Motithang Higher Secondary School Thimphu Thromde Mid-Term Examination 2016 Subject: English II Full Marks: 100

Transcription

1 Motithang Higher Secondary School Thimphu Thromde Mid-Term Examination 2016 Subject: English II Full Marks: 100 Class: Twelve Writing Time: 3 Hours Instructions: 1. This paper has four sections, Section A for Short stories, Section B for Essay, Section C for Poetry and Section D for drama. 2. In each section, there are two sets of questions: Set I and set II. Set I compromises Question nos. 1a and 1b and Set II corresponds to Question no.2 across all sections. 3. You are required to answer four sets of questions in all, one set from each section. Your choice must include. One set II question (question no.2) from any section. Section A: Short Story Direction: From the two sets of questions under this genre, choose ONE SET and write your responses in your answer sheet. Answer the questions in this section with reference to the story The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek.. Set I Question 1a. [1x5] Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the given question and write it in your answer sheet. (i) The point of view used in the story is A. First person narrative. B. First person omniscient. C. Third person objective. D. Third person omniscient. (ii) The idea of creating a fake elephant showed the Director s A. power. B. deceit C. concern. D. innovation. (iii) The Elephant in the zoo was placed next to the A. Giraffe. B. Cactus. C. Monkey. D. Mammoth. (iv) The punctured elephant in the story symbolized the failure of the A. Zoo director s plan. B. Zoo keeper s responsibility. C. Communist government in Poland. D. Soulless officers to understand the director s plan. MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

2 (v) The intention of the story is to A. Teach a moral lesson. B. Make the readers laugh. C. Give the readers information about animals. D. Make the readers aware of how to manage a zoo. Question 1b. [20] Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of questions onto your answer sheets and answer them briefly. (i) Give two reasons provided by the Director to renounce the allocation of an elephant in his zoo. (5) (ii) What is the central theme of the story The Elephant? (5) (iii) (iv) Describe any two characters in the story who symbolized the communist government. (5) Do you think writing was an effective form of resistance to the communist power? Explain (5) Set II Question 2. (25) Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and answer them accordingly. (i) Imagine yourself as one of the children who witnessed the elephant s flight. Write a satirical account of the event and how it affected you. (10) (ii) Justify the story The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek as a good example of satirical allegory. (15) Section B: Essay Direction: Read the essay given below carefully. From the two sets of questions on this text, choose ONE SET and write your response in your answer sheet. Hello Happiness! Ask hundred people what would make them happy, and a sizeable majority would say winning the lottery. Yet, if they won a vast fortune, within a year they would go back to their previous level of happiness. The fact is that money has many uses, but more money does not mean more happiness. Surveys carried out in recent years by leading psychologists and sociologists all confirm that while individuals may increase their material wealth during their course of their lifetime, this has no bearing on their well-being. And what is true for individuals can be applied on a larger scale to the world population. Statistically, wealthier nations do not achieve higher scores on the happiness-ometer than developing or underdeveloped nations. Once the basic criteria of adequate shelter and nutrition are satisfied, increased wealth plays no significant role. So why the obsession with getting rich? The answer, say researchers, is simple. Call it jealousy, competitiveness or just keeping up with the Joneses, however well they are doing, there is always someone else who is doing better. Just as we acquire a MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

3 new $25,000 car, our neighbor parks his brand spanking new $40,000 set of wheels in his drive, causing us much consternation, but fueling us with new aspirations in the process. And so the cycle continues. Money, or material wealth, may be a prime, but it is not the foundation of our well-being. If money isn t the key to happiness, then, what is? In all 44 countries surveyed by a prominent research center, family life provided the greatest source of satisfaction. Married people live on an average three years longer and enjoy greater physical and psychological health than the unmarried and, surprisingly, couples in a cohabitational relationship. Having a family enhances well-being, and spending more time with one s family helps even more. Social interaction among families, neighbourhoods, work places, communities, and religious groups correlate strongly with subjective well-being. In fact, the degree of individuals social connections is the best benchmark of their happiness. Friendship is another major factor. Indeed, to return to the dollar-equals-happiness equation, in one survey, having a friend converted into $50,000 worth of happiness, and confirms the well-known phenomena that loneliness can lead to depression. Work is another area central to well-being, and certain features correlate highly with happiness. This include autonomy over how, where, and what pace work is done, trust between employer and employee, fair treatment, and active participation in making of decisions. Occupationally, happiness tends to be more common among professionals and managers, that is, people who are in control of the work they do, rather than subservient to their bosses. Inequality implies less control for those who are in the weaker position, although there are more risks of losing their privileges for those in the stronger position. Control of one s life in general is also key. Happiness is clearly correlated with the presence of favourable events such as promotion or marriage, and the absence of troubles or bad luck such as accidents, being laid off or conflicts. These events on their own signal the success or failure to reach one s goals, and therefore the control one has. On a national level, the more that governments recognize individual preferences, the happier their citizens will be. Choice, and citizens belief that they can affect the political process, increase subjective well-being. Furthermore, evidence exists for an association between unhappiness and poor health: people from the former Soviet Union are among the unhappiest in the world, and their life expectancy has been falling steadily. People are most satisfied in societies which minimally restrict their freedom of action, in other words, where they are in control rather than being controlled. Happy people are characterized by the belief that they are able to control their situation, whereas unhappy people tend to believe that they are a victim of fate. Happy people are also more psychologically resilient, assertive and open to experience. But how good is the evidence for this alternative viewpoint then- that happiness, and not financial status, contributes to good health, and long life? A study of nuns, spanning seven decades, supports this theory. Autobiographies written by the nuns in their early 1920s were scored for positive and negative emotions. Nuns expressing the most positive emotions lived on average ten years longer than those expressing the least positive emotions. Happy people, it seems, are much less likely to fall ill and die than unhappy. But what must we do to be happy? Experts cite the old maxim Be MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

4 happy with what you have got. Look around you, they say, and identify the positive factors in your life. Concentrating on the negative aspects of one s life is a no-no, and so is worrying. Worrying is a negative thinking habit that is nearly always about something that lies in the future. It stems, apparently, from our cave dwelling days, when we had to think on a day-to-day basis about how and where to find food and warmth, for example. But in the modern world, worrying simply undermines our ability to enjoy life in the present. More often than not, the things we worry about never come to pass anyway. Just as important is not to dwell on the past past mistakes, bad experiences, missed opportunities and so on. What else can we do? Well, engage in a loving relationship with another adult, and work hard to sustain it. Try to plan frequent interactions with your family, friends and neighbours (in that order). Make sure you are not working so hard that you have no time left for personal relationships and leisure. If you are, leave your job voluntarily to become self-employed, but don t get sacked-that is more damaging to well-being than the loss of a spouse, and its effects last longer. In your spare time, join a club, volunteer for community service, or take up religion. If none of the above works then vote for political party with a same agenda as the King of Bhutan, who announced that his nation s objective is national happiness. Set I Question 1a. (1x5) Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the given question and write it in your answer sheet. (i) The best way to be happy is A. to be content with life B. to get promotion C. to vote for your political party D. to win the party (ii) the obsession with getting rich is A. to find a suitable partner B. competiveness C. to have nutrition D. to buy a new car (iii)occupationally, happiness is most common among A. people who work the fastest B. People who have less control of the work they do C. People who are subservient D. People who are in control of the work they do (iv) Identify the genre of the essay A. expository B. narrative C. argumentative MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

5 D. descriptive (v) According to the author the unhappiest people in the world are from A. USA B. developed countries C. former Soviet Union D. underdeveloped countries Question 1b. [20] Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of questions onto your answer sheets and answer them briefly. (i) Define happiness in your own words with two relevant examples from your own life. (5) (ii) Do you agree with the author s point of view in the essay? Support your stand with two reasons. (5) (iii)what are the two ways that has been suggested by the author to optimize the level of happiness? (5) (iv) Briefly explain any two ways that lowers the level of happiness of an individual. (5) Set II Question 2. (25) Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and answer them accordingly. (i).if you were a policy maker, what policies would you come up with to promote the happiness of the nation? Suggest four policies. (10) (ii) In your opinion, do the ways explained in the essay correlate to our Bhutanese concept of GNH. Substantiate your answer with three reasons (15) Section C: Poetry Direction: Read the poem given below carefully. From the two sets of questions on this poem, choose ONE SET and write your responses in your answer sheet. Improvement. The joy of life is living it, or so it seems to me; In finding shackles on your wrists, then struggling till you are free; In seeing wrongs and righting them, in dreaming splendid dreams, Then toiling till the vision is as real as moving streams. The happiest mortal on the earth is he who ends his day By leaving better than he found to bloom along the way. MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

6 Were all things perfect here there would be naught for man to do; If what is old were good enough we d never need the new. The only happy time of rest is that which follows strife And sees some contribution made unto the joy of life. And he who has oppression felt and conquered it is Who really knows the happiness and peace of being free. The miseries of earth are here and with them all must cope. Who seeks for joy, through hedges thick of care and pain must grope Through disappointment man must go to value pleasure s thrill: To really know the joy of health a man must first be ill. The wrongs are here for man to write, and happiness is had By striving to supplant with good the evil and the bad. The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth, In making bright and fruitful all the barren spots of earth. In facing odds and mastering them and rising from defeat, And making true what once was false, and what was bitter, sweet For only he knows perfect joy whose little bit of soil Is richer ground than what it was when he began to toil. Edgar Albert Guest Set I Question 1a. (1x5) Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the given question and write it in your answer sheet. (i) The antonym of the word toil is A. peace B. hardship C. difficulties D. fun (ii) then toiling till the vision is as real as moving stream. The line is an example of A. personification B. images C. Simile D. Idiom (iii)the poem is about A. Joy of life B. Appreciating life C. Different phases of life D. Struggling to achieve perfection in life (iv) The tone of the poem is A. hopeful B. whimsical C. thoughtful MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

7 D. sad (v) The rhyme scheme of the poem is A. ABCABC B. ABABCB C. ABBACC D. AABBCC Question 1b. [20] Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of questions onto your answer sheets and answer them briefly. (i) Bring out the central theme of the poem. (5) (ii) According to you, is the title appropriate? Justify with two reasons. (5) (iii) What is the speaker s stand in the poem? Substantiate your stand. (5) (iv) In your opinion, what are the two things that you feel you need to change in order to succeed in life? (5) Set II Question 2. (25) Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and answer them accordingly. (i) Rewrite the poem in the form of a Prose. (10) (ii) How true are the views expressed by the speaker with reference to our lives? Justify with five examples from your personal experience. (15) Section D: Drama Direction: Question 1a. From the two sets questions under this genre, choose ONE SET and write your responses in your answer sheet. Set I [1x5] Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the given question and write it in your answer sheet. (i) Gontran is a huge man, however, he is A. a fool B. silly C. author s friend D. weak hearted (ii) After the investigation, the housing inspector announces that the author has A. seven rooms. B. five rooms C. twelve rooms. D. ten rooms MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8

8 (iii)the following are true in the play, EXCEPT A. Ardele s relationship with her in-law was not good B. Madame Bessarabo was a foreign emigree. C. The maid was weeping because someone impregnated her. D. Gustave wanted the author to listen to his ideas. (iv) she flies to the door, younger by fifty years, the statement is the example of A. metaphor B. satire C. paradox D. hyperbole (v) The absurdity of the plumbers in the play is A. mends the leakage. B. reveals about the spare rooms to the housing inspector. C. cutting off the water while Ardele was taking shower. D. feeling the walls to identify the leakage Question 1b. [20] Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of questions onto your answer sheets and answer them briefly. (i) What does the false nose symbolize in the play? Explain. (5) (ii) Briefly explain any two satirical situation that you come across with regard to Madame Bessarabo. (5) (iii) Imagine yourself as the author and write down which character you find the most annoying. Support your answer with four points, (5) (iv) From the characters like the author,his mother and Ardele, Identify and explain any two issues from the play that reflects our reality. (5) Set II Question 2. (25) Direction: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and answer them accordingly. (i) The play has a number of sub-plots intertwined with the main plot. Pick any one subplot and show how it helps in developing the play as an absurd. (10) (ii) With close reference to the play, prove the play as a farce and also as a theatre of the absurd. (5+10) MT/Class XII/English II/ of 8