AHSEC: Class 12 English Question Paper 2020

2020

ENGLISH

Full Marks: 100

Pass Marks: 30

Time: Three hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions

SECTION – A

(Reading Skill : 10 Marks)

1. Read the following passage carefully:

The next time you take printouts or you throw a paper into the bin, think for a minute as to how many trees have been felled to manufacture something you use so often every day.

Can you take out some time from your everyday routine and devote it to starting a simple recycling programme at your school or your neighbourhood? Not only would you save our planet from the torture of felling greenery, but you would also reduce generation and dumping of waste into the environment.

Using recycled papers conserves natural resources. As our worldwide population grows, the strain of these resources becomes even greater. You can drastically reduce the number of trees cut down for manufacturing paper. In addition to saving landfill space, you cut down on your expenses of trash-disposal. There is a reduction in air pollution caused due to incineration. Making papers from discards instead of trees not only saves forests, but it also reduces energy use by up to three quarters and require4s less than half as much water. Items that are made of paper and may be recycled are called the loose paper, a few examples are paper bags, magazines, newspapers and cardboard egg-trays.

A paper-recycling programme gives a positive image to large corporations or business organizations. Parents can teach their children for importance of recycled paper by bringing about simple changes in their lifestyle. Schools can also train students to make paper products like folders, penholders, material for the display board, lampshades, teaching/learning aids, etc. Students can creatively make their own cards, files, folders, invitation cards and certificates for the school. Working on a paper recycling plant demonstrates the concept of recycling waste into ‘wealth’. The real success of such programmes is visible in the seemingly simple acts like students exchanging books in a new academic session, indirectly saving paper and thereby, trees. This is amazing that only a single sheet is saved by each child, 40,000 trees could be saved per year by students only.

Learning the facts about recycling paper will help you as you fulfill your part to keep the environment green. If we keep your minds focused on the desire to be friendly to our earth and her resources, recycling will become important. After a while, we will be in the habit of recycling the paper that we use in the course of a given day.

On the basis of your reading of passage, answer the following questions:

1. Why do you need to think before you take printouts unnecessarily? 2
2. Name some of the products that can be obtained from recycled paper. 2
3. How can parents and schools help in creating awareness about paper recycling? 2
4. How can students help in saving trees indirectly? 2
5. Give a synonym of ‘conserve’. 1
6. Find a word in the passage which means “the destruction of something, especially waste material by burning”. 1

SECTION – B

(Advanced writing Skills : 25 Marks)

2. You are Gautam/Geeta, General Secretary of Radhakrishnan College, Guwahati. Your college is organizing an educational trip to Delhi during the summer vacations. Write a notice for the college notice board giving all the details of the trip. (Word Limit: 50 words) 5

Or

Design a poster in not more than 50 words to create awareness about the safety measures to be taken during an earthquake. 5

3. A team of twenty students from Japan visited your school as part of a cultural exchange programme. A special welcome assembly was organized for them. Write a report about the same in 100 – 125 words for your school magazine. 10

Or

The students of the local college have organized a campaign on ‘Say on to Plastic’ in your town. Prepare a report in 100 – 125 words to be published in an English daily. 10

4. You are Rekha/Ramesh of Barpeta. You have seen an advertisement for the post of a sports teacher in Lakhimpur High School,. Write a letter to the President of the Managing Committee of the school applying for the post. Give your detailed bio-data as well. 10

Or

You are Gaurav/Garima, a resident of Guwahati. Write a letter to the editor of a local daily expressing your views against the incentives use of loudspeaker during festival. 10

SECTION – C

(Grammar : 20 Marks)

5. Change the form of the narration in the following sentences: 2×2=4

1. Alexander said to Porus, “How do you desire to be treated?” He answered, “Like a king.”
2. The boys exclaimed in joy that they had all passed the test and that they would celebrate their success the next day.

6. Change the voice of any three of the following sentences: 1×3=3

1. The nurse is looking after this little girl.
2. Morning shows the day.
3. The glass has not been broken by anybody.
4. What causes an earthquake?
5. The ground has to be cleared by us.
6. The Governor gave him a reward.

7. Rewrite any five of the following sentences using the verbs given in brackets in their correct tense forms: 1×5=5

1. My brother (practise) law these days.
2. The patient (die) before the doctor reached.
3. You (sleep) when I entered the room.
4. She (come) here the day after tomorrow.
5. They (win) the match.
6. We (visit) the Taj Mahal last year.

8. Rewrite any four of the following sentences filling in the blanks with appropriate prepositions: 1×4=4

1. The ship is sailing _______ the shore.
2. Cut the rope _______ a knife.
3. I am taller than you _______ two inches.
4. There was a bridge _______ the river.
5. We depend _______ you.
6. He begged _______ help from me.
7. I do not believe _______ his honesty.

9. Rewrite any four of the following sentences as directed: 1×4=4

1. Why waste time in this fruitless occupation? (Make in assertive)
2. It is often difficult to speak the truth. (Make it negative without changing the meaning)
3. Being ill, he could not attend school. (Make it a compound sentence)
4. On seeing the lion, he ran away. (Make it a complex sentence)
5. The students who are good do their homework regularly. (Make it a simple sentence)
6. Atul is the best boy in the class. (Change it into positive degree)

SECTION – D

(Text books : 45 Marks)

10. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

1. “Now we will count to twelve

And we will all keep still.

Fit 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.”

Question:

1. How long does the poet want to stay still? 1
2. Why does he ask us to keep still and not use any language? 2
3. What does the poet mean by ‘not move our arms so much’? 1

Or

1. “Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear

The thought of so much childish longing in vain,

The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

That waits all day in almost open prayer

For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car.”

Questions:

1. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘in vain’? 1+1=2
2. Who waits near the open window? 1
3. What does the person waiting near the open window pray for? 1

11. Answer any three of the following questions in 30 – 40 words: 2×3=6

1. What is the message that Keats wants to convey through “A Thing of Beauty”?
2. What do you young sprinting trees signify in the poem, “My Mother at Sixty-Six”?
3. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’ in the poem, “My Mother at Sixty-Six”?
4. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem “Keeping Quiet”?
5. What is ‘in the news’ as mentioned in the poem “A Roadside Stand”?

12. Answer any five of the following questions: 1×5=5

1. What, according to M. Hamel, is the great trouble with Alsace?
2. What does Mukesh want to become?
3. Where was the original home of Saheb’s family?
4. Why was Gandhi visiting Lucknow in 1916?
5. For whom does Sophie ask Danny Casey an autograph?
6. What work does Geoff do?
7. What position did John Rowntree hold before leaving Shillong a few days after Independence?

13. Answer any five in 30 – 40 words: 2×5=10

1. Why did Wachter, the blacksmith, bell Franz that he would reach school in ‘Plenty of time’?
2. Give a brief description of Seemapuri.
3. Was Saheb happy with his job at the tea stall?
4. Why was Professor Malkani’s action of offering shelter to Gandhi ‘extraordinary’?
5. What other dreams does Sophie have besides having a boutique?
6. Why was Sophie fascinated by Danny Casey? Was it a one-sided affair?
7. Write, a brief, the scene observed by the author from the veranda of his bungalow on the bank of the Brahmaputra.

14. Answer any one of the following question in 80 – 100 words: 5×1=5

1. How does M. Hamel make the people realize how they, the students and he have been responsible for not learning their language well?

Or

1. Write briefly on the hazard of working in the glass bangles industry.

15. Answer any one of the following question in 125 – 150 words: 7×1=7

1. Compare and contrast the stories of Zitkala-Sa and Bama.

Or

1. Give an elaborate account of the celebration associated with Uruka, the important part of Magh Bihu.

16. Answer any four of the following questions in 30 – 40 words: 2×4=8

1. How did the hundredth tiger take its revenge on the tiger king?
2. Why did the messenger come to Dr. Sadao?
3. How did Mr. Lamb try to give courage and confidence to Derry?
4. Why did it take Bama to reach home in 30 minutes instead of 10 minutes?
5. How did Annan explain the elder man’s action to Bama?
6. What are the different sports held on the occasion of Magh Bihu or Maghar Domahi?

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