TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (NCERT) OF THE FUN THEY HAD || CBSE CLASS 9 || ENGLISH -BEEHIVE

    I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple
of sentences each.

1)  
    How old are Margie and Tommy?

    ~ Established
in the future, the story talks about two neighbours Margie and Tommy who are
eleven and thirteen years old respectively.

2)      What
did Margie write in her diary?

    ~ On 17th
May 2157, Margie wrote about the real book 
with yellow, crinkly pages that Tommy had found in the attic of his house in her diary.

3)      Had
Margie ever seen a book before?

    ~ No, Margie
had never seen a book before. She lived
in a distant future where she had only heard from her ancestors about books that
were printed on papers.

4)      What
things about the book did she find strange?

    ~ The story
is set up in utter future where learning and schooling are done by mechanical
teachers and on a computer screen. Margie being from that era found the concept
of books very unusual. The words on the printed books stood still unlike in a
screen. Also, the words on the pages always remained the same as the first time
they were read. Besides, Margie was scornful about the idea that someone would
write a book about schools.

5)      What do
you think a telebook is?

 

    ~ A telebook
is an electronics book that can be displayed on a computer screen and can be read
by scrolling up or down the screen. It is also known as e-book.

6)      Where was
Margie’s school? Did she have any
classmates?

    ~ Margie’s
school was beside her bedroom compiled of a computer where a mechanical teacher
taught her according to her level of incorporance.

      No, Margie had no classmates. 

7)      What
subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

    ~ Margie and
Tommy learned a lot of subjects like Geography, History  and Arithmetic lesson on the addition of
proper functions.

    II. Answer the following with reference to the story.

1.   
    “I wouldn’t throw it away.”

   (I) 
Who says these words?

   ~ 
Tommy says the above words.

   (II) What does ‘it’ refer to?

   ~  In
the above context, ‘it’ refers to the television screen on which Tommy  and
Margie could read over a million books.

   (III)What is it being compared with by the
speaker?

   ~  Tommy
compares the television screen with the words printed on the pages of the book
he’d found lying in his attic the other day. Unlike

     the television screen, the book, once read, has to be thrown
away. 

2.  
    ” Sure they and a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular
teacher. It was a man.”

    (I) Who does ‘they’ refer to?

    ~  In
the above context, ‘they’ refers to the students who studied in old school centuries before Margie and Tommy were born.

    (II) What does ‘regular’ mean here?

    ~ 
Tommy and Margie are two children who live in 2157 where education is
served by electronic devices. Here ‘regular’ refers to the mechanical teacher who teaches them through a computer screen.

    (III) What it is contrasted with?

    ~ in the above context, the mechanical teacher
of 2157 is contrasted with the human teacher of older times.

    III. Answer
each of these questions in a short paragraph(about 30 words).

1)  
    What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

    ~ The story
is set up in the year 2157 where education was served to the students by
electronic devices and machine languages. Margie and Tommy had mechanical
teachers.Who taught
them their daily lessons on different subjects adjusted to the learner’s
absorbance. Basically, they were computers with large black screens where the
students had to put their homework written in punch code in respective slots
directed by the teacher. The homework was checked and marks were calculated
immediately. There was no interval and the whole method was quite monotonous.

2)      Why did
Margie’s mother send for the county inspector?

    ~ Margie
being vexed by the daily workload given by her mechanical teacher was reluctant
to sit to study. Her ever degrading marks in geography tests taken by the
teacher daily shaken her head sorrowfully. Seeing no improvement in the
geography sector, Margie’s mother called for the county inspector for she
thought there must be a malfunction in the system which could be a real reason
for Margie’s failure in her tests.

3)      What
did he do?

    ~ The county the inspector was a round little man with a red face equipped with a whole box of
tools with dials and wires. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple and took
the teacher apart in order to check and fix it. Margie had hoped that the
inspector wouldn’t be able to reassemble the parts together but all her
expectations of getting rid of that machine went in vain. The inspector put
back all the pieces together and slowed down the geography sector because it
was geared a little too quick for an average eleven-year-old child to grasp in.

4)      Why was
Margie doing badly in Geography? What did the county inspector do to help her?

    ~ Margie’s
result in her geography testes was degrading day after day. This was basically
because the geography sector level was pacing way too fast for an eleven-year
child to grab things in.

     The county Inspector realised the fault
and adjusted the geography sector according to Margie’s incorporance. He also
comforted Mrs. jones with the knowledgeable and satisfactory progress Margie
had been showing.

5)      What
had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?

    ~ Due to the
malfunctioning of the machine, the entire History sector had been cut out.
Tommy ‘s teacher had been taken for restoring the flaws and 

    was away for nearly
a month. Margie was hoping the same but the quick restoration of her machine
left her disappointed.

6)      Did
Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?

    ~ Yes, Margie
had regular days and hours for school.

    In the story, we find Margie’s mother being
very particular and specific about Margie’s education. She was made to study
regular days and hours because her mother thought that way she would learn
better. Saturdays and Sundays were the exception.

7)      How
does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

    ~ Tommy being
elder than Margie had a special corner for old school days. He was curious
about the book that he found in his attic the other    day.Tommy said
that in the old kind of schools, there was a man(human being) teacher who
taught around forty to fifty students together, gave then    homework and asked
them questions flawlessly. He also added loftily the presence of a special
building where all kids went for education. Unlike Margie who had no interest,
Tommy’s take on the old school was applaudable.

8)      How
does he describe the old kind of teachers?

    ~ From the
story we find that both Tommy and Margie were taken aback when they learned
that it was a human being who taught around fifty students and not a machine. A
special building was the then classroom where numbered kids used to come and
study. A single man used to give homework,checked them and asked questions.
No wonder Tommy found the then teachers as knowledgeable as the mechanical
teachers they have now.

    IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three
paragraphs.

1)  
    What are the main features of the mechanical teachers
and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?

    ~ Established
in the year 2157, this story enlightens the era where education through
computers would be quite familiar and modern schools and teaching would find
it’s way to oblivion. Margie and Tommy, born in that very era, acquired their
education through mechanical teachers and computer language. The computers were
large black screen on which lessons followed by questions appeared. One needed
to insert the homework and test papers    written in punch code in respective
slots provided. The mechanical teacher checked the papers and gave makes
subsequently. These classrooms were in the student’s room itself. Every student
had their respective mechanical teachers adjusted to their capacity of taking
the load. It’s sad when we find the   students have no classmates and they have
to work terribly hard without any interval. Margie had her classes every day at
the same time except Saturdays and Sundays. No wonder, the learning process was
tedious and mundane with no social interaction.

2)  Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?

    ~Margie had a
very conspicuous reason for hating her school so much. It’s clearly evident
from the story that schools in 2157 are no fun. It’s mundane, boring and undisputedly
lacking enthusiasm. Students are reluctant to attend everyday classes which are
quite obvious. There’s a mechanical teacher who’s made to adjust with the
students’ intelligence. Students like Margie find it tiresome to give ear to
what the teachers are teaching. Her performance in Geography due to a fault in
the machine lost her grades and she was super annoyed with that.

Just like the
proverb goes “Old is Gold”, old things always have its own glow.
Unlike the machines, old schools had life in them. Margie found old schools to
be whole lot amazing and enthusiastic. 
The fact that all students used to study together, a human teacher
taught then that too in a special building     surprised her to the utmost. Students
there helped each other with homework too. Human interaction seemed much more
fun to her because there were intervals in between classes. Overall, Margie
comprehended the idea of old school and was totally fascinated by it.

3)  Do you
agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story?
Give reasons for your answers.

    1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the
adverbs are given in the box below.

    Awfully –
They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny
to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they     were supposed
to– on a screen you know.

    Sorrowfully –
The mechanical teacher had been

    giving her
test after test in geography and she had

    been doing
worse and worse until her mother had

    shaken her
head sorrowfully and sent for the County

    Inspector.

    Completely –
They

    had once
taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a

    month because
the history sector had blanked out

    completely.

    Loftily – He
added loftily,

    pronouncing
the word carefully, “Centuries ago.

    Carefully –
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”

    Differently –
“But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted

    to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and

    that each kid
has to be taught differently.”

    Quickly – “I
didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.

    Nonchalantly
– “Maybe,” he said nonchalantly.

    2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the
sentences below.

    ~ (i)
Carefully

    (ii) Loftily

    (iii) Differently

    (iv) Sorrowfully

    (v) Completely

    (vi) Nonchalantly

    (vii) Awfully

    (viii) Quickly

    3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.

    ~ (i) Anger –
Angrily

    (ii) Happy – Happily

    (iii) Merry -Merrily

    (iv) Sleepy -Sleepily

    (v) Easy – Easily

    (vi) Noisy – Noisily

    (vii) Tidy – Tidily

    (viii) Gloomy – Gloomily

    4. Complete the following conditional sentences.         

    Use the correct form of the verb.

    1. If I don’t
go to Anu’s party tonight, she will be annoyed.

    2. If you
don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss out your meal.

    4. Unless you
promise to write back, I won’t talk to you.

    5. If she
doesn’t play any games, I won’t come with her.

    6. Unless
that little bird flies away quickly, the hunter will kill it.