SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

EDIFICATION TOPICAL MOCK EXAMINATION

NOVEMBER, 2021 (ONLINE/PHYSICAL)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1123)

PAPER 2 READING (INSERT)
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total marks: 50

Name: ________________________________________ Class: _______ Batch: ________

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST
Write in dark blue or black pen.
Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid.
DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.
Answer all questions in both Section 1 and Section 2.

The insert contains the two reading passages.

Mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar may be penalised in any part of the Paper.
Dictionaries are not permitted in this examination.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the beginning or end of each question or part
question.

READING FOR IDEAS: 25marks

READING FOR MEANING: 25 marks

TOTAL (50 marks)

GRADE:

POWERED BY:

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com

 SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

Read Passage 1 carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Passage 1: Birds
1 Birds are unique living beings with their ability to fly. There are many types of birds
and we see only a few of them around the place of human residence. The importance
of birds seems minimal due to technological advancement and current lifestyle. Many
of us do not get time even to see them on a daily basis or at least once in a week.
Some of the birds are reared for human use while others are indirectly helpful to
humans. They form a part of the food chain in the ecosystem and are a part of nature.
Alarmingly, many species are becoming extinct due to habitat loss and predation.
2 The prime source of food for humans come from domesticated birds, namely poultry.
Their meat is called white meat and is said to be healthier for the heart as it has less
fat content. Further, the eggs are part of daily meals, even among vegetarian
countries. Eggs are rich in protein and hence advised for consumption by patients
suffering from debilitating diseases
3 Birds are also grown to make monetary gains as they are reared in large numbers to
meet the demand in markets. They are economically very viable for poultry farmers.
Since they are contributing to food, the poultry business seems to be evergreen
without loses unless affected by diseases.
4 Birds are not directly employed by man in agriculture. But they naturally serve some
benefits like they help in cross-pollination which helps in the formation of healthy
seeds. Furthermore, birds' excreta is rich in uric acid. This can readily convert to
ammonia and acts as fertile manure to plants. The birds around the farm may
contribute less to the 20 manures. But the waste from poultry if added to the soil, it
dramatically enhances the fertility. Bird relies on insects and their larva to feed
themselves and their babies. During crop season, there is the wide growth of insect
population due to favorable conditions. Here, birds keep the growth under control and
help the crop from pest attack
5 In the past due to lack of technology like mobiles and emails, birds were used for
communication. Pet birds like pigeons, parrots were used for communication. They
were used to deliver small letters tied around their neck to nearby villages and towns.
This was a swift, reliable and inexpensive method. Since the family had some birds,

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com

 SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

they could communicate with their relatives by use of birds. Many keep birds as pets
since they help one avoid loneliness and provide a company. Even we come across
many stories where the birds help in tracking the culprits of mischief and some birds
also speak etc. Birds are also kept for increasing the appeal of premises. In places like
hotels, exhibitions, recreations centers etc. They are easy to maintain as they require
less food and water. Also, birds are used for gaming though banned in most parts of
the world as this is a cruelty to animals
6 On the other hand, birds contribute to the ecosystem and environment. Birds are part
of food chain. They are carnivores as they keep a check on the overpopulation of
rodents, insects and even snakes. Small birds, in general, eat up insects and their
larva. While large ones like eagles hunt and kill rodents and snakes for food.
7 We might have come across birds circling a corpse of animals. Even in a forest once
an animal is left out by lions and tigers, the rest is consumed by birds. Birds are
natural scavengers. They help keep the nature clean of dead and decay matter. Even
they do not leave out grains or fruits which are thrown out into open places
8 Birds are the key in seed propagation. Hence, we see plants growing spontaneously at
different locations on the soil. The birds eat the fruit or seeds of the plants. Some of
45 them remain undigested and get excreted as such. When these seeds reach the
ground, they can germinate in favorable conditions. Thus, birds help in natural seed
dispersal and plant propagation. We see much painting with birds and even
photographs of birds to reflect beauty. Birds like peacock add colour to nature
9 Some birds are considered keystone species as their presence in (or disappearance
from) an ecosystem affects other species indirectly. For example, woodpeckers create
cavities that are then used by many other species. After the extinction of the dodo, it
was discovered that a tree whose fruits had been a primary food item of the dodo was
unable to reproduce without its seeds passing through the dodos' digestive tracts, a
process which scarified the seed coat and enabled germination.

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com

 SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

Passage 2: Mr. Fisher

(This extract is taken from the beginning of a short story written by Joanne Harris. Mr. Fisher, a
teacher of English for forty years, works at St Oswald’s Grammar School for boys.)

1 Mr. Fisher lived alone in a small terraced house in the centre of town. He did not own
a car, and therefore preferred to do as much as he could of his weekend marking in
the form room after school. Even so, there were usually two or three stacks of books
and papers to take home on the bus.
2 Mr. Fisher, a teacher of English for forty years, works at St Oswald's Grammar
School for Boys. It had been a disappointing term at St Oswald's. For most of the
boys in 3F, creative writing was on a par with country dancing and food technology.
Oh, he'd tried to engage their interest. But books just didn't seem to kindle the same
enthusiasm as they had in the old days
3 Mr. Fisher remembered a time – surely, not so long ago – when books were golden,
when imaginations soared, when the world was filled with stories which ran like
gazelles and pounced like tigers and exploded like rockets, illuminating minds and
hearts. He had seen it happen; had seen whole classes swept away in the fever. In
those days, there were heroes; there were dragons and dinosaurs; there were space
adventurers and soldiers of fortune and giant apes. In those days, thought Mr. Fisher,
we dreamed in colour, though films were in black and white, and good always
triumphed in the end
4 Now everything was in black and white, and though Mr. Fisher continued to teach
with as much devotion to duty as he had forty years before, he was secretly aware that
his voice had begun to lack conviction. To these boys, these sullen boys with their
gelled hair and perfect teeth, everything was boring. Shakespeare was boring.
Dickens was boring. There didn't seem to be a single story left in the world that they
hadn't heard before. And over the years, though he had tried to stop it, a terrible
disillusionment had crept over Mr. Fisher, who had once dreamed so fiercely of
writing stories of his own. They had come to the end of the seam, he understood.
There were no more stories to be written. The magic had run out.
5 This was an uncharacteristically gloomy train of thought, and Mr. Fisher pushed it

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com

 SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

away. Not all his boys lacked imagination. Alistair Tibbet, for instance, even though
he had obviously done part of his homework on the bus. An amiable boy, this Tibbet.
Not a brilliant scholar by any means, but there was a spark in him which deserved
attention.
6 Mr. Fisher took a deep breath and looked down at Tibbet's exercise book, trying not
to think of the snow outside and the five o'clock bus he was now almost certain to
miss. Four books to go, he told himself; and then home; dinner; bed; the comforting
small routine of a winter weekend.
7 But, gradually sitting there in the warm classroom with the smell of chalk and floor
polish in his nostrils, Mr. Fisher began to experience a very strange sensation. It
began as a tightening in his diaphragm, as if a long unused muscle had been brought
into action. His breathing quickened, stopped, quickened again. He began to sweat.
And when he reached the end of the story, Mr. Fisher put down his red pen and went
back to the beginning, re-reading every word very slowly and with meticulous care.
8 This must be what a prospector feels when, discouraged and bankrupt and ready to go
home, he takes off his boot and shakes out a nugget of gold the size of his fist. He
read it again, critically this time, marking off the paragraphs with notes in red. A
hope, which at first Mr. Fisher had hardly dared to formulate, swelled in him and
grew strong. He found himself beginning to smile.
9 If anyone had asked him what Tibbet's story was about, Mr. Fisher might have been
hard put to reply. There were themes he recognized, elements of plot which were
vaguely familiar: an adventure – a quest, a child, a man. But to explain Tibbet's story
in these terms was as meaningless as trying to describe a loved one's face in terms of
nose, eyes, mouth. This was something new. Something entirely original.

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com

SERAJ SIR@EDIFICATION ENGLISH (P2 MOCK NOVEMBER, 2021) Online/Physical Version

E-mail address: serajsir.edificationpaper2@gmail.com