SHERWOOD HIGH

UNIT TEST JULY 2022

NAME: DATE:18.07.2022
CLASS: X SEC: TIME: 1hr.
SUBJECT: ENGLISH LITERATURE MARKS: 40
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The time given at the head of the paper is the time allotted for writing the answers.
The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [].
Attempt all questions.
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Section A
The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare.
Question 1
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

PORTIA: I would detain you here some month

or two,
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;
So will I never be: so may you miss me;
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn, Beshrew your eyes,
They have o 'erlook'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And so, all yours; O! these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights;
And so, though yours, not yours.

a. In what way does Portia show that she is more fond of Bassanio than the other two suitors who [3]
had attempted the choice of caskets?
b. How, and what riSk Antonio helped Bassanio and at What riSk? [3]
c. What does Portia means by, "I would detain you here some month or two/Before you venture
for me"? Why does she speak in this manner? [4]

Question 2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Shylock: I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond;

I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond
Thou call'dst me dog before thou had'st a course
But since I am a dog, beware my fangs, The Duke shall grant me justice.
 a. What does Shylock ask the jailer to do? Give two reasons from the extract to justify
why Shylock was against Antonio? [3]
b. How does this short scene show the determination of Shylock to extract the penalty as
stipulated in the bond? [3]
c. Describe briefly your understanding of this scene. [4]

Section B
Poem – Treasure Trove
Question 3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

a. Who has been referred to as a free bird in the poem ? Why ? How does the poetess
describe the world of nature. [3]
b. What do words ‘orange sun rays’ and ‘dip his wing’ signify? [3]
c. What kind ofpeople does the free bird symbolise ? What kind of opportunity does
the free bird and free people have? [4]

Section C
Short Stories – Treasure Trove

Question 4
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
She had been wearing slippers, it is true, when she left home, but what good were they? They had been
her mother's, so you can imagine how big they were. The little girl had lost them as she ran across the
street to escape from two carriages that were being driven terribly fast. One slipper could not be found,
and a boy had run off with the other, saying that it would come in very handy as a cradle some day when
he had children of his own.

a. What type of weather has been described in this extract? In what condition was the little child
moving in the streets? [3]
b. How could you make out that the girl belonged to a poor family? Why was the poor child
walking barefoot? [3]
c. What has happened to her slippers? Why were they of no use for her? [4]
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