SECOND PRE-BOARD EXAMINATIO 2015-16

SUBJECT-ENGLISH (CORE)
CLASS-XII
TIME: 3 HOURS
MAX. MARKS: 100
General Instructions:
(i) This paper is divide into three sections A, B and C. All the sections are compulsory.
(ii) Separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary. Read these
instructions very carefully and follow them faithfully.
(iii) Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.
SECTION-A READING
(30 MARKS)
1. Read the passage given below:
Suspense was over when my high school results finally came out. But I was upset. I hadnt done as
well as I had expected. My father tried to console me. Why are you worried? You have done very
well, my dear. No, I havent Baba, I protested, controlling my tears, and wondering if I had
disappointed him. It doesnt really matter, he assured me. Do you know what I got when I finished
high school? I looked into Babas face and waited for the answer to his own question. You know,
he told me. Ive never told you this. I got just a third division. But, look at me, Ive done quite well.
Baba got a third division! I was almost in shock, but the thought of my having done a lot better than
that made me realize that I had no reason to complain. I certainly felt better!
Everything is under control! said Baba, smiling. That was his favourite phrase. Posted in Kolkata,
my father was then a senior official in the Indian Railway Service, and an expert in goods traffic
operations. He was soon to become a director with the Railway Board. By the time her retired in
1981, he was general manager of the Central Railways. By the time Baba passed away in November
2000, his name had found place in several hearts as well. He was open, easy to know, and full of life.
We were extremely close, but I had so much more to learn about him from many things I came to
know after his death.
In September 2000, he was in hospital for treatment of cancer and given just two months to live.
When he found out, his reaction was an extremely rational one. He asked me to fetch files from his
cupboard, so that he could explain the details of my mothers pension. He also dictated his will from
his hospital bed. Everything is under control. After Babas death, Satish our old family retainer,
was inconsolable. We tried to cheer him up. Your Baba had scolded me only once in al these years!
he cried. Satish pointed to the watch on his left hand. I had been coming late for work and everyone
in the family was complaining about it, said Satish. Then, one day, your Baba gave me this watch
and told me, now that you have a watch, you cant be late. That was the scolding Satish received.
On the fourth day after Babas death, my sister and I had to perform a ceremony. Since several
relatives were expected, we decided to order lunch from a caterer in our locality, reputed for his
home cooked food. But, when we went to pay the owner, we got a surprise. He refused to accept any
money! When I wanted to start my catering business, it was your father who lent me money, he
told us. It seems Baba never asked for it back. Now, after four or five years, the caterer wanted to
repay that debt. Of course, we made him accept the full payment for the fine food and service. It
was Babas gift and it ought to remain so, I told him.
Some days later, there was yet another piece of information as we were preparing for the main
ceremony. Vikram, my brother drove me to the local market. On recognizing our car, the parking

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assistant, in his twenties, came running towards us and asked why he had not seen its owner for
long. We had to break the news to him and to our utter surprise, he started crying. We were really
surprised by this reaction from a stranger until the man told us that Baba used to pay his
daughters school fees and buy her books. It seems, it was on my fathers advice that hed even
started sending the child to school. More than three years after Babas death, as we were looking
into Babas personal things, we came across an old file with Babas certificates and I found among
them, his high school diploma from 1937, the one hed told me about 30 years earlier, about the
third division that had made no difference in his life or carrier. It had made me see beyond mere
marks and first classes as the main road to success. But there was one more fact. Bab had actually
got a first division, a rare achievement in his day. Today, years after his passing, when I think of
Baba, I see a man who was able to sympathise with others so easily and touch their lives in such a
special way.
1.1 On the basis of your understanding of the passage answer the following questions by
choosing the most appropriate options: (4)
(a) The narrator was in tears when her school results came out as
(i) She did not better than she expected.
(ii) She did not do as expected.
(iii) Her Baba had not done well.
(iv) Her Baba had done better than her.
(b) On knowing the result, how did the narrators father react?
(i) He scolded her.
(ii) He beat her.
(iii) He consoled her.
(iv) He made fun of her.
(c) The narrator had nothing to complain as
(i) She had done better than her father.
(ii) She had done as well as her father.
(iii) She had topped in her school.
(iv) She had not worked hard at all.
(d) Choose the option that is not correct:
(i) Baba was a senior official in the Indian Railway Service.
(ii) Baba was to become a director with the Railway Board.
(iii) Baba was the general manager of the Central Railways.
(iv) Baba had got a third division in high school.
1.2 Answer the following: (6)
(a) Why did the narrators sick father want her to fetch files from, his cupboard?
(b) Why did Baba buy Satish a watch?
(c) Why did the caterer not want to take money from the narrator?
(d) Why were the narrator and her brother surprised on meeting the parking assistant?
(e) Today years after his passing away what has the narrator realized about her Baba?
(f) What was the story that Baba had invented on the day the narrators results were
published?

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1.3 Find the words from the passage that mean the same as the following: (2)
(i) tension/anxiety (para 1)
(ii) servant (para 2)
2. Read the passage carefully:
My dad had a handy test for checking my grandfathers mentally acuity; hed ask him about interest
rates. Albert aced it every time. He didnt just know the rate; he could explain how it got there and
project future probabilities. The intellectual stimulation of the financial markets helped sustain my
grandfather throughout his warning years. He read the dailies, kept us to speed on politics and
bantered in two languages (French and English). With a nimble mind came a fit body. Until the end,
Albert exercised every morning and prepared healthy meals for himself. He passed away in 1997,
aged 99.
Given his combination of longevity and brainpower, my grandfather had a lot to be happy about.
Lately, Ive started watching my own father age. This past June, Paul turned 83. He and my mother,
Doreen, who is a few months younger, live together, unassisted, in Edmonton, Canada. Paul
volunteers on a number of committees and boards. He recently started auditing university courses,
and he golf daily, something he never bothered to learn until after he retired. Hes also active in the
residents association for their neighbourhood, which has him regularly solving problems. I used
to think all the bustle might be the death of my octogenarian dad. Now I know better: its what
keeps him alive.
There are lots of great ways to stay sharp while the clock ticks away reading, gardening, bird
watching, yoga, pottery but new evidence suggests three specific activities can significantly raise
the odds of enjoying our final decades. They might even be the most powerful antidotes to aging
available.
Stephen Dyke is a 73 year-old retired Canadian physician. An avid boater, he became wary of going
back on the water after a back injury four years ago. His wife suggested they learn Gaelic instead.
Dyke admits grasping the language was very difficult its complicated grammar and
counterintuitive pronunciation make it tricky to pick up at any age but he spent up to eight hours
a day studying, and he and his wife now speak, read and write the language with ease. In fact, the
couple spends their days speaking entirely in Gaelic. Our level of comfort is something I would
never have predicted, says Dyke.
Dyke, and the thousands of seniors taking foreign-language courses prove that theres no age limit
to picking up a language. Students in their 60s and 70s can and do become high functioning
speakers the effort itself, irrespective of proficiency, brings big mental dividends. The reason?
While struggling with foreign grammar and syntax might leave your brain is short-circuiting, its
doing the opposite: finding new neural pathways and shoring up old ones.
More precisely, says Ellen Bialystok, its strengthening executive function. Bialystok is a
neuroscientist at Baycrest Health Sciences Rotaman Research Institute, a brain research facility in
Toronto that is today one of the worlds top centers for study into memory and aging. Most of the
scientists on the staff have dedicated themselves to decoding executive function, the core set of
cognitive skills that helps us recall where we put our keys, keep track of appointments and adjust
to traffic when driving. Dubbed the brains CEO, it overseas our ability to weed out distraction and
focus on a goal. Executive function is critical, in other words, for lifelong learning. You cant pick up
a new skill, or keep old ones, without it. Its also a key to a long, rewarding, independent life. Its
the last cognitive area to mature in childhood, says Bialystok, and the first to go as we age. That

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process of deterioration is at the heart of one of the most pressing questions in cognitive
neuroscience: how do we improve executive function and maintain it longer?
For Bialystok, the answer is rooted in a cultural priority: bilingualism. A series of studies she led
over the last decade show that adult bilinguals vastly outperform their monolingual counterparts
at multi-tasking the constant practice of inhibiting one language while enabling the other parts the
executive function busier and more efficient. But the story doesnt end there. Bialystok and her
team discovered a bilingualism enhanced, executive function does something astonishing: it delays
symptoms of dementia.
In a 2010 study, CT scans showed that bilingual people had to sustain twice as much brain damage
before triggering signs of Alzheimers compared to those who spoke only one language- suggesting
that bilingualism afforded patients the ability to function beyond the expected impairment.
Bilingualism exercises more networks; it networks; it branches out, recruiting other brain areas,
explain Tom Schweizer, a Toronto neuroscientist who helped lead the study. So if youre hit with
a devastating disease like Alzheimers your brain compensates. It reassigns whats broken like
memory function to another area.
A skill you practice provides greater benefits to executive function than a hobby, and recent
evidence suggests bilingualism can stave off the onset of Alzheimers by about five years. Thats
better than any available pharmaceutical option, says Schweizer.
2.1 On the basis of your understanding of the given passage complete the statements with
the help of the options given: (2)
(A) Authors grandfather could sustain till the age of 99 because he
(i) exercised every morning
(ii) prepared healthy meals for himself
(iii) got intellectual stimulation from the financial market
(iv) bantered in two languages
(B) What keeps authors dad alive is(i) auditing University courses
(ii) playing golf daily
(iii) active participation in RWA
(iv) his busy schedule
`2.2 Answer the following as briefly as possible: (6)
(i) Name few activities that help people in keeping mentally and physically fit as they age.
(ii) How does leaning a new language bring big mental dividends?
(iii) What is the most troubling question for the Neuroscientist?
(iv) What skills are covered by the Executive function of the Brain?
(v) Why is it important to strengthen the executive function?
(vi) How does the bilingualism enhance the executive function?
2.3 Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following: (2)
(i) agile (Para 1)
(ii) enthusiastic (Para 4)
3. Read the passage given below: (8)
Navya is dejected when sees her exam results. Even peers, whom she had helped on homework
assignments and projects, have done better than her. Given the fact that she worked really hard

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this semester, her results do not seem justified to her. What could Navya have done differently for
a more favourable outcome in the exam?
Performing well in exams in not just a reflection of how much you study, but also how you study.
Simply clocking your study hours is not necessarily going to result in a desirable outcome. In his
book, How We Learn, author Benedict Carey surveys the psychological literature to provide tips
and strategies that have been scientifically studied.
Even if you have understood you concepts, performing well in an exam requires committing
information to memory. Be it facts, definitions, formulae or specialized vocabulary, you need to
remember information optimal recall is to space out your studying. Instead of studying and
reviewing your Chemistry lessons for three hours at a stretch, you may do three one-hour sessions
on different days, where you study the content on one day and then review it a day later and then
possibly after a week. While the total time you spend studying chemistry will be the same, your
ability to recall information will be better if you space your sessions apart. Of course, for you to
spread out your study sessions in such a manner, you have to prepare ahead of time. If you pull an
all-nighter and cram just before the exam, you may be able to tackle the test paper the next day;
however, it is unlikely you will remember the information a month or a year later. In contrast,
spaced learning helps you retain the content better over the long-term. In terms of reaping
investment from the time you put into studying, spaced win hands down.
Another factor that may enhance your performance involves the location of where you choose to
study. In order to avoid distraction, you may lock yourself in your room. However, Carey cites as
study conducted by psychologists which shows that changing the environmental context of your
studying can promote your recall of information. So, once in a while, study in the living room when
it is not too noisy or crowded. The next time you revise the same material, try studying in the dining
room or the balcony or a friends house. You may also find that a change of place improves your
attention.
When students prepare for exams, they typically progress chapter by chapter. After finishing a
topic, do you test yourself by answering questions based on the chapter you just studied? Not only
does testing provide a guage of your learning, it also deepens your understanding. However, there
is a more effective way to test yourself than simply quizzing yourself at the end of a chapter. The
technique, called interleaving by psychologist, involves mixing up questions and problems from
different chapters.
In fact, Carey quotes a high school math teacher. Doug Rohrer, who says, One of the things you see
thats so baffling, when youre a new teacher, is that kids who do great in unit tests the weekly, or
biweekly reviews often do terribly in cumulative exams on the same material. If you are one of
those students, then you need to introduce more interleaving into your study routine by asking
yourself questions across different chapters. Many a time, students also spend hours cracking a
difficult theorem in maths or tackling a knotty physics problem. While it is essential to persist on
complex topics, you must also realise that taking a break may actually help you figure out the
solution. Often, when tough problems plague us, especially ones that require creative solutions, it
might be worthwhile to switch gears and do something else or even simply relex.
In order to make up for lost time, students often end up pulling all-nighters right before an exam.
They burn the proverbial midnight oil poring over their books, hoping to maximize their
performance the next day. However, staying up late can be counterproductive as sleep actually
promotes our recall and understanding of information. Studies show that people who sleep
between learning and testing do better than those who stay awake. Furthermore, some evidence
suggests that even short naps of an hour or so may be beneficial to learning. The next time your

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eyelids droop as you plod through your physics textbook, taking a nap may be wiser than forcing
yourself to stay awake.
So, go ahead and shake up your study habits. See what works for you, and stick with it.
Aruna
Director
PRAYATNA
3.1 On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it, using heading and
subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations (wherever necessary-minimum four) and a
format you consider suitable. Also supply title to it.
3.2 Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words.
SECTION B (WRITING SKILLS)
4. You are a member of the Red Cross Society. Recently the turnout for volunteers for Blood Donation
has been decreasing. You have been asked to draft a poster creating awareness about blood
donation. You are Rohit/Ria. (4)
OR
As Sports Secretary of G.D.C Public School, Pune, draft a notice in not more than 50 words informing
students about the sale of old sports goods to raise funds for the orphanage adopted by your school.
You are Tina/Tushar.
5. You are Rita/Rahul of No 35, Indira nagar, Gaziabad. Two months ago you bought an air conditioner
from Pankaj Enclave, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. But after two months it has stopped functioning properly
and constantly make noise. Write a letter to the manager, customer care complaining about the
malfunctioning unit and asking them to repair or replace against warranty. (6)
OR
You are Vani/Varun, in charge of the Excursion Club of A.B.P School, Mathura Road, Delhi. Write a
letter to the General Manager, Northern Railways, requesting reservation of a bogie for 80 students
from New Delhi to Chennai and back by G.T. Express.
6. Presently the prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing causing much hardship to the
common man. Write an article in 150-200 words expressing your views and suggesting ways to
curb this problem. (10)
OR
Yoga has been gaining immense popularity due to the short-term as well as long-term benefits that
it provides. If incorporated at the right age it can become a way of life. Write an article for the
newspaper about the benefits of yoga for students and the need to make it as part of the school
curriculum.
7. Integrity Club of your school observed International Senior Citizen Day on 1 October by
administering oath to all students to inculcate respect, love and care for the senior members of the
family/society. As Secretary of the club you have been asked to give a speech, highlighting the
significance and the need to create a better society for the senior citizens. Write the speech in 150200 words. You are Sanjay/Sonia. (10)
OR

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As Principal of the ABP School. You are concerned about the increase in number of cases of bullying
and violent outburst among the students. You decide to invite Ms Sugandha Mehta, Director,
Amnesty international to address the students in the morning assembly stressing on the need to
understand and raise voice against Bullying. Write the speech in 150-200 words.
SECTION C TEXT BOOKS
(40 MARKS)
8. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow: (4)
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven brink.
(a) Why is grandeur associated with the mighty dead?
(b) What immortal drink does the poet refer to?
(c) How does the poet convey the idea of bounty of the earth?
OR
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs
Break O Break open till they break the town
(a) How will this map become a window to the world for the children in an Elementary school
classroom in a slum?
(b) How does the poet convey the ideas of freedom from this confined life in the above lines?
9. Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words each: (12)
(a) How did the announcement by M. Hamel about the French class affect Franz?
(b) Which two forces exists in Firozabad forcing children to continue a life of subjugation?
(c) What were the terms of the indigo contract between the British landlords and the Indian
peasants?
(d) Why did Jack give a twist to the basic story that he told Jo every Saturday?
(e) How did Dr. Sadaos servants express their disapproval to the presence of the white man in the
house?
(f) Why do you think Aunt Jennifers hands are fluttering through her wool? Why is she finding
the needle so hard to pull?
10. Answer any one of the following question in 120-150 words: (6)
The Peddler is the story The Rattrap gets a second chance to redeem himself from dishonest ways.
Do you think we need to treat the convicts with empathy and give them a second chance in life?
OR
In spite of the traumatic experience in the childhood, Zitkala and Bama alleviate themselves to
become great writers. Throw light on the values and qualities that helped to sustain and rise
beyond the discrimination.

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11. Answer any one of the following question in 120-150 words: (6)
It is not unusual for a lower middle class girl to dream big. How unrealistic were Sophies dreams?
OR
Derry at the age of 13 has a distorted view of the world around him. How did Mr. Lamb help Derry
to change his perspective about himself and the world?
12. How did Dr. Kemp handle his first encounter with Griffin? What does this reveal about Dr. Kemp?
(6)
13. On the basis of your reading of the novel draft a character sketch of Marvel. (6)

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