Narrative text beserta soal dan pembahasan jawaban: Slingshot

Little Boy with a Slingshot 

Once upon a time Sammy and his sister Marie visited their grandparents at their farm. Sammy picked up a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practised in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for lunch. As he was walking back, he saw Grandma's pet duck. 

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly which hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the pile of woods. Marie had seen it all from the window, but she said nothing. After lunch, the next day Grandma said, "Marie, let's wash the dishes." Marie said, "But Grandma, Sammy told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." 

Then she whispered to Sammy, "Remember the duck?" Sammy got nervous knowing his sister knew about the duck and if he did not obey, she might tell his grandparents about it. So, without saying anything, he did the dishes. 

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing but Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Marie to help make a supper." Marie just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Sammy told me he wanted to help." 

She whispered again to Sammy, "Remember the duck?" So, Marie went fishing and Sammy stayed to help. After several days of Marie taking advantage of Sammy, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. 

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, "Sweetheart, I know. I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing but because I love you, I've forgiven you. I was just wondering how long you would let Marie take advantage of you." 

(Adapted from https://www.moralstories.org/little-boy-slingshot/.)

1. What kind of social situation has possibly inspired the creation of the story? 

A. Feeling reluctant to confess their mistakes so feel guilty all the time.

B. Holding ideas that confessing their mistakes is safer than hiding them.

C. Using people’s mistakes for taking advantage of them.
D. Being not responsible for the mistakes they have committed.

E. Hiding their mistakes without feeling guilty.

2. What can we learn from the story? 

A. Confess your mistakes and take away a load of guilt from your heart.

B. Other people may use your hidden mistake to make use of you.

C. By hiding your mistakes, you will feel guilty all the time.

D. We Should not take other people’s honesty for granted.

E. It is easier to make mistakes than to confess them. 

Catatan:
Ada yang mungkin memilih pilihan jawaban  `C. By hiding your mistakes, you will feel guilty all the time`. Namun, kalau kita kembali ke sumber bacaan (https://www.moralstories.org/little-boy-slingshot/), di situ penulis dengan jelas mengatakan bahwa moral "Moral: Always confess of your mistakes. It will take away a load of guilt from your heart ...". Hal in berarti seakan2 pembuat soal juga ke pilihan A. 

3. The underlined word in “Marie had seen it all from the window, …”(paragraph 2) refers to the event when Sammy…. 

A. killed the duck.

B. hid the dead duck.

C. attempted to hide his mistake.

D. was using a slingshot to kill the duck.

E. was practising using a slingshot to hit targets.

Soal in betul-betul menurut saya pribadi tidak mudah dibedakan pilihan jawabannya. Karena jelas bahwa dalam konteks di paragraf 2 yang dimaksud, Sammy membunuh (tanpa sengaja) duck it dan kemudian menymbunyikannya. Nah semua aktifitas ini dilihat langsung oleh Marie. Jadi, pada dasarnya pilihan A dan B bisa dibenarkan. Tapi, bisa juga dimaknai lebih umum yaitu yg dilakukan oleh Sammy adalah berusaha menyembunyikan kesalahannya, dg cara menyembunyikan duck yang terbunuh itu. Jadi, amannya kita bisa putuskan pilih jawaban C. attempted to hide his mistake saja. 

4. How are paragraph 3 and 5 related? 

A. Sammy’s guilt in paragraph 3 was forgiven in paragraph 5.

B. Both paragraphs show how Mary took advantage of Sammy’s mistake.

C. Both paragraphs show Mary and Sammy were very close to each other.

D. Sammy’s mistake in paragraph 3 was being used by Mary in paragraph 5.

E. Paragraph 3 is about Mary making use of Sammy’s guilt; paragraph 5 is about Sammy’s confession.

Referensi: Soal UN SMA 2019

Muhammad Ahkam Arifin Muhammad Ahkam Arifin is a Fulbright PhD student at Washington State University, US. He earned a master`s degree in TESOL from the University of Edinburgh & Applied Linguistics from the University of Melbourne.

Berbagi :