Q1. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the answers from the given options (4)

I had my homework in front of me,

I was there sitting at my desk,

When mosquitoes started biting me, the mangy little pests,

And the next thing I know I’m in the middle of a jungle,

Instead of at my desk.

The stuffed monkey hanging from the lamp above my head

became a real one hanging in a tree instead.

It grabbed my homework and ran away,

I chased after it all that day.

I jumped cliffs, climbed trees, wrestled crocodiles;

I must have travelled at least a million miles.

But it soon became hopeless and I grew tired,

I found a rock to rest my head,

And in the morning I awoke to find myself in bed,

And my incomplete page of homework

right where I had left it.

But you see it really wasn’t my fault, this you should know,

I would’ve had it done if it weren’t for those mosquitoes.

As I had told you I had my homework with me at my desk,

until I was interrupted by the mangy little pests.

1. By repeating the idea contained in the first stanza in the last two lines, what is the poet emphasizing? (a) that children sometimes find excuses to shirk their responsibilities.

(b) that children are bothered even by minute things like mosquitoes.

(c) that children don‟t know how to do any kind of homework.

(d) that children are very particular about doing their homework

2. What does the word ‘mangy’ mean?

(a) Irritating (b) Dirty (c) Cute (d) Gigantic

3. The monkey had taken the poet’s home work. What means does the poet employ to get it back?

(a) Travelled million miles (b) Fought with crocodile (c) Climbed trees (d) All the above

4. Why does the homework remain incomplete?

(a) The poet finds it uninteresting (b) He feels lazy (c) He sleeps (d) None of the above

Q2. Read the passage given carefully:

All successful men are as methodical and regular as a clock, and that you can almost judge the time of day by their movements. These are the men who make prize of the world and all it has to give; these are the men who have coined minutes into hours and hours into days. These are the men who are always doing much in order that they may be able to do a little more. Their achievements are recalled with pride by the people even after decades. There is hardly any field of life in which they have not contributed substantially. Obviously, they are the accepted superior children of human race and facilitate its growth and enrichment by their thoughts and practice. Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was one such methodical person. He was “successful” in no ordinary sense of the term. He was greatly aware of the sacrosanctity of time, and always economised it. He believed, “Aram haram hai” (rest is taboo), and popularized it as a slogan. His high sense of devotion to duty was first and foremost, and he died in harness. He always kept on his working table, under the glass, the famous poem of Robert Frost entitled, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, because it so well reflected his sense or duty of dharma The most relevant lines of the poem are : “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep”. Like all other things, man‟s existence is temporal. Einstein has told us about the relatively of time and space. Yesterday, today and tomorrow are merely three points in time. Many centuries before now, the Vedic Rishis contemplated on the cosmic nature of time and arrived at the conclusion of temporal nature of existence. They found life too short and fleeting and sought timelessness and eternity in the realization of the self. This is the highest type of human success and summum bonum of human existence. The `Bhagavad Gita‟ recognising the superiority of action over lethargy and non-action, urges man to work ceaselessly and willingly without selfish motives, without attachment and obsession. Time is divine and precious, and it is sin and unrighteousness to waste it. A work done dispassionately, without any touch of ego, with perfect mental equipoise, but with full force, leads to the supreme success and liberation. Work, nay ceaseless work, without any waste of time is essential . Lord Krishna has nothing to gain by performing relentless work; he has no desires to satisfy, not any wish to fulfil, but even then he works for the good of the world. If ever he did not work, men in every respect would follow his example

I. Fill in the summary with, one word in each blank : (2)

All successful men have

(a)__________ great importance to (b)__________ action and proper utilization of time. Work done (c) __________ any expectation of reward and working ceaselessly are considered great (d) __________

II Answer the following questions: (2)

a) Why is Jawahar Lal Nehru praised by the writer?

b) What does Bhagvat Gita urge man to do?

III Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following: (4)

a) Remember (Para 1)

b) Considerably (Para 1)

c) Laziness (Para 2)

d) Valuable (Para 3)

Q 3. Read the following passage

Chimps can use sign language to talk to their trainers. Monkeys can learn to count. A crow can figure out how to use a stick to get at that hard-to-reach grub. Chicken can learn to play checkers. Even worms can be taught to run mazes. So which animal is the smartest? You’re probably thinking that chimps are smarter than chickens. And that crows are smarter that worms. And you’re smarter than all of them. But where do these rankings come from? Okay, you probably are smarter than the average worm. But why do we assume that bigger beasts are smarter than smaller ones? Or that furry critters are brainier than slithering wrigglers that are coated in slime? And how come we think dogs are so smart? Sure, a dog might be clever enough to fetch his leash when he wants to go out. But the same mutt might also bark at the vacuum cleaner and spend a whole hour chasing his own tail. Is Rover any brighter than a hamster, a chicken or that kid who’s always eating Play – Doh? How can you measure an animal’s brain power? The hardest part is coming up with the right test. A dog can’t sit down with a no: 2 pencil and take a multiple choice exam. So the test has to be something the dog can learn to do: select a block by nudging it with a nose or a paw for example. The test also has to be something the dog wants to do: a dog might stare at that block all the day, without budging - until she figures out that there’s a treat underneath. Norton Milgram and his co-workers at the University of Toronto use treats to give dogs a canine I Q test

Read the questions below and write the most appropriate options in your answer sheet: (5)

(1) The main idea of the passage is that ___________ .

(a) monkeys are smarter than dogs because monkeys can count.

(b) a University of Toronto research group has discovered how to accurately measure animal intelligence.

(c) dogs are smarter than other animals.

(d) animals have different levels of intelligence that can be measured only with the right tests.

(2) By asking “why do we assume that bigger beasts are smarter than smaller ones? ‟ the narrator wants to say that __________ .

(a) larger animals are not as smart as the smaller animals.