Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 19th-century prose fiction
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
An extract from a work first published in 1895.
This extract is from H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine, as the Time Traveller arrives in the far future amid a hailstorm, by a white sphinx-like statue and strange buildings, panics, then steadies himself as small, delicate figures appear and watch him.
Source A
1 “There was the sound of a clap of thunder in my ears. I may have been stunned for a moment. A pitiless hail was hissing round me, and I was sitting on soft turf in front of the overset machine. Everything still
6 seemed grey, but presently I remarked that the confusion in my ears was gone. I looked round me. I was on what seemed to be a little lawn in a garden, surrounded by
11 rhododendron bushes, and I noticed that their mauve and purple blossoms were dropping in a shower under the beating of the hailstones. The rebounding, dancing hail hung in a little cloud
16 over the machine, and drove along the ground like smoke. In a moment I was wet to the skin. ‘Fine hospitality,’ said I, ‘to a man who has travelled innumerable years to see you.’
21 “Presently I thought what a fool I was to get wet. I stood up and looked round me. A colossal figure, carved apparently in some white stone, loomed
26 indistinctly beyond the rhododendrons through the hazy downpour. But all else of the world was invisible. “My sensations would be hard to describe. As the columns of hail grew
31 thinner, I saw the white figure more distinctly. It was very large, for a silver birch- tree touched its shoulder. It was of white marble, in shape something like a
36 winged sphinx, but the wings, instead of being carried vertically at the sides, were spread so that it seemed to hover. The pedestal, it appeared to me, was of bronze, and was thick
41 with verdigris. It chanced that the face was towards me; the sightless eyes seemed to watch me; there was the faint shadow of a smile on the lips. It was greatly weather-worn, and that imparted an
46 unpleasant suggestion of disease. I stood looking at it for a little space—half a minute, perhaps, or half an hour. It seemed to advance and to recede as
51 the hail drove before it denser or thinner. At last I tore my eyes from it for a moment, and saw that the hail curtain had worn threadbare, and that the sky was lightening with the promise of the sun.
56 “I looked up again at the crouching white shape, and the full temerity of my voyage came suddenly upon me. What might appear when that hazy curtain was altogether withdrawn? What might not have happened to men?
61 What if cruelty had grown into a common passion? What if in this interval the race had lost its manliness, and had developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and
66 overwhelmingly powerful? I might seem some old-world savage animal, only the more dreadful and disgusting for our common likeness—a foul creature to be incontinently
71 slain. “Already I saw other vast shapes—huge buildings with intricate parapets and tall columns, with a wooded hillside dimly creeping in upon me
76 through the lessening storm. I was seized with a panic fear. I turned frantically to the Time Machine, and strove hard to readjust it. As I did so the shafts of the
81 sun smote through the thunderstorm. The grey downpour was swept aside and vanished like the trailing garments of a ghost. Above me, in the intense blue of the summer sky, some faint
86 brown shreds of cloud whirled into nothingness. The great buildings about me stood out clear and distinct, shining with the wet of the thunderstorm, and picked out in white by the unmelted hailstones
91 piled along their courses. I felt naked in a strange world. I felt as perhaps a bird may feel in the clear air, knowing the hawk wings above and will swoop. My fear grew to frenzy. I took a breathing space, set my teeth,
96 and again grappled fiercely, wrist and knee, with the machine. It gave under my desperate onset and turned over. It struck my chin violently. One hand on the
101 saddle, the other on the lever, I stood panting heavily in attitude to mount again. “But with this recovery of a prompt retreat my courage recovered. I
106 looked more curiously and less fearfully at this world of the remote future. In a circular opening, high up in the wall of the nearer house, I saw a group of
111 figures clad in rich soft robes. They had seen me, and their faces were directed towards me. “Then I heard voices approaching me. Coming through the bushes by the
116 White Sphinx were the heads and shoulders of men running. One of these emerged in a pathway leading straight to the little lawn upon which I stood with my
121 machine. He was a slight creature—perhaps four feet high—clad in a purple tunic, girdled at the waist with a leather belt. Sandals or buskins—I could not clearly distinguish which—were on his
126 feet; his legs were bare to the knees, and his head was bare. Noticing that, I noticed for the first time how warm the air was.
131 “He struck me as being a very beautiful and graceful creature, but indescribably frail. His flushed face reminded me of the more beautiful kind of consumptive—that hectic beauty of which we used to hear so much. At the
136 sight of him I suddenly regained confidence. I took my hands from the machine.
Questions
Instructions
- Answer all questions.
- Use black ink or black ball point pen.
- Fill in the boxes on this page.
- You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
- Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
- Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
- You must refer to the insert booklet provided.
- You must not use a dictionary.
Information
- The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
- Time allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes
- The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
- There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
- You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your writing in Section B.
Advice
- You are advised to spend about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions you have to answer.
- You should make sure you leave sufficient time to check your answers.
Section A: Reading
Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
Question 1
Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 5.
Answer all parts of this question.
Choose one answer for each question.
1.1 What sound was in the narrator's ears?
- A clap of thunder
- The hissing of hail
- The roar of the wind
[1 mark]
1.2 What does the narrator say may have happened ‘for a moment’?
- Being stunned
- Being blinded
- Being deafened
[1 mark]
1.3 Where was the narrator sitting?
- On soft turf
- On a stone slab
- On the machine
[1 mark]
1.4 In relation to the machine, where was the narrator?
- In front of the overset machine
- Beside the fallen machine
- Behind the damaged machine
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 1 to 15 of the source:
1 “There was the sound of a clap of thunder in my ears. I may have been stunned for a moment. A pitiless hail was hissing round me, and I was sitting on soft turf in front of the overset machine. Everything still
6 seemed grey, but presently I remarked that the confusion in my ears was gone. I looked round me. I was on what seemed to be a little lawn in a garden, surrounded by
11 rhododendron bushes, and I noticed that their mauve and purple blossoms were dropping in a shower under the beating of the hailstones. The rebounding, dancing hail hung in a little cloud
How does the writer use language here to describe the strange garden and the effects of the hail? You could include the writer's choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms.
[8 marks]
Question 3
You now need to think about the structure of the source as a whole. This text is from the start of a story.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of tension?
You could write about:
- how tension shifts from beginning to end
- how the writer uses structure to create an effect
- the writer's use of any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
[8 marks]
Question 4
For this question focus on the second part of the source, from line 81 to the end.
In this part of the source, the description of the approaching creature as beautiful but “frail” makes him seem completely harmless. The writer suggests the Traveller’s fears about facing a powerful and cruel new human race were wrong.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of the beautiful and graceful but frail creature
- comment on the methods the writer uses to suggest the creature is harmless
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
A local radio show about unexplained events is inviting creative pieces from its listeners.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Describe a creature of the night from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about a local legend that turns out to be true.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]