12^th STD. - CBSE BOARD

Date: 05.03.2018

English Paper - SET - I

Question Paper Solutions

English (Core)

General Instructions

(i) This paper is divided into three sections A. B and C. All the sections are compulsory.

1. Separate instructions err given with each section nod question, wherever necessary. Read these instructions very carefully and fallow them faithfully.
2. Do not Exceed the prescribed word limit while answering the questions.

Section A - (Reading)

1. Read the passage given below

$[12]$

1. When you grow up in a place where it rains live months a year, wise elders help you to get acquainted with the rain early. They tell you that it is ignorant to think that it is the same rain frilling every day. Oh no, the ruin is always doing different things at different times. There is rain that is gentle, rind there is also rain that falls Ion hard and damages the crops. hence, the prayer for the sweet rain that helps the crops to grow.

1. The monsoon in the Naga hills goes by the native name, khuthotei (which means the rice- growing season). It lasts from May to early or mid. October, The local residents firmly believe that Durga l'ujn in October announces the end or rain. After that, one might expect a couple of short winter shawers, and the spring showers in March nod April. Finally, comes the lug rain' in May; proper rainstorms accompanied by heart-stopping lightning and earsplitting

thunder. have stood eat in storms looking at lightning arc across dark skies, a light-And-sound show that can go on for hours,

1. This is the season when people use the word sezuo or suzu to refer to the week-long rains, when clothes don't dry and smell of mould, when fungus forms on the floor and When you can't see the noon or the stars because of the rainclouds. But you learn not to complain: Ruin, after all, is the farmer's friend and brings food to the table. Rituals and festivals centre around the agricultural rhythm of life, which is the occupation of about 70 percent of the population.

1. The wise learn to understand its ways. I grew up hewing my grandfather say, It's very windy this year. Well get good rain." If the windy season was short and weak, he worried there might not be enough rain for the crops. I learned the interconnectedness of the seasons from childhood, and marvelled at how the wind could bring rain. Another evening, many rainy seasons ago, my paternal aunt observed the new moon and worried, its legs are in the air, we're in for some heavy rain." She was right. That week, a storm cut off power lines and brought down trees and bamboos.

1. Eskimos boast of having a hundred names for snow. Norwegians in the north can describe all kinds of snow by an equal amount of names pudder, powder snow, wet snow, slaps, extra wet snow, tight snowfall, dry snow, and at least 96 more categories of snow. Likewise, in India we have names and names for rain. Some are common, some are passing into history.

1. The rains are also called after flowering plants and people believe that the blossoming of those plants draws out rain. Once the monsoons set in, field work is carried out in earnest and the work of uprooting and transplanting paddy in flooded terrace fields is done. The months of hard Inbaur are June, July and August. In August, as the phrogii plant begins to bloom, a rain will fall. This August rain, also called phrogO, is a sign that the time for cultivation is over. If any new grain seeds are sown, they may not sprout; even if they do sprout, they are not likely to bear grain. The rain acts as a kind of farmer's almanac.

1. The urban population of school-goers and office-goers naturally dislikes the monsoon and its accompanying problems of landslides, muddy streets and periodic infections. For non- farmers, the month of September can be depressing, when the rainfall is incessant and the awareness persists that the monsoons will last out till October. One needs to have the heart of a farmer to remain grateful for the watery days, and be able to observe — from