CBSE Class 10 English Sample Paper 2017 with Answers Set F

Section A -Reading (20Marks)

1.Read the following passage carefully.(8 Marks)

 The two great epics of ancient India – The Ramayana and the Mahabharata – probably took shape in the course of several hundred years , and even subsequently , addition were made to them. They deal with the early days of Indo – Aryans, their conquest and civil wars, when they were expanding and consolidating themselves, but they were composed and compiled later. I do not know of any books anywhere which have exercised such a continuous and pervasive influence on the mass mind as these two. Dating back to a remote antiquity, they are still a living force in the life of the Indian people. Not in the original Sanskrit, except for a few intellectuals, but in translations and adaptation, and in those innumerable ways in which traditions and legend spread and become a part of the texture of a people’s life. They represent the typical Indian method of catering all together for various degrees of cultural development, from the highest intellectual to the simple unread and untaught villager. They make us understand somewhat the secret of the old Indian in holding together a variegated society divided up in many ways and graded in castes, in harmonizing their discords, and giving them a common background of heroic tradition and ethical living. Deliberately, they tried to build up a unity of outlook among the people, which was to survive and overshadow all diversity.

Among the earliest memories of my childhood are the stories from these epics told to me by my mother or the older ladies of the house, just as a child in Europe or America might listen to fairy tales

or stories of adventure. There was for me both adventure and the fairy element in them. And, then, I used to be taken every year to the popular, open-air performances where the Ramayana stories was enacted and vast crowds came to see it and joined the processions. It was all very crude, but that didn’t matter, for everyone knew the story by heart and it was carnival time.

Questions: 

I. Name the two greats epics of ancient India.

II. How much time did the great epics take to shape?

III. What do the great epics deal with?

IV. How do these epics have a pervasive influence on the masses?

V. How do the great epics try to build up a unity of outlook among the people?

VI. How did the narrator have the stories told in his childhood?

VII. How did the narrator enjoy the stories of the epics?

VIII. How was the Ramayana story enacted?

2.Read the following passage carefully and answer the given questions: (12 Marks)

Just a few days ago, my daughter’s friend committed suicide. This girl was bright, Creative and different. Nobody knows what was going on in her mind when she took the drastic step but from what I understood it was her sense of failure. She was slightly short of attendance and was being taken to task for that and she couldn’t cope. As the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan spreads, the authorities that we are trying to get children to come to school, luring them with mid-day meals and other sops. Perfectly understandable. The target is to get the children and parents used to the idea of the school. But, I haven’t been able to understand the need not to trust our young adults with the decision of attending or bunking a class, when we can entrust them with voting the people they want to parliament. Doesn’t it reflect poorly on the quality of our teaching when a student prefers to spend time away from class rather than inside it?

For an 18-years-old, the university is itself a teacher, whether inside or outside class. Why then this mindless insistence on attendance as a criterion? There was a teacher of economics in our college at Delhi University for whose class students would be spilling over into the corridor. Friends who lived nearby were asked to reserve seats. Each seat meant for two had four people and the window sills were also used as seats. Such was the power of his words and his lecture. The same subject taught by another teacher in next class room had the meagre attendance of only two or four students who could not make it to the other crowded class. To put the blame on the student for missing classes reflects poorly on the ability of our teachers to make their subjects interesting enough for students to come running to their classes rather than bunking them. Holding the attendance criteria as necessary prerequisite is like holding a gun to a child’s temple, figuratively and literally as my daughter’s friend proved.

(i) Why did the friend of writer’s daughter commit suicide?

(ii) What is the target of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?

(iii)How did the teacher of Delhi University attract so many students?

(iv) What does it reflect when the students bunk a class? 4x2=8marks

A. Choose the most appropriate option in each of the following:

(v)The word ‘drastic’ means …………………..

(A) Sudden (b) normal

(c) Extreme (d) extraordinary

(vi) The word ‘entrust’ means………………..

(a) Belief (b)care

(c) Make responsible (d) ensure

(vii) The word ‘criteria’ has the same meaning as……………….

(A) System (b) method

(c) Standard of measurement (d) means

(viii)The word ‘meagre’ has the same meaning as……………….

(A) Great (b) trivial

(c) Small (d) advanced 4marks4marks4marks4marks4marks4marks

SECTION B-WRITING & GRAMMAR 

Q3 . You are Akshita / Akshay staying at 15 , Agra road Kanpur . Write a letter to editor of

newspaper highlighting the necessity of having better facilities for pedestrians by improving

the condition of the footpaths in your city . Use the following notes to write the letter in 100-200 words.

• Narrow footpaths
• Pedestrians prone to accidents
• Unauthorised hawkers on the pavements
• Pools of stagnant water 5 marks

Q4. Write a story in about 150-200 words that ends the words-“……………………… and thus we reached out destination without any harm .”

You may keep in mind the following information : 10 marks

Passing through a dense forest in an unknown territory- surrounded by black men with spears ready to kill us – the cellphone rang up – the black men trembled – talk arranges with God on the other end –men surrendered – helped us to reach our destination.

Q5 Fill in the blanks with suitable words by choosing the most appropriate options from the ones given below.

Millions of people (a) _______________________ trouble getting enough sleep. Recent research links lack (b)___________________ sleep to health problems ranging (c) ________________hypertension to weight gain. You may have tried medication for a sound sleep.

Please click the link below to download CBSE Class 10 English Sample Paper 2017 with Answers Set F