Read the passage in the insert and then answer all the questions which follow below. You are recommended to answer them in the order set. Mistakes in punctuation, spelling and grammar may be penalised in any part of the paper.
From Paragraph 1:
1. (a) Explain the meaning of the term ‘black sheep’. [1]
(b) Why was it difficult to refuse Tom a loan? [1]
(c) ‘He made a steady income from his friends’ (line 11)
(i) Explain the phrase ‘steady income’. [1]
(ii) What two qualities helped him to do this? [1]
From paragraph 2:
2. (a) How did Tom obtain money to buy luxuries? [1]
(b) Tom did not waste his charm on George. In you own words, explain why. [2]
(c) What did Tom do with the money George gave him? [1]
From paragraph 3:
3 (a) 'he washed his hands of him' (line 19)
Explain the meaning of this statement [1]
(b) Explain clearly how Tom blackmailed George. [2]
From paragraph 4:
4. (a) ‘The man, Cronshow, was vindictive’ (line 28)
(i) What action of Cronshaw shows his vindictiveness? [1]
(b) Why was George in a rage? [2]
From paragraph 5:
5 (a) Quote the sentence from this paragraph which summarizes the kind of life
George led. [1]
(b) Why was George glad to be growing old? [2]
From paragraph 7:
6 (a) What did Tom inherit? [1]
(b) 'I tell you, it's not fair.' (Line 62)
Explain why George said this. [2]
From the passage as a whole:
7 Choose FIVE of the following words. For each of them, give one word or short
phrase (of not more than seven words) which has the same meaning as the word has
in the passage. [5]
a) profoundly (line 8) (e) assuredly (line 27)
b) unscrupulous (line 10) (f) rage (line 31)
c) luxuries (line 13) (g) evidently (line 47)
d) qualm (line 19) (h) thrift (line 51)
| The passage tells the story of Tom Ramsey, whose irresponsible behaviour made him a burden to his brother, George.
1. I suppose every family has a black sheep. Tom had been a sore trial to his for twenty years. He had begun life decently enough: he went into business, married and had two children. The Ramseys were perfectly respectable people and there was every reason to suppose that Tom Ramsey would have a useful and honourable career. But one day, without warning, he announced that he didn't like work and that he wasn't suited for marriage. He wanted to enjoy himself. He would not listen to reason. He left his wife and his office. He had a little money and he spent two years in wild living in Europe. Rumours of his actions reached his relations and they were profoundly shocked. They shook their heads and asked what would happen when his money was spent. They soon found out: he borrowed. He was charming and unscrupulous. I have never met anyone to whom it was more difficult to refuse a loan. He made a steady income from his friends and he made friends easily.
2. But he always said that the money you spent on necessities was boring; the money that was amusing to spend, was the money you spent on luxuries. For this he depended on his brother George. He did not waste his charm on him. George was a serious man and insensible to such enticements. George was respectable. Once or twice he was taken in by Tom's promises to change and gave him considerable sums of money that he might make a fresh start. With these sums, Tom bought an expensive car and some very nice jewellery.
3. But when circumstances forced George to realise that his brother would never settle down, he washed his hands of him. Tom, without a qualm, began to blackmail him. It was not very nice for a respectable lawyer to find his brother employed as waiter in his favourite restaurant or to see him in the driver's seat of the taxi outside his club. Tom said that to work as a waiter or drive a taxi were perfectly decent occupations, but if George could oblige him with a couple of hundred pounds, he didn't mind for the honour of the family, giving it up. George paid.
4. Once Tom nearly went to prison. George was terribly upset. Tom had gone too far. Up to then he had been wild, thoughtless and selfish, but he had never before done anything illegal; now if he were prosecuted, he would assuredly be convicted. You cannot allow your only brother to go to jail. The man Tom had cheated, a man called Cronshaw, was vindictive. He was determined to take the matter to court; he said Tom was a scoundrel and should be punished. It cost George an infinite amount of trouble and five hundred pounds to settle the affair. I have never seen him in such a rage as when he heard that Tom and Cronshaw had gone off together to Monte Carlo, the moment they cashed the cheque. They spent a happy month there.
5. Poor George, though he was only forty-seven, only a year older than his brother, looked sixty. He had never taken more than a fortnight's holiday a year for a quarter of a century. He was in his office every day at nine-thirty and did not leave it till six. He had a good wife, to whom he had never been unfaithful and four daughters to whom he was the best of fathers. He made a point of saving a third of his income and his plan was to retire at fifty-five to a little house in the country where he proposed to cultivate his garden and play golf. His life was blameless. He was glad that he was growing old too. He rubbed his hands and said: 'It was all very well when Tom was young and good-looking, but he's only a year' younger than I am. In four years he'll be fifty. He won't find life so easy then. I shall have thirty thousand pounds by the time I'm fifty. For twenty-five years I've said that Tom would end in the gutter. And we should see how he likes that. We shall see if it really pays to work or be idle.'
6. Poor George! I sympathised with him. I wondered now as I sat with him what infamous thing Tom had done. George was evidently very upset. 'Do you know what happened just now?' he asked me. I was prepared for the worst. I wondered if Tom had got into the hands of the police at last. George could hardly bring himself to speak.
'You're not going to deny that all my life I've been hard-working, decent, respectable and straightforward. After a life of industry and thrift I can look forward to retiring on a small income in giltedged securities. I've always done my duty in life.'
'True.'
'And you can't deny that Tom has been an idle, worthless, dissolute and dishonourable rogue. If there were any justice he'd be in the workhouse.'
'True.'
George grew red in the face.
7. 'A few weeks ago he became engaged to a woman old enough to be his mother. And now she's died and left him everything she had. Half a million pounds, a yacht, a house in London and a house in the country.’
George Ramsey beat his clenched fist on the table.
'It's not fair, I tell you, it's not fair.' I could not help it. I burst into a shout of laughter as I looked at George's wrathful face, I rolled in my chair, I very nearly fell on the floor. George never forgave me.
Adapted from The Ant and the Grasshopper by W. Somerset Maugham
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