✏️ Option (a) — Article : "The Impact of Social Media on Teenagers"

✏️ Option (b) — Speech : "Why Reading Books Still Matters"

✏️ Option (c) — Report : Annual Sports Day (Key Points)

• Headline : Annual Sports Day Celebrated with Enthusiasm at [School Name]
• By : [Reporter's Name] | Date : [Date]
• Opening : The Annual Sports Day was held on [date] at the school ground.
• Events : 100m race, long jump, shot put, relay race, kabaddi, tug of war.
• Chief Guest : [Name] inaugurated the event; prize distribution done by Principal.
• Conclusion : The event fostered team spirit and was enjoyed by all.

✏️ Option (a) — Formal Letter to Principal (Charity Event)

✏️ Option (b) — Letter to the Editor (Plastic Pollution)

Part (A) — Fill in the blanks (2 Marks)

Part (B) — MCQ (2 Marks)

Part (A) — Fill in the blanks (2 Marks)

Part (B) — MCQ (2 Marks)

Part (A) — Fill in the blanks (2 Marks)

Part (B) — MCQ (2 Marks)

Part (A) — Fill in the blanks (2 Marks)

Part (B) — MCQ (2 Marks)

✅ Extract A — Albert Einstein at School

• (i) Herr Koch was Albert's mathematics teacher at school in Munich.
• (ii) Albert went to meet him to obtain a certificate that he had already mastered school-level mathematics — needed to apply to the Milan technical institute.
• (iii) The certificate said: "He has talent reaching far beyond his school age."
• (iv) Albert's face lit up with joy — he was extremely happy and relieved.
• (v) The word meaning "respected greatly / spoke well of" is "admired."
• (vi) The incident shows that Albert had extraordinary mathematical talent that the conventional school system had failed to recognise; true potential often goes unnoticed in rigid institutions.

✅ Extract B — The Portrait of a Lady

• (i) The narrator's grandmother is being described.
• (ii) She was short, fat, slightly bent, with a criss-cross of wrinkles and untidy silver locks on a pale, puckered face.
• (iii) She always wore white clothes.
• (iv) She was moving her lips in inaudible prayer, counting beads on her rosary.
• (v) The word meaning "making very little or no sound" is "inaudible."
• (vi) The description portrays her as a deeply religious, serene, and spiritually devoted woman who had accepted old age with grace and contentment.

(a) Grandmother's daily routine in the village :
In the village, the grandmother would wake Albert early, help him bathe and dress, then accompany him to school. She sat in the temple attached to the school, spinning and reading scriptures, and returned home with him in the evening.

(b) Why they drifted apart :
When the narrator went to the city for education, the grandmother could no longer accompany him to school or share his studies. As he progressed to university, the common bond of education and religion weakened, creating emotional distance between them.

(c) Howard Carter's discovery and its significance :
Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Its re-examination in 2005 using CT scanning was significant as it helped scientists study the mummy non-invasively and investigate the cause of the boy-king's mysterious death.

(d) Why Albert was unhappy and what he decided :
Albert was unhappy because the school's rigid, rote-learning method stifled his curiosity. His teacher called him a disruption. He decided to obtain a doctor's certificate claiming a nervous breakdown and leave the school permanently.

✏️ (a) Grandmother–Grandson Relationship (The Portrait of a Lady)

• Early bond : In the village, the grandmother was deeply involved — waking him, going to school together, sharing prayers. Warm, inseparable relationship.
• Growing distance : In the city, English-medium education moved him away from traditional learning. She could not connect with his new subjects.
• University phase : When he got his own room, even physical proximity was gone. They met briefly each morning.
• Final moment : Grandmother celebrated his return from abroad vigorously — a rare expression of joy — then passed away peacefully that night.
• Theme : The story explores the inevitable but painful drift between generations caused by modern education and urbanisation.

✏️ (b) Science and Ancient History (Discovering Tut)

• Carter's discovery (1922) : King Tut's tomb revealed extraordinary treasures — but also raised questions about his early death at ~19.
• Modern re-examination (2005) : CT scanning created 1700 digital cross-sections of the mummy — non-destructive, respectful, yet thorough.
• Ethical dimension : The passage raises the question — is disturbing ancient remains for science justifiable? The Egyptian people feel their ancestors deserve peace.
• Conclusion : Science must proceed with respect. Modern technology allows us to learn from the past without destroying it.

✏️ (c) Albert Einstein — Failure to Genius (Albert Einstein at School)

• School failure : Teachers called him a disruptive influence; he had no certificates, no conventional success.
• Hidden potential : He was self-taught in higher mathematics and physics — his mind worked differently.
• Lesson for education : Marks and ranks do not measure intelligence. Curiosity, independent thinking, and passion matter more.
• Universal message : The education system must nurture diverse kinds of minds, not suppress non-conformists.

✅ Extract A — A Photograph (Shirley Toulson)

• (i) 'The cardboard' refers to an old photograph (printed on cardboard/thick paper in the old days).
• (ii) The scene shows the poet's mother and her two girl cousins paddling in the sea.
• (iii) The poet's mother was approximately twelve years old in the photograph.
• (iv) The tone is nostalgic / melancholic — the poet longs for a happy past that is now gone, as the mother is no longer alive.

✅ Extract B — The Laburnum Top (Ted Hughes)

• (i) 'She' refers to the goldfinch — a small bird that comes to feed her chicks in the laburnum tree.
• (ii) The poet compares her movement to that of a lizard — sleek, swift, and alert.
• (iii) When she enters the tree, the whole tree trembles, thrills, and comes alive with the sound of chitterings and the flutter of wings.
• (iv) The poetic device in "sleek as a lizard" is a Simile — a direct comparison using 'as'.

(a) Central theme of 'A Photograph' :
The central theme is time, memory, and loss. The poet mourns the loss of her mother and reflects on how time erases happiness. The photograph becomes a symbol of the irreversible past.

(b) Laburnum tree as symbol :
The laburnum tree symbolises life, vitality, and interdependence. It is silent and lifeless without the goldfinch; the bird brings it alive — suggesting that life gives meaning to existence, and all living things depend on one another.

(c) Rain's journey in 'The Voice of the Rain' :
Rain describes its journey as a cycle — it rises from earth as vapour, forms clouds, then falls back to cleanse and nourish the earth. Rain symbolises the eternal cycle of life, creativity, and selfless return to the source.

✏️ (a) 'A Photograph' — Time, Memory and Loss

• Stanza 1 — The past : A happy photograph of the mother and cousins paddling at the beach. Time = carefree childhood. Memory is preserved in a static image.
• Stanza 2 — The present past : Years later, the mother herself laughs at the photograph. Irony — she laughs at her past, unaware that she too will become the past.
• Stanza 3 — Silence and grief : The poet's mother is now dead. The poet has nothing to say — silence is the only response to irreversible loss.
• Theme : Time erodes everything — youth, laughter, and life itself. Only memory and photographs remain. The poem is a quiet, profound elegy.

✏️ (b) 'The Laburnum Top' — Extended Metaphor of the Machine

• The metaphor : The goldfinch is compared to a machine that "starts up" the tree when she arrives and "stills" it when she departs.
• Significance : The tree is lifeless without the bird — like a machine without power. The goldfinch is the source of energy and life.
• Deeper meaning : The metaphor suggests that life depends on relationships and connections. No being is self-sufficient; every living thing needs another to be fully alive.
• Poetic effect : By calling a natural scene a machine, Hughes juxtaposes the organic and mechanical — making the reader appreciate the power hidden in nature.

✏️ (a) The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse — Innocence and Honesty

• The family's reputation : The Garoghlanian tribe was known for absolute honesty — they would not steal even when starving.
• The boys' act : Mourad steals a white horse for the joy of riding, and Aram joins him despite knowing it is wrong. They keep it secretly for weeks.
• Contradiction : Their act contradicts family values — yet they justify it as temporary. They eventually return the horse to John Byro.
• Childhood innocence : The story suggests children do not fully understand the moral weight of their actions. They act on impulse, joy, and desire — not malice.
• Message : Innocence is not the absence of wrong — it is the absence of intent to harm.

✏️ (b) The Address — Mrs Dorling and the Futility of Possessions

• Mrs Dorling : A Dutch acquaintance of the narrator's mother who took away their household belongings "for safekeeping" before the war. She hoards them selfishly, refusing to acknowledge the narrator after the war.
• The narrator's realisation : When she finally enters the house and sees all her mother's possessions, they feel alien — out of context, devoid of meaning.
• Key insight : Objects detached from love and memory lose their significance. What made them precious was the person who owned them, not the objects themselves.
• Theme : Material possessions cannot preserve human bonds. After loss, what truly remains are memories — not things.

(a) The white horse :
The white horse belonged to John Byro, a farmer. Mourad stole it one early morning and rode to Aram's house before dawn, inviting him to join the secret adventure.

(b) The narrator's visit :
The narrator visited Mrs Dorling's address to reclaim her mother's belongings. She found all the familiar household objects — silver, crockery, linens — crammed into the house but looking strange and out of place in the unfamiliar setting.

(c) Overcoming fear of flying :
The young seagull overcame his fear when hunger overcame his fear. When his mother flew towards him with food and then swerved away, he instinctively dived — and discovered he could fly.

(d) Ranga and the older girl :
Ranga believed in marrying an older, mature girl rather than a very young one. Shyama cleverly made him fall in love with Ratna, a young girl, by arousing his interest through a meeting and astrology, changing his mind entirely.