CBSE Class 12 English Core Sample Paper 2011 Solved Set C

Section A

Reading 

Read the passage given below and then answer the questions which follow:

1. To make our life a meaningful one, we need to mind our thoughts, for our thoughts are the foundation, the inspiration, and the motivating power of our deeds. We create our entire world by the way we think. Thoughts are the causes and the conditions are the effects.

2. Our circumstances and conditions are not dictated by the world outside; it is the world inside us that creates the outside. Self-awareness comes from the mind, which means soul. Mind is the sum total of the states of consciousness grouped under thought, will and feeling. Besides self-consciousness we have the power tochoose and think. Krishna says: “no man resteth a moment inactive”. Even when inactive on the bodily plane, we are all the time acting on the thought plane. Therefore if we observe ourselves, we can easily mould our thoughts. If our thoughts are pure and noble, naturally actions follow the same. If our thoughts are filled with jealousy, hatred and greed, our actions will be the same.

3. Karmically, however, thought or intent is more responsible and dynamic than an act. One may perform a charitable act, but if he does not think charitably and is doing the act just for the sake of gain and glory, it is his thoughts that will determine the result. Theosophy teaches us that every thought, no matter how fleeting, leaves a seed in the mind of the thinker. These small seeds together go to make up a large thought seed and determine one’s general character. Our thoughts affect the whole body. Each thought once generated and sent out becomes independent of the brain and mind and will live upon its own energy depending upon its intensity.

4. Trying to keep a thought from our mind can produce the very state we are trying to avoid. We can alter our environment to create the mood. When, for instance, we are depressed, if we sit by ourselves trying to think cheerful thoughts, we often do not succeed. But if we mix with people who are cheerful we can bring about a change in our mood and thoughts. Every thought we think, every act we perform, creates in us an impression, like everything else, is subject to cyclic law and becomes repetitive in our mind. So, we alone have the choice to create our thoughts and develop the kind of impressions that make our action more positive.1 To make our life a meaningful one, we need to mind our thoughts, for our thoughts are the foundation, the inspiration, and the motivating power of our deeds. We create our entire world by the way we think. Thoughts are the causes and the conditions are the effects.

5. Let us choose the thought seeds of right ideas, noble and courageous aspirations that will be received by minds of the same nature. Right introspection will be required of us to determine what we really desire to effect. Everything in the universe is inter-related and inter-dependent, that we live in one another and by accepting the grand principle of universal brotherhood we shall be in a position to appreciate what a heavy responsibility is ever ours to think right. Let us reflect and send loving and helpful thoughts and lighten the load of the world’s suffering.

    1.1 Answer the following questions:

     a. How can we make our life meaningful? 

     b. Why does Krishna say, “No man resteth a moment inactive?” 

     c. How do our thoughts affect the whole body? 

     d. How can we change our mood when we are depressed? 

     e. How can we bring about the desired effect? 

    1.2 Find the words from the passage which mean the same as: 

     a. Full of activity (Para 3) (Para 3)

     b. Happening in cycles (Para 4)

     c. to look into one’s own thoughts and feelings (Para 5) 

Please refer to attached file for CBSE Class 12 English Core Sample Paper 2011 Solved Set C