Commerce (English Medium)
Science (English Medium)
Arts (English Medium)
Academic Year: 2016-2017
Date & Time: 8th March 2017, 12:30 pm
Duration: 3h
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Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. We sit in the last row, bumped about but free of stares. The bus rolls out of the dull crossroads of the city, and we are soon in open countryside, with fields of sunflowers as far as the eye can see, their heads all facing us. Where there is no water, the land reverts to desert. While still on level ground we see in the distance the tall range of the Mount Bogda, abrupt like a shining prism laid horizontally on the desert surface. It is over 5,000 metres high, and the peaks are under permanent snow, in powerful contrast to the flat desert all around. Heaven Lake lies part of the way up this range, about 2,000 metres above sea-level, at the foot of one of the higher snow-peaks.
2. As the bus climbs, the sky, brilliant before, grows overcast. I have brought nothing warm to wear: it is all down at the hotel in Urumqi. Rain begins to fall. The man behind me is eating overpoweringly smelly goat's cheese. The bus window leaks inhospitably but reveals a beautiful view. We have passed quickly from desert through arable land to pasture, and the ground is now green with grass, the slopes dark with pine. A few cattle drink at a clear stream flowing past moss-covered stones; it is a Constable landscape . The stream changes into a white torrent, and as we climb higher I wish more and more that I had brought with me something warmer than the pair of shorts that have served me so well in the desert .The stream (which, we are told rises in Heaven Lake) disappears, and we continue our slow ascent. About noon, we arrive at Heaven Lake, and look for a place to stay at the foot, which is the resort area. We get a room in a small cottage, and I am happy to note that there are thick quilts on the beds.
3. Standing outside the cottage we survey our surroundings. Heaven Lake is long, sardine-shaped and fed by snowmelt from a stream at its head. The lake is an intense blue, surrounded on all sides by green mountain walls, dotted with distant sheep. At the head of the lake, beyond the delta of the inflowing stream, is a massive snow-capped peak which dominates the vista; it is part of a series of peaks that culminate, a little out of view, in Mount Bogda itself.
5. "Swimming?" Mr. Cao says. "You aren't thinking of swimming, are you?"
6. "I thought I might," I confess. "What's the water like?"
7. He doesn't answer me immediately, turning instead to examine some receipts with exaggerated interest. Mr. Cao, with great off-handedness, addresses the air. "People are often drowned here," he says. After a pause, he continues. "When was the last one?" This question is directed at the cook, who is preparing a tray of mantou (squat white steamed bread rolls), and who now appears, wiping his doughy hand across his forehead. "Was it the Beijing athlete?" asks Mr. Cao.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, complete the statements given below with the help of options that follow:
(a) One benefit of sitting in the last row of the bus was that:
(b) The narrator was travelling to:
(c) On reaching the destination the narrator felt relieved because:
(d) Mount Bogda is compared to:
Answer the following questions briefly:
(e) Which two things in the bus made the narrator feel uncomfortable?
(f) What made the scene look like a Constable landscape?
(g) What did he regret as the bus climbed higher?
(h) Why did the narrator like to buy food from outside?
(i) What is ironic about the pair of trousers lent by Mr. Cao?
(j) Why did Mr. Cao not like the narrator to swim in the lake?
(k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. Thackeray reached Kittur along with a small British army force and a few of his officers. He thought that the very presence of the British on the outskirts of Kittur would terrorise the rulers and people of Kittur and that they would lay down their arms. He was quite confident that he would be able to crush the revolt in no time. He ordered that tents be erected on the eastern side for the fighting forces and a little away on the western slopes tents be put up for the family members of the officers who had accompanied them. During the afternoon and evening of 20thOctober, the British soldiers were busy making arrangements for these camps.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage complete the statements given below with the help of options that follow:
(ii) army officer
(iii) adviser to Rani of Kittur
(iv) treasury officer
(ii) enjoy life in tents
(iii) stay in the palace
(iv) give company to officers
(c) Why did Thackeray come to Kittur?
(d) Why did the Kittur officials refuse to give the desired assurance to Thackeray?
(e) What happened to the Horse Artillery?
(f) How do we know that the Rani was a noble queen?
(g) How in your opinion would the British women have felt after meeting the Rani?
(h) Why did the Rani refuse to meet Thackeray?
(i) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following :
ii. aggressive/refusing to obey (para 2)
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
The most alarming of man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrevocable; the chain of evil it initiates is for the most part irreversible. In this contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world; radiation released through nuclear explosions into the air, comes to the earth in rain, lodges into the soil, enters the grass or corn, or wheat grown there and reaches the bones of a human being, there to remain until his death. Similarly, chemicals sprayed on crops lie long in soil, entering living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death. Or they pass by underground streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation, sicken cattle, and harm those who drink from once pure wells.
It took hundreds of millions of years to produce the life that now inhabits the earth and reached a stage of adjustment and balance with its surroundings. The environment contained elements that were hostile as well as supporting. Even within the light of the sun, there were short wave radiations with power to injure. Given time, life has adjusted and a balance reached. For time is the essential ingredient, but in the modern world is no time.
The rapidity of change and the speed with which new situations are created follow the heedless pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature. Radiation is no longer the bombardment of cosmic rays; it is now the unnatural creation of man’s tampering with the atom. The chemicals to which life is asked to make adjustments are no longer merely calcium and silica and copper and all the rest of the minerals washed out of the rocks and carried in the rivers to the sea; they are the synthetic creations of man’s inventive mind, brewed in his laboratories, and having no counterparts in nature.
(a) On the basis of your understanding of the above passage make notes on it using headings and sub-headings. Use recognizable abbreviations (wherever necessary-minimum four) and a format you consider suitable. Also supply a title to it.
(b) Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words.
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
RJ Public School is located in a Central Government employees residential colony. Cultural Society of the school has decided to organise a fancy dress show on 25th of January in which each participant will wear the dress particular to his/her region. The aim is to show the cultural diversity of India. As Secretary write a notice in about 50words inviting the names of those who want to participate.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
An NGO has approached your school to offer book grants to the needy students. As Head girl of Sunshine Public School, Aram Bagh, write a notice in about 50 words asking students who are in need to put their requests into the box kept outside the Principal's office.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
You are Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ramnagar. The number of students in the computer class is increasing. Next year starting in April 2017, you will need 25 more computers in your lab. Write a letter in 120-150 words to the Commissioner, K.V. Sangathan for funds.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
You are Ashish/Nimmi Dhar B-94 Fort Road, Jammu. You have read the advertisement given below. You are qualified for the job. Write an application in 120-150 words along with a resume.
India Chemical Industries, Delhi
Accounts Officers
Qualification : B.Com.
Experience : Minimum 4 years
Job requirement: Maintaining books of accounts, preparation
of Balance Sheet etc.
Salary : Best in the industry
Apply to : Managing Director ICI,
B-12 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
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Our performance in Rio Olympics has told us that we do not pay enough attention to athletics and outdoor games. It is time we revised our attitude. Sports should be an important part of school's daily routine. Write an article in 150-200 words in 'Importance of Outdoor Games'. You are Sreeja/Thomas.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
Cultural Society Sunshine Public School, Nellore organised an adult literacy camp in its neighbourhood. Write a report in 150-200 words on the camp for your school newsletter. You are P.V. Sunitha, Secretary. Use the following clues :
no. of volunteers – hours spent in teaching – location of the class – chairs, blackboards – no. of people attending the camp – benefit.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
Your PGT English Ms. Geetha is a short story writer also. 'Sky is not Far' is a collection of her latest short stories. This book has won a national award. Write a speech in 150-200 words you will deliver in her honour in the morning assembly.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
'Private cars should be banned in the congested commercial areas of the cities.' Write a debate in 150-200 words either for or against the motion.
Chapter: [0.05] Writing Skills
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Far far from gusty waves these children's faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor;
The tall girl with her weighed-down head.
(a) Who are these children?
(b) Which figure of speech has been used in the first two lines?
(c) Why is the tall girl's head weighed down?
(d) What does the word, 'pallor' mean?
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
(a) Why are the tigers called Aunt Jennifer's tigers?
(b) How are they described here?
(c) How are they different from Aunt Jennifer?
(d) What does the word, 'chivalric' mean?
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words each:
(a) What did Franz wonder about when he entered the class that day?
(b) What shocking experience did Douglas have at YMCA pool?
(c) Why does Kamala Das compare her mother to 'a pale winter's moon'?
(d) What rich bountry has the heaven given us? (A Thing of Beauty)
(e) Why did the Maharaja have to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the British jewellers?
(f) What problem did Roger Skunk face when he went to play with his friends. How did he solve it?
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
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Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
Garbage to them is gold. How do ragpickers of Seemapuri survive?
Chapter: [0.012] Lost Spring
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
The peddler thinks that the whole world is a rattrap. This view of life is true only of himself and of no one else in the story. Comment.
Chapter: [0.013999999999999999] The Rattrap
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
Untouchability is not only a crime, it is inhuman too. Why and how did Bama decide to fight against it?
Chapter: [0.0208] Memories of Childhood
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
Good human values are far above any other value system. How did Dr. Sadao succeed as a doctor as well as a patriot?
Chapter: [0.0204] The Enemy
Answer the following question in 120-150 words :
Mrs. Hall is greedy but efficient in her business.
Attempt a character sketch of Mrs. Hall.
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Answer the following question in 120-150 words :
Nancy Lammeter is a typical country girl. Comment.
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
How does Dr. Cuss's encounter with Griffin end in a disaster?
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
What kind of life did Silas lead at Lantern Yard?
Chapter: [0.06] Reading Skills
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