MODEL : 8 English First Paper

MODEL : 8

English First Paper

                                                                      Time : 3 hours             Full Marks : 100

[Figures in the right margin indicate full marks.]

Section A : Reading Test (Seen Passage)

Read the text and answer questions 1, 2 and 3.    

River gypsies are an ethnic group in Bangladesh. They are known as bedey to local people. The gypsies have their own lifestyle and culture. They live in groups and do not own any land. Therefore, they live a nomadic life travelling from one place to another. These people roam across our rivers and waters from May to December in small country boats. These boats are their houses and these people are a part of our waters. In winter, many water bodies dry up. At that time they return to the mainland and live in make-shift tarpaulin tents on open river banks. You can see their men relaxing in the tents. Toddlers play with dogs or other pets in the dust. Women often idle away time by hair doing, picking off lice in twos or threes sitting in a row. Throughout the monsoon, they remain busy with fishing. They also dive for natural pearls in waters. Sometimes, they camp for a couple of weeks. Men catch snakes and entertain people with snake charming and sell herbal cures. Women go from door to door to sell bangles, cosmetics and other things. They also try to heal pains of old people often by sucking out blood from their body.

Many villagers believe in the magical power of the gypsies. They can an evil spirit leave someone’s body by magic or special powers.                                                                [Unit-7; Lesson-3 (B)]  

1.     Choose the best answer from the alternative :  1 ´ 5 =  5

(a)   The term 'ethnic' is connected with ¾.   

        (i) people                       (ii) plants

        (iii) animals                   (iv) fishes

(b)   The gypsies lead a ¾ life.

        (i) luxurious                   (ii) nomadic

        (iii) fashionable            (iv) simple

(c)   They are locally known as ¾.

        (i) jeley                           (ii) kumar

        (iii) snake charmer       (iv) bedey

(d)   'Monsoon' refers to the ¾.

        (i) summer                     (ii) winter

        (iii) autumn                   (iv) rainy season

(e)   They gypsies have no ¾.

        (i) language                   (ii) religion

        (iii) land possession     (iv) culture

2.     Give short answers to the following questions. 2 ´ 5 = 10

(a)   Who are river gypsies?

(b)   What do river gypsies do for a living?

(c)   Where do they return in winter?

(d)   What do the village people believe about the river gypsies?

(e)   How long do they stay on boats?

3.     Read the text in A again. Now, write the summary of it in around 50 words.             10

Reading Test (Unseen Passage)

Read the following text carefully and answer question 4 and 5.

The great ship Titanic sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 891. At that time, however she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen water tight compartments. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life. Four days after setting out while the Titanic was sailing across the icy water of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a look out. After the alarm had been given the great ship turned sharply to avoid a collision. Suddenly there was slightly trembling sound from below, the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that ship had been damaged, below the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen water tight compartments had already been flooded. [Open Source]

4.    Complete the following table with the information given in the passage.   1 ´ 5 = 5

Who/What	Event/ Activity	Where	When/Time
The Titanic	maiden journey	Southampton to (i) ......	10/04/1912
(ii) ......		no board	then
The ship	(iii) ......	North Atlantic	14/04/1912
Faint sound	occurred	(iv) ......	after collision
The captain	(v) .......		the sinking

5.     Read the passage again and write True or False beside the following statements. Give answers for the false statements.            1 ´ 5 = 5

(a)   The Titanic sailed for New York from Southampton April 10, 1912.

(b)   The Titanic collided with a huge ice-berg.

(c)   The Titanic was sailing across the hot water of the Pacific.

(d)   The noise of collision with the ice-berg was very loud.

(e)   The Titanic had twenty water-tight compartments.

6.     Fill in the gaps with appropriate words.             1 ´ 5 = 5

        The ancient Romans used (a) ¾. These were vehicles with two (b) ¾ pulled by horses, and were used in racing and fighting. Julius Caesar banned chariot driving at night because the thundering chariot wheels made too much (c) ¾. It seems that we do not (d) ¾ what Julius Caesar realized two thousand years ago. Yet modern (e) ¾ life is full of noise.

7.     Rearrange the following sentences in correct order.        1´10 = 10

(a)   France under him was very powerful.

(b)   When he was young, he entered the French Army as an ordinary soldier.

(c)   Napoleon was one of greatest soldiers.          

(d)   He soon took the supreme power of the country.

(e)   In fact, he loved his men and paid them well.

(f)    He tolerated no laziness exercised by any of his officials.

(g)   He fought several wars with the neighbouring countries and won victories over them.

(h)   But he was kind to them when there was no need to be hard.

(i)    He rose quickly to a high position in the army by his good work and courage.

(j)    He worked hard and made his officers work hard.

8.     Fill in the gaps using clues from the boxes. There are more words than necessary.                0.5 ´ 10 = 5

television	even	shown	on	too	source
interests	distance	and	the	with	present

        Television has become (a) ¾ most common and widespread (b) ¾ of entertainment of the (c) ¾ world. A wide range of programmes of varied (d) ¾ is telecast (e) ¾ numerous channels. Almost every middle class and (f) ¾ working class families have a (g) ¾ set today. Television programmes are not only entertaining; they can be highly educative (h) ¾. For example, television is used for (i) ¾ learning. Courses run by the Open University are (j) ¾ on television.

9.     The phrases in Column A are the beginnings of some sentences. The phrases in column B are the endings. Match the phrases in column A with the phrases in column B to make complete sentences.     1 ´ 5 = 5

Column A	Column B
(i)    Hamidur Rahman shaped and	(a)             is very great in our national life.
(ii)   People remember him	(b)             our freedom, strength and nationalism.
(iii)  The significance of the Shaheed Minar	(c)  for his design of the Shaheed Minar.
(iv)  Shaheed Minar reflects of	(d) Bengali identity and nationalism.
(v)   Today it symbolises of	(e)  designed the structure of the central Shaheed Minar.

Section B : Writing Test

10.  Suppose, you are Selim/Selima and your friend is Dipak/Dipika. Make a dialogue between you and your friend about your favourite hobby.                                                                                        10

11. Write a paragraph on 'Your National Flag' in about 100 words answering the following questions.                 10

(a)   What do you mean by a national flag?

(b)   How have we got our national flag?

(c)   What is its width and breadth?

(d)   How can we protect and uphold the honour of our national flag?

12. Read the beginning of a story. Now, complete it in 150 words.      10

        Once in a very hot day a fox came to a vineyard where he saw some grapes. The grapes were ripe and looked very attractive. As the fox was very hungry.....

13. Suppose, you are Shahin/Shahina. You have a friend named Rahim/Rahima. Now write an e-mail to your friend congratulating him/her on his/her brilliant success in the last J.S.C examination. 10