Arts (English Medium) कक्षा १२ - CBSE Important Questions for English Core

You are Prem/Prabha of College Road, Bhopal. You read the following advertisement in the local daily. Write a letter of application in 120-150 words for the post.

You are Sunil/Megha, School Leader of Sudheer Public School, Chennai. On the completion of 25 years of meritorious service to the cause of education, your school celebrated its Silver Jubilee with great pomp and show. The celebrations lasted three days and in the true tradition of the school, each day was devoted to a noble cause of service. Special attention was paid to Children With Special Needs, Old Age Home and Orphanages. Students shared experiences of voluntary service and the Theatre Club put up short skits highlighting social concerns. Write a report in 120-150 words about the event to be published in your school magazine.

Q1 Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

1. Too many parents these days can't say no, As a result, they find themselves raising 'children' who respond greedily to the advertisements aimed right at them. Even getting what they want doesn't satisfy some kids; they only want more. Now, a growing number of psychologists, educators, and parents think it's time to stop the madness and start teaching kids about what's really important: values like hard work, contentment, honesty, and compassion. The struggle to set limits has never been tougher ‒ and the stakes have never been higher. One recent study of adults who were overindulged as children paints a discouraging picture of their future: when given too much too soon, they grow up to be adults who have difficulty coping with life's disappointments. They also have a distorted sense of entitlement that gets in the way of success in the workplace and in relationships.

2. Psychologists say that parents who overindulge their kids set them up to be more vulnerable to future anxiety and depression. Today's parents themselves raised on values of thrift and self-sacrifice, grew up in a culture where no was a household word. Today's kids want much more, partly because there is so much more to want. The oldest members of this generation were born in the late 1980s, just as PCs and video games were making their assault on the family room. They think of MP3 players and flat-screen TV as essential utilities, and they have developed strategies to get them. One survey of teenagers found that when they crave something new, most expect to ask nine times before their parents give in. By every measure, parents are shelling out record amounts. In the heat of this buying blitz, even parents who desperately need to say no find themselves reaching for their credit cards.

3. Today's parents aren't equipped to deal with the problem. Many of them, raised in the 1960s and '70s, swore they'd act differently from their parents and have closer relationships with their own children. Many even wear the same designer clothes as their kids and listen to the same music. And they work more hours; at the end of a long week, it's tempting to buy peace with 'yes' and not mar precious family time with conflict. Anxiety about the future is another factor. How do well-intentioned parents say no to all the sports gear and arts and language lessons they believe will help their kids thrive in an increasingly competitive world? Experts agree: too much love won't spoil a child. Too few limits will.

4. What parents need to find, is a balance between the advantages of an affluent society and the critical life lessons that come from waiting, saving, and working hard to achieve goals. That search for balance has to start early. Children need limits on their behaviour because they feel better and more secure when they live within a secure structure. Older children learn self-control by watching how others, especially parents act. Learning how to overcome challenges is essential to becoming a successful adult. Few parents ask kids to do chores. They think their kids are already overburdened by social and academic pressures. Every individual can be of service to others, and life has meaning beyond one's own immediate happiness. That means parents eager to teach values have to take a long, hard look at their own.

(a) Answer the following:

Read the passage carefully.

1. I remember my childhood as being generally happy and can recall experiencing some of the most carefree times of my life. But I can also remember, even more vividly, moments of being deeply frightened. As a child, I was truly terrified of the dark and getting lost. These fears were very real and caused me some extremely uncomfortable moments.

2. Maybe it was the strange way things looked and sounded in my familiar room at night that scared me so much. There was never total darkness, but a street light or passing car lights made clothes hung over a chair take on the shape of an unknown beast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw curtains move when there was no breeze. A tiny creak in the floor would sound a hundred times louder than in the daylight and my imagination would take over, creating burglars and monsters. Darkness always made me feel helpless. My heart would pound and I would lie very still so that 'the enemy' wouldn't discover me.

3. Another childhood fear of mine was that I would get lost, especially on the way home from school. Every morning, I got on the school bus right near my home ‒ that was no problem. After school, though, when all the buses were lined up along the curve, I was terrified that I would get on the wrong one and be taken to some unfamiliar neighbourhood. I would scan the bus for the faces of my friends, make sure that the bus driver was the same one that had been there in the morning, and even then ask the others over and over again to be sure I was in the right bus. On school or family trips to an amusement park or a museum, I wouldn't  let the leaders out of my sight. And of course, I was never very adventurous when it came to taking walks or hikes because I would go only where I was sure I would never get lost.

4. Perhaps, one of the worst fears I had as a child was that of not being liked or accepted by others. First of all, I was quite shy. Secondly, I worried constantly about my looks, thinking people wouldn't like me because I was too fat or wore braces. I tried to wear 'the right clothes' and had intense arguments with my mother over the importance of wearing flats instead of saddled shoes to school. Being popular was very important to me then and the fear of not being liked was a powerful one.

5. One of the processes of evolving from a child to an adult is  being able to recognise and overcome our fears. I have learnt that darkness does not have to take on a life of its own, that others can help me when I am lost and that friendliness and sincerity will encourage people to like me. Understanding the things that scared us as children helps to cope with our lives as adults.

(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary.

(b) Make a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes made and also suggest a suitable title.

Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:

All lovely tales that we have heard or read;
An endless fountain of immortal drink.
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) What is the thing of beauty mentioned in these lines?
(c) What image does the poet use in these lines?

Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:

With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal...
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?

(i) Who are 'them' referred to in the first line?
(ii) What tempts them?
(iii) What does the poet say about 'their' lives?

Answer any two of the following questions in about 30‒40 words:
(a) How does Kamala Das try to put away the thoughts of her ageing mother?

(b) Which is the exotic moment that the poet refers to in 'Keeping Quiet'?

(c) What are the difficulties that aunt Jennifer faced in her life?

Answer any six of the following questions in 30‒40 words:

(a) Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?

(b) Why did the peddler derive pleasure from his idea of the world as a rattrap?

(c) How is Mukesh different from the other bangle makers of Firozabad?

(d) What tempted Franz to stay away from school?

(e) Why did the maharaja ban tiger hunting in the state?

(f) How was the skunk's story different from the other stories narrated by Jack?

(g) Which words of her brother made a deep impression on Bama?

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Air pollution is an issue which concerns us all alike. One can willingly choose or reject a food, a drink or a life comfort, but unfortunately there is little choice for the air we breathe. All, what is there in the air is inhaled by one and all living in those surroundings.

 2. Air pollutant is defined as a substance which is present while normally it is not there or present in an amount exceeding the normal concentrations. It could either be gaseous or a particulate matter. The important and harmful polluting gases are carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ozone and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. The common particulate pollutants are the dusts of various inorganic or organic origins. Although we often talk of the outdoor air pollutions caused by industrial and vehicular exhausts, the indoor pollution may prove to be as or a more important cause of health problems.

 3. Recognition of air pollution is relatively recent. It is not uncommon to experience a feeling of 'suffocation' in a closed environment. It is often ascribed to the lack of oxygen. Fortunately, however, the composition of air is remarkably constant all over the world. There is about 79 per cent nitrogen and 21 per cent oxygen in the air − the other gases forming a very small fraction. It is true that carbon dioxide exhaled out of lungs may accumulate in a closed and over-crowded place. But such an increase is usually small and temporary unless the room is really air-tight. Exposure to poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide may occur in a closed room, heated by burning coal inside. This may also prove to be fatal.

 4. What is more common in a poorly ventilated home is a vague constellation of symptoms described as the sick-building syndrome. It is characterized by a general feeling of malaise, head-ache, dizziness and irritation of mucous membranes. It may also be accompanied by nausea, itching, aches, pains and depression. Sick building syndrome is getting commoner in big cities with the small houses, which are generally over-furnished. Some of the important pollutants whose indoor concentrations exceed those of the outdoors include gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and organic substances like spores, formaldehydes, hydrocarbon aerosols and allergens. The sources are attributed to a variety of construction materials, insulations, furnishings, adhesives, cosmetics, house dusts, fungi and other indoor products.

 5. By-products of fuel combustion are important in houses with indoor kitchens. It is not only the brining of dried dung and fuelwood which is responsible, but also kerosene and liquid petroleum gas. Oxides of both nitrogen and sulphur are released from their combustion.

 6. Smoking of tobacco in the closed environment is an important source of indoor pollution. It may not be high quantitatively, but significantly hazardous for health. It is because of the fact that there are over 3000 chemical constituents in tobacco smoke, which have been identified. These are harmful for human health.

 7. Micro-organisms and allergens are of special significance in the causation and spread of diseases. Most of the infective illnesses may involve more persons of a family living in common indoor environment. These include viral and bacterial diseases like tuberculosis.

 8. Besides infections, allergic and hypersensitivity disorders are spreading fast. Although asthma is the most common form of respiratory allergic disorders, pneumonias are not uncommon, but more persistent and serious. These are attributed to exposures to allergens from various fungi, molds, hay and other organic materials. Indoor air ventilation systems, coolers, air-conditioners, dampness, decay, pet animals, production or handling of the causative items are responsible for these hypersensitivity − diseases.

 9. Obviously, the spectrum of pollution is very wide and our options are limited. Indoor pollution may be handled relatively easily by an individual. Moreover, the good work must start from one’s own house

(Extracted from the Tribune)

 (a) (i) What is an air pollutant? (1)

(ii) In what forms are the air pollutants present? (2)

(iii) Why do we feel suffocated in a closed environment? (1)

(iv) What is sick building syndrome? How is it increasing? (2)

(v) How is indoor smoking very hazardous? (1)

(vi) How can one overcome the dangers of indoor air pollution? (2)

(b) Find the words from the above passage which mean the same as the following: (3)

(i) giddiness (para 4)

(ii) constant (para 8)

(iii) humidity (para 8)

Answer any three of the following questions in 30-40 words each:

(a) What did M. Hamel tell them about the French language? What did he ask them to do and why?

(b) Why does Asokamitran call Subbu, ‘a charitable and improvident man’?

(c) How did the instructor turn Douglas into a swimmer?

(d) Why did Sophie like her brother, Geoff more than any other person?

Answer the following in 30-40 words each:

(a) Why do you think the booking clerk refused to accept the money? Why did the narrator get out so fast?

(b) Why could the Russian research vessel, ‘The Akademik Shokaskiy’ not move any further? What did the captain decide then?

(c) What sort of hunts did the Maharaja offer to organize for the high-ranking British officer? What trait of the officer does it reveal?

(d) What did Jo want the wizard to do when Mommy Skunk approached him?

The Last Lesson shows that people suddenly realised how precious their language was to them.
Comment.

“You realise the true value of a thing only on losing it.” Comment on this statement in the light of the story, The Last Lesson.

Read the given extract and answer the questions.

1. List any two sensory details present in this extract.     (1)
2. Why does the protagonist feel anxious about entering the classroom on this particular day?      (1)
   1. The classmates have started the lesson
   2. The teacher is in a bad mood
   3. The classroom is too quiet
   4. The protagonist is running late
3. Complete the sentence appropriately.      (1)
   The phrase "as quiet as Sunday morning" suggests that ______.
4. Pick evidence from the extract that helps one infer that this was not the protagonist’s first time being late to school.       (1)
5. What does the term 'terrible iron ruler' indicate about M. Hamel?      (1)
6. Which of the following headlines best suggests the central idea of the extract?     (1)
   1. The Fears of a Latecomer
   2. The Importance of Punctuality
   3. The Rigidity of the School System
   4. The Anxiety of a Young Student

What change did Saheb feel working at the tea shop ?

What do we come to know about the author of Lost Spring, Anees Jung, through her interactions with Saheb and Mukesh?

Read the given extract and answer the questions.

1. What is the writer’s purpose in allowing the boys to speak for themselves via dialogue, as opposed to only a writer’s commentary?    1
2. The line, "It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot" can be best classified as:    1
   1. A fact
   2. An opinion
   3. A theme
   4. A plot point
3. Explain any one possible inference that can be drawn from the line, "an army of barefoot boys who appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon”.     1
4. Identify the line from the text that bears evidence to the fact that the writer's association with the boys is not a recent one.    1
5. Based on the context provided in the extract, select the most likely comment that the writer would have made, based on the boy's reaction to the mismatched shoes.      1
   1. "Why are your shoes mismatched? That's not a good look."
   2. "Don't worry about your shoes, you can wear a matching pair later."
   3. "I like your shoes. What matters is that they protect your feet."
   4. "Have you chosen to mismatch your shoes?"
6. Complete the sentence with ONE word.      1
   The phrase "he answers simply", suggests that the boy's response to the writer's question about why he wasn't wearing chappals was ______.

How did the peddler feel after robbing the crofter? What course did he adopt and how did he react to the new situation? What does his reaction reveal?

When and how did the peddler realise that he had fallen into a rattrap ? How could he get out of it ? 

Mistaken identity led to a discovery of a new one for the rattrap peddler. How did this impact him?