KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA PURI

MONTHLY TEST- JANUARY 2021-22

ENGLISH CORE (301)
CLASS-XII
Time allowed: 2 Hrs Maximum Marks: 40

General Instructions:
1. The Question Paper contains three sections- Reading, Writing and Literature.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.

SECTION-A (READING- 14 marks)

1. Read the passage given below.

1. Sitting in the front seats of the buses in my route was always a problem. We were
always obliged to give our seats for old and the weak. And the ‘weak’ sure included
pregnant women. For some reason, on my route there would be a lot of pregnant
women, always. It was almost like they were everywhere. A hundred times I had
given my seat to pregnant women, and seemed like it would never end. Every other
day that happened. ‘This madness has to end’ I thought.

2. Anyway I couldn’t go into the houses of those pregnant women and shoot the men
who often made them pregnant. That left me to act in the bus selfishly. That one
technique I brought up soon became a hit in my own brains. Any signs of a woman
with a bit larger belly walked into the bus, I just pretended to be asleep. All was done.
So that continued for a lot of days.

3. One particular day, I was sitting (not asleep since nobody wanting a seat was around)
and an acquaintance, Lipin, boarded the bus. Lipin was physically challenged at his
legs. He was only as good as a person with one leg. He sat to my side. I was sitting on
the window side. We exchanged greetings and he happily talked about the world
where both of us lived. In front of his enthusiasm, I felt like I had got nothing waist
down and he was someone with so many legs.

4. It was at that time out of nowhere a pregnant lady appeared. The bus didn’t even stop
anywhere, I felt like she just materialised from the air. I went into my fake sleep in no
time. Lipin kept talking for a while. Suddenly I heard him offering his seat to that

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 lady. There were sympathetic arguments over who is weaker between a pregnant
woman and a one legged person. I wondered why any of the other people were not
offering a seat to them; maybe they would be sleeping too. At last Lipin established
that a pregnant woman deserved the seat since she was carrying two souls.

5. In my fake sleep, I could see everything happening in the bus. Lipin was standing
there on his one good leg and his selfless smile. I sat there beside the woman like a
man totally blind at eyes and heart.

On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer ANY EIGHT
questions from the NINE given below. (1x8 = 8)

i. Why did the author feel himself like totally blind at eyes and heart, at the end?

ii. What do you understand from the sentence-“She just materialised from the air.”?

iii. In the thought of Lipin, who is weaker- the pregnant women or the physically
challenged people? Why/ why not?

iv. ‘This madness has to end’, here the meaning of the word ‘madness’ is ...................

v. Why was the narrator not “sleeping” that particular day?

vi. What was the regular response of the narrator if a pregnant lady happened to board
the bus?

vii. From the passage, find out two personality traits of the author.

viii. ‘In front of his enthusiasm, I felt like I had got nothing waist down’. Instead what
did the author feel of his companion to be having?

ix. How did Lipin establish that a pregnant woman deserves the seat ?

2. A Read the passage given below.

1. Food on the table is a very warm sight, but only few take preparation of the same as
an art. That’s why the last room in the darkest corner of the house has always been
reserved for the kitchen. Most of the time, compared to other rooms, kitchens would
be smaller in size and least furnished. Kitchens used to be women’s space, especially
in traditional households where the joint family system was the order of the family
structure, the women in the houses are supposed to cook and bring the food to the

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 dining area where men and guests usually eat. In some of the cases, women are
implicitly expected to have their food in the kitchen itself.

2. At least 86% of the newly built houses even in urban areas have smaller kitchens than
master bedrooms. The percentage of people preferring a well ventilated kitchen over a
well ventilated bedroom is less than 25%. In rural areas at least 50% of the old
generation houses and not less than 30% of the newly built houses have no kitchens
inside the walled areas or the preliminary construction. Statistics also show that not
even 10% of the people invest in furnishing their kitchens the way they do with their
drawing rooms.

3. As changes happened in all walks of life and gender roles changed elsewhere, in the
kitchen as well men’s participation increased. In the present world, our greatest chefs
are men; this has a whole socio-cultural explication but quite interesting is how
architecture and our sense of space management got meddled in, especially in
households.

4. In earlier days, when the joint family system used to be the order, there used to be a
lot of people in the house that at the same time when somebody is cooking, there will
be enough people to engage the guests as well. And not accidently, the people in the
front used to be men and people in the kitchens used to be women.

5. Now in the modern nuclear family days, there aren’t enough people to allocate to
kitchen works and guest entertaining duties separately in individual houses, so the
only option is for the same people to do both. For this, either one has to take the guest
to the kitchen or bring the kitchen to the guest. The second option gets its material
form when in modern day architecture, the kitchen is integrated to dining space. The
traditional gender roles also got transgressed at some point. When in earlier days
cooking remained a women’s job and entertaining the guest was the men’s job, these
days participation is equal from the side of men and women for these activities.

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On the basis of your understanding of the passage, answer ANY SIX questions
from the SEVEN that follow. (1x6 = 6)

i. Even if the kitchen is placed in the middle of the house, traditional gender roles are
never going to change. (True/False)

ii. In modern nuclear families, how and by whom the guests are entertained?

iii. Which word has the same meaning as ‘intervene’, in paragraph 3?

iv. Based on the cartoon with the quote “Oh! I can tell from that look, you are never
going to let this go”. What do you understand from this?

v. “... in modern day architecture, the kitchen is integrated to dining space.” What is
the root reason for this?

vi. When it comes to professionalism, men are superior to women, even in doing
women's jobs. Justify the statement in citing example from the passage.

vii. Mention two ways how traditional gender roles have been migrating gradually.

SECTION-B (WRITING- 8 Marks)

3.
You are Harshvardhan/ Harsha of B6, Patel Road, Jaipur. You got 3rd rank in NEET
2020. You are arranging a party for your family and friends. Prepare an invitation card
in 50 words to be sent to people to inform them about the event. (3 Marks)

4. Attempt ANY ONE of the following. (5 Marks)

(A) You are Sanjay/ Sanjana of 83B, Good View Lanes, Cuttack. You are a B.Tech
holder with particular interest in Android programming. From a local newspaper you
found that a techno startup by name Cosmo-Android in Cuttack is looking for JAVA
programmers to develop a new application from scratch. Write an application letter in
100-120 words in response to the advertisement, with a detailed bio-data.
(5 Marks)

OR

(B) Following the protocols to stop spreading Covid, the city of Bikaner celebrated
Dipawali in a grand fashion. You are Yash/ Yashaswini, a reporter from The Jaipur

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Times deputed to cover the celebration happening over two days. Prepare a detailed
report of the event in 120-150 words. Use the given cues along with your own ideas to
write the report.

• Keeping Covid protocols - Distance, masks and sanitisers

• Lights and lamps
• Dance and music
• Important personalities
• Business rejuvenated

SECTION-C (LITERATURE-18 Marks)

5. Attempt ANY FIVE out of the six questions given below, in 40 words each.
(2 x 5=10 Marks)
i. Why did the peddler decline the invitation extended to him by the Ironmaster?
ii. In the lesson Rattrap, the iron master and his daughter Edla behave well with the
peddler. Other than sentiments on a mistaken identity on the part of the ironmaster and
innate goodness on the part of Edla, is there some other reason for this hospitality?
Explain.
iii. Having got rid of his stink, what problem did Roger Skunk face?
iv. Why did Jo insist that her father should tell her the story with a different ending?
v. How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers different from her?
vi. What is the reason for the tigers in Aunt Jennifer's panel being brave, colourful and
proud?

6. Attempt ANY TWO out of the following questions in 120-150 words (4x2=8)

(A) Aunt Jennifer symbolises women who are exploited and oppressed at the hands of
the male dominated world. Comment.

OR

(B) Lack of access to basic amenities including food and shelter as well as lack of
proper socialization can lead a person to become an antisocial element. Explain this
statement to the context of The Rattrap.

OR

(C) Parents try to impose their will on children assuming it would lead to their benefit
in future. With respect to the events in the story, ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’,
critically analyse the statement.