GLOBAL INDIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

PUNE
SEMESTER ASSESSMENT - I 2009-10

SUBJECT: English MAX. MARKS : 100

CLASS: IX TIME : 3 hour
DATE: Oct ’09

General Instructions:

1. All questions are compulsory to attempt.

2. Attempt the paper sectionwise.

SECTION A : READING (20 marks)

A1. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: (12 marks)

Existence is Selflessness

1. Buddha in an age of semi-savagery proclaimed his golden rule of conduct, which

two thousand years of civilization are still trying to achieve. The Middle Path is
an “Eight-fold Way of right views, high aims, kindly speech, upright conduct, a
harmless livelihood, perseverance in well-doing, intellectual activity, and
profound meditation. Only through the Eightfold Way of righteousness can the
individual deliver himself from the craving of his passions”.
2. Gautama taught the joy, not of possession but of renunciation. “This doctrine of
renunciation,” he said, “lies at the very root of the secret of life”.
3. As for personal immorality, Buddha did not believe in it, nor did he desire it. Each
human soul, he thought is a fragment of the world-soul, and to crave for personal
immorality is to indulge the part at the expense of the whole. “All human misery”,
he told his disciples is caused by our selfish ambitions both for this world and the
next”.
4. “But he who subordinates his little personal self to the larger self of humanity is
ready at last to end his weary pilgrimage from life to life and to enter into the
Nirvana of eternal rest”.
5. “Nirvana”, according to Buddha’s doctrine, “ is the complete extinction of all
bodily desires”. Nir means out, and va means to blow. Heaven is ‘a blowing out
of the flame of selfish passion’---------the complete extinguishments of the
individual soul of sorrow and strife, the final release from the tempestuous sea of
existence. “Existence is the ocean; the breaking of its waves are the many births
of man; the foam on the wave-crest is this perishable body; and the further shore
is Nirvana, the heaven, the heaven of peace.”
6. In order to arrive at this peace of selflessness in its deepest sense, all men must rid
their social and political and economic institutions of their selfish spirit. The caste
system, which set off one Hindu from another by “unreason” of birth, must be
abolished. Buddha taught that all men are born to an “equality of rights”. Brave
 words, these, in the world’s cold dawn! “A man is noble or ignoble through his
conduct and not through his birth”.

A1.1 Answer the following questions: (8 marks)

(1) List any four of the eight rules of conduct enunciated by Lord Buddha:
(1x 4)
*----------------------
*----------------------
*---------------------
*---------------------
(2) What is Nirvana and who, according to Buddha, can achieve Nirvana?(2)
(3) How does Buddha want us to judge a man? (2)

A1.2 Find words from the passage, which means the same: (4 marks)

(1) announced (Para 1) -------------------------

(2) belief/ set of beliefs (Para 2) -----------
(3) likely to decay (Para 5) -------------
(4) not honourable (Para 6) ------------------

A2. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow: (8 marks)

NO MEN ARE FOREIGN

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes
Like ours; the land our brothers walk upon
Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.
They, too aware of sun, air and water,
Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.

Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read

A labour not different from our own.
Remember they have eyes like ours that wake
Or sleep, and strength that can be won
By love. In every land is common life
That all can recognize and understand.
Let us remember, whenever we are told
To hate our brothers, it is ourselves
That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.

Remember, we who take arms against each other,

It is the human earth that we defile,
Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence
Of air that in everywhere our own.
 Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.
--James Kirkup
A2.1 Complete the following summary using suitable words: (1/2x8)

The poet asks us to remember that people of other countries are (a)-----------.
All people under different dresses have the same (b) ------------------. They are equally
affected by (c) ---------. They wake and sleep alike, and are overcome by (f) ---------. To
hate (g) -----------. We desecrate our own (h) ----------- by waging war against others.

A2.2 Answer the following expressions: (4 marks)

(a) What do the following expressions suggest?

1. peaceful harvests
2. war’s long winter starv’d

(b) What, according to the poet can be recognized and understood by all?

SECTION B: WRITING (30 marks)

B1. St. Joseph Convent School, Jaipur has decided to hold a seminar on ‘The Art of
Living’. The Principal has asked you to write a notice about it. The seminar will be
inaugurated by a local M.L.A. The main speaker will be Swami Agniputra. Draft the
notice in not more than 50 words. You are Raman/ Anju, the Head Boy/ Head Girl. Put
the notice in a box. (5 marks)

B2. You are Divya Bhatia/ Arjun and you have bought a pocket-watch for your
grandfather’s 75th birthday. You suddenly have to leave for Mumbai for an interview.
At the airport, you realize that you have not sent the gift to your grandfather. You are
upset as you want your grandfather to receive the gift in time. You send a message to
your sister, Kirti, telling her where the gift is kept, requesting her to wrap up and
deliver the gift on time. You send the message through your driver. The message
should not exceed 50 words and put the message in the box. (5 marks)

B3. You are a student Oxford English High School; Shimla.Your school is organizing a
Variety Show to celebrate its Annual Day. You have been asked to design a poster
announcing the event, giving all the necessary details such as date, time and venue and
the main attractions of the show. Make your poster attractive by using suitable slogans/
visuals. Put the poster in a box. (10 marks)

B4. The following article on the condition of the Indian Bustard was submitted to Ms
Meenal Shukla, Minister for Environment, Rajasthan.

“The Bustards comprise a group which is the most threatened

species of birds. Of these, the Indian Bustard is approaching a
critical situation and is now on the brink of extinction with an
 estimated population possibly as low as 600-700. It has become
locally extinct in almost 90 percent of its former range and,
ironically, it has disappeared from two sanctuaries created
especially to protect the species. Previously, it was mainly
poaching and habitat destruction that resulted in such a pitiful
situation, but now mismanagement of the habitat, sentimental
protection of certain problem animals, and apathy are creating
havoc.”

Worried about the declining population of the Indian Bustard, Ms. Shukla writes to
Shri Bikram Kumar/ Ms Rajni Verma, Director Horticulture, Rajasthan, desiring her/
him to study the present condition of the Indian Bustard and its future and submit the
formal report to the Ministry of Environment. Based on the information given
above, and tips from the Unit ‘Environment’ in your Main Course Book, write the
report. (10 marks)

SECTION C: GRAMMAR (20 marks)

C1. Fill in the blanks with suitable determiners: (4marks)

Japan has (a) -------------- best railway system in

World. ((b) --------------Japanese National Railway runs (c ) ------
famous ‘Bullet’ trains between (d) ---------- cities of Tokyo and Osaka, at (e) ---
average speed of nearly 200 kilometres (f) ----------- hour. (g)----
fastest trains in India have(h) ----------- maximum speed of about 120 kilometres
per hour.

C2. Fill in the blanks with appropriate modals: (4 marks)

You (a) ---------- do a lot for others. You have immense capabilities. You have
immense capabilities. You (b)---------not depend on others. You (c )-------- realize
that others (d)-------not do much for us. When you come here next month you
(e)-------- meet your old friends who are always ready to show you a new path in
life. Do you remember how you (f) ---------- to consult them? You (g)---------------
ignore but you (h) --------- not ignore your friends.

C3. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each of the lines.
Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheets. Remember to
underline the word that you have supplied. (8 marks)

It take a long time for a country to rebuild after (a)-----------

an earthquake. There must be aftershocks for days (b)---------
or weeks. Rebuilt cannot start until all the (c )---------
aftershocks have stop. Aftershocks are small (d)--------
tremors when shake the ground after an earthquake. (e)-----------
When rebuilding starts, new buildings may be very (f)--------
 carefully planned. Sometime they are be built on huge (g)------
blocks of rubber that will absorb no future earthquake. (h)---------

C4. Look at the words and phrases below. Rearrange them to form meaningful
sentences. (4 marks)

(a) most/ the/ library /or / in/ school / one/ is/ important/ a/
places/of/college/ the
b) well-stocked/ good/ must/ institution/ a/ every/ library/ possess
c) to/ should/ this/ be accessible/ teachers/ alike/ students/ and/ easily
d) storehouse/ acts/ library/ as/ a/ the/ knowledge/of

SECTION D LITERATURE (30 marks)

D1. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow. (4marks)
“Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old unhappy far off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matters of today?”

Q1. What is the dilemma the poet is facing? (1)

Q2. What is ‘plaintive numbers’ and ‘humble lay’. (2)
Q3.What does he guess she is singing of? (1)

D2. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow in one or two lines only.

(3marks)
“I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers
I move the sweet forget me nots
That grow for happy lovers.”

Q1. Name the poem and the poet? (1)

Q2. Why does the poet use the word steal? (1)
Q3. Where is the brook passing from at this stage in the stanza? (1)

D3. In the poem the “Solitary Reaper” the poet has very imaginatively transported the
reader to far off lands. Can you give two examples of these? The poet is trying to draw a
comparison through this, What is the comparison? Do you think he has been successful in
his attempt? Justify your answer. (50 -75 words) (4marks)
D4. ‘The Rani hates her, envies her beauty, is jealous for her son’.
Identify the speaker of these lines. Do you think this statement can be true in light of the
fact that the Rani is Bhojraj’s mother. Do you think the speaker could be right in saying
this? Why /why not. (75 words) (4marks)

D5. ‘Your mother slipped in speech , that’s all when saying, see thy bridegroom’. (4)
Q1 Who is the speaker of these lines? (1)
Q2. In what context does the speaker say these lines? (1)
Q3. Do you think the speaker regrets what the mother did? Why / why not? (2)

D6. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow in one or two lines only. (3)
‘Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of a song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide.’
Q1. Name the poem and the poet of this extract. (1)
Q2. Identify the two similes in this stanza. (1)
Q3. What is the rhyming scheme of this stanza. (1)

D7. Imagine yourself to be Madame Loisel. You return from the ball to find the necklace
missing and you immediately decide to inform Lady Forestier about it. Write a letter to
Lady Forestier informing her about the loss and the steps you plan to take to return the
necklace. (8)