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Secondary three students in Singapore took their O-Level listening comprehension (LC) examinations on Jul. 4.
I'm pretty sure some of us remember the signature soundtrack that played during the Mother Tongue LC.
However, what was interesting this time was the passage that was narrated during the Chinese subject paper.
What was the passage about?
The passage read out during the Chinese LC was apparently based on a tale that was thought to be true back in the early 2000s.
According to a Mothership reader who took the paper, it tells the story of a hospital finding a dead patient in the same bed every Friday morning.
There seemed to be no obvious cause of the patients’ deaths, so a doctor hid in the room to investigate.
It turned out that a cleaner would enter the ward every Friday morning, remove the plug that powered the patients’ life support machine, plug in the vacuum cleaner and carry out regular cleaning.
The story seemingly originated from Pelonomi Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, but sources have confirmed that it was untrue.
Reactions to story
The fictional tale took students by storm, with some taking to TikTok to make memes, reactions and reenactments.
@justingurman.25 The janitor is a baddie fr #olevels #olevels2023 #olevelchinese #chineselc #janitor #hospital ♬ Reminder - The Weeknd
@youveryslay i cant belive this was in LC and its actually a real thing that happened 😭😭#olvl #chineselc #LC #sg #sgtoktok ♬ Comedy Scenes - Comical, stupid, silly, loose, comical, farce(1295330) - Ponetto
@vantagetutor 据说这是个真实故事喔！#olevels #chinese #funniesttutoralive #搞笑行动 ♬ original sound - Vantage Tutor
@tr4._.cyy DONT even talk about lc. #fypシ #olevels #olevels2023 #chineseolevels #chineseolevel2023 #gcse #06 #07 #cambridge #chineseolevelisoveryay #olevelchinese ♬ original sound - <3
Reactions were mixed - a portion were dumbfounded, some were entertained, while others just could not take it seriously.
Of course, being students, some also discussed the answers to the LC’s multiple choice questions.
Very interesting.
Top image via TikTok/@vantagetutor, @happypei520, @youveryslay