CBSE Class 10 English Reading Assignment

Q1. Read the following passage carefully: 

Here’s why effective communication is important. In a large organization, when a CEO addresses a live webcast — a must in today’s day and age — even a single question from an employee, no matter how unimportant it might be, will resonate across centres. It then becomes absolutely necessary for the leader to respond in a precise and unambiguous manner and use the platform to deliver his message across to the people. When the spotlight is on the leader, onlookers will hold on to every word he or she utters. Rhetoric can make many a hero. Usage of words chosen to deliver a message is equally important. “Communication is not about company information. It’s more like, if you want to drink water, do I presume you want to drink Coke,” an HR head once remarked. If strategy is important, what’s even more critical is communication of the strategy. One can either be vague and leave it to the imagination of others or be precise without any obscurity. Either way, depending on what the situation demands, it’s a leader’s call and he or she can be sure, people are going to judge. The importance of effective communication is not restricted to the leadership level alone. Companies are looking at innovative and effective ways to communicate with employees and also enable employee-to-employee communication, what one can term as E-2-E. So there are Facebook like tools that are being created to encourage active discussion among employees, irrespective of where they are based. It also ensures any gap in communication is bridged and there are no excuses at that. An engineering company I know uses SMS as a means to communicate with employees.

They started this practice even when others were just about warming up to sending mailers to meet their communication needs. Others may take a cue from this and start using platforms like WhatsApp, who knows. The fact is companies are using technology in a big way because they understand that the biggest challenge today is communicating with the Gen-Yers and Gen-Xers. The logic is simple: if the new generation is used to modes like ATM and online shopping, how can archaic communication methods work? Effective communication can work at multiple levels in an organization like training, learning and development, education opportunities, among others. Moreover, in a chaotic world, the only thing that will work is sane communication. If communication fails, organizations rather risk of falling into a trap where ideas emerge from all corners but don’t get executed. So when it comes to people matters, silence is not always golden.

1.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions briefly: 

Question. Why is effective communication absolutely necessary for the leader?
Answer. for the leader to respond in a precise and unambiguous manner

Question. In what way should companies productively communicate to benefit the employees?
Answer. looking at innovative and effective ways

Question. Why don’t ‘archaic communication’ methods work today?
Answer. the new generation is used to modes like ATM and onlineshopping

Question. What happens if communication fails in an organization?
Answer.organizations run the risk of falling into a trap where ideas emerge from all corners but don't get executed

1.2 Choose the most appropriate meaning of the given word from the options provided:

Question. The word chaotic means
i) peaceful
ii) puzzled
iii) disordered
iv) composed
Answer. C

Question. The word innovative means
i) original & new
ii) invention
iii) adventurous
iv) energetic
Answer. A

Question. The word unambiguous means
i) not certain
ii) clear
iii) doubtful
iv) incorrect
Answer. C

Question. The word strateg means
i) technology
ii) a plan of action
iii) process
iv) result
Answer. A

2. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow in brief. 

You are at a party and want to watch your weight and health. However, when the appetizers are served you notice nothing looks healthy. The next thing you know, you go ahead and eat those decorative little morsels and blow your eating plan. Stop !
Those little delicious nuts in the bowl are chock-full of nutrition. They will improve your cardiovascular health, hold cancer prevention properties and help you lose weight. It's hard to believe but it's true!
The idea that something from nuts may actually help weight control seems a little counter-intuitive at first; bearing in mind, the reputation nuts have for being both fatty and fattening. Nuts are nutrientpacked, healthy 'primal' food, and something that experience shows satisfy the appetite and prevent overeating at meal time. High in proteins, unsaturated fats may aid in weight loss and other disease fighting properties!
What do nuts have that keeps heart healthy? Nuts are an intensely fatty food, with about 80 percent of the calories they offer coming from fat. However, fear in mind that the type of oils found in nuts such as almonds, cashews, walnuts are predominately the healthy mono unsaturated and poly unsaturated types. Researchers found that people who eat nuts regularly have lower risk of heart disease. In 1998, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who ate nuts less than four times a week were 40 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Further, potential heart health benefits of nuts were also found among men. The Physician's Health Study found that men who consumed nuts two or more times per week had reduced risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

Now answer the following questions in not more than one line each: 

Question. What do nuts possess?
Answer. Nuts are nutrient-packed, healthy 'primal' food.

Question. How does consumption of nuts help us?
Answer. Helps to improve our cardiovascular health, hold cancer prevention properties and help us lose weight

Question. What type of fats is found in nuts?
Answer. Healthy mono unsaturated and poly unsaturated types.

Question. What happens to the people who consume nuts regularly?
Answer. Men who consumed nuts two or more times per week had reduced risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

Question. What is meant by sudden cardiac arrest?
Answer. Means heart attack

Question. What is the percentage of calories in nuts that come from fats?
Answer. 80 percent

Question. How is nuts consumption helpful to men?
Answer.nuts regularly have lower risk of heart disease, aid in weight loss and has disease fighting properties!

Question. Give one word from the passage which means the same as: - "in a superior manner"
Answer. decorative

I. Answer the following questions 

(a) What is considered as alarming?
Answer. The vision of people desperately clinging on to their youthful image is alarming

(b) What are the reasons for early osteoporosis?
Answer. eating junk food, the sugar in their soft drinks is leaching the calcium from their bones,
and they're indoors all the time

(c) Why are sunscreens harmful?
Answer. sunscreen ads with high SPF numbers keep away the sunlight and with it, the vitamin as
well

(d) Old is gold. How?
Answer. to grow old is to care less about how you appear to others, and to speak your mind
without caring too much about the consequences. In short, be bindaas!

II. Choose the correct meaning for the following words which are the same in passage from the  options given: 

(a) enlarged (Para 2)
(i) gross
(ii) exaggertion
(iii) most
(iv) crutches
Answer. B

(b) to feel shameful (Para 1)
(i) embarrassed
(ii) desperately
(iii) percolate
(iv) pale
Answer. A

(c) modest (Para 3)
(i) valuable
(ii) frankly
(iii) meekest
(iv) younger
Answer. C

Q 2 Read the following passage carefully: 

First introduced in 1927, The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories are a series of books about the adventures of brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, teenaged detectives who solve one baffling mystery after another. The Hardy Boys were so popular among young boys that in 1930 a similar series was created for girls featuring a sixteen-year-old detective named Nancy Drew. The cover of each volume of The Hardy Boys states that the author of the series is Franklin W. Dixon; the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are supposedly written by Carolyn Keene. Over the years, though, many fans of both series have been surprised to find out that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are not real people. If Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene never existed, then who wrote The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries? The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew books were written through a process called ghostwriting. A ghostwriter writes a book according to a specific formula. While ghostwriters are paid for writing the books, their authorship is not acknowledged, and their names do not appear on the published books.Ghostwriters can write books for children or adults, the content of which is unspecific. Sometimesthey work on book series with a lot of individual titles, such as The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series.The initial idea for both the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series was developed by a man named Edward “Stratemeyer, who owned a publishing company that specialized in childrens books. Stratemeyer noticed the increasing popularity of mysteries among adults, and surmised that children would enjoy reading mysteries about younger detectives with whom they could identify. Stratemeyer first developed each book with an outline describing the plot and setting. Once he completed the outline, Stratemeyer then hired a ghostwriter to convert it into a book of slightly over 200 pages. After the ghostwriter had written a draft of a book, he or she would send it back toStratemeyer, who would make a list of corrections and mail it back to the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter would revise the book according to “Stratemeyer instructions and then return it to him. Once Stratemeyer approved the book, it was ready for publication. Because each series ran for so many years, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys both had a number of different ghostwriters producing books; however, the first ghostwriter for each series proved to be the most influential. The initial ghostwriter for The Hardy Boys was a Canadian journalist named Leslie McFarlane. A few years later, Mildred A. Wirt, a young writer from Iowa, began writing the Nancy Drew books. Although they were using prepared outlines as guides, both McFarlane and Wirt developed the characters themselves. The personalities of Frank and Joe Hardy and Nancy Drew arose directly from McFarlane's and Wirt's imaginations. For example, Mildred Wirt had been a star college athlete and gave Nancy similar athletic abilities. The ghostwriters were also responsible for numerous plot and setting details. Leslie McFarlane used elements of his small Canadian town to create Bayport, the Hardy Boys fictional hometown.

1.1 On the basis of your reading of the above passage, fill in the blanks with appropriate words /phrases:

1) The Hardy Boys mystery stories are a series of books that contain__________________
2) _________ was a similar series created like The Hardy Boys created for the girls.
3) The process of writing the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew was called ______________
4) The initial idea for both the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series was developed by______________________________
5) The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books were created based on the idea that children___________________________
6) Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys both had a number of different ghostwriters producing books___________
7) The personalities of Frank and Joe Hardy and Nancy Drew arose directly from__________and___________ imaginations.
8) The ghostwriters were responsible for __________ plot and _________ details.
Answer. 
a. for the leader to respond in a precise and unambiguous manner
b. looking at innovative and effective ways
c. the new generation is used to modes like ATM and online shopping
d. organizations run the risk of falling into a trap where ideas emerge from all corners but don't get executed
2.a iii disordered
B I original and new
c. iii doubtful
d. ii a plan of action

Section A : Reading
Instruction :
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions by writing the option that you consider the most appropriate in your answer sheet :

DANCE

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. Gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are sports that incorporate dance, while martial arts Karate are often compared to dances. Motion in ordinarily inanimate objects may also be described as dances (the leaves dance in the wind). Every dance no matter what style, has something in common. It not only involves flexibility and body movement, but also physics. If the proper physics is not taken into consideration injuries may occur. Choreography is the art of creating dances. The person who creates (i.e. choreographs) a dance is known as the choreographer. Dance has certainly been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since the birth of the earliest human civilizations. Archeology delivers trace of dance from prehistoric times such as the 9,000 years old Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka painting in India and Egyptian tomb painting depicting dancing figures from circa 3300 BC. 

Once the earliest structured uses of dances may have been in the performance and in the telling of myths. Before the production of written languages dance was one of the methods of passing these stories down from generation to generation

1.An art form in which people move _______ is called dance.
a) Spiritually      
b) rhythmically
c) expressingly  
d) humorously
Answer. B

2. While writing in a poetic mood, the writer may use the word dance to describe the _____ ___ of some object.
a) movement      
b) beauty
c) rhythm            
d) velocity
Answer. A

3. To avoid being hurt one should consider the __________ of object and its movements while dancing.
a) flexibility          
b) style
c) physics          
d) body movement
Answer. C

4. Before the script of writing was produced, dance used to be a ________ from one generation to another.
a) mode of passing information  
b) mode of passing stories
c) mode of sharing experiences  
d) mode of narrating events.
Answer. B

5. A word in the passage which means the same as ‘lifeless’ is ______________
a) animate        
b) unanimate
c) inanimate      
d) motionless
Answer. C

THE BUS UNCLE

The “Bus Uncle” is a video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus in Hong Kong on 27th April 2006. The older man, who came to be nicknamed the Bus Uncle, scolded the man seated behind him, a nearby passenger used his camera phone to record the entire incident. The resulting six minute video was uploaded to the Google Video. The clip became the most viewed video in May 2006.

The video became a cultural sensation in Hong Kong, inspiring vigorous debate and discussion on lifestyle, etiquette, civic awareness and media ethics within the city, eventually attracting the attention of the media around the world.
The incident took place in a Kowloon Motor Bus route 68X bus enroute to Yuen Long.
The video was shot by a 21yearold accountant and parttime psychology student. The “Bus Uncle” title for the video was coined by members of an Internet forum in reference to the older man.

Questions :

1. In Hong Kong while travelling in a bus two men had a serious _________.
a) discussion
b) argument
c) quarrel
d) meeting
Answer. C

2. Of all the persons involved in the incident ____________ came to be Known as the Bus Uncle.
a) the younger one
b) the older one
c) the photographer
d) the journalist
Answer. B 

3. Seeing the heated argument between the two gentlemen, a young man recorded the incident on his _____.
a) camera
b) handycam
c) mobile
d) vedio recorder
Answer. C

4. When the video was uploaded on the website of Google, it ___________________ because it aroused great debates and discussions on various social issues.
a) was criticized
b) became a sensation
c) was appreciated
d) was abandoned
Answer. B

5. A word in the passage which means the same a ‘with a lot of energy is ______ .
a) intense
b) vigorous
c) inspiring
d) cultural
Answer. B