CXC general proficiency English exam - past paper question 2008 Reading comprehension question

The Editor,

These days we have to look at a calendar to be sure that Carnival is really here. Carnival was celebrated regionally last Monday and Tuesday, in Trinidad and Tobago, in Martinique, in Dominica and in Haiti. Yet, I’d be lying if I said that I heard maybe once or twice the latest calypsos for 2006. All we hear on the radio is rap, rap, and more rap. Fifty Cents, Sean Paul, Kanye West and Beyonce dominate the airwaves. However, no one can remember hearing Sparrow, Sugar Aloes or Invader on BET.Tell me, when last did we see a Caribbean steelband on BET?

We are all talking about CSME and the movement of Caribbean peoples in the region, but how are you going to move without music… our music? At a time like this when we celebrate our unique culture, we’re left with the sounds of foreign artists when we should swaying to the sweetest sounds of steelbands and salivating over the salacious salubrious lyrics of our regional calypsonians.

While on the subject of Carnival, I am sick and tired of these ‘barely there’ costumes. Our designers give the impression that no matter what. The theme of the band must be manifested in beads. When portraying a sunrise, use gold beads; when portraying a banana plantation, green beads. Even if the theme happens to be Lawrence of Arabia, use sandy colored beads.

I understand that because of the tremendous number of revelers, costumes have to be minimalised somewhat, but I am sure that creating something “different” is not impossible. Last year, our guest from Guadeloupe wore the most creatively memorable costumes of the carnival pageant. Without them, in the opinion of many, Carnival would have been an utter disappointment.

Well, good, bad or unsightly, I am hooked on Carnival. So, here I am in limbo awaiting our “festivities” in July.

Adapted from Alexandra grant, “sitting in Limbo”. The Saturday Voice, March 04, 2006, p. 4.

(a) What is the writer’s attitude to rap music as expressed in lines 4-7? (2 mks)

(b) What answer does the writer expect to the question posed in paragraph 2? (1 mk)

(c) In the passage the writer deliberately uses several words with more than one meaning (puns, play on word). Give TWO examples of such words. (2 mks)

(d) What effect does the writer to achieve by the repetition of “beads” in paragraph 3? (2 mks)

(e) To whom or what does "good, bad or unsightly” (line 23) refer? (2 mks)

(f) With what does the writer associate Lawrence of Arabia? (2 mks)

(g) In paragraph 2, how does the writer use the sound of words to highlight calypso? (2 mks)

(h) In which month does Carnival take place in the writer’s country? (2 mks)

Total 15 marks