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* I • The Fun They Had

BEFORE You READ
• The story we shall read is set in the future, when books and
schools as iue now know them will perhap s not exist. How
will children study then? The diagram ·below may give you
some ideas.
~
.., .
~ Learning
through
F computers
'' l

~~I , rt:E::>
~

Robotic
teacher

• In pairs, discuss three things that you like best about your
school and three things about your school that you would
like to change . Write them down.
• Have you ever read words on a televisio n (or computer) screen?
Can you imagine a time when all books will be on comput ers,
and there will be no books printed on paper? Would you like
such books better?

1. MARGIE even wrote about it tbat night in her diary.

On the page headed 17 May 2157, she wrote, ''Today
Tommy found a real book!"
It was a very old book. Margie' s grandfa ther once
said that when he was a little boy his grandfa ther
 o •I 2 I l ·
~
'!{. told him that there was a time when all stories
were printed on paper.
· They turned the pages, which were yellow and
crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words crinkly: with many
that stood still instead of moving the way they were folds or lines
supposed to - on a screen, you know. And then
when they turned back to the page before,, it had
the same words on it that it had had when they
read it the first time. ·
2. "Gee," said Tommy, "what a waste. When you're
through with the book, you just throw it away, ~
guess. Our television screen must have had a million
books on it and it's good for plenty more. I wouldn't
throw it away." _
"Same with mine," said Margie. She was eleven
and hadn't seen as many telebooks as Tommy, had.
He was thirteen.
She said, "Where did you find it?"
"In my house:" He pointed without looking,
because he was busy reading. "In the attic." attic: a space just
below the roof. used
"What's it about?" · as a storeroom
"School."
3. Margie was scornful. "School? What's there to scornful:
write about school? I hate school." · contemptuous:
Margie always hated school, but now she hated something
showing you is think
it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been worthless
giving her test after test in geography and she had
been doing worse and worse until her mother had
sh aken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County
Inspector.
4. He was a round little man with a red face and a
whole b~x of tools with dials and wires.· He smiled
at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the
teacher apart; Margie had hoped he wouldn't know
how to put it together again, but he knew how all
right, and, after an hour or so, there it was again,
large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which
all the lessons were shown and the questions were
asked . That wasn't so bad. The part Margie hated

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 most was the slot where she had to put homework slot a given space,
and test papers. She always had to write them out time or position
in a punch code they made her learn when she was
six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated
the marks in no time.
5. The Inspector had smiled after he was finished
and patted Margie's head. He said to her mother,
"It's not the little girl's fault, Mrs Jones. I think the
geography sector was geared a little too quick. Those geared (to): adjusted
to a particular
things happen sometimes. I've slowed it up to an standard or level
average ten-year level. Actually, the overall pattern
of her progress is quite satisfactory." And he patted
Margie's head again.
Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping
they would take the teacher away altogether. They
had once taken Tommy's teacher away for nearly a
month because the history sector had blanked out ·
completely.
So she said to Tommy, "Why would anyone write
about school?"
6. Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes.
"Because it's not our kind of school, stupid. This is
the old kind of school that they had hundreds and
hundreds of years ago." He added loftily, loftily: 1n a superior
way
pronouncing the word carefully, "Centuries ago."
Margie was hurt. "Well, I don't know what
kind of scho_ol they had all that time ago." She read
the book over his shoulder for a while, then said,
"Anyway, they had a teacher."

-~ J;~~-:. ~
-
·- - ~
'They had a teacher... It was a man.
The Fun They Had I 7.
 "Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn't a regular regular. here,
teacher. It was a man." . normal: oftheusua1
"A man? How could a man be a teacher?" kind
"Well, he just told the boys and girls things and
gave them homework and asked them questions."
7. "A man isn't smart enough."
"Sure he is. My father knows as much as my
teacher."
"He knows almost as much, I betcha." betcha (informal):
Margie wasn't prepared to dispute that. She said, (I) bet you (in fast
"I wou ld n 't want a strange man 1n . my h ouse to speech):
· I'm sure
teach me." dispute: disagree
· Mth
Tommy screamed with laughter. "You don't know
much, Margie. The teachers didn't live in the
house. They had a special building and all the
kids went there."
: And all the kids learned the ~aP,;1,f .tl)..ing?"
Sure, if they were the ~ame age." ·
8. "But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted
to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches aIJ.d
that each kid has to be taught differently."
"Just the same they didn't do it that way then.
If you don't like it, you don't have to read the book."
"I didn't say I didn't like it," Margie said quickly.
She wanted to read about those funny schools.
They weren't even half finished when Margie's
mother called, "Ma,rgie! School!"
Margie looked up. "Not yet, Mamma."
"Now!" said Mrs Jones. "And it's probably time
for Tommy, too."
Margie said to Tommy; "Can I read the book some
more with you after school?"
9. "May be," he said nonchalantly. He walked away nonchalantly: not
whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath sho~gmuch
. interest or
h lS arm. enthusiasm:
Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right carelessiy
next to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher
was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the
same time every day except Saturday and Sunday.
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 The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen...

because her mother said little girls learned better

if they learned at regular hours.
The screen was lit up, and it said: "Today's
arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper
fractions. Please insert yesterday's homework in the
proper slot."
10. Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about
the old schools they had when her grandfathe r's
grandfathe r was a little boy. All the kids from .the
whole neighborho od came, laughing and shouting
in the schoolyard , sitting together in the schoolroom ,
going home together at the end of the day. They
learned the same things, so they could help one
another with the homework and talk about it.
And the teachers were people ...
The mechanic al teacher was flashing on the
screen: "When we add fractions ½ and ¼ ... "
Margie was thinking about how the kids must
have loved it in the old days. She was thinking
about the fun they had.
lsMCAsIMO V

The Fun They Had I9 ,

 ~ .. n.:;
~~
~
Vt· w\hlnklng about the Text
h: Activity -~--~-~.---
Calc ulat e how man y yea rs and mon ths ahe
ad from now Margie's
diar y enb y is.
I. Answer thes e que stio ns in a few wor ds
or a cou ple of sen tenc es each .
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. Wh at did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a boo k before?
4. Wh at thin gs abo ut the boo k did she find
stra nge ?
5. Wh at do you thin k a telebook is?
6. Where was Margie's sc'h?ol? Did she hav
e any . clas sma tes?
7. Wh at sub ject s did Margie and Tommy
le3:ffi? . _
II. Answer the following with reference to the
story.
1. "I wou ldn· t thro w it away."
(i) Who says thes e wor ds?
(ii) Wh at doe s 'it' refer to?
(iii) Wh at is it bein g com pare d with
by the spe ake r?
2. "Su re they had a teacher, but it was n't
a regu lar teac her. It was a man."
(i) ·w ho doe s 'the y' refer to?
(ii) Wh at doe s 'reg ular ' mea n here
?
(iii) WD,at is it con tras ted with?

Ill. Ans wer each of thes e que stio ns in a sho

rt para grap h (abo ut 30 words).
1. Wh at kind of teac hers did Margie and
Tommy hav e?
2. Why did Margie's mot her sen d for the
Cou nty Insp ecto r?
3. Wh at did he do?
4. Why was Margie doing bad ly in geograp
hy? Wh at did the Cou nty Inspector
do to help her? .
5. Wh at had onc e hap pen ed to Tommy's
teac her?
6. Did Margie hav e regu lar day s and hou
rs for scho ol? If so, why ?
7. How doe s Tom my desc ribe the old kind
of scho ol? ·
8. How doe s he desc ribe the old kind of
teac hers ?
IV. Ans wer eac h of thes e que stio ns in two
or thre e para grap hs (l00..:.150 words).
I. Wh at are the mai n feat ures of the mec
han ical teac hers and the schoolrooms
tha t Margie and Tommy hav e in the stor
y?
2. Wh y did Margie hate scho ol? Why did
she thin k the old kind of school must
hav e bee n fun?

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 ~
th an the schoo l In
3 . Do you agree with Margie that schoo ls today are more fu n
4f' the s tory? Give reaso ns for your a n swer.
* Thinking about Language ,

I. Adverbs
Read this senten ce taken from the story:
becau se the
They had once taken Tomm y's teach er away for nearly a month
histor y secto r had blank ed out completely.
es an adver b.
The word compl ete is an adject ive. When you add -ly to it, it becom
given in the box
1. Find the sente nces in the lesson which have the adver bs
below.

· •, ~
awfully . ~s9~ : ~y-- :~;Iete~y loftily · 7J
care[tfilr · clifferentlL gulckly: nonchalantly

below.
2. Now use these adver bs to fill in the blank s in the sente nces
(i) The repor t must be read so that perfor manc e can be
impro ved.
(ii) At the in~e~ew, Same e; answe red our quest ions
--------
shrug ging his shoul ders.

(iii) We all behav e when we are tired or hungr y.

(iv) The teach er shook her head when Ravi lied to her.

(v) I forgot about it:

just smile d
(vi) When I comp limen ted Reva thi on her succe ss. she
and turne d away.
busy and will not
(vii] The Presid ent of the Comp any is
be able to meet you.

(viii) I finish ed my work

so that I could go out to play.

~:
An adverb descr ibes actio n. You can form adver bs by addin
g -ly to adject ives .

..... ..., lfot.: When an adjecti~e ends In -y,~ he y chang

es to i when you
add - ly to form an a dverb .
For examp le: angr -y ➔ a ngr-l-ly

The Fun They Ha~l I 11 ,C

 3. Make adve rbs from thes e adje ctive s.
(i) angry (ii) hap py
(iii) mer ry (iv) slee py
(v) easy (vi) nois y
(vii) tidy (viii) gloo my
II. If Not and Unl ess
• Imag ine that Margie's mot her told her, "You
'll feel awfu l if you don 't finis h
you r histo ry less on."
• She coul d also say: "You'll feel awful unle
ss you finis h you r hist ory lesso n."
Unless mea ns if not. Sen tenc es with unle ss or
if not are nega tive cond ition al
sent ence s.
Notice that thes e sent ence s have two part s.
The part that begi ns with if not or
unle ss tells us the con ditio n. This part has a
verb in the pres ent tens e (look at
the verb s don' t finish, finis h in the sent ence
s above).
The othe r part of the sent ence tells us abou t
a poss ible resu lt. It tells us wha t
will hap pen (if som ethi ng else does n't happ
en). The verb in this part of the
sent ence is in the futu re tens e (you 'U feel /you
will feel) . ·
Notice thes e two tens es agai n in the following
exam ples .
Fut ure Ten se · Pre sent Tense
• The re won 't be any book s left unle ss we pres erve them .
• You won 't lear n you r lesso ns \

if you don 't stud y regularly.

• Tom my will have an acci dent unle ss he drives mor e slowly.
Complete the following cond ition al sent ence s.
Use the corr ect form of the verb .
1. If I don't go to Anu 's part y toni ght,

2. If you don 't telep hone the hote l to orde r food

,
3. Unle ss you prom ise to write back , I

4. If she does n't play any games,

5 . Unle ss that little bird flies away quickly,

the cat

** Writing
A new revised volu me of Issa c Asimov's shor
t stor ies has just been relea sed.
Order one set. Write a letter to the publ ishe
r, Mindfame Private Limited, 1632
Asaf AH Road, New Delhi, requ estin g that a set
be sent to you by Value Payable ,
Post (VPP), and givin g you r addr ess. Your lette
r will have the following parts.

IJ 12 / Beehive
• Addresses of the sender and receiver
• The salutation
• The body of the letter
• The closing ~hrases and signature
Your letter might look like this:

Your address

Date (DD/MM/YY}

The addressee's address

Dear Sir/Madam,

Yours sincerely,

Your signature

Remember that the language of a formal letter ts different from the

colloquial style of personal letters. For example, contracted forms
s uch as 'I've' or 'can't' are not used.

The Fun They Had I 13 f

 Speaking
In groups of four discuss the following topic.
.,
'The Schools of the Future Will Have No Books and No Teachers!'
Your group can decide to speak for or against the motion. After this, each group
will select a speaker to present its views to the entire class. · · ~
You may find the following phrases usefu1to· present your ~gument in the debate.
. ,
• In my opinion . . .. # .i '

• I/we fail to understand why ...

• I wholeheartedly support/oppose the view that ...
• At the outset let me say ...
• I'd/we'd like to raise the issue of/argue .agains~ ·, ..
• I should like to draw attention to .. ·.
• My/ our worthy opponent has submitted that : ..
• On the contrary ... ' '
• I frrmly reject .. .

" False science creates atheists; true science

prostrates Man beJore divinity:

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