AHSEC HS 1ST YEAR QUESTION PAPER 2013

Below is the AHSEC class 11 English question paper2013. You can also find here AHSEC CLASS 11 (HS 1st year) past years English question papers with solution

H.S. 1ST YEAR EXAMINATION

2013

General English

Full Marks: 100

Section A: Reading

1. The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’. The same old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house, be nice to people we don’t like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk everyday. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. Most of us fail in our efforts at self improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out. We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into out bad old ways. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitious: to do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening. An all-night party on Yew year’s Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year, but on he second, I applied myself assiduously to the task.

The daily exercise lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out. After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped into watch the performance. That was really unsettling, but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good-humorously and soon everybody got used to the idea. However, my enthusiasm waned. The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from. I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning, I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home form work Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to book. One night, however, feeling could and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven’t given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minutes. Perhaps it will solve my problem but I just haven’t had time to read it!

A. Choose the correct one: 1×6=6

  1. ‘Resolution’ include
  2. Our favourite past time
  3. Pledging not to do certain things
  4. Pledging doing certain things
  5. Pledging doing and not doing certain things
  6. Past experiences have taught us that
  7. All accomplishments are attainable
  8. Most of our promises are true
  9. All our accomplishments are not attainable
  10. We can do everything and anything
  11. By January 10th, the narrator
  12. Achieved what he aimed to do
  13. Did nothing at all
  14. Was to back to square one
  15. Progressed and achieved
  16. The narrator wanted to save his energy in their morning for
  17. Exercises
  18. Reading
  19. Playing
  20. Taking rest
  21. The best time for resolutions is:
  22. Your birthday
  23. The new year’s Eve
  24. The new year
  25. Christmas Day
  26. Which of the following words in the passage stands for ‘mesmerizing’?
  27. Resolved
  28. Betraying
  29. Diminished
  30. Hypnotizing

B. On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it, using recognizable abbreviations whenever necessary. Use a format you consider suitable. Supply a suitable title. 8

  1. New year: a time for resolution
  2. Resolve to get up earlier each morning,
  3. Eat less,
  4. Find more time to play with the children,
  5. Be nice to people we don’t like,
  6. Drive carefully and take the dog for a walk every day.
  7. Certain aomplishments are beyond attainment.
  8. Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement.
  9. We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody.
  10. The narrator’s resolutions
  11. To keep his resolutions to himself,
  12. To do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening.
  13. The narrator’s failure
  14. The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes.
  15. By January 10th, he was back to where he started from.

Abbreviations used:

Don’t: Do not

Acmplisments: Accomplishments

Fndamntal: Fundamental

2. Read the following passage and write a summary on it. 6

As what geographers have estimated, about twenty percent of the earth’s surface is occupied by deserts. A majority of us view deserts as one unique kind of landscape – areas with little or not rainfalls.

In actual fact, there are differences between the deserts, though in varying degrees. While it is common for laymen like us to see deserts as rocky or covered with gravel or pebbles, there are some where large sand dunes inhabit. Despite the fact that rainfall is minimal, temperatures do change in deserts, ranging from seasonal ones to daily changes where extreme hotness and coldness are experienced in the day and night.

Unfavourable conditions in the deserts, especially the lack of water, have discouraged many living things from inhabiting these landscapes. Nevertheless, there are exceptionally surviving ones which through their superb tactics, have managed to live through and are still going strong. One such kind is the specialist annual plants which overcome seasonal temperature changes with their extremely short, active life cycles. In events of sudden rain, the plant seeds pullulate and grow very quickly to make full use of the rain water. Their flowers bloom and set seeds that ripen quickly in the hot sun too. Once the water runs dry, the mother plant dies, leaving behind the drought-resistant seeds, waiting patiently for the next rainy season to arrive.

The Cacti, a native in American deserts, adapts to the dry surroundings by having unique body structures. The plant has swollen stems to help store water that carries it through months. By having sharp pines instead of leaves, water loss through respiration is minimized. Besides, these pointed pines also help the plant ward off grazing animals, thus enhancing its survival period.

Besides plants, there are also animals with distinct surviving tactics in deserts too. For instance, Skinks (desert lizards) metabolize stored fats in their bulbous tails, producing water to supplement their needs, just like what camels do with the stored food in their humps during long journeys through deserts. Antelopes like the addax, have very low water needs and hence are able to tolerate the conditions in deserts, extracting moisture from the food they eat.

Finally, there are the sand grouses (desert birds) which do not have special features to overcome the drought-like nature in deserts. Hence, to survive in these hot, dry deserts, they need to spend a large part of their time flying in search of waterholes.

SECTION B: WRITING

3. You are Neeraj/Nandita working for India Today Last Week you attended a seminar on ‘Pleasure of Eye Donation’, organized by the Young Buzz of your district. Write a report of this seminar in about 100 words taking help from the hints given in the output for the Times of India. Seminar ‘Pleasure of eye donation’ – organized by young buzz all famous eye surgeons of the town-spoke on the importance of eye donation-50 volunteers offered donation after death-seminar, a great success. 7

Or

Imagine yourself to be a reporter of New Age, Delhi. Taking help from the input given below, write a report on the running over of two young school children by a Blue Line bus in Guwahati in about 100 words.

4. To enforce strict discipline in schools and colleges is a great problem now-a-days. As Mohan/Mohini, write an article in about 100-150 words for the Hindustan Times about the problems and your views on punishment as a corrective measure. 7

5. Write a letter to the General Manager, MTNL, complaining against unsatisfactory working of your telephone. 6

SECTION – C

6. Correct the following sentences: 1×4=4

(a) There is still little water in the tank; use it sparingly.

(b) I am knowing you.

(c) He usually is going to school at 7 a.m.

(d) The clerk has already typed the letter before the Principal summoned him to do so.

7. In the passage below, there is an error in each line. Fine the error and write the correct word in your answer sheet. The first one has been done as an example. ½ x8=4

Sometimes even those children which work e.g. which ………….. who hard

Fail where they are guided by those a when

People who no one has ever told about b whom

Human psychology. Those which think that c who

Hard work is everything they offer

No offer place to know how the child can play and d children

Tell no stories when the child can enjoy e children

Knowing about child psychology will help

Greatly in understanding when a child behaves f how

Properly. It is the best way where everything g anything

About the child can be known. Then we think h if

Of it, we shall understand everything.

8. Combine the following sentences into one complex sentence: 1×4=4

(a) I could not attend the meeting. I am sorry to tell you this.

(b) There goes my neighbor. I dislike him most.

(c) Do not eat too much. You will be ill.

(d) I can not go. I have no ticket.

9. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs given in brackets. 1×4=4

(a) I…………….. (read) in this school since 1980.

(b) She never …………… (tell) a lie.

(c) You…………….. (sleep) when I entered the room.

(d) What ………….. (do) you now?

10. Look at the sentences given below. Reorder them to form meaningful sentences: 1×4=4

(i) he/stepped out/had/hardly/it began/when/to rain.

(ii) is expected/to do/everyman/his duty.

(iii) the book/out of/print/is/you/mentioned/which.

(iv) how/you had/at the interview/done/us/let know.

SECTION – D: TEXT BOOK

11. Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow it. 1×6=6

‘The cardboard shows me how it was

When the two girl cousins went paddling

Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,

And she the big girl-some twelve years or so

All these stood to smile through their hair

At uncle with the camera’

(a) The photograph shows

  1. The poet and his mother
  2. The poet and his cousins
  3. The poet’s mother and her cousins
  4. The poet’s mother and her friends.

(b) ‘Paddling’ in the second line means

  1. Walking in shallow water with so shoes or socks
  2. Paddling a boat
  3. Paddling a bike
  4. Swimming up and down

(c) The ‘big’ girl described in the fourth line was

  1. The poet’s grandmother
  2. The eldest sister of poet’s mother
  3. The poet’s mother
  4. The eldest cousin of the poet

(d) All three stood still

  1. In a ship
  2. On the ground
  3. On a hill
  4. At the sea beach

(e) The names of the two cousins standing with the mother were

  1. Susan and Sarin
  2. Enna and Anna
  3. Betty and Dolly
  4. Mack and Jack

(f) Pick out the correct option of the opposite of the word ‘shows’ from the alternative given below:

  1. Reveals
  2. Displays
  3. Hides
  4. Avoids

Or

‘The laburnum top is silent, quiet still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight

A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen’

(a) The laburnum top is silent because

  1. It is afternoon time
  2. It is quiet all around
  3. The goldfinch has not come
  4. There is no bird near the trees

(b) Goldfinch is a

  1. Small animal with dark colour
  2. Small singing bird with yellow feathers
  3. Small duck with while feathers
  4. Slack sparrow

(c) The name of the poet of ‘Laburnum Top’ is

  1. Shirley Toulson
  2. Ted Hughes
  3. Walt Whitman
  4. R. Tagore

(d) ‘Laburnum’ is

  1. A small hill
  2. A short tree with hanging branches
  3. Herbal plant
  4. Bush

(e) These lines describe the laburnum tree

  1. In winter
  2. In summer
  3. In autumn
  4. In spring

(f) The word ‘still’ here means

  1. Continuing until a particular point in time
  2. Despite what has been said
  3. Some more time left
  4. Calm and quiet

12. Answer the following questions: 2×3=6

  1. What does the rain do day and night?(N)
  2. How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem, ‘Father to Son’?(N)

13. Answer the following questions in not more than thirty words 3×5=15

  1. Which train did Professor Gaitonde Travel by? Where was he going to? Why?
  2. What were the results of the CT scan?
  3. What was the first indication of the impending disaster?
  4. How does Khuswant Singh describe his grandmother?(N)
  5. Who was Wu Daozi?(N)

14. Answer the following question in about hundred words: 4

  1. Describe the role of Millie Crocker Harris in ‘The Browning Version’?

Or

Why is the story called, ‘The adventure’?

15. Answer any of the following in not more than hundred words: 4

  1. Give a character sketch of the narrator’s cousin Mourad.
  2. The story ‘The Address’ is divided into pre war and post war times. What hardships do you think the girl underwent during these times?

16. Answer any two of the following questions in not more than thirty words: 2 ½ x2=5

  1. How did the villagers welcome Ranga?
  2. Suggest a few instances in the poem ‘The tale of Melon city’ which highlight humour and irony.
  3. What impressions of Shahid do you gather from ‘The Ghat of the only World’?

***

You may also like: AHSEC CLASS 11 (HS 1st year) past years English question papers with solution

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