SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER (2019-20)
ENGLISH- Language and Literature (code 184)
CLASS-X
Time allowed: 3 Hrs Maximum Marks: 80
General Instructions:
1.This Paper is divided into three sections. All questions are compulsory.
2. Separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and follow them.
3. Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.
Section: A 20 Marks
Q.1 Read the Passage carefully. (1*8=8)
Asteroids
The earth is occasionally hit by craggy remnants of creation known as asteroids. About 150 are known to cross the earth’s path. These lie in a loose belt between the Mars and Jupiter like so much rubble left over from creation. The first asteroid was too faint to be seen by the naked eye. It was discovered by an Italian monk named Guiseppi Piazzi, 5 working at an observatory in Palermo, Sicily. The largest found so far is about 8 km wide.
A very big asteroid can explode with the force of a thousand hydrogen bombs lofting ample pulverized rock and dust at a speed of 26 km a second to block most sunlight. Agriculture and a big part of the society may be crippled and probably billions of people may die because of starvation. Darkness, as well as cold, may prevail for months
“The risk is real”, Dr David Morrison of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Ames Research Centre in California, who was co-chairman of the study by nearly 100 scientists, said in an interview. Dr Morrison further says that 15 the asteroid threat has dawned on scientists only slowly and is hard for the layman to comprehend. But the unambiguous fact, he said, is that mankind lives in a kind of cosmic shooting gallery.
Dr Morrison says that there are clues of the asteroids in a large number of impact craters found throughout the solar system by robot spacecraft explain mg planets. There are numerous craters found by geologists on the earth also. Some 130 have been 20 discovered with the list growing by five or six a year. The largest crater, which is in Ontario, is 198 km from rim to rim.
The new awareness of asteroid impacts has increased the appreciation of close encounters and mysterious events. In 1908 in the Tunguska region of Siberia a cosmic object that never reached the earth’s surface exploded in the atmosphere with a force of some hydrogen bombs. The resulting shock wave flattened hundreds of square miles of forest. Scientists now calculate the object was perhaps a mere 38 m in diameter.
On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions as briefly as possible. Write your answers in the spaces provided. (1*8=8)
(a) Asteroids are the cosmic killers because …
(b) If an asteroid strikes the earth, it …
(c) According to Dr David Morrison, there is a possibility of an asteroid hitting the earth because …
(d) The striking of the earth by the asteroids is supported by
(e) Find a word from lines 1-10 which means ‘things that remain.
(f) According to Alvarez, dinosaurs died 65 million years ago because of …
(g) Find a word from lines 10-20 which means ‘understand’.
(h) The third paragraph opens with ‘the risk is real’. What is the ‘risk’ involved?
Q.2 Read the Passage carefully. (12)
JOURNEY
One day a traveller was walking along a road on his journey from one village to another. As he walked he noticed a monk tending the ground in the fields beside the road. The monk said “Good day” to the traveller, and the traveller nodded to the monk. The traveller then turned to the monk and said: “Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?” Not at all,” replied the monk. “I am travelling from the village in the mountains to the village in the valley and I was wondering if you knew what it is like in the village in the valley?”
“Tell me,” said the monk, “What was your experience of the village in the mountains?”
“Dreadful,” replied the traveller, “to be honest I am glad to be away from there. I found the people most unwelcoming. When I first arrived I was greeted coldly. I was never made to feel part of the village no matter how hard I tried. The villagers keep very much to themselves, they don’t take kindly to strangers. So tell me, what can I expect in the village in the valley?”
“I am sorry to tell you,” said the monk, “but I think your experience will be much the same there”.
The traveller hung his head despondently and walked on. A while later another traveller was journeying down the same road and he also came upon the monk. “I’m going to the village in the valley,” said the second traveller, “Do you know what it is like?” “I do,” replied the monk “But first tell me – where have you come from?” “I’ve come from the village in the mountains.” “And how was that?” Oh! My experience was great. The people there are very friendly, helpful and welcoming. They made me feel at home. Rather when I was ready to leave many of them wanted me to stay for some more days. On the whole, I had a wonderful time there.
The monk replied, “You will find this village also to be the same as the previous one” “Thank you”, said the traveller.
2.1 Read the given questions and write the answer in about 30-40 words. (2*4=8)
1.What did the traveller ask the monk and why?
2. How was the traveller treated by the people of the village?
3. Why did the monk tell him that the other village would be similar?
4. How was the second traveller different from the first one?
2.2Choose the word which is closest in meaning to the words given below. (1*4=4)
(a) Tending
(i) to keep (ii) to take care
(iii) to attend (iv) to water
(b) Wondering
(i) thinking (ii) worried
(iii) disturbing (iv) believing
(c) Dreadful
(i) scary (ii) saddening
(iii) boring (iv) frightening
(d) Despondently
(i) feeling happy (ii) feeling sad
(iii) feeling hopeless (iv) feeling crazy
Section: B 30 Marks
Q.3 As a manager, St. Tuka Ram School, Rohtak, place an order for school furniture. The name of the firm is M/s ‘Ma Durga Furniture Mart’, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi. (8)
OR
Video games, Internet, Cell Phones and other high-tech gears are just part of growing up in a digital world. But parents are concerned about the amount of time their children spend with these and worry that it might be distracting and cramping academic and social development. Using your own ideas and those taken from the unit Science, write an article in about 180 words, describing both the benefits and harms of using these high-tech devices.
Q.4 There was a greedy goat. She wanted to eat everything she saw. One day she saw a sweet lying in the middle of the road. She was tempted to eat it. Her mind warned her that it was risky as the sweet was lying in the middle of the road with no one to be seen around. But she could not overcome her greed and pounce at the sweet. Suddenly,_______________.(10)
Q.5 Complete the following passage by choosing the most appropriate options from the ones given below (1*4=4)
When the first grey light (a) _____ the day came, I got up. Very slowly, I (b) _____ downstairs. Sometimes, a stair (c) _____ under me. “Stop thief!” It seemed to say. At other times, it seemed to say, “Wake up, Mrs. Joe!” I reached the (d) _____. This held more food than it usually did. This was because it was Christmas Day and Uncle Pumblechook was coming for dinner.
(a) (i) off (ii) of (iii) with (iv) by
(b) (i) crept (ii) creep (iii) was creeping (iv) go
(c) (i) shrieked (ii) shouted (iii) squealed (iv) creaked
(d) (i) dormitory (ii) latch (iii) pantry (iv) attic
Q.6 The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line against which a blank is given. Write the incorrect word and the correction in the space provided. Remember to underline the word that you have supplied. (1*4=4)
Incorrect Correct
On the way back, one of his men fall, into e.g., fall fell
a coma. Soon, a blizzard hit him. Scott was (a) _______ _________
left with none other alternative but to pitch his
(b) _______ _________
tent and waiting for the blizzard to pass. (c) _______ _________
Unfortunately the blizzard grown fiercer. (d) _______ _________
Q.7 Rearrange the following words and phrases to form meaningful sentences. The first one has been done for you as an example. (1*4=4)
(a )the/ keep/ fit/ exercise/ oneself/ to/is/ key
(b) into/ can/ exercise/ activity/ incorporate/ any/ one
(c) combined/must/ diet/ proper/ with/ a / exercise/ be
(d) born/ 27 June/ 1880 Helen Keller/ in Tuscumbia/ on/ was
Section: C 30 Marks
Q.8 Read the extract given below and answers the questions that follow. (1*4=4)
Ausable moved to an armchair and sat down heavily. “I’m going to raise the devil with the management this time, and you can bet on it,” he said grimly. “This is the second time in a month that somebody has got into my room through that nuisance of a balcony!” Fowler’s eyes went to the single window of the room. It was an ordinary window, against which now the night was pressing blackly.
(a) Why was Ausable disturbed?
(b) What did he complain of?
(c) What story did Ausable cook up to confuse Max?
(d) When do you think Ausable thought up his plan for getting rid of Max?
OR
Coorg regiment is one of the most decorated in the Indian Army, and the first Chief of the Indian Army, General Cariappa was a Coorgi. Even now, Kodavus are the only people in India permitted to carry firearms without a licence.
(a) How is the Coorgi regiment decorated?
(b) What does the above information tell us about Corgis?
(c) Who was the first Coorgi to become the chief of the Indian army?
(d) What is peculiar about their regiment?
Q.9 Answer any five of the following questions in 30 to 40 words each. (2*5=10)
a.Describe Bholi’s feelings when her teacher assured to make her the most learned in her village.
b. How did the children’s book transform his life?
c. Describe the wildlife of Coorg.
d. Describe the havoc created by Mijbil on the aeroplane when it came out of the box.
e. How did Valli react when she saw the dead cow by the roadside?
f. What did Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring?
Q10. Describe the fight between the dragon and the pirate. (8)
OR
Describe how Chubukov got Natalya married with Lomov.
Q11.’Success is failure turned inside out’. Prove the above statement with instances from the journey taken by Richard Albright from losing at the science fair to winning at the international fair. (8)
OR
How did crafty and foxy Max fail to take away the all-important report concerning some new missiles from Ausable? Or How did Ausable outsmart and outwit the crafty Max and got rid of him?
