Read the Story Below Carefully; Then Answer the Questions Which Follow

1st Term

Name: Class: IGJRDate:

Marks: 100 Sub: English Time: 2hrs30mins

Part 1

Read the story below carefully; then answer the questions which follow.

A Moment of Madness

It was Arvind’s birthday. In the afternoon there would be a cake and a party, but it would be like other birthdays, and Arvind was eleven. So in the morning, he collected his friends, Jimmy and Paudeni, and they set off to the forest that lay on the hillside in a huge half-moon behind the village.

When they reached the first few trees they stopped, listening to the sounds of the birds and searching for the rare striped butterflies that Arvind’s uncle had told them about. They cried out to test the echo and then became savages, rushing carelessly into the forest and battering the undergrowth with sticks.

Eventually they reached a clearing. Jimmy said he was hungry and they started to devour the birthday food they had brought. Arvind pulled out a packet from his bag. “Look,” he said, “I’ve brought some chicken. We’ll make a fire and cook it.” He pulled out some matches. “Get some sticks, Jimmy. Make a big pile. Everything’s dry; it’ll burn like crazy.”

Paudeni looked worried. “My Mum says never ever start a fire in a forest, specially this year because it hasn’t rained and because of the winds. She says you don’t know what fire can do until you’veexperienced it. She says people who know always dig a big circle round a fire because it can’t burnthrough the soil. She says –“Rubbish, there’s no danger,” interrupted Arvind, with the authority of a boy on his eleventh birthday.

“I know what I’m doing.” Jimmy returned carrying a great armful of sticks and made a castle out of them. Arvind struck a match and the fire was alive.

His satisfaction was short-lived. The dry wood exploded into a sheet of threatening flame and, from nowhere, a breeze began to blow. The children watched, horrified, as the fire spread like scuttling mice into the surrounding undergrowth. They never realised that everything was tinder dry. They had never seen how quickly a fire could start to devour all the twigs and the dead leaves that had lain undisturbed on the forest floor.

“Quick! Stop it!” screamed Paudeni, but how could they? The fire spread in too many directions at once. If they managed to stop one of its tentacles, two more would have spread beyond their reach. The boys rushed back and forth, stamping pointlessly on the flames and then, after a short while, just looked on in a sort of awful fascination.

“Look!” shouted Jimmy. The fire had reached the trees at the sides of the clearing and was shooting upwards, devouring ancient, dead ivy and dry bark. In no time the sounds of the forest were drowned by frightening explosions. Birds and animals rushed for safety as their homes and feeding areas were engulfed in flame. The speed and magnitude of such destruction were beyond the boys’ imagination.

They ran for their lives, trying to find a way out of the terrible, burning forest.

It was the only story in the newspaper the next day. There were interviews with the villagers, recounting their fears as the fire had threatened their homes before the wind miraculously changed.

The forest lay in ruins, a minor ecological disaster, threatening the village with floods and landslides when the rains eventually returned. And poor Arvind lay in a hospital bed, his face scarred for life by the sudden sheet of flame that had risen up without warning to challenge his last steps to safety.

Who was to blame? The newspaper blamed the schools for not teaching the children a fire code orgiving them stories about the dangers of fires. The schools privately blamed the parents for not hiding matches and for not keeping control of their children. Parents blamed the newspaper and television for not continuing to publicize the state of the forests in conditions of drought and wind.

The story of Arvind’s birthday is a sad reminder that fire is a dangerous force to be reckoned with and that its effects are potentially terrible. Fire is everyone’s responsibility, but how do we ensure that everyone understands, and what exactly are responsibilities of school, parents and the media?

For Questions 1–6 write down the letter A, B, C or D on your answer paper to indicate the most appropriate answer in each case.

1 The forest

A had a semi-circular shape.

B had only a few trees.

C was on both sides of the village.

D was on the top of the hill. [1]

2 When testing the echo the boys

A behaved like noisy savages.

B listened to the sounds of the birds.

C rushed noisily into the forest.

D shouted out and then listened. [1]

3 Which of these things that Arvind said turned out to be true?

A I know what I’m doing.

B It’ll burn like crazy.

C Rubbish, there’s no danger.

D We’ll make a fire and cook it. [1]

4 When Paudeni said, “Quick, stop it!” the boys immediately

A discussed how to put the fire out.

B ran away out of the forest.

C tried to kill the flames by treading on them.

D watched the flames shooting up the tree. [1]

5 Paudeni in this story seems to be

A brave.

B argumentative.

C helpful.

D nervous. [1]

6 The villagers’ homes were

A damaged by the fire.

B never in danger.

C saved by a miracle.

D washed away by floods. [1]

For questions 7–10 you must answer as far as possible in your own words.

7 Why did the flames travel up the trees at the sides of the clearing so quickly? [3]

______

8 Explain the meaning of the following:

(a) ‘the fire spread like scuttling mice’ [2]

______

(b) the fire had ‘tentacles’. [2]

______

(d) recounting their fears. [2]

______

9 Give two words of your own, each of which describes Arvind’s behaviour. Explain why you have chosen each word. [4]

______

10 You are the teacher in Arvind’s village. You speak to all the children after the fire. What four pointswould you make about the dangers of forest fires? [4]

______

11. Re-read the extract and make notes and then write a summaryon the fire incident and the reactions. (Write a paragraph of about 50-70 words.) [10]

Notes:

· ______

Summary

______

12. Imagine you are a reporter of a magazine. Write an article entitled “Fire- Is it a child’s play?”

Focus your article closely on the incident from the passage and add your own points on how parents, school and media is responsible to educate children on safety regulations. [15]

______

Part 2

Section 1: Directed Writing

1 Read the following discussion and consider the views of both the teacher and her students.

Imagine that you are one of the students involved in the discussion. Write an article for your school magazine about how people use modern technology.

In your magazine article you should:

• examine issues about family and social life;

• examine issues about health and safety;

• give your own view and develop your arguments.

Base your magazine article on the ideas found in the discussion and be careful to use your own

words.

You should write between 1½ and 2 sides, allowing for the size of your handwriting.

Up to ten marks are available for the content of your answer and up to fifteen marks for the quality of your writing.

After a Communication Studies lesson, the teacher, Mrs Trapido, and three students discuss moderntechnology.

Mrs Trapido: That lesson makes me more worried than ever about your physical well being. Surely it’snot a good thing that you use modern technology to escape from reality so often?

Bharat: So, what do you do to escape from the stresses of your job? No doubt you ‘up the volume’on your classical music in the car or watch the latest soap opera on television. Either way,it’s not that different.

Mrs Trapido: Okay, we all need to switch off now and then, but the kids I see are permanently hookedup to some gadget that stops them communicating with others. My son is constantly inhis own bubble; if he’s not on the phone to a friend then he’s ‘shuffling’ and focused onhis music player, and don’t get me started on these new games and films he watches ona ridiculously small screen.

Katrin: It’s the latest technology. It solves the problem of what film you all want to watch ontelevision. He’s just ‘zoning out’; it’s what we all do. In your day you would have gone toyour room. Well, now we can block out situations that are stressful.

Mrs Trapido: What? Like family life? You see that’s what worries me. He’s there in the room with us,but he’s not really there.

Ali: Well, it depends on how high the volume is! I can easily listen to my music as well astune in to what’s being said around me. If my mother starts an argument, then I just turnthe volume up to the maximum!

Bharat: That’s how I like to listen to my music anyway. Loud.

Mrs Trapido: You see that also concerns me. New studies prove it is dangerous to listen to really loudmusic as it can cause hearing loss.

Katrin: Well, what about you and your laptop? You’re always hunched over it typing, risking injuryto your back and your hands. You see, you condemn our use of technology, but you forgethow much people older than us rely on it. Plus, if anything goes wrong with your newdevices, you usually ask us to fix it.

Mrs Trapido: Okay, I know you belong to the technological society, but it doesn’t stop me worryingabout your health. My laptop isn’t a miniscule gadget that requires me to risk my eyesightto see the screen. The keys on your game players are so small that you could suffer fromrepetitive strain injury or even arthritis in the future.

Katrin: I get your point. However, we know that we should have breaks when our eyes get tiredor our fingers ache.

Mrs Trapido: What about the dangers of walking around or cycling whilst the latest rap song is blaringin your ears? You’re oblivious to the traffic around you and you risk being in an accident.What’s more, someone could attack you as you wouldn’t be aware of their presence.

Ali: It is stupid to lock yourself up in your own world in a busy city, but is it very different fromadult motorists talking on their mobiles and causing accidents?

Mrs Trapido: But it’s in cities where I see most teenagers not interacting with what’s going on aroundthem, and they don’t even mutter please or thank you to others who serve them.

Ali: You can’t blame these devices for bad manners. Don’t tell me that adults aren’t temptedto block out the noise and stress of public transport! I saw an old guy with headphoneson in the subway, blissfully unaware of his surroundings.

Mrs Trapido: Everyone over thirty looks old to you lot! My point is still relevant. I’m not just concernedabout noise. I’ve even heard of discos where teenagers listen and dance to their ownchoice of music on their own headphones.

Katrin: Hey, that’s a good idea! The world is changing. By the way, is that your cell phone

ringing?

______

Writing (15) ______Reading (10) ______Total (25) ______

Section 2:Composition

Write 350 to 450 words

A. ‘Who’s Who?’ Write a story in which a case of mistaken identity plays a central part.

B. ‘The happy couple.’ Paying particular attention to the sights and sounds, describe the scene as two people enjoy a special meal in a restaurant. [25 marks]

Q _____

______

______Content and structure (13) ______Style and accuracy (12) ______