2016
H.S. 2nd Year
ENGLISH
Full Marks :
100
Pass Marks : 30
Time : Three
hours
SECTION A
1. Read the following passage carefully:
At 4.30
P.M., Abha brought in the last meal he was ever to eat; it consisted of goat’s
milk, cooked and raw vegetables, oranges and a concoction of ginger, sour
lemons and strained butter with juice of aloe. Sitting on the floor of his room
in the rear of Birla House in New Delhi, Gandhi ate and talked with Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, Deputy Prime Minister of the new government independent
India. Maniben, Patel’s daughter and secretary, was also present. The
conversation was important. There had been rumours of differences between Patel
and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This problem, like so many others, had
been dropped into the Mahatma’s lap.
Abha, alone
with Gandhi and the patels, hesitated to interrupt. But she knew Gandhi’s
attachment to punctuality. Finally, therefore, she picked up the Mahatma’s
nickel-plated watch and showed it to him. ‘I must tear myself away’, Gandhi
remarked, and so saying he rose, went to the adjoining bathroom and then
started towards the prayer ground in the large park to the left of the house.
Abha, the young wife of Kanu Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma’s cousin, and
Manu, the granddaughter of another cousin, accompanied him; he learned his
forearms on their shoulders. ‘My walking sticks,’ he called them.
During the
daily two-minute promenade through the long, red-sandstone colonnade that led
to the prayer ground, Gandhi relaxed and joked. Now, he mentioned the carrot
juice Abha had given him that morning.
‘So you are serving me cattle fare,’ he said, and laughed.
‘Ba used to call it horse fare,’ Abha replied. Ba was Gandhi’s
deceased wife.
‘Isn’t it grand of me’,
Gandhi bantered, ‘to relish what no one else wants?’
‘Bapu (father),’ said Abha, ‘your watch must be feeling very
neglected. You would not look at it today.’
‘Why should I, since you are my timekeepers,’ Manu noted. Gandhi
laughed again.
On the basis of your reading
of the passage answer the following questions:
(a) What did
Gandhi eat in his last meal? 2
(b) Who were the persons present when Gandhi
ate his last meal? 2
(c) What was the problem that had been
dropped into Gandhi’s lap? 2
(d) Why did Abha show Gandhi the
nickel-plated watch? 2
(e) Who were the timekeepers of Gandhi? 1
(f) What is the cattle fare referred to? 1
SECTION B
2. Design an attractive poster for promoting cleanliness in your
neighborhood. (Maximum 50 words) 5
Or
You are Arun Das / Arunima Das, a resident of 16, Gopinath
Bordoloi Nagar, Tinsukia. You have lost a black handbag containing valuable documents
while travelling from Digboi to Tinsukia by bus. Draft an advertisement in not
more than 50 words, for publication in an English daily giving details of
the bag, mentioning when you have lost
it and giving your contact address requesting the finder to return it to you.
3. You are an eyewitness to a road accident in which a school
going boy was killed and many passengers were injured. As a press reporter of an English Daily write a
report about the accident in 100-125 words. You are Nitu / Saurav. 10
Or
You attended the Edufair, 2015, organized by Assam Tribune Pvt.
Ltd. in Guwahati in which some top colleges and universities of India
participated and gave information about their undergraduate and graduate
programmes. Write a detailed account of the fair in 100-125 words. You are
Parveen / Pravin.
4. Write a letter to Editor of The Assam Tribune, Guwahati-781003
drawing the attention of the authorities concerned to the erratic power supply,
particularly during study hours, in your locality. You are Rita / Augustine. 10
Or
You are Imran / Rongmili. You have seen an advertisement for the
post of an English Teacher in Lakhimpur Public School, Lakhimpur. Write a
formal letter to the President of the Managing Committee of the school in
response to the advertisement applying for the post. Give your detailed
bio-data.
SECTION C
5. Change the form of narration in the following sentences: 2
x2=4
(a) “How long do you have to wait for your
train?” The woman asked me. “About an hour,” I replied.
(b) I asked Ranjan where Neena lived. Ranjan
replied regretfully that he didn’t know.
6. Change the voice of any three of the following
sentences: 3 x1=3
(a) She handed me the letter.
(b) They laughed at us.
(c) The stranger made an attempt to break
into the house.
(d) The student was told to leave the room.
(e) Have they done the work?
7. Rewrite any five of the following sentences using the verbs
given in brackets in their correct tense forms: 5 x1=5
(a) We _____ (do) our lessons when the lights
went out.
(b) I usually ________ (go) to bed at 11
o’clock.
(c) All the answers to the questions
_________ (be) wrong.
(d) He __________ (sit) in the library when I
saw him.
(e) Your letter _________ (reach) me
yesterday.
(f) I _______ (wait) for you since morning.
(g) Football ________ (play) everywhere in
the world.
8. Rewrite any four of the following sentences filling in the
blanks with appropriate prepositions: 4 x1=4
(a) The train arrived ________ the
platform a minute ago.
(b) The children were looking forward
______ their visit to Kaziranga.
(c) I have to finish this report _______ tonight.
(d) The girl standing _____ the two
boys is their sister.
(e) Douglas jumped _______ the swimming
pool.
(f) The office is closed _______second and fourth Saturdays.
9. Rewrite any four of the sentences are directed: 4
x1=4
(a) No other boxer is as great as Mary Kom.
(Change into comparative degree)
(b) None but Anita can do the sum. (Change
into affirmative)
(c) Everybody must admit that Tendulkar is a
great cricketer. (Change into negative)
(d) I know his name. (Change into a complex
sentences)
(e) He hoped that he would win the prize.
(Change into a simple sentence)
(f) Is it not a foolish idea? (Transform into
a statement)
SECTION D
10. Read one of the following extracts and answer the questions
that follow:
(a) “Now we will count to twelve
And we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.”
Questions:
i. How long does the poet want to stay
still? 1
ii. Why does he ask us to keep still and not
use any language? 2
iii. What does the poet mean by ‘not move our
arms so much’? 1
Or
b. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, an health, and quiet
breathing.”
Questions:
i. Who is the poet of these lines and what is
the title of the poem? 2
ii. Why is a thing of beauty a joy
forever? 1
iii. What is a bower? 1
11. Answer any three of the following questions in 30-40 words: 3
x2=6
i. Why does the poet brought in the image of the merry children
‘spilling out of their homes’?
ii. What is the exotic moment the poet Pablo Neruda wishes for?
iii. Name the things of nature that are
constant sources of beauty.
iv. What is the message that John Keats
wants to give through ‘A Thing of Beauty’?
v. ‘Of all the thousand selfish cars’ some
stop there but not for buying something. Why do they stop there at all?
vi. Who will soothe the rural poor out of
their wits and how?
12. Answer any five of the following questions: 5 x1=5
(a) What did Franz think ‘for a moment’?
(b) What does Saheb look for in the garbage
dumps?
(c) Where has Saheb come from?
(d) What position did John Rowntree hold
before leaving Shillong a few days after
independence?
(e) Who was Rajkumar Shukla?
(f) What was Gandhi’s politics interwined
with?
(g) For whom does Sophie ask Danny Casey an
autograph?
(h) How was Geoff employed?
13. Answer any five of the following questions in 30-40 words: 5 x2=10
(a) Why did Franz want to spend
his day out of doors?
(b)
What are M. Hamel’s views about the French language?
(c)
What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name?
(d)
Why do the young inhabitants of Firozabad end up losing their eye-sight?
(e)
Give a brief description of Peacock Island.
(f)
Why was the Champaran episode so significant in Gandhi’s life?
(g)
What was incongruous about the delicate bow which fastened the apron strings of
Sophie’s mother?
14. Answer any one of the following questions in 80-100 words: 1
x5=5
(a) Draw a character sketch of M. Hamel as it is shown in ‘The
Last Lesson’
Or
(b) Describe Rowntree’s experience of crossing a flooded river on
horseback.
Or
(c) ‘The battle of Champaran is won,’ Gandhi exclaimed. Explain
the context in which this was said.
15. Answer any one of the following questions in 125-150 words: 1 x7=7
Describe Tishani’s journey to the end of the earth – the Antarctic
region, and his experience during that journey.
Or
‘Through both Mr. Lamb and Derry suffer from a physical disability
their attitudes to life are different’. Justify the relevance of this statement
with reference to the story of “On The
Face of it”?
16. Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words: 4 x2=8
(a)
What was Zitkala’s idea regarding short, shingled hair?
(b)
What did Annan say about his community to the narrator?
(c)
How has Antarctica remained relatively pristine?
(d)
What explanation was given by the chief astrologer to the query of the little
Tiger King?
(e)
Why aren’t there any curtains at the windows of Mr. Lamb’s house?
(f)
Why and how did Derry enter Mr. Lamb’s garden?
***************
