Skip to content

Class X – English Sample Paper – 1

Kindly share you feedback about the website – Click here

General Instructions:

1. Attempt all the questions carefully and neatly.

2. Write all the answers in the answer sheet along with correct question number.

Q1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.                                 

   1. While there is no denying that the world loves a winner, it is important that you recognise the signs of stress in your behaviour and be healthy enough to enjoy your success. Stress can strike anytime, in a fashion that may leave you unaware of its presence in your life. While a certain amount of pressure is necessary for performance, it is important to be able to recognise your individual limits. For instance, there are some individuals who accept competition in a healthy fashion. There are others who collapse into weeping wrecks before an exam or on comparing mark sheets and finding that their friends have scored better.

2. Stress is the body’s reaction to any demands or changes in its internal and external environment. Whenever there is a change in the external environment, such as temperature, pollutants, humidity or working conditions, it leads to stress. In these days of competition, when a person makes up his mind to surpass what has been achieved by others, leading to an imbalance between demands and resources, it causes psychological stress. It is part and parcel of everyday life.

3. Stress has a different meaning depending on the stage of life you are in. The loss of a toy or a reprimand from the parents might create a stress shock in a child. An adolescent who fails an examination may feel as if everything has been lost and life has no further meaning. For an adult, the loss of his or her companion, job or professional failure may appear as if there is nothing more to be achieved. Some signs appear in the attitude and behaviour of the individual, such as muscle tension in various parts of the body, palpitation and high blood pressure, indigestion, and hyperacidity. Ultimately, the result is self-destructive behaviour such as eating and drinking too much, smoking excessively, relying on tranquilisers. There are other signs of stress, such as trembling, shaking, nervous blinking, dryness of the throat and mouth, and difficulty in swallowing.

4. The professional under stress behaves as if he is a perfectionist. It leads to depression, lethargy, and weakness. Periodic mood shifts also indicate the stress status of students, executives, and professionals. In a study sponsored by the World Health Organisation and carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health, the global burden of diseases and injuries indicated that stress, diseases, and accidents are going to be major killers in 2020. Heart disease and depression, both stress diseases, are going to rank first and second in 2020. Road traffic accidents are going to be the third-largest killers. These accidents are also an indicator of psychological stress in a fast-moving society. Other stress-related diseases like ulcers, hypertension and sleeplessness have assumed epidemic proportions in modern societies.

5. A person under stress reacts in different ways, and the common ones are flight, fight and flee, depending upon the nature of the stress and capabilities of the person. The three responses can be elegantly chosen to cope with the stress so that stress does not damage the system and become distress. When stress crosses the limit of an individual, it lowers his performance capacity. Frequent crossings of the limit may result in chronic fatigue, in which a person feels lethargic, disinterested, and is not easily motivated to achieve anything. This may make the person mentally undecided, confused and an accident-prone as well. Sudden exposure of unnerving stress may also result in a loss of memory. Diet, massage, food supplements, herbal medicines, hobbies, relaxation techniques and dance movements are excellent stress busters.

 Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below:                                                                                                    

(a) According to a study carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health, which are the major killers in 2020?

i. COVID 19, AIDS and stress

ii. Accident, disease, and AIDS

iii. stress, diseases, and accidents

iv. high blood pressure, indigestion, and hyperacidity

View Answer

Ans. iii. stress, diseases, and accidents

(b) What are the external causes of stress?

i. temperature, pollutants, humidity and working conditions

ii. rain, hail, snowfall, and humidity

iii. competition, demands, resources and pollutants

iv pollutants, humidity, competition and working conditions

View Answer

Ans. i. temperature, pollutants, humidity and working conditions

(c)  Which of the following is considered the third largest killer and an indicator of psychological stress in fast moving society?

i. Hypertension

ii. Road accident

iii. Stress diseases

iv. Hyperacidity

View Answer

Ans. ii. Road accident

(d) What is psychological stress?

View Answer

Ans. Imbalance between demands and resources is psychological stress.

(e) What are the causes of stress for an adult person?

View Answer

Ans. For an adult, the loss of his or her companion, job or professional failure may appear as if there is nothing more to be achieved.

(f) What are the signs of self-destructive behaviour?

View Answer

Ans. as eating and drinking too much, smoking excessively, relying on tranquilisers.

(g) What may be the reason of stress in a child?

View Answer

Ans. The loss of a toy or a reprimand from the parents might create a stress shock in a child.

(h) An under-stress individual, depending upon the nature of the stress and his capabilities, reacts in different ways. What are the reactions that are shown in his behaviour?

View Answer

Ans. A person under stress reacts in different ways, and the common ones are flight, fight and flee, depending upon the nature of the stress and capabilities of the person.

(i) Based on your reading of the text, suggest some remedies for stress?

View Answer

Ans. Diet, massage, food supplements, herbal medicines, hobbies, relaxation techniques and dance movements are excellent stress busters.

(j) ‘A certain amount of pressure is necessary for performance.’ What is the connection between the amount of pressure and stress in an individual’s life?

View Answer

Ans. While a certain amount of pressure is   necessary for performance, it is important to be able to recognise your individual limits. For instance, there are some individuals who accept competition in a healthy fashion. There are others who collapse into weeping wrecks before an exam or on comparing mark sheets and finding that their friends have scored better.

Q2. Answer any six out of seven questions by selecting the most appropriate option for each.       

a)  I __________ working all afternoon and have just finished the assignment.

i) have been                 ii) had been                 iii) shall be                  iv) am

View Answer

Ans. ii) had been

b)  Rohan __________ the movie before he read the review.

i) watches                    ii) have watched         iii) had watched          iv) was watching

View Answer

Ans. iii) had watched

c)  Every boy and girl __________ in the class today.

i) are present               ii) is present                iii) have present          iv) had present

View Answer

Ans. ii) is present

d) There are ___________ students who have not brought their science records.

View Answer

Ans. some/ few/many /a few

e)  We have ___________ document you asked for.

View Answer

Ans. every

f)  Can you sing ___________ song for me?

View Answer

Ans. a

g) A number of people……………………… reported to be missing in the train accident at Jhansi. (was, were)

View Answer

Ans. were

Q3. Write a letter to the editor of a national daily, expressing your opinion and views on the increased human dependence on technology. Right from a small child to an adult, or even an old man, everyone wants gadgets only like cell phone, I-pod, laptop, etc. This also has a negative effect on social relationships. Using your own ideas write the letter in 100-120 words.                                                                                                                          

Q4. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.                (ANY ONE)                  

A)It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drops of rain began to fall. In the North-East huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching. The air was fresh and sweet. The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.

a) Where was Lencho’s house situated?

i) bottom of the hill                 ii) top of a hill             iii) top of a plateau                  iv) in a city

View Answer

Ans. ii) top of a hill

b) Who is the author of the lesson ‘A Letter to God’?

i) G.L. Fuentes                        ii) J.k. Rowling           iii) William Shakespeare         iv) Roald Dahl   

View Answer

Ans. i) G.L. Fuentes  

(c) Give a synonym of the word ‘big’ from the passage.

View Answer

Ans. huge

(d) Why did the man go out in the rain?

View Answer

Ans. The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.

OR

B) “Poor old lad”, I said. “You haven’t a kick in you but I think I know a cure for you”.

(a) Why does the speaker say “poor old lad”.

(b) What cure did the speaker know?

(c) Who said the above lines and to whom?

(i) Mrs Pumphrey to Tricky                (ii) Tricky to Dr Herriot         

(iii) Dr Herriot to Tricky         (iv) Dr Herriot to Mrs Pumphrey

View Answer

Ans. (iii) Dr Herriot to tricky

(d) Write a synonym of ‘cure”.

 i) injury                      (ii) heal                        (iii) behave                  (iv) response

View Answer

Ans. (ii) heal

Q5. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.                                       

Some say the world will end in fire

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

(a) What does the poet compare fire with?

i) hatred                      ii) desire                      iii) hot                         iv) both i and iii      

View Answer

Ans. ii) desire

(b) Which poetic device is used in these lines.

i) anaphora                  ii) alliteration               iii) metaphor               iv) both i and ii

View Answer

Ans. iv) both i and ii                         

(c) What is the opinion of people about the end of the world?

View Answer

Ans. that the world will end by fire or ice.

(d)  How are ice and fire similar to each other though they have contradictory traits?

View Answer

Ans. Both ice and fire are similar in the in the sense that both of them would destroy everything in the world.

Q6. Answer ANY THREE of the following in about 40-50 words each.                                 

a) What did Lencho compare the raindrops to and why?

b) What made the poet change his mood?

c) Write down the two different views about the end of the world?  

d) What did Mandela think for oppressor and oppressed?

Q7. Answer ANY TWO of the following questions in about 40-50 words.                              

a) What ‘extra’ did Mrs Pumphrey start to give Tricki and why?

b) What kind of treatment was given to Tricki? Did it help in his recovery?

c) Do you think Tricki was enjoying his stay at the hospital? Give reason.

Q8. Answer ANY ONE of the following questions in about 100-120 words each:                 

Describe the value of freedom for the human beings and how it is important for the growth of civilisation and humanism as described in the lesson ‘Nelson Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom’.

OR

Excess of everything is bad. Comment in the wake of Mrs Pumphrey’s love for Tricki.