Model Test 1(E1) ; HSC 2025

1. Read the following passage and answer the questions A and B.

My name is Amerigo. I am 13 years old and I live on the street, alone. My mother who is separated from my father,
doesn’t want me. She told me to go away —. Now she is married to another man. My father lives far away. I waited to
go to him, but he wouldn’t take me either, I begged him to send me some money to buy a bus ticket. I am still waiting.
He hasn't answered.
The streets are now my home. Sometimes I find work. I used to collect trash and sell it to a vendor. I stopped doing
that after I had a serious infection and a doctor told me to stay away from the trash dump. Once I worked for an ice
cream shop owner and sold ice cream on the beach. But I got no money in return. The shop owner gave me something
to eat, and let me sleep in his hut at night. The work was difficult and painful. The ice cream box is quite heavy when
it is full. I had to walk for hours, offering my ice cream to whoever wanted to buy it. There were days when I could not
even sell one ice cream.
In a way, I am lucky because I am alive. My friends who work sorting rubbish in dumps often suffer from serious
diseases. One of them was recently killed after he fell into a hole that opened up in the pile of trash. Many of us work
for 10 to 12 hours and get so little in return that we can't even buy food.
Shoe-shining is very popular among the street kids. A few of my friends also work in factories and workshops. A boy I
know lost one of his eyes at the glass factory where he worked. The owner refused to pay for medical help and fired
him.
For me, like all other children on the street, it is very hard. I am always hungry, and I don't know where I will sleep the
next night. I want to live in my own home and sleep there in peace. The nights are very cold in the winter. You can die
of cold in the street.

A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives. 1´5 = 5

a. Who want/ wants to take Amerigo with?
i) his father ii) his mother
iii) his parents iv) none of them
b. The word 'begged' in the passage refers to ¾.
i) wanted ii) requested
iii) denied iv) needed
c. The best synonym for "painful" is ¾.
i) peaceful ii). appealing
iii) afflicting iv) rightful
d. The sleeping place at night for Amerigo is ¾.
i) certain ii). uncertain
iii) comfortable iv) fixed
e. The owner of the ice cream shop gave Amerigo ¾.
i) food ii). lodging
iii) food and lodging iv) a little wage

B. Answer the following questions. 2´5=10

(a) Who is Amerigo?
(b) How is his relationship with his parents?
(c) Why did he stop selling ice cream?
(d) What happened to a boy Amerigo knew?
(e) What should our society do for the street children for their betterment?
2. Read the following text and make a flow chart showing the importance of the Hakaluki Haor. (One is done for you.)
2´5=10
Hakaluki Haor is one of the major wetlands of Bangladesh. The Haor system provides a wide range of economic and
non-economic benefits to the local people as well as to the people of Bangladesh. These include fish production, rice
production, cattle and buffalo rearing, duck rearing, collection of reeds and grasses, and collection of aquatic and other
plants. The Haor system also protects the lower floodplains from flash floods occurring in the months of April-May,
maintains the supply of fish in other lower water bodies, and provides habitat for migratory and local waterfowl birth.

1. Providing economic benefits

’ 2 ’ 3 ’ 4 ’ 5 ’ 6
3. Summarize the following passage. 10
Beauty is easy to appreciate but difficult to define. As we look around, we discover beauty in pleasurable objects and
sights - in nature, in the laughter of children, and in the kindness of strangers. But when asked to define, we run into
difficulties. Does beauty have an independent objective identity? Is it universal, or is it dependent on our sense
perceptions? Does it lie in the eye of the beholder? ¾ we ask ourselves. A further difficulty arises when beauty
manifests itself not only by its presence but by its absence as well, as when we are repulsed by ugliness and desire
beauty. But then ugliness has as much a place in our lives as beauty, or maybe more as an important part of life, but
isn't ugliness a part of life too? And if art has beauty as an important ingredient, can it confine itself only to a projection
of beauty? Can art ignore what is not beautiful?

4. Fill in the gaps with a suitable word from the box. There are more words in the box than you need. (Make any
grammatical changes if necessary). 0.5´10=5
Fill Danger Escape Destroy
Curse Suffer Civilian Tragic
Confined Innocent Brutal Led
War is a (a) ¾ for human civilization. In ancient times, war was (b) ¾ only to the warriors. But at present, all people
both (c) ¾ and military have to (d) ¾ the pangs of war. Nobody can (e) ¾ from the bombers of the enemies. Rich
cities, fields (f) ¾ with green corn, and beautiful places are (g) ¾ to ruins. Even the (h) ¾ citizens have to die a (i) ¾
death. Men, women, boys, girls, and children all are (j) ¾ killed without any reason.

5. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate word in each gap. 1´10=10
All of us know what a dream is. Generally, we dream during our sleep. Dreams may appear to be short or long-lasting.
Some dreams are sweet or (a) ¾. Some are horrible. When we dream of something extremely bad, we call it a (b) ¾.
This is interesting that dreams have no (c) ¾. They are soft, (d) ¾ and (e) ¾. Do you know how the words (f) ¾ and
(g) ¾ differ from dream? Do you know any (h) ¾? What do they do? Does dream have any relation with (i) ¾? Do we
always dream during our sleep? The dream we have during the daytime is called (j) ¾. Sometimes we long for
something so passionately. We call that a dream as well.

6. Rearrange the following sentences to make a coherent order. 10

a) So, he was not to be fooled so easily.
b) The master came to have his meal and noticed one of the legs missing.
c) He said there was no one-legged duck.
d) The cook was very stubborn.
e) The cook could not check his temptation so he ate up one of the drumsticks.
f) The cook was more than clever and he replied that it was a one-legged duck.
g) He asserted that this very duck had only one leg.
h) He asked what had happened to the other leg.
i) Once a cook roasted a duck for his master and it looked very delicious.
j) The master was also very clever.

Prepared by: Istiak Uddin Sajib; B.A.(Hons.), M.A.(English), JNU, B.Ed. (NU);
Contact no. +8801723-910420