CBSE Class 12 English Elective Sample Paper 2024-25 with Solution PDF

1.

Read the following passage and answer the following questions:

(1)

The postmaster’s office was located in Ulapur village. He was a young man from Calcutta. Stationed here, far from the known boundaries of civilization, he often felt like a fish out of water. The nearby plantation workers seemed to have a community of their own. Social racial separation between two different classes of people seemed all but impossible.

(2)

In truth, the city boy wasn’t good at mingling. Uprooted and exiled to a foreign land, his emotions oscillated between arrogance and shame. He rarely met any of the villagers. At times he tried writing. He wrote poems: poems in which the marrow of life seemed to vibrate with the faint trembling of young leaves, in which the memory of existence was renewed by the sight of rain clouds – and yet he knew deep in his heart that this was the only thing How he would greet the sight of a new life would be if a fantastic djinn from the Arabian Nights arrived unexpectedly in the night and secretly swept away this labyrinth of crazy vegetation. He longed for the safety of asphalt roads and tall houses that blocked the view of the clouds in the open sky. The city spread its tentacles and called him back.

(3)

The postmaster’s salary was meager. He had to cook his own meals and the household chores fell to the care of an orphan girl named Ratan. Ratan was thirteen years old and called him Dadababu. Her marriage prospects seemed bleak. The evenings would come and clouds of smoke would rise from the cowshed. The postmaster would light his lamp. The flame flickered as he called out “Ratan?” Ratan would wait for that call. But when it arrived, she stormed into the room and pretended to be surprised. “You called, Dadababu?” “Are you busy?” “Well, I have to go and make the fire. . .” “You can afford that later, right? Be a darling and dress my tobacco.

(4)

Ratan came in with the hookah filled with charcoal and blew on it feverishly. The postmaster snatched it from her hand and asked all of a sudden, “Ratan, do you remember your mother?” Memories would come flooding back. Her father, she remembered, loved her more than her mother. She clearly remembered his smile, Page | 2 the smile he carried home when he returned every evening. His face returned to her like a revenant, and the little girl, still lost in thought, sat down on the floor at the postmaster’s feet. As she looked at the young man, she remembered how she once had a brother. She would remember the past as if it were just yesterday; how they had played by that old pond and used a branch as a fishing rod! She found herself remembering insignificant things. The greater tragedies of life were unclear.

(5)

There were days of magnetic nostalgia – as the postmaster sat on the wooden board next to the cabin, he remembered his own history – as well as his little brother, his sister, everyone he had left behind. He was infinitely and infinitely small, surrounded by a gaping emptiness – if only, if only he had someone to share it with! And just like that, all of nature reflected his abysmal emptiness. My heart is in free fall. Will no one catch it?

(6)

One monsoon afternoon, Ratan entered the postmaster’s room and found him lying on his cot under a pile of blankets. He had a fever. Something happened to Ratan. The pale fire of steady determination crackled beneath her skin. In an instant she assumed the authority of a mother. She rushed out of the hut, called the local doctor, stayed awake all night, chopping up herbs and feeding them to her patients. She punctuated the silence of that frightening night with the words: “Are you feeling better, Dadababu?”

(7)

It took the postmaster weeks to recover from his illness. When he had it completely

After he recovered, he thought to himself, “Enough is enough!” He had to get out of here.

He had to. He immediately wrote a letter to his superiors in Calcutta requesting one

Transfer for medical reasons. Once freed from her duties, Ratan spent her days outside

His room, book in hand, waits for the old call. But the call never came. Finally,

After weeks of waiting, Ratan was called one evening. Care secret

She entered the room with excitement and tender trepidation.

“Dadababu, did you call?”

“Ratan,” he began, “I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“Where are you going, Dadababu?”

“I’m going home.”

“When are you coming back?”

The postmaster pursed his lips.

“I don’t think I will.”

Ratan stood still for a while. The words seemed to get lost in the labyrinth

of their silence.

“Dadababu, will you take me with you?”

The young man stared at the girl and then laughed.

“This is ridiculous!”

Shocked, she burst into tears.

“Listen, Ratan. I never thanked you for everything you did. Now that I’m leaving,

I want to give you something. Keep this. This will tide you over for a while

at least.” The postmaster handed her a bag. When Ratan peeked inside, he saw that this was it

contained all of her master’s earnings. The little girl fell to the floor, stunned.

clutches the postmaster’s feet.

“Dadababu!” She stuttered, “I beg you! You don’t have to give me anything!

Please! Please! I don’t want your kindness! Nobody – nobody has to take responsibility

from me!”

And she ran out and disappeared into the mist that enveloped the hut.

(8)

I II III IV V Sighing, the postmaster took his bags and went to the river bank where a boat was waiting for him. As the boat finally slipped into the current, the postmaster felt the sudden weight of crushing grief weighing on his heart. “I should turn back,” he thought to himself. “Let me take her; she who was always neglected. She who was never welcomed.” But by now the wind had begun to push the sails. The traveler’s lukewarm heart comforted itself with the eternal philosophy: “Life was a river of farewell and farewell, of death and uprooting, of longing and belonging.” What was the point of looking back? Who belonged to whom in this world?’ But Ratan’s little heart harbored no such philosophy. She had circled the old cabin, nestled in the river of her own tears. Perhaps she harbored a tender hope that her Dadababu would one day return. Firmly anchored in her roots, she refused to let go of the rubble of her own grief. (1155 words) “The Postmaster” by Rabindranath Tagore – translated from Bengali by Utsa Bose

Based on your reading of the excerpt above, choose the correct option to answer the following questions: (All twelve)

I

What relationship did the postmaster have with the villagers?

A. Close and friendly

B. Distant and distant

C. Hostile

D. Collaborative

II

This shows the postmaster’s decision to reveal something about his character

he is __________

A. determined and determined

B. indifferent and unfeeling

C. hopeful and optimistic

D. weak and indecisive

III

What would Ratan remember when he talked to the postmaster?

A. A lot about her mother

B. Great tragedies of their lives

C. Her father, brother and many insignificant things

D. Her father, brother and many important things

IV

What does the postmaster mean when he thinks, “My heart is in free fall.”?

A. His heart hurts

B. His heart longs for love

C. His heart yearns to explore

D. His heart is beating fast

v

Statement 1: Ratan refuses to accept the salary offered by the postmaster.

Statement 2: Ratan is upset at the postmaster’s refusal to take her away

him.

A. Both 1 and 2 are correct and 2 is the reason for 1.

B. Both 1 and 2 are correct and 2 is not the reason for 1.

C. 1 is correct and 2 is incorrect.

D. Both 1 and 2 are incorrect.

VI

What does the image of “slight trembling of young leaves” symbolize in

Poem?

A. The postmaster’s longing for the city

B. The beauty of nature

C. The fragility of life

D. The growth and renewal of life

VII

What literary device is used in the phrase “Life was a river of farewell”?

Departures”?

A. Metaphor

B. Simile

C. exaggeration

D. Personification

VIII

The postmaster often felt like a “fish out of water” in Ulapur because:

A. His urban background made him a poor mixer in an unknown location

Ulapur.

B. He was always thirsty and hungry.

C. The villagers were friendly to him.

D. He had forgotten his hometown.

IX

What does the river symbolize in the last paragraph?

A. The postmaster’s journey to a new life

B. Ratan’s grief and isolation

C. The passage of time

D. The inevitability of change

X

And just like that, all of nature echoed with its abysmal emptiness.” What does this say about the postmaster’s state of mind?

XI

Tagore seems to suggest that powerful nature is capable of influencing those who come into contact with it – for better or for worse. Justify it with an example from history.

XII

Complete the sentence appropriately.

Ratan could not come to terms with the postmaster’s “eternal philosophy” and therefore chose ___________________

XIII

Indicate whether the following opinion is TRUE or FALSE.

When the postmaster fell ill, Ratan assumed the role of a dictator and called the doctor

XIV

What does the postmaster mean when he thinks, “Who belonged to whom in this world?”

XV

In paragraph 3, the narrator says, “But when it arrived, she rushed into the room feigning surprise. “Which of the following expressions accurately conveys the meaning of ‘feigning surprise’?

A. really surprised

B. pretend to be surprised

C. is seriously trying to be surprised

“D. delighted to be surprised”