MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE

in collaboration with
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
General Certificate of Education Advanced Level
Higher 1

8806/01

GENERAL PAPER

October/November 2008

Paper 1

1 hour 30 minutes
Additional Materials:

Answer Paper

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your Centre number. index number and name on all the work you hand in.
Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper.
Do not use staples, paper clips. highlighters, glue or correction fluid.
Answer one question.
Note that 20 marks out of 50 will be awarded for your use of language.
At the end of the examination. fasten all your work securely together.
All questions in this paper carry equal marks.

This document consists of 2 printed pages.

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~ 'iJ Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board

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UCLES & MOE 2008

UNIVERSITY of CAMBRIDGE

International Examinations
[Turn over

Answer one question.

Answers should be between 500 and 800 words in length.
~

Does the presence of a foreign power ever help a country with problems?

How important are dreams?

'The more science advances, the more religion will decline.' To what extent do you agree?

How far do physical features, such as size and location, determine a country's progress?

'Nowadays, the pleasures of reading can never compete with the pleasures of visual
entertainment.' To what extent do you agree?

To what extent does the migration of people have a positive effect?

'Air travel should be discouraged, not promoted.' To what extent do you agree?

Many developed countries are paying increasing attention to the needs of the disadvantaged.
How far is this true in Singapore?

Discuss the view that too much faith is placed in statistics.

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10 'Contemporary music has no artistic value.' Is this a fair comment?

11 How far is it possible to ensure that all producers of food and goods are fairly rewarded?
12 To what extent is design important in your society?

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders. but if any items requiring clearance have unwillingly been included. the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.
University of Cambridge International Examinations is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge.

UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/01/0/N/08

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE

in collaboration with
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
General Certificate of Education Advanced Level
Higher 1

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8806/02

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1 hour 30 minutes

Candidates answer on the Question Paper.

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READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your Centre number, index number and name on all the work you hand in.
Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper.
Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. ~\~ ~~

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

For Examiner's Use

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Answer all questions.

The Insert contains the passages for comprehension.
Note that 15 marks out of 50 will be awarded for your use of language.

[[]]]

INDEX
NUMBER

Content

/35

Language

/15

Total

/50

This document consists of 7 printed pages and 1 blank page and 1 Insert.

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CiVi) Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board

UClES & MOE 2008

UNIVERSITY of CAMBRIDGE

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International Examinations
[Turn over

Read the passages in the Insert and then answer all the questions. Note that up to fifteen marks
will be given for the quality and accuracy ofyour use of English throughout this Paper.

For 1\.
Examine,
Use

NOTE: When a question asks for an answer IN YOUR OWN WORDS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE
and you select the appropriate material from the passage for your answer, you must still use
your own words to express it. Little credit can be given for answers which only copy words or
phrases from the passage.
From Passage 1
1

What is the difference between history and what historians study, according to paragraph
1?

........................................................................................................................................................
...........

............................

[1 ]

What is meant by 'archival evidence' (line 15)? How might its 'dissemination' stimulate new
interpretations of history?

........................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................. [2]
3

What do the words 'or indeed impose' (line 18) tell you about human nature?

........................................................................................................................................................
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4

In paragraph 3, Anna Banatvala gives four possible explanations of history in a series of

four questions. Which explanation would support the idea of humans possessing free will?

.................................................................................................................................................
5

[1 ]

What do you understand by 'the annihilation of distance' in line 44?

[1]

UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/02/0/N/08

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6

Using material from paragraphs 2 to 6, summarise what Anna Banatvala has to say about
the value and attractions of the study of history, both generally and especially in today's
world. Write your summary in no more than 120 words, not counting the opening words
which are printed below. Use your own words as far as possible.
Although history has always been a valuable and attractive study, ,

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UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/02/0/N/08

[Turn over

From Passage 2
For

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Examine, ,

'the only lesson to be learnt from history is that 'there are no lessons to be learnt from
history' (lines 7 - 8).
Explain why this is a paradox.

........................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................., [1]
8

What kind of 'natural happenings' (line 9) may Lee Min Yen be thinking of, and how do they
support his argument?

........................................................................................................................................................

.....................

[2]

Explain in your own words as far as possible why Lee Min Yen thinks it unnecessary to
'keep alive the memory of former conflicts and atrocities' (lines 11 - 12).

........................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................

[2]

10 Explain in your own words as far as possible how and why 'Every age, every country,
rewrites history to suit its needs' (line 26).

........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
16

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UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/02/0/N/08

[2]

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From both passages

For

Examiner's

11 Give the meaning of the following words as they are used in the passages. Use one word or
a short phrase.

(a) presumptuous (Passage 1, line 4)

(b) crude (Passage 1, line 14) :.............................................................................................

........................................................................................

(c) determined (Passage 1, line 25)

(d) intricately (Passage 1, line 42)

(e) propaganda (Passage 2, line 30)

......................................................................................
[5]

UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/02/0/N/08

[Turn over

Use

6
12 Anna Banatvala thinks an understanding of history is essential, whereas Lee Min Yen
thinks history has no value. How important is an understanding of history for you and your
society, and how far has your view been challenged or confirmed by these two passages?

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8806/02/0/N/08

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UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/02/0/N/08

Examiner's
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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.
University of Cambridge International Examinations is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge.

8806/02/0/N/08

1
1

r
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SINGAPORE
in collaboration with
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
General Certificate of Education Advanced Level
Higher 1

8806/02

GENERAL PAPER

October/November 2008

Paper 2

INSERT
1 hour 30 minutes

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

This Insert contains the passages for Paper 2.
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This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page.

1MB,...",

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Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board

UCLES & MOE 2008

UNIVERSITY of CAMBRIDGE

International Examinations
[Turn over

2
THE PAST

Passage 1. Anna Banatva/a thinks everyone should take an interest in the past.

Everything that has ever happened is history - the past. It begins with the origins of our
solar system, the birth and physical changes of our planet and the evolution of life forms on
its surface, and extends to the headlines in this morning's newspaper. Perhaps it would be a
little presumptuous for historians to claim all this 'past' as their field of study. In fact, we are
happy to leave whole areas of it to the likes of astronomers, geologists and zoologists who
investigate what is sometimes called 'natural' history while we confine our attention to
'human' history. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to devote their lives to this
study. But I firmly believe that everyone should have some knowledge of the past, as
members of a family, as citizens in a community or as 21st century inhabitants of planet
Earth.
There has never been a better time, and never a more urgent need, to explore our past than
exists today. Technologies such as aerial mapping, carbon dating, thermal imaging and
deep-sea submersibles afford historians far greater opportunities to recover the distant past
than the crude shovels and diving bells of their predecessors. Furthermore, the use of
advanced technology to store, catalogue and disseminate archival evidence more efficiently
is stimulating new interpretations of the history of our planet.
'Interpreting' the past is, in fact, the essential business of the historian, who is responding to
one of the most fundamental of human instincts: the desire to discover - or indeed impose some kind of order on the seemingly haphazard ebb and flow of happening. Is there a
discernible movement towards an ever-improving condition of the human race, which may
be divinely planned or simply the inevitable outcome of a material process of evolution? Has
the course of world events been primarily influenced by the acts of gifted individuals, be
they ruthless conquerors or saintly visionaries, whose words and deeds have changed the
world map and inspired the beliefs and daily lives of succeeding generations? Is our history
determined for us by climatic, topographical and economic forces which dictate what we do
and what we are? Or is history an endless cycle of recurring - and therefore predictable events according to the dominance of negative, feminine, dark Yin or its Yang opposite?

10

15

20

25

Whether or not we find a satisfying explanation of the past, our study satisfies another basic
need - curiosity. It is present in our desire to find out about our family and the place where
we live. According to how we spend our leisure, we might be interested in the histories of 30
jazz, or of football, or of food. Always we ask, "What came before this?" Put together, these
various stories amount to the cultural history of the particular society we live in, and this
shared knowledge of what our predecessors thought and did in their everyday lives is
essential if we are to have a sense of common identity.

Reassuringly, we discover that underneath superficial differences earlier generations were 35

very like ourselves, and it is this continuity of human experience which is the basis of
another of the benefits of history: given that similar causes produce similar results, it can
teach us how to avoid their mistakes and inspire us to emulate their triumphs. For the
beneficial changes they brought about teach us that we do not have to put up with things as
they are, and this gives us the humility to recognize that our greater knowledge does not 40
make us any wiser than our ancestors.

Technology is rapidly knitting the earth's inhabitants together more intricately, but they
remain far from united politically. We are still strangers to each other in our local ways of
life established before the annihilation of distance. We must grow into something like a
single family or we will annihilate ourselves, and it is only by understanding our various
'family' histories that we can learn to live together in tolerance and mutual respect.

UCLES & MOE 2008

8806/0211 NSERT/O/N/08

45

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Passage 2. Lee Min Yen takes a different view of studying the past.
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All history is biased. Every age, every country, rewrites history to suit its needs - at worst
by falsifying the record, as in the fictional world of Orwell's book 1984 or the reality of the
Nanjing Massacre, or by selection and omission to justify current policies and suit the
prevailing climate of ideas. This is harmless enough, but it becomes dangerous when
distorted and partial history becomes the basis of propaganda to whip up nationalist or 30
religious hatreds.

Yesterday has happened - it's a safe place to be. If you are a timid, cautious,
unadventurous sort of person, take up history. You can meander round museums, or
ruminate in ruins, and you won't get mugged or blown up. But life is not for the fainthearted. We don't know what will happen tomorrow: it may bring something dreadful, it 35
may offer something exciting and wonderful. But whatever it is, history won't help us to
cope with it. In this extraordinary century, which will be quite unlike anything that has gone
before, we need to focus all our faculties on the way ahead.

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The history of the very word 'history' is revealing. It originally meant the narrative of
mythical or allegedly factual events, but gradually changed to mean the subject of the
narrative. Its abbreviated form - story - is now used exclusively for fiction. As if there is any
difference! The further we get from the past, the more historians have to speculate and fill
the gaps with probabilities, theories, rhetoric and pure invention. It's entertaining stuff but 20
let's not pretend that history is anything more than stories based on facts. Even the details
of events occurring within living memory, such as the tragic deaths of Princess Diana and
President Kennedy, are still hotly disputed, despite the mass of evidence that has
accumulated around them, and these facts are subject to different interpretations according
to the prejudice of the commentator.
25

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Historians often claim that they look backward in order to show the rest of us the way
forward. Bunk! Paradoxically, the only lesson to be learnt from history is that there are no
lessons to be learnt from history. The daily interactions of the billions of people on our
planet - not to speak of the equally unpredictable natural happenings on and over its
surface - produce an infinitely complex web of causes and effects which are wholly
unrepeatable. You often hear it said that we should keep alive the memory of former
conflicts and atrocities to prevent them happening again. I don't think so. The descendants
of former aggressors and victims happily visit each other's countries with no feelings of
guilt or resentment about their ancestors' history. As someone said: 'The past is a foreign
country; they do things differently there.'

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Most people know two things about Henry Ford. He built the first mass-produced popular
car and famously wrote in 1916: 'History is more or less bunk... we want to live in the
present... '. Though they would probably say 'rubbish' instead of the slang word of Ford's
time, his sentiments would be echoed by generations of bored schoolchildren stuffed with
dates and 'sources' and 'consider-the-causes-and-effects-of essays.

UCLES & MOE 2008

8B06/0211NSERTIOIN/OB

4
BLANK PAGE

University of Cambridge International Examinations is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of
Cambridge Loca' Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department ofthe University of Cambridge.

8806/0211NSERTIOINIOB