St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Pickering
English
Reading Test
2003
45 min
50 marks

1.	Questions and Answers
	In this section, there are different types of questions for you to answer in different ways. The space for your answer shows you what type of writing is needed.
·	short answers
Some questions are followed by a short line or box.
This shows that you need only write a word or phrase in your answer.
·	several line answers
Some questions are followed by a few lines.
This gives you space to write more words or a sentence or two.
·	longer answers
Some questions are followed by a large box.
This shows that a longer, more detailed answer is needed to explain your opinion. You can write in full sentences if you want to.
·	other answers
For some questions you need do no writing at all and you should tick, draw lines to, or put a ring around your answer. Read the instructions carefully so that you know how to answer the question.
	Marks
	The number in the margin tells you the maximum number of marks for each question.
	Please wait until you are told to start work. You should work through the section until you are asked to stop, referring to your reading resource when you need to.
	You will have 45 minutes for this test.

2.	

	Does a hero always have to be brave?
	Or strong?
	Does a hero have to have special powers?

3.	Quiet Heroine
	This story takes place in a forested region of the eastern USA. Lyddie, the eldest daughter, is preparing breakfast one morning.
Lyddie looked up from the pot of oatmeal she was stirring over the fire, and there in the doorway was a massive black head, the nose up and smelling, the tiny eyes bright with hungry anticipation.
“Don’t nobody yell,” she said softly. “Just back up slow and quiet to the ladder and climb up to the loft. Charlie, you get Agnes, and Mama, you take Rachel.” She heard her mother whimper. “Shhh,” she continued, her voice absolutely even. “It’s all right as long as nobody gets upset. Just take it nice and gentle. I’m watching him all the way, and I’ll yank the ladder up after me.”		
	They obeyed her, even Mama, though Lyddie could hear her sucking in her breath. Behind Lyddie’s back, the ladder creaked, as two by two, first Charles and Agnes, then Mama and Rachel, climbed up into the loft. Lyddie glared straight into the bear’s eyes, daring him to step forward into the cabin. Then when the ladder was silent and she could hear the slight rustling above her as the family settled themselves on the straw mattresses, she backed up to the ladder and, never taking her eyes off the bear, inched her way up to the loft. At the top she almost fell backward on to the platform. Charles dragged her on to the mattress beside her mother.	

The racket released the bear from the charm Lyddie seemed to have placed on him. He banged the door aside and rushed in toward the ladder, but Charles snatched it. The bottom rungs swung out, hitting the beast on the nose. The blow startled him momentarily, giving Lyddie a chance to help Charles haul the ladder up on to the platform and out of reach. The old bear roared in frustration and waved at the empty air with his huge paws, then reared up on his hind legs. He was so tall that his nose nearly touched the edge of the loft. The little girls cried out. Their mother screamed, “Oh my!” “Hush,” Lyddie commanded. “You’ll just make him madder.” The cries were swallowed up in anxious gasps of breath. Charles’s arms went round the little ones, and Lyddie put a firm grip on her mother’s shoulder. It was trembling, so Lyddie relaxed her fingers and began to stroke. “It’s all right,” she murmured. “He can’t reach us.”

Acknowledgements: Lyddie by Katherine Paterson, 
published by Victor Gollancz, London, 1991.

4.	These questions are about the story Quiet Heroine.
	Choose the best word or group of word to fit the passage and put a ring around your choice.
1.	The first person to notice the bear was

1 mark

2.	Lyddie told the rest of the family to climb

1 mark
3.	Immediately, everyone

1 mark
4.	The bear was startled by a sudden noise and reared up, but they were all safely out of its reach because the ladder had

1 mark
5.	Mother and the little sisters were terrified.
Lyddie and Charles

1 mark
6.	Lyddie had her back to the family.
(a)	Why?
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1 mark
(b)	How did she know when the others had reached safety?
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1 mark

7.	Why is the ladder important in the story?
	Give two reasons.
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2 marks
8.	The racket released the bear from the charm ... 
	How was the atmosphere in the home different before and after this moment?
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2 marks
9.	Charles and his mother reacted to the danger differently from Lyddie.
	Describe their reactions.
Charles .........................................................................................................
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1 mark
Mother ..........................................................................................................
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1 mark
10.	In what ways did Lyddie show herself to be a good leader?
	Explain fully, using the text to help you.
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3 marks

5.	Superheroes
	THE earliest superheroes appeared in comic books in the 1930s. Some of them such as Captain Marvel are less well known today but others from that era, Superman for example, are still with us. They appear in feature films, cartoons, on television, as well as in comics and a new type of fiction called ‘graphic novels’. Such is their appeal that many of them – Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, to name but three – are known throughout the world and their stories are told in many languages.
	OF COURSE superheroes may be popular all over the world, but that does not mean that everybody likes them. Some people argue that their adventures are far-fetched and unrealistic. They are accused of having a harmful influence on children who put themselves in danger by copying their heroes’ impossible deeds. Others enjoy the stories for their excitement, suspense and escape from reality. Fans revel in knowing every detail about their superheroes: their individual powers, their intriguing costumes, their unique physical features – even their family backgrounds.
	While fans may be interested in the detailed differences between these characters, there are certain features they have in common and which they have to possess in order to qualify as ‘superheroes’.

	SUPERHEROES must have:

AND THEY ALWAYS TRIUMPH …
... in the end.

6.	These questions are about the information Superheroes.
1.	Where are the main places you can see superheroes now?
Tick three answers.
		on television	
		in films	
		in museums	
		at the theatre	
		in graphic novels	
1 mark
2.	The writer has given reasons why some people like superhero adventures and others do not.
	Write down one reason why people like them and another reason why they do not.
Like:
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1 mark
Dislike:
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1 mark
3.	individual ... unique
	What do these words tell you about superheroes?
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1 mark

4.	Eight features of a superhero are described.
	Draw lines to show which one would be most useful in each of the following challenges.
	One has been done for you.

2 marks
5.	Ordinary people sometimes perform heroic deeds.
	Which three of the eight superhero features could an ordinary person have?
· ............................................................................................................................
· ............................................................................................................................
· ............................................................................................................................
2 marks

6.
A huge meteor is sent hurtling out of control towards Earth by enemy aliens.
A superhero sets out to try to save the world.
Using the information you have read, explain which features the superhero will use to solve the problem and how they will be used.		
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3 marks

7.	THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SOUPERKID

8.	These questions are about the comic strip Souperkid.
1.	Which word tells you that this is not the first comic strip about Souperkid?

1 mark
2.	How did the two characters help each other?
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2 marks
3.	In the comic strip, two different spellings are used
– Superkid and Souperkid.
	Explain why these two spellings are used.
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2 marks
4.	Souperkid flies and wears a special costume.
a)	In what other way is Souperkid like a superhero?
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1 mark
b)	In what way is Souperkid not like the superheroes described?
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1 mark

5	Both Quiet Heroine and The Further Adventures of Souperkid are stories.
	Both stories include pictures but for different purposes.
	What is the purpose of the pictures:
·	in Quiet Heroine?
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1 mark
·	in The Further Adventures of Souperkid?
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1 mark

9.	

	THE ACTORS who play superheroes in films are just ordinary humans. Somehow film makers have to make them fly, appear or disappear and escape from all forms of danger in order to make their characters seem superhuman. A large team of technicians helps the director and camera crew in creating the various special effects used to give the impression that something extraordinary is taking place on screen. Flying, for example, is something we often see superheroes do and there are lots of ways to create the illusion that someone is flying. It can be done by simply suspending an actor from wires in front of a moving background; or it can be done by computer, which can be complicated and take much longer. 
	Reporter, Jo Novak, asked three technicians about the part they play in creating special effects. These are their answers to her questions.

Q	How do actors survive the fires, explosions and other dangerous accidents in films?
A
They don’t! Only a stunt double like me can do that. Films would be very boring without the exciting scenes stunt doubles perform. The way it works is that I get made up and dressed to look like the main star. I do all the dangerous, exciting bits instead of the actor. You can’t tell it’s me because all my shots are filmed from a distance so that you never get a clear view of my face. 	I’m trained to make sure that my life is never put at any risk, though. If I have to fall from an upstairs window, I wear padded body armour under my costume and land on soft crash mats to cushion my fall. Close-ups of the star are added later, so the audience think she was the only one ever involved in the action. That’s how actors are made to seem braver than they really are!	
Molly Lerner
stunt double	
Q	How do actors change from ordinary humans into superheroes, monsters or even aliens?
A
That’s what we call morphing – transforming one image into another. Before computers, this was a lengthy process that involved gradually altering an actor’s make-up and filming each new look after each make-up change. My most complex project required 15 applications of make-up. Now, a hi-tech	computer needs only two ‘still’ images – the actor before and after the change. These two photographs are all that is needed by the computer program to generate all the stages in between, blending them so smoothly that you believe the transformation is happening before your very eyes.	
Hema Aslam
make-up artist	
Q	How do you make the bangs, crashes and other sound effects?
A
My job, as part of the sound crew, starts when the filming is finished. We work on the actors’ dialogue, the music and all the splats, bangs and crashes you get in action films. We create most sounds artificially, record them and add them at this late stage. A lot of our work is still done without computers. You’d never guess, but the scrunching sound of footsteps in snow 	is made by squeezing custard powder inside a rubber glove; the sound of crackling fire is made by rustling paper. On the other hand, we produce roars, explosions and the thud … thud … thud of a heartbeat electronically, using a synthesizer. This sound is stored on a computer and called up when needed to fit the film.	
Darren Hughes,
sound technician	

10.	These questions are about the information Special Effects on Film.
1.	The special effects you have read about were described by three technicians.
	Here are some effects.
	Draw lines to match each one to the technician who could tell you about it.

1 mark
2.	Why does Darren Hughes not need to be present during filming?
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1 mark
3.	Look at what Molly Lerner has said.
	Explain why close-ups of the main actor are added into the shots of Molly’s stunts.
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1 mark
4.	What is Molly’s attitude towards the main actors?
	Explain fully, using the text to help you.
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3 marks
5.	How helpful are computers in creating special effects?
	Use the information to explain your answer.
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2 marks
6.	The page is clear to read because it is divided into questions and answers.
	How does this layout help the reader?
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1 mark

11.	These questions are about the whole section.
1.	If a film were being made of the comic strip, which of the techniques would be used for this scene?

	Explain your choice.
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1 mark

2.	“I think Lyddie is a real hero but not a superhero.”
	Do you agree with this opinion?
	Explain your own opinion fully, using the texts to help you.
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3 marks
3.	The four texts in the section look at the subject of heroes in different ways.
	Draw lines to match each text to the purpose that fits it best.
	One has been done for you.

1 mark