English Questions and Answers - Class 8 Mid Term 2 Exams 2023 Set 2

Read the passage below. It contains blank spaces numbered 1 to 15. For each blank space, choose the answer from the choices given.

It is amazing what a diversity __1__ is in the customs and eating __2__ of people around the world. In Europe, children are taught to be
__3__ in handling food with knives, forks and spoons. __4__. in countries such as China and Korea, chopsticks are used. In other countries such as India, it is __5__ good manners to use the fingers __6__ cutlery.

The differences __7__ not only in the cating implements people use, __8__ in the food itself. European children grow up eating such foods as beef, potatoes __9__ bread. In Asian countries, however, people eat rice as their __10__ food. Where most __11__ agree that duck is a tasty. __12__ the Japanese would recoil in horror __13__ the thought of eating ducks. To them, ducks are only for ornamentation. Another example of __14__differences would be the eating of dog meat. The Chinese consider dog meat as a __15__ but most Europeans would condemn the practice utterly. To the Europeans, dogs are pets and should not be eaten.

For questions 16-18, choose the word that best fills in the blank space

16. Kofi has _______________________ pepper left than I have.
    1. enough
    2. much
    3. more
    4. plenty 
17. They will award the scholarship to ________________________.
    1. him or I
    2. him or me
    3. he or I
    4. we two
18. The boys sing too _______________________ in the choir.
    1. loud
    2. much loud
    3. very loud
    4. loudly

For questions 19-21, choose the opposite of the underlined word from the choices given

19. I entered the examination room full of hope.
    1. confidence
    2. despair
    3. shame
    4. regret
20. Our school days are full of joys.
    1. tasks
    2. duties
    3. difficulties
    4. sorrows
21. My uncle is the most famous in the locality.
    1. notorious
    2. unknown
    3. rich
    4. favorite

For questions 22 and 23 choose the correct answer

22. When we swallow our food too quickly in lumps, we are said to _______________________.
    1. nibble
    2. crunch
    3. masticate
    4. gobble.
23. A one-storey house is called a _______________________.
    1. bungalow
    2. mansion
    3. villa
    4. apartment

For questions 24 and 25, choose the phrase that best completes the given sentence.

24. Nobody here today _______________________.
    1. cannot contradict my words
    2. has any doubts about his ability.
    3. will never break their promise 
    4. know everything about Science
25. He will do that _______________________.
    1. when he could
    2. if he might have the equipment
    3. although you forbid him
    4. before last summer

Read the passage below then answer questions 26 to 38.

Benjamin Franklin was a very wonderful man. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in America, on 17th January, 1706. There was not much schooling to be had in that new colony, and Benjamin had not learnt very much when he began to earn his living, but he was a clever and diligent boy, and determined to gain knowledge. He worked at first for one of his older brothers who was a printer. The early morning and the late night hours he spent in studying any books that came his way. Then he began to write articles for his brother's paper, and although Benjamin was still only a boy, his essays were more eagerly read and enjoyed than those of any other contributor.

After a time Benjamin went to England, where he learnt all he could about printing. When he returned to America, he started a printing business of his own in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin lived very simply and worked hard. He always had in his mind a proverb that his father had often repeated to him when he was a boy: 'Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.' This proverb came literally true, for in his later life, Franklin stood before five kings, and even had dinner with the King of Denmark.

Franklin found time for many other things besides his printing. From a study of astronomy he worked out the first system of forecasting the weather. He discovered that some colours hold heat longer than others; he invented a house stove and a street lamp.

One of the greatest of Franklin's discoveries was in connection with electricity. Here is the story telling of this great discovery. Benjamin Franklin had always been fond of playing with kites. When he went swimming' he would often let a kite pull him along in the sea. One day, however, he played a different game. He tried to bring lightning down from the sky.

For this great game he had made a kite of silk with a thin iron spike fixed to the top. To the bottom of the kite he had tied a string, but instead of holding the string in his hand, he attached to it a silk ribbon which he held. Where the ribbon was joined to the string he had fixed a metal key, which he placed in a jar. Then he and his son went out into a thunderstorm to fly the kite..

'That was a fine flash!' Franklin said.
'I wish it had come down,' said his son.
Patiently they watched and waited. The first black thundercloud passed over the kite, and nothing happened.
'Here comes a blacker cloud!' cried the boy.
Then it began to rain, and the string became wet. Benjamin Franklin touched the string. 'Oh! look at the sparks coming from it!' cried the boy, as his father drew his hand away.
'The lightning is coming down!' cried Franklin, who was just as excited as his son.
Then they touched the key. Each felt a shock, for the lightning had come down the string, through the key, into the jar.
'At last I have proved what I always believed to be true!' Franklin exclaimed. 'Lightning and electricity are the same.'

After he had brought lightning from the sky, he invented lightning conductors for the safety of high buildings. If I can bring lightning down by means of a kite, it would surely be possible to guide it down to earth in other ways,' Franklin thought. England was the first country to fit these new lightning conductors to buildings. In 1769, one was fitted to St. Paul's Cathedral, and it lasted until 1928.

Franklin's last public act was to make an appeal to the Government of America to abolish slavery in the United States. Alas! He did not live long enough to see this great wish fulfilled, for he died in 1790

26. Why wasn't Benjamin Franklin learned?
    1. One of his elder brothers forced him to work at printing instead of going to school. 
    2. There were very few opportunities for going to school at that time in America.
    3. He worked from dawn to dusk and so he had no time for learning
    4. He wasted his time on story-books and newspapers.
27. Where did Benjamin go to learn a lot about printing?
    1. America.
    2. Philadelphia.
    3. Boston.
    4. England.
28. What kind of a man did Franklin's father say would stand before kings?
    1. A hardworking man.
    2. A mean man.
    3. An intelligent man.
    4. A humble and simple man.
29. What did Franklin study besides printing?
    1. Painting and how to use colours to make patterns.
    2. Engineering and how to build monuments. 
    3. Architecture and the building of houses.
    4. Stars and planets and their connection with the weather.
30. The word 'diligent' as used in the passage means 
    1. hardworking and careful at someone's work
    2. humble and ready to serve
    3. careful and humble
    4. respectful and obedient at work.
31. How old was Benjamin when he died?
    1. 87
    2. 100
    3. 84
    4. We are not told.
32. Before he used it in experiments with electricity, what had Franklin used a kite for?
    1. To amuse his son when they played games. 
    2. For making silk as a kind of a loom.
    3. He let it pull him a long in the water when he went swimming.
    4. To lighten any load he was carrying.
33. Why did Franklin not hold the string, with the key at the end of it, in his hand, instead attaching a ribbon to it?
    1. He did not want to receive an electric shock through it.
    2. He did not want to receive an electric shock through his own body.
    3. He wanted to be free to make notes of all that he observed.
    4. He wanted the key to fall at an angle into the jar.
34. Why did Franklin and his son feel a shock when they touched the key during their experiment?
    1. The key had become very wet during the storm.
    2. The lightning had come down the string and through the key.
    3. It was a metal key and metal very soon becomes hot.
    4. There were sparks coming from the key.
35. What are lightning conductors?
    1. An invention for bringing lightning down from the sky during thunderstorms. 
    2. Something to protect high buildings from being struck by lightning.
    3. Machines for making electricity light in houses.
    4. Wires that convert lightning into electricity.
36. What was Franklin's last public act before he died?
    1. He gave a lightning conductor to St. Paul's Cathedral.
    2. He visited the Governor of America. 
    3. He called for the abolition of slavery.
    4. He attacked imperialism and all tyrants.
37. The phrase 'fond of' as used in the could be replaced by
    1. loved
    2. enjoyed
    3. wanted
    4. frequented.
38. Why do you think the writer says Franklin was a wonderful man?
    1. He was not afraid of dangerous things such as electricity.
    2. He became very famous.
    3. He worked very hard to abolish slavery.
    4. With little schooling, he acquired great knowledge and invented many wonderful things

Read the passage below and answer questions 39 – 50.

Philosophy of Education is a label applied to the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. It can be considered a branch of both philosophy and education. Education can be defined as the teaching and learning of specific skills, and the imparting of knowledge, judgment and wisdom, and is something broader than the societal institution of education we often speak of.

Many educationalists consider it a weak and woolly field, too far removed from the practical applications of the real world to be useful. But philosophers dating back to Plato and the Ancient Greeks have given the area much thought and emphasis, and there is little doubt that their work has helped shape the practice of education over the millennia.

Plato is the earliest important educational thinker, and education is an essential element in "The Republic" (his most important work on philosophy and political theory, written around 360 B.C.). In it, he advocates some rather extreme methods: removing children from their mothers' care and raising them as wards of the state, and differentiating children suitable to the various castes, the highest receiving the most education, so that they could act as guardians of the city and care for the less able. He believed that education should be holistic, including facts, skills, physical discipline, music and art. Plato believed that talent and intelligence is not distributed genetically and thus it is to be found in children born to all classes, although his proposed system of selective public education for an educated minority of the population does not really follow a democratic model.

Aristotle considered human nature, habit and reason to be equally important forces to be cultivated in education, the ultimate aim of which should be to produce good and virtuous citizens. He proposed that teachers lead their students systematically, and that repetition be used as a key tool to develop good habits, unlike Socrates' emphasis on questioning his listeners to bring out their own ideas. He emphasized the balancing of the theoretical and practical aspects of subjects taught, among which he explicitly mentions reading, writing, mathematics, music, physical education, literature, history, and a wide range of sciences, as well as play, which he also considered important.

During the Medieval period, the idea of Perennialism was first formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas in his work "De Magistro". Perennialism holds that one should teach those things deemed to be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere, namely principles and reasoning, not just facts (which are apt to change over time), and that one should teach first about people, not machines or techniques. It was originally religious in nature, and it was only much later that a theory of secular perennialism developed.

During the Renaissance, the French skeptic Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) was one of the first to critically look at education. Unusually for his time, Montaigne was willing to question the conventional wisdom of the period, calling into question the whole edifice of the educational system, and the implicit assumption that university-educated philosophers were necessarily wiser than uneducated farm workers, for example.

39. What is the difference between the approaches of Socrates and Aristotle?
    1. Aristotle felt the need for repetition to develop good habits in students; Socrates felt that students need to be constantly questioned.
    2. Aristotle felt the need for rote-learning; Socrates emphasized on dialogic learning 
    3. There was no difference.
    4. Aristotle emphasized on the importance of paying attention to human nature; Socrates emphasized upon science.
40. Why do educationists consider philosophy a 'weak and woolly' field?
    1. It is not practically applicable. 
    2. Its theoretical concepts are easily understood.
    3. It is irrelevant for education.
    4. None of the above
41. What do you understand by the term 'Perennialism', in the context of the given comprehension passage?
    1. It refers to something which is of ceaseless importance.
    2. It refers to something which is quite unnecessary.
    3. It refers to something which is abstract and theoretical.
    4. It refers to something which existed in the past and no longer exists now.
42. Were Plato's beliefs about education democratic?
    1. He believed that only the rich have the right to acquire education.
    2. Plato's beliefs were democratic but his practices were not.
    3. He believed that only a select few are meant to attend schools.
    4. He believed that all pupils are not talented.
43. Why did Aquinas propose a model of education which did not lay much emphasis on facts?
    1. Facts are not important.
    2. Facts do not lead to holistic education.
    3. To change with the changing times.
    4. Facts are frozen in time.
44. What is a caste according to the use of the word in the passage?
    1. A political position.
    2. A hereditary social class.
    3. A profession.
    4. A financial circumstance.
45. What tool did Aristotle suggest be used to teach learners good habits?
    1. Punishment.
    2. Segregation.
    3. Balance.
    4. Repetition.
46. Why do you think Plato's methods are considered harsh?
    1. Nobody had tried them before.
    2. They involved uprooting children from family life.
    3. He was sometimes cruel to children.
    4. Not many children survived under his care.
47. A simpler word for edifice would be
    1. normalcy
    2. structure
    3. wisdom
    4. helpfulness
48. What led to perennialism being originally religious in nature?
    1. The people at the time were highly religious. 
    2. Secular beliefs were believed to be harmful.
    3. Thomas Aquinas, the founder, was a religious man.
    4. People believed religious instruction was enough.
49. Which educational thinker of importance do people consider to be the first?
    1. Aristotle.
    2. Thomas Aquinas.
    3. Plato.
    4. Socrates.
50. In what period did people begin to critically look at education questioningly?
    1. The Medieval Period.
    2. The Dark Ages.
    3. The Stone Period.
    4. The Renaissance.

COMPOSITION

You have 40 minutes to write your composition.

You visited your best friend, Aisha in Mombasa during the April holiday. Write a letter to her thanking her for the cordial reception.

MARKING SCHEME

1. C
2. B
3. A
4. C
5. D
6. B
7. D
8. A
9. A
10. C
11. D
12. C
13. B
14. D
15. A
16. C
17. B
18. D
19. B
20. D
21. B
22. D
23. A
24. B
25. C
26. B
27. D
28. A
29. D
30. A
31. C
32. C
33. B
34. B
35. A
36. C
37. B
38. D
39. A
40. A
41. A
42. B
43. C
44. B
45. D
46. B
47. B
48. C
49. C
50. D