English Set B 2015-2016 HSC Commerce (English Medium) 12th Standard Board Exam Question Paper Solution

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

So what is a city? It's a dense amalgamation of buildings and people. A city must provide equity and also be sustainable. As an architect who has been closely connected with Delhi and its planning, my wish list is more about the direction we need to take so that future generations don 't end up living in chaotic dysfunctional cities.
       The first requirement for a city is a pragmatic plan. Many of our cities such.as Delhi and Bhubaneswar and even Port Blair in the Andamans have reasonably good master plans. Many also have City Development Plans which have been made an essential requirement to draw funds. from the government's Urban Renewal Programme (JNNURM). But they should be updated frequently based on the changing needs of its people.
        And let's not forget its citizens - they need to be more pro-actively involved when evolving master plans. But often, there's lack of planning and inadequate implementation systems. This applies to all essential components of a city-streets, public transport system, traffic management, affordable housing, cars and parking, drainage. water supply, sewerage, and garbage. Any deficiency in these will lead to poor quality cities that won't be able to handle the pressure of increased population and changing needs.
      The second require1nent of a good city is good social infrastructure such as parks and places for leisure such as rivers and seafronts. It needs to preserve and protect its heritage. We are a nation with a rich diversity in culture, arts, and crafts.

Questions:
(1) What issue is raised in the above extract?
(2) What are the requirements for a good city?
(3) Why is it necessary to update our city development plan?
(4) Do you think unplanned cities make the life of its people
miserable? How?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) A city must provide equity and also be sustainable.
(Rewrite the sentence using 'not only ...... but also'.)
(ii) Many of our cities have good master plans.
(Frame a Wh-question to get the underlined part as its answer.)
(iii) It needs to preserve and protect its heritage.
(Identify the tense used in the sentence.)
(6) Find out from the extract the words which mean:
(i) practical
(ii) blend

Do as directed :
Rewrite the following sentence by inserting the appropriate
articles wherever necessary :
I read interesting story from Mahabharata.

Do as directed:
Rewrite the following sentence using the appropriate prepositions :
One of the things that distinguishes man....... other animals is the power........... speech.

Do as directed:
Change the following into indirect speech:
Mother said, “Sunita, what did you buy from the market?” She said, “I bought a dictionary.”

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

Researchers recently announced the earth could actually withstand up to 200,000 times the current population. They arrived at this figure by calculating the amount of heat a human body emits, and only at 1·3 million billion would the earth be too hot to be habitable. And though it would feel like being ina can of sardines if that figure were ever reached, the earth is capable of comfortably sustaining a population several times the current 6·5 billion.
In fact, fertility is actually on the decline worldwide. Though the population has grown, the rate of growth has fallen sharply. Twenty years ago, the UN projected that the population would reach 11·I6 billion in 2050, today they say it will reach only 9·3 billion. Moreover, the human population will stabilize at about 11·5 billion. While this figure is almost twice the current one, it is hardly claustrophobic.
True, the demands on resources are heavy even now, but this is more due to the manner in which these resources are being used. In fact, figures show that a bigger population does not amount to greater consumption. Over 20% of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditure - the poorest 20% a tiny 1·3%. With just 5% of the world's population, the US consumes about 40% of the world's resources. Would you say the US is overpopulated?
  Concerns on the scarcity of food are equally baseless. In fact, global food production has actually kept up with population growth. If people starve in many countries it is not because food is becoming scarce; it is because those people cannot afford it.

Questions:
(1) What conclusions did the researchers arrive at?

(2) How does the writer explain that fertility is on the decline?

(3) What does the extract predict about the fear of scarcity of food?

(4) How will the population become a gift in the global market scene?

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) The earth could withstand up to 200,000 times the current population.
(Rewrite the sentence using the modal auxiliary showing 'certainty'.)
(ii) The earth would be too hot to be habitable.
(Remove 'too' and rewrite the sentence.)
(iii) These resources are being used.
(Rewrite the sentence beginning with, 'We ........... .')

(6) Write the antonyms of:
(i) habitable
(ii) stabilize

Read the following extract and complete the table given below :
   Computer Assisted Language Leaming (CALL) materials come in two main formats: CD/DVD RO Ms and Web-based. Some are tailored to the content to be used in the classrooms whereas others can be used independently. CALL materials allow you to work at your own pace.
   Multimedia materials offer you the opportunity to take part in other computer-assisted activities, such as text-based gap-filling, multiple-choice and text reconstruction activities. Language teachers often develop such text-based CALL activities to accompany a particular course. CALL materials can be regularly updated.
   Because CALL learning activity types are usually designed from a template, they can sometimes be repetitive.
   A major advantage of CALL materials is that they offer instant feedback on your spoken or written performance. However, such feedback can be limited. If you are more interested in creating your own responses or elaborating on your ideas, you may find this type of Facebook frustrating. Web-based CALL materials can offer more variety through the use of hyperlinks, but feedback is still limited.
Just as representations of the cultures of the target language offered by courses using books; audio and videotapes can perpetuate stereotypes.

(A) Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
   Chronic floods during the monsoon, on average, affect more than 30 million Indians annually Ironically, 60% of India's farmland, 66% of its livestock and its entire forest area depend on rains for survival.
   According to a recently released Central Water Commission (CWC) report, on an average, 7·21 million hectares (roughly 72,000 sq. km.) go under floodwater. This water typically ravages 3·78 million hectares of agricultural land, damaging crops worth Rs. 1, 118 crores annually.
   Heavy rains and floods account for nearly 1,700 lives lost annually. Apart from this, I ·25 lakh houses are annually damaged by torrential rains that also wipe out nearly 96,000 livestock.
   Floods are the most recurrent natural calamity, hitting India almost every year. According to the CWC's report on financial aspects of flood control, anti-sea erosion and drainage projects, it is not possible to provide absolute protection instantly to all flood-prone areas. It says that such an attempt will neither be practical nor economically viable.
   The CWC's analysis of floods in India from 1953 to 2011 shows a marginal decline in flood-affected areas over the years, the data shows 1977 1978 and 1979 were the worst-hit. The 1977 floods killed over 11,000 people, six-time the average for the 59 years, between 1953 and 2011. In terms of area and population affected, the floods of 1978 were the most destructive.
  In terms off the financial loss, recent floods have been far more destructive. The total loss of crops, houses and public utilities in 2009 was Rs. 32541 crores, the highest for any year.

Question
(1) What is the above extract about?

(2) How do floods adversely affect India?

(3) Why is it not possible to provide absolute protection to all flood-prone areas?

(4) How would you help the flood-affected people?

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) The floods of 1978 were the most destructive.
(Change the sentence into the 'positive degree'.)
(ii) Floods are the most recurrent natural calamity hitting India almost every year.
(Make it a complex sentence.)
(iii) Floods have been far more destructive.
(Rewrite the sentence using the Simple Present tense.)

(6) Give the meanings of:
(i) entire
(ii) calamity

(B) Write a brief summary of the above extract with the help of the points given below and suggest a suitable title.
Floods - natural, recurrent calamity in India - destroy life and property - no absolute protection - neither practical nor economically viable- floods in 1977 and 1978. 

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

If you do not get lowered in your own eyes
While you raise yourself in those of others,
If you do not give in to gossips and lies
Rather heed them not, saying, 'who bothers?'
You may be the person I am looking for.
If you crave not for praise when you win
And look not for sympathy while you lose,
If cheers let not your head toss or spin
And after a set-back, you offer no excuse,
You may be the person I and looking for.

(1) What should be your reaction towards gossips and lies?
(2) Who are your role models? Why?
(3) Give the rhyming pairs of words from the first stanza.
(4) Which line is repeated in this extract and what is its effect?

Read the follow ing extract and answer the questions given below:

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...

They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

(1) What makes a nation strong?
(2) According to you, what makes India a strong and powerful nation?.
(3) Write down the rhyme scheme used in the extract.
(4) What does the phrase 'others fly ... ' mean?

Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the Daisy, the flower:

[You may begin as: I was very happy ........... ]
         How happy the daisy was! No one has the least idea. The bird kissed it with its beak, sang to it, and then rose again up to the blue sky. It was certainly more than a quarter of an hour before the daisy recovered its senses. Half ashamed, yet glad at heart, it. looked over to the other flowers in the garden; surely they had witnessed its pleasure and the honour that had been done to it; they understood its joy. But the tulips stood more stiffly than ever, their faces were pointed and red because they were vexed. The peonies were sulky; it was well that they could not speak, otherwise, they would have given the daisy a good lecture. The little flower could very well see that they were ill at ease, and pitied them sincerely.
            Shortly after this, a girl came into the garden, with a large sharp knife. She went to the tulips and began cutting them off, one after another. "Ugh!" sighed the daisy, "that is terrible; now they are done for."
        The girl carried the tulips away. The daisy was glad that it was outside, and only a small flower - it felt very grateful. At sunset, it folded its petals and fell asleep, and dreamt all night of the sun and the little bird.

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between Roma and Herman, the narrator in about 8 to 10 sentences:
[You may begin with: (After dinner by the shore at Coney Island Roma and Herman started back by Sid's car.)
Roma: Where were you during the war, Herman?]

      The four of us drove out to Coney Island. Roma was easy to talk to, easy to be with. Turned out she was wary of blind dates too! We were both just doing our friends a favor. We took a stroll on the boardwalk, enjoying the salty Atlantic breeze, and then had dinner by the shore. I couldn't remember having a better time.

          We piled back into Sid's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been left unsaid between us. She broached the subject. "Where were you during the war?'' she asked softly.
    'The camps,' I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the irreparable loss. I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
   She nodded. "My family was hiding on a farm in Germany,
not far from Berlin," she told me. "My father knew a priest, and
he got us Aryan papers."
   I imagined how she must have suffered too, tear, a constant
companion. And yet here we were both survivors, in a new world.
  "There was a camp next' to the farm." Roma continued, "I
saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day".

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between Charles and Oliver in  about 120 words
[You may begin with: Charles: Hi Orlando! I am a famous wrestler ..... ]

   Frederick had a very famous wrestler, called Charles, in his court. He was champion of the country and had fought many brave and strong young men. Now, Orlando was a fine wrestler, too, and decided to try his strength against Charles. Charles came to see Oliver about this, asking him to persuade Orlando to give up his idea.
   'I am a professional wrestler, sir,' Charles explained to Oliver, 'and I must always fight to win, in order to keep my reputation. Anyone who fights me runs the risk of being badly hurt, Please warn your younger brother, and persuade him to change his mind.
   But the wicked Oliver thought this was a good opportunity to get rid of Orlando, so he told Charles all kinds of lies about the young man. lie pretended that Orlando was bad and ungrateful, and deserved any punishment which Charles could give him. I would rather you broke his neck than his finger,' Oliver said, 'and you have my permission to do. what you like with the boy.'
So Charles promised to do his best to kill Orlando. 'If he comes to the fight tomorrow, I'll give him his payment,' Charles said. 'If he can walk away after I have finished with him, never wrestle again.'

Write an application in response to the following advertisement using information given in the CV provided :

Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper highlighting in it the importance of cleanliness and the need for public participation in the cleanliness drive in your district

Write short paragraph in about 120 words to be used for the Counter - View section on the following topic:
“Science and Technology development have helped us in all walks of life”.
You may take help of the following points from the View section.

Imagine you have to interview an old woman who lives in an ‘old - age home’. Write a set of 8 to 10 questions for the interview. You may take help of the following points:

• Her family, reasons for being in an old-age home, her feelings and expectations, her advice, etc.

Imagine you have to give a speech on the topic ‘India’s Changing Villages’. Write a speech on it about 100 words.