CBSE Half Yearly Sample Paper 2020-21 English(184) for class 10
Class-X
Time allowed- 3:00 hours
Maximum Marks-80
General instructions:
- This question paper is divided into three sections. Section A: Reading 20 Marks, Section B: Writing and Grammar 30 Marks, Section c: Literature 30 Marks, Attend all questions.
Section – A (Reading)
- Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: 8
Article 48A of the Constitution of India provides that the state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. But what causes endless anguish is the fact that laws are neither respected nor enforced in India. A recent report of our Parliament’s Estimates Committee has highlighted the near catastrophic depletion of India’s forests over the last four decades. India, according to reliable data, is losing its forests at the rate of 3.7 million acres a year. Large areas, officially designated as forest land, “are already virtually treeless”.
The actual loss of forests is estimated to be about 8 times the rate indicated by government statistics. There can be no doubt that the growth of world population is one of the strongest factors distorting the future of human society. It took mankind more than a million years to reach the first billion. That was the world population around the year 1800. By the year 1900, a second billion was added, and the 20th century has added another 3.7 billion. The present world population is estimated at 5.7 billion. Every 4 days, the world population increases by 1 million.
The rich get richer, and the poor beget children which condemns them to remain poor. More children do not mean more workers, merely more people without work. It is not suggested that human beings be treated like cattle, and compulsorily sterilised. But there is no alternative to voluntary family planning without introducing an element of coercion. The choice is really between control of population and perpetuation of poverty.
For the first time, in human history, we see a transcending concern-the survival not just of the people but of the planet. We have begun to take a holistic view of the very basis of our existence. The environmental problem does not necessarily signal our demise, it is our passport for the future. The emerging new world vision has ushered in the era of responsibility. It is a holistic view, an ecological view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts.
- Answer any 8 questions.
- Which law under Article 48A of the Constitution of India is not enforced?
- What is distorting the future of society?
- By 1900, _______ was added to the world population.
- What is the result of poor begetting?
- Without introducing ______ cannot be controlled.
- ________ can help control population and_______.
- The horrifying environmental conditions have led us to be concerned about the survival of not just ______ but also of our _______.
- The emerging new world vision encourages seeing the world as ________.
- What is the strongest factor affecting the future of human society?
- Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: 12
How you can best improve your English depends on where you live and particularly on whether or not you live in an English speaking community. If you hear English spoken everyday and mix freely with English speaking people, that is on the whole an advantage. On the other hand, it is often confusing to have the whole language, poured over you at once. Ideally, a step-by-step course should accompany this experience. It will also help a great deal if you can easily get the sort of English books in which you are interested to read a lot is essential. It is stupid not to venture outside the examination set books’ or the textbooks you have chosen for intensive study. Read as many books in English as you can, not as a duty but for pleasure. Do not choose the most difficult books you find, with the idea of listing and learning as many new words as possible.
Choose what is likely to interest you and be sure in advance that it is not too hard. You should not have to be constantly looking up new words in the dictionary, for that deadens interest and checks real learning. Look up a word here and there, but as a general policy try to push ahead, guessing what words mean from the context. It is extensive and not intensive reading that normally helps you to get interested in extra reading and there by improve your English. You should enjoy the feeling which extensive reading gives of having some command of the language. As you read you will become, more and more familiar with words and sentence patterns you already know, understanding them better and better as you meet them in more and more contexts. Some of which may differ only slightly from others. Some people say that we cannot learn to speak a language better with the help of a book. To believe this is to believe that the spoken language and the written language are quite different things. This is not so. There is a very great deal in common between the two. In learning the patterns and vocabulary of the written form, we are learning to a considerable extent those of the spoken form too. We are in fact, learning the language and not merely one form of the language.
- What advantage does the author talk about in the first paragraph?
- Why is it essential to read books?
- Which form of reading may improve your English?
- Can we learn to speak a language from a book?
- Find the synonym of the word ‘accompany’ in reference to the passage.
- conduct b) take c) assist d) occur
- Find the antonym of the word ‘essential’.
- necessary b) urgent c) fundamental d) Optional
- What is the meaning of the word ‘deadens’ in reference to the passage?
- blunt b) suppress c) dull b) noise
- Which word from the following means “notably large or significant”?
- considerable b) command c) merely d) intensive
Section – B [Writing and Grammar]
- You have purchased a new refrigerator last month. But it is not functioning properly since day one and causing one problem or another. You have also complaint about it but no improvement has followed. Write a letter in 100 to 120 words to the Regional Manager of Samsung India Ldt., Delhi to replace it. You are Sultan / Sultana, 245 Gangotri Apartments, Vasudha Enclave, Meerut. 8
Or
Recently, there was a seminar conducted in your school on ‘Importance of Educating Women.’ Based on your own ideas, write an article in about 100 to 120 words on ‘when you educate a woman, you educate the whole family.’
- Complete the following story in 200 to 250 words. Some lines are given to help you start. Once two boys were closed friends. They were passing through a thick forest. They were talking………. 10
Or
Write a story in about 200 to 250 words, which gives a message “Forgiveness is a Great Virtue.”
- Fill in any four of the following blanks choosing the most appropriate option from the ones given below. 4
Humans have always thought (a)……………….the moon as living. In earlier times, it was noticed that it (b)…………….. always been changing. Since it was the (c)……………….. object (d)……………the dark sky, Humans watched and wondered why it (e)………………… .
- From / of / in / on
- Has/ have / had / was
- Bright / brighter / brightest/ brightness
- At / in / on / from
- Was changing / is changing / had changing / are changing.
- In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the word in your answer sheet along with the word that comes before and the word that comes after it, against each line number. [Do any four] 4
- I badly wanted learn swimming. …………… ………….. ……………. .
- So I hired a trainer who train me. …………… ………….. ……………. .
- For a month. After training was complete …………… ………….. …………
- I tried to swim alone, without …………… ………….. ……………. .
- Anyone navigating me and I jumped the pool. ………… ……….. ………..
- Read the following conversation and then report what was said by completing the following passage. [Do any four] 4
Tanmay : How did you spend your vacation?
Astha: I visited Kashmir with my parents.
Tanmay: Have you ever been there earlier too?
Astha: No it was my first trip.
Tanmay asked Astha (1)……………. . Astha replied that (2) ………….. . Tanmay further asked her (3)……………. been there earlier too. Astha(4)…………….. saying that (5)……………. .
Section C [Literature]
- Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow: 4
If ever you should go by chance
To jungles in the East;
And if there should to you advance
A large and tawny beast
If he roars at you as you’re dyin’
You’ll know it is the Asian lion….
- What are features of an Asian lion?
- What happens when the lion roars?
- Write rhyming scheme of the given stanza.
- Name the poem and the poet.
OR
I am not so worried about my girlfriends and myself. We’ll make it. The only subject I am not sure about is maths.
- Who is the speaker of the above lines?
- What does not worry the speaker?
- What does the speaker say about her girlfriends?
- What is the speaker not sure about?
- Answer any five questions from the following in about 40 words. 10
- How is Wanda seen as different by other girls? How do they treat her?
- What does Anne write in her first essay?
- Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely?
- Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
- Griffin was rather a lawless person. ‘Comment.’
- Horace Danby was very meticulous for planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?
- Do you think Tricki was happy to go home? What do you think will happen now?
- Answer any one in about 100 to 120 words. 8
- Describe the character of Lencho in the light of his faith and attitude towards God and Man.
- What did Mandela think about the freedom fighters who preceded him?
- Answer any one in about 100 to 120 words. 8
- What fake story was made by Ausable in the hotel room? What made it a convincing story?
- Write down the character sketch of Horace Danby.