Section ( a) Reading
Comprehensive passage
Q
20 Marks
A1 & A2 two unseen passages with a variety of questions including 03
marks for vocabulary such as words formation and inferring meaning and 02
marks for note making.
The total length of the 2 passages will be between 1100-1300 words.
The passage will include two of the following:a)
Factual passage:- instructions, descriptions, reports.
b)
Discursive passage involving opinion – argumentative, persuasive or
interpretative text
c)
Literary passage:- extract from fiction, drama, poetry, essay or
biography.
Unseen
passage
No. of
words
1
700-800
2
400-500
Testing areas
Marks allotted
a)
b)
a)
09
03
05
b)
Short answer type questions
Vocabulary
Note making in an appropriate
format
Summary
03
Note:A passage of about 700-800 words carrying 12 marks & another passage of
about 400-500 words carrying 80 marks.
Reading Skills:Reading is a skill that can be acquired. Any one can learn to read better and
faster & thereby comprehend in lesser time.
Steps for dealing with reading a passage:a) Read the passage quickly to get the general sense.
b) Read each question carefully.
c) Re- read the passage selectively, to find answers to the questions.
d) Concentrate on each question. When you see the answer of the question, write
it down in your own words. Not in the language of used in the text.
e) The answer should be written in a simple and correct language.
f) Write answer in brief.
g) The answer should be in the same tense as used in the question.
h) The answer should be based on what is mentioned in the passage.
Passage 1 (Factual)
A Read the following passage and answer the question that follow:1
1
The Indian team’s win in Pakistan will without doubt gets laced with
romanticism of the kind reserved for any major achievement. Tradition and history
may not mean much to generation of compulsive consumers [of the IT technology
and MTV channel kind], but it may still not be out of place to remind young
generation that when India won its first Test Match – against England in 1952 in
Madras – the whole nation beamed with pride even though there were no corporate
sponsors to remind us how great a nation we had become.
2
In the near seven-decade history of India’s Test Cricket, the year 1971 will
rank as one of the greatest. It was a year when Ajit Wadekar and his men won a
series in the west Indies and then went on to beat England in England.
3
Who can forget B. S. Chandrashaker’s spell of 6 for 38 at The Oval that helped
India win on the England soil for the first time ever,. In fact, to most of us that
achievement still ranks as one of the finest moments of Indian cricket and that team
itself was one of the best India has ever had.
4
Move on to the eighties, the 1983 World Cup win & the demotion of England
in England in 1986. That we have still to win a series out side the sub-continent
after that makes the 2-0 victory of Kapil Dev’s team even more amazing and
creditable. Just imagine! The Indian side of the eighties had Sunil Gavaskar and Kris
Srikanth as openers and had a batting lineup that figured the likes of Gr
Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarksr, Mohinder Amarnath, Md. Azaharuddin, followed by
the all around skills of Kapil Dev, it was as formidable a batting line up as one can
imagine and it that team had the support of Javagal Srinath and the spin quartet of
Bedi, prasanna, chandra & Venkat, it would be safe to assure that India would have
been Test Cricket’s world champions at that time of course, we still would have
needed a Jhon Wright to be around.
5
In the nineties, India under Mohammad Azahrauddin became the undisputed
world Champions in home conditions but their record away from home was so
abysmal that it led to the team being dubbed as ‘lions at home‘ lambs abroad.
6
History is being changed and reshaped by Saurav Ganguly’s unorthodox but
very effective leadership and the great skills of his men. The last three years have
seen the seeds of professionalism being sown in the team with. Wright playing a
phenomenal role in helping this side acquire that cutting edge which teams of the
past lacked
7
India now has a team that played wonderfully joyous cricket in the past couple
of years. It did not lose a series away from home against England and most
importantly, in Australia. And now, it has won in Pakistan, its first away series win
since 1993.
It will always be debatable to say to say which Indian team has been the best
ever, though one won can safely take the risk and say that if ever there was a team
hard to beat, it has to be this one. Coupled with a batting line –up that must be
surely giving nightmares to any opposition is the emergence of two outstanding
swings bowlers L Balaji and Irfan Pathan. And then there is Anil Kumble who has
now shown that if he has the back –up of runs and quality bowlers, he is a match
winner even in alien conditions.
8
The team’s support system of Wright, Andrew Leipus and trainer Gregory
kings (continuing with the trainings revolution started by Adrean Le Roux ) has
knitted together a bunch of extremely talented players into a favorable professional
set up.
9
Though they lack a genuine all rounder; an accomplished wicket keeper and
they suffer from self-created problems of a settled opening pair, it may still be sage
to say that not only is this the best Indian team ever, it has the making of the best
team in the world.
10
Sponsors keep your spending options open. Australia beware!
(a) On the basis of your reading of the passage answer the following questions:a) Why was 1971 remarkable in the cricketing history of India?
b) What glory did Kapil Dev’s team bring in the eighties?
c) What could have made the Indian cricket team word champions in the eighties
d) How was the Indian team dubbed as in the nineties?
e) How did Saurav Ganguli’s leader ship help reshape the team?
f) However, what is it that the Indian team still lacks?
g) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:i. Of quite good standard; deserving praise. [ para 4 ]
ii. Impressive, powerful but difficult.
[ para 4 ]
iii. Inviting two opinions.
[ para 8 ]
Answer :a) The year1971 was remarkable because in this year Ajit wadekar and his team
won a series in West Indies and then went on to beat England in England.
b) Kapil Dev’s team won the word cup in 1983 and beat England in England. It
was an amazing and creditable achievement.
c) India had formidable batting line-up in the eighties whit players like Sunil
Gavaskar, Kris Srikanth etc. if it had the support of the ace players like Javagal
Srinath, Bedi and Prasanna and some others, then it could be the word
1
2
2
2
1
1
d)
e)
f)
g)
champions
It was dubbed as ‘lions at home, lambs abroad because their performance was
great in the homeland but out side it was abysmal.
Saurav Ganguly leadership sowed the seed of professionalism in the team. the
team has acquired the cutting edge which teams of the past lacked.
It lacks a genuine all rounder, and accomplished wicket keeper and suffers from
problems of settled opening pair
(i) Creditable
(ii) Formidable
(iii) Debatable
Notes for the students:
The answer to the questions should be brief and to the point .It should be
started with the language of the question and in the same tense too. Never
begin your answer with ‘because’ write the complete sentence.
1.
2
Passage 2 (Discursive passage)
The short stories as a brief and complete narrative, restricted to a
single effect and dealing for this reason with one profile, some particular
and revealing aspects of the central character’s personality in a single
episode, is perhaps a fifteen or sixteenth century phenomenon in Europe. It
developed evidently, from stories, woven into regular novels, such as in
Cervantes “ Don Quixote” and in Alexander Dumas “The Three
Musketeers” In the England of
Dr. JOHNSON ‘S era, the shorts
stories technique was applied to tales for teaching moral lesson. Only in
the nineteenth century did it begin to acquire the form that is familiars to
us today. Perhaps the greatest fractioner of the short stories in Europe, and
the man who gave it its modern status as an independent and special
literary form, was Guy de Maupassant. From France, the form traveled to
England and Russia and was immediately adopted in America, Edgar,
Allen pope used the shirt stories form for tales of mood and horror as well
as for detective stories. O Henry tuned the short stories to humors and wit.
It was inevitable that, under the influence of English writing, when
the British ruled south Asia, the short form should make its way here.
As in other place in south Asia too, Story – telling is an ancient art
older than the “Katha Sarit Sagar” and the “panchtantra” (volumes of
stories and fables). But the short stories in story telling did not develope
significantly as an independent form until story telling was yanked into
the modern age with the work of Premchand who wrote in Urdu and
Hindi. His language might be described most aptly as Hindustani ; the
trunk from which the persianized refinement branched out into and the
Sanskrit’s refinement into Hindi. The direction toward the modern’s
sensibility came from him primarily and the thread was picked up by
Ismate Chugtai who came into popular acclaim with her two volumes of
short stories, “kalian” and “chotan”. Her stories dramatized in character in
action the social way wiles and wisdom of man and women of the 1930s
and the 1940s; though she continued to write in the following years and
though her work retained its nerve and pointedness, she has been
considered essentially as some kind of a bridge between the restrained
story writing of Premchand on the one hand and the (some times
shockingly) candid and explicit stories of Saadat Hassan Manto and the
two most prominent fiction writers spawned by the progressive writers
movement, Krishen Chander and Rajinder Singh Singh Bedi.
3
These three writers, Manto , Krishen and Bedi, lifted the Urdu short
story to its most sophisticated level . They have been recently made
available to the English – reading public in translation by Mr. Jai Ratan –
two volumes of the selected short stories of Krishen Chander and Rajinder
Singh Bedi published by the sahitya academy, New Delhi and a collection
of the short stories of Saadat Hassan Manto , “ The Best of Manto ,”
published by Starling publisher New Delhi.
4
Of these three writers, Manto, who died in 1955 at the young age of
forty two veered dictionally to the language used by Prem Chand
,Hindustan written in alif-bey but carrying thought and implication that
was a great deal more subtle and pointed. However, what Manto known
for are his defiance of social convention about what may and may not be
publicly stated, and his penchant for depicting scenes and action explicitly.
A certain section of the public the middle class orthodox who preferred
a gloss of morality and stood resolutely by ossified rites and
attitudes –opposed him with all the influence at its command, and he was
hauled up a number of times on the charges of obscenity. If there is
anything for which one might call him to account, it is that he tends
occasionally to be self-consciously unreserved and unrestrained in his
picking of themes and in the language in which he expressed himself, for
all this, Manto’s stories reminiscent in some ways of Maupassant do not
make lust, greed and exploitation attractive, though he writes with
sympathy for the twilight world of prostitutes and under dogs; his
knowledge and understanding of their lines, aspirations and endeavors are
obviously authentic Stories such as “Khol De” (translated by Mr. Jai Ratan
as ‘loosen up ’) “Toba Take Singh” and “Babu Gopinath” are today almost
classics and will continue to stay relevant to the South Asian Predicament
for a long time.
Answer the following questions briefly
a) Name the man who gave the short story its modern status as an
independent literary form
b) Name two volumes of stories and fables written in India
c) What is the contribution of Prem Chand to the short story writing in
India.
d) Why did Manto’s stories earn the stigma of obscenity
e) What are the main characteristics of Ismat Chugtais short stories?
f) Find words in the passage which convey similar meaning as the followings:
i. Clearly
(para 1)
ii. Conventional
(para 4)
iii. Without any check (para 4)
g) Select three appropriate expressions from the above passage, which may
describe Mantos style of writings.
1
2
1
1
1
3
3
Answer with Hints
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
Name of the man was ------------------------------------------------------------------- Katha sarit sagar and the panchtantara
Short stories writing in India developed its moderns and independents
from only with advent of Premchand. He ------------------------(use past
tense)
-------------------- wrote with sympathetic of prostitute and underdogs
The main characterstics of Ismata Chugtais shirt stories are ------------i. (para 1)
ii. (para 4)
iii. (para 4)
Find the correct answer from [Para 4]
NOTE:In the given above passage you see that the answers hide themselves in
paragraphs. you have to find them out and take the language of the question
and the complete the answers. It is to easy to do. Practice is required.
Passage3 {Literary Passage-Essay}
1
Some political thinkers think that liberty and equality can not go
together. They think that liberty implies the freedom to do what one likes to
do. This is true if freedom is interpreted in its absolute sense to mean that every
individual shall be free according to his opportunities, there will be chaos. It is a
lesson of history that it people are allowed to do as they wish the clever and
more capable used their freedom to concentrate all wealth and power in
themselves to the misery and oppression of the rest. Obviously the negative
view is described by those who belong to privileged section of community and
for this reason. seek to maintain status quo for the sake of their vested interests.
They think that equality is unattainable under conditions of such unrestricted
freedom. Lord action therefore, says, “The passion of equality made vain the
hope of liberty.”
2
3
4
The exponents of this view held that liberty is natural, equality is not,
nature itself created differences, for example, some are intellectuals, others are
not. Liberty means freedom i.e. no restrictions, equality needs some restrictions.
This is against the principle of liberty. The institution of property is a natural
institution and therefore, should not be restricted by equality. Perfect equality
is not possible when enforced by state. This means that the power of the state
will increase. Excess power of the state is harmful to the liberty of the people.
Moreover, state has produced many evils of capitalism. If has encouraged
exploitation. It has given protection to the capitalists. Such a state can not give
perfect equality. So, the hope of liberty also Vanishes away. Democracy is said
to be a system based on liberty and equality. But unfortunately, democracy is
either becoming elite’s democracy or dollar democracy. Further this is
controlled by the educated class or by the capitalist. Presence of chite or
capitalist is inequality. Hence liberty and equality appear opposed to each other
The liberals as well as Marxists have asserted that liberty and equality are
not opposed to each other. Liberty has no measuring if it is not enjoyed by all.
All may enjoy liberty only when privileged classes are abolished in the society/
In a society of the unequal, freedom becomes force. What is the use of
expression of thought, when some are deprived? A sound public opinion cannot
be formed, that is why R.H. tawny observes that a large measure of equality, as
far from being inimical invited to liberty, is essentials to it.
If there is only liberty, there will be anarchy. Liberty will be exploited for
personals profits. Dunham writes, “a group of men whose social role consist of
taking profits from other people labour can have no profound belief in equality
and fraternity as desired ideas,” Thus liberty needs equality, so that there is no
cent ration connection of wealth in one or few hands. The Marxists have gone
to the extent of saying that liberty and equality are closely related for a
classless society
5
6
7
8
The liberals think that democracy can never be successful till there is
perfect liberty with equality. Laski, a champion of liberalism writes, “There
cannot, in a word, be a democratic government with out equality, and without
democratic government there can not be freedom, Democracy is based on
political equality. Political equality is not possible without social and
economical equality. In the absence of social equality, some social class will
dominate politics and in the absence of economic equality those holding the
means of production will dominate politics. So in the absence of social economic
equality liberty is just a myth. People may enjoy real liberty only where social
and economic equality are established. This will make democracy successful
Thus, we find that liberty without equality is meaningless. We may enjoy
liberty only when there is perfect equality. If liberty is to be viewed as a
positive thing then equality is a pre –requisite
The Marxists clearly stated there is inequality in the society due to the
institution of private property. Many contemporary liberal writers expressed
the relation between property and equality but Marxists scientifically analyzed
the question of equality in relation to property. They maintaine that a classless
society could only be established. In a classless society one will work according
to one’s ability and each will get according to one’s need.
The Marxists maintain that social and political equality is a myth without
economic equality. In the absence of economics equality those holding the
means of production will dominate politics. They refuse that the state can
create equality in a class divided society through welfare measures. They
believe that social ownership of the means of production in a given society is a
precondition for economic quality. The Marxists accept that all distinctions can
not be removed. They say , “Communist equality pre-supposes the eradication
not only of all the distinctions but such conditions as would give rise to a
difference in the social position of people.”
Answer the following questions briefly:a) one is allowed to do as, one wishes what will be the state of society?
b) What do liberals and Marxists hold in common?
c) How, according to Lask , democracy , freedom and equality depend upon
on one another ?
d) How can a class less society be established according to Marxists?
(b)
Find words in the passage which convey similar meanings as the
followings:i. Complete
ii. Utter confusion
(c)
iii. Having special right
Select the appropriate expressions from the above passage that present
Marxists view of society
Hints
(a) a) There will be a_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
b) Proth Marxists ands liberal believe that _ _ _ _ _ _
c) Laski holds that the concept of democracy is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
d) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ when there is perfect equality in society
e) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , a classless society can be set up _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . In such
a society everyone will work according to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
(b)
(i),(ii)&(iii) All are In para1
(c)
Read Para B carefully.