SAMPLE PAPER SET-III

PREBOARD EXAMINATION 2019-20

CLASS - XII
ENGLISH
Time Allowed: 3 Hrs. Maximum Marks: 80

General Instructions:
1. This paper is divided into three sections: A, B and C.
2. All the sections are compulsory.
3. Read the instructions very carefully given with each section and question and follow them
faithfully.
4. Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.
SECTION-A (READING) (20 Marks)
Q1. Read the following passage and on the basis of your understanding of the passage answer the
questions given below :-
1. Recently I spent several hours sitting under a tree in my garden with the social anthropologist William
Ury, a Harward University professor who specializes in the art of negotiation and wrote the bestselling
book, Getting to Yes. He captivated me with his theory that tribalism protects people from their fear of
rapid change. He explained that the pillars of tribalism that humans rely on for security would always
counter any significant cultural or social change.
2. In this way, he said, change is never allowed to happen too fast. Technology, for example is a pillar of
society. Ury believes that every time technology moves in a new or radical direction another pillar such
as religion or nationalism will grow stronger-in effect, the traditional and familiar will assume greater
importance to compensate for the new and untested. In this manner, human tribes avoid rapid change
that leaves people insecure and frightened.
3. But we have all heard that nothing is as permanent as change. Nothing is guaranteed. Pithy expressions,
to be sure, but no more than cliches. As Ury says, "people don't live that way from day-to-day. On the
contrary, they actively seek certainty and stability. They want to know they will be safe. "
4. Even so we scare ourselves constantly with the idea of change. An IBMCEO once said "We only
restructure for a good reason, and if we haven't restructured in a while, that's a good reason. We are
scared that competitors technology, and the consumer will put us out of business so we have to change
all the time just to stay alive. But if we asked our fathers and grandfathers, would they have said that
they lived in a period of little change? Structure may not have changed much. It may just be the speed
with which we do things. "
5. Change is over-rated, anyway, consider the automobile. It's an especially valuable example, because the
auto industry has spent tens of billions of dollars on research and product development in the last 100
years. Henry Ford's first car had a metal chassis with an internal combustion, gasoline-powered engine,
four wheels with rubber tyres, a foot operated clutch assembly and brake system, a steering wheel and
four seats and it could safely do 18 miles per hour.
6. A hundred years and tens of thousands of research hours later we drive cars with a metal chassis with an
internal combustion gasoline-powered engine, four wheels with rubber tyres, a foot operated clutch
assembly and brake system, a steering wheel, four seats and the average speed in London in 2001 was
17.5 miles per hour!
7. That's not a hell of a lot of return for the money. Ford evidently doesn't have much to teach us about
change. The fact that they're still manufacturing cars is not proof that Ford Motor Co. is a sound
organization. Just proof that it takes very large companies to make cars in great quantities—making for
an almost impregnable entry barrier. Fifty years after the development of the jet engine, planes are also
little changed. They've grown bigger, wider and can carry more people. But those are incremental,
largely cosmetic changes.
8. Taken together, this lack of real change has come to mean that in travel —whether driving or flying—
time and technology have not combined to make things much better. The safety and design have, of
course; accompanied the times and the new volume of cars and flights, but nothing of any significance
has changed in the basic assumptions of the final product.
9. At the same time, moving around in cars or aeroplanes becomes less and less efficient all the time. Not
only has there been no great change but also both forms of transport have deteriorated as more people
clamour to use them. The same is true for telephones, which took over hundred years to become mobile
or photographic film which also required an entire century to change,
10. The only explanation for this is anthropological, once established in calcified organizations humans do
two things: sabotage changes that might render people dispensable and ensure industry-wide emulation.
In the 1960s, German auto companies developed plans to scrap the entire combustion engine for an
electrical design. (The same existed in the 1970s in Japan and in the 1980s in France) So for 40 years we
might have been free of the wasteful and ludicrous dependence on fossil fuels. Why didn't it go
anywhere? Because auto executives understood pistons and carburettors, and would be loath to
cannibalise their expertise, alongwith most of their factories.

1.1 Answer any five of the questions given below by choosing the most appropriate option: (1X5=5)
(a) Which of the following views does the author fully support in the passage?
(i) Nothing is as permanent as change
(ii) Change is always rapid
(iii) More money spent on innovation leads to more rapid change
(iv) Over decades structural change has been incremental
(b) According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
(i) Executives of automobile companies are inefficient and ludicrous
(ii) The speed at which an automobile is driven in a city has not changed much in a century
(iii) Anthropological factors have fostered innovation in automobiles by promoting use of new
technologies
(iv) Further innovation in jet engines has been more than incremental
(c) Which of the following best describes one of the main ideas discussed in the passage?
(i) Rapid change is usually welcomed in society
(ii) industry is not as innovative as it is made out to be
(iii) We should have less change than what we have now
(iv) Competition spurs companies into radical innovation
(d) According to the passage, the reason why we continued to be dependent on fossil fuels is that:
(i) auto executives did not wish to change
(ii) no alternative fuels were discovered
(iii) change in technology was not easily possible
(iv) German, Japanese and French companies could not come up with new technologies
(e) What is the general effect of change on people?
(i) people are very interested
(ii) feel insecure and frightened
(iii) take it very lightly
(iv) none of these
(f) According to the passage, who created first car?
(i) Henry lord (ii) William tiny (iii) German auto companies.(iv) None of these
1.2 Answer the following questions briefly: (1x5=5)
(a) Who was William Ury?
(b) How does technological progress affect society?
(c) How was Henry Ford's first car?
(d) What do you conclude about 'change' in the passage?
(e) What was the change brought up by German auto companies?
1.3 Pick out the words/phrases from the passage which are similar In meaning to the following:(a)
depend (Para 1) (b) clearly (Para 7) (1x2=2)
2. Read the passage and answer the questions given below:
The tests of life are its plus factors. Overcoming illness and suffering is a plus factor for it moulds character.
Steel is iron plus fire, soil is rock plus heat. So let’s include the plus factor in our lives. Sometimes the plus
factor is more readily seen by the simple hearted. Myers tells the story of a mother who brought into her
home — as a companion to her own son- a little boy who happened to have a hunch back. She had warned
her son to be careful, not to refer to his disability. The boys were playing and after a few minutes she
overheard her son say to his companion "Do you know what you have got on your back?" The little boy was
embarrassed, but before he could reply, his playmate continued " It is the box in which your wings are, and
some day God is going to cut it open and then you will fly away and be an angel."
Often it takes a third eye or a change in focus, to see the plus factor. Walking along the corridors of a
hospital recently where patients were struggling with fear of pain and tests, I was perturbed. What gave me a
fresh perspective were the sayings put up everywhere, intended to uplift. One saying made me conscious of
the beauty of the universe in the midst of pain, suffering and struggle. The other saying assured me that God
was with me when I was in deep water and that no troubles would overwhelm me. The import of those
sayings also made me aware of the nether springs that flow into people's lives when they touch rock bottom
or are lonely or guilt ridden. The nether springs make recovery possible, and they bring peace and patience
in the midst of negative forces.
The forces of death and destruction are not so much physical as they are psychic and psychological. When
the hatred and hard heartedness prevail, they get channeled as forces of destruction. Where openness, peace
and good heartedness prevail, the forces of life gush forth to regenerate hope and joy. The life force is
triumphant when love overcomes fear. Both fear and love are deep mysteries, but the effect of love is to
build, whereas fear tends to destroy. Love is generally the plus factor that helps build character. It creates
bonds and its reach is infinite.
It is true there is no shortage of destructive elements —forces and people who seek to destroy others and in
the process destroy themselves — but at the same time there are signs of love and life everywhere that are
constantly enabling us to overcome setbacks. So let’s not look at gloom and doom — let us seek positivity
and happiness. For it is when you seek that you will find what is waiting to be discovered.
2.1 On the basis of 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. (4)
2.2 Write a summary of the passage in about 100 words. (4)

SECTION –B (ADVANCED WRITING SKILLS) (30Marks)

3. Indus Valley Public School, Jaipur requires a receptionist for the school. Draft a suitable advertisement in
about 50 words to be published in the classified columns of a national newspaper giving all the necessary
requirements.
Or
Your school is going to organize an Inter-School English Quiz. As the Principal of your school write a
notice informing the students of classes XI & XII and asking the interested students to give their names for
the for the quiz. Sign yourself as Rajesh/ Ritika. (4)
4. You are Kapil/ Kavita. You feel that the kids of primary schools are burdened with their school bags.
Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper about the undesirability of primary school students carrying heavy
bags to their schools.
Or
Write a letter to the Municipal Commissioner of your area inviting his attention to inadequate civic
amenities in your colony in Jhansi. (6)
5. You are Khushi/ Kalpesh of XII class. You have noticed that the younger generation is very much
affected by the western culture. Sometimes they adopt ways which make them forget their traditional values.
Write an article for your school magazine on 'Craze for Westernization'.
Or
Media is said to be the fourth pillar of democracy. But these days the biased media is creating an
environment of unrest in the country. It has the sole motive of earning money. As an aware student write a
speech for your morning assembly in about 150-200 words. (10)
6. Sign yourself as Ramesh, School Magazine Reporter. Last month your school started a new computer
wing. Write a report for your school magazine in not more than 100 words about the inaugural function held
in your school.
Or
'Homes for the Aged is a Necessity in India' Write your ideas in favour or against the motion. (10)
SECTION-C — (LITERATURE: TEXT BOOK)(Marks 30)
7. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
A.All lovely tales that we have heard or read; (1x4= 4)
An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring
unto us from the heaven's brink.
(a) What does 'immortal drink' refer to here?
(b) Explain, 'pouring unto us from the heaven's brink'.
(c) Which poetic device is used in the 2nd line here?
(d) Name the poem and the poet.
B. Months passed. Shukla was sitting on his haunches at the appointed spot in Calcutta when Gandhi
arrived; he waited till Gandhi was free. Then the rsvo of them boarded a train for the city of Patna in
Bihar. There Shukla led him to the house of a lawyer named Rajendra Prasad who later became
President of the Congress party and of India. Rajendra Prasad was out of town, but the servants knew
Shukla as a poor yeoman who pestered their master to help the indigo sharecroppers. So they let him
stay on the grounds with his companion, Gandhi, whom they took to be another peasant. But Gandhi
was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops from his bucket pollute the entire
source; how did they know that he was not an untouchable? (1x4= 4)
(a) Name the chapter and its author.
(b) Where was Shukla waiting for Gandhiji?
(c) Who was Rajendra Prasad?
(d) Why was Gandhiji not permitted to draw water from the well?
8. Answer any five of the following questions in 30-40 words each: (5x2=10)
(a) What were the conditions in which the children worked in the glass-blowing industry?
(b) How did the instructor build a swimmer out of Douglas?
(e) What do the parting words of the poetess signify? (My mother at sixty six)
(d) Why did Sophie wriggle when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey?
(e) "History is theirs whose language is the sun". Explain.
(f) Why was Evans known as 'Evans the Break' by the prison officers?
(g) "It is all relative. Beauty and the Beast". What does Mr. Lamb mean by this statement.
9. What do you understand by linguistic Chauvinism? Does the story 'The Last Lesson' has instances of
linguistic Chauvinism? How would you feel if you were forced to give up your language?
Or
Give a brief account of the interview of Umberto Eco by MukundPadmanbhan. (6)
10. Derry's meeting and conversation with Mr. Lamb proved to be a turning point of his life. How?
Or
How did Jack end Roger Skunk story? How and why did Jo want to change it? (6)