Professional Documents
Culture Documents
iii) Why did the writer want to bring together all Indian students scattered in Great Britain?
a) To fight for freedom. b) To meet Mahatma Gandhi.
c) To show unity of Indians in a foreign land. d) To meet high ranking polititians.
iv) What was the agenda of the function?
a) Dinner b) A talk by important officials.
c) Dinner and an after dinner talk.
d) A subscription dinner in a hotel or restaurant.
v) ‗Our importunity of dissuading him from his services did not prevail.‘ What does this
line imply?
a) The writer tried to persuade Gandhi to serve.
b) The writer and his friends were eager to serve.
c) The writer and his friends were unsuccessful in getting Gandhi to stop rendering
his services.
d) The writer and his friends were unsuccessfully importunate.
1.3 Answer any three of the following questions in about 30 words each: (2 x 3 = 6)
a) Explain the case of mistaken identity that happened during the preparation of the function.
b) What was the essence of the speech delivered by Gandhi?
c) Why did the writer gravitate towards kitchen work during his stints in various prisons?
d) What did the writer learn about Gandhiji from this experience?
1.4 Find words from the passage which mean the same as follows: (3)
a) gathered together (para 1)
b) reduction (para 2)
c) great respect (para 1)
On its own, literature — to quote WH Auden — ―makes nothing happen‖. However, by engaging
with literature about the environment, it is possible to galvanise broad-based societal concern and
instigate change. For instance, in the summer of 1962, The New Yorker serialised a long piece of
writing by marine biologist and renowned author Rachel Carson. She wrote about the environmental
disaster unleashed by the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, especially DDT. By fall, it had
been published as a book, Silent Spring, which caused a furore in the US. Readers were horrified by
the revelations in the book, and the powerful lobby of chemical companies was determined to
discredit the exposé.
The uproar led the then President John F Kennedy to set up a Science Advisory Committee to
examine the issues raised by the book. When the committee‘s report vindicated the book and its
author, the government was forced to reconsider its national pesticide policy, leading to DDT being
banned. Silent Spring became an epic in the modern environmental movement, highlighting the
unquestionable merit of environmental literature in stirring meaningful discussions that can inspire
long-term change.
In India too, literature — from Salman Rushdie‘s Satanic Verses to Perumal Murugan‘s One Part
Woman — has often inflamed passions and spurred widespread debate. However, despite the
strong presence of nature in Indian literature, the influence of literature on environmental
consciousness in India remains largely unexplored. Murali Sivaramakrishnan founded the India
chapter of the global Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) in 1992, in
order to meet a ―growing demand for exploring the role of literature in environmentalism.‖ He points
out that contemporary Indian literature concerning the natural environment has generally not
provoked a reaction from the public, unlike in the West. ―Religious intolerance, political power-
structures and their impact on imagination consume much of the public‘s attention. On the other
hand, environmental writing has evolved only fairly recently so it could take some time to reach the
forefront,‖ he says.
2.1 On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes using a suitable format.
Use abbreviations where necessary (minimum 4). Supply a suitable title. (5)
2.2 Write a summary of the above passage in about 100 words. (5)
SECTION – B (ADVANCED WRITING SKILLS)
3. As the President of Lions Club, Dilshad Garden, draft an invitation for all the teachers of the
neighborhood schools to participate in a seminar on the ‗Fundamental Rights of Children‘
organized by your club. (50 words)
(OR)
You lost your brief case while traveling from New Delhi to I.G.I Airport in Delhi Metro. Draft an
advertisement for the ‗Lost and Found‘ column of The Indian Express‘. You are Pranav/Parnavi.
(50 words) (4)
4. You are interested in taking the British Council Library Membership in Delhi. Write a letter in
120 words to the Head Librarian asking for details and the required procedure to be followed.
You are Shubham/Shalini.
(OR)
You are Anand/Aarti, of C/15, Model Town, Delhi. You have seen an advertisement in
‗The Hindu‘ for the post of a Chief Chef at The Leela, Delhi. You are a graduate in Hotel
Management with six years experience in one of the leading Hotels in the Delhi N.C.R.
Draft a job application with a cover letter and a detailed resume. (120 words) (6)
5. You are Aamir/Anamika of Namdev Public School, Paschim Vihar. Your school is hosting
an interschool debate competition on the topic ‗Digital India still has agriculture as it‘s backbone‘.
Write a debate in 150 – 200 words highlighting your personal convictions either in favour or
against the topic‘.
(OR)
Write a speech to be delivered in the morning assembly on the topic ―For the progress of
mankind, let‘s replace age-old customs with broadminded outlook towards life.‖ (200 words) (10)
6. You are Vishnu/Vaishnavi. You visited ‗Xavier Fair-2018‘ at St. Xavier‘s Raj Niwas Marg. You
were indeed fascinated by the grandeur of the event and touched by the noble cause behind
it. As the editor of Xavier Times write a report about it, in 150-200 words to be published in the
Diamond Jubilee edition of ‗Xavier Times‘.
(OR)
On your way back from school you see a huge plastic bag full of leftovers of food being flung
into the middle of the road from a speeding car. You wonder how people can be so devoid
of civic sense. Write an article in 150-200 words on ‗Civic Sense and Sensibility – the fruit
of a well nurtured and cultured upbringing.‘ (10)
Std. 12 ENGLISH (Set – 2) Page 4
SECTION - C (LITERATURE)
7. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: (4 x 1 = 4)
Perhaps a huge silence
Might interrupt this sadness
Of never understanding ourselves
And of threatening ourselves with death.
a) What according to the poet necessitates this interruption?
b) Explain the phrase ―never understanding ourselves.‖
c) What does the poet imply when he refers to ―sadness‖?
d) How according to the poet are we threatening ourselves with death?
(OR)
‖rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead
All lovely tales that we heard or read.
a) Identify the poetic device in the above context?
b) Explain ―grandeur of dooms‖.
c) In what context does the poet give the above description?
d) What does ―lovely tales‖ refer to?
8. Answer any four of the following questions in about 30-40 words each: (4 x 3 = 12)
a) Dr. Sadao mutters the words, ―my Friend‖, while treating American prisoner of war.
Explain the irony of the situation.
b) Why did Zitkala Sa not want her hair to be cut short?
c) Which article in Mc.Leery`s suitcase played the most significant role in Evan‘s
escape and how?
d) What do Aunt Jennifers Tigers symbolize?
e) Firozabad presents a strange paradox. Contrast the beauty of the glass bangles with the
misery of the people who produce them.
f) What according to the poet, in the poem ―My Mother at Sixty Six‖, is the reality of
life which we must accept?
9. Answer any one of the following questions in about 120-150 words: (6)
a) How is Derry‘s and Mr. Lamb‘s behavior and attitude towards people different?
b) Freedom from fear can make anybody a successful person. Describe Douglas‘
struggle regarding the same?
c) Write a character sketch on Evans ―the Break‖.
10. Answer any one the following questions in about 120-150 words: (6)
a) The two accounts of Bama and Zitkala-sa are based on two different cultures.
Highlight the difference and similarity between the two of them.
b) When and how did civil disobedience triumph in India for the first time?
c) How did the Tiger King inspite of killing 99 tigers prove the prediction of his
death to be accurate?
11. Answer any one the following questions in about 120-150 words: (6)
a) Griffin is the model of science without humanity. Justify with reference to ‗Invisible Man‘.
b) Griffin dressed himself as a formidable and intimidating figure to hide his reality.
Justify.
12. Answer any one of the following questions in about 120-150 words: (6)
a) Write a character sketch of the owner of the costume shop.
b) What did Griffin see in the dream at night at the departmental complex?
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