PODAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (CBSE)
Question Bank Cycle Test – 2 (2015-16)
Std: VIII
Subject: English
I. Read the following passage carefully.
For many people who live in cities, parks are an important
part of the landscape. They provide a place for people to relax
and play sports, as well as a refuge from the often harsh
environment of a city. What people often overlook is that parks
also provide considerable environmental benefits.
One benefit of parks is that plants absorb carbon
dioxide—a key pollutant—and emit oxygen, which humans
need to breathe. According to one study, an acre of trees can
absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide that a typical car
emits in 11,000 miles of driving. Parks also make cities cooler.
Scientists have long noted what is called the Urban Heat Island
Effect: building materials such as metal, concrete, and asphalt
absorb much more of the sun’s heat and release it much more
quickly than organic surfaces like trees and grass. Because city
landscapes contain so much of these building materials, cities
are usually warmer than surrounding rural areas. Parks and other
green spaces help to mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect.
Unfortunately, many cities cannot easily create more parks
because most land is already being used for buildings, roads,
parking lots, and other essential parts of the urban environment.
However, cities could benefit from many of the positive effects
of parks by encouraging citizens to create another type of green
space: rooftop gardens. While most people would not think of
starting a garden on their roof, human beings have been
planting gardens on rooftops for thousands of years. Some
rooftop gardens are very complex and require complicated
engineering, but others are simple container gardens that
anyone can create with the investment of a few hundred dollars
and a few hours of work.
Now answer the following questions by choosing the correct options
given below:
1. For many people who live in the cities, parks provide a place to:
a. relax
b. work
c. stress
d. sleep
2. Which of the following best describes the main difference
between parks and rooftop gardens?
a. Parks are expensive to create
while rooftop gardens are not.
b. Parks are public while rooftop
gardens are private.
c. Parks absorb heat while rooftop gardens do not.
d. Parks require much space while rooftop gardens do not.
3. Urban Heat Island Effect is caused by the fact(s) that:
a. cities are warmer than nearby rural areas
b. building materials absorb more of the sun’s heat than organic
surfaces
c. building materials release the sun’s heat more quickly than
organic surfaces
d. villagers burn a lot of wood in their households
4. After reading the paragraph, it can be inferred that:
a. cities with rooftop gardens are cooler than those without
b. some plants are not suitable for growth in rooftop gardens
c. most people prefer parks to rooftop gardens
d. most people prefer life in the country over life in the city
5. ‘mitigate’ belongs to which word group?
a. absorb, consume
b. aggravate, intensify
c. destroy , annihilate
d. allay, reduce
II. Writing
1. Given below is the profile of Bertrand Russel, a great English
philosopher. Write his bio-sketch. Take help from the clues given
below.
Date Of Birth: 18 May 1872
Place Of Birth: Trilleck
Family: aristocratic
Profession: Lecturer in Trinity College
Offered post at Harvard University
Specialization: Maths and philosophy
Faith: Individual Freedom
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature
2. Read the following table about the favourite games of school going
children. Interpret the same
Age
Group Cricket Football Hockey Video
5-8 Yrs 40 2 4 54
9-12Yrs 44 4 3 49
13-16 yrs 30 3 2 65
3. Describe your school’s library in about 80 words.
4. You are Simran living in Vishnu Garden, Delhi. Your friend Pushpa has
recovered from long illness. Write a letter to her showing your
happiness on her recovery and telling her how to take care of her
health in future.
III. Grammar
1. In each of the following sentences, choose whether the verb in bold is
transitive or intransitive.
a. He gave the book to the teacher.
b. We lived in Mexico for two years.
c. Those people painted their house blue.
d. My brother moved to another city.
e. We clean our room every day.
2. Fill in the blanks below with the correct modal auxiliary verb. Choose
the words required from the box given below:
will might would can shall could should ought to must had better
have to may
a. The rabbit _______________ have gotten into my garden because
the fence is torn
b. Before he died, my dog ________________ sleep with me every
night.
c. Mrs. Henry says we ________________ finish our work before recess.
d. I ___________ do my chores before mother has to remind me.
e. ______________I please stay home from school today?
3. Fill in the blanks with appropriate non finite verbs.
a. My husband and I postponed _______________ our vacation.( to
plan/planning)
b. The students decided _______________ on a field trip. ( to go/
going)
c. Bob has _______________ a new pair of shoes. ( to buy/buying)
d. Yesterday, Sarah forgot _______________ her cat. ( to feed/feeding)
e. Every week, Jack remembers _______________ his mother. ( to
phone/phoning)
4. Fill in the spaces with the correct form of the verb.
a. Mrs. Polanski (know) _______ ________ Peter since he was a little boy.
She has lived next door to his family for many years
b. Right now I (watch) _______ _______ a movie. I (watch) _______ a lot
of movies.
c. (You, be) ________ _______ ________ to Africa before? I (hear)
________ _________ it is beautiful there. I would like to go on a safari
in Kenya.
d. My mom (cook) _______ _______ dinner tonight. (You, want) _______
_______ _______ to eat with us?
e. Andrew (finish) _______ ________ his work. He is ready to take a
break.
5. Choose the correct option from these regular/irregular verbs.
a. Last summer we _____ (go/went/gone) to our grandfather’s
house.
b. We ______ ourselves at the fair. (enjoy/enjoyed/enjoys)
c. Mr. Sharma ______ a lot of money on his son’s wedding.
(spend/spent)
d. I _______sad when my grandmother passed away. (feel/felt)
6. Choose the correct option.
a. Dr. Ferndon is one of those professors who ___________ distracted
most of the time (seem/seems)
b. Neither Luis nor his parents ___________ the least bit interested in
keeping in touch with her. (is/are)
c. Because there ___________ so many students in that class, I can
sometimes sleep in the back row. (is/are)
d. Neither traffic light--neither the one on Asylum Avenue nor the one
on Farmington Avenue-- ___________ working after the storm.
(was/were)
e. Mr. Bradley, along with his two sisters, ___________ lived in this town
for thirty years (has/have)
Literature
IV. 1. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“See here, sir! See what my wife found in the crop!” He held out his
hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size.
a. Who is saying this to whom?
b. What is the significance of ‘blue stone’? Who did this belong to?
c. Give the synonym of the word ‘scintillating’.
2. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I
am saving a soul.”
a. Who said it to whom?
b. Why does the speaker think that he is commuting a felony?
c. Make a sentence with the word ‘felony’.
3. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“But the tigress was growing old… Gravely ill and suffering from a
stroke, she requested the British government to be allowed to come
back to India.”
a. Why did the British Government not allow Bhikaiji Cama to go back
to India?
b. Why do you think Madame Cama wanted to return to India?
c. Use the word ‘gravely’ in a sentence.
4. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
Her patriotism, her efforts to promote the cause of India’s freedom
among other nations will never be forgotten.
a. Who is mentioned in the extract given above?
b. Discuss few efforts made by the mentioned person to promote the
cause of India’s freedom struggle.
c. Give the antonym of the word ‘forgotten’.
5. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“Oh you are the young person who cannot understand plain English?”
he asked.
a. Who is speaking these lines?
b. Why is the speaker asking this question?
c. Give a word that is opposite of the word ‘plain’.
6. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“I believe every single word the professor said to you”, he said
sincerely, “for you see, South America is a place very dear to my
heart.”
a. Who is speaking this to whom?
b. Why South America is dear to speaker’s heart?
c. Give another word closest to the meaning of ‘sincerely’
7. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
No stir in air, no stir in the sea
The ship was still as she could be
Her sails from heaven received no motion
Her keel was steady in the ocean
a. Name the poem and the poet of the given extract.
b. What is the rhyme scheme in the given stanza”
c. Give another rhyming word for the word ‘sea’
8. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
But even in his dying fear
One dreadful sound could Rover hear,
A sound as if with the Inchcape bell
The devil below was ringing his knell
a. Who is Rover? How would you describe him?
b. Explain the meaning of the phrase, “The devil below was ringing his
knell”
c. Mention the rhyme scheme given in this stanza.
9. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passion read
a. Write the name of the poem and the poet.
b. Write the meaning of the phrase’ its sculptor well those passions
read’
c. Explain the term ‘shattered visage’.
10. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“ I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: ’Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert, near them, on the sand”
a. Which land is the poet referring to when the poet speaks of an
antique land.
b. What does poet mean when he says ‘trunkless legs’
c. What is the setting of the poem?
V. Answer the following questions in 30 to 40 words each.
1. The Blue Carbuncle
a. How did Homes find out that Henry Baker was innocent?
b. Which incident in the story is the turning point that helped Holmes
solve the case faster?
c. According to Holmes why did Ryder accuse the plumber Horner
of stealing the carbuncle?
d. Why does Holmes let Ryder go?
e. ‘Sherlock Holmes has extraordinary powers of reasoning and
observation.’ Do you agree? Justify you answer.
2. Madame Cama
a. Why is Madame Cama called the ‘Mother of the Indian
Revolution’?
b. Describe Madame Cama’s activities in Paris.
c. How has India honoured the mother of Indian revolution?
d. Why do you think Madame Cama wanted to return to India?
e. What happened when Madame Cama went to Britain in 1901?
3. Ozymandias
a. “The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”. Whose
hand and heart has poet referred to in this line?
b. What is the main theme of the poem ‘Ozymandias’?
c. Which traits of Ozymandias have been highlighted by the
sculptor?
d. Bring out the irony in the poem.
e. Explain the lines-‘the hand that mocked them and the heart that
fed’.
4. The Inchcape Rock
a. How did Sir Ralph the Rover become rich?
b. Why did Sir Ralph cut off the bell on the Inchcape rock?
c. What do you know about the Inchcape Rock from the poem?
d. What was the wicked deed done by Ralph the Rover?
e. Compare the character of Ralph the Rover with that of the Abbot
of Aberbrothok.
V. Answer the following questions in about 60 -80 words.
1. Why Did Melone decide to volunteer for the expedition?
2. Describe the ‘extraordinary creature’ that the narrator sees in the
sketch book.
3. Who were the narrator’s companions for the expedition? Discuss their
characteristics.
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