1st Pre Board Question Paper 2013-14 (Old Syllabus)

KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN, TINSUKIA REGION

I PRE-BOARD EXAMINATION 2013-14

SUB: ENGLISH (301)

Class: XII

Time Allowed : 3 Hrs                                                                                            Maximum Marks: 100

General Instructions:
(i) This paper is divided into three Sections: A, B and C. All the sections are compulsory.
(ii) Separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and follow them faithfully.
(iii) Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.

Section A (Reading)

Q1: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

1. Your body is made of trillions of tiny living things. They are called cells. There are 210 different kinds of cells in your body. Each kind of cell has a different shape. Each kind of cell is a different size. Each kind of cell has a different job. The same types of cells usually work together in groups. The groups are called tissues. More cells can be made when the cells split. They form more cells that are just like the parents.
2. Some of your cells are nerve cells. They are also called neurons. They carry signals through your body. The signals are messages that tell your body to move. Your brain has about 100 billion neurons! The connections between neurons are called synapses. Each neuron has between 1,000 and 10,000 synapses. There are about one quadrillion synapses in your brain. That's 1,000,000,000,000,000 synapses in your brain! There are about 1 billion neurons in your spinal cord, the bundle of nerves that goes from your brain all the way down your back.
3. Some of your cells are red blood cells. They carry oxygen (O) through your body. They pick up carbon dioxide (CO2) and help your body get rid of it. Your body wants to eliminate CO2 because it is a waste product. Blood also helps your body stay warm. Conversely, blood cools off your brain, because it gets very hot.
4. Some of your cells are white blood cells. The white blood cells help your body fight sickness. Some of the white blood cells, called T–cells, fight viruses and other cells that do not belong in your body. T–cells work with B–cells to fight off the disease cells. They tell your brain to give you a fever so the disease cells will not be able to grow. Many diseases cannot grow when your body is hot. And some white cells eat disease cells! Go white blood cells!
5. Some of your cells are bone cells. They are also called osteocytes. Osteocytes make bone. The bone grows to form all around them. The osteocytes get food through tiny strings that go to nearby blood vessels. Blood vessels are the tubes that carry blood in your body.
6. Some of your cells are skin cells. They are also called epithelial cells. They grow your skin. Your skin keeps dirt off your tissues. Your skin forms the outside of some organs, like your stomach and lungs. An adult has about 9 pounds of skin on his or her body.
7. Some of your cells are liver cells. They are also called hepatocytes. These cells check your blood. They make sure your blood has the right amount of sugars in it. They also help clean poisons from your body. They help make substances that help your blood to clot, or stick together. They clean alcohol from your body if you drink alcohol or take medicine with alcohol in it.
8. Some of your cells are fat cells. Their job is to store fat. The fat is a place where your body keeps or stores energy. The fat pads the organs in your body. The layers of fat also help keep your body warm. Your body weight depends on how fast your body stores fat compared to how fast your body uses up energy.
9. Some of your cells are muscle cells. Your muscles are made of these cells. They are also called myocytes. Your neurons send the messages to move muscles that are connected to your bones and your skeletal muscles. However, your nerve cells do not tell your heart muscles when to beat. Your heart muscles and smooth muscles have inner signals that tell them to move. Smooth muscles are muscles that you do not have to think about, like the muscles that work in the digestion of food.
10. Your cells are busy all the time. Even while you are sleeping, your cells are working hard to keep your body alive and healthy.

I. On the basis of your reading the passage answer the following questions briefly:
a) What are cells? What do you know about cells?                                                     2
b) Why are neurons important? How do they work?                                                   2
c) Write the functions of red and white blood cells?                                                    2
d) What do hepatocytes do?                                                                                         2
e) Give an example of smooth muscle.                                                                        1

II. Find words in the above passage which convey similar meaning as the following: 1x3=3
i) signs or messages
ii) get rid of, remove
iii) stock up, keep

Q2: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Most of the southern and western States, and even the normally surplus States in the north-east, are now going through a major power crisis. Power generation has suffered because of poor hydel storage, thanks to a truant monsoon. Compounding the problem, States that usually come to the help of large consumers in such a predicament have themselves run into difficulties in thermal generation on account of vagaries in coal supply. As a result, States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have to contend with a major shortage. In Tamil Nadu, there is no power cut, officially, but unscheduled load shedding is freely resorted to. At the national level, the gap between power generation and demand has been widening steadily, and it is due not a little to the persisting slippage in targeted addition to the generation capacity during the last two Plan periods. Power-deficit Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, which have been regularly buying power from the Central undertakings, could not do so this year because their neighbours, who are also in distress, happen to draw their full entitlement from the regional grid. Also, none of the power trading corporations has been able to make up the shortfall. The result: power outages, tripping, power cuts, and unscheduled load shedding for a few hours every day.
If the supply side of power position is thus beset with severe constraints, the demand side has its own quota of problems for the power managers and administrators. While the overall shortfall in electricity demand for the country is placed at 15-20 percent, the shortfall faced by several States in peak demand now is reported to range from 20 percent to 30 percent. Specifically, following the sharp rise in the price of diesel, there has been a big jump in demand from and consumption by the farm sector.
Confronted as they are with heightened difficulties on both supply and demand fronts, the State Electricity Boards are constantly working on contingency plans to tide over the crisis and fondly hoping that the monsoon will revive and fill the hydel reservoirs before long. The authorities would do well to use more purposefully the grid structure and the consultation mechanism that already exist. Some restrictive measures may be inevitable, but the least the consumers expect is transparency. Whether it is staggering of supply, rotational load shedding or any other, prior intimation to the user-group will surely go some way in mitigating the hardship.

(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it in points only, using headings and sub-headings. Also use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (minimum 4). Supply a suitable title to it.                                                                                                                      5
(b) Write a summary of the above passage in about 80 words.                                                3

Section B (Writing)

Q3: Your school has just completed 50 years of its meritorious service to society. The Students           ‟ Council of your school has decided to celebrate its Golden Jubilee. As President of the Council, Navodaya Vidyalaya, Gurgaon write a notice in not more than 50 words, for the students of your school, informing them about the Council‟s decision and seeking their co‐operation for the success of the proposed Golden Jubilee Celebrations.                                                                                 5

Or

Mrs and Mr U R Benerji have purchased a flat at Netaji Road, Kolkotta. They have planned to invite a few guests for the house warming party. Draft a formal invitation for them in about 50 words giving all the details.

Q4: Your school organized 2nd Regional Sports Meet for the Girls/ Boys of KVS, Tinsukia Region. Around 25 schools of the Region participated in the Meet for a few sports events. As the Sports Captain of KV No 2, AFS, Tezpur write a report in about 150-200 words to be published in „The Assam Tribune‟. You are Rajeev Chetry.                                                                                  10

Or

You are Raghav / Raghavi of Bal Bharti School, Allahabad. A team of Educationists from Pakistan visited your school as a part of a cultural exchange programme. Students of your school put up a cultural show in their honour. Write a report on the show for your school magazine. (150-200 words)

Q5: Write a letter to the Editor of a local newspaper drawing the attention of the concerned authorities towards the number of schools that fail to provide proper playgrounds and classroom facilities. You are S. Rajlaxmi of Agartala, Tripura. (150 words)                                             10

Or

You are Rajni/ Rajan living in Ahmedabad. You and your friends are planning a weeklong holiday. You came across an advertisement in the newspaper regarding an attractive holiday package to Malaysia and Singapore. Write a letter making necessary inquiry from the Tour operator before you take your final decision. (Word limit 150)

Q6: You are ABC of class XII. Recently you spent a week in a rural setting, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Write an article describing „The Joy of Living in the Lap of Nature‟ in 200 words for your school magazine.                                                                                                         10

Or

Your school is celebrating „International Anti - Corruption Day‟ on 9th Dec 2013. Prepare a speech in 200 words on the topic „Ways to Cleanse Society of all Kinds of Corruption‟. You are Avani / Anuj of Ramanujam School, Darya Ganj, New Delhi.                                                             4

Section C (Literature)

Q7: Read the following stanza and answer the questions that follow:
Those who prepare green wars,
Wars with gas, wars with fire,
Victory with no survivors
Would put on clean cloths
And walk about with their brothers
In the shade, doing nothing.
i) Name the poem and the poet.                                                 1
ii) How are the wars fought? `                                                   1
iii) What is the result of wars?                                                   1
iv) What advice does the poet impart to the war-managers?     1

Or

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
i) Who mastered Aunt Jennifer and how?                                     1
ii) What does the word „ringed‟ signify?                                      1
iii) Why has she created the tigers?                                               1
iv) What will happen to the tigers when Aunt Jennifer is dead?   1

Q8: Answer any two of the following questions briefly:              2 x 2=4

i) What do the parting words of Kamala Das and her smile signify?
ii) What is the sadness that the poet refers to in the poem “Keeping Quiet”?
iii) What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?

Q9: Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each: (any six) 2 x 6=12

i) What did Mr Hamel say about the French language?
ii) What is the condition of the children working in the glass furnaces of Firozabad?
iii) Why did Douglas develop an aversion for water? Why was he determined to learn swimming?
iv) Why did Gandhiji agree to the settlement of 25 percent refund to the farmers?
v) How did Dr. Sadao manage to send the American off his house?
vi) What incidents led to the physical deformities of Mr Lamb and Derry?
vii) What happened when Zitkala –Sa was tied to the chair?

Q10: Answer the following question in about 125 words:
What were the steps taken by Gandhiji to solve the problems of social and cultural backwardness in the villages of Champaran? 5

Or

The story “The Tiger King” is a satire on the conceit of those in power. How does the author employ the literary device of dramatic irony in the story?

Q 11: Answer the following question in about 100 words:                                                  5
Selfless love, empathy, sympathy and compassion provide a healing touch to the distracted souls. This is evident from the story „The Rattrap‟. Comment on the role of human values in bringing about change in one‟s behaviour.

Or

Dr Sadao‟s servants refused to acknowledge or approve the help he rendered to the enemy soldier. Hana and Sadao seem to be more willing to risk their safety to reach out to another human being in need. Explain the role that education plays in making us refined and accommodative.
Q12: Describe the background and theme of the „Hounds of the Baskervilles‟. 8
Q13: Give a character sketch of Sir Henry Baskerville highlighting the main traits of his personality. 7

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