ANNUAL EXAMINATION

CLASS XI
ENGLISH
TIME-2 hrs M.M-40

General Instructions
The paper has been divided into three parts
Section A-Reading 5+5
Section B-Creative Writing Skills and Grammar 3+5+2
Section C-Literature 20
SECTION A
Q1.READ THE PASSAGE AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW. 5
The outer solar system is the name of the planets beyond the asteroid belt. These planets are
called gas giants because they are made up of gas and ice.
The first stop of our tour is the fifth planet, Jupiter. Jupiter is bigger than three hundred
Earths! It is made up of hydrogen and helium and a few other gases. There are violent wind
storms that circle around Jupiter. The most famous storm is called the Great Red Spot. It has
been churning for more than four hundred years already. At last count, Jupiter has sixty-three
known moons and a faint ring around it too.
Next in our space neighbourhood comes Saturn. It is well-known for the series of beautiful
rings that circle it. They are made up of tiny bits of frozen dirt and ice. Like Jupiter, Saturn is
made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. It is smaller though, at only ninety-five times the
size of Earth. Saturn has sixty-two moons.
The seventh planet, Uranus and its twenty-seven moons orbit very far from the sun. In
addition to helium and hydrogen, Uranus atmosphere also contains ammonia ice and methane
ice. It is a very cold planet, with no internal heat source. One of the strangest things about
Uranus is that it is tipped over and orbits the sun on its side at a ninety-degree angle. The
twenty-seven moons it has orbit from top to bottom, instead of left to right like our moon.
The eighth planet is Neptune. Like Uranus, it is made up of hydrogen, helium, ammonia ice
and methane ice. But unlike Uranus, Neptune does have an inner heat source, just like Earth.
It radiates twice as much heat as it receives from the sun. Neptune’s most distinctive quality
is its blue colour. Most of the information we know about it came from the Voyager 2
spacecraft passing close by it in 1989.
Pluto is the last and was considered a planet after its discovery in 1930. In 2006, Pluto was
demoted and reclassified as a dwarf planet. Pluto exists in the Kuiper belt. That’s just a fancy
name for the band of rocks, dust and ice that lies beyond the gas giants. Scientists have found
objects bigger than Pluto in this belt. Thus, the outer solar system has many secrets to
explore.
(i)What is the Great Red Spot?
(ii) How small is Saturn as compared to Jupiter?
(iii) Why are the moons of Uranus peculiar?
(iv) What is Neptune’s unique quality which distinguishes it from other ‘gas giants’?
(v) What may have been the reason that in 2006 Pluto was demoted and reclassified as a
dwarf planet?
Q2.1 READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE. MAKE NOTES ON THE CONTENT OF THE
PASSAGE,USING ABBREVIATIONS.GIVE A SUITABLE TITLE. 5
Q2.2 SUMMARISE THE NOTES IN NOT MORE THAN 50 WORDS
Scientists in the USA and Japan are developing a set of smart materials that clean themselves
off dirt and stains besides eliminating foul odours and dangerous bacteria.
Exploiting powerful catalytic properties, researchers succeeded in creating tiles, glass, paint,
paper and cloth that can keep themselves sparkling clean.
The first item to reach the market, a self-cleaning wall and counter tile, can not only kill
bacteria but also eliminate odours and staining associated with smoke from cooking oils and
cigarettes, reports the journal Technology Review.
The key to the self-cleansing world of the future is the interaction between titanium dioxide
and ultraviolet rays from the sun or fluorescent lights. The special properties of titanium
dioxide—a substance used to make paint and tooth-paste white—were first discovered by
Tokyo University chemist Akira Fujishima and Associates in 1969. Their research showed
that when exposed to solar energy, titanium dioxide has the ability to break down water into
hydrogen and oxygen.
After a quarter-century of observation, scientists now understand that the reaction occurs as
titanium dioxide absorbs energy from the UV band of sunlight and reacts with water vapour
in the air to produce oxygen molecules. These molecules are energetic enough to break down
organic matter into carbon dioxide and trace elements.
“When light shines on the white paint pigment, titanium dioxide, it produces an active form
of oxygen that can burn combustible material at room temperature,” says David Ollis,
Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University. “It is a fire without a
flame.”
Scientists have discovered that titanium dioxide-coated materials can easily remove thin
deposits such as bacteria and fingerprints, though they are unable to break down thick
splotches of organic materials—such as blood stains—because light and oxygen in the air
cannot reach the surface where the reaction occurs.
Fujishima says that when titanium-dioxide tiles were used in the operating rooms and
bathrooms of Ako Central Hospital in Ako, Japan, they killed 99.9 per cent of bacteria on
their surface. Included among them were penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus and other germs
that can cause secondary infections among patients.
The tiles—marketed by Japan’s Toto Corp under the name NeoClean—remain effective even
though they are coated with a layer of titanium dioxide only one micron thick, about one-
fiftieth the diameter of a human hair. Once the fine layer of compound is permanently
affixed—it is commonly sprayed and then baked onto the tile’s surface— the company says it
is resistant to the abrasion of ordinary scrubbing that might be needed for thicker stains.
Moreover, because titanium dioxide acts only as a catalyst for the photochemical reaction, it
theoretically never gets used up.
While cleaning time varies with the thickness of the deposit, Adam Heller, a professor of
Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, says his experiment shows that titanium
dioxide-treated glass removed fingerprints in about two hours. This glass, versions of which
both Heller and Fujishima have developed, could be made reactive on both sides, making it
ideal for everything from sky-scraper windows to car window glass.
The Japanese have tested other titanium dioxide-treated materials as well. Kazuhito
Hashimoto, a chemist at Tokyo University, applied the compound to a porcelain urinal. After
a month, the treated urinal looked sparkling clean while an untreated unit was blotched and
yellowed. Elsewhere, researchers are experimenting to see if the tiles can keep themselves
clean on the walls of heavily polluted car and truck tunnels. And a Japanese paper company
is developing windows and partitions for Japanese houses while a camping equipment
manufacturer is testing a self-cleaning tent fabric.
But the most promising self-cleaning product is likely to be a wash-itself paint. Both the
Texas and the Tokyo laboratories have demonstrated the self-cleaning capacities of paints
containing titanium dioxide. While they are not saying exactly how they did it, both claim to
have overcome an intrinsic problem in which titanium dioxide breaks down materials that
bind pigments in coloured paints
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SECTION B
Q3. Prepare a poster in not more than 50 words on kindness to animals to be displayed
in the city at public places appealing to people to show kindness to animals. You are
Secretary of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Delhi 3
Q4. This summer vacation you are planning to visit Shimla. Write a letter to a travel
agency in Shimla requesting them to book you a room in a five-star hotel. Give other
details of your journey and facilities you require there. Sign your name as Leela Mohan,
C/5, Mall Road, Assam. 5
OR
Q4.Some people feel that electronic media (TV news) will bring about the end of print
media (newspapers). What are your views on the issue? Write a debate in 150-200
words either for or against this view. 5
Q5.REWRITE THE SENTENCES
i. We should not encourage indiscipline.(Begin with Indiscipline….) 1/2
ii. We will not admit children under ten.(End with……..by us) 1/2
iii.Fill in the blanks with suitable words.
(a) ……………….. abbreviation is (b) ……………… shortened form of a word or a group
of words. 1/2+1/2
SECTION C
Q6.Answer any six of the following questions.
i.What did Einstein think of education ? 2
ii. What was Mrs Fitzgerald’s advice to Mrs Pearson after she had put back the
family members in their proper place? 2
iii. In the chapter Birth what was the treatment given to the child? 2
iv. What subjects does Taplow want to opt for and why? 2
v. The earth’s vital signs reveal a patient in declining health.” What are
these ‘vital signs’? 2
vi. Why does the rain call itself ‘impalpable’? 2
vii. Give a pen-portrait of Frank? 2
viii. Who are Elsa and Yuri? What role do they have in the chapter Albert
Einstein in school? 2
Q7.Answer any two of the following questions.
i. The poet has discussed two stages of life in the poem Childhood – childhood and
adulthood. How do we differentiate one from another? 4
ii. Why is the growing population detrimental to the world’s progress? 4
iii. Mrs Fitzgerald’s effort does not go in vain, as the family changes for
the better. Justify. 4
iv. “I’ve done something; oh, God! I’ve done something real at last.” Comment
on the statement from the chapter ‘Birth’ 4