List of top English Questions

Read the following passage. Answer the question :
Digital technologies have profoundly changed childhood and adolescence. The internet and the means to access it, such as tablets and smartphones, along with social media platforms and messaging apps, have become integral to the lives of youth around the world. They have transformed their education and learning the way make and maintain friendship, how they spend their leisure time, and their engagement with wider society. UNICEF's State of the world's Children 2017: Children in a Digital World report reveals that one in three internet users is younger 18 years and 71% of 15-24-year-olds are online, making them the most connected age group worldwide. However, the so-called digital divide is substantial: 346 million youth are not online, with African adolescents the most affected (60% are not connected compared with 4% in Europe). Young people who lack digital skills, live in remote regions, or speak a minority language are also being left behind in harnessing the opportunities.
Some children have never been online or have little access and are missing out on the benefits of connectivity.
Digital advances have their flip side too. Bullying is no longer left at the school gates; cyberbullying is a new method for bullies to hurt and humilite their victims with the click of a button. Words and images posted online that are designed to cause harm are also difficult to delete, increasing the risk of re-victimisation.
Concerns have also been raised about the time children spend using digital technology and its effect on their physical activity and mental health. Evidence suggests moderate use of digital technology can be beneficial to children's mental wellbeing, whereas excessive use can be detrimental. Children's social relationships seem to be enhanced by digital technology, especially since most of their social circle is now online. Evidence on physical activity is mixed. And better research is needed in this area.
Despite these issues, the popularity and use of digital technologies will continue to grow. However, an intergenerational gap exists in digital knowledge and literacy. Teachers and parents need training to teach digital skills and online safety to children. They are also crucial to helping young people assess reliable news and information sources and navigate the pressures social media, as highlighted in a report released on Jan 4 by England's Children's Commissioner. Schools are also an important forum for discussing cyberbullying, anti-bullying programmes need to include online harassment.
Children and adolescents must be the priority of national and global digital policies, not only to protect them from online harm but also to allow technology to help them fulfil their full potential.
Read the following passage. Answer the question :
It was raining when Rahel came back to Ayemenem. Slanting silver ropes slammed into loose earth, plowing it up like gunfire. The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled over its ears like a low hat. The walls, streaked with moss, had grown soft, and bulged a little with dampness that seeped up from the ground. The wild, overgrown garden was full of the whisper and scurry of small lives. In the undergrowth a rat snake rubbed itself against a glistening stone. Hopeful yellow bullfrogs cruised the scummy pond for mates. A drenched mongoose flashed across the leaf-strewn driveway.
The house itself looked empty. The doors and window were locked. The front verendah bare unfurnished. But the skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins was still parked outside, and inside, Baby Kochamma was still alive.
She was Rahel's baby grandaunt, her grandfather's younger sister. Her name was really Navomi, Navomi Ipe, but every body called her Baby. She became Baby Kochamma when she was old enough to be an aunt.
Rahel hadn't come to see her, though. Neither niece nor baby grandaunt labored under any illusions on that account. Rahel had come to see her brother, Estha. They were two-egg twins. "Dizygotic" doctors called them. Born from separate but simultaneously fertilized eggs. Estha- Esthappen-- was the older by eighteen minutes.
They never did look much like each other, Estha and Rahel, and even when they were thin- armed children, flat-chasted, wormridden and Elvis presley-puffed, there was none of the usual " Who is who?" and "Which is which?" from oversmilling relatives or the Syrian Orthodox bishops who frequently visited the Ayemenem House for donations.
The confusion lay in a deeper, more secret place.
Based on the given passage, answer the questions 1-5:
Three major verdicts given by the Supreme Court during the 1980s and the 1990s goaded the state to assume greater responsibility in the matter of providing access to education. These verdicts (Bandhua Mukti Morcha vs the Union of India, 1981; Mohini Jain vs Karnataka State, 1992; Unnikrishan vs Andhra Pradesh, 1993) seemed to offer eminent examples of the hermeneutic space available in the Constitution, revealing how important it was to read the Constitution imaginatively in order to crystalize the ideas that may not have been fully articulated. The Crowning exercise of this kind figured in the Mohini jata case in which the court extended the scope of article 21 by reading into the fundamental right to like a vision of life which includes the nursing force of education. This hermeneutic exercise was widely hailed as a major advanced in the evolution of Democratic polity . It was expected that the court's interpretation of article 21 would Trigger significant civil activism on behalf of The educationally deprived. This expectation was not full filled as such, but after several your spend drafting late to the enactment of an amendment in the constitution which rendered elementary education an explicitly stated fundamental right.
The new right granted to children leaves the state free to impart education by any means that it mean by law determined to be suitable for this purpose. During the recent years we have witness the official acceptance of several other alternative modes. Neither the court nor the Parliament have succeeded in making a Dent on the systemic tendency to first device a cheaper alternative for the poor and then to promise Populous measures to improve it. In the absence of the systematic reform onc cannot hope for clearer perception of stronger will to counter the ideology which permits childhood to be defined  differently for the labouring poor. The State's responsibility towards these precious, formative years of life has been suitably accommodated in the amended version of the same article 45 which Had served little use to achieve the purpose stated in it and which, therefore required the enhancement of article 21.
Based on the given passage answer the questions 26 – 30 :
The court has made dissection of animals optional for Biology students. I wonder if another court order can be sought to make observation of nature a requirement of science study. A student can get through school with shining success without developing the ability to notice details in natural phenomena. There are children whose entire knowledge of nature comes from books, the blackboard, and a few laboratory experiments. In the case of some we can add a computer monitor. I wish the science syllabi might include a reading of the King Solomon’s Ring, a delightful classic on animal behavior and Jungle and Backyard, a collection of essays by the late M. Krishnan. It is a pity our children get no taste of the pleasures that careful observation of a cat , a fish, or a tree in natural circumstances can bring.
Books which are not fortunate enough to gain the status of textbooks mean nothing in our system. Otherwise, a remarkable book on trees written by Chakraborty S. Venkatesh would have made an impact. The kind of leisure it demands, and the freedom to connect things in One's mind it assumes, have no place in our schools because they are fixated on textbook based examinations.
I recall meeting a large group of children outside the wolf’s compound in the Tokyo zoo. Several hours later. I noticed the children and their teacher still busy with the wolf. They had spent the day watching every part and behavior of the wolf, taking notes and comparing their observations with those given in the books they were carrying.
Our children, of course, never get this kind of opportunity or training. A visit to the zoo means everything, just as our syllabi provide a cursory, whirlwind coverage of every topic and fact. A group of children was rushing past the photo exhibition at the Sabarmati Ashram. Two boys manage to stop at a picture for a few minutes, noticing something unusual in it. As I watched in horror, one of the teachers came back looking for the boys and the first thing she did on finding them was to slap and scold them for staying behind. Anyone who has hung around School corridors would know that teachers give priority to maintaining group discipline over appreciating individual curiosity or effort.
Based on the given passage, answer the questions 31-35 :
We were nearly finished with listening to everybody's morning life when a myna came in, sat on the ceiling fan and started chattering loudly. Mala looked at her and said, "Sir, she too wants to talk about her morning routine!". This was a fine statement coming from Mala who was feeling a little inane since she had no special morning narrative to offer as a hosteller. Her remark cheered her up and everybody else too. It gave me an interesting idea which vaguely reflected the topic we had abandoned. I asked, how far do you think this myna has come from? No one took this question seriously, but it propelled me to go a step further, 'what else is present in our class that might have come from afar?' It was obvious that I was now referring to non-human participants but were they living or non-living? This question came from Rupal, one of the habitual late comers. 'Never mind', I said, 'say whatever you notice. She surprised everybody by saying that the electricity come from God knows where. Two students immediately intervened. 'you know it is coming from thermal power station'. "It might be coming from the national grid-it is all connected, you know." There was silence. Even the myna turned quiet. My job in such moments came down to prompting further, so I said, 'That's a great thought. Let us see if there are any other long-distance participants in our class.
My students started spotting things at a wild, inspired speed. Dust on the desks! The air! The sound of traffic! The dust seemed to have travelled the longest distance indeed-from Rajasthan as everybody thought. I was ready to conclude. "So, is that the longest commuter?" We were uncertain, but not quite ready to let the quest die. Jaya said "The sun has travelled lakhs of miles." I was stunned. So was everyone else. We had become aware of a phenomenon we had never thought about, how the sun came from so far away to make our class happen. The unpredicted outcomes of learning are far more important than the ones we can predict and plan for.