NCERT Class 9 - English Beehive Book
Lesson No. 1 - The Fun they had
Question Answers
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences
each:
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
A. Margie and Tommy live in the future, in the year 2157. They are
neighbours and spend time together. Margie is a girl of eleven years
of age while Tommy is a boy of thirteen.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
A. On 17 May 2157, Margie wrote that that day Tommy had found a
real book in the attic of his house. It was an old book with yellow,
crinkly pages.
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
A. No, Margie had not seen a book before the one found by Tommy
in his house. She had only heard from her grandfather that his
grandfather went to school as a boy and that they read books that were
printed on paper.
[Link] things about the book did she find strange?
As Margie lived in an era where students studied from a mechanical
teacher and all the books appeared on the screen, she found it strange
that the words on the printed book did not move. It was strange to see
the same words appear on the pages as she flipped them over.
[Link] do you think a telebook is?
A telebook is an electronic book also known as an e-book. It is stored
in a computer and can be read by scrolling up or down the screen.
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
[Link]’s school was in her house. It was a room next to her
bedroom. It was a personal classroom where the computer was
adjusted to her level of learning. She studied by herself and had no
classmates.
[Link] subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
[Link] and Tommy learned a lot of subjects like Geography,
History and Mathematics.
Answer the following with reference to the story:
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
A. Tommy says these words.
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
A. ‘It’ refers to the Computer screen on which Tommy reads
various books.
B.
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
A. ‘It’ is being compared to the paper book that Tommy found in his
house.
2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was
a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
A. ‘They’ refers to the ancestors of the children who went to school
and studied from a human teacher.
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
A.‘Regular’ means the mechanical teacher which teaches Margie and
Tommy.
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
[Link] mechanical teacher is contrasted with a human teacher.
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about
30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
A. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were
computers which had preloaded lessons on different subjects
according to the learner’s level. Whenever they malfunctioned, they
were opened and repaired.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
A. Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to check Margie’s
teacher. She thought that probably, Margie’s teacher had a
malfunction. Margie was failing the Geography tests repeatedly which
could be due to a fault in the teacher.
3. What did he do?
A. The County Inspector was trained to repair the computer teacher.
He opened the machine and checked it. The Geography sector was set
on a higher level. He reset it to Margie’s level and closed the teacher.
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the
County Inspector Do to help her
[Link] was failing in the Geography tests as the teacher had
developed a fault. The County Inspector told Margie’s mother that
Margie was not at fault. Her progress was good. He reset the teacher
to Margie’s level.
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
A. Once Tommy’s teacher had developed a fault as the entire section
on History had been deleted. His teacher had been taken for repairs
and it took them a month to set it right.
[Link] Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
A. Margie studied at the same time everyday, except Saturdays and
Sunday. Her mother was very particular and had told Margie that she
would learn better if she studied at the same time every day.
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
A. Tommy said that in the old kind of schools, there was a man
teacher who told a few things to the students, gave them home work
and then asked them questions. The man teacher was as
knowledgeable as the machine teacher.
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
A. He says that the old teachers were not the regular kind they had.
They were human beings and not machines.
III. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs
(100 –150 words):
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the
schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
A. Margie and Tommy were taught by mechanical teachers. They had
large black screens on which the lessons appeared. The lessons were
followed by questions. The students had to insert homework and test
papers in the slots provided. They had to write down the work in a
punch code which was a computing language. The mechanical teacher
checked the papers and gave them marks within a few seconds. These
classrooms were in the student’s home itself. Every student studied
from his respective mechanical teacher. Each teacher was adjusted
according to the level of the learner. They did not have classmates.
They studied various subjects like Geography, History and
Mathematics. Margie studied everyday at the same time except
Saturdays and Sundays. Her mother said that she would learn better if
she studied that way. The learning process was mechanical, dull and
boring for them.
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of
school must have been fun?
A. Margie hated school because it was not fun. There was a
mechanical teacher and the learning process lacked life. It was like a
machine carrying out the usual working, there was nothing new, no
fun or laughter. Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her tests in
Geography and she was performing bad at them. Later it was
discovered that the teacher had developed a fault due to which it was
giving her tests of a higher level. Margie’s mother called the County
Inspector. He opened the teacher, found the fault and rectified it.
Margie disliked the teacher and hoped that he would not be able to
repair it. She hated inserting the homework and test papers into the
slot provided.
She thought that the children in the past must have had a lot of fun
when they went to school with fellow children. She found it amazing
that all the children studied together, the same things and could
discuss studies and help each other with the homework too. As the
teachers were people, they would not behave like machines. The
human aspect of education in the past made her feel that the school of
the past were fun.
