Chapter- 1        The Fun They Had   


1. Question: Who wrote The Fun They Had?

Answer: The Fun They Had was written by Isaac Asimov. He was a famous writer of science fiction who wrote many stories about the future, science, and technology. In this story, he imagines a future where children study at home with mechanical teachers instead of going to a traditional school.

2. Question: Who are the two main characters in the story?

Answer: The two main characters in the story are Margie and Tommy. Margie is an eleven-year-old girl who studies at home with a mechanical teacher, while Tommy is a thirteen-year-old boy who discovers an old book about schools in the past.

3. Question: How old was Margie?

Answer: Margie was eleven years old. She lived in the future where children did not go to school buildings but studied at home with the help of mechanical teachers.

4. Question: How old was Tommy?

Answer: Tommy was thirteen years old. He was older than Margie and was curious about the past. One day he found an old book that described how children studied in traditional schools long ago.

5. Question: What did Tommy find?

Answer: Tommy found a real old book. In the future world of the story, books are usually on screens, so finding a printed book made of paper was very unusual and interesting.

6. Question: Where did Tommy find the book?

Answer: Tommy found the book in the attic of his house. The attic is a place where old and unused things are often kept, and that is where the old printed book had been stored.

7. Question: What was the book about?

Answer: The book was about schools in the past. It described how children used to go to a school building, sit together in classrooms, and learn from human teachers.

8. Question: What was strange about the book for Margie?

Answer: Margie found the book strange because the words were printed on paper and did not move like the words on the screens she was used to reading.

9. Question: Why did Margie think the book was funny?

Answer: Margie thought the book was funny because once you read a page, the words stayed exactly the same. In her world, texts on screens could change, but printed books remained fixed.

10. Question: What kind of teacher did Margie have?

Answer: Margie had a mechanical teacher. It was a machine that taught lessons, asked questions, and gave homework through a large screen.

11. Question: Where was Margie’s school?

Answer: Margie’s school was inside her own house. She studied alone in a special room where the mechanical teacher was placed.

12. Question: What did the mechanical teacher do?

Answer: The mechanical teacher taught Margie different subjects by showing lessons on a screen. It also asked questions, checked her answers, and gave her homework assignments.

13. Question: Which subject did Margie dislike the most?

Answer: Margie disliked Geography the most because the mechanical teacher gave her tests that were too difficult.

14. Question: Why was Margie doing badly in Geography?

Answer: Margie was doing badly in Geography because the geography sector of the mechanical teacher was set at a speed that was too fast for her to understand properly.

15. Question: Who came to repair the mechanical teacher?

Answer: The County Inspector came to repair the mechanical teacher. He was a technician who knew how to fix such machines.

16. Question: What did the County Inspector do to the teacher?

Answer: The County Inspector slowed down the geography sector of the mechanical teacher so that it matched Margie’s level of understanding.

17. Question: Did Margie want her teacher to be repaired?

Answer: No, Margie secretly hoped that the mechanical teacher would not be repaired and would be taken away, because she did not enjoy studying with it.

18. Question: What did Tommy say about the old schools?

Answer: Tommy said that in the past children had special buildings called schools where they went every day to learn.

19. Question: Who taught students in old schools?

Answer: In old schools, students were taught by human teachers who explained lessons and guided students personally.

20. Question: How did children go to old schools?

Answer: Children in the past went together to a school building where they met their classmates and studied in groups.

21. Question: What did children do in the old classrooms?

Answer: In old classrooms, children sat together, listened to the teacher, studied lessons, and participated in various classroom activities.

22. Question: Why did Margie think old schools were interesting?

Answer: Margie thought old schools were interesting because children learned together, helped each other, and enjoyed studying as a group.

23. Question: What did Tommy say about books?

Answer: Tommy explained that long ago people read books printed on paper instead of reading texts on computer screens.

24. Question: What did Margie’s mother tell her to do?

Answer: Margie’s mother told her to go to school because it was time for her daily lessons with the mechanical teacher.

25. Question: What did Margie do when school time came?

Answer: When school time came, Margie went to her schoolroom where the mechanical teacher was waiting and began her lessons.

26. Question: What subject was Margie studying that day?

Answer: On that particular day, Margie was studying Arithmetic with her mechanical teacher.

27. Question: What did Margie think about old schools while studying?

Answer: While studying, Margie kept thinking about the old schools described in the book and imagined how enjoyable it must have been to learn with other children.

28. Question: What is the setting of the story?

Answer: The story is set in the future, where advanced technology has changed the education system and children study with machines at home.

29. Question: What type of story is The Fun They Had?

Answer: The Fun They Had is a science fiction story because it imagines future technology and how it might change people’s lives.

30. Question: What is the main idea of the story?

Answer: The main idea of the story is that traditional schools where children learn together with human teachers can be more enjoyable and meaningful than studying alone with machines.

Answer by Dimpee Bora