow storm just fluttering down upon the heather, and the heavy grey
evening closing in all around me. I shaded my eyes with my hands, and stared anxiously into the
gathering darkness, where the landscape melted into a range of low hills in the distance. Not 5
the faintest wisp of smoke, not the tiniest cultivated patch, neither fence nor sheep track met my
eyes in any direction. There was nothing for it but to walk on, and take my chance of finding what
shelter I could on the way. So I picked up my gun, and pushed wearily forward, for I had been on
foot since an hour after day break, and had eaten nothing since breakfast.

Meanwhile, the snow began to come down with ominous steadiness, and the wind increased. 10
After this, the cold became more intense, and the night descended quickly. As for me, my
prospects darkened with the darkening sky, and my heart grew heavy. I thought how my young
wife was already watching for me through the window, and thought of all the suffering in store
for her throughout this lengthy night. We had been married four months and were very happy.
We were then living in a remote little village situated just on the verge of the moor. This morning, 15
when we parted, she had begged me to return before dark, and I had promised her that I would.
How I wished I could have kept my promise! Even now, weary as I was, I felt that with a supper,
an hour’s rest, and a guide, I might still get back to her before midnight, if only guide and shelter
could be found.

All this time, the snow fell and the night became darker. I stopped and shouted every now and 20
then, but my shouts seemed only to make the silence deeper. Then I started to feel a vague
sense of uneasiness, and I began to remember stories of travellers who had walked on and on
in the falling snow until, exhausted, they could not go on any longer and would lie down and
sleep their lives away. Would it be possible, I asked myself, to keep going through all the long
dark night? Would there not come a time when my limbs must fail, and my resolution give way? I 25
shuddered. How hard not to be able to return home when my future seemed so bright before me!
How hard for my loving wife – I tried not to think about it. I shouted again, louder and longer, and
then listened eagerly. Was my shout answered, or did I only imagine that I heard a far-away cry?
I called again, and again the echo followed. Then a wavering speck of light come suddenly out of
the dark, shifting, disappearing, growing momentarily nearer and brighter. Running towards it at 30
full speed, I found myself, to my great joy, face to face with an old man carrying a lantern.

‘Thank goodness!’ I exclaimed.

Blinking and frowning, he lifted his lantern and peered into my face.

‘What for?’ he growled.

‘Well, thank goodness for meeting you. I began to fear I should be lost in the snow.’ 35

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Part 2

Read Passage B carefully, and then answer Question 3 on the Question Paper.

Passage B: A Catastrophic Winter Storm

Americans across the country found their plans made more complicated as wind, snow, and icy rain
whipped through the southern states and then moved north in a blizzard that meteorologists predicted
could affect some 100 million people. 28 centimetres of snow were measured in Central Park in New
York, with 32 centimetres covering much of New Jersey and a record-breaking 37 centimetres in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Snow covered the ground in 49 out of 50 US states, with Florida the only exception. Maryland and
Virginia declared emergency warnings before much of the snow had fallen. As the east coast recovered
from the snow and freezing rain, meteorologists forecast record low temperatures for the end of the
week.

The National Weather Service issued the following warning: ‘High levels of ice will make travel
impossible. This has the potential to be a catastrophic event; widespread power cuts are possible as
ice accumulates on power lines and brings them down. Limit any unnecessary travel during the storm.
Take proper precautions, stay indoors and have emergency supplies available. Be ready in the event
that power in your area is cut off. Check that you have a supply of candles, that emergency heating
systems are functioning and look out for any elderly neighbours who may be at risk of hypothermia.’

Across the nation, flights were cancelled in anticipation of the ice. Mark Wiebke, an assistant aviation
director at Charlotte airport, said the weather had become so unpredictable in recent years that crews
now rely on a ‘snow desk’, a wall of screens keeping them informed on air patterns and on aeroplane
de-icing procedures.

‘In this part of the country, it changes all the time,’ he said of the forecast. ‘You think it’s going to happen
and it doesn’t. Then, next morning, you get up and you have three metres of snow.’

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