CBSE Class 11 English Note Making and Comprehension Worksheet

NOTE MAKING & COMPREHENSION

1. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

Did you know that the Asiatic elephant, the tiger, the cheetah, the Arabian onyx, the okapi and the magnificent Andean condor are among the world’s most endangered species?

What is an endangered species? Endangered species are animals or plants that will soon die out. Many animals and plants become endangered or extinct each year. Recently, however, the rate of their dying out has increased dramatically. It is estimated that 27,000 species become extinct each year, about 3 an hour. Since 1996, scientists calculated that 14 types of amphibians, 1108 types of birds, 734 types of fish, 1096 types of mammals and 253 types of reptiles became endangered. These statistics also apply to plants.

What makes them endangered? There are many reasons that can cause a species of animals or plants to become endangered, or even extinct. To accommodate the increasing human population more and more land is taken away from these animals or plants. With the little amount of land these animals or plants have, food sources become scarce. Sometimes animals or plant can’t adapt to the limited space they now have and die. Animals and plants also become endangered because of the chemicals people use. Hunting and trading are other reasons that threaten the lives of many innocent living creatures. Lastly, pollution is another huge factor causing these animals or plants to become endangered.

You might ask what one lone individual can do. But even one person can make a difference. First of all, try not to waste natural resources. Recycle your garbage. By recycling, you are helping to save many trees from being cut down for paper. These trees then can remain as homes for many animals and plants in the wild. Keep your neighbourhood clean. This can prevent any accidental death of animals or plants. Don’t buy any product that comes from animals. If you can, contribute to organizations that help to protect wildlife. Last and the most important, is to learn about these creatures.

a) Make notes on the passage in any suitable format using recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary. Give a title to your notes.

b) Write a summary of the passage based on your notes.

2. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

1. All development is a process whereby we learn how to make the right choices. Hence it won’t be far from truth to say that all values are created in freedom. And what, one may ask, is the purpose of freedom? The purpose of freedom is only one – it is perfection. “The entire process of time and development is from the less to the more perfect, whether it be in moral, ethical, physical, mental or spiritual perfection.” Freedom is the necessary condition in which the ideal of perfection may be realized. Complete freedom of choice means complete freedom to do what you want to do – and is the only means to self-realization. The fully realized being is the highest ideal, not only because he fulfills
himself, but also because being fully realized, he helps others to achieve their true potential. Mill says that, “In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself and is therefore more capable of being more valuable to others.

2. Freedom, rather than meaning unrestricted license, means total self-discipline, for discipline alone gives us freedom. Discipline is the means of achieving that which a free mind has evolved. Discipline is not an obstruction to freedom, but a passage to it, for the more imposed upon you if you cannot discipline yourself. Discipline means order while freedom may exist in chaos. And nothing worthwhile can be achieved where there is disorder and anarchy. Chaos has no power to effect anything worthwhile, and diffused energy is totally important. Only discipline can focus it. So give up all ideas you may have that freedom meant doing anything that you fancy, for if you fancy disorder, you are not
free but bound. Know that only he has liberty who has control. Only he has speed who has breaks, only he must fly who can land. Only he must start who can stop. Liberty without control is like a car without breaks. It will crash. Freedom has no meaning to achieve the objectives of humanity.

a) Make notes on the passage in any suitable format using recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary. Give a title to your notes.

b) Write a summary of the passage based on your notes.

3. Read the passage given below carefully:

1. Fear of failure is an attitude problem. All of us postpone things. We procrastinate. We rationalize. We make excuses. We foolishly believe that to be creative and to have a positive attitude and to simply do things, we have to have all kinds of preconditions.

2. You can find several excuses for waiting to be more creative. But scratch the surface of these smooth and logical rationalizations, and if you’re honest, you’ll see the face of a little demon, the fear of failure, hiding there.

3. Zig Zagler reminds us that this is nothing but an attitude problem: ‘The future can be depressing or magnificent – it is not correlated to the present or the past, past failures or successes. It is only our attitude towards these failures or successes which determines our future.’ You can change yourself by changing your attitude without fear of error.

4. Problems cause stress and stress reduces our effectiveness. So it is very logical that once we solve our problems, we should be able to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Incidentally, we can’t eliminate problems unless we opt for the final exit – the very thought of this itself is stressful.

5. What causes our problems? Well, roughly speaking one third of our problems is there because we are alive and kicking, another one-third of our problems are created by ourselves; and the remaining one-third of our problems exists because of greed and ego.

6. When too many problems are causing you enormous stress and strain, do the following:

(i) Think……there must be a better way to solve these problems. It helps to remember the crow and jug story! Recall similar stories and incidents.

(ii) Ask, ask, ask…… from yourself and others, how to do things in better ways. May be certain thing should not be done at all or should be clubbed with other activities. Don’t forget that even stupid questions will get your intelligent and common sense answers.

(iii) Do it now…..Start doing it. Don’t forget that the first step towards solving a problem is to begin. The first step is the most difficult one, but taking it will kill procrastination – a disease or a problem in itself. Do not forget to prioritize your problems first. Those which are ‘C’ category jobs should be delegated to others, but do not forget to check and recheck till these get done.

7. There is always a silver lining in any gloomy situation, provided you starve the problems and feed the opportunities. For every problem, there could be several solutions, and solutions point towards opportunities.

8. Apply the MISER concept to solve problems. MISER….. where M stands for Merge, I for Improve, S for Simplify, E for Eliminate and R for Reduce. Miser is an excellent conceptual sieve that helps in reducing many problems to a very few ones.

On the basis of your understanding of this passage answer the following questions with the help of the given options:

a) Most people procrastinate because………………….

(i) they are not creative                                     (ii) they adopt a wrong attitude

(iii) they are too lazy to do anything                   (iv) they wait for better opportunity

b) Our future is determined by…………………………

(i) past failure                                                   (ii) success in the present

(iii) efforts in future                                           (iv) attitudes towards past failures or success

c) Our effectiveness gets reduced as ………………………….

(i) problems multiply                                          (ii) depressing time is painful

(iii) stress is caused by problems                         (iv) problems dishearten us

d) We can’t eliminate problems because ………………………

(i) we are alive and kicking                                 (ii) we are inactive

(iii) we are afraid of final exit                             (iv) we postpone actions

e) The best way to tackle a problem is ……………………..

(i) to defer it for some time                                (ii) to seek help of a friend

(iii) to think of an easy solution                           (iv) to begin at once

f) The antonym of the word ‘magnificent’ is

(i) wonderful      (ii) unimpressive      (iii) brilliant      (iv) inspiring

→ Answer the following questions briefly:

g) Why should we ask even stupid questions when we encounter too many problems?

h) According to the author, what theory should we apply to solve problems?

i) Which saying has been used in the passage for being optimist?

j) What should we think when too many problems cause us enormous stress and strain?

k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as:

(i) outlook (para 3)
(ii) arrange or order (para 6)

Please click on below link to download CBSE Class 11 English Note Making and Comprehension Worksheet