Text 1

"LET go! Let go!" screamed Polly.

"I'm not touching you!" said Digory.
Then their heads came out of the pool and, once more, the sunny quietness of the Wood
between the Worlds was all about them, and it seemed richer and warmer and more peaceful
than ever after the staleness and ruin of the place they had just left. I think that, if they had
been given the chance, they would again have forgotten who they were and where they came
from and would have lain down and enjoyed themselves, half asleep, listening to the growing
of the trees. But this time there was something that kept them as wide-awake as possible: for as
soon as they had got out on to the grass, they found that they were not alone. The Queen, or the
Witch (whichever you like to call her) had come up with them, holding on fast by Polly's hair.
That was why Polly had been shouting out "Let go!" This proved, by the way, another thing
about the rings which Uncle Andrew hadn't told Digory because he didn't know it himself. In
order to jump from world to world by one of those rings you don't need to be wearing or
touching it yourself; it is enough if you are touching someone who is touching it. In that way
they work like a magnet; and everyone knows that if you pick up a pin with a magnet, any
other pin which is touching the first pin will come too. Now that you saw her in the wood,
Queen Jadis looked different. She was much paler than she had been; so pale that hardly any of
her beauty was left. And she was stooped and seemed to be finding it hard to breathe, as if the
air of that place stifled her. Neither of the children felt in the least afraid of her now.
"Let go! Let go of my hair," said Polly. "What do you mean by it?"
"Here! Let go of her hair. At once," said Digory.
They both turned and struggled with her. They were stronger than she and in a few seconds
they had forced her to let go. She reeled back, panting, and there was a look of terror in her
eyes.
"Quick, Digory!" said Polly. "Change rings and into the home pool."
"Help! Help! Mercy!" cried the Witch in a faint voice, staggering after them. "Take me with
you. You cannot. mean to leave me in this horrible place. It is killing me."
"It's a reason of State," said Polly spitefully. "Like when you killed all those people in your
own world. Do be quick, Digory." They had put on their green rings, but Digory said: "Oh
bother! What are we to do?" He couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the Queen.
"Oh don't be such an ass," said Polly. "Ten to one she's only shamming. Do come on." And then
both children plunged into the home pool. "It's a good thing we made that mark," thought
Polly. But as they jumped Digory felt that a large cold finger and thumb had caught him by the
ear. And as they sank down and the confused shapes of our own world began to appear, the grip
of that finger and thumb grew stronger. The Witch was apparently recovering her strength.
Digory struggled and kicked, but it was not of the least use. In a moment they found
themselves in Uncle Andrew's study; and there was Uncle Andrew himself, staring at the
wonderful creature that Digory had brought back from beyond the world.
From The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s
Nephew
Text 2

World's Coolest Caves

Go deep within the world’s coolest caves to
glimpse natural and man-made wonders, from
giant crystal formations to Ice Age art.
“The first time I saw the otherworldly environment—the orange and red cave
walls, the massive angled crystals glinting in our headlamps—I hugged a crystal,”
says Penny Boston, professor of earth and environmental sciences at New Mexico
Tech. “And I cried.”

Never mind that this spot, Mexico’s Cave of the Crystals, had 120-degree
temperatures and 90 percent humidity; humans have endured far worse to explore
the secret world of caves. Of course, caves have long held a strong allure: as shelter and food storage, as canvas for
depicting animal and human forms, even as homes and temples. They always carry an aura of mystery, which makes
visiting the world’s coolest caves a unique adventure.

The mystery is especially strong when the caves are underwater. “You’re floating through crystal-clear water in
passageways with beams of sunlight reflecting blue light on stalactites and stalagmites,” says Sharon Schierling of South
Bend, IN, recalling her scuba trip to the Dos Ojos cenote, a limestone sinkhole in Yucatán, Mexico. “You’re in a magical
wonderland.”

There are still more wonderlands waiting to be uncovered. The U.S. alone has 55,500-plus caves with more than 1,000
new ones discovered each year, according to the National Speleological Society.

It wasn’t until 2009 that professional cavers explored the world’s largest cave passage, which stretches for two-and-a-half
miles beneath tropical rainforest in Vietnam and reaches more than 600 feet high. In places where the ceiling collapsed,
sunlight streams into the cave, nurturing a one-of-a-kind ecosystem of plants, fish, and insects.

Luckily for us amateurs, the world’s full of accessible stunning grottoes and painted caverns. The Paleolithic artists who
drew mammoths and horses on cave walls in southwestern France often had to crawl on their bellies through low
passages, but modern-day visitors can arrive in style: an electric train makes the half-a-mile trip into the hillside.

It’s even easier to get to Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort in British Columbia, a rare example of hot springs located within
a cave. “I tend to lead a high-pressure, intense life, so this is a great place to relax,” says guest Peri Frantz, of Los Gatos,
CA.

So you don’t have to be a thrill-seeker to be drawn in by the mysterious allure of caves. And no matter how many you
visit, you’ll quickly see that no two are alike.

By Carsten Peter/National Geographic Stock

Questions for text 1 (1x5=5 marks)

A. Tick the correct answer:

1) In line 2, which words were used to mean the opposite of ‘richer and warmer’?

a) Sunny quietness

b) Peaceful

c) Staleness and ruin of the place

d) Horrible place

2) What key object is mentioned as the mode of transport between the worlds?

a) Pool

b) Rings

c) Trees

d) Digory

3) Why were Polly and Digory trying to get rid of the Queen?

a) She knew magic

b) She was physically hurting them

c) She was following them everywhere

d) She killed al the people in her world

4) What was the name of the place between worlds?

a) The Wood between the Trees

b) The Wood of Pools

c) The Growing of the Trees

d) The Wood

5) In line 7, it is said that the place was so quiet that they coulkd listen ‘growing of the trees’. What figure of speech
is this?

a) Irony
 b) Simile

c) Hyperbole

d) Metaphor

6) Match the words with their possible meanings: (0.5x6=3 marks)

Words Meanings

Shamming To fall backwards

Reeled back To make someone unable to breathe properly

Stifle To walk/ move unsteadily as if about to fall

Stagger Falsely presenting something as the truth

Spitefully Blurry or faint or unclear

Confused With having or showing anger

7) By using the words ‘let go’ repetitively, what effect do you think the writer has tried to achieve? 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

8) What is did Digory discover about the power of the rings which his uncle did not know? 1

__________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.
9) Several adjectives had been used to describe the place. Mention four such adjectives. 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

10) How did the writer explain Digory’s discovery about the rings scientifically? 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

11) What physical and behavioral features of the Queen do we get to know from this passage? 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

12) Two other names of the Queen were mentioned in this passage. What are those? 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________________________________.

13) What do you think the different pools in the Wood were representing? 1

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

14) From the last two lines of this page what idea do we get about Uncle Andrew’s reaction after seeing the Queen?
1

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

Questions for text 2 (1x5=5 marks)

A. Tick the correct answer:

1. What makes visiting a cave an unique experience?

 a) Because they are ancient

b) Because ancient people used to draw on them

c) Because they carry an aura of mystery

d) Because caves have otherworldly environment

2. Why do you think Penny Boston hugged a crystal and cried?

a) She was frightened

b) She lost her way

c) She was surprised to see a massive angled crystal

d) She was overwhelmed by the natural beauty

3. What makes the mystery especially strong?

a) When it id underwater

b) When it is huge

c) When there are more crystals

d) When there is a hot spring inside the cave

4. The largest cave passage is in _________________________.

a) Mexico

b) British Columbia

c) Vietnam

d) France

5. To visit a cave in Southwestern France can arrive on a :

a) Bus

b) Water-car

c) Boat
 d) Electric train

6. Match these words with their possible meanings

Allure a lathe chamber in a cave

Cavern relating the early please of Stone Age

Depict relating to an imagination. Or spiritual world

Otherworldly small cave, specially .....

Grotto to show or represent by drawing

Paleolithic powerfully. & mysteriously attractive

7. Mention two linguistic devices you notice in this emboldened text “Go deep within……….to Ice Age art”. 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

8.From paragraph 1, write four adjectives that has been used to describe the beauty of the cave. 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

9.What historical facts do we get to know about caves from this passage? 3

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________________________________.

10. Do you think giving the heading “World’s Coolest Caves” is justified? Give reason for your answer. 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

11. The writer has used quotes several times in the passage. Why did he do so? 1

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

12. In paragraph 3, why do you think the cave was compared to a magical land? 2

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________.

13. Tick the correct answer. (0.5x4=2 marks)

A. Which of the following lines contain an example of onomatopoeia?

a) He’s nibbling the noodles.

b) He is licking the ice.

c) He let out a roar

 d) It gave him a scare.

B. “I am so glad that the elevator is stuck. It has bee a lifelong dream that this would happen.”

Which figure of speech is this?

a) Irony

b) Simile

c) Alliteration

d) Onomatopoeia

C. The use of the words whose sounds make you think of their meaning is called ________________.

a) Irony

b) Onomatopoeia

c) Alliteration

d) Simile

D. Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence?

“A girl was going on about how she wouldn’t hurt animals when I noticed she was wearing a leather belt.”

a) Metaphor

b) Simile

c) Irony

d) Personification

E. Fill in the blanks with the correct homophone. (0.5x7=3.5 )

a) We had to ___________ (dye/ die) the fabric before taking the measurements.

b) I forgot to ______________ ( grate/great)the cheese.

c) A ________________ (heard/herd) of elephants came down to the lake to drink water.

d) I eat ____________(cereal/serial) for breakfast.

e) This wound will take time to (heel/heal) __________________.

f) I went abroad for ________________ (hire/ higher) education.

g) The flight was delayed due to bad ____________________ (weather/whether).

F. Rewrite the passage with correct preposition. (1x8=8)

 Yesterday the weather was bad. The sky was full in dark clouds. It was raining heavily out the morning.
Lily stayed in home. She listened of the music on one o’clock, Lily was hungry. She went of to buy some
food. She went under a noodle shop. The shop is over the post office. She bought a bowl of noodles. She
walked out behind the shop out a smile.

G. Rewrite this passage of text in the present tense. (0.5x20=10)

Jane will be going to Glasgow, for the Commonwealth Games. She will be competing in the marathon,
which will be just over 26 miles long. She will have a team of runners to help her. The goal she will have
will be to win the gold medal. She will do her best at all times. She will take a lot of beating, as she will be
the best in the world.

H. Rewrite this passage of text in the future tense.

I was sauntering along the path, around the back of the school, when I noticed a police car. It was zooming
along the road, with its lights flashing. The police constables leapt out the panda car, then started banging
on my neighbour’s front door. She opened the door, but looked surprised to see them. Indeed, she had a
puzzled look on her face. She asked them what they wanted. They apologized profusely and confessed that
they had the wrong house.

I. Put the correct punctuation in the blanks, capitalizing wherever necessary.

(0.5x13=6.5)

Bear live in a variety of habitats from the tropics to the Arctic and from forests to snowfields ___ they are
mainly omnivorous. Although some have a more specialized diet___ such as polar bears. They eat
lichens___ roots___ nuts and berries. They can also go to a river or other water body to capture fish ___
bears will commonly travel far for food ___ hunting times usually in the dusk or the dawn except when
humans are nearby.
Some of the large species ___ such as the polar bear and the grizzly bear ___ are dangerous to humans ___
especially in areas where they have become used to people ___ for the most part ___ bears are shy and are
easily frightened by humans ___ they will, however ___ defend their cubs ferociously.

J. Read each sentence. First, identify what object is given human quality. Then explain what the
sentence means.
a) I could hear the wind whistling through the trees. 1 mark

What object is given human quality? ___________________________________________________.

What does this sentence mean? ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________.

b) The old died on the side of the road. 1 mark

What object is given human quality? ___________________________________________________.

What does this sentence mean? ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________.

c) Bright flashes of lightning were dancing in the sky. 1 mark

What object is given human quality? ___________________________________________________.

 What does this sentence mean? ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________.

14. Change the voice from active to passive. (1x5=5 marks)

1) I will finish the job by the end of this week.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

2) They have informed him of his mother’s death.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

3) The security team took all the necessary precautions.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

4) She was elected class president.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

5) Soak the fabric in dye fro 20 minutes and then wash it.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

15. Change the voice from passive to active. (1x5=5 marks)

1) Dinner will be served in half an hour.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

2) Kate is being helped by her brother.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

3) You will be surprised by his conduct.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

4) What is contained in this box?

__________________________________________________________________________________.

5) What cannot be cured must be endured.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

16. Change the following sentences from direct to indirect speech . (1x5=5marks)
 1) ‘Light travels in a straight line,’ the teacher explained.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

2) ‘Hello!’ my friend said to me. ‘How are you?’

__________________________________________________________________________________.

3) Mr. John said to his colleague, ‘Will you please drop me at the airport?’

__________________________________________________________________________________.

4) ‘I saw an interesting film last evening,’ said my friend.

__________________________________________________________________________________.

5) Ruth said, ‘How hot the soup is!’

__________________________________________________________________________________.

17. Write a story or a descriptive essay on “A Journey to My Dream World” . ( 200-250 words) 12 marks