English Literature – Important Question Bank for Rajasthan HSC 2016 Examination
We had mentioned some tips for cracking the HSC Rajasthan Board exam here: HSC Study Tips to Crack HSC Exams.
We had also shared Important Questions Bank for HSC Examination 2016 and students have really appreciated it and showered us with love last year.
Today, we are posting the English Literature – Important Questions Bank for Rajasthan Board HSC 2016 Examination to make life easy for all you HSC students.
Without making you wait any further, please find the questions below:
SECTION – I ( Reading )
1.Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
Once upon a time, one particular rishi called Gautama did tapasya to obtain certain powers. For several days, months and years he observed rigorous austerities. He did not eat and drink; he stood on a single foot; he controlled the senses; he meditated on the chosen deity. One day in the morning he went to the river for a holy dip. On the bank of the river there was a tree. The branches of the tree were outstretching towards the river. A crane was seated among the branches. When Gautama was in neck-deep water facing towards the sun with austere mind, the droppings of the crane fell on his head. He felt disturbed, annoyed. He looked at the bird with anger. The next moment the bird fell dead. The rishi was happy because he had obtained the power to kill a bird by his very gaze.
After a while, he went to a nearby village for food. He stood before a house and sought alms from the housewife. She was busy doing her domestic chores. Gautama waited for a few minutes. He was annoyed with her for the delay in responding to his call for ‘bhiksha’. The lady came, looked at him gently and said, “Sir, I am not a crane to be killed by your stare. Sorry for the delay. I was serving my husband and feeding my children. Please accept the food.” The rishi was shocked. He could not know how she was able to learn about the crane which died only a short while ago. The lady further said, “Don’t be surprised. I am a humble housewife, if you want to know more about tapasya and attainment of powers, please go to a particular person, whose address I shall give.” Humbled and crestfallen the rishi went as directed. It was a greater shock to him to see the particular person to be an ordinary, simple man. The moment the rishi was seen, the man said, “Holy Sir, welcome. I know about the crane’s death and that housewife’s advice. Please wait a little and I shall take you home.”
Later at home the rishi was surprised to see the man delaying him further. He was busily engaged in serving his parents. He did not seem to have read any scriptures, nor did he observe any austerities. But he was bright with purity, purity of mind. In his presence, the rishi was completely transformed.
(i) What did Gautama do to attain certain powers ?
(ii) What lesson did Gautama learn from the man ?
(iii) Write in short, the dialogue which took place between Gautama and the lady
(iv) Why did Gautama get angry with the crane ?
(v) Mention one thing which you did not like about Gautama.
2. Read the following extract from given poem and answer the questions that follow :
All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players :
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His act being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and Puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whinning schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwilling to school. And then the lover
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress eyebrow. Then a soldier
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard.
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel.
Seeking the bubble reputation,
Even in the Cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon, lined,
With severe and beard of formal cut.
Full of wise saws and modern instance;
And so he plays his part
(i) How many roles does a person play in his lifetime ?
(ii) List the similes the poet has used in the poem.
(iii) How has the poet described the ‘justice’ ?
(iv) Write two characteristics of a soldier
(v) Which role do you find more interesting ? Why ?
SECTION – II ( Writing )
3. Write an essay in about 150-200 words on the following :
i) Election Campaign
ii) Pulse Polio Campaign.
4. A state level ‘Painting Competition’ was organised by your school. Write a report on it in about 150-200 words.
5. You attended a mountaineering camp during the summer vacation. Prepare an article for your school magazine giving all the details of the camp.
SECTION – III ( Grammar )
6. In the following passage each line has an error. Edit the passage by identifying the wrong word / an inappropriate expression, strike it off; then write the correct word in your answer-book as shown in the first example :
Paridhi saw the cow. a
(i) with it tail high in the air _______
(ii) it was run fast _______
(iii) in the middle up the road _______
(iv) right in back of the bus _______
(v) The bus move very slowly _______
(vi) and the driver sounded their horn loudly _______
(vii) but the more he honked the less frightened _______ the cow became
(viii) and the faster he galloped _______
(ix) This was very fun for Paridhi _______
(x) and he laughed _
7. Read the paragraph given below and fill in the blanks in indirect speech :
Savita said to her friend, “I work as a typist in a store. I come home every afternoon. It is Saturday today, so I am off early. I have an appointment with the doctor too.”
Indirect speech :
Savita told her friend ……………… she worked as a typist in a store. She ………….. home every afternoon. It was Saturday …………….., so she ………….. off early. ……………… had an appointment with the doctor too.
SECTION – IV ( Textual )
8. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
It happened on the day Pablo Neruda stepped on Spanish soil for the first time since the Civil War, on a stopover during a long sea voyage to Valparaiso. He spent a morning with us hunting big game in the second-hand bookstores, and at Porter he bought an old, dried out volume with a torn binding for which he paid what would have been his salary for two months at the consulate in Rangoon.
(i) What did Pablo buy from the Porter ?
(ii) What impression do you get of Pablo from the passage ?
(iii) Where did Pablo stop during his long sea voyage ?
9. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
There is an old story of how the Cathedral of Chartres was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Then thousands of people came from all points of the compass, like a giant procession of ants, and together they began to rebuild the cathedral on its old site. They worked until the building was completed — master builders, artists, labourers, clowns, noblemen, priests, burghers. But they all remained anonymous.
(i) What happened to the cathedral ?
(ii) There is a simile used in the passage. What is it ?
(iii) What is the moral of the story ?
10. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow :
Pity would be no more
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we
And mutual fear brings peace
Till the selfish loves increase
Then Cruelty knits a snare
And spread his baits with care
(i) Give an example of personification from the poem.
(ii) When would we not require mercy on somebody ?
(iii) What happens when selfishness increases ?
11. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow :
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d,
And last of all, Thy greedy self consum’d
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
(i) What is the rhyming scheme of the stanza ?
(ii) What does ‘thou’ here refer to ?
iii) What things are going to get destructed ?
12. Answer the questions in about 100 words each :
(i) Draw a character sketch of Eveline. (Eveline )
(ii) “Through science, people can make use of the laws of nature to control the environment and enhance human powers.” Discuss. ( On Science Fiction )
(iii) Write in short the theme of the poem ‘Kubla Khan’. ( Kubla Khan )
13. Answer the questions in about 50 words each
(i) Write in short about Grett’s family. ( A Wedding in Brownsville )
(ii) What proposition did the officials from the administrative office make to Tao Ying ? ( One Centimetre )
(iii) “Wood is a pleasant thing to think about.” What ideas have been expressed by the writer on ‘wood’ ? ( The Mark on the Wall )
(iv) Write the dialogue which took place between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi about immortality. ( The Argumentative Indian)
(v) Did Manjula love her sister genuinely ? Support your answer from the text. ( Broken Images )
SECTION – V ( Fiction )
14. Answer the following question in about 60 words :
i) What did the tiger do when any creature in the jungle ignored his presence ?
ii) What did Jayaraj who framed pictures tell about the Master ?
15. Write a brief character sketch of Alphonse.
Let’s try to make this a two way exercise. While we gather the question banks, you might have some inputs on this too! Please use the comments box below and post questions that you think are important from your analysis. It would help the HSC community a lot.
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