CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2014 Set 03

SECTION A 

READING 

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: 

1. Rabindranath Tagore raised the stature of our country in the eyes of the world. A versatile genius, a literary artist, an educator, a composer, a singer, an actor, Tagore had all gifts of Nature and fortune in his favors. Born in a renowned Hindu family, Tagore pleaded not only for concord with the past but also for freedom from the past. All healthy growth needs continuity and change. We are not the past but also for freedom from the past. All healthy growth needs continuity and change. We are not free unless our minds are liberated from dead forms, tyrannical restrictions and crippling social habits. Tagore condemned the corruption of many of our social practices. He believed that the essence of life was perpetual renewal and rededication to self development.

2. Tagore did not live in an ivory tower. He led a procession in 1905 through the streets of Calcutta singing his song, “Are you so mighty as to cut as under the bond forged by Providence?’’ Millions of voices have sung the National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana,’ calling upon us to nourish the unity of our country and be devoted to it. He was not only a playwright but a novelist and a story teller, a nationalist and an internationalist. As if these activities were not enough, he turned towards painting in the end of life. He rejected traditional canons and experimented with new forms and color compositions. We honor him not only for this many sided genius but also for the guidance of his life and work in this troubled world. Tagore’s mission was one of reconciliation between East and West in a spirit of understanding and mutual enlightenment. For India unity is truth and division is evil. The poet’s name is symbolic of the light of the day. The sun which dispels the mist of darkness and the clouds of suspicion restores health to the human system.

3. Though his work was rooted in Indian soil, his mind ranged over the wide world and hence had a universal appeal. Tagore’s writings have been translated into many languages, but even the best translations do not bring out the music and the melody or the force of the original. As Tagore was born at a difficult stage when India was in a revolutionary mood, he participated in the movement revolting against social, political and religious institutions. He was all the time convinced of the validity and vitality of the fundamental ideals set forth by the seers and saints of India. Tagore’s philosophy was one of wholeness and unity. For Tagore, God, Man and Nature are bound together in single unity. He was not a dreamer or a visionary. He kept constant vigil over the world. He was a great sentinel as Gandhi called him. The moral health of a nation depended on the inspiration the people derived from their poets and artists. Asceticism for Tagore meant self control and not abstention from world activities. Very early in his life when he was seventeen, he had the need to control his emotions. He was not an unworldly saint. He had tough earthly quality. The ideals of social life, economic pursuits, and the enjoyment of beauty should be cultivated equally. Water surrounds the lotus flower but does not wet its petals. Even so, human beings should work in this world without being affected by it. For Tagore, as for Gandhi, the measure of man’s greatness in whom there was a happy blend of contemplation and action. For Tagore, as for Gandhi, the measure of man’s greatness is not his material passions but the truth in him which is universal. His voice was the conscience of our age. He bequeathed to the country and the world a life which had no littleness about it.

a) On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions:

i) Tagore was a versatile genius. How? 

ii) What is the message given in the National Anthem composed by Tagore? 

iii) What was Tagore’s mission in life? 

iv) What does the poet’s name symbolize? 

v) Give an example to prove that his works had a universal appeal.

vi) How should human beings work in this world? 

b) Pick out words from the passage that mean:

i) Never ceasing (Para 1)

ii) Living a life of austerity (Para 3)

iii) Left behind (Para 3)  

Please refer to the link below for CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2014 Set C