HBSE Class 12 Question Paper 2017 English Core

CLASS : 12th (Sr. Secondary) Code No. 2001
Series : SS-M/2017
Roll No. SET : A

ENGLISH (Core)
[ For all Groups I, II, III ]
ACADEMIC/OPEN
(Only for Fresh Candidates)
(Evening Session)

Time allowed : 3 hours ] [ Maximum Marks : 80
• Please make sure that the printed question paper are contains 13 questions.
• The Code No. and Set on the right side of the question paper should be
written by the candidate on the front page of the answer-book.
• Before beginning to answer a question, its Serial Number must be written.
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not strike the written answer.
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• Before answering the question, ensure that you have been supplied the
correct and complete question paper, no claim in this regard, will be
entertained after examination.

General Instructions :
(i) This question paper is divided into four Sections : A, B, C and D.
(ii) All the sections are compulsory.
(iii) Attempt all the parts of a question together.
(iv) Stick to the word limit wherever prescribed.

SECTION – A
(Reading Skills) [ M. M. 09

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

(2) 2001/ (Set : A)
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :

The college was closed on Saturday last on account of fine day. The
sky was overcast with clouds. A pleasant breeze was blowing. The birds
were chirping on the branches of the trees. It was indeed a very
pleasant morning. Three friends Rama, Ganga and Mohan thought of
spending the day out on the banks of the river. They spent it in playing
games, eating fruits and sweets, and singing songs.

They could not resist the temptation of taking a plunge into the river.
Rama and Mohan were expert swimmers. They were soon ahead of
Ganga with their quick and vigorous strokes. The latter was yet a
novice, but fired by a spirit of emulation, he tried to overtake them. He
had hardly fought with the current for five minutes, when he found
that it was too strong for him, that his whole strength was ebbing fast
and that he was on the point of being engulfed. He cried for help, but
his companions were too far ahead to hear his cry. He became hoarse
after repeated cries, but there was no response. The poor miserable boy
was being tossed up and down by the whirling waves, his whole
strength was exhausted, and his condition was most critical. A minute
or two more, and he would have gone to his watery grave. Suddenly his
companions looked back to see how far their friend Ganga was left
behind. They saw him exhausted and struggling hard against the
strong and swift current. Both of them, lusty swimmers as they were,
rushed to his rescue, caught hold of him firmly by his arms and
brought him safely to the bank. They thus saved the boy from the very
jaws of death. They thanked God whose divine mercy had saved the boy
and were happy that their trip had not ended in tragedy.

Questions : 1×4=4

(i) Why was the college closed on Saturday ?

(a) Cloudy day

(b) Rainy day

2001/ (Set : A)

(3) 2001/ (Set : A)
(c) Fine day

(d) Marshy day

(ii) How did the three friends want to spend the day ?

(a) Playing games

(b) Eating fruits and sweets

(c) Singing songs

(d) All the three

(iii) Who amongst the three was not so expert a swimmer ?

(a) Rama

(b) Ganga

(c) Mohan

(d) Ram and Mohan

(iv) Who was saved from the jaws of death ?

(a) Rama

(b) Ganga

(c) Mohan

(d) All the three

OR
Our earth has a fine layer of soil at the surface. All plants grow in this
soil only. Under the soil, there are rocks of various kinds. Nature takes
millions of years to form an inch of soil in thickness. But sometimes a
single heavy shower can wash it off. Such a thing doesn't happen in
places where we have forests or lots of trees. The roots of trees hold the
soil together and protect it from being washed off.

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

(4) 2001/ (Set : A)
We value trees not only for their usefulness, but also for their
beauty. They refresh the eyes and bring peace to the mind. That is why
our ancient rishis were attracted to the forests. They lived in their forest
homes or ashramas in the company of nature. It was in these
ashramas that they taught their pupils. When Gurudev Rabindranath
Tagore started a school, he also chose a place full of trees. He called it
Shantiniketan or the Home of Peace.
There was a time when our hills, mountains and even plains were
covered with huge forests. As the population grew, trees were cut down
to meet the demand for fuel and timber. Thus our wonderful forests
came to be destroyed. Now we don't have enough trees to give us
firewood even. So people are forced to burn cattle dung which ought to
be saved for use as manure. Cattle-dung is very necessary to maintain
the fertility of soil. Chemical fertilizers alone can't help. In many areas,
where only chemical fertilizers are used, the crop yields have started
falling.
There is another grave danger. Now we don't have enough trees to treat
all the carbon dioxide that is being produced in our homes, factories
and by our autos. The air remains polluted and it can give us a number
of serious diseases.
Trees are man's best friends. They are God's greatest gift to man. They
are the invaluable wealth of a nation. It is our sacred duty to protect
them and look after them well. For every tree that is cut down, we must
plant at least two new trees and take care of them. If we don't care for
trees, they too will stop caring for us. And then, imagine what will
happen!
Questions : 1×4=4

(i) We value trees for :

(a) Beauty

(b) Usefulness

2001/ (Set : A)

(5) 2001/ (Set : A)
(c) Both beauty and usefulness

(d) Neither beauty nor usefulness

(ii) Where did the rishis teach the pupils ?

(a) In the forests

(b) Ashramas

(c) Schools

(d) Colleges
(iii) What was Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan known as ?
(a) Home of Peace

(b) Home of solitude

(c) Home of loneliness

(d) Home of Joy
(iv) What are trees called ?
(a) Man's best friends

(b) God's greatest gift to man

(c) Invaluable wealth of nation
(d) All the three

2. Read the following passage carefully and make notes on it using
headings and sub headings. Supply an appropriate title also : 4 + 1 = 5
Education ought to teach us how to be in love always and what to be in
love with. The great things of history have been done by great lovers,
saints, men of science and artists, and the problem of civilization is to

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

(6) 2001/ (Set : A)
give every man a chance of being a saint, a man of science and an
artist. But this problem cannot be solved unless men desire to be
saint, men of science or artists. And if they are to desire that
continuously they must be taught what it means to be these things. We
think of the man of science, or the artist if not of the saint, as a being
with peculiar gifts who exercises more precisely and incessantly
perhaps, activities which we all ought to exercise. It is a common place
belief now that art has ebbed away out of our ordinary life, out of all
the things which we use, and that it is practised no longer by workmen
but only a few painters and sculptors. That has happened because we
no longer recognize the aesthetic activity as an activity of the spirit and
common to all men. We do not know that when a man makes anything
he ought to make it beautiful for the sake of doing so, and that when a
man buys anything he ought to demand beauty in it for the sake of that
beauty. We think of beauty, if we think of it at all, as a mere source of
pleasure, and therefore it means to us an ornament added to things for
which we can pay extra as we choose. But beauty is not an ornament to
life, or the things made by man. It is an essential part of both.
SECTION – B
(Grammar/Writing Skills) [ M. M. : 26

3. Attempt any two from each sub-part :
(a) Change the form of narration : 1×2=2
(i) Mother said, "Tea is ready."
(ii) She said to the brother, "Do you like chocolate ?"
(iii) He said, "Open the door."

(b) Supply articles wherever necessary : 1 × 2 = 2

(i) The box was made of ……………. wood.
(ii) You must finish ……………. work in hand.

(iii) I want ……………. pen.

2001/ (Set : A)

(7) 2001/ (Set : A)
(c) Fill in the blanks with suitable modal auxiliary verbs given in the
brackets : 1×2=2

(i) You ……………. do as I say.

(shall/will/can)

(ii) ……………. you open the door, please ?

(shall/will/can)

(iii) We ……………. help the needy.

(should/could/would)

(d) Change the following sentences into passive voice : 1 ×
2=2

(i) The typist had typed four letters.

(ii) Sita is writing a letter.

(iii) Who broke this cup ?

(e) Use the correct form of the verb given in brackets : 1 ×
2=2

(i) We ……………. (consider) all this before ?

(ii) Ram ……………. (cry) since morning.

(iii) Sita realized what she ……………. (do) and began to cry.

4. Attempt any two of the following : 3×2=6

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

(8) 2001/ (Set : A)
(a) You are sports secretary of your school. Your school is holding a
summer camp for training students in cricket. Write a notice for the
students in not more than 50 words.

(b) You are the principal of a senior secondary school. Draft an
advertisement announcing admissions to your school.

(c) Design a poster to promote "Save Girl child campaign".
5. Attempt any one of the following : 5

(a) Your school has organized an Inter-school poster making contest.
Write a report in not more than 125 words to be published in your
school magazine giving all necessary details.

(b) Write a paragraph of about 100 words on "My Aim in Life."
6. You are Raman, a student of Class XII of Government Senior Secondary
School. Write an application to your Principal requesting him to grant
you full fee concession. 5
SECTION – C
(A) Main Reader [Prose] [ M. M. : 20
7. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :

My last French lesson! why, I hardly knew how to write! I should never
learn any more! I must stop there, then! Oh, how sorry I was for not
learning my lessons, for seeking birds' eggs, or going sliding on the
Saar! My books, that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, so
heavy to carry, my grammar, and my history of the saints, were old
friends now that I couldn't give up. And M. Hamel, too; the idea that he
was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget all
about his ruler and how cranky he was.
Questions : 1×5=5

2001/ (Set : A)

(9) 2001/ (Set : A)
(i) Name the chapter and its author.
(ii) Who is "I" in these lines ?
(iii) The narrator is talking about a language. Name it.
(iv) What was the narrator sorry for ?
(v) Find words from the passage which mean the same as :
(a) Something annoying
(b) Whimsical
OR
I remember a story a man from Udipi once told me. As a young boy he
would go to school past an old temple, where his father was a priest. He
would stop briefly at the temple and pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty
years later I visited his town and the temple, which was now drowned
in an air of desolation. In the backyard, where lived the new priest,
there were red and white plastic chairs. A young boy dressed in a grey
uniform, wearing socks and shoes, arrived panting and threw his
school bag on a folding bed. Looking at the boy, I remembered the
prayer another boy had made to the goddess when he had finally got a
pair of shoes let me never lose them" The goddess had granted his
prayer. Young boys like the son of the priest now wore shoes. But many
others like the ragpickers in my neighbourhood remain shoeless.

Questions : 1×5=5

(i) Name the chapter and its author.

(ii) What was the young boy's father ?

(iii) Who is "I" in the first line of the passage ?

(iv) What did the boy pray for ?

(v) Find words from the passage which mean the same as :

(a) Ruin

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

( 10 ) 2001/ (Set : A)
(b) Breathing heavily

8. Answer any one of the following : 5

(a) How did Douglas overcome his fear of water ?
(Deep water)

(b) Do you think that the peddler is a criminal or a victim of
circumstances ? (The Rattrap)

9. Answer any five of the following : 2 × 5 = 10
(i) Who was Louis Fischer in "Indigo" ? What did Gandhi tell him ?

(ii) Who was the Boss of Gemini studios ?

(iii) Who, in today's world, is our chief source of information about
personalities ?

(The Interview)

(iv) How is Geoff a part of Sophie's day dreams ?

(v) What was Franz expected to be prepared with her school that day ?

(vi) What makes the city of Firozabad famous ?

(vii) Who threw Douglas into the swimming pool ?
SECTION – C
(B) Main Reader [Poetry] [ M : M : 11

10. Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow :
……………. and looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport's
security check, standing a few yards

2001/ (Set : A)

( 11 ) 2001/ (Set : A)
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale.
Questions : 1×5=5
(i) Name the poem and the poet.
(ii) What did the poetess notice about the trees and the children ?
(iii) Where did the poetess look at her mother again ?
(iv) How did the mother look ?
(v) Find words from the stanza which mean the same as :
(a) running fast
(b) coming out

OR
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare's
head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all
cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open - handed
map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their
world,
Where all their future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.

Questions : 1×5=5
(i) Name the poem and the poet.
(ii) Where are donations and Shakespeare's head placed ?
(iii) How does the poet paint the future of the children ?
(iv) Explain "Sour cream walls".

2001/ (Set : A) P. T. O.

( 12 ) 2001/ (Set : A)
(v) Find words from the stanza which mean the same as :
(a) Faded
(b) Globe

11. Answer any two of the following : 3×2=6
(i) Why does Pablo Neruda want war industries to suspend their
production ?
(ii) What is the message contained in the poem "A thing of Beauty" ?
(iii) Where was the roadside stand put up and what for ?
SECTION – D
(Supplementary Reader) [ M. M. 14

12. Answer any one of the following : 5
(a) How does Charley reach the third level ?

(b) Give a brief account of killing of ninety nine tigers by the king.

13. Answer any three of the following : 3×3=9

(i) How long was Tishani Doshi's journey to Antarctica ?
(ii) Will Dr. Sadao be arrested on the charge of harbouring an enemy ?
(iii) What do you think was Jo's problem ?
(iv) Why do people avoid Derry ?

S
2001/ (Set : A)