「我有個朋友，兩個兒子的母親，她老公是英國人，家裏說英語，
（簡單來説，要入讀英國的頂尖公立中學和私校，就必須在11-
報道無罪 知情有價 請即訂閱《追新聞》：
https://www.patreon.com/thechasernews
對在本地學校讀書的香港學生來說，11 Plus的英文卷自然更難，因本地學校給學生做的閱讀理解題目，
我的經驗是，幫香港學生克服對11 Plus reading comprehnsion section的恐懼的方法之一，是我也參與回答問題的過程中：
Below is my demonstration of how 11 Plus reading comprehension can be taught:
Question
Re-read lies 56-71. Explain how the writer makes this a tense moment in the story. You should support your answer with evidence selected from these two paragraphs. (6 marks)
He pressed on; maybe he’d imagined it. No. There it came again. A definite bump. He peered down into the water and in the dim light he saw them… hundreds of them, a seething mass in the water, balled up and tangled together like the writhing hair of some underwater Medusa. Eels. All around him. Eels of all sizes, from tiny black silvers to huge brute twice the length of the one he’d caught. The water was alive with them, wriggling, twisting, turning over and over…They surged against his legs and he stumbled. His wounded hand splashed down into the water and he felt hungry mouths tug the blooded handkerchief from his hand and drag it away into the murky depths.
He panicked, tried to run for the shore but slipped and, as his feet scrabbled to get a hold, he tumbled into the deep part of the loch. For a moment his head went under and he was aware of eels brushing against his face. One wrapped itself round his neck and he pulled it away with his good hand. Then his feet touched the bottom and he pushed himself up to the surface. He gulped in a mouthful of air, but his waders were filled with water now…water and eels, he could feel them down his legs, trapped by the rubber.
Student’s response
The writer makes a tense moment in the story because there were eels circling round him, as the eels were of all sizes and the water was alive with them.
Michelle’s response
When the writer first introduces the eels, he uses a series of short sentences to indicate their presence: “Maybe he’d imagined it. No. There it came again. A definite bump.” In doing so, he succeeds in creating an atmosphere of suspense: is there an eel or not?
To highlight the horror of the eels, the writer compares them to “the writhing hair of some underwater Medusa,” making an allusion to that monster in Greek myth that has a hair of snakes.
To let the reader appreciate the danger the boy is in, the writer makes a point of describing how, after the eels have torn the bloodied handkerchief off the boy, the handkerchief is dragged by the eels “into the murky depths.” The implication is if the boy loses his footing again, he, too, may end up in waters that are dark and unimaginably deep.
When the boy rises to the surface of the lake and discovers the mere act of swimming upwards has resulted in so many eels slipping into his waders (“his waders were filled with water now…water and eels, he could feel them down his legs, trapped by the rubber”), the reader has a more vivid idea of just how many eels there are in the lake.
Michelle Ng
英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。
聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com
逢周日英國時間晚上8時 / 周一香港時間凌晨3時刊出
