CBSE Class 12 English Unseen Passage Worksheet Set 01

Points to be Kept in Mind while Answering Questions

• Read the passage carefully and thoroughly to understand its contents. Underline the main ideas and instances, examples and arguments supporting them.
• Underline the words you don't understand and try to guess their meaning from the context. Check the vocabulary related questions and try to find the answers from the context.
• Quickly go through the subject matter questions and mark the parts of the passage you feel are the answers to the questions. Make sure you have understood the questions.
• Read the passage again to counter check your answers and write your answers briefly and to the point.
• Answers should be based on information given/inference derived from the information in the passage.
• Make sure to use the same tense in which the question has been asked.
• In Multiple Choice Questions, analyse the questions and options carefully before selecting the correct option because some of the four options are closely related.
• Write the correct question number on each answer in the answer sheet to avoid mistakes.

Sample Passages

PASSAGE 

1. Human beings are in the process of dramatically reshaping the Earth’s ecosystems. As far back as the 19th century, some scientists have noted that the current era is defined mainly by the impact of human activity. Now, there is an emerging consensus among Earth scientists that we have indeed entered a new period of geological time, the Anthropocene epoch.
2. Scientists who study the history of the Earth usually divide geological time according to major changes to the biology and climate of the Earth. For instance, the ancient Cambrian period, some 500 million years ago, is distinguished by a sudden explosion in the diversity of life, including the emergence of the ancestors of many modern species. More recently, the Pleistocene epoch, which ended about ten thousand years ago, is notable for the glaciers that swept over much of the Earth. The new Anthropocene epoch would be distinguished from all earlier times in Earth’s history by the dramatic impacts of human activity on the Earth.
3. Though Earth scientists debate exactly when the Anthropocene began, there is a clear consensus that human changes to the environment are real and extreme. For one, many life forms have become, and are becoming, extinct as a result of human activity. For this reason, some palaeontologists argue that the human impacts of the Anthropocene began at the end of the last Ice Age, around ten thousand years ago. The fossil record indicates that around that time, many large animals, such as woolly mammoths and giant sloths, went extinct shortly after humans arrived in their ranges. Their sudden disappearance suggests that habitat destruction and overhunting by humans may have contributed to their demise. Indeed, many large animals, like elephants and gorillas, are endangered for those same reasons today.
4. The pace of human-caused extinctions has only increased in the past several hundred years. The growth and spread of human populations, caused by advances in seafaring technology and agriculture, has led to overexploitation of fragile ecosystems, introduction of invasive species, and pollution, causing many extinctions. Scientists have estimated the rate of extinction by studying the fossil record, monitoring existing species, and using statistical models to estimate the number of undiscovered species that have been lost. Estimates vary, but most scientists believe that diverse species are going extinct at hundreds or thousands of times the natural rate. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), for instance, has found that, of species surveyed on its “Red List”, about a fifth of all mammals and reptiles and nearly a third of amphibians are in danger of extinction.
5. This ongoing rapid loss of species has been described as a mass extinction, as severe as the event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. To some ecologists, this steep decline in biodiversity suggests that the Anthropocene epoch began in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the rate of extinction shot up dramatically.
6. Human activity is also altering the climate as a whole. Since the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, humans have significantly altered the atmosphere by mining and burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Some by-products of the use of these fuels, such as carbon dioxide, are greenhouse gases that trap solar energy on Earth. To assess the impact of these greenhouse gases on the Earth, scientists have had to investigate the history of the Earth’s climate. Ice cores, samples of ice layers that have trapped atmospheric chemicals over time, have supplied scientists with millennia of year-by-year information about greenhouse gas concentrations and atmospheric temperature.
7. Evidence from ice cores clearly show that the Industrial Revolution brought about a sudden jump in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, along with an increase in temperatures. A scientific consensus exists that this ongoing rise in temperatures has resulted in warming of the oceans, rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events. Thus, some climatologists propose that the Anthropocene’s onset occurred with the Industrial Revolution and its effects on Earth’s atmosphere.
8. Whenever the Anthropocene is judged to have begun, its impact is undeniable. Human activity has changed the face of the planet; the global ecosystem has been and is being reshaped, the composition of the atmosphere has been altered, and even weather patterns are changing in response to human activity. The consequences of these changes will affect life on Earth for millions of years to come, leaving a mark of human activity that may well outlive humanity itself.

Question. The main purpose of the passage is to
(a) respond to controversial claims made by rival scientists
(b) argue for potential solutions to the problems posed by climate change
(c) describe human impacts on the Earth's environment
(d) account for recent changes in global biodiversity
Answer: (c) describe human impacts on the Earth's environment

Question. The author's tone of writing in this passage is that of.................
(a) an uncertain scientist
(b) a concerned observer
(c) a jaded sceptic
(d) a dejected defeatist
Answer: (b) a concerned observer

Question. The purpose of the second paragraph is to
(a) provide a broad description of the Earth’s history
(b) compare the current geological epoch to the Cambrian period
(c) describe the origins of the majority of the Earth’s biodiversity
(d) explain how scientists divide geological time
Answer: (d) explain how scientists divide geological time

Question. Based on the passage, the relationship between carbon dioxide and ice cores is that.................
(a) carbon dioxide is extracted from ice cores to fuel industrial processes
(b) carbon dioxide destroys ice cores, leading to a loss of a source of information
(c) ice cores can be studied to track changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
(d) ice cores remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reducing its effects on the climate
Answer: (c) ice cores can be studied to track changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels

Question. The passage most strongly suggests that
(a) the recent increase in the extinction rate occurred as a result of human-caused climate change
(b) all extinctions currently taking place result from human activity
(c) some life forms are going extinct before being discovered by humans
(d) modern extinctions are destroying the biodiversity generated in the Cambrian period
Answer: (a) the recent increase in the extinction rate occurred as a result of human-caused climate change

Question. What is the name of the new period of geological time that Earth has entered in the current era?
Answer: The name of the new period of geological time that Earth has entered in the current era is the Anthropocene epoch.

Question. What was the ancient Cambrian period distinguished by?
Answer: The ancient Cambrian period was distinguished by a sudden explosion in the diversity of life, including the emergence of the ancestors of many modern species.

Question. What was the probable reason for the woolly mammoths and giant sloths becoming extinct?
Answer: The probable reason for the woolly mammoths and giant sloths becoming extinct was habitat destruction and overhunting by humans.

Question. According to IUCN, what proportion of animals is in danger of extinction?
Answer: According to IUCN, about a fifth of all mammals and reptiles and nearly a third of amphibians are in danger of extinction.

Question. What are ice cores?
Answer: Ice cores are samples of ice layers that have trapped atmospheric chemicals overtime.

Question. What does evidence from ice cores show about the impact of the Industrial Revolution?
Answer: Evidence from ice cores clearly shows that the Industrial Revolution brought about a sudden jump in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, along with an increase in temperatures.

Question. Find the words in the given passage which convey the meaning similar to
• significant (para 2)
• investigated (para 4)
Answer: • notable
• surveyed

PASSAGE 

1. When you grow up in a place where it rains five months a year, wise elders help you to get acquainted with the rain early. They teach you that it is ignorant to think that it is the same rain falling every day. Oh no, the rain is always doing different things at different times. There is rain that is gentle, and there is also rain that falls too hard and damages the crops. Hence, the prayer for the sweet rain that helps the crops to grow.
2. 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 Puja in October announces the end of rain. After that, one might expect a couple of short winter showers, and the spring showers in March and April. Finally, comes the “big rain” in May; proper rainstorms accompanied by heart-stopping lightning and ear-splitting thunder. I have stood out in storms looking at lightning arc across dark skies, a light-and-sound show that can go on for hours.
3. 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 moon or the stars because of the rainclouds. But you learn not to complain. Rain, 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.
4. The wise learn to understand its ways. I grew up hearing my grandfather say, “It’s very windy this year. We’ll 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.
5. 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 95 more categories of snow. Likewise, in India we have names and names for rain. Some are common, some are passing into history.
6. 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 labour are June, July and August. In August, as the phrogu plant begins to bloom, a rain will fall. This August rain, also called phrogu, 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.
7. 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 what seems to the inexperienced as a continuous downpour----the many kinds of rain. Some of the commonly known rain-weeks are named after the plants that alternately bloom in August and September. The native belief is that the flowers draw out the rain.
8. Each rain period has a job to fulfil: October rain helps garlic bulbs to form, while kumunyo rain helps the rice bear grain. Without it, the ears of rice cannot form properly. End October is the most beautiful month in the Naga hills, as the fields turn gold and wild sunflowers bloom over the slopes, all heralding the harvest. Prayers go up for protecting the fields from storms, and the rains to retreat because the grain needs to stand in the sun and ripen. The cycle nears completion a few weeks before the harvest, and the rain does retreat so thoroughly from the reaped furrows that the earth quickly turns hard. The months of rain become a distant memory until it starts all over again.

Question. The rains are called after flowering plants because
(a) heavy rains kill plants.
(b) flowers grow in the rainy season.
(c) it is believed that the plants bring the rain.
(d) flowers grow all the year round.
Answer: (c) it is believed that the plants bring the rain.

Question. The rain is like a calendar for farmers because
(a) it tells them when to sow and when to harvest.
(b) it tells them the birthdays of their children.
(c) each month has a time for plantation.
(d) different kinds of rain tell different things.
Answer: (a) it tells them when to sow and when to harvest.

Question. People who live in cities don't like rain because
(a) it brings mud and sickness with it.
(b) they are not bothered about the farmers.
(c) they don’t like the plants that grow during the rain.
(d) going shopping becomes difficult.
Answer: (a) it brings mud and sickness with it.

Question. People pray asking the rain to retreat because
(a) the fungus and mould need to dry.
(b) children don’t get a chance to play.
(c) the crops need the sun and heat to ripen.
(d) they like to pray.
Answer: (c) the crops need the sun and heat to ripen.

Question. October rain helps
(a) garlic bulbs to form.
(b) helps the rice bear grain.
(c) sunflower blooms.
(d) fungus grow.
Answer: (a) garlic bulbs to form.

Question. Why do the elders want you to understand the rains in the Naga hills?
Answer: The elders want us to understand the rains in the Naga hills because when you grow up in a place where it rains five months in a year it helps you to get familiarised with the situations in rainy season.

Question. What does Durga Puja mean to the farmers of the Naga hills?
Answer: The farmers of the Naga hills believe that the monsoon lasts from May to early or mid-October so Durga Puja in October announces the end of rain in Naga hills.

Question. What kind of rain is called sezuo?
Answer: The week-long rains, when clothes don’t dry and smell of mould, when fungus forms on the floor and when you cannot see the moon or the stars because of the rain clouds is called as sezuo or suzu kind of rain.

Question. What is the occupation of more than half the population of the Naga hills?
Answer: Rituals and festivals centre around the agricultural rhythm of life, which means farming is the occupation of about 70 percent of the population of the Naga hills.

Question. How is the heart of the farmer different from that of the city person?
Answer: The heart of a farmer is different from that of a city person as they remain grateful for the watery days and are able to observe from what seems to the inexperienced as a continuous downpour that is the many kinds of rain.

Question. When does rain become a memory in the minds of the people of the Naga hills?
Answer: The months of rain become a distant memory in the minds of the people of the Naga hills until it starts all over again.

Question. Find the words in the given passage which mean the same as the following
• flowering (para 6)
• nonstop (para 7)
Answer: • blossoming
• incessant

PASSAGE 

1. The basic task of a manager is to control workers and get the maximum amount of work out of them. There are two main ways of making workers produce more. One is to extend the working hours. The other is to increase the amount that is produced within a given time period. Machinery helps to increase production, but it also creates the danger that eventually machines will replace workers. Both Marx and Mahatma Gandhi saw mechanisation as a danger to employment.

2. Another way of increasing output is by organising work. An American called Frederick Winslow Taylor invented a new system in the 1890s, which he called 'Scientific Management'. It is also known as Taylorism, or industrial engineering. Under his system, all work was broken down into its smallest repetitive elements, and divided between workers. Workers were timed with the help of stopwatches and had to fulfil a certain target every day.

3. Production was further speeded up by the introduction of the assembly line. Each worker sat along a conveyor belt and assembled only one part of the final product. The speed of work could be set by adjusting the speed of the conveyor belt. During the 1980s, there was an attempt to shift away from this system of direct control to indirect control, where workers are supposed to motivate and monitor themselves. But often we find that the old Taylorist processes survive.

4. Workers in textile mills, which are one of the oldest industries in India, often described themselves as extensions of the machine. Ramcharan, a weaver who had worked in the Kanpur cotton mills since the 1940s, said, "You need energy. The eyes move, the neck, the legs and the hands, each part moves. Weaving is done under a continuous gaze-one cannot go anywhere, the focus must be on the machine. When four machines run, all four must move together, they must not stop."

5. The more mechanised an industry gets, the fewer people are employed, but they too have to work at the pace of the machine. For instance, in Maruti Udyog Ltd, two cars roll off the assembly line every minute. Workers get only 45 minutes rest in the entire day-two tea breaks of 7 1/2 minutes each and one lunch break of half an hour. Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement.

6. While production has gone up, the number of permanent jobs in the factory has gone down. The firm has outsourced all services such as cleaning and security, as well as the manufacture of parts. The parts suppliers are located around or near the factory and send the parts every two hours, or just-in-time. Outsourcing and just-in-time keeps costs low for the company, but the workers are very tense, because if the supplies fail to arrive, their production targets get delayed and, when they do arrive, the workers have to work faster to keep up. No wonder they get exhausted.

7. Now let us look at the services sector. Software professionals are middle class and well educated. Their work is supposed to be self-motivated and creative. But it is also subject to Taylorist labour processes. 10 to 12 hours is an average workday, and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the office (known as a 'night out'), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to the industry's work culture.

8. As a result of these working hours, in places like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon, where many IT firms or call centres are located, shops and restaurants have also changed their working hours, and are open late. If both husband and wife work, then children have to be put in creches. The joint family, which was supposed to have disappeared with industrialisation, seems to have re-emerged, as grandparents are roped in to help with children.

9. One important debate going on is whether industrialisation and the shift to services and knowledge-based work like IT leads to greater skills in society. We often hear the phrase 'knowledge economy' to describe the growth of IT in India. But how do you compare the skills of a farmer who has the skills to grow many hundreds of crops relying on his or her understanding of the weather, the soil and the seeds, with the knowledge of a software professional? Both are skilled but in different ways. The famous sociologist, Harry Braverman, argues that the use of machinery actually deskills workers. For instance, whereas earlier, architects and engineers had to be skilled draughtsmen, now the computer does a lot of the work for them.

Question. Machinery creates the danger that ............
(a) it will extend the working hours of workers
(b) it may cause loss due to high cost
(c) ultimately machines will replace workers and cause unemployment
(d) faults in the machines may reduce production
Answer: (c) ultimately machines will replace workers and cause unemployment

Question. On the assembly line, each worker ............
(a) was given a boring job
(b) speeded up the work
(c) was timed with a stopwatch
(d) assembled only one part of the final product
Answer: (d) assembled only one part of the final product

Question. Workers in textile mills described themselves as ............
(a) being subjected to mental tension
(b) extensions of the machine
(c) toys in the hands of the management
(d) always moving with the machine
Answer: (b) extensions of the machine

Question. ............ keeps costs low for Maruti Udyog Ltd.
(a) The tension in the workers
(b) Parts supplies failing to arrive
(c) Short breaks for lunch and tea
(d) Outsourcing and just-in-time
Answer: (d) Outsourcing and just-in-time

Question. The joint family seems to have re-emerged because ............
(a) grandparents are needed to look after children
(b) IT leads to greater skills in society
(c) children have to be put in creches
(d) shops and restaurants are open late
Answer: (a) grandparents are needed to look after children

Question. What are the alternative names given to the new system invented by FW Taylor to increase output?
Answer: The alternative names given to the system are 'Scientific Management', 'Taylorism', or 'industrial engineering'.

Question. How was the speed of work set on an assembly line?
Answer: The speed of work could be set by adjusting the speed of the conveyor belt.

Question. What work was Ramcharan performing in a textile mill?
Answer: Ramcharan was a weaver in a cotton mill.

Question. When an industry gets more mechanised, what happens to the employment in it?
Answer: When an industry gets more mechanised, fewer people are employed.

Question. What is the average number of hours that a software professional works in a day?
Answer: A software professional works an average of 10 to 12 hours a day.

Question. What skills does a farmer possess?
Answer: A farmer possesses the skills to grow hundreds of crops relying on an understanding of the weather, the soil, and the seeds.

Question. Find the words in the given passage which convey the meaning similar to recurring (para 2) and stocks of outsourced parts (para 6)
Answer:

• repetitive (para 2)
• just-in-time (para 6)

PASSAGE 

1. The windless night filled our ears with unaccustomed silence and the foul dryness of our mouths aggravated the discomfort of our sleepless bodies as we tried to ease the agony of our thirst. Then breathlessly, we watched the gathering clouds obscure the stars and it began to rain with a steady downpour. Slowly the water in the pipe from the canopy ran clear and we filled our empty cans and spare plastic bags, our bellies and our mouths until we could not force down another drop. Suddenly, everything had changed from the shadow of the spectre of death to the joyful prospect of life and all by a shower of rain. We had water!

2. Douglas, lazily watching the dispersing clouds, suddenly sat up with a start, pointing excitedly. "A ship! A ship! It's a ship!" We all crowded to the door of the raft, staring in the direction of his pointing finger; a cargo vessel of about 6000 tonnes was approaching us on a course that would bring her within 3 miles of us. "Get out the flares", I said hoarsely, "and pass them to me in the dinghy. They all see us better from there."

3. Three miles was a fair distance, but on a dull day such as this, against a background of rain, they should see us easily. I clambered into the dinghy and Douglas passed me the rockets and hand flares; my hands trembled as I ripped open a parachute rocket flare and, with a mute appeal to the thing to fire, struck the igniter on the fuse. It sputtered and hissed, then roared off on a trajectory high above the raft, its pinkish magnesium flare slowly spiralling downwards leaving a trail of smoke in the sky. They couldn't fail to see it. I waited a moment or two, watching for the ship to alter course, then struck a hand flare, holding it high above my head. The blinding red light was hot to hold and I pointed it away from the wind to ease my hand, the red embers of the flare dropping into the dinghy; as it went out, I struck another, smoke from the first now a rising plume in the sky; surely they must see that! I waited a little, my hands trembling.

4. However, the ship sailed on, slowly disappearing behind a rain shower and, when she reappeared, her hull was half obscured by the horizon. My shoulders drooped. "We daren't use another", I said. "They won't see it now and we have to keep something for the next one."

5. I surveyed the empty flare cartons bitterly, and the one smoke flare which was damp and wouldn't work; then something happened to me in that instant that, for me, changed the whole aspect of our predicament. If these poor bloody seamen couldn't rescue us, then we would have to make it on our own. The word from now on was, 'survival', not 'rescue', or 'help' or dependence of any kind, just survival. We would live for three months or six months from the sea, but "We would get these boys to land" as Lyn had said, and we would do it ourselves if there was no other way.

6. Towards late afternoon, we felt an unusually hard bump on the raft floor and we found ourselves gazing at the large scaly head of a turtle. The day before I would have said, "Leave it, we can't manage that", but now things were different. "We'll have this one", I said. "Let's get it aboard the dinghy." The turtle's flippers had become entangled in the sea anchor line, so, first passing a rope from the dinghy under the raft, we made it fast to one of the back flippers, then carefully avoiding the searching beak, freed the turtle from the sea anchor rope and towed it around the raft to the Ednamair. With a bump and a thrashing of claws, the reptile lay on its back in the bottom of the dinghy.

7. I plunged the knife into the leathery skin of the neck. Deep red blood spurted into the bottom of the dinghy and gradually, the beak and flippers ceased thrashing as the beast died. Twenty-four hours previously, I would not have had the stomach for such a bloody business, but the laws of survival applied and the first principle, "The fittest survive, the weakest go to the wall", had now become our way of life. We would struggle and endure and, if our reflexes were not as swift as the animals and fish around us, we had to be cunning and improve with practice.

Question. The author killed the turtle as ............
(a) he liked to hunt
(b) he was feeling angry
(c) he was hungry and had nothing to eat
(d) he wanted to prove that he was brave
Answer: (c) he was hungry and had nothing to eat

Question. The containers were filled with the rainwater as they ............
(a) wanted to play with water
(b) did not have any work and wanted to pass their time
(c) had to give the water to the men in the cargo vessel
(d) were thirsty and also wanted to save water for the future
Answer: (d) were thirsty and also wanted to save water for the future

Question. The flares were used by the author to ............
(a) get light as it was getting dark
(b) cook the food
(c) heat the water
(d) get the attention of the other ship so that they could be rescued
Answer: (d) get the attention of the other ship so that they could be rescued

Question. The author's shoulders drooped when the cargo ship reappeared as ............
(a) he felt tired
(b) he realised that there was no chance of the cargo ship spotting them as it was very far off
(c) he was ill
(d) Douglas was not obeying his orders
Answer: (b) he realised that there was no chance of the cargo ship spotting them as it was very far off

Question. The turtle bumped into the author's boat as ............
(a) it did not see the boat
(b) its flippers got entangled in the sea anchor line
(c) the boat was going too fast while the turtle was swimming slowly
(d) the turtle was asleep and the boat hit it
Answer: (b) its flippers got entangled in the sea anchor line

Question. How was the author's discomfort due to sleeplessness worsened?
Answer: It was worsened by the windless night's unaccustomed silence and the foul dryness of their mouths due to agony of thirst.

Question. Why did the author point the flare away from the wind?
Answer: He pointed it away from the wind to ease his hand because the blinding red light was hot to hold.

Question. Why did the author say, "... and we have to keep something for the next one?"
Answer: He said this because the current ship was too far off to see them, and they needed to save the remaining flares for a future rescue opportunity.

Question. What indicates that the crew of the ship did not see the flares fired into the air by the author?
Answer: The ship sailed on, slowly disappearing behind a rain shower without altering its course.

Question. When the author says, "Let's get it aboard the dinghy", what does 'it' refer to?
Answer: 'it' refers to the turtle.

Question. How did the author kill the turtle?
Answer: The author plunged a knife into the leathery skin of the turtle's neck.

Question. Find the words in the given passage which convey the meaning similar to something unpleasant or dangerous that might happen in future (para 1) and a difficult situation (para 5)
Answer:

• spectre (para 1)
• predicament (para 5)