You are Anmol/Anamika, living away from home, for the first time in your life, in a boarding school in Gwalior (M.P.). Write a letter to your mother explaining how you are feeling, the food you eat and the way it is served in the hostel. Describe your experience in about 120 words; and request your mother to admit you to a day school back at home.

Read the passage given below and complete the statements that follow by choosing the most appropriate options.1x5=5

Himalayan valley is the geographical guard of Indian territory against any foreign invasion keeping enemy at bay from western to eastern subcontinent of Asian sphere. The valley abounds with the classified variety of different glaciers, wildlife, peaks and thick vegetation liable to support the homo sapiens.

Pindari glacier is a range of four glaciers, namely Sunderdunga, Namik, Pindari and Kafni. To go to Pindari glacier it is a 54 km. trek and the walking part is normally covered in four days. In this trek, we cross many mountains and forests and see a lot of wildlife. We were eight members in the team. The whole trip took us ten days in the mountains. Throughout the way, our guide and my father explained to us the various features of the Himalayas we were passing through. We had to face bad weather for two days. There was a steep climb at some places and as we climbed up we were affected by high altitude sickness and lack of oxygen and we felt very tired.

Pindari glacier is surrounded on all sides by snow-covered peaks such as Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot, Nanda Khat, Bailiuri and many more. This glacier is a frozen river of ice and settled in such a way that it looks like a huge staircase. There I saw all physical features such as gorges, moraines, hanging valleys etc.

(a) Pindari glacier is:

(i) a glacier range of four mountains namely Sunderdunga, Namik, Pindari and Kafni

(ii) a mountain peak surrounded by Sunderdunga, Namik and Kafni

(iii) a forest in the Himalayan region

(iv) a range of four glaciers namely Sunderdunga, Namik, Pindari and Kafni

(b) A trip to Pindari glacier:

(i) is very informative

(ii) helps in understanding the natural geography

(iii) is an adventurous experience as one has to face bad weather and difficult treks

(iv) is all of the above

(c)……. made the members to suffer while trekking to their destination.

(i) Steep climb and lack of oxygen

(ii) High altitude sickness, lack of oxygen and steep climb

(iii) Lack of oxygen and tiredness

(iv) Lack of oxygen and snow-covered peaks

(d) The temperature in the area is:

(i) normal

(ii) below zero degree

(iii) very high

(iv) warm

(e) The word in the passage which means the same as, ‘characteristics’ is:

(i) features

(ii) altitude

(iii) treks

(iv) gorges

Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

A nightingale, that all day long

Had cheered the village with his song,

Nor yet at eve his note suspended,

Nor yet when eventide was ended,

Began to feel as well he might,

The keen demands of appetite. When, looking eagerly around,

He spied far off upon the ground,

A something shining in the dark,

And knew the glow-worm by his spark;

So, stooping down from hawthorn top.

He thought to put him in his crop.

The worm, aware of his intent, harangued him thus, right eloquent ‘Did you admire my lamp, ‘quoth he, ‘As much as I your minstrelsy,

You would abhor to do me wrong,

As much as I to spoil your song;

For ‘twas the self-same power divine. Taught you to sing, and me to shine.

(William Cowper)

(a) How was the nightingale busy for the whole day?

(b) How did the nightingale recognize the glow-worm?

(c) Why did the glow-worm feel scared?

(d) With what words of wisdom did the glow-worm persuade the nightingale not to do him any wrong?

(e) Find word from the poem which means the same as ‘loudly appealed to persuade.’

Floods in Uttarakhand in June 2012, wiped out hundreds of villages; people have been left homeless; sources of liveliness gone, no roads. In this hour of their need, all the countrymen must come forward to help. As a responsible citizen, write a letter in about 120 words to the Editor, The Times, N. Delhi, expressing your concern about the miserable condition of those who have been

uprooted. Make an appeal to the people to donate generously to the Uttarakhand Relief Fund.

Prices of food articles are increasing day by day and there is a wide gap between the wholesale prices and retail prices. Common man is suffering. The government is trying to control the prices. Write an article in 120-150 words on "Rising Prices” and give suggestions on how to control them. You may use the hints given below:

Hints - (40 per cent below poverty line, incomes of lower middle class very low, prices of food articles risen high, difficult to make both ends meet; steps taken by the government; causes of rising prices; your suggestions).