CBSE 2009 English Communicative Question Papers

SECTION D - Literature 45

Q. 12. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Write the answers in your answer sheet in one or two lines only. Remember to number the answers correctly. 5
The house—the only one in the entire valley—sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height one could see the river and the fi eld of ripe corn dotted with the fl owers that always promised a good harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a downpour or at least a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho—who knew his fi elds intimately—had done nothing else but see the sky towards the north-east.
“Now we’re going to get some water, woman.”
The woman who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing.”

(a) Where was the house situated? 1
(b) Which two things could one see from this height? 2
(c) Why did he see towards the north-east? 1
(d) Which word in the passage means the same as “heavy fall of rain’? 1

Ans. (a) The house was situated in a valley, on the crest of a low hill.
(b) From this height one could see the river and the fi eld of ripe corn dotted with fl owers.
(c) Lencho saw towards the north-east sky, in the hope of a downpour.
(d) The word ‘downpour’ in the passage means the same as ‘heavy fall of rain’.

Q. 13. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Write the answers in your answer sheet in one or two lines only. Remember to number the answers correctly. 5
Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. I thought and thought, and suddenly I had an idea. I wrote the three pages Mr. Keesing had assigned me and was satisfi ed. I argued that talking is a student’s trait and that I would do my best to keep it under control, but that I would never be able to cure myself of the habit since my mother talked as much as I did if not more, and that there’s not much you can do about inherited traits.
(a) What had Mr. Keesing assigned to Anne? 1
(b) What, according to her, is a student’s trait? 1
(c) Why would she never to able to cure herself? 2
(d) Which word in the passage means the same as ‘a particular quality’? 1

Ans. (a) Mr. Keesing had assigned to Anne the task of writing an essay on the subject, ‘A chatter box’.
(b) According to her, talking is a student’s trait.
(c) She would never be able to cure herself of this habit since her mother talked as much as she did and there was not much she could do about this inherited trait.
(d) The word ‘trait’ in the passage means the same as ‘a particular quality’.

English Language and Literature 2009 Question Papers Class X