English Core: 2017: CBSE: [All India]: Set – I

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:                              12

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 Urumqi. Rain begins to fall. The man behind me is eating overpoweringly smelly goats’ cheese. The bus window leaks inhospitably but reveals a beautiful view. We have passed quickly from desert though 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 vies, in Mount Bogda itself.

4     For those who live in the resort there is a small mess-hall by the shore. We eat here sometimes, and sometimes buy food from the vendors outside, who sell kabab and naan until the last buses leave. The kababs, cooked on skewers over charcoal braziers, are particularly good; highly spiced and well-done. Horse's milk is available too from the local Kazakh herdsmen, but I decline this. I am so affected by the cold that Mr. Cao, the relaxed young man who runs the mess, lends me a spare pair of trousers, several sizes too large but more than comfortable. Once I am warm again, I feel a pre-dinner spurt of energy-dinner will be long in coming-and I ask him whether the lake is good for swimming in.

5     "Swimming?" Mr. Cao says. "You aren't thinking of swimming, are you?"

6     "I thought I might," I confess. "What's 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:                                                               (1x4=4)

(a)  One benefit of sitting in the last row of the bus was that:

(i)   the narrator enjoyed the bumps.

(ii)  no one stared at him.

(iii) he could see the sunflowers.

(iv) he avoided the dullness of the city.

(b)  The narrator was travelling to:

(i)   Mount Bogda

(ii)  Heaven Lake

(iii) a 2000 metre high snow peak

(iv) Urumqi

(c)  On reaching the destination the narrator felt relieved because:

(i)   he had got away from the desert.

(ii)  a difficult journey had come to an end.

(iii) he could watch the snow peak.

(iv) there were thick quilts on the bed.
(d)  Mount Bogda is compared to:

(i)   a horizontal desert surface

(ii)  a shining prism

(iii) a Constable landscape

(iv) the overcast sky

Answer the following questions briefly:   (1x6=6)

(e) Which two things in the bus made the
narrator feel uncomfortable?

(f) What made the scene look like a Constablelandscape?

(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: (1x2=2)

(i) sellers (Para 4)

(ii) increased (Para 7)

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:                                     10

1     Thackeray reached Kittur along with a small British army force and a few of his officers. He thought that the very presence of the British on the outskirts of Kittur would terrorise the rulers and people of Kittur and that they would lay down their arms. He was quite confident that he would be able to crush the revolt in no time. He ordered that tents be erected on the eastern side for the fighting forces and a little away on the western slopes tents be put up for the family members of the officers who had accompanied them. During the afternoon and evening of 20thOctober, the British soldiers were busy making arrangements for these camps.

2     On the 21^stmorning, Thackeray sent his political assistants to Kittur fort to obtain a written assurance from all the important officers of Kittru rendering them answerable for the security of the treasury of Kittur. They, accordingly, met SardarGurusiddappa and other officers of Kittur and asked them to comply with the orders of Thackeray. They did not know that the people were in a defiant mood. The commanders of Kittur dismissed the agent's orders as no documents could be signed without sanction from Rani Chennamma.

3     Thackeray was enraged and sent for his commander of the Horse Artillery, which was about 100 strong, ordered him to rush his artillery into the fort and capture the commanders of the Desai's army. When the Horse Artillery stormedinto the fort, SardarGurusiddappa, who had kept his men on full alert, promptlycommanded his men to repel and chase them away. The Kittur forces made abold front and overpowered the British soldiers.

4     In the meanwhile, the Desai's guards had shut the gates of the fort and the British Horse Artillery men, being completely overrun and routed, had to get out through the escape window. Rani's soldiers chased them out of the fort, killing a few of them until they retreated to their camps on the outskirts.

5     A few of the British had found refuge in some private residences, while some were hiding in their tents. The Kittur soldiers captured about forty persons and brought them to the palace. These included twelve children and a few women from the British officers' camp. When they were brought in the presence of the Rani, she ordered the soldiers to be imprisoned. For the women and children she had only gentleness, and admonished her soldiers for taking them into custody. At her orders, these women and children were taken inside the palace and given food and shelter. Rani came down from her throne, patted the children lovingly and told them that no harm would come to them.

6     She, then, sent word through a messenger to Thackeray that the British women and children were safe and could be taken back any time. Seeing this noble gesture of the Rani, he was moved. He wanted to meet this gracious lady and talk to her. He even thought of trying to persuade her to enter into an agreement with the British to stop all hostilities in lieu of an inam (prize) of eleven villages. His offer was dismissed with a gesture of contempt. She had no wish to meet Thackeray. That night she called SardarGurusiddappa and other leading Sardars and after discussing all the issues came to the conclusion that there was no point in meeting Thackeray who had come with an army to threaten Kittur into submission to British sovereignty.

On the basis of your understanding of the above passage complete the statements given below with the help of options that follow:(1x2=2)

(a)  Thackeray was a/an

(i) British tourist.

(ii) army officer.

(iii) adviser to Rani of Kittur.

(iv) treasury officer.

(b) British women and children came to Kittur to

(i) visitKittur.

(ii) enjoylifeintents.

(iii) stay in the palace.

(iv) give company to the army officers.

Answer the following questions briefly:  (1x6=6)

(c) Why did Thackeray come to Kittur?

(d)  Why did the Kittur officials refuse to give the desired assurance to Thackeray?

(e)  What happened to the Horse Artillery?

(f)  How do we know that the Rani was a noble soul?

(g)  How, in your opinion, would the British women have felt after meeting the Rani?

(h)  Why did the Rani refuse to meet Thackeray?

(i)   Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:    (1x2=2)

(i)   aggressive/refusing to obey (Para 2)

(ii)  entered forcibly (Para 3)

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:                                               8

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 steams 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 there 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. Badiation.is no, longer the bombardment of cosmic rays; it is now the unnatural creation of man's tampering with the atom. The chemical's 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 recognisable abbreviations (wherever necessary – minimumfour) and a format you consider suitable.                         5

(b)  Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words.                                                         3

4)   Your friend, P.V. Sathish, has invited you to attend the wedding of his sister, Jaya. You find that you have an important paper of pre-board examination on the day of the wedding. This you cannot attend the event. Write in about 50 words a formal reply to the invitation expressing your regret. You are Puneet/PuneetaVij, M-114, Fort Road, Chennai.     4

You are Vikram/Sonia, an electronics engineer who has recently returned from the U.S. and looking for a suitable job in the IT industry. Draft an advertisement in about 50 words for the Situations Wanted column of a national newspaper. Your contact number is 9193010203.

Mountview Public School, Kalka is run by an NGO to give quality education to the children of the deprived sections of society. The Principal of the school feels that blackboards in the classrooms need to be replaced. She decided to ask the chairperson of the NGO named ‘Education for All’ for funds. Write her letter in 120-150 words. Her name is Shweta Pandit.      6

National Book Trust organised a week-long book fair at Anna Grounds, Chennai. You visited the fair and bought a few books. You were pleased with the arrangements, enthusiasm of the visitors and the fact that books have not yet lost their relevance in the world of the Internet. Write a letter in 120-150 words to the editor of a local newspaper to express your feelings. You are Lalit/Latha, 112, Mount Road, Chennai.

Every teenager has a dream to achieve something in life. What they are going to become tomorrow depends on what our youth dream today. Write an article in 150-200 words on ‘What I want to be in life’. You are Simranjit/Smita.                              10

History Society of KendriyaVidyalaya, Krishna Nagar sent a group of students to visit a place of historical interest. You, Anant/Anita, were its leader. Write a report in 150-200 words for the school newsletter on the tour, describing the place, its history, how you reached there and all that you have learnt.

Holi is a festival of colours. It expresses pure and simple joy. Sometimes we start throwing coloured water and that too on strangers. As the Head boy/ girl of your school write a speech in 150-200 words that you will deliver in the morning assembly of your school, describing why Holi is played and how it should be played.                                                                          10