KCSE English Paper 2 – 2015 KCSE Ikutha Sub-County Joint Examination

Choosing a career
The career market is full of opportunities. Gone are the days when we had ‘either… or’ career choices. The times when women, for example, chose between only nursing, teaching and secretarial work are long gone. The explosion in communication technology, and the liberalization and globalization of the world economy, has ensured that there is no longer a dearth of career choices. Today, colleges and Universities offer a wide range of training opportunities to high school graduates. This has made choosing a career an involving process. It has also given rise to the need for career counselling.

When choosing a career, whether you have the help of a career counselor or not, there are several factors that you should consider. These include your abilities or talents, your interests, your priorities and the available opportunities in the job market.

The skills required in a particular career and the ability to gain them through education must be considered when choosing careers. Becoming a doctor, for instance, requires extensive education and training, and many years of educational commitment. In addition to the compulsory subjects, the
academic background required for this career is good grades in chemistry and biology at secondary school level. If your ability in these subjects is just average, you would be overstretching your luck to enroll for a Bachelor of Medicine degree course. In the past, students have chosen to pursue training in engineering, even when their ability to handle physics and mathematics was low. This, in many cases, has made them drop out of the class mid-course. The waste of time and resources would have been avoided if they had considered a career that did not require the ability to handle mathematics and physics well.

There are times when people have been driven to choose a particular career because of the salary and prestige associated with jobs in this field. At times, the desire to take certain courses comes from within the individual, but most times, individuals feel pressured by peers or family to take certain courses. Joining a career in which you have no interest in is a recipe for all dull life since you will spend more of your working hours doing something you do not like. Your career does not necessarily have to be your passion, but it should not bore you to death either. You can work out your interests by identifying the subjects you enjoy most at school, or the topics that are of interest to you and for which you take the initiative to read on your own.

It is true that many young people are attracted more by the social mobility that the job might provide than by their interest in the career. However, research has found that money does not play as big a role in job satisfaction as many people think. Of course we all have to make a living, but if you do not like your job, it does not matter how much you get paid to do it. What does matter is how well a career choice matches your values.

Questions
i) What has created the necessity for career counselling? (2marks)
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ii) Why is one’s ability an important factor in career choice? (2marks)

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iii) Why do you think the writer cites engineering in the passage? (2marks)
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iv) According to the passage which career should a person who values variety choose? (2marks)
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v) Make notes on the importance of knowing the availability of jobs in the career field one wants to join.
(4marks)
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vi) What evidence is given in the passage to support the statement “Money does not play a big role in job
satisfaction?” (2marks)
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vii) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. (4marks)
a) Liberalization ______________________________________________________________________
b) Dearth ______________________________________________________________________
c) Social mobility ______________________________________________________________________
d) Collaboration ______________________________________________________________________
viii)Re-write the following sentence according to the instructions given.
The waste of time and resources would have been avoided if they had considered a career that did not
require the ability to handle Mathematics and Physics well (begin If…) (2marks)
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CORPORAL: Well, here she is. What did I tell you? What a nose I have! I smelt her. Lady, I
have a question for you. Why did you run away? What did you think I would do
to you? I’ll bet it was something unchaste. Confess!
GRUSHA (while the PEASANT WOMAN bows again and again.): I’d left some milk on
the stove, and I suddenly remembered it.
CORPORAL: Or maybe you imagined I looked at you unchastely? Like there could be
something between us? A carnal glance, know what I mean?
GRUSHA: I didn’t see it.
COPORAL: But it’s possible, huh? You admit that much. After all, I might be a pig. I’ll be
frank with you: I could think of all sorts of things if we were alone. (To the
PEASANT WOMAN:) Shouldn’t you be busy in the yard? Feeding the hens?
PEASANT WOMAN (falling suddenly to her knees): Soldier, I didn’t know a thing about it. Please
don’t burn the roof over our heads.
CORPORAL: What are you talking about?
PEASANT WOMAN: I had nothing to do with it. She left it on my doorstep, I swear it!
CORPORAL (suddenly seeing the CHILD and whistling): Ah, so there’s a little something in
the crib! Blockhead, I smell a thousand piasters. Take the old girl outside and
hold on to her. It looks like I have a little cross-examining to do. (The
PEASANT WOMAN lets herself be led out by the PRIVATE, without a word.)
So, you’ve got the child I wanted from you! (He walks toward the crib).
GRUSHA: Officer, he’s mine. He’s not the one you’re after.
CORPORAL: I’ll just take a look. (He bends over the crib)
GRUSHA looks round in despair.
GRUSHA: He’s mine! He’s mine!
CORPORAL: Fine linen!
GRUSHA dashes at him to pull him away. He throws her off and again bends
over the crib. Again looking round in despair, she sees a log of wood, seizes it,
and hits the CORPORAL over the head from behind. The CORPORAL
collapses. She quickly picks up the CHILD and rushes off.
SINGER: And in her flight from the Ironshirts
After twenty-two days of journeying
At the foot of the Janga-Tau Glacier
Grusha Vashnazde decided to adopt the child.
CHORUS: The helpless girl adopted the helpless child.
GRUSHA squats over a half-frozen stream to get the CHILD water in the
hollow of her hand.

Questions
a) What happens immediately before this excerpt? (4marks)
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b) What does the corporal mean by… ‘I bet it was something unchaste…?’ (2marks)
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c) ‘Fine linen!’ Explain the implication of this statement. (2marks)
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d) Explain two aspects of Grusha’s character that save the child. (4marks)
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e) Identify and explain the dominant stylistic device employed by the author in this extract. (3marks)
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f) How does the statement ‘The helpless girl adopted the helpless child’ highlight Grusha’s plight?
(2marks)
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g) In what way does Grusha’s statement ‘He’s mine! He’s mine!’ foreshadow the events that occur later in
the play? (5marks)
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h) ‘It looks as if I have a little cross-examining to do’ (Begin: From…) (1mark)
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i) Discuss one theme evident in this excerpt. (2marks)

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BEGGAR IN THREE PIECE
My jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
To distant lands
Across blue seas.

I descended the ladder
To a waiting ribbon
Of blood-red carpet
A quick glance at my
Three piece suit
And the tie
That beautifully strangled my neck.

On my left hand hang
My beaded knobkerrie
On my right clutched
My rusty inter-Nation begging Bowl
On my face I wore humility and need
And of course dignity.

Sir, the dearth of food
Has rendered my people thin
And hungry
Scoop us a little
You know,
Just a little,

To keep the till next rains’
‘But Sir, beggars
In three piece
Are a rare sight
But your suit is beautiful
– Honestly
Now my suit
Which cost me a fortune
In a Parisian Textile
Has denied me a fortune
And my countrymen, lie.

L.O. Sunkuli

Questions

a) Who is the persona in this poem? (3marks)
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b) What is the subject matter of this poem? (4marks)
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c) Explain the satire in this poem and comment on its effectiveness. (4marks)
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d) Describe the tone of the poem. (3marks)
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e) Explain what the last stanza implies. (3marks)
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f) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (3 marks)
i) My Jumbo
Shots its way
Across the sky
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ii) That beautifully strangled my neck
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iii) To keep them till next rains
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a) Rewrite the following sentences according to instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning.
(3 marks)
i) My grandmother could not cultivate her shamba anymore
She realized how old she had become. (Rewrite as one sentence beginning: Not…)
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ii) Some pupils are not used to hardwork. (End with…hard).
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iii) As Marion was walking to the bus stop, a thief snatched her handbag. (Begin: Walking…..)
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b) Join the following sentences using a relative pronoun: (3 marks)
i) Yesterday I met a beautiful girl. I had never met her before.
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ii) Mrs. Hart left her baby with a neighbor. She could rely on the neighbor.
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iii) Munyao started three projects last year. He has completed two of them.
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c) Change the following sentences into reported speech (3marks)
i) “Can I serve you with lemonade?”
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ii) “Why did the politician make such a statement in public?”
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iii) “Go and collect all the used apparatus.”
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d) Add the appropriate question tag (3marks)
i) Let him come in _________________________
ii) His greed disgusts many __________________
iii) Ignorance is no defense ___________________
e) Replace the underlined words with a suitable phrasal verb formed using the verb in brackets. (3marks)
i) Wayua was deceived by the smartly dressed man (take)
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ii) The manager decided to postpone the meeting after the accident. (call)
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iii) Nzioka was staying with his cousin, but when the cousin started misbehaving, Nzioka could not
accommodate him any longer (put).
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