Section – A
(Reading)
Despite the name electric eel, the electric eel is actually related most closely to a
catfish and not the common eel fish. Many electric eel adults tend to be smaller
than their eel fish counterparts. Electric eels are solitary animals. A group of eels
is called swarm. The critters are native to South American rivers, but they don’t
spend all their time underwater. They live in shallow, muddy water and come to
the surface every ten minutes because they breathe atmospheric air.
Their long and cylindrical body can be white, black, blue, purple or grey in
colour. A fully grown electric eel can be up to eight feet long and weigh forty four
pounds! All of an electric eel’s vital organs are crammed into the front twenty
percent of its body. The rest is packed with six thousand cells that act like tiny
batteries that can zap out more than six hundred volts! The shock that the
electric eel produces is enough to harm any large mammal, including humans.
The electric eel produces two types of electrical discharge: low voltage and high
voltage. The low voltage discharge is used for electrolocation; the electric eel
uses the electrical field to ‘see’ its surroundings and to locate its prey. This
ability, together with the electric eel’s acute sense of smell, allows it to navigate
in dark and cloudy water. The electric eel is even able to detect different colours
using electricity, because each colour has a slightly different conductivity.
The high voltage discharge by the electric eel is used to immobilize or kill its
prey and also as a means of defence against potential predators..
Electric eels mainly eat invertebrates such as crabs and shrimp. Adults also eat
fish, amphibians and small mammals. Electric eels have also been known to eat
fruit that falls into the water. They’re mostly blind and use a radar like system of
electrical pulses to navigate and find food. Newly hatched eels eat small
invertebrates but they also search nests of other eels and steal their eggs. Both
parents take care of their young.
Eels’ thick skin normally insulates them from their own attacks, but when
wounded, they’ll shock themselves! Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but that
doesn’t mean eels are harmless. People have drowned after being shocked.
Electric eel lives around fifteen years in the wild and up to twenty years in
captivity.
a) Answer the following questions:
(i) Why do electric eels come to the surface every ten minutes?
(ii) Which part of an electric eel’s body contains its vital organs?
(iii) How does an electric eel navigate in dark and cloudy water?
(iv) How is the electric eel able to detect different colours?
(v) How does an electric eel use the high voltage discharge that comes out of its
body?
(vi) How do the electric eels find their food?
(vii) What do the newly hatched eels eat?
(viii) What is the lifespan of an electric eel?
Section –B (Writing and Grammar)
2. Write a story in 150-200 words based on the input given below:Raman opened the factory door – peeped inside – some – light – last shift over – could be thieves........
8
3. Complete the following paragraph by filling in the blanks with the help of the
given options. 1x3=3
What do you think I (a) ____________ see in London first? asked Meera. “Well!”
said her friend “I think, you (b) ___________ go to Westminster Abbey, and if
you (c) ____________, go to the House of Parliament and the National Gallery.”
(a) (i) shall (ii) will (iii) ought to (iv)could’nt
(b) (i) wouldn’t (ii) should (iii) would (iv)mustn’t
(c) (i) can (ii) could’nt (iii) may (iv)have to
4. The following paragraph has not been edited. There is one error in each line.
Write the error and its correction as shown in the example.1⁄2 x6=3
Error Correction
You will know the story of Helen Keller
who e.g will may
can neither see nor hear from the time
she was a small girl. (a) ___________ ___________
After her sickness, her parents realised
that they may do (b) ___________ ___________
their best to help her. Her parents hired
Annie who will press (c) ___________ ___________
the letters of the words in to Helen's
hand. Helen may have (d) ___________ ___________
been very bright because soon Helen
might read entire books (e) ___________ ___________
in Braille. I believe we would learn a lot
from Helen. (f) ___________ ___________
5. Look at the words and phrases below. Rearrange them to form meaningful
sentences. Write the correct sentences in your answer sheet.
1x 3=3
(a) is one/ summer visitors/ the/ of the/ swallow/ best known
(b) often/ open space/ swallows/ over/ seen skimming/ a pond/ or/ are/ an
(c) sometimes/ a busy/ they may/ down/ be found/ city street/ hunting insects
Section -C (Literature)
(i) Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss or pain,
That has been, may be again. 1x3=3
(a) What does ‘it’ refer to in the above extract?
(b) Explain ‘humble lay’.
(c) What does the poet wish to convey with the words - ‘that has been and may be
again’?
(ii) By this the storm grew loud apace,
The water-wraith was shrieking;
And in the scowl of heaven each face
Grew dark as they were speaking,
(a) Who were speaking?
(b) What change takes place while they were speaking?
(c) What does the darkness of the sky symbolize?
7. Answer the following in 30-40 words. 2x1=2
(a) What speculation does the poet make about the possible theme of the reaper’s
song?
(b) “The water-wraith was shrieking.” Is the symbolism in this line a premonition of
what happens at the end? Give reasons for your answer.
8. Answer the following question in 80-100 words. 6x1=6
(a) What qualities make the solitary reaper unforgettable?
(b) Why is Lord Ullin angry? What does he do to show his anger? What change
comes over him in the end?
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