CBSE Question Paper 2015 class 12 English Elective NCERT

General Instructions:

• Question Nos. 1 – 4 are compulsory.
• Attempt either Question 5 or 6.
• Your answers should be to the point. Stick to the given word limit

SECTION A — (Reading)(20)

1. (A) Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :(10)

1 He was slow in learning how to talk. ‘‘My parents were so worried,’’ he later recalled, ‘‘that they consulted a doctor.’’ Even after he had begun using words, sometime after the age of 2, he developed a quirk that prompted the family maid to dub him, the dopey one, and others in his family to label him as ‘‘almost backwards.’’

Whenever he had something to say, he would try it out on himself, whispering it softly until it sounded good enough to pronounce aloud. ‘‘Every sentence he uttered,’’ his worshipful younger sister recalled, ‘‘no matter how routine, he repeated to himself softly, moving his lips.’’ ‘‘It was all very worrying,’’ she said. ‘‘He had such difficulty with language that those around him feared he would never learn.’’

2 His slow development was combined with a cheeky rebelliousness toward authority, which led one schoolmaster to send him packing and another to amuse history by declaring that he would never amount to much. These traits made Albert Einstein the patron saint of distracted school kids everywhere. But they also helped to make him, or so he later surmised, the most creative scientific genius of modern times.

3 His cocky contempt for authority led him to question received wisdom in ways that well-trained acolytes in the academy never contemplated. And as for his slow verbal development, he came to believe that it allowed him to observe with wonder the everyday phenomena that others took for granted. ‘‘When I ask myself how it happened that I, in particular, discovered the relativity theory, it seemed to lie in the following circumstance,’’ Einstein once explained. ‘‘The ordinary adult never bothers his head about the problems of space and time. These are things he has thought of as a child. But I developed so slowly that I began to wonder about space and time only when I was already grown up. Consequently, I probed more deeply into the problem than an ordinary child would have.’’

4 Einstein’s developmental problems have probably been exaggerated, perhaps even by himself, for we have some letters from his adoring grandparents saying that he was just as clever and endearing as every grandchild is. But throughout his life, Einstein had a mild form of echolalia, causing him to repeat phrases to himself, two or three times, especially if they amused him. And he generally preferred to think in pictures, most notably in famous thought experiments, such as imagining watching lightning strikes from a moving train or experiencing gravity while inside a falling elevator. ‘‘I very rarely think in words at all,’’ he later told a psychologist. ‘‘A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterwards.’’

5 Einstein was descended, on both parents’ sides, from Jewish tradesmen and peddlers who had, for at least two centuries, made modest livings in the rural villages of Swabia in southwestern Germany. With each generation, they had become, or at least so they thought, increasingly assimilated into the German culture that they loved. Although Jewish by cultural designation and kindred instinct, they displayed scant interest in the religion or its rituals.

6 Einstein regularly dismissed the role that his heritage played in shaping who he became. ‘‘Exploration of my ancestors,’’ he told a friend late in life, ‘‘leads nowhere.’’ That’s not fully true. He was blessed by being born into an independent-minded and intelligent family line that valued education, and his life was certainly affected, in ways both beautiful and tragic, by membership in a religious heritage that had a distinctive intellectual tradition and a history of being both outsiders and wanderers. Of course, the fact that he happened to be Jewish in Germany in the early twentieth century made him more of an outsider, and more of a wanderer, than he would have preferred — but that, too, became integral to who he was and the role he would play in world history.

7 Einstein’s father, Hermann, was born in 1847 in the Swabian village of Buchau, whose thriving Jewish community was just beginning to enjoy the right to practice any vocation. Hermann showed ‘‘a marked inclination for mathematics,’’ and his family was able to send him seventy-five miles north to Stuttgart for high school. But they could not afford to send him to a university, most of which were closed to Jews in any event, so he returned home to Buchau to go into trade. Based on your understanding of the above passage, complete the statements/answer the questions given below. (10)

(a) Einstein’s maid used disparaging terms for him because he was slow ____________ .

(b) One of Einstein’s annoyed teachers said that ____________ .

(c) Einstein’s slow verbal development allowed him to observe with wonder ____________ .

(d) The mild form of echolalia which Einstein suffered from caused him to ____________ .

(e) How was Einstein’s thinking process different from that of others?

(f) In what ways did Einstein’s heritage help him shape his future?

(g) Identify a sentence which shows racial discrimination.

(h) Why could Einstein’s father not get admission in a university?

(i) The synonym of ‘remembered’ is ________ (para 1)

(j) The opposite of ‘ancient’ is ________ (para 2)

(B) Read the poem given below and answer the questions/complete the statements that follow : (10)

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

(a) What is the setting of the poem? What is ironical about it?

(b) What is the profession of the speakers? How did they meet their end?

(c) The speakers exhort the people to ___________ .

(d) The speakers will not be able to rest if people _____________ .

(e) How do the speakers impress you?

SECTION B — (Writing) (30)

2. (a) Write an essay in 80 – 100 words on the topic : (5)

‘‘Pleasures of Reading.’’

OR

‘‘What qualities would you like your leaders to have ?’’

(b) Write an article in 80 – 100 words on the topic : (5)

‘‘Value of Books.’’

OR

‘‘Qualities of an Ideal Citizen.’’

(c) Games and sports are essential in the life of a student. They keep us physically and mentally fit. However, it is observed that students tend to neglect sports focusing solely on academic subjects. Write a speech in 150 – 200 words emphasizing the importance of games and sports for their overall development. (10)

(Applied Grammar)

3. (a) In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line.

Write the missing word along with the word that comes before and the word that comes after it. Ensure that the word that forms your answer is underlined. (5)

Generosity one of the (i) ________ ________ ________

most admired qualities person (ii) ________ ________ ________

can exhibit. Whether child donates (iii) ________ ________ ________

his hard-earned allowance a (iv) ________ ________ ________

disaster relief effort a businessman (v) ________ ________ ________

donates millions of dollars charity, (vi) ________ ________ ________

we admiration and appreciation (vii) ________ ________ ________

for those are generous. (viii)________ ________ ________

Solomon promises those who (ix) ________ ________ ________

are generous always prosper. (x) ________ ________ ________

(b) Read the conversation given below and using the given information, complete the following paragraph in your own words : (5)

Mother : Are you all right, honey ?

Son: No, mama, my tooth still aches.

Mother: What did the doctor tell you about eating too many

sweets, son?

Son: Mama, I know. I shall be careful in future.

Mother asked her son (i) _________________ . The son replied (ii) _________________. With a touch of sarcasm in her voice, the mother asked (iii) ________________ sweets. The son told her (iv) _______________ and promised that (v) ________________ future.

SECTION C — (Text for Detailed Study) (30)

4. (a) Choose any two of the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow in 50 – 60 words each :    (8)

(I) She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty.

(i) Why did she suddenly feel cold and distressed?

(ii) What did she pray to God for and why?

(II) For when as each thing bad thou has entomb’d,

And last of all thy greedy self-consumed,

Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss

With an individual kiss; …..

(i) Why is the end of greed essential?

(ii) What will be the result when all bad things are put to an end?

(III) The master of the house died at about the time I was in Vienna and had the elegance to leave her a part of his estate on the condition that she continue dreaming for the family until her dreams came to an end.

(i) How did the master of the house express his gratitude to Frieda?

(ii) What condition was she expected to fulfill?

(b) Answer the questions given below in 80 – 100 words each : (10)

(i) To forgive someone who has publicly humiliated you is not easy. It requires great strength of character. Tao Ying not only forgives the Temple Guard but also requests the officials not to punish him. What sort of example has she set for us?

(ii) What is the difference between man’s slavery to nature and man’s slavery to man?

(c) Answer any two of the following questions given below in 120 – 150 words each : (12)

(i) Bring out the irony in the death of Frieda.

(ii) What promise had Eveline made to her mother? Did she keep the promise? How?

(iii) Why does Milton say that there is no need to construct a stone monument in the memory of Shakespeare?

SECTION D — Fiction  ( 20)

Note: Attempt either question no. 5 or 6.

5. (a) Answer the questions given below in 80 – 100 words each : (10)

(i) In what sense was Raja an extraordinary tiger?

(ii) Describe the Captain’s relationship with his wife – Rita.

(b) Answer any one of the questions given below in 100 – 120 words : (10)

(i) Do you agree that the circus manager deserved the death meted out to him ? Give a reasoned answer.

(ii) What did Raja think of human beings when he was in the circus?

6. (a) Answer the questions given below in 80 – 100 words each : (10)

(i) How did Margayya lose his account book? What were the consequences of the loss of the book?

(ii) Why did Dr. Pal take revenge on Margayya?

(b) Answer any one of the questions given below in 100 – 120 words : (10)

(i) To what extent was Margayya himself responsible for his financial ruin?

(ii) What role did Dr. Pal play in the rise and fall of Margayya?