Name:_________________ Date: __________________
SPM English Language
Form 4 [Lesson 1] Comprehension Summary
Jerry’s Story
Ms Chin Seow Hui
Comprehension Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
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Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say When someone asked him how he was doing, he would reply, "I feel great. It's a beautiful day isn't it?" Jerry was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the bright side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day, I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning, I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaints or I can poin t out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life." "It's not that easy to do," I protested. I should know There have been days when I have wanted to scream my heart out in frustration or just run away. "Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. Every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad mood. The bottom line is it's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life, instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I h eard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: h e left the back door open one morning and was held u p at gunpo int b y th ree armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, trembling with fear, slipped off the combination lock. The robbers panicked and shot him in the stomach. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma centre. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital, with fragments of the bullets still lodged in his body I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "I am great. Want to see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but asked him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that occurred to me was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay bleeding on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.
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But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I was really scared. Their eyes seemed to suggest that I was a dead man. I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes," I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply I took a deep breath and yelled, "Bullets!" Over their laughter, I told them. I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, and also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day, we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
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Answer all questions. You are advised to answer them in the order set. 1 From paragraph 1, how would you describe Jerry? 2 (a) From paragraph 2, why did the waiters follow Jerry around? (b) From paragraph 3, how does Jerry keep his good mood? 3 (a) From paragraph 6, what mistake did Jerry make one day? (b) From paragraph 8, what was Jerry’s first thought when the robbery took place? 4 (a) From paragraph 9, how did Jerry know he was going to die? (b) From paragraph 12, what two things helped Jerry to survive the operation? 5 From this story about Jerry, what have you learned about attitudes? Support your answer with a reason.
Summary Based on the passage given, write a summary on: Jerry’s way of thinking How it helped him in an accident Credit will be given for use of own words but care must be taken not to change the original meaning. Your summary must: Be in continuous writing (not in note form) Use material from line 7 to the end Not be longer than 130 words including the 10 words given below
Begin your summary as follows: Jerry was unique and waiters liked his attitude. He was…
Form 4
Weekly Reading Material
Topic: Amazing Structures Date:
Solvay Hut: A Precarious Mountain Hut at Matterhorn, Switzerland The Solvay Hut is located on the north-eastern ridge of the
Matterhorn,
near
Zermatt in the canton of Valais
in
Switzerland.
At
4,003 meters (13,133 feet) it is the highest mountain hut owned by the Swiss Alpine Club,
the
mountaineering
largest club
in
Switzerland. Mountain huts are intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. But Solvay Hut can be used only in case of emergency. About two thirds up the mountain, 743 m above the Hörnli Hut and 475 m below the summit, many Matterhorn climbers have rested on the small ledge outside the hut admiring the spectacular view of all the Monte Rosa summits. The hut was built in August 1915. All the building material was brought up to the Hörnli Hut at 3260 meter by help of animals. From there a small temporary cable car was used to transport the material up to the building site at 4000 meter. The hut was erected within only five days. In 1966 the hut was rebuilt and in 1976 an emergency telephone was installed. The hut is named after Belgium Ernest Solvay (1838-1922) who donated the well-known hut on the Hörnli Ridge on the Matterhorn as a gratitude for the unforgettable hours he spent in the mountains, and from the realization that occasionally sudden thunder storms lead to tragedies. Before his alpine career began after retirement, Ernest Solvay was an inventor and businessman who invented the industrial process for sodium carbonate production, from which a world-wide undertaking resulted.
