CBSE Class 10 English Communicative Sample Paper 2011 Set A

SECTION- A

(Reading)

Q 1. Read the following passage carefully: 

We are in a rush. We are making haste. A compression of time characterises our lives. As time-use researchers look around, they see a rushing and scurrying everywhere.

 Instant services rule, pollsters use electronic devices during political speeches to measure opinions before they have been fully formed; fast food restaurants add express lanes. Even reading to children is under pressure. The volume “One Minute Bedtime Stories” consists of traditional stories that can be read by a busy parent in only one minute. 

Time is a gentle deity, said Sophocles. Perhaps it was, for him. These days it cracks the whip. We humans have chosen speed and we thrive on it – more than we generally admit. Our ability to work fast and play fast gives us power. It thrills us. And if haste is the accelerator, multitasking is the overdrive.

A sense of well being comes with this saturation of parallel pathways in the brain. We choose mania over boredom every time. “Humans have never opted for slower,” points out the historian Stephen Kern. We catch the fever –and cramming our life feels good. 

There are definite ways to save time, but what does this concept really mean? Does time saving mean getting more done? If so, does talking on a cellular phone at the beach save time or waste it? Does it make sense to say that driving saves ten minutes from your travel budget while removing ten minutes from your reading budget?

These questions have no answer. They depend on a concept that is ill formed; the very idea of time saving. Some of us say we want to save time when we really want to do more and faster. It might be simpler to recognize that there is time and we make choices about how to spend it, how to spare it, how to use it and how to fill it.

Time is not a thing we have lost. It is not a thing we ever had. It is what we live in.

Answer the following questions by selecting the most appropriate options from the ones given below:

1) What Sophocles said is outdated because

   a) humans today believe in leading a fast paced life

   b) life today must be lived

   c) humans have no other choice but to chase time

   d) humans have admitted that time today is precious

2) Electronic poll devices, instant services, fast food restaurants signify

   a) acceleration in life

   b) impatience of our times

   c) our need to work fast as it gives us power

   d) all of the above

3) According to the author we wish to save time because

   a) we hope to be more efficient and capable

   b) we wish to accomplish more in a short period of time

   c) we wish to make appropriate choices

   d) time saved is time earned

Please refer to attached file for CBSE Class 10 English Communicative Sample Paper 2011 Set A