SET - 3

Series: SSO/1

Code No. 1/1/3

Candidates must write the Code on

the title page of the answer-book.

Roll No.

• Please check that this question paper contains 12 printed pages.

Code number given on the right hand side of the question paper should be written on the title page of the answer-book by the candidate.

• Please check that this question paper contains 13 questions.
• Please write down the Serial Number of the question before attempting it.

• 15 minute time has been allotted to read this question paper. The question paper will be distributed at 10.15 a.m. From 10.15 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., the students will read the question paper only and will not write any answer on the answer book during this period.

ENGLISH (Core)

Time allowed: 3 hours ]

[ Maximum Marks : 100

General Instructions:

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

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

SECTION - A

READING

30 Marks 12

1. Read the passage given below carefully:

1. For four days, I walked through the narrow lanes of the old city, enjoying the romance of being in a city where history still lives — in its cobblestone streets and in its people riding asses, carrying vine leaves and palm as they once did during the time of Christ.

1. This is Jerusalem, home to the sacred sites of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This is the place that houses the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where Jesus was finally laid to rest. This is also the site of Christ's crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

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[ P.T.O. 1

1. Built by the Roman Emperor Constantine at the site of an earlier temple to Aphrodite, it is the most venerated Christian shrine in the world. And justifiably so. Here, within the church, are the last five stations of the cross, the 10^th station where Jesus was stripped of his clothes, the 11^th where he was nailed to the cross, the 12^th where he died on the cross, the 13^th where the body was removed from the cross, and the 14^th, his tomb.

1. For all this weighty tradition, the approach and entrance to the church is non-descript. You have to ask for directions. Even to the devout Christian pilgrims walking along the Via Dolorosa - the Way of Sorrows - first nine stations look clueless. Then a courtyard appears, hemmed in by other buildings and a doorway to one side. This leads to a vast area of huge stone architecture.

1. Immediately inside the entrance is your first stop. It's the stone of anointing: this is the place, according to Greek tradition, where Christ was removed from the cross. The Roman Catholics, however, believe it to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph.

1. What happened next? Jesus was buried. He was taken to a place outside the city of Jerusalem where other graves existed and there, he was buried in a cave. However, all that is long gone, destroyed by continued attacks and rebuilding; what remains is the massive — and impressive — Rotunda (a round building with a dome) that Emperor Constantine built. Under this, and right in the centre

of the Rotunda, is the structure that contains the Holy Sepulchre.

1. "How do you know that this is Jesus' tomb?" I asked one of the pilgrims standing next to me. He was clueless, more interested, like the rest of them, in the novelty of it all and in photographing it, than in its history or tradition.

1. At the start of the first century, the place was a disused quarry outside the city walls. According to the gospels, Jesus' crucifixion occurred 'at a place outside the city walls with graves nearby......'. Archaeologists have discovered tombs

from that era, so the site is compatible with the biblical period.

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