CBSE Class-12 Exam 2020 : Question Paper (English Elective C & N)

• Subject :-English Elective C & N
• Class : XII
• Year : 2020

SECTION A

(Reading Skills)

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 10

1 Mr. Mani was having trouble with the porcupines. They had been getting into his garden at night, digging up and eating his potatoes. From his bedroom window, he could hear them enjoying the vegetables he had worked hard to grow.
 
2 Scrunch, scrunch! as their sharp teeth sliced through the largest and the juiciest of the potatoes. For Mr. Mani it was as though they were biting through his own flesh. The sound of them digging industriously as they rooted up those healthy, leafy plants made him tremble with rage and indignation. Yes, Mr. Mani hated porcupines. He prayed for their destruction, their removal from the face of the Earth. His friends were quick to point out, ‘‘The Creator made porcupines too.’’ 
 
3 In any case one could never see the creatures or catch them, they were completely nocturnal. Mr. Mani would get out of bed every night with a torch in one hand and stout stick in the other. As soon as he stepped into the garden, the crunching and digging stopped and he was greeted by the most infuriating of silences. He would grope in the dark, swinging wildly with the stick, but not a single porcupine was to be heard or seen. As soon as he was back in the bed, the sounds would start off all over again — scrunch, scrunch....
 
4 Mr. Mani came to his class tired and dishevelled, with dark rings beneath his eyes and a permanent frown on his face. It took some time for his pupils to discover the reason for his misery. When they did, they felt for their teacher and took to discussing ways and means of saving his potatoes from the porcupines.
 
5 It was Prakash who came up with the idea of a moat or a water ditch. ‘‘Porcupines don’t like water,’’ he said knowledgeably. ‘‘How do you know ?’’ asked one of his friends.  

6 ‘‘Throw water on one and see how it runs! They don’t like getting their quills wet.’’
 
7 There was no one who could prove Prakash’s theory wrong, and the class fell in with the idea of building a moat, especially as it meant getting most of the day off. ‘‘Anything to make Mr. Mani happy,’’ said the Headmaster. 
 
8 The rest of the school watched with envy as Mr. Mani’s pupils armed with spades and shovels, collected from all parts of the village took their positions around Mani’s potato field and began digging a ditch. By the evening the moat was ready. It was still dry and the porcupines got in again that night and had a great feast. ‘‘At this rate,’’ said Mr. Mani gloomily, ‘‘there won’t be any potatoes left to save.’’
 
9 The next day Prakash and the other boys and girls managed to divert the water from a stream that flowed past the village. Everyone went home in a good mood. By nightfall, the ditch had overflowed and the potato field was over-flooded. Mr. Mani found himself trapped inside the house. The porcupines stayed away that night.

1.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the questions given below : 1x6=6

(a) Why was Mr. Mani troubled by the porcupines ?
(b) How did Mr. Mani feel when the porcupines chewed his potatoes ?
(c) What would Mr. Mani do every night ?
(d) What did the students discuss in Mr. Mani’s class ?
(e) What idea did Prakash come up with ?
(f) What did the children do ?

1.2 Choose the meanings of the words/phrases given below from the given options : 1x4=4

(a) industriously (para 2)
(i) diligently
(ii) effortlessly
(iii) relentlessly
(iv) carefully

(b) infuriating (para 3)
(i) grudge
(ii) hostile
(iii) extremely angry
(iv) animosity

(c) dishevelled (para 4)
(i) dirty
(ii) unkempt
(iii) organized
(iv) unclean

(d) misery (para 4)
(i) dampening
(ii) solitude
(iii) desperation
(iv) distress 

(E-Book) CBSE Board Class 12th Papers PDF : English

Click Here To Download Full Paper

<< Go Back To Main Page

Courtesy: CBSE