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C P Goenka International School, Pune

Cambridge International School – Centre no IN 175
Competency Test

Date: Grade: 11
Subject: English Duration: 30minutes Maximum Marks 20
Arhaan Pandey
Candidate’s Name: _______________________________

General Instructions

Read the questions carefully.

Answers to all questions have to be written neatly in the space provided
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Read the text carefully the passage and answer the question given below.

Nim Chimpsky: the chimp they tried to turn into a human.

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Question 1

According to Text what was Project Nim, what exactly did it involve, and what criticisms might
people have of the project?
You must use continuous writing (not note form) and use your own words as far as possible.
Your summary should not be more than 120 words.
Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 5 marks for the quality
of your writing.

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Project Nim was a language experiment conducted in

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the_________________________________________________________________
early 1970s where a chimpanzee named Nim
Chimpsky was raised by a human family to see if he
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could learn sign language and use grammar like

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humans. Led by Herbert Terrace, the experiment

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aimed to disprove Noam Chomsky's theory that

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language is unique to humans. Despite learning some

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signs, Nim struggled to adapt to both human and

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chimp environments and was ultimately sold and

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abandoned. Critics argue that the experiment was

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unethical, treating Nim cruelly, disrupting his natural

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social development, and projecting human emotions

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onto him without understanding his true experiences.

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The_________________________________________________________________
project’s findings remain inconclusive regarding
language acquisition.
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_________________________________________________________ [15 marks]
Question 2-

Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined: A
surge of memories flooded back. Gradually in those days I’d pieced together fragments from
their daily lives, feeding habits, travel routes and social structure. Thinking back I relived the
thrill of watching Greybeard fishing for termites with stems of grass – picking a wide blade of
grass and trimming it carefully so it could be poked into the narrow passage of the termite
mound. What a discovery – humans weren’t the only tool-making animals!
Regular practices
(i) habits ..................................................................................................................... [1]
Selecting
(ii) picking ................................................................................................................... [1]
Cutting/ shaping
(iii) trimming ................................................................................................................. [1]

Q3 Make a compound sentence using Habits and Picking: [2 marks]

Chimpanzees have interesting feeding habits, and picking the right tools is essential for their survival.
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