from The Story Club Is FormedIt was an unusually mild winter, with so little snow that Anne and Diana could go to school nearly every day by way of the Birch Path. On Anne’s birthday they were tripping lightly down it, keeping eyes and ears alert amid all their chatter, for Miss Stacy had told them that they must soon write a composition on “A Winter’s Walk in the Woods,” and it behooved them to be observant.“Just think, Diana, I’m thirteen years old today,” remarked Anne in an awed voice. “I can scarcely realize that I’m in my teens. When I woke this morning it seemed to me that everything must be different. You’ve been thirteen for a month, so I suppose it doesn’t seem such a novelty to you as it does to me. It makes life seem so much more interesting. In two more years I’ll be really grown up. It’s a great comfort to think that I’ll be able to use big words then without being laughed at.”“Ruby Gillis says she means to have a beau as soon as she’s fifteen,” said Diana.“Ruby Gillis thinks of nothing but beaus,” said Anne disdainfully. “She’s actually delighted when any one writes her name up in a take-notice for all she pretends to be so mad. But I’m afraid that is an uncharitable speech. Mrs. Allan says we should never make uncharitable speeches; but they do slip out so often before you think, don’t they? I simply can’t talk about Josie Pye without making an uncharitable speech, so I never mention her at all. You may have noticed that. I’m trying to be as much like Mrs. Allan as I possibly can, for I think she’s perfect. Mr. Allan thinks so too. Mrs. Lynde says he just worships the ground she treads on and she doesn’t really think it right for a minister to set his affections so much on a mortal being. But then, Diana, even ministers are human and have their besetting sins just like everybody else. I had such an interesting talk with Mrs. Allan about besetting sins last Sunday afternoon. There are just a few things it’s proper to talk about on Sundays and that is one of them. My besetting sin is imagining too much and forgetting my duties. I’m striving very hard to overcome it and now that I’m really thirteen perhaps I’ll get on better.”“In four more years we’ll be able to put our hair up,” said Diana. “Alice Bell is only sixteen and she is wearing hers up, but I think that’s ridiculous. I shall wait until I’m seventeen.”“If I had Alice Bell’s crooked nose,” said Anne decidedly, “I wouldn’t—but there! I won’t say what I was going to because it was extremely uncharitable. Besides, I was comparing it with my own nose and that’s vanity. I’m afraid I think too much about my nose ever since I heard that compliment about it long ago. It really is a great comfort to me. Oh, Diana, look, there’s a rabbit. That’s something to remember for our woods composition. I really think the woods are just as lovely in winter as in summer. They’re so white and still, as if they were asleep and dreaming pretty dreams.”“I won’t mind writing that composition when its time comes,” sighed Diana. “I can manage to write about the woods, but the one we’re to hand in Monday is terrible. The idea of Miss Stacy telling us to write a story out of our own heads!”“Why, it’s as easy as a wink,” said Anne.“It’s easy for you because you have an imagination,” retorted Diana, “but what would you do if you had been born without one? I suppose you have your composition all done?”Anne nodded, trying hard not to look virtuously complacent and failing miserably.“I wrote it last Monday evening. It’s called ‘The Jealous Rival; or, In Death Not Divided.’ I read it to Marilla and she said it was stuff and nonsense. Then I read it to Matthew and he said it was fine. That is the kind of critic I like. It’s a sad, sweet story. I just cried like a child while I was writing it. It’s about two beautiful maidens called Cordelia Montmorency and Geraldine Seymour who lived in the same village and were devotedly attached to each other. Cordelia was a regal brunette with a coronet of midnight hair and dusky flashing eyes. Geraldine was a queenly blonde with hair like spun gold and velvety purple eyes.”“I never saw anybody with purple eyes,” said Diana dubiously.“Neither did I. I just imagined them. I wanted something out of the common. Geraldine had an alabaster brow, too. I’ve found out what an alabaster brow is. That is one of the advantages of being thirteen. You know so much more than you did when you were only twelve.”—from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryThe quotation “for Miss Stacy had told them that they must soon write a composition on “A Winter’s Walk in the Woods,” and it behooved them to be observant” can best be described asaan opinion ba stated factca reasoned judgment da researched formal speech

PROSE - SHORT STORIES(Treasure Trove – A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories)Question 4Read the extract from Ray Bradbury’s short story, ‘All Summer in a Day’ given below andanswer the questions that follow:The girl standing in the open, held out her hand“Oh look, look,” she said, trembling.They came slowly to look at her opened palm.In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop. She began to cry,looking at it. They glanced quietly at the sun.“Oh. Oh”(i) How old were ‘they’? Where were they living? What had they been doing until thegirl called their attention to the raindrop? [3](ii) Mention any three ways in which their lives on this planet differed from life on earth. [3](iii) Why does the girl begin to cry when she looks at the raindrop? [3](iv) Describe the dramatic change in the weather immediately after the raindrop fell. [3](v) What feelings do ‘they’ experience at the end of the story? What had they done earlierthat made them feel this way? [4]Question 5Read the following extract by Jesse Owens from ‘My Greatest Olympic Prize’, andanswer the questions that follow:An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tellyou. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped fromseveral inches beyond the take-off board for a foul.(i) When and where is this story set?What reason does the narrator, Jesse Owens, give for the heightened nationalistic feelingsat this time? [3]T24 012 – SPECIMEN 7 of 8(ii) In which event had Owens been confident of winning a gold medal? Why? [3](iii) What had made Owens angry enough to make mistakes? [3](iv) Name Owens’ rival who approached him at this point? [3](v) How did the two athletes perform in the finals?What does Jesse Owens consider his ‘Greatest Olympic Prize’? Why? [4

You have been invited to publish a piece of writing to an anthology titled "Young Writers' Showcase: Contemporary voices". Use Catherine Coles 'Home' speech to inspire your imaginative response of 600 words. Make sure it is a 17/20 response

What does this excerpt from the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams" tell readers about Dexter's motivations as a character?He became a golf champion and defeated Mr. T. A. Hedrick in a marvellous match played a hundred times over the fairways of his imagination, a match each detail of which he changed about untiringly—sometimes he won with almost laughable ease, sometimes he came up magnificently from behind. Again, stepping from a Pierce-Arrow automobile, like Mr. Mortimer Jones, he strolled frigidly into the lounge of the Sherry Island Golf Club—or perhaps, surrounded by an admiring crowd, he gave an exhibition of fancy diving from the spring-board of the club raft. . . . Among those who watched him in open-mouthed wonder was Mr. Mortimer Jones. A. Dexter dreams of upstaging Mortimer Jones at golf and gaining his admiration. B. Dexter dreams of becoming a champion golfer and buying an expensive automobile with the winnings. C. Dexter dreams of being admitted into high society and gaining its admiration. D. Dexter dreams of befriending Mortimer Jones so he can convince him to give him a job. E. Dexter dreams of impressing Mortimer Jones so he can borrow his automobile.

Read this poem:How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!What old December's bareness every where!And yet this time removed was summer's time;The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:Yet this abundant issue seem'd to meBut hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,And, thou away, the very birds are mute;Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheerThat leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.What type of poem is this?A.OdeB.SestinaC.HaikuD.SonnetSUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS

Read this poem:How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!What old December's bareness every where!And yet this time removed was summer's time;The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:Yet this abundant issue seem'd to meBut hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,And, thou away, the very birds are mute;Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheerThat leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.Where does the tone shift in the poem?A.The tone shifts in the last line.B.The tone shifts in the second stanza.C.The tone shifts in the third stanza.D.The tone shifts in the last two lines.