Sample Question Paper - 18
English Language And Literature (184)
Class - X, Session: 2021-22
TERM II
Time allowed : 2 Hours Maximum marks : 40
General Instructions :
1. The Question Paper contains Three Sections-Reading, Writing & Grammar and Literature.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
SECTION-A (READING)
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
(1) In Indian homes, the floor of the house is always the best maintained element, cleaned twice a day and wiped
down to a sparkling state. In front of the threshold of the home the floor often is decorated with Rangoli
and other ritual diagrams. This is true in rural as well as in many urban homes in metropolitan cities. When
building a new home people spend as much money per sq. foot for a beautiful floor as they would spend
on the entire structure. Yet, this pride and obsession for a clean floor suddenly vanishes as we step out into
the street: the floor of the city.
(2) In Delhi where 80% of the people are pedestrian in some stage of their commuting, least attention is paid
to pedestrian paths. Delhi’s sidewalks are too narrow, very poorly maintained and full of potholes, poles,
junction boxes and dangerous electrical installations, not to speak of the garbage dumps that stink and stare
at the pedestrian. Ashram Chowk is a good case in point where thousands of pedestrians change direction
from the Mathura Road radial to the Ring Road. A flyover facilitates the automobiles while the pedestrian is
orphaned by the investment-hungry authorities. One corner of the Ashram Chowk has a ridiculous imitation
wood sculpture with an apology of a fountain and across the same Chowk, you have the open mouthed,
massive garbage dump right on the pedestrian path, in full exhibition for the benefit of the public. These
symbols of poor taste and abject apathy are then connected by narrow dangerous and often waterlogged
footpaths for the hapless pedestrians to negotiate. In the night, street lighting in the central median light up
the carriageway for cars and leave the pedestrian areas in darkness.
(3) Delhi’s citizens leave home and want to get to their destination as fast they can. No one wants to linger on
the road, no leisure walks, no one looks a stranger in the eye. It is on the pedestrian path that the citizen
encounters head-on the poor public management and the excuse called ‘multiplicity of authorities’. One
agency makes the road, another digs it up to lay cables, third one comes after months to clear up the mess
and the cycle of unaccountability goes on. Meanwhile crores are spent in repairing the carriageway for
vehicles and in construction of flyovers without a care for the pedestrians below. Solution offered is to
make an expensive underpass or an ugly footover bridge, ostensibly for facilitating the pedestrian, while
in reality they only facilitate the cars to move faster at the expense of the pedestrians. Take Kashmiri Gate,
ITO, Ashram Chowk, AIIMS or Dhaula Kuan. At all these important pedestrian cross-over points the story
is the same : They have pulled the sidewalk from under the pedestrians feet.
(4) In modern cities across the world, the pedestrian is the king. The floor of the city is designed and maintained
as an inclusive environment, helping the physically challenged, the old and the infirm, children and the
ordinary citizen to move joyfully across the city. Delhi aspires to be ‘world class city’. Hopefully the authorities
would look once again at the floor of Delhi. The pleasure of strolling on the road is deeply connected to our
sense of citizenship and sense of belonging. Pride in the city grows only on a well designed floor of the city.
English Language And Literature (184)
Class - X, Session: 2021-22
TERM II
Time allowed : 2 Hours Maximum marks : 40
General Instructions :
1. The Question Paper contains Three Sections-Reading, Writing & Grammar and Literature.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
SECTION-A (READING)
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
(1) In Indian homes, the floor of the house is always the best maintained element, cleaned twice a day and wiped
down to a sparkling state. In front of the threshold of the home the floor often is decorated with Rangoli
and other ritual diagrams. This is true in rural as well as in many urban homes in metropolitan cities. When
building a new home people spend as much money per sq. foot for a beautiful floor as they would spend
on the entire structure. Yet, this pride and obsession for a clean floor suddenly vanishes as we step out into
the street: the floor of the city.
(2) In Delhi where 80% of the people are pedestrian in some stage of their commuting, least attention is paid
to pedestrian paths. Delhi’s sidewalks are too narrow, very poorly maintained and full of potholes, poles,
junction boxes and dangerous electrical installations, not to speak of the garbage dumps that stink and stare
at the pedestrian. Ashram Chowk is a good case in point where thousands of pedestrians change direction
from the Mathura Road radial to the Ring Road. A flyover facilitates the automobiles while the pedestrian is
orphaned by the investment-hungry authorities. One corner of the Ashram Chowk has a ridiculous imitation
wood sculpture with an apology of a fountain and across the same Chowk, you have the open mouthed,
massive garbage dump right on the pedestrian path, in full exhibition for the benefit of the public. These
symbols of poor taste and abject apathy are then connected by narrow dangerous and often waterlogged
footpaths for the hapless pedestrians to negotiate. In the night, street lighting in the central median light up
the carriageway for cars and leave the pedestrian areas in darkness.
(3) Delhi’s citizens leave home and want to get to their destination as fast they can. No one wants to linger on
the road, no leisure walks, no one looks a stranger in the eye. It is on the pedestrian path that the citizen
encounters head-on the poor public management and the excuse called ‘multiplicity of authorities’. One
agency makes the road, another digs it up to lay cables, third one comes after months to clear up the mess
and the cycle of unaccountability goes on. Meanwhile crores are spent in repairing the carriageway for
vehicles and in construction of flyovers without a care for the pedestrians below. Solution offered is to
make an expensive underpass or an ugly footover bridge, ostensibly for facilitating the pedestrian, while
in reality they only facilitate the cars to move faster at the expense of the pedestrians. Take Kashmiri Gate,
ITO, Ashram Chowk, AIIMS or Dhaula Kuan. At all these important pedestrian cross-over points the story
is the same : They have pulled the sidewalk from under the pedestrians feet.
(4) In modern cities across the world, the pedestrian is the king. The floor of the city is designed and maintained
as an inclusive environment, helping the physically challenged, the old and the infirm, children and the
ordinary citizen to move joyfully across the city. Delhi aspires to be ‘world class city’. Hopefully the authorities
would look once again at the floor of Delhi. The pleasure of strolling on the road is deeply connected to our
sense of citizenship and sense of belonging. Pride in the city grows only on a well designed floor of the city.
