English — Model Question Paper 2

Questions 1–5 · Textbook prose

Read the passage based on Salim Ali's 'Trills and Thrills: Birdwatching in India' (retold) and answer questions 1–5. (5 × 1 = 5)

In February 1946, Salim Ali travelled to Parambikulam by the old Cochin Forest Tramway. At the forest bungalow he met Baron Omar Rolf, an Austrian anthropologist who said that birds were his second great interest, and who was eager to join the next morning's outing. Early the next day a forest guard led the two men along a narrow animal trail through grass more than five feet high. They were hoping to find the Broad-tailed Grass Warbler. At a bend in the path the guard suddenly crouched and pointed ahead. A tusker was walking down the same trail towards them! Salim Ali turned and ran, waving to Omar to do the same. Omar, who had been walking some distance behind, turned and raced away so fast that he soon left Salim Ali far behind. When Salim Ali at last caught up with him, the breathless Baron asked what they had been running from. The elephant, it seems, had not even noticed them. It simply wandered off into the grass and disappeared.

1. Which bird were Salim Ali and Omar Rolf hoping to see that morning? [1 mark]
2. Why is this incident remembered as an amusing one? [1 mark]
   • The elephant chased the men all the way back to the bungalow.
   • Omar, who had not even seen the elephant, ran the fastest and farthest and then asked what it was.
   • The forest guard was the first to run away from the tusker.
   • Salim Ali mistook a large rock for an elephant.
3. What does the elephant's behaviour suggest about wild animals? [1 mark]
   • Wild elephants attack human beings whenever they see them.
   • Wild animals usually do not harm people unless they are disturbed, provoked or protecting their young.
   • The elephant was afraid of the forest guard's gun.
   • Elephants cannot see anything in tall grass.
4. Comment on the statement: "The elephant, it seems, had not even noticed them." [1 mark]
5. Identify the Noun Phrase in the subject position and the Verb Phrase in the sentence given below. The forest guard from Parambikulam pointed excitedly at the tusker. [1 mark]

Questions 6–9 · Textbook poem

Read the lines from W. B. Yeats's 'The Wild Swans at Coole' and answer questions 6–9. (4 × 1 = 4)

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;

6. Mention the two activities of the swans described in these lines. [1 mark]
7. What does the line "Their hearts have not grown old" suggest? [1 mark]
   • The swans are very young birds that were born this year.
   • The swans keep their energy and passion though the years have passed, unlike the ageing poet.
   • The swans are about to fly away from Coole Park for ever.
   • The swans are tired of the cold water of the lake.
8. Identify the figure of speech in the expression "Companionable streams". [1 mark]
9. Pick out a pair of rhyming words from the lines. [1 mark]

Question 10 · Appreciation or comparison

Answer either (A) or (B). 1 × 5 = 5

10. (A) Read these lines from the poem *The Seedling* by Paul Laurence Dunbar and write an appreciation of the lines, focusing on the theme and the poetic techniques. Little folks, be like the seedling, Always do the best you can; Every child must share life's labour Just as well as every man. [5 marks]

    OR

    (B) Read the poem given below. Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting it with *The Wild Swans at Coole* by W. B. Yeats, focusing on the theme, imagery and tone. The Old Boatman Each monsoon brings the river to his door, Brown, loud and young as it was years before; He counts the herons on the farther shore — Still twelve, still white, though he is strong no more. His oar is slow; his back has learnt to bend; The river laughs and runs to meet its end. It never tires, it never once grows old — He watches it, and feels his hands grow cold.

Questions 11–14 · Unseen passage

Read the passage and answer questions 11–14. (4 × 1 = 4)

A Bank That Saves Seeds
Deep inside a frozen mountain on Spitsbergen, an island in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lies one of the most unusual banks in the world. It does not store money or gold. It stores seeds. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in 2008, about 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole.

Over centuries, farmers have grown thousands of varieties of rice, wheat, maize and beans. Many of these varieties are now disappearing because of floods, droughts, wars and the spread of just a few high-yielding crops. Seed banks in many countries try to protect them, but a fire or a power failure can destroy years of work in a single night. So countries send duplicate packets of their seeds to Svalbard for safe keeping, just as a careful person leaves a spare key with a trusted neighbour. The seeds still belong to the countries that send them.

The seeds are sealed in foil packets and kept at minus 18 degrees Celsius. Even if the electricity fails, the permafrost — ground that stays frozen all year — will keep them cold for a long time. The vault can hold about 4.5 million samples and already guards more than a million.

In 2015 the vault was put to the test. A research centre that had worked in Aleppo, Syria, could no longer use its own gene bank because of the war. It withdrew some of its seeds from Svalbard and grew them again in Lebanon and Morocco. The 'doomsday vault', as some people call it, had shown that it was really a vault of hope.

11. Where is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located? [1 mark]
12. Why do countries send duplicate packets of seeds to Svalbard? [1 mark]
13. The writer compares the seeds sent to Svalbard to "a spare key with a trusted neighbour". What does this comparison suggest? [1 mark]
    • The vault becomes the owner of all the seeds it receives.
    • The vault keeps a safe copy that the owner can use if the original is lost.
    • Seeds have to be locked up so that no one can steal them.
    • Only Norway is allowed to use the seeds stored in the vault.
14. Read the statements and choose the correct option. (i) Seeds sent to Svalbard become the property of Norway. (ii) Permafrost helps to keep the seeds frozen even during a power failure. (iii) The vault is already full and cannot accept more seeds. (iv) Seeds taken out of the vault helped a research centre affected by war. [1 mark]
    • (i) and (iii) are correct
    • (ii) and (iv) are correct
    • (i), (ii) and (iv) are correct
    • (ii), (iii) and (iv) are correct

Questions 15–18 · Writing (choice)

Answer either (A) or (B) of each question. Q15: 7, Q16: 6, Q17: 6, Q18: 4

15. (A) *A Phoenix Rises* (the story of Bablu by Twinkle Khanna, along with the interview with Arunachalam Muruganantham) shows how a man rose from humiliation to become a social innovator. Write a review of the lesson for your school magazine. [7 marks]

    OR

    (B) The pieces in Unit IV show different ways in which human beings relate to nature — the hermits who save a deer and the girl who treats the trees as her sisters in *Shākuntalam*, and Salim Ali's lifelong joy in watching birds in *Trills and Thrills*. Prepare a write-up on the topic "Living in Harmony with Nature".

16. (A) In Act I of *Shākuntalam*, King Dushyanta enters the forest as a hunter but behaves very differently once he reaches Kanva's hermitage. Prepare a character sketch of King Dushyanta. [6 marks]

    OR

    (B) In *Trills and Thrills*, Salim Ali describes a frightening moment on the Himalayan trail to the Lipu Lekh Pass in 1945, when, watching a tiny Yellow-naped Yuhina through his binoculars, he stepped back towards the edge of a cliff. Write a narrative of the incident with a suitable title.

17. (A) Prepare a news report for a newspaper, using the hints given below. Hints: 'Vithulsavam' — a traditional seed festival — held at Government Higher Secondary School, Alathur, Palakkad — 15 January — organised by the school's Eco Club — students collect over 300 varieties of local seeds (rice, millets, vegetables, tubers) from farmers — seeds exchanged free with 500 visitors — District Panchayat President inaugurates — talk by an elderly farmer on saving native seeds — school to start a seed library. [6 marks]

    OR

    (B) In his speech *Breaking Barriers, I will Fly*, Srikanth Bolla recalls how, made to sit on the last bench and ignored at school, he felt utterly poor — not because of money but because of loneliness. He also urges us to remove loneliness from people's lives. Write a paragraph on the topic "Loneliness: a Poverty Money Cannot Cure".

18. (A) After the encounter with the tusker at Parambikulam (see the passage in Q1), Baron Omar Rolf writes his diary that night. Write the possible diary entry. [4 marks]

    OR

    (B) After scoring over 90% in Class 10, Srikanth Bolla was told that he could take only the arts stream because he was visually challenged. Imagine you are Srikanth. Write an email to the Secretary of the State Board requesting permission to study science.

Questions 19–21 · Writing

Answer all. Q19: 6, Q20: 4, Q21: 4

19. Prepare a profile of the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, using the clues given below. • Born: 27 June 1872, Dayton, Ohio, USA • Parents: Joshua and Matilda Dunbar, who had been enslaved in Kentucky • School: Central High School, Dayton — the only African-American student in his class; edited the school newspaper • Early work: lift (elevator) operator; sold copies of his first book to passengers • Books: *Oak and Ivy* (1893), *Majors and Minors* (1895), *Lyrics of Lowly Life* (1896) • Known poems: 'We Wear the Mask', 'Sympathy', 'The Seedling' • Style: wrote both in standard English and in African-American dialect; praised by the critic William Dean Howells • Died: 9 February 1906, Dayton, aged 33 [6 marks]
20. The Human Rights Club of Government Model Higher Secondary School, Vadakkumpuram, is holding a seminar, 'Many Faces, One Humanity', on Human Rights Day, 10 December, in the school auditorium. Adv. Anjali Varma, a human-rights lawyer, will be the chief guest; students will also present a discussion on Fatou Diome's 'Préférence Nationale'. Prepare an invitation for the event. [4 marks]
21. Read the passage given below (based on the interview with Arunachalam Muruganantham in *A Phoenix Rises*) and frame four questions — three *Wh-* questions and one *Yes/No* question — that a student journalist might ask. Arunachalam Muruganantham left school at the age of fourteen when his father, a handloom weaver, died. He worked in a welding workshop to support his family. After his marriage, he found that his wife could not afford sanitary napkins. He spent two years discovering that the big brands used pinewood pulp, not cotton. Later he designed three low-cost machines and sold them to women's self-help groups. [4 marks]

Questions 22–26 · Unseen text (headlines)

Read the news headlines and answer questions 22–26. (5 × 1 = 5)

• (a) Class 10 students turn school terrace into butterfly garden; 40 species spotted in six months
• (b) Plastic for rice: panchayat swaps every kilo of plastic waste for a kilo of grain
• (c) Never too late: 72-year-old grandmother clears literacy mission's Class 10 equivalency exam
• (d) Visually challenged teenager swims across the lake in under two hours
• (e) Teens sleeping less than six hours a night, survey links late-night screen use to poor sleep
• (f) Packed lunch, not packets: schools told to keep junk food out of canteens

22. Which headline shows students creating a home for small creatures? [1 mark]
23. What does the panchayat offer people in return for plastic waste? [1 mark]
24. What does headline (c) mainly highlight? [1 mark]
    • The rising cost of examinations.
    • An elderly woman's determination shows that it is never too late to learn.
    • Grandparents are joining sports clubs.
    • Schools in villages are being closed.
25. Read the statements about headline (d) and choose the correct option. (i) Physical challenges need not stop a person from achieving goals. (ii) Only able-bodied people can swim long distances. (iii) Determination and practice can bring success. (iv) Swimming is too dangerous for the visually challenged. [1 mark]
    • (i) and (ii) are correct
    • (i) and (iii) are correct
    • (ii) and (iv) are correct
    • (iii) and (iv) are correct
26. What common concern do headlines (e) and (f) point to? [1 mark]
    • The high cost of school education.
    • The health and well-being of children and teenagers.
    • A shortage of teachers in schools.
    • The pollution of lakes and rivers.

Questions 27–32 · Language and grammar

Answer all. Q27: 6 × ½ = 3, Q28: 4 × 1 = 4, Q29: 6 × ½ = 3, Q30: 5 × 1 = 5, Q31: 2 × 1 = 2, Q32: 6 × ½ = 3

27. The following passage contains some errors, given in bold. Edit the passage, correcting the errors. *The Seedling* (a) are a poem (b) wrote by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It (c) tell the story of a tiny seed (d) who lies in a dark bed under the soil. The seed decides (e) do its best, and very soon it (f) grow into a beautiful flower. [3 marks]
    • (a) are
    • (b) wrote
    • (c) tell
    • (d) who
    • (e) do
    • (f) grow
28. Fill in the blanks with suitable phrasal verbs from the box, in their appropriate forms. [ give up, turn down, set up, look after, carry on ] Srikanth Bolla never (a) ______ his dreams. When the State Board (b) ______ his request to study science, he went to court and won. After studying at MIT, he returned to India and (c) ______ Bollant Industries. Today his company employs many people with disabilities, and he wants society to (d) ______ those who are left out. [4 marks]
    • (a) Srikanth Bolla never ______ his dreams.
    • (b) When the State Board ______ his request …
    • (c) … he returned to India and ______ Bollant Industries.
    • (d) … he wants society to ______ those who are left out.
29. Choose the right word from those given in brackets and complete the sentences. [3 marks]
    • (a) Standing by the lake, the poet could (hear / here) the beat of the swans' wings.
    • (b) The swans flew (threw / through) the twilight sky.
    • (c) The poet felt that (their / there) hearts had not grown old.
    • (d) He wondered (weather / whether) they would fly away one day.
    • (e) The (whole / hole) scene at Coole Park was calm and beautiful.
    • (f) The quiet lake gave the poet a sense of (piece / peace).
30. Ammu, a student, meets a forest guard during a nature camp at Parambikulam. Complete the conversation suitably. Ammu: You have worked in this forest for twenty years, (a) ______? Guard: Yes, I have. I know every trail here. Ammu: (b) ______? Guard: I usually see the Broad-tailed Grass Warbler in the tall grasslands near the dam. Ammu: Have you ever met a wild elephant on the trail? Guard: Many times. But elephants rarely attack unless they are disturbed. Ammu: Would you mind (c) ______ (show) us the trail tomorrow? Guard: Not at all. But you (d) ______ (had better) during the walk. Ammu: Don't worry. We (e) ______ (would rather) than frighten the birds away. [5 marks]
    • (a) You have worked in this forest for twenty years, ______?
    • (b) Ammu: ______? (The guard replies that he usually sees the warbler in the tall grasslands near the dam.)
    • (c) Would you mind ______ (show) us the trail tomorrow?
    • (d) But you ______ (had better) during the walk.
    • (e) We ______ (would rather) than frighten the birds away.
31. Read the imagined conversation between Bablu and Gowri from *A Phoenix Rises* and report it. Gowri: "Why did you spend forty rupees on this packet?" Bablu: "I will make a cheaper napkin myself." [2 marks]
    • (a) Report Gowri's question.
    • (b) Report Bablu's reply.
32. Fill in the blanks with suitable words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions). Salim Ali was (a) ______ Indian ornithologist. He is known (b) ______ the 'Birdman of India'. He travelled (c) ______ forests and mountains to study birds. (d) ______ he grew old, he never lost his sense of wonder. Once, (e) ______ he was watching a tiny bird, he stepped back and nearly fell (f) ______ a cliff. [3 marks]
    • (a) Salim Ali was ______ Indian ornithologist.
    • (b) He is known ______ the 'Birdman of India'.
    • (c) He travelled ______ forests and mountains …
    • (d) ______ he grew old, he never lost his sense of wonder.
    • (e) Once, ______ he was watching a tiny bird …
    • (f) … he stepped back and nearly fell ______ a cliff.