BECE English Language 2014 Paper 1 Past Questions

PASSAGE 1

In the days of my childhood, honey did not form any part of our diet. It was not important to us, anyway. Bread was not a thing you would see in our lives unless someone was returning home on leave from abroad. However, as most African medicine were mixed with honey, we all had a chance of tasting honey at one time or the other. We knew that honey is very sweet. Sometimes too, when our fathers were very pleased with themselves, they showed their pleasure by adding honey to their morning meals, usually prepared with milled corn. We children will struggle to do the washing up after such meals. This gave us a chance to taste the honey.
You can therefore imagine our delight when, one day on our way home from school, Dara told us that he had gone with his father to the farm one morning and had discovered a hive of bees. He had called his father’s attention to it. Later, his father told him how to collect the honeycombs.
You go very quietly near the beehive, hold a green leaf in your mouth and murmur certain magic words. Hold a long stick at the end of which a large quantity of tinder is set ablaze. Set the burning tinder on the hive. The bees are disturbed, some are burnt to death, and the other fly about to attack anyone around. But bees only sting you if you move any part of your body. If you remain rigid, they settle on you but do not sting.
In the confusion, you carefully stretch out your hand little and remove the honeycombs into the bag hanging round your neck. If you lick the honey at the spot and in their presence, the bees also attack you.

Seun Thomas Ajayi
Moremi: The Courageous Queen

PASSAGE 1

In the days of my childhood, honey did not form any part of our diet. It was not important to us, anyway. Bread was not a thing you would see in our lives unless someone was returning home on leave from abroad. However, as most African medicine were mixed with honey, we all had a chance of tasting honey at one time or the other. We knew that honey is very sweet. Sometimes too, when our fathers were very pleased with themselves, they showed their pleasure by adding honey to their morning meals, usually prepared with milled corn. We children will struggle to do the washing up after such meals. This gave us a chance to taste the honey.
You can therefore imagine our delight when, one day on our way home from school, Dara told us that he had gone with his father to the farm one morning and had discovered a hive of bees. He had called his father’s attention to it. Later, his father told him how to collect the honeycombs.
You go very quietly near the beehive, hold a green leaf in your mouth and murmur certain magic words. Hold a long stick at the end of which a large quantity of tinder is set ablaze. Set the burning tinder on the hive. The bees are disturbed, some are burnt to death, and the other fly about to attack anyone around. But bees only sting you if you move any part of your body. If you remain rigid, they settle on you but do not sting.
In the confusion, you carefully stretch out your hand little and remove the honeycombs into the bag hanging round your neck. If you lick the honey at the spot and in their presence, the bees also attack you.

PASSAGE 1

In the days of my childhood, honey did not form any part of our diet. It was not important to us, anyway. Bread was not a thing you would see in our lives unless someone was returning home on leave from abroad. However, as most African medicine were mixed with honey, we all had a chance of tasting honey at one time or the other. We knew that honey is very sweet. Sometimes too, when our fathers were very pleased with themselves, they showed their pleasure by adding honey to their morning meals, usually prepared with milled corn. We children will struggle to do the washing up after such meals. This gave us a chance to taste the honey.
You can therefore imagine our delight when, one day on our way home from school, Dara told us that he had gone with his father to the farm one morning and had discovered a hive of bees. He had called his father’s attention to it. Later, his father told him how to collect the honeycombs.
You go very quietly near the beehive, hold a green leaf in your mouth and murmur certain magic words. Hold a long stick at the end of which a large quantity of tinder is set ablaze. Set the burning tinder on the hive. The bees are disturbed, some are burnt to death, and the other fly about to attack anyone around. But bees only sting you if you move any part of your body. If you remain rigid, they settle on you but do not sting.
In the confusion, you carefully stretch out your hand little and remove the honeycombs into the bag hanging round your neck. If you lick the honey at the spot and in their presence, the bees also attack you.

PASSAGE 1

In the days of my childhood, honey did not form any part of our diet. It was not important to us, anyway. Bread was not a thing you would see in our lives unless someone was returning home on leave from abroad. However, as most African medicine were mixed with honey, we all had a chance of tasting honey at one time or the other. We knew that honey is very sweet. Sometimes too, when our fathers were very pleased with themselves, they showed their pleasure by adding honey to their morning meals, usually prepared with milled corn. We children will struggle to do the washing up after such meals. This gave us a chance to taste the honey.
You can therefore imagine our delight when, one day on our way home from school, Dara told us that he had gone with his father to the farm one morning and had discovered a hive of bees. He had called his father’s attention to it. Later, his father told him how to collect the honeycombs.
You go very quietly near the beehive, hold a green leaf in your mouth and murmur certain magic words. Hold a long stick at the end of which a large quantity of tinder is set ablaze. Set the burning tinder on the hive. The bees are disturbed, some are burnt to death, and the other fly about to attack anyone around. But bees only sting you if you move any part of your body. If you remain rigid, they settle on you but do not sting.
In the confusion, you carefully stretch out your hand little and remove the honeycombs into the bag hanging round your neck. If you lick the honey at the spot and in their presence, the bees also attack you.

PASSAGE 1

In the days of my childhood, honey did not form any part of our diet. It was not important to us, anyway. Bread was not a thing you would see in our lives unless someone was returning home on leave from abroad. However, as most African medicine were mixed with honey, we all had a chance of tasting honey at one time or the other. We knew that honey is very sweet. Sometimes too, when our fathers were very pleased with themselves, they showed their pleasure by adding honey to their morning meals, usually prepared with milled corn. We children will struggle to do the washing up after such meals. This gave us a chance to taste the honey.
You can therefore imagine our delight when, one day on our way home from school, Dara told us that he had gone with his father to the farm one morning and had discovered a hive of bees. He had called his father’s attention to it. Later, his father told him how to collect the honeycombs.
You go very quietly near the beehive, hold a green leaf in your mouth and murmur certain magic words. Hold a long stick at the end of which a large quantity of tinder is set ablaze. Set the burning tinder on the hive. The bees are disturbed, some are burnt to death, and the other fly about to attack anyone around. But bees only sting you if you move any part of your body. If you remain rigid, they settle on you but do not sting.
In the confusion, you carefully stretch out your hand little and remove the honeycombs into the bag hanging round your neck. If you lick the honey at the spot and in their presence, the bees also attack you.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.

PASSAGE II

My father could stand anything from his children, but the only thing he wouldn’t stand was having his children go out at night to join other noisy children in their moonlight play. He, therefore, made sure that the door was locked and that he went down on our sleeping mats in our room as early as possible.
On many occasions, we would lie on our mat and listen to the joyful noise and songs of other children. We would see our father as the most wicked man in the village, which was our world. After some time, however, we have come to accept this way of life without complaint.
But then, two cousins, who recently lost their father, came to live with us. They had been brought up differently and were not used to being kept indoors while other boys were playing outside.
They grew restless as the days passed and began to think of a way out. Soon they worked out a plan. They knew that my father usually went to sleep in the front room of the house after checking that we were locked up in our room, and that the gate was locked. In their plan, my cousin included me. It was that one of us would be left behind each night so as to lock the gate and the door of our room after the two who had sneaked out to play. We could do this in rotation. My father would find both the door and the gate locked and assumed we were safe inside.
I did not take kindly to this plan. However, after a lot of argument, I agreed to stay in every night and see to the locking and opening of the doors. My cousins were delighted, and this plan worked for many weeks.