CBSE IX | ENGLISH

Sample Paper – 2

CBSE
Class IX English Language and Literature
Sample Paper – 2
SA I

Maximum Marks: 70 Time: 3 hours

The question paper is divided into the following sections:

Section A: Reading 20 marks
Section B: Writing & Grammar 25 marks
Section C: Literature 25 marks

SECTION A
READING

Q1. Read the following passage carefully:

The first two years of life are a critical ‘window of opportunity’. In this period, it is possible
to prevent the largely irreversible damage that follows early childhood under-nutrition.
There are 805 million undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nine
people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life.

Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide—greater
than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Three-quarters of all hungry people live in
rural areas, mainly in the villages of Asia and Africa. An estimated 146 million children in
developing countries are underweight—the result of acute or chronic hunger. Poverty trap,
lack of investment in agriculture, natural calamities, war and displacement, unstable
markets and food wastage are the major causes of for the presence of hunger in the world.
Hunger leads to malnutrition which in turn causes diseases. Malnutrition is the largest
single contributor to disease in the world, according to the UN's Standing Committee on
Nutrition (SCN).

Malnutrition at an early age leads to reduced physical and mental development during
childhood. According to the World Bank, India is one of the highest ranking countries in the
world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. One of the major causes for
malnutrition in India is gender inequality. Due to the low social status of Indian women,
their diet often lacks in both quality and quantity. Women who suffer malnutrition are less
likely to have healthy babies. In India, mothers generally lack proper knowledge in feeding
children. Consequently, new born infants are unable to get adequate amount of nutrition
from their mothers.

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Sample Paper – 2

Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar have very high rates of under-nutrition. Studies
show that individuals belonging to Hindu, Jain or Muslim backgrounds in India tend to be
more malnourished than those from Sikh or Christian backgrounds. The Akshaya Patra
Foundation runs the world's largest NGO-run midday meal programme serving freshly
cooked meals to over 1.3 million schoolchildren in government and government-aided
schools in India. However, the challenge for all these programs and schemes is how to
increase efficiency, impact and coverage.

I. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions:

1) What are the causes of the presence of hunger in the world?

2) How does hunger lead to malnutrition?
3) How does gender inequality lead to malnutrition in India?
4) What role does the Akshay Patra foundation play?
5) Where are the majority of the hungry people inhabited?
6) Which religious communities in India tend to be less malnourished?
7) Find words from the passage that mean
a) prospect: _____________
b) ample: _____________
c) be deficient in: ______________

Q2. Read the following passage carefully:

It is important that you recognise the signs of stress in your behaviour, and be healthy
enough to enjoy your success. Stress can strike anytime, in a fashion that may leave you
unaware of its presence in your life. While a certain amount of pressure is necessary for
performance, it is important to be able to recognise your individual threshold. For instance,
there are some individuals who accept competition in a healthy fashion. There are others
who collapse into weeping wrecks before an exam, or on comparing marksheets and
finding that their mates have scored better.

Whenever there is a change in the external environment such as temperature, pollutants,

humidity and working conditions, it leads to stress. In these days of competition when a
person makes up his mind to surpass what has been achieved by others, leading to an
imbalance between demands and resources, it causes psycho-social stress. It is a part and
parcel of everyday life.

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Sample Paper – 2

Stress has a different meaning depending on the stage of life you're in. The loss of a toy or a
reprimand from the parents might create a stress shock in a child. An adolescent who fails
an examination may feel as if everything has been lost and life has no further meaning. In
an adult, the loss of his or her companion, job or professional failure may appear as if there
is nothing more to be achieved.

Stress can be seen in the attitude and behaviour of the individual, as muscle tension in
various parts of the body, palpitation and high blood pressure, indigestion and hyperacidity
and ultimately in self-destructive behaviour such as eating and drinking too much, smoking
excessively, relying on tranquillisers, trembling, shaking, nervous blinking, dryness of
throat and mouth and difficulty in swallowing. The professional under stress behaves as if
he is a perfectionist followed by depression, lethargy, weakness for further work. Periodic
mood shifts also indicate the stress status of students, executives and professionals.

Many illnesses actually originate from stress but are perceived as outcomes of unhealthy
eating habits. Reports have indicated that young adults in their late 20s and early 30s are
suffering from diabetes and gastrointestinal problems. Once an outcome of high cholesterol
levels, heart disease too is caused because of a stressed lifestyle. Stress also triggers
headaches, which if left untreated can lead to migraines as well.

Answer the following questions: [12]

1. How do different people handle stress?
2. What causes psycho-social stress?
3. How is stress different at different age levels?
4. How does the body show that it is stressed?
5. Are illnesses associated with stress?
6. Find words from the passage that mean:
a) contaminant
b) sedative

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Sample Paper – 2

SECTION B
(WRITING & GRAMMAR – 25 MARKS)

Q3. Write an article of about 100–200 words on the problem of space in your city.
Give a suitable title to your article. [5]

Q4. Write a short story in about 150–200 words beginning with the following: [10]

Ravi slammed the door behind him and threw his satchel on the sofa...

Q5. Complete the passage by choosing the correct option from those given in
brackets: [3]

The papers were neatly filed (a) __________ Maria, arranged alphabetically for Mr
Henderson’s convenience. Every morning he would sit with this file; marking names of
companies or individuals (b) __________ would benefit from the Henderson Charity Fund. The
charity was (c) __________ by his late daughter Martha, (d) __________ the money she won in (e)
__________ international chess championship. Martha died in a freak accident. Her dying wish
was to use all her prize money (f) __________ the needy, and that is what her father did.

(a) i. with ii. for iii. by iv. on

(b) i. which ii. that iii. while iv. who

(c) i. founded ii. find iii. found iv. finds

(d) i. by ii. from iii. for iv. with

(e) i. an ii. some iii. a iv. the

(f) i. to ii. for iii. with iv. at

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Sample Paper – 2

Q6. In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the
most appropriate missing word along with the word that comes before and the one
which comes after against the correct blank number in your answer sheet. [4]

a) Milk is a perfect food. It should form essential ________ ________ ________

b) part of daily diet. Doctors advise never to ________ ________ ________
c) miss daily glass of milk. It is good for the people ________ ________ ________
d) of ages but it is especially needed for growing ________ ________ ________
e) children because of nourishing value. Milk ________ ________ ________
f) contains all necessary minerals and ________ ________ ________
g) vitamins for strong and healthy body. ________ ________ ________
h) So drink glass of milk every day. ________ ________ ________

Q7. Rearrange the following words and phrases to make meaningful sentences. The
first one has been done as an example. [3]

E.g. feared by / snakes are / in our / worshipped / and / many / country

Ans. Snakes are worshipped and feared by many in our country.

1. Conserving nature / Indian societies / its own set / of traditional / with several /
methods of / follows / cultures
2. Closed seasons / many communities / follow traditional practices / of forest
dwellers / of maintaining / and fisher people
3. As no hunting / the wildlife population / its numbers / or fishing / during this time
/ can recoup / is allowed

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Sample Paper – 2

SECTION C
(LITERATURE – 25 MARKS)
Q8. Read the given extract and answer the following questions by choosing the most
appropriate option. [3]
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

1. Where does the poet feel he will find peace?

i. In the bean rows
ii. In the midnight glimmer
iii. On the roadway
iv. In Innisfree

2. The dominant figure of speech in the given lines is

i) simile ii) repetition iii) personification iv) metaphor

3. A word in the lines that means ‘cloak’ is

i. linnet
ii. glow
iii. veils
iv. glimmer

Q9. Answer any FOUR of the following questions in about 30–40 words each. [8]
1. How did Tommy describe the old kind of school?
2. How did the shehnai get its name?
3. What does the poet like to do when it rains?
4. Why does the world remember Einstein as a world citizen?
5. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady's reaction?

Q10. How did Kezia’s father behave in general at home? [4]

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Sample Paper – 2

Q11. How can one say that the character J. from the novel Three Men in a Boat is a
hypochondriac?
OR [10]
Describe the Lilliputians.

____________________________________________________________

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