HALF
YEARLY (RETEST)
Sub:
English Core
Class: XI
Subject : English Core
M.M: 80
Class : XI
Time: 3 hrs
General Instructions:
1. The paper is divided into three
sections- A, B, and C. All the sections are compulsory
Section
A : Reading -20 marks
Section
B : Writing & Grammar -30 marks
Section
C : Literature and Long Reading Text –30
marks
2. Separate instructions are given with each section and
question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and follow
them faithfully.
3. Do not exceed the prescribed word
limit while answering the questions.
4. Please write down the serial
number of the question in the answer sheet before attempting it.
Section A (Reading) 20 marks
1. Read the
following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it by choosing
the correct options. (1 x 6 = 6 Marks)
Time was
when even wild horses could not drag me within miles of a barber’s shop or
salon as they are called nowadays. Those were days when hippie cut held sway
and a close cropped guy was an exception. Yet, even in those days civilization
was measured by the length of your locks and I was no exception. Much water has
flown under the bridge since then in recent times I begin to yearn for barber’s
ministration the moment my hair kiss my ears. But then there is another reason
for this yearning and that is my barber Salim. He is more educated than me,
having done his masters in literature with a first class first, capable of
quoting Chaucer & Byron with equal felicity as he could Raja Rao and
Narayana. He had been an English Professor for a couple of years but when his
father, who ran the salon, kicked the bucket he found that it was good
economics to make a switchover.
Salim’s
salon was a salon with a difference. A big sign board announced that Politics
was a taboo. Salim once enlightened me on this, recalling that he had sent a
customer packing though only half of his hair had been cut because he had dared
to take a political stand, which to add insult to injury was contrarian to
Salim’s view point I once asked him, “Don’t you miss all those students whom
you were teaching English Literature. I have heard a couple of them say that
you were the best among the lot.” “Not at all” said Salim without batting an
eyelid, “they might no longer be my students but they are my customers now. And
I do manage to clear a doubt or two when they came for a sitting”. ft was then
that I realised that the barber’s itch for literature had not dampened one bit
though combs and scissors had replaced his original tools of trade (C.V.
Aravind)
Answer the
following questions by choosing the best option from the ones given below.
(a) In
earlier days civilization was measured by
(i) Wild
horses
(ii) Length
of hair locks
(iii) Number
of cropped guys
(iv) Number
of salons in the town
(b) Salim
switched over from professor to a barber because
(i) Of his
family pressure
(ii) Of his
passion for this profession
(iii) Of the
advice of his students
(iv) It was
good economics to make a switchover
(c) Salim
considered politics
(i) To be
having liberality
(ii) To be a
taboo
(iii) He had
no viewpoint about politics
(iv) To be
good and essential for everyone
(d) The word
that means the same as ‘Kicked the bucket’
(i) To harm
as well as humiliate
(ii) To show
no surprise or concern
(iii) Past
events that are over or done with
(iv) Died
(e) Was
Salim still in touch with his students ?
(i) No, he
was not in contact with them
(ii) Yes, he
met them occasionally but never solved their problems.
(iii) He
used to take extra sitting / extra classes for them.
(iv) His
students were his customers and he used to solve their doubts.
(f) The
writer often thought about Salim as he
(i) Was more
educated
(ii) Had
received his masters degree in first class
(iii) Was
well versed with Indian an well as English Literature
(iv) All the
above
1.2.Answer
the following questions : (1 x 4 = 4 Marks)
(i) Why was
it an exception to find a close cropped guy ?
(ii) Why did
the writer get his hair cut frequently ?
(iii) Why
was Salim’s salon with a difference ?
(iv) Salim
did not miss his old students. Why ?
1.3. Which
words in the passage mean the same as the following : (2 Marks)
(i) help or
care (para 1)
2. Read the
following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow : (8
Marks)
1. The
international military, political, economic and demographic crisis of the
seventeenth century had its social aspects too. The later sixteenth and earlier
seventeenth centuries saw the climax of a unique wave of social violence. This
was the great surge of witch-hunting, the witch craze as it is often called,
which peaked between 1550 and 1650. Medieval and early modern witches sometimes
called “wise women” or “cunning men,” were probably most often herb healers who
combined spells and charms with their folk remedies. Most were women (though
about a fifth were men), and more were old than young. Those accused of
witchcraft frequently came from the marginal elements of society : beggars,
poor widows without families, midwives (commonly blamed for high infant
mortality). They were often outsider in other ways-quarrelsome neighbours,
people known to be disrespectful of authority, emotionally disturbed people.
Only when a local witch-hunt was in full cry did suspicion reach as high as the
middle or upper classes of society.
2. European
views of witchcraft had undergone a drastic transformation in the fifteen
century. The Inquisition had decided that witches were actually agents of Satan
and as such a major threat to Christendom. Books like the ‘Hammer of the
Witches’ (1487) by Heinrich Kraemer and Johan Springer spread the notion that
these local weavers of spells and cures had gained their magical powers by
swearing allegiance to the Devil. In return, they had received “familiars”
demons in the guise of animals, to do their will, as well as the power
traditionally assigned to witches : the ability to conjure up stroms, ruin
crops, kill livestock, cause illness or death in humans, and transform
themselves into animals. Satan’s servants were also believed to rub themselves
with a salve that allowed them to fly through the air to the Witches Sabbath,
where they paid obscene homage to the Devil, feasted danced, and flung
themselves into orgiastic sex in defiance of all the laws of God man.
3. Using
torture to gain confessions to these crimes, both ecclesiastical and civil
courts burned or hanged tens of thousands of alleged witches during the 1500s
and 1600s. This savage persecution has been interpreted in many ways. It has
been seen as an attempt to suppress a genuine witch cult (a view not now
generally accepted), as scapegoating of social outsiders made to take the blame
for misfortunes like illness or had harvests, or simply as a form of mass
hysteria. The witch craze has also been characterized as an expression of
widespread male hatred and fedar of women. Some scholars see the willingness to
believe in a diabolical conspiracy of witches as a product of a feverish
religious temper. Perhaps three-quarter of the persecutions occurred in the
German states, the swill cantons, and France, all areas of intense religious
conflict, and as Reformation religiosity waned, this brutal campaign against
the “witches” also came to an end.
(a) On the
basis of your reading of the above passage, make note on it using heading and
sub headings. Use recoginsable abbreviations where necessary. Give a title to
your Note Making.
(b) Find the
words from the passage-which mean the same as the following.
(i) At
height (para 1)
(ii) Dealing
with matters in disgusting way (para 2)
(iii) Of the
Christrian (para 3)
Writing
section 30
marks
3. Your are Rita/Rani of
Army Public School, Delhi. Design a poster for literary festival to be
organised in your school by the literary club during 'Literary week', campaign
(5 Marks)
or
Your father, a resident of
15 B, Vasant Vihar is transferred to Pune. He wants to sell the electronic
goods like T. V., A.C. and music player write an advertisement for the sale in
the columns of the time of India. (5 Marks)
4. You are Abhinav/
Aardhana of Rohini. You are appalled to read the survey reports of UNICEF which
depicts the miserable condition of millions of children in India. You feel that
educated and rich children can play a vital role in changing their attitude
towards education and health. Write an article on the topic role of children in
the development of society in about 150-200 words. (8 Marks)
or
Your friend Niharika was
asked to write a story to participate in 'National story writing contest.' But
she could not complete the story as she fell it. Complete her story in about
150-200 words on the basis of the beginning given here. Kiran was wide awake.
She tried to sleep but could n't, as per parents were away from home and her
maid had to leave early to go to the doctor. She switched on T. V. but
suddenly.......................................
5. You are Preeti/Ajay,
head of school examination committee of SKV, Mangolpuri you want to placed on
order for supply of some articles with Gupta stationers, Daryaganj, Place the
order to the dealers regarding stationery items required for the exams. (7
Marks)
or
Copyright © 2014 CBSE-SPOT
You are Raveena/Ravi from Pitam Pura you read the advertisement for the post of
coaches for Junior girls and Junior boys table tennis tournaments. Write a
letter to the principal secretary of Rohini Sports Club applying for the job
giving your complete Bio Data. (7 Marks)
SECTION
C-(Grammar) (10)
Q.3
There is an error in each line of the following paragraph. Find and write the
incorrect word and the
correction as given in the example against the correct
blank
no. in your answer sheets. (1x4=4 Marks)
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Incorrect
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Correct
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Four
suspects, who has
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Has
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have
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been hold in connection with
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a)
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________
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the
kidnapping or murder
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b)
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of
Adnan Dede, have confess
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c)
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to
his interrogators.
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d)
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Q4.Complete the following passage
with suitable Determiners 1x6=06
Our
Principal, (a)………………………..man of honesty and integrity . He does not accept
(b)…………………gifts from students, Teachers or parents.On (c)…………………………….occasion
of (d)……………………Children Day, he rewarded (e)…………………….students for
(f)………………….success.
Section
- D Textual Question (30 Marks)
9. Read the extract given
below and answer the questions that follow (any one):- 1X3=3
Some twenty-thirty-years later
She'd laugh at the snapshot
"See Betly and Dolly;
she'd say, "and look how they dressed us for the beach"
The sea holiday was her past,
mine is her laughter.
Both wry with the laboured
ease of loss.
a. Who would laugh seeing
the snapshot?
b. Who are betty and
dolly?
c. When did beach holiday
take place?
OR
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the
globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
and make pure and beautify it;
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
and make pure and beautify it;
a) What is the poetic device used in the
first line of the poem?
i.
Similie
ii.
Metaphor
iii.
Personification
b)What would
happen to the seeds without rain?
i. They would grow into plants
ii. They would lie hidden and die
iii. They would disappear
c)Name the
poem and the poet
10.Answer any three of the questions in
about 40to 50 words each 3X3=09
1)
What
were Rangas views on marriage?
2)
Compare
and contrast the reactions of the children and the adults when faced with
extreme danger in –“we ar not afraid to die……..together”.
3)
“A
suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart”.in whatb context
was this observation made and by whom?(The summer of the beautiful white Horse)
4)
What
were the funerary treasures found in Tut’s tomb?
11. Answer any one of the questions in about 100 to 120 words
each 6X1=06
a)
Mourad
had a crazy streak of the family in him. What do you learn abput him in the
story” The summer of the beautiful white Horse”
Or
b)
why
did the narrator want to forget “The address”.
LONG READING TEXT
12. Describe the Otis family. What do you think of them? (6)
Describe the first encounter of the ghost with the Otis family. (6)
