Q1. A. Read the following extract and answer the following questions.
When I look at children, I wonder whether they have time to play with friends, to meet interesting people, to explore the world, and follow their curiosity. When the first monsoon showers begin, I would think that the streets would be full of children rushing headlong into the rain, dancing and playing. However, I think today, the rains fall on empty streets. This, in friends, is the new Indian reality in our villages, slums and metropolitan high rises. Whatever the reasons – poverty, societal aspiration, apathetic individuals and organisations, or just the burden of circumstances – the reality is that our children are straitjacketed. The final indicator of a country’s independence is the way its children live. Are children free from the malaise of poverty and hunger? Are they free from the burden of parental aspiration? Are they free from social conditioning? Are we ensuring the curiosity of our children continues to burn and is not stamped out? Are discover the true potential of the society itself? Gandhiji said that the greatest lessons in life are learnt from children, not from learned men. A child will fearlessly try before giving up. As adults, fearing failure, we give up before we try. |
1. What is the final indicator of the freedom of a country?
2. What does the writer think when the first monsoon shower begins?
3. How, according to Gandhiji, are the greatest lessons in life learnt?
4. What are the things that the writer expects a child to do?
5. What, according to the writer, can help the children discover the potential of the society?
6. Do as directed
a. Small drains lead from the taps to a reservoir. (Frame a wh – question to get the underlined part of the sentence as answer)
b. Kaldhari now aspires to be recognised as the cleanliest and the best village in the state. [(a)Use Non only but also, (b) Change the degree]
7. Give the verb forms of the following
a. Energy b. Award
One often hears of the high prevalence of child labour in our country. Of the many reports I have read, perhaps the most disturbing was a report on the condition of children employed by zari factories in Delhi, Mumbai and other parts of India. It grieves me to imagine a child exposed to such inhumanity. |
Robbing children of their childhood is a criminal act, and our society must weed this malaise out from the rood. But where does the root lie? Before you attempt an answer, let me give you an anecdote from the other end of the social spectrum. A colleague in Wipro has a child studying in Standard IX in a reputed school in Bangalore. This child wakes up at 5 a.m. and studies for an hour before going to school. She returns from school at 4 p.m. and rushes for her IIT entrance exam coaching class. At 6 p.m. she has tuitions for two hours. After dinner, she spends an hour or more on homework. I asked her when she gets time to play. She replied that she did not play. She gets half an hour of free time each day, which she spends watching her favourite serial on television. She also added that board exams and entrance exams are very important, and that you only get one chance. Is the condition of this child different from the child in the zari factory? |
1. What is the most disturbing report read by the writer?
2. What is the reason for the writer’s grief?
3. What is the duty of the society, according to the writer?
4. Where does the child in the writer’s anecdote go immediately after school?
5. What does the child do in her free time?
6. Do as directed.
a. I’d pay more time paying for a bar of soap. (Rewrite using ‘’used to’’)
b. My father’s moods were like Chennai’s climate. (Frame a wh – question to get the underlined part of the sentence as answer)
c. The number of annual road accident fatalities in India crossed the 80,000 mark. (Add a question – tag)
7. Give Adverb forms of the following adding suffixes.
a. Criminal b. Social
Q1. C. Read the following passage and answer the following questions.
Our day used to start with the family huddling around my mother’s Chulha, an earther fireplace she would build at each place of posting, and where she would cook for the family. There was no gas, no electric stoves. The morning routine started with teas. As the brew was served, Father would ask us to read aloud the editorial page of The Statesman’s ‘mofussil’ edition, delivered one day late. We did not understand much of what we were reading. But the ritual was meant for us to know that the world was larger than Koraput district, and the English I speak today, despite having studied in an Oriya medium school, has to do with that routine. After reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatly. Father taught us a simple lesson. He used to say, “You should leave your newspaper and your toiled the way you expect to find it. |
1. What according to the writer was the simple precept? (1)
2. What did the writer learn from his father’s reply of not having a house of their own?(1)
3. What was the need of the ritual of reading “The Statesman”?(2)
4. What idea of the writer’s family do you get from the extract? (2)
5. Do you agree with the writer’s father’s lesson about showing consideration for others?
6. Do as Directed
a. She would cook for the family. (Rewrite using ‘’used to’’)
b. The morning routine started with tea. (Frame a wh – type question)
c. Business begins and ends with that simple precept. (Use ‘’Not only ……… but also’’)
7. Give adjectives:
a. Consideration b. Success c. Possession d. Routine
Q2. A. Read the following poem and answer the following questions. (8 marks)
BASKETFUL OF MOONLIGHT From the city to my village on the side of the path I want to sow many Small, small moons of light, The whole village goes to the city daily to work. It becomes dark on its way back. As my village is quite far. The route is tough and full of snakes and scorpions. Neither bus nor cart plies. When my father returns home I am asleep. And he goes back early in the morning While I am sleeping O moon Give me a basketful of moonlight On loan. I want to light the dark route So that my father returns early. I too want to hear fairy tales. |
- How does the boy ask the moon to give him a basketful of moonlight?
- Name one personal problems of the boy and one general problem of all the villagers, as indicated by the village boy in the poem?
- Can you identify yourself with the problems of the boy in the poem?
- What is the poetic device used by the poet to make the village – boy talk to the moon?
- Discuss the technique of the poet to handle some of the problems of the Indian village.
A FROSTY NIGHT ‘Sweet, my dear, what ails you?’ ‘No, but I am well. The night was cold and frosty, There’s no more to tell.’ ‘Ay, the night was frosty, Coldly gaped the moon, Yet the birds seemed twittering Through green boughs of June. Soft and thick the snow lay, Stars danced in the sky – Not all the lambs of May – day Skip so bold and high. Your feet were dancing, Alice, Seemed to dance on air, You looked a ghost or angel In the star – light there. Your eyes were frosted star – light; Your heart, fire and snow. Who was it said, “I love you”?’ ‘Mother, let me go!’ |
- How does Alice avoid her mother’s questions?
- Why does the mother say, “You looked a ghost or angel”?
- Do you like the mother in the poem, in spite of her nagging her daughter? Explain your answer.
- Pick out an example of personification.
- Pick out the expressions which show the contrasting emotion in the daughter
Q3. Writing Skill
1. Write a short tourist leaflet on any place of tourist importance, with the help of the following points. (4)
a. How to go there. b. Where to stay c. Main attraction of the place.
d. Any thing special about the place. e. Add you own points.
2. Your friend has failed in S.S.C. Examination. He wishes to discontinue his studies. Write a letter to persuade him to continue his studies. (4)
3. Prepare a draft application for a post of Accountant. Apply to the Principal, New Arts and Commerce College, Nagpur. (4)
4. Write a report on the following headlines. 30 killed in a terrorist attack in Mumbai. (4)
5. Write a dialogue between Mom and Son regarding low level of performance in the exam. (4)
6. Write an essay on (7)
a. The place of women in Indian society
b. Memories of My Childhood.
c. A visit to a fair.
d. Mobile phones.