CBSE Class 12 English Literary Passage Worksheet Set 04

1. Dynamism of India

India has been able to make the most of globalisation and has gained a pivotal role. It provides the example of an economy which has allied dynamism and equilibrium. The past year offers the two-fold satisfaction of a spectacular 7.5 per cent growth rate and inflation under control. Thanks to the size and dynamism of its domestic market, it can project itself into the future with confidence. India is now the biggest international service provider in information technologies, and this at a time when the western countries are experiencing a real shortage of manpower in this very field. A scientific power, India, today, is also a key player in space research. Thanks to the excellence of the Indian Space Research Organization, it is the forefront of technologies for launchers and the construction of satellites. This economic vitality has developed on the basis of a strong concern for social justice. In the face of inequalities that still remain and could be increasing, India has given priority, to poverty reduction, job creation and support of the agricultural sector. Your country has shown that economic growth and concern for the greater good are not incompatible. India, however, does not only offer an economic model. It stands as an example for nations that show due respect for cultural identities. This represents a major challenge as globalisation has inherent in it, two-fold risk. First of all, there is the risk of domination of certain forms of thinking, of certain ways of life and expression. The diversity of cultures, religions, traditions and memories is an essential component of the richness of our world. If we are not careful, it could die one day. Then there is the risk of confrontation of identities. Lack of respect for what people stand for, can nurture claims of nationalists and fundamentalists.

Question. How is India now the biggest international service provider in information technologies?
(a) Unemployed youth are more in number in India
(b) Western countries have a shortage of manpower in this very field.
(c) People outside India are not willing to work.
(d) Indian youth is more educated.
Answer: (b) Western countries have a shortage of manpower in this very field.

Question. How could India been able to bring inflation under control in the past year?
(a) Due to its size and dynamism of its domestic market
(b) Due to its natural resources.
(c) Due to its its geographical conditions.
(d) Due to its its intellectual crop of youth.
Answer: (a) Due to its size and dynamism of its domestic market

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the CORRECT sequence of the given statements.
1. A scientific power, India, today, is also a key player in space research.
2. The diversity of cultures, religions, traditions and memories is an essential component of the richness of our world.
3. India provides the example of an economy which has allied dynamism and equilibrium.
4. India stands as an example for nations that show due respect for cultural identities.
(a) 1, 4, 3, 2
(b) 3, 2, 1, 4
(c) 2, 1, 3, 4
(d) 3, 1, 4, 2
Answer: (d) 3, 1, 4, 2

Question. Why did the speaker thank the Indian Space Research Organization?
(a) It is the forefront of technologies for launchers and the construction of satellites.
(b) The group of scientists working together are quite balanced.
(c) It is leading in producing rockets.
(d) Indian scientists are very intelligent.
Answer: (a) It is the forefront of technologies for launchers and the construction of satellites.

Question. In which context did the speaker says “your country has shown that economic growth and concern for the greater good are not incompatible”?
(a) He is complaining
(b) He is appreciating.
(c) He is finding faults
(d) He is comparing.
Answer: (b) He is appreciating.

Question. In which respect has India set an example for nations?
(a) Social equality
(b) Cultural identity
(c) Economic growth
(d) Religious fairness
Answer: (b) Cultural identity

Question. To whom does the writer shows his gratitude for placing India at the forefront of technologies for launchers and the construction of satellites?
(a) Indian scientists
(b) Indian technology
(c) Indian Space Research Organization
(d) Indian Government
Answer: (c) Indian Space Research Organization

Question. Pick the option from the passage that tells that inspite of inequalities, India has not given priority to………
(a) Poverty reduction
(b) Job creation
(c) Support to the agricultural sector
(d) Women education
Answer: (d) Women education

Question. What would happen to diversity of cultures, religions, traditions and memories if we do not remain careful?
(a) They would spread fast
(b) They would die
(c) They would pass on to others
(d) They would not flourish
Answer: (b) They would die

Question. Pick the option that tells about the writer’s feelings when he talks about the two fold risks of globalisation?
(a) Fear
(b) Concern
(c) Anxiety
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

2. The Highwayman – Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door
He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle : his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord’s daughter,
The landlord’s red-lipped daughter.
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

Question. How does the poet describe the road?
(a) As a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
(b) As a dark lane
(c) As a road lit by the stars
(d) A ribbon of silk
Answer: (a) As a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor

Question. Who was waiting for the highway man?
(a) Bess, the landlord’s daughter
(b) The gate-keeper
(c) Tim, the ostler
(d) The Landlord
Answer: (a) Bess, the landlord’s daughter

Question. Based on your understanding of the poem, choose the option that lists the CORRECT sequence of the given statements.
1. He clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard.
2. His face was white and peaked.
3. He’d a french cocked-hat on his forehead.
4. He heard the robber say— “One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night.
(a) 2,1,3,4
(b) 3,1,2,4
(c) 1,4,2,3
(d) 2,4,1,3
Answer: (b) 3,1,2,4

Question. What does the poet mean by ‘Under the jewelled sky’?
(a) The jewels in Bess’s hair
(b) The sky that was dark
(c) A starry night where the stars are the jewels.
(d) The jewels the highway man was carrying
Answer: (c) A starry night where the stars are the jewels.

Question. Which literary device is used in the line ‘The moon was a ghostly galleon’?
(a) simile
(b) alliteration
(c) metaphor
(d) repetition
Answer: (c) metaphor

Question. Apart from the highwayman, who else loved Bess?
(a) The royal policeman
(b) Tim, the ostler
(c) The landlord
(d) The gate-keeper
Answer: (b) Tim, the ostler

Question. How did Tim, the ostler appear?
(a) Smart and handsome
(b) His face was white and peaked and eyes were hollows of madness
(c) Young and sober
(d) Cruel and rough
Answer: (b) His face was white and peaked and eyes were hollows of madness

Question. Pick the option from the poem that tells which literary device is NOT used in the line “And the highwayman came riding-riding-riding” is …
(a) Assonance
(b) Onomatopoeia
(c) Repetition
(d) Duplication
Answer: (b) Onomatopoeia

Question. What sound did the Highwayman make when he found all the shutters locked?
(a) He tapped with his shoes
(b) He knocked on the door
(c) He stringed his guitar
(d) He whistled a tune
Answer: (d) He whistled a tune

Question. Pick the option that tells what the king’s men do with Bess?
(a) They kept her in King’s palace.
(b) They left her in the woods.
(c) Bess was captured and tortured by the king’s men.
(d) They got her married with a pauper.
Answer: (c) Bess was captured and tortured by the king’s men.

3. At Home in India – An Interview with Ruskin Bond

There are many among us who, given the opportunity to leave India, are only too happy to go. But whenever I have had the chance to go away, I have held back. Or something has held me back. What is it that has such a hold on me, but leaves others free to where they will, sometimes never to come back? A few years ago, I was offered a well-paid job in a magazine in Hong Kong. I thought about it for weeks, worried myself to distraction, and finally, with a great sigh of relief, turned it down. My friends thought I was crazy. They still do. Most of them would have jumped at a comparable offer, even if it had meant spending the rest of their lives far from the palm fringed coasts or pine-clad mountains of this land. Many friends have indeed gone away, never to return, except perhaps to get married, very quickly, before they are off again! Don’t they feel homesick, I wonder. I am almost paranoid at the thought of going away and then being unable to come back. This almost happened to me when, as a boy, I went to England, longed to return to India, and did not have the money for the passage. For two years I worked and saved like a miser (something I have never done since) until I had enough to bring me home. And ‘home’ wasn’t parents and brothers and sisters. They were no longer here. Home, for me, was India. So what is it that keeps me here? My birth? I take too closely after a Nordic grandparent to pass for a typical son of the soil. Hotel receptionists often ask me for my passport. ‘Must I carry a passport to travel in my own country?’ I ask. ‘But you don’t look like an Indian,’ they protest. ‘I’m a Red Indian,’ I say. India is where I was born and went to school and grew to manhood. India was where my father was born and went to school and worked and died. India is where my grandfather lived and died. Surely that entitles me to a place in the Indian sun.

Question. What did the narrator do when he was offered a well-paid job in Hong Kong?
(a) He readily accepted it.
(b) He refused to join it.
(c) He asked for more salary.
(d) He asked for the placement in Indian city.
Answer: (b) He refused to join it.

Question. When author was a boy, why couldn’t he come back to India from England?
(a) His parents forbade him.
(b) The British government didn’t permit him.
(c) He fell short of money.
(d) Due to bad climatic conditions England.
Answer: (c) He fell short of money.

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the CORRECT sequence of the given statements.
1. Hotel receptionists often ask me for my passport.
2. Author was almost paranoid at the thought of going away from India.
3. And ‘home’ wasn’t parents and brothers and sisters.
4. Author’s friends thought he was crazy.
(a) 1,3,2,4
(b) 4,2,3,1
(c) 3,1,2,4
(d) 3,2,4,1
Answer: (b) 4,2,3,1

Question. What is ‘Home’ for the author?
(a) Where his parents live.
(b) Where his friends reside.
(c) India
(d) Where he gets emotional
Answer: (c) India

Question. When the author turned down the job offer in Hong Kong, what did his friends think about him?
(a) He did quite a sensible thing.
(b) He was crazy.
(c) He was impractical.
(d) He was a calculable person.
Answer: (b) He was crazy.

Question. According to the author, what holds him on to stay back in India?
(a) The job offered didn’t attract him.
(b) The land
(c) His grandparents’ memories
(d) The fear of not returning back to India
Answer: (b) The land

Question. How was author so different from his friends?
(a) Unlike his friends, the author wanted to leave India later on.
(b) His friends’ homesickness.
(c) Their willingness to work abroad.
(d) Their inclination towards their motherland.
Answer: (c) Their willingness to work abroad.

Question. Pick the option that mentions what does NOT make the author think that he belonged to India?
(a) He was born in India.
(b) He went to school in England.
(c) His father worked and died in India.
(d) His grandfather lived in India.
Answer: (b) He went to school in England.

Question. What did the author inherit from his Nordic grandparents?
(a) Their brilliant mind
(b) Their music
(c) Their looks
(d) Their artistic quality
Answer: (c) Their looks

Question. Pick the option that states the feelings of the people when they are offered jobs outside India?
(a) Insipidness
(b) Tardiness
(c) Helplessness
(d) Enthusiasm
Answer: (d) Enthusiasm