Mymensingh Board 2025

Part I: Reading Test (Marks: 60)

1.

Read the passage and answer the questions A and B :

The orphanage is high in the Carolina Mountains. I was there in autumn. I wanted quiet isolation to do some troublesome writing. I wanted mountain air to blow out the malaria from too long a time in the sub tropics. I was homesick too, for the flaming of maples in October, and for cornhusks and pumpkins and black-walnut trees. I found them all living in a cabin belonging to the orphanage, half a mile beyond the orphanage farm. When I took the cabin, I asked for a boy or man to come and chop wood for the fireplace. ……… I looked up from my typewriter, one late afternoon, a little startled. A boy stood at the door, and my pointer dog, my companion, was at his side and had not barked to warn me. The boy was probably twelve years old but undersized. He wore overalls and a torn shirt and was barefooted. He said, “I can chop some wood today.” “You? But you’re small.” “Size don’t matter chopping wood,” he said. “Some of the big boys don’t chop good. I’ve been chopping wood at the orphanage a long time.” “Very well; there’s the axe. Go ahead and see what you can do.”

I went back to work closing the door. ……… He began to chop. The blows were rhythmic and steady and shortly I had forgotten him, the sound no more of an interruption than a consistent rain. I suppose an hour and a half passed and I heard the boy’s steps on the cabin stoop ……… The boy said, “I have to go to supper now.” He said, “I can come again tomorrow.” I said, “I’ll pay you now for what you have done.” thinking I should probably have to insist on an older boy. ……… We went together back of the cabin. An astonishing amount of wood had been cut ……… But you’ve done as much as a man.” I said, “This is a splendid pile.”

A.

Choose the correct answer from the alternatives :

B.

Answer the following questions:

2.

Read the following text and make a flow chart showing the leading events of Shipli’s life (No. 1 has been done for you):

Shipli was only 15 years old when she married Rasid in 2006. Marrying of daughters at an early age is a standard practice for many families living in Rural Bangladesh. After her wedding Shipli joined a local empowerment group that provide adolescent girls with the tools needed to gradually change cultural practices, particularly those pertaining to early marriage and pregnancy. The groups activities include discussions on how to most effectively change behaviour related to reproductive health as well as one-on-one counseling. It also offers peer-to-peer support and life skills training that helps adolescents say no to early marriage. The empowerment group is one of more than 10,000 groups supported by some local Non Government Organizations (NGOs) working all over Bangladesh. These NGOs work through Canada’s adolescent reproductive health project which also aims to increase access to quality health services for adolescents. During one of the group sessions, Shilpi came to understand the potentially harmful effects of early marriage and pregnancy.

1. Got married at 15 → 2. → 3. → 4. → 5. → 6.

3.

Write a summary of the following poem:

Dreams
—Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

4.

Fill in the gaps with suitable words from the box (make any grammatical changes if necessary). There are more words in the box than you need.

Mohima lives in an (a) ______ family. She (b) ______ a first year college student. Her annual exams are knocking (c) ______ the door. So, she (d) ______ to study a lot. But conditions in her family are not suitable (e) ______ her study. As the family which she lives in an extended family, she does not (f) ______ any room of her own. She has to (g) ______ her room with her younger brother and sisters and at the same time with her cousin. Besides being an extended family, there is so much noise and confusions (h) ______ that adverse situations, she can hardly concentrate (i) ______ her studies. Now she wishes she (j) ______ in a nuclear family.

5.

Fill in the blanks with appropriate words in each gap:

About 70 years ago, tourism was not a much used word (a) ______ it is now. Today many people (b) ______ holidays as a part of life. Consequently holiday making has become a major (c) ______. It has created a considerable (d) ______ for employment. The (e) ______ technologies has brought greater opportunities for (f) ______ travel. Previously travel in remote countries were considered a (g) ______. But today cheap holiday packages have made travel anywhere within our (h) ______. Thus the foreign visitors (i) ______ employment for local population.

6.

Rearrange the following sentences to make a coherent order:

(a) He donated the thief some money to start a business.
(b) The box was full of gold and money.
(c) A thief entered his house at night.
(d) The man said, “Sir, I am very poor. So, I have no food in my house.”
(e) He was well-known for his kindness.
(f) Hazi Muhammad Mohsin took him to another room and opened a box.
(g) Hazi Muhammad Mohsin was a very kind hearted man.
(h) He woke up and caught hold of the thief.
(i) He helped the poor and helpless people with food and clothes.
(j) He took pity on the poor.

Part II: Writing Test (Marks: 40)

7.

The graph below shows the number of people living below the poverty line from 2005—2020. Describe the graph :

8.

The following is the beginning of a story. Complete it in your word :

Once a crow was sitting on the branch of a tree. It had a piece of meat in its beak. Suddenly a fox came there …………………

9.

Write a letter to your friend telling him how you spent the summer vacation.

Mymensingh Board 2025

English 1st Paper