Q1.

Read the following passage carefully:

The first two years of life are a critical ‘window of opportunity’. In this period, it is possible to prevent
the largely irreversible damage that follows early childhood under-nutrition. There are 805 million
undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nine people do not get enough food to be
healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health
worldwide—greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Three-quarters of all hungry people
live in rural areas, mainly in the villages of Asia and Africa. An estimated 146 million children in
developing countries are underweight—the result of acute or chronic hunger. Poverty trap, lack of
investment in agriculture, natural calamities, war and displacement, unstable markets and food wastage
are the major causes of for the presence of hunger in the world. Hunger leads to malnutrition which in
turn causes diseases. Malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease in the world, according to
the UN's Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN). Malnutrition at an early age leads to reduced physical
and mental development during childhood. According to the World Bank, India is one of the highest
ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. One of the major
causes for malnutrition in India is gender inequality. Due to the low social status of Indian women, their
diet often lacks in both quality and quantity. Women who suffer malnutrition are less likely to have
healthy babies. In India, mothers generally lack proper knowledge in feeding children. Consequently,
new born infants are unable to get adequate amount of nutrition from their mothers. Madhya Pradesh,
Jharkhand and Bihar have very high rates of under-nutrition. Studies show that individuals belonging to
Hindu, Jain or Muslim backgrounds in India tend to be more malnourished than those from Sikh or
Christian backgrounds. The Akshaya Patra Foundation runs the world's largest NGO-run midday meal
programme serving freshly cooked meals to over 1.3 million schoolchildren in government and
government-aided schools in India. However, the challenge for all these programs and schemes is how
to increase efficiency, impact and coverage.

I. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions:

1) What are the causes of the presence of hunger in the world?

2) How does hunger lead to malnutrition?

3) How does gender inequality lead to malnutrition in India?

4) What role does the Akshay Patra foundation play?

5) Where are the majority of the hungry people inhabited?

6) Which religious communities in India tend to be less malnourished?

7) Find words from the passage that mean

a) prospect: _____________ b) ample: _____________ c) be deficient in: ______________

 Q2. Read the following passage carefully: 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 threshold. 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 marksheets and finding that their mates have scored
better. Whenever there is a change in the external environment such as temperature, pollutants,
humidity and 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 psycho-social stress. It is a part and parcel of everyday life. Stress has a different
meaning depending on the stage of life you're 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. In an adult, the loss of his or her companion, job or
professional failure may appear as if there is nothing more to be achieved. Stress can be seen in the
attitude and behaviour of the individual, as muscle tension in various parts of the body, palpitation and
high blood pressure, indigestion and hyperacidity and ultimately in self-destructive behaviour such as
eating and drinking too much, smoking excessively, relying on tranquillisers, trembling, shaking, nervous
blinking, dryness of throat and mouth and difficulty in swallowing. The professional under stress
behaves as if he is a perfectionist followed by depression, lethargy, weakness for further work. Periodic
mood shifts also indicate the stress status of students, executives and professionals. Many illnesses
actually originate from stress but are perceived as outcomes of unhealthy eating habits. Reports have
indicated that young adults in their late 20s and early 30s are suffering from diabetes and
gastrointestinal problems. Once an outcome of high cholesterol levels, heart disease too is caused
because of a stressed lifestyle. Stress also triggers headaches, which if left untreated can lead to
migraines as well.

Answer the following questions:

1. How do different people handle stress?

2. What causes psycho-social stress?

3. How is stress different at different age levels?

4. How does the body show that it is stressed?

5. Are illnesses associated with stress?

6. Find words from the passage that mean: a) contaminant b) sedative

SECTION B

(WRITING & GRAMMAR – 25 MARKS)

 Q3. Write an article of about 100–200 words on the problem of space in your city. Give a suitable title
to your article.

Q4. Write a short story in about 150–200 words beginning with the following:

Ravi slammed the door behind him and threw his satchel on the sofa...

Q5. Complete the passage by choosing the correct option from those given in brackets:

The papers were neatly filed (a) __________ Maria, arranged alphabetically for Mr. Henderson’s
convenience. Every morning he would sit with this file; marking names of companies or individuals (b)
__________ would benefit from the Henderson Charity Fund. The charity was (c) __________ by his late
daughter Martha, (d) __________ the money she won in (e) __________ international chess
championship. Martha died in a freak accident. Her dying wish was to use all her prize money (f)
__________ the needy, and that is what her father did.

(a) i. with ii. for iii. by iv. On

(b) i. which ii. that iii. while iv. who

(c) i. founded ii. find iii. found iv. finds

(d) i. by ii. from iii. for iv. with

(e) i. an ii. some iii. a iv. The

(f) i. to ii. for iii. with iv. at

Q6. In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the most appropriate
missing word along with the word that comes before and the one which comes after against the correct
blank number in your answer sheet.

a) Milk is a perfect food. It should form essential ________ ________ ________

b) part of daily diet. Doctors advise never to ________ ________ ________

c) miss daily glass of milk. It is good for the people ________ ________ ________

d) of ages but it is especially needed for growing ________ ________ ________

e) children because of nourishing value. Milk ________ ________ ________

f) contains all necessary minerals and ________ ________ ________

g) vitamins for strong and healthy body. ________ ________ ________

h) So drink glass of milk every day. ________ ________ ________

 Q7. Rearrange the following words and phrases to make meaningful sentences. The first one has been
done as an example.

E.g. feared by / snakes are / in our / worshipped / and / many / country

Ans. Snakes are worshipped and feared by many in our country.

1. Conserving nature / Indian societies / its own set / of traditional / with several / methods of /
follows / cultures

2. Closed seasons / many communities / follow traditional practices / of forest dwellers / of maintaining
/ and fisher people

3. As no hunting / the wildlife population / its numbers / or fishing / during this time / can recoup / is
allowed