ATTENTION

SOME PAPERS MAY NOT SEEM COMPLETE BECAUSE COMMON QUESTIONS APPEARING IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS HAVE NOT BEEN INCLUDED TO AVOID REPETITION.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

English Paper 2010 -Class X

                   ENGLISH PAPER CLASS ‘X’ – 2010 (Course B)(SET 
                          SECTION A - READING
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
  1. I felt stupid, being made to stand on the desk while the other kids were bent over their notebooks. I couldn’t understand my new school or my new classmates, or their alien language – English - and the fact that they could do sums in their head, while I struggled with a paper and pencil. For me, at age six, the good times had ended. Life seemed a far cry from those days in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, all thanks to my grandfather’s reflected glory. He was a military doctor, a great man, and I lived with him. And so even policemen gave me affectionate salaams, which I learned to acknowledge with a nod. I’d simply lay my head down on the desk and sleep in class, if bored. I was a pampered little prince.
  1. In early 1971, my parents decided it was time I moved to Bombay where father worked. My first few days were a disaster. No one spoke Tamil or Telugu, the only languages I knew. I couldn’t keep pace with their writing or reading. Then one day, a slight plump lady with large spectacles, wearing trousers walked into the classroom. “Hello,” she said. “My name is Miss Jean. I am your new class teacher.” She’d done her homework. Spotting me in a back corner, she beckoned me to the front. My almost empty notebooks must have given Miss Jean a clue that I needed the extra attention. If the class had to write a page. I’d be made to write two. Even during the PT, I had to stay back and write. When I was caught sneaking to the window to watch the others playing, Miss Jean put me in the middle row, far from the windows.
 
  1. I made some progress and Miss Jean made it a point to praise every little achievement. If I did my work wrong, she’d call me to her desk, hug me and show me how to correct my errors. Mistakes were only human in her eyes but neglecting home-work was a crime – there’d be a terse comment in my diary for Mother to see. And I’d be grounded that evening. Meanwhile I was getting possessive and minded if another child got more hugs. By Christmas, I stood fifth in the class. “I am very proud of Srikant,” she told the class after reading out the marks. I related that moment to Mother again and again. When I returned after summer vacations, I heard that Miss Jean had got married and was going to Australia.
 
  1. Many years went by. I graduated in engineering, then in management, got a job, got married and had kids. One day I found myself thinking of Miss Jean. Soon afterwards I found myself in Sydney, Australia on an official trip. I tried looking up my teacher in the phone book. But it was of no help as I did not even know her surname. Thank you Miss Jean wherever you are for the tact and patience with which you taught me.
1.1           Complete the following sentences:
(a)When the author got bored in his class while he studied in Nellore, he_______________________________________.
(b)He was given a preferential treatment when he was a child because______________________.
(c) The author felt very bad and could not mix with his new classmates because______________________.
(d)When Miss Jean discovered that the author needed her extra attention she assigned him__________________.
(e)Miss Jean put the author in the middle row far from the window when she found_______________________.
(f)  When the author committed mistakes, Miss Jean made it a point to __________________________.
(g)The author became so possessive of Miss Jean that ___________________________.
(h)Although the author’s efforts failed to trace her later in Australia, he thanked her in his heart because________________________________.
1.2           Find words from the passage which mean the same as
(a)spoiled with too much attention (para 1)
(b)called/signaled (para 2)
(c) having excessive desire to own (para 3)
(d)fail to do something (para 3)
2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1          Ilkal, a small town famous for its ethnic saris is in the northern district of Bijapur in Karnataka. But soon the sound of the loom may belong to the past as more and more weavers leave this art to join more profitable occupations. These saris are unique for their four to six inch broad reddish maroon borders with traditional, distinct designs. It is the families of dyers and weavers who together produce the Ilkal sari - a deep blue-black indigo body with red borders. It is woven in cotton or silk or a combination of both. The cotton, before the advent of chemical colours, was indigo dyed, and the red border dyed with colours derived from flowers.
2           A weaver’s living room includes a handloom pit, where the weaver works on the loom at the same time entertaining guests and customers. The bedroom is the store room for yarns and also doubles as the domain of womenfolk of the house. It takes around a week to complete a sari. It is tiresome work. “The wholesaler gives us the required raw materials, mainly yarn, and we weave the sari on a piecemeal basis,” he elaborates. “We are then sure the sari is sold and we are not stuck with dead stock. This is how the system mostly works now.”
3          Traditionally, Ilkal saris were made using natural indigo dyes. Then, in the 1970s, the synthetic German indigo replaced this vat dyeing process. Today, this has given way to naptha based dyes. The famed and centuries old indigo dyeing is now on the verge of extinction. As the new generation steps into more profitable avenues the skyline of Ilkal is fast changing too. “The most profitable business in the area now is granite,” states a weaver. With this stone being available in plenty here, a number of granite selling agencies and chimneys of granite processing units are proliferating all over. As more and more of town’s younger citizens step into newer ventures like that of selling stones, the loom may become a mere memory.
2.1 Complete the paragraph using one word only in each blank
Ilkal, once a town (a)___________________ for its saris is fast changing into one known for its granites. (b)________________ a sari takes almost a week and is tiresome work. The younger generation (c) ________________ granite business to sari weaving.
2.2 Complete the sentences given below:
(a) A weaver’s bedroom functions as ___________.
(b) German indigo has replaced _______________.
( c) Weaving saris on a piecemeal basis ensures that _________.
(d)  Availability of granite stone in plenty in the area has lead to
(i) _______________________.
(ii)_______________________.

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