STUDENT COPY

'READINGS'

- Released Readings and Questions from theJanuary 2006 English Language Arts 30-2 Diploma Examination.

I. · Questions 1 to 9 in your Questions Booklet are based on this excerpt from· an essay.

· ·

The following excerpt is from an essay by John Steinbeck published in the United States in 1955, at the peak of the political persecution now refe"ed to as "McCarthyism. " ·

ftom BOW 1'0 TELL GOOD GUYS 'FROM BAIJ'GlJYS

Television has crept upon us so•gradually in America,that we have hot yet become aware .of the: extent of its impact for good or bad,· I myself do not look at . it very often except for its coverage ofsporti:tlg events, news, and politics. Indeed, , I get most of my impressions of the medium from my young sons., ...

5 ... Recently I came into a room to find my eight-year-old son Catbird sprawled in a chair, idiot slackntiss,on bis facei with the doped eyes of an opium smoker,, On the television screen stood·a youngwoman of mammary distinction with ice-cream hair listening to a man in tbickglasses and a doctor's smock.

"What's happening?" I asked. "' JO Catbird answered in the monotone of the sleeptalker•which is known as

television voice, "She-is asking if she should dye her hair." .�'What is.the doctor's reaction?" · ''If,she uses ,Tiu tone it's all right," said Catbird: "But if she uses ordinary or

adulterated1 products, her hair will split and lose its golden natural sheen. The big 15 economy size is two.dollars and ninety-eight cents if you act now,'? said Catbird.

You see, something was getting through to him,,.. He looked punch-drunk, but he was absorbing. l did not feel it fair to interject a fact.I have: observed-that natural golden sheen does not exist in nature ....

. . . i knew that he,was picklng up masses of unrelated imctJ,robably worthless 20 infonnation from television, incidentally the kind of lnfotmation I also like best,

butl did not know that television was preparing him in criticism and politics, and that is what this piece is really about. · ,

I will have to go back a bit in preparation. When television in America first began to be a threat to the motion-picture industry; that industry fought back by

25 refusing to allow its films to be shown on the home screei:ts, Oire never saw new pictures, but there were whole blocks of films c'alled Westerns which were owned by independents, and these were released to the televisfon stations. The result is that at nearly any time of the day or night you can find a Western being shown on some television station. It is not only the children who see them;, ·All of America

Continued

'adulterated-made impure by the addition of inferior ingredients

1

30 sees.them, They are a typically American conception,the cowboy picture. The story never varies and the conventions.are savagely adhered. to. The hero neverkisses a girl. He loves his horse and he stands for right and justice; Any change in the story or the conventions would be taken as .an outrage. Out of these films folk heroes have grown up-,-Hopafong Cassidy, the Lone Rmiger, Roy Rogers,

35 and Gene Autry. These. are more than greatmen; They are symbols of courage, purity, simplicity, honesty, and.right. You.tmist understand that nearly every American is drenched in the tradition of the.Western, which is, of course, the celebration of a whole pattern of American life that never existed. It is also as set in its form as the commedia dell 'arte.

2

40 End of preparation • . , .Qne afternoon, hearing. gunfire from the room where our television set is

installed, I went in with·that losingintention.offraternizing3 with my son for a little while. There sat Catbird with the cretinous4 expression I have learned to recognize. A Western wasin·progress.

45 «What's going on?" I asked .. He looked at me in wonder. "What do you mean, what's going on? Don't

you know?" "Well, no. Tell me!'' He was kind to me .. Explained as though I were the child.

50 "Well, the Bad·Guy is trying to .steal Her father's ranch. But the Good Guy won'tlethim. Bullet figured out the plot."·

"Who is Bullet?" "Why, the Good Guy's horse." He didn't add "You dope," but his tone

implied it 55 "Now wait,'' lsaid, "which one is the Good Guy?"

"The. one with th(} white hat." "Then the one with the black hat is the Bad Guy?" "Anybody knows that," said Catbird. For a time I watched the picture, and! realized that I had been ignqring a part

60 of our life that everybody knows .. I was interested in the characterizations. The girl, known as Her or She, was a blonde, very pretty but completely unvoluptuous5 because these are Family Pictures. Sometimes she wore a simple gingham dress and sometimes a leather skirt and boots, but always she had a bit of a bow in her hair and her face was untroubled with emotion or, one might almost

65 say, intelligence. This also is part of.the convention. She is a symbol, and any acting would get her thrown out of the picture by popular acclaim.

2commedia dell 'artti-16

°'- and 17"' -century Italian theatre form that involves stereotyped characters and a

predictable plot 3fraternizing-keeping company or being friends 4cretinous-idiotic 5unvoluptuous--without any suggestion of sexuality

2

The Good Guy not only wore a white hat but light-colored clothes, shioing · boots, tight ridiog pants, and a shirt embroidered with scrolls and flowers. In myyoung days I used to work with cattle, and our costume was blue jeans, a leather

70 jacket, and boots with run-over heels ... : . The Good Guy had very little change of facial expression,· He went through

his fantastic set of adventures with no show of emotion; · This is another convention and proves, that he is very brave and very pure. He is also scrubbed and has an immaculate shave;

75 · I turned my attention to the Bad Guy. He wore a black hat and,dark clothiog, but his clothiog was definitely notohly unclean but unpressed. He had a stubble of beard but the greatest contrast was io his face:· His was not an immobile face. He leered, he sneered, ·he had a nasty laµgh;·: He bullied lind shouted. He looked eviL , . I found a certaio ioterest in the Bad Guy which was lacking in the

· 80 Good Guy .."Which one do you like best?'' !:asked; Catbird removed his anaesthetized eyes from:the screen. "What do you

mean?'�. . cl:

85 "Do you like the Good Guy or the Bad Guy?" · He sighed at my ignorance and looked back at the screen. "Are you

kiddiog?.'' he asked. i'The Good.Guy, of course." · Nowanew'chara:ctet.!began;to emerge. ··He·pliizled·meeecause he wore a

gray hat. I felt a little embatt'asse'd about askiogihy. son;: 'the expert; but I gathered my courage. "Catbird," I asked shyly, "what kind of a guy is that, the one io the

90 gray hatTt · · He was sweet to me then. I thiok until that moment he had not understood

the abysmal extentofmy,ignorance., ·�He's the In-Between Guy," Catbird explaioed kiodly. "Ifhe starts bad he ends good and if'he·starts good he ends bad." ,. ' .• ···,:: '

95 "What's this one going.to do'i'L., , ... ,,. 1 ,,·, •.. •,,·..,

· 'See,howhets:sneeringand,needs acshaveT:my son'asked: · ·"Yes}? -- ,.-. ·

''Well, the picture's just started, so that guy is gciiog to end good and help theGood Guy get Her father?s·ranch back."·

· .. JOO:·' "How can,you be sure?" laski:d. , Catbird gave me a: cold look, "He's got a gray hat, hasn't he? Now don't

talk It's abo\ittime·forthe chase." , ., ·., ,: .. ,·" , ,There it w�;not onlya tight; true criticism of a whole art form but to a

certaio extent of life itself. I was deeply impressed because this simple 105 · explanation,seemed to·mean somethiog to me more profound than television or

Westerns.

Continued

3

Several nights later I told the Catbird criticism to a friend who is a producer. He has produced many successful musical comedies. My friend has an uncanny perception for the public mind and also for its likes and dislikes. . . . He listened

110 and nodded and didn't think it was a.cute child story .. He said, "It's not kid stuff at all. There's a whole generation in this country that makes its judgments pretty much on that basis."

"Give me an example," I asked. "I'll have to think about it," he said.

115 Well, that was in March. Soon afterward my wife and I went to Spain and then to Paris and rented a little house. As soon as school was out in New York, my boys flew over to join us in Paris.

In July, my producer friend dropped in to see Us. He wa.s going to take an English show to New York, and he had been in London making arrangements.

120 He told us all of the happenings at home, the gossip and the new jokes and the new songs. Finally I asked him about the McCarthy hearings. "Was it as great a show as we heard?" I asked.

"I couldn't let it alone," he said. "I never saw anything like it. I wonµer whether those people knew how they were putting themselves on the screen."

12 5 ''Well, what do you think will happen?" "In my opinion, McCarthy is finished," he said, and then he grinned. "I base

my opinion on your story about Catbird and the Westerns." "I don't follow you." "Have you ever seen McCarthy on television?"

130 "Sure." "Just remember," said my friend. · "He sneers. He bullies, he has a nasty

laugh and he always looks as though he needs a shave. The only thing he lacks is a black hat. McCarthy is the Bad Guy. Everybody who saw him has got it pegged. He's the Bad Guy and people don't like the Bad Guy. I may be wrong

135 but that's what I think. He's finished." The next morning at bn:akfast I watched Catbird put butter and two kinds of

jam and a little honey on a croissant, then eat the treacherous thing, then lick the jam from the inside of his elbow to his fingers. He took a peach from the basket in the center of the table.

140 "Catbird," I asked, "did you see any of the McCarthy stuff on television?" "Sure,'' he said. "Was he a Good Guy or a Bad Guy?" I asked. "Bad Guy," said Catbird, and he bit into the peach. And, do you know, I suspect it is just that simple.

4

John Steinbeck

II. Questions 10 to 16 in your Questions Booklet are based on this poem.

Beneath Our Feet

Beneath our feet the gopher in his earth tunnel waits for us to pass . before he searches for seeds.

5 You walkbeside me. Shadows .. . , repeat the shapes of.trees, ..

. how .they sway a"ross the grass .. , : ,My shadow darkens your face.

You are silent, removed ·. IO from my words,

.:Of my fingers,

What .caves do you move through? . Will you find a pool , ·

lit by a pillar of sun 15 or will you find a darkness

so deep at the centre that all you believe .falls away?

, ., . The gopher, stands on his hind legs 20 like a little man and watche_s us.go •.

.. ·, . Heis.mad.e Jor the close bng ofel!l"(h .. See his.sleek body; his ears

· pressed flat against his headlike fragile shells.

25 I want to call you to the, sun, call you away from silences and caves.· Birds fly up, take us with them as we pass. See how all the light

30 flows around us.

Lorna Crozier

5

III. Questions 17 to 25 in your Questions Booklet are:,based ,on 'this excerpt froma,p)ay.-·

,l#/�11 p,fay Pfl£,i.1'/S,; t�11 ¥e,r1;f!r� qrff pr.11ppr:ing for tfi� w,edding reh[i.arsa1 of their

youngest son Bill and his fiancee Kathy Jackson. Minnie Jackson is Kathy's mother.

The lights come up on a working-class house in Toronto. The stage is divided into (hr:<;e pJaying C,ll'.e�;" .kit,c,heTJ_,; dining room, qn</[fyil'!g,ruwn ....

. It; is ar:qund five-thirty on a,Friefay afternoon; and Mary Mercer, aged fifty, stands befor.e the min:or irMhe, living room;' admiring her brand new dress 'and fixed hair.

S As shepreew, thefrom.'doori>pens and in walk her two sons, Ben, eighteen, and Bill, sev{!nteen. Eaa h,carries a boxfrom aformal·rentalshop andschoolbooks.

.\f;\RY:,,.J;iid you;biJmpimoyour-fatheF'l i,J;JN, No, we just, �sed him.-Mom: ,He.' s: already picked up his tux. He's probably: atthe:OakWoodr (He opens thefridgeiandhelps himself to a beer.) · 10 MARY: Get your big nose out of the,fridge:. Andputdown that beer. You 'II spoil

yoµrappetite:BEN:

MARY:

·No;·Iw:on1t, (He 'searches for a bottle opener in a drawer.)And don't contradict me .. Wbatother bad habits yoiYlearned lately?

· ,,.,;(,·,; ,JJ¥if!l·(te�ing): Don/t be such a grouch. Yousourill like Dad;: (He sits at the table1 )S. fJ.11d:op.¢nsd:,i$.·bee,t:.)

· �� Yes;.;welljust be�se y;ou're.in university now;--dOl)o':t,fink;you can raid , i!l:!e-fridge,'any:time,you-likes;

�ill.�roS'.s.¢s the'./gtchen:and'.tlirows his black b;inder:ahdboo/cs'.in the garbage receptacle.)

20 \1il\Rj\';,,iWJ!aC�tbat\for? .. (Ri//exits into,his bedroom and she calls after him.) It's n,ot,.t!:ie end ofthe,world,my son.·(pause) Tell.you the truth/Ben. We always fi@;!:fed yoJ.(d be:,the qne.-to,land in trouble, ifanyone,did. -I don't mean that as an insult. You're more ... ldo.n'tknow,. ,, like your father.

J·.-:".·;f} , .. ;-:..1.r· · }JJ_l';l:_-,,J,tµn.7'i''fi!! f\�·-ti'1/ .,-<-::;.-t .u-·f,:..-. ·, !'.1 · � _, ,;:::i'..1 ''.:'

J-:5 (lrl!!�i�fr;om!J,ilff,toom.)MAftl' (calling; .exQSperat.ed); ,Billy/ do you.bavll'.to have that so foud? · (Bill turns

do.wrt hi$-,'tec:otd:pl<;l)ier. :sTo.·Bei:I) I'm glad, your graduation weJ;lt okay last ..I)igllt. ;Efowwas,Billy? -Was he glad he went?

!f-1!:N:,,Wiill; hewasn'.tupset;ifthat's.whatyoumeaJ¥,, 30 !\IARY (slight pause); ,13.en, how come,you i:J.otto .askyour -father?

6

BEN: What do you mean? BILL (off): Mom, will you pack my suitcase? I can't get everything in. MARY (calling): I can't now, Billy. Later. BEN: I want to talk to you, Mom. It's important.

35 MARY: I want to talk to you, too. BILL (comes out of bedroom, crosses to kitchen): Mom, here's the deposit on my

locker. I cleaned it out and threw away all my old gym clothes. (He helps himself to an apple from the fridge.)

MARY: Didn't you just hear me tell your brother to·stay out of there? I might as 40 well talk to the sink. Well, you can t'row away your old school clothes­

that's your affair-but take those books out of the garbage. Go on. You never knows. · They might come in handy sometime.

BILL: How? (He takes the books out, then sits at the table with Ben.) MARY: Well, you can always go to night school and get your senior matric, once

45 the baby arrives and Kathy's back to work ... Poot child, I talked to her on the phone this morning. She's still upset, and I don't blame her. I'd be hurt myself if my own mother was too drunk to show up for my shower.

BILL (a slight ray of hope): Maybe she won't show up tonight. MARY (glances anxiously at the kitchen clock and turns to check the fish and

50 potatoes): Look at the time, I just wish to.goodness he had more !'ought, your father. The supper'll dry up ifhe don't hurry. He might pick up a phone and mention when he'll be home. Not a grain of t'ought in his head. And I wouldn't put it past him to forget his tux in the beer parlour. (Finally she turns and looks at her two sons, disappointed.) And look at the two of you.

55 Too busy with your mouths to give your mother a second glance. I could stand here till my legs dropped off before either of you would notice my dress.

BEN: It's beautiful, Mom.· MARY: That the truth?

60 BILL: Would we lietoyou, Mom? MARY: Just so long as I don't look foolish next to Minnie. She can afford to dress

up-Willard left her well off when he died. BEN: Don't worry about the money. Dad won't mind. MARY: Well, it's not every day your own son gets married, is it? (to Bill as she

65 puts on large apron) It's just that I don't want Minnie Jackson looking all decked out like the Queen Mar/ and me the tug that dragged her in. You understands, don't you, Ben?

BEN: Sure.

Continued

'Queen Mary--a luxurious passenger liner

7

BILL: I understand too, Mom. 70 MARY: . I know you do, Billy. I know you do. (She opens a tin of peaches and

fills five dessert dishes.) Minnie used to go with your father. Did you know that, Billy? Years and years ago.

BILL: No kidding? . l!EN (at the same time): Really?

75 M,\RY: True as God is in Heav:en. Minnie was awful sweet onDad, too. She t'ought the world of him ...

BILL (incredulously): .Dad?-MARY;. Don'tact so surprised., Your father was quite.a one with the girls. BEN: No kidding?

80 MARY: He could have h_ad his pick of any number ofgids. (to Bill) You ask ·· Minnie sometime .. · Of course, in those �ys l was going with Jerome

. . Mcl(enzje, who later bec:�e aQueenis Counsel in St.Jolu;l's. I must have • menti.oneci-him.(I'he boys exchange smiles.)

85 BEN: lJ:hinkyouhave, Mom. BILL: A hwi.dred times. ·.· MARY (gentlyindignant-to Bill): And that I haven't!

, !IILL: , S.he 4as. tQo .. Hasn't she, Ben? . j\'lARY; J:l"i,rve� you I!lind,, Be.n. (to Bill) And instead of sittin.g around gabbing so

-90 · mµpb.,you'd.better go change your clothes. ,Kathy'll saonbe here. (as Bill

cro.sses to•his bedropm) Ja the rehe@Tsal still at eight?, BILh; W.fre. �uppos,e.4 to meet Father Douglas at the. church at five to. I just hope . ·. ,, , P;wl� ;g.ot too .drunk. (He exits.) · .·

, MAR¥, (#µ(iie�-/¼'fl. .4 mQ,nent): Look,.,at yo,wself, A cigl!Tette, in one hand, a bottle 95 of beer in the other, at your age! You didn't learn any of your bad habits from

me, I can tell you. (pause) Ben, don't be.: in suph.,a hun'y to grow up. (Shesits across from him.) Whatever you do, d,ona hej,n. such ,llih\lITY, Look at your poor young brother. His whole .li(e ;rµine.d;, ,Qhi I could weep il'bellyful when 1.t'µiks of it, Just seventeen, not old (i!loUgh to sprout whiskers on his

100 chin, and already the bw,-dens of a man.on his t'm little shoulders. Your poor father hasn't .slept a full night since this happened. Did-you know that? He

·. bad such high hopes for Billy. He.wanted you both to go to college .· have tQ warkas hard as he's had to all his life. · And now

· 1. niQre s.eD.(le than that,'Ben. Don'tletJife trap. ypu.,. •

, ,., David French

8

IV. Questions 26 to 35 in your Questions Booklet are based on this excerptfrom a novel.

This excerpt is set in 1873 in Montana. Fine Man and Broken Hom are members of the Assiniboine, an Aboriginal people.

from THE ENGLISHMAN'S BOY

Even from such a distance Fine Man could smell their camp, the fried-pig sW!k of white men, He took up a pinch of dirt, placed it under his tongue, and made a prayer. Keep me close, Mother Ea,rth, hide me, Mother Ea,rth. It was light as cbiy, the �oon's bright face a trader's steel mirror, the grey leaves of the sage

5 and wolf willow shining silver, as if coated with hoarfrost. Under a full moon, it was dangerous to stf;al horses,- even, from foolish white men.

One of the wolfers1 r<ise from his blanket and stepped away from the fire. The one with the.ugly hair, red like a fox's,.he stood making his water and talking over his shoulder. A noisy man lacking in dignity. It must be a poor thing to be a

10 wolf-poisoner, to be, ugly, to eat pork, to hate, silence. There was nothing to envy these people for, except their guns and horses.

The, red-haired one rolled himself backup in his blanket and lay like a log beside the fire. "Say goomµght to Jesus," said one of the other men wrapped in blankets. They all laughed. More noise.

15 Fine Man felt Bro1<:en Hom's body relax beside hiJll and knew Hom had been covering Red Hair with the "fukes," a sawed-off Hudson's Bay musket, the only gun they carried between them. Broken Hom was edgy. Fine Man sensed Hom no longer believed� the:, promises and the truth of his dream.

In his dream, there was heavy snow, biting cold. Many starving, shivering 20 horses, coats whjte with, frost, had, come stumbling through.the high drifts to

crowd, the entrance o:(Fii;te Man's lodge._ There the grass of spring pushed up sweet green blades tbrough,t!ie C11!St,of1:)Je snow, tenderness piercing ice, and gave itself to strengtJ:ie;n the horses,.even though it :was the black months of , wjnter. Fme Man read this as a power sign that somewhere there were horses

25 wishing to belong to the,, Assiniboine. But Broken Rom did not trust Fine Man's sfgn anymore, and,Fme Man did not trust Hom with a gun in his hand.

Suddenly the white. men's horses began to mill about, hopping iri their hobbles like jack-rabbits. Powdery dust rose like mist, to hang swirling and shaking in the moonlight. Fine Man shifted his eyes to the fire. But none of the

30 lumps·under the greasy grey blankets raised a head, their ears were deaf. How did white men distinguish their corpses from those who had only gone to sleep?

Continued 1wolfers--wolf hunters

9

The herd broke apart; horses turning and spiruiing, 1:iumping one another like pans of ice in the grip of a swift current. A moment of complete confusion, rumps and heads bucking above the dust, then the strong current found a shape and stood

35 alone, a big blue roan,2 broken hobbles dangling from its forelegs, teeth bared, ears laid back ·

· ·

Lit by the moon, the roanwas stained a faint blue; the colour oflate-winter­aftemoon shadows on crusted snow. Coat smooth as ice, chest and haunches hard as ice, eyes coid as ice; a Nez Pert:e1 Ii&r�e frombeyond the mountains which

40 wore snow on their heads all the year round, a horse from behind the Backbone oftheWotld.

· When he saw him,·Firie Man knew theptoinisebfthe dream was true and herose from behind the juniper bush· to show hiniself plain to the Winter horse. Broken Hom's sharp intake of breath through the teeth was ·a warning, but Fine

45 ' Man gave no iliilication he heard him, his ears were stopped tc>'any sound except the singing inside hiDi, the po�eh:hanting ii1 hiiIL He stood upright in the moimlight; upright in his 'Thunderbird hidi:easifil 'with thJ beaded Bird green on · each fdot, 'upright in the· breechclciut4 his Sits-Beside-Him Wife had cut from the

· striped Hudson's Ba.y blanket. Hifgazed down at his hands, at the skin of his· 50 . 'muscled thighs, at his belly; and iinderstood. White mcioiilight was his blizzard, a

blizzard to blind the eyes cif his enemies who lay frozen ttfthe ground in the grip ofhis i:i:J.edicine-dreiun; drifted bvet-by'the heavy slihW Of sleep.

' .... He e'dged toward theliorse,'addressiiighifu,in a soft'\roice';jfolitely. Fifty yards to his left, the fire was i-ustliiig; hot bi:nbers' crackiiig lik'e iliits;' spitting like

5 5 ' fat. l;lehind him; Horn lifted hilllself fo oile knee, swiftly spikiil:g three arrows in the gtotind near Whete his bciw'lay, and aimed the fukes at'the sleeping body ·ofawolfei-. ' ,,,;

"Little Cousin,'1 said Filili' Maifin 'a' sooili'irig voice; ''LittJe:Cousin, do not be afraid,' Don� you reclignize me? I am the i:nair'you drea1t1e'd, the man with the

60 <- lodge ofp1ei1fy,': la!ll ffie i:fuin you;led your b�cithers to'." He stopped for a : s;;• inOiti<mt' "Take,igoodlhok'iftlmb, th�te'is h&hariii'iii infhiiiitls,'''he murmured,

display.irig empty palliis fo ffith:oaril"l'ilining" ari:d p6ihmfg'to'Br6keii Hom, . 'cri:mchetf with His musket levelled. iit thii sli:'eping white miui; he said, "That man

there came with me to find .you. Some of youi- brother� may choose to live with ' , 65 hilll-ifth�y so decide;-citis for them to clioose.'' He ste\;peir forward !1ghtly,

words rustling lightly. ·''Cousih;you are a beautiful being'.'l'do not say this to ' ' flatter you. The white man-rides you witli ste�lspurs and' a �foe! bit in your mouth.'.' this',isriot how to sifupona·bea:utiful befu.gc:iwl:t1rcrueity/' ·They were face to . 'face now, he and the blu� roan. He 'removed his left inocclisin, the .

,.._,'

'blue roan-a horse with a black-coloured coat, thickly sprinkled with white and grey . 'N'ez Perce-an American Aboriginal group

"breechclout-a cloth worn around the waist

· · 10

· 70 moccasin ofthe.heart.side. "Fee;:!, Co\lSll\, there is no harm.upon my feet," he said,reaching up carefully to gently stroke the roan' s nose with the moccasin. He pursed his lips and blew softly into the left nostril of the horse, who snorted Fine Man's breath back in surprise, shaking his head from side to side.

"Now you know there is no harm in my heart. Now you know that I am the 75 good man who you dreamed. Tell your brothers," Fine Man coaxed.

Broken Hom was signalling him desperately to come now, leave this place, clear out, but Fine Man was making his way carefully and deliberately from horse to horse, showing each his knife before severing the hobbles. When he finished, he"returned to_the blue roan, stood at its withers,5 took a fistful of mane and

80 walked it away, his legs matching its forelegs stride for stride. Hesitantly; the other horses followed the man and the,blue roan, nineteen horses strung out in a winding procession through buck-brush and sage, blilck shadows stark on the ground, edges sharp as a knifeccut.

Without haste, they pitiked their way across· the river bottom and to the feet of 85 · steep, eroded hills which, washed in the cold light of the moon, became

reflections of.moon's own·face, old and worn and pocked and bright. Fine Man led the blue h9rse up the first hump of hill, tlie others filing behind, hooves daintily ticking on loose stones; gravel. cascading loose and running with a dry sigh down the· slope. He paused; his hands testing on the blue roan's withers; the

90 string of horses paused too. Below, Fine Man could see an elbow of the Teton River poking through the cottonwoods and the tongues of the white man's fire darting; licking the dark. A sudden breeze sprang up and fanned his face, luffing the mane of the blue horse, stroking and ruffling the surface of the water so it flashed and winked in the moonlight like the scales of a leaping fish.

95 He and the blue horse began their descent then, down into the belly of a narrow coulee6 twisting through the scarred and crumbling hills, The other horses trickled down the slope after them; filling the coulee as water fills-the bed of a river. One by one they dropped from sight, tails switching, heads bobbing, ghostly gleaming _horses running back into the earth like shining,

I 00 strengthening water. The fire died amid the charred sticks, the moon grew pale. The stream of

horses flowed north to Canada.

5withers--bighest part of the back of a horse 6coulee-a trench or valley

11

Guy Vanderhaeghe

V. Questions 36 to 39 in your Que_stions Booklet are based on this excerpt froma magazine article;· Questions 48 and49 require you to consider this readingtogether witli readings VI and VII. ·

rr6m ALw AvsAT TIIE READY

IT 'l'OOK CANADIANS two years to learn the full horror that unfolded 85 years ago, that night of June 27, 1918, when a German sub sank the Canadian hospital slµp_Llandovery Castle with the.loss .of 234. men and women, including 14

. Cl!lladil!ll nursing _sisters. __ The delibe,aJe torpedoing of II hospital ship was a 5 . ,,ghocking event, even for a public an11esi4et:iz'.lld1

. by four years of horrific tales from the ... trencbe.s and.the news-, J:ustweeks.earlierr $at,i,i)( nJJPling sisters had died when German airmen dropped bombs 011 their,hospitals _in france. Then, in

- 192Q, during.the trial of two Oerman $$tnarine offlcerswhe took part in the- .. si:n]cing.,..,,-in violat;ion. of )h_e Qeneva,Conventipn2 --:-cCii.uada' s .. minister of overseas

,. , ,., - 10 · mi!itary{o{ces, _Sjr Edwai-4 �emp, released the groesome truth,.,U-86 had ... .surfaced atl!l.rth�-attai;:lc and shelled mosfofthe survivors. The, 14.nursing sisters

who -died hlld, in fact, survived -the t�rpedo but,drowned in the, e!lri!Y calm waters of the Northi/.\tl!llltic as their lifeboat was .sucked iµtp tbewhidpool of theinking hi ,

s. -� .P�::;').' .. _::_./';" : I L d I ,; • -15 · - , -i _ Now larg!'JY forgotten, thi:sLlandovery C11Stle .deaths were the,largest single

loss of Jife suffered by the more than 7 ;500 nursing. sisters who have served with Canadil!ll soldiers in .every major deployment: since· 1885, when_ seven nurses wi;:re,sent to help miljtia units fighting the North,West Rebellion. Today, the . �anadian Forces�- lll!I'Sing -cadre3 totals ·some 22.0 .l)lep. and WQmen serving in such

· ,20,, far-offJands as Sosn.ia,and AfgbaniSJ:iin. ,Fo:r;,-P1ote than.a century; these nurses. ,have: pro:vided s.µccm:4 for \:.8D®i.!lllisQ!d,iers.an1:l their allies; as well as enemy

si>l4i.ers,. �I.leµ µnd.!lF;appai):i,ng CQnditiol'.js and,whik �der attaclc themselves. Alth,91;1gp.,r.iwsing sister& aji,p serx.esl,with distincti® m. tbi:J3.oer v.[.ar, theirs is mostly a story of the two world w�. . .. ·

·- ..

25. . Within months of the beginning of the First World War, Canadian nurses-the only women then to hold officer rank (the equivalent oflieutenant), besubject to military discipline and be paid at the same rate as men--wereministering to injuries no one could have trained them for.

Nathan M. Greenfield

'anaesthetized-desensitized 'Geneva Convention-one of a series of international agreements that included the provision that those

caring for the sick and wounded would not be targets during wartime 3cadre-group; unit4succor-aid

12

VI. Questions 40 to 44 in your Questions:Booklet are based on this poem.· Questions 48 ·and 49 require you to consider this reading together withreadings V and VII.

This poem was written by a woman who was deeply distressed by the suffering andloss of life in the First World War and therefore volunteered as a nurse.

5

JO

15

PLUCK

. Crippled for life at seventeen, His great eyes seem to question why:

With both legs smashed it might have been Better in that grim trench to die Than drag inaimed years out helplessly.

A child- so wasted and so white, He told a lie to get his way,

To march, a inari with inen, and fight While other boys are still at play. A gallant lie your heart will say.

So broke with pain, he shrinks in dread To see the 'dresser'1 drawing near;

And winds the clothes about his head That none may see his' heart-sick fear. His shaking, strangled sobs you hear.

But when the dreaded :moment's there He'll face us all, a soldier yet,

Watch his bared wounds with unmoved air, (Though tell-tale lashes still are wet),

20 . And smoke his woodbine cigarette.

EvaDobel/.

· }1'���ser,�person wh� req10ves and replaces the dressings on soldiers' wounds

13

VII. Questions. 45 to 47 in your.Questions· Booklet are based on this newspaper. article.· Questio,ns 48 and 49,requ.ire you,to consider,thi.s reading together withreadings V and VI. · , , ·. ·

WE ARE THE LIVING ALICE STRIKE

5

10

15

20

25

30 .

Halifax Royal Flying Corps Born and raised in Surrey, England, Alice Strike was just 17 wl)t:n. the \'Var broke out. She took an office job wit!J. t)ie British Ari:ny

in the nearby town o(9e>!')alming. tit WIIS all beautiful countryside," she recalls. "It was a lovely place." .

Being an airfield, it :vvas ,also an exciting place. "She saw,11 f11ir 8.!P,.9µ1),t qf�loodshe9,?' notes Percy Buzz�her so:n-i,n-law. "� t)iose days, most of the ll!,lldings '\Vere crashes. , And she was at an airfield where there were Zeppelin bombers. 2 They were �omethi:ng to see."

Early in thew!lf, she fell in loye wiAI, a young man fi:omWinnipeg nami:d Jim Stobie. ''The first tiip.e she saw 1:)in1. 11,c;, "".!IS ijding a horse," says Mr. Buzza, who ls married to her daughter, Kathleen .. �·,1·�ll(S, 'Y1'1!tc;a,ught her eye."

She \'Va� ,70, wjien \,µl'}y m!\me.!l; ,l\!!P ajter, the war she went to Wituµpeg wit)lhjm. They had four cbil�en, and he left his job as a firefighter to serve in France during the Secqnd World War while she stayed with the kids.

In 1957, her husband retired and, with the children grown, they moved.to Vancouver, But he died a year later, so she moved to

1106---the age of Alice Strike at the time this article was written2Zeppelin bombers-airships used as bombers during the First World'War

14

Banff to work as a housekeeper. It was there she met and married a fisherman from the Queen Charlotte Islands.

35 "She didn't like the life ofa fishennan," Mr. Buzza says, and the marriage soon ended. Ms. Strike returned to Vancouver and then, with the arthritis in her legs worsening, moved to Dartmouth, N.S., so Percy and Kathleen could care for her . . ·, Now, she is in Camp Hill Veterans Hospital in Halifax, where she is alert and

40 spirited despite being hard of hearing and in a wheelchair. She speaks f!>ndly of the social aspects of war, of falling in love and making

friends, but is reluctant to speak of the violence she witnessed. "War is war and there's troops all over, so you're always meeting different

people," she explains. "But there are certain things you just can't forget about 45 ·. the war, certain things that happened."

Shawna Richer

15

VIIl. Questions 50 to 55 in your Questions Booklet are based on this excerpt from a story.

from WATER

SURE ENOUGH, AS THE DAY of her departure drew near the weather changed. After a beautiful summer of sunshine, swallows, squirrels, crab apples, robins, insects, yes it was now raining .. All those living beings had found places to hide. The rain pelted down in torrents at night, beating up on parked cars and "For

5 Sale" signs on front lawns as if:there were vengefulness in·thi: sky. When she - walked to the comer travel agency, just to have a photocopy niade, just a fewpaces, her tennis shoes were soaking. She might have been walking in the river,the Red, that flows by her house under the Maryland bridge. But it was the street,not the river, and it was raining.

IO She had to get up at night and close all the windows in the sunroom. Thoseenormous windows, as large as herself almost. To open and close them, she hadto stride from one end of the room to the other. The windows were the pride ofthe summer. Behind them she followed the season at her leisure. That was theimportant thing:, at her leisure. No one walked unannounced into a sunroom the

15 way people walk into a garden: the paperboy, the courier with Feperal Express letters to sign for. The bricklayer: "I wanna inspect the bricks to see how to clean 'em, the lady called." Not into the sunroom. Here she had privacy. Something the world knew.

The rain these days. She could only describe it as enormous. So enormous 20 that it kept her awake at night, the water, not drops but water pouring, attacking

the walls of her ho11Se at the angle of the wind. Through the glass she saw the trees bending down under the force of wind and water, trying to raise their crowns but never succeeding. And the clouds: the clouds moved so fast she did not believe they were clouds. She had to peer out to make sure they were: _ the clouds

25 were charging from east to west. Charging. Something furious was going on in the weather system. And noise. Rain like car engines humming all along the street, left in neutral, emergency brakes engaged, the drivers all abandoning their cars without turning them off.

And what really crackled her of course was the lightning. Thunder that 3 0 always accompanied these rainstorms on the prairies. It never just rained: it

rained and thundered. The two went together like love and marriage. She lay at night in her volumes of pillows and duvets, in the dark, not sleeping because the thunder cracked everywhere. Not just outside her window, but all around town. She could follow the blasts, like bombs during an air raid on the city, firing off in

35 various places. She found herselftbinking: the ruins of the United Church on Furby have been hit again. The hospital, hope the ho�pital has not been hit,

16

patients scrambling out ofhigb beds, untying tubes from various devices leading into their bodies.

It often occurred to her, not just now during a prairie rainstorm, but often, that 40 public-perception ofmeteorologicaFphenbtriena should befine tuned. This was

not a European rainstorm. This was a torrent. Why do the Monsoons of South · Asia get alb the JlFess? The flooding ofthe Nile m Africa?, The.rainy season, they

say,:whenthere·is a, wind from the Indian Ocean. --During the Monsoon, the wind.. , blows.from the southwest, bringing with itthe rains; 'This is'aiMonsbon: it is

45 , seasonal, it floods-cities and acres and.higbways::.,Catsdrivfrig,1/long a road that encounter this.Monsoon: are, for all practicalp:\UPoseS', headed for'the river. They dive headlong into an ocean of water that suddenly fills the s.treets. All the

.... parts of a conventional automobile are instantly soaked; the engine turns off and ':ni, . the driver has to abandon the car with :the hood up saying "I give up.'' White flag. 50 . Truce;

· · . , And·yet, with all that water-the rains in sUitJmet( snows in winter-· the· prairies.are arid. High and dry. Not being at sea level, the prairies· are a high

, ·,.plateau flattened by-glaciers of a distant past and subjectfo the thick, dry winds of higher altitudes, The soul in the prairiesds'Clry; People head for the lakes, of

55 which there are many: depressions left by those old· glaciers and-filled with water from above. -Even When it rains people gravi.tate-to"Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, if only to watch the tinselly drops at the' m-argins of rainstorms tickle the silt. grey water of the shallow lakes. They throw themselves, into the water to·

. be rained on level with the flat surface of the lake. A natural silk sheet, a : 60: waterbed.

· Kristjana Gunnars

17

IX. Questions 56 to 63 in your Questions Booklet are based on this article .

This article was published in 1992.

WOMEN ENGINEERS: DISMANTLING THE MYTHS

lam amus.ed. :rake Catherine or Nicole, thetw,o·women,engineeis

-·being;poi;trayed on:the Secret,:· qeodo�t-CoIIU11erciat, .Thetirst is- -- ·, ·aalni;gon<Iadywho,is,goingto the,,. -. ' ' top in a ,cpnstru!:ition-.finn. <c'.Ihe ' . ' .·i:sec.onq,y!l,llks off.the l)ov.erof a:_ ,_ · tfashy; µew car·to. the ·approval.of

senior executives. Not a hair out of ,, JQ,,plaee;;nota·\Yrinlde:.tobeaeen, ,·'- -­

these,women are tough but_ cool . . ,,, _,, Whileeducati>ts.poinuo-, - ,,

cttaditiottal ma.CJ:\oclilalC:-engineer; �tereotype as,OJ:le.�ason,there are so,.,

. u ;fe)•nv.omen engineets,.:whatabout. --- , the,negati�e female,engin!'ler . •ster1;:otype?·'-.· .. ;Women account for .slightly more. -than 3 per cent of the engineers in

20 the workplace and made up 14.5 per -•ws.,,:_,. ,_-,.", -cent<,oftirst-year engineering

students last year. With so few women in engineering, most people quickly conclude that for women to succeed, they must be like Catherine or Nicole. There's the expectation shared by many :women who are still pioneers in the profession that "a girl must work twice as hard to

30 keep the same ground as the guys." Then there's the added responsibility to be a future role model - so please don't screw things up for women who may follow - even if it means sacrificing one's personal life.

18

·- These perceptions were very real·•.whenI·.graduatedfrom theUniversity ofB!jtishColumbia in

40 engineering m 1978; when women accounted for less,than 0.5 per cent oftl,ie engineers in the workplace

-. and 6 per.cent of engineering ,students. Such attitudes lingered in the workplace. In1984, oile

, , , ,engineer Lwoi:ked for told me, "I -.,,., think ifs all-rightfor.,girls to

, bec9me. engineer.s:asJ!>ng as they . " ,;are:joung,anct singl!:,11

,50,:c.,;',Myths.about-women engineers are one,thing, realityis,ari'other. At myfirst summer•engineeringjob in 1975; a0male engineer,surprised by my diminutive stature told tne, "I always thought women engineers were tall, had short hair and wore Cossack boots," W orrien e11gineers are so tough, the men tell me in jest, "you'd think they had spikes at their

60 elb_ows." There have been two schools of

thought on how women should behave when they become engineers. The first was the male­clone concept, perpetuated by authors like John Molloy, who wrote Dress for Success, and adopted by self-conscious women like myself in the late 1970s, when

70 even the most trendy women's stores, like Suzy Creamcheese, were

selling three-piece, vested pin- JlO realizes one isn't going anywhere. striped suits. After eight years in the oil patch, I,

The second school of thought too, left engineering. One woman dictated women should be remarked, "Why is it that when a themselves. Dress like a woman. woman is assertive, they call her a Act like a woman. But rather than bitch? When a man is assertive, risk the possibility of drawing too he's seen to be aggressive, and that much attention to being the only girl is viewed positively."

80 in the engineering department at a : But be a wimp and one will be major oil company, women victimized in the workplace. engineers like myself tended to 120 There's a competitive world out wear clothes that blended in with there that, perhaps, most young girls the furniture or the annual report - aren't conditioned to deal with. in navy, burgundy, grey and brown. I have walked out of job

interviews. When an interviewer Subconsciously, it became almost insinuated that I needed a black belt

mandatory to live up to this female- in karate to succeed, I replied, engineer stereotype. Before we "Engineering begins with the knew it, we were just a bunch of shoulders up, not shoulders down."

90 corporate robots, walking around When I received a $50-a-month brain-dead and petrified. We didn't 130 raise while a male counterpart complain. Some ofus were hired received $300, I stomped into the for affirmative-action reasons in the big boss's office and demanded early 1980s. We were so happy to more (and got it). I'm so thick-have jobs. Formal complaints to skinned that at my last job when a human-rights commissions were younger male engineer came into never made. For the unlucky ones, my office to apologize profusely for as elsewhere -· harassment, harassing me, I honestly didn't discrimination and pay inequity know what he was talking about.

JOO came with the territory. I've been tough, but not cool. I Despite the barriers, some women 140 swore in the boardroom when I was

engineers have done remarkably asked to take notes. That, I admit, well in the oil patch, rising up the was not very ladylike. While young corporate rungs as fast as they could women may choose to be climb. But many ofus slipped off intimidated by the macho-male-at a rate two to four times faster engineer stereotype, many also than our ma}e counterparts - not choose to be intimidated by the after a year or two, but at the five- tough-woman-engineer stereotype. to IO-year mark when one simply Mothers of daughters lament, "Who

Continued

19

would wantto marty a lady 150 engineer?" (I say, practical men

looking for someone to split the mortgage. or help diversify their portfolios.) . ,

When! got married, the engineers I wo.rked with W!;:re in disbelief. I was, in their minds, a right-wing · Yuppie, obsessed with work and

.. J:llOney. When-we had children, my male P!clers i;tearly hlld heart attacks .

. 160 While the engineering profession

20

direly needs more women, the workplace with its historical and

· ingrained corporate cultural beliefs. has had only varying degrees ofsuccess' in integrating them.Common sense, intuition and asense of humour really help. Butbeing such a minority; womenengineers hav.e to be strong and

170 many young girls.prefer notto be · seen this way, ·

Nattalia Lea

X. In preparation for Prosper High School Career Day, Jordan has volunteeredto present a short speech on the topic of females in careers that aretraditionally male-dominated. Read the first draft of Jordan's speech,carefully noting the revisions, and answer questions 64 to 70 in yourQuestions Booklet.

on gender issues in a newspaper I've just read an article that was first published in 1992. If you think the problems

A : A

associated with choosing a career and issues over a decade ago are dead or ouhof-date, I'm asking you to think again.

A

. This article was.written by a woman who sl:lose to bes!;lme an en11ineer anEI 6%of

graduated from engineering in 1978. Atthat time, l:larElly any engineering students were 15%of

"

5 women. In 1991, FROFO than t\Yioe as many first-year engineering students were I\

women. Although that's a big increase, it's still not a high proportion compared with the

number of men. Her

. AREi l=ler article suggests that a young woman's decision not to choose a career or A

profession& similar to engineering has nothing to do with her interests but rather long-established newly established

10 with ela male stereotypes and ff8W female stereotypes. By ·stereotypes," the writer " A

means commonly believed myths about the requirements for filling certain roles and

being successful in those roles. She uses engineering as an example.

The old myth about engineering is that it is for guys only: tough guys. The new myth tough as nails

is that women engineers will succeed only if they are 6981. She says that young women intimidated "-

15 now are often stresseEI by both myths at once. They don't want to be surrounded by I\

Continued

21

tough guys or tough women. Bi.t both ideas are.e�remes, and.to bf/l s1,1ccessful

requires that you be true to yourself in eFEler tEi s11ssee.El. Trying to frt a stereotype will

only result in failure.

No matter what career you choose to pursuerwhether it's nursing, engineering,

20 bricklaying, or bus-driving, remember that stereotypes take a long time to develop; they

will take a long time to "dismantle" or destroy. bet's all tr:y tEi Felilemller eur free Elem ef

al:leioe aRB eMer-sisiRg·it ,.,.,isoly·m·eaRs tl=lat sommo� seAs"e�-- -intuitioR·,ar:rel a Sense ef

.1l11rne11r FeQUy .help. 1:,et's remember to use·common seni;e, intuition, and a sense of

hu.mour when we-exercise our freedom.ofchoice. Yes, I agree that a woman who has

,25 chosen engineering must be "strong," but-anyone must be strong if he or-she is going to ing

meet the challenge of changing societys attitudes. Being strong. doesn'.t mean be

tough: it means believing in your abilities.

· Perhaps girls who want to be strong but don't.want other people to see them that

way shouldn't be-engineers,., Do.we all have the same-problem?·· Guys, too? Are we

JO trappeclJnJmages that are frc;,zen in time?

22