Chittagong Board-2024

English 1st paper

[According to the Syllabus of 2024]

Full marks: 100

Marks: 60

Part I—Reading

1. Read the passage and answer the questions A and B.

Education gives us knowledge and a set of abilities to function meaningfully in life, such as the ability to decide things rationally and make the right choices. As we learn how to read, write and do the basic operations of arithmetic, we gain a degree of self-confidence. We learn to think for ourselves and articulate our thoughts; we pick up skills to communicate with others and manage our affairs well. Education helps us think independently and make our own opinions. As we know more about the world, we appreciate the good things it offers us but also become critical of the deviations from the values it imparts and the rise of hatred or conflict that follows. The first thing education does' is to give us an awareness about ourselves which leads to the development of our personality. As we begin school, we feel the need to belong to the class and make friends. We then expand our sense of belonging to include. the school at large, our community and finally our country. Education thus prepares every child to become an active member of the community and work for its welfare. Education, it is believed, releases our potentials and our inner strengths. It sharpens our intellect and develops our creativity. As we are taught to reason well and find solutions to the problems of life, we become productive members of society. Education by definition is progressive and liberal, teaching us to respect human diversity and cultural and religious differences. If all of us practice these values in life, the world becomes a much happier place. Education also fosters critical thinking and provides us a set competencies including life skills that enable us to become competitive even in the most challenging circumstances. Education also teaches us to appreciate beauty and the bounties of nature. School, however, is not the only place where a child gets education. A Bangla poem tells us that nature can be our best teacher,

Here are a couple of lines from the poem in English translation:

The sky has taught me to be liberal,

The wind has given me the motto to be industrious.

If we can make nature our friend, philosopher and guide, we can learn lessons about life that, combined with what our schools teach us, will prepare us for the future.

 

A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives

(a) The word 'arithmetic' means___

(i) The study of Physics (ii) The study of Mathematics

(iii). The study of Biology (iv) The study of Chemistry

 

(b) To decide things rationally explains__

(i) to judge things reasonably and take wise decision

(ii) to judge things madly and take hasty decision.

(iii) to judge thins independently and take illogical decision

(iv) to develop good debating power

 

(c) The first act of education is to develop___

(i) personality (ii) nationality (iii) dignity (iv) brutality

 

(d) What does the idiom 'at large' mean?

(i) Critically (ii) Dependently (iii) Entirely (iv) Surely

 

(e) Through education we become___members of society.

(i) rational (ii) evil (iii) common (iv) foolish

 

(f) The sky teaches us to be ___

(i) honest (ii) poetic (iii)liberal (iv)scientific

 

(g) The passage is about__

(i) scholars of education. (ii) benefits of education

(iii) sources of education (iv) elements of education

 

(h) The meaning of the word 'hatred' is__

(i) intense dislike (ii) love (iii) strong affection (iv) friendship

 

(i) We can get education__

(i) from school only.

(ii) not only from educational institutions but also from family, society, nature, from experiences of life.

(iii) from teachers, philosophers and nature

(iv) from nature only.

 

(j) Proper education frames a child for___

(i) the former (ii) the present (iii) the future (iv) the past

 

B. Answer the following questions:

(a) What does education provide us?

(b) How does a child become an active member of the community?

(c) What is accepted as true about education?

(d) How will the world become a much happier place?

(e) Do you want to make nature your friend, philosopher and guide? Why?

 

2. Based on your reading of the passage, make short notes in each of the boxes in the flow-chart showing different characteristics of dreams. (No. 1 has been done for you):

Dreams have fascinated philosophers for thousands of years, but only recently have dreams been subjected to empirical research and scientific study. Chances are that you've often found yourself puzzling over the content of a dream, or perhaps you've wondered why you dream at all. First, let's start by answering a basic question: What is a dream? A dream can include any of the images, thoughts and emotions that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be extraordinarily vivid or very vague; filled with joyful emotions or frightening images.

focused and understandable or unclear and confusing. Why do we dream? What purpose do dreams serve? While many theories have been proposed about the reason and function of dreams, no consensus has emerged. Considering the time we spend in a dreaming state, the fact that researchers do not yet understand the purpose of dreams may seem baffling. However, it is important to consider that science is still unraveling the exact purpose and function of sleep itself. Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while others believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being.

1. Extremely vivid → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6

 

3. Write a summary of the following passage:

My name is Amerigo. I am 13 years old, and I live on the street alone. My mother, who is separated from my father, doesn't want me. She told me to go away....... Now she is married to another man. My father lives very far away. I want to go to him, but he won't take me either. I begged him to send me some money so that I could buy a bus ticket. I am still waiting. He has not answered: The streets are now my home. Sometimes I find work. I used to collect trash and sell it to a vendor. I stopped doing that after I had a serious infection and a doctor told me to stay away from the trash dump. Once I worked for an ice-cream shop owner and sold ice-cream on the beach. But I got no money in return. The owner of the shop gave me something to eat and let me sleep in his hut at night. The work was difficult and painful. The ice-cream box is quite heavy when it is full. I had to walk for hours, offering my ice cream to whoever wanted to buy. There were days when I could not even sell one ice-cream. In a way, I am lucky because I am alive. My friends who work sorting rubbish in dumps often suffer from serious diseases. One of them was recently killed after he fell into a hole that opened up in the pile of trash. Many of us work for 10 to 12 hours and get so little in return that we can't even buy food.

 

4. Read the following text and fill in the blanks with suitable words from the box. There are more words than necessary. Make any grammatical changes if necessary.

device	trained	about	perform	essential	great	abacus
fairly	large	special	recent	sense	refers	called

The computer is a fairly (a)_____ invention. It has now become an (b) _____ part of modern life. It has greatly benefited us and brought (c)_____ revolutionary changes in our life. Any (d) _____ that helps people perform mathematical calculation may be (e) _____ a computer. In this sense the (f) ____ is a simple a computer. Today, however, the term computer (g) _____ to special kind of electronic machine that can perform mathematical calculation and process (h) _____ masses of information at a (i) _____ speed. In a few minutes a computer can perform calculation that (j) _____ mathematicians would need years to complete.

 

5. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate word in each gap:

Bangladesh is a land of (a)_____ beauty. Its beauty is so captivating that a stranger cannot but be (b) _____ looking at this endless variety. Nature has (c) _____ showered its blessings on this country. The rivers, hills and forests are rich in natural (d) _____. The people of this country feel a strong (e) _____ for their motherland. They love their motherland from the (f)_____ of heart. They work hard to. (g) _____ economic condition and to remove poverty. Most of them toil hard. from dawn to dusk to accelerate the pace of (h) _____ The progress of this country lies in the (i) _____ of common people. They are the (j) _____ of a beautiful and prosperous Bangladesh.

 

6. Rearrange the following sentences to make a coherent order:

(i) The crow tried to turn the jar over again and again, but it had no effect.

(ii) At last, he found a jar in a garden.

(iii) As he was leaving the jar in despair, he noticed a heap of pebbles nearby.

(iv) There was some water in the jar, but it was at the bottom and out of reach.

(v) He flew from one place to another in search of water.

(vi) He took some pebbles and dropped them into the jar.

(vii) Then he hit upon a plan.

(viii) A crow was very thirsty and wanted to have a drink.

(ix) When the water came to the mouth of the jar, the crow drank and met up his thirst.

(x) As each pebble went down, the water in the jar rose up little by little.

Part II-Writing

Marks-40

7. The graph shows the choice of profession by educated people in our country. Analyze the graph in 150 words.

8. The following is the beginning of a story. Complete it in your own words:

There was a naughty cowboy who grazed his cows beside a forest. He used to make fun with people crying Tiger! Tiger! ............ .

9. Imagine, you are Rashed/Raisa. Recently you got a letter from your friend asking you what you would like to do after your HSC examination. Now write a letter to your friend telling him/her about it.