CBSE Board Question Paper Class X (2009)
ENGLISH (Communicative)
[SET-3]
[Time allowed: 3 hours] [Maximum marks: 100]
General Instructions:
(i) This paper consists of four sections:
Section A Reading 20 marks
Section B Writing 30 marks
Section C Grammar 20 marks
Section D Literature 30marks
(ii) Attempt all questions.
(iii) Do not write anything in the question paper.
(iv) All the answers must be correctly numbered as in the question paper and written in the answer sheet provided to you.
(v) Attempt all questions in each section before going on to the next section.
(vi) Read each questions carefully and follow the instructions.
(vii) Strictly adhere to the word limit given with each questions.
SECTION – A (Reading) [20]
Q1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: [8]
1. In Belgium newspapers refers to their country as the Kingdom of Chocolates. With hundreds of chocolate factories turning out some 140000 tonnes a year, Belgian chocolate is big business and employs nearly 72000 people. How Belgian became the world’s chocolate capital relates partly to its colonial past in Africa, giving it special ties to cacao producers. According to Dirk Arens, Director of Operations, at the big Nuehaus plant, the secret of their success is that the Belgian taste in chocolate seems to be universal and they are fortunate to posses traditional craftsmanship for making fine chocolate.
2. Most Belgian chocolate makers learn their crafts at vocational schools before being apprenticed to a master chocolatier. Once on their own, they use the cacao beans, roast them longer, and then grind the particles to a miniscule 20 to 35 microns for a super – velvety texture. And they make it rich:
pure cocoa content in Belgian chocolate ranges from 35 to 43% and even higher. It also helps that the Belgian government takes chocolates seriously. In 1975, it decreed that only products made of cacao beans, cocoa butter and sugar could be labeled chocolate. That ruled out the cheaper vegetable used in many countries as a substitute for some of the cocoa butter and spurred Belgian chocoltiers to aim high and pay attention to detail. That simple, elegant, little chocolate box with a little ribbon around it called a ballotin, was invented in 1912 by a meticulous member of the Neuhaus clan to protect packed chocolates.
Complete the following sentence: [8]
The secret of the success of Belgian chocolate is that
(a) --------------------------------------------
(b) --------------------------------------------
The processes involved in making Belgian chocolates are
(c) --------------------------------------------
(d) --------------------------------------------
(e) The Belgian government maintains quality in the manufacture of chocolates by --------------------------------------------------------
(f) Neuhaus clan protected its packed chocolates by ---------------------------------- Belgium is called The Kingdom Chocolates because
(g) ----------------------------------------------
(h) ----------------------------------------------
Q2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: [12]
1. I recently heard a story from a man named Malcolm Dalkoff. He’s 48. For the last 24 years he has been a professional writer, mostly in advertising. Here is what he told me. As a boy, Dalkoff was terribly insecure and shy. He had a few friends and no self – confidence. One day in October 1965, his high – school English teacher, Ruth Brauch gave the class an assignment. The students had been reading To kill a Mocking Bird. Now they were to write their own chapter that would follow the last chapter of the novel. Today he cannot recall any thing special about the chapter he wrote, or what grade Mrs. Brauch gave him. What he does remember – what he will never forge – are the four words Mrs. Brauch wrote in the margin of the paper. “This is good writing.
2. Four words! They changed his life. “Until I read those words, I had no idea of who I was or what I was going to be,” he said, “After reading her note. I went home and wrote a short story something I had always dreamed of doing but never believed I could do.” Over the rest of the year in school, he wrote many stories and always brought them to school for Mrs. Brauch to evaluate. She was encouraging rough and honest. “She was just what I needed,” Dalkoff said.
His confidence grew; his horizons broadened; he started off on a successful, fulfilling life. Dalkoff is convinced that none of this would have happened had that woman not written those words in margin of his paper.'
3. For his 30th high – school reunion, Dalkoff went back and visited Mrs. Brauch, who had retired. He told her what her four words had done for him. He told her that because she had given him the confidence to be a writer, he had been able to pass that confidence on to the woman who would become his wife, who became a writer herself. Hw also told Mrs. Brauch that a woman in his office, who was working in the evenings towards a high – school – equivalency diploma, had come to him for advice and assistance. She had respected him because he was a writer – that is why she turned to him. Mrs. Brauch was especially moved by the story of helping the young woman. “At that moment I think we both realized that Mrs. Brauch had cast an incredibly long shadow,” he said. “This is good writing,” So few words. They can change everything.
2.1 Answer the following in a sentence or two:
(a) What was the assignment given by Ruth Brauch to her students? [1]
(b) When did Dalkoff meet Mrs. Brauch and thank her? [1]
(c) Mention the words which Dalkoff will never forget in his life. Where did he see them? [2]
2.2 Complete the summary given below. Use only a word to fill in each blank. [4]
The encouragement and support provided by Mrs. Brauch was a turning point in the life of Dalkoff.
He found himself writing short stories which were once a (a) ------------------- to him. Becoming the co – editor of his high – school newspaper (b) ----------------------- his confidence. He was (c) ----------------------- in passing on the confidence, Mrs. Brauch had given, to others also. He (d) -------------------- that a few words change everything.
2.3 Find words which mean the same as the following: [4]
(a) To assess Para 2
(b) Completely sure about something Para 2
(c) Unbelievably Para 3
(d) Help / support Para 3
SECTION – B (Writing) [30]
Q3. You are Manu/Manisha and you are going on a cycling expedition to he hills. Write a postcard in not more than 50 words to your cousin, Kumar, C – 14, Jawahar Nagar, Chennai, about the details of the cycling expedition. Copy the format of the postcard from the question paper. [5]
Q4. You are Suma/Sumesh living at 15, Mall Road, Delhi. You have been invited to attend a youth camp at Ootacamand on the 4th of November, 2009. Send a telegram to your friend Suajtha, C-14, Jawahar Nagar, Ootacamand, asking her to pick you up at the bus station. Write the telegram in not more than 25 words. Copy the format of the telegram from the question paper. [5]
| Receiver’s Name |
| Message: |
| (Not be telegraphed) |
Q5. You are Radha/Raghu, C-15, Mayur Vihar, Delhi. Write a letter in 150 – 170 words to the editor of a newspaper on the consequences of climatic changes due to various men – made reasons. Take ideas from the notes given below: [10]
· Deforestation
· Pollution
· Unlimited needs and limited means
Q6. You are Leila/Lakshman. You visited the Water Park near your city as a part of school excursion. You noticed that the water was not clean and also had a stale smell resulting in a decrease in the number of visitors. Taking ideas from the graph given below and the unit on “Health and Medicine” along with your own ideas, write an article in 150 – 175 words for your school magazine about your experience and how the polluted water would further affect the visitors. Include the precautions to be taken in the Water Park. [10]
For the Blind Candidates only
You are Leila/Lakshman. You visited the Water Park near your city as a part of school excursion. You noticed that the water was not clean and also had a stale smell resulting in a decrease in the number of visitors. Taking ideas from the unit on “Health and Medicine” along with your own ideas, write an article in 150 – 175 words for your school magazine about your experience and how the polluted water
would further affect the visitors. Include the precautions to be taken in the Water Park.
SECTION – C (Grammar) [20]
Q7. Look at the notes given below and complete the paragraph that follows. Do not add any new information. Write the answers in the answer sheet against the correct blank numbers. [4]
| Rudrapur ----------------------- small town ----------------- U.P. -------------------- grow fast ------------------ hard word of people ------------------ people --------------------- migrate from Pakistan --------------------- attract industrialists ---------------------- all over India. |
Rudrapur (a) ------------------- and has (b) -------------------- due to the hard work of its people. It was a haven for people (c) ---------------------. The town has now become (d) --------------------- from all over India.
Q8. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answers sheet against the correct blank number. [4]
My cat Tugger be the toughest animal I know. e.g.: be is
He has survived much close calls. Three years ago, (a)
He were caught inside a car’s engine. His right ear (b)
Was torn off when he lost the sight in one eye. We were (c)
Surprised that he lived from the accident. Within (d)
Weeks she was back to normal. Then last year again (e)
We were worry that we would lose. Tugger (f)
Lumps that grew on his back was operated upon by (g)
The vet. Now we know Tugger do have nine lives. (h)
Q9. Read the following passage and fill in each blank with one word only. Write the answer in our answer sheet against the correct blank number. Do not copy the whole sentence. [4]
Looking back (a) ----------------------------- some of the things I did (b) -------------------------- a teenager makes me break (c) --------------------- in cold sweat. The purpose of each adventure (d) -------------------------- always fun, but occasionally things (e) ---------------------- out of hand. Now when I thing (f) --------------------------- my pranks I chuckle at the innocent ones and feel lucky that I did not hurt myself (g) -------------------------- others. Today I am older, wiser and may be just (h) ------------------------ little more boring.
Q10. Read the conversation between two friends and complete the paragraph given below. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers. Do not copy the whole sentence. [4]
Joice : When is your aunt visiting you?
Mary : She is planning to come in September.
Joice : Wouldn’t our exams have started by then?
Mary : That’s true. I’ve called her and requested her to come only after my exams.
Joice asked Mary (a) --------------------------- Mary replied that (b) ------------------------- Joice enquired (c) ---------------------------- by then. Mary said that it was true and added (d) ------------------------ to come only after her exams.
Q11. Look at the newspaper items given below. Use the information in the headlines to complete the sentences. Write the answers in your answers sheet against the correct blank numbers. Do not copy the whole sentences. [4]
(a) Big B to sign up a global project Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan said that ------------------------- a global project to be made by the makers of the 2006 Oscar winning documentary, ‘March of the Penguin.’
(b) Violence in Orissa – one killed in firing According to reports a person -------------------- during the violence in Orissa last week.
(c) 150 workers in Afghanistan kidnapped Authorities said that ----------------------- by suspected Taliban militants.
(d) SC stays judicial postings in Punjab Judicial postings in Punjab ------------------------- by the Supreme Court.
SECTION – D (Literature) [30]
Q12. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Write the answers in your answer sheet in one or two lines only. [3]
They searched for him: he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
With every movement that the scorpion made
His poison moved in mother’s blood, they said.
(a) Who searched for whom? [1]
(b) Why did ‘they’ click their tongues? [1]
(c) Mention a characteristic trait of ‘they’ as revealed in these lines. [1]
OR
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
(a) What is lying ‘like a corpse in its grave’? [1]
(b) How does the spring transform the earth? [1]
(c) Which poetic device is used in the first line? [1]
Q13. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Write the answers in your answer sheet in one or lines only. [3]
And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners’ hollo!
(a) What is an Albatross? [1]
(b) How did the Albatross help the mariners? [1]
(c) Why did come to the mariners day? [1]
Q14. Answer the following in 50-70 words. [4]
How did the frog satisfy his greed through the nightingale’s song?
OR
What are the personal qualities the mirror claims to posses?
Q15. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow in one or two lines only. [4]
‘I see a vacant seat in the chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.’
(a) When did Scrooge see this sight? Who is the child referred to here? [2]
(b) What change was visible in Scrooge after this sight? [2]
Q16. Answer the following in 50-70 words. [4]
Given two instances from the play, ‘Julius Caesar’ to prove that Mark Antony was a good orator.
OR
How did Marley appear before Scrooge on Christmas Eve? What advice did he give Scrooge?
Q17. Answer the following in 50-70 words. [4]
“I have changed. But my elder brother? Time could not bring upon him any change.” Explain this statement in the light of the lesson. ‘The Tribute.’
OR
Describe the condition of the refugees on their arrival at the refugee camp.
Q18. Answer the following question in 150-75 words. [8]
‘Christopher sticks out his lower lip and stares at his mother. Why should she think him liar?’ As Christopher Winters make a diary entry on your experiences with Cutie Pie and your efforts to convince others of your extraordinary experiences.
OR
You are Ali. For years you have been eagerly waiting for a latter from your daughter. Write a letter to a friend expressing your feelings, you hope and your despair as time passes.