SECTION C
[25 marks]
[Time suggested: 50 minutes]
Questions 26 – 31
are based on the
following passage.
1
Three patients stand in a sunny spot outside a
small hospital building. Behind them is impenetrable northern Thai jungle. They
are malnourished drug addicts, gaunt but nonetheless huge, and attached to
drips to speed their rehabilitation. What
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is odd about these addicts is that they are
elephants. These animals are shocking
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reminders that the global battle against drug
addiction is not just about humans.
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5
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2
The hospital, among four in this Southeast Asian
nation, is devoted to the treatment of sick elephants. It also boasts a
pharmacy and a department for fitting artificial limbs. It sits next door to
the 121-hectare Thai Elephant Conservation
Centre. Established 23 years ago, the
conservation centre is a major tourist attraction and is government-run. Among
the 50 elephants housed at the centre are 10 four white elephants that belong
to the king. The most famous is 53-year-old Motala, who has a prosthetic leg
after losing the limb to a land mine across the Myanmar border.
3
Not all hospitalised elephants, usually only
about three at a time, are drug-addicted. There are also some with symptoms of
stress manifested by disobedience. 15 These are usually from cities. It might
be caused by car fumes and industrial pollution. They are kept in the jungle
behind the hospital, given good diets with vitamin supplements. Within a few
weeks they are better. It is recommended that their owners do not return them
to the city.
4
In the case of the drug-addicted elephants, it
is usually amphetamines. The 20 doctors do not give them ever-reducing doses of
addictive drugs to wean them off, instead, they stop these drugs altogether.
Then they sometimes have to give the
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elephants tranquillisers to calm them.
Otherwise, it is a matter of multivitamins and
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healthy diets to build them up as well as
antibiotics to kill infections. The doctors see
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them getting better in front of their eyes.
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25
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5
Drug addiction can sometimes result in broken
bones. Thailand has an estimated 3000 elephants wild in the jungle and another
4000 domesticated – either working in logging or in the tourism industry.
Heartless owners discovered that
‘speed’ pills drive elephants to work harder at
log-stacking. They work furiously
under the influence of drugs.
So frenzied are they that they fall into holes or try to 30 move logs that are
too heavy. They fall, breaking bones. Splinting of broken limbs has been
successful as, fortunately, broken bones mend, as they do in humans.
6
Medication dosages must be calculated carefully.
A typical human is around 75 kg, while an Asian elephant is about 5000 kg.
Medications are supplied orally – sometimes an entire handful of vitamin pills
– or through drips. Bad-tasting 35 medicines are hidden in food.
7
After treatment, elephants are returned to owners, unless they were
brought in
by people who found them
abandoned, in which case they are released to the conservation centre.
8
The hospital, where patients are housed in large
open-sided sheds, has 40 entertainments for tourists. An elephant orchestra,
with elephants playing a range of instruments including drums, gongs and
trumpets, entertains tourists in a small grandstand. It is an amusing
cacophony. The animals generally play whenever the
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hapless conductor, a centre employee, points
at them. Sometimes their trunks blow
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harmonicas into their own ears.
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45
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9
Down at a little stream, tourists can be seen
swimming with elephants which are enjoying daily baths. Baby elephants
playfully spurt water at each other. Other elephants disappear into the jungle,
taking tourists for short rides.
10
At the grandstand, there is a demonstration of log-rolling before easels
are set
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up. Four elephants holding
paintbrushes with their trunks produce not just abstracts
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50
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but pictures of vases of
brightly coloured flowers. The elephants paint for about ten
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minutes, each with a keeper
at its side. An elephant and its keeper form life-long
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partnerships.
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11
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A
souvenir shop near the entrance features displays of elephant paintings for
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sale. Tourists buy
paintings as souvenirs but their most treasured souvenir is not of
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55
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these. It is the memory of
seeing how the hospital weans these delightful creatures
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off dangerous and addictive
drugs.
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(Adapted
from Reader’s Digest)
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26
From paragraph 1,
(a) what is the elephants’ problem?
........…………………………………………………...……........ [1 mark]
(b) which word means “very thin”?
........…………………………………………………...……........……………..... [1 mark]
27
From paragraph 2,
(a) state two
facilities provided by the hospital.
i) ......……………………..………………………...……........……………......... [1 mark]
ii) ......……………………..………………………...……........……………......... [1 mark]
(b) what replaces Motala’s lost limb?
…………...………………………………………...……........……...… [1 mark]
28
(a) From paragraph 3, what could be the reason for stress in the
elephants?
…..…………...……………………………………………….........…......…….… [1 mark]
(b) From paragraph 5, how do the drugs work on
elephants in logging?
...................................................................................................................... [1
mark]
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29 From paragraph 7,
after being treated, what happens to the elephants without owners?
…..………..………………………………………………............……...……………...[1 mark]
30 From paragraph
11, “It is the memory of seeing how the hospital weans these delightful
creatures off dangerous and addictive drugs.”
Why do you think this is the
most treasured souvenir to the tourists? Give two reasons.
Reason 1 :
.......................................................................................................
....................................................................................................... [1
mark]
Reason 2 :
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................ [1
mark]
31 The passage is
about an elephant hospital. Based on the passage given, write a summary of
·
how the elephants are treated and
·
what tourists can enjoy at the hospital
Credit will be given for use
of own words but care must be taken not to change the original meaning.
Your summary must:
·
be in continuous writing form (not in note form)
·
use materials
from line 17 to 53
·
not be longer than 130 words, including the 10 words given below
Begin your summary as follows:
The elephants are
kept in the jungle behind the hospital …
[15 marks]
COMPLIMENT TO JPN TERENGGANU FOR THE QUESTIONS..
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