Sherlock Holmes Visits the Scene of the Crime from A Study in Scarlet by A. C. Doyle (adapted from Secondary Certificate English textbook).

Number 3, Lauriston Gardens, wore an ill-omened look. It was one of four which stood back some little way from the street, two being occupied and two empty. The latter looked out with three tiers of vacant melancholy windows, which were blank and dreary, save that her and there a ‘To Let’ card had developed into a cataract upon the bleared panes. A small garden sprinkled over with a scattered eruption of sickly plants separated each of theses houses from the street, and was traversed by a narrow pathway, yellowish in colour, and consisting apparently of a mixture of clay and gravel. The whole place was very sloppy from the rain which had fallen through the night. The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police-constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.
I had imagined that Sherlock Holmes would at once have hurried into the house and plunged into a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be further from his intention. With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to border upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky, the opposite houses and the line of the railings. Having finished his scrutiny, he proceeded slowly down the path, or rather down the fringe of grass which flanked the path, keeping his eyes riveted upon the ground. Twice he stopped, and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation of satisfaction. There were many marks of footsteps upon the wet, clayed soil, but since the police had been coming and going over it, I was unable to see how my companion could hope to learn anything from it. Still I had had such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his perceptive faculties, that I had no doubt that he could see a great deal which was hidden from me.

1. Briefly explain the following phrases: refer especially to the adjectives used: an ill-omened look, melancholy windows, bleared panes, a stalwart Police-constable, the vain hope. (5)

2. How does the writer’s word-choice convey an impression of wretchedness and drabness in his first paragraph? (4)

3. Explain the meaning in each of the following:
“an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation”
“I had had such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his perceptive faculties” (4)

4. Give a word or short phrase that might be used in place of the following: eruption, craned, lounged, vacantly, scrutiny. (7)

5. Dr Watson is narrating here. What sort of a man do you imagine him to be judging from the way he speaks and using evidence from the text. (4)

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The Big Feet of Eggbert, the Screamer Bird from The Drunken Forest by Gerald Durrell

Eggbert’s feet were the bane of his life. There was so much of them, and they would get tangled together when he walked. Then there was the danger that he would tread on his own toes and fall down and make an exhibition of himself, as he had done on the first day. So he kept a very close watch on his feet for any signs of insubordination. He would sometimes stand for as long as ten minutes with bent head, gravely staring at his toes as they wiggled gently in the grass, spread out like the arms of a starfish. Eggbert’s whole desire, obviously, was to be disassociated from these outsize feet. He felt irritated by them. Without them, he was sure, he could gambol about the lawn with the airy grace of a dried thistle head. Occasionally, having watched his feet for some time, he would decide that he had lulled them into a sense of false security. Then, when they least suspected it, he would launch his body forward in an effort to speed across the lawn and leave these hateful extremities behind. But although he tried this trick many times, it never succeeded. The feet were always too quick for him, and as soon as he moved they would deliberately and maliciously twist themselves into a knot, and Eggbert would fall head first into the daisies.
His feet were continually letting him down, in more ways than one. Eggbert had a deep ambition to capture a butterfly. Why this was we could not find out, for Eggbert could not tell us. All we knew was that screamers were supposed to be entirely vegetarian, but whenever a butterfly hovered within six feet of Eggbert his whole being seemed to be filled with blood-lust, his eyes would take on a fanatical and most un-vegetarian gleam, and he would endeavour to stalk it. However, in order to stalk a butterfly with any hope of success one has to keep one’s eyes firmly fixed on it. This Eggbert knew, but the trouble was that as soon as he watched the butterfly with quivering concentration, his feet, left to their own devices, would start to play up, treading on each other’s toes, crossing over each other, and sometimes even trying to walk in the wrong directions. As soon as Eggbert dragged his eyes away from his quarry, his feet would start to behave, but by the time he looked back again the butterfly would have disappeared.

1. Give a word or short phrase that means the same as the following: bane, insubordination, disassociated, maliciously and blood-lust. (5)

2. Explain each of the following phrases: these hateful extremities, with quivering concentration, left to their own devices. (3)

3. What is meant by the words “he had lulled them into a false sense of security”? (1)

4. Comment on the effectiveness of the words, “ the airy grace of a dried thistle-head”? (1)

5. How does the writer convince us that Eggbert feels his feet don’t really belong to him? (2)

6. Briefly explain the phrase “make an exhibition of himself”. (1)

7. Explain the meaning of “his eyes would take on a fanatical…gleam” (1)

8. What do we learn about the writer Gerald Durrell in this piece of writing? (1)

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