GCSE English Language 2.0 – Dinosaurs – Paper 2

Section A – Reading

Read Text 1 (fiction) below and then answer Questions 1–2.

This extract is adapted from a story in which a group of explorers stumble upon a pterosaur rookery on a remote plateau.

A belt of brushwood led up to a tangle of rocks—the whole plateau was strewn with boulders. We were walking slowly towards these rocks, among bushes which reached over our waists, when we became aware of a strange low gabbling and whistling sound, which filled the air with a constant clamor and appeared to come from some spot immediately before us. Lord John held up his hand as a signal for us to stop, and he made his way swiftly, stooping and running, to the line of rocks.

We saw him peep over them and give a gesture of amazement. Then he stood staring as if forgetting us, so utterly entranced was he by what he saw. Finally he waved us to come on, holding up his hand as a signal for caution. His whole bearing made me feel that something wonderful but dangerous lay before us.

Creeping to his side, we looked over the rocks. The place into which we gazed was a pit, and may, in the early days, have been one of the smaller volcanic blow-holes of the plateau. It was bowl-shaped and at the bottom, some hundreds of yards from where we lay, were pools of green-scummed, stagnant water, fringed with bullrushes. It was a weird place in itself, but its occupants made it seem like a scene from the Seven Circles of Dante. The place was a rookery of pterodactyls.

There were hundreds of them congregated within view. All the bottom area round the water-edge was alive with their young ones, and with hideous mothers brooding upon their leathery, yellowish eggs. From this crawling flapping mass of obscene reptilian life came the shocking clamor which filled the air and the mephitic, horrible, musty odor which turned us sick.

But above, perched each upon its own stone, tall, gray, and withered, more like dead and dried specimens than actual living creatures, sat the horrible males, absolutely motionless save for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional snap of their rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went past them. Their huge, membranous wings were closed by folding their fore-arms, so that they sat like gigantic old women, wrapped in hideous web-colored shawls, and with their ferocious heads protruding above them.

Large and small, not less than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in the hollow before us.

Our professors would gladly have stayed there all day, so entranced were they by this opportunity of studying the life of a prehistoric age.

Read Text 2 (non‑fiction) below and answer Questions 3–4.

This is an edited extract from a collection of articles collated for the American Museum Journal. In this article, A museum curator explains evidence and display choices for duck-billed dinosaurs called Trachodonts.

We know more about the Trachodonts than any other dinosaurs. For not only are the skeletons more frequently found articulated, but parts of the skin are not uncommonly preserved with them, and in one specimen at least, so much of the skin is preserved that it may fairly be called a ‘dinosaur mummy.’ This specimen of Trachodon is in the American Museum, and beside it are two fine mounted skeletons of the largest size.

The following description of the Trachodon group is by Mr. Barnum Brown and first appeared in the American Museum Journal for April 1908:

“This group takes us back in imagination to the Cretaceous period, more than three millions of years ago, when Trachodonts were among the most numerous of the dinosaurs. Two members of the family are represented here as feeding in the marshes that characterized the period, when one is startled by the approach of a carnivorous dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus, their enemy, and rises on tiptoe to look over the surrounding plants and determine the direction from which it is coming.

“By thus grouping the skeletons in lifelike attitudes, the relation of the different bones can best be shown, but these of course are only two of the attitudes commonly taken by the creatures during life. Mechanical and anatomical considerations, especially the long straight shafts of the leg bones, indicate that dinosaurs walked with their limbs straight under the body, rather than in a crawling attitude with the belly close to the ground, as is common among living reptiles.’”

SECTION A – Reading

You should spend about 1 hour 10 minutes on this section.

Read Text 1 and answer Questions 1–2.

Q1. From lines 1–6, identify one way that the rookery is presented as dangerous. (1 Mark)

Q2. Read this extract.

But above, perched each upon its own stone, tall, gray, and withered, more like dead and dried specimens than actual living creatures, sat the horrible males, absolutely motionless save for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional snap of their rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went past them. Their huge, membranous wings were closed by folding their fore-arms, so that they sat like gigantic old women, wrapped in hideous web-coloured shawls, and with their ferocious heads protruding above them.

In the extract, how does the writer use language to make the dinosaurs seem revolting? Use examples from the extract and relevant subject terminology. (6 marks)

Read Text 2 in the Source Booklet provided and answer Questions 3–4.

Q3. Read this extract.

We know more about the Trachodonts than any other dinosaurs. For not only are the skeletons more frequently found articulated, but parts of the skin are not  uncommonly preserved with them, and in one specimen at least, so much of the skin is preserved that it may fairly be called a ‘dinosaur mummy.’

From the extract, identify one thing that the museum has learned about Trachodonts. (1 Mark)

Q4. The writer presents how museums reconstruct dinosaur life from fossils. How does the writer try to interest and engage the reader? You should include:

• the writer’s use of language
• the writer’s use of structure
• the effect on the reader.

Use examples from the whole text and relevant subject terminology. (10 Marks)

Questions 5–6 are on both Text 1 and Text 2.

Remember to refer to both texts in your answers.

Q5. Text 1 and Text 2 both people trying to understand dinosaurs. The experiences are different, but they share similarities. Write a summary giving three separate ways the experiences are similar. Support each separate similarity with evidence from both texts. (6 Marks)

Q6. Compare the writers’ ideas and perspectives about how we should view prehistoric creatures. You should compare:

• the main ideas
• the points of view
• the presentation of these ideas and views.

Use examples from both texts to support your comparison. (16 marks)

SECTION B – Writing

Answer ONE question in this section. You should spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

*7 Write an imaginative piece that starts with the line: ‘The fossil blinked.’

*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)

OR

*8 Write about a time when you, or someone you know, conducted an experiment. Your response could be real or imagined.

*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)

Sources:

Text One: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/139/139-h/139-h.htm

Text Two: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19302/19302-h/19302-h.htm