ENGLISH TEST 6 [40 marks]

ENGLISH TEST 6

FULL MARKS : 40

 

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (8 Marks)

 

The Camera Can Lie—Sometimes

Much to their annoyance, pen-pushers are routinely reminded that a picture is worth a thousand words—except that sometimes they can be wrong “words” as happened last week when Reuters was forced to withdraw more than 900 pictures taken by a freelance photographer after it was suspected that he had “doctored” two recent photographs of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

 

In one picture, the smoke billowing from an apartment block after an Israeli air strike was allegedly thickened by the photographer, Adnan Hajj, to dramatise the impact of the bombardment — and in another two flares were suspected to have been added to an image of an Israeli jet in action over Lebanon.

 

The allegation of doctoring, first made by several bloggers, was confirmed by Reuters after an inhouse investigation. Mr. Hajj, who had sold pictures to Reuters for more than 10 years, denied manipulating the two photographs and attributed the thick smoke in the first picture to “bad lighting” and the fact that he was “trying to remove dust marks.” As for the second, he said, “there was no problem with it — not at all.”

 

But Reuters was not convinced and said it was removing all of this pictures from its database and would not be using his service any more. “This represents a serious breach of Reuters’ standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him,” the news agency said.

 

The idea that the camera never lies is as misleading as the notion that all statistics are meant to mislead. What the “eye” sees is not always what it looks like, thanks to the many ways in which first the camera and then the photograph can be — and is often — manipulated. Indeed, a photograph can be manipulated in more ways — and more effectively — to convey a false reality than it is possible to do through the written word. Ask any clever photographer and he will tell you the tricks camera be made to play.

 

At a seminar recently, one journalist recalled how there was a time when British photographers, covering stories about famine or floods in Third World countries, would carry teddy bears with them in order to use them as prop for pictures supposedly showing that all that was left in household, stricken by death and destruction, were children’s toys. (Source: The Hindu)

 

On the basis of your reading of the passage given above, answer the following questions.(1 × 8 = 8)

(a) To interest the children Teddy bears were used as:

(i) manipulations

(ii) props

(iii) conflicts        

(iv) statistics

(b) A _____ can tell us about the tricks played by camera.

(i) picture

(ii) photographer

(iii) reuter

(iv) dramatist

(c) The allegation of doctoring was confirmed by:

(i) Israelis             

(ii) Adnan Hajj

(iii) Reuters         

(iv) Freelancer

(d) The picture of the smoke rising from an apartment block in Lebanon:

(i)      was actual picture

(ii)    was manipulated by a photographer deliberately

(iii)  appeared thick in picture due to bad lighting

(iv)   all of these

(e) As per the passage, a camera:

(i)      always gives fake pictures

(ii)    never gives fake pictures

(iii)  sometimes many give fake pictures

(iv)   none of these

(f) British photographers left teddy bears in household, stricken by death and destruction in floods in Third World countries with a view to:

(i)      Showing that all that was left in household were teddy bears

(ii)    Showing that most of the flood victims were children.

(iii)  both (i) and (ii)

(iv)   neither (i) nor (ii)

(g) Reuters deliberately accepted the manipulated pictures.       (True/False)

(h) The allegation of manipulating pictures was confirmed by _____

 

2. Water scarcity in some of the areas have created a lot of problems. Write an article in about 100-120 words on “Conservation of Water: The Need of the Hour”. (8 Marks)

 

OR

 

You are Amit Kapoor, resident of 43/9, Shyam Enclave, Delhi. You visited Manali with your family during the summer vacation. You had two double suites at Lake View resort. Your stay at the hotel fell far short of the description in the brochure. Write a letter of complaint to the Customer Service Department to refund for your hotel stay.

 

3. Fill in the gaps by choosing the most appropriate words from the options given below. (1 × 4 = 4)

My mother was both a mother and a father (a) _____ me. She taught us the right values. Until she passed away, (b) _____ all looked towards her (c) _____ support. We were very scared of her. She was a wonderful cook (d) _____ taught us all how to cook.

(a)     (i) to               (ii) of       (iii) in                   (iv) at

(b)    (i) they           (ii) we    (iii) she                 (iv) then

(c)     (i) of               (ii) for    (iii) in                     (iv) at

(d)    (i) or               (ii) and  (iii) but                 (iv) until

 

4. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction against each line of the passage. (1 × 4 = 4)

	Incorrect	Correction
Robinson used to spent hours gazing on	spent	spend
(a) merchant ships. His father wanted
(b) him to being a lawyer but he
(c) wanted to exploring the world in one of
(d) that sailing ships.

5. Rearrange the following groups of words and phrases to form meaningful sentences: (1 × 4 = 4)

(a)     today/with/their/the/in/gadgets/children/born/are/hands

(b)    games/and/surf/they/to/video/love/internet/play

(c)     these/only/lives/their/technology/wonders revolve/of/around

(d)    hampered/any/their/game/they/outdoor/as/growth/is/physical/do not/play

 

6. answer the following questions. [2*6 = 12]

a. What unintended effect was produced by decades of oppression?

b. What pained Nelson Mandela on becoming the President of South Africa?

c. When did Mandela’s hunger for self turn into a hunger for freedom for all his people?

d. Why is 10th May 1994 important for South Africa?

e. What ideals does Mandela set out for the future of South Africa in his speech?

f. Why was the 10th of May, 1994 a red letter day in the history of South Africa?