English Set B 2016-2017 HSC Commerce (English Medium) 12th Standard Board Exam Question Paper Solution

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

One day, King Amrit and Chandan were taking a walk on the terrace of the palace. The terrace offered a beautiful view of the surroundings, and they could see far into the distance. They spotted the weekly market from up there, with people in colourful clothes buying and selling all kinds of things. There was plenty to buy and people had money to buy too. There were no poor people to be seen anywhere. The King watched with a smile on his face. He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom. Like any good ruler, he was happy ·when his people were happy.
       He turned to Chandan and said, ''See how contented my people are. But I want to check this first-hand by talking to them. Tomorrow, summon people from all walks of life to the court, and I will ask them myself how they are doing.'' Chandan was used to the king's strange requests and went off to carry out this order.

       The next day, the King arrived in the court humming a happy tune to himself. Seeing all the people gathered there waiting for him, he was even more pleased. He cleared his throat and said in a loud voice, ''I have called you here to ask you a very important question. As your king, I need to know if all of you are contented. Do you have enough for your needs? Do you know anyone who is not happy about anything?''.

(1) What do you understand about the King from this extract?
(2) Why did the King want to talk to his people?
(3) How did the King come to know about the prosperity of his kingdom?
(4) According to you, what should the Government do for the bettennent of the poor people?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom.
(Make it a rhetorical question.)
(ii) Summon people from all walls of life to the court
(Rewrite it beginning with 'Let ..... ')
(iii) As soon as the King arrived in the court humming a
happy tune to himself, he cleared his throat.
(Rewrite it using 'No sooner .... than'.)

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) development
(ii) examine

Fill in the blank with appropriate article
J.R.D. Tata was an amazing personality. He always helped _______ poor in the country.

Do as directed :
They stood_______ silence as a mark honour to her._______
(Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions.)

Do as directed :
 ''Where are you going?'' he asked. ''Pune, Sir, my husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.''
(Change it into Indirect speech.)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
We commemorate so many special days such as Republic Day, Independence Day, Mother's Day and so on. Well, here is one day that deserves not only a commemoration but our total dedication - Earth Day, 22 April. At Sanctuary, we live our lives like every day is Earth Day, but we all believe that it would be, fantastic to remind our relatives, friends, neighbours, teachers, and elders on this day that protecting Mother Earth can end up making us both happy and safe.
Will you do something this Earth Day? Here's a handy list of things you can do-

(1) Cut Consumption: Consume as little as possible on Earth Day. This 'is a day·when you ca!l Refuse (to buy new things), Repair and Reuse (old stuff), Recycle (what you cannot reuse), Reject (stuff that is toxic or dangerous to the environment) and Renew (your purpose and resolve to protect the planet).

(2) Cut Energy: (a) Ditch the old incandescent bulbs and shift to CFLs or LEDs (Google both to find out more). (b) Walk or use public transport, try not to use private cars to save fuel. Carpool. Cut down on trips. Use Skype· instead of traveling for meetings. (c) Switch off unnecessary gadgets. (don't just use the remote .... walk to the mains!).

(3) Cut Waste: Start a waste segregation system in your building, school or neighbourhood. Compost organic waste, sell what you can to the raddi-wallah and give him a small token of.. appreciation also for he is protecting your world. Collect unused papers from old notebooks and make new ones from them.

(4) Cut out plastic: Speak to at least five shopkeepers in your area and tell them you and your friends will only use their shops if they move away from wasteful plastic packaging, particularly thin plastic bags.

(1) What do you understand from this extract?
(2) What steps can we take to keep our environment clean?
(3) Why should we commemorate Earth Day?
(4) What is your opinion regarding shifting to CFLs or LEDs?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) Earth Day deserves a commemoration and our total dedication.
(Use 'not only - but also'.)
(ii) Start a Waste Segregation System in your building.
(Rewrite it beginning with 'Let'.)
(iii) You can sell waste to the raddi-wallah and give him a
small token of appreciation.
(Replace the modal auxiliary by another showing 'obligation'.)
(6) What do the following words in the extract mean?
(i) resolve
(ii) toxic

Read the following extract and complete the note with the help of the clues provided : 
Vitamins are either fat-soluble (A, D, E, K) or water-soluble (B vitamins, including niacin, folic acid and riboflavin, and vitamin C). They consist mainly of the elements nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in bod)' fat, while water-soluble vita1nins are used or quickly excreted in the urine.
Vitamin A is essential for the eyes, skin, hair, and bones; the B vitamins help enzymes to function; C is essential for the formation of collagen; D helps the body absorb calcium; E prevents cell damage, and K helps blood clotting. Most vitamins cannot be produced by the body and so must be obtained directly from food.

VITAMINS

(A) Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
Oil is one of the world's major sources of energy. We depend on it as fuel for heating, transport, and generation of power.
For centuries, animal and vegetable oils have been used for cooking and as a source of artificial light. But it is mineral oil which meets most of the world's needs today.
Crude mineral oil comes out of the earth as a thick brown or black liquid with a strong smell. It is a complex mixture of many different substances, each with its own individual qualities. Most of them are combinations of hydrogen and carbon in varying proportions. Such hydrocarbons are also found in other forms such as bitumen, asphalt and natural gas. Mineral oil originates from the carcasses of tiny animals and from plants that live in the sea. Over millions of years, these dead creatures form large deposits under the sea bed and ocean currents cover them with a blanket of sand and silt. As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock and effectively shuts out the oxygen so preventing the complete decomposition of the marine deposits underneath. The layers of sedimentary rock become thicker and heavier. Their pressure produces heat, which transforms the tiny carcasses into crude oil in a process that is still going on today.
The earth's crust is split into a few hu·ge continental plates which move continuously rather like rafts on a sluggish tide. Geologists call this rnoven1ent as 'continental drift'.

(1) What does the extract ·tell us about?

(2) In which form does crude mineral oil come out of the earth and from what does it originate?

(3) How is 'continental drift' formed?

(4) According to you, how can we stop the excessive use of energy?

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) Oil is one of the world's major sources of energy.
(Rewrite it as a negative sentence without changing its meaning.)

(ii) As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock.
(Make it a compound sentence.)

(iii) Geologists call this movement 'con·tinental drift'.
(Frame a 'Wh-question' to get the underlined part as an answer.)

(6) Give the antonyms from the extract for :
(i) artificial
(ii) lighter

(B) Write·a brief summary of the above extract with the help of the points given below and suggest a suitable title.
Oil as a source of energy - our dependence - types of oil -mineral oil origin of crude oil formation of crude oil-farming of sedimentary rocks - continental drift

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Old women do not fly on magic wands
nor make obscure prophecies
from ominous forests.
They just sit on vacant park benches
in the quiet evenings,
call doves by their names
and charm them with grains of maize.
Or, trembling like waves
they stand in endless queues in
government hospitals.

(1) What do old women do in the quiet evenings?

(2) Do you feel old women should be looked after by their
families? Justify your answer.

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following
line: 'Or, trembling like waves.'

(4) Pick out two pictorial images from the extract.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
How do you know
Peace is a woman?
I know, for
I met her yesterday
on my winding way
to the world's fare.
She had such a wonderful face.
just like a golden flower faded
before her prime.

(1) How does the poet describe the face of peace?

(2) Do you feel mother can be a symbol of peace? Explain it in your own words.

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following
line: 'Peace is a woman.'

(4) How does the Poet come to know that peace is a woman?

Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the boy :
[You may begin with : My mother hopes that I am preparing ... ]
''I hope you're preparing for your exams,'' she wrote back.
''After all, there's not much we can do about a skeleton that's been hidden a way for ten or fifteen years. Anyway, there were two newspapers in the cupboard. The Daily Chronicle, published from Delhi on January 18, 1930, is complete. That was four years before you were born. The main headline refers to the 'Bareilly Train Disaster' in which thirteen passengers were killed and nineteen seriously injured. There are also two pages of book reviews, including a review of 'The Glenlitten Murder' by E. Phillips Oppenheim. I think you have read some of his books. Books on the Riviera.
''The other book is about the spirit world, and the possibility of communicating with those who have passed from this material world. Perhaps we can summon up the spirit of the person who inhabited the skeleton? She could tell us how she met her end. Old Miss Kellner holds seances and table-rappings. But how would she summon up a spirit if she doesn't know who it was in the first place?
''The second newspaper - incomplete - is the Civil and
Military Gazette of March 2, 1930. This was published from Lahore, and as you know, Mr. Kipling worked on it a few years earlier. The front page is missing, but page 5 carries an ad for a film called 'The Awakening of Love' starring Vilma Banky. Vilma was a popular heroine when I was a girl. Nothing much else of interest except for a small item under the headline 'Elder Murder Sequel' : ''

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between Herman and Roma in about 120 words :
[You may begin with : Herman : You inust have suffered too, fear a constant companion ....... ]

I imagined how she must have suffered too, fear, 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 everyday.'
What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some
other boy. ''What did he look like'?'' I asked.
''He was tall, skinny, and hungry. I must have seen him every
day for six months.''
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. '"This couldn't be.
''Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben'?''I
Roma looked at me in amazement, ''Yes!'' .
''That was me!''
I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions. 
I couldn't believe it! My angel.
''l'm not letting you go.'' I said to Roma. And in the back of
the car on that blind date, I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.
''You're crazy!'' She said. But she invited me to meet her
parents for Shabbat dinner the following week. There was so much I looked forward to learning about Roma, but the most important things I always knew: her steadfastness, her goodness. For many months in the worst of circumstances, she had come to the fence and given me hope. Now that I'd found her again, I could never let her go.
That day, she said 'Yes'. And I kept my word. After nearly 50 years of marriage, two children and three grandchildren I have never let her go.

Read the following extract and extend it by adding an imaginary paragraph of your own in about 120 words :

Rosalind and Orlando were married at once in the forest
and on the same day Oliver who was 110 longer selfish and married Celia. Just as they were going to be married, a mess,enger came to ask Duke senior to go back to his dukedom. Celia s fathcr; Duke Frederick, had mended his wicked ways and asked his brother to return.
Frederick had set out with a11 anny to fight the old Duke, but on his way he had met a wise and holy man, who had persuaded him that it was wrong and wicked to drive his elder brother from the court. So Frederick had given up the dukedom and the good.
Duke could go home again. There was great rejoicing in the forest of Arden, under the greenwood tree. Frederick was forgiven and Duke senior and his followers returned from the forest to live happily in their Own homes.

Read the following advertisement and prepare a letter of application in response to it by using the information given in the C. V. (Resume) that follows :

Your locality is facing the problem of irregular water supply.
Write a letter to the concerned authority about it.

Read the following Intros of news items. Choose any ONE of them and write the headline, the dateline and a short continuing paragraph for it.
(i) A shortage of onions in Maharashtra has surged prices by 30 percent. It forced the authorities to import onions from abroad.
(ii) The birth anniversary of the late President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was celebrated yesterday in Saraswati Kanya Pathshala as Teacher's Day.

Your college is going to arrange a rally to raise funds to help drought affected farmers. Prepare a short appeal for people to join the rally with the help of the following points:
(i) Use slogans.
(ii) Make a persuasive appeal for generous donation.
(iii) Time and place of the rally.
(iv) Famous personality to lead the rally.
(v) Add your own points.

Study carefully the following pie-chart about the Income Sources of a City Budget and write a short continuing paragraph based on it in about 120 words :

Prepare a paragraph with an appropriate title to be used for the Counter-View Section on the following topic in about 120 words:
''Can the use of Internet enhance students' learning?''
You can take the help of the following points from the View Section.

Answer the following questions as per instructions:

Imagine that you are a journalist and you have been assigned the task of interviewing a film actor/actress. Frame a set of 8 to 10 questions to interview him/her.

Prepare a speech on 'Father's Day' with the help of the following
points :
(1) Man of practical attitude.
(2) Thinker of the future.
(3) Pillar of family.
(4) Greatest family support.