Part A Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. The annual campaign to make Singapore's three million people more polite ended yesterday and was immediately followed by another drive to get them to be punctual. Tardiness is not yet a criminal offence in the island republic, and the National Punctuality Working Committee can only use gentle persuasion. 'Being on time means being considerate,' said committee chairman Toh Weng Cheong. Previous drives made little headway in changing a deeply rooted habit that seems oddly out of place in this otherwise efficient city-state. Tardiness at dinner parties is usually attributed to Chinese tradition, a belief that older and more important guests were expected an entrance after the others. Meanwhile, officials will assess the results of the 15th annual courtesy campaign, a HK ￥2.4 million drive to persuade Singaporeans to mind their manners. Earlier courtesy campaigns used posters, films, advertisements in newspapers and magazines to portray considerate behavior. The publicity this year stressed courtesy through examples of discourtesy. Few countries use elaborate public campaigns to change behavior. and raise civil consciousness. It has been a way of life in Singapore for more than 30 years. Some, like the courtesy drive, deal with basic habits and culture. October was first declared 'Speak Mandarin Month' in 1978, an effort to wipe out regional Chinese dialects in favor of the official, tongue. Others focus on problems of the day. The police launched a drive in 1989 to stop abuse of the emergency phone number 999, because one call in five was of the nuisance or non-emergency variety. Some campaigns have been so successful that they have been reversed. Family planners urged parents to 'Stop at Two' in 1978. Birth rates dropped from 3.5 per cent in 1960 to 1.2 percent in 1980, and families who can afford it are now encouraged to 'Have Three or More'. By the early 1980s, the growth of campaigns inspired one exhausted newspaper columnist to suggest a 'take your campaigns seriously campaign'. In the passage, the word 'tardiness' (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means______.