Q1. A. Read the following extract and answer the following questions.

It was Dave’s sister Barbara, however, who steeled herself to be his toughest taskmaster.
Even the time he’d left his Braille watch upstairs and asked her to retrieve it, she’d said, “Get it
yourself. What do you think – that somebody’s always going to be around to wait on you?”

So David grew up considering blindness no tragedy – just an exasperating bother – and

feeling he could do anything he set his mind to. Then at 13, he announced that he was going to be
a doctor and unable to see the rueful headshakes that greeted this childish roclamation, he began
preparing for his career. He insisted on leaving the local blind school, and enrolled at Havertown’s
high school. He got good marks, won a place on the wrestling team, and was elected vice –
president of the students council.

Still, as impressive as his accomplishments were, they had always fallen into the realm
possibility. But David’s ambition to become a doctor, a psychiatrist, was not in that realm, his
family believed. So, after seeing him off to college, the Hartmans felt they had not been frank
enough with Dave, and they were afraid he was heading for grief.

At college, Hartman’s faculty advisers tried to reason with him. “Why not settle for
something more within your capabilities, like history or psychology?” suggested biology professor
Ralph Cavaliere.

1. What was the belief of David’s family? (1)

2. How did David consider his blindness? (1)
3. Why did Professor Ralph Cavaliere suggest that David should settle for
History or Psychology? (2)
4. Why did the Hartmans feel that David “was heading for grief”? (2)
5. Do you feel Barbara was justified in being David’s toughest taskmaster”?
(3)
6. Give the opposites of the following (1)
a. Impressive b. frank
7. Give Adjective forms of (1)
a. Accomplishment b. possibility

Q1. B. Read the following passage and answer the following question.

I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms. I returned
Coke bottles for the cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk seven miles
across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at theHare Krishna
Temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and
intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Here’s one example: Reed College
offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the county. Because I had
dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a
calligraphy class. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about what makes
great typography great.
 1. Why did the narrator decide to take a calligraphy class? (1)
2. What is the narrator’s approach to life? (1)
3. What hardships did the narrator go through? (2)
4. Describe how the narrator has used his knowledge of calligraphy. (2)
5. Do you take a decision following you intuition? (3)
6. Pick out words/ phrases which mean the following (2)
a. Become involved in something by chance.
b. Particular size and style of a set of printed letters.
c. Desire to know.
d. Immediate insight.

Q1. C. Read the following passage and answer the following questions.

I didn’t mind vegetable shopping, specially since I loved the old Dhobi Talao
market and was on first – name terms with the vendors. I still enjoy buying plump,
fresh vegetables and bantering with the sellers. I picked the veggies with utmost
care, making sure the brinjals were not too soft or spotted; the bhindis were firm
and green, the palak crisp and alert. Looking for groceries was another matter. My
parents preferred to patronize just one store – the government controlled Sahakari
Bhandar. Nothing wrong with that – or the store. But being government controlled
meant just one thing – long queues for every little item, and dozens of little bills.
I’d spend more time paying for a bar of soap that I would have if I was buying half
the store.

I tried to circumvent the problem by sneakily making similar small purchases

from a privately owned shop closer to home, I got caught each time. I tried
arguing, ‘But what difference does it make? It’s the sake bar of soap, the same
toothpaste, the same talcum powder.’
 1. What according to the writer, were the problems of purchasing from a
Sahakari Bhandar?(1)
2. Give reason: “I didn’t mind vegetable shopping.” (1)
3. Why was the writer angry with her mother’s argument? (2)
4. Write two sentences of your own to describe the writer’s shopping. (2)
5. Do you agree with the writer as she refers to “value of time” in the context of
the text? (3)
6. Give noun forms of the following adding suffixes.
a. Enjoy b. prefer c. circumvent d. argue

Q2. A. Read the following poem and answer the following questions. (8 marks)

DON’T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must --- but don’t you quit,
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow---
1. Pick out at leastYou might
two succeed
situations with another
mentioned in theblow.
poem for a person to lose his
her confidence.
2. How does the poet advise the reader to come out of a difficult situation?
3. Do you easily feel frustrated enough to give up?
4. Explain the figure of speech in the given sentence “When funds are low and
the debts are high”
5. What type of poem is this?
Q2. B. Read the following poem and answer the following questions. (8 marks)

1. How does the boy ask the moon to give him a basketful of moonlight?
2. Name one personal problems of the boy and one general problem of all the
villagers, as indicated by the village boy in the poem?
3. Can you identify yourself with the problems of the boy in the poem?
4. What is the poetic device used by the poet to make the village – boy talk to
the moon?
5. Discuss the technique of the poet to handle some of the problems of the
Indian village.
BASKETFUL OF MOONLIGHT
From the city to my village
on the side of the path
I want to sow many
Small, small moons of light,
The whole village goes to the city
daily to work.
It becomes dark on its way back
As my village is quite far.
The route is tough and full of
snakes and scorpions.
Neither bus nor cart plies.
When my father returns home
I am asleep.
And he goes back early in the morning
While I am sleeping
O moon
Give me a basketful of moonlight
On loan.
I want to light the dark route
So that my father returns early.
I too want to hear fairy tales.
Q2. C. Read the following poem and answer the following questions. (8 marks)
1. How does the poet feel about the homeliness of the house?
2. How is the ‘neighbourliness’ in a city?
3. Do you feel the poet is justified in dropping tears?
4. Pick out an example of ‘Pun’ from the extract and explain it.
5. Describe the poet’s life in a ‘flat’.
 Now apartments decorate the city
Closed doors of neighbour’s live-ins
Bonsai – cacti thrive in pots within
But neighbourliness has, sadly,
Now become history!
Now my house has also moved into a flat
And I too have become
Somewhat flat
The homeliness of the house
Tended in the niche of heart
So deeply
Is not only history!
Sometimes as I turn
The pages of history
The drops of tears that well up
Suddenly
Will also in all probability
Someday become history!

Q3. Writing Skill

1. Write a short tourist leaflet on any place of Hill station, with the help of the
following points. (4)
a. How to go there.
b. Where to stay
c. Main attraction of the place.
d. Any thing special about the place.
e. Add you own points.
2. Write a letter on any one of the following.
a. Write a letter to concerned authority regarding irregular water supply in
your area. (4)
b. Write a letter to the Police Commissioner requesting him to take stern
actions against the anti – social activities in your locality. (4)
3. Write a report on any one of the following headlines.
a. 3 masked men shot bank manager. (4)
b. 30 school children affected by contaminated food. (4)
4. Prepare a speech to be delivered on blood donation. (4)
5. Write an essay on any one of the following topic. (7)
a. If I were the Prime Minister of India
b. If I were a Principle of a college
c. Use of satellite in modern world
d. Mobile Phones