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Class 9 English The Fun They Had Chapter 1 Question Answer
PROSE
THE FUN THEY HAD
Isaac Asimov
WORD – MEANINGS: শব্দ-অর্থ
diary: দিনলিপি। crinkly: শাৰী শাৰীকৈ ভাঁজ পৰা। gee: ভারবোধক শব্দ (বিস্ময়ভার প্রকাশ কৰিবলৈ ব্যৱহাৰ কৰা হয়)। plenty: যথেষ্ট। scornful: ঘৃণাজনক, অৱজ্ঞাজনক। mechani-cal: যান্ত্রিক। County Inspector: জিলা পৰিদৰ্শক। tools: সা-সঙ্গুলি, আহিলা।। wire: তাঁৰ slot: নিৰ্দ্দিষ্ট স্থান, সময়। punch code: প্রতীকি সংখ্যা বা আখৰ। calculate: গণনা কৰা। geography: ভূগোল। sector: ভাগ, অঞ্চল। overall: মুঠতে। progress: উন্নতি। alto-gether: একেলগে, সম্পূর্ণরূপে। superior eyes : বেছি জনা ভাবত। loftily: অহংকৰৰ সৈতে। hurt: আঘাত কৰা। dispute: কাজিয়া কৰা। screamed: চিঞৰা। adjusted: ঠিক কৰা, যথাযথ স্থানত বহুরা। funny: ধেমেলীয়া। nonchalantly: বেছি আগ্রহ নেদেখুৱাই। tucked beneath: তলত (কাষলতিত) চেপা মাৰি ধৰা। except: বাহিৰে। screen: পর্দা। fraction: ভগ্নাংশ। slot: ভাগ, অংশ। neighbourhood: ওচৰৰ অঞ্চল, কাষৰীয়া এলেকা। schoolyard: বিদ্যালয়ৰ চোতাল। flushing: পোহৰেৰে উজলাই তুলি।
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Thinking about the text:
Activity:
Q. Calculate how many years and months ahead from now Margie’s diary en-try is:
Ans. Today is 1 January, 2017. Margie wrote her diary on 17 May, 2157. Hence Margie’s diary entry is ahead of 140 years and 4 months 17 days from today.
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each:
Q.1. How old are Margie and Tommy ?
Ans. Margie is eleven years old and Tommy is thirteen years old.
Q.2. What did Margie write in dairy ?
Ans. Margie wrote in her diary about an old book Tommy had found that day.
Q.3. Had Margie even seen a book before ?
Ans. No, Margie had never seen a book before.
Q.4. What things about the book did she find strange ?
Ans. First she found the words standing still instead of moving the way that they were supposed to be. Secondly, Turning back to the page she found the same words on it that it had when they read it the first time.
Q.5. what do you think a telebook is ?
Ans. A telebook is the copy of a book that is shown on computer and relayed on a television screen.
Q.6. Where was Margie’s school ? Did she have any classmates ?
Ans. Margie’s school was in a room just next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.
Q.7. What subject did Margie and Tommy learn ?
Ans. Margie learnt geography and arithmatic and Tommy learnt history.
II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
Q.1. “ I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words ?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to ?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker ?
Ans. (i) Tommy says these words.
(ii) Here ‘It’ refers to the old book that Tommy had found.
(iii) It is compared with book seen on the television screen.
Q.2. Sure they had a teacher, but it was not regular teacher. It was a man.
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to ?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here ?
(iii) What is it contrasted with ?
Ans. (i) ‘They’ refers to the boys and girls who read in school some hundreds of years ago.
(ii) ‘Regular’ means ‘of the usual kind’.
Here it means the mechanical teacher (robot) of the days of Margie and Tommy.
(iii) It is contrasted with a human teacher.
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words)
Q.1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have ?
Ans. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. Such mechanical teachers were always on at the same time every day
except Saturday and Sunday.
The mechanical teachers have different slots and screen on which the lessons could be seen.
Q.2. Why did Margie’s mother sent for the county Inspector?
Ans. Margie’s mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and Margie had been doing wrose and
wrose. Then her mother thought that there might be some problems with the mechanical teacher. So she sent for the county Inspector to repair it.
Q.3. What did he do?
Ans. The county Inspector came with a box of tools and wires. He found that the geography sector was geared a little too
quick. He took apart the mechanical teacher and slowed it up to an everage ten-year level.
Q.4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the county Inspector do to help her?
Ans. After examining the parts of the mechanical teacher, the county Inspector, told that the geography sector of the mechanical teacher was geared a little too quick. For this reason Margie was doing badly in geography. The county Inspector helped Margie by
slowing down the geography section to an average ten-year level.
Q.5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Ans. Once the history section had blanked out completely. It had been taken away for nearly a month.
Q.6. Did Margie had regular days and hours for the school? If so why?
Ans. Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school. Her mechanical teacher was on at the same time every day except
Saturday and Sunday. This was because Margie’s mother had said that little girls learnt better if they learnt at regular hours.
Q.7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Ans. Tommy said that the old kind of school was held in a building where gathered all the kids from the neighbourhood.
The human teachers taught the boys and girls. The teachers taught the same lessons to all the students of the same class. The
human teacher was smart enough to teach the students.
Q.8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Ans. Tommy says that the old kind of teachers were different from the mechanical teacher that they have. The old kind of
teachers were human beings. They used to teach the children who gathered in a school (in a particular building). All the kids of same age were taught the same things. The human teachers of olden time gave home-work to the students and asked them questions.
IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs : (100-150 words)
Q.1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
Ans. The mechanical teachers are not like human teachers. They are machine like robots. They have screens on their bodies.
Lessons and answers to the questions given as homeworks appear on the screen. It has different slots and sections for various subjects. Lessons are shown and questions are asked through the screen. The mechanical teachers sometimes get
out of order and they need to be repaired and restored by the county Inspector. The mechanical teachers are on always
at the same time everyday except Saturday and Sunday. The classrooms of Margie and Tommy are only next to their bedrooms. In
such classrooms one and single student is taught by the mechanical teacher.
Q.2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school have been fun?
Ans. The mechanical teacher was giving her test after test in geography and she was doing wrose and wrose. She was displeased
with it, so he hated school. Margie thought that the old kind of school was better than the one of her time. In old school all the kids of the neighbourhood gathered together and read in the same classroom. They came to the school courtyard laughing and shouting. Because all the kids of the same class were taught the same things by human teacher. The kids could help one another in preparing their homework. So Margie thought that the old school must have been a fun.
Q.3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans. Yes, I think that the schools today are more fun than the schools in the story. First, the schools today are held in building where the students of the neighbourhood gather and learn lessons together. Students of the same age are taught the same things. They are given the same homework and they can help each other in doing their homeworks.
Secondly, the teachers of the schools of today are humans. The students may talk to the teachers and ask questions to be answered by their physical voice. On the other hand schools described in the story look queer. There is no special school building. The class are held in the respective houses of the students and they are taught not by human teachers but by mechanical teachers.
For these reasons the schools of today are more fun than the schools in the story.
Thinking about Language:
Adverbs:
Read this sentence taken from the story: They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. The word ‘complete’ is an adjective. When you add -ly to it, it becomes an adverb.
1. Find the sentences in the lesson that have the adverbs given in the box below.
awfully sorrowfully completely loftily carefully differently quickly nonchalantly
Ans: Try yourself.
Q.2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read…………….so that performance can be improved.(carefully)
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions…………… shrugging his shoulders. (loftily)
(iii) We all behave………..when we are tired or hungry. (nonchalantly)
(iv) The teacher shook her head……..when Rabi lied to her. (sorrowfully)
(v) I ………forget about it. (completely)
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled………….and turned away. (differently)
(vii) The president of the company is……………..busy and will not be able to meet you. (awfully)
(viii) I finished my work……….. so that I could go out to play.(quickly)
Remember:
An adveb describes action. You can form adverbs by adding -ly to adjectives.
Spelling Note:
When an adjective ends in -y, the -y is
changed to -i when you add -ly to form an
adverb. For example: angry —- angrily.
Q.3. Make adverbs from these adjectivies.
(i) angry…….( angrily)
(ii) happy……..( happily)
(iii) merry…….(merrily)
(iv) sleepy….(sleepily)
(v) easy…(easily)
(vi) noisy…(noisily)
(vii) tidy…(tidily)
(viii) gloomy…( gloomily)
II. Not and Unless Imagine that Margie’s mother told her, ‘’You’ll feel awful if you don’t finish your history lesson.” She could also say: “ You’ll feel awful unless you finish your history lesson.” Unless means ‘if not’. Sentences with unless or ‘if not’ are negative conditional sentences. Notice that the sentences have two parts. The part that begins with if not or unless tells us the condition. This part has a verb in the present tense (look at the verbs don’t finish in the sentence above). The other part of the sentence tells us
about a possible result. It tells us what will happen (if something else doesn’t happen). The verb in this part of the sentence is in
the future tense (you’ll feel / you will feel.)
Notice these two tenses again in the following examples:
There won’t be any books left unless we preserve them. You won’t learn your lesson if you don’t study regularly. Tommy will have an accident unless he drives more slowly.
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 offended.
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will have to go hungry.
3. Unless you promise to write back, I shall stop writing to you.
4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will grow fat.
5. Unless that little birds fly away quickly, the cat will prey on it.
Writing:
A new revised volume of Issac Asimov’s short stories has just been released. Order one set. Write a letter to the publisher, Mindfree Private limited. 1632 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi, requesting that a set to be sent to you by Value Payable Post (VPP), and giving your address. Your letter will have the following parts: Address of the sender and receiver The salutation The body of the letter
The closing phrases and signature
Ans:
To, Date: 01-03-2025
The Sale Manager,
Mindframe Private Limited 1932 Asaf ali Road, New Delhi
From:
Nalini Mahanta House No-11 Rupa Nagar, Dibrughar-43
Dear sir,
From the Telegraph I have come to know that a new revised volume of Sir Isaac Asimov’s short stories has just been released. I am a devout reader of his writing. Therefore, I would request you to send a set of the book to me through VPP. I have sent 300.00 (Three Hundred Rupees) already as advance by Bank Draft.
Hope that you would send the set as earlier as possible. I shall be looking eagerly for the despatch.
Yours sincerely.
Nalini Mahanta.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1. Who is the author of the short story, ‘’The Fun They Had”?
Ans. Isaac Asimov is the author of the story, “The Fun They Had”.
Q.1. What did Margie record in her diary?
Ans. Margie recorded in her diary that Tommy had found a real book.
Q.2. How was the book that Tommy had found?
Ans. The book that Tommy had found was very old.
Q.3. How were the pages of the old book found by Tommy?
Ans. The pages of the old book were yellow and crinkly.
Q.4. When did Margie write her dairy?
Ans. Margie wrote her diary in the night of 17 May, 2157.
Q.5. Where did Tommy find the old book.
Ans. Tommy found the old book in the attic.
Q.6. What the old book was about.
Ans. The old book was about school.
Q.7. Who was Margie’s Teacher?
Ans. Margie had a mechanical teacher.
Q.8. How had Margie to write homework and test papers?
Ans. Margie had to write homeworks and test papers in punch code.
Q.9. For how long was Tommy’s teacher taken away.
Ans. Tommy’s teacher was taken away for about a month or so.
Q.9. Why did they take away Tommy’s teacher?
Ans. They had taken away Tommy’s teacher because its history section had been blanked out entirely.
