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 Series ARSP/15 Set ~ 15
Roll No. Q.P Code 15/15/15
Candidates must write the Q.P Code
on the title page of the answer-book.

 Please check that this question paper contains 06 printed pages.

 Q.P. Code given on the right hand side of the question paper should be written
on the title page of the answer-book by the candidate.
 Please check that this question paper contains 12 questions.
 Please write down the serial number of the question in the answer-book
before attempting it.
 15 Minute times has been allotted to read this question paper. The question
paper will be distributed at 10:15 a.m. From 10.15 a.m to 10.30 a.m, the students
will read the question paper only and will not write any answer on the answer –
book during this period.

English Communicative

Time allowed: 3 hours Maximum Marks: 80

General Instructions:

Read the following instructions very carefully and strictly follow them:

1. This question paper has 12 questions. All questions are compulsory.

2. This question paper contains three sections: Section A: Reading Skills, Section B: Writing Skills Section C:

Grammar Section D: Literature Textbook

3. Attempt all questions based on specific instructions for each part. Write the correct question number and part

thereof in your answer sheet.

4. Separate instructions are given with each question/part, wherever necessary.

5. Adhere to the prescribed word limit while answering the questions

SECTION A : READING SKILLS (22 marks)

1. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [12]
1. With vast and growing numbers of Indians in the workforce emigrating to foreign lands, typically to North
America, Western Europe, Australia or parts of Southeast Asia, many Indian families are now
experimenting by either taking their elderly parents along with them, or, when that model fails owing to the
loneliness of the elderly in a new country and their dependence on their children, they are sent back to India
to face their uncertain twilight years more or less alone.
2. This trend has also accompanied the breakdown of the traditional Indian joint family system, with the result
that a growing cohort of elderly Indians have to fend for themselves in old age homes far from any family
connections.
3. Yet in some cases, the elderly refuse to cut their ties with India to accompany their children abroad in the
first place. While senior communities in India were originally associated with charitable institutions and
even with the rescue and rehabilitation of destitute among the elderly, those connotations appear to be
transforming into the more luxury-focused retirement communities, at least for middle-class Indians.
4. Many opt for such homes offering specialist services for the care of the elderly because the costs of hiring
private, full time workers can be prohibitive and also it can be an insurmountable task to effectively
coordinate doctor visits and such. In the new class of senior citizen colonies, many of these facilities are
taken care of under a single package. According to Mathew Cherian, CEO of HelpAge India, a large non-
profit organisation working for senior citizens in the country, there are over 4,000 old age homes, of which
at least 130 were designed as retirement communities geared towards the expectations and demands of the
rising middle class and affluent NRIs.
5. Few years ago, Bayada Home Health Care, a U.S.-based home health care company acquired a stake in
India Home Health Care, an Indian company. Bayada now offers a package specifically designed for Non-
 Resident Indians who have parents living in India. The packages aim at ensuring that the senior citizen’s
health condition is monitored and health issues are detected as early as possible and acted upon accordingly.
6. Yet the problem with all of these arrangements, helpful though they are to the elderly, is that depression
brought on by loneliness can be a serious concern among residents at such communities. There is not
enough love and care in these places. Phone calls, Skype conversations, and rushing to India when a parent
falls sick are just not enough.
7. Thus, despite this growing sophistication of elderly care packages available on the market, old-fashioned
social relationships with friends and neighbours may ultimately offer as much or more succour for the
elderly whose children no longer reside in India.
(a) Which two challenges faced by the elderly are mainly discussed in the passage?

a) Lack of financial resources and b) Coping with old age and selection of
loneliness right medical package

c) Lack of financial resources and d) Loneliness and health issues

deteriorating health conditions
(b) Which quote summarises the writer’s feelings about old age?

a) No one should be alone in their old age, b) Growing old is mandatory, but growing
he thought. But it is unavoidable. - up is optional. - Walt Disney
Ernest Hemingway

c) One day you will look back and see that d) We are always the same age inside. -
all along you were blooming. - Morgan Gertrude Stein
Harper Nichols
(c) How do people working abroad try to fulfil their responsibilities towards their parents?
(d) Complete the following with reference to the information provided in the passage.
In some cases, the elderly are not ready to leave India to accompany their children because ________.
(e) Complete the following sentence appropriately:
Phone calls, Skype conversations, and rushing to India when a parent falls sick are just not enough as the
parents still yearn for ________.
(f) What are the facilities offered by the modernised senior citizen colonies?
(g) Complete the following sentence appropriately:
Luxury-focused retirement communities are preferred over hiring private, full time nurses by many NRIs
for their parents because ________.
(h) Which of the following suggestions would be more likely to improve the conditions of the elderly parents
whose children work in a foreign land?

a) They should demand more money from b) They should ask their children to come
their children. back.

c) They should build up a network of d) They should frequently express their

social contacts. resentment.
(i) Find a word that means the same as a problem/situation that cannot be dealt successfully. (Para 3-4)
(j) Specifically designed housing options can help the elderly to cope with their old age in a better way.

a) True b) False
2. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [10]
Read the following table displaying the reasons why the airlines in our country are struggling to survive.
Despite being touted as the fastest growing aviation sector in the world, airlines in our country have struggled
to survive because of the reasons displayed in the following table:

Indian Aviation
Tax Burden High Competition Ownership of Fleets Other Factors
Policy

High operational Airport fees for Lack of financial Affect on passenger

Barriers to entry and
expenses due to using airport resources for airlines growth due to
growth
high taxes facilities to buy planes increasing cost

From 20042016,
new airlines
require
Airfares 15% Passing on the bulk About 80% of High costs for
five-year
below the of charges to commercial fleet is training of airline
domestic
breakeven point passengers leased crew
experience
to have a fleet of
20 aircrafts

Change in
Aviation Policy
Offering lower Inadequate number of
State imposed in 2016 High costs due to
ticket fares to Flight Training
taxes on jet fuel Removal of five- leasing
remain competitive Organisations
year domestic
experience rule

Opposition of
Payment of heavy
changes in rules by
annual lease rents
legacy carriers

(a) How has Indian Aviation Policy posed barriers to entry and growth of the airlines in the country?
(b) To remain competitive, it is essential for the airlines:

a) to increase ticket fares b) to have five years domestic experience

c) to offer lower ticket fares to passengers d) to lease the fleet

(c) Some airlines face problems in acquiring ownership of planes. Give one reason and effect of the given
statement.
(d) Select the correct option to complete the following analogy:
Aviation Policy : a fleet of 20 aircrafts : : ________ : commercial aircrafts on lease

a) both tax burden and high competition b) ownership of fleets

c) high competition d) tax burden

(e) What could be the likely reason for opposing the changes in Aviation Policy by legacy carriers (older
airlines)?
(f) Complete the following sentence appropriately:
 Some states in the country contribute to the tax burden on the airlines because ________.
(g) Identify from the following a potential effect of inadequate number of Flight Training Organisations in a
country. Support your choice with one reason.
i. Effect on passenger growth
ii. Decrease in tax burden
iii. Crunch in pilots
(h) Select the correct option to complete the following sentence appropriately.
The airport fees paid for using airport facilities by the airlines:

a) does not affect the passengers b) is passed on to the passengers’ ticket

fares

c) is 15% of the total taxes paid by the d) is not applicable to the commercial
airlines fleets
SECTION B : WRITING SKILLS (22 marks)
3. Write an email to the Principal of your school, requesting her or him to ask students to participate in the charity [3]
drive.
4. Write a descriptive paragraph based on the personality shown in the picture given below. [4]

5. You are Anita/Anil of Panday Park. You recently worked on a school project on the powerful impact of media in [7]
promoting national integration. Write a letter to the editor of The Hindu, sharing your views on the role of media
- word limit 100-120 words.
OR
Our metropolitan cities witness a large number of accidents every day. What do you think is the reason? What can be
done to bring down the rate of accidents? Write a letter, in about 100-120 words, to the editor of a national daily
expressing your concerns and offering solutions to this problem. You are Sumit/Disha, 208, Badarpur, Faridabad,
Haryana.
6. Modern technology has changed our lives in countless ways - revolutionising how we work, live and play. Write [8]
an article on the topic: Rapid Digital Adoption: Revolutionising our Lives. You can take hints from the MCB
unit Science. You are Ram/Sunita.
OR
Technology is transforming every field of life today including education. Write an article on the topic: Role of
Technology in Education in about 150 words. You can take hints from the unit Education of the MCB.
SECTION C : GRAMMAR (10 marks)
7. Complete the tasks A-C , as directed. [10]
(a) Fill in the blanks (a)-(c) with the appropriate option from those in the brackets. [3]
I came to India (a) ________ (in/during/for) a short trip only, one week (b) ________ (is/was/has) left
to return to America. Everybody wanted to spend time with me, (c) ________ (as/so/but) how to
spend, so we decided to watch a movie.
(b) The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the incorrect word [4]
 and the correction in the space provided against the correct blank number:

Error Correction

The entire household was in the e.g. in under

control for my mother-in-law. She (a) ________ ________

was the majestic figure, very fair and (b) ________ ________

very serious. She was rigid on (c) ________ ________

her orthodoxy. No one dare to argue with her. (d) ________ ________

(c) Do as directed.
i. Rearrange the following jumbled words/phrases in the given dialogue to create a meaningful [1]
sentence.
Linda will go to London day after tomorrow. There the air is rarefied. It is not advisable to
exert for the first 24 hours.
common/for/or two/breathlessness/is/a day
ii. Read the conversation given below. Based on your reading, fill in the blanks appropriately. [2]
Tanmay: How did you spend your vacation?
Astha: I visited Kashmir with my parents.
Tanmay: Have you been there earlier too?
Astha: No, it was my first trip.
Tanmay asked Astha how she had spent her vacation. Astha replied that (a) ________. Tanmay
further asked her if she had been there earlier too. Astha replied in the negative, saying that (b)
________.
SECTION D : LITERATURE TEXTBOOK (26 marks)
8. Read the given excerpts and answer the questions briefly, for ANY TWO excerpts, of the three, given. [8]
(a) Read the extract carefully and answer the questions. [4]
Now the frog puffed up with rage.
"Brainless bird you're on the stage-
Use your wits and follow fashion.
Puff your lungs out with your passion."
i. For what reason did the frog puff up with rage?
ii. What does the frog want the nightingale to use?
iii. Why does the frog call the nightingale 'brainless'?
iv. Identify the rhyme scheme of the above stanza.
(b) Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow: [4]
She’s never been here since grandfather bought it. If it was only down here instead of in his room,
she’d never guess it wasn’t our own.
a. What is it in the present context?
b. Who is she in the present context?
c. Why does the speaker say these words?
d. Why does the speaker not want she to guess that it belonged to grandfather?
(c) Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow: [4]
 Six hundred and eighty, freehold. Quite a bargain, only I don’t happen to have the money.
a. Who is the speaker here?
b. The word ________ here means a good deal.
c. What does the speaker want to purchase?
d. Why did the speaker say these words?
9. Answer ANY FIVE of the following six questions in about 30- 40 words each [10]
(a) Why did the sailors hang the dead albatross around the neck of the Ancient Mariner? [2]
(b) What was the difference between the personality of Jacopo and Nicola? [2]
(c) What did the ghost tell about herself before she became a ghost? [2]
(d) Patol Babu struggled to make a living after he lost his job in Calcutta. Elaborate. [2]
(e) Why was Michael surprised to see Sebastian Shultz’ photograph in the newspaper? [2]
(f) Who is Jimmy? Why is his reference made in the play? [2]
10. Answer ANY ONE of the following two questions in about 150 words. [8]
(a) Do you agree that the assassination of Julius Caesar was a deliberate move to satisfy the ambitions [8]
and aspirations of a few? Justify.
(b) But when the evening of his life was drawing in, he left his old ways and suddenly took a turn. [8]
What was the change in Ali’s nature towards the end of his life? What was the reason for this
transformation? What values do we learn from his story?