Week 32 · English Practice Paper

Reading Passage

Aim to spend no more than 25 minutes on this section.

A. Comprehension: The Glowing Lagoon

Welcome to Playa Luz, a sheltered lagoon on a small Caribbean island, and one of the brightest bioluminescent bays left in the world. Every night after sunset, from spring until the last weeks of autumn, the still water here fills with millions of microscopic organisms that glow a pale blue-green whenever they are disturbed. For visitors, gliding across the lagoon in a kayak after dark offers the most breathtaking experience, as each stroke of the paddle stirs the water into swirling ribbons of cold light. But for those who want something even closer, simply slip over the side of the boat and swim.

By the time our guide cut the boat's engine, the sky had turned a deep, starless black, and a few of the group were looking distinctly unsteady on their feet after the choppy crossing. Any discomfort was quickly forgotten, though, the moment somebody's hand broke the surface and came away trailing threads of blue-green fire. Delighted gasps went up on every side. Fish darted beneath the boat, each one outlined for a heartbeat in glowing light before vanishing into the dark water; a startled ray flashed past like a shooting star turned sideways, leaving a long, slow-fading trail behind it.

It is difficult to describe just how strange it feels to swim in water that lights up around you. Every kick, every wave of a hand, sends fresh sparks scattering outward, so that for a moment you seem to be swimming through a sky full of drowned stars. What makes Playa Luz so unusual is that the organisms here glow far more brightly, and for far longer, than almost anywhere else on Earth — a fact scientists still cannot fully explain. Floating alone in the dark, feeling the immense stillness of the lagoon all around, more than one visitor has admitted to feeling a small shiver of nerves, if only because it is impossible to see anything at all beneath the surface.

Reading Passage

Aim to spend no more than 25 minutes on this section.

C. Comprehension: The Rookery

When Juniper was only halfway along the fallen branch, the lookout crow gave a harsh caw and rose to her full height, wings spread and beating — sending the whole rookery into uproar. Two hundred birds took to the air at once. Juniper froze, though the damage seemed already done. The nearest crow teetered on her perch, screeched a warning, and flapped away shrieking, Danger! Close by Juniper's ears, a cluster of starlings burst from the hedge below, like dark confetti thrown into the wind. But Juniper did not flinch. She did not twitch a whisker, just pressed herself flat against the bark — mainly because she could think of nothing else to do. She turned her head sideways to keep the grit from her eyes ... and so finally saw what had startled the rookery.

A red kite. It must have drifted far from its usual hunting ground and strayed, quite by accident, into crow territory while riding the thermals above the wood. Being unfamiliar with the rookery's boundaries, it could not tell how unwelcome it was, and simply circled, wide and unhurried, on the warm air. Delighted despite herself, Juniper watched the lazy, unbothered circling of the "sky-thief," one moment drifting directly above a hundred shrieking crows, the next tilting away, indifferent, as the whole rookery mobbed and scattered around it. It alone had caused the panic. And as soon as it had drifted on beyond the wood's edge, the crows would settle, calling to one another, back into their nests.

Juniper took the chance, while the lookout crow was distracted overhead, to creep further along the branch toward the fork in the old oak. She edged forward — even began to climb the trunk itself — but hearing the beat of heavy wings return above her, froze into the stillness of a carved stone fox. Patiently, patiently, she waited, though her paws grew stiff with cold and midges gathered in a cloud around her ears. The crows circled, then dropped back, a dozen at a time. The lookout crow stood at the very top of the oak, wings half-open, all self-important fuss. Then she folded herself back onto her branch, feathers settling, and peered down at the rest returning to their nests.

Option 1: Write your description of the mixed blessing of keeping the magpie as a pet.

• Comment on the magpie's appearance, using precise and interesting vocabulary.
• Comment on the magpie's actions, showing both the pleasures and the frustrations it brings.
• Write in the first person, and check your spelling and punctuation carefully.