AHSEC| CLASS 11| ENGLISH| QUESTION PAPER - 2023| H.S. 1ST YEAR
2023
ENGLISH
Full Marks: 90
Pass Marks: 27
Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate
full marks for the questions
SECTION-A
(Reading)
1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follow:
I got into the
coach. It drove away. At last, I reached London in the morning. There one of
the masters of the school was waiting for me. His name was Mr. Mell. I said
that I had had no breakfast.
“We will buy
some food”, said Mr. Mell. “I have to visit an old lady; you may eat it at her
house.”
We walked a
short distance and came to some alms-houses. These are small houses built by
some rich men for very poor people to live in. Mr. Mell went into one of these
houses.
“My Charley!” said
the woman. She was Mr. Mell’s mother. We sat down and ate breakfast. Afterwards
the old woman said, “Have you got your whistle, Charley?”
He took out a whistle
and began to play a very sad tune. I have never heard anyone play worse.
We went back and
got into another coach. It drove away and we came at last to Blackheath.
We walked a
short distance and came to a high brick wall. Over a door in this wall there
was a board with SALEM HOUSE written upon it.
The door was
opened by a man with a wooden leg.
“The new boy”,
said the master.
Salem House was
a square, sad-looking brick building. I was led into a schoolroom-the saddest
and emptiest place I have ever seen. It was a long room with three long lines
of desks in it. Bits of paper lay on the floor. The walls were covered with ink
as if a rain of ink had come through the roof and there was strange unpleasant
small in the air. For some days I was alone in the place with Mr. Mell. The
boys had not come back yet from the holidays; and Mr. Creaked, the headmaster,
was away at the sea. I had my meals with Mr. Mell. He wrote, and when he had
finished writing he pulled out his whistle and played sad tunes on it. I read,
or listened to the whistle, and cried myself to sleep when i went to bed at
night in a big room with many empty beds in it.
Questions:
(a) When does
the speaker reach London? 1
(b) By what name
does Mr. Mell’s mother call him? 1
(c) At which
place do the speaker and Mr. Mell arrive at last? 1
(d) Who opens
the door at Salem House? 1
(e) What are alms-houses?
2
(f) Give a brief
description of Salem House. 2
(g) What did Mr.
Mell do after he had finished eating with the speaker? 2
(h) Pick out
words from the passage that mean the following: 1x2=2
(i) Scent
(ii) Vacation
2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions
that follow:
1. Indian
society is old and it is extremely complex. According to a popular estimate it has
covered a span of five thousand years the period of its first known civilization.
During this long period several waves of immigrants, representing different
ethnic strains and linguistic families, have merged into its population to
contribute to its diversity, richness, and vitality.
2. Several
different levels of social evolution coexist in contemporary India: primitive
hunters and food gatherers; shifting cultivators who used digging sticks and hoes
(not ploughs and draft cattle); nomads of different types (breeders of goats,
sheep, and cattle; itinerant traders; and artisans and craftsmen); settled
agriculturists who used the plough for cultivation; artisans, and landed as
aristocracies of ancient lineage. Most of the major religions of the world-Hinduism,
Islam, Christianity, Buddhism-are found here, and in addition there is a bewildering
variety of cults and sects with different orientations in belief and ritual. In
the process of its evolution, Indian society has acquired a composite culture,
characterised by stable patterns of pluralism.
3. It is
difficult to identify the earliest inhabitants of India. Not surprisingly, there
are no written records about them because at that time writing had not been
invented. The oral tradition of the people is also not of much help, for later
additions and subtractions render it unreliable as a guide to history. The evidence
of prehistory is more dependable, though it can rarely tell the whole story.
Many of the minute details of life cannot survive the ravages of time. We now know
that early human activity in India goes back to the second Inter-Glacial
period, between 400,000 and 200,000 BC.
Questions:
(a) On the basis
of your reading of the above passage, make note on it and add a suitable title
to it. 5
(b) Make a
summary of the above passage in about 80 words. 3
SECTION – B
(Writing)
3. You are the Cultural Secretary of your school/ college
and planning to organize a cultural programme on the occasion of Golden Jubilee
of your school/ college, in the second week of April. Write, in about 100
words, how you are going to organize it. 6
Or
Your school/
college observed ‘Lachit Divas’ on 24th November. Many students and teachers
took part in the celebration. Prepare a report on how the celebration took
place. (Maximum 100 words) 6
4. Write a speech to be delivered at the morning assembly of
your school/ college on the topic, The Importance of Physical Exercise’. 6
Or
Write an article
for your school/ college magazine on The importance of proper use of smart
phones’.
5. You are Deepa/ Dilip. You have seen an advertisement in a
regional newspaper for the post of a Manager at Kaziranga Resort, Kaziranga.
Write an application to the concerned authority in response to the advertisement
stating your qualification and experiences. 8
Or
Write a letter
to the Editor of The Assam Tribune drawing attention of the authorities
concerned to the insufficient supply of pure drinking water in your locality. 8
SECTION – C
(Grammar)
6. (a) Fill in the blank with suitable determiners given
in the brackets: 1/2x2=1
(i) She spent
_______rupees her mother had given her. (few/ a few/ the few)
(ii) Do you have
________complaint against me? (any/ some)
(b) Rewrite
the following sentences with the correct forms of the verbs given in the brackets:
1/2x2=1
(i) She (suffer)
from fever since the day before yesterday.
(ii) The play
(start) before we reached the stadium.
(c) Fill in
the blanks with appropriate modal auxiliaries (the sense of the sentences is
indicated in the brackets): 1/2x2=1
(i) You
________not steal. (Command)
(ii) I ________help
you as far as possible. (Willingness)
(d) Correct
the following: 1/2x2=1
(i) The cricket
team returned back to India yesterday.
(ii) He took his
sheeps to graze.
7. (a) Complete the following piece of conversation by
choosing the correct alternatives from the brackets: 2
Ankita said to his
mother, “Mother, I ______ (have/ had) finished my homework. May I go to Anju’s
house?” Her mother replied, “No, you _______ (should/ would) not.” Ankita said
again, “No, I _____(must/ may) see her.” Ankita’s mother replied, “In that
case, you can go. But you _________ (can/ must) come back before it is dark.”
(b) Rewrite
the following sentences as directed: 1x2=2
(i) I am
responsible for what I do. (Make it a simple sentence)
(ii) All glittering
things are not gold. (Make it a complex sentence)
8. Rearrange the words in the following to form meaningful
sentences: 1x2=2
(a) began to/
the station/ cards/ the train/ when/ play/ whistled off/ we/ from.
(b) of smoke/
outside/ a ring/ there/ curling/ the kitchen/ out of/ was/ the chimney.
SECTION – D
(Textual Questions)
9. Read any one of the stanzas given below and answer the
questions that follow:
(a) And who art
thou? Said I to the soft-falling shower, which, strange to tell, gave me an
answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of
Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable
out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to
heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether changed, and yet the same,
(i) To whom
does the speaker address? 1
(ii) Who says,
“I am the Poem of Earth”? 1
(iii) Why is the
sea called ‘bottomless’? 1
(iv) Who goes ‘Upward
to heaven’? 1
(v) What is
the meaning of ‘Eternal I rise impalpable’? 4
Or
(b) When did my
childhood go?
Was it the day I
ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I
realized that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be
found in Geography,
And therefore
could not be,
Was that the
day!
(i) What is
the speaker asking about his childhood? 1
(ii) At what
age, did the poet’s childhood go, according to the poet? 1
(iii) What
cannot be found in Geography? 1
(iv) What does
the poet discover about Heaven and Hell? 1
(v) Explain
the main thought of the above stanza. 4
10. Answer any two of the following questions: 3x2=6
(a) What does
the word ‘cardboard’ refer to in the poem, A Photograph?
(b) Why did the
poet’s mother laugh at the snapshot?
(c) How is the
cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem, The Voice of the Rain?
(d) What are the
functions of rain?
(e) What is the
father’s problem in the poem, Father to Son?
(f) How does the
father try to improve the situation of tenson and silence between the father
and son?
(g) Write about
the hypocrisy of the adults mentioned in the poem, Childhood.
(h) What does
the expression ‘producing thoughts that were not those of other people’ mean?
11. Answer any five of the following questions: 2x5=10
(a) Give a pen
picture of the narrator’s grandfather as he appeared in the portrait.
(b) Why did the
narrator’s grandmother give the impression of ‘winter landscape in the
mountains’?
(c) Find out the
correlations of Yin and Yang in other cultures.
(d) What is
lacking in Shanshui?
(e) What is
propagated by the concept of sustainable development?
(f) Why is the
growing population worldwide detrimental to the earth’s health?
(g) What does
Verrier Elwin say about the hospitality of the Assamese people?
(h) What are
Verrier Elwin’s views about Assamese women’s sense of colour?
12. (a) “It has been well said that forests precede
mankind; deserts follow.” Explain. 6
Or
(b) Write, in
your own words, about the author’s life with his grandmother at their village
home. 6
13. (a) Give a brief account of Ranga’s education,
his views on marriage, and how he finally got married. 6
Or
(b) Explain the
cause of conflict between the history teacher and Albert. 6
14. Answer any two of the following questions in brief:
2x2=4
(a) What was Mr.
Koch’s opinion about Albert?
(b) Why was Rang’s
homecoming a great event?
(c) What is the
name of Ranga’s village and what does the narrator say about it?
***
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