KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN CHENNAI REGION CLASS XII COMMON PRE-BOARD EXAMINATION 2015-16 ENGLISH CORE TIME: 3 HOURS CLASS XII Max. MARKS: 100 General Instructions: 1. This paper is divided into three Sections: A, B, C. All the sections are compulsory. 2. Separate instructions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and follow them faithfully. 3. Do not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.

SECTION-A (READING-30) Q1.Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: 12 Marks

Know Your Mail 1.You would have seen an increasing amount of “junk mail “showing up in your e-mail box. The so- called harmless activities of a small number of people are increasingly becoming a serious problem for the internet. 2.Spam is the flooding of the internet with many copies of the same message in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. 3.Spam is basically electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup posting. It is sometimes confused with any unsolicited e-mail. But an old friend may also find your e-mail address on the Net and send you a message but this could hardly be called a spam, even though it is unsolicited. Real spam is generally e- mail advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup. 4.In addition to wasting people’s time with unwanted e-mail, spam also eats up a lot of network band width. There are many organisationsand individuals who have taken it upon themselves to fight spam with a variety of techniques. The problem is that because the Internet is public, there is very little that can be done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. 5.One of the most recent examples of large- scale spamming was the hoax Ericsson e-mail about a free give away, something most people just cannot resist. The letter begins with a claim that since Nokia is giving away telephones, Ericsson will respond by giving away brand new WAP phone. But the recipient must forward the letter to a minimum of twenty people to receive the phone. The letter is signed by Anna Sweland, Executive Promotion Manager for Ericsson Marketing. It was later discovered that there was no such person at Ericsson. 6.There are numerous instances of these e-mails being used maliciously by someone who has a grudge against an ex-spouse, a public official, aformer teacher or someone else with an email address. The person mentioned in the email ends up with thousands of requests from people looking for confirmation that the email- which they actually had nothing to do with –is true. 7.Spamming works on our own greed to receive freebies. You are instructed by a total stranger to forward a message you know nothing about, except for the fact that maybe a friend passed it along to you and about 90 of their other very close friends.

1 8.Very often the victim can receive so many e-mails that they have to get a new e-mail box or phone number-thereby ruining established personal and professional communication channels which was the original intent of the sender.

9.Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich quick schemes, or quasi- legal services.It costs the sender very little to send –most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender. 10.There are two main types of spam, and they have different effects on internet users. Cancellable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet newsgroups. Usenet spam is aimed at “lurkers”, people who read newsgroup but rarely or never post and give their address away. Usenet spam robs users of the utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with a barrage of advertising or other irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet spam subverts the ability of system administrators and owners to manage the topics they accept on their systems. 11.E-mail spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. They typically cost users money out- of- pocket to receive. Most of us read or receive our email through dial up accounts while the meter is running, so to speak. 12.There is not much really that can be done to protect yourself except that you can ensure your relative safety by creating internet email accounts like Hotmail or Yahoo which can be easily and frequently changed. 1.1 On the basis of your reading of the above passage, complete the following statements with the help of given options: (4 marks) (a)An old friend sending a message ______. (i)is also a spam (ii) is not a spam (iii) can be a spam (iv) none of the above

(b)E mail spam aims at ______users (i) group (ii)individual (iii) illiterates (iv) females

(c) Usenet spam deprives the users of ______. (i) the utility of newsgroups (ii) net facility (iii)actual information (iv) career options

(d)Advantage of Yahoo or Hotmail is that (i) Its IP address is easy to memorise (ii) it is not prone to spam attack (iii) account can be easily changed (iv) none of the above

1.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions. (6 marks) i) How does spamming work? ii) What are the two main types of spam and their effect on internet users? iii) Why can’t spams be prevented? iv) Why is spam used for commercial advertising? v) What consequences do the victim of spamming have to face who has received a lot of e-mails? vi) What are the two disadvantages of having spam in the mail-box? 1.3 Find the words from the passage which mean the same as : (2 marks)

2 (a) a mischievous trick played on somebody for a joke(para 5) (b) Overthrow, undermine (para10)

Q2.Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: 10 Marks 1. My dad and I both started playing tennis at the same time in 1967.He inspired me with his words of accolades. He was quick to point out my assets. Though I was small for my age, I was fast on my feet and seemed to have an instinct for where my opponent would hit his next shot. At the age of 9, I put on my white shorts and shirt and started playing in tennis tournament around the New York area. By the time I was 12, I was No.7 in the country in the under 12 category. When I was 16, I won my first national singles title. 2. Then in 1977, as a chubby- faced 18 year old with brown ringlets and a red headband, I came out of nowhere to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Though I wouldn’t have told a soul back then, that’s when I realized I had the potential to be the best tennis player in the world. 3.I worked my way up the ranks and by 1979, I was world no.3, hunting down Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. I was winning a lot and I loved it-loved being the lone gun fighter. I won the US Open in both 1979 and 1980. Then, more and more, the problem became that almost everybody was somebody I shouldn’t lose to .There was so much pressure to win in the early rounds of tournaments and make it to the finals. To conquer the pressure, I tried building defenses that almost nothing and nobody could get through. But behind my defenses were some very dark places. There was always a devil inside me that I had to fight against and that devil was fear of failure. 4. Eventually I had made it to the finals at Wimbledon that year, earning the re-match Ibadly wanted with Borg. Though I had beaten the great, smooth Swedein previous year’s US Open, Borg had won Wimbledon an incredible five times in a row, including against me. I got off to a sluggish start. I was tight, over impressed with the occasion. Borg won the first set, 6-4. 5. As I loosened up, the match turned into a dogfight. I won a tie-breaker in the second set, and the third set was going in that direction too. Underneath my nerves and my certainty that I had to play every point to my utmost, a strange idea was starting to materialize: he is not quite as hungry as last year. This match is mine to take, if I can take it. After that, I knew in my bones that I was going to win, and I did. The final score was 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. When I beat Borg at the US Open a few months later, I officially replaced him as World No.1. I had thought that No.2 was a pretty big deal. But No.1 was a very strange place indeed- the peak of the mountain, the icy winds blowing around my head. For four years I was the biggest winner in men’s tennis. John Mc Enroe 2.1.On the basis of your reading the passage choose the correct option: 2

1.The narrator remained at the top position because of his i)skills ii) consistent , disciplined hardwork iii)determination iv) all of the above

2. The top position is considered a “strange place” due to i)the expectation of spectators ii) both I and iii iii) pressure of competition from opponentsiv) chill weather

3 2.2 On the basis of your reading the passage, answer the following questions: 6 1. What qualities did the author possess at a very young age that inspired him to take to tennis? 2. What was the state of mind of the author when he was playing against Borg in the Wimbledon? 3. What helped John Mc Enroe become a top seed player? 4. What was the author’s worst fear? 5. What was the contribution of the author’s father in grooming him as a player? 6. At what age did the author officially play tennis for the first time?

2.3.On the basis of your reading the passage, find words similar in meaning to the following: 2 a) Challenger(para 1) (b) lethargic (para 4) Q3.Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

An era,a culture is eventually determined by its news. What is missed out by those who track the news of the time is lost forever. We know nothing about Shakespeare’s contemporaries even though some of them may have been better playwrights. We know nothing about those who came in with Babar, or around the same time, to loot India and stayed back as rulers. Or the many soldiers of fortune who landed here during the time of the East India Company. We know of a few and, apart from avid historians, no one knows who led the Portuguese, Dutch or French into India or ran their empires here till they were dismantled. Why is that? Simple. The media of the time , known as historians, did not mention them. We who consume news today see it as a fleeting experience. We observe a powerful image on T.V., are moved by its impact or repelled by its horror and move on. We read a headline today and can’t even recall it tomorrow. Current news always drives out the old ( often with ruthless cunning)and its only when the media goes back in time to recall a particular story that we suddenly remember that, yes, there was something called HDW or Bofors that once shook up the entire nation and held it in thrall for a decade. Since I am a journalist I can tell you many stories. There are others too, full of stories. But, like news, the stories die with them. History only remembers what it chooses to, or what is indelibly stamped on its pages. The rest is occasionally recalled as gossip. But is it gossip? Or is it truth that we are trying to forget so that we can move on and make space in our hearts and minds for more recent news? Our memory, collective as well as individual, has limited storage and however many data cards we may insert, there’s simply too much to absorb and retain. The information search that hits us every morning is so large, so intimidating that we remember only a tiny fraction of it. It’s that fraction which actually scares us by the possibility of impacting our lives. The gap between news and entertainment was always sacrosanct. News was about facts. Entertainment was about imagination, ergo fiction. To see them occupy the same media platform today is scary for those like me who have spent a lifetime pursuing facts in the search for news. Even the dividing line has blurred. What we once shunned as preposterous lies, slip in so casually today into our news menu. It’s no one’s fault. It’s just that the fault lines have shifted. News has become just another consumable, another platform to commercially and cynically exploit. No, don’t blame our journalist and media owners .they are only following an entirely forgettable chapter of history. a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it. Use recognizable abbreviations and a format you consider suitable. (5)

b) Make a summary of the passage in about 80-100 words. (3)

SECTION B (Advanced Writing Skills- 30) 4 Q4. You are Archana/Arpit of class XII. You have been asked to design a poster to increase awareness among masses about blindness and the need for donating eyes. (word limit: 50) (4) (OR) You are Avinash/Arpita residing at 25 Kilpauk Gardens, Chennai. You are opening a new branch of your boutique “Miss Fab” at 24/15, Elms road, Witan Complex, Chennai. Write an invitation to your Uncle residing at 27-Gulmarg Road, RajajiStrret, Bangalore to attend the inauguration ceremony. Q5. You are Arti/Dinesh of 21-B, Anna Square, G Nagar Bangalore. You have seen an advertisement in ‘The Hindu’ for the post of chef in a 4- star hotel. Apply for the job with complete bio-datain not more than 125-150 words. (6 marks) (OR) You are Aman/Jennifer residing at 8,Kalyana Raman street, Mylapore Chennai. Last month you bought a video camera from the ‘Super Modern Electronic Gadgets House’ Chennai against a warranty of two years. Now you discover that there is something wrong with this camera.It doesn’t work for more than 30-40 seconds at a stretch and the quality of the stills are poor, blurred etc. write a letter to the dealer complaining about the problem. Also request him to replace the defective piece against the warranty that goes with it . Q6.You are Bina/Bavinder a class XII student of Pegasus School, New Delhi. You interacted with your friends for knowing their views on shopping Malls which have come up in every corner of the city. You found that around half the total number of your friends love to go to Malls, while the other half hate them. Write a debate in 150–200 words in favour of or against the topic “Mall Culture in Cities – Positive or Negative Aspect on Teenagers”. (10 marks) (OR) You are Dina/ David. Every day you are assailed with many news items bringing out the laborious efforts taken by the government to promote cleanliness drive. You are highly motivated by the drive and you plan on giving a speech in the morning assembly on “Clean Your City”. Write the speech in not more than 200 words. Q7.You are Suman/ Srijith. You have often seen people throwing leftover foods from speeding cars or commuters of bus spitting on the road while travelling. You have often wondered at the complete lack of civic sense in people. Write an article in 150-200 words on the need to inculcate civic sense in children at a very young age. (10 marks) (OR) You are Sunaina/ Sorbjit. You are worried at the increasing rate of crime that is happening against women on a daily basis which makes to the pages of print and media. Write an article in not more than 200 words on the increasing rate of crime against women and ways to curb it. SECTION-C (Literature and Long Reading Text-40)

Q.8. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: (4)

“some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun,the moon Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils With the green world they live in; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 5 ‘gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk- rose blooms: a) What removes the pall from our dark spirits? b) What are the objects of nature that give us eternal happiness? c) How do “daffodils” and “rills” enrich the environment? d) What is the poetic device used in the second line? (OR)

It would be an exotic moment Without rush, without engines We would all be together In a sudden strangeness a) What will happen if there is no rush or running of engines? b) How would all feel at that moment? c) What sort of moment will it be? d)How would the exotic moment help?

Q.9. Answer any FOUR of the following in 50-60 words each: (3x4=12) i)What unusual things did little Franz notice that surprised him the most that last day? ii) How did the development of synthetic indigo affect the English estate owners and the Indian tenants? iii) Why was Derry’s mother against the idea of his going back to the old man’s garden? iv) Why didn’t Jack agree to Jo’s demand of punishing the mother of Roger Skunk in the story? v) How has the poet contrasted the scene inside the car with the activities going on outside? vi) What will happen to Aunt Jennifer’s tigers when she is dead?

Q.10.Answer the following in about 120-150 words: (6) The significance of training cannot be underestimated. One cannot get anything if one does not work hard, as is clearly brought out in ‘Deep Water’. Write anarticle emphasizing on “the diligence and discipline required for attaining success”. (OR) It is often seen that criminals are given an opportunity to learn while at prison, at the expense of the tax- payer’s money. The effort is specially taken togive them a better life and also to make them respectable citizens of the country. Write a paragraph in not more than 200 words on the need to provide an opportunity of learning and education to the criminals. Q.11. Answer the following in about 120-150 words: (6) How did Gandhi work for rural upliftment during his stay in Champaran ? (OR) How was Hana a supportive wife to her husband?

6 Q.12. Answer the following in about 120-150 words: (6)

What measures were taken by the police department in consultation with Dr. Kemp to nab the invisible man after he fled from Dr. Kemp’s house? Q.13. Answer the following in about 120-150 words: (6)

Give a brief character sketch of Griffin.

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