English — Model Question Paper (Set 2 · HOTS)

1. For most of human history, forgetting was effortless and remembering was hard. We built libraries, took photographs and kept diaries precisely because memory is fragile. The digital age has quietly reversed this balance. Today our devices remember almost everything for us — every message, photograph, location and search — and forgetting has become the difficult, deliberate act. A casual remark made at sixteen can resurface, word for word, at sixty.

2. This permanence is often celebrated as progress, and in many ways it is. A surgeon can summon a patient’s full history in seconds; a student can revisit a lecture a hundred times. Yet the same permanence carries a hidden cost. Psychologists argue that healthy human growth depends partly on the ability to leave the past behind — to let an old embarrassment fade, an outgrown opinion dissolve, a youthful mistake lose its sting. When nothing fades, the self is never quite allowed to move on.

3. There is a social dimension too. A society that forgets nothing may also forgive nothing. If every error is archived and searchable, people may grow cautious to the point of silence, afraid that any misstep will follow them forever. Paradoxically, a culture obsessed with recording every moment may end up producing citizens less willing to speak, experiment or change their minds in public.

4. None of this is an argument against memory, digital or otherwise. It is an argument for balance — for designing tools, and habits, that allow a measure of forgetting. The right to be forgotten, now debated in courtrooms, is really an old human need wearing modern clothes: the need, every so often, to begin again.

Answer the following (1 mark each):

1. According to paragraph 1, what has the digital age “reversed”? (a) the cost of devices (b) the balance between remembering and forgetting (c) the quality of photographs (d) the length of diaries.
2. Why does the writer say a “casual remark made at sixteen can resurface at sixty”? Explain in one line.
3. The phrase “the same permanence carries a hidden cost” (para 2) implies that the writer’s view of digital memory is — (a) wholly positive (b) wholly negative (c) balanced / mixed (d) indifferent.
4. Identify ONE benefit of permanent digital memory given in paragraph 2.
5. State True/False: The writer believes a society that forgets nothing will forgive easily.
6. What “paradox” does the writer point out in paragraph 3?
7. The word “archived” in paragraph 3 most nearly means — (a) deleted (b) stored permanently (c) discussed (d) hidden.
8. What is the writer’s central argument, stated in paragraph 4? (a) ban digital memory (b) record everything (c) design for balance and some forgetting (d) stop using libraries.
9. Explain what the writer means by “an old human need wearing modern clothes”.
10. Pick the title that best captures the passage: (a) The Death of Libraries (b) In Praise of Forgetting (c) How Phones Work (d) The History of Diaries.

1. A city tracked how its residents travelled to work over five years, as it expanded cycle lanes and bus services. In 2020, out of every 100 commuters, 62 used private cars, 20 used buses, 10 cycled and 8 walked. By 2025, the same survey of 100 commuters found 44 using cars, 28 using buses, 20 cycling and 8 walking.

2. Average commute time fell from 41 minutes in 2020 to 33 minutes in 2025, even though the city’s population grew by nearly a fifth. Officials noted that the sharpest single-year drop in car use came the year after a congestion charge was introduced in the city centre, and that cycling rose fastest on the two corridors where protected lanes were built first.

3. However, one suburb that received no new bus route saw almost no change in its travel pattern, remaining heavily car-dependent. The report concluded that infrastructure, not appeals alone, changes behaviour.

Answer the following (1 mark each):

1. In 2020, how many of every 100 commuters used private cars?
2. Which mode of transport doubled its share between 2020 and 2025?
3. Which mode’s share stayed exactly the same across both years?
4. By how many minutes did the average commute time fall?
5. State True/False: The city’s population fell over the five years.
6. What single measure was followed by the sharpest drop in car use?
7. Why did cycling rise fastest on two particular corridors?
8. What happened in the suburb that got no new bus route?
9. Which conclusion does the report reach? (a) appeals alone change behaviour (b) infrastructure changes behaviour (c) nothing works (d) cars are best.
10. Calculate: the drop in car users per 100 commuters from 2020 to 2025 was ____.

(a) You are Aman / Amani. Write a letter to the Editor arguing — with reference to the ‘right to be forgotten’ — that students’ old online mistakes should not define their future. Take a clear stand. (100–120 words)

OR

(b) Write a letter of complaint to the Municipal Commissioner about the lack of a bus route and safe cycle lanes in your locality, using points inspired by the Q2 data. (100–120 words)

(a) Write an analytical paragraph (100–120 words) interpreting the commuting data in Q2: describe the shift away from cars and argue what caused it.

OR

(b) Write an analytical paragraph (100–120 words): “Should a society have the right to forget? Weigh the benefits and dangers of digital permanence.”

(A) “But Ramlal was worried about Bholi. She had neither good looks nor intelligence.”

1. Name the lesson and its author.
2. Why was Ramlal worried about Bholi in particular?
3. How does this early judgement contrast with what Bholi becomes?
4. What had caused Bholi’s condition?
5. Pick the word in the extract that means ‘cleverness’.

OR

(B) “It’s me! It’s my Great and Mighty Balloon Brain. The Earthlings have seen me, and they’re after me.”

1. Name the lesson, its author and the speaker.
2. What has the speaker just seen that terrifies him?
3. What does his reaction reveal about his character?
4. What order does he give immediately afterwards?
5. Explain the humour in this moment.

(A) “Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice. / From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favour fire.”

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. What do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for in the poem?
3. Which does the poet ‘hold with’, and why?
4. What human emotions are being criticised?
5. What is the tone of these lines?

OR

(B) “For once on the face of the Earth, / let’s not speak in any language, / let’s stop for one second, / and not move our arms so much.”

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. What does the poet ask us to do, and for how long?
3. Why does the poet want this stillness?
4. Does the poet want permanent inactivity? Explain.
5. Find a phrase that suggests restlessness.

(a) Both ‘Bholi’ and ‘A Letter to God’ show ordinary people rising above their circumstances through an inner strength. Compare the two characters and the source of their strength. (HOTS — cross-text)

OR

(b) “Griffin had the power of invisibility but no moral compass.” Discuss how ‘Footprints without Feet’ warns against knowledge without conscience. (Footprints without Feet)

(a) Comedy in ‘The Proposal’ and ‘The Book That Saved the Earth’ both arises from characters taking trivial things far too seriously. Compare how each play creates humour. (HOTS — cross-text)

OR

(b) Valli’s bus journey in ‘Madam Rides the Bus’ is really a journey from innocence towards an understanding of life and death. Discuss. (Madam Rides the Bus)