$5$($\displaystyle 1$) Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom, fear and anger are the reasons a gull's life is so short and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long, fine life indeed. ($\displaystyle 2$) They laughed at him. The other gulls scorned him. 'Such nonsense', they would squawk, as he practised flying, not for food but for the joy of flight itself. But Jonathan, undeterred, flew higher and faster than any gull before him. He learned that the secret to flight was not merely flapping wings, but in knowing the purpose of flying. ($\displaystyle 3$) 'Break the chain of your thought', he told himself, 'And you break the chains of your body.' In solitude, he mastered loops, dives and rolls. He flew at speeds that blurred the ocean below. The flock cast him out for defying tradition, he discovered that exile was not the end but a beginning. Alone, he found peace. Alone, he found the sky. ($\displaystyle 4$) One morning, soaring silently above the clouds, Jonathan was joined by two radiant gulls. Their wings shone with light and their presence was calm and sure. 'We've been watching you', they said. 'You're ready to come with us.' 'Where ?' Jonathan asked blinking in the sunlight. 'To a higher level of being,' they answered. 'You have learned much but there is more - more to flying, more to being a gull.' ($\displaystyle 5$) He followed them into a realm where flight was pure thought and time had no meaning. There, gulls didn't fight over scraps of bread or squawk at one another in fear. They flew to understand themselves to explore the limitless. There Jonathan met Chiang, the wisest gull, who told him : 'The only true law is that which leads to freedom - there is no other.' ($\displaystyle 6$) Jonathan began to teach others what he had learned, sharing not just flight techniques but freedom of thought. 'You can go as far as you wish,' he would say. 'Because you have the right to learn. You have the right to be free.' No longer bound by rules, written in sand, Jonathan soared not just through the skies but through understanding. And as he flew, he knew that greatness is not measured in a wingspan but in the courage to break free. ($\displaystyle 365$ words) Source : Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach.

English Core · Reading: Discursive Passage