Page 15 - PRAKTIS HEBAT SPM ENG TG4

English Form 4 Answers

Practice 2 Practice 3

Social networking plays an important role in communication. “Time and tide wait for no man”. Describe how you
Discuss. learned to appreciate time.
Walk up to any teenage boy or girl with a handphone I was only 3 years old when my parents passed away
on the streets and ask if they have a Facebook or Instagram in a car accident. It was devastating to lose your parents but
account, and very rarely will you get a negative response. as a child, I was immune to the heartbreak. I simply didn’t
When the Internet first became widespread in the 1990s, little know what was going on. All I remember was that from then
did we know just how far we will come in terms of connectivity on, instead of “mama” and “papa”, “gramps” became the
a mere decade down the road. Back in the days, emails new constant in my life. Gramps was the one who woke me
were thought to be the peak of modern communication. It up at the crack of dawn and sent me off to shower while he
is paperless, instantaneous, relatively cost-free and you can cooked breakfast for me. And Gramps was the one who sent
even attach a photo with your message! How wonderfully me to school on his ancient motorbike, making sure to avoid
amazing is that? any potholes so that I would not be awakened from my on-
Fast forward a few years and you won’t even have to the-way-to-school nap.
type out an entire email and send them to individual people Under Gramps’ care, I flourished as a student. I scored
to keep in touch with them. Nowadays, you can just upload straight As in UPSR and was offered a place in one of the
a photo onto a website with a quirky caption and in the next country’s top boarding schools. But I wasn’t ready to leave
minute, your entire “friends” list would have seen, “liked” and home just yet, so I turned down the offer. For the next
commented on it. Welcome to the age of social networking. few weeks, Gramps wouldn’t even look at me in the eyes
The term “social networking” is pretty self-explanatory. because he thought that I had made a terrible mistake.
It is a network of people with whom you socialise. The In order to prove to Gramps that I had made the right
only thing it doesn’t highlight is the fact that much of those choice, I studied extra hard in secondary school. I was the
interaction happens virtually. Social networking sites are best student for SPM for my year in our district. This time
websites that allow you to create a profile for yourself where around, Gramps was slightly ahead of me. By the time I
you can share details about your daily life. If you know got home, Gramps already had the application forms for 6
someone with a profile on the same website, you can “add” different scholarships lined up on the table. For someone
them as friends. That way you can view their profiles, their who couldn’t even read the newspaper, Gramps sure was
photos and videos, send them messages, and even chat resourceful when he wanted to do something. He made sure
with them in real time if they happen to be online at the same I would not miss out on anymore opportunities.
time. With Facebook’s latest reboot, you can even upload To humour him, I filled out the applications, thinking all
Word documents onto the website for your friends to view the while that I probably wouldn’t even get a single reply.
and download. Any of your communication needs can met How can a small town boy like myself win over all those
with just one website. sophisticated city kids from prestigious schools? So imagine
However, the reaches of social networking are not my surprise when I was called for interviews with not just
confined to only those that you know personally. With one but all six of the scholarships that I applied for. Gramps
Instagram for example, you can set your account to “Public”, simply leaned back on his old rocking chair with a knowing
meaning it is accessible by people who are not on your smile on his face when I told him the news.
immediate list of followers and the next thing you know, the I eventually accepted a scholarship to study business in
photo you just uploaded will be viewable to users across the Kuala Lumpur. As I waved at Gramps from the bus window,
world. All they need to do is to look up certain key words I vowed to visit him as much as I could. Little did I know
that you would have included with your photo also known as that even the best laid plans can go awry. Kuala Lumpur
“tags”. Human connectivity has never been faster or more is a huge place, filled with sights and sounds I had only
effective. Social networking is no longer just for keeping in ever dreamed of back in the village. Every other day, there
touch with the people that you know; social networking also was something new and interesting to explore. My weekly
allows you to meet people. visits became fortnightly visits and eventually, monthly visits.
More recently, thanks to the ingenuity of internet During my final year of college, I only went home once a
users, this wonderful element of the internet has been put year during the festive season. I figured once I graduated, I
to many good use. People upload and share information would be able to visit more.
about charitable projects and community events to generate But after graduation, came work which took me even
attention and support. Talented musicians upload sound clips further away from Gramps. My once-a-year trip home
and videos onto the internet, building a fanbase along the way became a half-an-hour phone call on the way to my next
and the next thing you know, they have been “discovered”. appointment. Before I knew it, it has been 10 years since
Justin Bieber is one extremely successful case in point. I left that small fishing village I used to call home. By then,
People with similar interests share personal experiences and Gramps was no longer the robust man he used to be as his
tips online and form specialised communities based on their heart continuously gave him problems. One day, I decided to
passion. All of these are examples of social networking at its bring him to Kuala Lumpur to see a specialist. The morning
finest. I was due to drive home, I got a call from Kak Anang, our
In the years to come, social networking is set to evolve neighbour in the village. I knew even before I answered the
even further. Seeing as to how social networking has already call that Gramps was gone. It felt as if someone had pulled
successfully reinvented human communication once, the the plug on my world because all of a sudden, there was
possibilities are truly endless. nothing but darkness.

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10 ANS PRAK HEBAT ENG F4.indd 5 02/03/2020 3:25 PM