S4 English Practice Paper: Reading Comprehension and Writing (12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes)

Every Saturday afternoon, a small shop in Sham Shui Po opens its doors to broken things. The Repair Cafe was started in 2019 by two retired technicians who were tired of watching usable lamps, fans and radios go into the bin. Hong Kong households throw away about 3,600 tonnes of electrical waste every year, and a large share of it still works or can be fixed.

Inside, six volunteers sit at long tables with screwdrivers, testers and boxes of spare parts. A visitor arrives with a fan, a rice cooker or a bicycle, and waits while a volunteer explains what has gone wrong. Nothing is repaired without a conversation, because the rule of the cafe is that the owner must watch and learn. A small donation pays for the parts; the labour is free.

The cafe saves more than money. Last year it kept 1,100 items out of the landfill, and its monthly workshops taught 400 residents how to replace a plug or a fuse safely. For Mr Chan, a regular visitor, the value is different. “I came to fix a lamp,” he says, “but I stayed because I met my neighbours.”

In March a group of S4 students surveyed 240 classmates about their sleep. The results suggest that most of them sleep less than the eight to ten hours recommended for teenagers.

Hours of sleep a night | Students | Percentage
Less than 6 hours | 36 | 15%
6 to 7 hours | 84 | 35%
7 to 8 hours | 96 | 40%
More than 8 hours | 24 | 10%
Total | 240 | 100%

Students who slept less than seven hours were twice as likely to report falling asleep in class. The most common reason they gave was using a phone in bed: 152 students chose it, while 61 blamed homework and 27 blamed noise from the street.

The Student Council has asked the school to begin lessons at 8:30 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m., arguing that a later start would help the 6-to-7-hour group. Teachers point out, however, that the school bus timetable and the public examination timetable cannot be changed easily.