📘 Chapter 1: THE FUN THEY HAD
By Isaac Asimov | Class 9 Beehive | Complete Q&A
Story set in the year 2157 - Schools with no books and no human teachers
I. Answer in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
Ans: Margie is 11 years old and Tommy is 13 years old.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Ans: On 17 May 2157, Margie wrote, "Today Tommy found a real book!"
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Ans: No, Margie had never seen a real book before. She had only read telebooks on a screen.
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
Ans: She found it strange that the book had yellow and crinkly pages, the words stood still instead of moving, and the same words appeared again when they turned back the page.
5. What do you think a telebook is?
Ans: A telebook is a book shown on a computer or television screen. Millions of books can be stored in it.
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Ans: Margie’s school was in her house, in a room next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates. She studied alone.
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Ans: They learned Geography, History and Arithmetic. Margie was having trouble with Geography.
II. Answer with reference to the story.
1. "I wouldn’t throw it away."
(i) Who says these words?
Ans: Tommy says these words.
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
Ans: ‘It’ refers to the real paper book that Tommy found.
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Ans: It is being compared with telebooks. Tommy says their telebooks can store a million books.
2. "Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man."
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
Ans: ‘They’ refers to people/children of the old times or centuries ago.
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
Ans: ‘Regular’ means mechanical/robotic teacher which was normal for Margie and Tommy.
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
Ans: It is contrasted with human teachers of the olden days.
III. Short Paragraph Answers ~30 words
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
Ans: They had mechanical teachers. They were big machines with a screen. Lessons appeared on screen, questions were asked, and homework was checked using a punch code slot.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Ans: Because Margie was doing badly in Geography. Her mechanical teacher kept giving her tests and her performance was getting worse.
3. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do?
Ans: The geography sector was set too
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