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English (Elective) 2010 Question Paper For CBSE Class XII Exams

Section -A: (Reading) 20 Marks

1. (a) Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : (12 Marks)

   (1) The current interest in reality televion throws up some interesting question about the difference between what is real and what is staged. On the face of it, it doesn't seem like much of a question. When we enact a role we dress up in a costume, speak in the voice of somebody else, use language we would not otherwise use and create a make - believe world. In our real lives we act pretty much as we please. We do not dress up, follow scripts, or use unfamiliar language.

   (2) Isn't it the difference between the two? Not really. In any number of areas in our lives, we find ourselves enacting our roles in ways not far removed from theatre. We deliberately distance ourselves from real life and act as actors do, donning costumes and speaking in prescribed ways. Take our courts. The courtroom is like a set with a stage and the judge provides visual symmetry by placing himself in the center. All people are addressed by their role and not their names. They are addressed and referred to as plaintiff, bailiff, defendant, prosecutor, the defence, witnesses and so on. The witnesses take a formal oath and sit in a prescribed place. Everyone dresses up. In some parts of the world judges wear wigs. All conversation is protocol for determining who can say what and when.

   (3) The same is true of most professions in uniform. The 'Verdi' creates its own ecology of rules, behavior codes, hierarchy and language. The military creates an elaborate display of martial magnificence. Display of choreographed precision acts out a promise of discipline. Other professions in uniform too have their own ways of acting out their roles. A doctor, particularly in an operation theatre, is the conductor of a medical symphony as each member of the team plays out their appointed role. A school imposes an elaborate code of behavior. Making children dress up and act in a very particular way. Outside the uniform, too, be it in an office or at home, we find ourselves acting deliberately in a way that is not ourselves, using words we so not normally use and doing things that are not scripted by us. In social functions like marriages too we are mounting an elaborate production with its own set of events, decorations, music and little speeches. The girl acts as the bride with her own distinctive make-up just as the boy must play his appointed role and sport some ridiculous headgear that he would not caught dead otherwise.

   (4) In a certain sense the only time we are truly ourselves is when we act reflexively, without trying to conform to any role that we might need to be playing. Any act of culture involves some form of role play. One way to understand our current fascination with reality television is that it allows us to enact ourselves in the epic story of our lives. The word act itself describes both the real and the staged. We are required to play roles of many different kinds and we need a way to mark the transition from the person the role. May be, sometimes we need to stage a performance to figure out what is real.

   (i) In what respect is acting a role different from real life? (2 Marks)
   (ii) How is the conversation in the court structured in a predefined way as in a theatre? (2 Marks)
   (iii) How does a school make its children behave not as their true selves? (2 Marks)
   (iv) When can we be our true selves? (2 Marks)
   (v) When can be the reason for our current fascination with the reality television? (2 Marks)
   (vi) How do we act in social functions like marriages? (2 Marks)

   (b) Read the given below and answer the question that follows: (8 Marks)

   And round me are words, and words and words,
               They grow on me like leaves, they never
               Seem to stop their slow growing
               From within …….But I tell myself words
               Are a nuisance, beware of them, they
               Can be so many things, a
               Chasm where running feet must pause to
   Look, a sea with paralyzing waves,
               A blast of burning air or
               A knife most willing to cut your best
               Friend’s throat …… words are a nuisance, but
               They grow on me like leaves on a tree,
               They never seem to stop their coming.
               From a silence, somewhere, deep within………...

   (i) What does the poet want to convey in this poem? (2 Marks)
   (ii) What is the source of words? (2 Marks)
   (iii) How do the words grow? (2 Marks)
   (iv) How does the poet use these words? (2 Marks)

Section-B: (Writing) 20 Marks

2. (a) Write an essay in 150 -200 words on the following : (10 Marks)

   Rising Prices and the Common Man.

   OR

   Importance of Hobbies.

   (b) As a reporter of an important magazine / newspaper, prepare a report in about 150 -200 words on the evils of child marriage. Also suggest how such marriages can be stopped. (10 Marks)

Section-C : ( Applied Grammar) 10 Marks

3. (a)  In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write

The missing word along with the word that comes before and the word that comes after it in your answer sheet. Ensure that the word that forms your answer is underlined. The first on has been done as an example. (1/2×10=5 Marks)
During our childhood Goa, the e.g. childhood in Goa
Baker used to our friend, companion           (a)
And guide. He used to come least                (b)
Twice a day. Once, when set out                    (c)
In morning on his selling round,                    (d)
And then again, he returned after                   (e)
Emptying huge basket. The jingling             (f)
Thud his bamboo woke us up from             (g)
Sleep we ran to meet and greet                   (h)
Him. Why it so? Was it for the                        (i)
Love the loaf?                                                    (j)

(b) Read the dialogue given below and complete the passage that follows:  (1×5=5 Marks

                  Receptionist    :           What can I do for you, sir?
                        Ram                 :           I have come to see the Manager.
                        Receptionist   ;           It is not possible. He is very busy.
                        Ram                :           But I have an appointment.
                        Receptionist   :           Oh! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

The receptionist asked Ram respectfully (a) _____________.Ram replied that (b) ____________, the receptionist said that (c) ________________as he was very busy.
Ram protested that (d) _____________ appointment. The receptionist felt relieved and asked (e) _____________.

4. (a) Choose any two of the extracts given below and answer the questions that Follow: (4×2=8 Marks)

   (i) That old man came flying to Colebrook three years ago all in black broadcloth (had lost his wife lately then ), getting out of a third-class smoker as if the devil had been at his heels: and the only thing that brought him down was a letter – a hoax probably.

   a. Identify the ‘old man’. (1 Marks)
   b. What brought the old man to Colebrook? (1 Marks)
   c. What was the letter about? (2 Marks)

   (ii) ‘So you are familiar with the rules and regulations, are you?’ Now the young man addresses her with the formal ‘you’. Tao Ying detects the sarcasm in his tone but she simply nods.

   a. Who is referred to as ‘you’? (1 Marks)
   b. Who is the ‘Youngman’? (1 Marks)
   c. What sarcasm is there in his tone? (2 Marks)

   (iii) Soon spreads the dismal shade

   Of Mystery over his head;
   And the Caterpillar and Fly
   Feed on the mystery

   a. Identify the poem. (1 Marks)
   b. Explain: ‘The shade of Mystery’. (2 Marks)
   c. What do Caterpillar and Fly refer to here? (1 Marks)

   (b) Answer any two of the following questions in about 100 words each:  ( 6×2=12 Marks)

   (i) Who was frank? Why did Eve line’s father quarrel with him?
   (ii) Discuss ‘Kubla Khan’ as a fragment. What do you think has Made it a lasting literary piece?
   (iii)  An account of reflection is more important than a description Of reality according to Virginia Woolf. Why?

      (c) Answer any five of the following questions in about 60 words each:   (4×5=20 Marks)

(i) Why did Bessie sometimes show signs of irritation and disgust?
(ii) How do we know that Tao Ying did not intend to cheat at the temple?
(iii) What connection does the author draw between film-making and conjuring?
(iv) What are the things that mark animate things from the inanimate?
(v) What are the three major issues sen discusses in his article in relation to India’s dialogic traditions?
(vi) Why do you think the playwright has used the technique of the image in the play?

Note : Attempt either Question No. 5 or 6.(6 Marks)

5. (a) Answer the following in about 100 words :

   Narrate briefly, how, after leaving Malgudi, Raja (the tiger) and his guru pass Their days in sweet philosophical discourse.

   OR

   Describe the circumstances under which the tiger could free himself from the Cirrus.

   (b) Answer the following in about 60 words; (4 Marks)

   What was the tiger's experience at school?

   OR

   What, according to the tiger's master, is the profound question asked by someone what is profound about it?

6. (a) Answer the following in about 100 words: 6 Marks

   How is Dr. Pal responsible for Margayya’? Ruin?

OR

Describe the efforts made by Margayya to educate his son.

(b) Answer the following in about 60 words; (4 marks)

Describe the role played by Madan Lal in making Margayya a Rich man.

OR

How did the throwing of the red book into gutter by Balu affect Margays’ life?