KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN SET/A

PATNA REGION
1ST Pre-Board Exam- 2024-25
Class- X
English Communicative (101)
Max- Marks_ 80 Time- 3 Hours
General Instruction:
This question paper is divided into 4 Sections.
Section A - Reading - 22 marks
Section B - Writing - 22 marks
Section C – Grammar- 10 marks
Section D – Literature- 26 marks

Section – A (Reading) 22 Marks

1. Read the passage given below and answer the question that follow:-
12 Marks
1 When I learned that my 71-year old mother was playing scrabble against herself, I
knew I had to do something. “Who’s playing?” I asked one when I saw a half-finished
game on the table. “My right hand versus my left.” “Excuse me”, I said, “well, your
father doesn’t play, and I want to keep my mind sharp.” An admirable pursuit, but I
questioned whether my mother/s solitary version of Scrabble would achieved that
goal. My husband suggested me to give her computer to play against. I wasn’t sure
my mother was ready for a cyber-Scrabble. It had taken 15 years to persuade her to
buy a microwave. Nevertheless, we packed up our old PC, complete with Scrabble
and word-processing programmes, and delivered it to my parents’ home. And so
began my mother’s adventure in the world of computers.
2 It also marked the beginning of an unusual teaching assignment for me. I’ve taught
children and adults of all ages, but never thought. I would be teaching my mother to
do anything. Despite the look of horror on her face when she first saw our gift, my
mother was eager to get started. She sat mesmerized as the screen lit up and the
various icons presented themselves. Slowly, but surely, my mother caught on,
making notes in a little spiral book. I wondered how she’d fare without me. But
thereafter, she only spoke on her game on the computer to me. She even forgot to
ask her stock question. “When did you have for supper?” It was no longer on the
agenda. Instead, she talked about RAM, ROM and the CPU- terms spilled out
effortlessly from her mouth. My mother had acquired a new mother tongue.
3 My mother isn’t the only one experiencing a personal-growth spurt. Thanks to the
computer, my father has finally overcome his phone allergy. For as long as I can
remember, any time I called, my mother would answer. Then, a couple of months
ago, I heard dad’s gruff voice on the phone. “Why did not mum answer?” I asked.”
She’s on the computer. “My father and I have had more phone conversation in the
last two months than we’ve had in the previous 20 years. After a lifetime of being her
child, I was finally the one with knowledge to share with my mum. But even now, I
realize that she continues to teach me, I’m learning that no matter how old you are, a
willing spirit is capable of anything.

1.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage given above complete the
following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct
blank numbers. 1x4=4
(a) The author’s mother played Scrabble…………………………
(a) to keep her mind sharp (b) to be visionary
(c) to be a maths teacher (d) to be a computer expert
 (b) The author was not sure whether her mom would use a computer because
………………….

(c) It is very clear that the author’s mother was interested in learning about the
computer as………………………………

(d) The author realized that age………………………………

1.2 Answer the following questions: 4 Marks

(a) Why did the author and her husband decide to give a computer
to the mother? 1 Marks

(b) What was the language the mother newly acquired? 1 Marks
(a) CD (b) floppy (c) C++ (d) RAM/ROM/CPU

(c) After the coming of the computer what changes noticed in the
Parents? 2 Marks

1.3 Find words from the passage which means the same as the following from the
paragraphs indicated. Write the answers in your answers in sheet.
1x4=4

(a) Allotted duty/work (para 2)

(b) Convince (para 1)
(c) Hypnotized (para 2)
(d) Against (para 1)

2. Read the passage given below and answer the question that follow: 10 marks

1 To reach Chhota Mollakhali in East Sunderbans, you have to sail Miles through dense
mangroves, Surrounded by thick forest on the three sides, Chhota Mollakhali is the
most neglected part of the famous world heritage site of the Sunderbans, Its
population of 18,000 has no electricity, no transport or even the basic medical
facilities. What it does have now though is the School of Hope, the first pucca
structure constructed in April this year. An initiative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF),
the School of Hope has over 600 students who have been provided school uniforms
and books. The school is helping the villagers in ways beyond educating its children.
As there is no electricity at home, the building is lit by solar-powered bulbs so the
children can study in the compound. What the electricity has also done is go some
distance to remove the possibility of encounters between the villagers and the other
resident of the Sunderbans-the magnificent Royal Bengal Tiger. Known for its frequent
intrusions earlier, it has not been sighted near the village for the past five years thanks
to WWF interventions. The brightly lit school is another step in the WWF’s multi-
pronged approach to securing environment for men and beast.

2 “People here either depend on wood smuggling or prawn seed collection for livelihood.
The first encroaches on tiger territory while the second completely disrupts ecological
balance of the area, because the salinity of the water is affected due to excessive
prawn seed poaching”, says Kakoli Banerjee, assistant coordinator of the Sunderbans
landscaping project, WWF, Villagers have lost limbs and lives to crocodile attacks
when venturing into deep waters. WWF has also provided the village with tillers, which
have increased crop production area from 10 to 20 acres, solar-powered spice
 grinding machines, deep tube wells and medicinal plant gardens for sustenance.
Children here have now formed nature clubs; over 14 of them have been formed in
two years, instead of going to the forest to pick wood. It is now the children who teach
the parents the importance of saving the tiger. To save the environment, you have to
understand it first, like Chhota Mollakhli seems to have done.

2.1. On the basis of your reading of the passage, given above complete the
following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct
blank numbers. (1 x 3 = 3)

(a) Chhota Mollakhali is the most neglected part of the Sunderbans as its
population of 18.000 has ……………………..
(b) The students of Chhota Mollakhali are educated ………………..
(c) The facility to study in the school compound is possible because
of…………………….
(i) Laser light (ii) Generator (iii) Battery (iv) solar bulbs

2.2 Answer the following questions:

(a) Why is the ecological balance in the area disrupted? 2 Marks

(b) Mention the efforts made by WWF in securing environment for man and best.
2 Marks

(C) Who is the other resident of the Sunderbans? 1 Marks

(a) Nomads (b) tribals
(c) uprooted class (d) royal bengal tigers
(d) How is the salinity of the water affected in the Sunderbans? 2 Marks

SECTION B (WRITING)
(22 Marks)

3. You are Ankit a student of Modern Public School, studying in class X.C. Write an
email to the principal of your school in about 50 words, requesting him to change
old fans. Give a valid reason. You can copy the following template.

3 Marks
 From:

To:

Cc:

Date:

Subject:

4. Write a factual description of any bird /animal that you like in about 100 words.
4 Marks

5. (A) Write a letter to the Principal of your school in about 120 Words, thanking
him/her for allowing your class to visit a zero-waste village. Also, write about
your experience including what you saw, how you felt and in what way you
have changed since then. You may use ideas from MCB Unit 2: ‘Education’ and
Unit 4: ‘Environment’. 7 Marks

Or

(B) Write a letter to the District Health Officer of your area, drawing his attention to
the insanitary conditions of your locality. Request him to arrange for the
cleanliness of this area so that it is disease free and livable. Your are Rajesh,
studying in class X-B of Modern public school, Pune. Along with your own
ideas, you may use ideas from MCB Unit 1: ‘Health and Medicine’ to write this
letter.

6. (A) Our environment is being threatened by many factors, it will not be able to
support life on earth. If such kinds of threatening continue for long, we need to
put an end to all this for the safety and health of the world. You are Ankit of
class X-B. Write an article in about 150 words for your school magazine. Use
your own ideas along with the ideas Unit 4: Environment and also in the cues
given below. 8 Marks

 What is environment?
 Threatening factors: Cutting of forests; emission of poisonous gases
from factories and from vehicles.
 Pollution of air, water, and soil
 Afforestation
 Control of poisonous emission of gasses from factories.
 Keeping the water bodies clean.
 Recycling of household and industrial waste.

Or,
 (B) Health is the most important part of life. Related to health is medicine. When
required health is supported by medicine. You are Ankit of class X-B write an
article in about 150 words on health and medicine for your school magazine. You
may use the following cues along with your own ideas and also refer to MCB Unit
1: ‘Health and Medicine’ to write the article.

 Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being

 Medicines are chemicals or compounds used to cure, stop, or prevent
diseases.
 Medicine and health equip us with the necessary knowledge and skills to
treat and prevent illness.
 Health is very much required to live a fulfilling life.
 Factors such as diet, rest, exercise necessary to maintain good health.
 Health of different types such as physical, emotional, social, spiritual an
intellectual.
 Health makes life fulfilling and balanced.

SECTION C (GRAMMAR) (10 Marks)

7. Complete the tasks (A) to (C), as directed.

(A) Fill in the blanks (i) to (iii) with the appropriate option from those in the
brackets (3 Marks)

Chandi Prasad Bhat (i)…………....(launching/launched/launch)

a public campaign (ii)…………….(know/knew/known) as the ‘Chipko
Movement’, to Protect the trees against the axe. In this movement, village
women (iii) ………..(played/play/playing) an active role.

(B) In the following paragraph, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the
missing word along with the word that comes before and after it in the
following table. (4 Marks)

No. Text Before Word After

1. Leadership the world go round ………. …….. ……..
2. It affirms the capacity individuals to move. ……….. …….. ……..
3. The basic concept of leadership implies ……….. …….. ……..
individuals can make a difference.
4. An effective leader cannot be effective ………. …….. ……..
isolation.

(C) Do as directed. (3 Marks)

(i) Rearrange the following jumbled words/phrases in the given dialogue to
create a meaningful sentence.
Martin: Where are you going?
Father: I promised to visit Mrs. Bhatia.
Martin: I want / her too / with you / let me / go / to visit.
 (ii) Report: the dialogues to complete the paragraph that follow:

Pandora: Who are you, inside this naughty box?

Voice: Only lift the lid, and you shall see.
Pandora: No. No. I have had enough of lifting the lid?
Pandora asked the Voice Who it was inside that naughty
Box. The Voice asked her (a) ……………Pandora cried out
Loudly (b) …………………..lid.

SECTION D (LITERATURE) TEXTBOOK (26 Marks)

8. Read the given excerpts and answer the questions of any two excerpts briefly from
the given three. (2 x 4 =8)

(A) I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunk less legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, (Ozymandias)

(a) Whom did the poet meet?

(b) Where was he coming from?
(c) What did he see there?
(d) What do you understand by “Near them”?

Or,
(B) I’d done it. I’d rescued Sebastion at last! Before I had a chance
to say anything to him though, the helicopter flew into thick cloud.
It turned everything blinding white, I couldn’t see a
thing until ‘Game Over’ flashed up. (Virtually True)

(a) From where had Sebastian been rescued?

(b) Why did the words ‘Game Over’ flash on author’s computer screen?
(c) What is meant by ‘blinding white’?
(d) How did Sebastian go out from the jeep into the helicopter?

Or,
(C) CALPURNIA : When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Are to the world in general as to Caesar:
CAESAR : Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
 Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come. (Julius Caesar)

(a) Who speaks these lines and to whom?

(b) How does the speaker differentiate between the death of beggars and
that of Princes?
(c) How has the night been?
(d) Why is Calpurnia giving these explanations?
9. Answer ANY FIVE of the following six questions in about 40 words each.
(5x2=10)
(a) How will the living record of memory remain in ‘Not Marble Nor
the Gilded Monument’.
(‘Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monument’.)

(b) Why was Mrs.Packletide intent on shooting a tiger?

(Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger)

(c) In the story ‘The Letter’, the postmaster says to Ali, “What a pest you are,
brother!” Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons.

(d) Why did Patol Babu have to give up acting? How did you feel about it?
(Patol Babu, Film Star)
(e) Why did the news of the medical recovery surprise Michal?
(Virtually True)
(f) The story ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ is full of surprises. Briefly mention one
such instance from the story.
10. Answer ANY ONE of the following two questions in about 150 words.
(1x8=8 Marks)
(A) Imagine you are John from the story, ‘A Shady Plot’. Write a letter to Patol
Babu who has got an offer to act in a film. He advises him to accept the offer.
Write in 150 words in how Patol Babu gets convinced to play the role.
(Reference ‘A Shady Plot’ and ‘Patol Babu, Film Star’)

Or,
(B) Imagine that you are Lucia from the ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’, With
reference to the two stories ‘The Dear Departed’ and your own, express your
worry for Victoria and comment on the human relations. (Reference “The Dear
Departed” and To Gentlemen of Verona)

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