ENDING EXAMINATION (2017-18)
ENGLISH (CORE)
CLASS XI
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HRS MAXIMUM MARKS:80
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- 15 minutes time has been allotted to read this question paper. The students will read the question paper only and will not write any answer on the answer book during this period.
- This paper is divided into three sections: A, B and C. All the sections are compulsory.
- Separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and follow them faithfully.
- Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the question.
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SECTION A: READING 20 MARKS
Q1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
1. Time was when even wild horses could not drag me within miles of a barber’s shop or salon as they are called nowadays. Those were days when hippie cut held sway and a close cropped guy was an exception. Yet, even in those days civilization was measured by the length of your locks and I was no exception. Much water has flown under the bridge since then in recent times I begin to yearn for barber’s ministration the moment my hair kiss my ears. But then there is another reason for this yearning and that is my barber Salim. He is more educated than me, having done his masters in literature with a first class first, capable of quoting Chaucer & Byron with equal felicity as he could Raja Rao and Narayana. He had been an English Professor for a couple of years but when his father, who ran the salon, kicked the bucket he found that it was good economics to make a switchover.
Salim’s salon was a salon with a difference. A big sign board announced that Politics was a taboo. Salim once enlightened me on this, recalling that he had sent a customer packing though only half of his hair had been cut because he had dared to take a political stand, which to add insult to injury was contrarian to Salim’s view point I once asked him, “Don’t you miss all those students whom you were teaching English Literature. I have heard a couple of them say that you were the best among the lot.” “Not at all” said Salim without batting an eyelid, “they might no longer be my students but they are my customers now. And I do manage to clear a doubt or two when they came for a sitting”. It was then that I realised that the barber’s itch for literature had not dampened one bit though combs and scissors had replaced his original tools of trade (C.V. Aravind)
1.1 Answer the following questions by choosing the best option from the ones given below.
(i) In earlier days civilization was measured by (1X6 = 6 Marks)
a)Wild horses
b)Length of hair locks
c)Number of cropped guys
d)Number of salons in the town
(ii) Salim switched over from professor to a barber because
a)Of his family pressure
b)Of his passion for this profession
c)Of the advice of his students
d)It was good economics to make a switchover
(iii) Salim considered politics
a)To be having liberality
b)To be a taboo
c)He had no viewpoint about politics
d)To be good and essential for everyone
(iv) The word that means the same as ‘Kicked the bucket’
a)To harm as well as humiliate
b)To show no surprise or concern
c)Past events that are over or done with
d)Died
(v) Was Salim still in touch with his students?
- No, he was not in contact with them
- Yes, he met them occasionally but never solved their problems.
- He used to take extra sitting / extra classes for them.
- His students were his customers and he used to solve their doubts.
(vi) The writer often thought about Salim as he
a)Was more educated
b)Had received his master’s degree in first class
c)Was well versed with Indian an well as English Literature
d)All the above
1.2. Answer the following questions:(1 x 4 = 4marks)
(i) Why was it an exception to find a close cropped guy?
(ii) Why did the writer get his hair cut frequently?
(iii) What do the students of Salim think about him?
(iv) Salim did not miss his old students. Why?
1.3. Which words in the passage mean the same as the following:(1X2=2 marks)
(i) Help or care (para 1)
(ii) a restless or strong desire to do something (para2 )
Q.2 Read the following passage carefully and answers the questions that follow: 8 marks
Most of the southern and western States, and even the normally surplus States in the north-east, are now going through a major power crisis. Power generation has suffered because of poor water storage, thanks to a truant monsoon. Compounding the problem, States that usually come to the help of large consumers in such a predicament have themselves run into difficulties in thermal generation on account of vagaries in coal supply. As a result, States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have to contend with a major-shortage. In Tamil Nadu, there is no power cut, officially, but unscheduled load shedding is freely resorted to.
At the national level, the gap between power generation and demand has been widening steadily, and it is due not a little to the persisting slippage in targeted addition to the generation capacity during the last two Plan periods. Power-deficit Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, which have been regularly buying power from the Central undertakings, could not do so this year because their neighbours, who are also in distress, happen to draw their full entitlement from the regional grid. Also, none of the power trading corporations has been able to make up the shortfall. The result: power outages, tripping, power cuts, and unscheduled load shedding for a few hours every day.
If the supply side of power position is thus beset with severe constraints, the demand side has its own quota of problems for the power managers and administrators. While the overall shortfall in electricity demand for the country is placed at 15-20 percent, the shortfall faced by several States in peak demand now is reported to range from 20 percent to 30 percent. Specifically, following the sharp rise in the price of diesel, there has been a big jump in demand from consumption by the farm sector.
Confronted as they are with heightened difficulties on both supply and demand fronts, the State Electricity Boards are constantly working on contingency plans to tide over the crisis and fondly hoping that the monsoon will revive and fill the hydel reservoirs before long. The authorities would do well to use more purposefully the grid structure and the consultation mechanism that already exist. Some restrictive measures may be inevitable, but the least the consumers expect is transparency. Whether it is staggering supply, rotational load shedding or any other, prior intimation to the user-group will surely go some way in mitigating the hardship.
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it using recognizable abbreviations (Min. 4) wherever necessary. Use a format you consider appropriate. Supply a suitable title. 5 marks
b) Write a summary of the passage in 80 words.(3 marks)
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SECTION B – WRITING AND GRAMMAR (30 Marks)
Q 3.You are Asmit / Asmita, Head Boy/Head Girl of 'The Indian School'. Write a Notice in 50 words for your school notice Board asking the students to participate in the Debate Competition to be held in your school on the“Media should be given more freedom if democracy is to survive in India”. Invent necessary details.
OR
Design a poster to increase awareness among youth about the importance of donating eyes. 4 Marks
Q 4 You areKrishan/Kiran studying at Hindustan School, Chennai. The road leading toyour school is full of potholes causing a lot of congestion. Students and parents are often caught in a traffic jam. In spite of several representations to the concerned authorities of the Chennai Corporation, nothing has been done to improve the condition. Write a letter to the Municipal Commissioner of Chennai, requesting him to take necessary action to solve the problem at the earliest. Also offer your suggestions for improvement. (125-150 words)
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OR
Write a letter to the Editor of a newspaper drawing the attention of the concerned authorities towards the problem of price inflation and the increase in the cost ofcommodities for daily use. (125-150 words) (6 Marks)
Q5Your school is Observing Anti - Corruption Day. Write a speech in 150- 200 words on the topic Minimization of Human desires is the only way to cleanse society of all kinds of corruption.‘ You are Avni / Anuj of class XI.
OR
The invention of smart phones can be a blessing but addiction on social networking apps can prove to be a curse. Write an article in about 150 -200 words on Increasing use of Social Media by teenagers. You are Krish | Kavita.
(10 marks)
Q.6. There is an error in each line of the following paragraph. Find and write theincorrect word and the correction as given in the example against the correct
blank number in your answer sheets.(1x4=4 Marks)
Incorrect / Correct. / Four suspects, who has / Has / have
been hold in connection with / a) / ______/ ______
the kidnapping or murder / b) / ______/ ______
of Adnan Dede, have confess / c) / ______/ ______
to his interrogators. / d) / ______/ ______
Q.7The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each
line. Find the missing word that comes before and after it.(1x 4 = 4marks)
BeforeMissingAfter
An Inter House Debate Competition will held (a)______/______/______
next Sunday.
All the House In-charges requested to enlist(b) ______/______/______
teams from their houses by tomorrow.
The topic and the time limit have already put up (c) ______/______/______
On the notice board. The students advised to note (d) ______/______/______
down the topic from the notice board
Q.8.Rearrange the following words into meaningful sentences.(1x2=2 Marks)
•Friends / life / good / make / our / happy / extremely.
•not / find / now a days / easy /good / is / it / friends / to / but.
Section D Literature and Long Reading Text (30 marks)
Q 9. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:(3marks)
And who art thou ?said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which,strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice ofthe rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
(a) Whom does the word ‘ I’ refer to in the first line of the extract ?
(b) Why was the answer’ strange’?
(c) What does the word ‘impalpable’ mean?
OR
The seed I spent or sown it where
The land is his and none of mine ?
We speak like strangers, there’s no sign
Of understanding in the air.
This child is built to my design
Yet what he loves I cannot share.
(a) What does the word ‘seed’ refer to?
(b) ‘We speak like strangers’ Explain.
(c) What is the state of mind of the father in the above lines?
Q 10. Answer anyTHREE of these questions in about 40 -50 words each?( 3X 3= 9 marks)
a)What was Einstein’s view about education?
b) The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
c) When the people are pious and good even Nature mourns their death. Justify with reference to ‘The Portrait of a Lady’.
d) What picture of Mrs Pearson does emerge in the opening of the play ‘ Mother’s Day ‘ ?
Q 11 Answer any one of the following in about 100- 120 words.( 6 marks)
Why did the narrator of The Address want to forget the address?
Or
Compare and contrast the reaction of the children and the adults when faced with extreme danger in ‘ we are not afraid to die…….together’.
Q 12 Answer the following question in about 100-120 words.(6 marks)
Why did the Ghost like Virginia, the daughter of Mr Otis ?
Q 13 Answer the following question in about 100-120 words ( 6 marks)
‘The Centerville Ghost’ is a study in contrasts. Comment
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