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MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passages
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MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 1
Read the following passages/poems carefully and answer the questions that follow:
“The Pench National Park”, “Mogliland” is one of the famous parks of wild animal park of the “World”. It is reserved forest. It is between Nagpur and Jabalpur city. It is one of the “Center Point” of India. It is on the road, National Highway 07, we can reach Kanyakumari from Kashmir by this road. These are two poles of our nation, North and South. “Mogliland”, the name of this part is because of a miracle story of a “Jungle” boy.
History of Seoni (MP) District and Gazette says about a “miracle” boy of the area, which is related named “Mogli” and a “herd of wild dangerous animals”. The boy was born at Chor and Garthiya village of the same area, (in Seoni). One day when the little child of 18 months sleeping out of the hut, where her mother left him and went to her help of government documents and history of Seoni district an Australian novelist “Rudyard Kipling” wrote famous ” the Jungle Book” novel.
Its main plot has been taken from the true story of “Mogli”.
“logli” is the main character of the novel. We have (all the world) seen on the television serial “Jangal, Jangal baat chali hai” in 1990s.
In 18th century, when he was captured by British police and taken to the Jail, Gazette says he was near about 24 years. It means he lived with animals for 22 years. We (human) very well know that human has great affection for different animals. “The miracle is just against”. Here animals grew up human. Why did not they eat the child? Why did they gave time to grow up a human? Perhaps they feed him, give their lap to grow up for help as well as affection to the “human”. Mogli passed his life of 22 years among them. He ran, ate, jumped sounded, drank, sleep like them and helped they “Gazette say”. And “Protected” animals from “human”.
MP’s former Forest Minister Mr. Harbansh Singh who was very devoted to wild animal life and saved their life. He was also an educationist, worked a lot for Mogliland and started a programme “Mogli Utsav” for the students of the MP’s schools in 2002 to know the “Miracle” of the world and development of our State MP through “Miracle boy”. [M.R Board 2015]
Questions:
(i) Gazette means [1]
(ii) “Miracle” means [1]
(iii) Give a word for “Utsav” in English language. [1]
(iv) Novel means (in a word) [1]
(v) Give the name of the Kipling’s novel. [2]
(vi) Why is ‘The Pench National Park’ called Mogliland? [2]
(mi) Who, when, why and for whom started Mogli Utsav? [2]
Answers:
(i) An official newspaper.
(ii) Wonder.
(iii) Celebration.
(iv) Story.
(v) The Jungle Book.
(vi) It is called Mogliland because of a miracle story of a jungle boy.
(vii) Mr. Harbansh Singh started Mogli Utsav for the students of the MP’s school in 2002, so that they know the miracle of the world.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 2
All of us do some kind of work to ward off starvation or to gain sufficient material wealth with a view to maintaining that standard of living which our physical and intellectual powers have helped us to reach. But there is another kind of work which is completely divorced from the burden. Some process of our livelihood is undertaken for the sake of amusement or interest; or the direction of our surplus stores of energy in some new and useful channels of refined tastes. This delightful occupation combining work with pleasure of hobby, as it is properly termed, calls for the application of our highest faculties and gives proper form to our healthy instincts, purposeful habits and disciplined behavior. We devote our leisure to the pursuit of this pleasant task and derive advantages which compare favourable with those we obtain from the bread earning routine of our daily life. Hobbies widen the sphere of our cultural activities, give refined tastes, and show us the path that leads to our systematic mental and moral development. Our tendencies and inclinations also find in them an outlet for a healthy and progressive expression.
“A hobby is a favorite subject or occupation that is not one’s main business” in this age of machinery, which has taken upon itself most of the laborious duties of physical exertion, formally, performed by man, then creating for him pleasant intervals of rest and leisure. A man can devote some time to the pursuit of a new interest that can add some charm, colour, or zest to his life. The new interest will be worthwhile only if it provides relaxation and change from ordinary occupation. Vanish the dullness of routine work and produce a feeling that life is both charming and meaningful.
The choice of hobbies, like the choice of books for the purpose of reading, is not an easy task. Sometimes, we are suddenly attached to a hobby without backing its knowledge. Not a few are incompatible with our temperament and taste. We must, therefore neither allow the glamour of certain hobbies to blind us to their reality, however tempting they may appear to us nor should we begin to cherish them thoughtlessly because we find other people so devotedly attached to them.
In the flash of enthusiasm, many have rushed into unsuitable hobbies, only to find themselves turning away from them in a state of great disillusionment. In a few rare and exceptional cases, a sudden and instinctive choice of some hobbies, sometimes, proves to be the right one. We must not, however, forget that thinking with a hobby is a joyless and wasteful process, unattended by any appreciable gains. Scattered interests in half a dozen or more odd hobbies are also not a desirable end- [M.P. Board 2012]
Questions:
(i) Give one word for ‘an activity for which one gives time and effort’. [1]
(ii) Write a synonym of ‘enthusiasm’. [1]
(iii) Find the word from the passage, meaning ‘lying here and there’. [1]
(iv) Write the antonym of ‘suitable’. [1]
(y) What are the advantages of hobbies? [2]
(vi) Under what circumstances do we have to discard a hobby? [2]
(vii) In what way does a hobby refine our tastes? [2]
Answers:
(i) Occupation
(ii) Zest
(iii) Scattered
(iv) Unsuitable.
(v) It gives proper form to our healthy instincts, purposeful habits and disciplined behaviour.
(vi) Choice of unsuitable hobbies compels us to discard them in the long run.
(vii) It enlightens our life andrefreshes our mind. It also provides us likelihood in a better way for refining our tastes.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 3
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self,
To place ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk being called naive.
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying. :
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing,
has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their certitude, they are slaves, they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is truly free. [M.P. Board 2012]
Questions:
(i) Find out the words from the poem for the following expressions: [3]
(a) to show something hidden
(b) a thing that can be dangerous
(c) lacking experience of life or knowledge
(ii) Who is truly free and how? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) expose, (b) risk, (c) naive.
(ii) The person who risks is truly free as he does nothing, avoids suffering and sorrow, doesn’t learn, feel, change and fears nothing.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 4
Some political thinkers think that liberty and equality cannot go together. They think that liberty implies the freedom to do what one would like to do. This is true if freedom is interpreted in its absolute sense to mean that every individual shall be free according to his opportunities, there will be chaos. It is a lesson of history that whenever people are allowed to do as they wish, the clever and more capable use their freedom to concentrate all wealth and power for themselves to the misery and oppression of the rest. Obviously, the negative view is described by those who belong to the privileged sections of community and for this reason, seek to maintain status for the sake of their vested interests. They think that equality is unattainable under conditions of such unrestricted freedom. Lord Acton therefore, says, “The passion of equality made in vain the hope of liberty.”.
The exponents of the view held that liberty is natural, equality is not. Nature itself created differences. For example, some are intellectuals, others are not. Liberty means freedom i.e. no restrictions; equality needs some restrictions. This is against the principle of liberty. The institution of property is a natural institution and therefore, should not be restricted by equality. Perfect equality is only possible when enforced by the State. This means the power of the State will increase. Excess power of the State is harmful to the liberty of the people. Moreover, State has produced many evils of capitalism. It has encouraged exploitation. It has given protection to the capitalists. Such a State cannot give perfect equality. So, the hope of liberty also vanishes away. The democracy is said to be a system based on liberty and equality. But unfortunately, the democracy is either becoming elites’ democracy or dollar democracy. Either this is controlled by the educated class or by the capitalists. Presence of elite or capitalist is inequality. Hence, liberty and equality appear opposed to each other. (M.P. Board 2011)
Questions:
(i) Find out a word from the passage for the expression ‘having special rights’. [1]
(ii) Give the adverb form of the word ‘absolute’. [1]
(iii) Choosing from the given passage give antonym of the word ‘decrease’. [1]
(iv) Make noun from the word ‘describe’. [1]
(v) If everyone is allowed to do as he wishes, what will be the state of society? [2]
(vi) What is the view of Lord Acton regarding equality and liberty? [2]
(vii) What do you understand by elites’ democracy and dollar democracy? [2]
Answers:
(i) Privileged.
(ii) Absolutely.
(in) Increase.
(iv) Description.
(v) Liberty will vanish away, anarchy will prevail.
(vi) Lord Acton’s view is that “the passion of equality made in vain the hope of liberty.”
(vii) Democracy of the affluents or rich people.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 5
The world is finite, resources are scarce,
Things are bad and will be worse,
Coal is burned and gas exploded,
Wells are dry and air polluted,
Dust is blowing, trees are uprooted,
Oil is going, ores depleted,
Drains receive what is excreted
Land is sinking, seas are rising,
Man is far too enterprising.
Fires will rage with man to fan it,
Soon we will have a plundered planet. (M.P. Board 2011)
Questions:
(i) Choose two words from the poem which suggest the bleak future of mankind. [1]
(ii) Find out a word from the poem opposite to the word ‘better’. [1]
(iii) Give noun form of the word ‘explode’. [1]
(iv) What is the danger ahead about which the poem is warning us? [2]
Answers:
(i) Wells are dry and air is polluted. ‘
(ii) Worse.
(iii) Explosion.
(iv) Soon we will have a plundered planet means we are fated to be doomed.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 6
Trees show the variation in seasons and nature’s most colorful show put up especially during the fall. The changing colours of autumn signal that the trees are getting ready for winter. Throughout the spring and summer, most of the food necessary for the trees to grow are made in the leaves. The food-making process takes place in the cells containing chlorophyll which gives leaves their green colour.
Due to the shorter period of daylight and the cooler temperatures, the leaves stop making food. The chlorophyll breaks down and the green colour disappears and yellow and orange previously marked by the green appear. The vibrant reds, purples, and bronzes come from other chemical processes. The brilliant red of maple has a ‘sweet’ side.
In the warmth of the fall days, sugar is produced in the leaves and then trapped by the night’s chill. The more sugar it accumulates, the brighter the leaves turn. The degree of odour varies from tree-to-tree. Leaves directly exposed to the sun may turn red, while those on the shady side of the same tree may be yellow. Colour also varies depending on the combination of weather conditions. When autumn is warm, leaves may have less red colouration.
As colours vary from mountain tops to villages and from day-to-day, there is no way to present when the fallen foliage will be at its peak. This is a time of change when each day is coloured a new. Only two places in the world have this foliage—the North-eastern part of North America and the parts of Japan.
Nature lovers flock around these places in the fall to enjoy the picturesque presentation of coloured leaves giving a look of blossomed flowers. Great painters of nature look forward to the fall for inspiration from nature. (M.P. Board 2010)
Questions:
(i) What are the changing colours of leaves in autumn signal? [2]
(ii) Why do leaves stop making food during the fall? [2]
(iii) What kind of inspiration do nature lovers draw from autumn? [2]
(iv) Find -out the word from the passage that is opposite of the word given below: ‘Crumble’. [1]
(v) Find out the words from the passage which convey the same meaning as the words given below:
(a) Photosynthesis. [1]
(b) Leaves (noun). [1]
(vi) The season coming between winter and summer is…. [1]
Answers:
(i) It shows that the trees are getting ready for winter.
(ii) Leaves stop making food during fall due to the shorter period of daylight and the cooler temperature.
(iii) The nature lovers enjoy to picturize presentation and feel inspired that there is a fall before blooming.
(iv) Blossomed.
(v) (a) food-making process, (b) foliage.
(vi) Autumn.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 7
Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world With the wonderful water round you curled.
And the wonderful grass upon your breast.
World, you are beautifully drest.
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree.
It walks on the water, and whirls the mill.
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills. (M.P. Board 2010)
Questions:
(i) What is the attire of the earth? [2]
(ii) Give the antonym of the given words from the passage:
(iii) ugly. [1]
(b) narrow. [1]
(iii) Find out the word from the passage for the word meaning: ‘Surrounded’. [2]
Answers:
(i) Grass is the attire of the earth.
(ii) (a) beautiful (b) wide.
(iii) Round.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 8
We live in a highly competitive age of science and technology and can no longer afford the luxury of mediocrity, if we do not forge ahead. This rapidly changing nuclear age requires our youth to be intellectually more alert and competent than their predecessors, and therefore, every young man and woman today studying in schools, colleges, and universities must aim at academic ability of the highest order. In a developing nation like ours, where large numbers are still unable to acquire even primary education, those undertaking higher education constitute a privileged elite. (M.P. Board 2009)
Questions:
(i) (a) Find a word opposite in meaning to ‘successors’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in the sense of ‘early education.’ [1]
(c) Who are the privileged elite, according to the author? [2]
Answers;
(i) (a) Predecessors.
(b) Primary education.
(c) Science and technology.
(d) luxury.
(ii) (a) Today we live in a competitive age.
(b) This age requires today from the youth to be intellectually more alert and competent than their predecessors.
(c) According to the author, the privileged elite are those who are undertaking higher education.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 9
Like a high born maiden In a palace tower,
Seething her love laiden,
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower,
Like a glow-worm golden ,
In a dell of dew Scattering unbeholden Its aerial hue.
Among the flowers and grass which screen in from the view. [M.P. Board 2009]
Questions:
(i) Who does the poet compare the bird with in the first given stanza? [1]
(ii) What is composed within the second stanza? [1]
(iii) Find a word from the above stanzas which is similar in meaning to ‘invisible’. [1]
(iv) Give the antonym of the word ‘secret’. [2]
Answers:
(i) a high born maiden.
(ii) music.
(iii) unbeholden.
(iv) open.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 10
1. Our house is filled with photos. They cover the walls of my kitchen, dining room and den. I see our family’s entire history, starting with my wedding, continuing through the births of both sons, buying a home, family gatherings, and vacations. When my sons were little, they loved to pose. They waved, danced, climbed trees, batted balls, hung upside down from the jungle gym, and did anything for a picture. But when they reached adolescence, picture-taking changed into something they barely tolerated- Their bodies were growing at haphazard speed. Reluctantly, they stood with us or with their grandparents at birthday celebrations and smiled weakly at the camera for as short a time as possible.
2. I am the chronicler of our photographs. I select those to be framed and arrange the others in albums. The process is addictive and as the shelves that hold our albums become fuller and fuller, I wonder what will become of them. Will anyone look at these photographs in future years? If my sons look at them, what will they think of us and of themselves? One bright afternoon, I took some photographs of my father with my husband as they fished on a lake near our vacation house. As my sons and I sat on the shore and watched them row away, I picked the camera up and photographed the beautiful lake surrounded by green trees. The two men I loved’ gradually grew smaller until all I could see were my father’s red shirt and the tan and blue caps on their heads.
3. My father died a week later and suddenly those photos became priceless, to me. I wept when I pasted them in our album. I wept again, afterward, when I saw my younger son .looking at them. It was a few days before he went away to college. He had taken all our albums down from the bookshelves in the den and spread them out on the carpet. It had been a very long time since I had seen him doing this. Once he stopped posing for pictures, he seemed to lose interest in looking at them. But now he was on the verge of leaving home. This was his special time to look ahead and look back. I stood for a moment in the hall by the den and then tiptoed away. I didn’t take a photo of my son that afternoon, but I will remember how he looked for as long as I live. Some pictures, I learned, don’t have to be taken with a camera.
Questions:
(i) (a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘impossible’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in the sense of ‘slowly but steadily’. [1]
(c) Their bodies were growing at speed. [1]
(d) Give the synonym of ‘infancy’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) What was the house wall covered with? [2]
(b) What does the narrator do? [2]
(c) How did the photo of the narrator’s father become priceless? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) possible, (b) gradually, (c) haphazard, (d) adolescence.
(ii) (a) The-house wall was covered with photos.
(b) The narrator selects the photos to arrange them in albums.
(c) Because her father died a week later.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 11
THE WORLD
Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World,
With the wonderful water round you curled, –
And the wonderful grass upon your breast–
World, you are beautifully drest.
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree,
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
You friendly Earth, how far do you go,
I With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow,
With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
Ah! you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you, World, at all
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,
A whisper inside me seemed to say,
‘You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot:
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!’ —W.B. Rands
Questions:
(i) How is sthe earth beautifully dressed? [1]
(ii) How does the poet compare himself with the earth? [1]
(iii) Find a word from the above stanza which is similar in meaning to ‘curved’. [1]
(iv) Give the antonym of the word ‘still’. [2]
Answers:
(i) Weaving wonderful water and grass the earth is beautifully dressed.
(ii) The earth is great while the poet is small. The poet trembles to think of the earth’s greatness.
(iii) curled.
(iv) tremble.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 12
Camps To Tap Creativity
1. As the dreaded examinations crawl to a halt, students look forward to the much awaited “creative outlets”, the summer camps, to let off steam and spend their holidays. A summer camp is conducted over a short period of four to five weeks involving interesting and fun-filled activities. The colourful spectrum of summer camps provides a wide variety of activities which include artistic skills, such as painting, origami, art, music, craft and also spoken English, cookery and computer courses. Not only this, the summer camps keep the child “fit as a fiddle” by imparting lessons in yoga, cricket, tennis and swimming.
known that carrot nibblers with long ears cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection.
2. When nothing was heard about the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demanded to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eaten and since they had been eaten, the affair was a purely internal matter. “They were trying to escape,” said the wolves,
“and, as you know, this is no world for escapists.”
Questions: .
(i) Answer the following questions:
(a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘ascended’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in the sense of ‘declared’. [1]
(c) The rabbits decided to to the desert island. [1]
(d) Give the synonym of ‘warned’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) What happened to the wolves? Who were blamed for it? [2]
(b) What is believed about the happening of earthquake? [2]
(c) What did the wolves do to the rabbits? Why? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) descended, (b) announced, (c) run away, (d) threatened.
(ii) (a) One night several wolves were killed in an earthquake. Rabbits were blamed for it-
(b) It is believed that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquake.
(c) The wolves descended on the rabbits and imprisoned them. They did it for their own protection.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 14
1. We’ve just left the dinner table, when I hear music coming from my daugher’s computer.
It surprises me that my daughter Mads listening to music from a time she refers to as the i very old days. “What are you playing?” I ask. “It’s Phi Collins,” is her prompt reply, while, she shows how, with a few strokes, she can download almost any song from the Internet.
Times have certainly been changing since I scratched my first Beatles record. Tactfully I don’t mention that I had bought the record she’s listening to before she was born. The s concept of a phonograph record belongs to a bygone age and I don’t want to spoil the pleasure she’ll get from discovering her “own” new favourite musician.
2. The music brings memories flooding back. I have a sudden urge to bring back my record collection from the attic, where it has mouldered for almost a decade. Only one thing stops me : my turntable succumbed to the damp air in a cellar where I stored it for a good ten years. No, I don’t care if turntables are ancient technology: I will find one. And I will restore my long lost record collection—which took up a good amount of shelf space—to its former glory. Buying something as uncool as a turntable takes courage and planning. I find a promising TV and radio store in the phone book but I am expecting a mountain of questions from the clerk, who will most certainly have been born and raised after the demise of the turntable.
3. “A turntable? Coming right up!” says the young man behind the counter. He disappears into the storeroom and before I can say long-playing record, he’s back with a small cardboard under his arm. It’s too good to be true. An hour later my new acquisition is in the living room and a respectful atmosphere descends. I’ve sorted my records into piles all over the floor, I find a Beatles album.
4. Behind the. wonderful music now flowing through the loud-speaker is the unmistakable sound- of vinyl. It doesn’t take Ibng for my twelve-year-old son’s eagle eye to spot the . turntable and he has to try it out. Jons is technically minded, a child of the computer age,-yet I sense a certain reverence as he picks up the tone arm and tries to place it in the middle of the record. Brought up in the CD age, how could he know what’s wrong? I say in a soothing voice: “The starting groove is on the edge of the record.” “Does it matter which side is up?” queried my daughter. “It does matter,” I replied. Soon we were listening to a Phil Collins number we both like. The generation gap vanishes as the music takes over. I relish the moment to the full and cast a glance at Ida. She’s relaxed and smiling.
Questions:
(i) Answer the following questions:
(a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘lazy’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in sense of ‘hoping’. [1]
(c) The concept of arecord belongs to a bygone age. [1]
(d) Give synonym of ‘ideas’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) What does the music do? . [2]
(b) What does the narrator want to restore? [2]
(c) How does the generation gap vanish? [2]
Answers: .
(i) (a) prompt, (b) expecting, (c) phonograph, (d) concept.
(ii) (a) The music brings memories flooding back.
(b) The narrator wants to restore his long last record collection.
(c) The generation gap vanishes as the music takes over. ‘
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 15
1. Papaya is the healthiest fruit with a list of properties that is long and exhaustive. Belonging to the family of Caricaceae fruit, it is commonly known as Papaw in Australia and Mamao in Brazil. It first originated in southern part of Mexico and neighboring Central America but is now available in every tropical and sub-tropical country. Papaya favors digestion as well as cures skin irritation and sun bums. You can munch on it as a salad, have it cooked, boil, or just drink it up as milkshake or juice. Modern science confirms the age-old beliefs that papaya has much to contribute to the health cause. The most important of these virtues is the protein-digesting enzyme in the milky juice or latex. The enzyme is similar to pepsin in its digestive action and is said to be so powerful that it can digest 200 times its own weight in protein. It assists the body in assimilating the maximum nutritional value from food to provide energy and body-building materials.
2. Papain in raw papaya makes up for the deficiency of gastric juice and fights excess of unhealthy mucus in the stomach, dyspepsia and intestinal irritation. The ripe fruit, if eaten regularly, corrects habitual constipation, bleeding piles, and chronic diarrhea. The juice of the papaya seeds also assists in the above-mentioned ailments.
3. The juice, used as a cosmetic, removes freckles or brown spots due to exposure to sunlight and makes the skin smooth and delicate. A paste of papaya is applied in skin diseases like those caused by ringworm. The black seeds of the papaya are highly beneficial in the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism, malnutrition, etc. A tablespoonful of its juice, combined with a hint of fresh lime juice, should be consumed once or twice daily for a month. The fresh juice of raw papaya mixed with honey can be applied over inflamed tonsils, for diphtheria and other throat disorders. It dissolves the membrane and prevents infection from spreading.
Questions:
(i) (a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘efficiency’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in sense of ‘diseases’. [1]
(c) Papaya dissolves the and prevents…..from spreading. (i)
(d) Give synonym of ‘dilutes’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) Where did papaya originate first? [2]
(b) What does papaya do? [2]
(c) What is the benefit of the ripe papaya? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) deficiency, (b) ailments, (c) membrane, infection, (d) dissolves.
(ii) (a) Papaya originated first in southern Mexico and neighboring central America.
(b) Papaya favours digestion as well as cures skin irritation.
(c) The ripe papaya, if taken regularly, corrects habitual constipation, bleeding piles and chronic diarrhoea.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 16
1. Set in the declining but still green Western Ghats in the south-west of Karnataka, Coorg is the heart of India’s coffee country, coffee being the world’s most heavily traded commodity after crude oil. Coorg boasts a land area four times larger than Hong Kong, seven times the area of Singapore, and most of it is under tree cover because unlike tea plants, the coffee bush requires shade.
2. India is acknowledged as the producer of the finest mild coffees. With their tropical climate, high altitude, abundant rainfall and fertile soil, Coorg and the neighboring Chickmagalur districts in Karnataka have consistently produced and exported high-quality coffee for over 150 years. The coffee output of these two districts accounts for 70 percent of the total coffee produced in the country. Coorg coffee is valued for its blue colour, clean beans and fine liquoring qualities and hence is in demand in the international markets.
3. In March and April, the coffee blossom time occurs in Coorg. When blossoms transform into berries, the bushes are cropped. The cherry-red fruit is then pulped; the seeds separated, dried, and sent for curing. Coorg or Kodagu is the district which is one of the largest producers of pepper, cardamom, and honey in the world.
4. Not much is known about the early history of Coorg. Recorded history is available only from 1600 AD onwards when Kodava Rajas ruled over the region and established their capital at Mercara by constructing a mud-walled fort. The martial Kodavas troubled Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, who ruled the Mysore region in the 18th century by way of sporadic rebellions. But in 1785, Tipu’s large army marched into Kodagu and dev-
astated the kingdom. Fourteen years later, with the help of the British who defeated Tipu Sultan following the historic siege of Srirangapatana in 1799, Coorg regained in-dependence and under the leadership of Raja Veerarajendra, rebuilt the capital. Later in 1834, the British exiled its ruler Chikkaveera Rajendra and assumed administrative charge of the district. The British left India in 1947, leaving behind a legacy of coffee plantations, colonial buildings, and well-planned road networks.
Questions:
(i) Answer the following questions:
(a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘meager’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in sense of ‘recognised’. [1]
(c) bOtg is the heart of Indian country. [1]
(d) Give synonym of ‘change’. [1]
(ii) Answer’the following questions:
(a) What is the extent of Coorg? [2]
(b) Which is the coffee blossom time in Coorg? [2]
(c) Which legacy did the British leave in India? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) abundant, (b) acknowledged, (c) coffee, (d) transform.
(ii) (a) Coorg covers the land area four times larger than Hong Kong and seven times the area of Singapore.
(b) March and April are the coffee blossom time in Coorg.
(c) The British left behind a legacy of coffee plantations, colonial buildings and well-planned road networks.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 17
1. India was once considered the land of knowledge and enlightenment. In ancient times, scholars from, all over Asia and Europe used to flock to Takshashiia, Nalanda, and other Indian centres of learning. Apart from the arts, culture, philosophy, and religion, these scholars came to study medicine, law, and martial sciences. But despite having a vastly expanded university system and historical advantages, modern India has yet to provide international or even regional leadership in higher education. From the surrounding countries of Asia and Africa, only a few students come to India for higher education.
2. The United States is, by far, the most successful country in attracting foreign students. But other countries such as Australia, Canada, and Britain also aggressively market their universities abroad. through their education counseling services and, recruitment fairs with the active cooperation of their diplomatic missions abroad.
3. Likewise, India should also capitalise on the advantages offered by its higher education institutions, market Indian universities abroad, and facilitate the entry of foreign students into them.
4. The revenue from foreign students can be used to ease the financial crunch faced by Indian universities, improve academic facilities, and subsidise the cost of educating Indian students.
5. But apart from economic advantages many other benefits would accrue to the nation. India would gain global and regional influence, goodwill, and become a major provider of higher education. Many Asian and African countries, especially the smaller ones have poorly developed university systems and would look to Indian universities for the higher education of their youth. At the same time, Indian students will not be deprived if 10 per cent supernumerary seats for foreign students are created in universities and professional colleges.
6. Already, professional education in India has proved accessible and affordable for foreign students, especially from Malaysia, the Middle East, and South Africa. In these countries higher education training facilities are limited. Many NRI (non-resideht Indian) families abroad, especially, those from English-speaking industrialized couhtries are also keen to send their children to study in their motherland and hopefully to become attuned to their Indian roots in the process.
Questions:
(i) Answer the following questions
(a) Find the word opposite in meaning to ‘disadvantages [1]
(b) Find a word used in sense of ‘spreaded largely’. [1]
(c) India was once considered the land of knowledge and ……………. [1]
(d) Give synonym of ‘crises’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) Where do in India scholars from all over Asia and Europe use to flock for learning? [2]
(b) Which country attracts foreign students the most? [2]
(c) What is the future of India in higher education? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) advantages, (b) vastly expanded, (c) enlightenment, (d) crunch,
(ii) (a) Scholars from all over Asia and Europe used to flock to Takshashila, Nalanda and other Indian centres for learning.
(b) The United States attracts foreign students the most for learriing.
(c) India would gain global and regional influence, goodwill, and become a major provider of higher education.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 18
The Coromandel Fishers
Rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light,
The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night.
Come, let us gather our nets from the shore and set our catamarans free,
To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the kings of the sea!
No longer delay, let us hasten away in the track of the seagull’s call,
The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother, the waves are our comrades all.
What though we toss at the fall of the sun where the hand of the’sea-god drives?
He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives.
Sweet is the shade of the coconut glade, and the scent of the mango grove,
And sweet are the sands at the full o’ the moon with, the sound of the voices UK love,
But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray and the dance of the wild foam’s glee,
Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge, where the loui sky mates with tire sea.
—Sarojini Naidu
Questions:
(i) What is sea for the fishermen? [1]
(ii) What is sweeter than sands at the full moon with the sound of the voices the fishermen love? [1]
(iii) Find a word from the above poem which is similar in meaning to ‘collect’. [1]
(iv) Give the antonym of the word’lull/peace’. [2]
Answers:
(i) Sea is mother for the fishermen. ,
(ii) The kiss of the spray and the wild foam’s glee is sweeter than the sands.
(iii) gather.
(iv) storm.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 19
A Green Cornfield
The earth was green, the sky was blue,
I saw and heard one sunny morn
A skylark hang between the two,
A singing speck above the corn. “
A stage below in gay accord,
White butterflies danced on wing.
And still the singing skylark soared,
And silent sank and soared to sing.
The cornfield stretched a tender green
To right and left beside my walks,
I kneio he had a nest unseen
Somewhere among the million stalks.
And as I paused to hear his song. –
While swift the sunny moments slid,
Perhaps his mate sat listening long,
And listened longer than I did.
Questions:
(i) Where is the skylark? [1]
(ii) What do the butterflies do? [1]
(iii) Find a word similar in meaning to ‘joy’. [1]
(iv) Give antonym to ‘tough’. [2]
Answers:
(i) The skylark hangs between the earth below and the sky overhead.
(ii) The butterflies dance at the song of the skylark.
(iii) Gay.
(iv) Tender.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 20
1. Why is it that there are very few women players in our orchestras? If one could reply flatly—sex discrimination: they don’t want women in orchestras—that would be a definite answer. But one can’t say that. As a matter of fact there are, if not many, a few women playing today in symphony orchestras. Nevertheless, it is true that male orchestral players are in an overwhelming majority. Why is that? I’m afraid, there is no one answer. There are physical reasons why women don’t perform well on certain instruments. The average woman is not likely to possess sufficient lung power and sheer muscular strength to play the tuba just as an average woman’s hands are not likely to be large enough to finger a double bass satisfactorily. But what about the other instruments?
2. I think social and family pressures have been very strong in keeping women out of orchestras. Think of the prejudice that existed half a century ago against the so-called ‘nice’ girls going on stage. The stage was won out for the simple reason that it had to have women to play feminine roles in plays and operas, and was willing to offer a young woman more money than she could make in any other profession. Moreover, on stage, she was appearing as an individual, as a centre of attraction. This was gratifying to both her and her family. To this day, while the average parents are reconciled to seeing their daughter become an opera singer or concert artist, they don’t like the idea of seeing her submerging her personality to become the member of a chorus of the orchestra.
3. Another reason why we have so few women orchestral musicians is that so few of them play wind instruments well enough. They don’t play well enough because they haven’t had the proper training; and the reason for that lies in the history of orchestral music. You will find that famous European families of bassoon players or clarinetists taught their sons to play the family instrument. Their sons; but never their daughters. If they had any other pupils, those were also boys; not girls. And to this day, while women vote, hold public office and practise many other professions, without shocking our sensibilities, in this particular field, the orchestra, our attitude towards women still re-mains the same. However, this prejudice is rapidly crumbling and is likely to disappear entirely in a few years. For this we have to thank our high-school bands and orchestras, which offer instruction, practice and experience in playing all orchestral instruments to boys and girls alike.
Questions:
[1] Answer the following questions:
(a) Find a word opposite in meanin Lo ‘minority’. [1]
(b) Find a word used in sense of a group of ‘musicians’. [1]
(c) The average woman is not likely to possess sufficient… [1]
(d) Give the synonym of ‘outlook’. [1]
(ii) Answer the following questions:
(a) Why are few females in orchestras? [2]
(b) How is the social concept of modern age affecting the status of women? [2]
(c) How is family pressure responsible for women’s status in orchestra? [2]
Answers:
(i) (a) majority, (b) orchestra, (c) lung powcr, (d) wrsonality.
(ii) (a) Sex discrimination is its major can.
(b) Women are coming out of walls and occupy every field.
(c) It doesn’t allow them to be exposed. It is thought that they are meant to live inside home.
MP Board Class 12th Special English Unseen Passage 21
WHICH LOVED BEST?
“I love you, Mothersaid little John;
Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on,
And he was off to the garden swing,
And left her the water and wood to bring.
“I love you, Mother,” said rosy Nell- ”
I love you better than tongue can tell”;
Then she teased and pouted full half the day,
Till her mother rejoiced when she went to play.
“I love you. Mother,” said little Fan;
“Today I’ll help you all I can;
How glad I am that school doesn’t keep!”
So she rocked the babe till it fell asleep.
Then, stepping softly, she fetched the broom,
And swept the floor and tidied the room;
Busy and happy all day was she,
»Helpful and happy as child could be.
“I love you. Mother,” again they said,
Three little children going to bed;
How do you think that mother guessed
Which of them really loved her best?
—Joy Allison
Questions:
(i) Who loves mother better than tongue can tell? [1]
(ii) Who offers to help mother? What does she do? [1]
(iii) Find a word in above poem which is similar in meaning to ‘enjoyed’. [1]
(iv) Give antonym of the word ‘gloom’. [2]
Answers:
(i) Rosy Nell loves mother better than tongue can tell.
(ii) Little Fan offers to help mother. She takes a broom and sweeps the floor.
(iii) Rejoiced.
(iv) Glad.
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