Periodic Test – II (2019 – 20)

Subject : English
Class : IX
Set : B
Time allowed : 3 Hours M. M.: 80

General Instructions:
1. This question paper is divided into three sections :
Section A : Reading – 20 Marks
Section B : Writing & Grammar – 30 Marks
Section C : Literature Text Book and Long Reading Text – 30 Marks
2. All questions are compulsory
3. All question of a particular section must be attempted in the correct order.

SECTION – A (Reading) – 20 Marks

Q.1. Read the passage carefully:

Orangutans (apes) require less food than humans. When they do eat, orangutans nibble mostly on ripe
fruit, along with smaller portions of leaves and seeds. Even in captivity, this diet doesn’t diminish an
orangutan’s get-up-and-go-attitude. They wake up early, after a long night sleep. Then they spend the day
socializing, exploring their indoor and outdoor enclosures. They also regularly engage in games with
researchers. These activities of the orangutans, taken together add up to the same level of exercise
performed by humans in physically demanding agricultural lifestyle.

In the wild, orangutans live in the rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra where food availability is highly
variable and unpredictable. Like fresh fruit from the garden, the pickings are often feast and famine. But
the trade-off is that low energy means less energy is available to do things like growing and reproducing.
So orangutans grow slowly and reproduce slowly, which evolutionarily risky because orangutans might die
before it passes on its genes. Human mothers can have a child every two or four years. But orangutans in
the wild only reproduce every seven to eight years.

Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates; they use a variety of sophisticated tools and
construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. These apes have been extensively
studied for their learning abilities. There may even be distinctive cultures within populations. Both
orangutans species are considered to be endangered, with the Sumatran orangutans being critically
endangered. Human activities have caused severe decline in the populations and ranges of both species.
Threats to wild orangutans populations include poaching, habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade.
Several conservation and rehabilitation organizations are dedicated to the survival of orangutans in the
wild.

We will lose information about our closest relatives and our own evolutionary history if we let them get
extinct.
Answer the following questions briefly: (1 × 8 = 8)
a) According to the passage orangutans mostly eat _____________.
b) It is seen that orangutans and humans do almost the same ______________.
c) Orangutans grow and reproduce slowly as they _______________.
d) We do not want the orangutans to become extinct as ___________.
e) Find a word in Para 2 which means the same as ‘not foreseen’.
f) Orangutans are among ___________ primates.
g) __________ are the critically endangered species.
h) There is a severe decline in the population of orangutans because of __________.
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Q.2. Read the passage carefully:
You hope to do several things every day. At the end of each day, most of them are not done. You may be
using a 'to-do-list' but discover in a short while that it is not helping you much. Tasks keep adding to it. In a
few weeks, it starts looking like a list of things you will never do and you feel stressed about it.
Making a to-do-list is not enough. It is useful only when you understand the key aspects of it and work on
it further.
To begin with, recognise that a to-do-list is only a pool of tasks. It is just a raw collection that gives you no
idea of how you will get to it. To make it useful you have to define the 'When'. Entering details about when
you will do different tasks, gives the to-do-list a meaning. When you begin creating a schedule, your focus
shifts to how long you have to work on each task to complete it. This way you are forced to be realistic
about your goals.
You cannot do all the tasks on the list on the same day. So, you should learn to priorities. Rank the tasks
using numbers or group them using letters of the alphabet, according to the order of importance. Now
start working according to the schedule, where your schedule went wrong, by paying close attention to
how you are spending the day.
Some of the possible reasons are : you waste time, made mistake in assessing how much time a task or
deal with 'urgent' tasks frequently. If the reason is wasting time, learn to concentrate on your work. If you
made a mistake in time assessment, prepare a more realistic schedule.
Another way to priorities tasks is based on the creative energy they require. Separate the tasks into
creative and boring ones. This approach helps you to stay productive even during cheerless parts of the
day.
Making schedule for items in your to-do-list does not promise that all of them are accomplished but you
can start at least be strategic about what is left behind and feel happy that you achieved what you
accommodated in the finite space. This way you can begin the next day on a confident note rather than
feeling helpless and frustrated about failing.
I. Answer the following questions briefly: (2 × 4 = 8)
a) What makes a 'to-do-list' useful?
b) Why is the 'to-do-list' described as a raw collection?
c) What is 'Prioritising'?
d) How do you become realistic about your goals?
II. Find a word in the passage which conveys similar meanings as the following: (1 ×4 = 4)
a) A plan of procedure.
b) Requiring immediate attention.
c) Discourage somebody.
d) Rank things according to importance.

SECTION – B (Writing and Grammar) – 30 Marks

Q.3.You recently visited the 32nd International Crafts Mela at Suraj Kund, Faridabad. You were fascinated
by the dazzle and vibrancy of the mela. Write a diary in about 100-150 words sharing your experience.
(8 marks)
OR
Teen years are fun years. Write an article commenting on the statement in about 100-150 words.

Q.4.Write a story in about 150-200 words on the basis of the given outlines: (10 marks)
Outlines: A man has a hen which lays a golden egg everyday ----- the man collects ten eggs in ten days
----- is happy at this sudden fortune ----- hopes to become rich soon ----- then he gets impatient -----
wants to become rich overnight ----- kills the hen
Note: Give the story a suitable heading also.

Q.5. Complete the paragraph given below by filling in the blanks with the suitable words from the
options given: (4 marks)
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 Since the beginning of human existence, people (i) ________ over the world have expressed their
emotions and ideas (ii) _________ the medium of dance. The word ‘Folk’ means people. Different
regions (iii) __________ India have their own dances. (iv) _______ dance is accompanied by music
and songs of the region to which it belongs.
i) a) All b) whole c) much d) more
ii) a) In b) into c) through d) of
iii) a) At b) of c) for d) from
iv) a) Each b) All c) Whole d) many
Q.6. In the following passage one word has been omitted in each line. Write the missing word in the
space provided along with the words which comes before and after it. (4 marks)

Already Professional education in India proved a) ______ ______ ______

accessible affordable for foreign students, b) ______ ______ ______
especially Malaysia, the Middle East and South Africa. c) ______ ______ ______
In these countries higher education training
facilities limited. d) ______ ______ ______

Q.7. Rearrange the following words and phrases to form meaningful sentences. (4marks)
a) Should be / water / before / boiled / drinking / filtered / and
b) Chew / food / your / you / should / properly / swallowing / before
c) To strike / opportunity / the / wait / I / right / for / will
d) Place / our / lives / music / important / in / has / an
SECTION – C (Literature Test book and Long Reading Text) – 30 Marks
Q.8. Read the given lines and answer the questions. (4 marks)
"You’re clever at poking fun at weaklings.
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors, crumbling rafters,
Crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives,
Crumbling hearts ---- the wind God winnows and crushes them all."
a) Who is considered clever in the given lines?
b) What destruction has the wind caused?
c) What does the expression “winnows and crushes them all” mean?
d) Give the meaning of “crumbling”.
OR
"I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core"
a) Name the poet and the poem of above lines.
b) Where will the poet go?
c) What does he hear now?
d) How does the poet hear it?
Q.9. Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each. (2 × 5 = 10)

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a) Why was Kezia afraid of the father?
b) Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?
c) How did Abdul earn his first wages?
d) How does he (Iswaran) narrate the story of the tusker? Does it appear to be plausible?
e) What are the Guru’s words of wisdom? When does the disciple remember them?
Q.10. Answer one of the following question in 80-100 words. (8 marks)
Attempt a character sketch of Evelyn?
OR
When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break? Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a Shehnai
school in the USA?
Q.11. Answer one of the following questions in 150-200 words. (8 marks)
How does Toto come to grandfather’s private zoo? Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet
we could keep for long”?
OR
For whom does the prince send the sapphires and why? What does the swallow see when he flies over the
city?

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