Precision is the path to Excellence

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.
1 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?"
2 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 5
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?" 10
3 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 15
or I can point 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
4 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
5 choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. 20
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
6 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 heard that 25
Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he
left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three
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 30
centre.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released
7 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?" 35
I declined to see his wounds, but asked him what had gone through his
8 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." 40
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry
9 continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.
 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." 45
"What did you do?" I asked.
10 "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry "She
11 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 50
am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, and also because of his amazing
12 attitude. I learned from him that every day, we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
55

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…
 Topic: Amazing Structures
Form 4 Weekly Reading Material 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 largest
mountaineering 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.