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Question
Read the extract and complete the activities given below:
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This is what Camus meant when he said that "what gives value to travel is fear"-disruption, in other words, (or emancipation) from circumstance, and all the habits behind which we hide. And that is why many of us travel not in search of answers, but of better questions. I, like many people, tend to ask questions of the places I visit, and relish most the ones that ask the most searching questions back of me: "The ideal travel book," Christopher Isherwood once said, "should be perhaps a little like a crime story in which you're in search of something." And it's the best kind of something, I would add, if it's one that you can never quite find. I remember, in fact, after my first trips to Southeast Asia, more than a decade ago, how I would come back to my apartment in New York, and lie in my bed, kept up by something more than jet lag, playing back, in my memory, over and over, all that I had experienced, and paging wistfully through my photographs and reading and re-reading my. diaries, as if to extract some mystery from them. Anyone witnessing this strange scene would have drawn the right conclusion: I was in love. When we go abroad is that we are objects of scrutiny as much as the people we scrutinize, and we are being consumed by the cultures we consume, as much on the road as when we are at home. At the very least, we are objects of speculation (and even desire) who can seem as exotic to the people around us as they do to us. All, in that sense, believed in "being moved" as one of the points of taking trips, and "being transported" by private as well as public means; all saw that "ecstasy" ("ex-stasis") tells us that our highest moments come when we're not stationary, and that epiphany can follow movement as much as it precipitates it. |
A1. Read and rewrite the following sentences and state whether they are True or False: (2)
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- A traveller may sink in love with his travel-memoirs.
- One gets inspected as he inspects the world around him.
- Quest for something may end in more mystery.
- Staying in comfort at home gives one more happiness than travelling.
A2. Match the persons given in column 'A' with opinions/ characteristics given in column 'B': (2)
| Column 'A' | Column 'B' |
|
(1) Narrator
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a) ideal travel should be like a crime story. |
|
(2) Camus
|
b) in love with his memoirs. |
|
(3) Isherwood
|
c) more happy when on move. |
| (4) Traveller | d) fear gives value to travel. |
A3. Give reasons: (2)
"We are objects of scrutiny," because
- ______
- ______
A4. "Travelling is an interesting teacher." Write your views in 3-4 sentences. (2)
A5. Do as directed: (2)
- I like to ask questions of the places I visit. (Choose the correct tense form of the above sentence from the following options and rewrite.)
- Simple past tense
- Simple present tense
- Past perfect tense
- Present perfect tense
- I would come back to my apartment in New York. (Choose the correct option using 'used to' for the given sentence and rewrite.
- I use to come back to my apartment in New York.
- I have used to come back to my apartment in New York.
- I used to come back to my apartment in New York.
- I had used to come back to my apartment in New York.
A6. Find out the words from passage which mean: (2)
- reminiscence
- exhilaration
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Solution
A1.
- True
- True
- True
- False
A2.
| Column 'A' | Column 'B' |
|
(1) Narrator
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b) in love with his memoirs. |
|
(2) Camus
|
d) fear gives value to travel. |
|
(3) Isherwood
|
a) ideal travel should be like a crime story. |
| (4) Traveller | c) more happy when on move. |
A3.
- Travellers consume new cultures and environments, making them subjects of observation.
- Their behaviour and clothing might differ from the normal trends, making them stand out and invite scrutiny.
A4. “Travelling is an interesting teacher.” I agree with this view. Travelling teaches us how to behave in the outer world. It gives knowledge of different cultures and customs of other countries. It increases our understanding about various places and their values. Travelling broadens our outlook and makes us social people.
A5.
- Simple present tense
- I used to come back to my apartment in New York.
A6.
- Memory
- Ecstasy
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RELATED QUESTIONS
During the devastating July 2005 floods that hit Mumbai, Rajen Dutia received an urgent call from a relative, Lopa Vyas late in the evening. “A friend’s mother is stranded near your home, Rajen. Can you please take her home? Her name is Rashmi,” Vyas told him.
Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere. Despite power failure and raging rain, Dutia stepped out and made his way to the spot, where he found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people. They were stranded in the dark, shivering in the rain. They all lived far away and had no place to go for the night.
Rajen took all of them to his one-bedroom flat, where he served them dinner and invited them to spend the night.
"By doing so," says Rajen, "I was simply fulfilling my karma, paying the universe back for the good it had done for me."
"God is kind. My daughter had just started her new job that day, and had gone for her training. She was stranded too. While she was trying to get to our relatives, she almost drowned, but a young stranger saved her. He and his friends even dropped her to my relative's place and phoned me to say she was safe. One good turn deserves another."
A2. Order
Look at the following sentences from the passage and put them in the correct sequence: (2)
(a) He took them to his one-bedroom flat.
(b) Rajen found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people shivering in the rain.
(c) Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere.
(d) Rajen Dutia received an urgent call.
A3
During the devastating July 2005 floods that hit Mumbai, Rajen Dutia received an urgent call from a relative, Lopa Vyas late in the evening. “A friend’s mother is stranded near your home, Rajen. Can you please take her home? Her name is Rashmi,” Vyas told him.
Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere. Despite power failure and raging rain, Dutia stepped out and made his way to the spot, where he found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people. They were stranded in the dark, shivering in the rain. They all lived far away and had no place to go for the night.
Rajen took all of them to his one-bedroom flat, where he served them dinner and invited them to spend the night.
"By doing so," says Rajen, "I was simply fulfilling my karma, paying the universe back for the good it had done for me."
"God is kind. My daughter had just started her new job that day, and had gone for her training. She was stranded too. While she was trying to get to our relatives, she almost drowned, but a young stranger saved her. He and his friends even dropped her to my relative's place and phoned me to say she was safe. One good turn deserves another."
A2. Order
Look at the following sentences from the passage and put them in the correct sequence: (2)
(a) He took them to his one-bedroom flat.
(b) Rajen found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people shivering in the rain.
(c) Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere.
(d) Rajen Dutia received an urgent call.
A3(i). Fill in the blanks :
Select the words given in the passage (1)
(i) Thousands Of pilgrims were …………….. due to the cloud burst in Uttarakhand.
(ii) The tiger was ……………… by the hunter.
(ii). Antonyms:
Select the correct antonyms for the given words from the alternatives :
(1) Please :
(a) unplease (b) displease (c) misplease
(2) Safe: '
(a) insafe (b) safeless (c) unsafe
A4(i) Tags :
Select the correct tag for the alternatives given below :
One good turn deserves another.
(a) Doesn’t it? (b) don’t it (c) does it?
(ii). Guess:
Choose the correct answer : (1)
Rajen can you please take her home? ‘Can’ indicates :
(a) Obligation (b) ability (c) permission
A5. Personal Response :
‘ one good turn
Deserves another.’
Explain with an
example of your own.
Look at the balloons. Which are the qualities inculcated in the author by her teacher? Write them. (2)
Sister Monica, however, wasn't quite as lenient as that, and spent most of the time telling me about the importance of regularity and hard work. She made me realise that success is, like genius, 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration. It's a lesson that has stood me in good stead.
The teachers I'm most grateful to, though, are not those who have taught me the most, but those who have simply been friends to me, believed me and believed in me. Prominent among them is Sudha Ramasubramanium-Rambo, as we used to call her. I didn't know her too well. She taught me in college, and apart from being incredible in class unless one missed class, she also believed that I actualIy had a Problem when I developed an injury (which several doctors found difficult to diagnose). Despite my missing an exam-the HSC, of all exams- she was the only person who told me to concentrate on my health and assured me that I could take the exam off the top of my head any time I wanted to.
I'm not even certain she remembers it, but at the time, it felt like one of the only rays of hope in an extremely dark tunnel. Perhaps few teachers realize how far their influence extends or how much of a difference their actions and words can make. A number of my teachers have unfortunately taught me kindness and tolerance and patience by being precisely the opposite, and quite obviously, they aren't the people I like to think about. But many of my teachers have been extraordinary people, who have not only taught me in class but also helped mould me and my character in every other way. I only hope that I live up to what their endeavors were undoubtedly mean to create.
B2.Answer
(1) What kind of teachers are disliked by the author? (1)
(2) What was Sudha Ramasubramanium's advice to the author when she was going to miss her HSC exam. ? (1)
B3. Match :
Match the words with their appropriate meanings : (2)
| ‘A’ | ‘B’ |
| (i) Prominent | (a) Treatment |
| (ii) Incredible | (b) Natural |
| (iii) Diagnose | (c) Unbelievable |
| (iv) Endeavours | (d) Noticeable |
| (e) Efforts | |
| (f) Identify a disease |
B.4(i) ‘Wh question’
She made me realize that success is, like genius. (1)
(Frame a ‘Wh’ question to get the underlined part as an answer)
(ii) She taught me in college. (1)
(Begin the sentence with ‘I’ and rewrite).
B5. Personal Response
Do you agree that a teacher should also be your good friend? Justify your answer. (2)
A1. Guess
Select the correct alternatives from the boxes : (2)
(1) The Olympic Games were originally held in honour of:
(a) The Priests (b) The Greeks
(c) The Spartans (d) Zeus
(2) The Olympics were held after every …………..
(a) Year (b) Four years
(c) Three years (d) Two years
(3) All came to know of Olympia from the:
(a) Olympics (b) Spartans
(c) Syracusans (d) Athenians
(4) Altis was the name of a :
(a) God (b) Race
(c) Festival (d) Enclosure
Olympia, the original site of Olympic Games in ancient Greece is situated in a quiet, beautiful valley. The old ruins are shaded by evergreen oaks, pines and poplars, as well as olive trees. Olympia was never a city but a sacred ground occupied by temples and dwellings for the priests. At the centre was the enclosure known as Altis, dedicated to Zeus, the god of gods. It was in honour of Zeus that the quadrennial festival and the games were held.
The fame of Olympia rests largely upon Olympic Games. They were a great national festival of the entire Greek race. During the week of the festival the Athenians, the Spartans, the Syracusans and other groups, all forgot their narrow identities. They regarded an Olympic victory as the highest honour. The simple reward of a twig of wild olive immortalized the victor and his family.
The Olympic Games were held regularly in peace and in war at an interval of four years for over a thousand years from 776 B.C. till 393 A.D. Originally, men who spoke Greek as their mother tongue were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. No married women were allowed to be present. The athletic programme was varied by the presence of historians, orators and writers. After each event a herald announced the victor's name and handed him a palm. On the last day the successful competitors were each given a garland of wild olive.
A2. Select
Select the word each from the circle which mean the following: (2)
(1) Occurring at the interval of four years
(2) Wreckage
(3) Take part in a game
(4) One who wins.
A3. Complete :
Complete the table and frame your sentence with anyone word : (2)
| Noun | Adjective | Verb |
| beautiful |
A4. (i) The old ruins are, shaded by evergreen oaks, pines and .poplars as well as olive trees.
(Insert not only ……. but also and rewrite). (1)
(ii) No married women were allowed to be present. (Remove 'No' and rewrite the sentence without changing its meaning) (1)
A5. Personal response
How are the winners in Olympics rewarded today? (2)
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.
AI. Who said to whom
(i) "Is he going to live, sir?"
(ii) "______ the struggle is too hard at the end ______.”
The doctor said to himself, "If my word can save his life, he shall not die.
The will be damned." He called, "Gopal, listen." This was the first time he was going to do a piece of acting before a patient, simulate a feeling and conceal his Judgement. He stooped over the patient and said, with deliberate emphasis, "Don't worry about the will now. You are going to live. Your heart is absolutely sound."
A new glow suffused the patient's face as he heard it. Be asked in a tone of relief,
"Do you say so? If it comes from your lips it must be true............ . "
The doctor said, "Quite right. You are improving ever second. Sleep in peace. You must not exert yourself on any account. You must sleep very soundly.
I will see you in the morning." The patient looked at him gratefully for a moment and then closed his eyes. The doctor picked up his bag and went out, shutting the door softly behind him.
On his way home he stopped for a moment at his hospital, called out his assistant and said, "That Lawley Extension case. You might expect the collapse any second now. Go there with a tube of .....................................'in hand, and give it in case the struggle is too hard at the end. Hurry up.”
Next morning he was back at Lawley Extension at ten. From his car he made a dash for the sick bed. The patient was awake and looked very well. The assistant reported satisfactory pulse. The doctor put his tube to his heart, listened for a while and told the sick man's wife, "Don't look so unhappy, lady. Your husband will live to be a ninety.’’ When they were going back to the hospital, the assistant sitting beside him in the car asked, "Is he going to live, sir?"
"I will bet on it. He will live to be ninety. He has turned at corner. How he has survived this attack will be a puzzle to me all my life," replied the doctor.
A2. Web
Complete the web:
A3. Personal Response
What is your opinion about the doctor and his behaviour?
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
Read the following passage:
In India, eating organic food is more of a style statement than due to health worries because the stuff is expensive. But people who can, do indulge in not only organic vegetables but even organic eggs laid by 'happy hens', who are allowed to roam around freely whereas 'unhappy hens' are kept in coops. Then there are companies that have installed music channels in their cowsheds and the milk from those sheds are sold at a marked up price since it has more nutritional value because the animals are happy thanks to lilting 24×7 music. We don't know yet any farmer using music to improve his crop quality, but then you never know : plants are known to respond to music.
Why such pickiness about food ? These days, the huge number of TV shows and articles that we see and read on food provide bread and butter for the specialist. But instead of decoding food, its sources and what has gone into growing it, isn't it much better to enjoy what's on the plate ?
Complete the statements given below by choosing the correct options from those that follow:
(a) According to a Stanford University study, organic food in relation to conventional food is________.
(i) less nutritious
(ii) more nutritious
(iii) very conventional
(iv) as nutritious
(b) The study will not be welcomed by _________.
(i) farmers of conventional food
(ii) makers of pesticides
(iii) all sectors
(iv) exporters of organic food
(c) We can save some hard cash by _________.
(i) buying organic food
(ii) not buying organic food
(iii) going to the shop
(iv) not buying food with pesticides
(d) Music channels are installed in the cowshed because the _________.
(i) cows then give more milk
(ii) milk is sold at a higher price
(iii) milk becomes more pure
(iv) workers becomes happy
(e) In the second paragraph, the author's attitude to the people who eat food sourced from 'happy' animals is that he _________.
(i) is happy with them
(ii) is unhappy with them
(iii) is laughing at them
(iv) wants crops to be grown similarly
(f) One benefit of organic food is that __________.
(i) it is fashionable to eat
(ii) only rich people can afford it
(iii) it is less contaminated with pesticides
(iv) even poor people can afford it
(g) The word 'contaminated' means ________.
(i) adulterated
(ii) for adults
(iii) containing
(iv) not healthy
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
These meadows aren't worth much to me. They only come to five dessiatins, and are worth perhaps 300 roubles, but I can't stand unfairness. Say what you will, I can't stand unfairness.
(a) Who speaks the above lines and to whom?
(b) How much are the meadows worth?
(c) Find a word in the extract the means 'not based on what is just.'
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I even considered fleeing to my hometown, where I could have been a real lawyer right away, without going through this unpleasant training period
(a) Who is 'I'?
(b) How did 'I' suffer during the training period?
(c) What does the word, 'fleeing' mean?
Read the passage given below :
Kausani is situated at a height of 6,075 feet in the Central Himalayas. It is an unusally attractive little town. It covers just about 5.2 sq. kms. It lies to the north of Almora in Uttarakhand's picturesque kumaon region.
Kausani provides the 300-km wide breathtaking view of the Himalayas. It is the most striking aspect of the place. Snow-capped peaks are spread in a stately row. They stare at you in silvery white majesty. The most famous peak on view is Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India. It is situated at a height of 25.645 feet and 36 miles away as the crow files. The other famous peaks on view are choukhamba (23,420 feet) and Trishul (23,360 feet). Then there are also Nilkanth, Nandaghunti, Nandaghat and Nandakot. On a clear day, the blue of the sky makes a splendid background to these peaks. At sunrise and at sunset, when the colour changes to a golden orange, the scene gets etched in your memory.
When Gandhiji visited this place in 1929, its scenic beauty held him spellbound. He named it the 'Switzerland of Indian'. He prolonged his two-day stay to fourteen days, making time to write a book, 'Anashakti Yoga'. The place where he was staying was originally a guest-house of the tea estate. It was renamed 'Anashakti Ashram' after the book.
Kausani is the birthplace of Sumitranandan Pant, India's poet laureate. Its natural surroundings inspired many of his poems. Its tea gardens mingle with dense pine forests and fruit orchards. The area is also host to many fairs and religious caremonies. If Uttaranchal is the abode of gods, Kausani is God's own backyard. There is no traffic, no one is in a hurry. If serenity could be put on a canvas, the picture would resemble Kausani.
On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions :
(a) Where is Kausani situated ?
(b) What is the most striking aspect of Kausani ?
(c) Which is the most famous peak on view from Kausani ?
(d) How did Kausani influence Sumitranandan Pant ?
(e) When does the view of peaks become so memorable ?
(f) How can we say that Gandhiji was greatly charmed by the natural beauty of Kausani ?
(g) What makes Kausani a calm and quiet place ?
(h) Why, do you think, is Kausani known as 'God' s own backyard' ?
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. 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:
Keeping cities clean is essential for keeping their residents healthy. Our health depends not just on personal hygiene and nutrition, but critically also on how clean we keep our cities and their surroundings. The spread of dengue and chikungunya are intimately linked to the deteriorating state of public health conditions in our cities.
The good news is that waste management to keep cities clean is now getting attention through the Swachh Bharat Mission. However, much of the attention begins and stops with the brooms and the dustbins, extending at most to the collection and transportation of the mixed waste to some distant or not so distant place, preferably out of sight.
The challenge of processing and treating the different streams of solid waste, and safe disposal of the residuals in scientific landfills, has received much less attention in municipal solid waste management than is expected from a health point of view.
One of the problems is that instead of focusing on waste management for health, we have got sidetracked into "waste for energy". If only we were to begin by not mixing the biodegradable component of solid waste (close to 60 percent of the total) in our cities with the dry waste, and instead use this stream of waste for compositing and producing a gas called methane.
City compost from biodegradable waste provides an alternative to farmyard manure (like cow-dung). It provides an opportunity to simultaneously clean up our cities and help improve agricultural productivity and quality of the soil. Organic manure or compost plays a very important role as a supplement to chemical fertilisers in enriching the nutrient-deficient soils. City compost can be the new player in the field.
Benefits of compost on the farm are well-known. The water holding capacity of the soil which uses compost helps with drought-proofing, and the requirement of less water per crop is a welcome feature for a water-stressed future. By making the soil porous, use of compost also makes roots stronger and resistant to pests and decay. Farmers using compost, therefore, need less quantity of pesticides. There is also evidence to suggest that horticulture corps grown with compost have better flavour, size, colour and shelf-life.
City compost has the additional advantage of being weed-free unlike farmyard manure which brings with it the seeds of undigested grasses and requires a substantial additional labour cost for weeding as the crops grow. City compost is also rich in organic carbon, and our soils are short in this.
Farmers clearly recognize the value of city compost. If city waste was composted before making it available to the farmers for applying to the soil, cities would be cleaned up and the fields around them would be much more productive.
Quite apart from cleaning up the cities of biodegradable waste, this would be a major and sustainable contribution to improving the health of our soil without further damage by excessive chemical inputs. What a marvellous change from waste to health!
The good news is that some states are regularly laying plastic roads. Plastic roads will not only withstand future monsoon damage but will also solve a city's problem of disposing of non-recyclable plastic. It is clear that if the mountains of waste from our cities were to be recycled into road construction material, it would tackle the problem of managing waste while freeing up scarce land.
(a) On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and sub-headings. Use recognisable 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:
1. We sit in the last row, bumped about but free of stares. The bus rolls out of the dull crossroads of the city, and we are soon in open countryside, with fields of sunflowers as far as the eye can see, their heads all facing us. Where there is no water, the land reverts to desert. While still on level ground we see in the distance the tall range of the Mount Bogda, abrupt like a shining prism laid horizontally on the desert surface. It is over 5,000 metres high, and the peaks are under permanent snow, in powerful contrast to the flat desert all around. Heaven Lake lies part of the way up this range, about 2,000 metres above sea-level, at the foot of one of the higher snow-peaks.
2. As the bus climbs, the sky, brilliant before, grows overcast. I have brought nothing warm to wear: it is all down at the hotel in Urumqi. Rain begins to fall. The man behind me is eating overpoweringly smelly goat's cheese. The bus window leaks inhospitably but reveals a beautiful view. We have passed quickly from desert through arable land to pasture, and the ground is now green with grass, the slopes dark with pine. A few cattle drink at a clear stream flowing past moss-covered stones; it is a Constable landscape . The stream changes into a white torrent, and as we climb higher I wish more and more that I had brought with me something warmer than the pair of shorts that have served me so well in the desert .The stream (which, we are told rises in Heaven Lake) disappears, and we continue our slow ascent. About noon, we arrive at Heaven Lake, and look for a place to stay at the foot, which is the resort area. We get a room in a small cottage, and I am happy to note that there are thick quilts on the beds.
3. Standing outside the cottage we survey our surroundings. Heaven Lake is long, sardine-shaped and fed by snowmelt from a stream at its head. The lake is an intense blue, surrounded on all sides by green mountain walls, dotted with distant sheep. At the head of the lake, beyond the delta of the inflowing stream, is a massive snow-capped peak which dominates the vista; it is part of a series of peaks that culminate, a little out of view, in Mount Bogda itself.
5. "Swimming?" Mr. Cao says. "You aren't thinking of swimming, are you?"
6. "I thought I might," I confess. "What's the water like?"
7. He doesn't answer me immediately, turning instead to examine some receipts with exaggerated interest. Mr. Cao, with great off-handedness, addresses the air. "People are often drowned here," he says. After a pause, he continues. "When was the last one?" This question is directed at the cook, who is preparing a tray of mantou (squat white steamed bread rolls), and who now appears, wiping his doughy hand across his forehead. "Was it the Beijing athlete?" asks Mr. Cao.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, complete the statements given below with the help of options that follow:
(a) One benefit of sitting in the last row of the bus was that:
(b) The narrator was travelling to:
(c) On reaching the destination the narrator felt relieved because:
(d) Mount Bogda is compared to:
Answer the following questions briefly:
(e) Which two things in the bus made the narrator feel uncomfortable?
(f) What made the scene look like a Constable landscape?
(g) What did he regret as the bus climbed higher?
(h) Why did the narrator like to buy food from outside?
(i) What is ironic about the pair of trousers lent by Mr. Cao?
(j) Why did Mr. Cao not like the narrator to swim in the lake?
(k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:
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 following extract and answer the questions given below:
But even in a poverty-free world where every man and woman would earn enough to take care of themselves and their family, there would still be situations of temporary poverty due to a sudden catastrophe or misfortune, a bankruptcy or business downturn leading to failure, or some personal disease or disaster.
A poverty-free world might see a whole group of families, locations, or even regions devastated by some shared disasters, such as floods, tire, cyclones, riots, earthquakes or
other disasters. But such temporary problems could be taken care of by the market mechanism through insurance and other self-paying programmes, assisted of course by social-consciousness-driven enterprises.
There would always remain differences in lifestyle between people at the bottom of society and those at the top income levels. Yet that difference would be the difference between the middle-class and luxury class, just as on trains in Europe today you have only first-class and second-class carriages, whereas in the nineteenth century there were third- class and even fourth-class carriages - sometimes with no windows and just hay strewn on the floor.
Can we really create a poverty-free world? A world without third-class or fourth-class citizens, a world without a hungry, illiterate, barefoot under-class?
(1) What is the extract about?
(2) How will the poverty-free world take care of natural disasters?
(3) According to the writer, what would, 'the world without poverty' be like?
(4) What can we do to help the poor in our society?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) Temporary problems could be taken care of by market mechanisms.
(Rewrite the sentence beginning with 'Market mechanism ........ ')
(ii) In the nineteenth century, there were third-class carriages.
(Form a Wh-question to get the underlined part as an answer.)
(iii) There would still be situations of temporary poverty.
(Rewrite it using 'can'.)
( 6) What do the following words in the extract mean -
(i) devastated
(ii) hay
Read the following extract and answer the questions given
below:
Prominent among the urges that inspire and drive a person in life, is the mge to be a somebody. It is quite human, especially in the early stages of life, to want to do something to win laurels and admiration of all around. There's a pitfall though - the very process of becoming a somebody may subtly reduce yon to a nobody.
American poet Emily Dickinson, who lived in obscurity, has an interesting poem on this theme. "I'm nobody!" she declares, with apparent pride.
"Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?"
Why should anybody be happy about being nobody?
The poem explains :
"How dreaiy to he somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
The word 'bog' is significant. When you become a somebody, you invite adulation :
this then begins to bog you down. The moment you think you have arrived, you begin to stagnate, or, worse, your downslide begins. An endless list of writers, artists, sportsmen, politicians ..... fit this pattern of personal history.
To sustain your development in absolute terms, to become a true somebody, it is important to remain a temporal nobody. Even if destiny makes you a temporal somebody,
you should be able to see yourself as merely an agent of a superior power; no more. This requires an exercise of will. You have to constantly watch out and talk to yourself morning and evening.
(1) What is the main idea of the extract? (1)
(2) Why is it important for one to remain a temporal nobody? How? (1)
(3) What does Emily Dickinson declare with pride? Why? (2)
(4) What would you like to be in your life - Somebody or nobody? Why? (2)
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed
(i) This requires an exercise of will.
(Rewrite it using the Simple Future tense.) (1)
(ii) You have to constantly watch out and talk to yourself.
(Rewrite it using another modal auxiliary showing 'compulsion'.) (1)
(iii) You begin to stagnate.
(Rewrite it using the noun form of the word underlined.) (1)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean -
(i) danger (1/2)
(ii) praise (1/2)
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
One day, I saw the tree was being cut. I rushed to the site and begged the tree cutters to spare the trunk as it wast the home of many a parrot. But I was laughed at and the tree fell with a great thud. I ran to the top end to see two just hatched chicks thrown out of their nest and smashed to death. I looked into all the nests and saw smashed eggs in two of them and one little chick in the other one. Fortunately, the little one survived the fall. I brought it home. The chick can be identified as a parrot only by the shape and colour of its beak. No feathers had come out. 1 carefully fed it with milk and within two weeks it began to eat bananas; and two months later, it started to fly and I let him fly away. But he would not fly long. He used to liner on the coconut trees in our compound and when I reached home from school, he would fly down and land on my head!
I would show him my finger and he would jump on to it from my head and drink the milk I offered him in a little plate. By putting the sharp end of the upper beak stationaty in the plate, he would drink the milk by moving his tongue and lower beak to and fro. Then he would fly on to my shoulder and eat paddy from mypahn.
(1) What is the extract about? (1)
(2) Describe how did the boy save the life of a chick ? (2)
(3) What was the parrot's daily routine at the author's home? (2)
(4) Do you think, we have deprived the birds of their natural habitats? What are its effects? (2)
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) I rushed to the site. (Rewrite the sentence using 'used to'.) (1)
(ii) The tree was being cut. (Rewrite it beginning with 'They .... .' (1)
(iii) I looked into all the nests and saw smashed eggs in two of them. (Rewrite the sentence using the word 'when'. (1)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean -
(i) neatly (1/2)
(ii) stay for longer (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:
One day, King Amrit and Chandan were taking a walk on the terrace of the palace. The terrace offered a beautiful view of the surroundings, and they could see far into the distance. They spotted the weekly market from up there, with people in colourful clothes buying and selling all kinds of things. There was plenty to buy and people had money to buy too. There were no poor people to be seen anywhere. The King watched with a smile on his face. He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom. Like any good ruler, he was happy ·when his people were happy.
He turned to Chandan and said, ''See how contented my people are. But I want to check this first-hand by talking to them. Tomorrow, summon people from all walks of life to the court, and I will ask them myself how they are doing.'' Chandan was used to the king's strange requests and went off to carry out this order.
The next day, the King arrived in the court humming a happy tune to himself. Seeing all the people gathered there waiting for him, he was even more pleased. He cleared his throat and said in a loud voice, ''I have called you here to ask you a very important question. As your king, I need to know if all of you are contented. Do you have enough for your needs? Do you know anyone who is not happy about anything?''.
(1) What do you understand about the King from this extract?
(2) Why did the King want to talk to his people?
(3) How did the King come to know about the prosperity of his kingdom?
(4) According to you, what should the Government do for the bettennent of the poor people?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom.
(Make it a rhetorical question.)
(ii) Summon people from all walls of life to the court
(Rewrite it beginning with 'Let ..... ')
(iii) As soon as the King arrived in the court humming a
happy tune to himself, he cleared his throat.
(Rewrite it using 'No sooner .... than'.)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) development
(ii) examine
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:
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
Read the following extract and answer the questions given
below:
Today, at 29, \.1.ichael has discovered the power of another good idea that has helped him rise in just a few years from teen to tycoon.He has become the fourth largest manufacturerof personal computers in America and the youngest man ever to head Fortune 500 Corporation.
Growing up in Houston, Texas. Michael and his two brothers were imbued by their parents. Alexander and Lorraine - he anorthodontist, she a stockbroker- with the desire to learn and the drive to work hard. Even so, stories about the middle boy began to be told early.
Like the time a saleswoman came asking to speak to "Mr. Michael Dell" about his getting a high school equivalency diploma. Moments later. eight-year-old Michael was explaining that he thought it might be a good idea to get high school out of the way.
A few years later Michael had another good idea, to trade stamps by advertising in stamp magazines. With the $2000 he made, he bought his first personal computer. Then he took it apart to figure out how it worked.
In high school Michael had a job selling newspaper subscriptions. Newlyweds, he figured, were the best prospects, so he hired friends to copy rhe names and addresses of recent recipients of marriage licences. These he entered into his computer, then sent a personalized letter offering each couple a free two-week subscription.
This time Dell made $ 18,000 and bought an expensive BMW car. The car salesman was flabbergasted when the 17-ycar-oJd paid cash.
(I) What details does the writer give about Dell's family in the
extract? (1)
(2) How did Dell succeed in earning S2QOQ? (2)
(3) Why was the car salesman flabbergasted? (2)
(41 What do you think you can learn from Dell's story? (2)
{5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instmcted:
{i) "He has discovered the power of another good idea."
(Rewrite it beginning with 'The power of another good
idea ...... ... .'.) (1)
.(if) "If you think you have a good idea, try it. "
(Use 'Unless' .) (1)
(iii) '"This time Dell made $18,000 and bought an expensive
BMW car." (1)
(Make it a simple sentence.)
CM Find out the words from the extract which mean :
(i) filled with a quality. (1/2)
(ii) understand. (1/2)
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below.
| A | B |
| (i) valedictorian | (a) feeling of annoyance |
| (ii) frustration | (b) dunce |
| (c) school topper | |
|
(d) validity
|
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below.
|
I grew up in India in which telephones were both rare and virtually useless. When I left India in 1975 to go to the US for graduate studies, we had perhaps, 600 million residents in the country and just two million landline telephones. Having a telephone was a rare privilege: if you weren’t an important government official, or a doctor, or a journalist, you might languish in a long waiting list and never receive a phone.
Telephone were such a rarity (after all, 90% of population had access to a telephone line) that elected members of Parliament had amongst their privileges the right to allocate 15 telephone connections to whomever they deemed worthy.
And if you did have a phone, it wasn’t necessarily a blessing. I spent my high school years in Calcutta, and I remember that if you picked up your phone, you had no guarantee you would reach the number you had dialled. Sometimes you were connected to someone else’s ongoing conversation, and they had no idea you were able to hear them; there was even a technical term for it, the ‘cross - connection’ (appropriately, since these were connections that made us very cross). If you wanted to call another city, say Delhi, you had to book a ‘trunk call’ in the morning and then sit by the telephone all day waiting for it to come through; or you could pay eight times the going rate for a ‘lightning call’ = but even lightning struck slowly in India those days, so it only took half an hour instead of the usual three or four or more to be connected.
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Questions:
(1). Why were telephones a rarity before 1975? (1)
(2) What special rights did elected members of Parliament use to have? (2)
(3) How did the author differentiate between a ‘trunk call’ and a ‘lightning call’? (2)
(4) Do you think the cellphone has made us global? (2)
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed. . (3)
(i) You could pay eight times the going rate for a ‘lighting call’. (Rewrite it using modal auxiliary showing compulsion)
(ii) I spent my high school years in Calcutta. [Rewrite it using past perfect tense]
(iii) Telephones were a rarity. [Make it a rhetorical question]
(6) Match the words in column ‘A’ with their meanings in column ‘B’. (1)
| Column A | Column B | ||
| (i) | Privilege |
(i)
|
means to reach or get |
| (ii) | Access |
(ii)
|
remedy |
| (iii) | special right |
Read the following passage and do the activities.
Galaxies are vast clusters of thousands of millions of stars, planets, gases and dust, which are held together by gravity. There are over one thousand million galaxies, and each is a very long way from its nearest neighbour.
Galaxies were formed during the Big Bang explosion about 15,000 million years ago. When this phenomenon occurred, everything that was in the universe flew out in different directions. Scientists believe that the galaxies were formed from lumps of matter that resulted. However, the process is nowhere near complete. The universe is still expanding, galaxies are still moving away from each other, new stars are still being created.
Galaxies are classified according to their shapes. There are three main types. The most common type of galaxy is The Spiral. This has several spiral arms radiating out from the center. Spiral galaxies have a large cluster of stars in their nucleus. The second type is the Barred spiral. In this type of galaxy, the spiral arms curve away from the opposite ends of a sort of bar going through the middle of the nucleus. These contain large amounts of gas and dust as well stars. The third type of galaxy is electrical. These consist almost entirely of stars and contain very little gas or dust. Some galaxies have irregular, uneven shapes and cannot be classified.
(A1) State whether the following statements are true or false. 02
(1) The most common type of galaxy is the barred spiral.
(2) Galaxies are clusters, held by gravity.
(3) Scientists do not believe in the Big Bang explosion.
(4) Galaxies are moving from each other.
(A2) Complete the web chart. 02
(A3)
(a) Find out similar words from the passage. 01
(i) mass (ii) happenings
(b) Give the verb form of the given words. 01
(i) classified (ii) directions
(A4) Identify and name the clause. 02
Scientists believe that the galaxies were formed from the lumps of matter.
(A5) Can there be life in another galaxy? Give reasons for your answer. 02
(B) Read the passage given in Q. 4 (A) and write the summary of it. Suggest a suitable title to your summary. (05)
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)
Read the first activity, read the extract and then do all the activities:
The next year Dell enrolled at the University of Texas. Like most first-year students, he needed to earn spending money. Just about everyone on campus was talking about personal computers. At the time, anyone who didn’t have a PC wanted one, but dealers were selling them at a hefty mark-up. People wanted low-cost machines custom-made to their needs, and these were not readily available. Why should dealers get such a big mark-up for so little added value ? Dell wondered. Why not sell from the manufacturer directly to the end user ?
Dell knew that IBM required its dealers to take a monthly quota of PCs, in most cases more than they could sell. He also knew that holding excess inventory was costly. So he bought dealers’ surplus stock at cost. Back in his dormitory room, he added features to improve performance. The improved models found eager buyers. Seeing the hungry market, Dell placed local advertisements offering his customized computers at 15 percent of retail price. Soon he was selling to businesses, doctors’ offices and law firms. The trunk of his car was his store; his room took on the appearance of a small factory.
During a holiday break, Dell’s parents told him they were concerned about his grades. “If you want to start a business, do it after you get your degree,” his father pleaded. Dell agreed, but back in college he felt the opportunity of a lifetime was passing him by. “I couldn’t hear to miss this chance,” he says. After one month he started selling computers again- with a vengeance.
A1. True / False - (2)
Rewrite the following sentences stating against each of them whether they are true or false :
(i) Dell bought computers directly from the IBM company.
(ii) Dealers were selling computers at high prices.
(iii) Dell’s father wanted Dell to get his degree.
(iv) Dealers disagreed to sell the surplus stock of computers to Dell.
A2. Give reasons - (2)
Dell wanted to stait a business of selling computers because :
(i) ____________
(ii) ____________
A3. Guess : (2)
“I couldn’t bear to miss this chance,” Dell says. Guess. which chance Dell did not want to miss”.
A4. Vocabulary - (2)
Find out the words from the extract which mean :
(i) college hall of residence
(ii) large amount added to the cost price
(iii) quantity of good in stock
(iv) with great intensity
A5. Personal response : (2)
Suggest two strategies businessman to become a successful businessman.
A6. Grammar - (2)
Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) Seeing the hungry market, Dell placed local advertisement. (Make it a compound sentence)
(ii) He added features to improve performance. (Frame ‘Wh’ question to get the underlined part as an answer.)
Read the extract and do the activities that follow:
My mother was still managing Green's, even though its days were numbered. The day after my return I joined her in the small office, where she sat behind her over-large desk, telephone on her right and the latest paperback western before her, ready to be taken up when noting much was happening – which was fairly often. My mother enjoyed reading westerns-particularly Luke Short, Max Brand, and Clarence E Mulfordmuch in the same way that I enjoyed detective fiction. Both genres were freely available in cheap collins ‘White Circle’, edition published during and just after the War.
We discussed the affair of the skeleton in the cupboard, but as there was no longer any mystery about it, there was nothing for me to investigate. However, armed with the key to the store room, I went down to the basement on my own and made a thorough search of all the old furniture, on the offchance that another skeleton moght tumble out of a cupboard or be found jammed into a drawer or trunk. I did find some old tennis rackets, back numbers of Punch, a cracked china chamber-pot, some old postcards of Darjeeling and Simla, and a framed photograph of King Edward the Seventh. I took the copies of ‘Punch’ to my room and read the reviews of all the plays that had been running in London between 1926 and 1930, thus becoming an authority on the theatre in England of that period.
A1. True/False
State whether the following statements are true or false:
(i) The narrator found one skeleton jammed into a drawer
(ii) The narrator did not like to read detective fiction
(iii) The narrator's mother was managing the Green's hotel
(iv) The narrator wanted to be an authority on the English theatre of that period
A2. Write a gist :
Write a gist of the above given extract in about 50 words.
Read the extract and do the activities that follow:
“And that skeleton,” I asked. “ What about the skeleton in the cupboard? Did you know about it?”
“Yes, I knew about it. But I have no idea whose skeleton it was. You see, back in the twenties, when Green took over this hotel, he had one of his sudden enthusiasms and was convinced this town needed a medical school or college, and he set about preparing the ground for one. He was ready to finance the project, or part of it. And of course medical students need a skeleton. So he acquired one from the Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi. It was a medical school skeleton you found. And if you’d looked closely you'd have noticed that it was varnished.”
“Why was it varnished?” I asked.
“To help preseve it, of course. It was also articulated”
“Articulated?”
“That means the joints were connected up, so that the whole thing wouldn't fall apart. Want to be a doctor, young man?”
“No,” I said. “A detective.”
“Well, you didn't solve this case”.
“I wasn't here. And now we'll never be able to identify the skeleton.”
“Some poor woman of the streets, no doubt. Unclaimed, unwanted. But in the end you gave her a decent burial-even if she wan't a Cristian. Padre Duett is a bit embarrassed, but I've told him I don’t mind my name on the tombstone. I’ll be returning to Africa shortly, and when I die I shall have another tombstone there. Not everyone is lucky enough to have two tombstones! “
B1. True/False - (2)
State whether the following statements are true or false:
(i) The narrator wanted to be a doctor.
(ii) Mrs. Green counted herself lucky to have two tombstones.
(iii) The skeleton was varnished to preserve it for a longer time.
(iv) Mrs. Green was embarrased to see her name on the tombstone.
B2. Provide a different ending: (2)
Provide a different ending to the above given extract in about 50 words.
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:
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.
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. |
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on ecological processes, biodiversity, and cycles adapted to local conditions. Organic farmers ensure soil fertility with the help of crop rotation, compost, and other biologically-induced soil amendments. A healthy soil structure increases and insects and there is no need to depend on synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives and genetically modified organisms, all of which are extremely harmful to the plants as well as human beings who consume them.
According to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements: "Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation, and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and good quality of life for all involved.... ." In India,
the Green Revolution, which was water-intensive and involved a heavy dose of chemical fertilizers, has not been a boon. Many farmers have seen the effects of chemical farming - soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients, loss of nutrition in food, and human diseases resulting from the chemicals that seep into the water table.
But organic farming is often hard for the farmers who have to invest considerable time, energy and resources to regenerate the soil and reestablish the delicate balance between soil, water, air, animals and plants. further, the lack of support on maintaining such a balance makes the products more expensive, putting the burden on consumers who choose to eat healthy.
(1) What does the first paragraph focus on?
(2) Why was the Green Revolution not a boon for Indian farmers?
(3) How is organic farming advantageous to farmers?
(4) What agricultural problems, according to you, do farmers face?
(5)
Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) Organic farmers ensure soil fertility with the help of crop rotation.
(Rewrite the beginning of the sentences with 'Soil fertility'.)
(ii) A healthy soil structure increases its ability to hold water. (Frame a 'Wh-question' to get the underlined part as its answer.)
(iii) Chemical fertilizers are extremely harmful to the plants as well as human beings.
(Rewrite the sentence using 'not only..... but also'.)
(6)
Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) leak slowly (ii) substance added to improve something.
Read the first activity, read the extract and then do all the activities:
A1. Complete the following sentence choosing the correct alternatives:
He goes for a morning walk at 1 p.m., because -
(1) ______________________________________________
(2) ______________________________________________
(a) He arrives from work past midnight.
(b) He has to stay in bed for a longer time till late morning.
(c) He has a special plan for early morning.
(d) He does not like to join the early birds' club.
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Some people can just never wake up early. They munch their breakfast on the way to work. They have excuses ready when they reach the office late. They miss trains on a regular basis. They have never seen a sunrise or met the milkman. Until a loved one turned over a new leaf recently, she was one such late riser. Try as she might, she couldn't help pressing the snooze button a hundred times before she finally got up. She felt terrible about this tendency but there was nothing she could do about it. Come morning, She would just not be able to shrug off the desire to sleep a while more. Only when divine intervention answered her prayers recently was she able to join the early bird's club. Another relative has no plans of joining this league through. She is rather unabashed 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 slumberland each morning. This practice does lead to certain oddities through. 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. |
A2. Web :
Complete the following web :
A3. Complete the following statement :
Early risers clearly have the edge in life, because -
(1)
(2)
A4. Vocabulary :
Match the words in column 'A' with their meanings in Column 'B'.
| Column 'A' | Column 'B' |
| (1) justification | (a) dismiss |
| (2) oddities | (b) sleep |
| (3) slumber | (c) strange things |
| (4) shrug off | (d) clarification |
A5. Personal Response:
State two things that you can do to join the early birds' club.
A6. Grammar:
Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(1) She felt terrible about this tendency but there was nothing she could do about it. (Rewrite the sentence using 'although'.)
(2) They have never seen a sunrise or met the milkman. (Rewrite using 'neither ... nor'.)
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 and do the given activities.
A1. State whether the following statements are true or false:
i. The narrator writes comics.
ii. Sudhir qualified as a friend.
iii. The narrator met Sudhir in Dehra.
iv. Friendship is all about disintegration.
FRIENDSHIP IS ALL ABOUT DOING THINGS TOGETHER. IT MAY BE Climbing a mountain, fishing in a mountain stream, cycling along a country road, camping in a forest clearing or simply traveling together and sharing the experiences that a new place can bring.
On at least two of these counts, Sudhir qualified as a friend, albeit a troublesome one, given to involving me in his adolescent escapades.
I met him in Dehra soon after my return from England. He turned up at my room, saying he’d heard I was a writer and did I have any comics to lend him?
“I don’t write comics”, I said; but there were some comics lying around, leftover from my own boyhood collection. So I gave these to the lanky youth who stood smiling in the doorway, and he thanked me and said he’d bring them back. From my window, I saw him cycling off in the general direction of Dalanwala.
He turned up again a few days later and dumped a large pile of new-looking comics on my desk. “Here are all the latest”, he announced. “You can keep them for me. I’m not allowed to read comics at home”.
A2. Complete the web chart with the information from the passage:
A3. Find out four compound words from the passage.
A4. Do as directed:
i. I am not allowed to read comics at home.
(Pick out the infinitive)
ii. From my window, I saw him cycling.
(Use ‘when’ and rewrite the sentence)
A5. According to you, what are the qualities of a good friend?
(A) Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
One afternoon in 1977, as his parents and two brothers fished in the Gulf of Mexico, 12-year old Michael Dell sat on the beach. painstakingly putting together a trotline - a maze of ropes to ''which several fish hooks could be attached."You're wasting your time," the rest of the family called to Michael, as they pulled in fish. "Grab a pole and join in the fun."
Michael kept working. It was dinner time when he finished, and everyone else was ready to call it a day. Still, the youngster
cast the trotline far into the water. anchoring it to a stick that he plunged deep in the sand.
Over dinner, his family teased young Michael about coming away empty-handed. But afterward, Michael reeled in his trotline, and on the hooks were more fish than the others had caught all together!
Michael Dell has always been fond of saying, "If you think you have a good idea, try it!" And today, at 29 he has discovered the power of another good idea that has helped him rise in just a few years from teen to a tycoon. He has become the fourth-largest manufacturer of personal computers in America and the youngest man ever to head a Fortune 500 corporation.
(1) What were Michael Dell’s achievements at his age of 29?
(2) What is the secret of Michael Dell’s Success?
(3) How did Michael surprise his family members?
(4) Do you think trying new ideas can make your life successful? How?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) He has discovered the power of another good idea.
(Rewrite the sentence beginning with 'The power of ...' )
(ii) Michael Dell sat on the beach.
(Rewrite it using past perfect continuous tense.)
(iii) The youngster cast the trotline.
(Frame a Wh-question to get the underlined part as
its answer.)
(6) 'Grab a pole and join in the fun'.
Pick out the contextual meaning of the underlined word from
the options are given below:
(i) smash
(ii) hold firmly
(iii) throw away
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 managc1nent through the watershed technique and Water auditing. taking responsibility for the village's natural resources -phmting trees and stopping grazing, contributing labour for the village Work, and then expanding to bring about behavioral changes in the people for harbouring 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 co1npulsory. as is the pre-marital HIV test.
The 'AdarshGaon · n1odcl prides itself of 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.
(1) What features of 'AdarshGaon' are given in this extract?
(2) What is the procedure for selecting 'AdarshGaon'?
(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:
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 Bhubaneshwar 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 proactively involved when evolving master plans. But often, there's a lack of planning and inadequate implementation systems. This applies to all essential components of 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 which won't be able to handle the pressure of increased population and changing needs.
The second requirement of a good city is good social infrastructure such as parks and places for leisure such as river and sea fronts. It needs to preserve and protect its heritage.
(1) What does a city require to emerge as a good city?
(2) What is the second requirement of a good city?
(3) What are the basic requirements to draw funds from the government's-Urban Renewal programme (JNNURM)?
(4) What suggestions will you give to make your city ideal?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) It's a dense amalgamation of buildings and people.
(Rewrite it using 'as well as'.)
(ii) A city must provide equity and also be sustainable.
(Rewrite it using another modal auxiliary showing "advice".)
(iii) The first requirement for a city is a pragmatic plan.
(Frame a 'Wh' ·question to get the underlined part as an answer.)
(6) Match the words in column 'A' with their meaning in 'B':
| Column A | Column B |
| 1 pragmatic | 1 blend |
| 2 amalgamation | 2 fantastic |
| 3 realistic | |
| 4 ancient |
Read the passage given below :
Globalization
Globalization is the way to open businesses, improve technological growth, economy, etc, at the international level for all countries. It is the way in which manufacturers and producers of the products or goods sell their products globally without any restriction. It provides huge profits to the businessmen as they get 1ow cost labor in poor countries easily. It provides a big opportunity for companies to„ deal with the worldwide market.
Globalization helps to consider the whole world 'as a single market. Traders are extending their areas of business by treating the world as a global village. Earlier till the 1990s, there was a restriction on importing certain products that were already manufactured in India like agricultural products, engineering goods, food items, and toiletries. However, during the 1990s there was pressure from. the rich countries on the poor and developing countries to allow them to spread their businesses by opening their markets. In India, the globalization and liberalization process was started in 1991.
After many years, globalization brought about a major revolution in the Indian market when multinational brands came to India and started delivering a wide range of quality products at cheap prices. Prices of good quality products came down because of the cutthroat competition in the market.
Globalization and liberalization of the businesses in India have flooded the market with quality foreign products but have affected the local Indian industries adversely to a great extent resulting in job loss to poor and uneducated workers. Globalization has been a bonanza for the consumers, however, a loss to the small-scale Indian producers.
Globalization has had some very positive effects on the Indian consumer in all sectors of society. It has affected the Indian students and education sector to a great extent by making study books and a lot of information available over the internet. The collaboration of foreign universities with Indian universities has brought about a huge change in the field of education.
Globalization of trade in the agricultural sector has brought varieties of quality seeds that have disease resistati8e; property. However, it is not good for the poor Indian farmers because the seeds and agricultural technologies are costly.
It has brought about a huge revolution in the employment sector by the spread of businesses like cottage, handloom, carpet, artisan carving, ceramic, jewelry, and glassware, etc
(a) What is globalization?
(b) Write any two advantages of globalization.
(c) What was the pressure from the rich countries in the 1990s?
(d) What is the effect of multinational brands entering the Indian market?
(e) How are the prices of quality products affected due to globalization?
(f) How have foreign products affected the local industry adversely?
(g) What has been the impact of globalization on Indian students?
(h) Why has globalization had a negative effect on the poor Indian farmer?
(i) How has the cottage industry benefited from globalization?
Read the passage given below :
Success
Everybody wants to succeed in life. For some, success means achieving whatever they desire or dream. For many, it is the name, fame, and social position. Whatever be the meaning of success, it is a success that makes a man popular.
All great men have been successful. They are remembered for their great achievements. But it is certain that success comes to those who are sincere, hardworking, loyal, and committed to their goals.
Success has been man's greatest motivation. It is very important for all. Success has a great effect on life. It brings pleasure and pride. It gives a sense of fulfillment. It means all-around development. Everybody hopes to be successful in life. But success smiles on those who have a proper approach, planning, vision, and stamina. A proper and timely application of all these things is bound to bear fruit. One cannot be successful without cultivating these certain basic things in life. It is very difficult to set out on a journey without knowing one's goals and purposes. The clarity of the objective is a must to succeed in life. A focused approach with proper planning is certain to bring success. Indecision and insincerity are big obstacles on the path to success.
One should have the capability, capacity, and resources to turn one's dreams into reality. Mere desire cannot bring you success. The desire should be weighed against factors like capability and resources. This is the basic requirement of success. The next important thing is the eagerness, seriousness, and the urge to be successful. It is the driving force that decides success. It is the first step on the ladder of success.
One needs to pursue one's goals with all one's sincerity and passion. One should always be in high spirits. Lack of such spirit leads to an inferiority complex which is a big obstruction on the path to success. Time is also a deciding factor. Only the punctual and committed have succeeded in life. The lives of great men are examples of this. They had all these qualities in plenty which helped them rise to the peak of success.
Hard labor is one of the basic requirements of success. There is no substitute for hard labor. It alone can take one to the peak of success. Every success has a ratio of five percent inspiration and ninety-five percent perspiration. It is patience, persistence, and perseverance which play a decisive role in achieving success. Failures are the pillars of success as they are our stepping-stones and we must get up and start again and be motivated.
2.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words each:
(a) To whom does success come certainly?
(b) What are the basic things in life we need to achieve success?
(c) What did great men have in plenty to rise to the peak of success? Give any two examples
(d) What is the one basic requirement of success?
(e) Explain: "Failures are pillars of success."
2.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, fill in any two of the following blanks with appropriate words/phrase :
(a) ________________ plays a decisive role in achieving success.
(b) Goals have to be pursued with ________________ and ________________
(c) Ratio of success is ________________ inspiration.
2.3 Find out the words from the passage that mean the same as the following :
(a) endurance (para 2)
(b) obstruction (para 4)
(c) motivation (para 5)
Read the following passage carefully:
|
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 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 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 passage given below.
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5 |
Technology is making advancements at a rapid rate but at the cost of a valued tradition - the crafts industry. The traditional crafts industry is losing a lot of its trained and skilled craftsmen. With that, the art of embellishing brass and copper utensils with fine engravings is also disappearing. The government has identified around 35 crafts as a languishing craft. |
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10 |
The speciality of handcrafted items is their design, an association with long traditions belonging to a specific region. The word ‘handcrafted’ does not imply the involvement of dexterous human fingers or an agile mind with a moving spirit anymore. Lessening drudgery, increasing production and promoting efficiency have taken precedence. The labour-saving devices are taking the place of handcrafted tools and this has jeopardized the skills of these artisans. |
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15 |
Mechanisation has made its way into everything - cutting, polishing, edging, designing etc. Ideally, the use of machinery should be negligible and the handicrafts should be made purely by hand with a distinguishable artistic appeal. However, with the exception of small-scale industries, the export units are mostly operated by machines. The heavily computerised designs contribute to faster production at lower costs. |
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20 |
Although mechanization of crafts poses a challenge to safeguarding traditional crafts, the artisans are lured with incentives in order to impart handicrafts training. Some makers do see machines as a time-saving blessing since they are now able to accomplish difficult and demanding tasks with relative ease. These machines might give a better 25finesse to these products but they don’t stand out as handcrafted. The quantity has overtaken quality in this industry. |
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30 |
A need to highlight the importance of the handmade aspect is required by both the government and private sectors, in order to amplify awareness and also support the culture of making handicrafts. A few artisans are still trying their best to rejuvenate and revive their culture and heritage but it’s an uphill task competing with the machine-made goods. A multitude of artisans have changed their professions and are encouraging their progeny to follow suit. There are others who have stayed their ground but are clearly inclined towards buying machines. |
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35 |
Nearly two decades ago, there were around 65 lakh artisans in the country. Three years ago, when the government started the process of granting a unique number to the artisans based on the Aadhaar card, 25 lakhs were identified. Loss of traditional crafts is clearly a worrying issue, but it stands to reason that forcing any artisan to follow old ways when concerns of livelihood overrule other considerations, is unfair. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
- What does the writer mean by calling handicrafts a ‘valued tradition’?
- Rewrite the following sentence by replacing the underlined phrase with a word that means the same from lines 5-15.
If it continues, the workcation (work + vacation) trend will be a powerful boost to domestic tourism operators failing to make progress in the economic slump caused due to the pandemic. - State any two reasons why artisans are choosing to work via machines rather than handcrafted tools.
- Why do the artisans need to be ‘lured with incentives’ to impart handicrafts training?
- List one likely impact of the support of government and private sectors towards the culture of making handicrafts.
- How does the writer justify an artist’s act of abandoning her/his traditional craft for a more lucrative option?
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. |
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15
20
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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 do the activities.
A1. Complete the following sentences.
- Vegetarianism has not spread as desired because ______.
- Vegetarians are of various types ______.
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Vegetarianism promotes a natural way of life. But despite its implicit message of universal love and nonviolence, it has not spread as it should have. This may be because it usually is an inward looking habit and is best cultivated in the mind. Leading a vegetarian way of life helps the animal kingdom to coexist with man. The animals supply milk, manure and energy. This has been central to Indian culture for thousands of years. A vegetarian lifestyle is natural, multifaceted and helps preservation in a healthy way. Food and health are closely related. Vegetarians are of various types. There are lacto-vegetarians who consume dairy products; Lacto-ovo-vegetarians include eggs in addition to dairy products. Vegans are pure vegetarians who do not consume any food derived from animals. The Western science of food considers food as something to sustain only the human body, whereas Indian science considers food as something which sustains not only the body, but also maintains the purity of heart, mind and soul. Thus, an item of food which is injurious to the mind is not considered to be fit for consumption, even if it is otherwise beneficial to the body or satisfies the taste. Indian food science does not give so much importance to protein or even to a balanced diet but it gives importance to food that increases the strength of the body and its vitality. Vegetarian foods provide an infinite variety of flavours whereas non-vegetarian foods have hardly any taste of their own. In fact, non-vegetarian foods have to be seasoned with ingredients from the vegetable kingdom to make them palatable. |
A2. What is the importance of eating vegetarian food?
A3.
- Pick out two adjectives from the given passage.
- Find words in the passage which mean the following:
- Indirect
- Tasty
A4. Convert the following sentence to negative without changing the meaning.
Leading a vegetarian way of life helps the animal kingdom to coexist with man.
A5. Why do you think vegetarianism is being promoted on a global level? Justify with your response.
Read the passage and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.
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Vegetarianism promotes a natural way of life. But despite its implicit message of universal love and nonviolence, it has not spread as it should have. This may be because it usually is an inward looking habit and is best cultivated in the mind. Leading a vegetarian way of life helps the animal kingdom to coexist with man. The animals supply milk, manure and energy. This has been central to Indian culture for thousands of years. A vegetarian lifestyle is natural, multifaceted and helps preservation in a healthy way. Food and health are closely related. Vegetarians are of various types. There are lacto-vegetarians who consume dairy products; Lacto-ovo-vegetarians include eggs in addition to dairy products. Vegans are pure vegetarians who do not consume any food derived from animals. The Western science of food considers food as something to sustain only the human body, whereas Indian science considers food as something which sustains not only the body but also maintains the purity of heart, mind and the soul. Thus, an item of food that is injurious to the mind is not considered to be fit for consumption, even if it is otherwise beneficial to the body or satisfies the taste. Indian food science does not give so much importance to protein or even to a balanced diet but it gives importance to food that increases the strength of the body and its vitality. Vegetarian foods provide an infinite variety of flavours whereas non-vegetarian foods have hardly any taste of their own. In fact, non-vegetarian foods have to be seasoned with ingredients from the vegetable kingdom to make them palatable. |
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.
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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) | Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold in 400 metres at the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. He also won gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sporting achievements. |
| (2) | The race for which Singh is best remembered is his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Olympic Games. He led the race till the 200 m mark before easing off, allowing others to pass him. Singh's fourth-place time of 45.73 seconds was the Indian national record for almost 40 years. |
| (3) | From beginning that saw him orphaned and displaced during the partition of India, Singh became a sporting icon in the country. In 2008, journalist Rohit Brijnath described Singh as "the finest athlete India has ever produced". |
| (4) | He was disappointed with his debut performance at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. "I returned to India, chastened by my poor performance in Melbourne. I had been so excited by the prospects of being part of the Indian Olympics team, but, hadn't realized how strong and professional the competition would be. My success in India had filled me with a false sense of pride and it was only when I was on the track that I saw how inconsequential my talents were when pitted against superbly fit and seasoned athletes. It was then that I understood what competition actually meant, and that if I wanted to succeed on the international arena, I must be prepared to test my mettle against the best athletes in the world." |
| (5) | Then he decided to make sprinting the sole focus of his life. "Running had thus become my God, my religion and my beloved". "My life during those two years was governed by strict rules and regulations and a self-imposed penance. Every morning I would rise at the crack of dawn, get into my sports kit and dash off to the track, where I would run two or three miles cross-country in the company of my coach." |
| (6) | On how he pushed himself through the tough days of vigorous training. "I practiced so strenuously that often I was drained of all energy, and there were times when I would increase my speed to such an extent that after my rounds, I would vomit blood or drop down unconscious through sheer exercise. My doctors and coaches warned me, asked me to slow down to maintain my health and equilibrium but my determination was too strong to give up. My only focus was to become the best athlete in the world. But then images of a packed stadium filled with cheering spectators, wildly applauding me as I crossed the finishing line, would flash across my mind and I would start again, encouraged by visions of victory." |
Based on your reading answer any five questions from the six given below: (5)
- What is Milkha Singh known as? What realization did Milkha Singh have when he was on the track during the Melbourne Olympics?
- List any two of Milkha Singh's achievements.
- What strict rules and regulations did Milkha Singh follow?
- State two consequences of his hard and strenuous practice.
- What motivated Milkha Singh to become the best athlete in the world?
- Explain the phrase 'I would start again' in the last sentence.
Read the following excerpt from a Case Study. J.K. Rowling - A Journey.
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The story of Joanne Kathleen Rowling's near magical rise to fame is almost as well known as the characters she creates. Rowling was constantly writing and telling stories to her younger sister Dianne. "The first story I ever wrote down was about a rabbit called Rabbit." Rowling said in an interview. "He got measles and was visited by his friends including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have always wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so. However, my parents, both of whom come from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension. A writer from the age of six, with two unpublished novels in the drawer, she was stuck on a train when Harry walked into her mind fully formed. She spent the next five years constructing the plots of seven books, one for every year of his secondary school life. Rowling says she started writing the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, in Portugal, where she was teaching English. At first nobody wanted to publish Harry Potter. She was told that plot was too complex. Refusing to compromise, she found a publisher. In 1997 Rowling received her first royalty cheque. By book three, she had sky rocketed to the top of the publishing world. A row of zeroes appeared on the author's bank balance and her life was turned upside down. Day and night she had journalists knocking on the unanswered door of her flat. Rowling's quality control has become legendary, as her obsession with accuracy. She's thrilled with Stephen Fry's taped version of the books and outraged that an Italian dust jacket showed Harry minus his glasses. "Don't they understand that the glasses are the clue to his vulnerability." Annual earnings of J.K. Rowlin from 2010 to 2019
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On the basis of your understanding of the passage answer any five of the six questions given below. (5)
- Explain J. K. Rowling's 'near magical rise to fame'.
- What reason did the publishers give for rejecting Rowling's book?
- What was the drawback of achieving fame?
- Why was Rowling outraged with the Italian dust jacket?
- Find a word in the last para that means the same as 'insecure/helpless'.
- According to the graph, how many years did it take Rowling to become very successful?
Read the following passage and do the activities:
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Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who was born on 24th April 1973 in Mumbai is a former Indian International Cricketer and a former captain of the Indian National Team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and is often referred as the ‘God of cricket’ by Indian Cricket followers. He made his debut on 15th November 1989 against Pakistan in ‘Karachi’ at the age of sixteen. He is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries and only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. He was trained under the able guidance of Ramakant Achrekar Sir. He received the Arjuna Award in 1994, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1997, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan Awards in 1999 and 2008 respectively, fourth and second highest civilian awards of India. He was also awarded the Bharat Ratna, highest civilian award of India in 2013. He is a devotee of the deity Ganesha. |
A1. Complete the following sentences from the passage: (2)
- Sachin was born on _____.
- Sachin is a devotee of the deity ______.
- He was trained under the able guidance of ______.
- He made debut on ______.
A2. Complete the web diagram: (2)
A3. Match the ‘Synonyms’: (2)
| ‘A’ | ‘B’ | ||
| i. | debut | a. | previous |
| ii. | received | b. | God |
| iii. | former | c. | got |
| iv. | deity | d. | first performance |
A4. Do as directed: (2)
- He made his debut. (Make ‘Simple Future Tense’.)
- He received the Arjuna Award. (Choose the correct Q-tag.)
- did he?
- didn’t he?
- doesn’t he?
A5. Do you like to play games? Why? (2)
Read the following text.
| (1) | As a high school student, studying poetry can be a rollercoaster ride. This journey is punctuated by moments of profound appreciation for simpler pieces and intermittent frustration with more complex works. Let's be real here -some poems are just plain confusing and no amount of re-reading seems to help decipher the intended meaning. The puzzlement that results from such instances can be both vexing and demotivating. If solving a riddle is what was intended, then playing Sudoku is a better option. One is led to ponder if obscurity was the goal. |
| (2) | Conversely, some pieces resonate with the reader's soul. Stirring feelings of warmth, happiness, and connection to the world. Often, these compositions centre on themes that are universally understood, such as love, nature, or faith. Being able to actually understand what the poet is trying to say can feel like a little victory and is a welcome relief after grappling with more perplexing poetry. |
| (3) | Then there are poems that are emotionally charged; the ones that make the reader curl up in a ball and cry or jump up and down with joy. One is left in awe of the poet's ability to convey emotion through words. Let’s not forget the downright weird poems. These are the ones that defy categorization and leave the reader to their own devices in attempting to interpret meaning. The author's use of figurative language and unconventional imagery can create a sense of bewilderment that is either intriguing or off-putting. Regardless, the reader can appreciate the uniqueness of the work. |
| (4) | Despite the wide range of emotions and reactions that come with studying poetry, it can be a rewarding pursuit. Not only does reading poetry allow one to appreciate the artistic beauty of the written word but also enables one to develop crucial critical thinking and analytical skills. The process of unlocking a poem's meaning can feel like cracking a code or solving a puzzle but the sense of accomplishment derived from mastering a challenging piece can be deeply gratifying. Finally, impressing an English teacher with a well-analysed poem can be a source of pride and validation. |
| (5) | Overall, studying poetry is like a box of mixed chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. But whether it's complex, emotional, simple, or just downright weird, there's always something to be gained from the experience. So, let's applaud all the poets out there, for making us laugh, cry, scratch our heads, and occasionally feel like a genius. |
Answer the following questions based on the passage above.
i. Which of the following statements best describes the author's attitude towards studying poetry? (1)
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- Finds poetry to be a frustrating and meaningless endeavor.
- Believes that the emotional rollercoaster of studying poetry is not worth the effort.
- Recognizes the challenges of studying poetry but also acknowledges the rewards it offers.
- Feels that poetry is too obscure and abstract for the average person to appreciate.
ii. What is the tone of the writer in the given lines from paragraph (1)? Rationalise your response in about 40 words. (2)
If solving a riddle is what was intended, then playing Sudoku is a better option. One is led to ponder if obscurity was the goal.
iii. Complete the sentence appropriately. (1)
The author's use of vivid imagery in the paragraph (3), such as "curl up in a ball and cry" and "jump up and down with joy", greatly affects the reader because ______.
iv. The passage includes some words that are opposites of each other. From the sets (a) - (e) below, identify two sets of antonyms: (1)
| (a) intriguing and off-putting | (b) deciphering and interpreting |
| (c) appreciate and applaud | (d) simple and challenging |
| (e) emotions and feelings | |
v. Complete the sentence appropriately. (1)
We can say that the author's tone becomes more neutral and objective when discussing weird poems, compared to other types of poetry because ______.
vi. Based on the reading of the passage, examine, in about 40 words, how studying poetry can be like exploring a new city. (2)
vii. What is the message conveyed by Hina’s experience, in the following case? (1)
Hina spends hours trying to analyze a poem for her assignment and finally feels a sense of accomplishment and pride, once she understands.
- Only those with natural talent for poetry should engage with it.
- Persistence makes studying poetry a rewarding pursuit.
- Study of poetry is guaranteed to impress others.
- The efforts of studying poetry is inversely proportional to the rewards gained.
viii. State whether the following lines display an example of a simple/complex/emotionally charged/downright weird poem. (1)
| The sun rises in the east, A new day begins, a fresh start. Birds chirp, nature wakes up, A peaceful feeling in my heart. |
Read the following text.
| (1) | Reduction in green areas has caused various environmental problems. People squeezed between concrete structures are looking for various ways to meet their longing for green. One of the ways to do so, is vertical gardens and green walls. Vertical gardening is a unique method of gardening where plants are grown in a vertical position or upward, rather than in the traditional method of planting them on the ground. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (2) | The purpose of vertical gardens and green walls, which arises from the studies of different disciplines (landscape architects, architects, engineers, etc.), is to close the cold image of concrete and increase the visual value. In these systems, nature and structures are integrated, and thus, urban areas and the desired environment have become intertwined. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (3) | Vertical garden case studies often show that, though functionality should be in the foreground when vertical gardens are planned, they are generally made as aesthetic elements in the city's underpasses and city squares and decorative elements in residences without seeking functionality. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (4) | Experts support that the visual quality and evaluation of landscape architecture are determined based on the satisfaction of the users. Hence, a survey questionnaire was prepared for residents of varied age groups from of a metropolitan city. The given Table 1, displays these responses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (5) | The study acknowledged that vertical gardening has the potential to transform urban spaces into green, sustainable areas, and further research should explore the impact of vertical gardening on the environment and human well-being. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Answer the following questions, based on the passage above.
i. Complete the following analogy appropriately, based on your understanding of paragraphs 1 & 2. (1)
We can say that the situation of people living in concrete structures is comparable with a fish living in a fishbowl, and the need for vertical gardens to the need for decorations in the fishbowl because ______.
ii. Fill the blanks with the appropriate option from those given in brackets, based on your understanding of paragraph 2. (1)
The statement that urban spaces have become more closely connected with the desired natural surroundings through the incorporation of nature and structures in vertical gardens and green walls is a _______ (fact/ opinion) because it is a _______ (subjective judgement/ objective detail).
iii. Justify the following, in about 40 words. (2)
While the survey results suggest that vertical gardens may be effective in improving the quality of life in urban areas, further research and evaluation may be necessary to fully understand their effectiveness and potential drawbacks.
iv. Based on the survey results, which two concerns should a city government, looking to install vertical gardens, address? (1)
v. In Table 1, statement 3, "Vertical gardens increase air quality - indoors and outdoors," received the most neutral responses from participants, with 51 respondents indicating a neutral stance. State any one inference that can be drawn from this. (1)
vi. Select the option that correctly displays what ‘intertwined’ signifies. (Reference-Paragraph 2) (1)
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| (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) |
- (i), (iv) and (v)
- Only (ii)
- Only (iii)
- (ii) and (v)
vii. Infer one benefit and one drawback of vertical gardening in comparison to other solutions, such as community gardens or parks. (Answer in about 40 words) (2)
viii. Which of the following is the main takeaway from the study mentioned in the passage? (1)
- Vertical gardening has minimal impact on the environment or human well-being.
- Vertical gardening is a sustainable practice that can transform urban spaces into green areas.
- The impact of vertical gardening on the environment and human well-being has already been thoroughly explored.
- The study needs to include experts from horticultural firms to offer any recommendations for further research.
Read the following text.
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Arthur lay in his cabin, still trying to piece together the events of the last few hours. He had watched his home planet of Earth be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, been saved by his friend Ford, and then whisked away on a ship that was powered by an "infinite improbability drive." It was all too much for him. |
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5. |
Just then, Ford stuck his head around the door. |
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10 |
"What's that?" asked Arthur. |
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15 |
"I don't know," said Arthur. "I don't think I really understand anything anymore. Why is a mouse the ship's computer?" |
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20 |
Arthur was about to say something, but at that moment the ship's intercom crackled to life. |
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25 |
"Eddie, would you mind shutting up?" said Arthur. |
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30 |
"It's me," said the voice. "Marvin." |
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35 |
Arthur looked down and saw a small, metal figure shuffling across the floor. It was about three feet tall, with a round head and a body that looked like it had been cobbled together from spare parts. Its eyes were a dull red, and its voice was a monotone. |
Answer the following questions, based on the passage above.
- Select the option that classifies Arthur's confusion about drastic events such as the destruction of his home planet and the introduction of new technologies, correctly. (1)
- Routine and boredom
- Adventure and excitement
- Loss and change
- Calm and relaxation
- What is the significance of the white lab mouse in the control room of the Heart of Gold spaceship? (1)
- It is the captain of the ship
- It serves as the ship's computer
- It is a pet of the crew
- It is used for scientific experiments
- Share evidence from the text, in about 40 words to support the view that the writer’s writing style is descriptive and humourous. (2)
- Complete the sentence appropriately with a characteristic or its description. (1)
Based on the information given in the excerpt, one can infer that the mice who built the Earth are ______. - Select the option that is similar in meaning to Ford’s expression, “Pretty neat, huh?". (1)
- Easy, isn’t it?
- Could be worse, no?
- Impressive, yes?
- Too difficult for you?
- Explain, in about 40 words, why the name "The Paranoid Android" is considered ironic. (2)
- In the line, “…a body that looked like it had been cobbled together from spare parts…”, what comparison does the word “cobbled” refer to? (1)
- How does the following, impact the reader, even though they know Marvin is just an android? (2)
"I've been waiting for someone to talk to me for over two million years," said Marvin. Answer in about 40 words. - Read the five headlines (a) -(e), given below: (1)
(a) HUMANITY'S JOURNEY WITNESSED BY A DEPRESSED ROBOT
(b) HITCHHIKING THROUGH SPACE: A COMICAL TAKE ON THE END OF THE WORLD
(c) NEW STUDY FINDS ALIENS LIVING AMONG US
(d) GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY WILL SOON ENABLE TIME TRAVEL
(e) INTERGALACTIC TRAVEL VIA NEW INFINITE IMPROBABILITY DRIVE
Identify the option that displays the headline/s that DOES/ DO NOT correspond with occurrences in the passage.- Only (a)
- (b) (c) and (d)
- Only (e)
- (a) and (e)
Read the passage given below.
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Most cities, may not be prohibit hawking as a profession, but do place restrictions on the use of urban space. Therefore, a comprehensive study was conducted in 1998-99 on street vending, to provide concrete data for furthering the cause of the hawkers. Eight cities were selected - Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Imphal, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Bangalore. Three points were important while selecting respondents –hawkers were from different parts of a city; sold a variety of goods and adequate numbers of women were covered. The questionnaire was included questions on personal details, details regarding the work and the hazards faced. Table: Results of the survey
It is fair to say that hawkers cannot be removed, because apart from their own livelihood, their services benefit the common urban dweller. |
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the given questions.
- Fill in the blank by selecting the appropriate option. 1
The study aims to ______ the practice of street vending in urban spaces.
- support
- discourage
- understand
- prove
- Jagan goes door to door with his basket of goods to sell bananas in the city. What action from his end would lead to a prohibition on hawking? 1
- State TRUE or FALSE. 1
The following question could have been a part of the study survey.
What are the challenges presented by the security guards? - Complete the sentence appropriately. 1
The most preferred form of source of capital, according to the survey table, exposes the hawkers to exploitation because ______. - State a point in support for the given opinion: 1
Street vending must be legalised as a profession.
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)
Read the following passage and do the activities:
A1. Complete the following sentences from the passage: (2)
- Kalam earned a degree in ______ engineering.
- DRDO stands for ______.
- Kalam was ______ of the SLV-III, the first satellite launch vehicle.
- Kalam served as lecturer at ______.
|
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in full Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, (born October 15, 1931, Rameshwaram, India - died July 27, 2015, Shillong), Indian scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's missile and nuclear weapons programmes. He was President of India from 2002 to 2007. Kalam earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958 joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). In 1969, he moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation, where he was project director of the SLV-III, the first satellite launch vehicle that was both designed and produced in India. Rejoining DRDO in 1982, Kalam planned the programme that produced a number of successful missiles, which helped earn him the nickname “Missile Man”. Among those successes was Agni, India's first intermediate-range ballistic missile, which incorporated aspects of the SLVIII and was launched in 1989. Kalam remained committed using science and technology to transform India into a developed country and served as lecturer at several universities. Kalam wrote several books, including an autobiography, Wings of Fire (1999). He received the Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1990), Indira Gandhi award for National Integration (1997) and the India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). |
A2. Complete the web diagram: (2)
A3. Fill in the blanks by using the suitable phrases/words from the bracket: (2)
[moved to, served as, launched, autobiography]
- Mr. Gunaji has ______ a Principal in this college.
- “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” is the ______ of Mahatma Gandhi.
- My teacher ______ to England for further studies.
- ISRO successfully ______ Chandrayaan-3 mission.
A4. Do as directed: (2)
- Kalam wrote several books. (Frame a Wh-type question to get the underlined part as answer)
- Kalam earned a degree in aeronautical engineering. (Begin the sentence with “A degree in…….)
A5. Who is your role model? Write few lines about him/her. (2)
