CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2015 Set B

SECTION-A (Reading)

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

1.Thousands of years ago, when man was in the process of evolving, he looked around for ways of expressing himself. He etched on stone and wood. He began to craft objects thrilled with the fact that stone and clay took shape at his will. He found that certain types of clay could be made into exciting shapes. Terracotta is the use of clay in its simplest form, dried out by the sun or fired at a low temperature. There are many theories as to how man began to create beautiful objects from clay, like this legend.

2. A pot was needed for the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. But none of those assembled knew how to make one. Finally a Brahmin, Kulalak offered his services. He borrowed the Sudarshan Chakra from Vishnu, and used the Mandar hillock as a pivot. From Shiva he took his pestle for turning the wheel, his langota for mopping spills, his kamandalu (water jar) for holding water and his sacred thread for detaching the pot from the wheel,Brahma offered the Adi-Kurma or tortoise using it as a scraper to smoothen the product. Kulalak made the pots and the wedding took place. The descendants of Kulalak came to be known as Kumbhars.

3. In 3000 BC excavations in Baluchistan showed evidence of clay objects. Most of the time, the clay objects were figures of worship, but in the latter half of the third millennium BC, better developed products were discovered in Harappa. Bricks were fired for construction, and a range of animal figures like monkeys, goats, pigs, elephants and lions were crafted. In the beginning, the figures were solid, later they were built around straw, and when they were fired, the straw burnt out leaving the figures intact. The objects had movable heads and holes in the lower part so that they could be mounted on wheels. Bird toys and whistles were made. It was in 2000BC that the Egyptians first discovered the wheel.

4. In the Neolithic Age, man discovered that food could be cooked. He became the provider and the woman became the householder. Vessels were required and so came the invention of utilitarian pottery. With Aryan invasions, iron came into use and the terracotta craft of Harappa was laid to rest. It was only during the Mauryan period from 322 BC to 185 BC that terracotta art was revived.

5. The terracottas of North are different in texture and the pottery of better quality, because large quantities of clay are found in the rich, alluvial soil of the Ganga-Yamuna valleys. The black polished pottery of the North evolved during the Maurya period. In the Sunga period, (from 2nd century onwards) the themes drifted to ones connected with occupation.

6. In India, during Ganesh Chaturthi, clay figures of Ganapati are made. Durga is elaborately craft in Bengal during the Puja festival. In the cort of Aiyanar in South India, offerings in the shape of huge terracotta horses are made. Bihar, Orissa and Maharashtra are other parts of India where clay effigies are made by devotees. You will often see terracotta horses standing outside temples in villages. The villagers believe that at night the protector of the village mounts these horses. Today, terracotta products are crafted all over India.

7. Modern technology and the brush with ceramics have slowly replaced the craftsman’s traditional functions in daily life as the vessel makers of rural India. The village potter has been banished and he suffers without a livelihood. But to give him back his status, considering clay art is so vital in the life of its maker, we have to recognize his worth, his contribution, and his craft, and restore his dignity, by encouraging him, and taking his crafts into our homes, giving clay its position of pride, something that it richly deserves.

(a) Read the passage and answer the given questions:

i) Mention two ways in which early man used clay. 

ii)How is Terracotta created? 

iii) How did Kumbhars come to be called so? 

iv) Name two festivals of modern India where clay figures are used. 

(b) Find words in the passage which mean the same as 

i) to carve (para 1)

ii) future progeny (para 2)

iii) useful (para 4)

2. Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow: 

Much before medical science discovered it, reader’s Digest came out with the prescription-Laughter is the Best Medicine. Newspapers and magazines which regularly  run humour columns are, therefore, doing their bit to keep the readers in good health. Reading light articles, whether they are satirical, comic or just humorous, relieves the tedium of work-a-day world. Some pieces may even tickle one’s grey matter. It is said that if you laugh for ten minutes you will be in a better position to put up with pain for two hours. According to US researchers, laughter is a good antidote to stress that tones up the system. Facial laugh muscles instruct the brain to “feel good” regardless of how you feel.

According to a French doctor, laughter deepens breathing, improves blood circulation, speeds up the process of tissue healing and stabilizes many body functions. In short, it acts as a power drug with no side effects. Researchers state that laughter stimulates production of beta-endorphins, natural pain-killers in body and improves digestion. Those who laugh are less prone to digestive problems and ulcers. Some people in France have made it a career. You can hire a ‘Jovialist’ who cracks jokes and laughs and promises to make you dissolve your worries in helpless laughter. A word of caution. Although laughing is a good exercise for toning up the facial muscles, laughing at others expense, particularly at their disabilities, is in a bad taste and is to be avoided. Secondly, laughing with food in the mouth is dangerous as the foodstuff can get into the windpipe and may choke the digestive system. Eating, anyway, is a serious business not to be trifled with by any jocular diversion. Laughter comes best when it is free of encumbrances, whether it is constricting food or the need to humour the boss.

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