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प्रश्न
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
To read a lot is essential. It is stupid not to venture outside the examination 'set books' or the textbooks you have chosen for intensive study. Read as many books in English as you can., not as a duty but for pleasure. Do not close the most difficult books you find, with the idea of listing and learning as many new words as possible. choose what is likely to interest you and be sure in advance, that it is not too hard. You should not have to be constantly looking up new words in the dictionary, for that deadens interest and checks real learning. Lookup a word here and there, but as a general policy try to push ahead. guessing what words mean from the context. It is extensive and not intensive reading that normally helps you to get interested in extra reading and thereby improve your English. You should enjoy the feeling which extensive reading gives. As you read, you will become more and more familiar with words and sentence patterns you already know, understanding them better and better as you meet them in more and more contexts, some of which may differ only slightly from others.
Some people say that we cannot learn to speak a language better with the help of a book. To believe that the spoken language and written language are quite different things. This is not so.
Questions:
(1) What does the author tell us about the importance of reading English?
(2) What different steps are suggested to improve reading?
(3) What do some people say about learning the spoken form of a language?
(4) What will you do to improve your English?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
i. To read a lot is essential.
(Rewrite using gerund form of the words underlined.)
ii. Some people say that we cannot learn to speak a language better with the help of a book.
(Rewrite it using 'be able to'.)
iii. It is extensive.
(Make it a Rhetorical question.)
(6) You should not have to be constantly looking up new words in the dictionary, for that deadens interest and checks real learning.
The underlined word here means:
(i) develops
(ii) deprives of
(iii) creates
(B) Write a summary of the above extract with the help of the outline given below and suggest a suitable title.
Read a lot --- outside the textbooks --- for pleasure --- avoid difficult books ---read interesting ones --- avoid dictionary --- guess meanings --- extensive and not intensive reading --- different opinions.
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उत्तर
(1) We should not read English as our duty but we should read it for our pleasure. Reading English is important as it not only provides pleasure but also helps to enrich one's vocabulary. It makes one more knowledgeable and develops one's confidence.
(2) The author suggests that one should choose books that are not difficult, secondly the books should be interesting, where vocabulary is easily understood and one does not need to refer to a dictionary too often. As we read we will become more and more familiar with words and sentence patterns we already know. The reader should be able to guess the meanings of words from the context. Finally one should read more and more books extensively.
(3) Some people say that we cannot learn to speak a language better with the help of a book. They believe that spoken language and written language are quite different.
(4) I won't remain afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking. Practice every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.
(5)
i. Reading a lot is essential.
ii. Some people say that we are unable to speak a language better with the help of a book.
iii. Isn't it extensive?
(6) Deprives of
(B)
Reading is a pleasure.
Reading is not a duty it is a pleasure. We should cultivate the habit of reading. It is essential to read a lot, but what is important is to go beyond the textbooks and to read for pleasure, you must enjoy the books you read, hence it is best to avoid the difficult and uninteresting book. Books must be easy to read, the vocabulary also must be easy to understand so that, you don't need to refer to a dictionary too often. The meanings of words should be evident from the context. It is recommended that you should read extensively in order to improve your English language skills, as the spoken language is not very different from the written language.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
B1. Choose
Choose the correct alternatives and complete the sentences (2)
(1) The narrator is :
(a) an astronaut
(b) an engineer studying in BITS Pilani
(c) in the team of astronauts.
(2) Armstrong said, 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind which means:
(a) one step on the moon means, many steps on the earth.
(b) he felt like a giant on the moon.
(c) one moon mission had opened up many avenues in science and technology for mankind.
It was late evening of July 20. 1969, when we turned up the hostel radio. I was an engineering student at BITS, Pilani. I still remember the feverish excitement that gripped us from July 16 when Apollo 11. the US space rocket, took off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Neil Armstrong and his team of astronauts, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, were to land on moon, for the first time in human history. We listened 'with rapt attention when Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
His death on Saturday, August 25, is a moment to salute the romance of space science that Apollo 11 unleashed. It has changed forever the way we look at our planet Earth and its satellite, the moon.
Standing on powdery moondust, Armstrong put up his thumb, shut one eye and found his thumb blotting out the Earth. "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth” he said later. "I felt very, very small." But behind that humbling realisation stood a giant truth:
The effort to explore the universe united mankind in technology and knowledge. Each moon mission, about 110 till date, provided more confidence to take on bolder projects.
B2. Complete (2)
(1) Armstrong describes the earth as ……………
(2) The effort to explore the universe has ………………
(3) Apollo 11 unleashed and changed forever ………………
(4) The author came to know about Apollo 11 mission when he …………..
B3. Solve
Solve the crossword with the clues given below. Refer to the passage for your answers: (2)
Down : (1) The area beyond the earth's atmosphere .
(2) The name of the spacecraft that Armstrong travelled.
Across : (3) A person trained to travel in space.
(4) Y A natural satellite of the earth.
B4. Begin the sentence
(i) With-For the first time .......and rewrite [1]
Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins were, to land on the moon for the first time.
(ii) Insert 'that' appropriately and rewrite. [1]
Armstrong found his thumb blotting out the Earth.
B5. Personal Response
Would you like to be an astronaut? Give reasons.
It is rare to find someone with good technical and communication skills. You can get far ahead of your colleagues if you combine the two early in your career. People will judge, evaluate, promote or block you based on your communication skills. Since habits form by repeating both good and bad forms of communication, learn to observe great communicators and adopt their styles and traits — in written and verbal forms. The art of listening and learning from each and every interaction is another secret recipe. Develop the subconscious habit of listening to yourself as you speak and know when to pause.
Learning what not to say is probably more important than learning what to say. As your career develops, you will realize that the wise speak less. Speak when you have value to add, else refrain. Poorly constructed emails with grammatical errors are acceptable between friends, but they should be seriously avoided while communicating formally with your seniors. Avoid any communication in an emotional state when might say things you will regret later. One unnecessary word uttered at the wrong time or place can ruin a relationship, career or even your life. Such is the power of words. If such a thing happens, you should immediately apologise, else it may haunt you for life.
Another problem to overcome is speaking too fast. Since our minds are working faster than our speech, we are inclined to speak fast. This does not necessarily mean that the person hearing it will get it any faster. On the contrary, it is always the reverse. So slow down and think before you speak. “When I get ready to speak to people,” Abraham Lincoln said, “I spend two-thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one-thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one-third thinking what I want to say.” Adding humour and wit is also essential. But realize that not all jokes are funny and observe certain boundaries. Never say anything that could offend. Remember you are not a comedian who must offend as many people as you can to be witty.
2.1 Answer the following questions briefly:
(a) Why is it necessary to have good communication skills?
(b) How can communication skills be developed?
(c) What, according to the writer, should be avoided while communicating?
(d) Why should you be careful when you tend to be humorous?
2.2 Choose the most appropriate meanings of the given words from the options provided:
(a) evaluate (para 1)
(i) estimate
(ii) assume
(iii) punish
(iv) evolve
(b) trait (para 1)
(i) treaty
(ii) trail
(iii) quality
(iv) liberty
(c) utter (para 2)
(i) flatter
(ii) speak
(iii) rot
(iv) unique
(d) haunt (para 2)
(i) hunt
(ii) chant
(iii) trouble
(iv) avoid
The Perfect Dog
In the summer of 1967, when I was ten years old, my father caved into my persistent pleas and took me to get my own dog. Together we drove in the family station wagon far into the Michigan countryside to a farm run by a rough-hewn woman and her ancient mother. The farm produced just one commodity—dogs. Dogs of every imaginable size and shape and age and temperament. They had only two things in common: each was a mongrel of unknown and distinct ancestry, and each was free to a good home.
I quickly decided the older dogs were somebody else’s charity case. I immediately raced to the puppy cage. “You want to pick one that’s not timid,” my father coached. “Try rattling the cage and see which ones aren’t afraid.”
I grabbed the chain-link gate and yanked on it with a loud clang. The dozen or so puppies reeled backward, collapsing on top of one another in a squiggling heap of fur. Just one remained. He was gold with a white blaze on his chest, and he charged at the gate, yapping fearlessly. He jumped up and excitedly licked my fingers through the fencing. It was love at first sight.
I brought him home in a cardboard box and named him Shaun. He was one of those dogs that give dogs a good name. He effortlessly mastered every command I taught him and was naturally well-behaved. I could drop a crust on the floor and he would not touch it until I gave the okay.
Relatives would visit for the weekend and returned home determined to buy a dog of their own, so impressed were they with Shaun – or “Saint Shaun”, as I came to call him. Born with the curse of an uncertain lineage, he was one of the tens of thousands of unwanted dogs in America. Yet by some stroke of almost providential good fortune, he became wanted. He came into my life and I into his – and in the process, he gave me the childhood every kid deserves.
The love affair lasted fourteen years, and by the time he died I was no longer the little boy who had brought him home on that summer day. I was a man, out of college and working across the state in my first real job. Saint Shaun had stayed behind when I moved on. It was where he belonged. My parents, by then retired, called to break the news to me. My mother would later tell me, “In fifty years of marriage, I’ve only seen your father cry twice. The first time was when we lost Mary Ann” – my sister, who was still-born. “The second time was the day Shaun died.”
Saint Shaun of my childhood. He was a perfect dog. At least that’s how I will always remember him. It was Shaun who set the standard by which I would judge all other dogs to come.
(Marley and Me by John Grogan)
1.1 Based on your reading of the passage, complete the following statements.
(a) The dog farm was run by ________________________________.
(b) The author did not want an old dog because ______________________________.
(c) He fell in love with the dog the moment the latter _______________________.
(d) Shaun became so obedient that he ______________________ until the author allowed him.
(e) After visiting them, their relatives wanted ________________________.
(f) When Shaun died even _______________________.
1.2 Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following.
(a) urgent requests (para 1)
(b) falling (para 3)
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“There was a ship,” quoth he.
i. Who does ‘He’ refer to in the above extract?
ii. What do we know about the speaker’s feelings?
iii. Why is his hand called ‘skinny’?
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:
- What values do parents and teachers want children to learn?
- What are the results of giving the children too much too soon?
- Why do today's children want more?
- What is the balance which the parents need to have in today's world?
- What is the necessity to set limits for children?
(b) Pick out words from the passage that mean the same as the following:
- a feeling of satisfaction (para 1)
- valuable (para 3)
- important (para 4)
Read the following passage carefully:
Gandhiji As a Fund Raiser
Gandhiji was an incurable and irrestible fund raiser. He found special relish in getting jewellery from women. Ranibala of Burdwan was ten years old. One day she was playing with Gandhiji. He explained to her that her bangles were too heavy for her delicate little wrists. She removed the bangles and gave them away to Gandhiji.
He used to talk jokingly to small girls and created distaste for ornaments and created a desire in them to part with the jewellery for the sake of the poor. He motivated them to donate their jewellery for social usage.
Kasturbai didn’t appreciate this habit of Gandhiji. Once she stated calmly, ‘You don’t wear jewels, it is easy for you to get around the boys. But what about our daughters-in-law ? They would surely want them.
“Well!” Gandhiji put in mildly, "our children are young and when they grow up they will not surely choose wives who are found of wearing jewellery.” Kasturbai was very upset with the answer.
Gandhiji was determined to keep the jewels to raise community fund. He was of the opinion that a public worker should accept no costly gifts. He believed that he should not own anything costly, whether given or earned. Kasturbai was a female with a desire to adorn. But Gandhiji moved towards renunciation and donated every penny earned in South Africa to the trustees for the service of South African Indians.
2.1 Answer the questions given below:
(ii) untreatable
(iii) disagreeable
(iv) unbeatable
(ii) emboldened
(iii) incited
(iv) softened
(ii) furious
(iii) confused
(iv) distressed
(ii) disagreement
(iii) opposition
(iv) termination
Read the passage given below:
1. I rested for a moment at the door of Anand Bhawan, on Market Road, where coffee-drinkers and tiffin-eaters sat still at their tables, uttering low moans on seeing me. I wanted to assure them, "Don't mind me, you hugging the cash box − you are a coward, afraid even to breathe. Go on, count the cash, if that is your pleasure. I just want to watch, that's all. If my tail trails down to the street, if I am blocking your threshold, it is because, I'm told, I'm eleven feet tip to tail. I can't help it. I'm not out to kill − I'm too full. I found a green pasture full of food on my way. I won't attack until I feel hungry again. Tigers attack only when they feel hungry, unlike human beings who slaughter one another without purpose or hunger."
2. To the great delight of children, schools were being hurriedly closed. Children of all ages and sizes were running helter-skelter, screaming joyously. "No school, no school. Tiger, tiger!" They were shouting and laughing and even enjoying being scared. They seemed to welcome me. I felt like joining them. So I bounded away from the restaurant door. I walked along with them, at which they cried, 'The tiger is coming to eat us; let us get back to school!"
3. I followed them through their school gate while they ran up and shut themselves in the school hall securely. I climbed up the steps of the school, saw an open door at the far end of a veranda, and walked in. It happened to be the headmaster's room. I noticed a very dignified man jumping on the table and heaving himself up into an attic. I walked in and flung myself on the cool floor, having a special liking for cool stone floors.
4. As I drowsed, I was aware of cautious steps and hushed voices all around. I was in no mood to bother about anything. All I wanted was a little moment of sleep; the daylight was very bright.
On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions:
(a) How did the diners at Anand Bhawan react on seeing the tiger?
(b) When do tigers attack? In this context, how are human beings different from tigers?
(c) Why were children happy and even enjoying being scared?
(d) What did the headmaster do on seeing the tiger? What did the tiger like to do in the headmaster's office?
(e) Identify the word which means the same as 'hugging'. (Para 1)
(i) counting
(ii) hiding
(iii) rubbing
(iv) holding tightly in the arms
(f) Identify the word which means the same as 'delight'. (Para 2)
(i) pleasure
(ii) fear
(iii) sorrow
(iv) nervousness
(g) Identify the word which means the same as 'dignified'. (Para 3)
(i) tall
(ii) honourable
(iii) terrified
(iv) tired
(ii) jumped forward
(iii) walked with heavy steps
(iv) ran lazily
Read the passage given below :
1. When you grow up in a place where it rains five months a year, wise elders help you to get acquainted with the rain early. They teach you that it is ignorant to think that it is the same rain falling every day. Oh no, the rain is always doing different things at different times. There is rain that is gentle, and there is also rain that falls too hard and damages the crops. Hence, the prayer for the sweet rain that helps the crops to grow.
2. The monsoon in the Naga hills goes by the native name, khuthotei (which means the rice-growing season). It lasts from May to early or mid-October. The local residents firmly believe that Durga Puja in October announces the end of rain. After that, one might expect a couple of short winter showers, and the spring showers in March and April. Finally, comes the "big rain" in May; proper rainstorms accompanied by heart-stopping lightning and ear-splitting thunder. I have stood out in storms looking at lightning are across dark skies, a light-and-sound show that can go on for hours.
3. This is the season when people use the word sezuo or süzu to refer to the week-long rains, when clothes don't dry and smell of mould, when fungus forms on the floor and when you can't see the moon or the stars because of the rainclouds. But you learn not to complain. Rain, after all, is the farmer's friend and brings food to the table. Rituals and festivals centre around the agricultural rhythm of life, which is the occupation of about 70 percent of the population.
4. The wise learn to understand its ways. I grew up hearing my grandfather say. "It's very windy this year. We'll get good rain." If the windy season was short and weak, he worried there might not be enough rain for the crops. I learned the interconnectedness of the seasons from childhood, and marvelled at how the wind could bring rain. Another evening, many rainy seasons ago, my paternal aunt observed the new moon and worried, "Its legs are in the air, we're in for some heavy rain." She was right. That week, a storm cut off power lines and brought down trees and bamboos.
5. Eskimos boast of having a hundred names for snow. Norwegians in the north can describe all kinds of snow by an equal amount of names : pudder, powder snow, wet snow, slaps, extra wet snow, tight snowfall, dry snow, and at least 95 more categories of snow. Likewise, in India we have names and names for rain. Some are common, some are passing into history.
6. The rains are also called after flowering plants and people believe that the blossoming of those plants draws out rain. Once the monsoons set in, field work is carried out in earnest and the work of uprooting and transplanting paddy in flooded terrace fields is done. The months of hard labour are June, July and August. In August, as the phrogü plant begins to bloom, a rain will fall. this August rain, also called phrogü, is a sign that the time for cultivation is over. If any new grain seeds are sown, they may not sprout; even if they do sprout, they are not likely to bear grain. The rain acts as a kind of farmer's almanac.
7. The urban population of school-goers and office-goers naturally dislikes the monsoon and its accompanying problems of landslides, muddy streets and periodic infections. For non-farmers, the month of September can be depressing, when the rainfall is incessant and the awareness persists that the monsoons will last out till October. One needs to have the heart of a farmer to remain grateful for the watery days, and be able to observe – from what seems to the inexperienced as a continuous downpour – the many kinds of rain. Some of the commonly known rain-weeks are named after the plants that alternately bloom in August and September. The native belief is that the flowers draw out the rain.
8. Each rain period has a job to fulfil : October rain helps garlic bulbs to form, while kümünyo rain helps the rice bear grain. Without it, the ears of rice cannot form properly. End October is the most beautiful month in the Naga hills, as the fields turn gold and wild sunflowers bloom over the slopes, all heralding the harvest. Prayers go up for protecting the fields from storms, and the rains to retreat because the grain needs to stand in the sun and ripen. The cycle nears completion a few weeks before the harvest, and the rain does retreat so thoroughly from the reaped furrows that the earth quickly turns hard. The months of rain become a distant memory until it starts all over again.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, complete the statements given below with the help of options that follow:
a) The rains are called after flowering plants because
(ii) flowers grow in the rainy season.
(iii) it is believed that the plants bring the rain.
(iv) flowers grow all the year round.
b) The rain is like a calendar for farmers because
(ii) it tells them the birthdays of their children.
(iii) each month has a time for plantation.
(iv) different kinds of rain tell different things.
c) People who live in cities don't like rain because
(ii) they are not bothered about the farmers.
(iii) they don't like the plants that grow during the rain.
(iv) going shopping becomes difficult.
d) People pray asking the rain the retreat because
(ii) children don't get a chance to play.
(iii) the crops need the sun and heat to ripen.
(iv) they like to pray.
Answer the following questions briefly:
e) Why do the elders want you to understand the rains in the Naga hills?
f) What does Durga Puja mean to the farmers of the Naga hills?
g) What kind of rain is called sezuo?
h) What is the occupation of more than half the population of the Naga hills?
i) How is the heart of the farmer different from that of the city person?
j) When does rain becomes a memory in the minds of the of the Naga hills?
k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:
(ii) nonstop (para 7)
Read the passage given below:
1. Every morning Ravi gives his brain an extra boost. We're not talking about drinking strong cups of coffee or playing one of those mind-training video games advertised all over Facebook. "I jump onto my stationary bike and cycle for 45 minutes to work," says Ravi. "When I get to my desk, my brain is at peak activity for a few hours." After his mental focus comes to a halt later in the day, he starts it with another short spell of cycling to be able to run errands.
2. Ride, work, ride, repeat. It's scientifically proven system that describes some unexpected benefits of cycling. In a recent study in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, scientists found that people scored higher on tests of memory, reasoning, and planning after 30 minutes of spinning on a stationary bike than they did before they rode the bike. They also completed the tests faster after pedalling.
3. Exercise is like fertilizer for your brain. All those hours spent on exercising your muscles, create rich capillary beds not only in leg and hip muscles, but also in your brain. More blood vessels in your brain and muscles mean more oxygen and nutrients to help them work. When you pedal, you also force more nerve cells to fire. The result: you double or triple the production of these cells – literally building your brain. You also release neurotransmitters (the messengers between your brain cells) so all those cells, new and old, can communicate with each other for better, faster functioning. 'That's a pretty profound benefit to cyclists.
4. This kind of growth is especially important with each passing birthday, because as we age, our brains shrink and those connections weaken. Exercise restores and protects the brain cells. Neuroscientists say, "Adults who exercise display sharper memory skills, higher concentration levels, more fluid thinking, and greater problem-solving ability than those who are sedentary."
5. Cycling also elevates your mood, relieves anxiety, increases stress resistance, and even banishes the blues. "Exercise works in the same way as psychotherapy and antidepressants in the treatment of depression, maybe better," says Dr. Manjari. A recent study analyzing 26 years of research finds that even some exercise – as little as 20 to 30 minutes a day – can prevent depression over the long term.
6. Remember: although it's healthy, exercise itself is a stress, especially when you're just getting started or getting back into riding. When you first begin to exert yourself, your body releases a particular hormone to raise your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels, says Meher Ahluwalia, PhD, a professor of integrative physiology. As you get fitter, it takes a longer, harder ride to trigger that same response.
On the basis of your understanding of the passage, complete the statements given below with the help of the options that follow:
(a) Ravi gets his brain to work at peak level by
(ii) playing games that need brain activity.
(iii) cycling on a stationary bike.
(iv) taking tablets to pump up his brain.
(b) When nerve cells work during exercise then
(ii) the brain is strengthened by multiplying them.
(iii) you start to lose your temper.
(iv) your stationary cycle starts to beep.
Answer the following questions briefly:
(c) How does exercise help the brain?
(d) Why does Ravi do a circuit of 'ride, work, ride'?
(e) What is the work of neurotransmitters?
(f) What benefits other than greater brain activity does one get from cycling?
(g) Why is exercise so important for adults?
(h) How is exercise itself a stress?
(ii) inactive (para 4)
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.
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.
Read the passage given below :
1. To ensure its perpetuity, the ground is well held by the panther both in space and in time. It enjoys a much wider distribution over the globe than its bigger cousins and procreates sufficiently profusely to ensure its continuity for all time to come.
(ii) in the branches of the trees
(iii) behind the tree trunks
(iv) at its heels
(ii) trains its cubs
(iii) watches the progress of the mother
(iv) is impulsive and impatient
Answer the following questions briefly :
(ii) came down / fell (para 7)
Read the passage given below:
People tend to amass possessions, sometimes without being aware of doing so. They can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned. Those who never have to change house become indiscriminate collectors of what can only be described as clutter. They leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards, and attics for years in the belief that they may one day need them. Old people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons, lack of physical and mental energy, and sentiment. Things owned for a long time are full of associations with the past, perhaps with the relatives who are dead, and so they gradually acquire a sentimental value.
Some things are collected deliberately in an attempt to avoid wastage. Among these are string and brown paper, kept by thrifty people when a parcel has been opened. Collecting small items can be mania. A lady cuts out from newspaper sketches of model clothes that she would like to buy if she had money. As she is not rich, the chances are that she will never be able to afford such purchases. It is a harmless habit, but it litters up her desk.
Collecting as a serious hobby is quite different and has many advantages. It provides relaxation for leisure hours, as just looking at one’s treasure is always a joy. One doesn’t have to go out for amusement as the collection is housed at home. Whatever it consists of - stamps, records, first editions of books, china – there is always something to do in connection with it, from finding the right place for the latest addition to verifying facts in reference books. This hobby educates one not only in the chosen subject but also in general matters which have some bearing on it.
There are other benefits also. One gets to meet like-minded collectors to get advice, compare notes, exchange articles, to show off one’s latest find. So one’s circle of friends grows. Soon the hobby leads to traveling, perhaps a meeting in another town, possibly a trip abroad in search of a rare specimen, for collectors are not confined to one country. Over the years one may well become an authority on one’s hobby and will probably be asked to give informal talks to little gatherings and then, if successful, to larger audiences.
(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 an appropriate title to it.
(b) Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words.
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
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
That day Reuben fold two sacks, which he took to the rambling wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails. The boy's hand tightly clutched the small five-cent pieces as he ran two kilometres home.
Near his house stood the ancient barn that housed the family's goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty baking- soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the can beneath a pile of sweet-smelling hay.
It was supper time when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, working on a fishing net. Dora was at the black kitchen range, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table.
He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window gilded her, shoulder-length blond hair. Five foot three, slim and beautiful, she was the centre of the home, the glue that held it together.
Her chores were never-ending. Sewing clothes for her family on the old Singer treadle machine, cooking meals and baking bread, planting a vegetable garden. milking the goats and scrubbing soiled clothes on a washboru·d. But she was happy. Her family and their wellbeing were her highest priority.
Every day after chores and school, Reuben scoured the town, collecting the burlap nail bags. On the day the two-room schoolhouse closed for the summer, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time to devote to his mission.
(1) What is the main theme of the extract? (1)
(2) Where did Reuben keep his savings? Why? (2)
(3) Describe Reuben's mother and her daily chores. (2)
(4) What would you like to present to your mother on Mother's Day? Why? (2)
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) He looked at his mother and smiled.
(Rewrite it as a Simple Sentence.) (1)
(ii) Her family and their well-being were her highest priority.
(Rewrite it in the Positive Degree.) (1)
(iii) She was the centre of the home. (1)
(Make it a Rhetorical Question)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean -
(i) dried grass (1/2)
(ii) routine tasks (1/2)
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 answer the questions given below:
There are some glimmers of hope. I met up young Navdeep. Ahuja who along with another colleague began the innocuously named Graduates Welfare Association, Fazilka. They are bringing about change with the mandate of citizens' participation in governance and are facilitating the creation of physical and social infrastructure across 22 cities in Punjab. They have put in place a network of cycle rickshaws called Eco-cabs which can be booked through a mobile phone. They are also developing car tree zones, food and culture streets in these cities. All this is being done very efficiently and at a low cost. We need many such organizations. However, my idea of a city in 2020 is not a utopian dream. It is achievable. It has streets where people walk on wide footpaths shaded by leafy trees. Streets are usually one-third of a city's area and its most democratic segment. Public space dedicated to pedestrians reduces inequality and should be accorded priority when developing cities. Adjoining the streets should be cycle lanes where bicycles and, rickshaws can sail past smoothly. It'll have a great public transport system with buses, metro and taxis. Parking will be difficult and expensive so people will use public transport rather than cars. There will be parks and gardens and the air will be clean, as pollution levels will have dropped dramatically. And then cities will become areas of graceful living and a charmed way of life.
(1) What is the extract about?
(2) What will happen when parking becomes difficult and expensive?
(3) How has Graduates Welfare Association brought about changes in some cities?
(4) What efforts will you take to make your city a livable place?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) We need many such organizations.
(Frame a ' Wh-question' to get the underlined part as an answer.)
(ii) It reduces inequality.
(Rewrite it using the Present Perfect Tense.)
(iii) The air will be clean, as pollution levels will. have dropped dramatically.
(Rewrite it using 'unless')
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) co-worker
(ii) small signs
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
Early risers clearly have the edge in life. By the time most of us wake up, they've been through their morning rituals, enjoyed their walk, had their tea and read the daily news. They're also likely to have made long-distance calls before dawn to those similarly inclined. Thus, by the time the sun warms up they're likely to have discussed all varieties of 'men, matters, and affairs' with a dozen people.
The upshot of these varying tendencies is that such extreme contrasts often exist in the same household. Weeks pass before the younger lot (typically late risers) and the older lot (normally early birds) come face to face. It's almost as if they live in different time zones and different countries.
All over the country, things are likely to be pretty much the same in this respect, one would think. If the man of the house, any house, decides to take a day off from work, he'd probably find his son emerging from his room at about I0 a.m. and that too in a 'rubbing-eyes' mode. After fooling around for a while the lad would probably dash off to college in a rush whilst simultaneously zipping up his jeans and sending text messages on his phone. His father would undoubtedly be left shaking his head and burying himself deeper into his newspaper.
(1) What is the extract about?
(2) How do the early risers get a headstart in life?
(3) What kind of lifestyle of the young son is reflected in the extract?
(4) According to you, why do the youngsters rise up late?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) He goes for his morning walk at 1 p.m.
(Rewrite it in the Present Perfect Continuous Tense.)
(ii) They live in different time zones.
(Make it a complex sentence.)
(iii) The man decides to take a day off from work.
(Rewrite it using the noun form of the underlined word.)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) have a slight advantage over
(ii) coming out
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Questions :
(2) What sort of patients did the doctor have?
(3) What were the reasons for the doctor's indigestion?
(4) “A doctor should have a pleasing personality and good manners.” Do you agree? Explain.
(ii) unsewn
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 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
We were an argrarian people. And my main hobby in my early teens was to wander through paddy field to see the different kinds of birds and how they nest. On the outskirts of the paddy fields, there had been many coconut trees and black palm trees. Beautifully crafted nests of the weaver-birds thookkanaam kuruvikal-would be seen dangling from the ends of palm leaves. Hundreds of these little birds would land on the paddy to squeeze the milk from the tender rice. They would come to the fields when the young stalks come out of the rise-plants. At this stage of the paddy, my father would send me to our field with a tin drum to scare these birds away. But often I have enjoyed the sight of these little birds balancing on the tender stalks and squeezing the milk out of the green rice. When the paddy is ripe enough to harvest, flocks of parrots would land there and cut the ripe stalks with their sharp beaks and fly away with the stalks dangling in their beaks. I have always liked to see this sight also.
The nest of parrots were neatly crafted holes in the trunks of palm trees. I continued to wonder how they made chose holes on the hard trunks until I saw the patient work of the woodpeckers. They were the carpenters and their long, sharp and strong beaks, chisels. They make the holes (in search of worms inside the weak spots of the trunks) and the parrots occupy them. If I heard the sound tak, tak, tak. I knew it was a woodpeckers chiselling a had trunk. I would go after him. It seems that the woodpecker is the only bird which can walk perpendicularly on the tree trunks! How beautiful the sight was! Its strong legs, red crest, the dark red stripe on the face and black beak and the tak, tak, tak sound used to captivate me
A1. Complete the following table :Choose two sentence that appropriately mention the theme of the passage :
(i) The extract deals with the techniques to scare the birds away.
(ii) The extract depicts how parrots make holes on the tree trunks.
(iii) The extract depicts the writer’s love towards the birds.
(iv) The extract deals with the activities of different birds.
A2. Complete the flow-chart :
A3. Complete the following table :
A4. Vocabulary -
Match the pairs of the words in column ‘A’ with their meaning in column ‘B’ :
| Column ‘A’ | Column ‘B’ |
| (i) dangling | (a) connected with farming |
| (ii) squeezing | (b) attract the attention |
| (iii) agrarian | (c) hanging freely |
| (iv) captivate | (d) pressing firmly |
A5. Personal response -
Suggest two measures to increase the number of birds.
A6. Grammer -
Rewrite the following sentences in the way instructed
(i) The paddy is ripe enough to harvest
(Remove ‘enough’ and rewrite the sentence.)
(ii) How beautiful the sight was!
(Rewritte as an assertive sentence)
(A) Read the extract and do the activities that follows :
“Pluck the flowers off”, said the other boy and the daisy trembled for fear, for to be pulled off meant death
to it; and it wished so much to live, as it was to go with the square of turf into the poor captive lark’s cage.
“No, let it stay,” said the other boy, “it looks so pretty.” And so it stayed, and was brought into the lark’s cage. The poor bird was lamenting its lost liberty, and beating its wings against the wires; and the little daisy could not speak or utter a consoling word, much as it would liked to do so. So the forenoon passed. “I have no water,” said the captive lark, “they have all gone out and forgotten to give me anything to drink. My throat is dry and burning. I feel as if I had fire and ice within me and the air is so oppressive. Alas! I must die, and part with the warm sunshine, the fresh green meadows, and all the beauty that God has created.” And it thrust its beak into the piece of grass, to refresh itself a little. Then it noticed the little daisy, and nodded to it, and kissed it with its beak and said : “You must also fade in here, poor little flower. You and the piece of grass are all they have given me in exchange for the whole world, which I enjoyed outside. Each little blade of grass shall be a green tree for me, each of your white petals a fragrant flower. Alas! You only
remind me of what I have lost .
A1. True / False -
State whether the following statements are true or false :
(i) The boys had kept water in the cage for the lark.
(ii) The daisy had a desire to console the poor lark.
(iii) The lark was reminded of its lost liberty.
(iv) The daisy did not want to go into the lark’s cage.
A2. Write an imaginary ending :
Write an imaginary paragraph in about 50 words to give a different ending to the above extract.
(B) Read the extract and do the activities that follows :
“May I come in?” asked the pink lady.
“Please come in,” said my mother. “Do sit down. Do you require a room?”
“Not today, thank you. I’m staying with Padre Dutt. He insisted on putting me up. But I may want a room
for a day or two – just for old times’ sake.”
“You’ve stayed here before.”
“A long time ago. I’m Mrs. Green, you know. The missing Mrs. Green. The one for whom you put up that handsome tombstone in the cementery. I was very touched by it. And I’m glad you didn’t add ‘Beloved wife of Henry Green’, because I didn’t love him any more than he loved me.”
“Then – then – you aren’t the skeleton?” Stammered my mother.
“Do I look like a skaleton?”
“No!”, we said together.
“But we heard you disappeared,” I said, “and when we found that skeleton —”
“You put two and two together.”
“Well, it was Miss Kellner who convinced us,” said my mother. “And you did disappear mysteriously. You
were missing for years. And everyone knew Mr. Green was a philander.”
“Couldn’t wait to get away from him,” said the pink lady. “Couldn’t stand him any more. He was a ladykiller
but not a real killer.”
“But your father came looking for you. Didn’t you get in touch with him?”
“ My father and I were never very close. Mother died when I was very young, and the only relative I had
was a cousin in West Africa. So that’s where I went – Sierra Leone!”
B1. Complete -
Complete the following sentenses :
(i) Mrs. Green couldn’t stand Mr. Green, because ________.
(ii) The relationship between Mrs. Green and her father ________.
(iii) Mrs. Green cousin lived in ________.
(iv) Miss. Kellner convinced the narrator’s mother that the skeleton was of Mrs. Green, because ______.
B2. Convert dialogue into a story :
Convert the above dialogue into a story form in about 50 words.
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
| 1 |
As a novelist and storyteller, I have always drawn upon my memories of places that I have known and lived in over the years. More than most writers, perhaps, I find myself drawing inspiration from the past — my childhood, adolescence, youth, early manhood ... But to talk of my early inspiration I must go back to my very beginnings, to the then small, princely state of Jamnagar, tucked away in the Gulf of Kutch. Here my father started a small palace school for princesses. I was there till the age of six, and I still treasure vivid memories of Jamnagar's beautiful palaces and sandy beaches. |
| 2 | Some of these landmarks are preserved for me in photographs taken by my father, which I have to this day. An old palace with pretty windows of coloured glass remained fixed in my memory and many years later gave me the story, “The Room of Many Colours”, which also inspired an episode in a TV serial called Ek Tha Rusty. I spent a memorable year and a half with him in New Delhi, then still a very new city — just the capital area designed by Edwin Lutyens and Connaught Place, with its gleaming new shops and restaurants and cinemas. I saw Laurel and Hardy films and devoured milkshakes at the Milk Bar, even as the Quit India Movement gathered momentum. |
| 3 | When I was seventeen, I was shipped off to the UK to “better my prospects” as my mother put it. Out of longing for India and the friends I had made in Dehra came my first novel — The Room on the Roof — featuring the life and loves of Rusty, my alter ego. In the 1950s everyone travelled by sea, as air services were still in their infancy. A passenger liner took about three weeks from Southampton to Bombay (now Mumbai). After docking in Bombay, I took a train to Dehra, where I stepped onto the platform of the small railway station and embarked on the hazardous journey of a freelance writer. Railway stations! Trains! Platforms! I knew as long as these were there I would never run out of stories. |
| 4 | I also looked for inspiration in tombs and monuments and the ever-expanding city, but did not find it, and my productivity dropped. Escape from Delhi had become a priority for me. I felt drawn to the hills above Dehra. On the outskirts of Mussoorie I found a small cottage, surrounded by oak and maple trees where the rent, thankfully, was nominal. : |
| 5 |
I'm of the opinion that every writer needs a window. Preferably two Is the house, the room, the situation ... important for a writer? A good wordsmith should be able to work anywhere. But to me, the room you live in day after day is all-important. The stories and the poems float in through my window, float in from the magic mountains, and the words appear on the page without much effort on my part. Planet Earth belongs to me. And at night, the stars are almost within reach. |
1. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer any four of the following questions in 30 - 40 words each:
- What does the writer remember about Jamnagar?
- How did he spend time in Delhi?
- What was the inspiration for the first novel and why?
- What was the importance of trains and railway stations in his life?
- What was the importance of a window in the writer’s life?
2. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, fill in any two of the following blanks with appropriate words/phrases:
- He was shipped off to UK for ______.
- Everyone travelled by sea because ______.
- The productivity dropped because ______.
3. Find out words/phrases from the passage that mean the same as the following. Attempt any two.
- gulped down/swallowed (para 2)
- early stage (para 3)
- attracted to (para 4)
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
In 1945 in Bay Roberts, Canada, a 12- year old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the price - five dollars- was far beyond Reuben Earle's means. Five dollars would buy almost a week's groceries for his family.
Reuben couldn't ask his father for the money. everything Mark Earle made fishing. Reuben's mother. Dora, stretched like elastic to feed and clothe their five children.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop's weathered door and went inside. Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, "but I don't have the money now. can you please hold it for me?"
"I will try," the shopkeeper smiled. "Folks around here don't usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while."
Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out into the May sunlight. The bay rippled in a freshening wind that ruffled his short hair. There was purpose in his loping stride. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.
Hearing the sound of hammering from a side street. Reuben had an idea.
He ran towards the sound and stopped at a construction site. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails purchased in burlap sacks from a local factory. Sometimes the sacks were discarded is the flurry of building, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents apiece.
Questions:
(1) What is the passage about?
(2) What did Reuben ask the shopkeeper? What was the shopkeeper's reply?
(3) Why could not Reuben ask his father for five dollars?
(4) How do you express your love and respect for your parents?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
i. He opened the shop's weathered door and went inside. (Make it simple)
ii. "I will try."
(Rewrite the sentence using another modal Auxiliary showing 'obligation'.)
iii. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts.
(Frame a Wh question to get the underlined part as ita answer)
(6) Give the opposite words of:
(i) respectfully
(ii) Usually
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
But being named an 'AdarshGaon' is far from easy. Villages had to give a proposal after which a committee headed by Mr. Pawar inspected the villages. "The Villages had to show dedication in the struggle to fight mediocrity. They had to follow all the conditions of becoming an 'AdarshGaon'. We chose villages with a revolutionary spark, "Mr. Pawar says.
Villages need to follow strict rules. The process begins with effective water management through the watershed technique and water auditing. taking responsibility for the village's natural resources-planting trees and stopping grazing. contributing labour for the village work, and then expanding to bring about behavioral changes in the people for harboring social change. Hiware Bazaar is free of any kind of addiction and there are no liquor or tobacco shops in the village. Vasectomy has been made compulsory, as is the pre-marital HIV test.
The 'AdarshGaon' model prides itself on being based on the joint decisions made by the Gram Sabha, where all the villagers are present. Even while selecting the new villages under the scheme, Mr. Pawar made sure that the decision to become an ideal village was taken by the entire village together.
The greatest victory for Hiware Bazaar so far has been the reverse migration that the village has witnessed since 1989. As many as 93 families have come back to the village," from the slums in Mumbai and Pune," Mr. Pawar says.
Questions:
(1) What features of 'Adarsh Gaon' are given in this extract?
(2) What is the procedure for selecting 'Adarsh Gaon'?
(3) What is the greatest victory for Hiware Bazaar?
(4) Do you think all villages in Maharashtra should follow the ideals of Hiware Bazaar? why?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
i. Mr. Pawar inspected the villages.
(Rewrite it using the noun form of the word underlined.)
ii. Vasectomy has been made compulsory by the villagers.
(Rewrite it beginning with-"The villagers........".)
iii. There are no liquor or tobacco shops in the village.
(Rewrite it using 'neither......nor'.)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) causing a great change
(ii) the quality of being average
Read the following extract and answer the questions given
below:
Another relative has no plans of joining this league though.
She is rather μnabashed about waking up past noon on a daily basis. To be fair, her husband is a media personality who typically arrives home from work past midnight. That does indeed give them sufficient justification to stay longer in slumber-land each morning. This practice does lead to certain oddities though. He goes for his 'morning' walk at 1 pm, heatwaves and appalled onlookers notwithstanding. They once returned from a night out only to meet the neighbour's son who was off on an early morning jog!
Early risers clearly have the edge in life. By the time most
of us wake up, they've been through their morning rituals, enjoyed their walk, had their tea and read the daily news. They're also likely to have made long-distance calls before dawn to those similarly inclined. Thus, by the time the sun warms up they're likely to have discussed all varieties of 'men, matters, and affairs' with a dozen people.
The upshot of these varying tendencies is that such extreme
contrasts often exist in the same household. Weeks pass before
the younger lot (typically late risers) and the older lot (normally early birds) come face to face. It's almost as if they live in different time zones and different countries.
Questions:
(1) What information does the extract give about the typical
routine of a media person?
(2) According to the writer, who are the early risers and the late risers?
(3) Why does the writer say that early risers clearly have the edge in life?
(4) Do you rise early or late? Why?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
- They live in different time zones and different countries.
(Rewrite the sentence using 'not only- but also'.) - That gives them sufficient justification.
(Rewrite the sentence using the Present Perfect tense.) - She is rather unabashed about waking up past noon on a daily basis.
(Rewrite the sentence using 'infinitive' form of
the underlined word.)
(6) Find out from the extract the words which mean:
(i) frightened
(ii) sleep
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 in a 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 11.16 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.
(1) What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
(2) What is the relationship between the population and the available resources?
(3) Why do the researchers claim that the earth is capable of sustaining a bigger population?
(4) What, according to you, are the problems caused by the increasing population?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) The earth would be too hot to be habitable. (Remove 'too'.)
(ii) Though the population has grown, the rate of growth has fallen sharply. (Rewrite it using 'but')
(iii) Moreover, the human population will stabilize at about 11.5 billion. (Make it 'less definite'.)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean :
(i) natural capacity to produce (ii) shortage
Read the following extract and complete the table given below:
Children are perpetually asking questions. As adults, we are awkward with questions. We link the act of asking questions to ignorance. It indicates that we do not know; hence, we may look stupid while asking questions.
Children have no shame, whereas adults suffer from layers and layers of shame. Because children have no shame, they are more capable of failing at something and moving on from it. Our sense of shame makes us inhibited. So we do not try new things at work.
Children quickly make friends with strangers. Put two small kids alongside a few toys and they will start playing before they care to know about each other’s antecedents. As adults, we seek the false comfort of known relationships before we agree to play with each other.
Children freely express their emotions; adults learn to suppress their emotional side. We come to the workplace and are frequently counselled, “Do not get emotional.”
Children play. They find play in everything. Adults shun play and consider it the opposite of “serious work”. To a child, every act is an act of play.
Traits Delinking Childhood and Adulthood:
| Traits | Children | Adults | |
| 1 |
Asking Questions |
Perpetually ask questions freely |
(1) Feet awkward with questions (2) ___________ |
| 2 |
Feeling Shame |
(1) Feel no shame (2) ____________ |
(1) Suffer from shame (2) Inhibited to try new things at work |
| 3 |
Making friends |
(1) Quick in making friendship without knowing each other |
(1) ____________ |
| 4 |
Expressing emotions |
(1) ____________ |
(1) Suppress emotions. |
A Read the first activity, read the extract and then do all the activities :
A1. Complete :
Complete the following sentences :
(1) The two organizations that conducted the research to develop a smartphone-based optical bio-sensor are _______ and __________ .
(2) The _________ and _________ methods were used in the research instead of the differential method.
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Urea is a major product of nitrogen metabolism in humans. It is eliminated from the body mainly by the kidneys through urine. Urea levels in body fluids, such as blood and saliva, rise drastically under certain kidney dysfunctions. Heart failure, hypovolemic shock, gastrointestinal bleeding, and severe infections can also lead to a rise. Thus urea in blood and saliva provides key information on renal function and helps diagnose various disorders. Most methods for estimating urea in body fluids are based on colorimetry. These methods are time-consuming and involve painful blood extraction. Collecting saliva is non-evasive and research has correlated salivary and blood urea levels. Recently scientists from the IIT-D and the AIIMS, New Delhi successfully developed a smartphone-based optical biosensor to detect urea in saliva. To fabricate the sensor, they directly immobilised the urease enzyme with a pH indicator on a filter paper-based strip. As a response to the urea on saliva, the paper strip changes colour. The red, green and blue levels help measure urea concentration. The scientists used the slope method, sensor response change per unit time, instead of the differential method, the difference in sensor response between two-time intervals, to increase sensitivity and eliminate interference by variations in ambient light. The team clinically validated spiked saliva samples and samples from healthy volunteers. The smartphone application with paper strip can even be operated by non-professional with limited training. This saves time and cost spent on bulky spectroscopic procedures. The report can revolutionise the medical screening of large populations. And such mass screening of diseases would boost national health. |
A2. Complete the following sentence using the correct alternatives from those given below :
Two objectives to conduct the research are ___________ .
(i) The colorimetry method used to estimate urea in body fluids consumes more time.
(ii) Information obtained from the presence of urea in blood and saliva is not helpful to diagnose various diseases.
(iii) Collecting samples of saliva is a non-invasive procedure.
(iv) Blood extraction is the easiest and less painful exercise.
A3. Write two benefits of the smartphone-based optical biosensor.
A4. Find out similar-meaning words from the extract for the following words :
(1) specimen (2) extremely (3) focus (4) remove
A5. Personal Response :
'Research revolutionises the lifestyle of people in all spheres of life'-
Do you agree? Explain with an example in about 25 words.
A6. Grammar :
Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(1) These methods are time consuming and painful.
(Rewrite the sentence using 'as well as'.)
(2) The smartphone application with paper-strip can be operated.
(Begin the sentence with 'They ___ .)
(B) Summerise the above extract with the help of the points given and suggest a suitable title::
Research by the organisations - methods adopted - reasons for the research - advantages.
Read the following passage carefully:
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On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following question:
- The Dancing Girl belongs to:
- Mohenjo-Daro
- Greek culture
- Homo sapiens
- Tibet
- In the museum she’s kept among:
- dancing figures
- bronze statues
- terracotta animals
- books
- Which information is not given in the passage?
- The girl is caged behind glass.
- She is a rare artefact.
- School books communicate the wealth of our heritage.
- She cannot be rediscovered as she’s bronze.
- ‘Great Art’ has power because:
- It appeals to us despite the passage of time.
- It is small and can be understood.
- It’s seen in pictures and sketches.
- It’s magnified a million times.
- The jewellery she wears:
- consists of only bangles of shell or ivory or thin metal.
- is a necklace with two pendants.
- both (i) and (ii) are correct.
- neither (i) nor (ii) is correct.
- She reminds us:
- of the never-say-die attitude of humans.
- why museums in our country are exciting.
- why she will make us come into money.
- of dancing figures.
- The synonym of the word “among” in para 1 is ______.
- The size of the dancing girl is equal to the length of the human palm. (True/False)
Read the passage carefully:
|
2.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the following questions in 30-40 words each:
- Write one advantage and one disadvantage of allowing every family member to be part of the decision-making process.
- In today’s world, what are parents asking their kids?
- Which two pieces of advice does the writer give to the parents?
- The passage supports the parents. How far do you agree with the author’s views? Support your view with a reason.
2.2 On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following:
- The synonym of ‘hurt’ as given in paragraph 2 is ______.
- The word, which means the same as a style or method of cooking in paragraph 4, is:
- cuisine
- gourmet
- gastric
- science
- The antonym of ‘agreeable’ as given in paragraph 5 is ______.
- The antonym of ‘simple’ as given in paragraph 6 is:
- difficult
- complicated
- easy
- tricky
Read the following passage carefully.
1. Few guessed that this quiet, parentless girl growing up in New York City would one day become the First Lady of the United States. Even fewer thought she would become an author and lecturer and a woman much admired and loved by people throughout the world.
2. Born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in 1884 to wealthy, but troubled parents who both died while she was young, Roosevelt was cared for by her grandmother and sent to school in England. In 1905, she married her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She and her husband had six children. Although they were wealthy, her life was not easy and she suffered several personal tragedies. Her second son died when he was a baby. In 1921, her strong athletic husband was stricken with polio, which left him physically disabled for life.
3. Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman who had great intelligence and tremendous strength of character. She never let things get her down. She nursed her husband back to good health and encouraged him to remain in politics. She then helped him to become Governor of New York, and in 1933, President of the United States.
4. While her husband was President, she took a great interest in all the affairs of the country. She became her husband's legs and eyes; she visited prisons and hospitals; she went down into mines, up scaffoldings, and into factories. Roosevelt was tireless and daring. During the depression, she travelled all over the country bringing goodwill, reassurance, and help to people without food and jobs. During World War II she visited American soldiers in camps all over the world. The United States had never known a First Lady like her.
5. Roosevelt also kept in touch with the American people through a daily newspaper column called 'My Day'. She broadcast on the radio and delivered lectures, all first for a First Lady.
1.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage answer the following questions: (any eight)
(a) How was Eleanor Roosevelt's personality in contrast to what she became?
(b) Apart from being the First Lady what else did she have to her credit?
(c) What challenges did she face in her personal life but remained unfazed?
(d) Eleanor was a strong woman who helped her husband become the President of America. How?
(e) What does the statement: 'she became her husband's legs and eyes' mean?
(f) What was her special contribution during the depression?
(g) How did she motivate soldiers during World War II?
(h) What did she do for the first time for a First Lady?
(i) What side of her personality is reflected in this passage?
Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow.
1. Overpowering prey is a challenge for creatures that do not have limbs. Some species like Russell's viper inject poison. Some others opt for an alternative non-chemical method – rat snakes, for instance, catch and push their prey against the ground, while pythons use their muscle power to crush their prey to death. But snakes can't be neatly divided into poisonous and non-poisonous categories.
2. Even species listed as non-poisonous aren't completely free of poison. The common Sand Boa, for instance, produces secretions particularly poisonous to birds. So the species doesn't take any chance – it crushes its prey) and injects poison as an extra step.
3. Do vipers need poison powerful enough to kill hundreds of rats with just one drop? After all, they eat only one or two at a time.
4. While hunting animals try their worst to kill most efficiently, their prey uses any trick to avoid becoming a meal, such as developing immunity to poison.) For instance, Californian ground squirrels are resistant to Northern Pacific rattlesnake poison.
5. Competition with prey is not the only thing driving snakes to evolve more and more deadly poison. Snakes also struggle to avoid becoming prey themselves.
6. Some snake killers have partial immunity to poison. Famously, mongooses are highly resistant to cobra poison, and with their speed and agility, kill snakes fearlessly. It would be the death of cobras as a species if they didn't evolve a more deadly poison to stop mongooses.
7. Poison has another important role. It's an extreme meat softener, specific enzymes break up the insides of the prey. Normally, a reptile depends on the sun's warm rays to aid digestion.
8. But I wonder if we cannot use venom in our favour. In remote parts of India, local hospitality often involves leather tough meat. I chew and chew until my jaws ache. If I spit it out or refuse, our hosts would be offended, I swallow like a python stuffing a deer down its throat and hope I don't choke. If only I had poison.
(b) How does Sand Boa kill its prey?
(c) There is a constant tussle between the hunting animal and its prey? Why?
(e) What difficulty does the writer face when he is entertained in the remote parts of India?
2.2 On the basis of your reading of the above passage fill in any two of the following blanks.
b. humans
c. a python
d. prey
b. hardens
c. softens
d. breaks down
iii. Californian squirrels are ______________ rattlesnake poison.
a. afraid of
b. helpless against
c. resistant to
d. indifferent to
a. Liquid substances released from glands (para 2)
c. Particular (para 7)
Read the passage given below.
Then all the windows of the grey wooden house (Miss Hilton used to live here. She expired last week.), were thrown open, a thing I had never seen before.
At the end of the day a sign was nailed on the mango tree: FOR SALE.
Nobody in the street knew Miss Hilton. While she lived, her front gate was always locked and no one ever saw her leave or saw anybody go in. So even if you wanted to, you couldn't feel sorry and say that you missed Miss Hilton.
When I think of her house I see just two colours. Grey and green. The green of the mango tree, the grey of the house, and the grey of the high iron fence that prevented you from getting at the mangoes.
If your cricket ball fell in Miss Hilton's courtyard you never got it back. It wasn't the mango season when Miss Hilton died. But we got back about ten or twelve of our cricket balls.
The house was sold and we were prepared to dislike the new owners ever before they came. I think we were a little worried. Already we had one resident of the street who kept on complaining about us to our parents. He complained that we played cricket on the pavment; and if we were not playing cricket he complained that we were making too much noise anyway.
One afternoon, when I came back from school Pal, said, "Is a man and a woman. She pretty pretty, but he ugly like hell". I didn't see much. The front gate was open, but the windows were shut again. I heard a dog barking in an angry way.
One thing was settled pretty quickly. Whoever these people were they would never be the sort of people to complain that we were making noise and disturbing their sleep.
A lot of noise came from the house that night. The radio was going at full volume until midnight when the radio station closed down. The dog was barking and the man was shouting. I didn't hear the woman.
On the basis of your understanding the above passage complete the following statements :
(a) Nobody went into Miss Hilton's house because her front __________.
(b) Her house had only two colours, (i) __________ and (ii) __________.
(c) High iron fence did not let the boys get __________.
(d) They never got it back if their __________ fell into her courtyard.
(e) The boys were ready to dislike the __________.
(f) One resident of the street always __________.
(g) New owners of Miss Hilton's house were (i) __________ and (ii) __________.
(h) A man was shouting, a dog was barking, only __________.
A. Read the following passage and do the given activities:-
A1. Answer in one word or two:- (02)
- The Queen of the spices.
- The areas of cultivation of the first type of cardamom.
- Anyone area of cultivation of the second type of cardamom
- The small variety of cardamom is known for-
Cardamom, the Queen of all spices, has a history as old as the human race. It is the dried fruit of a herbaceous perennial plant. Warm humid climate, loamy soil rich in organic matter, distributed rainfall and special cultivation and processing methods all combine to make Indian cardamom truly unique in aroma, flavour, size and it has a parrot green colour.
Two types of cardamom are produced in India. The first type is the large one, which has not much significance as it is not traded in the international market. It is cultivated in the North-eastern area of the country. The second type is produced in the Southern states and these are traded in the international market. These are mainly cultivated in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. As per the international market rules, only 7 mm quality was previously traded in exchanges. But later, it relaxed its norms, and now 6 mm quality is also traded in the exchanges. Special to Indian taste buds, cardamom is not only unique to our land but also to our senses. The addition of this fragrant spice can add layers of taste to your tea, food, and overall dining experience.
The small variety is known for its exotic quality throughout the world. Traditional auction markets also exist for trading in small cardamom in the country.
A2. Provide information: Indian cardamom is said to be unique in aroma, flavor, size, and colour due to -- (02)
- ______
- ______
- ______
- ______
A3. Write the synonyms for the following from the passage :- (02)
- unusual
- pleasant smell
- importance
- holding moisture
A4. Do as directed:- (02)
- The first type is the large one, which has not much significance.
(Identify the subordinate clause) - Cardamom is not only unique to our land but also to our senses.
(Rewrite the sentence using ‘as well as’)
A5. Indian food is incomplete without spices. State your view. (02)
B. Write a short summary of the passage given in above and suggest a suitable title. (05)
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
| 1. | A fisherman, enfeebled with age, could no longer go out to sea so he began fishing in the river. Every morning he would go down to the river and sit there fishing the whole day long. In the evening he would sell whatever he had caught, buy food for himself and go home. It was a hard life for an old man. One hot afternoon while he was trying to keep awake and bemoaning his fate, a large bird with silvery feathers alighted on a rock near him. It was Kaha, the heavenly bird. “Have you no one to care for you, grandpa?” asked the bird. “Not a soul.” “You should not be doing such work at your age,” said the bird. “From now on I will bring you a big fish every evening. You can sell it and live in comfort.” True to her word, the bird began to drop a large fish at his doorstep every evening. All that the fisherman had to do was take it to the market and sell it. As big fish were in great demand, he was soon rolling in money. He bought a cottage near the sea, with a garden around it and engaged a servant to cook for him. His wife had died some years earlier. He had decided to marry again and began to look for a suitable woman. |
| 2. | One day he heard the royal courtier make an announcement. Our king has news of a great bird called Kaha,” said the courtier. “Whoever can give information about this bird and help catch it, will be rewarded with half the gold in the royal treasury and half the kingdom!” The fisherman was sorely tempted by the reward. Half the kingdom would make him a prince! |
| 3. | “Why does the king want the bird,” he asked. “He has lost his sight,” explained the courtier. “A wise man has advised him to bathe his eyes with the blood of Kaha. Do you know where she can be found?” “No…I mean …no, no…” Torn between greed and his sense of gratitude to the bird, the fisherman could not give a coherent reply. The courtier, sensing that he knew something about the bird, informed the king. The king had him brought to the palace. |
| 4. | “If you have information about the bird, tell me”, urged the king. “I will reward you handsomely and if you help catch her, I will personally crown you king of half my domain.” “I will get the bird for you,” cried the fisherman, suddenly making up his mind. “But Kaha is strong. I will need help. The king sent a dozen soldiers with him. That evening when the bird came with the fish, the fisherman called out to her to wait. “You drop the fish and go and I never get a chance to thank you for all that you‘ve done for me," he said. “Today I have laid out a feast for you inside. Please alight and come in. Kaha was reluctant to accept the invitation but the fisherman pleaded so earnestly that she finally gave in, and alighted. The moment she was on the ground, the fisherman grabbed one of her legs and shouted to the soldiers hiding in his house to come out. They rushed to his aid but their combined effort could not keep Kaha down. |
| 5. | She rose into the air with the fisherman still clinging to her leg. By the time he realised he was being carried away, the fisherman was too high in the air to let go. He hung on grimly, and neither he nor Kaha was ever seen again. |
Based on your understanding of the above passage, answer the questions.
- Why did the fisherman start fishing in the river?
- How did the fisherman spend the day before he met Kaha?
- How did the fisherman betray Kaha?
- Why was the fisherman doubtful about revealing information about Kaha to the courtier?
Read the given case-based passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
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Case study of museums |
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| 1. |
We don’t go to museums. We prefer malls, cinema halls, and restaurants. Visiting a museum is best left to schools which makes it mandatory. After all, it is an academic exercise. And what entertainment can these places possibly offer? India doesn’t boast the greatest of museums, but one can’t doubt the collection of artefacts in these repositories of heritage, even for a second. Our eventful history has handed down us numerous masterpieces, but unfortunately, we don’t find them compelling enough. A cultural historian and museologist Jyotindra Jain says that the habit of going to museums has just not been inculcated in us. One of the best museums in the country, the National Museum in Delhi charges a mere Rs. 20. According to Joyoti Roy, outreach consultant, National Museum, it receives between 6,00,000 to 7,00,000 visitors each year and anything between 2,500 and 3,000 per day. The mix includes Indians, foreigners, and school students. For an Indian museum, it is an astounding figure, but still nowhere close to the footfalls museums, we consider the finest, get. |
| 2. | It has not been many days since the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore, hosted A. Ramachandran’s expansive retrospective covering five decades of his artistic journey. As we sat outside the first-floor gallery after Ramachandran walked me through his sketches, sculptures, and paintings, the senior artist, a bit disappointed said, “Had an exhibition of this scale taken place abroad, people would have come in thousands.” There were about three-five visitors inside the gallery at that time. Jain, who has also helmed institutions like the Crafts Museum and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi, puts the onus on museums. “We developed the museums but didn’t evolve the infrastructure around it. And it is the museum’s responsibility to do it. When you know, people are not going to come to you, you must go to them. Crafts Museum shares its wall with India Trade Promotion Organisation. It receives lakhs of people during the trade fair. I fought tooth and nail to get that door opened during my tenure (1984-89) so that the visitors spill over to the Crafts Museum as well. Museums need to rethink their strategies and outreach should be a major point of concern for them.” |
| 3. | In 2010, UNESCO brought out a report on the terrible conditions at India’s top eight museums, citing substandard maintenance, lighting, and signage, among other issues. The Ministry of Culture put together a 14 - point museum reforms agenda and things have moved forward since then. Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, the oldest museum in Mumbai has received 3,00,000 visitors over the past year. On average, the museum witnesses 500 visitors every day, with an average of 2,000 visitors over weekends. Not big numbers again, but impressive enough in the Indian context. And this is when the museum re-emerged after a revamp in 2008 with an extensive exhibition programme. Collaborations, screenings of movies of different genres, and workshops for adults and children contributed to the increase in the number of footfalls. The public-private partnership model of the museum is unique and can be replicated in other cases as well. |
| 4. | Robust publicity of exhibitions and creating links between different art spaces can also fetch the audience. Different art institutions located in proximity can host a series of events to be held in each one of them simultaneously. Museums also need to transform their cafes, upgrade their museum shops, and most importantly, invest in their human resource. So, what do we do until then? Let’s go and explore these storehouses of history, culture, and knowledge because unless and until we claim them, they will remain indifferent to our needs. |
After studying the case study of museums, answer the following questions.
- What according to the author is the reason for fewer footfalls in the museums in India?
- What measures are suggested in the passage to multiply the visitors to the museums?
- What was the proposition given by A. Ramachandran during his tenure at Crafts Museum?
- Between the National Museum of Delhi and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, which museum has more footfall on daily basis? Justify using statistics provided in the study.
Read the passage given below.
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5 |
I saw ‘Jaws’, the popular shark movie, the summer it came out, in 1975 and became paranoid about sharks. Though I kept swimming after Jaws, it was always with the vague fear that a shark’s teeth could tug on my leg at any moment. Never mind that there’d been only two shark bites since 1900 on the Connecticut coast, where I lived. |
| 10 | So, when I got this assignment for the National Geographic magazine, I decided to accept and do what I’d never wanted to do: swim with the sharks. I had to go to a place in the Bahamas known as Tiger Beach and dive with tiger sharks, the species responsible for more recorded attacks on humans than any shark except the great white. It was to be my first dive after getting certified-which meant it would be my first dive anywhere other than a swimming pool or a quarry-and without a diver’s cage. Most people who got wind of this plan thought I was either very brave or very stupid. |
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15
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But I just wanted to puncture an illusion. The people who know sharks intimately tend to be the least afraid of them, and no one gets closer to sharks than divers. The divers who run operations at Tiger Beach speak lovingly of the tiger sharks and the way people talk about their children or their pets. In their eyes, these sharks aren’t man-eaters any more than dogs are. |
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20
25 |
The business of puncturing illusions is never just black and white. My fellow divers had hundreds of dives under their belt and on the two-hour boat ride to the site on the morning of our first dive, they kept saying things like, “Seriously, I really can’t believe this is your first dive.” All this was okay with me until I reached the bottom and immediately had to fend off the first tiger shark, I had ever laid eyes on. However, when I watched the other divers feeding them fish and steering them gently, it became easy to see the sharks in a very benign light. |
| 30 | I think it would be unfair not to mention that tiger sharks are apex predators. They act as a crucial balancing force in ocean ecosystems, constraining the numbers of animals like sea turtles and limiting their behaviour by preventing them from overgrazing the seagrass beds. Furthermore, tiger sharks love warm water, they eat almost anything, have a huge litter and are the hardiest shark species. If the planet and its oceans continue to warm, some species will be winners and others will be losers, and tiger sharks are likely to be winners. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
- Cite a point in evidence, from the text, to suggest that the writer's post-Jaws fear was not justified.
- State any one trait of the writer that is evident from lines 5-10 and provide a reason for your choice.
- People thought the writer was ‘either brave or very stupid’. Why did some people think that he was ‘very stupid’?
- Why does the writer say that people who know sharks intimately tend to be least afraid of them?
- Rewrite the given sentence by replacing the underlined phrase with another one, from lines 10-20.
Some academicians think that reward, as a form of discipline, is a simple right or wrong issue. - What does the use of the phrase ‘benign light’ suggest in the context of the writer’s viewpoint about tiger sharks?
- Select a suitable phrase from lines 15-25 to complete the following sentence appropriately.
I agree the team will find this experience tough, but competing will be easier next time after they get this tournament ______ - Apex predators serve to keep prey numbers in check. How can we say that tiger sharks are apex predators?
- Analyse why having a large litter is one of the features that empower tiger sharks to emerge, winners, if global warming persists.
Read the passage given below.
| 5 | Changing food preferences have brought about rapid changes in the structure of the Indian diet. The rapid proliferation of multinational fast food companies and the influence of Western culture have replaced traditional home-cooked meals with ready-to-eat, processed foods thus increasing the risk of chronic diseases in urban Indians. Therefore, nurturing healthy eating habits among Indians from an early age would help to reduce health risks. |
| 10 | To date, little is known about the quality and quantity of foods and beverages consumed by urban Indian adolescents. This lack of evidence is a significant barrier to the development of effective nutrition promotion and disease prevention measures. |
|
15
20
|
Therefore, a self-administered, semi-quantitative, 59-item meal-based food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was developed to assess the dietary intake of adolescents. A total of 1026 students (aged 14-16 years) attending private, English-speaking schools in Kolkata completed the survey. A sample percentage of the food consumption pattern is displayed.
The survey results report poor food consumption patterns and highlight the need to design healthy eating initiatives. Interestingly, while there were no gender differences in the consumption of legumes and fried snacks, the survey found more females consumed cereals, vegetables and fruits than their male counterparts. |
| 25 | In conclusion, the report suggested that schools ought to incorporate food literacy concepts into their curriculum as they have the potential of increasing the fruit and vegetable intake of teenagers. Additionally, healthy school canteen policies with improved availability, accessibility, variety and affordability of healthy food choices would support the consumption of nutritious food in students. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
- What does the researcher mean by ‘changing food preferences'?
- Why was this survey on the food consumption of adolescents undertaken?
- With reference to the above figure, write one conclusion about students' consumption of energy-dense drinks.
- What can be concluded from the ‘no intake’ data of fruit consumption versus energy-dense snacks, with reference to the above figure?
- There were gender differences observed in the consumption of healthy foods, according to the survey. Substantiate.
- Why is ‘affordability’ recommended as a significant feature of a school canteen policy?
- Identify a word from lines 9-18 indicating that the questionnaire was specifically designed to be completed by a respondent without the intervention of the researcher collecting the data.
Read the following passage and complete the activities:
A1. Complete the chart on the life stages of fireflies: (2)
|
Fireflies are beetles and go through several life stages, starting out as an egg, then hatching into larvae. At the juvenile stage, they turn into pupae and then, finally adults. Fireflies spend most of their lives in a larval stage, hidden away. There are 2000 different species of fireflies. But they all go through a long juvenile stage and a short adult life, which is mainly about courtship, mating and reproduction. The juveniles living underground or underwater, are very different though-they're hunters, they eat snails and soft-bodied insects and they have very different habitats. Conserving them is essential for human life as fireflies are a key part of the food web. They are predators of agricultural pests. In turn, they are prey for spiders and other insects. They are completely enmeshed in the web of life. In addition, about 70 years ago, scientists unravelled the mystery of fireflies' light-producing talents. Since then, the bio-chemical reactions that fireflies experience have been used in detecting bacterial contamination in foods, testing drugs against cancer, developing drought-resistant crops. They have been used in space exploration. So fireflies give us beauty and inventions. Fireflies carry oxygen, calcium, magnesium and a natural chemical called luciferin. These react together to produce the photons. This is how the fireflies glow. Firefly tourism is growing across the world. In Maharashtra, for example, a particular species monsoon fireflies, emerge before the rains. They're beautiful and a festival is held in Purushwadi, encouraging firefly tourism. Its wonderful that people around the world go to see fireflies in their natural habitat. We need to be cautious. Too many people can disturb adult and larval habitats. Fireflies need darkness to communicate with each other and we need fireflies because they are harbingers of hope. |
A2. Write two reasons for the conservation of fireflies. (2)
A3. Make antonyms of the following words using prefix: (2)
- different × ______
- experience × ______
- bacterial × ______
- natural × ______
A4. Do as directed: (2)
(i) Too many people can disturb adult and larval habitat.
(Rewrite using 'as well as')
(ii) These react together to produce photons.
(Pick out the infinitive from the given sentence)
A5. Can you think of any other insect that teaches us some values of life? Explain with examples. (2)
Read the following passage and do the activities.
A1. Choose the correct option. (2)
- Thousands of birds were killed due to oil spills because ______.
- It suffocated them
- It was poisonous
- Birds couldn't enter the sea
- There was no fish to feed on
- The primary components of crude oil are ______.
- Methane and ethane
- Carbon and hydrogen
- Sulphur compounds
- Naphthalene
| During the Gulf War, a few years back, tens of thousands of sea birds were killed due to oil spills. Do you know what makes crude oil on ocean water so deadly? Crude oil is not used in the state it is produced at the off-shore wells. It is converted in refineries into a wide range of products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oils, and petrochemical feed-stocks. Before it is refined, the oil also contains potentially fatal components. Crude oil is made up of compounds of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons may be paraffin, the oil that is used as fuel in heaters and lamps or cycloparaffins (naphthenes) or aromatic compounds in varying proportions. While crudes found in the US are mostly paraffinic, these found along the Gulf Coast are naphthenic which contain sulphur compounds in varying amounts, a small amount of nitrogen and very little oxygen. Every variety of crude oil has nickel and vanadium in high concentration. Iron may be found in organic form due to the corrosion of pipes. Paraffins like methane and ethane are asphyxiants, substances that cause suffocation. The effects of cycloparaffins are more or less similar to those of paraffins but unsaturated paraffins are more noxious, than saturated ones. The sulphur present in crude oil may be toxic. The mechanism of toxic action seems to involve its breakdown to hydrogen sulphide. They will act principally on the .nervous system with death resulting mainly from respiratory paralysis. Sulphur in the form of aromatic thiophenes, benzothiophenes can damage the livers and kidneys of sea animals. Sulphur compounds like mercaptens can be very dangerous too. |
A2. Crude oil may be toxic and fatal. Justify. (2)
A3. Rewrite the sentences using one word from the passage for the underlined phrase/word. (2)
- Over consumption of alcohol may lead to death.
- The flowers displayed at the exhibition differ in properties.
A4. Identify and change the voice of the following sentence. (1)
Tens of thousands of sea birds were killed due to oil spills.
A5. With reference from the passage what can you do to control air pollution? (3)
Read the following passage and do the activities.
A1. Fill in the blanks.
- ______ is the effect of excessive humour.
- ______ and ______ are the qualities of a humorous person.
|
You are endowed with certain naughtiness as a child. Keep it alive. Humour will lighten all tough situations. One who has humour can sail through any conflict. Humour is buffer that saves you from humiliation. Humour brings everyone together, while humiliation tears them apart. In a society tom with humiliation and inSult, humour is like a breath of fresh air. Humour should be coupled with care and concern. Humour can keep the spirit high, yet if overdone, it leaves a bad taste. Humour without wisdom is shallow. Humour without sensitivity is satire-it comes back to you with more problems. The wise use humour to bring wisdom and to lighten situations. The intelligent use humour as a sword to insult others. The irresponsible use humour to escape from responsibility. And fools take humour too seriously! How does one cultivate a sense of humour? Humour is not just words, it is the lightness of your being. You do not have to read and repeat jokes. Humour can be cultivated by taking life not too seriously (because you will never come out of it alive), having a sense of belonging with everybody, including those who are not friendly, practising Yoga and meditation, having unshakable faith in the Divine and in the laws of Karma, being in the company of those who live in knowledge and have a sense of humour. |
A2. How does humour help in building harmony in society?
A3. State the meaning of the following:
- Satire
- To be shallow
A4. Add a question tag to the following sentences.
- You are endowed with certain naughtiness as a child.
- Humour can be cultivated by taking life not too seriously.
A5. How do you think can humour help you to develop a better personality?
Read the passage given below.
| 1 | Mountains have always been held in great awe by mankind. They have been a challenge to humans. Those brave among us have always wanted to conquer them. You see, the more incredible the mountains, the greater the thrill – a challenge to the bravery of the human race. Climbing mountains is an experience that is hard to put into words. You are in a beautiful environment and, when you reach the top, you feel incredible. But you also have to climb down, which is when most accidents happen – people are tired, it gets dark, it’s harder. So, mountain climbing is undoubtedly one of the most popular adventure sports along with being challenging and risky for the climber. |
| 2 | Without any perceived risk, there can’t be a feeling that any significant challenge has been surmounted. Fair, but we have to bear in mind that mountaineering is not a sport that can be embraced without preparation. The enthusiasts must develop in themselves the spirit of adventure, willingness to undertake hardships and risks, extraordinary powers of perseverance, endurance, and keenness of purpose before climbing a mountain. They should also know how to handle mountaineering equipment. Then comes the penance of the rigorous training. This could very well be the lifeline up there. It helps inculcate and hone survival instincts that allow the climber to negotiate perilous situations. There are numerous institutes in India and abroad that offer such training. |
| 3 | Mountain climbers are unanimous in agreeing that unpredictable weather is what they fear the most. There may be sunshine one moment and a snowstorm the other. At higher altitudes, snow is a regular feature and being decisive about setting up camps or proceeding further is crucial. The icy sheets after ice storms make walking treacherous, while the powdery snow makes a mountaineer sink deep into the snow. Up there, where the intention is to embrace Nature’s wonder, one realizes that it cannot be done without facing its formidable glory. A true mountaineer may challenge the mountain, yet is always respectful of the powerful forces of nature. |
| 4 | Summiting mountains carries its own health risks such as oxygen and altitude sickness problems, frost bites, swelling of hands and feet, fluid collection in brain or lungs and exhaustion. Yet, the gratification mountaineers feel from mastering something that is so frightening, urges them to undertake these endeavors. We may think that the mountaineers are fearless, experts say, “Not at all. It’s fear that keeps them so intrigued with such arduous journeys.” Impulse and brazenness can be deadly foes. In the words of the Indian mountaineer, Bachendri Pal, “The biggest risk ... is to not to take the risk at all. Remember that.” |
i. Why does the writer say that mountains inspire ‘awe’ in humans? (Paragraph 1) (1)
- They present us with opportunities for exciting sports.
- They evoke the wish in us, to master them.
- They inspire in us, deeds of valour.
- They represent peace and calm, to us.
ii. Select the option that corresponds to the following relation below: (1)
The more incredible the mountains - the greater the thrill (Paragraph 1)
- The higher the stamina - the lower the food intake
- The more you laugh - the lesser your illness
- The smaller the car - the bigger the advantage
- The heavier the luggage - the higher the penalty
iii. Select the option that displays what the writer projects, with reference to the following: (1)
So, mountain climbing is undoubtedly one of the most popular adventure sports (Paragraph 1)
- doubt
- caution
- conviction
- denial
iv. Complete the following with a phrase from paragraph 1. (1)
| Opinion | Reason |
| ______ | Best experienced rather than described |
v. The writer compares training to penance in the line - Then comes the penance of the rigorous training. (Paragraph 2) (1)
State 1 point of similarity between training and penance.
vi. Based on your reading of the text, list 2 reasons why the writer says that
“mountaineering is not a sport that can be embraced without preparation”. (Paragraph 2) (1)
- ____________
- ____________
vii. What connect does the writer draw out between unpredictable weather and setting up of camps? (Paragraph 3) (1)
viii. The writer says, “A true mountaineer may challenge the mountain, yet is always respectful to the powerful forces of nature.” (Paragraph 3) (1)
Select the reason the mountaineer is respectful to the forces of nature, up in the mountains.
- survival
- experience
- tradition
- directive
ix. justify the following: (1)
While mountain climbing, an impulsive mountaineer is either disaster-prone or as good as dead.
x. Evaluate the Inappropriate reason for the feeling of exhilaration on reaching a summit, that the mountain-climbers experience. (1)
- Achievement of a seemingly impossible feat
- Spectacular panoramic view
- Application of the inculcated survival instincts
- Opportunity to use sophisticated mountaineering equipment
Read the passage given below.
| 1 | It is generally accepted that leadership development should be a part of the education system's responsibility for preparing individuals to participate in a democratic and progressive society. Many schools, colleges and universities, across nations, provide their students with leadership courses, curricular programs and co-curricular programs that are designed to develop students’ formal knowledge about leadership as well as opportunities and experiences to develop students as leaders and actually practise leadership. Yet, only a handful of studies have sought to understand leader development from the students’ point of view, with students describing their own experiences and what they learned from them in their own words. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |
A 2014 descriptive study sought to understand student leadership with research through key events via the following research questions:
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| 3 | This study described the rich array of leadership lessons that students are learning through their experiences. It revealed that student leaders are learning foundational leadership skills and competencies that have positively impacted how to accomplish work, how to work with others and how to be both supported by and support others. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
(i) Does the following statement agree with the information given in paragraph 1? (1)
The researcher believes that educational institutions have ideal resources to study impact of leadership skills on young adults.
Select from the following:
- True - if the statement agrees with the information
- False - if the statement contradicts the information
- Not Given - if there is no information on this
(ii) Do you think the researchers of the study aimed to change the students’ outlook towards the development of leadership skills, directly or indirectly? Support your answer with reference to the text. (1)
(iii) Select the option that displays the most likely reason for including Research Question 3 in the 2014 study. (1)
In order to find out if...
- learning opportunities shape students’ overall personality.
- leadership lessons are the result of the designed learning opportunities.
- all learning opportunities cater to a specific lesson.
- certain lessons are common in more than one learning opportunity.
(iv) Complete the sentence based on the following statement. (1)
More than 50% of the identified student respondents were keen to participate in the 2014 study.
We can say this because ______.
(v) Select the option that displays the key event designed with “Balancing Roles” (Table 1) as the objective. (1)
- Students will be able to debate the issue at hand, with different teams.
- Students will be able to manage the responsibilities of a mentor, planner researcher and presenter.
- Students will be able to surmount minor problems and focus on the final goal.
- Students will be able to explain concepts and clarify them for peers.
(vi) Complete the given sentence by selecting the most appropriate option. (1)
The 2014 study attempts to understand student leadership by focussing on ______
- experiences that shaped students’ overall personality.
- lessons gained by students as they grew up.
- relationship of key events with particular lessons.
- students in leadership roles.
(vii) The lessons for ‘Individual competencies’ had a range of responses. (1)
Give one reason why having the least number of responses for ‘Decision Making’, is a matter that needs attention.
(viii) Complete the given sentence by selecting the most appropriate option. (1)
The concluding sentence of the text makes a clear case for ______ by listing it as a core competency for student leadership.
- collaboration
- flexibility
- hard work
- observation
(ix) Complete the sentence appropriately with one/two words. (1)
In the context of “Working with Others” in Table 1, the lesson of ‘Conflict’ refers to ______.
(x) Based on the reading of the text, state a point to challenge the given statement. (1)
When theoretical knowledge about leadership suffices, it is a waste of funds by educational organisations, to organise leadership camps and programmes.
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 assaults 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. |
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. |
| 4. |
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. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any eight questions from the nine given below:
- What is challenging for today's parents?
- What will be the consequence of over indulging children?
- Why do parents get caught in the buying blitz?
- How do children learn critical life lessons?
- What is the impact of advertisements on children?
- Why do children need limits on their behaviour?
- How do older children learn self-control?
- Find a word in the passage which means 'research'. (Paragraph 2)
- Find a word in the passage which means 'wealthy'. (Paragraph 3)
Read the passage given below:
| (1) | Ratan, a global brand in Dairy products, works on a business model popularly known as, 'The Ratan Model'. This model aims to provide value for money to the customers and protect the interests of farmers simultaneously. | ||||||||||
| (2) | The Ratan model is a three-tiered structure that is implemented in its Dairy production: Firstly, Ratan acts as a direct link between milk producers and consumers that removes the middlemen. Secondly, farmers (milk producers) control procurement, processing and marketing. Thirdly, it is a professionally managed organization. | ||||||||||
| (3) | One can understand the Ratan Model better by taking cognizance of 'Ratan's Target Audience', where it has targeted the mass market of India with no premium offerings and works on providing the best quality products at affordable prices. | ||||||||||
| (4) | So Ratan formulates its pricing policy on the low cost price strategy which has attracted a lot of customers in the past and it continues to do so. | ||||||||||
| (5) | Another stance used by Ratan's Target Audience is based on customer-wise targeting and industry wise targeting. This strategy divides the target audience on the following two bases : | ||||||||||
| (6) |
The above table showcases how Ratan has a diversified customer base. |
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| (7) | Industry Based Target Audience: Ratan has segmented milk for various industries such as ice-cream manufacturers, restaurants, coffee shops, and many similar industries. Further, it has segmented butter, ghee and cheese for bakeries, snack retailers, confectioneries, and many more. | ||||||||||
| (8) | The target audience study tells us that Ratan has a strong presence in both Business to Business and Businessto-Customers. | ||||||||||
| (9) | Ratan's marketing campaigns and strategies are implemented in a very attractive way. For example, the story of the 'Ratan Girl' is a popular 'ad' icon. It is a hand drawn cartoon of a young girl. | ||||||||||
Based on your understanding of the passage answer any Six out of the Seven questions given below:
- What does 'The Ratan Model' aim at?
- In dairy production how many tiers are there?
- Ratan acts as a direct link...? Explain.
- "Ratan Target audience is described as a diversified market. Explain with reference to the given table.
- Name the two basis on which Ratan divides the target audience.
- In which two spheres does Ratan have a strong presence?
- Which is the most loved ad icon of Ratan?
Read the following extract and complete the activities given below:
|
The government of India is encouraging medical tourism in the country by offering tax benefits and export incentives to the participating hospitals. Medical visas are being cleared quickly without any hassles. With a view to facilitating the growth of medical tourism industry, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the Ministry of Tourism has set up a task force to evaluate the opportunities in the industry. Efforts are being made to standardise procedures and to guide foreign patients to select the hospitals most suited to their needs. Meanwhile, several private hospitals are seeking to take advantage of the booming medical tourism industry and are investing hugely in acquiring equipments and skills. However, medical tourism carries some risks that locally provided medical care does not. Some countries like India, Malaysia and Thailand have very different infectious diseases rarely found in Europe and North America. Exposure to disease without having built-up natural immunity can be a hazard for weak individuals specially with respect to gastrointestinal diseases like Hepatitis A, amoebic dysentery etc., which could slow down the recovery process. Also, medical tourists may be at risk from mosquito-transmitted diseases, influenza and tuberculosis. The quality of post-operative care can also vary dramatically depending on the hospital and the country. Finally, after returning home, a patient has limited contact with their surgeon. This may make it difficult to deal with any complications that may arise later, such as a delayed infection. The concept of medical tourism raises some important questions regarding accessibility, affordability and ethics in medical care. It is unfortunate that a large section of the Indian population has little or no access to private health care. Public health care system is inadequate and lacks proper infrastructure and facilities. One wonders if it is sensible to make provisions for medical tourism in a democratic country like India, which has failed to provide nourishment, sanitation and health care to its masses. |
A1. Complete the web: (2)
A2. Complete the following statements with the help of information provided in the extract: (2)
- Building up natural immunity is must for all because ______.
- The concept of medical tourism can not be much successful in India because _______.
A3. Complete the following table with reference to the statement ‘Medical Tourism is a mixed blessing’: (2)
| Positive aspects of Medical Tourism | Hazard/Nagative aspects of Medical Tourism |
||
| 1. | 1. | ||
| 2. | 2. | ||
A4. ‘We need to promote the concept of Wildlife Tourism in India’. State whether you agree or disagree with the statement. Mention any two arguments. (2)
A5. Language study: (2)
(i) ‘Govt. of India is encouraging medical tourism in the country’. ...(Choose the correct present perfect form of the given statement.)
- Govt. of India is encouraged medical tourism in the country.
- Govt. of India had encouraged medical tourism in the country.
- Govt. of India has been encouraged medical tourism in the country.
- Govt. of India has encouraged medical tourism in the country.
(ii) ‘This may make it difficult to deal with any complication’. ...(Identify the replaced version of the statement using the auxiliary of certainty or definiteness.)
- This can make it difficult to deal with any complication.
- This might make it difficult to deal with any complication.
- This will make it difficult to deal with any complication.
- This have made it difficult to deal with any complication.
A6. Identify the words from the passage with the following meaning: (2)
- growing immensely
- threat
- obtaining
- able to approach/possible to approach
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
|
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below:
- When was King Tutankhamen burled? (1)
- 1717
- 1886
- 3300 years ago
- 1848
- Why did Egyptians hold gold in great esteem? (1)
- because it is a good conductor of electricity.
- because of its religious significance.
- for lovely gold ornaments.
- because it is indestructible.
- According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true? (1)
- Gold is the best conductor of electricity.
- Apart from gold, copper and silver are good conductors of electricity.
- Gold can be easily beaten, hence it is easy to work with.
- Gold plays an important role in the modern electronics industry.
- Select the option that displays what the writer projects, with reference of the following: (1)
The wandering Israelites worshipped a golden calf ______.- importance of religion
- importance of the metal
- good conductor
- can replace money
- How were the black labourers exploited? (1)
- Complete the following with the phrase from paragraph 1: (1)
Opinion Reason King Tutankhamen was buried in
a solid gold coffin 3300 years ago. - Based on your reading of the text list 2 reasons why the writer says that,
Not only is gold beautiful but it is virtually indestructible. (1) - Who launched South Africa into the gold age? (1)
- Issac Newton
- George Harrison
- George Bernard Shaw
- A farmer
- Select the option that corresponds to the following: (1)
The ancient Egyptians and the modern electronic industry both hold gold in high esteem.- The hardworking student came first because of his diligent practice.
- Honesty is underrated whereas strategy is appreciated.
- The vibrant colours made the interiors look luminous.
- The steaming food was both appetizing and tasty.
- Supply one point to justify the following: (1)
The desire to hoard gold at home has been primarily an occupation of the working and peasant classes.
Read the following passage.
| A | Dirshti was young woman who had always been fascinated by the supernatural. She had read countless books and watched numerous documentaries about ghosts and otherworldly beings. So, when she heard about an abandoned hotel on the outskirts of town that was said to be haunted, she knew she had to investigate. |
| B | One night, Dirshti decided to sneak into the dilapidated hotel with a few of her friends. As they made their way through the dark, eerie corridors, they heard strange noises and felt cold spots. They were convinced that they were not alone. |
| C | Suddenly, they came across a room that was different from the rest. It was filled with old cooking equipment and strange symbols etched into the walls. Drishti felt a chill run down her spine as she entered the room. She knew that this was where the most paranormal activity occurred. As they were examining the room, they heard a loud bang coming from the hallway. They froze in fear, not knowing what was coming their way. They could hear footsteps approaching, and they knew they had to hide. |
| D | They quickly ducked behind some old shelves as the footsteps grew louder. The sound of breathing was getting closer and closer until finally, they saw a figure appear in the doorway. It was a man wearing a chef’s hat, with a face that was twisted in a sinister smile. Drishti and her friends felt their blood run cold as the man approached them. They could feel his cold breath on their faces as he leaned in, whispering in a deep voice, "You shouldn't be here." |
| E | Dirshti and her friends were frozen with fear as they stared into the chef's eyes. But suddenly, the lights flickered on and the figure disappeared. They looked around the room, and everything seemed normal. They had been so scared that they hadn't realized they were in a room with faulty wiring |
| F | Disappointed, they realized that their ghost hunt had been a bust. They left the hotel feeling deflated and let down. They had hoped for an exciting, spine-tingling adventure, but all they got was a scary moment caused by faulty wiring. As they drove home, they couldn't help but feel foolish for getting so worked up over nothing. They had been so convinced that they would find evidence of the paranormal that they had overlooked the simple explanation for the noises they had heard. |
| G | Dirshti learned an important lesson that night. Sometimes, the scariest things are the ones that we create in our own minds. She realized that she didn't need to chase after the supernatural to experience thrills and excitement. The world around her was full of mystery and wonder, and she was content to experience it without the need for ghosts and ghouls. |
Answer the following questions, based on the passage above.
(i) How does the setting contribute to the overall mood and atmosphere of the story? (1)
-
- It creates a sense of nostalgia.
- It provides a sense of false security.
- It adds to the suspense in the story.
- It presents a contrast with the real world.
(ii) List two ways, how the disappointment that Drishti and her friends felt after their ghost hunt is analogous to the feeling of waking up from a dream. Answer in 30 -40 words. (2)
(iii) What is the main flaw in Drishti's approach to investigating the haunted hotel? (1)
- She was too focused on finding evidence of the paranormal.
- She was too skeptical and refused to believe in the possibility of ghosts.
- She relied too heavily on other people's accounts of the supernatural.
- She didn't take enough precautions to ensure her safety.
(iv) After which paragraph of the story, would the following paragraph most likely be placed? (1)
They commenced walking through the hotel, Drishti’s torchlight barely illuminating the darkness around her. Suddenly, they heard a loud creaking noise behind them. Drishti whipped around, pointing her flashlight in the direction of the noise. Nothing. Shaken, they all quickened their pace.
(v) Briefly explain (in 30-40 words) any two elements that classify the story as scary (2)
(vi) Substitute the underlined word in the following sentence with a word/ phrase from paragraphs 4- 6, that means the same. (1)
The sound of the footsteps outside the door left her petrified and the rasping breathing added to her horror.
(vii) What is the most significant lesson that Drishti learns from her experience in the haunted hotel? (1)
- The importance of avoiding risk-taking.
- The need to be more sceptical of the supernatural.
- The value of evaluating your weaknesses
- The power of imagination to create suspense.
(viii) Complete the following appropriately. (1)
Based on the use of the word "dilapidated" to describe the hotel in Paragraph 2, we can infer that its condition was ______.
(ix) Complete the sentence appropriately. (1)
If the title, The Hotel Haunting is given to this passage, it would be an inappropriate title, as compared to The Unsettling Encounter at the Abandoned Hotel because ______.
(x) State whether the given assertion is TRUE or FALSE. (1)
The reason Drishti and her friends visited the abandoned hotel was to prove the existence of ghosts.
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
| 1. | The man with the white face entered the carriage at Rugby. He moved slowly in spite of the urgency of his porter, and even while he was still on the platform I noted how ill he seemed. He dropped into the corner over against me with a sigh, made an incomplete attempt to arrange his travelling shawl and became motionless, with his eyes staring vacantly. Presently he was moved by a sense of my observation, looked up at me, and put out a spiritless hand for his newspaper. Then he glanced again in my direction. I feigned to read. I feared I had unwittingly embarrassed him, and in a moment I was surprised to find him speaking. |
| 2. | "I beg your pardon?" said I. "That book," he repeated, pointing a lean finger, "is about dreams." "Obviously," I answered, for it was Fortnum Roscoe's Dream States, and the title was on the cover. He hung silent for a space as if he sought words. "Yes," he said at last, "but they tell you nothing." I did not catch his meaning for a second. "They don't know," he added. I looked a little more attentively at his face. "There are dreams," he said, "and dreams." That sort of proposition I never dispute. "I suppose--" he hesitated. "Do you ever dream? I mean vividly." "I dream very little," I answered. "I doubt if I have three vivid dreams in a year." "Ah!" he said and seemed for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Your dreams don't mix with your memories?" he asked abruptly. "You don't find yourself in doubt; did this happen or did it not?" "Hardly ever. Except just for a momentary hesitation now and then. I suppose few people do." "Does he say--?" He indicated the book. "Says it happens at times and gives the usual explanation about intensity of impression and the like to account for its not happening as a rule. I suppose you know something of these theories--" "Very little--except that they are wrong." |
| 3. | His emaciated hand played with the strap of the window for a time. I prepared to resume reading, and that seemed to precipitate his next remark. He leant forward almost as though he would touch me. "Isn't there something called consecutive dreaming--that goes on night after night?" "I believe there is. There are cases given in most books on mental trouble." "Mental trouble! Yes. I daresay there are. It's the right place for them. But what I mean--" He looked at his bony knuckles. "Is that sort of thing always dreaming? Is it dreaming? Or is it something else? Mightn't it be something else?" |
| 4. | I should have snubbed his persistent conversation but for the drawn anxiety of his face. I remember now the look of his faded eyes and the lids red stained--perhaps you know that look. "I'm not just arguing about a matter of opinion," he said. "The thing's killing me." "Dreams?" "If you call them dreams. Night after night. Vivid!—so vivid . . . this--" (he indicated the landscape that went streaming by the window) "seems unreal in comparison! I can scarcely remember who I am, what business I am on . . . ."He paused. "Even now--" "The dream is always the same--do you mean?" I asked. "It's over." "You mean?" "I died." "Died?" |
| 5. | "Smashed and killed, and now, so much of me as that dream was, is dead. Dead forever. I dreamt I was another man, you know, living in a different part of the world and in a different time. I dreamt that night after night. Night after night I woke into that other life. Fresh scenes and fresh happenings--until I came upon the last--" "When you died?" "When I died." "And since then--" "No," he said. "Thank God! That was the end of the dream.. . " |
| 6. | It was clear I was in for this dream. And after all, I had an hour before me, the light was fading fast, and Fortnum Roscoe has a dreary way with him. "Living in a different time," I said: "do you mean in some different age?" "Yes." "Past?" "No, to come--to come." "The year three thousand, for example?" "I don't know what year it was. I did when I was asleep, when I was dreaming, that is, but not now--not now that I am awake. There's a lot of things I have forgotten since I woke out of these dreams, though I knew them at the time when I was--I suppose it was dreaming. They called the year differently from our way of calling the year . . . What did they call it?" He put his hand to his forehead. "No," said he, "I forget." He sat smiling weakly. For a moment I feared he did not mean to tell me his dream. As a rule, I hate people who tell their dreams, but this struck me differently. I proffered assistance even. "It began--" I suggested. |
| 7. | "It was vivid from the first. I seemed to wake up in it suddenly. And it's curious that in these dreams I am speaking of I never remembered this life I am living now. It seemed as if the dream life was enough while it lasted. Perhaps--But I will tell you how I find myself when I do my best to recall it all. I don't remember anything clearly until I found myself sitting in a sort of loggia looking out over the sea. I had been dozing, and suddenly I woke up--fresh and vivid--not a bit dreamlike—because the girl had stopped fanning me." |
On the basis of your reading of the above excerpt, choose the correct option to answer the following questions:
- How did the man with the white face behave as he entered the carriage? (1)
- Excited and enthusiastic
- Scared
- Excited and nervous
- showed no enthusiasm
- What was the name of the book which the narrator was reading? (1)
- Fortnum Roscoe's Dream States
- Dream States
- Dreams of the States
- State of the Dream
- What was the man’s opinion about the theory of dreams given in the narrator’s book? (1)
- He felt that it was all correct.
- He felt the book painted a wrong picture.
- He felt that the book explained nothing.
- He felt that the book was confusing.
- Statement 1: The narrator couldn’t snub the man’s conversation.
Statement 2: The man with the white face looked anxious. (1)
- Both 1 & 2 are correct and 2 is the reason for 1.
- Both 1 & 2 are correct and 2 is not the reason for 1.
- 1 is correct and 2 is incorrect.
- Both 1 & 2 are incorrect.
- What is NOT the reason for narrator being interested in listening to the man’s description of his last dream? (1)
- The man’s dream was about an alien.
- It was getting dark.
- The narrator had still an hour’s journey left.
- His book was getting boring.
- What did the man NOT say about the last dream which he had? (1)
- It was a dream which wasn’t clear.
- He was sitting in the loggia.
- His last dream was very clear.
- He would wake up in these dreams suddenly.
- Which of the following is NOT true for the Man with the white face? (1)
- He moved around slowly.
- He looked sickly.
- He didn’t want to talk about his dream.
- He didn’t believe in theories of Fortnum Roscoe's Dream States.
- "I dream very little," I answered. "I doubt if I have three vivid dreams in a year. This line highlights that the narrator did not – (1)
- Have normal dreams.
- Good sleep pattern.
- Give much importance to the science behind dreams.
- like talking to the man with the white face.
- How does the use of vivid and descriptive language in the passage enhance the reader's understanding of the man's experience? (1)
- Complete the sentence appropriately. (1)
It is fair to say that the man's experience of consecutive dreaming is similar with being lost in a maze because ______. - Choose the right answer which explains the phrase: (1)
He hung silent for a space as if he sought words.
- he was at a loss of words.
- he was indecisive.
- he was left hanging because of his indecisiveness.
- he stayed silent for some time as if he searched for words.
- State whether the following opinion is TRUE or FALSE. (1)
The author implies that memory and consciousness are not objective, but rather are shaped by our subjective experiences and perceptions. - What does the man with the white face, most likely mean by "there are dreams, and dreams"? (Reference - paragraph 2) (1)
- What do the man's "vacant" stare and "spiritless" hand suggest about his condition? (1)
- In paragraph 2, the narrator says, “I did not catch his meaning for a second.”
Which of the following expressions correctly display the usage of “catch”? (1)- catch a glimpse
- catch a hunger
- catch an anger
- catch a skill
Read the passage given below:
| (1) | When we think of the game of cricket, we come to the conclusion that it is primarily a game that depends on outstanding physical activities, good hand-eye coordination, speed, skill and strength. It provides entertainment and generates strong feelings of excitement. A good match of cricket or of any other game neither adds to the existing stock of human knowledge nor reveals any secret of existence. It does not carry any deep meaning but most people, particularly the lover of sports attach deep emotions and numerous meanings to it. Games are thought of as a metaphor for life. They are supposed to teach many lessons. In fact, more is said and written about a cricket match than about scientific findings or great philosophy. |
| (2) | This is because games, like a morality play, in which settings and rules are made by us, can easily make people test their fair and foul conduct, principles of reward and punishment, and emotions of joy and disappointment. They can make us experience the thrill of war without exposing us to its dangers. A man watching a cricket match on T.V. and munching popcorn is like a surrogate warrior. In fact, games provide us with a safe outlet for our aggressiveness. If games become aggressive, they lose the very purpose of providing entertainment and purging us of our aggressiveness. They can calm our impatience without creating any conflict. |
| (3) | Commentators, journalists, politicians and analysts can do a great favour to the competing teams by keeping the excitement within limits. The teams should play without being dominated by feelings of national honour and shame. Excellent performance of the players of both teams should be enjoyed and appreciated. Winning or losing in a game should not be taken seriously. A game is fun if it is played with true spirit of sportsmanship. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below:
- Complete the sentence by choosing an appropriate option: (1)
Most people conclude that cricket is primarily a game because ______.- it is played as a match
- it requires two teams
- it includes physical activity
- it depends only on skill and strength.
- Comment on the writer's reference to 'that cricket does not reveal any secret of existence. (1)
- List two responses to which watching a game of cricket gives rise to. (1)
- Select the option that conveys the opposite of 'destroy' from words used in the passage. (1)
- reveals
- experience
- generate
- purging
- The writer would not agree with the given statements based on paragraph 2, EXCEPT (1)
- Rules of any game are made by people.
- Watching a cricket match makes the viewer believe that he is fighting a battle.
- It is necessary for a game to be aggressive in order to build excitement.
- A game can test people's sense of fair judgement.
- With reference to the passage, a spectator is compared to a 'surrogate warrior'. (1)
Choose the option that best describes this phrase:- a spectator who is paid to watch.
- a spectator who is in pain while watching the match.
- a spectator who enjoys the match as an armchair soldier.
- a spectator who makes judgments about reward and punishment.
- Why does the writer compare games to a morality play? (1)
- Complete the given sentence with an appropriate inference with respect to the following: (1)
The writer says that games can calm our impatience without creating any conflict by ______. - The writer advises the players that games should not become aggressive because ______. (1)
- Select the most suitable title for the above passage. (1)
- Excellent Performance by Cricketers
- The Benefits of Playing Cricket
- Cricket - The King of Games
- The True Spirit of Playing Games
Read the following report and answer the questions by choosing the correct/most appropriate option:
 |
|
| (1) |
How bird hits happen, why they are a concern? New Delhi June 20 At least two bird strike incidents happened on Sunday. Both aircrafts returned to their airports of origin and were grounded for maintenance. An ABC aircraft, which took off from Guwahati towards Delhi, suffered damage to its left engine following a bird hit at 1600 feet. The pilots returned to Guwahati. The other strike happened on another flight from Patna to Delhi. The pilots of the aircraft suspected a bird strike during the take-off roll but continued to climb. Following the take-off rotation, they were informed by the cabin crew of sparks emanating from the left engine. Subsequently, the pilots were also informed by air traffic control of smoke coming out of one of the engines. The pilots declared an emergency and returned to Patna. |
| (2) |
Why are bird strikes a concern? Bird strikes are among the most common threats to aircraft safety, and they typically occur during take-off or landing. Dozens of bird-strikes happen each day but some can be more dangerous than others. Typically, when birds collide with an aircraft's airframe, it is unlikely to cause significant problems for the pilots flying. But there are instances when the aircraft engine ingests the birds. This can lead to a loss of thrust for the engine and cause manoeuvrability problems for the crew. In these cases, where a jet engine ingests a bird, procedures would generally call for pilots to land the plane at the closest airport. While most airframe bird strikes are not considered critical to air safety, if a collision cracks a window or a wind screen, pilots will look to land as early as possible. |
| (3) |
How critical are bird strikes to air safety? Smaller planes would generally be more susceptible to the dangers of bird strikes than larger ones. However, given that bird strikes mostly happen during take-off and landing, these incidents could distract the pilots during what are highly critical phases of flights that demand the complete attention of the crew. |
| (4) |
What causes bird-strikes? The presence of birds around an aircraft increases the chances of a bird strike. In the monsoon, as water puddles emerge on open grounds attracting insects to breed, the presence of birds increases. In some cases, bird hits also happen at higher altitudes when a plane is cruising. These are more dangerous than the low-altitude hits, given that they can cause rapid depressurization of cabins. Other reasons for bird activity around the airfield could be presence of landfills or waste disposal sites that can attract a large number of birds. |
- Does the following statement agree with the information given in paragraph 1? (1)
When an airplane is hit by a bird or is suspected to have been hit, the passengers must be asked to get down at once.
Select from the following:
True: If the statement agrees with the information.
False: If the statement contradicts the information.
Not Given: If there is no information on this. - Select the option that displays the most likely reason for bird hits. (1)
- when the aircraft is overloaded
- at the time of landing or taking off
- when the crew become negligent
- when the passengers become panicky
- Complete the sentence appropriately with one word. (1)
Smaller planes are generally more ______ than larger ones. - Complete the sentence by selecting the most appropriate option: (1)
When the window or the windscreen of the airplane is cracked due to a bird hit ______.- the crew must rush to the cockpit
- the pilot must land at the earliest airport
- the pilot must inform the maintenance engineer
- the pilot must get instructions from the aviation wing on what should do in emergency
- Based on the reading of the text, state a point to further the statement. (1)
Dozens of bird hits take place every day ______.
- but only a few are dangerous
- all of them are fatal
- but after every bird hit it is imperative to land the aircraft
- the pilot should ignore them
- Complete the sentence based on the following statement: (1)
Complete attention of the crew is demanded during take-off and landing.
We can say this because ______. - Complete the sentence appropriately with one/two words. (1)
In cases where the aircraft engine infests the bird, it leads to the loss of thrust and causes problems in ______. - Which are the areas more prone to bird hits? (1)
- Based on the reading of the text, state a point to challenge the given statement: (1)
The area around air fields should be clear of any waste disposal sites. - Look at the graph. It shows that between 2016 and 2021, whereas air flights have come down, the bird-hits have gone up. This implies that the incidence of bird hits has: (1)
- decreased
- increased
- remained constant
- been alarming
Read the passage given below:
| (1) | Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them a disgrace and a dishonour. But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve – slowing, slowing, and stalling once more –was no ordinary bird. Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. |
| (2) | This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make oneself popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent the whole day alone, making hundreds of low-level gliders, experimenting. "Why, Jon, why?" his mother asked. "Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don't you eat? Son, you're bone and feathers!" "I don't mind being bone and feathers, Mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know." "See here Jonathan," said his father, not unkindly. "Winter isn't far away. Boats will be few, and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can't eat a glide, you know. Don't you forget that the reason you fly is to eat?" |
| (3) | Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days, he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn't make it work. It wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. The subject was speed and in a week's practice he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive. Time after time it happened. Careful as he was, working at the very peak of his ability, he lost control at a high speed. The key, he thought at last, dripping wet, must be to hold the wings still at high speeds – to flap up to fifty and then hold the wings still. |
| (4) | From two thousand feet he tried again, rolling into his dive, beak straight down, wings full out and stable from the moment he passed fifty miles per hour. It took tremendous strength, but it worked. In ten seconds he had blurred ninety miles per hour. Jonathan had set a world speed record for seagulls! But victory was short-lived. The instant he began his pullout, the instant he changed the angle of his wings, he snapped into the same uncontrollable disaster, and at ninety miles per hour, it hit him like dynamite. Jonathan Seagull exploded in midair and smashed down into a brick-hard sea. As he sank low in the water, a strange hollow voice sounded within him. There's no way around it. I am a seagull. I am limited by my nature. If I were meant to learn so much about flying, I'd have charts for brains. If I were meant to fly at speed, I'd have a falcon's short wings. Short wings. A falcon's short wings! That's the answer! What a fool I've been! All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and just fly on the tips along. Short wings! |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below:
- Complete the sentence by choosing an appropriate option: (1)
Majority of seagulls fly only short distances as ______.- they are more interested in food than flight
- they don't have energy
- they are not meant to fly low
- food is not available at high speed
- Why were Jonathan Livingston's parents' dismayed? (1)
- Give two reasons for Jonathan's unconventional behaviour. (1)
(Clue: think about Jonathan's point of view.) - Select the option that conveys the opposite of 'glory' from the words used in paragraph 1. (1)
- disgrace
- dishonour
- learning
- unashamed
- The writer would not agree with the given statements based on paragraph 2, EXCEPT (1)
- Jonathan could not fly but only glide.
- Jonathan wanted to be popular with other birds.
- Jonathan realised that even the albatross flew at high altitudes.
- The reason seagulls flew was to find food.
- Jonathan was different, from other seagulls. Based on your understanding of paragraph 2, list what Jonathan wanted to know. (1)
- What was the mother's concern about Jonathan? (1)
- Complete the given sentence with an appropriate inference with respect to the following: (1)
Father reminds Jonathan that he 'can't eat a glide' in order to ______. - It, wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea. Which trait of Jonathan does this statement reveal? (1)
- practical bird
- persistent learner
- lonely and sad
- carefree and irresponsible
- Was it fair to fly like a falcon when he was just a seagull? Why does he say so? (1)
