B.K BIRLA PUBLIC SCHOOL, KALYAN.

STD-IX English Practice Work sheet

Passage-I
I Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
The choices we make on a daily basis—wearing a seatbelt, lifting heavy objects
correctly or purposely staying out of any dangerous situation—can either ensure
our safety or bring about potentially harmful circumstances.
You and I need to make a decision that we are going to get our lives in order.
Exercising self-control, self-discipline and establishing boundaries and borders in
our lives are some of the most important things we can do. A life without discipline
is one that’s filled with carelessness.
We can think it’s kind of exciting to live life on the edge. We like the image of “Yeah!
That’s me! Living on the edge! Woo-hoo!” It’s become a popular way to look at life.
But if you see, even highways have lines, which provide margins for our safety while
we’re driving. If we go over one side, we’ll go into the ditch. If we cross over the line
in the middle, we could get killed. And we like those lines because they help to keep
us safe. Sometimes we don’t even realize how lines help to keep us safe.
I’m not proud of this, but for the first 20 years of my life at work, I ignored my limits.
I felt horrible, physically, most of the time. I used to tell myself “I know I have limits
and that I’ve reached them, but I’m going to ignore them and see if or how long I can
get by with it.” I ran to doctors, trying to make myself feel better through pills,
vitamins, natural stuff and anything I could get my hands on. Some of the doctors
would tell me, “It’s just stress.” That just made me mad. I thought stress meant you
don’t like what you do or can’t handle life, and I love what I do. But I kept pushing
myself, traveling, doing speaking engagements and so on— simply exhausting
myself.
Finally, I understood I was living an unsustainable life and needed to make some
changes in my outlook and lifestyle.
You and I don’t have to be like everyone else or keep up with anyone else. Each of us
needs to be exactly the way we are, and we don’t have to apologize for it. We’re not
all alike and we need to find a comfort zone in which we can enjoy our lives instead
of making ourselves sick with an overload of stress and pressure.

Passage-2

II Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Usually, you would need to visit a National Park or a sanctuary to sight beautiful
wild animals such as the wild boar blue bull (Nilgai), spotted deer, chinkara black
buck Indian hare, or monkeys. Today just go around any agricultural field and you
may find plenty of wild herbivores roaming the grounds freely and feeding on the
crops and natural palatable plants therein.
2. When forests were abundant, ecologically sound, and self-sufficient, the
movement of wildlife inside the Protected Areas/Forests in search of food would
extend no further than the buffer zone meant for Environmental Protection. Over
time, however, the alarming rise in human population has put maximum pressure on
forest wealth leading gradually to large swathes of the forest, including the buffer
zone and the corridors, being converted into agricultural fields and industries, and
cleared for the construction of urban zones, big dams, railway tracks, roads,
highways, mining corridors, electricity transmission lines, and other development
works that massively reduce forest area and shrink good quality wildlife habitats.
3. As wild herbivores were made to move or migrate through natural corridors from
one forest to another in search of food, they found themselves in agricultural fields
that were full of easily accessible feeding material. This has been the gradual effect
of encroachment into the wildlife homes by humans, compounding the human-wild-
animal conflict. Such animals also come as easy prey for poachers or become
roadkill. As per Delhi-based NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India, over 1000
tigers have been killed in the country by poachers over the last two decades. Over
650 instances of roadkill have been recorded in the last five years.
4. So, on one hand, the wildlife outside the protected areas is in great peril, on the
other, farmers and locals in and around the forest fringe areas are at a loss due to
crop damage and the danger posed to human and livestock lives. The Ministry of
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change estimates that between 2014 and 2017,
one death took place every day due to human-animal animal conflict. It is observed
that wild herbivores damage between 15 to 50% of the standing crops in the field
and may affect 50 to 75% of the total agricultural area. Hence a balanced solution in
the form of a special management plan is the need of the hour, not only to protect
wildlife outside protected areas and forests but also to safeguard human lives and
livelihoods.

Passage-3

III Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam was a multifaceted personality, a statesman and visionary, and
above all a good human being. He was a brilliant scientist and modern thinker. When
I joined him as Press Secretary after ten days of his becoming President, at his very
first meeting he gave me his vision of a developed India. He spoke of how he wanted
to make Rashtra Pati Bhavan a people’s place where the voice of the millions of
downtrodden people of India would be heard, and action taken. Indeed, during his
time, Rashtra Pati Bhavan became a people’s place, and he became popular as the
People’s President. He wanted the institution of the President to be identified by
ordinary people.
2. President Kalam took his Presidency seriously from day one. He was as
comfortable with constitutional and legal issues as he was with schoolchildren. He
was committed to nation-building and created a vision document to make India a
developed nation by 2020. He made a PowerPoint presentation to senior ministers
and bureaucrats on this.
3. He used to make PowerPoint presentations at conferences and seminars both in
India and abroad to discuss that vision. On these, he used to work himself and he
was very particular about every word and sentence.
4. He did it during his visits abroad and while meeting dignitaries such as US
President George Bush and Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf. When he presented
his vision of India’s nuclear energy requirements to Mr. Bush and his vision of a joint
fight India and Pakistan could wage against poverty, the respective Presidents
commented that they had to become scientists to understand the presentation. You
can’t think of any other President of a country who would have done that.
5. His vision for the nation was based on equality, the dignity of the individual, and
justice, social, economic, and political, to every Indian. Only then can India succeed,
and everybody sings the song of India, he used to say.
6. I met him last on July 22, five days before his demise. It was a one-on-one meeting
that lasted a good 40 minutes. He was full of ideas as always, very active, and
discussed different subjects. He used to tell me, “Whatever you do, do differently.
Wherever you work, leave a mark, and be remembered.”
7. During his presidency, he was always comfortable, except on two occasions, when
his unease was visible. He had to give his consent to the Office of Profit Bill, 2006
after it was sent for the second time by the Parliament, and when he had to approve
the ordinance on Disqualification of Elected Representatives in 2004 as it was sent
to him by the Cabinet for a second time.
8. He was an icon for the youth. He used to say “Aiming small is a crime. Youth
should have the courage to think differently and explore unexplored paths.
Difficulties will come but don’t be afraid of them—overcome them with your
intellect and hard work.”
9. The man who pioneered India’s missile programme was always proud of his work
at the Indian Space Research Organisation and other scientific institutions. He used
to believe that a scientific approach could find a solution to every problem.
10. He was an ardent secularist, and also a religious man. He believed that all
religions are like beautiful islands, but there is no connectivity between them. We
should strive to achieve this connectivity and transform religion into spirituality. For
him, religion and morality were the same.
11. A man of vision, he always worked in mission mode. He had a mission to meet 10
lakh students and interact with them. He completed this when he left Rashtra Pati
Bhavan. He continued with this till his last breath. His child-like simplicity was an
instant hit.
12. He got the sobriquet of being the People’s President because of his humility and
accessibility. President Kalam always worked towards building consensus rather
than ramming down decisions.
13. He came from a modest background but educated himself and worked hard to
rise to the top. He was simply the missile man whose books were prime-sellers,
whose lectures were always house full. He was adored by children as he would give
them easy-to-digest messages.

PRACTICE PAPER PASSAGE

1. Read the following text. 10M
1.Archaeology as a profession faces two major problems. First, it is the poorest of
the poor. Only paltry sums are available for excavating and even less is available for
publishing the results and preserving the sites once excavated. Yet archaeologists
deal with priceless objects every day. Second, there is the problem of illegal
excavation, resulting in museum-quality pieces being sold to the highest bidder.

2.I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke provide
funds for archaeology and reduce the amount of illegal digging. I would propose that
scientific archeological expeditions and governmental authorities sell excavated
artifacts on the open market. Such sales would provide substantial funds for the
excavation and preservation of archaeological sites and the publication of results. At
the same time, they would break the illegal excavator’s grip on the market, thereby
decreasing the inducement to engage in illegal activities.

3.You might object that professionals excavate to acquire knowledge, not money.
Moreover, ancient artifacts are part of our global cultural heritage, which should be
available for all to appreciate, not sold to the highest bidder. I agree. Sell nothing
that has unique artistic merit or scientific value. But you might reply that everything
that comes out of the ground has scientific value. Here we part company.
Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming that every artifact has potential
scientific value. Practically, you are wrong.

4.I refer to the thousands of pottery vessels and ancient lamps that are essentially
duplicates of one another. In one small excavation in Cyprus, archaeologists recently
uncovered 2,000 virtually indistinguishable small jugs in a single courtyard, even
precious royal seal impressions known as I’melekh handles have been found in
abundance—more than 4,000 examples so far.

5.The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that
are likely to be discovered in the future. There is not enough money even to
catalogue the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as
inaccessible as if they had never been discovered. Indeed, with the help of a
computer, artifacts sold could be more accessible than the pieces stored in bulging
museum basements. Prior to the sale, each could be photographed, and the list of the
purchasers could be maintained on the computer. A purchaser could even be
required to agree to return the piece if it should become needed for scientific
purposes.

6.It would be unrealistic to suggest that illegal digging would stop if artifacts were
sold on the open market. But the demand for the clandestine product would be
substantially reduced. Who would want an unmarked pot when another was
available whose provenance was known, and that was dated stratigraphically by the
professional archaeologist who excavated it?