CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

Name : Vedi Jain Date : 7 jan

End of unit 4 test

Section A: Reading
Read the extract from ‘The tiny world of Willard Wigan, nano sculptor’ written by
Benjamin Secher for The Telegraph newspaper, then answer questions 1–6.
The tiny world of Willard Wigan, nano sculptor
Benjamin Secher
Willard Wigan is no ordinary sculptor. He describes himself as a
‘microminiaturist’, and all of his most significant pieces – over 40
years’ worth of painstaking carving and chipping and painting –
could fit comfortably together inside a single matchbox.

5 To the naked eye, each of Wigan’s works is all but invisible: an

unidentifiable speck that reveals its true form, in mind-boggling
detail, only when placed under the microscope and magnified
500 times. In one piece, King Henry VIII and his six wives stand
side by side within the eye of a needle. In another, a startled
cat, eyes wide, back arched, clings to an eyelash taken from
Wigan’s ex-girlfriend (‘I
10 hope she never asks for it back,’ he says). And his latest work,
shown here for the first time, is a startlingly accurate reproduction
of the Lloyd’s building in London, perched on the tip of a needle.
‘I surprise myself sometimes,’ says Wigan, fingering a thick gold
chain that hangs around his neck. ‘I’ve done stuff that I’ve looked at
afterwards and thought,
15 “What enabled me to do that?” But I’ve had years of practice;
every day of my life since I was about five, practising keeping
my hands still and looking at small things. The microscopic
world became my obsession.’
Wigan traces that obsession back to his unhappy school days
when, suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, he was treated as
the class idiot. ‘When I started
20 school, what little confidence I had was taken away,’ he says.
‘The teacher would use me as an example. She used to show the
other kids my work and make me feel, well, small. So I
absconded a lot to get away from the misery of it. I would run

Cambridge Lower Secondary English 7 – Creamer, Williams, Rees-Bidder & Elsdon © Cambridge University Press 2021
1
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

across the park and hide in a shed and just sit there looking
down at the ants on the floor. ‘I started to construct tiny houses
for them from splinters of wood.
25 But then I thought the ants needed furniture as well so I made
little chairs and tables that could fit inside the houses. Then I got
thinking that they were going to

need something to wear, so I started making shoes and little

hats for them too. I became obsessed with making more and more
tiny things. I think I was trying to find a way of compensating for my
embarrassment at having learning difficulties: 30 people had
made me feel small so I wanted to show them how significant small
could be.’
Wigan creates his sculptures in an isolated studio in Jersey, far
removed from the public eye or potentially disastrous traffic
vibrations, using tiny home-made tools. ‘I have to put myself in a
sort of meditative state to do it,’ he says. ‘I need 35 to work
between heartbeats, or else the pulse in my finger will cause a
mistake. I’ll grind down a piece of tungsten to make a little hook
which can grip the material, or shove a fragment of broken
diamond into the tip of a needle to make a micro scalpel blade.’
Glossary tungsten a hard metal

1 What is the main purpose of this text?

Tick () one box.

to inspire more people to take up sculpting as a

hobby to describe the childhood of Willard Wigan, a

nano sculptor to explain how difficult it is to make

miniature sculptures

to inform people about Willard Wigan’s work as a sculptor

[1]

2 Give one word from the first paragraph that tells you Wigan’s sculptures are
made with care. [1]

Cambridge Lower Secondary English 7 – Creamer, Williams, Rees-Bidder & Elsdon © Cambridge University Press 2021
2
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

painstaking

3 Give two examples from lines 5–12 of extreme adjectives used to show the
article writer’s response to Wigan’s work, and explain why they are effective.

Example: 1. Mind boggling

Explanation: very nice piece of art which shakes the mind and is unbelievable

Example: 2. Microscopic

Explanation: Very small smaller than an ant [4]

4 What does the word ‘small’ (line 22) tell you about how Wigan felt as a child in
school?

Small (line 22) means very bad at studies & underperforming [1]

5 Explain, using your own words, why Wigan works in an ‘isolated studio’ (line 32).

So that no one teases him [1]

6 Give two features of a newspaper article used in the text.

 HEAD LINE

 BYLINE [2]

Section B: Writing
1 Now write an article about your favourite hobby for a school
magazine. You should write three paragraphs.
You could include:

• how you became interested in your hobby

• why you find the hobby enjoyable and rewarding
• whether you would recommend your hobby to others. [10]

Space for your plan:

Cambridge Lower Secondary English 7 – Creamer, Williams, Rees-Bidder & Elsdon © Cambridge University Press 2021
3
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

Write your article:

Cambridge Lower Secondary English 7 – Creamer, Williams, Rees-Bidder & Elsdon © Cambridge University Press 2021
4
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 7: END OF UNIT 4 TEST

Cambridge Lower Secondary English 7 – Creamer, Williams, Rees-Bidder & Elsdon © Cambridge University Press 2021
5