AHSEC – Class 12 | English Solved Question Paper -2015

SKILLS:

– Excellent written and verbal communication skills

– Working knowledge of Tally, Excel, MS-Word , Powerpoint

Achievements:

– Winner of Inter –college Debate Competiton (2011)

– Best employee of the year 2016 at XML Pvt. Ltd. Guwahati.

– Developing successful territory plans

Hobby: Interacting with people, reading books, etc.

Language Known: Hindi, English, Bengali, Assamese.

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

a) ‘Where do you go every Sunday?’ I asked the girl, She replied, ‘I go to the Church.’

Ans: I asked the girl where she went every Sunday. She replied that she go to the church.

b) The teacher asked Rumi if she had read the Bible. She replied that She hadn’t.

Ans: The teacher said to Rumi,’’ Have you read the Bible?’’. She replied ,’’ I have not’’.

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

a) She bought the baby a doll. ANS: A doll was bought to he baby by her.

b) They were refused admission. Ans: Someone refused their admission

c) He was found guilty of murder. Ans: The police found him guilty of murder

d) The leader was welcomed by the people. Ans: The people welcomed the leader.

e) My watch has been stolen. Ans: Someone has stolen my watch.

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

a) I usually (go) to bed at 10 o’ clock. Ans: go

b) The teacher (know) the boy was lying. Ans: knew

c) He (work) here since 2009. Ans: has been working

d) When I reached the station, the train (leave). Ans: had left

e) I (go) to Delhi tomorrow. Ans: shall go

f) I (write) an essay now. Ans: am writing

g) When I went to her house, she (sing) a song. Ans: was singing

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

a) I have heard a lot about you ____ your class teacher. Ans: about

b) His father is a principal ____ a school in Jorhat. Ans: of

c) Please sit down ____ a minute. Ans:for

d) Tom is addicted ____ gambling. Ans: to

e) Don’t be afraid ____ telling the truth. Ans: of

f) Sheila is proud ____ her beauty. Ans: of

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

a) Kolkata is the most populous city in India. (Change into comparative degree)

Ans: Kolkata is more populous than any other city in india.

b) No other boy is as intelligent as Raju. (Change into superlative degree)

Ans: Raju is the most intelligent boy.

c) No sooner did he see me than he began to quarrel. (Change into affirmative)

Ans: As soon as he saw me, he began to quarrel.

d) I know where he was born. (Change into a simple sentence)

Ans: I know his birth place.

e) He tried all plans. (Change into negative)

Ans: He left no plan untried

f) I shall never forget you. (Change into interrogative)

Ans: Shall I ever forget you.

Text Books: 45 Marks

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

i. ‘…..and felt that old

Familiar ache, my childhood’s fear

But all I said was, see you soon, Amma,

All I did was smile and smile and smile…..’

Questions:

i. What was the childhood fear that now troubled the poet? 1

Ans: The poet’s childhood fear is that she might lose her mother and never see her again.

ii. What do the poet’s parting words suggest? 2

Ans: The parting words ‘see you soon, Amma’, gives an assurance to the old lady that they will meet again.

iii. Why did the poet smile and smile? 1

Ans: The poet smile and smile to overcome the ache and fear inside her heart.

Or

ii. ‘Those who prepare green wars,

Wars with gas, wars with fire,

Victory with no survivors,

And walk about with their brothers

In the shade, doing nothing’

Questions: ( see page no. 18, paper 2013)

i. What are the different kinds of wars mentioned by the poet in the passage? 1

ii. What kind of victory do they achieve? 1

iii. What should the warmongers do? 1

iv. Find the words in the passage that mean ‘those left alive’ and ‘win’. 1

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

i. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?

Ans: The poet compares her mother’s face to a late winter’s moon. Just as a ‘late winter’s moon’ looks colourless and dull because of mist and fog, the poet’s mother‘s face looks pale and lacks shine due to old age. Moreover, winter is the last season and old age is the last phase of life.

ii. What is the sadness that the poet refers to in the poem, Keeping Quiet?

Ans: The poet refers to the ‘sadness’ which arises due to the fact that people fail to understand themselves. Today, we are so busy in achieving materialistic success that we have no time to introspect and analyse our actions. This results in sadness. We can understand ourselves only if we stop all our actives for moments and do some quiet introspection.

iii. What is the legend on which the poem. A thing of beauty, is written?

Ans: The poem. ‘A Thing of Beauty’, is written based on the Greek lagend, in which Endymion, a beautiful young Shepherd of Mount Latmos, loved by the moon goddess Cynthia.

iv. What, according to Keats, never ‘passes into nothingness’?

Ans: A thing of beauty gives us eternal and everlasting joy. It loveliness increases day by day. It stays in our imagination and becomes a source of joy forever. It never passes into nothingness. It gives us sweet dreams and happiness and remove the cover of sadness from our soul.

iii) What is ‘in the news’ as a mentioned in ‘A Roadside Stand’?

Ans: It is in the news that the pitiful kin are to be bought out and gathered in mercifully. They would be settled in villages next to the theatre and the store. Their places will be taken over by the rich and the cunning people. The villagers ‘won’t have to think for themselves anymore’. The greedy and cruel exploiters will dominate them.

iv) Why do the people who are running the roadside stand ‘ask for some city money’?

Ans: The people who are running the roadside stand wish that the cash rich city people may patronize and oblige them. With that money they can also bring some changes and betterment in their lives. Only some city money can change their lives

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

a) What did M. Hamel write at the end of the class?

Ans: M. Hamel wrote “ vive – La France’’at the end of the class.

b) What does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ find Saheb doing every morning?

Ans: The author of ‘Lost Spring’ finds Saheb scrounging for gold in the garbage every morning.

c) What does Mukesh want to be?

Ans: mukesh wants to be motor mechanic.

d) Who is the ‘Chota Sahib’ in the ‘Memoirs of a Chota Sahib’?

Ans: He was the last British Senior Conservator of Forests of Assam.

e) What did Shukla want Gandhi to do?

Ans: Shukla wanted Gandhi to take up the cause of poor sharecroppers of Champaran.

f) Who was Sir Edward Gait?

Ans: Sir Edward Gait was the Lieutenant governor of the province of Champaran.

g) Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey?

Ans: No, sophie did not meet danny casey. But she just daydreamt about him.

h) Where was it most likely that Sophie and her friend would find work after school?

Ans: It was most likely that sophie and her friend would find a job in biscuit factory.

13. Answer any five of the following questions in 30-40 words: 2×5=10

a)What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?

Ans: Franz was expected to be prepared with his lesson regarding the rules of participles. His French teacher, M Hamel, had announced that he would question the class on participles. Franz did not know even a single word about them so he was afraid of a scolding from his teacher. In addition to that he was already late for the school

b)What was the commotion that Franz anticipated in the classroom?

Ans: Franz anticipated that a great bustle of the school would be heard from the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison and teacher’s great ruler rapping on the table.

c)What explanation does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ offer for the children not warning footwear?

Ans: Some of the children simply do not care to take the trouble of taking their slippers down from the shelf to wear them. Another explanation she receives is that not wearing footwear is a tradition. However, she feels that it is simply an excuse to hide a perpetual state of poverty, as many families cannot afford to buy footwear for their children.

d) What is Firozabad famous for and why?

Ans: Firozabad is famous for its bangle-making industry. Beautiful bangles can be seen all over. Every second family is engaged in the business of bangle-making. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces

e) What was the belief about the dividing channel between Peacock Island and the main land of Guwahati?

Ans: In that time, it was believed that if this channel between Peacock Island and the mainland of Guwahati ever dried up completely, it would indicate the end of the British Raj. In some years, it was about to dry up. The writer says that he was ignorant whether in the time of the independence (in 1947), the channel was dried up or not, because, he would be no longer in Guwahati in that time..

f) What does Round tree state about the large, ‘Bheel’ close to the bunglow at Rajapara?

Ans: Close to the bunglow at Rajapara, ther was a ‘Bheel’ where an earthquake had lowered the surface, and the land become inundated with water. It was an eerie ( strange and freighting) spot where tree skeletons still rose out of the water- a reminder that it had once been a dry land.

g) What other dreams does Sophie have besides having a boutique?

Ans: Sophie had a bundle of big deams,she wants to have a amazing boutique the city has ever seen. Besides, she desires to become an actress or a fashion designer. She can run boutique as side business

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

a) Give a detailed account of the scene in the classroom on the day of the last lesson.

Ans: On the last day , classroom’s environment was completely different. M. Hamel came in his best dress –the green coat, the frilled shirt and little black silk cap. Back banches were occupied by the villagers. M. Hamel was completely calm and composed. He announced that it was going to be his last class as an orde had come from berlin that only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new master was supposed to come on the following day. Everyone was shocked by this order specially Franz. He felt sorry for not learning his native language.

M. Hamel asked Franz to recite rules on participales but he stood there silent. M. Hamel did not scold him. He confessed that his parents and he (the teacher) were at fault. He praised the French language calling it one of the most beautiful languages. He taught all the subjects patiently one after the other and had the courage to listen to all the pupils till the end. But, when the church clock struck twelve, he stood up and tried to speak something but he choked. He turned to the blackboard and wrote ‘Vive La France’ and make a gesture with his hand

Or

b) ‘The battle of Champaran is won’, Gandhi exclaimed. Explain the context in which this was said.

Ans: The lawyers played a very vital role in the Champaran movement. The news of Gandhi’s advent spread among the lawyers of Muzaffarpur. They called on Gandhi to brief him. Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fees from the poor sharecroppers. Law courts were useless for them.

The lawyers from Bihar were again in the news. Gandhi was going to be tried in the court. Rajendra Prasad, and several other prominent lawyers had arrived from Bihar to support him. Gandhi asked what they would do if he was sentenced to prison. A senior lawyer replied that if he went to jail, they would go home.

Gandhi was disappointed. He asked what would happen to the sharecroppers if he went to jail. Who would fight for them? The lawyers felt ashamed. They thought that going home would be ‘shameful desertion’. They told him that they were ready to follow him into jail. Gandhi was more than satisfied. He declared: “the battle of Champaran is won”.

Or

c) Describe the miserable plight of the people of Firozabad.

Ans: The bangle makers of Firozabad are exposed to multiple health hazards while working. Many of them are children who work near hot furnaces during daylight, often losing their eyesight before adulthood. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to even think of talking up another profession. They are not able to organise themselves into a cooperative due to bullying and exploitation by the politicians, authorities, moneylenders and middlemen. They live in stinking lanes choked with garbage, having homes with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows, overcrowded with families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state. They have not even enjoyed even one full meal in their entire lifetime because of their poverty.

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

What impression do you form of Mr. Lamb? How does he look at life?

Ans: Derry is a fourteen year old boy who is very withdrawn and defiant. One side of his face has been burnt by acid and it looks very ugly and frightful. This incident has made him a victim of inferiority complex.

Derry is highly sensitive to what others – his parents, family friends, well-wishers or even total strangers – say about him. Their anxiety concern, fear and revulsion pains him more then the burn did.

Derry is quite intelligent. When Mr. Lamb mentions the story ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Derry at once comes out with its moral: ‘Handsome is a handsome does.’ He, however, evokes self-pity by saying, “I won’t change… and no one will kiss me ever.”

Derry is sensitive to the sufferings of others. He arouses sympathy for himself by making enquiries about the old man’s leg, pain and how he passes his life alone. Derry has the capacity to learn. He is impressed by the old man’s way of life in spite of physical handicap. In the end, he does not bother about his face or looks and wants to see, hear, learn and think and do what no one else has done. In short, Derry is a developing character.

Or

Describe Tishani’s journey to the end of the earth-the Antarctic region, and her experiences during that journey. ( don’t read)

Ans: The narrator boarded a Russian research ship the ‘Akademik Shokalskiy’. He was heading towards the coldest, driest and windiest continent in the world — Antarctica. His journey began 13.09 degrees north of the Equator from Madras. He had to cross nine time-zones, six checkpoints, three bodies of water and at least three ecospheres. He travelled for over 100 hours. His first emotion was that of seeking relief. He wondered at its immensity and isolation.

The author spent two weeks in a place where 90 per cent of the earth’s total ice volume is stored. There were no trees, no billboards or buildings. He lost all earthly sense of perspec­tive and time.

‘Students on Ice’ programme of Geoff Green was quite successful. The aim of the pro­gramme was to take high school students to the ends of the world. It provided them inspiring educational opportunities. They could develop a new understanding and respect for their planet. The most thrilling experience of the narrator was his walking on the ocean. Underneath their feet was a metre-thick ice pack and 180 metres of living, breathing, salt water.

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

a) How did the Tiger King celebrate the killing of the hundredth tiger?

Ans: The Tiger King thought that he had killed the hundredth tiger. He was elated. He didn’t know that his bullet had missed the mark. The hundredth tiger survived. He ordered the tiger to be brought to the capital in grand procession. The dead tiger was taken in a procession through the town. It was buried and a tomb was erected over it.

b) Why is Antarctica the perfect place to study changes in the environment? ( don’t read)

Ans: Antarctica is the perfect place to study changes in the environment it always has less bio- diversity. It remains fresh and clean as it never sustained a human population

c) Why and how did Derry enter Mr. Lamb’s garden?

Ans: Derry entered Mr. Lamb’s garden by walking slowly and cautiously through the long grass and round a screen of bushes and finally by climbing over the wall.

Derry entered Mr. Lamb’s garden with an intention to spend some time at an empty place. He thought it was an empty place.

d) How and why do people comment so painfully about Derry’s face?

Ans: Derry has a burnt face . By looking at his face people comment him ‘poor boy’ and some by saying that only a mother can love such a terrible face. They comment in this way because they find Derry’s face really terrible. Morever they don’t understand Derry’s feelings.

e) When did Bama experience untouchability?

Ans: When the narrator was in the third class, she hadn’t yet heard people speak only of untouchability. But the curse of untouchability did exist in the society. She had already seen, felt and experienced it. There were occasions when she felt humiliated by it. She saw an important elder of her community serve vadais to a landlord without touching them. The incident was funny to her until Annan told her the horrific truth

f) Why did Zitkala-Sa feel uncomfortable in the dining room?

Ans: Zitkala-Sa was already feeling uncomfortable in her new dress when she entered the dining hall. A small bell was tapped. Thinking that they had to be seated, Zitkala pulled out a chair and sat on it. But to her surprise everybody kept standing. A ‘paleface woman’ watched her keenly. She was getting up when the second bell rang and all were seated. Then a third bell was tapped. Everyone picked up his knife and fork and began eating and she began to cry.