Session Ending Exam, 2021-22
Class-XII
Subject –English Core (301)
Max. Marks 40 Max. Time 2 Hrs
General Instructions:
1. The Question paper contains THREE Sections-READING, WRITING and LITERATURE.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
Part A: Reading
1. Read the passage given below.
Jack and the Giant Pepper
Once there was a boy named Jack. He lived in the forest with his mother and their pet panda bear, Archibald. They were happy, but they were very poor. One day, Mom said, “Dearest Jack, our cash flow is seriously plugged. You’ll have to sell Archibald at the market. Buy food and seeds. This is all we have, so don’t buy any nonsense!”
Jack liked his panda, but he was nearly starved. So he hiked with Archibald through the forest to the market. Suddenly, a little purple man in a shiny silver tweed suit jumped onto the path. His face was a wrinkly old potato, but his eyes were sharp and bright as knifepoints. “Gushing grape juice!” he croaked. “That’s the finest panda in the county! How’d you like to trade it for something magical?” Magical. Jack’s scalp tingled. “Actually, I’m shopping for food and seeds.” “Seeds! How about a real seed?” The man opened his fist, and on his palm a seed sparkled like a ruby. “This seed will grow into the biggest pepper in the world.”
“A giant pepper plant!” Jack said. “I could climb up the vine to the cloud lands where the giant lives! I could steal his treasures and never work again! Wow! It’s a deal, grape man!” Jack traded the panda and ran home with the magic seed. “One seed?” Mom said. “What are we supposed to eat while it grows?”
“Oops,” Jack said. As usual, his belly chose the wrong moment to growl. “Now we really will starve,” Mom said. There was nothing to do but plant the seed. The next morning, the magic plant had already grown! But it wasn’t a giant vine, it was a giant pepper. The plant was normal. The pepper was the size of a house. “Oh, that’s great,” Jack said. “I can’t climb a big pepper to the giant.”
“Sell it,” Mom said. “It won’t fetch as much as the panda, but anything’s better than three months of pepper casserole. I trust you know what to buy this time, son.” So Jack rolled the pepper to market. It was ridiculously heavy, and of course he had to roll it up a big hill. Suddenly, up came the old man. He was riding Archibald. “That pepper for sale?” asked the man. “Not to you,” Jack said.
“Not even for a magic toothbrush?” The old man smiled. His teeth shone like the moon. “How would you like to never brush your teeth again?” Jack hesitated. He did hate brushing his teeth. Then he said, “Sorry, I have this thing about getting humiliated twice by the same purple guy.” The man’s dark eyes narrowed and gleamed. “Young man, I want that pepper.” “Don’t we all,” Jack said. He put his shoulder to the massive pepper. “Give it here!” the man screamed. He leapt from the panda, his fingers gnarled claws tearing at Jack. Jack dodged. The man crashed into the pepper and it rolled away with him down the hill. So Jack rode the panda home. He’d never thought to ride him before.
“Not another panda!” Mom said. But Jack explained everything. “Well, I’m happy to see Archibald,” Mom said, “but we still need cash. You’ll have to sell him. Again.” “I’ve been thinking,” Jack said. “It’s not everyone that has a riding panda. Why don’t we give lessons?” And so they did. All the neighbouring villagers cheerfully shelled out big bucks to learn how to ride a panda. From then on, Jack had plenty of money. And he never saw the purple old man again.
Answer the following questions: –
i. How long did it take the magic pepper to grow?
ii. Describe the old man’s appearance.
iii. What problem did Mom point out with Jack’s plan to buy the magic seed, grow a huge plant, and climb it to raid the giant’s house?
iv. Did Mom instantly recognize Archibald when Jack brought him back? Explain how you know.
v. How did the old man exit Jack’s life?
vi. Why doesn’t Jack trade in the pepper for the magic toothbrush?
vii. What could you think that Jack’s mother plans ahead?
viii. Do you think Jack and his mother really were happy together?
ix. Heroes often have a main defect they struggle with throughout the story. What is Jack’s main defect, and does he beat it?
2. Read the passage given below: –
GOLD FOUND IN CALIFORNIA
Every morning, James Marshall, who lived and built saw mills in the Mexican territory known as California, walked along the millrace and studied the wheel of the sawmill he had constructed. He wanted to be able to tell the mill’s owner, John Sutter, when the water in the race was deep and swift enough to turn the mill’s wheel.
On the morning of January 24, 1848, Marshall noticed something unusual in one of the deep pools along the bank. Under the clear water lay a yellow lump: a gold-colored, chewed-up piece of rock, sitting on top of a smooth and flat rock. He reached into the cold water and snatched up the strange rock. Then he stood by the bank, pondering what his next step should be. Was it really gold? James Marshall knew several tests for gold, but only one such test could be conducted there by the riverbank. Marshall decided to perform this one simple test. He laid the stone on a smooth rock, and then he picked up another rock that he felt would make a good hammer. He hammered at the gold-colored lump. He noticed that it did not break, but careful inspection showed that it had changed shape.
He put the lump in his pocket and took it to the mill. There the mill crew conducted another test. They placed the lump on an anvil and beat it with a hammer. When the lump flattened but did not become fragmented, the mill crew knew that the lump was not iron pyrite, also known as fools’ gold. Three more tests were used in order to ascertain the exact composition of that gold lump. The mill cook threw it into a kettle of lye, where it was boiled for a day. The prolonged boiling did not change the lump’s colour: it remained the colour of gold. John Sutter, the mill’s owner, was shown the lump on January 28, 1848, five days before his land became part of the United States.
He performed two different tests on the gold-colored lump. After the first test, John Sutter observed that nitric acid did not damage the lump’s appearance. Then he placed the lump on a scale. Its weight showed that it was much denser than silver. John Sutter and James Marshall were then sure that they had in their possession a gold nugget. They decided to keep the find a secret, and they told the mill crew to keep quiet about the news.
However, one mill hand wrote to his friends about his own efforts at gold mining. A storeowner overheard another mill hand bragging about a piece of gold he kept in a small buckskin bag. When a deliveryman got a look at a handful of gold dust, shown to him by a small boy at the mill, the arrival of a California Gold Rush was almost unavoidable. Its occurrence was made a certainty with the publication of a San Francisco news headline reading “GOLD MINE FOUND.” Over ninety percent of the people in San Francisco took off in the direction of Sutter’s Mill.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
i. What is one test for gold that requires little extra equipment?
ii. John Sutter tested the nugget with nitric _______________ and with a __________.
iii. Compulsory question Matching:
SECTION – B (ADVANCED WRITING SKILLS)
3. You are Sharon/Shan. You have been invited to attend the wedding of your friend’s sister during summer Vacation. Respond to the invitation regretting your inability to attend it.
4. Attempt ANY ONE from A and B given below
A. You are Mudit/Manasi working as a newspaper Reporter for The Times of India, New Delhi. Yesterday, you were invited to attend a press conference convened by the Union Minister for Human Resources Development on the proposed changes in the examination pattern for the present class X, to bring about a stress free education system in the country. It is called CCE i.e. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Write a Report for publication in your paper covering the government’s proposals in 120-150 words.
OR
B. You are Suresh/Smita. You come across the following advertisement in a national daily. You consider yourself suitable and eligible for the post. Write an application using 120-150 words in response to the advertisement given below:
Applications are invited for the post of a Nursery Teacher in a reputed school of Delhi. The candidate must have at least 05 years’ experience of teaching tiny-tots. The applicant must have a pleasant personality. He/she should be creative and innovative. Attractive salary. Interested candidates should apply to The Principal, AKS International, Indirapuram, New Delhi within 10 days with detailed resume.
SECTION – C (LITERATURE)
5. Attempt ANY FIVE of the six questions given below, within 40 words each.
a) The crofter can be called as a good host. Give Reason.
b) Why did Gandhiji agree to the British Landlords’ offer of just 25% refund of the compensation to the farmers of Champaran?
c) What does the reference ‘simple sheep’ symbolize?
d) Why did Roger Skunk go in the search of the wizard?
e) Do you think Evans’ statement, ‘I may surprise everybody,” has some special significance?
f) How does Lamb try to remove the baseless fears of Derry?
6. Answer ANY TWO of the following in about 120-150 words each.
A) After reading the story ‘The Rattrap’, you feel that moral virtues can change a person’s life. These play a vital role in the moral and spiritual development of a human-being. ‘An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.’ It is through fellow-feeling, love, compassion and trust in others that can help reform the society. Write a paragraph on ‘ways to reform a wayward personality’ in about 120-150 words.
B) Why did Gandhiji consider freedom from fear more important than legal justice for peasants of Champaran?
C) Comment on the moral value of the play “On The Face of It”.