SECTION - A (Reading – 20 Marks)
1. Read the poem given below and complete the sentences that follow.
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat-
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, 
Lost all the others she lets us devote;
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
So much was theirs who so little allowed;
How all our copper had gone for his service!
Rays- were they purple, his heart had been proud,
We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves !
Robert Browning
(A) The person who left them is their ___________ .
(B) He left them for the sake of __________ .
(C) The speaker and his comrades were __________ people in their country.
(D) Now the speaker and his comrades __________ him.
(E) Find out a word from the passage that means opposite to the word ‘front’
2. Read the following passage carefully :-
Our opportunities are great but let me warn you that when power outstrips ability, we will fall on evil days. We should develop competence and ability which would help us utilise the opportunities which are now open to us. From tomorrow morning from midnight today-we cannot throw the blame on the Britishers. We have to assume the responsibility ourselves for what we do. A free India will be judged by the way in which it will serve the interests of the common man in the matter of food, clothing, shelters and social activities.Unless we destroy corruption in high places and root out every trace of nepotism, love of power , profiteering and black marketing which have spoiled the good name of this country in recent times, we will not be able to raise the standards of efficiency in administration as in well as the production and distribution of the necessary goods of life.
Complete the following statements by choosing the most appropriate options from those given below.
(a) We fall on evil days when power becomes more important than :
(i) wisdom (ii) wealth (iii) fame (iv) ability
(b) The two things that help us to utilise the opportunities are our :
(i) competence and power (ii) power and ability (iii) competence and ability (iv) power and wealth
(c) The common man should be provided with :
(i) food (ii) clothing (iii) shelter (iv) food clothing shelter and social activities
(d) The good name of our country has been spoiled because of :
(i) corruption
(ii) nepotism
(iii) love of power, profiteering and black marketing
(iv) all of the above.
(e) The word ‘assume’ means:
(i) think (ii) guess (iii) take on (iv) understand
3. Read the passage given below and complete the statements that follow :
Vegetable oil has been known since antiquity. No household can get on without it, for it is used in cooking. Perfumes may be made from the oils of certain flowers. Soaps are made from vegetables and animal oils.
To the ordinary men, one kind of oil may be as important as another. But when the politician or the engineer refers to oil he almost always means mineral oil, the oil that drives tanks, aeroplanes and warships, motor cars and diesel locomotives, the oil that is used to lubricate all kinds of machinery. When it is refined into petrol it is used to drive the internal combustion engine. To it we owe the existence of the motor car, which has replaced the private carriage drawn by the horse. To it we owe the possibility of flying. It has changed the method of warfare on land and at sea. This kind of oil comes out of the earth. Because it burns well, it is used as a fuel and in some ways it is superior to coal in this respect. Because it burns brightly it is used for illumination. Because it is very slippery, it is used for lubrication. Two metal surfaces rubbing together cause friction and heat. But if they are separated by a thin film of oil the friction and heat are reduced. No machine would work for long if it were not properly lubricated.
(a) The most important use of vegetable oil is its __________ .
(b) Mineral oil is different from vegetable oil as it __________ .
(c) Mineral oil has changed everything. The most important change is that it
drives __________ .
(d) __________ reduces the frictions and heat in machines etc.
(e) The ‘word’ illumination means __________ .
4. Read the passage given below and complete the sentences that follow by choosing the appropriate answers from the given options. 1x5=5
As the tortoise tucks its feet and head inside the shell and will not come out even though you may break the shell into pieces, even so the character of the man who has controls over his motives and organs, is unchangeably established. He controls his own inner forces, and nothing can draw them out against his will. By this continuous force of good thoughts and good impressions moving over the surface of the mind, the tendency to do good, becomes strong, and in consequence we are able to control the ‘Indriyas’ (sense-organs, the nerve centers). In this way alone is character formed, and only a man of character can get at the truth. Such a man is safe for ever; he cannot do any evil. You may place him in any company, but there will be no danger for him. There is a still higher state than having this good tendency, and that is the desire for liberation. Liberation means full freedom-freedom from the bondage of evil. A golden chain is as much a chain as an iron one. There is a thorn in my finger, and I use another to take the first one out; and when I have taken it out, I throw both of them aside. I have no necessity for keeping the second thorn, because
it is a thorn after all. So bad tendencies are to be counteracted by good ones, and bad impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner of the mind; but after that the good tendencies also have to be removed. Thus the attached becomes, unattached.
(a) The comparison between the tortoise and the man reveals that :
(i) Man is superior to tortoise.
(ii) Tortoise is on a par with man.
(iii) Man who has control over his motives and organs is weak.
(iv) Man who has control over his motives and organs is firm.
(b) The control of ‘Indriyas’ leads to :
(i) meditation
(ii) strength
(iii) character formation
(iv) renunciation of the world
(c) Liberation is :
(i) freedom of the body
(ii) freedom from bondage of passions
(iii) freedom from bondage of worldly things
(iv) freedom from bondage of evil
(d) Attached becomes unattached when :
(i) evil is removed
(ii) worldly desires are fulfilled
(iii) even good tendencies disappear
(iv) God blesses
(e) The word ‘subdued’ means :
(i) passive (ii) inactive
(iii) suppressed (iv) inactivated
SECTION - B (Writing – 25 Marks)
5. Your grandmother completed 80 years of her age on January 15, 2012. Celebrating her 80th birthday was an event for the family. Describe the event giving all the relevant details in about 80 words.
6. While reading a newspaper, you come across the following news item
‘Ready for the Olympics’ 12 ? Is India listening ?
=> Eighteen months before competition gets underway, nearly 75 percent of construction is now complete, with main venues due to be finished next year.
=> Inside the showpiece stadium in Stratford, east London, seats are already installed in some parts while the outline of the track and field can be seen.
=> Elsewhere the curved roofs of the aquatics centre stand out on the skyline with only some work to be completed.
Based on the information given above write an e-mail to your friend expressing your views in the light of what happened at the CWG, New Delhi (120 words)
Date : ___________________________________________________
From : ___________________________________________________
Subject : _________________________________________________
To : _____________________________________________________
Dear
Content
Love
7. Wildlife tourism earns a lot of revenue for the country but is also a threat for the delicate wildlife. Write a speech in about 150 words to be presented in the school assembly. Use ideas from the unit, ‘Travel and Tourism’, the visual and your own ideas. Imagine you are Shweta/ Sameer, Cultural President of your school.
SECTION - C (Grammar – 20 Marks)
8.Choose the most appropriate options from the ones given below to complete the following passage. Write the answer in your answer sheet against the correct blank number. Do not copy the whole passage. Tokyo was rocked by its
(a)_____________ earthquake in more than a year today, but escaped
(b)____________________ little damage because it
(c)_______________ centered far beneath the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The quake
(d)_________________ struck shortly before noon with a magnitude of 6.6
(e)___________________ large buildings swayed back and forth. The intense
(f)________________ for about one minute caught many people
(g)_______________ guard in Tokyo and the other cities
(h)_____________ east.
(a) (i) big (ii) bigger (iii) biggest (iv) very big
(b) (i) from (ii) by (iii) with (iv) for
(c) (i) is (ii) was (iii) has (iv) have
(d) (i) who (ii) whom (iii) whose (iv) which
(e) (i) make (ii) made (iii) send (iv) sent
(f) (i) shake (ii) shaker (iii) shaking (iv) shook
(g) (i) in (ii) on (iii) of (iv) off
(h) (i) to (ii) toward (iii) for (iv) forward
9.Look at the notes given below and complete the paragraph with the most appropriate options. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers :
Students – British university – refuse – kill insects – future ecologists – respect –nature – only – categorise them – no collecting or killing – students suggestion –emphasis – observe, identify, study – natural habitats
Students at a British university (a) _________on moral grounds. They argue that the university should encourage future ecologists (b) _________ . The students maintain that they should only have to categorise insects (c) _________ .They (d) _________ the university should place more emphasis on observing, identifying and studying living creatures within their natural habitats.
(a) (i) were scared (ii) were anxious (iii) refused to kill insects (iv) were scared to kill insects
(b) (i) to love nature (ii) to conserve nature (iii) to serve nature (iv) to respect nature
(c) (i) preserve them (ii) kill the insects (iii) observe them (iv) and not collect and kill them
(d) (i) argued that (ii) emphasized that (iii) suggest that (iv) they insist that
10 Re-arrange the following words/phrases to form meaningful sentences. The first one has been done as an example.
E.g. The watermelon/thirst quenchers/in summers/is/one of the best
One of the best thirst quenchers in summers is the watermelon (a) around/it is /96 countries/ cultivated in/the world (b) in Africa / about 5000 years / grown /ago/ it was / first (c) say that / at the / it was grown/ some researchers/ same time/ in India (d) the travellers/ across a desert/ it was/ when they/ used by/ travelled
11.In the following passage there is an error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction in the space provided.
Error Correction
In the absence of rain all the river (a) ________ ________
get dry. Crops failed in the absence of (b) ________ ________
water. Their is a food shortage and we (c) ________ ________
have to go with other countries with a (d) ________ ________
begging bowl. Who don’t know the (e) ________ ________
advantages of a trees? In the absence of (f) ________ ________
forests we get not fruits, nuts, fibers (g) ________ ________
and herbs at medicinal use. (h) ________ ________
12.Complete the news reports accompanying the following headlines.
(a) Two killed in Blue Line Accidents __________ buses here on Monday, one, an 18 year old girl and the other, a cyclist.
(b) Assam seeks CBI probe The Assam government today _______________ into the violence during the anti reservation rally last week.
(c) Two die of burns Two senior executives of Baranagar Jute Factory ___________ in the factory premises.
(d) Cold wave grips Delhi Delhi ________________ by intense cold wave as the temperature plummeted 5 degrees below the normal to settle at 0.3 deg. C
SECTION - D (Literature – 25 Marks)
13. A) Read the extract given below and answer the questions/complete the statements that follow by choosing the most appropriate options:
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said : Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand ,
(a) ‘I’ here refers to :
(i) the poet
(ii) the sculptor
(iii) the traveler
(iv) Ozymandias
(b) What happened to the statue ?
(i) It became trunkless.
(ii) Its face disappeared.
(iii) Its face was dismantled .
(iii) It had two vast legs
(c) The poem is set in :
(i) a palace
(ii) an ancient land
(iii) a wilderness
(iv) none of the above
14 Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words each :
(a) Why couldn’t John Hallock give his whole time to writing?
(b) How did Patol Babu completely get over his apathy?
(c) What was the terrible deed done by the old Mariner ? Why was it terrible?
(d) Who was Sebastian Shultz ? How did he meet with an accident ?
(e) What is your impression about Julius Caesar’s character.
15.Answer the following in about 120 words. ‘Everything that I’ve described is true virtually’? says the narrator. Even the title of the story is ‘Virtually True’. Justify the statement of the narrator and also the title of the story.
OR
What does Antony say in his speech? Why is it more effective than that of Brutus ?