HSC Science (Computer Science) इयत्ता १२ वी - Maharashtra State Board Important Questions for English

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
They whisper like drizzle
as they roam the streets
with a lost gaze as though
something they had thrown up
never returned to earth.

They shiver like December nights
in their dreamless sleep
on shop verandahs.

(1) Why do the old women in this extract roam the streets?

(2) What would you like to do for the betterment of the old people? 

(3) Find out an example of 'onomatopoeia' from the first stanza of the extract.

(4) Pick out the expressions from the extract showing the sad situation of the old women.

Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Orlando :

[You may begin with : One day Rosalind and Celia met me ..... ]
One day Rosalind and Celia met Orlando. He did not recognize them because of their stained faces and simple clothes. He thought they were a shepherd boy end his sister. He made friends with them and often came to see them in their cottage.
Rosalind, still dressed as Ganymede, one day made fun of Orlando's poetry. 'I'll cure you of your love for this girl Rosalind!' she said. 'I will pretend to be Rosalind and you shall make love to me.
And there followed an amusing scene with Orlando calling Ganymede "Rosalind" and swearing that he would die oflove for her, and Ganymede refusing to believe it. 'Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love! said Rosalind, laughing at the earnest Orlando.
At last the young man said he would have to go. I must attend the Duke at dinner', he explained, 'but I shall be with you again at two O'clock.'
So Rosalind said goodbye to him, and waited impatiently for his return. Two O'clock came, however, but no Orlando, and Rosalind began to feel angry and disappointed. Just then Oliver, Orlando's elder brother, came running through the forest to their cottage. He held a blood-stained handkerchief in his hand, which he gave to Rosalind, saying that Orlando had sent it to her.
'What has happened? What must we understand by this?' cried Rosalind, full of fear for her lover's safety.

Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Orlando:

[You may begin with : When Duke senior and his followers
were taking meal I rushed ...... ]

The Duke senior and his followers were sitting down to a
meal one day when Orlando rushed out from among the trees, his sword in his hand. 'Stop, and eat no more!' he cried. The Duke and his friends asked him what he wanted. 'Food,' said Orlando. 'I am almost dying of hunger. ' 
They asked him to sit down and eat, but he would not do so. He told them that his old servant was in the wood, dying of hunger. 'I will not eat a bite until he has been fed ', Orlando said.
So the good Duke and his followers helped him to bring
Adam to their hiding place, and Orlando and the old man were fed and taken care of. When the Duke learned that Orlando was a son of his old friend Sir Rowland de Boys, he welcomed him gladly to his forest court.
Orlando lived happily with the Duke and his friends, but he had not forgotten the lovely Rosalind. She was always in his thoughts and every day he wrote poetry about her, pinning it on the trees in the forest. 'These trees shall be my books,' he said, 'so that everyone who looks in the forest will be able to read how sweet and good Rosalind is.'
Rosalind and Celia found some of these poems pinned on
the trees. At first they were puzzled, wondering who could have written them; but one day Celia came in from a walk with the news that she had seen Orlando sleeping under a tree, and she and Rosalind guessed that he must be the poet.

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue in about 120 words :

[You may begin with: Herman: Roma, let's come here ..... ]

We piled back into Siq's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been l.eft unsaid between us. She broached the subject, ''Where were you during the war?'' She aked softly.
'The camps,' I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the
irreparable loss I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
She nodded. ''My family was hiding on a farm in Germany,
not far from Berlin,'' she told me. ''My father knew a priest, and he got us Aryan papers.''
I imagined how she 1nust have suffered too, fear, a constant
companion. And yet here we were both survivors, in a new world.
''There was a carmp next to the farm,'' Roma continued. ''I
saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day.''
What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some
other boy. ''What did he look like?'' I asked. ''He was tall, skinny, and hungry. I must have seen him eve1y day for six months''.
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be.
''Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?''
Roma. looked at me in amazement. ''Yes!''
''That was me!''
I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions.
I couldn't believe it! My angel!
''I'm not letting you go." I said to Roma. And in the back of
the car on that blind date, I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[You may begin with: I was happy ...... ]

The little daisy was as happy as if the day had been a great holiday, but it was only Monday. All the children were at school, and while they were sitting on the forms and learning their lessons, it sat on its thin green stalk and learnt from the sun and from its surroundings how kind God is, and it rejoiced that the song of the little lark expressed so sweetly and distinctly its own feelings. With a sort of reverence the daisy looked up to the bird that could fly and sing, but it did not feel envious. 'I can see and hear." it thought; the sun shines upon me, and the forest kisses me. How rich I am!''

In the garden close by grew many large and magnificent flowers, and, strange to say, the less fragrance they had the haughtier and prouder they were. The peonies puffed themselves up in order to be larger than the roses, but size is not everything! The tulips had the finest colours, and they knew it well, too, for they were standing bolt upright like candles, that one might see them the better. In their pride, they did not see the little daisy, which looked over to them and thought, ''How rich and beautiful they are! I am sure the pretty bird will fly down and call upon them. Thank God, that I stand so near and can at least see all the splendour. ''

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between Rosalind and Celia in about 120 words :

[You may begin with: Rosalind: There are many thieves ..... ]

        The two girls made their plans. There were many thieves on the roads in those days, and it was dangerous for rich and beautiful young women to travel alone. So they stained their faces with a brown juice to make them look sunburned, and wore simple country clothes. Rosalind, who was much taller than Celia, dressed as a young man and took the name of Ganymede. Celia decided to call herself Aliena. They took with them a kind old servant called Touchstone, who served as Court jester, or ''Fool'', to Duke Frederick. (A Jester's duty was to keep the court amused with merry jokes and songs, and to make his master laugh when he felt sad or dull.) 
        Touchstone had always been very fond of Celia, and he gladly agreed to accompany her and Rosalind into the Forest of Arden. He still wore his Jester's clothes of red and black, with little bells hanging from his cap; and he was a great comfort to the two lonely girls, making them laugh with his merry jokes, and cheering them when they were tired or frightened.
        As you can imagine, Duke Frederick was very angry when he was told that Celia had gone with Rosalind. He knew how much they had admired the young Orlando de Boys, and he suspected that the two girls had joined the young man and that they had all run away together. 'Send at once.to Oliver's house,' he said angrily. 'and if Orlando is not there, bring his brother to me. I'll make him find him. Everything must be done to bring back these foolish runaways'.

Read the extract carefully and rewrite as if you are the friend of the narrator :
[You may begin with: A couple of days later he was walking around ...... ]

    A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbed-wire fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone.
On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone: a little girl with light, almost luminous curls. She was half-hidden behind a birch tree.
I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German, ''Do you have something to eat?'' She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated the question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woollen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, ''I"ll see you tomorrow. ''
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat a hunk of bread or better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both. I didn't know anything about her, just a kind farm girl, except that she understood Polish. What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me? Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some, as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between Oliver and Rosalind in about 120 words:

[You may begin with: Oliver: I had searched for Orlando .....]

Oliver told them his story. He had searched for Orlando everywhere in the forest, he said, and at last, tired and hungry, he had fallen asleep under a tree. On his way from Rosalind’s cottage, Orlando had seen his brother lying asleep. A big snake had curled round Oliver’s neck and was just going to bite him when it saw. Orlando and slipped away into a bush. And then Orlando saw that a hungry lion was waiting under the same bush, ready to kill Oliver as soon as he woke up.

Orlando thought of all his brother’s unkindness to him in the past. Why should he risk his own life to save this brother who had always been cruel to him? Twice he turned away to leave Oliver, but he had a kind and noble heart and at last, decided that he could not leave his brother to die. So he fought the lion. The fierce animal tore and bit his arm, but he managed to kill it. Oliver wakened by the noise of the fight, saw that Orlando was risking his own life to save him. He was filled with shame at all his past unkindness to his young brother, and he begged Orlando to forgive him.

Orlando took his brother to the Duke, who gave him food and clothes. Orlando said nothing about the wound the lion had given him, but it had been bleeding all the time and suddenly he fell to the ground and fainted from loss of blood. As soon as he recovered consciousness, Orlando begged Oliver to go to Ganymede and Aliena. ‘Show them this blood-stained handkerchief,’ he said, ‘and explain to them why I have broken my promise to be with them at two o’clock’.

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

[You may begin with: Mrs. Green: May I come in.......]
"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 room for a day or two -- lust for old time's 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 cemetery. 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 skeleton?''
''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 philanderer!''
''Couldn't wait to get away from him," said the pink lady.
'Couldn't stand him anymore. He was a lady-killer, but not a real killer.''
''But your father ca1ne looking for you. Didn't you get in touch with him?''

Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of O.W. Harrison:

[You may begin as: My appeal was dismissed by the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Scoope ............. ]

The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Scoope have dismissed the appeal of O.W. Harrison, who was charged with the murder of Mr. W. P. Elder in July and confirmed the sentence of death passed on him by the Sessions Judge of Manbhun.
"Nothing to do with our skeleton, of course, because Mr. Elder was buried at Jamshedpur, while Marrisln occupies an unknown grave. And in any case, our skeleton is a woman's. But I remember the case. Harrison was having an affair with Mr. Elder's wife. When confronted by the outraged husband, Harrison took out his revolver and shot the poor man. All very sordid. No mystery there for you. Concentrate on your studies. Second term exams must be near I am sending you a parcel of socks. I know they don' t last very long on you."
     Two weeks later, I wrote: "Dear Mum, thanks for the socks. But I wish you had sent me a food parcel instead. How about some guava cheese? And some mango pickle. They don't give us pickle in school. Headmaster's wife says it heats the blood.
"About that skeleton. If a dead body was hidden in that
cupboard after 1930- must have been, if the newspapers of that year were under the skeleton - it must have been someone who disappeared around that time or a little later. Must have been before Tirloki joined the hotel, or he'd remember. What about the registers- would they give us a clue?"

Read the following extract and convert it into a dialogue between ORlando and the Duke Senior in about 8 to 10 sentences:

[You may begin with:  Orlando: Stop and eat no more! ]

The duke senior and his followers were sitting down to a meal one day when Orlando rushed out from among the trees, his sword in his hand. ‘stop, and eat no more !’ he cried
The duke and his friend asked him what he wanted. ‘food,’ said Orlando. ‘I am almost dying of hunger.’
    They asked him to sit down and eat, but he would not do so. He told them that his old servant was in the wood, dying of hunger. ‘I will not eat a bite until he has been fed,’ Orlando said.
  So the good duke and his followers helped him to bring Adrian to their hiding-place, and Orlando and the old man were fed and taken care of. When the duke learned that Orlando was a son of his old friend Sir Manuel de Roys, he welcomed him gladly to his forest court.
Orlando lived happily with the duke and his friends, but he had not forgotten the lovely Rosalind. She was always in his thoughts and everyday he wrote poetry about her, pinning it on the trees in the forest. ‘These trees shall be my books,’ he said, ‘so that everyone who looks in the forest will be able to read how sweet and good Rosalind is.’

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

Nearly seven months later, my brothers and I were crammed into a coal car and shipped to Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia.
"Don't return," I told the girl that day. "We're leaving."
I turned toward the barracks and didn't look back, didn't even say good-bye to the girl whose name I'd never learned ... the girl with the apples.
We were in Theresienstadt for three months. The war was winding down and Allied forces were closing in, yet my fate seemed sealed. On May 10, 1945, I was scheduled to die in the gas chamber at 10:00 AM.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the following extract and complete the tree – diagram given below:

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

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