L E S S O N 1
THE BOOK OF NATURE
ACTIVITY-2
Answer the following questions in complete sentences:
(a) What must we do to know about the tale of this world?
Ans. We must read the books written by the scientists and those who have studied a great deal. We should study the rocks and the fossils to know about the story of this world.
(b) How old is our earth?
Ans. Our earth is very, very old-millions and millions of years old.
(c) Who roamed the earth before the arrival of human beings?
Ans. Only animals roamed the earth before the arrival of human beings.
ACTIVITY-3
Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the text, The first letters of the words are given :
Answers:
(a) As a subject, history is quite interesting.
(b) We have good relations with our neighbouring countries.
(c) Plants need air, water and sunlight to grow.
(d) Can you imagine how big the Universe is?
(e) You should study regularly if you want to be a good student.
ACTIVITY-4
Make meaningful sentences with the following words:
(a) interest, (b) surface, (c) inhabited, (d) together, (e) scientist.
Answers:
(a) interest : The stories of Ruskin Bond interest me a lot.
(b) surface : The surface of the wall is not even.
(c) inhabitant : The inhabitant of this land is a tribe.
(d) together : Paul and Sam came together to attend theparty.
c) scientist : Issac Newton was a scientist of great repute.
ACTIVITY-5
Identify which of the following statements are True and which are False. Give a supporting statement for each of your answers.
Answers:
(a) Fairy tales are rich in imagination.
[True]
Supporting statement: This would be very interesting for we could imagine anything we wanted to and would thus make up the most beautiful fairy tales.
(b) We have no means to know about the far off days.
[False]
Supporting statement: But although we have no books written in these far off days, fortunately, we have somethings which tell us a great deal as well almost as a book would.
(c) The alphabet of nature is like the Hindi or the English alphabet.
[True]
Supporting statement: "So also you must learn the alphabet of nature before you can read her story in her books of stone and rock."
d) A pebble is smooth and shiny.
[True]
Supporting statement: And all the while it rolled at the bottom of the river and its edges were worn away and its rough surface made smooth and shiny.
(e) We can learn a lot about our world from the rivers and mountains.
[True]
Supporting statement: We have rocks and mountains and seas and stars and rivers and deserts and fossils of old animals.
ACTIVITY-6
Complete the following sentences with information from the text :
Answers:
(a) No book could have been written in old times because man did not exist then.
(b) To be able to read any language one has to learn its alphabet.
(c) A small pebble was definitely a part of a big rock or stone with plenty of edges and corners.
(d) On the beaches at the seaside, little children play and make castles out of the sand.
ACTIVITY-8
Answer the following questions:
(a) Which are the things around us that tell us about the earth's early tale?
Ans: We have rocks and mountains and seas and stars and rivers and deserts and fossils of old animals around us and these things tell us about the earth's early story.
(b) Why does a pebble have a smooth surface?
Ans: A pebble has a smooth surface because it rolls at the bottom of the river and its edges are worn away and its rough surface become smooth and shiny.
(c) How does a pebble become grains of sand?
Ans: A pebble is carried by the river and it becomes smaller and smaller till at last it becomes grains of sand.
(d) What does the author mean by "The Great Book of Nature?"
Ans: The author compares 'Nature' with a great book where the historical facts are recorded on its pages of stone, mounatins, rivers, deserts etc.
ACTIVITY-9
Rearrange the sentences in the correct order by writing the numbers in the brackets.:
Answers:
(a) The rock is taken to a big river by the little river. (2)
(b) At last it is turned into grains of sand. (6)
(c) It becomes a pebble. (4)
(d) A bit of rock is pushed by a mountain stream into a little river. (1)
(e) The pebble becomes smaller because it is carried on and on by the river. (5)
(f) The edges of the rock are worn away and its rough surface is made smooth. (3)
ACTIVITY-11
Replace the underlined words with suitable opposite words from the box. There are some extra words.
Answers:
(a) The man became famous in the late years of his life.
(b) How sad she looks!
(c) The trunk of this huge tree has a rough bark.
(d) Jatin lost his pencil box on his way to school.
(e) Smita learnt to add.
ACTIVITY-12(A)
Read the paragraph below and put the apostrophe (') mark in the proper places:
Ans: Rahim's father is a well-known person. The honourable M.LA. of the area is his relative. He has donated a good sum of money to the local library for buying new books. The library is located near the Girls' High School. Sabina's brother and Akram's sister often visit the library. They like to read children's story books and Tagore's poems. Their parents also go there to read newspapers after the day's work.
ACTIVITY-12(B)
Rewrite the following passage using contracted forms of words wherever applicable:
Ans: The teacher said, "We all know you're a good student. I Can't understand why you've done such a thing. You shouldn't behave rudely with your classmates. Promise me. You'll always remember what I have said. The student realised his mistake. He said, "Sir I'm sorry. I shall never behave like this.
ACTIVITY-13(B)
Fill in the blanks with appropriate possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives:
(Possessive Pronoun Possessive Adjective)
Answers:
Yesterday I forgot to take back my pen from Sunil. I gave him mine in the class because he didn't bring his. The little girl has torn her clothes. "But why are your clothes dirty?" asked clothes while the mother to the girl's elder brothers. "We have soiled our playing outside", they said.
B. Answer the following questions:
(a) How does the narrator plan to educate his daughter?
Ans: The narrator wanted to educate his daughter writing to her from time to time short accounts of the story of our earth and the many countries great and small which is divided.
(b) Compare Engind with India as you find them in the above text.
Ans: England is only a little island and India, though a big country, is only a small part of the earth's surface.
GRAMMAR
1. Add prefixes (dis/mis/un/im) to write the opposite of the following:
(i) important.
Ans: unimportant.
(ii) advantage.
Ans: disadvantage.
(iii) pure.
Ans: impure.
(iv) fortune.
Ans: misforfune.
2. Do as directed:
(i) You— not hate the poor. (Fill in the gap with appropriate Modal.) an
Ans: You should not hate the poor.
(ii) I hurt my leg. I am unable to walk. (Join the two sentences)
Ans: I hurt my leg so I am unable to work.
(iii) Rohan— just— (return) from school.
(Fill in the blanks with Present Perfect Tense of the given the verb).
Ans: Rohan had just returned from school.
(iv) Aunt said to me, "May God bless you." (Change the narration).
Ans: Aunt wished God might bless me.
(v) Write what type of sentences the following are:
(a) May you all be happy.
(b) How happy we are!
Ans: (a) Optative sentence. (b) Exclamatory sentence.
A. Answer the following questions:
(a) What is the age of the earth?
Ans: The earth is millions and millions of years old.
(b) Who roamed the earth before the arrival of human beings?
Ans: Before the arrival of human beings animals roamed the earth.
(c) What was the opinion of scientists about the earth?
Ans: Scientists said that there was a time when the earth was too hot for any living being to live on it.
(d) What are fossils?
Ans: Fossils are the remains of old animals.
B. Write 'T' for true and 'F' for false statements:
(i) Milions years ago there were only trees and stones. (F)
(ii) Before men came there were only animals. (T)
(iii) Scientists said that there was a time when the earth was too cold. (F)
A. Answer the following questions:
(a) What could be used as books in the far-off days?
Ans: Rocks and mountains and seas and stars and rivers and deserts and fossils of old animals could be used as books in far off days.
(b) What would be interesting for us?
Ans: It would be very interesting for we could imagine anything we wanted to and would thus make the most beautiful fairy tales.
A. Choose the correct alternative:
(a) To read any language we have to learn its -
(i) sentences,
(ii) paragraphs
(iii) alphabets, ✔
(iv) words
b) A round pebble comes from a -
(i) shiny pebble,
(ii) big rock,
(iii) mountain,
(iv) rough rock ✔
B. Answer the following questions:
(a) How can one read the story of nature?
Ans: One can read the story of nature in her books of stone or rock.
(b) What are the three languages mentioned in the passage?
Ans: Hindi, Urdu and English are the three languages mentioned in the passage.
C. Find words from the text which mean the following:
(i) Small stone:
Ans: pebble
(ii) Letters of a language:
Ans: alphabets.
