CBSE Class 10 English Sample Paper 2017 Set B

SECTION A

(READING )

Q.1 Read the passage given below :

After 'Digital India' and 'Make in India', the NaMo (Narendra Modi) Government launched yet another programme. This new programme, called 'Skill India', is supposed to be a multi-skill programme.

The main goal of the programme is to create opportunities, space and scope for the development of the talents of the Indian youth and to develop more of those sectors which have already been put under skill development for the last so many years and also to identify new sectors for skill development. The new programme aims at providing training and skill development to 500 million youth of our country by 2020, covering each and every village. Various schemes are also proposed to achieve this objective.

The idea is to raise confidence, improve productivity and give direction through proper skill development. Skill development will enable the youths to get bluecollar jobs. Development of skills, at a young age, right at the school level, is very essential to channelise them for proper job opportunities. There should be a balanced growth in all the sectors and all jobs should be given equal importance. Every job aspirant would be given training in soft skills to lead a proper and decent life. Skill development would reach the rural and remote areas also. Corporate educational institutions, non-government organisations, Government, academic institutions, and society would help in the development of skills of the youths so that better results are achieved in the shortest time possible. What shape 'Skill India' will take and what it will do only time can tell. But no doubt it seems to be a good initiative - providing skills to people, especially because India is one of the few countries all across the world whose working age population will be very high, few years down the line, going by its ever-increasing growth of population, as per the World Bank. It is also high time now; measures are taken to improve the physical and mental  development of the youths of the country so that none of them remains unemployed and the country's unemployment problem also gets reduced. It is time to open up avenues by which the youth accepts responsibility and no one remains idle because an idle youth is a burden to the economy. The economy should concentrate on job creation and social security schemes. With this new approach towards skill development, India can definitely move forward towards its targeted results.

Answer the following questions briefly. 

(i) What is the main objective of Skill India Programme?

(ii) What does the programme aim at?

(iii) The idea behind this programme is _____.

(iv) How will the programme help the youth?

(v) How will the participation of corporate educational institutions, nongovernment organisations etc. help the youth?

(vi) What is going to happen in a few years down the line?

(vii) Measures need to be taken _____.

(viii) Find the word in the passage which means the same as 'manual labour'.

Q.2 Read the passage given below :

Although everybody has a creative spark, the potential is not always fully mutilised. How does one recognise those who are developing their creative energies to the fullest? Mad painters and tormented poets are only comic stereotypes of the creative personality. The essential traits of creativity are found among a wide variety of less conspicuous creative people in all walks of life.

Generally speaking, creative people often believe their purpose in life is to discover and implement the inter-relatedness of things to make order out of disorder. They also see problems where others see none and question the validity of even the most widely accepted answers. Creative persons are compulsive problem seekers, not so much because they thrive on problems, but because their senses are attuned to a world that demands to be put together, like a jigsaw puzzle scattered on a table.

Several tests now in use reveal that highly creative people are much more open and receptive to the complexities of experience than are less creative people. Highly creative people aren't afraid to ask what may seem to be naive or silly questions. They ask questions like, "Why don't spiders get tangled up in their own webs?" and "Why do dogs turn in circles before lying down?" Such questions may seem childlike and in a way they are. Children have not yet had their innate creative energies channelled into culturally acceptable directions and can give full rein to their curiosity, the absolute pre-requisite for full creative functioning, in both children and adults.

Unlike children, creative people appear to have vast stores of patience to draw upon. Months, years, even decades can be devoted to a single problem. The home that encourages inquisitiveness contributes to creative development. The teacher who stresses questions rather than answers and rewards curiosity rather than restricting it, is teaching a child to be creative. To be extremely intelligent is not the same as to be gifted in creative work. The quiz kids are often referred to as geniuses. They would undoubtedly score high in memory functions. But it is doubtful whether they are also fluent in producing ideas. Contrary to popular myths that glorify youth, more creative achievements are likely to occur when people grow older. While memory may falter with age, creativity is ageless.

a) Answer the following questions : 

(i) How do creative people think?

(ii) What kind of questions do they ask? Why?

(iii) How is intelligence different from creativity?

(iv) What is the role of a teacher in creative development?

b) Choose the most appropriate option. 

(i) A word meaning 'innovative' in para 1 is ………

(a) potential         (b) believe        (c) creative            d) comic

(ii) A synonym of 'find' in para 2 is ………

(a) discover           (b) jigsaw          (c) problem          d) disorder

(iii) A word meaning 'forbearance' in para 4 is ………

(a) experience        (b) patience        (c) silly           d) naive

(iv) An antonym of 'foolish' in para 6 is ………

(a) inquisitiveness          (b) intelligent         (c) achievement        d) memory

SECTION B

(WRITING AND GRAMMAR)

Q.3 Big and lavish Indian weddings have become a common sight. We are used to the large scale wastage of food in a country that hosts one of the biggest armies of starving people in the world. Write a letter to the Editor of a local daily on the colossal wastage of food in the lavish Indian weddings. You are Subhi/Subham.

(word limit 100 to 120 words) 

OR

Tourism has become a thriving global industry with the power to shape developing countires in very positive way. In developing countries like India, it has become one of the major sectors of the economy with great potential for further expansion and diversification. With the help of clues given below and your own ideas, write an article on ‘The Importance of Tourism Industry’. (word limit 100-120 words)

Benefits :

• Instrument of income and employment generation.

• Source of foreign exchange earnings.

• Preservation of national heritage and environment.

• Developing infrastructure.

Q.4 Write a short story in about 150-200 words on the outline given below. Three boys were standing outside the Principal’s office. One of the boys had a black eye and another had a bruise on his cheek. The boys were feeling very nervous because they knew they had broken a rule.

OR

Based on the outline given below, write an interesting story in about 150-200 words.

[Dark night – quiet jungle – sounds of foot step – followed footprints trail – reached lonely house – hidden behind trees – entered – shocked to see] 

Q.5 Read the passage given below and fill in the blanks by choosing the most appropriate options from the ones that follow:

Alaska’s size and climate make transportation (a) ________ challenge. Long ago, sledges pulled (b) ________ dog teams were the best way to travel (c) ________ native people.

(a)       i) an         ii) the       iii) a      iv) for

(b)       i) by         ii) with      iii) of     iv) beside

(c)        i) by        ii) to          iii) for    iv) with

Q.6 The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet. The first one has been done as an example.

                                                                                         Incorrect                   Correct

Swami Vivekananda, knew as Naren                                          knew                      known

during his childhood was the naughty                          a)       ________                   ________

boy. He use to play lot of mischief.                               b)      ________                    ________

He can raise very intelligent questions                          c)      ________                     ________

even in his childishness days.                                      d)       ________                    ________ 

Q.7 Rearrange the following words / phrases to form meaningful sentences. 

i) in life / be done / in / moderation / should / everything

ii) all modes / in existence / almost / of transportation / are / today

iii) a student’s life / must / moral / are a / values / in

SECTION C

(LITERATURE AND LONG READING TEXT )

Q.8 Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:- 

“It is an ancient mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three

By the long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp’st thou me”?

i) Synonym of ‘glittering’ is ______.

ii) Why did the mariner stop one of them?

iii) How did the wedding guest feel?

OR

“And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.”

i) What do ‘lifeless things’ refer to?

ii) How do we know that he was a good sculptor?

iii) Find the synonym of the word ‘ridicule’ in the above extract.

Q.9 Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each.

i) Why does the poet call the snake ‘someone’ and not ‘something’ ?

ii) Why did Calpurnia try to prevent Caesar from going to senate house? Did she succeed in her attempt? 

iii) Why did Lavinia buy a Ouija Board? 

iv) What kind of computers fascinated Michael and his father? 

Q.10 Answer any one of the following questions in about 80-100 words: 

Relationships are dependent upon trust. However, small misunderstanding, if not cleared soon, destroy the best of relationships. John’s marriage was on the verge of a dreadful end. What mistakes did the Hallocks make in their relationship?

OR

The poet regrets trying to hit the snake as much as the ancient mariner in the poem ‘The Rime of Ancient Mariner’ having killed the Albatross. He feels it was wrong on his part to try to hit the Snake who was his guest. Write a short paragraph on the moral values that the poet is trying to teach through his poem, ‘Snake’.

Q.11 Answer any one of the following questions in about 150-200 words: 

Draw a pen-portrait of Miss. Sullivan.

OR

Helen’s pleasures and amusements are many and varied. Comment.

OR

Explain Anne’s love for nature. Why is Anne considered as the champion of women’s rights?

OR

Draw a pen-portrait of Peter Van Daan.

Please click the link below to download CBSE Class 10 English Sample Paper 2017 Set B