Read the following passage carefully: |
The Ajanta caves, we were told, lay in the side of a ravine in wild and desolate country some 350 miles to the northwest, at the extreme tip of Hyderabad state where it touches the Bombay Province. Properly speaking they were not caves at all/ but temples which had been excavated from the living rock by Buddhist monks. These monks had first come to the ravine somewhere in the second century before Christ and they had begun by hacking out the rock by hand and hurling it down into the river below. Then/ probably with large mirrors to reflect the sunshine from the ravine outside/ they set about the decoration of the walls/ the doorways and the ceilings. They continued for the next eight hundred years/ always painting and sculpturing Lord Buddha/ but setting him against an idyllic background of folk tales and the everyday life of their own time. In much the same way as in the Italian Renaissance which over a thousand years later/ the work was subsidised by the wealthy merchants and the Princes of the surrounding countryside. |
On the basis of your reading of the above passage answer the following questions: |
(i) Who came to the ravines in the second century before Christ? |
(ii) What did the monks use to reflect light into the caves? |
(iii) What did the caves depict? |
(iv) The work was subsidised by the wealthy merchants. 1 (Change the voice) |
(v) Who subsidised the monk's work? |
(vi) Give the adjective form of 'reflection'. |
(vii) Find the homophone of 'tail' from the passage. |
(viii) Would you like to see the caves? If so/ why? If not/ why not? |
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: |
One would imagine that at the very sight of the panther/ deer/ antelopes/ and its other preys would just run for their lives. Nothing of the sort. They all stand their ground and make such a loud noise that the panther is left with no other choice except to leave quietly. I have seen a tiny chital babe standing in the middle of an opening in the forest, stamping its feet on the ground and shooing away a tiger. With the white of its erect tail showing, it kept up its shrill call until the tiger made itself scarce. No tiger in its senses would attempt to catch such an impertinent brat, just as you would not dream of catching an offending crow cawing away in your verandah. |
While the panther sticks to cover and hugs the edge of the forest, the same animals, on the other hand, like to assemble right out in open vast grazing grounds. Open spaces which the panther carefully avoids, are what the game animals deliberately seek. It is difficult to describe the pandemonium kicked up by various animals when they spot or suspect a panther around. The chital strikes a shrill note, the kakar emits a deafening bark and the sambar rings a bell. The peacock on its perch, the jungle fowl on the ground, and the monkey on treetops, all join in the chorus of condemnation of the panther. They curse the panther in their own inimitable language. |
The resulting confusion of sounds is so irritating to the sharp ears of the panther that it is left with no other option except to go away. |
The panther has thus to deal with its ever alert and watchful associates who show no mercy. It is a fight between finesse and flight between clever attack and skilful defence. Contrary to the common belief, the panther never springs upon its prey. It stalks as close to its victim as it can manage, and then makes the final dash by rushing at it at a lightning speed. |
(i) Answer the following questions: |
(a) What strategy do animals like deer, antelopes, etc., adopt to drive away the panther? |
(b) How do the panther and the game animals (deer, antelopes, etc.) react to open spaces? |
(c) What effect does the loud noise made by birds and animals have on the panther? |
(d) How does the panther kill its prey? |
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: |
One would imagine that at the very sight of the panther/ deer/ antelopes/ and its other preys would just run for their lives. Nothing of the sort. They all stand their ground and make such a loud noise that the panther is left with no other choice except to leave quietly. I have seen a tiny chital babe standing in the middle of an opening in the forest, stamping its feet on the ground and shooing away a tiger. With the white of its erect tail showing, it kept up its shrill call until the tiger made itself scarce. No tiger in its senses would attempt to catch such an impertinent brat, just as you would not dream of catching an offending crow cawing away in your verandah. |
While the panther sticks to cover and hugs the edge of the forest, the same animals, on the other hand, like to assemble right out in open vast grazing grounds. Open spaces which the panther carefully avoids, are what the game animals deliberately seek. It is difficult to describe the pandemonium kicked up by various animals when they spot or suspect a panther around. The chital strikes a shrill note, the kakar emits a deafening bark and the sambar rings a bell. The peacock on its perch, the jungle fowl on the ground, and the monkey on treetops, all join in the chorus of condemnation of the panther. They curse the panther in their own inimitable language. |
The resulting confusion of sounds is so irritating to the sharp ears of the panther that it is left with no other option except to go away. |
The panther has thus to deal with its ever alert and watchful associates who show no mercy. It is a fight between finesse and flight between clever attack and skilful defence. Contrary to the common belief, the panther never springs upon its prey. It stalks as close to its victim as it can manage, and then makes the final dash by rushing at it at a lightning speed. |
Read the telephone conversation between Suresh and his neighbour's brother, Umesh from Jammu. |
Umesh is reaching Delhi by Jammu Mail. He wants his brother to take him from the Railway Station. Write a message to inform Krishna. |
Umesh: Is that Suresh there? |
Suresh: Yes, I am here. What is good news? |
Umesh: Will you please deliver a small message to Krishna, your neighbour? |
Suresh: Yes, why not, I know Krishna personally. A few minutes earlier he was sipping tea with me. |
How did you fare in the papers? |
Umesh: Yes, I am all okay. I have done my papers very well. Please request my brother Krishna to |
come to the Railway Station by car in the evening. I have a lot of luggage. |
Write a paragraph in about 100-120 words on the given topic: 'Mobiles Everywhere' |
OR |
People waste a lot of money in decoration and food during wedding ceremony. Write an article saying that the money spent unnecessarily on decoration and pomp and show can be spent elsewhere with proper use. You are Tarun. |
Read the outlines of a story given below. Write it in full using these outlines and your own ideas. |
Assign a suitable title to it: |
Outlines-King of the forest?kills many animals?those escaped in terror?hare's turn?tells lion about another lion in forest? lion wants to see him and kill him?hare takes the lion to a deep well?lion sees his reflection?jumps into the well thinking it is the other lion. |
OR |
Complete the story in your own words (200-words): |
Every morning it was the same thing for Amit Sharma. He'd put on a pot of coffee and got dressed as he waited for the coffee to brew. But today, things would be different.................... |
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs given in the brackets: |
(i) The emergency meeting ??????? a while ago. (end) |
(ii) How I wish I ????? the champion, (to be) |
(iii) Alfred ????? the seminar next month, (conduct) |
(iv) The pupil unintentionally -???? the window pane (break) |
Change the following sentences into indirect speech: |
(i) He asked, "Do I have to do it?" |
(ii) "Will you be at the party?" he asked her. |
(iii) Jose said/ "Hot air rises to the top." |
(iv) "Are you crazy?" She asked him. |
e.g. | Before astonished | Word to | After discover | |
One morning a farmer was astonished discover | (i) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
that his goose had laid egg of solid gold. | (ii) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
He seized the precious egg, ran into house | (iii) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
and with trembling hands, showed it his wife. | (iii) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
"Look, my wife" he said, "we rich!" Then | (iv) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
the farmer took the golden egg to market | (v) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
and sold it for a good price. The morning the | (vi) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
goose again laid a golden egg, and farmer sold | ( vii) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
that too for much money. Everyday thereafter found in the barnyard an egg of purest gold. | (viii) | ??? | ??? | ??? |
Read the following stanza and answer the questions given below : |
When I returned from Lyonnesse |
With magic in my eyes, |
All marked with mute surmise |
My radiance rare and fathomless, |
When I returned from Lyonnesse |
With magic in my eyes. |
(i) What was in the poet's eyes when he returned from Lyonnesse? |
(ii) What did the people note in the poet's eyes? |
(iii) Was the poet happy or sad? |
(iv) Identify the poetic device used in above lines. |
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: |
"Pa says it would be ungrateful to leave 'it' to starve". Doc Wilson said, "That's right, Ma'am Nothing in the world comes quite free. The boy's right and his daddy's right." Mill-Wheel said, "He can ride back with me. I'll help him find it." |
(i) Whom does the word 'it' refer to? |
(ii) In what matter were the boy and his daddy right? |
(iii) Where did the boy ride with Mill-wheel? |
(iv) To whom is the boy talking to? |
Answer any one of the following: |
(i) Imagine that you are the poet. You have come to your native valley to meet a famous preacher called Ernest. Narrate the incident of your first meeting with him. |
OR |
(ii) What had happened in the Sappleton family as narrated by the niece? |
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