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SAMPLE PAPER
ENGLISH
SET - I |
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This paper consists of 4
Sections : A. Reading 30
marks
B. Writing 30 marks
C. Grammar 15 marks
D. Literature 25 marks
Instructions :
1. Answer all questions.
2. All answers must be written in the spaces provided on
this paper.
3. Please do not write anything in the margins. |
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SECTION - A
(READING) |
A.1 |
Environmental News
Look at any waste garbage dump. In addition to vegetable
scraps, paper and broken glass, you will notice a
considerable amount of plastic material such as shampoo bottles, bags, worn-out slippers, and the like. Vegetable scraps and
paper are biodegradable, but glass and plastic continue to
accumulate and harm the environment. Plastic is often mistaken for food by birds,
animals and fish, leading to their death. It also chokes sewer pipes and becomes a trap for
living beings in ponds, rivers and oceans.
Investigations have been going on for a long time to
produce an environment - friendly plastic in the sense that it decays and becomes a part of the soil like rotting vegetable
scraps do.
The scientists of Imperial Chemical Industries at London
have been able to develop just such as plastic called 'Biopol'. It is manufactured by microbes. Bottles, film and fibers
can be made out of it. Fungi and bacteria can eat it and break it down into carbon
dioxide and water. This new plastic can also be used to make capsules for slow
release in the body of some types of medicines, and of pesticides in fields. |
A.1.1 |
On the basis of your reading of
the passage, answer the following questions as briefly as possible. Write your
answers in the spaces provided. |
(a) |
The materials mentioned in the
first paragraph include some which disintegrate and decay. One example is : Plastic can kill animals in two different ways. Animals may die : |
(b) |
if they : |
(c) |
of it they : |
(d) |
"Like rotting vegetable
scraps do" (line 12). What do they do? |
(c) |
The main advantage of Biopol over
other types of plastic is that it |
(f) |
Biopol is converted into carbon
dioxide and water by : |
(g) |
In agriculture, Biopol can be used
to make |
(h) |
The writer talks about an
'environment - friendly' plastic. Find one other word used in the passage in the
same sense as 'environment - friendly'. |
A.2 |
Deep Thinker Stories of dolphins saving human lives have been told throughout history.
The latest incident happened in January this year when dolphins saved the life of
an Australian surfer attacked by shark which tore a chunk surfboard. As the
shark moved in for the kill it was by a group of dolphins.
Some scientists argue that such behaviour is an instinctive
response to distress signals. Other insist that
incidents like these are deliberate acts of compassion - adding support to the widespread
belief that dolphins are highly intelligent.
Two factors were initially responsible for sparking off the
popular idea that dolphins might possess high intelligence.
The first was the size of the dolphin brain. In some
species it is about the same weight as our own. The second factor was the work of
Dr. John Lilly who, convinced that dolphins must possess a language, set about trying to prove this theory
by teaching captive dolphins to speak English. But
Lilly's work, though appealing, proved nothing except that dolphins
are talented vocal mimics.
But in seeking to establish whether dolphins share human characteristics, we may be barking up the wrong tree. As
dolphins have evolved in an environment completely like our own, it
is reasonable to expect that their intelligence will be of a
different kind too.
Many researchers believe that the echo-location
system which dolphins use to explore their surroundings may be so advanced that dolphins can actually use it to
"see" inside other living things. So, while we've been testing dolphins
to see if they can speak English - and concluding. When they've been unable to do so that they can't be that bright after
all
It is just possible that they've been communicating all the
time in ways which even now we can barely comprehend. |
A.2.1 |
On the basis of your reading of
the passage, answer the following questions as briefly as possible. Write your
answers in the spaces provided. |
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Dolphins are known to have saved
lives. There are two possible reasons for this behaviour. (a) It may be :
(b) It may be : |
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Dolphins are thought to be very
intelligent for two main reasons. There are : (c) the fact that ;
(d) and the theory that |
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The dolphins' echo-location system
may be used : (e) to
(f) to
(g) "We may be barking up the wrong tree" (line
20). This means that the scientists may be : |
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(h) This passage has been titled
"Deep Thinker" referring to the dolphins' great intelligence. However, it
also refers to the fact that dolphins " |
A.3. |
DOWN THE MINE
Probably you have to go down several coal-mines before you can get much grasp of the processes that are going on round
you. You get into the cage, which is a steel box about as
wide as a telephone box and two or three times as long.
It holds ten men, but they pack it like pilchards in a tin,
and a tall man cannot stand upright in it. The steel door
shuts upon you and somebody working the winding gear above drops you into the void. In the middle of the run the cage probably
touches sixty miles an hour in some of the deeper mines it
touches even more, when you crawl out at the bottom you are perhaps four hundred yards underground. But
because of the speed at which the cage has brought you down, and the complete blackness through which you have travelled, you hardly feel yourself deeper down than you would at the
bottom of the Piccadily tube.
What is surprising, on the other hand, is the immense
horizontal distances that have to be travelled underground. Before I had been down a mine I had not realised that
before he even gets to his work he may have had to creep along passages
long as from London Bridge to Oxford Circus. But
these distances bear no relation to distances above ground.
For in all that mile or three miles as it may be, there is hardly anywhere outside the main road, and many places even there,
where a man can stand upright.
AT the start to walk stooping is rather a joke, but it is a
joke that soon wears off. I am handicapped by being
exceptionally tall, but when the roof falls to four feet or less it is
touch job for anybody except a dwarf or a child. You not
only have to bend double, you have also got a keep your head up all
the while so as to see the beams and girders and dodge them when they come. You have, therefore, a constant crick
in the neck, but this is nothing to the pain in your knees and
thighs. After half a mile it becomes ( I am not exaggerating ) an unbearable agony. You come to a stretch of a couple
of hundred yards where it is all exceptionally low and you have to work yourself along in a squatting position.
Then suddenly the roof opens out to a mysterious height - scene
of an old fall of rock, probably - and for twenty whole
yards you can stand upright. The relief is overwhelming. But after this there is another low stretch of a
hundred yards and then a succession of beams you have to crawl under.
You go down on all fours; even this is a relief after the
squatting business. But when you come to the end of the beams
and try to get up again, you find that your knees have
temporarily stopped work and refuse to lift you. You call a half,
ignominiously, and say that you would like to rest for a minute or two. Your guide ( a miner) is sympathetic. He knows that
your muscles are not the same as his. 'Only another four hundred yards', he says encouragingly; you feel that he
might as well say another four hundred miles. But
finally you somehow creep as far as the coal face. You have gone
a mile and taken the best part of an hour; a miner would do
it in not much more than twenty minutes. Having got there, you
have to sprawl in the coal dust and get your strength back for
several minutes before you can even watch the work in progress with
any kind of intelligence. |
A.3.1 |
List four physical features of the
mine which made the writer's journey to the coal
face difficult. One example is already given.
the darkness |
A.3.2 |
On the basis of your reading of
the passage, answer the following questions as briefly as possible. Write your
answers in the space provided. |
(a) |
The men in the cage are compared
with pilchards in a tin because : |
(b) |
"These distances bear no
relation to distances above ground" This is because : |
(c) |
While travelling to the coalface,
the writer developed a pain in the neck because : |
(d) |
The picture of the right shows the
posture the writer adopted when he could not stand upright. Pick out one word from
the passage which indicates this posture, and write it in the space provided. |
(e) |
The writer feels that the miner
"might as well say another four hundred miles", because |
(f) |
From the last paragraph, we can
tell that the writer is not used to mining, because : |
A.3.3 |
Find words in the passage, from
the lines indicated, which mean the opposite of each of the following. Write the correct
word in each space. |
(a) |
tiny (lines 16 to 20) |
(b) |
clearly (lines 16 to 20) |
(c) |
advantage ( line 20 to 30) |
(d) |
permanently ( lines 35 to 50) |
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SECTION - B
(WRITING) |
B.1. |
Mr. A.Mathur is the Manager of
Super Chemicals Ltd., He has made the following notes about a job candidate called Mohan
Srivastava. He asks his Personal Assistant to write a letter to Mr. Srivastava.
Complete the letter using information from the notepad below. |
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Dear Mr. Srivastava Sub : Interview for the post of salesman
With reference to your application, we are pleased to
................
.......
................ for interview for the above mentioned
post.
Your interview ...........
You are requested .............
Please not that no TA/DA will be paid by the company, and
........
that you are responsible.........
Kindly..........
Your faithfully,
A. Mathur
Manager
Super Chemicals Ltd. Bombay. |
B.2 |
Anjali Mehta is head girl of Nina
Public School. On 26 September, she attended a meeting with the Principal and Senior
Teachers at which it was decided that the school discipline needed improvement. It was
also decided that House Captains should allocate special duties to prefects
and monitors to ensure this.
Later she wrote
a notice for the Students' Notice Board asking House Captains and Vice - Captains to
attend a meeting to discuss implementing this proposal. Write this notice in the
space below, using not more than 30 words. |
B.3. |
A newspaper in Mahapur wants to
publish an article about the increasing awareness of health and diet the table
below shows some of the changes in Mahapur between 1970 and 1990. Using this
information, together with your own ideas and ideas from the unit on 'Health and
Medicine', write the article in the space provided. |
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Health in Mahapur |
1970 |
1990 |
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Number of yoga and health clubs |
2 |
10 |
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People using non-refined oil |
45% |
10% |
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Number of magazines on health care |
3 |
10 |
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TV/Radio programmes on health |
1% |
6% |
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Death rate |
15.0% |
11.7% |
B.4. |
During his holiday, Rohit Las
visited Yoku and Balagudi. Below you can see pictures of these two places.
Choose one place and write a postcard from Rohit to his friend, Gita Ramaswamy,
describing what he saw and what he liked about the place. Write the postcard in the
space provided on the next page.you may use the space at the bottom of this page
for rough work. |
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SECTION - C
(GRAMMAR) |
C.1. |
Below you can see a letter from
Ravi to his father. Complete this letter by writing one suitable word in each space.
The first one has been done as an example.
Dear Daddy,
I hope all's well with you. Everything is fine here. I'am
sorry I ........ write earlier, but I was very busy with my
examinations. ....... are now almost over. I 'm sure you'll be glad to .......... that I've filled up
the N.D.A. form. The examination is scheduled ................ the 14th of
June, ........... very day I complete my school examinations. I'm thinking of ................ the Bhavishya Tutorial
Centre which is within walking disitance. I'm told they produce good
result. I'd be really grateful if you .................... send me Rs. 600 for my
entrance fee. I know this is a lot to ask, but I will work
hard to make it worthwhile. On the brighter side, you
.....................send me any pocket money for the next three months.............. I will be working part-time at Leela
Restaurant. I look forward to ............. from you.
Yours affectionately.
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C.2. |
The following passage is intended
for a school textbook, but it has not been edited. There is one effort in each line.
Underline each error and write your correction in the space provided. The
first correction has been done as an example. |
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Many cases of food poisoning are
resulted from .......result
contamination of food after it had been brought home.
Bacteria grow more quicker in warm conditions,
so food should store in a cool place. A freezer
maintains sub-zero temperatures which bacteria
cannot reproduce. Refrigerators are not keeping
food same cold as this. However, it is still
more safe to store food in a refrigerator
rather than left it out in the open. |
C.3. |
Look at the words and phrases
below. Rearrange them to form meaningful sentences to complete the dialogue which
follows. Write each sentence in the space provided. The first one has been
done as an example. Stay /I'm not/this
summer/going to/with grandma
(a) terrible / to get / you want / Delhi's /
don't /heat/away from
(b) your holidays/on earth/isn't the only / in / Manila /
to spend / place
(c) going to / staying here / your holiday / you're / in
Delhi / waste
(d) going with you / is / the unlucky person / who / may I
know /
Sister : When exactly are we
leaving for Manali ?
Brother : I'm not going to stay with grandma this
summer.
Sister : Why not :
Brother : Yes, but
Sister : Oh, you're big bore, Don't
tell me that
Brother : Stay in Delhi ! Who said so?
I'm going to Ooty and, thank GOD, not with you.
Sister : And
Brother : Be careful what you say ! It's Daddy. |
C.4 |
Look at the newspaper items below.
Then use the information in the headlines to complete the paragraphs. Write
your answers in the spaces provided. The first one has been done as an example. |
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SUSPECT ARRESTED Shahpur police report that a suspect has been arrested.
in the Basir Khan murder case.
INDIAN WINS TOP CHESS PRIZE
An Indian school boy from Mirzabad ............. at the
International Youth Chess Tournament in Rome, beating over 50 other contestants.
TOURISTS ATTACKED BY SHARK - SURFBOARD BITTEN IN HALF !
Last Monday several Australian tourists
.................... while surfing off Pasiraman beach.One of them narrowly escaped death
when ..........
MINISTER TO OPEN HOSPITAL
The Health minister arrives next week in Dipganj,
where ............................. |
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SECTION -
D(LITERATURE) |
D.1 |
Read the extract below and answer
the questions which follow : Ah! well-a day
! what evil looks
Had I from old and you'd
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung
(a) Who is "T" in these lines ?
(b) Why did they hand the Albatross around the speaker's
neck?
(c) Briefly explain the sailors' attitude towards the death
of the Albatross. |
D.2. |
Read the extract below and answer
the questions which follow. And you totter
to your feet and think,
Well it's all over now and
After all it was only this once,
And he says come back in three 'monce'
(a) Why does the poet change the word 'months' into
'monce'?
(b) Why was the poet wrong in thinking that it was 'all
over'?
(c) You want your teeth in good condition so that you don't
have to go to the dentist. What, however, is the reality according to the poet ? |
D.3 |
In what way does the myth of The
Phoenix relate to the theme of the play ? |
D.4. |
"He lay down full length on
the damp grass, crushing his face into it, no longer crying ......." (Games at
Twilight). Describe Ravi's feelings at this point in the story, and explain what
made him feel that way. |
D.5. |
In The Tribune, after writing a
note to his elder brother, Babuli decides to write a letter to his wife to tell her about
his decision and the reasons for it. Write the letter in the space provided. |