List of top Questions asked in CBSE CLASS XII

The Last Lesson

Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:

I heard M. Hamel say to me, “I won’t scold you, little Franz: you must feel bad enough, see how it is! Everyday we have said to ourselves, Bah! I’ve plenty of time. I’ll learn it tomorrow. And now you see where we’ve come out. Ah, that’s the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till tomorrow. Now those fellows out there will have the right to say to you, ‘How is it; you pretend to be Frenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language?’ But, you are not the worst, poor little Franz. We’ve all a great deal to reproach ourselves with.”

(The Last Lesson)

Memories of Childhood

Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:

I did not open my mouth to answer. Then the steps were quickened, and the voices became excited. The sounds came nearer and nearer. Women and girls entered the room. I held my breath and watched them open closet doors and peep behind large trunks. Someone threw up the curtains, and the room was filled with sudden light. What caused them to stoop and look under the bed, I do not know. I remember being dragged out, though I resisted by kicking and scratching wildly. In spite of myself, I was carried downstairs and tied fast in a chair.

(Memories of Childhood)

The little old house was out with a little new shed
in front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped.
A roadside stand that too pathetically pled
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread.
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.

(A Roadside Stand)

You are the President of RWA, Preeti Nagar. Your society recently organized a cooking competition for the residents on the occasion of Women’s Day. Eminent chef Sanjay Kumar was invited to be the judge. Write a report on the event to be published in a local daily.

Use the following cues along with your own ideas to draft the report:

You are Ravi/Rajni, a class XII student. Write an article for a youth magazine on selfie safety, advising youngsters to be more cautious and careful.

Use the following cues along with your own ideas to draft the article:

You are Tanvi of Rosewood Colony, Sagar Nagar. You have recently observed that people waste a lot of food in hotels, at marriages, and parties. You are upset at the casual attitude of people towards wastage of food.

Write a letter to the editor of a national daily expressing your concern and suggesting ways to improve the situation. Use the given points along with your own ideas to compose this letter.

 

(a) You are Ujwal/Urmila of J.P. Nagar, A.B. Puram. You saw the given advertisement in a newspaper and wish to apply for the position advertised.

 

Read the following passage carefully:

(1) We’re all familiar with the usual reasons workers cite for wanting to stay away even after lockdowns have long ended: flexible schedules, not having to commute, and of course, increased productivity. However, productivity isn’t the only reason people want to stay away from the office. We recently surveyed 1,000 remote workers to find out what’s really keeping them tied to their work-from-home lives.

(2) The findings include: 72% want to be able to take a nap or exercise during the day. Nearly three out of four remote workers surveyed stated that the ability to take a nap or workout during the workday was one of the reasons they wanted to stay home. Though these activities may very well increase worker productivity, there’s no doubt that a nap on the kitchen couch would be frowned upon in the office.

(3) 73% want to be able to watch TV while they work. Three out of four respondents again say that being able to entertain themselves with TV, podcasts, music, or other media is one of the reasons they want to keep their work-from-home lifestyle.

(4) 62% cite concerns about their appearance. Well over half of respondents stated that they are concerned about their co-workers seeing them in-person again after such a long time apart. Whether it’s weight loss or gain, not having the right clothes, or another concern about appearance, most would rather not have to worry about the way they look to their co-workers outside a Zoom call.

(5) When asked to choose the reason that most affects their desire to keep working from home, predictable answers like caring for children and lack of a commute were still the most common number one reasons. 14% of respondents stated that working remotely was so important to them, that they would not go back to work in-person even if their employers required it.

Read the following passage carefully:

(1) What do we typically do when we find our children doing something we don’t approve of? We become reactive parents. Often, we pepper our reactions with lectures. When it doesn’t work and predictably so; we end up screaming and dole out a punishment. And our children react with anger, resentment or ‘can’t-be-bothered’ attitude.

(2) Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh put it beautifully when he described how each child has both negative seeds- of anger, despair, hatred, fear and violence- and wholesome seeds- of love, happiness, compassion and forgiveness. According to him, what will blossom depends on the seeds we nurture.

(3) A parenting and educational approach that’s gaining a large following internationally, called the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) by Howard Glasser, is very much in keeping with this Zen approach. The three main aspects of this approach are:

• Refuse to energize negativity.
• Relentlessly energize their positives.
• Reset: Do not react negatively and stay calm when the child does something wrong.

Parents following this approach commit to not saying or doing anything that may fuel negativity in the child. But the parent has to make sure she/he does this very calmly, without any anger or resentment.

(4) While on a mission to cut the negative, the parent looks for every opportunity to energize the positive in the child. This is done through persistently appreciating the goodness in the child in the smallest of ways: You were really generous about sharing your pizza with your sister; I appreciate the hard work you have put in your project; It takes courage to stand up to a bully. If you observe, the appreciation is not about saying “excellent”, “amazing” or “good”, which is really an empty praise and does not speak much to the child. Qualifying a praise, on the other hand, gives the child direction and she/he begins to understand what qualities, values and strengths are appreciated. These are also necessary ingredients of life skills and success.

(5) This approach is not merely about noticing when the child is being good, it is about recognizing the child’s worth at every step. It’s about aligning his energy in believing that he has great qualities, which are being identified and validated by the parents at every step. He realizes that there is no point choosing negativity, as there are no pay-offs to it, and is validated building his worth instead.

(iii) ‘I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet’ and now my long hair was shingled like a coward’s… (Memories of Childhood)
What inference about the life of Zitkala-Sa can be drawn from the above statement?

(i) ‘They decided that the Maharaja must not come to know that he had missed the target’. (The Tiger King)
Why did the hunters try to hide the truth from the king?

Explain the inference that can be drawn from the line:
“Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?”
{(The Last Lesson)}

“Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb, whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells him. That’s why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives. “I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away. “Go to school,” I say glibly, realizing immediately how hollow the advice must sound. “There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.”

(Lost Spring)

From that day onwards, it was celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram. The State banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja. A proclamation was issued to the effect that if anyone dared to fling so much as a stone at a tiger, all his wealth and property would be confiscated. The Maharaja vowed he would attend to all other matters only after killing the hundred tigers. Initially, the king seemed well set to realise his ambition.

(The Tiger King)

The reason the programme has been so successful is because it is impossible to go anywhere near the South Pole and not be affected by it. It’s easy to be blasé about polar ice caps melting while sitting in the comfort zone of our respective latitude and longitude, but when you can visibly see glaciers retreating and ice shelves collapsing, you begin to realise that the threat of global warming is real. Antarctica, because of her simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity, is the perfect place to study how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions.

(Journey to the End of the Earth)

Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,
That waits all day in almost open prayer.
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,
Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass,
Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are
And one did stop, but only to plow up grass
In using the yard to back and turn around;
And another to ask the way to where it was bound;

(A Roadside Stand)