Focus on

Comprehension
Test 1
Practice Test
Read the instructions carefully.
• Do not begin the test or open the booklet until told to do so.
• Work as quickly and as carefully as you can.
• You may write your answers in pen or pencil.
• You may make notes next to the extracts or on a separate sheet of paper.
• If you make a mistake, cross it out and write the new answer clearly.
• You will have 40 minutes to complete the test. It is advisable to spend the first few minutes
reading through the extracts before answering any questions.

3
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 Read the extract, then answer the questions that follow.

Hawk Roosting
Ted Hughes
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. 5

The convenience of the high trees!

The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark. 10
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or fly up, and revolve it slowly –
I kill where I please because it is all mine. 15
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads –
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living. 20
No arguments assert my right:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this. 25

1 Why is the text called ‘Hawk Roosting’? 1

2 Give a synonym for each of these words as they are used in the text. 2

a rehearse (line 5) ________________ b bark (line 10) ________________

3 What style of text is this? Explain your answer. 4

Total
Continue to the next page 7

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 4 Who is the narrator? Support your answer with evidence from the text. 2

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5 Why do you think the writer has written the text from this viewpoint? 2

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6 Explain the following phrases as used in the text:
a ‘The convenience of the high trees!’ (line 6) 2

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b ‘The air’s buoyancy’ (line 7) 2

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c ‘Now I hold Creation in my foot’ (line 13) 4

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d ‘There is no sophistry in my body:’ (line 16) 2

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7 ‘… the earth’s face upward…’. What literary technique is this phrase an example 1
of?
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Total
Text continues over the page 15

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 8 According to the text, what makes hawks successful hunters? 8

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9 What is the hawk’s attitude? Explain your answer with reference to the text. 8

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10 ‘Hawks are nothing more than vicious killers and should be eradicated.’ 12
Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.
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28

3 Paper Total 50

Bond © Oxford University Press, 2015