English Question Paper' 2013
AHSEC Class 12 Question Papers

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

1. In spite of all the honours that we heaped upon him, Pasteur, as has been said, remained simple at heart. Perhaps the imagery of his boyhood days, when he drew, the familiar scenes of his birthplace, and the longing to be a great artist, never wholly left him. In truth he did become a great artist, though after his sixteenth year he abandoned the brush for ever. Like every artist of worth, he put his whole soul and energy into his work, and it was this very energy that in the end wore him out. For him, each sufferer was something more than just a case that was to be cured. He looked upon the fight against hydrophobia as a battle, and he was absorbed in his determination to win. The sight of injured children, particularly, moved him to an indescribable extent. He suffered with his patients, and yet he would not deny himself a share in that suffering. His greatest grief was when sheer physical exhaustion made him give up his active work. He retired to the estate at Villeneuve Etang, where he had his kennels for the study of rabies, and there he passed his last summer, as his great biographer,….. Radot, has said, “practicing the Gospel virtues.”

2. “He revered the faith of his fathers, “says the same writer,” and wished without ostentation or mystery to receive its aid during his last period,”

3. The attitude of this man to the science he had done so much to perfect can be best summed up in a sentence that he is reputed once to have uttered, concerning the materialism of many of his contemporaries in similar branches of learning to his own: “The more I contemplate the mysteries of Nature, the more my faith becomes like that of a peasant.”

4. But even in retirement he loved to see his former pupils, and it was then he would reiterate his life principles: “Work, “he would say, “never cease to work.” So well had he kept this precept that he began rapidly to sink from exhaustion.

5. Finally on September 27, 1895, when someone leant over his bed to offer him a cup of milk he said sadly: “I cannot”, and with a look of perfect resignation and peace, seemed to fall asleep. He never again opened his eyes to the cares and sufferings of a world, which he had done so much to relieve and to conquer. He was within three months of his seventy-third birthday.

6. Thus passed, as simply as a child, the man whom the French people were to vote at a plebiscite as the greatest man that France had ever produced. Napoleon, who had always been considered the idol of France, was placed fifth.

7. No greater tribute could have been paid to Louis Pasteur, the tanner’s son, the scientist, the man of peace, the patient worked for humanity.

Answer the following questions:

a) Even accolades and honours did not change the simple man that Pasteur was. Why?    2

b) How did Pasteur view those who suffered from diseases?      2

c) How did Pasteur engage himself in the estate?      2

d) What advice did he always give to his pupils?        2

e) How did France, the country of his birth, honour this great scientist?

  1.2 Find the words from the passage which mean the same as: (3 marks)

 (a) To give up (para 1)

 (b) People belonging to the same period (para 3)

(c) Vote by the people of the country to decide a matter of national importance (para 6)

2. Prepare a poster in not more than 50 words for the Inter-School On-the-spot Painting competition that the Three Arts Club of your school is going to organize at your school.  5

Or

Your are the proprietor of Hotel Pinewood, Gangtok. Draft an advertisement for publication in an English newspaper offering attractive discount to Holiday Packages. (Word limit: 50 words)

3. You have witnessed a train accident where the Delhi bound Guwahati Express derailed. Write a report in 100-125 words to be published in an English daily of Guwahati. You are Arun/Anima.        10

Or

You are Priyam/Priya and you have visited your friend, who is staying in the school/college hostel. Write a factual description in 100-125 words including the facilities such as accommodation, food, entertainment, sports etc, provided there.

4. Write a letter to the Editor on an English daily drawing the attention of the authorities concerned to the erratic power supply, particularly during study hours, in your locality. You are Sallman/Syesha.                                10

Or

You are Raja/Sunita. You want to study Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) under Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University (KKHSOU), Guwahati. Write a formal letter to the Registrar of KKHSOU to get necessary information about the course, duration of the course, fee structure, mode of learning, evaluation, etc.          10

Grammar (20 Marks)

5. Change the form of narration in the following sentences:           2x2=4

a) “Why aren’t you wearing chappals?”

I ask one boy.

“My mother did not bring them down from the shelf”, he answers simply.

b) One day Mukesh told me that he would be a motor mechanic and leave Firozabad. I asked him if he knew anything about cars.

6. Change the voice of any three of the following sentences:        3x1=3

a) My bicycle has been stolen.

b) He is expected soon.

c) He likes tea.

d) Please give me some more time.

e) When will the work be finished?

f) Shut the window.

7. Rewrite any five of the following sentences using the verbs given in brackets in their correct tense forms:     5x1=5

a) Ice (float) on water.

b) He (go) home when we met him.

c) I want to go for a walk, but I (not finish) my work yet.

d) Perhaps it (rain) yesterday.

e) All the students (leave) when I reached the school.

f) You (sleep) for three hours now.

g) We (walk) for two hours at a stretch and now we need to rest.

8. Rewrite any four of the following sentences filing in the blanks with appropriate propositions:  1x4=4

a) We informed the police ____ the theft in the house.

b) The children were looking forward ____ their visit to Shillong.

c) I spoke to her ____ the office.

d) Did you enjoy yourself ____ the party last night?

e) The girl standing ____ the two boys is their sister.

f) Flour is made ____ wheat.

9. Rewrite any four of the sentences as directed:     4x1=4

a) Kolkata is bigger than any other city in India. (Change into Positive Degree).

b) He left no plan untried. (Change into affirmative).

c) He came in the evening. (Change into a complex sentence)

d) I shall never forget you. (Change into interrogative).

e) You must work hard to succeed. (Change into a compound sentence)

f) No sooner did he see me than he began to quarrel. (Change into affirmative).

Text Books 45 Marks

10. Read the following extracts and answers the questions that follow:

a) “Those who prepare green wars,

Wars with gas, wars with fire,

Victory with no survivors,

Would put on clean clothes

And walk about with their

Brothers

In the shade, doing nothing”

a) What are the different kinds of wars mentioned by the poet in the passage?   1

b) What king of victory do they achieve?       1

c) What should the warmongers do?      1

d) Find words in the passage that mean “those left alive” and “win”.                      1

b) “The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint

So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid:

Here far from the city we make our roadside stand

And ask for some city money to feel in the hand

To try if it will not make our being expand,

And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise

That the party in power is said to be keeping from us”.

a) What is not the complaint of the poet?       1

b) What is the real worry of the Poet?   1

c) Why do the people who are running the roadside stand ask for some city money?    1

d) What is the party in power doing for the rural poor?     1

11. Answer any three of the following questions in 30-40 words:       3x2=6

a) Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

b) What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem, ‘keeping quiet’?

c) Explain the line: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.

d) Name some of the things that the roadside stand offered for sale.

12. Answer any five of the following questions:         5x1=5

a) What did M. Hamel do when he wanted to go fishing?

b) What is ‘Lost Spring’ about?

c) Where was the original home of Saheb’s family?

d) Whom did Gandhi and Shukla propose to meet at Patna?

e) Why was Gandhi visiting Lucknow in 1916?

f) How old was the author when he decided to learn swimming at the YMCA pool?

g) How was Geoff employed?

13. Answer any five of the following questions in 30-40 words:     5x2=10

a) What was the commotion that Franz anticipated in the classroom?

b) What did M. Hamel say about the French language?

c) ‘Garbage to them is gold’. Why does the author say so about the ragpicker?

d) What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name?

e) What was the incident that prompted Gandhi to raise his voice of protest against the British?

f) How and why did Douglas develop an aversion to the water when he was in it?

g) What other dreams Sophie had besides having a boutique?

14. Answer any one of the following questions in 80-100 words:        1x5=5

a) Describe the unusual things that Franz noticed on the day of the last lesson.

b) Describe the exploitation of the indigo sharecroppers by the English landlords. Did Gandhi help them to get an honourable statement?

15. Answer any one of the following questions in 125-150 words:                1x7=7

a) How do geological phenomena help us to know about the history of human kind? How is Antarctica a part of that human history?

Or

b) Describe the experience Bama had on her way back home which made her feel sad.

16. Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words:          4x2=8

a) What emotions did the author experience on reaching Antarctica?

b) Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?

c) Why and how did Derry enter Mr. Lamb’s garden?

d) Why does Derry go back to Mr. Lamb in the end?

e) When did Bama experience untouchability?

f) How did Zitkala-sa try to hide herself from the ‘others’ in the school? Did she succeed?

Also Read: AHSEC Class 12 English Question Papers

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2012

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2013

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2014

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2015

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2016

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2017

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2018

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2019

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2020

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2022

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2023

AHSEC Class 12 English Question Paper 2024

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