Sample Papers for Class 10 CBSE SA1 English Solved 2015-16 Set 9

Sample Papers for Class 10 CBSE SA1 English Solved 2016-17 Set 9

SECTION – A: READING (20 marks)

Q. 1. Read the following passage carefully: (8 marks)

Chirp for the Sparrow; Tweet for the Sparrow

(1) They were once everywhere! Chirping and flapping their wings at the window sills, on top of cupboards and on the branches of trees. Where have all the little sparrows gone ? This is the most frequently asked question about sparrows these days.

(2) The association between humans and the house sparrow dates back to several centuries and no other bird has been associated with humans on a daily basis like the house sparrow. It is a bird that evokes fond memories of childhood and adds freshness to households through its presence. Many bird watchers and ornithologists recall with fondness how the house sparrow gave flight to their passion for observing birds. The nests of sparrow dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus stands and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on foodgrains and tiny worms.

(3) Unfortunately, the house sparrow has now become a disappearing species. Like all other plants and animals which were once abundant and are now facing an uncertain future, their numbers are also declining across their natural range. A study conducted by the Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam highlighted that population of house sparrows fell by over 60 percent even in rural areas of coastal Andhra Pradesh. A survey conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology showed that house sparrow population in Britain has declined by about 58 percent since 1970.

(4) Certainly, there is no one single reason for the decline of the house sparrow. Scientists and experts say that severe changes in the urban ecosystem in recent times have had tremendous impact on the population of house sparrows whose numbers are declining constantly. Mobile tower radiations and excessive use of chemical fertilizers are aggravating the problem and have been identified as potent sparrow killers.

(5) There have been many theories put forward for the almost worldwide decline of the house sparrow. It is said that sparrow chicks, which require insect food for their survival in their early days, have not been getting adequate supply from their parents. This has triggered large scale deaths of chicks leading to gradual decline of their population.

(6) Urban landscape too, has been dramatically altered over the years. Old houses, with courtyards in front and backyards, have made way for concrete multi-stories, with little greenery. No longer are sparrows able to find the tiny nooks, crannies and holes where they used to build their nests.

(7) Typically, sparrows were never an issue of concern for us with their diminutive presence in our households. Perhaps, it is this diminutive presence because of which even their gradual disappearance has gone unnoticed. Mohammed Dilavar is rightly called the ‘Sparrow Man of India’ as he has been successful in drawing the attention of the world towards the declining number of house sparrows.

(8) House sparrows are important bio-indicators and their decline is a grim reminder of the degradation of urban environment and the danger from it to the humans in the long run.

(A) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, complete the following statements briefly: (1×4 = 4 marks)

(i) According to the passage, the sparrows survived on………….. (1)
(ii) The main reason for the decline in the house sparrow population has been the………… (1)
(iii)The potent sparrow killers could be………….. (1)
(iv) The reason for large scale deaths of chicks has been…………. (1)

(B) Answer the following questions briefly: (1×2 = 2 marks)
(i) What memories do people have of the sparrows ? (1)
(ii) Who is known as the ‘Sparrow Man of India’ and why ? (1)

Q. 2. Read the extract given below carefully: (12 marks)

Flash
(1) You are invited to take part in MOB, the project that creates an inexplicable mob of people in ‘ New York City for ten minutes or less. Please forward this mail to other people you know who might like to join”.

(2) The e-mail was sent out to gather the first known, orchestrated and successful flash mob on June 17, 213 at a Macy’s departmental store in Manhattan, New York City. The mob gathered at four different bars, and ten minutes before the event was to occur, small pieces of paper were handed out stating the final destination. The participants descended quickly upon Macy’s home furnishing department. From 7:27 p.m. to 7:37 p.m., 200 hundred people surrounded a $ 10,000 rug, and as instructed, the ‘mobsters’ informed the bewildered salesperson, that they all lived together in a Long Island City commune and they were looking to purchase a ‘love rug’. For 10 minutes the ‘mobsters’ discussed the rug among themselves and then quickly dispersed.

(3) A flash mob as defined by Merrian-Webster’s dictionary, is ‘a group of people summoned (by e-mail or text message) to a designated location at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing’. What started as an e-mail inviting people to join an ‘inexplicable mob’ has turned into a global fad that continues to grow, spread and amaze bystanders everywhere.

(4) Carolina, silent group dance routines in London’s undergroud metro, and a huge snowball fight in Washington D.C.

(5) First flash mob in the country was in October, 2003 when about sixty people entered a Mumbai Mall and began shouting like stock brokers and gesticulating agitatedly. Before the stupefied guards could react we broke into an impromptu garba dance, clapping our hands and whooping. At a shouted signal, we froze dead in our tracks, holding the pose for exactly half a minute as related by a participant. The group then opened the umbrellas they had been asked to bring along and melted into the crowd.

(6) The flash mob was originally created as a social experiment in the study of ‘scenterism’ derived from ‘scenesters’. According to Wikipedia, the terms ‘scenester’ is often used to describe types of young, recently settled, urban middle class adults and older teenagers with interests in nonmainstream fashion and culture.

(7) Wasik said in an interview, ‘original idea was to create an e-mail that would get forwarded around in some funny way, or that would get people to come to a show that would turn out to be something different or surprising. I eventually came up with this lazy idea, which was that the thing would just have one simple, in your face aspect to it, there wouldn’t be any show and that the e-mail would be up front in that it was inviting people to do basically nothing at all.”

(8) The idea became that the people themsleves would become the show and that just by responding to this random e-mail, they would, in a sense, create something.
(A) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions briefly: (2×4 = 8 marks)
(i) What does the term ‘flash mob’ mean ? (2)
(ii) What is Scenster ? (2)
(iii) To what kind of show were the people invited through a random e-mail ? (2)
(iv) What happened in October, 2003 ? (2)

(B) Which words in the passage mean the same as the following: (1×4 = 4 marks)
(a) something that happens suddenly : (para 3) (1)
(b) go in different directions : (para 2) (1)
(c) confused : (para 2) (1)
(d) something which cannot be explained : (para 1) (1)

SECTION – B: WRITING AND GRAMMAR (25 marks)

Q. 3. Using the inputs given below, prepare an article on ‘Companionship of Books’ in about 150 words to be read out in the school assembly on the occasion of World Book Day (24 April). (5 marks)
• amuses and instructs youth.
• comforts and consoles in age.
• treasuries of golden thoughts.
• essence of immortality.
• real writers, poets, leaders, scientists, players, artists still live in books.
• Purifying, elevating and sustaining role.

Q. 4. Neeta wanted to write a story for her school magazine but she could not complete the story. Try to complete the story on the basis of the beginning given below : (10 marks)

Away from the crowds of cities, in a far flung village, lived a boy named Ravi. Ravi became an orphan when he was still a baby. One day an old woman came to his hut and said………

Q. 5. Complete the paragraph given below by filling in the blanks with the help of the options that follow: (1/2×6 = 3 marks)
There was a panel discussion on television (a)…………………(more/for/of/about) news programmes.
The host (b)…………………(introduce/introduced/introducing/was introduced) the topic and raised
some questions. One of the participants, Alka, (c)…………………(saying/says/say/said) that though
news programmes are (d)…………………(kept/keep/keeps/keeping) us well informed, she felt that
(e) ………………… (them/there/their/their’s) were too many of them. This made them repetitive
(f) …………………(and/but/however/both) boring. Another participant, Romy differed. He said that
different news channels catered to different interests.

Q. 6. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each of these lines. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet. The first one has been done for you as an example. (4 marks)

Error Correction

God-like qualities are planted with us at birth. e.g. with in
They grow amid the thorns of our fault. Many of us (a) ………………. ……………….
look at ourselves and see only the thorn, the defects (b) ………………. ……………….
we despair, thinking such we cannot do anything good. (c) ………………. ……………….
We neglect to water a good within us, (d) ………………. ……………….
and eventually it dies.

Q. 7. Read the conversation given below and complete the paragraph that follows: (3 marks)
Ganga : How did you spend your holidays ?
Gautham : I went for Cricket coaching. What did you do?
Ganga : I went for NTSC coaching classes.
Gautham : At least during the holidays you could have enjoyed yourself.
Ganga : But I enjoyed it.
Ganga asked Gautham (a)………………..holidays. Gautham said that (b)………………..cricket coaching
and wanted to know (c)………………..during the holidays. When Ganga told him that she had gone
for NTSC coaching classes Gautham told that she could have enjoyed herself during the holidays. Ganga replied that she had enjoyed joining the coaching classes.

SECTION – C: LITERATURE TEXTBOOK AND LONG READING TEXT (25 marks)

Q. 8. Read the extract given below and answer any one the questions that follow: (1×3 = 3 marks)
“When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars, his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.”

(a) The works of masonry that the poet is referring to are………….. (1)
(b) Mar is………… ‘ (1)
(c) What does the poet mean by ‘the living record’ ? (1)
OR
‘For several days Ali did not come to the post-office. There was no one with enough sympathy or understanding to guess the reason, but all were curious to know what had stopped the old man.’
(a) Why did AH come to the post-office ? (1)
(b) Why had Ali stopped coming to the post-office ? (1)
(c) Why were all curious to know ? (1)

Q. 9. Answer the following in 30-40 words each : (2×4 = 8marks)
(a) Justify the title ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’. (2)
(b) Why does the woman reject the mirror and turn towards the candles and the moon ? (2)
(c) How much money did Mrs. Packletide pay to the villagers ? Why ? (2)
(d) Why according to Dhumaketu was the post-office a sacred place for AH ? (2)

Q. 10. Answer any one of the following in 80-100 words : (4 marks)

As one of the villagers participating in the hunting expedition, you are surprised to see an extravagant display of wealth and money for fame which ends in failure. You decide to write a diary mocking at the situation and expressing your feelings against the show of false ego.
OR
One feels other’s pain only when one goes through it himself/herself. Explain the postmaster’s change of heart in the chapter ‘The Letter’ and why it took place. (120-150 words)

NOVEL/LONG READING TEXT (10 marks)

Attempt any one question from 11(a) or 11(b) in about 150 words.

The Story of My Life
Q. 11. (a) “The best and most beautiful things in the world can’t be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” Justify the famous quote of Helen Keller. (10 marks)
OR
(a) How did Helen learn subjects like Geography, History and Science ?

The Diary of a Young Girl
Q. 11. (b) Why did Anne give the title ‘Ode to My Fountain Pen’ to 11 November 1943 ? (10 marks)
OR
(b) What impression do you form of Gestapo on its way of handling the Jews ?

CBSE Class 10 Sample Papers SA1 Solved English 2016-17 Set 9 (Question Paper Download PDF)
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