CBSE Board Class 12 English Core Previous Year Question Papers 2007

ENGLISH (Core) 2007
Time allowed : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100
General Instructions :
(i) The paper is divided into  three  sections : A, B and C. All the sections are compulsory.
(ii) Separate instr uctions are given with each section and question, wherever necessary.
Read these instructions very carefully and  follow them faithfully.
(iii) Do  not exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.
SECTION  A
(READING)
A1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
1 Sarah Riley works in the heart of London. Her working day is filled with
meetings, phone calls, project deadlines and all the other responsibilities of corporate
life. She is good at her job and has steadily progressed over the last six years to her
current  position  as  marketing consultant for a  large  communications  and  marketing
firm.
2 It is a demanding job but well paid and Ms. Riley loves it. Yet for the past
year and a half, she has been leaving her job every Wednesday evening to drive to the
coastal  town  of Brighton, where  she  spends the rest of the week and part of the
weekend working as a junior barber in a city centre salon. She does not need the extra
money nor is she planning a career change. The fact is that like a small but growing
number of workers, Ms. Riley has simply decided that two careers are better than one.2
3 Dual  careerists  (also  sometimes called sunlighters)  are not contractors who
work for several clients or moonlighters who take on extra-jobs for money. Instead, they
are people who are actively committed to more than one career. Celebrity hybrids, such
as singer/actress/children’s author, Madonna, and even actor/champion poker player, Ben
Affleck are known for having more than one career on the go and it is a trend that
experts say is gathering force among office workers.
4 Ms.  Riley  is   now  completing  her  NVQ  Level  2  barber  training,  “I   have
always been interested in men’s hair-dressing and I find it quite creative.” She says, “I
would often look at someone’s hair-style and think I can do that and one day I just
decided to do it. Initially I enrolled in an evening course, which gave me a very basic
grounding and a chance to see if I could actually do it. When I realised I could and
that I enjoyed it, I decided to train properly.”
5 City and  Guild   recently  conducted  a forward-looking analysis  of the trend
and concluded that increased life  expectancy and pension under-funding will  lead to
longer working lives, while the rise of (particularly on-line) technology will mean people
can re-train while holding down their current jobs. This creates an encouraging climate
for dual careerists. The study predicts that the 1-2 million people who currently have
two or more jobs will double in the next 20 years.
6 Like Ms. Riley, the majority of dual careerists work part-time. But executive
assistant Nicola Wright, 27, who has a full time job as a P.A. opted for an additional
career  when  faced  with  the  prospect  of otherwise  having to  give  up  her  childhood
passion  for  dance.  She  decided  to  train  as  a  dance  teacher  in   the  evenings  and
week-ends  and  has  spent the past six years  establishing her own  dance  school  in
Portsmouth,  along the coast from Brighton, while holding down her original job. For
her,   top  notch  organisational  and  time  management  skills  and  the  goodwill  of her
employers were fundamental in helping her realise her ambition.
7 However,    taking    on    two    careers    can    require    almost    superhuman
determination and efficiency. Apart from the training there are administrative chores
like   completing   tax-returns  which   many  people  with  more  than  one  employer   are
required to do. “It is exhausting,” Ms. Wright admits,
8 But   despite   their   punishing   schedules   both   Ms.   Riley  and   Ms.   Wright
maintain that being able to do creative jobs, makes them appreciate their mainstream
jobs even more. As Ms. Riley explains, “I have always wanted to live by the sea and
have a country life-style. In Brighton I live within walking distance of my job. I can go
home for lunch and feed the dogs and on Sundays I can go for country walks. But I3
also have my city life with my London job with the salary, friends and social life that goes
with that. Both jobs really complement each other.”
9 Prof. Peter Nolan, Director of the Future of Work programme, funded by the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), points out that the notion that people
are becoming less interested In holding down a career in favour of quality family life is
a myth. There is in fact, he argues, a revival in the desire for a career.
10 Statistics show that the length of time people  stay with employers hasn’t
changed much, but the number of different and/or additional jobs people do in their
working lives have been growing significantly and this is linked to people being offered
more flexible working hours. Part-time work no longer conforms to the stereotype of
being temporary, insecure or a stopgap. Often it is a secure, long-lasting career and
changes in employment law over the years mean that the benefits and rights make it
comparable to full-time employment work.  It seems that* doubling your careers could
also double your freedom.
(a) (i) Who is Sarah Riley ? What is the nature of her job ? 2
(ii) Who are dual careerists ? Mention some dual careerists. 2
(iii) Where has Ms. Sarah Riley been going every Wednesday evening and why ? 2
(iv) What did the  City and Guild  conducted analysis state ? 1
(v) What is the opinion of Ms. Wright about dual careers ? 2
(b) Find words from the above passage which mean the same as : 3×1=3
(i) very tiring (para 7)
(ii) provided money for (para 9)
(iii) adaptable (para 10)
A2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :
The word ‘man’ has a wider meaning in Science than it has in everyday life.
Just as many species of amphibians and reptiles have died out so have several species
of mammals that were quite similar to ourselves and scientists use the word ‘man’ or
‘hominoids’ to include them as well as us.
All the extinct hominoids shared with us the ability to walk upright, leaving
Australopithecus, who lived over a million years ago. From the few remains that have
been found, we know that he looked rather like an ape. But he did not live like one,
for he walked erect, was not a tree-dweller and made simple tools by flaking pebbles.4
Over half a million years later came Pithecanthropus who made tools of bone and
stone, hunted and knew how to make fire. There were other types too, including
Neanderthal Man, whose remains have been found in Germany and who lived on until
much later than Pithecanthropus.
Unlike all other living things, past or present, he is not content merely to
adapt himself to the world, he also adapts the world to himself. Lacking a natural
warm, furry coat, like most mammals, he learned to make clothes from animal skins,
wool and vegetable fibres. He could not withstand open-air life in all weathers and the
shelter of cold, damp caves was not enough for him, but he warmed them and lit them
with fire and soon he began to fashion huts and homes of his own design. He lacked
the strength and claws of the lion, but with spears, bows and arrows, he became more
than its equal as a hunter. He was not the beat of the swimmers, yet with canoes and
boats he made the rivers and seas his highways and with lines, hooks, nets and traps
he made the very fishes a staple part of his diet.
Throughout most of the stone-age, men went on improving as builders and
tool makers.
Then about 10,000 years ago, came two far reaching advances. People learned
how to cultivate crops and succeeded in keeping and breeding herds of animals. From
then on, they had no need to keep on the move in search of a living. They settled
down in farming villages and later in towns and cities where a few of them had time
to investigate the world around, discover some of its secrets and invent new ways of
bringing it under their control.
Over much of the world, he has been cutting down forests for many
centuries, at first to make room for his expanding agriculture and later to supply him
with timber and raw material for paper-making. He has joined ocean to ocean by
cutting canals through narrow strips of land.
The world is his estate. Sometimes he has marred it, sometimes improved it.
Now more than ever, he understands his power and responsibilities and is learning
from his mistakes as well as from his successes.
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it using headings
and sub-headings. Use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary. 5
(b) Write a summary of the above passage in about 80 words. 35
SECTION  B
(ADVANCED WHITING SKILLS)
B1. You have recently started a coaching centre for Yoga at Rajaji Nagar, Bangalore. Draft
an advertisement in not more than 50 words to be published under the classified
columns of  The Deccan Herald. 5
OR
You are Aradhana/ Anurag, Head Boy/Head Girl of Zion Senior Sec. School, Paharganj,
New Delhi. Your school is organising a day-long Bhajan programme on Gandhi Jayanti.
Draft a notice in not more them 50 words for your school notice board inviting names of
the students desiring to participate.
B2. You visited an International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. As a reporter of
The Times of India,  write a report in 100 —125 words about the various activities you
saw. You are Manoj/Meena. 10
OR
You witnessed a quarrel between a landlord and a tenant. Write a report of the incident
you saw in 100 -125 words to be sent to your friend who is looking for a theme for a
skit. Sign as Rajan/Rajni.
B3. In your locality at Ghaziabad, the entire area is infested with mosquitoes because of the
open drains and stagnant water. Write a letter to the Editor of  The Times of India,
drawing the attention of the concerned authorities. Also give suggestions. Sign as
Susheel/Susheela. 10
OR
Your school is proposing to purchase games and sports goods. As Sports Secretary of
Springdales Senior Secondary School, write a letter placing an order for a few sports
items (minimum 4) with M/s Sports & Sports Co., Patiala. You are Kartik/Kritika.
B4. Write an article in 150 - 200 words on any  one of the following : 10
The development of Science and Technology has made our life happier and more
comfortable.
OR
India of my dreams.6

SECTION  C
(TEXT  BOOKS)

C1. (a) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere :
(i) What does not make man any better ? 1
(ii) What does ‘bulk’ mean here ? 1
(iii) What is the fate of an oak ? 2
            OR
Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,
The periwinkle trail’d its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
(i) Name the poem. 1
(ii) Where is the periwinkle growing ? 1
(iii) What is the poet’s faith ? 2
(b) Answer the following in 30 - 40 words each : 3×2=6
(i) What does Gabriel Okara mean by ‘good-bye’ and ‘good-riddance’ ?
(ii) Which freedom is Tagore talking about ?
(iii) What happened when the priest gave the plate of gold to the peasant ?
C2. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each : 5×2=10
(a) According to K.M. Panikkar, why were Indian women the most   backward   in   the
18 th and 19 th centuries ?
(b) Why was the silver jail constructed ?
(c) Why did Maggie write a letter to Mr. Gupta ?
(d) What, according to Bertrand Russell, are the needs of our instinctive nature and
how can we satisfy them?
(e) What basic tenets of religion does Edmund Burke highlight ?
C3. Answer the following in 125 - 150 words : 10
Write the  incidents  that occur when  Mr.  Cox returns  to  the  apartment after being
unexpectedly relieved by his employer.
OR
Max Mueller points to India for four different reasons. Describe the reasons.7
C4. Answer the following in 125 -150 words : 7
15 years of confinement in the cell not only proved the lawyer’s point of view but also
became a long road to salvation. Discuss.
OR
Despite constraints,  Gandhiji’s experiment with education at Tolstoy farm was  a big
success. Comment.
C5. Answer the following in 30 - 40 words each : 4×2=8
(a) Who was Mrs. Wang ? Where did she live ?
(b) What, according to Dr. Karan Singh, is the task that requires great effort on the
part of the youth ?
(c) What, according to Barin, was an incredible coincidence ?
(d) According to Lord Chesterfield, why should one not speak about oneself ?