Narrative Text merupakan salah satu jenis teks dalam bahasa Inggris yang paling sering muncul dalam ujian, mulai dari tingkat SMP, SMA, hingga tes masuk perguruan tinggi. Fokus utama dari teks ini adalah menghibur pembaca melalui rangkaian peristiwa yang saling berkaitan, yang biasanya melibatkan konflik dan resolusi.
Memahami Narrative Text bukan sekadar menerjemahkan kata demi kata, melainkan menangkap pesan moral dan alur ceritanya. Dalam artikel ini, kita akan membedah secara tuntas lima contoh soal Narrative Text dengan berbagai genre—mulai dari legenda, fabel, hingga dongeng—lengkap dengan pembahasan mendalam untuk mengasah kemampuan analisis Anda.
Mengenal Struktur Narrative Text
Sebelum masuk ke contoh soal, penting bagi kita untuk mengingat kembali struktur umum (generic structure) dari sebuah narasi:
- Orientation: Pengenalan tokoh, latar tempat, dan waktu.
- Complication: Munculnya masalah atau konflik yang dihadapi tokoh utama.
- Resolution: Masalah mulai teratasi, baik berakhir bahagia (happy ending) maupun sedih (sad ending).
- Re-orientation/Coda: Pesan moral atau perubahan yang dialami tokoh (opsional).
Berikut adalah kumpulan latihan soal untuk meningkatkan pemahaman Anda.
Contoh Soal 1: Legend (The Legend of Surabaya)
Text: A long time ago, there were two animals, Sura and Baya. Sura was the name of a shark and Baya was a crocodile. They lived in a sea. Once Sura and Baya were looking for some food. Suddenly, Baya saw a goat. “Yummy, this is my lunch,” said Baya. “No way! This is my lunch. You are greedy,” said Sura. Then they fought for the goat. After several hours, they were very tired.
Feeling tired of fighting, they lived in the different places. Sura lived in the water and Baya lived in the land. The border was the beach, so they would never fight again. One day, Sura went to the land and looked for some food in the river. He was very hungry and there was not much food in the sea. Baya was very angry when he knew that Sura broke the promise. They fought again. They both hit each other. Sura bit Baya’s tail. Baya did the same thing to Sura. He bit very hard until Sura finally gave up and went back to the sea. Baya was happy.
Questions:
- What is the main conflict of the story?
- Why did Baya get angry with Sura?
Jawaban dan Pembahasan:
- Jawaban: The fight between Sura and Baya over food and territory.
- Pembahasan: Konflik utama dalam cerita ini adalah perselisihan antara Sura dan Baya yang dipicu oleh perebutan makanan (kambing) dan kemudian berlanjut pada pelanggaran batas wilayah.
- Jawaban: Because Sura broke the promise by looking for food on the land (in the river).
- Pembahasan: Baya marah karena Sura melanggar janji untuk tetap berada di wilayah air (laut), sementara Sura justru mencari makan di sungai yang merupakan wilayah daratan.
Contoh Soal 2: Fable (The Ant and the Dove)
Text: One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring. To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water.
She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked off a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry ground.
Just at that time, a hunter nearby was throwing out his net towards the dove, hoping to trap it. Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to safety.
Questions: 3. What can we learn from the story? 4. How did the dove help the ant?
Jawaban dan Pembahasan:
- Jawaban: One good turn deserves another (Good deeds will be repaid).
- Pembahasan: Pesan moral cerita ini adalah kebaikan akan dibalas dengan kebaikan. Merpati menolong semut, dan di akhir cerita, semut membalas budi dengan menolong merpati dari pemburu.
- Jawaban: By dropping a leaf into the water so the ant could climb on it.
- Pembahasan: Dalam teks disebutkan bahwa merpati menjatuhkan daun ke dekat semut agar semut bisa naik ke atasnya dan selamat dari tenggelam.
Contoh Soal 3: Fairy Tale (Cinderella)
Text: Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Cinderella. She lived with her stepmother and two stepsisters. They treated her very badly. One day, an invitation to the ball at the palace arrived. The stepsisters went to the ball, leaving Cinderella alone.
Cinderella was very sad and began to cry. Suddenly, a fairy godmother appeared. With a touch of her magic wand, she turned Cinderella’s rags into a beautiful gown and a pumpkin into a golden coach. “You must be home by midnight,” the fairy warned.
At the ball, the Prince fell in love with her. However, when the clock struck twelve, Cinderella ran away, leaving behind one of her glass slippers. The Prince searched every house for the owner of the slipper. Finally, he found Cinderella, and they lived happily ever after.
Question: 5. What happened when the clock struck twelve?
Jawaban dan Pembahasan:
- Jawaban: Cinderella ran away and lost one of her glass slippers.
- Pembahasan: Berdasarkan teks, saat jam berdentang dua belas kali, Cinderella segera pergi meninggalkan istana sesuai peringatan ibu peri, dan dalam keterburu-buruannya, ia kehilangan salah satu sepatu kacanya.
Contoh Soal 4: Folktale (The Legend of Malin Kundang)
Text: A long time ago, in a small village near the beach in West Sumatra, a woman and her son lived. They were Malin Kundang and his mother. His mother was a single parent because Malin Kundang’s father had passed away when he was a baby. Malin Kundang had to live hard with his mother.
Malin Kundang was a healthy, diligent, and strong boy. He usually went to sea to catch fish. After getting fish he would bring it to his mother, or sell the caught fish in the town. One day, when Malin Kundang was sailing, he saw a merchant’s ship being raided by a small band of pirates. He helped the merchant. With his brave and power, Malin Kundang defeated the pirates. The merchant was so happy and thanked to him. In return the merchant asked Malin Kundang to sail with him. To get a better life, Malin Kundang agreed. He left his mother alone.
Many years later, Malin Kundang became wealthy. He had a huge ship and was helped by many ship crews loading trading goods. Perfectly he had a beautiful wife too. When he was sailing his trading journey, his ship landed on a beach near a small village. The villagers recognized him. The news ran fast in the town; “Malin Kundang has become rich and now he is here”.
An old woman ran to the beach to meet the new rich merchant. She was Malin Kundang’s mother. She wanted to hug him, released her sadness of being lonely after so long time. Unfortunately, when the mother came, Malin Kundang who was in front of his well-dressed wife and his ship crews denied meeting that old lonely woman. For three times her mother begged Malin Kundang and for three times he yelled at her. At last Malin Kundang said to her “Enough, old woman! I have never had a mother like you, a dirty and ugly woman!” After that he ordered his crews to set sail. He would leave the old mother again but in that time she was full of both sadness and bitterness.
Finally, enraged, she cursed Malin Kundang that he would turn into a stone if he didn’t apologize. Malin Kundang just laughed and really set sail. In the quiet sea, suddenly a thunderstorm came. His huge ship was wrecked and it was too late for Malin Kundang to apologize. He was thrown by the wave out of his ship. He fell on a small island. It was really too late for him to avoid his curse. Suddenly, he turned into a stone.
Question: 6. What is the moral value of the story?
Jawaban dan Pembahasan:
- Jawaban: We must respect and love our parents, especially our mother.
- Pembahasan: Cerita Malin Kundang adalah pengingat keras agar seorang anak tidak menjadi durhaka kepada orang tua meskipun sudah sukses atau kaya raya. Hormat kepada orang tua adalah nilai utama dalam teks ini.
Contoh Soal 5: Myth (The Story of Rainbow)
Text: According to an old story, a long time ago, there was a beautiful woman named Nawang Wulan. She was actually a goddess from heaven who stayed on earth because she lost her magical shawl. She married a man named Jaka Tarub and had a daughter.
One day, Nawang Wulan found her shawl hidden in a rice barn. She realized Jaka Tarub had hidden it. She decided to go back to heaven. However, she told Jaka Tarub that whenever their daughter cried, he should build a tower and put the baby on top of it. She would come down to nurse the baby.
The myth says that the colorful bridge she used to descend from heaven to earth is what we now call a rainbow.
Question: 7. How did Nawang Wulan go back to heaven?
Jawaban dan Pembahasan:
- Jawaban: She used her magical shawl that she found in the rice barn.
- Pembahasan: Nawang Wulan bisa kembali ke kayangan setelah menemukan selendang sihirnya yang selama ini disembunyikan oleh suaminya, Jaka Tarub.
Strategi Menjawab Soal Narrative Text
Agar Anda bisa menjawab soal dengan cepat dan akurat, gunakan tips berikut:
- Skimming: Baca cepat untuk mendapatkan gambaran umum cerita (siapa tokohnya dan apa masalahnya).
- Scanning: Cari kata kunci pada pertanyaan, lalu temukan kata tersebut di dalam teks untuk jawaban yang lebih spesifik.
- Identifikasi Pesan Moral: Biasanya ditanyakan di akhir. Fokuslah pada bagaimana konflik diselesaikan; di sanalah letak pembelajarannya.
- Pahami Tenses: Narrative Text selalu menggunakan Past Tense (V2). Jika ada pertanyaan “What happened…”, pastikan Anda mencari kejadian di masa lalu dalam teks.
Latihan secara konsisten akan membuat Anda terbiasa dengan pola soal yang sering mengecoh. Semoga contoh soal dan pembahasan di atas membantu Anda meraih nilai terbaik dalam pelajaran Bahasa Inggris!
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