CBSE Sample Papers for Class 9 SA2 English Communicative Solved 2016 Set 12

                                                       SECTION-A
                                                         (Reading)

1.(a) Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :

  1. For nearly 500 years, people have gazed at Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Mona Lisa with a sense of bafflement – first she is smiling, then the smile fades, a moment later it returns, only to disappear again.
  2. Now, scientists claim to have uncovered the secret of how Leonardo produced the optical effects that created Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile.A team in Europe has found that the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze, thought to have been smeared on with his fingers.
  1. The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the mouth that give Mona Lisa the barely noticeable smile that seems to disappear when looked at directly.Using X-rays to study the painting, the scientists were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the face. The Sunday Telegraph reported, “With the drying time for the glaze taking months, such effects would have taken years to achieve.”
  1. The scientists at the Laboratoire du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Muses de France and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility also claim that Leonardo used his fingers to apply the glaze to his paintings, as there are no brush marks or contours visible on the paintings.

(a)How does one look at the face of Mona Lisa ?
(b)How was the special effect in Mona Lisa’s smile ?
(c)What caused the blurring effect of the smile ?
(d) How much did it take to achieve the enigmatic effect of the smile ?
(e) Find out the word in the passage which means the same as ‘mysterious’.(para 2)
(b) Read the following passage carefully :

  1. Three years ago on the last day of January, I had a big problem. I can’t forget this day forever. The story began when my uncle, my cousin, and I went to the desert. My uncle was the oldest at 72 years, but he was still strong. My cousin at that time was 10 years old, and I was 25 years old. All of us liked hunting. Usually, we went hunting on the weekend, especially in winter, because winter is the hunting season.
  2. On the 25th of January, we decided to go hunting. All things were ready in the car, a Range Rover with four-wheel drive. We began on Thursday afternoon, and it took us three hours by car. We reached the place we were looking for at 5.15 P.M. First, we fixed the tent, then we made coffee and had a few minutes of rest. After that, we left to go on the hunt. We hunted using a falcon. Often, we hunt birds and rabbits. We spent two hours without finding anything. We decided to go back to the camp. On our way back, my cousin saw a rabbit. He cried, “Rabbit, Rabbit, Quick!” I took the falcon’s head cover and flung it off aggressively. When the rabbit saw the falcon, it ran fast, but my falcon was a professional hunter. He flew up and came down to trick the rabbit. After two minutes, the rabbit was caught.

1.On the basis of your reading of the passage complete the following statements :
(a)The hunting trip was undertaken____________ .
(b)A falcon was used in__________ .
2.Answer these questions briefly :
(a)What was difficult for the narrator to forget ?
(b)What kind of falcon did he have ?
3.Find a word from the passage which has the same meaning as ‘an area with no water and very little plants’.

2.Read the following passage carefully and on the basis of your study of the passage answer the questions given below : (OTBA)   

  1. Education is no longer restricted to bookish knowledge and the four walls of colleges and universities. Apart from the activities in the classroom, laboratories and libraries, a student has an opportunity to find out and express his hidden potential in the form of various extra-curricular activities. Youth festivals are the best platform for such activities.
  1. It is essential for the all-round development of a student that he should participate in one or the other activity. There are so many extra-curricular activities. Some of them are declamation, debate, historionics, mimicry, painting, music, dance, singing, poetical recitation etc.
  2. Mere classroom studies make it boring and students need some outlet for their energies. They need opportunities for entertainment also. Youth festivals are the spice of academic life. When students prepare for various items, they have a sense of achievement, a sense of doing something useful. Preparing the stage for the show, receiving the guest artists from other colleges and looking after them, inculcate in them a sense of responsibility, cooperation and tolerance.
  3. As the competitions of these youth festivals are organised among students of almost the same age, they get rid of stage-phobia. They no longer feel shy of the audience and the stage. They learn to face the audience. Thus, they cultivate self-confidence.
  4. Youth festivals are the best means to search the talent among the youth. These budding artists will become the singers, actors, and orators of tomorrow. Youth festivals prove to be the stepping stones for the future life. Absence of youth festivals makes student life insipid and boring. As such, students take to subversive activities. If they remain busy in preparing for competition in the youth festivals, their time is used in a productive and fruitful way.
  5. At the time of youth festivals the best artists are eulogised publicly, while others do not fare well. Those who do not do well, they learn to accept the verdict of the judges gladly. They also come to know their drawbacks which they improve later on.
  6. It is a matter of regret that some people take it as sheer wastage of time. We should not forget that real education does not mean earning a degree only. Real education lies in mixing up of various types of students, their interaction and their working together. At the time of inter-university youth festivals students from various parts of the country get a change to know one another. They learn their languages, their customs and habits, thus bringing about national integration.
  • “Real education lies in mixing up of various types of students, their interaction and their working together.” What do you think is the best way to impart education to the young ?
  • “Youth festivals are the best means to search the talent among the youth”. How do youth festivals foster the spirit of comradeship, competition, nationalism and above all discipline ?

                                                                 SECTION-B
                                                          (Writing & Grammar)                                    

3.You have recently read many reports about aliens. Write a diary entry expressing your views about it in 100-120 words.
Hints :

  • reports of people seeing UFOs and even aliens
  • nothing is certain yet
  • could be life on some planets
  • some scientists already working to contact aliens

4.Write a story on the theme ‘Adversity tries friends’. Begin your story like this :  
Ramesh Sharma was a millionaire and had lots of friends. No one ever refused him anything. He thought he was very lucky to have so many faithful friends…

5.Choose the most appropriate options from the ones given below to complete the following passage :     
You must try to do it (a)___________ , otherwise you (b)___________ be able to gain confidence. Learn to (c) ____________  self-reliant. The sooner you learn the better it is.
(a)(i) himself (ii)    your                 (iii)   yourself    (iv)  yourselves
(b)(i) will (ii)    won’t               (Hi)  is to           (iv)  has to
(c) (i) being (ii)    is                     (iii)   be              (iv)  do

6.The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line which has been underlined. Replace the underlined word with the right options. One is done for you :  
Every year, many peoples visit the temple town of                  People
Kanchipuram. Pilgrims have been going
in large number since many centuries                                   (a) ……………..
because they wanted to see                                                     (b) ……………..
the splendid architecture of a temple.                                     (c) …………..
Unluckily, they have very problems to face.                         (d) ……………

7.Read the conversation given below and then complete the report that follows:  
Mohit : Please bring that box here.
Sohan : Why don’t you bring that yourself ?
Mohit : That is very heavy.
Mohit requested Sohan (a)______________ . Sohan asked him (b)____________
___________ . Mohit replied (c)_____________ .

                                                 SECTION-C
                (Literature Textbook & Long Reading Text) (25 Marks)

8.Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow : 
Oh! I showed them the tooth paste all right I flashed it about late at night But up-and-down brushing And pokin’ and fussin Didn’t seem worth the time – I could bite!
(a)What did the poet not consider worthwhile to do ?
(b)How did she harm her teeth ?
(c)What do you mean by fussin’ ?
Or
The spectacled child considered the point for a moment gravely.
(a) Who is the spectacled child mentioned in the line ?
(b) Which point did the child consider ?
(c)Give the meaning of the word ‘gravely’.

9.Answer these questions in 30-40 words each : 
(a) What secret did the Brambles keep, and why ?
(b) How does Shakespeare describe a school going child ?
(c)What is the function of the rain as described in the poem ‘Song of the Rain’ ?
(d) Who was Jeanette ? What was the cause of her death ?

10.‘Pride and arrogance land one into hard waters’. It becomes clear from ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’.
Write a paragraph on the value of humility in the given context.   
Value Points :

  • Private Quelch, a man of vast knowledge, but arrogant
  • we should shun pride of knowledge
  • too much of anything is bad
  • pride turns friends into hostile, revengeful enemies
  • humility, the hallmark of knowledge

Or
‘The Bishop’s Candlesticks’ lays stress on imbibing the value of selfless service. Write a paragraph about it.
Value Points :

  • The Bishop, a selfless soul
  • transforms the heart of the convict
  • shows the value of selfless service
  • selfless services makes one really great

11.How was Gulliver measured for a suit of clothes in Laputa, and to what result? 
Or
Give a brief character sketch of Munodi.
Or
Once George and the narrator escaped a fatal accident at a lock. Narrate the incident in your own words.
Or
Write a note on the theme of the novel ‘Three Men in a Boat’.

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