English Preliminary Paper Xii

Q1. A. Read the following extract and answer the following questions. It was Dave’s sister Barbara, however, who steeled herself to be his toughest taskmaster. Even the time he’d left his Braille watch upstairs and asked her to retrieve it, she’d said, “Get it yourself. What do you think – that somebody’s always going to be around to wait on you?” So David grew up considering blindness no tragedy – just an exasperating bother – and feeling he could do anything he set his mind to. Then at 13, he announced that he was going to be a doctor and unable to see the rueful headshakes that greeted this childish roclamation, he began preparing for his career. He insisted on leaving the local blind school, and enrolled at Havertown’s high school. He got good marks, won a place on the wrestling team, and was elected vice – president of the students council. Still, as impressive as his accomplishments were, they had always fallen into the realm possibility. But David’s ambition to become a doctor, a psychiatrist, was not in that realm, his family believed. So, after seeing him off to college, the Hartmans felt they had not been frank enough with Dave, and they were afraid he was heading for grief. At college, Hartman’s faculty advisers tried to reason with him. “Why not settle for something more within your capabilities, like history or psychology?” suggested biology professor Ralph Cavaliere.

1. What was the belief of David’s family? (1) 2. How did David consider his blindness? (1) 3. Why did Professor Ralph Cavaliere suggest that David should settle for History or Psychology? (2) 4. Why did the Hartmans feel that David “was heading for grief”? (2) 5. Do you feel Barbara was justified in being David’s toughest taskmaster”? (3) 6. Give the opposites of the following (1) a. Impressive b. frank 7. Give Adjective forms of (1) a. Accomplishment b. possibility Q1. B. Read the following passage and answer the following question. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at theHare Krishna Temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Here’s one example: Reed College offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the county. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about what makes great typography great.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Why did the narrator decide to take a calligraphy class? (1) What is the narrator’s approach to life? (1) What hardships did the narrator go through? (2) Describe how the narrator has used his knowledge of calligraphy. Do you take a decision following you intuition? (3) Pick out words/ phrases which mean the following (2) a. Become involved in something by chance. b. Particular size and style of a set of printed letters. c. Desire to know. d. Immediate insight.

(2)

Q1. C. Read the following passage and answer the following questions. I didn’t mind vegetable shopping, specially since I loved the old Dhobi Talao market and was on first – name terms with the vendors. I still enjoy buying plump, fresh vegetables and bantering with the sellers. I picked the veggies with utmost care, making sure the brinjals were not too soft or spotted; the bhindis were firm and green, the palak crisp and alert. Looking for groceries was another matter. My parents preferred to patronize just one store – the government controlled Sahakari Bhandar. Nothing wrong with that – or the store. But being government controlled meant just one thing – long queues for every little item, and dozens of little bills. I’d spend more time paying for a bar of soap that I would have if I was buying half the store. I tried to circumvent the problem by sneakily making similar small purchases from a privately owned shop closer to home, I got caught each time. I tried arguing, ‘But what difference does it make? It’s the sake bar of soap, the same toothpaste, the same talcum powder.’

1. What according to the writer, were the problems of purchasing from a Sahakari Bhandar?(1) 2. Give reason: “I didn’t mind vegetable shopping.” (1) 3. Why was the writer angry with her mother’s argument? (2) 4. Write two sentences of your own to describe the writer’s shopping. (2) 5. Do you agree with the writer as she refer to “value of time” in the context of the text? (3) 6. Give noun forms of the following adding suffixes. a. Enjoy b. prefer c. circumvent d. argue Q2. A. Read the following poem and answer the following questions. (8 marks) DON’T QUIT

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must --- but don’t you quit, Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow--You might succeed with another blow. 1. Pick out at least two situations mentioned in the poem for a person to lose his her confidence. 2. How does the poet advise the reader to come out of a difficult situation? 3. Do you easily feel frustrated enough to give up? 4. Explain the figure of speech in the given sentence “When funds are low and the debts are high” 5. What type of poem is this?

Q2. B. Read the following poem and answer the following questions.

(8 marks)

BASKETFUL OF MOONLIGHT From the city to my village on the side of the path I want to sow many Small, small moons of light, The whole village goes to the city daily to work. It becomes dark on its way back As my village is quite far. The route is tough and full of snakes and scorpions. Neither bus nor cart plies. When my father returns home I am asleep. And he goes back early in the morning While I am sleeping O moon Give me a basketful of moonlight On loan. I want to light the dark route So that my father returns early. I too want to hear fairy tales.

1. How does the boy ask the moon to give him a basketful of moonlight? 2. Name one personal problems of the boy and one general problem of all the villagers, as indicated by the village boy in the poem? 3. Can you identify yourself with the problems of the boy in the poem? 4. What is the poetic device used by the poet to make the village – boy talk to the moon? 5. Discuss the technique of the poet to handle some of the problems of the Indian village.

Q3. Writing Skill 1. Write a short tourist leaflet on any hillstation, with the help of the following points. (4) a. How to go there. b. Where to say c. Main attraction of the place.

d. Any thing special about the place. e. Add you own points. 2. Write a letter to concerned authority regarding irregular water supply in your area. (4) 3. Write a letter to the Police Commissioner requesting him to take stern actions against many anti-social activities in your locality. (4) 4. Write a report on the following headlines. a. 3 masked men shot bank manager. (4) b. Students were affected by contaminated food. (4)