HSC English 1st paper । Dhaka Board 2025 । Questions with Answer

Read the passage and answer the questions A
At daylight, I was half-awakened by the sound of chopping. Again it was so even in texture that I went back to sleep. When I left my bed in the cool morning, the boy had come and gone, and a stack of kindling was neat against the cabin wall. He came after school in the afternoon and worked until time to return to the orphanage. His name was Jerry He had been at the orphanage since he was four. I could picture him at four with same grave gray-blue eyes and the same independence? No, the word that comes to me is 'integrity ………………. . It is bedded on courage, but it is more than brave. It is honest, but it is more than honesty. The ax handle broke one day. Jerry said the woodshop at the orphanage would repair it. I brought money to pay for the job and he refused it.

"I'll pay for it," he said. "I broke it. I brought the ax down careless."

"But no one hits accurately every time," I told him. "The fault was in the wood of the handle. I'll see the man from whom I bought it."

It was only then that he would take the money. He was standing back of his own carelessness. He was a free-will agent and he chose to do careful work, and if he failed, he took the responsibility without subterfuge.

And he did for me the unnecessary thing, the gracious thing, that we find done only by the great of heart. Things no training can teach, for they are done on the instant, with no predicated experience. He found a cubbyhole beside the fireplace that I had not noticed. There, of his own accord, he put kindling and 'medium' wood, so that I might have dry fire materials ready in case of sudden wet weather. A stone was loose in the rough walk to the cabin. He dug a deeper hole and steadied it, although he came himself by a shortcut over the bank. I found that when I tried to return his thoughtfulness with such things as candy and apples, he was wordless. 'Thank you' was perhaps an expression for which he had had no use, for his courtesy was instinctive. He only looked at the gift and at me, and a curtain lifted, so that I saw deep into the clear well of his eyes, and gratitude was there, and affection, soft over the firm granite of his character.

A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives:

1 .
Jerry's courtesy was ________.
artificial
acquired
inborn
taught

2 .What does the phrase 'of his own accord' indicate?
Half-heartedly
Reluctantly
Neutrally
Willingly

3 .What does the word 'subterfuge' in the passage refer to?
Deception
Honesty
Openness
Candidness

4 .Jerry wanted to get the ax handle _____.
repair
fixed
made
reshaped

5 .Jerry chose to do careful work because of his _______ .
intelligence
courage
meanness
responsibility

6 .The author was half-awakened by the ______ .
sound of barking
sound of footsteps
sound of cutting wood
sound of rain

7 .'Cubbyhole' means _____ .
a small enclosed space
a noisy place
a deep hole
a snake hole

8 .‘I saw deep into the clear well of his eyes’ ____ What did the writer see?
Steadiness
Gratefulness
Farsightedness
Freedom

9 .What does the word 'integrity' in the passage mean?
Intuition
Simplicity
Uprightness
Incompleteness

10 .Jerry had been at the orphanage _______.
for four years
for eight years
for twelve years
for six years

(2)

Based on your reading of the passage, make short notes in each of the boxes in the flow-chart showing the functions of education. (Number 1 has been done for you):

Education not only enriches us with knowledge, abilities and skills, it also teaches us values. Values can be individual, interpersonal. organizational or societal. Thus, students receiving good education develop self-respect but also learn to respect others; they know the importance of honesty and learn to trust others; they develop compassion and fellow feeling and become aware of the need to protect the environment. If students combine the values they learn at home with those that the school gives them, they will not deviate from the right path unless they fall into bad company. The famous French writer Victor Hugo once said. "He who opens a school door, closes a prison."

• (3)

  Write a summary of the following text:

  We spend money for different reasons. We buy foods, clothes or everyday essentials, pay for different services. entertain people, travel to places, help others in need or invest in business and thus spend money everyday. In fact, spending is a part of our life. Spending may make us happy or unhappy depending on how and why we spend. When we spend money on things that we need and within our limit, it is good. When it becomes a compulsive behaviour, it makes life stressful. Unnecessary spending or spending beyond one's means has some bad effects. For one thing, it may lead to financial ruin or debt, and for another, it may create unhappiness within families. People who overspend are never satisfied with what they have. They always rush for brands, fashion items, designer clothes etc. Over a period of time it becomes an addiction which may eventually create psychological problems.
• (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 change if necessary:

  scarce	educate	value	go	bring	study	waste
  married	decide	work	be	that	who	who

  Rokeya is a Bangladeshi girl (a) _________ is about to finish school but she has no hopes of (b)______ on to college. Like millions of other parents, Rokeya's parents think that educating a daughter is a (c) _____ of time and money. They have (d) _____ that they will now marry her off and use their (e) _____ resources for their son's education. Rokeya used to (f)____  about lessons and tests, but now she worries more about getting (g) ______ and having children. She used to dream about being a teacher, but now faces a life of household chores and (h) _____ up children. She used to be happy being a girl but now wishes she (i) ______ a boy. If she were a boy, she would be able to (j) ______ in college and university.

  • (5)

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

    The world is producing millions of tons of domestic rubbish and (a) ______ industrial waste each year. It is becoming very difficult to find (b) _____ locations to (c) _____ rid of all these refuse. The dumping of (d) ______ kinds of waste is seriously (e) _____ the environment. We know that air is a/an (f) _______ element of our environment. But the air is polluted by (g) _______ . Water, another vital element of the environment, is polluted by different kinds of waste and filth. If we want to live a (h) ______ life, we should prevent the pollution of the environment. Total prevention may be (i) ______ but we can certainly reduce pollution by raising (j) ______ among people.

  • (6)

    Re-arrange the following sentences to make a coherent order :

    (a) As Saadi was dressed in his usual inexpensive attire, the courtier didn't recognize him. 

    (b) On his way back home from the emperor's palace, Saadi deliberately stopped at the same courtier's house.

    (c) During the meal, however, the guest began to put the delicacies into the folds of his fine clothes. 

    (d) Sheikh Saadi, a renowned Persian poet, was travelling to the emperor's palace. 

    (e) Saadi said that his clothes, in fact, deserved the food, reminding the host that last time he was shown poor hospitality because of his ordinary clothes. 

    (f) Seeing the expensive clothes of the guest, the courtier and his men were extremely hospitable, offering him a spread of fine dishes. 

    (g) Surprised, the courtier asked, "Why are you feeding your clothes, my honorable guest?" 

    (h) Night fell on the way, and the poet took shelter in a courtier's house. 

    (i) This time, however, he was wearing the luxurious clothes given to him by the emperor. 

    (j) So, he treated the great man with indifference, offering him only a small meal and poor accommodation.

    • (7)

      The graph shows the percentage of different types of books preserved in a college library. Analyze the graph in about 150 words.

      
    • (8)The following is the beginning of a story. Add around 150 words of your won to complete the story:

      It was a foggy winter morning. Dr. Rabbi was driving home from hospital after his exhausting overnight shift. Driving was difficult because of the haze. Suddenly, he felt he had driven past somebody sitting by the road. He stopped the car and backed up to see who it was. It was an elderly man, dressed in thin, ragged clothes …………………………..

      (9)Imaging, you are Lisa/Latif. You have a Facebook friend in Australia. Recently, she/he has shown interest in visiting Bangladesh. Now write a letter to him/her to give him a brief account of the sights and sounds of Bangladesh.