Cambridge IGCSE: 0500/12 First Language English

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Cambridge IGCSE
FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12

Paper 1 Reading February/March 2020
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Read Text A, and then answer Questions 1(a)–1(e) on the question paper.
Text A: National Doctors’ Day
National Doctors’ Day is a day celebrated in many countries around the world, although
the date may vary from nation to nation.
National Doctors’ Day occurs every year. It’s meant to bring attention to the service of
all doctors – living or dead. We should all appreciate their contribution to individual
health and medical progress. But the day may also be a time to reflect on the wellbeing
of doctors themselves. A doctor needs to be well, both mentally and physically, in order
to make others well. 5
Doctors suffer from ‘burnout’ which typically includes physical or emotional exhaustion,
feeling drained and demotivated in work that once excited them. This may also cause
doctors to feel a lower sense of fulfilment and become more detached from their work.
Of course, this impacts negatively on patients too.
Doctors have some of the most high-intensity, demanding jobs out there – exacerbated 10
by double shifts, emotional stress, and staying on their feet for hours on end. As hospitals
try to cram as many patients into one day as possible, doctors often face overwhelming
schedules with rarely a chance to breathe, eat, or sleep. Sleep deprivation among
doctors poses risks to both individual health and public safety. More reasonable working
hours could improve care for all. 15
Doctors are under immense pressure to maintain a strong demeanour, making it harder
for them to reach out for help. ‘The stigma is sometimes difficult to overcome, but finding
time to seek help will help us, help our families, our friends, and our patients,’ writes
Dr. Lea Su about her own struggle with illness during medical school and training.
Perhaps if National Doctors’ Day actually meant a day off for all doctors, or more reward 20
than a lunch organised by their employers, it really could make a tangible difference?
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Read Text B, and then answer Question 1(f) on the question paper.
Text B: A Dream Job
Dr Craig Spencer works in emergency medicine and is also a physician for Médecins
San Frontières (MSF). This is an international organisation that delivers emergency
aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters. He is being
interviewed by a journalist for an article about interesting travel jobs.
Journalist: When someone discovers you work with MSF, what’s the typical
reaction?
Dr Spencer: Usually, ‘When were you last abroad?’ or, ‘Where did you go?’ People
are curious. They associate MSF with challenging, high-intensity conflicts.
So you find yourself getting cornered at parties? 5
[Laughs] Sometimes! I work with MSF five months a year and in an emergency
department the rest of the time. People are interested in how I’m able to have two
dream jobs – it’s always good though talking about the incredible people we get to work
with.
You mean the locals in the destinations MSF sends you to? 10
Yeah. People think we’ve got people trained from all over the world meeting up in this
one place to do a mission or tackle some disease. In fact, it’s overwhelmingly people
from that country or region who have some training or are being trained by MSF. How
do you get things from one country to another when there are no flights or there’s
ongoing conflict? We rely on people in the countries we are going to. They’re invariably 15
awesome – some of the best doctors I’ve ever met.
OK, let’s step back in time. Did you play ‘doctor’ as a kid?
No, actually I wanted to be a sharkologist – until someone told me sharkologists didn’t

exist. [Laughs]
Where did you get the idea to become a doctor? 20
When I was about 10, I remember seeing that a cardiothoracic surgeon made way more
money than any other profession. I thought, ‘Whoa! I want to do that.’ From then on, I
told everyone I was going to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. That’s largely why I went to
medical school. The job seemed important – everyone has a heart – but I also wanted
to make loads of money. 25
But you later switched to emergency medicine, right?
Right. Less lucrative, hugely rewarding.
How did you get involved with MSF?
After medical school, I worked alongside MSF on projects and loved what they were
doing. I support their impartiality and really appreciate their humanitarian principle of 30
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not getting involved in the politics. Eventually I applied to MSF. I’ve done six different
missions with them now.
What are the food and accommodation like on missions?
Different every time. If you’re there for longer, you usually have your own space, running
water and Wi-Fi. There are security guards. People come and cook meals for us – that’s 35
pretty nice!
On a lighter note, when you take a real vacation, where do you like to go?
My favourite place is this cabin my wife’s grandparents bought on a lake surrounded

by pine trees. I can kayak and relax. But our coolest trip was probably our honeymoon:
we travelled from Sarajevo to Crete. It was unbelievable – amazing beaches with no 40
tourists. The only thing on any of the sun beds were goats!
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Read Text C, and then answer Questions 2(a)–2(d) and Question 3 on the question paper.
Text C: This is going to hurt
After six years of training and a further six years on the wards, Adam Kay resigned from his job as
a doctor. Some years later, he re-reads and decides to publish the diaries he kept in his first years
as a junior doctor.
I don’t remember medicine ever being an active career decision, just the default setting
for my life. My dad was a doctor.
As you might imagine, the training was hard – learning every aspect of the human body,
plus each possible way it can malfunction, is a fairly gargantuan undertaking. But the
buzz of knowing I’d be a doctor one day – such a big deal you get to literally change 5
your name, like a superhero – propelled me towards my goal. When it was finally time
to step out onto the ward armed with all this exhaustive knowledge and turn theory into
practice, it came as a blow to discover that I’d spent a quarter of my life at medical
school and wasn’t remotely prepared for what came next.
During the day, the job was manageable, if mind-numbing and insanely time-consuming. 10
You turn up every morning for the ‘ward round’, where your whole team of doctors
troops past each of their patients. You trail behind like a hypnotised duckling, your head
cocked to one side in a caring manner, noting down every pronouncement from your
seniors. Then you spend the rest of your working day (plus generally a further unpaid
four hours) completing dozens, sometimes hundreds, of tasks – filling in forms, making 15
phone calls. Not really what I’d trained so hard for.
Night shifts were an unrelenting nightmare. At night, you’re given a paging device
affectionately called a bleep, and responsibility for every patient in the hospital. All of
them. The senior doctors will be downstairs reviewing and admitting patients while
you’re up on the wards, sailing the ship alone – a ship that’s enormous, that no one 20
has really taught you how to sail. You’re bleeped by ward after ward, nurse after nurse,
with emergency after emergency – it never stops, all night long.
1
Senior colleagues see patients in A&E who have a specific problem, like pneumonia
or a broken leg. Your patients are having similar emergencies, but they’re in hospital
already, meaning they already had something significantly wrong with them in the first 25
place. It’s a ‘build-your-own-burger’ of symptoms layered on conditions layered on
diseases. You’re a one-man, mobile, essentially untrained A&E department, reviewing
an endless stream of worryingly sick patients who, twelve hours earlier, had an entire
team of doctors caring for them. It’s sink or swim – you have to learn to swim because
otherwise a tonne of patients sink with you. 30
I actually found it exhilarating. Sure it was hard work, the hours were bordering on
inhumane and I saw things that have scarred my retinas to this day, but I was a doctor
It occurs to me now that the public don’t hear the truth about what it actually means to
be a doctor. So here are the diaries I kept during that time: what it was like working on
the front line, the repercussions in my personal life and how it all became too much for 35
me. (Sorry for the spoiler, but you watched ‘Titanic’ knowing how that was going to play
out.)
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3 August
Day one. I’ve a packed lunch, a new stethoscope, a new shirt and a new email address:
[email protected]. It’s good to know that no matter what happens today, nobody 40
could accuse me of being the most incompetent person in the hospital. And even if I
am, I can blame it on Atom.
5 August
Whatever we lack in free time, we make up for in stories about patients. Today over
lunch we’re trading stories about nonsense ‘symptoms’ that people have presented 45
with – from itchy teeth to sudden improvements in hearing.
9 August
Bleeped awake at 3 a.m. from my first half-hour’s shuteye in three shifts to prescribe
a sleeping pill for a patient, whose sleep is evidently much more important than mine.
My powers are greater than I realised – I arrive on the ward to find the patient is asleep. 50
1
A&E: ‘accident and emergency’ refers to the acute, emergency department in a hospital.
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Text A: Top tips for travel writing
This text is an online article giving advice from the editor of a website to people thinking of a career
in travel writing.
‘Don’t worry,’ said the stallholder. ‘The snake round your daughter’s neck is not
venomous.’
That was the example my instructor used when he taught us the immense value of a
good opening to an article. My instructor is the travel editor for a national newspaper.
Since 2000, he has written about, and been hopelessly lost in, diverse destinations on 5
six continents.
Having quit my job in software design to become a travel blogger and edit this website,
I was attending a travel writing conference he was running. I wanted to improve the
writing on my blog; my writing has improved, but I didn’t anticipate how much that
conference would affect my role as an editor. If you have sent me an article and I have 10
rejected it, it was probably because of something I learned at that conference.
Writers of the unsuccessful articles submitted to me seem to think that they need extra
padding at the beginning that goes something like: ‘Travel is wonderful. We should all
travel.’ Get to the point. The articles I hate the most begin: ‘Our plane landed in ’. If
the most interesting portion of your trip is the plane landing and collecting your luggage, 15
then OK, start your story that way. Arguably though, if this really is the most interesting
portion of your trip, you’d be better off staying at home.
Good travel writing transports people. It celebrates the differences in manners and
customs around the world, helping readers to understand other people and places. It
helps readers plan their own trips and avoid costly mistakes while travelling. Most of 20
all, readers get to experience those far-off destinations that they may never visit.
I should point out, while I’m encouraging others to pursue their career in travel writing,
that it was also at that conference that I decided to return to working in software design.
Sitting in a room full of travel writers who were describing how difficult it is to make a
living persuaded me to keep it strictly as a hobby. 25
But if you have the desire to travel, and the savings, I can recommend that annual
conference which my good friend runs every August.
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Text B: The truth about being a travel writer
This text is a magazine article about being a travel writer.
Go ahead, hate travel writers.
Content removed due to copyright restrictions.
We spent
an agonising night at the airport – no lounges, only stiff plastic chairs.’
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Text C: How I became a travel writer
The narrator, Charlie, has booked a place on a sponsored trek to the ancient ruined city of Machu
Picchu, Peru. He hopes to meet his favourite travel writer, Jed Davies, who has been invited by
the charity to go on the trek.
I would meet the others in Madrid.
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I’d already decided – travel writing was what I wanted to do.
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Text A: International Tiger Day
International Tiger Day is celebrated on 29 July every year to raise awareness about
the continued decline in the world’s tiger population, and to encourage tiger conservation.
With the species on the brink of extinction, lnternational Tiger Day was established in
2010 at a summit meeting where governments of tiger-populated countries vowed to
act. This year celebrities ‘disappeared’ on social media by removing their profile photos 5
for a day; they reappeared with a tiger art selfie to help raise awareness of the plight
of wild tigers disappearing due to the illegal tiger trade.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, over 95 per cent of tigers have been lost. A
recent report says that about 100 years ago there might have been more than 100,000
tigers roaming the planet. Now just 3,900 tigers remain in the wild and they are only 10
found in Asia. The larger subspecies of them, such as the Siberian tiger, usually live in
more northern, colder areas while the smaller subspecies live in warmer, southern
countries.
The dwindling number of tigers has been caused by various factors. There are certain
diseases, some fatal, that spread like epidemics and genetic diversity is declining 15
alarmingly, making tigers increasingly vulnerable. Health management of wildlife, a
relatively new area of study, is badly neglected. There is an urgent need to incorporate
this knowledge into wildlife conservation.
Meanwhile, as agriculture and cities have expanded, tigers and humans have competed
for land and tigers have lost about 93 per cent of their natural habitat. There are now 20
more tigers held in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild in Asia.
For centuries tigers have been hunted as status symbols and souvenirs, and now climate
change is also affecting tigers. For example, rising sea levels in mangrove forest on
the coast of the Indian Ocean may steal the habitat of Bengal tigers there in coming
decades. Being forced to live in smaller areas of habitat has made them more vulnerable 25
to poaching as well. With the shrinking of their habitat, tigers have less to hunt in the
wild, which causes them to hunt domestic livestock instead. In turn, they are killed or
captured by humans as retaliation.
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Text B: Tigers in captivity
This text comes from the website of a conservation organisation.
Largest of all cats, the tiger is one of the most threatened species on Earth. These
beautiful cats are threatened by growing human populations, loss of habitat, illegal
hunting (of both tigers and their prey species) and expanded trade in tiger parts used
as traditional medicines.
At approximately 13,000, the global population of captive tigers is much higher than 5
the estimated 3,900 tigers remaining in the wild and provides a false sense of security.
A high proportion of these captive tigers are privately owned and living in people’s
backyards and apartments, roadside attractions, and private breeding facilities, whilst
the number of tigers in brutal tiger farms has escalated rapidly in recent years. We
believe the current scale of captive breeding operations within tiger farms is a significant 10
obstacle to the protection and recovery of wild tiger populations, as they undermine
and complicate enforcement efforts and help to perpetuate demand for tiger parts and
products.
Only a small percentage of the captive tiger population resides in licensed zoos. Many
private tiger owners are not properly trained to care for wild animals, making the animals 15
vulnerable. Often, these facilities will allow public contact with the tigers, including
exploitation such as photo opportunities and playtime with tiger cubs. Not only is the
welfare of these tigers compromised, but public health and safety is at risk during these
encounters.
Public encounters with tiger cubs are popular and incredibly lucrative for many tiger 20
facilities, providing a strong incentive to breed captive tigers to maintain a continuous
supply of cubs for entertainment. However, these tigers are often inbred, which can
cause birth defects and health issues, making them unsuitable for introduction to the
wild. Reintroduction efforts could, however, include translocation of individuals from
existing wild tiger populations in order to create new viable breeding populations. Given 25
adequate protections, we hope that tiger numbers will continue to increase across their
natural range but conservation efforts need to be focused on recovering these wild
populations.
We are calling on governments to commit to phasing out tiger farms and instituting clear
bans on trade in tigers and their parts and products, from any source. 30
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Read Text C, and then answer Questions 2(a)–(d) and Question 3 on the question paper.
Text C: The wild tigers of Ranthambore
The narrator, Val, is a photographer, author and documentary filmmaker. He has spent over 45
years living, working and campaigning at the tiger reserve in Ranthambore National Park, near the
town of Sawai Madhopur (SM). In this extract from his book, Val remembers first travelling to the
area by train from his city home as a young man in 1976.
Exiting the deserted station, I woke up the driver of a solitary horse-drawn carriage.
In those days Sawai Madhopur (SM) boasted few motorised vehicles. The town wasn’t
prosperous. Numerous taxi-jeeps and buses taking chattering tourists into the park
were still figments of shiny future ambition. Garish hotel chains were yet to sprout,
mushrooming along newly surfaced roads to the park. This was a sleepy town, sprawled 5
untidily around the railway track, the only reason for its existence.
Since then, local painters have decorated the station walls. Now murals of our tigers
and other wildlife engage curious passers-by, increasing awareness like a kind of
open-air art museum.
Back in 1976, we trotted off to the only guesthouse nearby. A reluctant proprietor prised 10
open a musty room. I spent a sleepless night.
Next morning, I introduced myself to Fateh, the wildlife warden for the park. He looked
over his luxuriant moustache disbelievingly at me and my camera. No one came here,
he told me, to ‘visit’.
Jolting along dirt tracks, we drove out towards the reserve. Slowly the wilderness took 15
over. I scanned the thickening forest for wildlife, unaware my tracking skills would take
years to develop.
My first days felt like shedding one layer of skin and growing into another. As you track
a tiger, the language of the jungle envelopes you in its folds. You’re alert to the tension
in every rustling leaf, in every impression on the ground. Animal tracks whisper stories 20
of the night. You’re a jungle detective seeking clues of tigers having padded past. In
the early years, just a paw-print was cause for celebration. There were still villages
everywhere; human disturbance was high.
Until the 1980s, there were few pictures of tigers in the wild. Even then tourism to the
area was only just starting, driven by Fateh’s determination to make Ranthambore the 25
most important wildlife destination in the world. My pictures of tigers like Noon drew
multitudes to the forests of Ranthambore, transforming the local economy. People in
the area owed their improving prospects to Noon.
Noon had been a tigress who filled my senses. Fateh teased me – saying I’d fallen in
love with a tigress. Whenever I arrived in her presence there was a quick look of 30
recognition. Most of the time it was just her and me with my camera.
Visiting research-scientists warned me to keep detached, not humanise tigers, but Noon
grew into a pleasant obsession, deepening my understanding of the secret life of tigers.
I don’t think I experienced such closeness with a tiger again. Back then I could drive
out alone and watch tigers in solitude. There were fewer rules, fewer visitors asking to 35
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join me. Even today, traversing the lakes which were at the heart of her territory, I can
summon up images of Noon slicing through their waters or erupting from a grassy bank
in incredible pursuits of deer or wild boar – lmages that remain etched on my mind.
Sometimes when hunting, Noon would look skywards and follow the direction vultures
took. Visitors are still fascinated today by film of her tracking low-flying vultures, trotting 40
from lake to lake until she found the carcass of a deer. Back then, I explain, Ranthambore
was full of white-backed vultures, before chemicals used for injecting livestock and
ingested by these scavenging birds wiped them out. Nature lost a cleaning service.
Noon lost her food-finders.
I last saw Noon in 1990 beside Ranthambore lake. She looked older. Tigers get paler 45
with age. The sun was setting, its last rays framing her in golden light. By this time,
she’d successfully raised two litters and delighted the world with our footage of her kills,
racing into the shallows of the lakes, causing chaos amongst grazing deer and more
often than not bringing one down. The tourist boom followed – thanks to Noon – with
no shortage of high-profile visitors keen to promote the cause of wild tigers. 50
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Read Text A, and then answer Question 1(a)–(e) on the question paper.
Text A: Hippos
Scientists have been wrong about hippos before. Their name in Ancient Greek, hippopotamus,
translates to ‘river horse’ yet modern science links the animals to pigs. Recent studies of
hippo DNA suggest they’re more closely related to whales. Hippos also don’t sweat blood
as once thought – their skins secrete special scarlet fluid containing antibacterial sunscreen.
The stubby-legged rotund creatures have surprised biologists with running speeds of over 5
30 kph. With a chambered stomach to break down plant matter, the animals are widely
regarded as herbivores, but recently scientists have started to uncover some exceptional
behaviour that could change opinion of the animals again – observing them feeding on meat.
One detail that cannot be misunderstood is that hippos are huge – mature males can weigh
an intimidating 3200 kg. This contributes to their reputation for aggression, evidenced in 10
brutal battles over mates, slashing and biting with their incisor teeth (measuring up to 40 cm
in length).
Yet hippos only prey on grass. They consume around 40 kg a night, spending most of their
day wallowing to cool off and digest their food.
Some experts maintain that the animals are not predators but have been driven to scavenge 15
meat when particular nutrients are scarce. Hippos face increasing pressure from encroaching
human settlements and tussles over territory may facilitate carnivory, as might growing
competition for fresh water and food. After declines of up to 20 per cent over the past two
decades, the species is now listed as vulnerable.
Others believe the hippos’ meat-eating behaviour isn’t on the rise but has simply been 20
overlooked previously since they mostly feed at night.
‘We assumed we knew everything about hippos,’ said scientist Dr Joseph Dudley, ‘and that
recent evidence of cannibalism and attacks on other species by hippos signals some
evolutionary leap. It’s not new simply because we’ve only just discovered it. Antelope and
cattle have been known to feed on carrion and fish. 25
‘Biomechanical limitations hold most of those other animals back from more frequent
carnivory,’ Dudley suggests. ‘They aren’t built for taking down prey or biting into flesh. Hippos
are another story.’
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Text B: Why you need to question your ‘hippo’ boss
As Richard and his colleagues sit in an important meeting to discuss future projects at the
TV company where they work, they nervously consider the hippo in the room. Thankfully for
all concerned, there isn’t actually a large semi-aquatic mammal in the room with them. No,
instead this ‘hippo’ is an acronym – the letters standing for the ‘highest paid person in the
office’, a person who is dominating proceedings. 5
In many companies there are jokes about who is the hippo, but this tendency for lower-paid
employees to defer to what higher-paid employees say when a decision has to be made,
even when all the data says the hippo is wrong, is a real problem for businesses. Having a
hippo in the office demotivating staff isn’t funny: it can threaten the culture of a company and
mean bad ideas get pushed through. 10
‘You can’t argue or ask questions,’ says Richard. ‘They’re the highest paid and have the
most power, so their opinion carries more weight. They ask for ideas but dismiss them.
They’re too impatient to get the job done to consider alternatives to their own plan.’
Most of us have worked for an overly dominating hippo at some time in our careers: a boss,
manager or project leader who we feel unable to criticise, whose every idea we have to 15
praise. Often, like the real animal, human hippos have little ears and a big mouth – they
need to speak less and listen more.
And how often is the unchallenged boss’s decision correct? Rarely, according to a recent
study looking at the video-games industry. The report found that projects led by junior
managers were more likely to be successful than those with a senior boss in charge, because 20
other employees felt able to give critical feedback.
Hippos may think they know best, but they spend too much time wallowing in comfortable
offices to know what is happening with customers in the real world.
The report’s suggested solution is for the leader of any new project to be kept secret, thereby
encouraging junior managers to be more willing to offer their honest opinions. Such a ‘blind 25
review process’ would work best in a large business, creating opportunities for leaders to
learn from their staff, and to engage in the type of meaningful dialogue every company should
have.
Meanwhile, Richard says he remembers one project that a former hippo pushed through: ‘It
failed commercially, costing the company millions.’ 30
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Text C: Into the Delta
The narrator, Susan, recalls first arriving from the town of Seronga with a large group of tourists for a
two-day safari along a river delta with the Okavango Polers Trust (OPT). Susan went on to work with
the OPT, staying in the area for over nine years.
After a quick briefing, we boarded our mokoro. Expertly crafted from the trunk of an ebony
tree, a mokoro is a dugout canoe, propelled by a ‘poler’ standing upright in the rear, pushing
a long wooden pole off the riverbed.
Our poler explained that all fifty members of the OPT were local men. Many owned their
own boat and had learnt their poling skills as children, catching fish and travelling between 5
villages by water. To preserve the delicate ecological balance of the delta, fishing was now
tightly controlled, but as poling was more lucrative, few were complaining. When more polers
could afford to convert to fibreglass canoes, fewer mature trees would need to be cut down.
Travel was through channels made by hippos. These channels were often clogged with
vegetation, so polers had to push hard to get through. Sometimes a male hippo decided that 10
he didn’t want commuters using ‘his’ channel, rising unexpectedly out of the water, huge
mouth gaping and honking warnings at the traffic. Hippos always had right-of-way and polers
had to be alert. Sometimes they’d spend days opening new channels to avoid aggressive
hippos. There were some terrifying near misses!
I will never forget the utter tranquillity of swishing through the water lilies in the open lagoons 15
that first day. I consciously took a ‘snapshot’ memory, breathing in its essence as an antidote
to my stressful life. As I lay back on my backpack, the mokoro seemed to glide, gently floating
as though blown through the perfectly clear water. The poler for our group – an old man
called Baruti – commanded respect from the other polers and had a persuasive, easy manner
with locals and tourists alike. When we washed up on the shoreline at midday, he didn’t 20
participate in the frantic setting up of our temporary camp but directed operations calmly,
explaining that we would have lunch and then rest (like the animals did) sheltering from the
heat of the day.
Late afternoon, we re-loaded the boats and headed for hippo territory. Hippo calls carried
eerily across the still waters as our polers skilfully manoeuvred our fleet to the very edge of 25
their pool. Experience guided the approach towards the shadowy outlines huddled together,
spouting, chuffing and grunting in the water. One imposing male took exception to a mokoro
edging a little too close to him, causing its brash young poler to scuttle back hastily into the
shelter of the reeds – to the raucous amusement of the others.
Around the campfire that night, we discovered we were the first group to book directly with 30
the OPT since it was started by Baruti as a community-owned eco-tourism business. As our
wood-fire smoke drifted skywards, I was inspired by the genuine friendliness of the polers,
their dreams of working for themselves and a better future. I discovered they had already
cleared wasteland nearer Seronga to use as a permanent camp, planned a solar-powered
shower block for guests and hoped to buy a truck. 35
Next week, more polers would sit exams to get licences to be guides. They’d need to
demonstrate they had the skills to cater for the broader range of tourists seeking more
authentic and affordable ways to explore the area that they hoped to attract. Part of the exam
was identifying animals by their English names. I had books on native species and photos
I’d taken on my travels, so offered to stay a few days to help with lessons. 40
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Classes were well attended. Comparing ‘facts’ in the books with stories of animal behaviour
from experienced polers was interesting. Apparently, hippos go under water for about four
minutes. However, this was vehemently denied by one very young poler, who’d insisted that
when he hunted hippos they stayed underwater for hours. His older colleagues could have
told him that the hippos had probably gone into the reeds and surfaced there, but we moved 45
on, respecting his contribution.
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Read Text A, and then answer Questions 1(a)–(e) on the question paper.
Text A: The problem with plastics
This article warns of the dangers of plastics.
Plastics are wonder materials: adaptable and durable. We produce and use more
plastics than we do almost any other man-made materials, apart from steel, cement
and brick. Scientists calculate the total plastic ever made as 8.3 billion tonnes – as
heavy as one billion elephants – an astonishing mass of material.
Mass-manufacturing of plastics began in the 1950s. Plastics are now all around us, in 5
everything from food wrapping to aeroplane parts and flame retardants. It is precisely
plastics’ amazing qualities that present a growing problem.
‘We’re rapidly heading towards “Planet Plastic”. If we don’t want to live in that kind of
world we have to rethink how we use materials, particularly plastic,’ explains
environmental scientist, Dr Ros Gaia. ‘None of the commonly used plastics are 10
biodegradable. You can permanently dispose of plastic waste by incinerating it – but
that’s complicated by concerns about health and emissions.’
Plastic items tend to be used for very short periods before being discarded. Waste
plastic is sent largely to landfill; much of it just litters the wider environment, including
the oceans. 15
Dr Gaia commented: ‘People need to realise that a plastic bottle could be recycled 20
times. Currently, poor design limits us. The whole point of recycling is keeping material
in use for ever if you can. Actually 90 per cent of the material that does get recycled
only gets recycled once.’
In the meantime, the waste mounts up. Recycling rates are increasing, and there are 20
new biodegradable alternatives, but manufacturing plastic is so cheap that there is little
incentive for change. Each year eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans,
with clear evidence that some gets into the food chains because marine creatures ingest
small fragments of micro-plastics.
Dr Gaia explains: ‘We’re facing a tsunami of plastic waste. The global waste industry 25
needs to get its act together. We need a radical shift. On current trends, it will take until
2060 before more plastic gets recycled than landfilled and lost to the environment. We
can’t wait that long.’
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Text B: It’s great that Blue Planet II is pushing hard on plastic pollution, but
The writer of the article has viewed a documentary about the world’s oceans called Blue Planet II.
The documentary was first aired as a series on television and attracted large numbers of viewers.
I gasped in awe at the latest stunning images of marine life in the marvellous television
documentary, Blue Planet II. Blue sharks dodged great whites to scavenge on oceanic
carrion; sperm whales dozed vertically then plunged to unfathomable depths to feed.
It was jaw-dropping stuff.
However, in this final part of the series, the narrator’s tone has changed. He has bad 5
news. He shows us grim images: turtles and tropical fish tangled in plastic debris and,
most heart-breaking of all, a mother pilot whale unable to let go of her long-dead infant.
‘Today in the Atlantic waters whales have to share the ocean with plastic. A mother is
holding her newborn young – it’s dead,’ he said. ‘The mother’s milk may have been
contaminated by plastics.’ 10
This had a big impact. One newspaper headline: ‘Shocked viewers vow never to use
disposable plastic again,’ captured the reaction of many. Online message boards buzzed,
demanding a ban on all plastics.
I know research suggests there could already be over five trillion pieces of plastic in
the ocean; that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish; that birds are starving as 15
they fill their guts with plastic waste; that micro-plastic is in our seafood. I wanted to
shout, ‘Yes! Ban plastics!’ but the scientist in me resisted.
In the whole programme, no direct link was made between the death of this baby whale
and plastics; we saw pictures of whales and pictures of plastics in the sea, but no
evidence that this whale-mother’s milk actually contained contamination from plastics. 20
Nothing.
I convulsed with frustration at the idea of wildlife being killed by human waste, but was
incensed by the lack of direct evidence shown in the programme.
Some wildlife programmes have been criticised for passing off footage of captive animals
as hard-won material taken in the wild. If the facts are right, perhaps that’s OK – it 25
makes striking educational TV – but the linkages between this dead whale and plastic
pollution were at best circumstantial.
Campaigners argue that plastic and toxic chemicals are capable of killing young whales,
and everybody needs to realise the urgency of the pollution issue.
Urgent action is needed, but we need to keep up the pressure for change with good 30
evidence. I don’t want exposing the production fakery to become the story,
overshadowing the real story about plastic pollution. Please, programme makers, go
beyond brilliant images and gripping storylines. Documentaries can change views with
truth and scientific evidence.
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Text C: The penguin lessons
The narrator, Tom Michell, has borrowed his friend’s luxury holiday apartment by the sea. It is out
of season, and the friend is not using the apartment himself. Tom is enjoying a few days relaxing
and exploring in the quiet resort, and unexpectedly meets a new friend and companion.
A few fishing boats and pleasure craft rocked gently in the small harbour on the
fashionable western side of the point, basking serenely in the winter sunlight. Cries of
gulls and the smell of fish filled the air. Vibrant colours of boats and painted houses
played against the sapphire sea and azure sky.
Swimming in unison, shimmering shoals of sprats raced around the harbour, zigzagging, 5
dividing and reuniting. Waves of mesmerising light reflected off these iridescent fish.
There were penguins in the harbour, too. It was captivating to watch them fly through
the water, twisting and turning, snapping up sprats. I was only surprised that there were
not more penguins there feasting on such rich and easy pickings.
I turned and walked round the promontory to the eastern side. I had only been strolling 10
along the seashore for minutes, when I caught sight of the first of them: black, unmoving
shapes. Initially, I was aware of only a few but, as I walked on, they grew in number,
until the whole beach appeared to be covered with black lumps in a black carpet.
Hundreds of penguins lay dead in the sand, covered in thick, cloying oil and tar. Each
wave that broke piled another grim batch of carcasses on top of those already there. 15
The sight was dreadful, sickening and depressing.
I understood then why there were so few penguins in the harbour – only a lucky few
had avoided the oil slick. Consumed by dark thoughts, I continued walking. The pollution
along the beach extended as far as I could see.
I had not heard reports of any oil spill, but in those days regulations were less stringent. 20
After discharging cargo at their destinations, oil tankers would put to sea again and
wash out their tanks, creating vast, deadly floating oil slicks.
I had been walking briskly, unwilling to focus closely on the details of the dead creatures,
when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement in the stillness on the beach. I
stopped. One valiant bird was alive: a single survivor struggling amid all that death. 25
Although it was lying on its belly and covered in tar like the others, this penguin was
holding its head up and moving its wings with little spasmodic jerks. Could I walk on
and abandon it to the poisonous oil and exhausting, suffocating tar? I decided that I
could not; I headed towards it.
I had no clear plan – in fact, no plan at all. As I approached the solitary penguin, it 30
struggled to its feet, flapping sticky wings and ready to fight for its life once more.
Amid all the obscenity, this single penguin sparking with anger stood there, eyeing me
suspiciously. How would I approach this filthy, aggressive bird? I scanned the
accumulated rubbish along the beach: bits of wood, plastic bottles, disintegrating fishing
net. As I moved away, the penguin settled back down on its tummy again. Hurriedly, I 35
gathered debris that I thought might be of assistance. Now, gladiator-like, I approached
my quarry. Sensing the renewed threat, it immediately reared up to full height. Its black,
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malevolent eyes shone with pure loathing and venom. Its beak snapped shut with a
savage metallic clack. Swirling a piece of fishing net, I distracted the penguin and, with
the swiftness and bravery of Achilles, dropped the net over its head, pushed it over with 40
a stick and grabbed its feet.
Arriving back at the flat, I looked around and realised that I’d been carried away with
the idea of rescuing the penguin. The average penthouse holiday flat is rarely equipped
with the necessities for de-tarring penguins. I had not thought about the practicalities
that cleaning would involve. The flat was elegant, tasteful, like an advertisement from 45
a glossy magazine – the last place to bring a furious, oil-soaked penguin. The chances
of making a real mess, and getting injured into the bargain, seemed very real.
© UCLES 2020 06_0500_11_2020_1.13

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Cambridge IGCSE

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Text A: Paper is back: why ‘real’ books are on the rebound
Digital books (also called e-books) are electronic versions of books designed to be read on a tablet
or screen (e-reader).
The latest numbers for book sales are reported to be surprising and encouraging. For
the first time since the invasion of their newest enemies, e-books and e-readers, real
books are fighting back.
The result of the battle looks more like co-existence than conquest. For now.
Publishers, tracking what readers are buying, found the number of paper books sold 5
went up 2.4 per cent last year, in all types of bookstores. At the same time, e-books
have hit a plateau.
Apparently, print books are selling better than they have since sales of e-books exploded
in 2010. The paper book hit rock bottom in 2012, but has since fought back in lucrative
categories such as children’s books. Students, apparently, are rediscovering paper. 10
Several recent studies find a strong preference for printed textbooks, notably among
those in colleges and universities who have tried both types. In one survey, 57 per cent
preferred print; only 21 per cent preferred an e-textbook.
Multiple studies find that we pitiful humans read differently when given the same text
on the screen of a tablet and on a printed page: less of what we read electronically 15
sticks in our minds. Many e-books aimed at kids are designed to include animations,
games and other technological temptations. On tablets, adults find navigating the book
less natural and can be distracted by notifications of incoming email and social media.
Some people still like the feel, even the smell, of a book. There is also brilliant, large
cover art and the ever-present reminder that you own a book: it’s there on your shelf. 20
1
The near-term future won’t be ‘paper-or,’ but ‘paper-and pixels’ : until and unless the
two become indistinguishable to the reader in terms of factors, features and feel.
1
pixels: small dots which are combined to form an image or text on an electronic screen
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Text B: The rebirth of the bookshop
This article explains how bookshops have changed in recent years.
Time was when bookshops appealed for being old-world and fusty with their confusing
layouts, musty smells and eccentric proprietors. Now a new breed of bookshops is
emerging. Luminous and spacious – the very opposite of the traditional bookstore.
Changing tastes in architecture and interior design are partly responsible for this trend,
but so, too, are economics and new book-buying habits. Fierce competition from online 5
retailers, cut-price supermarkets and e-books has seen the market for physical paper
books dwindle, causing many bookshops to close, but booksellers are fighting back.
One of their tactics is to hire cutting-edge architects to design shops with an alluring,
contemporary feel to help attract customers day and night.
A case in point is Foyles bookshop, London, once famous for its quaintly chaotic warren 10
of rooms with books piled up everywhere – not just on shelves but in nooks under tables.
Last June, however, the mammoth store relocated. Interviewed recently, Foyles’ chief
executive, Sam Husain, said that one reason why the shop moved was that its original
layout was old-fashioned – ‘higgledy piggledy and inefficient’. By contrast, the new shop
boasts 6.4 kilometres of orderly bookshelves and stocks over 200,000 titles. Its interior 15
is clean-lined, minimalist and easy to navigate, geared to convenience in an age when
customers are used to snapping up goods online at lightning speed. Customers can
also use an in-store mobile search tool to see if the book is in stock and, if so, where.
With the aid of an interactive map, the book can be located.
Another survival tactic for this new generation of bookshops is to operate as a cultural 20
centre, not just a bookstore. To use that retail cliché, shops today must offer an
‘experience’ – not just a ‘shopportunity’ – if they are to succeed. According to retail
expert Matthew Brown: ‘Shops have never been about buying stuff – we can get that
online. We expect hospitality and service.’
Worldwide there’s an emergence of a new wave of bookstores – businesses which 25

have diversified their product ranges, have increased their scope. Bookstores like
Livraria Cultura in São Paolo also sell electronics, DVDs, toys and stationery, and they
function as event and meeting spaces for book and product launches. Livraria Cultura
boasts an exhibition space, conference area and garden café. It’s as much a
see-and-be-seen hangout as a bookshop. White bookshelves incorporating LEDs, 30
laminate surfaces and glass handrails on the staircases all contribute to the shop’s
luminous, transparent feel. The shop also has two basement levels, with the lower one
devoted to children’s books, and featuring a funky, rainbow-striped ramp providing
access to shelves, and beanbags to recline on and read.
In short, bookshops are turning over a new leaf as they battle to survive in the internet 35
age.
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Text C: Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore
The narrator, Clay, is young and talented, but struggling to find a new job. After months of searching,
including walking the streets each day looking for advertisements in shop windows, he finds just
one job to apply for.
Lost in the shadows of the shelves, I almost fall off the ladder. I’m exactly halfway up.
The floor of the bookstore is far below, the surface of a planet I’ve left behind. The tops
of the shelves loom high above. It’s dark up there – books are huddled together, not
letting any light through. The air might be thinner, too. I think I see a bat. I’m holding
on for dear life, one hand on the ladder, the other on a shelf, fingers pressed white. 5
Many of the books have the look of antiquity – cracked leather, gold-leaf titles; others
are freshly bound with bright crisp covers. All are in such excellent condition that they
might as well be new.
My eyes search the spines. I spot it - the book I’ve been sent up for.
But wait – let me explain how I got here: 10
I was unemployed, a result of the great food-chain contraction sweeping through the
country, leaving bankrupt burger chains and shuttered sushi empires in its wake.
The job I’d lost was at the corporate headquarters of a very new company. It wrote
software to design and bake the perfect burger bun: smooth toasted skin, soft interior.
It was my first job out of art school. I started as a designer, making marketing materials 15
to explain and promote this tasty treat: menus, diagrams and posters for store windows.
There was lots to do: first, redesigning the company’s logo, then, the website. I was the
company’s voice on social media, attracting followers with a mix of fast-food trivia and
digital coupons.
Then the economy nose-dived. It turns out that in a recession, people want good 20
old-fashioned food, not smooth alien-spaceship snacks. I was jobless.
Next to the bus stop I’d seen the handwritten advertisement:
MR PENUMBRA’S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE
HELP WANTED
LATE SHIFT 25
I pushed the bookstore’s heavy wooden door, making a bell tinkle brightly, and stepped
slowly through.
Inside: imagine the shape and volume of a normal bookstore turned on its side. This
place was absurdly narrow and dizzyingly tall. The shelves went all the way up, fading
smoothly into the shadows as if they might just go on forever. Shelves were packed so 30
close together it felt like I was standing at the border of a forest – an old Transylvanian
forest, full of wolves, witches and dagger-wielding bandits all waiting just beyond
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5
moonlight’s reach. There were ladders that clung to the shelves and rolled side to side,
stretching up ominously into the gloom. I stuck to the front half of the store, where bright
midday light pressed in. 35
‘Hello there,’ a quiet voice called from within. A figure emerged – a man, tall and skinny,
in a light blue cardigan. He tottered as he walked, running a wrinkled hand along the
shelves for support. He was very old.
He nodded at me. ‘What do you seek in these shelves?’
That was a good line; for some reason, it made me feel comfortable. 40
‘I’m looking for a job.’
Mr Penumbra blinked, then nodded and tottered over to the desk beside the front door.
It was a massive block of dark-whorled wood, a solid fortress on the forest edge.
‘Employment.’ Penumbra nodded again. ‘Have you ever worked at a bookstore?’
‘Well ’ I said. 45
‘No matter,’ Penumbra said. ‘Tell me about a book you love.’ I knew my answer
immediately. No competition.
I told him, ‘The Dragon-Song chronicles.’
Penumbra smiled. ‘Good very good,’ he said, then squinted at me. His gaze went
up and down. ‘But can you climb a ladder?’ 50
And that’s how I find myself on this ladder, up on the third ‘floor’ of Penumbra’s
Bookstore. The book I’ve been sent up to retrieve is over an arm-length to my left.
Obviously, I should return to the floor and scoot the ladder over. But down below,
Penumbra is shouting, ‘Lean across! Lean!’
And I really need this job 55
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© UCLES 2020
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Text A: My week on powdered food
The writer explains their experience of a new powdered food product called Erfoo (Earth Food).
I’ve always found lunch annoying. It interrupts work. At the office, I resent the endless
canteen queues; working from home, I object to the daily decision-making. Lunch fatigue
troubled me so much that last month I decided I’d had enough. Erfoo (Earth Food)
would be the solution to my problem. According to the advertisements, this
self-proclaimed ‘future of food for our planet’ delivers ‘everything your body needs’. 5
Coming in a minimalistic white pouch, the meal-replacement powder blends things like
rice, peas and flaxseed. Add water, shake it up, and there’s your lunch, dinner or
breakfast, or all three. I ordered a week’s supply, telling friends about my exciting
discovery. Comments ranged from outraged to encouraging (‘this makes a lot of sense’).
My mum suggested I just ate a banana. 10
Apparently, Erfoo is favoured by developers – people who make websites and apps. It
leaves them with more time to write code. I began fantasising about my new streamlined
lifestyle: the extra work I would do, money I could save; maybe I’d lose weight. At the
very least, I would feel a bit like an astronaut.
Sadly, my first gulp of Erfoo tastes revolting. There are lumps in the mixture – I’ve 15
accidentally made it with room-temperature water. Chugging down the concoction, it
strikes me that Erfoo doesn’t just sound like the act of vomiting. I haven’t enjoyed my
liquid meal. Afterwards, I feel full, but not as if I’ve eaten.
When lunchtime next rolls around, I’m not hungry – the thought of Erfoo doesn’t appeal.
But if you’re committed to the future of food, you know lunchtime is Erfoo o’clock. 20
This time I use chilled water, and a hand blender to eliminate lumps. I also add mocha
flavouring. It occurs to me that I’m now, in fact, ‘cooking’. This defeats the object of
attempting to streamline the rigmarole of lunch, but at least my second Erfoo tastes
more palatable.
As the week progresses, Erfoo becomes a habit, but by day seven a new joylessness 25
has engulfed lunchtimes. I don’t feel like a spaceman. I feel like an idiot. The Erfoo goes
to the back of a kitchen cupboard and I eat a banana instead.
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Text B: A complete diet in a time-saving way?
The writer discusses some of the meal-replacement products such as protein shakes, gels and
powders that are currently available.
You can divide the world into two groups of people: those who drink protein shakes for
breakfast and those who don’t. I am firmly in the latter. It’s fair to say that I’m not the
target market for the lucrative line of trendy meal-replacement products all tapping into
the idea that food is old-fashioned, inconvenient and boring. Apparently, there’s now a
more hi-tech, whizz-bang way of delivering the same nutrients more efficiently in the 5
form of gels and powders. Yum.
I’m almost tempted to try the ‘bespoke vitamin and mineral blend’ described as ‘an
all-natural, vegan formula’ – until I talk to Joanna Blythman, an investigative food writer.
She scoffs at the idea. ‘These products contain technologically altered hi-tech
ingredients. You’re talking about industrial food chemistry where basic ingredients are 10
being mucked around with and transformed. There are these very intense chemical
sweeteners in there. There’s sucralose; that’s something like 200 times sweeter than
sugar. There’s maltodextrin – that’s another sweetener. And xylitol – that’s another one.
It’s all just rubbish. Then there’s ‘pea protein’, which sounds good, doesn’t it, but what
is it? Peas treated with a number of complex, chemical reactions to extract some sort 15
of beige powder.’
It does raise the question of why you’d want to eat that.
On Twitter, I find a Swiss software developer who tells me he’s been eating nothing
else for weeks. ‘I’ve just moved to the city and it’s an effort to find time to cook each
evening. I have a very healthy lifestyle and like eating healthily. I read about it and 20
thought I’d give it a go.’
My running partner, Catherine, is exactly the type of person who drinks protein shakes
for breakfast. At the end of our run she pulls out her ‘lunch’ from her rucksack. ‘It’s OK,’
she says.
I’m not sure. We may want to maximise the health benefits of food, but the research 25
simply isn’t there yet, and what about the emotional, cultural and social well-being
aspects of food? We’re not robots: food is more than just fuel.
Appetite is such a fundamental drive. Food is part of what we do every day to make
our lives a bit nicer. If you’ve had a bad day, it’s just that little nice thing you can do for
yourself. And these products just don’t get that at all. 30
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Text C: The Clement Street Soup and Sourdough Restaurant
Lois has moved away from the place where she grew up to work for a company called General
Dexterity (GD) founded by a young businessman called Andrei. The company designs
industry-leading robot arms for factories and needs talented computer-programmers to find ways
to improve what their robots can do.
Day one, Andrei gave a guided tour of the company’s underground base – a cavernous
construction, formerly a car park. Towering rows of robot arms sweeping, grasping and
lifting lined the cement floor. Their plastic cladding was coloured sky-blue, their contours
friendly and capable with just the faintest suggestion of biceps – gentle swells sporting
GD’s logo, a lightning bolt. 5
These were repetitive gestures, Andrei explained, currently executed by human muscles
and minds. Repetition stifled human creativity, he said. Repetition belonged to robots.
I learned about the software I’d be working on and saw the founder’s original prototype
robot arm, a three-jointed limb taller than me. You could call, ‘Arm, change task. Say
hello!’ and it would wave a wide, eager greeting – unlike my new workmates. 10
Orientation week ended on Friday night. Then my job began. Not the following Monday.
The next morning. Saturday. I had the feeling of being sucked – floop – into a pneumatic
tube.
Programmers at GD were almost exclusively young, distant, cold-eyed wraiths, in

identical denim. They started early morning, working past midnight, in a hurry to be 15
done, and rich. Each week the section manager, Peter, reminded us: We’re on a mission
to replace human labour – work harder.
Programmers often slept at the office. Some nights I’d lie there, staring blankly at the
ceiling and the braids of fibre ferrying data around the office. My parents were far away,
locked in the frame of a video-chat window. I had no friends nearby. There was a knot 20
in my stomach that wouldn’t loosen. I existed in a state of stupor, brain flaccid, cells
gasping. I couldn’t get my turbine spinning.
It was Peter who’d recommended switching to the meal-replacement, Slurry. ‘It’s what
we all eat,’ he said.
At meal times, I sat in a corner of the empty cafeteria and slurped the grey gel. 25
It would have been Slurry for ‘dinner’ as always, if I hadn’t discovered, stuck to my
apartment’s door, a handwritten menu advertising a local delivery service. I’d just arrived
home from work. My face felt brittle from stress – this wasn’t unusual. I was already
flagging after a single summer at my new job. I was supposed to be one of the bright
new additions, the fresh-faced ones. My face wasn’t fresh. My hair had gone flat and 30
thin. My stomach hurt.
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I wouldn’t normally have been interested, but this menu, written in a dark confident
script, intrigued me. At the top, in exuberant letters, was the restaurant’s name and
telephone number. The menu was compact: Spicy Soup, a Spicy Sandwich or a Combo
(double spicy), all of which, the menu explained in its curling connectors, were 35
vegetarian. The menu charmed me – as a result, my night, and my life, bent off on a
different track.
I called the number. A friendly voice answered, ‘Hello! What can I make for you?’
I ordered the Combo.
Sometime later, my order arrived, delivered by a cheery young man with a heavy, 40
hard-to-place accent: ‘Good evening, my friend!’
I dug in my pocket for cash, then thought to ask, ‘What kind of food is this?’
His face beamed. ‘Real food, traditionally made. If you like it, I’ll give you the recipe.’
Sitting on my kitchen countertop – utterly bare in those days, free from any sign of food
preparation – I consumed the first Combo (double spicy) of my life. The healing powers, 45
physical and psychic, of the spicy soup made traditional noodle soup seem like
dishwater. It was an elixir. The sandwich was spicier still, thin-sliced vegetables slathered
with a fluorescent red sauce, the burn buffered by thick slabs of bread artfully toasted.
First my stomach unclenched, then my brain. I let loose a long sigh that transformed
into a rippling burp. I laughed out loud. 50
That night, instead of fitfully reviewing the day’s errors, I fell asleep soothed by spicy
broth and dreams of baking that fragrant, fluffy sourdough bread.
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Cambridge IGCSE

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Text A: Bicycle touring
So what is bicycle touring?
Well, it’s completing self-contained cycling trips for pleasure, adventure and the sense
of freedom, rather than for sport, commuting, or exercise. Touring can range from single
to multi-day trips, even years. Tours may be planned by the participant or organised
by a club, or charity as a fund-raising venture. 5
People of all ages, backgrounds, and regions of the world choose the bicycle as their
favourite means of travel. Travelling by bike appeals to a broad spectrum of people and
is attractive for many reasons: it’s an exciting challenge that allows us to explore new
landscapes and cultures, build fitness, and experience the joy of breathing fresh air.
The good news is that you don’t need to be a super-athlete to enjoy cycling. However, 10
you’ll want to spend some time training on a bike before your trip. Be realistic about
what you can do and create achievable goals. Then, work your strength up to riding
the same daily distances you plan to cover while carrying the same gear you plan to
travel with. You’re physically ready if you can do back-to-back day rides as long, or
longer, than you are planning for your tour, and feel as if you could ride again on day 15
three.
A reasonably fit adult carrying less than 9 kilograms of additional equipment on their
bike can expect to travel at an average pace of 100 kilometres per day on paved roads
and still have time to stop and sightsee. In particularly flat or mountainous terrain, the
average will increase or decrease accordingly. You’ll need to decide if, after your daily 20
exertions, you want to camp (inexpensive, independent, closer to nature) or stay in
hotels (comfortable, less stuff to carry). If you’re camping in the wild, start looking for
the spot a couple of hours before dark.
Bicycle riders are usually perceived to be non-threatening and on the whole are treated
warmly by strangers, especially if they run into difficulties on the road. The chances of 25
something bad happening to you during a bicycle tour are probably no different from
those in your everyday life at home.
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Text B: Is cycle touring right for you?
Riding around the world seems like a romantic way to travel – just you, your bike, and
the open road, tackling whatever comes your way. However true that is, there’s a flip
side to cycle touring: the dark, cold, wet side, where misery lurks.
Even sitting in your office beforehand, dreaming about getting out and seeing the world,
that rough side can seem scary. Before I left home, I wasn’t sure I’d last more than a 5
couple of weeks on the road. I nearly didn’t go.
Instead of looking forward to those cosy campsites in the middle of unspoilt forests, I
pictured myself at the side of the highway in the rain, with a broken bike and no way to
fix it. Rather than those perfect rest days spent lounging on quiet beaches, I imagined
terrifying nights in the tent and bandits in the hills. Not realising I’d be talking about life, 10
love, and politics with welcoming locals, I had worried about loneliness.
Perhaps, like me, you find it impossible to imagine that your regular old body, the one
that struggles just walking up a steep hill, could handle riding the vast distances involved
in a bike trip. Truth is, we discover that we’re capable of so much more than we ever
thought possible. 15
At the end of a long day, I was often tired, sore and dreading getting back on the bike
the next morning. But after a night's sleep, I’d feel excited and ready to climb back in
the saddle to see what the day would bring.
Before leaving on tour, I’d often wondered if cycle touring might turn out to be boring –
all that pedalling. I turned out to be right on this one: some days on the bike are dull. 20
But the boredom is far outweighed by the excitement of seeing flowers and animals
that you’d never notice from a car.
Cycle touring’s not for you if you want to check off every famous sight in your guidebook.
A typical cycle tour is about the small things: the tiny villages you pass through, other
cyclists who help you along the way, the incredible (sometimes incredibly bad) meals 25
you eat in a roadside shack in the middle of nowhere.
Cycle touring does have its ups and downs (pun intended), but the triumphs of travelling
by bicycle far outweigh the inconveniences.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_11_2021_1.14 [Turn over

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Text C: Into the sunrise: cycling the world, part 2
The narrator, Chris, is currently travelling alone through Canada. He has stopped at a visitor centre
to use their telephone and buy a map. He is about to leave, when someone approaches, pushing
a small touring bike.
I’d just met Vivian.
She ate my food; I fixed her wheel.
She was short, dressed in fluorescent yellow and barely paused for breath: ‘I ran out
of water. I think I saw a bear. My bike broke. I lost all my food.’
Vivian’s goal, she explained, was to cycle the 3200 kilometres across Canada to raise 5
money for a children’s charity. She’d never ridden long distance before this trip.
Vivian and I were going in the same direction; riding together made sense.
‘I’m quite slow,’ Vivian warned.
All went well, until we arrived at the first climb. Vivian stepped off her bike and pushed.
‘The hills are steep,’ she explained. 10
I couldn’t believe it. Had she been doing this all the way? I stopped and checked her
bike. She was in completely the wrong gear. Once in the right gear, Vivian cycled
minutes only before resorting to pushing again. I went on ahead and waited for her at
the top, secretly delighted she was slower than me.
‘You really should have a mirror,’ I told her as she caught up. ‘For staying safe in traffic.’ 15
‘I threw it away to save weight.’
‘Okay. Well you’re very bright at least.’
‘I don’t think so,’ replied my new companion, screwing up her face.
‘No, Vivian. I meant your high-visibility jacket – it’s bright, so at least you can be seen.’
After more walking / cycling we closed the day making camp by Lake O’Hara. I’d found 20
a great spot with inspirational views of snowy peaks. Vivian seemed concerned about
wildlife, particularly bears: ‘I’ve been camping on petrol station forecourts.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Yes. I decided it was safer.’
Vivian wasn’t exactly happy but began to erect her tent and unpack. I did the same, 25
somewhat faster, then cooked us dinner on my trusty stove. Vivian’s stove was one of
the many things she’d thrown away.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_11_2021_1.14

5
I woke next morning to wails of, ‘Nooo, my iPhone!’ and ‘Eww, a slug!’ I smiled. She
was a city girl plucked out of her comfort zone and thrust into the alternative universe
of long-distance touring. Conquering this trip might boost Vivian’s ailing confidence, 30
perhaps help her too to discover her direction in life.
Later that morning, as I stopped to get my map out, Vivian shot off past me.
It was hours before I caught up with her again – or rather she ‘caught up’ with me. A
pick-up truck overtook me and rolled to a stop. From the passenger seat, jumped a
small bright bundle of energy. As Vivian hauled her bike out of the truck, I greeted her, 35
asking the obvious question.
‘I got lost,’ she explained.
Apparently, a fresh list of things had gone wrong since I’d last seen her. She’d nearly
quit, but instead found a café with WiFi (how?), arranged hosts for us in the next town
through www.warmshowers-for-cyclists and hitched a lift in the café owner’s pick-up. 40
We cycled on into the National Park. Vivian remembered this was bear country –
disappointingly no bears showed themselves. And by evening we rendezvoused with
our wonderful hosts who apparently often hosted cross-Canada cyclists. We cooked
dinner to thank them.
For weeks Vivian and I rode on together, following the unrelenting, unbending highway. 45
The now empty green scenery had become mind-numbingly boring, but we were getting
along surprisingly well, playing my guess-the-animal game for entertainment. Finally,
we began to spot trees. At first they were sporadic, but before long grouped together,
calling themselves forests. We’d made it across the prairies. It felt like a significant
achievement. The heavily forested area we were headed into was dotted with tempting 50
lakes, ponds and rivers – ideal habitat for the shy creatures missing from my ‘collection’:
beavers. I said I’d like to cycle separately for the rest of the day.
Vivian looked hurt. Before I could explain, she rode off.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_11_2021_1.14

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*1236309633-I*
insert.
06_0500_12_2021_1.12
2
Text A: Antarctica
This text gives information about Antarctica.
Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in terms of total area, larger than the continents
of both Oceania and Europe. The Antarctic Ice Sheet, the largest single piece of ice on
Earth, dominates the region. This ice sheet even extends beyond the continent when
snow and ice are at their most extreme in winter months.
The Antarctic region has an important role in global climate processes. It is an integral 5
part of the Earth’s heat balance (the relationship between the amount of solar heat
absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere and the amount of heat reflected back into space).
Ice is more reflective than land or water surfaces. The massive Antarctic Ice Sheet
reflects a large amount of solar radiation away from Earth’s surface. As global ice cover
(ice sheets and glaciers) decreases, the reflectivity of Earth’s surface also decreases. 10
This allows more incoming solar radiation to be absorbed by the Earth’s surface, causing
an unequal heat balance linked to global warming.
While Antarctica does not have permanent residents, the region is busy with research
scientists from dozens of different countries. Antarctica has no national borders, so the
entire continent is open for research. It has the cleanest air in the world, so atmospheric 15
monitoring done there provides more reliable data.
Most visitors to Antarctica are either increasingly adventurous tourists, on increasingly

affordable cruises, or researchers involved in national scientific programmes. In many
aspects the type of activities undertaken and the potential environmental impacts are
common to all visitors. Whatever their reason for being in Antarctica, these people will 20
want to visit the same spectacular scenery and witness threatened wildlife colonies.
Although nearly three times as many tourists visit Antarctica than researchers, the
number of person-days on the ground in Antarctica for national scientific programmes
far exceeds the number for tourism, which is nearly all ship based.
National programmes have involved the establishment of permanent or semi-permanent 25

stations, served by new roads and runways, and staffed by long-term (wintering) and
short-term (summer only) personnel. Only in recent years have environmental audits
carried out around scientific stations ensured that waste of all kinds is returned to the
country of origin wherever possible.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_12_2021_1.12

3
Text B: Crossing Antarctica
This text is an article about Wendy Searle who plans to break the women’s world speed record for
skiing solo to the South Pole, unassisted and unaided – a huge challenge!
Five years ago, Wendy Searle hadn’t considered crossing Antarctica. Then she
organised the media campaign of an expedition to the South Pole by a team of military
personnel. It made her wonder if she could have a go herself.
Despite the fact that she had no previous polar training and had never skied before,
she successfully skied 560 kilometres across the Greenland ice sheet last year: ‘One 5
thing I learned is that my polar expedition will be incredibly tough, mentally.’
Searle will need to ski 1130 kilometres across the frozen continent of Antarctica in less
than 38 days, 23 hours and 5 minutes. ‘I can’t have any outside assistance and I have
to take everything with me in a special sledge called a pulk: all my food, my fuel, my
supplies, everything. I can’t have any food re-supplies or medical help. I cannot even 10
accept a cup of tea,’ she said. ‘I’ll be completely alone and, in all likelihood, I won’t see
anybody else.’
Searle is 1.53 metres tall and weighs just over 60 kilograms; the pulk will weigh over
80 kilograms. Training for the expedition, she needs to spend more than 10 hours a
week lifting weights and running up and down hills pulling a tyre, while also holding 15
down a full-time job. Knowing how difficult and dangerous the route is going to be forces
Searle to prioritise training: ‘That one day you don’t train might be the difference between
success and failure.’
Her family – her husband is a soldier and they have three teenage daughters and a
son – are doing all they can to support her. ‘My children are super-independent. They 20
even organise me. They’ll say, “Don’t forget parents’ evening and these are the
appointments I’ve got you.” They’re amazing.’ She’s determined to inspire them. ‘I want
my children to see that it’s OK to pursue something with a white-hot passion in a
single-minded way and focus on a goal.’
Searle is still raising money to fund the expedition. She feels it’s more difficult to attract 25
sponsorship as a female polar explorer: ‘People need to get behind female adventurers.
I asked a well-known TV agent why there aren’t more programmes about us and she
said, “Honestly, there just isn’t the audience.”’
Searle hopes her story will change perceptions.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_12_2021_1.12 [Turn over

4
Text C: Base station, Antarctica
This text is taken from a longer narrative. The narrator is a journalist who has been invited to spend
time at a national scientific programme base station on Antarctica. She has travelled by ship with
a new group of staff arriving at the base at the start of summer and is planning to stay long enough
to experience the beginning of winter.
Base emitted a hushed grandeur, as if a vault door had been closed – all noise guarded
fiercely behind it. A gunshot-like crack echoed through the air – an iceberg rotating –
then a roar like a distant waterfall as another chunk of the ice shelf collapsed into the
bay. Rough squawks of skuas were magnified through the telescope of empty dry air.
There were no smells of soil, trees, nor grass. Only the scent of Antarctica – like two 5
stones rubbed together. Flint.
We passed truckloads of tinned-food boxes in huge hangars. In summer, Base could

accommodate a hundred people: scientists returning from tented field-camps or being
deployed to them, pilots flying them in and out, cooks, mechanics, even the occasional
VIP. 10
We were shown the laboratory, air-traffic control tower, stores where ski equipment
was repaired, generator hut and sewage treatment plant. It felt both exciting and daunting
to call this home for the next few months. There were no museums, cafés or restaurants.
No animals, Wi-Fi or children. No real strangers.
That evening we encountered more Base people – young, fit figures without that fume 15
of the outside that still clung to us. They sported the same padded boiler suits and
fleece jackets, and were keen to talk. ‘I don’t call the real world often, it’s best to just
live in the bubble,’ confided marine biologist Ben. I said I planned to stay until the very
last boat out. ‘Winter here’s long,’ he added.
Field training took days; we learned how to abseil into a crevasse, get ourselves out 20
and rescue someone who has fallen in. We hurled ourselves down the sheer face of a
glacier – to learn to break our fall with an ice-axe. We erected and dismantled pyramid
tents, cooked on camp-stoves, and learned how to load a sledge.
There wasn’t much time to think, let alone write, in the early weeks occupied by briefings,
obligatory group activities and trips into the bay to collect water samples. 25
Summer was term time. Each evening scientists gave informal lectures: scientists who
routinely dived beneath the ice among carnivorous leopard seals and orcas; scientists
in the ice-coring team who worked in an underground cavern, surfacing only to cook
and sleep in pyramid tents on the blasted plain of Berkner Island. I was learning more
in weeks than I had in entire years. 30
For the first time I began to think of the planet as an organism whose well-being I could
affect. Here I felt closer to it. I could hear its pulse. ‘In ice, depth equals time,’ explained
Xavier, a scientist working with the ice-coring team. ‘The further down you go, the further
back in time you go. The ice core shows that major changes have taken place within
Earth’s climate. There’s an irrefutable steady upward trend, directly linked to carbon 35
dioxide, and humans.’ I shivered involuntarily.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_12_2021_1.12

5
As winter approached, activities on Base diminished. For entertainment, our dwindling

group played cards or leafed through old magazines.
We were given new instructions by Base Commander Simon. We weren’t to walk off
Base without telling him first. The sea ice was hardening at the shore; fresh snowfalls 40
made it difficult to see where land stopped and sea began. We risked falling through.
Safety was taken seriously – endless rehearsals drilled into us how Antarctic tragedies
had more than one cause; mishaps or misjudgements which sealed people’s fate.
Temperatures dropped further. Snowstorms blanketed the runway. The last ship out
depended on the weather. People had overwintered unexpectedly here before. 45
Around us the world was hardening. In the bay it started as ice flowers, tiny crystal
formations. The creeping carpet of flowers knitted together, until soaked by seawater
it transformed into grey gruel, thickening into porridge. As temperatures plummeted,
porridge-ice welded itself together, and sounded like steel grinding. In gathering darkness
sea ice formed. The continent was closing in on itself, locking itself in. Winter was 50
beginning.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_12_2021_1.12

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*9385069416-I*
insert.
06_0500_13_2021_1.8
2
Text A: Are humans the only primates that can talk?
This text is an article about how primates communicate.
Primates such as monkeys and chimps have surprised and impressed research scientists
in recent years. 700-year-old stone hammers discovered in Brazil provide evidence
that capuchin monkeys used tools to open cashew nuts. Meanwhile, scientists filming
chimps in Uganda identified a range of gestures that wild chimpanzees use to
communicate. 5
Humans and other primates have very similar vocal anatomy in terms of their tongues
and larynx (the parts of the throat which allow us to turn air into sound). Bonobos, which
are the closest relative to humans, have 38 distinct calls. It has been suggested that
their vocalisations are evidence of the early evolution of language. So why can only
human primates actually talk? 10
As scientist, Dr Jacob Dunn explained, ‘That’s probably due to differences in the brain,
but until now there haven’t been studies which compare species.’ Dr Dunn set out to
do that. He ranked 34 different primate species based on their vocal abilities – the
number of distinct calls they make in the wild. Bottom of his ranked list of primates was
the proboscis monkey, with four known distinct calls. The apes – led by the bonobo – 15
were at the top. He then examined the brain of each species, using information from
existing, preserved brains kept for research.
Understanding how the brain is wired in these different primate species and how that
relates to vocal ability could help scientists to understand how speech may have evolved
in humans. Since we cannot study our extinct human ancestors, our closest primate 20
cousins might fill the intriguing gaps in our knowledge. Elements of language found in
other primates probably existed millions of years ago, when the common ancestors of
both humans and these species roamed the earth.
However, other researchers urge caution in drawing conclusions from any study which
does not include data from humans. They also argue that a much deeper understanding 25
of how exactly non-human primates use their vocalisations is needed. For example,
many primates can combine different calls in different ways to create different meanings.
How this ability to combine calls might correspond to brain anatomy would be a promising
avenue to explore.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_13_2021_1.8

3
Text B: Nim Chimpsky: the chimp they tried to turn into a human
In the early 1970s, a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky was the subject of an experiment. Now,
his strange life has been turned into a documentary by film director James Marsh.
Whether he’s zooming past in a pushchair or annoying a passing cat, it’s impossible
not to be charmed by Nim the chimpanzee, adorably clothed in outfits more suited to
a toddler than a baby chimpanzee.
Nim Chimpsky, to give him his full title, was born in the Institute for Primate Studies in
the early 1970s. Highly intelligent, he was chosen to be the subject of a language 5
experiment called Project Nim, led by scientist Herbert S Terrace. The project aimed
to discover whether or not chimpanzees could use grammar to create sentences if they
were taught sign language, and nurtured in a similar environment to human children.
His name is a pun on Noam Chomsky, the linguist who claimed that language is unique
to humans. Terrace’s experiment hoped to disprove this. 10
Nim’s life story is told in a new documentary which uses archive footage, photographs
and interviews with those who cared for Nim. The film considers ethical issues and
traces the emotional experiences of both the trainers and the chimpanzee.
At less than two weeks old Nim was sent to join a human family, to be raised like any
other child. Terrace hoped that teaching communication to a ‘humanised’ chimpanzee 15
would shed light on how language is acquired by human beings.
‘Nim behaves in a way that is normal for a chimpanzee, but he’s in a human world,’
director James Marsh says. ‘He’s in the wrong context and that becomes his tragedy.
At that time, the question of how much we are born a certain way, as a species and as
individuals, and how much we are shaped by our surroundings, was being hotly debated 20
by scientists. It remains an unanswered question today.’
When the experiment ended, Nim could only use fragments of sign language. He was
returned to the institute, then sold on and struggled to adapt. Researchers reported
that Nim used signs to them that included ‘hug’ and ‘play’. He’d never previously met
another chimp. 25
Marsh admits that conveying Nim’s experiences was tough. ‘I felt that Nim’s life had
already been blighted by people projecting human qualities on to him. I can’t always
be sure what Nim’s thinking and feeling because he’s a chimpanzee.’
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_13_2021_1.8 [Turn over

4
Text C: A window on the world – my years with chimpanzees
This text is part of a longer account. The narrator, Jane Goodall, is a scientist and expert in primate
behaviour as well as an animal rights campaigner. She has recently returned to the jungle.
I woke before the alarm. Breakfast – banana and coffee – was soon finished. Minutes
later, pockets stuffed with camera, notebook, pencil, and a handful of raisins for lunch,
I headed for the place where the evening before I’d watched 18 chimpanzees settle
down for the night, and waited.
Rustling of leaves above signalled that the group was waking. Peering into the tree 5
where Fifi had made a nest for herself and infant Flossi, I saw their silhouettes. Moments
later eight-year-old daughter Fanni climbed up from her nest nearby, a small fluffy shape
against the sky. Fifi’s other two offspring, adult Freud and adolescent Frodo, had nested
further up the slope.
In the trees, other chimpanzees of the group moved about, preparing for their day. 10
Some began to feed. I remained still, aware that pandemonium might yet break out,
but utterly content to be here after months away – long weeks of lectures and lobbying
in the USA and Europe. This was my first day back with the chimps. I planned to enjoy
getting reacquainted with my old friends, taking pictures and getting my climbing legs
back. 15
It was Greybeard who led off, 30 minutes later, pausing twice to make sure the rest
were following. We headed north, then plunged into the valley and with frequent pauses
for feeding, made our way up the opposite slope. By the time the eastern sky grew
brighter, we were high above the lake. The chimps stopped and groomed for a while,
enjoying the warm morning sunshine. 20
From where I sat, I could look over the valley at the grassy ridge that in the early days
was my vantage point before the chimps had learned to trust this human and I’d learned
how to avoid trouble. From there I’d watched the chimpanzees through my binoculars.
A surge of memories flooded back. Gradually in those days I’d pieced together fragments
from their daily lives, feeding habits, travel routes and social structure. Thinking back I 25
relived the thrill of watching Greybeard fishing for termites with stems of grass – picking
a wide blade of grass and trimming it carefully so it could be poked into the narrow
passage of the termite mound. What a discovery – humans weren’t the only tool-making
animals! Nor were chimpanzees the placid vegetarians people supposed. I shuddered,
remembering grim years when the males of the community had waged war against a 30
neighbouring chimp group.
My attention jerked back to the present with a sudden outbreak of chimpanzee calls.
Looking up through the canopy I saw a grey, heavy sky. Growing darkness brought
stillness, punctuated only by distant drumming of thunder. Then the rain began. As the
rain got heavier Frodo started leaping about in the tree tops above, swinging vigorously 35
from one branch to the next, becoming wilder and more daring as fatter, faster drops
found their way through the dense canopy. Suddenly, heralded by a thunderclap that
shook the mountains and growled on and on, bouncing from peak to peak, the clouds
released such torrential rain that sky and earth seemed joined by moving water. Frodo
stopped playing and he, like the others, sat hunched and still, close to the trunk of a 40
tree.
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_13_2021_1.8

5
It must have taken about an hour before the rain eased off and the heart of the storm
swept away. The chimps climbed down and moved off through the soaked, dripping
vegetation. I followed awkwardly, my cold wet clothes hindering movement. A pale
watery sun had appeared. Its light caught the raindrops so that the world seemed hung 45
with diamonds. I crouched low to avoid destroying a spider’s web that stretched, exquisite
and fragile, across the trail. The leaves were brilliant, vivid, veined greens in the soft
sunlight; wet trunks and branches gleamed like ebony; the black coats of the chimps
were shot with flashes of coppery-brown. I stayed until the chimps nested.
How much we still have to learn 50
© UCLES 2021 06_0500_13_2021_1.8

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Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*9636930499-I*
insert.
06_0500_11_2022_1.8
2
Text A: Endurance events
I’m not sure when endurance events like triathlons, adventure races and ultra-marathon
running races (through jungle, desert and mountainous terrains) started to become
popular, but they are here to stay and continue to challenge the limits of every competitor.
Not so long ago, a marathon runner was a mythical beast – we all knew someone who
knew someone who had run a 42 km marathon, but most of us had only actually seen 5
them on TV. Now everyone knows a marathon runner and they just look like normal
people.
Somewhere along the way, marathons became commonplace and a whole new breed
of extreme activities arrived: the Ironman triathlon, crazy ultra-marathons and adventure
races that defy description, like the Tough Mudder. While a lot of extreme challenges 10
are to do with ultra-endurance, the Tough Mudder is short but involves getting hurt.
Sometimes by electric shocks. And fire. Why would you?
I’ve no idea what has made extreme sports such a phenomenon, but I do know what
happened for me. After many years of corporate life and habitual laziness I found myself
with a large belly, unable to get to the buffet without puffing. Horrified, I signed up 15
immediately for a 10 km run, then a marathon. And then an Ironman. It becomes a
rapidly escalating obsession. What seemed like a hardcore event reserved solely for
proper endurance fanatics soon becomes just within reach.
My personal theory for the rise of extreme sports is that life has become sterile. The
chances of getting an adrenaline rush in the average workplace are minimal, so, tired 20
of the rat-race, people search out ways to re-engage with life.
After completing two Ironman events, I can testify that the feeling of sweeping down
the finish chute after 226 km to pumping pop music, flashing lights and a cheering crowd
is the ultimate buzz. But to the true athlete, finishing a classic marathon, quietly in an
empty car park, in pouring rain, is easily its equal for an overwhelming inner sense of 25
achievement.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_11_2022_1.8

3
Text B: Tough Mudder
Jayden Dee is a participant in Tough Mudder, an obstacle course endurance race. In this article,
he has been interviewed by his local newspaper, the Redmond Gazette (RG).
Jayden Dee knows about hard work and dedication, as the 27-year-old athlete and
army captain is keen to prove. Despite missing the deadline to enter this year’s Tough
Mudder World Championship, airing on national television this weekend, he repeatedly
emailed the company responsible for the event, asking to be included in the endurance
contest. Eventually, they gave in and allowed Dee to compete. 5
Tough Mudder isn’t his first competition. Dee, who spent four years at a prestigious
military school on a wrestling scholarship, competed in his first Ironman triathlon a few
months ago. But the Tough Mudder event is something different altogether. It’s billed
as ‘the most insane race around’, featuring obstacles with names such as ‘Kong’ and
‘Devil’s Beard’. Participants bench-press sandbags, climb walls, crawl and run through 10
mud, among other things that will make them wet, tired and dirty.
Tough Mudder was held earlier this summer, with entrants competing for a substantial
cash prize. We spoke to Dee beforehand about his preparation.
RG: How did you find out about Tough Mudder?
Dee: I found out online through social media, and I was like, ‘I think I can compete with 15
these guys’. I literally stayed up all night watching the one-hour special from last year’s
competition, and that’s when I was hooked. I said to myself, ‘I need to find a way to get
into this.’
RG: Is that typical of you?
Dee: Well I was super-competitive through school, and then I kinda needed a break, 20
which was good because I went to Hawaii. So the last four years in Hawaii, I stayed
active, but also made a point to relax. I always knew I’d come back and compete in
something. I just was waiting for the right time. Then I did the Ironman competition and
got the bug again. I was in really good shape when I found out about this event. It
seemed like now was the time to come back. 25
RG: How do you see yourself doing?
Dee: I want to win the whole thing! A lot of my role models, people I really look up to
are in this competition, so I’m extremely realistic, but I also truly believe I can win. So
I’m gonna do my best. I want to represent Redmond well. It’s easy for people to forget
where they come from, but I don’t. This way while I’m home on leave I can get a chance 30
to inspire kids as the ‘Redmond Guy’.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_11_2022_1.8 [Turn over

4
Text C: What it’s like to be married to a future Ironman
In this blog post the writer looks back on their husband’s preparations to compete in an Ironman
event.
I’m a little hesitant to publish this because there’s a risk that I’ll just be moaning and I’ll
come across as whiny, but it’s information I wish someone had given me before we
signed up for the whole Ironman thing.
My husband, Sam, started training in January for Ironman Canada at the end of July.
He got himself an expert coach and monthly training plans. I felt reassured this meant 5
he might at least survive the 3.86 km swim, a 180.25 km bicycle ride and a marathon
(42.20 km) run, raced in that order.
His training ramped up as you’d expect. Initially, it didn’t really impact our lives too
much. If anything, it was a good thing. Now, we were both training for things – it felt like
a real partnership as we plotted our weekends to give us time to train and time together 10
as a family. It was fun. If we went away, we had to fit his bike ride of 1–3 hours into the
weekend but that was totally do-able. We’ve a pool where we live which really helped
– not having to drive to/from water at least saved travelling time.
By May he was training early and most of both weekend mornings. Being honest, I
resented that. I agreed sullenly, yes, I still wanted him to do the Ironman, and no, I didn’t 15
expect him to drop out. I was just fed up with his absences.
June was all about Ironman. Endless weekends with Sam gone until 5pm each day.
After exercise he would need to sleep for an hour or so, thus he was technically gone
for longer. I was desperate for us to go away and have a break from it.
I tried to book a weekend camping but abandoned it. We would have spent the whole 20
time fitting Sam’s training around what we were doing, and it wasn’t worth it. That year
the kids didn’t go camping at all.
My own freedom to run was curtailed. Saturdays became all about childcare. I only
managed one Saturday trail-run with the girls from April onwards and that was thanks
to wonderful friends who got up at 6.45 on a Saturday to watch my son. I got fed up 25
with not being able to say yes to invitations.
We didn’t do any family hiking for months. Sam justifiably didn’t want to hike after
exercising.
There was so much laundry (‘different road conditions’) so much extra food (‘fuel’) and
so much gear (multiple pairs of goggles with different tints ‘because you never know’)! 30
Smiling understandingly, Sam assured me the next one will be cheaper. Next one?
‘Because it’s there,’ I’d snarl to anyone who dared question why any sane mortal would
tackle an Ironman. I enjoyed mercilessly shaming his less-than-supportive business
partner into recognising the potentially boundless benefits of Sam’s well-publicised
adventure for their newly-established, fledgling travel company. A flurry of online articles 35
described me as ‘a runner married to a triathlete’ – it took me a few moments to
recognise our family and beam with immeasurable pride.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_11_2022_1.8

5
Our son missed having Dad around at the weekends, especially if he woke up after
Sam had left to train on a Saturday when sometimes there were tears. But he got used
to the different dynamic. He was given an ‘Ironman’ superhero toy as a birthday gift by 40
some relatives and immediately started making it swim, bike and run! The poor child
thinks that this is how normal families operate.
Having said all that, watching Sam emerge god-like from the water, power past us on
his bike and rocket down the finishing chute, head held high as our kids cheered with
the crowd – utterly incredible and intoxicating, one of life’s rare pinnacles of perfection. 45
It had been an epic journey for all of us. I’m so glad we did it. And next year? Well yes,
it’s my turn
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_11_2022_1.8

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*8957685617-I*
insert.
06_0500_12_2022_1.9
2
Read Text A, Kayaking, in the insert and then answer Questions 1(a)–1(e) on the question paper.
Text A: Kayaking
Kayaking is a fun activity that involves moving through water using a double-bladed
paddle in a small buoyant vessel, a kayak. The paddler sits face-forward in a cockpit
with the legs extended beneath a closed deck, propelling ahead with alternating
side-to-side paddle strokes.
The kayak has been around for centuries. It was first used by people living in the Arctic 5
regions for navigating waterways. It offered a pragmatic way to hunt, fish, and transport
passengers across water.
Nowadays kayaking is also a great activity for enthusiasts of all levels – one reason for
its popularity. It can be a wonderful way to discover quiet, shallow waters at the edge
of a lake, or an exciting high-energy sport racing along fast-moving rivers and rapids. 10
Open to everyone, basic kayaking requires no previous experience other than a passion
for exploring open waters.
Kayaking can be combined with other outdoor activities like camping and fishing, adding
another layer of challenge to your trip. If you plan on ski-touring or rock-climbing in
areas that require water travel, a kayak can be an excellent tool for accessing the remote 15
beauty of a region.
Kayaks come in two basic styles: sit-on-top and sit-inside. Sit-on-tops are increasingly
popular as they’re the most stable, easy to get in to and out of, so a great choice for
new, or nervous paddlers, for warm environments and for paddling with kids who love
to swim. Sit-insides shelter your lower body from the wind, which makes them much 20
warmer. They’re great for paddlers on cooler water who want to stay dry while paddling,
and who consider the kayak more a vehicle for travel than a toy.
Sleek and noiseless, kayaks have few limits – though high-traffic waterways are best
avoided to prevent accidents. Faster vessels, emitting pollutants, can seriously harm
populations of water-dwelling species who cannot move quickly enough to avoid a 25
speedy oncoming boat. Kayaking is an environmentally friendly alternative to boating.
Responsible kayakers always drain their boat before leaving a paddle-site to avoid
transporting water, which may contain some form of living creature or plant material,
from one water course to another.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_12_2022_1.9

3
Text B: Kayaking is good for your health
Some plunge down waterfalls, others fish from their vessels, but all kayakers have one thing in
common: they all know a thing or two about leading a healthy lifestyle.
Bobbing around in a kayak offers far more than a relaxing way to spend a sunny
afternoon. Kayakers can teach the rest of us lots about leading happier, healthier lives,
and luckily it’s easier to start kayaking than you think.
All of that paddling (and water resistance!) lends itself to a serious workout. Just one
hour of kayaking can burn over 350 calories, depending on how hard you paddle, and 5
builds muscle strength in more areas than just the arms. ‘You can enjoy the benefits
of a full workout far from the confines of a sweaty gym,’ says outdoor-sports expert
Brad Bostrom.
But pick the right vessel. Brad recommends going for a wide boat that you sit on top
of. ‘These boats are much easier to get back in if you flip them over,’ he says. Along 10
with your boat, Brad advises investing in a high-quality, lightweight paddle, which will
make for more efficient movement.
Apparently, the consistent motion of kayaking is a great way to get your heart beating
too (easier on the knees than pounding pavements) and research shows that elite
kayakers actually breathe more efficiently. 15
And there are just as many mental benefits. Whether battling white water rapids or
drifting along with the help of ocean waves, kayaking is a way to de-stress. Exercise
decreases stress by increasing endorphins, bringing athletes to the present moment
and actually lifting moods. A new book, Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D., shows
that adding water to the equation brings a whole new level of stress-busting. 20
‘Though remember that even the best swimmers can tire quickly in rough or cold water.
Kayakers of all levels should always wear a personal flotation device,’ Brad advises.
‘Paddle in a group too – join a club – it’s safer and a great way to make new friends.’
Time spent outdoors comes with a slew of bonuses, including vitamin D intake from
‘sensible sun exposure’ time. But watch the weather. Finding yourself stranded in a 25
storm isn’t fun. Lightning loves to strike water and wind can create dangerous waves.
It’s always good to check the forecast before heading out.
Overcoming extreme challenges like white-water rapids, or even paddling a longer

distance than you did last time, helps build confidence and positive self-image. ‘There’s
nothing like floating quietly through a forest and surprising a sun-bathing alligator,’ says 30
Brad. ‘I see and learn new things every day’.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_12_2022_1.9 [Turn over

4
Text C: Paddling Alaska
The writer, Audrey Sutherland, worked for years as a careers adviser for high school students
before setting off on her first solo kayaking trip through Alaska. Since that first trip she has paddled
more than 13 000 solo Alaskan kilometres.
I first saw southern Alaska from the air, looking down on islands with secluded beaches
and hidden inlets, huge trees and a point for watching sunrise and sunset.
Fifteen kilometres from any town was wilderness; towns were dotted far apart. That left
lots of space to paddle, explore and camp. Since 1967, whenever I could squeeze in
a vacation, I’d been voyaging in inflatable kayaks. I’d written a fairly successful book 5
about my trips around Hawaiian islands. Paddling through Alaska was top of my
25-morale-building-things-to-do list. My publisher was also keen.
Looking at the map, my choice was clear: I could paddle direct along established routes
for fishing boats, or go ‘gunkholing’, as boaters say, prowling in and out of tiny coves
and meandering south. Connecting a roundabout route of hot springs, old cabins, the 10
smallest islets and resupply towns, I could trace excerpts of historic voyages, forage
natural delicacies and communicate with such endearing animals as whales and otters.
I wasn’t yet factoring in grizzly bears.
This second route would be over 800 miles and involve crossing open sea and
dangerous straits. Obviously, I’d go gunkholing. 15
My inflatable kayak would be the smallest boat to attempt this distance, an impertinent
toy compared to the crafted cedar-log-dugout canoes paddled for centuries along these
misty shores, or sturdy modern fibreglass canoes.
‘You’re seriously paddling 800 miles in Alaska in that?’ said a man on a beach one day.
‘Where’s the unicorn head and mermaid flippers to go with it?’ 20
He sneered at the limp, shapeless roll of plastic on the sand. I attached the hose of the
air pump to a valve in the newly patched intrepid vessel and the plastic kayak squirmed
slowly and reluctantly out of its wrinkles into a tube shape. I kept pumping. The second
side and the hull gradually assumed a wonky banana shape, a bit like a boat-shaped
doughnut, bright yellow with ridiculously optimistic red-and-white ‘racing stripes’ down 25
the sides.
Why use this boat? Well, I already owned it. It would roll up in a small bag that I could
take on the plane. I’d paddled enough rough seas in it to know it was seaworthy. Above
all, it was light enough to carry by myself up the beach above high tide each night.
My yellow colour scheme was reinforced when my order of foul-weather gear arrived. 30
I tried it on, laughing at my incongruous image in the mirror. ‘Getting older aren’t you?’
I’d asked for two months off work to complete the trip. I wanted to be lean, hard and
kind. Instead I felt soft, fat and mean. Years of a desk job can do that. After decades
spent helping others decide what to do with their lives, I wondered whether I knew what
to do with mine. 35
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_12_2022_1.9

5
During the next weeks I booked cabins where I could stay for 10 of the 80 nights of the
trip. I mailed my camping essentials to excited friends living near my launching point,
and sent resupply boxes of dried food addressed to myself at post offices en route, with
notes to the incredulous post masters to ‘hold for paddling expedition to arrive approx.
(date)’. I dutifully made copies of the daily route so my grown-up family would know 40
where to start their search if I didn’t check in along the way and made notches on one
side of my pencil to measure a nautical mile on some of the ocean charts.
My request for leave came back, unapproved.
I resigned.
And the bear? Well that was actually years later. Beginning this first Alaskan adventure, 45
I’d have been relieved to know that any bears and I would avoid each other. Every
Alaskan has a bear story. Should I start with mine? ‘The grizzly bear stood one metre
away, his enormous muzzle visible through the plastic sheet over the cabin window ’
Nah, I’ll tell you about that later.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_12_2022_1.9

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*3331642223-I*
insert.
06_0500_13_2022_1.9
2
Text A: About snakes
There are more than 3000 species of snakes on the planet. They’re found everywhere
except in Antarctica, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and New Zealand. About 600 species
are venomous, and only about seven per cent are able to kill or significantly wound a
human.
Most snakes live on land, but there are about 70 species that live in oceans. Sea snakes 5
and their cousins, kraits, are some of the most venomous snakes that exist, but they
pose little threat to humans because they’re shy and their fangs are too short to do
much damage.
Almost all snakes are covered in protective scales. They’re reptiles, so are cold-blooded
and must regulate their body temperature externally. Scales serve several purposes: 10
in arid climates they trap moisture and reduce friction as the snake moves.
Snakes also have forked tongues, which they flick in different directions to smell their
surroundings. That lets them know when danger—or food—is nearby.
Snakes have several other ways to detect a snack. Openings called pit holes in front
of their eyes sense the heat given off by warm-blooded prey. Bones in their lower jaws 15
pick up vibrations from rodents and other scurrying animals. When they do capture
prey, snakes can eat animals up to three times bigger than their head is wide because
their lower jaws unhinge from their upper jaws. Once in a snake’s mouth, the prey is
held in place by teeth that face inward, trapping it there.
Not quite as photogenic as pandas or polar bears, we hear much less about endangered 20
snakes than we do some other animals. But despite their remarkable evolutionary
adaptability, some snakes suffer the same fate as the more well-publicised species that
are considered endangered. Snakes aren’t hunted in great numbers and many live
without fear of predation, which generally leads conservationists to blame their decline
on environmental factors, mainly habitat destruction and climate change. Some snakes 25
are already extinct, more are critically endangered, including a number of sea snakes.
One theory claims changes in sea water temperatures may be a factor, but more
investigation is required.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_13_2022_1.9

3
Text B: Teaching people to hate snakes is a disaster for ecology
Did you know it’s World Snake Day on 16th July? We invite you to slither on down to
join the party, meet our snake experts and enjoy lots of fun snake-themed activities.
Humans often fear what they don’t understand. To most, snakes are a mystery. Snakes
rely on their ability to avoid detection, so we rarely see them. This leads to a void of
direct knowledge that’s filled by myth and media – portraying snakes as cold-blooded 5
killers and focusing on how dangerous some can be. Our aim is to tip the scales (excuse
the pun), educate and encourage guests to confront their fears.
During the event, there’ll be Zoo Chats – guests can get up close to, even touch, several
snake species. At 10:30 am, guests can watch the zoo’s largest snake resident – a
reticulated python – being weighed and measured. At midday, guests can venture over 10
to The Swamp to see and learn about recently hatched Grey-banded Kingsnake and
Jamaican Boa babies.
Though threatened by many of the same issues affecting other wildlife, including habitat
loss, climate change and disease, negative attitudes impeding efforts to address other
threats may be the biggest barrier to snake conservation. 15
In the United States, for example, public outcry based on fear and misinformation
recently halted a scientifically sound conservation plan for timber rattlesnakes. Another
project at the same location that involved releasing eagles was embraced by the
community. Rattlesnakes are no less important than eagles. In fact, they may help
reduce the incidence of Lyme disease, which affects thousands of people each year, 20
by reducing the number of rodents that harbour this disease. But emotions override
facts, it seems, where snakes are concerned.
Snakes play an integral role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem – in most

ecosystems on earth, snakes can be both predator and prey. When a large
prey-population attracts and sustains a large snake population, those snakes become 25
prey for birds, mammals and even other snakes! As predators, snakes keep
prey-populations in balance. Snakes provide an easy, environmentally friendly, free
and natural pest-control service.
But snakes are worth saving not because of what they can do for us, but because of
who they are. Snakes share many behaviours with us, behaviours we value. They have 30
friends. They take care of their kids and even their friends’ kids too.
Want to help us change how people view and treat snakes? Visit the World Snake Day
website.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_13_2022_1.9 [Turn over

4
Text C: Rainforest tales
The writer of this online article is reviewing his guided visit around the Kalinga Centre for Rainforest
Ecology (KCRE). Located near Agumbe, the five-acre site is nestled in the heart of the rainforest,
in the Western Ghats mountain range.
The weather had been pleasant when we’d started off, but Agumbe, true to reputation,
welcomed us with a sudden downpour from nowhere. Visibility was low.
Though the camp site is equipped with solar power, we’d been told to carry fully charged
batteries for our cameras and torches. Telephone and internet connectivity is intermittent.
The closest hospital and pharmacy are 24km away. Huffing and puffing with our bags 5
and gear, we scrambled gratefully down the three flights of rocky steps added recently
to cater for less-experienced trekkers. At the bottom, we were greeted by a snoozing
Common Vine Snake, so inconspicuous that it took me quite some time of bobbing my
head to spot it. I still cherish that precise moment when I saw my first snake in the wild,
perfectly poised on its luxurious bed of green. I knew I would never behold snakes the 10
same way again.
After a sumptuous breakfast from our local host-family, we were keen and ready for
our first official rainforest walk. In the dining hall (also used for discussions and briefings)
our local guide handed me ugly brown socks that would be my saviours (though not a
100 per cent guarantee) from the leeches, reminding everyone this was not a tourist 15
resort. We needed to take care of our own belongings and ensure we kept electronic
equipment dry.
Three hours later, returning from the trek, I felt bubbles of amazement and wonder
rising. I’d seen gliding lizards fly effortlessly between trees, intricate dragonflies of infinite
varieties and delicately etched, golden frogs. The overcast sky, saturated to the brim, 20
had poured down heavily, drenching the forest, its native creatures, and the handful of
humans who happened to be there. Thereafter began the frenzy of activities and sounds
that engulfs the woods after a good rain – rhythmic sounds, musical, coordinated and
orchestrated, and pleasantly deafening.
Ah! My brimming heart and soothed soul enjoyed restful sleep in the tent that first night. 25
Bonfires and loud music are prohibited to avoid any disturbance to animals and hygienic
common bathrooms (with hot-water facilities) were appreciated. Everyone was expected
to wash their own plates and glasses after every meal. We were encouraged to separate
organic waste into the respective dustbins before retiring each night. All inorganic waste
went back with you. 30
Next morning revealed a forest blooming with fungi – a fairy-tale landscape of frilled
coral cups, delicate saucers and robust yellow umbrellas. And if that brightly coloured
confectionery wasn’t enough, a magnificent azure-coloured sphere, hard as shell, caught
our eye. No amount of speculation could have made me imagine that the little blue ball
was a millipede! We observed at a respectful distance, reminded that handling, agitating, 35
or disturbing any wildlife is not permitted and will warrant strict action. Collection of any
kind of flora or fauna is forbidden.
With no rains, the forest lay quieter that night, though croaking bush-frogs put their
vocal sacs to good use for our entertainment and a metre-long green Pit Viper hung
from a branch, as if casually posing for our photographs. My first ever ‘wildlife 40
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_13_2022_1.9

5
photography’ attempt was fun. And I could start off with a Viper! I remembered advice
to exercise caution, control and care during observation and photography in the forest
to avoid stressing species or exposing them to danger.
The last walk on the final day through the rainforest, through leech territory, through
the sights and smells of moist earth and greens evoked an undefinable love in me. I’d 45
experienced the wonders of a rainforest, in a spell-binding weekend that drew to a close
with inspiring presentations about the place, its conservationist founder and his
tremendous work studying and saving magnificent King Cobras.
Ignorance had metamorphosed into sheer passion for creatures I’d been prejudiced
about. Curious to learn more about the life of such serpents and eager to accompany 50
experts on live snake-rescue calls, I’ve already signed up for the next workshop.
© UCLES 2022 06_0500_13_2022_1.9

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*7039230623-I*
insert.
06_0500_11_2023_1.2
2
Text A: What is a motivational speaker?
This text is one person’s explanation of what being a motivational speaker involves.
A motivational speaker, also known as an inspirational speaker, is someone who delivers

speeches with the intention of motivating or inspiring the people in the audience. Typically,
a motivational speaker has a reputation as an expert on the subject being discussed and
will encourage the audience to look at things from a different perspective and to make the
most of their own talents and abilities. 5
The ultimate goal of a motivational speaker is to affect people profoundly on an emotional

or mental level to help them make some kind of significant personal change in their lives.
People naturally tend to focus on all their problems, and the motivational speaker will help
an audience to focus on the many opportunities instead, by using any number of persuasive
speech tactics. 10
Some motivational speakers may be hired to speak as special guests or to present online
to an invited audience with particular interests. Others perform a planned programme of live
or virtual talks for the wider public, selling tickets for each event.
Highly successful speakers are in demand and present at important conferences, often
travelling to events all over the world, resulting in irregular working hours. Popular and famous 15
motivational speakers become celebrities: writing books, recording videos or podcasts and
appearing on television.
There is a huge demand for motivational speakers. I’ve resisted the attempts to cash into
this ‘lucrative’ industry, though I’m often asked whether I know of any ‘good’ motivational
speaker I could recommend. Many motivational stories that are clustered out there follow 20
the same predictable storylines – the rags-to-riches story along the lines of: ‘I was poor; I
came from nothing, and here I am, outrageously successful.’
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_11_2023_1.2

3
Text B: Why I am quitting motivational speaking
The writer of this text has been a wheelchair user since birth and is a well-known motivational speaker.
In this extract from her blog, she explains why she has decided to quit motivational speaking.
Many of you know me as a motivational speaker. I have always enjoyed that work and hearing
my introduction being read on stage. It certainly makes one feel accomplished, but I
questioned myself, ‘Is that really me?’
I never imagined I would come this far. My passion for humanity brought me here, but the
best contribution ever is honesty and sincerity. After many ups and downs, I’m raising my 5
voice one last time to protect my legacy: inspiring the next generation to be individuals with
substance and minds of their own.
After careful thought, I am quitting motivational speaking.
Motivational speaking was never a choice I made. My peers were matched with being
engineers or doctors. As a disabled individual, I was matched with being a motivational 10
speaker. It’s like just because I have a disability, I automatically qualify to be inspirational. I
never got up on stage on my own. I was put up (literally and metaphorically) even before I
could figure out the path I was on. It also overshadowed other conscious choices I made.
People ask about my story, but I don’t really have one. Many motivational speakers have
tragic stories. They have been through adversities, have lost what held value for them. I 15
didn’t lose anything: what seems lost, I never really had. My story is not tragic at all. It was
my lifestyle since day one. I’m expected to make it sound like a tragedy, but the problems I
face are very much what any individual might experience.
When I’m on stage, audiences rarely see beyond the disability. I have organised many
events, challenged policies, have two degrees and enjoy bringing ideas to the table. It all 20
gets wasted when people know me as a motivational speaker: the apparent glamour outshines
everything I have done and want to do. During interviews I’m always questioned about the
‘struggle of life’ rather than my thoughts on how to correct the education system: no one
really knows about my main work for the past 10 years. I’ve struggled more as an entrepreneur
than as a wheelchair user, but seldom will I be asked about it. 25
I don’t mean we don’t have good speakers, or all of my experiences were bad. We have
great speakers and much of my success is thanks to supporters who invited me to speak,
but if motivational speaking is your only source of income, beware: you will need another
one. The stage is the biggest gamble ever. One day you are being praised and everyone
wants to hear you. Then comes a day when everyone has heard your story. The intensity 30
is gone. Then comes another day when another person walks up on stage with a sadder
story than yours. Then what?
I’m not an entertainer. I’m an author and the Chief Executive Officer of my company.
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_11_2023_1.2 [Turn over

4
Text C: Running for my life
Anna has recently arrived in New Zealand. It is 8:25 and she is being interviewed by a local radio station.
‘And special guest, Anna McNuff, joins us in the studio right now. Anna, you’re running the
entire length of New Zealand, starting today?’
‘Yes! In forty-five minutes, I’ll be on the start line at the trailhead signpost, at Stirling Point.’
I was sitting, star-struck, in the Southland FM’s Invercargill studio, marvelling at radio host
Rach’s seemingly exotic accent. I already loved the way that people here pronounced my 5
name as: ‘Inna!’ I grinned widely from behind a microphone bigger than my head.
Rach continued: ‘So, are you brave or stupid?’
‘Perhaps both,’ I laughed enigmatically. ‘And excited.’
We talked about my reasons for the run: my amazing childhood with access to sport and
the outdoors, the benefits of exercise, and raising awareness for organisations that support 10
individuals recovering from accident or illness to take on a physical challenge. I explained
that I’d be visiting schools along the way.
We discussed the attractions of the 3000-kilometre-long Te Araroa Trail – an exquisite, wild

showcase of natural diversity framed by forests. I could feel my spirits lift and soar. Nagging
self-doubt and gnawing concern over the pain in my right foot eased with every word I uttered 15
into that gigantic microphone. Rach seemed impressed that all my gear fitted into my
backpack. I didn’t think to mention that I’d only run with it once in training before leaving the
UK. I’d struggled, concluding that running with a backpack was hard, and could wait until I
had to do it for real.
‘You’re doing it totally unsupported! Aren’t you nervous about how you’ll cope alone?’ Rach 20
asked.
‘It just comes down to a choice about how you live your life,’ I shrugged. ‘I’m a
‘‘work-it-out-when-I-get-there’’ kind of person.’
This was perhaps the reason why I’d failed to read even 10 per cent of the trail notes before
setting out. And possibly why a perceptive work colleague had introduced me to Kevin who 25
would meet me at the airport.
Local expert Kevin had quizzed me about sections of the trail. Mostly my responses were:
‘Umm, I’m not too sure on that particular bit.’
No, I’d no idea what speed I would do carrying the backpack. I’d wildly over-estimated and
certainly hadn’t accounted for the massive mountains sprawled across the landscape like 30
giant sleeping tarantulas with their hairy tussock-covered legs forming sharp ridges and deep
basins, punctuated by icy streams and seas of chest-high grass. Trails were easy to follow
at first using those orange trail-markers designed for tourists but would peter away leaving
a confusing connection of gaps in the complex maze of slippery roots and leaves covering
the forest floor, any of which could have been trails themselves. 35
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_11_2023_1.2

5
Yes, I did consider purchasing a GPS at one point, but decided that wasn’t entirely in keeping
with the ‘adventurous spirit’. No, I was a paper maps and compass kind of girl. The explorers
of old did things that way, and I wanted the same thrill of ‘discovery’. Kevin had looked
concerned, though seemed comforted by the fact I had an SPT-tracker, which would let
friends and family know I was okay. 40
We’d chatted more about the differences between trails in New Zealand and those in Europe.
My new friend Kevin explained how so many people doing the trail were entirely unprepared,
narrowly avoiding disaster through sheer luck. ‘They start the trail expecting it to be a
well-graded highway. Of course, most are coming south, so by the time they get down here
they get it. But it’s the ones starting off with no idea from this end that I worry about.’ He 45
looked at me. I nodded and looked away quickly.
I hoped, but didn’t know for sure then, he’d be impressed when next we met. Having watched
my parents be showered with respect over their years of Olympic achievements, I would
soon have some of my own.
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_11_2023_1.2

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*8393944702-I*
insert.
06_0500_12_2023_1.15
2
Text A: Working a winter season at a ski resort
A great way to really enjoy winter is to work at a ski resort. Not all jobs require prior knowledge
of skiing or skill in snowboarding, though enthusiasm and a sense of adventure are essential.
If you have decided to work a season in the snow, the next step is the planning; you are
probably wondering where to start.
While some resorts will hire throughout the entire season as staff quit, more well-known 5
resorts tend to fill posts quickly before the season starts. When job opportunities are
advertised, the earlier you start applying, the broader the variety of positions and your choices
of location will be.
If you have your heart set on a particular resort, you will need to comply with their hiring
dates and be careful to put in your application in time. For northern hemisphere resorts, job 10
advertisements go up as early as July for a December start. For southern hemisphere resorts,
jobs typically go up around February for June. Check out the individual resort’s website for
further information on their specific hiring dates.
How long you want to stay may affect the visa you need to apply for, but the first consideration
is which part of the world you want to work in. Locations known for quality powder (snow) 15
or exhilarating slopes attract massive foreign crowds.
There’s no point denying it: powder is the best snow to ride. Dry and light, it does not bind
– you can’t make a snowball with loose powder snow. It can be great for learning on and
generally practising new ski or snowboard techniques without any unexpected bumps. It’s
often packed in thick layers that form a pillow for any crashes you decide to take! It allows 20
you to push yourself to ‘stomp that new trick’ and ‘hold your edge’. Fresh powder falls during
cold weather with small snowflakes.
Online guides can help you choose which job you’d like to apply for. You may also want to
investigate some of the recruitment organisations that source jobs for you. Some are pretty
effective. For an admittedly hefty fee they will bring employers to your home country and set 25
up an interview for you (basically guaranteeing a job unless you put in an exceptionally poor
interview) and give you priority access to staff housing. Most of this you can do yourself,
although saving money beforehand often means arriving without a job: that intervening period
can be quite costly. As always, the earlier the better when booking flights.
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Text B: Seasonal work
Looking for a part-time job or full-time career? Have you considered seasonal work?
You could find work at a resort during the tourist season (think skiing or camping) or pick
berries or other produce. You could work with kids at summer camps or help out at a local
festival. There are seasonal jobs to fit every different season.
But here’s the question: are they worth it? Perhaps. For instance, let’s say you are looking 5
for work as a retail manager, but you don’t have much experience. Two months working as
a cashier could fill that gap. Just make sure that you’re thoughtful in how you present your
seasonal job on your résumé.
Most seasonal jobs don’t require much previous knowledge and suit any talent level, they
also tend to be low-paying. If you’re currently out of work, there’s minimal downside. If you’re 10
looking for a little extra spending cash to save up for a trip, it could also be a good move.
However, if you’re working on your career, you might need to consider whether or not the
extra hours make sense. Do you have a family who needs your time? Are you already
exhausted from your job or studies? Low pay can be a deal breaker and you’ll probably be
working a tough schedule. Holiday retail seasonal help as well as tourist-based jobs tend to 15
be heaviest on evenings and weekends.
Don’t expect to get hired for a seasonal job and get some good, detailed training before you
start. Due to the short nature of the season (whatever season it may be) you can expect to
get a quick how-to speech at best. For this reason, choose a seasonal job where you already
have some rudimentary knowledge. If your goal is to find out about the business, you may 20
have to learn on the job.
Whatever, seasonal jobs offer opportunities. It’s your choice, but hurry: those seasonal jobs
won’t last long.
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Text C: Wanaka
Tony has been travelling the world doing seasonal work for the past year and has just started a new job
working as a liftie (ski-lift attendant) for the first time near Wanaka, New Zealand.
Training commenced with a slideshow about every different job at the fashionable resort,
presumably to underline the fact that we’d got the worst of the outdoor ones. Indoor
employees, personal chefs and private ski-instructors lodged free on-site; ‘outsiders’ battled
for reasonably priced accommodation with hordes of backpackers travelling through; wealthier
guests stayed in the hotels. 5
Everyone was asking questions I didn’t understand. ‘What about rules on quick-laps?’ ‘What’s
the back-country policy?’ ‘How deep’s the base?’ ‘How much snow do you make?’ I was
clearly in over my head. Again! This time in snow, which gave the appearance of being soft
– but which, as any snow-sports fanatic will tell you, was more dangerous than it looked.
Here are the answers: 10
• No ‘quick-laps’ in week one. Apparently, they’re a trick used by experienced lifties who
take turns to run the lift they’re working on – each person doing two people’s jobs, while
their partner takes the lift to the top and skis or snowboards back down again. It’s a
great way to get a sneaky bit of extra riding in, and generally overlooked by bosses –
providing each person crewing the lift is capable of running it on their own. I wasn’t. 15
• ‘Back-country’ was everything outside the marked boundaries of the ski-area (avoided
for fear of avalanches).
• The base (snow-depth) was two metres, sometimes rising to four (requiring much
digging-out of cars and buildings).
• ‘Snow’ was ‘made’ nightly. Gigantic cannons shot this granular substance skywards 20
ensuring the mountain could be open for skiing whether it snowed naturally overnight
or not.
Our Lift Supervisor (‘Boss’) marched us around every lift in the ski-field. ‘So now you know
the lifts,’ he informed us. ‘See you all bright and early tomorrow!’
And that was it: training was over! I’d never pushed a button, had only the flimsiest concept 25
how a ski lift even worked, much less how to fix one if something went wrong, didn’t know
how to test the equipment, use the radio in case of emergency or assist guests on and off
the lift. Ski lifts spin all day, every hour transporting skiers and riders of all ability levels up
the mountain. I didn’t know how many things I didn’t know about my new job – but suspected
there were plenty. 30
Next morning, we assembled indoors, armed ourselves for combat and headed out again.
Our opponents were the lift chairs, which overnight had turned into fantastic frozen sculptures.
Relentless weather, coupled with dramatically sub-zero temperatures, transformed these
humble steel and wooden frames into a series of massive ice-monoliths, layered and carved
by snow and wind into intricate abstract shapes. They were breathtakingly beautiful, and a 35
pain to clear before we could ride them to our allocated stations at given points up the
(inventively named) Giant Ski Slope.
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5
Walking back down from there took forever – experienced lifties snowboarded. It got cold
up top; when the weather closed in, I’d sit shivering in my tiny control-booth, fantasising
about life as a cleaner inside the ski-rental building. 40
One Wednesday, rumour had it we’d be closing early. Halfway up Giant Ski Slope, it seemed
mildly surprising we hadn’t already. The wind was raging, buffeting chairs and customers
alike. All afternoon a slushy drizzle had been slowly working its way through my layers. The
bus back from the mountain crawled out of the car park and attempted the descent, but it
was a total white-out. The huge windscreen filled with snow faster than the wipers could 45
clear it. We crunched into the uphill side of the mountain and stuck there. Gusts of wind,
revealing and concealing the narrow road ahead, confirmed that drifts of snow had blocked
it completely. Our driver radioed in to report our situation; we waited.
At 02:45, I staggered, still soaked to the skin, chilled, and exhausted, into my room.
‘That was nothing!’ crowed Boss the next day. 50

‘You should’ve been here for the Great Storm ’
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Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*7725938663-I*
insert.
06_0500_13_2023_1.11
2
Text A: Ships, boats and yachts
Used for sports and leisure, or to transport cargo, as well as for fishing and defence, ships
and boats are two of the earliest modes of transportation. To understand the differences
between ‘ships’ and ‘boats’, various aspects need consideration.
A boat is a small- to mid-sized vessel, with lower cargo-carrying capability than a ship. Ships
are specifically designed to carry either cargo or passengers, whereas the word ‘boat’ is a 5
more general term used for various watercraft and can be anything from a small rowing boat
upwards. Confusingly, plenty of captains affectionately call their ship a boat, no matter how
large or small it happens to be.
Meanwhile, a ‘yacht’ is a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising or racing. There’s
no standard definition or design, but most have a cabin with a kitchen (galley). Allowing for 10
additional space for sleeping quarters, that means ‘yachts’ need to be at least ten metres in
length. Most yachts are boats but not all boats are yachts.
Yachts can get pretty big – reaching up to more than 60 metres long – though once they
start getting big, they can be further qualified as ‘mega yachts’ and ‘super yachts’. Some
very large yachts are actually ships that are called yachts. 15
Anyone with ambitions to buy their own yacht or boat may understand why sailing is called
‘the sport of kings’ when they first see the price tag; boats are also expensive to maintain.
But is the cost justifiable?
Comparisons with cars often arise when discussing why boats are so expensive. Even a
top-of-the-range luxury automobile seems cheap when compared to a boat of a comparable 20
specification, but cars don’t have to be built to withstand a constantly wet environment.
Simply adding the word ‘marine’ to anything will double its cost: unlike cars, whose
manufacturing process is now almost wholly automated, boats have to be built mostly by
hand. Many people regard cars as a necessity, choosing only to hire boats for holidays rather
than head down the path of ownership. When manufacturers can’t lower their costs through 25
high-volume efficiency, it necessarily drives the price of each boat sold higher.
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_13_2023_1.11

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Text B: How to travel the globe and still spare the world
For years, I’ve spent every free moment exploring the world, from backpacking through
Southeast Asia to studying in Australia. But recently, I came to a horrible realisation: frequent
flying is an expensive habit and I’m not just talking money. No other means of transport
spews more CO2 into the atmosphere than planes.
It’s easy to argue that we shouldn’t travel so far – those of us with friends and family spread 5
across the globe want to see them in person occasionally and some people must travel for
work. There are of course greener ways to travel, though we can’t all sail across oceans on
solar-powered yachts.
If finances allow, don’t choose your flight for price and convenience: routes and airlines make
a difference environmentally. Flights with multiple stopovers and detours are often cheaper, 10
but release more carbon, so direct flights with modern airlines, using more efficient planes
are better. The growing trend of ‘carbon offsetting’ claims you can buy your way out of the
environmental damage you cause. I’m unconvinced. Basically, airlines give you information
telling you exactly how big your carbon footprint will be on their flight. You then pay a company
to invest in an environmental project such as producing energy from wind, but experts warn 15
that offset programs aren’t effective and may inadvertently encourage people to fly more.
If you absolutely must fly, make the most out of your trip by staying as long as possible.
Flying somewhere for a weekend creates a lot of emissions for little benefit. Instead, combine
shorter visits into one. Your fellow passengers can also make a difference. While it’s a treat
to be on an empty flight where you can stretch out over an entire row, airlines that tend to 20
fill their planes are greener options. An extra suitcase? When it comes to CO2 emissions,
every kilogram of luggage counts!
Effective regulation is needed. Airlines need to think outside of the box and work together
to find innovative solutions. The average occupancy of planes is currently only 80 per cent.
Ultimately, we need a globally connected data network that allocates available seats, 25
maximising efficiency and relocating resources. Some airlines are already exploring new
technologies, using big data and artificial intelligence to analyse billions of flight records to
find ways to save fuel, as well as developing viable alternative biofuel options, but they need
to go faster.
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Text C: The big adventure
Having given up their settled way of life and spent their savings on buying a small yacht called Josephine,
the writer and his wife, Abi, are planning to explore South America. They set out from Cape Town, South
Africa, in April on the first stage of the journey to Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by a more experienced
sailor, Dael.
Getting to Rio we assumed would be straightforward: head northwest, following the afternoon
sun, sail for long enough – say a month – and eventually bump into northern Brazil. Next,
turn left and sail down the coast – maybe for three days – until reaching Ilhabela where my
mother-in-law lived. There we’d holiday, before making final changes to the boat and heading
south on our ‘big adventure’. Simple. I would film everything, marketing the footage later. 5
Things could go wrong, as Dael enjoyed reminding us: fires on board, being run down by
cargo ships at night or colliding with whales and sinking. As it turned out, we were more
likely to be perpetually seasick or run out of supplies. It was, I felt, ultimately about attitude
– after all, traffic on the way to work can be dangerous.
Sailing across the Atlantic wasn’t like a road trip though (Dael’s observation). There’s nowhere 10
to pull over when you’re tired. Getting to Rio entailed crossing one of the planet’s loneliest
stretches of ocean. Josephine still had no autopilot and no radio to communicate with anyone
on land. Someone would have to be on deck at the wheel every minute, night and day. We
could expect to be sun-roasted, swamped by rogue waves and smacked by wayward
flying-fish. 15
Days before leaving, I sat up late at night talking with Torries, a friend from work. I confessed
to being terrified.
‘I think it’s brilliant what you’re doing Andy,’ said Torries. ‘We all do. Everyone’s talking about
you.’
‘That’s great, but – what am I doing, really? I now have no house, no income and I’m about 20
to sail across the Atlantic on an old, second-hand boat!’
We left Cape Town in a stiff breeze that whipped the tops of the glittering swells to dazzling
fragments of crystal in the bright sun; a pod of dolphins leaping and dancing on our bow
wave in celebration. Dael was on the foredeck leaning over the rail, almost touching them
as they swam. For once, he had no words. By night, it was my turn at the wheel. Guiding 25
the yacht as it thundered over the ocean under a full moon was an experience that etched
itself forever into my memory. Flying over the crests of the waves and soaring down the
valleys like an eagle, the exultant sense of liberation was absolute. Remembering Torries,
I laughed out loud.
*** 30
The coast just north of Ilhabela is punctuated by pretty, tranquil coves. Abi and I were looking
forward to a week of snorkelling and generally lounging about. But first, Dael pointed out, a
storm was coming. The channel between Ilhabela and the mainland is long and thin. Hills
on both sides provide the perfect funnel for the strong winds that develop over the South
Atlantic. The water is also very shallow, conducive to close, steep waves. 35
© UCLES 2023 06_0500_13_2023_1.11

5
We went to bed early but didn’t sleep. At two in the morning, Josephine snapped her mooring
line. In the cockpit there was mayhem. Tarpaulins and ropes were flogging violently, and
the air seethed with driven rain and spray. Screaming winds made it impossible to
communicate as Josephine listed alarmingly, any chance of saving her sinking with every
wave slamming her side. Dael turned the ignition key after a backward glance and my heart 40
leapt with relief as the twenty-three-year-old engine roared into life. He gunned the throttle
with the wheel hard over, trying to twist Josephine round and up onto her keel. Battling,
Josephine heaved her bow across and pointed into the storm, taking the waves head-on
and shattering them into pellets of spray. Under full power, Josephine dragged herself from
the sand and came upright. 45
Next morning, we returned to our beach. High above the waterline lay the remains of another
eight-metre sailboat. Like us, she’d broken free in the storm and been rolled, split open and
dumped by the waves – a sobering reminder of the risks.
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™
Cambridge IGCSE

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2020
INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*7537208008-I*
insert.
11_0500_11_2020_1.12
2
Text A: The city of the lost giants
This text is about a mysterious ancient city in Ecuador that appears once to have been occupied
by giants.
Ecuadorian legends tell of an ancient city of giants. As a matter of fact, tribes from all
over the Amazonian basin recollect the existence of an ancient race of giants that
inhabited thriving cities long before ‘regular-sized’ humans arrived in the area.
Locals talk about the prehistoric stone city with a mixture of fear and respect. The reason
behind their attitude becomes clear when you first view the ancient structures on site. 5
The largest structure is an 80-metres-tall by 80-metres-wide pyramid with an inclination

too high to be natural. It was built using hundreds of huge boulders, each one weighing
approximately 2 tonnes. Furthermore, bones much larger than those of an
average-sized human were discovered in nearby caves. The most interesting discovery,
however, came in the form of tools. Oversized and ancient, they litter the forest floor. 10
Their purpose is unknown but it is suspected that they were used in metalworking. One
thing is certain, though: their size would have made it very difficult for a normal-sized
human to wield them.
This evidence has been wilfully ignored by the authorities. In 2013, the Ecuadorian
Ministry of Culture sent one of their teams to briefly inspect the pyramid. They saw the 15
regular size of the blocks, yet still concluded that it was nothing more than a natural
formation. Researchers at the ancient city disagree and point to the precision with which
the blocks were cut and then assembled as proof of their artificial origin.
Furthermore, several other interesting large ‘mounds’ wait to be excavated. Although

embedded in mud and covered by dense vegetation, their shape suggests pyramids 20
may be buried beneath them. This excites researchers, often very eager to believe
stories that, in other parts of the world, such complexes are built around a central
pyramid where a leader is buried.
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3
Text B: The Crooked Forest
In this text, the writer describes his visit to the Crooked Forest in Western Poland. The Crooked
Forest consists of approximately 400 pine trees that grow in an unusual way outwards from their
base. The writer is very interested in how they are formed.
My visit to the Crooked Forest took me by train to the station of Dolna Odra. I say station
and not town, because I really felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, with no people
about and just a small gravel road heading off towards the forest. I wandered down this
rough track, contemplating the popular idea that the deformation of these trees had
resulted during the invasion of Poland in the Second World War. 5
Arriving at the location, I had mixed reactions. While the trees were definitely as warped
as I had expected, the grove they occupied was small and sparse and, furthermore,
surrounded by perfectly straight pine trees on all sides. Perplexed, I dismissed my
compelling image of heavy enemy tanks ploughing through the midst of a huge forest,
flattening young saplings in all directions, and decided to take photographs instead. 10
The small group of pot-bellied stick figures posed jauntily for my camera lens. At their
bases, they extended outwards anything from three to nine feet and then their trunks
grew perfectly erect. It did seem highly unlikely that the trauma of being run over by
ridiculously heavy tanks would result in the odd yet uniform curvature, if the young trees
survived at all. 15
Some kind of genetic mutation maybe? I remembered reading about a plant specialist
who discovered a group of aspen trees in Canada that had become gnarled and twirly
as a consequence of genetic malfunction. But the whole tree had been affected in these
cases.
Back at the hotel, locals had been quite voluble in their theories. Talk of alien or 20
supernatural activity led to anecdotes about ‘sightings’, designed presumably to fool
gullible visitors. Meanwhile, the hotel manager eagerly hypothesised that fluctuations
in gravitational forces or a unique gravitational pull in the area could be responsible.
As I contemplated the cartoon images of squat misshapen trees on my hotel room walls,
it seemed to me that the manager’s words ignored basic laws of physics – that gravity 25
pulls downwards not sideways.
Sitting now on one of the very solid horizontal lower trunks and contemplating the
white-coated landscape surrounding me on this early spring morning, I wondered too
about the effects of heavy snowfall. Still I observed the vast number of perfectly vertical
pines forming a neat and protective circle around me. Were the curves in these trees 30
man-made then? I’d heard how people sculpted trees into furniture, knots or baskets,
like the ‘circus trees’ at Gilroy Gardens in California. American Indians also bent marker
trees into symbols they used to navigate and communicate in the forest.
But these trees are often found solo, and not necessarily in Europe ...
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4
Text C: Lost mining city
For centuries stories had been passed down about an ancient city in a very remote part of Brazil,
the inhabitants of which mined vast quantities of gold, silver and precious stones from the surrounding
mountains. An adventurer called Raposo took a team on a long expedition across rough terrain to
find the ancient city. This is an account of the final stage of their journey.
The party was travelling again, tired of this seemingly endless wandering, and
disheartened by their failure so far to locate the lost mines or evidence of ancient
civilisation. Raposo worked hard to keep their spirits high, but many of his companions
had long decided that no such places existed. They had come through swamps and
bush country, stumbling and complaining, and now a range of jagged mountains showed 5
up ahead, beyond a grassy plain broken by thin belts of green forest.
These were no ordinary mountains. As the party came nearer, the sides lit up in flame,
for it had been raining and the setting sun was reflected from wet rocks rich in colour
and light. To the onlooking explorers they seemed to be studded with gems. Streams
leaped from rock to rock and, over the crest of the ridge, a rainbow beckoned. 10
‘An omen!’ cried Raposo. ‘See! Our destination is just on the other side. We will be
rich!’ However, night had fallen, forcing them to camp before they could reach the foot
of the immense mountain range.
Next morning, when the sun came up from behind them, the crags appeared black and
menacing. To the eyes of many their height was vast, and when the party reached them 15
it was to find sheer, unscalable precipices. All day they struggled over boulders and
crevices, seeking a way up those glossy sides.
Eventually, judging that weariness was overwhelming his party, Raposo called a halt.
‘We’d better return to our old trail and try to go northwards and around these mountains.’
‘Camp!’ was the wail. ‘Let’s camp. We’ve had enough for one day. Tomorrow we can 20
return to the trail.’
‘Very well,’ answered the leader, and then to two adventurers, ‘You, Jose and Manoel,
off you go to find wood for the fire!’ Jose glanced at Manoel in disbelief at their misfortune
before nodding briefly, and reluctantly followed Manoel into the darkness.
Camp was pitched and the party was resting, when confused shouting and crashing in 25
the bush brought them to their feet. Manoel burst into view. ‘We’ve found it!’ Manoel
cried. ‘We’ve found the way up!’ Jose appeared behind him, his face like stone.
Searching for firewood in the scrub, they had seen a dead tree at the edge of a small
wooded creek. This was the best fuel to be had, and they were making their way towards
it, when a deer sprang up on the other side of the creek and disappeared beyond a 30
corner of the cliff. Surprised at its agility and how quickly it had vanished, Manoel
followed, and came to a deep cleft in the face of the precipice. He saw that it was
possible to climb through it to the summit. Firewood was forgotten in his excitement.
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_11_2020_1.12

5
Raposo cajoled the weary adventurers, and soon, packs shouldered, they set off with
Raposo and Manoel leading. Jose dropped behind, muttering to others who wore similar 35
mutinous expressions.
The group entered the crevice in single file to find that it widened inside. Raposo
exclaimed in wonder at traces of old man-made paving. In places, the sheer walls of
the cleft seemed to bear the almost obliterated marks of tools. Clusters of rock crystals
and frothy masses of quartz gave the wide-eyed leader the feeling of having entered 40
a fairyland, and, in the dim light filtering down through the tangled mass of creepers
overhead, his anticipation of a wondrous citadel on the other side was palpable.
The climb was so difficult that three hours passed before the group emerged breathless
on a ledge above the surrounding plain. There, Raposo picked up an abandoned axe
head and gazed outwards, as if he was lost in a dream. Ahead of them lay the broken 45
remains of a human settlement.
Raposo spun round on his feet and stared in disbelief at the other men.
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™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*2832840284-I*
insert.
11_0500_12_2020_1.13
2
Text A: How cutting down trees can help the environment
Some forest conservationists believe that you need to reduce a dominant species of tree in order
to protect other species.
It’s frequently suggested that culling is an appropriate method for maintaining populations
of animals and controlling numbers of invasive species. For example, such measures
have been taken to control the grey squirrel, which has stolen habitat and food from
the red squirrel. Large numbers of deer can also cause destruction of natural habitats.
In these situations selective culling is a method of maintaining a manageable level. 5
The same argument can be applied to trees in forests.
This type of conservation is judged by some as a misguided attempt to save what is

seen as the most important, pretty or useful of the species, with little regard for the
natural progression of wildlife and the environment.
However, we must consider how this method attempts to restore balance within the 10
environment, not just allowing the survival of the fittest and fastest to adapt, but of a
well-rounded spread of species that all rely on each other for survival, including us!
The natural balancing of our woodlands was successfully maintained by various

mammals in the forests. Many of these mammals no longer exist or lack the freedom
they once had. Years ago, larger animals would naturally bring down trees and eat 15
specific varieties of tree and vegetation. These mammals helped to keep habitats varied
and dynamic because they roamed freely. However, since the intervention of humans,
specific native and non-native species either dominate woodlands or are restricted in
their movements.
As a result, conservation groups have started to remove areas of dense woodland, 20

replacing it with wildflowers, heather and other different species. This strategy has had
a positive impact on woodland ecosystems.
It can seem incredibly destructive to cut down a 2-year-old oak or birch, but leaving
them to flourish would result in fewer habitats for wildlife. The silver birch self-seeds
very efficiently which causes overcrowding. Dense woodland then prevents sunlight 25
hitting the woodland floor, which reduces the variety of vegetation that can survive. It
is this vegetation that allows a habitat for insects and subsequently birds to thrive. Blue
tits and nightingales are commonly found around thickets that have few trees, as these
birds have easier access to their food sources, insects and berries.
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3
Text B: Japanese cherry blossom season
The season in which Japanese cherry blossom trees blossom is a time much enjoyed and celebrated
by many people.
Once I experienced cherry blossom season in Japan and shared in an immense rush
of carefree happiness. When the first branch with five blossoms unfolded in Okinawa,
in Japan’s southernmost tip, the nation erupted in glee. Party season was officially on!
Along with the excited Japanese, I swooned over explosions of soft pink flowers.
Flower-viewing picnics flooded parks and religious sites, while companies dispatched 5
junior staff at dawn to save prime spots for office parties. Traditional Japanese rice balls
were staple festival food. Squid skewers sizzled on grills, as laughter grew louder into
the night. Paper lanterns illuminated trees, glowing like incandescent bonfires.
Celebrations could get out of hand and I have read about city councils enforcing curfews,
but I witnessed how little this abated enthusiasm. Even the shops were infatuated. 10
Consumerism in Japan is astonishing. Shelves were flushed pink with soft drinks, cakes,
biscuits, ice-cream, textiles, clothing, stationery and homewares. One fast-food outlet
produced a hamburger on a pink cherry-scented bun with pink mayonnaise.
The Japanese have celebrated cherry blossom season for over a thousand years and
it inspires art, music and poetry to this day. A traditional blossom song is still taught in 15
schools, while ‘5 centimeters per second’, a 2007 anime film, takes its title from the
gentle movement with which blossom falls. It is a bittersweet tale of a young man and
woman who meet in spring, then become separated over the years.
For the Japanese, cherry blossom season is a cyclical marker of time. They can reflect
on the revolving carousel of family, friends, lovers and colleagues over a lifetime of 20
basking under powdery canopies. As I discovered, these delicate blooms emit an
innocent blush while wielding a mighty nostalgic punch.
Japan’s recent industrial growth has delivered dazzling technology and prosperity, but
also environmental degradation that continues today. About three-quarters of Japan is
mountainous and uninhabitable. Most people live in crowded cities in flat, coastal 25
regions. Once a year though, Nature declares its sovereignty in the cities and bestows
its gift of the year’s biggest social and cultural event.
The jubilation lasts only one to two weeks. Warm weather coaxes buds out of hibernation,
then ushers in rainstorms that knock the petals off. When the last petals drop in the
most northern part of Japan the show is over. 30
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Text C: Walking in the jungle
The narrator is one of a party going on an organised trip through the jungle in the company of their
guide, Maria.
The trail we’re taking is twisting, quiet and remote. We pass simple wood-plank homes
and racks of peas drying in the sun. On one curve, we slow down for a small
brown-and-black anteater which crosses before us, then stands on its hind legs, front
legs outstretched at its sides, to look back at us.
Then we get to the waterfall. 5
We hear the roar before we reach it, then are rewarded with a wide, bright blue-green
pool fed by a cascade. Towering above are mud and rock formations that look like
hidden elephants. ‘This is such an adventure!’ one of us says. We follow a trail heading
up through the jungle to the right, and look down on the pool.
‘It’s perfect, but how do we get into it?’ 10
‘You have to jump,’ our guide Maria says, holding out her arms in a circle the size of a
manhole cover. Then she laughs impishly at our surprised faces and agrees to an
alternative: climbing down the eight-metre steep bank of brittle shrubs and loose dirt.
Then we swim upstream, over fallen logs, to reach the pool below the crash of falls.
We are cradled in frothy, azure luxury – the best swimming hole I’ve ever been in. 15
A couple of hours later we are on a boat trip where we eat vegetable tacos as Maria
constantly spins round, showing us crocodiles on the banks. Howler monkeys groan
from treetops on either side of the river. We also pass a temple with dark tunnels where
fruit bats huddle and squeak above us, and eventually reach a wide shaded area where
30-metre-tall trees share space with temples well over a thousand years old. 20
Once off the boat, Maria, who learned to hunt by bow and arrow as a child in the 1970s,
leads us through the jungle, over root-laced trails – and occasionally off them. We pass
over a series of log bridges, and ford one river by foot. I quickly see how over-packed
I am. Some of our party are gamely walking barefoot with just one small bottle of water
each. My bag, meanwhile, is filled with four water bottles, some chocolate cookies, 25
hard-boiled eggs, some electrolyte powder, and a waterproof jacket I was never going
to need. Then, in the first 15 minutes, my strap breaks.
But it’s a fun walk. After two hours, at Maria’s brisk pace, we reach a camp at a shady
crest above a reed-filled lagoon just as dusk approaches. Crocodiles are out of sight
on the muddy beach below. Nearby is the start to a new home Maria is building with 30
materials she hauls in on foot.
Maria has built a fire and mentions that a TV crew came to shoot a ‘how to survive the
jungle’ show once, but a few of the participants quit after getting infected by some ivy.
‘But it’s easy to survive here,’ she insists. To demonstrate, she chops off an arm-size
branch of a native tree, letting us sip the sweet, running sap. She whittles the bark and 35
boils fragrant shavings of the branch, soon producing a bubbling gold broth. ‘Jungle
coffee,’ she says. I have two cups’ worth. It’s delicious.
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_12_2020_1.13

5
The darkness is all-encompassing now. Above, stars flicker gently through the shadowy
outline of treetops. I wonder when we’ll be starting back, and what sort of lurking life
will come out at night, but Maria is distracted. She catches and hands over a sudden 40
visitor – a beetle with fluorescent yellow-green lights that glow from its eyes like a
penlight. Its head sharply clicks between three positions.
And then she starts leading us back in the dark.
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_12_2020_1.13

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*3632260685-I*
insert.
11_0500_13_2020_1.11
2
Text A: Space travel
Humankind is becoming increasingly interested in space travel. This offers both challenges and
rewards.
‘One small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.’ Neil Armstrong’s words,
broadcast to the world as he stepped onto the Moon in 1969, became a defining phrase
of the twentieth century. They marked the first time a human being stood on a world
other than planet Earth.
The desire to go to space is as old as humanity. Although the Sun and Moon were often 5
characterised as gods by ancient civilisations, others saw them as places we might
dream of visiting.
Many writers used their imagination to step off the Earth, usually in order to reflect
humorously on its inhabitants. Improbable narratives of trips to the Moon include ‘True
History’ by Lucian of Samosata (second century), and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The 10
Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall’ (1835).
Despite fictional excitement, many longed to learn the truth. By the start of the twentieth
century, technology was catching up with literary imagination, and a trip to the Moon
was no longer just a flight of fancy.
However, since the last lunar landing in 1972, no missions beyond a low Earth orbit 15
1
have included human life on board. In 1977, the Voyager probes were sent on
exploration past the planets of the solar system and out into deep space. More recently,
robotic probes have landed on Mars, and even on a comet at the end of 2014. Humans,
however, have been all but grounded.
Space flight is prohibitively expensive. A round trip to Mars would cost billions of dollars 20
and require humans to spend at least eight months in space, probably a lot longer,
depending on what technology was available. Although NASA has provisional plans to
begin safe human missions to Mars in the mid-2030s, human space travel may depend
on private enterprise rather than government cash.
Whether by public or private means, it seems the will is there for humans to have more 25
than just a second-hand understanding of life on Mars. It is a daunting challenge, but
so was flying to the Moon in 1969. And how motivational it is too that a human footstep
on another world may well become the defining moment of the twenty-first century.
1
probes – spacecrafts with no humans on board
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_13_2020_1.11

3
Text B: The human swan
The British conservationist and ‘human swan’, Sacha Dench, travelled in a motorised paraglider
(a paramotor) as part of a 7000 km journey. She was following migrating Bewick’s swans from
Russia to Britain in order to better understand the reasons for their declining numbers.
‘The whole way I’ve been trying to put myself in the head of a swan. There are times
when I wish I was a swan. It would’ve been so much easier,’ reflected Dench. ‘When
the temperatures got really cold I wished I could flap my arms and generate some heat,
but that would make the whole paramotor shake.’
With her swan’s-eye view of the world, Dench said she particularly appreciated crossing 5
the Taiga forest of Russia, seeing no trace of human habitation, and witnessing the
scale of the tundra. ‘The colours of the tundra are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in
a landscape. They look as if they could be from Mars,’ she said.
When she reached urbanisation, she met Russian schoolchildren who were sent out
to shoot migrating birds for food. They were ‘riveted by how conservation and research 10
works. They had no idea where the swans went.’
Although she took care to avoid disturbing other migrating birds, there were moments
when they joined her. When she flew up to 900 metres above the clouds, the sky was
filled with geese. ‘You really felt in the thick of migration,’ she said.
At one point, two white-fronted geese veered towards her. ‘I was just about to turn away 15
thinking there would be a collision when they suddenly flew alongside my wing-tips in
a V-formation. That was very special,’ she said.
On another occasion she flew 50 metres below a migrating flock of Bewick’s swans.
‘They drew right alongside me. I didn’t look like a threat to them. I was just a big flying
thing and they completely ignored me,’ she said. 20
Low points included time spent in a Russian hospital for an MRI scan following a
dislocated knee during a take-off. She also lost track of one of the satellite-tagged swans
she was following, during foul weather in Estonia. Dench realised it had perished. ‘You
get quite attached to them as individuals,’ she said.
Although flying low over the Taiga forest was particularly hazardous with its lack of safe 25
landing spots, crossing the English Channel was Dench’s toughest challenge. ‘When
I crossed from Belgium into France and first saw the white cliffs of Dover I started to
cry,’ she said. ‘I’m not much of a softy but I thought, actually, I am keen to be home.’
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_13_2020_1.11 [Turn over

4
Text C: An incredible journey
In 1935, two men, Max (the narrator) and Helmuth, try to find a land route from India to China. Here,
Max describes part of their journey from the Judaean Desert in the Middle East and across the
River Jordan.
We set off on our desert journey the following day in good spirits, and full of high
expectations. The car glided through the gorges of Judaea over bubbling hot asphalt
until a sign-board in Arabic, Hebrew and English proclaimed the words ‘Sea Level’. The
way descended another 400 metres and it was a peculiar feeling to know that all the
water in all the oceans of the world was towering above you like mountains. 5
In front of us lay the leaden expanse of the Dead Sea. Was it true that it was impossible
to sink in it? I tried for myself while Helmuth looked on and smiled. You lie on top of the
water, motionless, like a cork. Swimming in the conventional sense is not possible,
since hands and feet flail around in the air like useless paddles. According to the
brochures, one could ‘read a newspaper undisturbed or hold up a sunshade’. A local 10
photographer lurked nearby.
However, reading a newspaper in comfort is just a publicity stunt. After only a few
minutes the salt begins to affect you. You itch and burn in every pore and I wanted
nothing else than to get into the River Jordan double-quick and rinse the salt crust off.
Helmuth laughed as I urged him to put his foot down on the accelerator. 15
We crossed the Jordan by bridge. This was where Asia really began.
The track leading up out of the Dead Sea depression, along the slopes of the Jordan
valley, was stony and steep. We had to get over a high point of 1200 metres in the
mountains. The May sun blazed fiercely and the engine laboured its way up in first gear.
The radiator thermometer was already showing over 90 degrees. 20
‘This car is far too heavy,’ I eventually admitted.
Helmuth nodded silently. ‘I did warn you, Max.’
Out of the corner of my eye I could see anxiety in his face, and I bit my lip controlling
an urge to point out that most of our luggage was his, packed lovingly by his mother
before we started out. The overloaded car springs were groaning on the bumpy road. 25
100 degrees. The radiator boiled and whistled. I stopped the car. Helmuth dug out our
map of Asia. ‘Here’s Palestine and there’s China,’ he said. ‘We’ve come about 400 km
so far, and there are about 23 000 still to go.’
We sat there for a long time brooding, side by side, with the big map of Asia on our
knees. We were both depressed but understood the need not to let this turn into 30
recrimination.
Our weight was at the root of our whole problem. ‘We’ll have to downsize,’ I said. ‘We’ll
have to jettison some of our luggage.’
Helmuth nodded silently, staring at the boxes in the rear of the car.
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_13_2020_1.11

5
‘Maybe we can manage with them as far as Baghdad,’ I offered, ‘and they can be put 35
into storage.’
Easier in our minds, we waited for darkness to fall before we drove on. Night journeys
are not only cooler but are beautiful in the East. Over the landscape arched a sky
sparkling with a plethora of stars. Along the rocks of the gorge huddled flocks of storks,
shining like patches of snow as the light danced on their plumage. I wished I’d brought 40
a better camera. The birds were not alarmed, being tired from their long journey. They
had come from the Sudan, and the next day they would fly on to their northern kingdom
and the European springtime. A few of them raised their heads sleepily from their
feathers and followed us with the long, serious gaze of philosophers. Perhaps they
were thinking, ‘Funny these humans going south just now.’ 45
At eleven o’clock we gratefully pitched camp. Sleeping on camp beds in the open with
the gentle warm breezes caressing our faces was wonderful.
© UCLES 2020 11_0500_13_2020_1.11

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*8426143320-I*
insert.
11_0500_11_2021_1.14
2
Text A: Two lives
This text is taken from a longer article describing the two extreme seasons in the place where the
writer lives.
The rains are about to begin. I am walking down the town’s central street, observing
wilted trees and feeling the dead earth crumbling against my boots. A sudden gust of
wind signals the arrival of the rains: torrential vertical sheets that sting my eyes and pit
the road like machine-gun fire, kicking up muddy shrapnel. Everyone on the street flees
in panic. I take cover under the corrugated iron awning of a shop selling groceries. 5
As the rain slams into the roof we huddle at the back of the shop, strangers thrown into
close proximity as refugees from the weather. Conversation is limited if not impossible;
we look out dimly through the downpour. Up and down the road the scene is repeated;
the whole village crouches in silence, willing the rains to stop, hoping that homes and
workplaces will not be very wet, and waiting for life to begin again. 10
The region has two lives. The first is waterlogged and still. During the long rainy season,
which lasts from June to October, everything stops. The country has precious few miles
of paved road, and the dirt tracks that knit it together rapidly become impassable. It is
a lean time, a time of hunger. Supplies dwindle, and people hold out for the first harvests
of September. Construction equipment malfunctions so building projects stop, and 15
towns and villages are cut off from the rest of the country.
The country’s second life is parched, hot and dusty. Despite the heat, the region breathes
more easily, as the communal sense of shared hardship becomes less acute. Grim
faces erased, adults share anecdotes and generously loaded bowls of fried rice with
visiting relatives, while their excited children burst out from houses and onto the streets, 20
like newly released prisoners.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_11_2021_1.14

3
Text B: Changing seasons
The text describes what living through a severe winter is like in the writer’s locality.
It’s no longer winter. I see fishermen readying their boats and gear for a new season,
stacking lobster traps along the wharves and scraping and painting their vessels. And,
alas, I notice the appearance of mud and potholes – all signs of spring. But something
is missing.
I am no longer rushing to the market to make sure we have enough milk and eggs, 5
candles and batteries – in case the next storm knocks out the power – oh, and to buy
an extra shovel, should this replacement one also break.
Nor am I leaping out of bed early each morning, adrenalin rushing as I brush my teeth,
donning snow pants, sweater, hooded coat over pyjamas, then climbing into boots and
heading downstairs to try the kitchen door. More often than not, I would find it sealed 10
fast by snow. I’d gulp down coffee, and, with help from my husband, force open the
front door. Shovels in hand, we’d begin the ritual: clear the front steps as the neighbours
across the street run their snow blower and those next door shovel. We’d exchange
nods, the occasional groan, ask, ‘Where are we going to put it all?’ – all the while eyeing
property lines to make sure that shovelled snow lands where it ought to. 15
In novels I’ve read, winter is often the quiet season: a time for reading and reflection,
letter writing, baking bread, stirring thick soups and curling up by the fire with a long
novel.
In reality, we were all frenzied by the massive (and historic) back-to-back snowstorms,
anxious about the next assault, and worried about our houses and families and jobs, 20
not to mention the ice dams and ensuing leaky roofs.
Our frenzy was fed not just by the quantity and relentlessness of the storms, but by the
anxiety (and exhaustion) they engendered and the fact that there was no one to blame.
We could vent our anger at our neighbours or at the snow-ploughing crews, but everyone
was doing the best they could. 25
Lately, however, an unusual quiet appears to have descended, not suddenly, as it might
when we’re snowed in during a normal winter, but stealthily, without our even noticing
it. In fact, what’s noticeable is not what’s present, but what’s not: the stress.
Neighbours and friends have been emerging, tentatively, like bears from hibernation,
as if nervous (and uncertain) about what will come next. I find myself stopping to make 30
friendly chat at the post office, in the library, on the street. I pause to observe snowdrops
arising from a patch of icy snow, the fattening buds on the lilacs and the calls of the
first redwings in the marsh.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_11_2021_1.14 [Turn over

4
Text C: The long hot walk
This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point, the writer is touring a foreign country. He
decides to walk through countryside to a local city.
There had been a definite chill in the early morning air and the idea of walking to the
city and enjoying my surroundings had seemed a good one. However, as I walked east
along the road and towards the morning sun, which was already huge and bloated, I
began to realise that the temperature was changing rapidly. After a while it seemed
that there was little air to breathe. I remember stopping at a farm where unmoving and 5
silent labourers scooped up water from wells and handed it to me warm and green.
They stared at me with disbelief and pity in their eyes as I moved away again.
By mid-morning, the violence of the heat seemed to bruise the whole earth and turn its
crust into one huge scar. The sun struck upwards, sideways and down, while the wheat
went buckling across the fields like a solid sheet of copper. I kept walking because there 10
was no shade to hide in and because it seemed to be the only way to agitate the air
around me. Also, in my optimism, I really did hope I would soon see the evidence of
the city. I walked on, conscious only of the red-hot dust grinding like pepper between
my toes and the vast empty spaces on either side of me.
By mid-day, I was parched. Fantasies of water rose up and wrapped me in cool wet 15
leaves or pressed the thought of cucumber peel across my stinging eyes and filled my
mouth with dripping moss. I imagined drinking whole monsoons and winter mists and
reclining on the sponge of a deep, cooling sea.
Then I saw the spire of a church rising from the plain like the jet of a fountain. There
was a shower of eucalyptus trees brushing against a roadside café and I was standing 20
there calling out for a cold drink.
‘No! You mustn’t drink too much. You may pass out.’ The café owner threw up her
hands at the sight of me, then turned, alarmed, to shout at a couple of well-dressed
gentlemen eating at a table in the corner.
The older man bowed: ‘The lady is right – you are too hot for sudden drinking.’ 25
Everybody tutted at me and shook their heads. I could only stand there croaking,
desperate with thirst. The owner gave me some ice to suck. Then she told me to rest
indoors, while everyone asked me questions: Where I had come from? How I had got
here? Where I was going?
At my replies, the owner threw up her hands again. ‘To the city? On foot? And you are 30
carrying no water? It is unthinkable!’ The gentlemen started rapid-fire expressions of
disbelief, spitting their food at each other like furious exclamations. ‘These idiots who
walk all over the place! Up and down mountainsides! Round and round the plains in
this heat! It is straightforward and cheap to hire a car!’
‘This is the third one in a month we have had to look after!’ exclaimed the owner. 35
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_11_2021_1.14

5
I heard their voices fading and booming around me. Then the owner’s husband was
leaning over me. ‘Give the young man a little drink. If he doesn’t pass out, and still
wishes to go to the city, we can take him in the car. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.’
The first mouthful of mineral water burst in my throat and cascaded like frosted stars.
Then I was given a plate of bread and cheese. A deep languor spread through my limbs. 40
I remember no more of my benefactors, or what they said, only the drowsy glories of
eating and drinking to my full. After that I was lifted to my feet and led outside. Then,
stretched out across the back of the car, I was driven to the city by the café owner and
her husband.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_11_2021_1.14

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*0081793726-I*
insert.
11_0500_12_2021_1.12
2
Text A: The whirlwind engineering history of the bicycle
This text is about how the bicycle has been through many engineering changes over the years.
Stridewalkers, Boneshakers, Penny-farthings: the bicycle has undergone some curious

transformations. Fetch your helmet – here’s a whistle-stop tour of the bike’s 200-year
history.
Step forward German inventor Karl Drais, who in 1817 patented the design for his
‘Laufmaschine’ (running machine). Riders carefully straddled a wooden frame and – 5
without pedals and chain propulsion – pushed their feet along the ground to get the
wheels moving. Hence the distinctly sci-fi sounding nickname, Stridewalker.
Pedals were introduced later, developed in 1863 by Pierre Michaux. The bicycle was
called the Velocipede and had wheels designed to enable a person to ride along rail
tracks. Hmm. Unsurprisingly, on the cobbled streets of that time, the wooden-rimmed 10
wheels earned Michaux’s bicycle the nickname, ‘Boneshaker’.
Fast-forward 7 years to 1870. It might have looked ridiculous with its huge wheel at the
front and little wheel at the back, but the Penny-farthing was built to serve a very practical
need: the need for speed. Without gears, the only way to increase bicycle speed was
to increase the size of the wheel attached to the pedals – and the availability of steel 15
meant large wheels were a simpler engineering challenge than wood.
Unfortunately, Penny-farthings were incredibly difficult to mount and ride. During the
late 1870s an alternative was invented, marketed as the Safety Bicycle for obvious
reasons. With a chain drive that allowed the rider to sit at the centre of the frame and
a height that made it easy for riders to reach the ground, the Safety Bicycle fuelled the 20
surge of bicycle popularity in the 1890s. The same design, with wheels that are broadly
the same size, is used to this day. So, for the last 140 years all we’ve been doing is
tweaking a design classic.
So who needs nuclear power when you’ve got a bicycle?
That’s what the health-conscious listeners of a radio programme decided recently when 25
they voted the bicycle the most significant innovation in technology since 1800. In
winning the poll, the bike saw off its more expensive transport rival, the car, as well as
many young listeners’ favourite, the internet. Advances in medical science (popular
with older generations) were also rolled over by the two-wheeled favourite.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_12_2021_1.12

3
Text B: Finding my feet again
This text is about a world-class cyclist, Denise, who had her right leg amputated below the knee
after a childhood accident.
After my accident I had to fight for my own two legs.
Considering my physical setbacks, it would have been easy to let doubt from others or
myself erode my ambitions. People would say, forget it, this isn’t possible. But I learned
that transformation starts through the process of swimming against the stream.
Just like every other athlete, I love my sport and I’m energised by the highs it gives me, 5
but we live in a society that has certain reinforced norms. One of them is the idea that
as a disabled woman I should be happy that I can walk; why compete in elite-level
sports? Another is the fear that heavy athletic exertion will harm me.
I also navigate another general perception around people with disabilities. I still wanted
to feel attractive despite my missing limb. This was difficult, especially in a society that 10
attaches great importance to physical appearance.
The most exhilarating experience in my life so far was becoming the first female
paracyclist to complete a prestigious mountain tour over seven days. It was 865
kilometres long with 18,000 metres of near-vertical climbing. The strong weather
fluctuations and the hours of climbing severely tested even able-bodied competitors. 15
All were physically and mentally at their limit multiple times.
So I tasted success and experienced fulfilment. But it had been a slow process from
the first time I tentatively mounted my adapted bike and allowed my coach to position
the foot of my prosthetic leg into the adapted pedal. In the beginning I had to have my
foot held in position, but as time went by, I learnt exactly where the foot was, and my 20
perfect leg no longer dominated. This realisation took many sessions of patient and
individualised coaching. Falling from my bike was another setback, but I re-mounted
and gritted my teeth.
The cost of an adapted bike worried both myself and my family. In fact, thoughts of how
I might be a financial burden to my parents nearly put me off. Fortunately, we found 25
funding sources for my bicycle – though we did have to look hard to find them and wait
for them to consider my case. Ironically, now that I am successful, there are sponsors
looking for me!
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_12_2021_1.12 [Turn over

4
Text C: Moving on upwards
This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point in the story, the narrator is taking part in a
bicycle ride uphill for his fiftieth birthday celebration.
Their car rounds the bend ahead, Sonny’s phone screen winking at me from the window.
Time for another gulp of water. My bottle crackles as I squeeze it and a thick stream
shoots into my mouth. Too much. The excess liquid splatters fatly on the greedy asphalt,
and I realise it may be the one crucial drop I will be crying out for on my final kilometres
to the summit. 5
This novel adventure was a gift to myself. I’d reached the big 5-0. More a milestone
than a birthday. Inviting the family around for cake and crisps wasn’t going to be enough.
No, what I needed was a challenge to prove that what my teenage son, Sonny, called
my ‘sinking into old age’ did not have to match a decline in physical fitness. My friend
Rob, agreed to come along with me – in the comfort of his car. 10
So here they are, Rob at the wheel and Sonny, who has brought along his mobile phone,
so that he can capture the whole event. His job is to make an ‘official birthday video’
(with soundtrack) on his computer when we get home. This, I am assured, will provide
much family entertainment in years to come. ‘After all, Dad, you’re really brave wearing
lycra at your age,’ he had informed me. 15
I hear the car change gear ahead of me. As if I need reminding that things are going
to get steeper.
Though I am keeping to the outside of the bend, I feel the tension in my thighs increasing
in a matter of metres. Ahead lies the notorious forest where many a dismayed cyclist
is forced to dismount after kilometres of hard labour. 20
The car has slowed down and is back alongside, Sonny capturing every second of my
first metres through the forest in glorious close-up. I can see the print-out of the ‘gradients
per kilometre’ stuck to the folding table in front of him. I can see my own contorted
expression, looking out, gargoyle-like, over the bike handlebars, forming part of that
‘family entertainment’. 25
‘Dad, this is the forest, right?’
I nod and pant.
‘It’ll soon be ten per cent gradient, Dad.’
I change my gear, and my legs heave a sigh of relief. Six kilometres are behind me,
and another fifteen to go, but I must have something in reserve. 30
The steep road ahead meanders lazily through the trees. Not a kindly flat section in
sight, only the mocking gravelly promise of worse to come. Unforgiving gradient for as
far as the eye can see and wisps of warm exhaust fumes tickling my nostrils.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_12_2021_1.12

5
I regain some control over my breathing. It’s a simple mind game: there is every chance
you will make it to the top. No way are you going to give up. Unthinkable. You’ll never 35
be able to look your friends or your boy in the eye again. And certainly not yourself.
For the next 30 seconds I pedal madly, head down but aware of the encouraging shouts
coming from ahead. My breath is coming faster again and perspiration drips down my
temples. My legs are jellying without doubt. The bike is jolting a bit too.
I recall pulling the dusty old machine out from the shed. ‘Dad’s bike is a real old 40
boneshaker!’ Sonny had quipped. ‘You are going to get it checked out, though, aren’t
you, Dad?’ Some oiling and greasing and a new chain later and the bike was fixed. I
felt like the king of the road, sailing along the flat terrain outside our home.
The car has halted. Sonny is gesticulating through the back window. ‘Dad!’ Is that
consternation in his voice? ‘Dad, are you all right?’ 45
I may acknowledge defeat; I don’t know. Maybe just for a few seconds I need to take
a rest. Sonny’s face drops as he watches me wilt. ‘Come on, Dad. You can do it.’
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_12_2021_1.12

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*2615351790-I*
insert.
11_0500_13_2021_1.8
2
Text A: Chasing the Northern Lights
This text is an article about a night-time climb to witness the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).
Night falling, calf muscles burning and a heavy pack pulling on my shoulders were all
good reasons to sit down and rest. To the west, a crimson glow lit the inlet, and beyond
this massive body of water, the mountains were painted with fading light.
The aurora occurs when bursts of solar energy sweep past Earth and energise
magnetised particles in our upper atmosphere. In order to see this unusual light show, 5
you need to consider the time of day and the presence of clouds. Just picture a white
crayon drawn on a piece of purely black paper compared to on a piece of light blue and
white paper. One picture is clearly more dramatic and rewarding than the other.
The aurora forecast tonight was good, and news had spread fast among photographers,
outdoor enthusiasts, and sky-watchers. As watching an aurora requires a bit of sacrifice, 10
we had all given up our sleep to find a good place for spectating.
After hiking for a few hours, we set up camp on a high ridge. Despite having tents, we
laid our sleeping-bags out on the ground for best viewing. The show started at 23:00
and got progressively more brilliant and active throughout the night. My arms ached
from holding my camera above my head. 15
I took a few photographs and then put my camera away. I’d realised I also wanted to
live in the moment. No camera can capture the huge spectacle that dominates the
heavens. At around 03:00. the entire sky filled with freely-moving bands of colour, a
cosmic neon light show zigzagging erratically from horizon to horizon, streaming and
gyrating. 20
Words and images fail to describe such an experience, the essence of which relates
deeply to our perspective on life. When you’re looking up into the night sky, seeing a
360-degree view of brilliant lights literally changing by the second, it makes you realise
how insignificant you are and how immense the world is. And yet there’s a strange sort
of comfort in that realisation. Maybe that comes from knowing that you share your awe 25
with your fellow humans out on this cold ridge. You are warmed and embrace your
place in humanity.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_13_2021_1.8

3
Text B: The decorative artist
This text is an online article by a decorative artist.
I’m a self-taught artist – what’s called a ‘decorative’ artist as opposed to a ‘fine’ artist.
Fine artists paint canvases to hang in galleries. I paint canvases and then slide them
in serving trays, or make table runners, or whatever.
Basically, I paint to decorate stuff. Sometimes I paint stuff to hang on walls, or I might
just paint a mural on the wall itself. 5
I started painting after a 20-year self-imposed hiatus induced by a college art teacher
who didn’t like my work. I gave up painting, believing I had no talent.
That was the one and only art class I’ve ever taken.
So, I do understand when people think they can’t paint. Years of painting and drawing
as a child were tossed aside because I let one person’s opinion destroy my confidence. 10
Other than helping my children with homework assignments, I hadn’t painted for years.
Then the toy shop where I worked needed a sign for their teddy bear display. I painted
some bears on poster board. When my husband saw my teddy bears, he got angry.
Seriously angry. ‘How dare you have such talent and not be using it!’ Um ... okay. So
I started painting our walls at home. 15
Why paint our walls? I have no idea. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time.
Friends and neighbours saw our wall murals and wanted them in their homes. Over
time, I took advice and a small loan and started a mural business, despite only having
‘on the job’ training. I made many mistakes but the great thing about paint is you can
always start again and nobody is the wiser. 20
Being self-taught means I’ve spent much time experimenting and discovering and trying
something different. Talented? Perhaps. But mostly my ‘talent’ comes from determination
and a lot of hours spent holding a paintbrush.
Here’s the way I look at it – everyone loves to express themselves through painting.
Or at least they did as children, before they started comparing their own paintings to 25
those of their classmates. I love teaching others how to paint, especially those who
think they can’t. I love it when someone gives themselves the chance to try a paint
project and love witnessing their joy when they succeed.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_13_2021_1.8 [Turn over

4
Text C: Night-time photography
This text is taken from a longer narrative. The writer, Alastair, is talking about taking photographs
at night.
My plan was to take photographs by the light of the harvest moon. The harvest moon
1
is the full moon that appears closest to the autumn equinox in September. All full moons
make their appearance around the time of sunset. But, unlike the rise of other full moons,
there is no period of darkness between sunset and the majestic ascension of the harvest
moon. This gigantic, orange globe, which sits contentedly on the horizon like a celestial 5
pumpkin, earned its name because its glowing cast over the earth allowed farmers to
continue harvesting even after the sun had set.
You don’t need to be ambitious when heading out into the evening to take photographs.
In fact, the simpler your idea, the more likely it is to succeed. I settled on an extremely
easy plan. I would follow a railway line out of town and use it to guide me as I weaved 10
my way across the countryside, and then I’d catch a late train home from a village
station when I’d had enough.
I wanted to begin in the town to document just how different the town is from the open
countryside at night. Streetlights suck the night and all its raw beauty from the world.
However, even in the town I felt myself paying more attention to the world than I do 15
during the day. I was walking east, in the direction of the rising moon; I could see its
copper glow on the horizon, and my camera captured how it silhouetted the rooftops
and chimneys as it crept up into the sky.
Other senses take over after dark. I felt the warmth radiating from the engine of a
recently parked car. A man passed, walking a dog, and I caught the scent of soap. I 20
turned into a quiet and deserted residential street, from which I could hear the low hum
of the distant main road. A train rushed past. I stopped to listen to its receding sound,
and then followed along in its wake, feeling energised.
Taking photographs as I went slowed my progress and I began to feel the cool air
penetrate my clothing. Photography at night takes a long time because you have to use 25
a camera that has a long exposure. Whenever I decided to take a picture, I had to frame
it, manually focus and then stand for 30 seconds waiting for the exposure to finish. My
tripod kept my camera in position, while I enjoyed standing still and observing the world
around me more carefully.
A fellow enthusiast hurried past. He nodded quickly and smiled: ‘Just over there. Amazing 30
colours behind the trees. I think you’ll catch them.’ He scurried ahead. I could see he
too was following the train-line. He seemed preoccupied. I hoped I would catch up with
him later.
The darkness at the edge of the town was distinct. The houses and the streetlights
came to a sharp halt and in front of me was the abrupt blackness of an empty field. 35
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_13_2021_1.8

5
Clouds drifted swiftly across the fat round moon, by now about a hand’s breadth above
the horizon.
I stepped into the field, crossing the boundary into a different world. I only used my
torch briefly to work out the terrain. The point of this walk was to savour and record the
differences and uncertainties of the night. I didn’t want to artificially beam a thin shaft 40
of weak light across my adventure. It took some moments to adjust to the darkness
and the stillness, but, as I walked along the margins of the ploughed field, my eyes
began to adjust. Planes circled in the sky, sweeping slowly across the constellations.
I set up my tripod to capture how the sky was much lighter than the land, and how the
trees at the edge of the field jutted, black, up into the rusty suburban sky. 45
1
equinox: the autumn equinox falls on a date between 21 and 24 September in the
northern hemisphere and marks the start of autumn.
© UCLES 2021 11_0500_13_2021_1.8

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*5785633886-I*
insert.
11_0500_11_2022_1.13
2
Text A: Cooking rice
This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point the narrator is describing how her father cooked
rice and she compares her own efforts at cooking rice to his.
There is a simple recipe for cooking rice. My father taught it to me when I was a child. Back
then I used to sit on the kitchen counter watching him, how he sifted the grains in his hands,
sure and quick, removing pieces of dirt or sand, tiny imperfections.
He swirled his hands through the water and it turned cloudy. When he scrubbed the grains
clean, the sound was as big as a field of insects. Over and over, my father rinsed the rice, 5
drained the water then filled the pot again. Once the washing is done, you measure the water
by resting the tip of your index finger on the surface of the rice. The water should reach the
bend of your first knuckle. My father did not have instructions or measuring cups. He closed
his eyes and felt for the waterline. Sometimes he did this more than once.
I still dream of my father, his bare feet flat against the floor, standing in the middle of the 10
kitchen. He wears an old buttoned shirt and faded trousers drawn at the waist. Surrounded
by the gloss of the kitchen counters, the sharp angles of the stove, the fridge, the shiny sink,
he looks out of place. This memory of him is so strong that sometimes the detail with which
I can see it stuns me.
When I was older, my father passed this nightly task on to me, but not his expertise. I couldn’t 15
get the motions right: I splashed the water too hard, while jabbing my finger down to find the
right water level. The rice was often a mushy gruel. His rice never had small hard lumps like
mine.
‘Sorry,’ I would say to the table.
In answer, my father would keep eating, pushing the rice into his mouth, as if he noticed no 20
difference between what he did so well and I so poorly. He would eat every last mouthful,
his chopsticks walking quickly across the plate. He would then lean back and nod approvingly
at me and my mother.
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3
Text B: Working in the hospitality industry
This text was written by an employee in the hospitality industry in 2015.
Working in the global hotels and resorts of the hospitality industry is not for everybody.
Also, since large employers

often have properties in many countries, many are prepared to exercise loyalty to their
relocating staff.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_11_2022_1.13 [Turn over

4
Text C: The inn
This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point in the story, Hua has just started a new business
venture, opening an inn with a Japanese theme. Today she has been receiving her first guests, assisted
by the waitress, Tania.
Hua placed her fish on tin foil. This would be marinated in her homemade miso sauce. The
bunches of dark green pak choi would be griddled and the rice would be steamed – but that
was a last-minute job. Cooking traditional food the way her father had taught her back home
was something she enjoyed, and she looked forward to telling him about this new outlet for
her skills. However, long-term, it would be far too difficult to manage the inn as well as offer 5
a wide range of meals for guests.
The view from the inn’s kitchen window lifted her heart: new guests were already sitting
around or exploring her garden.
The garden, enhanced by gentle sunlight playing in and around the bushes and shrubs,
looked resplendent. Jaunty maple trees and fat squatting rhododendron bushes created 10
comfortable contours of crimson for the eye to follow. A tempting maze of charming stone
paths all eventually led to the delicately limbed arched bridge that curled like a half-moon
over the stream.
Beyond the garden perimeter were the river and the newly built theatre. She hoped
theatre-goers would be her reliable patrons. 15
Just before 7.30, Hua found herself standing in the problematic dining room. Imposing
dark-oak tables and matching chairs created narrow tunnels for Tania’s waitress service.
Heavily embossed, ancient red wallpaper sneered cruelly, while the old grandfather clock
ticked in ponderous reminder of its most venerable status.
Yes, this room was definitely on the list for modernisation. While the weather was warm, 20
outdoor dining was preferable.
Mr and Mrs Kato, new arrivals, looked into the dining room. Both wore gentle smiles. Mrs
Kato waved a delicate hand in the direction of the garden and a waft of expensive perfume
floated towards Hua. Mr Kato lowered his eyes before informing Hua, ‘The colour of those
bushes is divine. We saw them as we were parking. May we dine out there?’ 25
‘Of course,’ Hua replied. ‘I’ll get our waitress to attend to you immediately.’
As Hua stepped out of the dining room, she met two further guests. ‘We’re Mr and Mrs
Dreyfuss. We have a room booked for the week,’ boomed Mr Dreyfuss. As he spoke, he
flourished an arm in dramatic introduction of his wife, while his eyes swept around the inn
lobby, as if in expectation of a captive audience. 30
Hua looked at the bookings list. ‘Room 4. Upstairs – .’
Tania bustled by. ‘Oh Tania, can you attend to Mr and Mrs Kato in the dining room? They
want to eat outside.’
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5
A few minutes later, Tania returned. ‘Two miso fish bakes and there is something odd
going on.’ 35
‘What?’ Hua followed Tania into the garden, where Mr and Mrs Kato ashen-faced were
apparently stuck rigidly to their chairs.
The window to Room 4 was open. ‘I want you to go down there, cause a big stir, so that
everyone comes to see what’s going on,’ roared a loud male voice from inside.
‘I’ll do it now!’ answered a female voice. 40
‘Then I’ll go out the back way and steal that big car in the car park.’
‘Oh, my goodness!’ Hua grabbed Tania’s hands. ‘We need to call the police.’
She ran back inside and stopped short, seeing Mrs Dreyfuss already in the reception.
‘Hello,’ Mrs Dreyfuss said sweetly, ‘I wonder when we are able to eat?’ Hua stood, gasping
at Mrs Dreyfuss. ‘I am helping my husband run through his lines for the show at the theatre 45
over the river. I was hoping to book a table for 9pm.’
‘Okay, yes, that should be fine.’ Hua calmed her fluttering heart as she wrote ‘Room 4, 9pm,
two diners’ in the appointment book.
On return to the garden, she saw Tania standing alone by empty chairs. Exhaust fumes
poured from an expensive car that was departing quickly from the inn car park. 50
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_11_2022_1.13

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*7047985992-I*
insert.
11_0500_12_2022_1.12
2
Text A: Why dance?
There are few cultures on earth that don’t possess an urge to dance. Our ancestors painted
their cave walls with pictures of dancers. Even babies instinctively jig in time to music.
But how is it that such a simple physical act has the ability to lift the spirits?
You get a much bigger release of endorphins when you dance than during other forms of
exercise. It also connects with the emotional centres in the brain. For many people, dancing 5
prompts an emotional release. Often that’s uncomplicated happiness. Others cry. It’s cathartic
– a letting go of pent-up emotions.
Experiments have proved the cognitive benefits of dancing. Researchers took a group of
people into a laboratory where music was played for five minutes. Each had to choose from
three options: to sit and listen quietly, to cycle on an exercise bike or to get up and dance. 10
All were given cognitive tasks to perform before and after. Those who chose to dance
displayed improved problem-solving skills afterwards. The mood levels of the dancers also
went up.
Another big draw to dancing is the social element. The synchrony involved in dancing to a
beat along with other people is a powerful way for humans to bond socially. You can walk 15
into a dance class not knowing another soul, and quickly discover that dancing – at whatever
level – is a wonderful way of breaking down inhibitions.
Dancing is not just for those of a certain age or ability. Situations where you might dance
include anything from an impromptu jig at an overly quiet family wedding to a salsa-style
exercise regime. Those who dance, even just for fun, enjoy better mental well-being than 20
those who don’t.
These factors compensate for the fact that dancing is not typically a high-paying profession.
Dancers are professional people who adapt to long hours of perfecting their art. They perform
warm-up and cool-down exercises after a rigorous workout, knowing that this is the only way
to reduce the likelihood of an injury or the need to retire unnecessarily early. 25
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_12_2022_1.12

3
Text B: Advice to dance teachers
So, you’re a dance teacher putting together your timetable for a new term. You teach students
in beginners, intermediate and advanced classes. Your timetable looks logical:
6pm – Beginners
7pm – Intermediate
8pm – Advanced. 5
Sadly, this is one of those hidden reasons for student dissatisfaction. Why? Because this
timetable turns your classes into performances. Here’s what happens
Your beginners are nervous. It’s your job to make them feel safe in a friendly and caring
class. About twenty minutes before the end of their class, when they are tired, hot in the
face, sweaty and self-conscious, the intermediate students start to arrive. After getting 10
changed, they hang around outside your studio, peering in at the beginners.
Don’t underestimate how humiliating this is for beginners. They are nowhere near
performance-ready, but the class suddenly has an audience of people that the beginners
know are more experienced than them.
The same then happens to the intermediate students when the advanced ones arrive 15
The remedy? Change the rank order of your classes.
Class sizes are important too. Large beginners’ classes mean students feel over-looked.
They should never feel that the teacher is too busy to help. It’s important to use the more
capable students to model a dance move they have mastered, but not at the expense of
other students’ self-confidence. Move rows of dancers forward one row at a time, so they 20
all get the chance to be the dancers on the front line. Don’t humiliate older children by drawing
attention to a younger child’s superior talent. It’s better to try to keep children in similar age
groups as much as possible. Oh, and do keep parents out of the studio – parental
competitiveness does not help children to thrive while learning to dance.
What about marketing? Cluttered websites are confusing. It is worth paying for professional 25
photography so that you don’t give a poor impression or reinforce stereotypes. One mistake
I see a lot of dance teachers make on their websites is using the old trick of saying ‘we’ about
your company when there is only one of you. A prospective student will be thinking “Hmm
I like her, but what’s this ‘we’ business? Does that mean if I turn up at her class, there might
be another teacher taking the class instead? And what if I don’t like them?” For a dance 30
school trying to attract nervous students, ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’ work much, much better.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_12_2022_1.12 [Turn over

4
Text C: The dancer
This text is taken from a longer narrative. Veda is a young girl with aspirations to become a dancer.
I pause in the doorway and bite my lip. ‘I got a letter saying I got through to the finals for the
dance competition. If I win, I win a place at the dance college,’ I finally say.
Grandma retreats into the kitchen. She has told me that she doesn’t think it’s her place to
interfere with her son and daughter-in-law. Pa’s eyes rove from Ma to me. He’s caught in
the middle. 5
Ma’s diamond earrings flash at me like angry eyes. ‘Veda, you need to study hard. If you
don’t do well in your exams this year ...’
For once my voice doesn’t stick in my throat. ‘I am studying hard. To be a dancer. I’m not
planning to become an engineer. Or a doctor.’ Or any profession that Ma finds respectable.
Ma launches into a lecture. ‘Dancing is no career. You need to study something useful in 10
college so that you can get a well-paid job.’
I sigh unnecessarily loudly. My dance teacher isn’t rich but his house is larger than ours.
Clearly he earns more than Ma at her bank job and Pa at his library.
Back when I was younger, I’d struggle to be better at school for Ma’s sake. But numbers
and letters soon grew too hard for me to hold and I grew far away from them, and Ma grew 15
out of patience.
All my life Ma’s dreamt I’ll do well at science and mathematics so that I could end up being
what she wanted to be: an engineer. All my life I’ve been waiting for her to appreciate my
compulsion to do the one thing I excel at: dance.
I think back to my conversations with Grandma. ‘Steps came to you early. Speech came 20
late,’ she’d say. She’d tell me how I used to heave myself by the restricting bars on my
prison-like cot at eight months, my limbs urgently craving release. I could shape thoughts
with my fingers, she said. While words stumbled in my throat, losing their way before reaching
my lips, my hands spoke my first sentences like lotus buds blossoming. They would shape
themselves effortlessly into the hand symbols of classical dancing. 25
Grandma always understood everything my hands said.
********
My dance teacher sits cross-legged on the ground, tapping beats out on his hollow wooden
block with a stick.
I leap and land on my sure feet, excitement mounting as his rhythm speeds, challenging me 30
to repeat my routine faster. My heels strike the ground fast as fire-sparks. Streams of sweat
trickle down my neck. My braided hair flies free into the air, then whips sharply around my
waist. Nothing else fills me with such elation as chasing down soaring music, catching and
pinning rhythms to the ground with my feet, proud as a hunter rejoicing in his skill.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_12_2022_1.12

5
This brings me to the hardest pose of all. Balancing on my left leg, I extend my right upwards 35
in a vertical split. Then I bend my right knee, bring my right foot near my ear. Locking my
breath in my chest to control my trembling, I push myself to hold the pose for an entire
eight-beat cycle. A familiar thrill shoots up my spine. I enjoy testing my stamina, my balance.
My dance teacher’s stick clatters heavily to the floor. He claps spontaneously. ‘Perform like
that and you’re sure to win.’ I can see tears brimming like dew-drops in his eyes. 40
******
Three days later, I arrive home. Grandma opens the door. I can hardly speak. ‘The judges
loved me! I have a place at the dance school. Grandma, I am so excited.’
Grandma hugs me. ‘I am delighted, Veda. You need to tell Ma and Pa but don’t worry: I have
been talking to Pa, and I think you can persuade them, if you answer their questions sensibly 45
and explain yourself.’
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_12_2022_1.12

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*8038010072-I*
insert.
11_0500_13_2022_1.1
2
Text A: Giant squid
The giant squid is the largest of all invertebrates. Scientists believe it can be as long as 18
metres.
French sailors say that they have come across one of these elusive monsters of the sea.
Yachtsman Olivier Kersauson said that several hours into his voyage he’d found that one
of the huge creatures had apparently clamped on to the hull of his boat. 5
Mr Kersauson said the sighting occurred off the Portuguese island of Madeira.
‘I saw a tentacle through a porthole,’ he said. ‘It was thicker than my leg and it was really
pulling the boat hard.’
Mr Kersauson adds that two of the tentacles were blocking the rudder, making steering
impossible. 10
Giant squid often feature in maritime legends and novels, including Jules Verne’s ‘Twenty
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’. But unlike Jules Verne’s fictional Captain Nemo, Mr
Kersauson did not have to fight with an angry monster and cut off its tentacles.
The French sailor says this considerate squid released its grip when he stopped the boat.
‘We didn’t have anything to scare it off. The sight made us freeze with terror. I don’t know 15
what we would have done if the beast hadn’t let go,’ Mr Kersauson said. ‘We weren’t going
to attack it with our penknives.’
Mr Kersauson says the squid must have been seven or eight metres long. ‘And I don’t know
how powerful. I’ve never seen anything like it in 40 years of sailing,’ he says.
Giant squid live deep under the sea. Only about 250 sightings, mostly of dead ones, have 20
ever been recorded. Quite often their tentacles were missing and their bodies mangled,
partially eaten or decomposed. A giant squid measuring about 15 metres was found
washed-up on an Australian beach in July. A smaller one was caught by a trawler’s net off
the coast of Scotland a year ago.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_13_2022_1.1

3
Text B: Is it wrong to swim with dolphins?
Swimming with dolphins regularly features as one of those transformative experiences on

the top of your wish list.
Many tour operators include it in holiday packages. ‘You will feel completely free and at one
with nature as you swim majestically alongside these incredible creatures,’ is how one sells
the experience. 5
But now doubt has been cast on the health effects of dolphin swimming, not for humans but
for the dolphins themselves.
Researchers have found that swimming close to bottlenose dolphins and trying to touch
them can be highly stressful for them, preventing them from resting, feeding or nurturing
their young. The implications for many breeds of dolphin, already on the Animal Welfare 10
Institute’s list of endangered species, are serious.
‘People think if they make a disturbance, the animals will just move out of their way,’ said a
spokesman for The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). ‘But we might displace
them, and they may not have a place that’s safe to go to.’
If dolphins leave, many tourism-driven economies will also suffer. Off the coast of one resort, 15
up to 30 boats invade a pod (a group of dolphins) and swimmers chase the dolphins, hoping
to make physical contact. Since dolphins breathe air and so need to surface regularly, they
can be easily followed by fast-moving vessels like water-skis and speedboats. Such tours
run throughout the day.
There are tour operators who try to interact with the sea creatures in a more responsible 20
way, by limiting numbers of boats and passengers, and letting the dolphins take the lead.
In the open sea off the coast of Portugal, Amanda Stafford, of The Dolphin Connection, tells
clients to wait for the dolphin to approach them and keep their hands to themselves. ‘If
dolphins aren’t feeling sociable, they make it obvious.’
There are still worries, not least because of the risk of transmitting diseases between humans 25
and dolphins. ‘We like people going to see the animals,’ the WDCS spokesman says. ‘But
the best organisations make arrangements to watch the animals from land.’
Some dolphins are kept in captive enclosures so that they are readily available to swim with
tourists. A neuroscientist said that for creatures accustomed to living in the wild and swimming
hundreds of kilometres a day, this could result in long-term psychological problems. 30
And keeping dolphins captive at resorts or aquatic parks is similar to torture, says another
researcher, as it separates these sociable animals from their pods. ‘It would be like locking
me in a cupboard. We should respect dolphins in the same way that we respect people.’
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_13_2022_1.1 [Turn over

4
Text C: Ocean Hotel
In this text, the narrator, Jenny, describes a day and night that she and her friend, Eloise, spent at Ocean
Hotel, a hotel under the sea.
Eloise and I are sitting in the porthole watching fish, while I consume a hot bread roll. Eloise
still isn’t eating.
I’ve often heard fellow divers say that they love scuba diving so much, they’d sleep underwater
if they could. But until I discovered Ocean Hotel, I didn’t know it was actually possible, apart
from on a naval assignment in a submarine. 5
I remember perusing the online advertisement. Ocean Hotel, I read, originally used as an
underwater research station in the 1970s, now served as the country’s only underwater hotel.
In its vicinity were coral reefs. My heart raced at this thought: I knew this would be our next
trip away. As I pointed out to Eloise on the phone, she had chosen our last getaway – a
sojourn in a sedate hotel where we’d reclined in comfortable chairs in the gardens, and she’d 10
taken photographs of distant rolling hills.
I’d been so bored, but now it was my turn.
Eloise could scuba dive, I argued. We frequently dived in our younger days. Okay, she was
a bit rusty now, but I had spare equipment and we could get in a bit of gentle practice
beforehand. 15
Eloise and I stood on the water’s edge with two other people, waiting to be told when we
could take the ten-metre dive down below the water to the just-about-visible shimmering
yellow hotel entrance.
Our induction to hotel rules was novel. The hotel manager introduced himself as Ocean
King. The appearance of Ocean King’s bedraggled grey beard and hoary sea-worn tresses 20
was somewhat compromised by a pair of youthful brown eyes that twinkled at us. More
distracting again was the fluorescent-green fishtail in which he waddled unconvincingly.
Eloise rolled her eyes dismissively. I listened attentively while Ocean King, his heavily-grizzled
eyebrows glued in a permanent frown, carefully informed us that, due to pressure changes,
we wouldn’t be able to use any underwater camera equipment or bring any toiletries, which 25
were a risk for causing subsurface explosions.
‘Oh, Jenny! A night without my face cream is almost as frightening as a night trapped in a
submerged metal box,’ wailed Eloise. I laughed at her silliness.
Almost immediately, Ocean King took us scuba diving near Ocean Hotel’s shell-encrusted
doorstep. I was thrilled by the sights. Striped clownfish darted among swirling fingers of sea 30
anemones, while silvery fish reeled in huge glittering whorls. I saw corals fan out in shockingly
pink fractal branches or grow in coruscated hummocks, delicate enough to be damaged by
a careless bump. Their dainty structures flashed like firecrackers.
Ocean King, now divested of his fishtail and silver hair, and attired instead in an ink-blue
diving costume, plunged and rolled between his more fragile subjects, before nosing his way 35
back down to the grand Hotel entrance with the other two guests.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_13_2022_1.1

5
I passed the rest of my day diving happily, while Eloise sat on a sea wall, staring out across
the ocean. In the evening, I took an energising freshwater shower, streamed marine
conservation documentaries, played animated board games with a taciturn Eloise and feasted
on both our pizzas, delivered with a regal bow by Ocean King. 40
‘That’s all we serve,’ he’d told Eloise with a smile.
At night, our hotel walls did not entirely block out an assortment of pops, crunches, grunts,
snaps and scrapes, that indicated to me that maritime life continued through all parts of the
day and night. Eagerly, I told the dozing Eloise to remove her ear muffs and listen. ‘But I’ve
only just got to sleep,’ she complained. 45
So, now it’s morning and I am still sitting in my porthole, watching tiny translucent fish scuttle
in zany patterns. It is time to surface, but I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to the sea.
Eloise, on the other hand, has already buckled her fins. I wonder what she plans for our next
getaway.
© UCLES 2022 11_0500_13_2022_1.1

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*0655982739-I*
insert.
11_0500_11_2023_1.14
2
Text A: The early history of flying
The ability to fly has always fascinated humans. Stories of people attempting to fly can be
found in many ancient cultures. However, past human attempts to range freely in the skies
have often had bumpy consequences.
In Greek mythology there is the legend of Daedalus and Icarus, the father and son who
created wings by combining feathers and wax to escape from imprisonment in Crete. In 852 5
CE, inventor Armen Firman was researching what enabled birds to fly. There is a story that
he covered his body with feathers and created wing-like garments that he attached to his
arms. He then jumped from a tower. Although his attempt was unsuccessful, the garments
slowed his descent, allowing him to survive with only minor injuries.
Artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci developed early plans for an aircraft in the fifteenth 10
century. He sketched flying machines that used flapping wings to generate both lift and
propulsion. The pilot lay forward, employing arms and legs to operate these wings.
Imaginative as da Vinci’s designs were, the fundamental barrier to a human operating his
machine was the limited muscle power of humans compared to birds; he could never have
overcome this basic fact of human physiology. There was also the issue of how the machine, 15
which had no engine, would be launched by mere wings. A few foolhardy individuals may
have been prepared to risk life and limb by trying this out.
In the twenty-first century, the emphasis is on passenger comfort and entertainment, especially
during long-haul flights where passengers are seated for many hours. Travel by air remains
the speediest way of reaching a destination, if perhaps the least interesting for those who 20
enjoy watching the route. Many people will sacrifice environmental concerns and the high
costs of flying for speed and convenience.
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_11_2023_1.14

3
Text B: Annoying passengers
In this text a flight attendant speaks about the things that passengers do that are inconsiderate or unsafe.
Some people treat us as if we are quite literally ‘air-heads’. A little politeness costs nothing.
If you have an injury or a disability, of course we will happily assist, but some able-bodied
passengers expect us to load their heavy bags into overhead stowage. If you can’t lift your
bag above your head, please arrange for it to go in the cargo area. Don’t take advantage.
The ‘call bell’ is intended to alert crew of an emergency: when a passenger takes ill, for 5
example. Some passengers use this when they want us to bring them drinks or blankets. If
the aisle isn’t congested, walk to the staff area to make such requests. Then you can also
stretch your legs. It’s actually not good for your circulation to sit too long.
You may enjoy loud music. Others don’t. You will find free earphones stored in the back of
the seat directly in front of you. They are yours to keep. 10
Some people ignore the seatbelt warning. Your seatbelt ensures that you are safe during
take-off and landing. I don’t understand why some people pretend they have their seatbelt
fastened when they haven’t. And you can spot these people a mile off by their guilty
expressions.
You’ve been with us for hours, dying to disembark, but when it’s finally time to leave, you 15
spend ages putting your shoes on and searching under seats. We’re thrilled you like us so
much, but we just want to remove our smiles and rest our tired legs. If you are a passenger
of limited mobility, of course this is a different story and we will never make you feel rushed
to get off the plane.
Oh, and talking of seats: we understand that you’re annoyed you haven’t been given a seat 20
next to your friend, but we really can’t do anything now you are on the plane. The issue
should have been addressed at check-in hours earlier. On many flights, passengers have
paid extra for a particular seat, and they shouldn’t feel pressured to give it up because you
are throwing an unbecoming tantrum!
Still on seats, you’d be surprised at the state some people leave their area in when they 25
disembark. I remember one family eating a bag of pistachio nuts and then throwing the shells
onto the floor. They weren’t even embarrassed.
As you’re going to be confined to a small space for hours, any strong food smells will get
magnified. You may prefer to enjoy your fast-food on the plane rather than in the terminal,
but other passengers will complain. And it’s not like you can just open your window to get 30
rid of the smell!
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_11_2023_1.14 [Turn over

4
Text C: The new job
This text is about a young person called Jeswin who has just started to work for an airline company
called Golden Tours, as part of their airport ‘Meet and Greet’ team. Jeswin is being looked after on his
first day by a senior member of the team, Edgar.
Edgar laid his large hand on Jeswin’s small shoulder and strode onto the wide Departures
concourse, as Jeswin tripped and danced to keep up with him.
‘You’re going to be very busy today,’ Edgar announced, an ironic grimace contorting his
round face. Edgar stopped suddenly and twisted Jeswin’s shoulder through a dizzying one
hundred and eighty degrees so that Jeswin could see the workplace. The concourse at 5
present was eerily silent. It comprised many empty roped-off labyrinths that passengers
would negotiate before they reached the check-in desk, where their luggage would be
surrendered into the safe hands of Golden Tours staff and deposited in the cargo area of
the plane.
Jeswin wriggled to detach himself from Edgar’s large hand. He had been attached (in a more 10
figurative sense) today to Edgar to learn his job: making sure that the passengers had the
documents they needed to fly, showing them where to take their luggage and giving helpful
and friendly advice.
Edgar’s expression began to radiate mild exasperation and Jeswin turned to see its focus:
a small knot of passengers wandering uncertainly towards the Golden Tours check-in 15
area. Their luggage trolley was performing a shaky dance, not dissimilar to the movements
of Jeswin’s own feet a few minutes earlier. A small child hung onto its side trying to deter
three disobedient suitcases from unscheduled disembarkation.
Jeswin immediately understood that this family might need support.
‘I’ve got a report to write for the boss tonight!’ huffed Edgar. ‘Apparently she doesn’t know 20
what our job involves. Hah!’
He marched towards the group. ‘Good morning. Your documents, please, so I can make
sure they are in order before you drop your luggage off.’ Edgar flipped through identity
documents with the dexterity of a master player shuffling a deck of cards, before surveying
the three suitcases. ‘Take it you packed those suitcases yourselves and they haven’t been 25
out of sight since you got here? Go to the roped area over there. Shouldn’t be too long to
wait.’
Now a few more groups were drawing closer. Jeswin approached the nearest group and
followed the routine. This continued throughout the morning, meeting and greeting passengers
bound for numerous destinations. Edgar had also told him to watch out for unattended 30
luggage and report such items to him. This worried Jeswin: it felt like too much to focus on
at once, especially as there seemed to be a lot of luggage around. Generally, though, Jeswin
was pleased with himself. He was not as fast as Edgar, of course, but he remembered the
‘meet and greet’ procedure, and he felt his courteous manner and diligence paid off, as he
often received smiles and thanks in return. 35
Edgar on the other hand was becoming more irritable. ‘Fifteen minutes for lunch, as usual,’
he grumbled. ‘I’ve hardly seen you this morning, young man. Has everything been all right?’
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_11_2023_1.14

5
Suddenly a shout came up from one of the queues. ‘Hey! That man tried to steal my wallet!’
An angry-faced accuser stood, finger aimed at an older man behind him.
Edgar immediately intervened. ‘Have we got a thief?’ he demanded. 40
‘No, I’m not a thief. I’m a little unsteady on my feet and I fell over.’ The older man’s chin
wobbled as he spoke, and Jeswin saw his eyes blinking rapidly.
Surely he was innocent.
‘Let me help,’ Jeswin said. ‘There is probably some mistake here, but you, sir, have had a
bit of a shock and need reassuring about your possessions, so I am going to ask Leo over 45
there to let you put your luggage in right now. Meanwhile, you, sir, mustn’t keep standing in
this uncomfortable way: I am going to carry your suitcase over there to Maria.’
As Jeswin returned from Maria’s desk, he saw Edgar smiling in approval. ‘Well handled,
young man. You’ve given me some ideas for this report I’ve got to write.’
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_11_2023_1.14

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*6945770207-I*
insert.
11_0500_12_2023_1.12
2
Text A: Mountain River Cave
This text is about the world’s largest cave, located in Vietnam.
Vietnam is home to many spectacular landscapes. From cascading rice terraces to mazes
of rivers with rice paddies, there are many sights to see. A little-known fact, however, is that
Vietnam is also home to the world’s largest cave, Mountain River Cave, located in the heart
of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The cave was formed between 400 and 450 million
years ago, stretches for over 5 kilometres and reaches heights of 200 metres. 5
Mountain River Cave was first discovered in 1990 by a local called Ho Khanh who would
trek the jungles of the national park in search of food and timber to sell. He saw a dark
opening, and when he peered tentatively inside, he saw clouds and heard the strange gurgle
of a river. He was wary about investigating further, so he went home and forgot where he’d
found the cave entrance. 10
The cave was re-discovered years later in 2008, by Ho Khanh again, just before August
when heavy rains would have made the cave inaccessible. This time, Ho Khanh took note
of the path and led two caving experts to the cave for the first expedition. Fortunately, they
were physically fit, as exploring the cave fully would have been difficult otherwise. In 2013,
the cave was opened to the public, but with a two-year waiting list to visit. 15
The ecosystem created within the cave has its own weather system. A visitor will find a
stalagmite standing at 80 metres tall, which is impressive as cave stalagmites tend to grow
no more than 10 centimetres per thousand years. Collapsed ceilings have created openings
above, allowing foliage to grow inside the cave. There are jungles and rivers enveloped by
misty clouds, and microorganisms thriving in the darkness. Fossils date back millions of 20
years.
To reach Mountain River Cave, a visitor needs to pass through the only village located inside
the national park. This village is only accessible by foot, as it is surrounded by dense jungle.
It is sometimes possible to buy some provisions here. It then takes two days of intense jungle
trekking from the village to reach the Mountain River Cave entrance. 25
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_12_2023_1.12

3
Text B: Visiting a cave
In this text, an experienced cave explorer gives advice to young people wanting to explore caves.
I have visited caves all over the world. With their distinct smells, creatures that you rarely
see outside and multiple different sounds, these magical grottos tempt you to enter them.
It’s easy to act on impulse when out trekking and you see an unexpected cave mouth smiling
invitingly at you.
But please don’t enter! Caves can be treacherous: no two caves are alike and, exciting 5
though the unknown may seem, safety must come first. It sounds boring, but, wherever
possible, on my first visit to a cave, I join a guided tour. After that I am better positioned to
decide whether a second visit by myself is viable.
Maybe there are no available guides, but you have been reassured that a nearby cave is
totally safe and everyone goes, apparently. Some foolhardy thrill-seekers even visit at night, 10
without a torch!
That doesn’t mean you should do the same. How well qualified are these people seeking to
reassure you? Are they members of the area cave group or simply some local people you
met in a café?
Okay, you have made sure that your cave visit will be safe. Your responsible guide tells you 15
to enter the cave slowly. This allows your eyes to adjust to the dark, meaning that you don’t
miss any interesting rock features early on. Also, you are more likely to notice any potential
hazards, such as uneven or wet and slippery floor formations. You are, of course, wearing
appropriate footwear.
Switch on your torch (you didn’t forget it, I hope) before daylight from the cave mouth 20
disappears. Now comes a fun part: when you can see, what is enhanced by your artificial
light? Are there any unusual colours in the rock formations? Did anything move or try to hide
when your light came on?
Some caves are barren and empty. Others are homes for bats, cave spiders, hibernating
animals and many other life forms. Probably none of these creatures is dangerous, but do 25
be careful not to scare them. Just remember where you are and don’t get too distracted by
the delights you have suddenly become aware of. If you’re with a group, it could be unsafe
to stray. Maybe ask the group leader to slow down if the group is moving too quickly for you,
but if this isn’t possible, you must do as you are told.
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_12_2023_1.12 [Turn over

4
Text C: The lost cave
Rohaan wants to start up his own building company called RS Building Works. He has decided to build
an office in the garden to work in and to meet his clients.
Rohaan was tugging at the thick green ivy plant smothering the three-metre rock face at the
bottom of the garden.
Shaima looked at the ivy cascading down, curtain-like, over the natural wall. ‘It softens that
overhanging rock,’ she commented.
‘It’s all in the way, I’m afraid, and I’m not sure what’s behind it,’ said Rohaan. ‘If RS Building 5
Works is going to be successful, I need space to work in. We have to make some sacrifices
if we are going to earn money.’
‘I understand,’ said Shaima. She returned to the house. She was working on an important
assignment for her college archaeology course. ‘One day, I will go on a real archaeological
dig,’ she mused, ‘rather than just writing about other people’s discoveries.’ She smiled at an 10
idea that they had neither the opportunity nor money for now.
In the garden, things had taken a more violent turn. Surrendering to one last mighty heave,
the roots of the ivy suddenly collapsed away above the rock face with the completeness of
a breaking chrysalis shell. Rohaan toppled heavily backwards, as eager green ivy tendrils
sprang towards him. Taken by surprise, he writhed around under many stringy choking 15
fingers for several seconds, before ripping his mischievous assailants away.
Unaware of events outside, Shaima paused at her laptop, thinking about the bees and the
butterflies that the intrusive ivy attracted. She realised that she had mixed feelings about the
building project.
Rohaan lifted himself to his elbows. He hadn’t broken, twisted or pulled anything important, 20
and he freed himself from the remaining foliage.
He looked at what was left of the rock face. A gaping hole stared defiantly back at him, as
if inviting a stand-off. Rohaan dropped his eyes to break the gaze and received an immense
surprise. Half a metre from the base was the floor of a cave entrance. It was surely inviting
him to look inside. 25
After brushing off dead leaf detritus, cobwebs and insects, Rohaan slowly approached the
mouth of the cave. He peered inside, his heart pounding. The air was still, dry and cool, the
smell, an age-old musty scent. Within a few metres, everything appeared lost in suffocating
blackness.
*** 30
Armed now with a torch, Rohaan advanced into the cave. At first, it was dry and vaguely
warm. As he travelled deeper, Rohaan found himself contorting his shoulders and lowering
his head to navigate an increasingly confined space. He walked down a gentle slope with
caution, trying to avoid treacherously loose stones underfoot. The walls swallowed the light.
He flashed the torch up to the ceiling then right and left ahead of his feet. 35
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_12_2023_1.12

5
In front of him, the path suddenly ended. Rohaan could hardly believe what he had found.
A huge cavern had appeared, dropping perhaps 10 metres below. The height looked to be
the same. In the dim distance was the cavern wall.
‘Hello,’ sang out Rohaan and was greeted with a gratifying echo. He laughed out loud then
stood in awe at his find. The bright spotlight shone down on animal bones, though which 40
animals they belonged to was a mystery. It didn’t take a genius to realise that the remains
of these creatures had once been animals that had run into the cave to escape a predator,
only to fall headlong to their death. He spotted deer antlers, which solved one puzzle. Maybe
Shaima could identify the other, old, maybe even extinct species? Would this be their new
project? Could they hope to make money? 45
Slowly Rohaan moved the beam around the cavern. He realised he had stopped breathing,
and took in a large lungful of air. It was air that must have lingered in this place for thousands
of years, and it left a dry ash-like taste on his tongue.
Suddenly he heard movement behind him. He turned quickly. ‘Oh, my goodness!’ he heard
Shaima call out. 50
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_12_2023_1.12

™
Cambridge IGCSE

INSERT 2 hours
INFORMATION
*8299209970-I*
insert.
11_0500_13_2023_1.14
2
Text A: Violin playing
The violin is a musical instrument of high pitch, played with a bow. It has four strings and a
round body, narrowed at the middle, and two f-shaped soundholes.
An ingenious feat of mechanical design, the violin is also an immensely beautiful instrument.
Violin makers often take pride in showcasing their great skill, paying particular attention to
the scroll, a decorative piece of woodcarving on the violin’s neck. They intricately carve and 5
even personalise a violin for customers.
Just about anyone can learn to play a violin from a relatively young age. However, professional
violinists must build up their knowledge and skills if they are going to compete for places in
good orchestras. A superior playing technique is an obvious skill: violinists must be able to
bow, finger and pluck the strings of their instrument in a wide variety of ways. Knowledge of 10
great works for the violin is another requirement. From historical pieces by Beethoven to
more recent compositions by Chen Yi, there is violin music in all genres that players may
be expected to be familiar with.
Besides playing in orchestras, a trained violinist may find other career opportunities. Many
supplement their incomes by giving music lessons. Some may be lucky enough to find work 15
at special events, such as weddings. Others might take their interest into business, for
example by opening a music shop, where they can talk knowledgeably to customers about
something they love.
Violinists usually need to perform minor maintenance on their own instruments. They also
need to understand its components in order to have a meaningful dialogue with other 20
musicians. But exceptional violinists will understand their violin in a deeper sense and are
not motivated by a need to make a living. Training alone can never enable those musicians
who lack great talent to penetrate the heart of their own instrument or to know how to make
it sing in that hauntingly beautiful way that makes audiences tremble in the presence of
genius. A few violinists live to make music for its own sake. 25
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_13_2023_1.14

3
Text B: A career in music
This text is about how a young person first became interested in violin playing and how they made a
career of it later on.
At 11 years old, I approached my school music department in search of violin lessons. Others
were enrolling for the orchestra, so I decided to join. Who wanted to be different? Not me.
Realistically, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
But to my surprise and delight, I found it was fun. Soon I was spending my entire break-times
in the music room, learning about bowing, fingering and plucking my violin. And I made 5
several lifelong friends.
In fact, violin playing began to change my life in a way that was pleasing. Before, I was
considered ‘below average’ and my general school grades were poor. Now, suddenly, music
was turning everything the other way around. I was considered successful by classmates
and teachers, and I rose to that version of me. 10
Hearing my violin create awesomeness in the school orchestra also became life changing.
Once, I had no clue what my career was to be. Now I knew I was born to play orchestral
music.
I wanted to live among those musicians who practised hard to be good at the thing it seemed
I was naturally good at: performing. Work would not be work. Work would be satisfying and 15
fulfilling.
There was one problem though. According to society, my friends and I were too smart to
have careers in music. You see, where I come from, nobody makes a living playing the violin,
or with music at all – unless you’re a celebrity or something. Even the teachers told us to
become doctors or engineers. 20
My science teacher said, ‘Music is not for you: your average point score is too good.’
Little did she realise that her attempt to define my future path only made my desire to play
my violin with others like me even stronger.
And, yes, after leaving school, my two best friends went to do scientific work, but I joined
orchestras. Since then, I have played my violin to audiences who pay me the immediate 25
compliment of – sometimes rapturous – applause, while my friends do their science research
behind closed doors, uncertain of when or how their work will be received.
They claim to be happy with this, but I would not be able to stand the stress myself.
Occasionally we share nostalgic conversations, when they tell me wistfully how they’d love
to experience the release, the creative expression and the sheer magic maybe just once 30
again.
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_13_2023_1.14 [Turn over

4
Text C: The violinist
This text is taken from a story about a violin player called Seth who plays in a travelling orchestra. The
orchestra has arrived in a town where Seth will be playing a violin solo in the evening.
Seth was roaming the streets and looking in shop windows. A few hours’ idle distraction
made for a more focused mind later, he found. More significantly, he really enjoyed getting
to see the locality he would perform in while possibly learning a bit about the people who
might attend the concert.
He stopped in the presence of a small music store and decided to look inside. 5
Partially concealed at the back of the shop was a display of string instruments, at the centre
of which sat an absurdly squat violin. To Seth it looked just like a plump monarch holding
court amidst other carefully arranged instruments. He stared at it, drawn by its commanding
presence. The maker had put considerable effort into carving the decorative top (or scroll)
into a magnetically charming face with generous lips pulled sideways and flattened into an 10
expression of permanent merriment. But it was the cheerful eyes, now apparently winking
and dancing at Seth, that really captivated him.
‘I dare you ’ the violin’s eyes teased.
‘How quirky yet attractive,’ thought Seth. ‘I wonder if it plays well.’
‘May I try that violin, please?’ he asked a shop attendant. 15
Violin in hand, Seth stopped four strings with his fingers, and drew the bow over them with
one rapid sweep. He’d produced a rich chord. He was surprised by how strong the sound
was. He raised his bow again and the violin replied enchantingly.
Seth felt excitement shooting through him. He turned to the attendant. ‘How much is it?’ he
asked. 20
‘You can have it for a fair price,’ said the attendant. ‘I didn’t pay much for it. A local brought
it in last month. Said he’d found it a long time ago. Tried to find out who owned it at the time,
but without success. Then he just forgot about it.’
Later in the concert hall, Seth opened the violin case and looked contentedly at his purchase.
He had his old trusty violin by his side but knew he would play this new one tonight. It felt 25
irrational, but it was almost as if the violin longed to be played and especially in this venue.
The last hour of rehearsing had proved what a magnificent instrument it was.
The arrival of the audience and the preparations of the other musicians were now taking
place. A multitude of subdued murmurs in the audience accompanied the discordant scraping
of strings and sharply persistent blowing of reeds. Now and then a loud trombone would 30
assert itself, or an oboe’s plaintive notes would rise, demanding immediate attention to its
great misery.
It was time for Seth’s solo. His new violin sang out beautifully around the hall. The audience
was completely still, apart from a woman who had inclined forward, as if straining to see the
instrument he was playing. 35
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_13_2023_1.14

5
An hour later, as he left, he saw the same woman waiting outside. ‘Hello, I’m Sylvia,’ she
said. ‘Well, that was a surprise! I haven’t heard that violin played for years.’
‘It’s one of the best violins I’ve ever played,’ Seth replied. ‘Do you know the story of this
scroll?’
In reply, Sylvia showed Seth a photograph on her phone. Seth found himself staring back 40
at a pair of bright, cheerful eyes that winked and danced at him. ‘Father,’ Sylvia explained.
‘My parents played in the orchestra at this very concert hall years ago. Mother had this violin
made with father’s face on the scroll. It disappeared after a show about five years ago. The
orchestra had to leave straight after to go on tour and mother was devastated not to be able
to take that violin. My parents don’t play at all these days, though they sometimes attend 45
concerts here to support the local orchestra.’ She paused. ‘I think mother will be pleased to
hear that the violin has been found.’
‘May I contact your parents?’ asked Seth.
© UCLES 2023 11_0500_13_2023_1.14

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FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12

This document has 8 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

Text A: National Doctors’ Day

© UCLES 2020 03_0500_12_2020_1.11

Text B: A Dream Job

So you find yourself getting cornered at parties? 5

No, actually I wanted to be a sharkologist – until someone told me sharkologists didn’t

Where did you get the idea to become a doctor? 20

But you later switched to emergency medicine, right?

Right. Less lucrative, hugely rewarding.

How did you get involved with MSF?

© UCLES 2020 03_0500_12_2020_1.11 [Turn over

What are the food and accommodation like on missions?

My favourite place is this cabin my wife’s grandparents bought on a lake surrounded

© UCLES 2020 03_0500_12_2020_1.11

Text C: This is going to hurt

© UCLES 2020 03_0500_12_2020_1.11 [Turn over

© UCLES 2020 03_0500_12_2020_1.1 1

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Text A: Top tips for travel writing

© UCLES 2021 03_0500_12_2021_1.19

Text B: The truth about being a travel writer

This text is a magazine article about being a travel writer.

Go ahead, hate travel writers.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2021 03_0500_12_2021_1.19 [Turn over

Text C: How I became a travel writer

I would meet the others in Madrid.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2021 03_0500_12_2021_1.19

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

I’d already decided – travel writing was what I wanted to do.

© UCLES 2021 03_0500_12_2021_1.19

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Text A: International Tiger Day

© UCLES 2022 03_0500_12_2022_1.11

Text B: Tigers in captivity

This text comes from the website of a conservation organisation.

© UCLES 2022 03_0500_12_2022_1.11 [Turn over

Text C: The wild tigers of Ranthambore

© UCLES 2022 03_0500_12_2022_1.11

© UCLES 2022 03_0500_12_2022_1.11

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

© UCLES 2023 03_0500_12_2023_1.19

Text B: Why you need to question your ‘hippo’ boss

© UCLES 2023 03_0500_12_2023_1.19 [Turn over

Text C: Into the Delta

© UCLES 2023 03_0500_12_2023_1.19

© UCLES 2023 03_0500_12_2023_1.19

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/11

This document has 8 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

Text A: The problem with plastics

This article warns of the dangers of plastics.

© UCLES 2020 06_0500_11_2020_1.13

© UCLES 2020 06_0500_11_2020_1.13 [Turn over