Exam practice

The first picture shows an astronaut on a spacewalk. He is outside his spacecraft, in a spacesuit that gives him air to breathe and keeps him warm, and the Earth looks like a big blue ball behind him. The second is Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, famous for its rings, which are made of billions of pieces of ice and rock. The third shows a rocket being launched: its engines burn fuel to push it up fast enough to reach space. The last is a radio telescope, a giant dish that collects faint radio waves from stars and galaxies. Together the pictures show how people explore space: by traveling there, by sending machines, and by watching and listening from the Earth.

• a.I see a boy fishing on the bank of a river, with trees, water and hills around him, and a spaceship shaped like a saucer, with lights round its edge.
• b.Nobody knows yet. So far, no living thing has been found anywhere except on the Earth. But the universe is so big that many scientists think life may exist somewhere else. Astronomers have found more than 6,000 planets going round other stars (as of 2025), and some of them are at the right distance from their star to have liquid water. In our own solar system, scientists are searching for tiny living things on Mars and in the hidden oceans under the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Life there, if it exists, is far more likely to be like bacteria than like the visitors in the story.

• a.dawn ↔ twilight (dawn is the first light of morning; twilight here is the last light of evening; darkness also works)
• b.shining = bright (or flashing)
• c.took off ↔ landed
• d.modern = advanced
• e.descended ↔ ascended
• f.great = enormous (as in an enormous speed)

• a.saucer – vi
• b.spaceship – iv
• c.vessel – i
• d.flashing – iii
• e.couch – ii
• f.broadcast – vii
• g.appliance – v

e → g → c → f → a → b → d

1. e. Suren had been fishing when he saw a bright object over the Sun Koshi.
2. g. When Suren went closer to the vessel, he was pulled into it.
3. c. A voice welcomed him, and asked him to sit on the couch.
4. f. They wanted to send a message to the leaders of Nepal and the world.
5. a. They gave Suren a tiny computer.
6. b. The spaceship landed back on the bank of the Sun Koshi.
7. d. Suren wondered whether he had been dreaming.

He thought it might be a helicopter, probably flying to Diktel. But it made no noise, and as it came closer it took the shape of a saucer.

He had seen one in a film about a spaceship.

He was frightened. He almost jumped when he heard a voice welcoming him by name, and he soon asked them to open the door because he wanted to leave.

They had been observing the Earth for several months. Using a long-distance listening device, they had learned his name and that he was the best student in his school.

They recycle all their resources: everything that is no longer in use is made into something new, so nothing is wasted.

He felt he was only a poor kid, and he didn’t think the leaders of his nation and the world would listen to someone like him. He also feared that people would think he was joking or out of his mind if he said he had been in a spaceship.

That the people of the Earth are wasting their resources, and that soon nothing will be left. They should set up recycling collection centers in every town and city, where cans, bottles, old household appliances and everything else no longer in use can be taken and recycled.

As proof that his story was true. The computer was far more advanced than any found on the Earth, so when a computer engineer examined it, people would have to believe that he had really met visitors from another planet.

I think some people will believe him, but many won’t, at least at first. A story about a spaceship sounds like a joke or a dream, and Suren is only a schoolboy, so most adults will laugh. But the tiny computer is strong evidence. If a computer engineer examines it and finds that no company on the Earth could have made it, scientists will start to take him seriously, and news of it would spread quickly. In the end, I think people will believe the story because of the proof, and I hope they will also take the message seriously, because the advice to recycle is good advice whoever gives it.

I would tell the visitor that the Earth is a beautiful but fragile home, so they should treat it gently: take nothing from it they can’t give back, and leave no rubbish behind. About Nepal, I would advise them to see the Himalayas at sunrise, but to go slowly up the mountains, because the air gets thin. I would ask them to respect our people’s customs: take off their shoes before entering a temple or a home, and walk clockwise round a stupa. I would tell them to try dal bhat and momo, and not to be surprised if strangers invite them for tea. Finally, I would warn them about our crowded roads, and advise them, if they have the technology, to help us clean our rivers, like the Bagmati, before they leave.

a. A: Where is the supermarket? B: It’s opposite the post office.
A: Where is the cinema hall? B: It’s between the supermarket and the stadium. (It’s also opposite the bank.)
b. A: Where is the fun park? B: It’s in front of the bank.
A: Where is the bank? B: It’s behind the fun park.
c. A: Where is the restaurant? B: It’s opposite the pharmacy. (On the map, it’s below the hotel.)
A: Where is the pharmacy? B: It’s opposite the restaurant, on the corner of East Road and Old Road. (On the map, it’s below the fun park.)
d. A: Where is the post office? B: It’s opposite the police post. (It’s also across West Road from the hospital.)

A: Where is the hospital? B: It’s next to the school. (Seen from Old Road, it’s behind the school.)

A: Where is the school? B: It’s below the hospital, on the corner of West Road and Old Road. (Or: It’s next to the hospital; seen from Old Road, it’s in front of the hospital; it’s opposite the bus park.)

Other answers are right too, as long as they match the map.

• a.at (a corner of a street is a point; Americans also say on the corner)
• b.at (studying at a school, campus or university)
• c.in (inside an area: a field)
• d.at (at a place where an event happens)
• e.at (arrive at a building or a small place; arrive in a town or country)
• f.in (in a country)
• g.in (inside a building)
• h.on (on a surface)
• i.at (at the top, at the bottom of a page; but on the page)
• j.on (on a surface)

• a.I can stay in bed until eight.
• b.My favorite movie Pashupati Prasad is playing at Shanti Chalchitra Hall.
• c.Many people are in prison for the crime they committed.
• d.I think I should work on a farm in my village.
• e.Did you make many friends when you were at school?
• f.She is still in hospital (American: in the hospital).
• g.We were in the air for only 25 minutes.
• h.We had to wait at the airport for about two hours.

Heading: who it is for, and what it is about. Introduction: when and where it happened, in one or two sentences. Body: what happened, in order (what you saw first, what the visitor was like, what you talked about, how it ended), with your feelings at each step (I was so frightened that…; to my surprise…). Conclusion: what the meeting taught you. Sign-off: your name and the date.

An account of my meeting with a visitor from another planet, for my class magazine

Last Saturday evening, I had the strangest hour of my life on the bank of the Trishuli River, near my grandmother’s house in Nuwakot. I am writing this account so that my classmates know exactly what happened.

I was walking home at about seven o’clock when a soft green light appeared above the water. It came down without a sound and landed on the sand. I was so frightened that I could not move. A door slid open, and a small figure, about as tall as a ten-year-old, stepped out. It had large, kind eyes and silver skin. To my surprise, it greeted me in perfect Nepali: “Namaste. Don’t be afraid.”

Slowly my fear turned into curiosity. The visitor, whose name was Oru, asked me about our rivers and why there were plastic bags on the banks. I felt ashamed as I explained. Oru told me that on its planet, nothing is thrown away. We talked for almost an hour about families, food and the stars, and I laughed when Oru tried a piece of my sel roti.

When the light came back for Oru, I felt sad. Before leaving, Oru said, “Look after your rivers.” I will never forget that hour, and since then I have picked up every piece of plastic I see by the river.

Written by,
Sunmaya Rai
Grade 9

• a.They are travelers or trekkers: a woman and a man with backpacks, perhaps a tourist and her guide.
• b.They are walking up a mountain path, towards the snowy peaks, perhaps to a village or a lodge where they will spend the night.
• c.She is probably asking how far it is and whether the path goes uphill all the way: “Is it still a long way? Is there somewhere to stay tonight?”

• a.wind – iii
• b.morn – v
• c.inn – ii
• d.wayfarer – i
• e.seek – iv

The speaker is making a journey with her guide. She asks the guide eight different questions about the road ahead. The first question is if the road is all up-hill and if the journey will take all day. The guide replies in the affirmative (yes). Next, she asks if there is a place to rest for the night. The guide informs the speaker that there is an inn which she won’t miss. The speaker’s fifth question is whether she will meet the other travelers on the way. At the inn, the speaker asks if she should knock or call the fellow travelers. The guide replies that someone will open the door. Lastly, the speaker asks if there will be a bed for her. The guide tells her that there are beds for everyone.

It is up-hill all the way, to the very end.

She doubts whether she will be able to find it: she fears that the darkness may hide it from her. (The guide says she cannot miss that inn.)

“Those who have gone before”: other wayfarers (travelers) who walked the road earlier and are already at the inn. In the allegory, they are the people who have died before us.

“Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?”: she asks whether she will find comfort and rest at the inn, since she is aching and tired from the journey.

I think the door is opened by those who have gone before, the travelers who reached the inn earlier: the guide says They will not keep you standing at that door. In the allegory, they are the people who died before us, our family and friends, welcoming us. A Christian reader, like Rossetti, might also think of God or the angels welcoming a soul into heaven.

Last Dashain, I traveled with my family along the Siddhartha Highway from Pokhara to Butwal. For most of the way, the road winds along steep hillsides, with sharp bends every few hundred meters, so our bus kept leaning one way and then the other. At Ramdi we crossed the Kali Gandaki, flowing green and fast at the bottom of a deep gorge, and on the slopes all around, terraced fields of golden rice climbed almost to the sky. We stopped at a small tea shop at Tansen, where the air was cool and we could see a sea of white clouds in the valleys. Near Butwal the hills suddenly ended and the flat, wide Tarai opened out in front of us. It was a tiring journey of about seven hours, but I will remember those views for a long time.

• a.There are eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
• b.No. Pluto was called the ninth planet from 1930 to 2006, but since 2006 astronomers have called it a dwarf planet: it goes round the Sun and is round, but it hasn’t cleared its path of other bodies.

• a.planets
• b.rock (almost entirely of rock and ice)
• c.Earth (almost 250 Earth years; the exact figure is about 248)
• d.discovered
• e.dwarf

• a.True (it is smaller than the Earth’s Moon, and not even as wide as the United States)
• b.False (New Horizons was launched in January 2006 and flew past Pluto in July 2015: about nine and a half years, not twelve)
• c.True
• d.True (the new rules meant that neither Pluto nor Eris counted as a planet)
• e.True (Pluto and Eris became members of the dwarf planet club; Pluto is one of the bigger ones)

Pluto is not a planet because it fails one of the three tests that the International Astronomical Union set in 2006. It goes round the Sun, and it is big enough to be round, but it has not cleared its path of other objects: it moves among thousands of icy bodies in the Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune, and its orbit even crosses Neptune’s. It is also very small, smaller than our Moon. When Eris, a body about the same size, was found in 2005, scientists had to choose: either call Eris and others like it planets too, or make a new group. They made a new group, dwarf planets, and Pluto and Eris were put in it, so the solar system now has eight planets.

• a.Due to a traffic jam (due to = because of)
• b.eligible for admission
• c.playing with her young son
• d.entrusted to maintain (the only choice that fits before a plain verb; the usual pattern is entrusted with maintaining)
• e.envious of his rich neighbor
• f.estranged from his family
• g.no excuse for misbehaving
• h.familiar with her
• i.brought up by her grandmother
• j.abide by his father’s wishes

Mr Pandey arrived in Kathmandu on May 10 at eight o’clock in the evening. He decided to call on his uncle who lived in Bhaktapur. He got on a bus at the station and paid the fare to the conductor. The bus was very crowded, so Mr Pandey had to stand up all the way.
When he reached Thimi, Mr Pandey got off the bus and walked a short distance to the house where his uncle lived. He knocked at the door of his uncle’s house. He waited for a few minutes, but no one came to the door. He was disappointed to find no one at home. He saw a bench at the corner of the porch, and he sat down on it to wait for his uncle.
Thimi (Madhyapur Thimi) is in Bhaktapur district, between Kathmandu and the town of Bhaktapur, which is why Mr Pandey gets off there. Knocked on the door is also correct and common.

Hariyali Community Park: Rules for Visitors
Open every day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

1. Visitors are required to buy an entry ticket at the gate. Children under five can enter free.
2. Visitors must put all litter in the bins provided.
3. Picking flowers and breaking branches is strictly prohibited.
4. Visitors must not feed the birds, the fish or the monkeys.
5. Smoking and drinking alcohol are strictly forbidden anywhere in the park.
6. Dogs are allowed in the park only on a lead.
7. Visitors are not allowed to play loud music.
8. Cycling is not allowed on the footpaths; bicycles can be left at the stand by the gate.
9. Children under twelve must be accompanied by an adult near the pond.
10. Visitors are expected to respect other people’s peace and leave the park by 6 p.m.

Thank you for helping us keep the park clean and green.
Park Management Committee

• a.True
• b.True
• c.False (only after twenty minutes, when his eyes got used to the dark)
• d.True
• e.False (his uncle says Saturn hardly twinkles: that is how you know it is a planet)

• a.in (as a patient; American: in the hospital)
• b.at the bus stop at six o’clock
• c.on the wall in our classroom (of is also possible: the wall of our classroom)
• d.on (like on a farm; at is also possible)
• e.in

• a.of
• b.for
• c.by
• d.with
• e.to

Laughed ends in the sound /f/ (spelled gh), which is voiceless, so its -ed is /t/.

Library Rules

1. Students must show their library card to borrow a book.
2. Students are allowed to borrow two books at a time, for one week.
3. Students must not write in or tear the books.
4. Students are not allowed to bring food or drinks into the library.
5. Talking loudly and using mobile phones is strictly prohibited.

An account of watching the sunrise from Sarangkot, for our school wall magazine

Last winter, my family went to Pokhara, and I want to share the most beautiful morning of the trip.

We woke at half past four and climbed to Sarangkot in the dark, with torches. It was very cold, and I could see my breath. Hundreds of people were already waiting quietly at the viewpoint. At about six, the top of Machhapuchhre turned pink, then gold, while the valley below was still dark and full of clouds. One by one, the peaks of the Annapurna range lit up. Everyone stopped talking. Then the sun rose over the hills behind us, and Phewa Lake shone like a mirror.

That morning taught me that the most wonderful sights are free, if we wake up early enough to see them.

Written by,
Lochan Shrestha