Sample mid-year examination paper 3 Paper 3: Written (comprehension and language)


Instructions to learners: 1. Read all the instructions carefully. 2. Answer all the questions.


Section A: Reading comprehension Read the following text about an eagle and answer the questions.


Fly, eagle, fly!


A farmer went out one day to search for a lost calf. On a cliff he saw an eagle chick blown from its nest by the terrible storm. He took it home and cared for it. “The eagle is the king of the birds,” he said. “But we shall train it to be a chicken.” So the eagle


lived among the chickens, learning their ways. One day a friend came to visit. He saw the bird among the chickens, “Hey! That’s not a chicken.


It’s an eagle!” “Of course it’s a chicken. It walks like a chicken, it talks like a chicken. It’s a chicken,” said the


farmer. “I’ll show you that it is an eagle,” said the friend. “Go ahead.” replied the farmer. The farmer’s children helped his friend catch the bird. “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky,


not the earth. Fly, Eagle, fly!” The bird looked about, saw the chickens feeding and jumped down to scratch with them for


food. “I told you it was a chicken,” laughed the farmer. Early the next morning the farmer’s friend was back. “Give me one more chance with the bird,”


he begged. The friend carried the bird onto the ledge of a cliff. “Look at the sun, Eagle. When it rises, you must rise with it. You belong to the sky, not the earth. Fly, Eagle, fly!” The eagle leaned forward and was swept upward by a great wind, higher and higher, never again to live among the chickens.


Write answers for the following questions: 1. What was the farmer looking for on the day he found the eagle chick?


2. Where had the eagle chick come from?


3. Explain what the farmer means when he says that the eagle is the king of the birds.


4. Did the farmer’s friend believe that the bird was a chicken? What did he believe it to be? 5. Who helped the farmer’s friend to catch the bird? 6. Why did the farmer laugh at his friend?


7. It was important for the farmer’s friend to prove that the bird was an eagle, because: A the bird looked like a chicken. B


the eagle was the king of the birds and was meant to do great things. C the farmer was going to eat the eagle for dinner.


8. If you could choose to be a chicken or an eagle, which one would you be? Why would you choose to be that bird?


9. Do you think the eagle would return to live with the chickens? Explain the message of the story.


(1) (3) (3)


[40 marks]


(2) (2)


(2) (2) (1) (2)


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