NIOS| ENGLISH (302)| QUESTION PAPER – (APRIL - 2023)| SENIOR SECONDARY
ENGLISH
(302)
Time: 3 Hours
Maximum Marks: 100
Note:
(i) This Question
Paper consists of two Sections, viz., 'A' and 'B'.
(ii) All the
questions from Section 'A' are compulsory.
(iii) Section 'B'
has two options. Candidates are required to attempt questions from one option
only.
(iv) Marks are
indicated against each question.
SECTION - A
1. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
(A) I
gasped and stared aghast at Aunt Pramela. How on earth could she say such
hurting words in front of Aradhana? Didn't she know how touchy she was about
dark complexion? And why did she have to hang on it today of all days?
(i) What did
aunt Pramela say? 1
(ii) Describe
Aradhana. 1
(iii) What was
special about 'today'? 1
(iv) Pick out
the words which are similar in meaning to the following: 0.5+0.5=1
(a) breathed
laboriously
(b) easily upset
or offended
OR
Some have voiced
concern over the noise produced by rotor blades, aesthetic impact, and the
plight of birds that fly into the rotors. Most of these problems do not exist
in India as wind farms are located in remote areas or the problems have already
been resolved through technological development. The major challenge to use
wind as a source of power is that it is intermittent and it does not always
blow when electricity is needed.
(i) What are
the concerns raised about wind energy? 1
(ii) Why most
of these problems do not exist in India? 1
(iii) What is
the major challenge to the use of wind as a source of power? 1
(iv) Find
words which have similar meaning to the following: 0.5+0.5=1
(a) concerned
with appreciation of beauty.
(b) away from
where other people live.
(B)
Baldeo, the watchman, was awake. He stretched himself slowly unwinding the
heavy shawl that covered him. It was close on midnight and the chill air made
him shiver. The station, a small shack backed by heavy jungle, was a station in
name only; for trains only stopped there, if at all, for a few seconds before
entering the deep cutting that led to the tunnel.
(i) Why was
Baldeo awake? 1
(ii) Why did he
cover himself? 1
(iii) Describe
the station. 1
(iv) Pick out
the words which are similar in meaning to the following: 0.5+0.5=1
(a) extended
in length
(b) roughly
built cabin
OR
My father still
persisted, for he knew that my staying at home would result in my becoming a
pampered child. He realized, as well, that I would have difficulty in playing
with normal children, and my mother would always be afraid to let me leave the
immediate premises.
(i) What was
the father persisting? 1
(ii) What
would happen if the writer stayed at home? 1
(iii) What did
the father realize? 1
(iv) Pick
out the words which are similar in meaning to the following: 0.5+0.5=1
(a) continued
inspite of difficulty
(b) a house or a
building
2. Answer in 30 to 40 words any three of the following
questions: 3×2=6
(a) What was the
Intruder's first question? How did Gerrard react to it? (If I were You)
(b) In which
part of India is wind energy abundant? Where is research done for wind energy
and why? (Fuel of the Future)
(c) How did
Gavaskar break his mother's nose? (My First Steps)
(d) How did the
writer's Grandmother lead her life? (Father, Dear Father)
3. Answer the following in about 60 words: 6
Who was
Bishamber Nath? Why was Bholi's sisters envious of her? (Bholi)
OR
Was the doctor
right in throwing Evans out of the car? Was the case of suspicion justified? (A
Case of Suspicion)
4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions
that follow:-
Where the mind
is led forward
By thee into
ever widening
Thought and
action -
Into that heaven
of freedom
My father,
Let my country
awake.
(i) Where is the
mind led to? 2
(ii) What does
the poet mean by 'heaven of freedom? 1
(iii) What does
the poet mean by 'Let my country awake'? 2
OR
May the sum of
evil
Balanced in this
unreal world
Against the sum
of good
Become diminished
by your pain.
(i) What does
the poet mean by 'sum of evil'? 2
(ii) Why is this
world called 'unreal'? 1
(iii) Which
'pain' is referred to here? 2
5. Read the passage given below and answer the questions
that follow:
The choicest
flowers were to be seen in the garden; and to the most splendid of all these
little silver bells were fastened, in order that their tinkling might prevent
anyone from passing by without noticing them. Yes! Everything in the Emperor's
garden was excellently well-arranged and the garden extended so far that even
the gardener did not know the end of it. Whoever walked beyond it, however,
came to a beautiful wood, with very high trees and beyond that to the sea. The
wood went down quite to the sea which was very deep and blue. Large ships could
sail close under the branches and among the branches dwelt a nightingale who
sang so sweetly that even the poor fisherman, who had so much else to do when
he came out at night to cast his nets, would stand still and listen to her
song. "Oh! How pretty that is!" he would say but then he was obliged
to mind his work and forget the bird. Yet the following night, if again the
nightingale sang and the fisherman came out again, he would say, "Oh! How
pretty that is!"
(a) What is done
to the flowers so that one might notice them? 2
(b) How far was
the emperor's garden? 2
(c) What was
beyond the garden? 2
(d) Who would
listen to the nightingale's song? 2
6. Read the passage given below and answer the questions
that follow:
There is no
sense of proportion about a bee. I suppose the idiot has never learned that
other people will gather its honey and believes that it is laying up stores for
the hive alone. But when it has accumulated investments sufficient for twenty
generations of bees to live upon without doing another stroke of work, it goes
on collecting honey and manufacturing wax as though starvation were staring it
in the face.
Consider further
the matrimonial customs of these fraudulent insects. The main population of the
hive is composed of unhappy spinsters whose natural destiny has been
deliberately thwarted by their nurses and who can never reproduce their kind.
Only one bee, yet more unhappy, is reserved for that purpose and is not allowed
to do anything else, except to slaughter possible rivals in the business. For
her is reserved a peculiarly horrible form of death, that of suffocation. When
the nuptial flight takes place she is followed by scores of drones, no doubt,
thinking it a splendid challenge. It is a tremendous business, in which every
drone strives to outstrip every other and in which drones from other hives
though it is no affair of theirs, have more sense than to join. What do you
suppose awaits the victor in this contest of Lunatics? Why, to be slaughtered
in mid air by his abominable spouse. What prompts the drone, who is otherwise
by far the most intelligent creature in the community, and who does seem to
have some rational notion of the meaning of life, to enter for this mad race,
in which the prize is death, I cannot imagine.
Despite his
magnanimous resolve to do nothing useful but to live like a gentleman upon
other people's earnings, he must at bottom, be nearly as big a fool as his
sister, who might live to be eight days old, but who almost always dies at
sixty from over work.
(a) When does a
bee continue collecting honey and manufacturing wax? 2
(b) What does
the main population of the hive consist of? 2
(c) What is the
one bee reserved to do? 2
(d) How does a
drone live? 2
7. Read the passage given below and complete the
statements that follow:
Labour means
bodily or mental work but it generally implies manual work. What farmers,
rickshaw-pullers do is manual work and what teachers, clerks do is mental
labour. In every age man has earned his bread through the sweat of his brow.
The working class was formerly looked down upon by the leisured class.
(a) Labour means
____(i)____ but it generally ____(ii)____. 1
(b) What
farmers, ____(i)____ and what teachers, clerks do ____(ii)____. 1
(c) In every age
____(i)____ through ____(ii)____. 1
(d) The working
class ____(i)____ upon ____(ii)____. 1
8. Read the passage given below and make a summary in
about 100 words.
Our ancestors
had great difficulty in procuring books. Ours now is what to select. We must be
careful what we read. There are indeed, books and books: and there are books
which, as Lamb said, are not books at all. There are many books to which one
may apply, in the sarcastic sense, the ambiguous remark which Lord Beaconsfield
made to an unfortunate author, "I will lose no time in reading your book,
"Others are more than useless, and poison the mind with suggestions of
evil. Few perhaps realize how much the happiness of life and the formation of
character depend on a wise selection of books we read. Many are debarred from
attempting what are called stiff books for fear they should not understand
them, but there are few who need complain of the narrowness of their minds if
they would do their best with them.... It is one thing to own a library: It is
quite another to use it wisely. Books, we know, are almost innumerable: our
hours for reading are alas! very few. And yet many people read almost by
hazard. They will take any book they chance to find in a room at a friend's
house: they will buy a novel at a railway-stall if it has an attractive title:
in some cases even the binding affects their choice. The selection is no doubt,
far from easy. It is often said, in reading, everyone must choose for himself,
but this reminds one of the recommendation not to go into the water till you
can swim.
9. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with
prepositions: 4
(a) Anne had a
passion _______books.
(b) Health is
preferable ______wealth.
(c) I exchanged
my horse ________a cow.
(d) I am vexed
________his silence.
10. Join the following sentences: 4
(a) They will
send John to school. They will send me to school.
(b) Do not be a
borrower. Do not be a lender.
(c) He did not
appear in the test. He was fined.
(d) Wise men
love truth. Fools shun it.
11. Change the Voice: 3
(a) Nobody has
opened this box so far.
(b) The cup has
been broken.
(c) Players have
elected him the captain of the team.
12. Do as directed: 4
(a) As soon as
the bell rang, they ran out of the room.
(Begin: No
sooner ..........................)
(b) A most happy
life he leads.
(Begin: He
..........................)
(c) The lily is
not as beautiful as the rose.
(Begin: The rose
..........................)
(d) The pardon
was granted after the man had died.
(Begin: It was
after ..........................)
13. Write a paragraph of about 100 words on any one of
the following topics: 5
(a) Any
Historical figure that you admire
(b) Some
Important Incident of your Childhood
(c) Pollution
14. Write a letter to the Principal of your school for the
remission of fine as you have been fined for not returning the library books on
time. 5
15. The following passage has seven mistakes of spelling and
other grammatical inaccuracies. Spot the errors and provide correct forms as
shown below, one is done for you to serve as an example. 6
Common peopl
speak fluently because they have fewer ideas in there mind and also they have a
small vocabulery for using to express what they want to say. On the other hand,
a schelarly person has a rich varity of ideas and an equally rich vocabulary
too. In the light of his scholrship, he is so very choosy while using words to
express his ideas. So he is not as fluet as a common speaker.
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peopl |
people |
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16. Read the following passage carefully. Make notes
in points only, using appropriate headings and sub-headings. Also use
recognizable abbreviations. 4
The Great Wall
of China is the collective name of a series of fortification systems generally
built across the historical northern borders of China to protect and
consolidate territories of Chinese states and empires against various nomadic
groups of the Steppes and their polities. Several walls were being built from
as early as the 7th century BC by ancient Chinese states, selective stretches
were later joined together by Qin Shi Huang (220-206 BC), the first Emperor of
China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties have
built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The most currently
well-known of the walls were built by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Apart from
defence, other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls,
allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road,
regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and
emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were
enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison
stations, signalling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the
fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.
The frontier
walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they
stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from present- day
Sino-Russian border in the north to Taohe River in the south. A comprehensive
archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the
walls built by the Ming dynasty measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi). This is made up of
6,259 km (3,889 mi) sections of actual wall, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and
2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.
Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its
branches measures out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi). Today, the defensive system
of Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive
architectural feats in history.
SECTION - B
Note:
(i) Attempt any
one of the two options.
(ii) Attempt all
the questions from the same option.
OPTION - I
(E.S.P. FOR
RECEPTIONISTS)
17. What are the front office duties of a receptionist? 6
18. While attending a telephone call, why do you have to
decide quickly? 1
19 Complete the following conversation: 4
Receptionist:
Good morning, K. D. Tennis Office.
Sayan: Good
morning. I am ________.
Receptionist:
How can I help you, sir?
Sayan: I have an
appointment with ________.
I would like to
cancel ______.
Receptionist:
Sorry Sir, he isn't there at the moment. Would you ______?
20. What should one do if one has not heard the message? 2
21. Why are emergency services required? 2
OPTION - II
(E.S.P. for Office
Use)
17. How should be a response to a greeting? 2
18. Write an email to the Principal of a school as your
sister has to take leave as she is admitted to the hospital. 4
19. What should the heading of a resumé consist of? 2
20. Write a report for a newspaper on the water shortage in
your city. 5
21 Why is practising for interviews important? 2
***
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