Abhinav Education Society’s

ABHINAV ENGLISH SCHOOL (CBSE)

Unit Test III (2021-22)
Sub.English Marks 40
Std.12 Time 2 Hrs.

General Instructions :
1. The Question Paper contains THREE Sections -READING,WRITING and LITERATURE.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.

SECTION-A READING (14 marks)

Q. 1 Read the passage given below.

(1) Classical dance evolved from Tamil Nadu’s temples across centuries. The revived and
reformed Bharatanatyam keeps the art born of these ancient temples alive even to this day. Once
sustained and nurtured in temples as part of a rich and vibrant temple tradition, classical dance in
South India has remained over centuries a dynamic, living tradition that is continuously renewed.

(2) Even 2000 years ago, dance in India was a highly evolved and complex art. It was an
integral part of
ancient Indian theatre as established by the Natya Shastra, the oldest and exhaustive treatise on
theatre and dramaturgy. Dance dramas were performed in temple precincts. Dance movements
were crystallised in stone as karanas in temple sculpture. Following the Bhakti movement in the
6th century, dance and music became powerful vehicles of veneration. The deity was treated like
a much-loved king, praised and royally entertained with music and dance, as part of the daily
sacred rituals of worship. Gifted, highly educated temple dancers or devadasis were supported by
the temples that were richly endowed by the rulers. Some 400 temple dancers were dedicated to
and maintained by the Brihadeswarar Temple in Thanjavur. Dance evolved as a composite art in
temples as dancers, nattuvanars (dance gurus), musicians, poets, composers, architects, sculptors
and painters shared a holistic approach to all the arts.

(3) The evolution of Bharatanatyam derives from the invaluable contribution of The Tanjore
Quartet.
The four Pillai brothers – Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Sivanandam and Vadivelu – served as court
musicians at the kingdom of Maratha king, Serfoji II in the early 19th century. Their legacy to
Bharatanatyam has been their restructuring of the dance repertoire into the margam format and
their vast and diverse music compositions set specifically for dance. Some of their descendants
like Guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai evolved the famous Pandanallur bani (style) and trained many
eminent dancers.

(4) From the temples, dance made its way into the courts of kings and dancers were not just devadasis,
but also rajanartakis. By the early 17th century dance forms like sadir or chinna melam, precursors to
Bharatanatyam as we know it today had become popular in the courts of the Maratha rulers in Thanjavur.
However, in the 19th century, colonial propaganda perceived such dance as vulgar and immoral. It led to
the Anti-Nautch Movement and legislation against temple dance and dancers. Divested of all patronage
and temple support, devadasis were thrown into dire straits. In the early 20th century, thanks to
enlightened visionaries like EV Krishna Iyer and later, Rukmini Devi Arundale, and the dedication of a
handful of devadasis and nattuvanars, classical dance was resuscitated and revived as bharatanatyam.
Today, apart from a few cultural festivals in some temples, dance has left the temple for the proscenium
stage.

On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer Any Eight of the given questions.
(1 × 8 = 8)

(1) What kept Bharatnatyam alive even to the present day, according to the passage?
(2) How did Natya Shastra help in evolvement of dance?
(3) Rewrite the given sentence by replacing the underlined word with another one.
Their legacy to Bharatnatyam has been their restructuring of the dance repertoire into the morgam
format...
(4) How was the deity treated in 6th Century?
(5)... dance has left the temple for the proscenium stage. The phrase proscenium stage means
__________.
(6) Who were part of Tanjore Quartet?
(7) Who can be credited for evolving the famous style ‘Pandanallur bani’?
(8)What led to Anti-Nautch Movement?
(ix) ‘Today, apart from a few cultural festivals in some temples, dance has left the temple for the
proscenium stage’. What does the given line indicate?

Q. 2 Read the passage given below.

(1) That large animals require luxuriant vegetation has been a general assumption which has passed from
one work to another; but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely false, and that it has vitiated the
reasoning of geologists on some points of great interest in the ancient history of the world. The prejudice
has probably been derived from India, and the Indian islands, where troops of elephants, noble forests,
and impenetrable jungles, are associated together in everyone’s mind. If, however, we refer to any work
of travels through the southern parts of Africa, we shall find allusions in almost every page either to the
desert character of the country, or to the numbers of large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is
rendered evident by the many engravings which have been published of various parts of the interior.

(2) Dr. Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that,
taking into consideration the whole of the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a
sterile country. On the southern coasts there are some fine forests, but with these exceptions, the traveler
may pass for days together through open plains, covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. Now, if we look
at the animals inhabiting these wide plains, we shall find their numbers extraordinarily great, and their
bulk immense.
(3) It may be supposed that although the species are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few. By
the kindness of Dr. Smith, I am enabled to show that the case is very different. He informs me, that in lat.
24’, in one day’s march with the bullock-wagons, he saw, without wandering to any great distance on
either side, between one hundred and one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses - the same day he saw several
herds of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a hundred.

(4) At the distance of a little more than one hour’s march from their place of encampment on the previous
night, his party actually killed at one spot eight hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river
there were likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite extraordinary, to see so many great animals
crowded together, but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers. Dr. Smith describes the
country passed through that day, as ‘being thinly covered with grass, and bushes about four feet high, and
still more thinly with mimosa-trees.’

(5) Besides these large animals, anyone the least acquainted with the natural history of the Cape has read
of the herds of antelopes, which can be compared only with the flocks of migratory birds. The numbers
indeed of the lion, panther, and hyena, and the multitude of birds of prey, plainly speak of the abundance
of the smaller quadrupeds: one evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling round Dr.
Smith’s encampment. As this able naturalist remarked to me, the carnage each day in Southern Africa
must indeed be terrific! I confess it is truly surprising how such a number of animals can find support in a
country producing so little food.

(6) The larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over wide tracts in search of it; and their food chiefly consists of
underwood, which probably contains much nutriment in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the
vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock.
There can be no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the apparent amount of food necessary for the
support of large quadrupeds are much exaggerated. The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the
vegetation must necessarily be luxuriant, is more remarkable, because the converse is far from true.

(7)Mr. Burchell observed to me that when entering Brazil, nothing struck him more forcibly than the
splendour of the South American vegetation contrasted with that of South Africa, together with the
absence of all large quadrupeds. In his travels, he has suggested that the comparison of the respective
weights (if there were sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest herbivorous quadrupeds of each
country would be extremely curious. If we take on the one side, the elephants, hippopotamus, giraffe, bos
caffer, elan, five species of rhinoceros; and on the American side, two tapirs, the guanaco, three deer, the
vicuna, peccari, capybara (after which we must choose from the monkeys to complete the number), and
then place these two groups alongside each other it is not easy to conceive ranks more disproportionate in
size.

(8) After the above facts, we are compelled to conclude, against anterior probability that among the
mammalia there exists no close relation between the bulk of the species, and the quantity of the
vegetation, in the countries which they inhabit.

On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer Any Six questions. (1 × 6 = 6)
(i) What is the primary concern of the author?
(ii) What does the flock of migratory birds suggest?
(iii) Why does Darwin quote Burchell?
(iv) What is significant about the southern part of Africa?
(v) Which country initiated the prejudice that large animals require luxuriant vegetation?
(vi) What was Mr. Burchell’s reaction upon reaching South America?
(vii) What according to you is the final outcome or conclusion of the given passage?
SECTION-B WRITING
Q.3. Write a formal reply accepting an invitation to be present in the birthday celebrations of your friend,
Suresh’s daughter, who lives at 1231, Chattarpur, Delhi. You are Abhishek Khanna. (50 words) (3)
Q.4. Attempt Any One of the given questions. (5)
A. You are Shreya/Sanjay of 20/B Kamla Nagar, Delhi. You saw an advertisement for the post of Science
Teacher. P.G.T. in Golden Valley School, Vasant Kunj, Delhi in your local daily. Write a letter to the
principal of the school applying for the job. Enclose your bio-data.
OR
B. You are Mridul/Mridula, an HT correspondent. You witnessed a protest rally by a youth organisation.
Mentioning the purpose of rally, places covered and reaction of public, write a report in 120-150 words
for your newspaper

SECTION C - LITERATURE

Q.5 Attempt ANY FIVE of the six questions given below, within 40 words each.(2x5=10)

i. A mistaken identity led to a discovery of a new one for the rattrap peddler. How did this
impact him?

ii. As the host of a talk show, introduce Rajkumar Shukla to the audience by

stating any two of his defining qualities.

You may begin your answer like this:

Meet Rajkumar Shukla, the man who played a pivotal role in the Champaran

Movement. He ……

iii.How did Gandhiji heip the peasants of Champaran ?

iv. Rationalize why Keats uses the metaphor ‘an endless fountain of immortal

drink’ in his poem, A Thing of Beauty.

v. Why did the peddler decline the invitation ?

vi. Validate John Updike’s open-ended title, ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy?’.

Q.6 Answer ANY TWO of the following in about 120-150 words each. (4x2=8)

i. How does Keats’ poem, A Thing of Beauty appeal richly to the senses, stimulating the

reader’s inner sight as well as the sense of touch and smell? Write your answer in about

120-150 words.

ii. Biographies include features of non-fiction texts- factual information and different text
structures such as description,sequence, comparison,cause and effect, or problem and
solution.Examine Indigo in the light of this statement, in about 12-150 words.

iii. The peddler comes out as a person with a subtle sense of humour .How does this serve in
lightening the seriousness of the theme of the story and also endear him to us ?

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