RAJARAMCHAK SIKSHANIKETAN (H.

S)
MOCK TEST – 1
SUBJECT – ENGLISH CLASS – X
TIME – 3 HRS. FULL MARKS - 90

Reading Comprehension (Seen)

1. Read the following text and answer the questions given below:

At the Birla House, Gandhiji’s relatives and followers had gathered round his body. There was
silence in the room as Gandhiji breathed his last. Words of Bapuji’s death had spread through Delhi like a
flame fanned by wind. Sad groups of men and women had collected around Birla House. Out of every
window one could see a brown blur of faces. They did not make a sound. There was an unnatural silence. It
was as it time stood still for those few minutes.

The people were too stunned to speak in the beginning. Later they clamoured wildly, shouting and
crying. They jostled one another in a stampede to break into the house. They calmed a little when it was
announced that they would be allowed to see Gandhiji before the funeral.

When one is faced with the shock of a loved one’s death, one whimpers: “What will become of me
now that he has left me?” This was surely the question uppermost in the mind of the mourning people.
They looked like lost children. It was the question in many of our hearts as we sat, still shocked and
unbelieving. We listened to the broadcast telling the people of India that their Bapu was no more.

A. Tick off () the correct answer from the alternatives given below: 1x5=5

(i) Gandhiji’s relatives and followers had gathered at the –

(a) Stephen House (b) Teen Murti Bhavan

(c) Birla House (d) People’s House

(ii) The people were too stunned to speak in the –

(a) Beginning (b) end (c) midtime (d) occasion

(iii) People jostled one another in a stampede to –

(a) Get out from the house (b) run away from the house

(c) Touch the leader (d) break into the house

(iv) After Bapuji’s death the people like –

(a) Angry people (b) lost children

(c) Revengeful person (d)calm people

(v) When one is faced with the shock of a loved one’s death, one –

(a) whimpers (b) laughs (c) claps (d) shouts

B. Answer the following questions: 1x3=3

(i) Why was there silence in the room of Birla House?

Ans. ___________________________________________________________________________________

(ii) What one could see out of every window?

Ans. ___________________________________________________________________________________

(iii) What was being told by the broadcast to the people of India?

Ans. ___________________________________________________________________________________

C. Answer the following questions within 30 words: 2x2=4

(i) Describe the scene of the Birla House after Gandhiji’s death.

Ans. ___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

(ii) What was the uppermost question in the minds of the mourning people?

Ans. ___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

2. Read the extract of the poem given below and answer the questions:

They said: ‘We are the oak-trees and your own true family.

We are chopped down, we are torn up, you do not blink an eye.

Unless you make a promise now – now you are going to die.’

‘Whenever you see an oak-tree felled, swear now you will plant two.

Unless you swear the black oak bark will wrinkle over you

And root you among the oaks where you were born but never grew.’

This was my dream beneath the boughs, the dream that altered me.

When I came out of the oakwood, back to human company,

My walk was the walk of a human child, but my heart was a tree.

A. Tick () the correct alternative: 1x4=4

(i) Those who demand that they belong to the family of the poet are –

(a) Threatening the poet (b) cursing the poet

(c) Sea-gull (d) sea

 (ii) The oak-trees forced the poet of making a promise to –

(a) Die (b) blink an eye (c) plant oak-trees (d) cut other trees

(iii) When the poet came out of the oakwood, his walk was that of a -

(a) Stag (b) tree (c) human child (d) old woman

(iv) When the poet sees two oak-trees felled he must plant –

(a) One oak-tree (b) two oak –trees

(b) (c) three oak-trees (d) four oak-trees

B. Answer the following questions briefly: 2x2=4

(i) What would happen if the poet failed to make the promise?

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

(ii) How did the poet’s dream alter him?

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

Reading comprehension (unseen)

3. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

During my nine months stay at Liliput, I learned all about their wars, politics, laws, religion, plants
and animals as well as their manners and customs. Reldresal, the emperor’s principal secretary, used to
give me a lot of information.

‘although we appear very prosperous, we have trouble with two mighty evils,” he told me. ‘there is
a violent group who quarrel with us inside the kingdom and another powerful enemy abroad.’ He
continued.

“we have two political parties in this country – the High Heels and the Low Heels, according to the
heels of our shoes. We have been against each other for the seventy months and will neither eat, drink or
talk with each other. The emperor supports the Low Heels and they are the ruling party. But lately, the
emperor seems to have some sympathy for the High Heels. We know it because we see one of his heels is
higher than the other. And he hobbles a bit when walks!” Reldresal explained in a worried manner.

“Apart from the internal trouble, we are threatened with an invasion from the island of Blefuscu,
which is the other great empire of the universe. It is almost as large and powerful as this kingdom”, he
stated. “We never believed there were any other empire in the world until we saw you. But our
philosophers prefer to believe that you dropped from the moon or one of the stars, as your race can wipe
us out!” he said seriously.
A. Answer the following questions:

(i) What did the narrator learn about when he was at Lilliput? Who helped to learn? 2

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

(ii) What did Reldresal say about their beliefs? 2

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

(iii) Name the two political parties in Lilliput? 2

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

(iv) How long did the narrator stay at Lilliput? 2

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

(v) What did their philosopher believe and why? 3

Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

B. Complete the following, choosing the correct expressions from the given alternatives: 2x2=4

(i) Reldresal was the emperor’s ____________________

(a) Chief Secretary (b) Chief Minister

(c) Chief Advisor (d) Chief Lawyer

(ii) The emperor seemed to sympathise recently with ______________

(a) The Low Heels (b) The High Heels

(c) The Blefuscu (d) The Chief Secretary

C. Rearrange the sentences which follow in order of the events (write the sentence number only): 5

(i) Lilliput had two parties in political affairs.

(ii) That the emperor was limping made it clear.

(iii) The emperor was recently inclined to the opposition.

(iv) The narrator became well-versed in many subjects during his stay at Lilliput.

(v) Despite their apparent prosperity the Lilliputians faced a lot of troubles.
 Grammar & Vocabulary

4. Write the correct form of the verbs to fill in the blanks: 1x3=3

Abdul _______________ (be) a fisherman who ____________ (live) with his family on the banks of a
stream that _______________ (flow) into the Kaveri river.

5. Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles and prepositions: 1x3=3

______________ early clock that could be used ___________ the cloudy days, ___________ night, and
indoors was the clepsydra, or water clock.

6. A. Do as directed: 1x5=5

(i) His success depends on his labour.

(Make the sentence into a complex one)
Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

(ii) The student said to the teacher, “The rain was falling heavily yesterday.”
(Changed the mode of narration)
Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

(iii) One should have sympathy for the poor.

(Rewrite the sentence using the verb form of the underlined word)
Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

(iv) One is to pity the poor.

(change the voice)
Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

(v) The more we read the more we learn.

(Remove “the ………the”)
Ans: _________________________________________________________________________________

B. Choose the correct phrasal verbs from the list given below to replace the underlined words. Write the
correct phrasal verb in the boxes on the right-hand side changing the form where necessary. There is
an extra phrasal verb in the list: 1x3=3

(i) He is not easily depressed.

(ii) He was upset at the sudden death of his father.

(iii) The bus is emitting a lot of smoke.

[List of phrasal verbs: given forth, cast down, stand out, cut up]
C. Given below are the meanings of four words which you will find in the passage in Question Number 3.
Fine out the words and write them in the appropriate boxes on the right-hand side: 2x3=6

(i) Making frightened :

(ii) Problem :

(iii) Powerful king :

Writing

7. Suppose you are the caption of your school. Write a notice for the students of your school to raise
funds for the ‘Amphan’ victims. The notice is to be countersigned by the Headmaster / Headmistress
of your school. You may use the following points: 10

[Points: Large-scale destruction caused by ‘Amphan’ – suffering of the ‘Amphan’ – victims – funds to
be raised N.B.: ‘Amphan’ is a violent storm.]
8. Write a letter to the Editor of a newspaper complaining against the price rise of essential
commodities: 10
9. Write a paragraph (in about 100 words) on ‘your visit to a zoo’ by using the following points: 10
[ Points: Introduction – your companion – what you saw – your feelings – conclusion.]