PERIODIC TEST II, FEBRUARY 2022

XII-ENGLISH
TIME-2 HOURS M MARKS-40
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS- 1 All questions are compulsory.
2 Adhere to the word limit.

SECTION A-READING 14 MARKS

1 Read the following passage carefully.
1 The recent announcement of the world’s best loved comic book teen, Archie Andrews,
being killed, has sent shock waves throughout the teen world who have always been fans of
Archie comics and loving the series. A decade ago, the thought of Archie dying would have
been unthinkable ending for these books but in the decade after recession, change has set in.
The era has produced gritty, realistic, even grim adult fiction and researchers in England who
carried out a recent study claim that there are around 600 words relating to anger, fear,
disgust and sadness, in use. These words have appeared in more than 500 million English
novels and factual books in the last five years. Similar results have also been coming from
Germany and the United States of America.

2 This trend is borne out by the novel titled Wonder, which was Number One on the New
York Times' best-selling list in 2013. It's a heart wrenching story of a ten-year-old physically
disabled boy who wishes to be treated normally at school. In another work, the John Green
best-seller, The Fault with Our Stars, the protagonist, a teenager stricken with cancer, joins a
support group, befriends a boy of the same age, an amputee, who is also a bone cancer
survivor. Even science fiction has not been off this trend as the work Hunger Games and
Divergent, with plots that are sad, morbid and depict emotions of pain, anxiety, fear, anger
felt by these young adults proves once again that teenagers are becoming avid readers of this
variety of fiction.

3 Why then are teenagers being drawn to this genre? According to social commentator
Santosh Desai, because of the Internet reality, kids are consuming emotions much early. Kids
imagine themselves more as adults early in life and want parents to treat them as equals.
According to some psychologists, such realistic fiction is going down well with young
teenagers of today because they imagine themselves more as adults and want their parents to
treat them as equals. They want their elders to grant them 'personhood', with individual
characteristics and feelings.

4 But publishing director Amita Choudhury has another social explanation. She believes that
in this hyperconsumerist world of ours, social positioning is becoming more important than
actually world connecting with people. Realistic stories dealing with the identity crisis are
helping teens connect with the humanity that lies within themselves.

5 Psychotherapist Seema Hingorrany explains that dealing with the unknown gives young
adults a hormone rush. In their own lives they are grappling with two worlds - teen and
adulthood. Reading realistic stories makes them feel like adults, without having experienced
adulthood. Chris Crutcher, an award winning writer of young adult fiction, says that he wants
his young readers to be exposed to gritty life situations. According to him, the value of adult
fiction is in the ability to bring dark subjects in the open are not so dark anymore because
they get talked about and considered by teens and adults alike.

6 Another author, Ravi, contends that the appetite for grim fiction is because the current
generation is severely competitive, yet lonely as it is functioning in a robotic world. The type
of literature that deals with raw emotions stories about an individual's solitary battle against
the world helps youngsters deal with loneliness and gear themselves up to deal with the big,
bad world.

7. It is for the above reasons that books dealing with fear, pain and loneliness is fast
becoming a genre that is steadily climbing the bestseller wide. While the highest figures in
such fiction categories was in the 1940s, followed by the recession-hit 1980s, the post-
Depression of the 1920s came third in this listing. After the depression of 2008, there has
been a similar trend and thus the writers and publishers predict that the future will see dark
and realistic stories in the years ahead.

1.1 Answer the following questions briefly.(6)

(a) What is the trend in English teenage novels of the last five years?
(b) What is the story outline of the fiction work Wonder?
(c)What effect does a consumerist society have on teenagers, according to Amita Choudhury?
(d)Who is Chris Crutcher?
(e)What was the characteristic of teenage fiction after the 1940s?
(f) What do teenagers expect from their parents nowadays?

1.2 Find the words from the passage that mean the same as: (2)
(a) maintain (para 6)
(b) lonely (para 6)

2 Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
1. Too many parents these days can’t say no. As a result, they find themselves raising
‘children’ who respond greedily to the advertisements aimed right at them. Even getting what
they want doesn’t satisfy some kids; they only want more. Now, a growing number of
psychologists, educators and parents think it’s time to stop the madness and start teaching
kids about what’s really important: values like hard work, contentment, honesty and
compassion. The struggle to set limits has never been tougher and the stakes have never been
higher. One recent study of adults who were overindulged as children, paints a discouraging
picture of their future: when given too much too soon, they grow up to be adults who have
difficulty coping with life’s disappointments. They also have distorted sense of enjoyment
that gets in the way of success in the work place and in relationships.

2. Psychologists say that parents who overindulge their kids, set them up to be more
vulnerable to future anxiety and depression. Today’s parents themselves raised on values of
thrift and self sacrifice, grew up in a culture where no was a household word. Today’s kids
want much more, partly because there is so much more to want. The oldest members of this
generation were born in the late 1980s, just as PCs and video games were making their
assault on the family room. They think of MP3 players and flat screen TV as essential
utilities, and they have developed strategies to get them. One survey of teenagers found that
when they crave for something new, most expect to ask nine times before their parents give
in. By every measure, parents are shelling out record amounts. In the heat of this buying blitz,
even parents who desperately need to say no find themselves reaching for their credit cards.

3. Today’s parents aren’t equipped to deal with the problem. Many of them, raised in the
1960s and ’70s, swore they’d act differently from their parents and have closer relationships
with their own children. Many even wear the same designer clothes as their kids and listen to
the same music. And they work more hours; at the end of a long week, it’s tempting to buy
peace with ‘yes’ and not mar precious family time with conflict. Anxiety about future is
another factor. How do well intentioned parents say no to all the sports gear and arts and
language lessons they believe will help their kids thrive in an increasingly competitive world?
Experts agree : too much love won’t spoil a child. Too few limits will.

4. What parents need to find, is a balance between the advantages of an affluent society and
the critical life lessons that come from waiting, saving and working hard to achieve goals.
That search for balance has to start early. Children need limits on their behaviour because
they feel better and more secure when they live within a secured structure. Older children
learn self control by watching how others, especially parents act. Learning how to overcome
challenges is essential to becoming a successful adult. Few parents ask kids to do chores.
They think their kids are already overburdened by social and academic pressures. Every
individual can be of service to others, and life has meaning beyond one’s own immediate
happiness. That means parents eager to teach values have to take a long, hard look at their
own.

2.1Answer the following questions that follow (5)

(1) What values do parents and teachers want children to learn?
(2) What are the results of giving the children too much too soon?
(3) Why do today’s children want more? 1
(4) What is the balance which the parents need to have in today’s world?
(5) What is the necessity to set limits for children?

2.2 Pick out words from the passage that mean the same as the following: (1)
(i) a feeling of satisfaction (para 1)
(ii) valuable (para 3)

SECTION B-WRITING 8 MARKS

3 The Literary Club of your school is going to organize an Inter APS English Debate
Competition. As Secretary of the club, draft an invitation inviting the famous writer Ruskin
Bond to be the Judge at the event. Write the invitation in 50 words.
You are Tapsi/ Tanmay. (3)

4 You are Nikhil/ Deepanshi of 45, Model Town, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. You are a
sports enthusiast. Army Public School Beas has advertised the requirement of a Sports
teacher, in the local news paper. You are excited and you decide to apply for the post. Write a
letter in 100-120 words, corresponding to the given advertisement, submitting your
candidature with a detailed bio- data. (5)

SECTION C-LITERATURE 18 MARKS

5 Answer any five of the six questions given below, within 40 words each. (5x2=10)
1 Why were the lawyers chided by Gandhiji?
2 What is the significance of uncle’s wedding band? Why does Aunt Jennifer find it heavy?
3 What were your feelings for the peddler as you read ‘The Rattrap? Why did you feel so?
4 How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers different from her?
5 Why did British landlords obtain agreement from the peasants to pay them compensation
for being released from 15% compensation?
6 “ Careless leaving that question paper behind…”Was it really careless on the part of Evans
to have left the question paper in the cell?

6. Answer any two of the following in about 120-150 words each. (2x4=8)
1 Give a character sketch of the Governor of Oxford prison based on your understanding of
the story ‘Evans tries an O –level’.
2 The example of Rajkumar Shukla shows that even an ordinary person can usher in big
reforms. What values of Rajkumar do you think helped play an instrumental role in the
Champaran revolution?
3 The story “ The Rattrap” focuses on human loneliness and the need to bond with others.
Comment.