Guru Harkrishan Public School Nanak Piao

Class 11 English Core (2020-21)

Maximum Marks: 80

Time Allowed: 3 hours

General Instructions:

1.This paper is divided into two parts: A and B. 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.

PART A (30 MKS)

READING

1.Read the passage:

High—altitude climbing is still a very dangerous task despite the availability of oxygen masks and other
protective equipment which modern climbers take with them. These, of course, are indispensable
accessories of climbing, but more important than these is the stamina of the climber which ultimately
determines the success of his attempt. Throughout his journey, death is his constant companion which
he can keep at a distance only with his superb presence of mind. He has to tread every inch of the
ground with the utmost care, for a false step may not only strike him a fatal blow but also bring disaster
to the whole expedition. That is why all expeditions invariably take with them local guides who are
experienced climbers and who have a thorough knowledge of the nature of the terrain. Moreover, a
huge amount of capital is needed for financing these expeditions, and this Is generally provided by
governments or rich private organizations. The primary objective of the mountaineering expedition is to
get to the top of a high mountain, which, in the past has withstood all attempts to conquer. But it should
not be presumed that the expedition is a complete failure if it does not reach its destination. Sometimes
operations are temporarily suspended because of bad weather, loss of some valuable equipment, or the
sudden death of a very important member of the party. Every big expedition takes with it men who are
interested in botany, geology & various other branches of science, and these men carry with them
equipment for recording their observations concerning the weather, the terrain & different forms of life
in higher altitudes. Other scientists, explorers & expeditionists utilize the fruits of their observations.
Thus. every unsuccessful expedition contributes to the success of later expeditions. The British
Expedition led by colonel Hunt would have found their way to Everest much more difficult had not
earlier expeditions armed them with useful knowledge about the death-dealing weather which they had
to encounter in the Vicinity of the summit. To ordinary people. mountaineering need not be a fearful
journey in the land of snowstorms, where the brave adventurer is always face to face with death. They
can scale less ambitious heights. rest their weary limbs under a quiet shelter and feast their eyes on the
distant landscape. In the company of friends. they can enjoy an outing near a waterfall or cross into the
next Valley with haversacks full of provisions dangling from their shoulders. All those who can afford to
go to a hill station should seek this innocent pleasure. for it can be had without any risk to life or limb.

Based on your understanding of the above passage, answer ANY EIGHT questions from the eleven
given below: (8 MKS)

1. What is the factor that determines the success of the climbers?

a. Availability of protective equipment.

b. Availability of oxygen masks.

c. The stamina of the climber.

d. Height and weight of the climber.

2. What precautions should the climbers take during their journey?

a. Have a subtle presence of mind.

b. Avoid causing a disaster.

c. Have a good sponsor.

d. Take local guides along

3. In what way does a mountaineering expedition contribute to the wealth of Knowledge?

a. People interested in different branches of science accompany climbers.

b. You learn to conquer the biggest hurdles of life.

c. Even a failed expedition contributes to the success of later expeditions.

d. Mountaineers carry equipment to record observations about weather and terrain.

4. How is an ordinary mountaineer's experience different from that of a regular expedition?

a. They don't have to be face to face with death.

b. They can savor the landscape from a distance.

c. They don't have to worry much about finances.

d. All of these.
5. How does a local guide help an expedition?

a. They know about the place they live in.

b. They know the local language.

c. They help clean the environment on the way.

d. They can help in case of fatalities.

6. Why can an expedition not be a failure?

a. Reaching the destination does not mark its success.

b. Temporarily suspending operations become a necessity at times.

c. Recorded observations of incomplete expeditions still stand useful.

d. All of these.

7. How are recorded observations of mountaineers useful to others?

a. They give an insider's outlook to mountaineering.

b. They are not of much help as nature keeps evolving.

c. It would otherwise not be possible to know about Everest.

d. It prepares future mountaineers for what they're going to deal with.

8. What is the primary objective of a mountaineering expedition?

a. Climb up and down; alive

b. Unfurl your flag at the peak

c Reach to the top

d. Experience nature in its vicinity

9. Find the synonym of "neighborhood" in paragraph 3

a. Terrain.

b. Summit.

c. Altitude.

d. Vicinity.
Grammar (Attempt any 8 questions) (8 MKS)

1. Choose the correct determiner:

There has been fruit on the pear tree in our garden this year, so we won't be giving it away.

a. a little, many.

b. every, some.

c. all, each.

d. little, much.

2. Choose the correct determiner:

I don't think that's the only dry cleaners around here. I think there is ________ next to the bus station.

a. others.

b. other.

c the other.

d. another.

3. Choose the correct tense: the medicine as prescribed by the doctor for a week now.

a. would have taken.

b. have had been taking.

c. takes.

d. have been taking.

4. Choose the correct tense: You and I the obligations.

a. has fulfilled

b. has been fulfilling

c. am fulfilled

d. have fulfilled
5. Choose the correct order: The claim is not

A. Of any kind

B. but

C. that it is without morality

D. that science is actively anti-moral

a. BCDA

b. DBCA

c CDBA

d. ABCD

6. Choose the correct ordering:

A typical Sachin day A or even a game of cricket

B. starts off

C. on some days

D. with an early morning

a. BDAC

b. ABCD

c. CABD

d. BADC

7. Given below are instructions for making soup. Use these to complete the blanks in the paragraph that
follows:

Mix the soup powder with 750 ml of water without allowing it to form lumps.

Pour the mixture into a heavy-bottomed vessel.

Bring it to a boil, stirring continuously.

Simmer the soup for five minutes.

Pour the soup into soup bowls and serve garnished with fried croutons.
The packet containing the soup powder

(a) …………. and the contents are mixed with 750 ml of water without allowing it to form lumps.

The mixture

(b) ………… into a heavy-bottomed vessel.

i.a. is opened

b. has been poured

ii. a. is opened

b. is poured

iii. a. has been opened

b. is poured

iv. a. is opened

b. had been poured

8. Read the conversation given below and complete the paragraph that follows:

Vani: Harika. are you going to join the Dramatics Club with me?

Harika: No. I am going to join the Adventure Club.

Vani asked Harika (a)_______ Harika said that (b)_______ Adventure Club.

A. a. if she will go to join the Dramatics Club with her

b. she was going to join the

B. a. if she would be going to join the Dramatics Club with her

b. she was going to join the

C. a. if she was going to join the Dramatics Club with her

D. a. if she was going to join the Dramatics Club with her

b. she was going to join the

9. Identify the tense used in the given phrase:

The weatherman has forecasted that it's going to rain.

a. Future indefinite tense

b. Present indefinite tense

c. Future perfect continuous tense

d. Future continuous tense

Literature

10. Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow: (3 MKS)

Eternal I rise

impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea.

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely formed, altogether changed.

and yet the same.

i. What does 'I' stand for?

a. Rain

b. Waves

c. Sun

d. Plants

ii. From where does 'I' rise from?

a. Land and sea

c. Big clouds

d. Moon and stars

iii. Which word in the stanza is a synonym for intangible?

a. Whence

b. Vaguely

c. Impalpable

d. Bottomless

OR

Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

Then sleek as a lizard. and alert, and abrupt,

She enters a thickness

and a machine starts up

Of chitterings and a tremor of wings. and trillings

The whole tree trembles and thrills

i. Who enters the thickness of the Laburnum tree?

a. The mother goldfinch

b. The lizard

c. The crow

d. The baby monkey

ii. The movement of the bird is being compared with that of a ________

a. Monkey

b. Snake
c. Lizard

d. Tortoise

iii. Name the poet of the given lines.

a. Ted Hughes

b. Robert Frost

c. Stephen Spender

d. William Wordsworth

11. Attempt any two of these three extracts: (6 MKS)

a. Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

I must admit I envy him the effect he seems to have on you boys in the form. You all seem scared to
death of him. What does he do — beat you all, or something?

i. Who is the speaker?

a. Mr. Frank

b. Taplow

c. Mr. Crocker Harris

d. Mrs. Millie Crocker Harris

ii. Who is the speaker talking to?

a. Mr. Crocker Harris

b. Mrs. Millie Crocker-Harris

c Taplow

d. Mr. Frank

iii. Who does the speaker envy?

a. Taplow

b. Mr. Crocker-Harris
c Mrs. Millie Crocker Harris

d. The Principal of the school

b. Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow:

He was just a teenager when he died. The last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its
empire for centuries. he was laid to rest laden with gold and eventually forgotten. Since the discovery of
his tomb in 1922. the modern world has speculated about what happened to him. with murder being
the most extreme possibility. Who has been described in the given extract?

a. King Tut

b. Howard Carter

c. Amenhotep III

d. Amenhotep IV

ii. At what age did he die?

a. When he was an infant

b. When he was a teenager

c. When he was quite old

d. When he was an adult

iii. When was his tomb discovered?

a. In the year 1977

b. In the year 1945

c. In the year 1922

d. In the year 1935

c. Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

Our village accountant was the first one who had enough courage to send his son to Bangalore to study.
It is different now. Many know English. During the holidays, you come across them on every street.
talking in English. L From which lesson, this excerpt has been taken? a. The Address b. Birth c Ranga's
Marriage d. Mother's Day ii. What was the name of the Village accountant?

a. Ranganath
b. Rama Rao

c. Gundabhatta

d. Shyama

iii. Why sending a child to Bangalore to study was a courageous act?

a. It was believed that child could lose his caste

b. The child will forget his caste

c. The child will spoil the name of the family

d. The child will speak English only

12. Answer any five of the following questions: (5 MKS)

a. The grandmother was a. short, fat and bent

b. young and strong lady

c. lean and fast woman

d. woman of tall physical appearance

b. What wasn't taught interestingly, according to Taplow?

a. Spanish

b. Greek words

c. English

d. Hindi

c. What is the rhyming meter of the poem. The voice of the rain?

a. Enclosed rhyme

b. Free verse

c. Monorhyme

d. Alternate rhyme
d. When was the concept of sustainable development popularized by the World Commission on
Environment and Development? (The Ailing Planet)

a. 1972

b. 1900

c. 2000

d. 1987

e. Which instrument did Einstein play?

a. Violin

b. All of these

c. Guitar

d. Cello

f. How long had Joe been married to Susan?

a. Twenty years

b. A decade

c. Five years

d. One year

PART - B (50 Marks)

13. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

Despite all the research. every one of us catches a cold and most of us catch it frequently. Our failure to
control one of the commonest of all ailments sometimes seems ridiculous. Medical science regularly
practices transplant surgery and has rid whole countries of such killing diseases as Typhus and the
Plague But the problem of the common cold is unusually difficult and much has yet to be done to solve
it.

It is known that cold is caused by one of several viral infections that affect the lining of the nose and
other passages leading to the lungs, but the confusing variety of viruses makes study and remedy very
difficult. It was shown m 1960 that many typical colds in adults are caused by one or the other of a
family of viruses known as rhinoviruses, yet there remain many colds for which no virus has as yet been
isolated.
There is also the difficulty that because they are so much smaller than the bacteria which cause many
other infections, viruses cannot be seen with ordinary microscopes. Nor can they be cultivated easily in
the bacteriologist's laboratory, since they only grow within the living cells of animals or plants. An
important recent step forward, however, is the development of the technique of tissue culture. in which
bits of animal tissue are enabled to go on living and to multiply independently of the body. This has
greatly aided virus research and has led to the discovery of a large number of viruses. Their existence
had previously been not only unknown but even unsuspected.

The fact that we can catch a cold repeatedly creates another difficulty. Usually, a virus strikes only once
and leaves the victim immune to further attacks Still we do not gam immunity from cold. Why? It may
be because while other viruses get into the bloodstream where antibodies can oppose them, the viruses
causing cold attack cells only on the surface or it may be that immunity from one of the many different
viruses does not guarantee protection from all the others It seems, therefore, that we are likely to have
to suffer colds sometime yet.

1. Based on your understanding of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and sub-
headings. Use recognizable abbreviations (wherever necessary-minimum four) and a format you
consider suitable. Also, supply an appropriate title to it. (5 MKS)

2. Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words. (3 MKS)

Writing

14. A. You are Avantika/ Avinash. As Secretary of Students' Forum, you want to start a Wall Magazine
for the students of the school. Write a notice inviting articles, stories, poems, and campus-news for the
wall-Magazine. (3 MKS)

B. You are Incharge of the cultural club of R.P.V.V Nand Nagri, Delhi. Draft a notice for your school notice
board inviting students to participate in the singing competition. Sign as Aram/ Kritika. (3 MKS)

15. A. Prepare a graceful poster for the Inter-School Poetic Recitation contest that the Hindi Sahitya
Sabha of your school is organizing to celebrate the birthday of Munshi Prem Chand.(3 MKS)

B. As Cultural Secretary of Ryan's International School. Gurgaon, design a poster to announce the
staging of a play in your school. (3 MKS)
16. You are Vivek / Varsha Malhotra. Head Boy / Girl of Zenith Public School, Ashok Vihar, New Delhi.
You have to organize short tours to Agra. Jaipur and Chandigarh. Write a letter to Globe Tours and
Travels. 235, Nehru Place, New Delhi. enquiring about their terms for conducted tours by deluxe buses.
Also ask about the fare, boarding, and lodging charges and arrangements. total time of the trip and
mode of payment. (5 MKS)

OR

One of the water taps near your classroom drips continuously. As a result, a lot of water is wasted. Write
an application to the Principal of your school requesting her/ him to take immediate action in getting
the drip repaired. You are Sandhya/ ShubhoJeet Awasthi of St. John's School. Chakeri, Kanpur.

17. Loudspeakers. bands etc create a lot of disturbance at all hours of day and night especially for
students and for the sick. Write a debate in favor of or against the motion in 150-200 words. You are
Saurabh/ Shobha. (5 MKS)

OR

Recent rains and consequent water-logging have increased the risk of malaria and dengue. Write a
speech in 150-200 words to be delivered in the morning assembly advising the students on the
prevention of and protection against these ailments and the steps that the school has taken to prevent
mosquito breeding in and around the school. Imagine you are the Principal of the school.

Literature

18. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words . (6 MKS)

a. In 1968 what was the startling fact revealed by a professor of anatomy about King Tut?

b. What happened when the goldfinch came to the laburnum tree?

c. What Is the life-cycle of clouds? (The Voice of the Rain)

19. A. How did Ranga and Ratna react to their unexpected encounter? (2 MKS)

B. How did the narrator feel when he realized that his cousin had stolen the horse? (2 MKS)
20. How was the ship affected by the storm? What did the travelers do to save themselves? (We are Not
Afraid to Die) (5 MKS)

OR

What does Taplow think of Mr. Crocker-Harris?

21. Discuss the aptness and significance of the title of the story ‘ The Address’ . (5 MKS)

OR

The play 'Mother's Day’ is a humorous and satirical depiction of the status of the woman in a family.
Bring out briefly the elements of humor and satire.