The Fun They Had NCERT Solutions & Summary Class 9 English PDF
Subject: English (Beehive) | Chapter: 1 | Author: Isaac Asimov
📥 Download Notes PDF 📢 Join Telegram📖 Chapter Summary: The Fun They Had
Set in the future (the year 2157), this story revolves around two children, Margie (11 years old) and Tommy (13 years old). In their world, physical books and human teachers no longer exist. Instead, children are taught individually at home by a "mechanical teacher" (a robotic screen) and read "telebooks".
The plot begins when Tommy finds a "real book" (a physical, printed book) in the attic of his house. It belonged to his grandfather's grandfather. Margie and Tommy are fascinated by the book because its words stand still instead of moving on a screen. The book describes the "old kind of school" where a human teacher taught boys and girls together in a special building. Margie, who hates her current mechanical school (especially the slot where she has to put homework), daydreams about how much fun the kids in the past must have had studying, playing, and helping each other together.
📚 Part 1: NCERT Solutions (Textbook Questions)
Q1: How old are Margie and Tommy?
Ans: Margie is eleven (11) years old, and Tommy is thirteen (13) years old.
Q2: What did Margie write in her diary?
Ans: On the page headed 17 May 2157, Margie wrote in her diary: "Today Tommy found a real book!"
Q3: Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Ans: No, Margie had never seen a real physical book before. She had only heard about them from her grandfather.
Q4: What things about the book did she find strange?
Ans: Margie found it strange that the pages of the book were yellow and crinkly. Furthermore, the words stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to on her computer screen. When they turned back to the previous page, it had the same words on it that it had when they read it the first time.
Q5: Why did Margie's mother send for the County Inspector?
Ans: Margie had been doing worse and worse in her Geography tests. Her mother was concerned about her declining performance and sent for the County Inspector to check if there was a fault with the mechanical teacher.
⚡ Part 2: Extra Practice Questions (Important for Exams)
Q6: What did the County Inspector do to help Margie?
Ans: The County Inspector was a round little man with a red face. He took the mechanical teacher apart and found that the geography sector was geared a little too quick for an average ten-year-old. He slowed it down to an appropriate level and told Margie's mother that Margie's overall progress was quite satisfactory.
Q7: Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?
Ans: Margie hated school because it was just a mechanical screen in her house that gave her endless tests, and she especially hated the slot where she had to insert her homework. She thought the old schools must have been fun because kids from the whole neighborhood came laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sat together in the schoolroom, learned the same things, and could help one another with the homework.
Q8: Compare the mechanical teachers in the story with the human teachers of the old schools.
Ans:
Mechanical Teachers: They were large, black, and ugly machines with a screen on which lessons were shown and questions were asked. They were installed in the child's house, customized to each child's mental age, and calculated marks in no time. They lacked emotions, empathy, and social interaction.
Human Teachers: According to Tommy's book, human teachers taught in a special building where all kids went. They explained things to the boys and girls, gave them homework, and asked them questions. They were capable of understanding the emotions and individual struggles of the students, making learning a shared, interactive, and fun social experience.
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Q: According to the story, what was the date written in Margie's diary?
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