TERM – 1 (2023-24)

CLASS - IX
SUBJECT- ENGLISH
Time: 3hrs MM. 80

SECTION - A READING (15M.)

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (7)
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is India’s and probably world’s most admired and celebrated cricketer. He has an
enabled fan following as large as that of rock stars or great movie stars. He truly is the wonder boy of India.
Born on April 24, 1973, Sachin Tendulkar burst on the international cricket scene with his debut in a series in
Pakistan, when he was merely a boy of 16 years. Before being selected for the national scene he had displayed
his talent in domestic cricket at state and junior levels. In the very debut series, he made people take note of
him.
Then, followed his long cricketing career, in which he crossed one milestone after another and piled up runs,
half-centuries and centuries to become the highest centurion and the most run-getter. In his private life he
remained cool, calm and dignified. No vulgar show of success and flamboyance he indulged in. His serene
nature and temperament on the pitch amazed other stalwarts of past, contemporaries and sports analysts.
For the sports lovers, he became a semi-god, for youth an icon and for sponsors a virtual money-spinner. The
success never went to his head. He continued to be soft-spoken, affable Sachin, a familiar face to all Indians. He
is a team man and the interests of the team and the country remained uppermost in his mind. For a long time, he
was the scourge of the bowlers of the world.
In the later years of their cricketing life, Sachin several times was waylaid by injuries. But every time he came
back in style after treatment and rehabilitation to the delight of his fans. He has won so many national and
international awards that to enumerate them will take a lot of space. He captained the Indian team for some time
but it affected his batting. So, he was allowed to continue on as a batsman. He also bowls with good effect when
the situation demands. Sachin is a star in both versions of the game —Tests and ODIs, who serves the team as
batsman and bowler. In the gloomy scene of sports in India, Sachin shines as a brilliant star to provide a huge
consolation.
After reading the above paragraph complete the following sentences and give answer of the questions:
1 Sachin is the most admired and adulated cricketer of ……………………………..
2 Who burst on the international cricket scene at the age of 16?
3 Where had he shown his talent?
4 In his long cricketing career, Sachin crossed ………………………………and
accumulated……………………………. highest century-maker.
6 He became a……………………………. for the sponsors.
7 Find a word with same meaning as ‘compassion’ from the passage.

2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (1x8=8)
1. Harry and Annie lived a mile from town, but they went there to school every day. It was a pleasant walk
down the lane and through the meadow by the pond. I hardly know whether they liked it better in summer or in
winter.
2. They used to pretend that they were travellers exploring a new country and would scatter leaves on the road
so that they might find their way back again. When the ice was thick and firm, they walked across the pond. But
their mother did not like to have them do this unless someone was with them. Don’t go across the pond today,
children, she said as she kissed them and bade them goodbye.
3. One morning it is beginning to thaw. “All right, mother,” said Harry, not very good-naturedly because he was
very fond of running and sliding on the ice. When they came to the pond, the ice looked hard and safe. “There”,
said he to his sister. “I knew it hadn’t thawed any”. Mother is always afraid we will drown.
4. Come along, we will have a good time sliding. The school bell will not ring for an hour at least. But you
promised mother, said Annie. No, I didn’t I only said; All right and it is all right. I didn’t say anything, so I can
do as I like said Annie.
5. So they stepped on the ice, and started to go across the pond. They had not gone far before the ice gave way,
and they fell into the water. A man who was at work near the shore heard the screams of the children and
plunged into the water to save them.
6. Harry managed to get to the shore without any help, but poor Annie was nearly drowned before the man
could reach her. Harry went home almost frozen and told his mother how disobedient he had been. He
remembered the lesson learned that day as long as he lived
Answer the following question:
(a) Harry and Annie used to pretend that they were travellers exploring a new country because they felt
that their pleasant journey:
(i) down the lane and through the meadow by the pond, will lead them to their dreamland.
(ii) to their school through the meadow by the pond, is the source of their untold happiness.
(iii) is more important to them than going to school every day.
(iv) explores a new way to go to a new school.
(b) “Don’t go across the pond today, children,” she said as she kissed them, is a warning to Harry and
Annie for getting them:
(i) careful to cross the icy pond.
(ii) alert if they go for sliding on the ice in the pond.
(iii) cautious lest they be drowned in the pond.
(iv) frightened to cross the pond unless somebody was with them.
(c) When the ice was thick and ………………………………… they walked across the pond.
(d) Mother is always afraid we will ……………………………….. .
(e) Harry went home almost frozen and told his mother how ………… he had been.
(f) Harry and Annie went to school, walking down the lane and through the meadow by the pond. (True/False)
(g) Mother of Harry and Annie liked them to practise sliding on the ice in the pond. (True/False)
(h) Annie was nearly drowned in the icy pond. (True/False)

SECTION - B WRITING (15)

3. You are Neha. Today is your birthday and your father has gifted you a laptop. You are very happy to own it
as you wanted to have it for a long time. Before going to bed you intend to share your joy with your diary.
Write a diary entry in 100-150 words expressing your feeling. (5)
OR
Write a diary entry on one of the Big Fat Wedding that you have attended. Write your views on wastage of
resources in weddings like these.
4. Given below is the beginning of an incident. Complete it, in about 150-200 words. (5)
Ravi had prepared very well for his English paper and he was confident of doing well in it. But when he
reached the examination centre, he found that it was the mathematics paper that day. He realised that he had
made a mistake while referring to his date sheet.
OR
Ramolla started writing a story but couldn’t complete it. Taking the help of the information given below,
complete the story in about 150-200 words.
There lived a rich man in Varanasi. He had only one son who had turned ten …

5. Write a descriptive paragraph on our beloved Books are our best friend OR A day at the beach in about 100-
150 words. (5)
 SECTION - C GRAMMAR (15)
6. Fill in the blanks with appropriate modals: (5)
Manish : I (a) ………………… do practice of wrestling every day (must/had)
Rashid : But you (b) ………………… not overexert yourself so much. (have to/should)
Manish : I (c) ……………………… win the competition at any cost. (have to/ need)
Rashid : You (d) ……………… remember that our health takes priority over other things. (must/may)
Mohan : Oh yes! You (e) ………… worry. I am careful about my health. (need not/ought to)

7. Fill in the blanks with suitable verbs: (5)

Seema, my classmate is (a) ………………….. (celebrate) her birthday tomorrow. I (b)
………………………….. (want) to gift her a science puzzle but (c) ………….. (not know) where to buy it
from. I (d) …………….. (will/shall) ask my father in the evening when he (e) ……………….. (return) home
from work.

8. Change the following sentences into Indirect Speech: (5)

i. He said, “I will do it now.”
ii. Ramesh says, “I have written a letter.”
iii. She said, “Mahesh will be reading a book.”
iv. She said, “Where is your father?”
v. Sita said to Praveen, “I will return your money tomorrow.”

SECTION - D LITERATURE (35)

9. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: (4)
A. Wind, come softly
Don’t break the shutters of the windows
Don’t scatter the papers
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
1. Whom does the poet
request in the above lines?
2. Write any one action of
the wind.
3. Trace a word from the
extract which means “thrown in different directions”.
4. Name the poem and the
poet.
OR
B. Now in memory comes my mother,
As she used in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn:
0! I feel her fond look on me
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.
(a) Who comes in the memory of the poet and when?
(b) What does the poet remember about his mother?
(c) What does the poet imply by “the darling dreamers”?
(d) What refrain is the poet talking about?
10. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (5)
The two strangers were amazed by what they saw around them and wandered around
town till evening, when suddenly the whole town woke up and went about its nightly
business.
(i)Who were the two strangers?

(ii)Why were they amazed?

(iii)Why did they wander around town till evening?
(iv)What was the ‘nightly business’?
(v) What is the name of the chapter?
OR
But Albert Einstein was not a bad pupil. He went to high school in Munich, where
Einstein's family had moved when he was 15 months old, and scored good marks in
almost every subject. Einstein hated the school's regimentation, and often dashed with
his teachers. At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled there that he left the school for
good.
i. Einstein's family had moved to Munich when he was:
(a) 2 year old (b) 5 year old (c) 15 months old (d) 7 months old

ii. What kind of student was Einstein in his high school?

(a) He was a very dull student. (b) He was a very intelligent student.
(c) He was a slow learner. (d) He was intelligent but disinterested in
studies.

iii: Einstein hated the school's regimentation and often:

(a) clashed with other children (b) run away from the school
(c) sent to the principal's office (d) clashed with his teachers

iv: Why did he go to Munich?

(a) To learn music (b) To attend high school
(c) To meet Mileva (d) To be a science professor

v: Find another word in the extract with same meaning as discipline

11. Answer the following questions ANY FIVE in 30-40 words each. (2x5=10)
a. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
b. What was Kezia’s father’s routine before going to his office?
c. Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?
d. What does the swallow see when it was flying over the city?
e. Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape punishment?
f. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long”?

12. Answer the following questions ANY TWO in 30-40 words each. (2x3=6)
a. Do you think Innisfree is only a place, or a state of mind? Does the poet actually miss the place of his
boyhood days?
b. Do you think the narrator regret his choice later on in poem “The Road Not Taken”?
c. How do we make wind our friend?

13. How did the prince and the swallow help the poor? (5)
OR
How do you know that the lost child was a nature – lover?

14. How did the Guru manage to save his disciple? (5)
 OR
Write summary of the poem ‘The Rain on the Roof’.