Text I – The Future Cars
Questions and answers
1. How will the self-driving cars or driverless cars be safe?
Answer – Driverless cars will be driven by computerized control systems using highly sophisticated software. Absence of humans at the wheels will eliminate human errors that cause accidents. Human drivers often lose concentration, commit errors of judgement, and even fall asleep leading to serious accidents. Computerized driving systems operate with cent percent efficiency and accuracy 24×7. They operate at optimum speeds in the correct route and avoid collision with other vehicles with whom they are in continuous contact electronically. Since they don’t burn fuels, they emit little pollution.
2. What do you understand by ‘cars will communicate with each other’?
Answer – Through the GPS (Global Positioning System) cars can accurately pinpoint their own locations and those of others in close vicinity. Through use of WI-FI, they remain in touch with each other and manage to maintain a mutually safe distance. Through appropriate signals, they advise each other to be out of harm’s way.
3. What are the advantages of self-driving cars?
Answer –Since driverless cars can run virtually round the clock and can be hailed through one’s smart phones, travelers would find them more user-friendly, and cost-effective. So, the practice of owning personal vehicles will die. This will free up public parking spaces which can otherwise be used for building parks, recreation centers or widening roads. The users of the vehicles can utilize their travel time for professional activities or personal needs.
4. What is the use of GPS?
Answer – GPS stands for Global Positioning System. Through the use of a network of satellites in space, any object, living or otherwise, can locate itself in the global map. Such pinpointing of location helps aero planes, ships, motor vehicles, human beings, and even animals to make themselves visible location wise to others. The GPS serves as the bedrock of the world’s communication system today.
5. What is a drone? What are its advantages?
Answer – The drone is an UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) that can vary greatly in its weight, range, and capability. It’s remotely controlled, so it preempts any danger to human pilots. It can travel to really dangerous locations and access areas, people, and machines needing help. In military, it is being increasingly used for reconnaissance and attack on enemy positions. In civilian life, it can deliver commodities to people in remote areas, and fly over areas suffering from natural calamities to take photos or drop supplies
6. Which technology will be used in flying cars?
Answer – GPS and use of high-end computer software will be the two basic ingredients of ‘flying cars’. These aerial cars will use composite materials to make themselves light and strong. The engines too will be battery operated. Such batteries will be powerful and light.
7. How will the flying cars be more convenient than planes and helicopters?
Answer – Flying cars will cater to single In users or a small group of users. So, owning them or hiring them will be cheaper than hiring planes or helicopters. Since such planes are small, they will not need large spaces for landing or taking off. They can even land on terraces. In a nutshell, flying cars will be flexible, affordable, easy-to-hail, and less expensive.
- Who is Sophia and who is her creator? Ans … Sophia is a humanoid robot. Her creator is David Hanson, the owner of Hanson Robotics, Hong Kong.
- Why were the audience excited on the second day of the World Congress on Information Technology–2018? Ans .. Sophia appeared before a large group of eminent people and promptly answered a wide array of questions with remarkable clarity tinged with a senxse of humour.
- The favourite tech person in Sophia’s life is: (Tick the correct answer)
(a) Shah Rukh Khan .. 1st choice
(b) David Hanson .. 2nd choice
(c) Bill Gates (d) Mark Zuckerberg
4. What changes does the humanoid robot want to see in the world?
Ans .. Sophia wants to see the value of ‘universal love’ across the world.
5. Which of the following statements regarding Sophia is true?
(a) Sophia plans to kill the human race in near future. Not true
(b) She can express her emotional feelings freely. True
(c) Hong Kong is her favourite place. True
(d) Sophia has a bank account. Not true
6. What are David’s assertions as far as robots are concerned?
Ans.. David is convinced that in the coming 5 to 10 years, humanoid robots will be able to synchronize their body language with their expressions, so that they appear far more real almost like living human beings.
Vocabulary
1. Go back to the chapter ‘The Fun They Had’ given in your textbook, Beehive, and identify words that mean the following. The paragraph numbers are given in brackets.
(a) sadly (3)Sorrowfully
(b) unfamiliar (7) _
(c) quite likely (8) Probably
(d) in a casual, calm and relaxed manner (9) Nonchalantly
(e) something beaming and shining (10) Flashing
2. Imagine the school in the story ‘The Fun They Had’. Compare it with your own school. Given below are two outlines for mindmaps. Fill these with words that you can think of in the two situations.
Margie’s school
Place … In the virtual world, on the computer screen
Teacher … Robots
Learning activities .. Very rigidly structured coaching, No teacher to student contact, No delays, No leave of teachers, Everything strictly according to a pre-designed programmes.
My school
Place .. In Gurgaon, in a multi-storey building
Teachers .. Nice human beings, some young, others middle-aged, of both genders
Learning activities .. Live teaching, personal interaction with the teacher and my classmates, lunch break, games periods, occasional holidays, phyxsically conducted examinations with pen and paper.
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3. Find the odd one out.
(a) pleasure, misery, happiness, delight _ misery
(b) note, diary, book, copy _copy
(c) TV, computer, mobile, scanner _TV
(d) display, exhibit, appear, show_appear
(e) scornful, contemptuous, mocking, diversity —diversity
(g) illuminating, gladdening, pleasing, gratifying — illuminating
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4. You would have come across the use of prefixes like
‘dis’, ‘un’, ‘mis’, ‘in’, etc., to make opposite words. For
example, ‘consolate–disconsolate’. Write the opposites
of the following.
(a) use __misuse
(b) agree _disagree
(c) engage __disengage
(d) understand _misunderstand
(e) fold _unfold
(f) spell _misspell
(g) connect —disconnect
(h) like _dislike
(i) visible _Invisible
(j) predictable _unpredictable
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5. The suffixes are used to get adjective form of the words.
(Example: danger–dangerous). Use the correct suffix to
the following to make adjectives.
(a) comfort _comfortable
(b) sun _sunny
(c) read _readable
(d) beauty _beautiful
(e) enjoy _enjoyable
(f) suit– suitable
(g) help_helpful
(h) use_useful
(i) hazard_hazardous
(j) impress_impressive
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Grammar
I
Fill in the blanks with ‘if’ or ‘unless’.
(a) I won’t be able to assist you unless you give me all the details of the report.
(b) I will take this job if working hours suit me.
(c) If he advertises on TV, he will get
a lot of publicity.
(d) Unless it is very cold, we will not
have any snow.
(e) The thief threatened to kill us if we didn’t
give him the money.
(f) Unless you use high quality
material, you cannot build a strong house.
2. Join the following sentences using ‘unless’ or ‘if…not’.
The sentences may require minor changes. One is done for you.
Example:
(a) I would never keep a large dog. I have time to exercise it properly.
Ans .. I would never keep a large dog unless I have time to exercise it properly.
(b) Sita would have come first in class. She had not fallen ill.
Ans .. Sita would have come first in class if she he had not
fallen ill.
(c) You must not dive. You have been properly trained.
Ans .. You must not dive unless you have been properly trained.
(d) Medical evidence suggests that people would enjoy better health. They did not consume refined sugar.
Ans .Medical evidence suggests that people would enjoy better health if they did not consume refined sugar.
(e) I might have got the job. I hadn’t been late for the interview.
Ans… I might have got the job if I hadn’t been late for the interview.
(f) You do not stop smoking. You will fall seriously ill.
Ans .. If You do not stop smoking, you will fall seriously ill.
(g) You do not come now. I am going to leave without you.
Ans .. If you do not come now, I am going to leave without you.
3. Put the adverbs given at the end of the sentence at the appropriate place within the sentence. One is done for you.
(a) Mr. Sharma died as the family was getting ready to go for the wedding. (suddenly)
Ans .. Mr. Sharma died suddenly as the family was getting ready to go for the wedding.
(b) My grandfather arrived to avoid the traffic rush. (early)
Ans … My grandfather arrived early to avoid the traffic rush.
(c) The man thanked me before he drove off. (profusely)
Ans .. The man thanked me profusely before he drove off
(d) The children clapped at the little girl’s extraordinary performance. (admiringly)
Ans .. The children clapped admiringly at the little girl’s extraordinary performance.
(e) The dog bit me when I was coming home from school. (hard)
Ans … The dog bit me hard when I was coming home from school.
(f) The police had several photographs of the suspect. (fortunately)
Ans .. Fortunately, the police had several photographs of the suspect.
(g) Sunil left the room when he saw the bull coming in. (abruptly)
Ans ..Sunil left the room abruptly when he saw the bull coming in.
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Editing
I. Use capital letters, full-stops, commas and inverted commas wherever necessary in the followinparagraph. Rewrite the paragraph in the space given below.
Question ..
The teacher gave an assignment to the students “Go to people you love and tell them i am sorry.” It sounded stupidto me but after one week i went to my teacher i confided i didn’t have anyone to say those words to but as i beganwalking down home my conscience started talking. five months ago my friend and i had a vicious disagreement we avoided seeing each other we hardly spoke i convinced
myself i should tell my friend i am sorry. at 5.30 in the evening I went to him and said i am sorry a transformation came over my friend his face softened, the arrogance seemed to disappear and he began to cry. he hugged me and said i am sorry too but i’ve never been ableto say it.
Ans ..
The teacher gave an assignment to the students, “Go to people you love and tell them I am sorry.” It sounded stupid to me, but after one week I went to my teacher. I confided I didn’t have anyone to say those words to, but as I began walking down home my conscience started talking. Five months ago, my friend and I had a vicious disagreement. We avoided seeing each other. We hardly spoke. I convinced myself I should tell my friend, “I am sorry.” At 5.30 in the evening I went to him and said, “I am sorry.” A transformation came over my friend. His face softened, the arrogance seemed to disappear and he began to cry. He began to cryand said, “I am sorrytoo butI have never been able to say it.”
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II. Rearrange each set of words to form meaningful sentences. Use appropriate punctuation marks.
(a) wise, every, a, is, proverb, saying
Ans .. Every wise saying is a proverb.
(b) see, you, can, from, me, there
Ans .. You can see me from there.
(c) happy, they, to, the, were, meet, visitor
Ans .. They were happy to meet the visitor.
(d) impatient, do, be, not
Ans .. Do not be impatient.
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Listening
The following two excerpts have been taken from the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, written by Mitch Albom. The book is about a college Professor, Morrie and one of his students, Mitch Albom, who is also the author of the book. Mitch sees his professor in a television show and he is reminded of a promise he made sixteen years ago as his student, to keep in touch with him. He comes to know thatthe professor is stricken with a rare and incurable disease. Mitch travels a long distance to meet him and after the firstmeeting they meet every Tuesday till Morrie passes away.
After reconnecting with his teacher, Mitch finds himself his teacher’s pupil once again. Listen attentively to the two excerpts from the book,
Tuesdays with Morrie and answer the questions that follow. You can listen to the recorded excerpts or you can askyour teacher, friend or sibling to read aloud these excerpts.
1. I remembered what Morrie said during our visit: “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it”. Morrie, true to these words, had developed his own culture—long before he got sick. Discussion groups, walks with friends, dancing to his music in the Harvard Square Church. He started a project called Greenhouse, where poor people could receive mental health services. He read books to find new ideas for his classes, visited his colleagues, kept up with old students, wrote letters to distant friends. He took more time eating and looking at nature and Contradictory proverbs
Do it well, or not at all. but Half a loaf is better than none. Don’t cross your bridges before you come to them. but Forewarned is forearmed.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. but Out of sight, out of mind. wasted no time in front of TV sitcoms or “Movies of the Notes
Week”. He had created a cocoon of human activities— conversation, interaction, affection—and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl.
2. The last class of my old professor’s life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was ‘The Meaning of Life’. It was taught from
experience. No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to pose questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor’s head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of
his nose. Kissing him goodbye earned you extra credit. No books were required, yet many topics werecovered, including love, work, community, family, ageing, forgiveness and, finally, death.
1. Who is Morrie?
Ans ..He is a professor with an enlightened mind.
2. How did Morrie develop his own culture of living?
Ans .. He mingled with friends, students and eminent members of the societty to exchange views on all aspectds of life in a very free, unfettered way. He visited Harvard Square Church to dance to his favoured music. He ate his meals in a very laid-back manner feasting his eyes with the sprwaling, naturally beautiful space in the front. He retained contzact with old colleagues, friends and studentxs to mutually exchange views on different issues.
3. What was the name of the project Morrie had started? What was it about?
Ans .. The project was named Greenhouse’. Through this venture, he could arrange to provide help to mentally ill patients from the pooer sections of society.
4. What did human activities mean to Morrie?
Ans .. He indulged in activities that could keep the windows of his mind to diverse thoughts and ideas. Through letters and face-to-face interactions, he exchanged ideas on an wide array of human activities. He read books, wrote letters and maintained a receptive approach to contradictory views.
5. Why was the subject of the class ‘the meaning of life’?
Ans … In the assembly of knowledge-hungry students, held in the morning after breakfast, he discussed ideas in a very open and liberal way. The students were posed questions and were asked to pose their questions at Prof. Morrie, who was lying on his sick bed. The topics discussed related to love, work, community, family, ageing, forgiveness and, finally, death. The students were encouraged to express their emotional love with Prof. Morrie through handshakes, and parting kisses.
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Speaking
1. Prepare a speech for the school assembly based on the thoughts given below.
- Once we have computer outlets in every home, each of them hooked up to enormous libraries, where you can ask any question and be given answers, you can look up something you’re interested in knowing, however silly it might seem to someone else. Issac Asimov
- Men are only as good as their technological development allows them to be. George Orwell
Write your points here for speech. Once we have computer outlets (Issac Asinov)…..
Point 1. Adress the teachers respectfully and the students lovingly
Point 2 .. We now see more and more people learning possessing, and using computers in their homes.
Point 3 .. Such development will be really welcome because it will open the gate to the vast and ever-expanding ocean of knowledge at the push of a button.
Point 4 .. For the learners young and old, this will be really welcome. They can easily access any book, any photo, any video from anywhere in the world.
Point 5 .. The earlier cumbersome process of going to the library, searching for the desired book and reading it will be gone forever.
Point 5.. It will mean a quantum leap to our knowledge acquiring process. The only rider is that the computers must not be put to wrong use.
- Men are only as good as their technological development allows them to be. (George Orwell)
Point 1. It’s a well-known fact that the adoption of technology has changed the quality of our lives, be it in transportation, farming, healthcare, education etc,
Point 2 . The quality of life is, thus, determined by how much we allow technology to shape it.
Point. 3 .. Even for preventing crimes, and preempting evil designs, technology can be a really potent weapon. It can catch fraudsters, bandits, thieves, and those who abuse others and their faiths.
Points..4.. So, technology is the enabler of everything good, and the preventer of everything bad.
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Writing
I. Write a paragraph on each of the following:
- Electronic Waste and Environmental Pollution
- Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
- After listening to the excerpts (Page No. 14 of this workbook), do you think a robot should replace the human teacher? Give reasons in support of your answer.
Notes: …
- Electronic Waste and Environmental Pollution .. Ans .. When we discard our mobile phones, laptops and desktops, a garbage collector takes them in throw-away prices. They salvage some not-so-damaged components for re-use, but can’t dispose off old batteries, mother boards, switch boards etc. Some of these parts have toxic substances, and minute quantities of rare earth elements. Some greedy entrepreneurs salvage these items, but in the process, expose themselves to health hazards. Items still left over are dumped in big pits and covered with soil. This process endangers the nature of soil. Plastic components remain unaffected for decades, and pollute the soil and underground water. On the whole, getting rid of electronic waste is a big environmental challenge.
- Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence .. Ans ..Artificial Intelligence is gatecrashing into our lives in a very alarming manner. We hear music, read novels, see videos, watch news bulletins and many more such things that are done by AI tools. Even seeking medical advice, choosing careers and writing research papers is done by AI tools. Obviously, it affects our lives both positively and negatively. Human beings will find their God-given creativity challenged unfairly by AI tools. Fake news, hateful contents, and many such despicable things will pollute our minds. So, efforts should be made to limit the role of AI so that human ingenuity is not endangered.
- After listening to the excerpts (Page No. 14 of this workbook), do you think a robot should replace the human teacher? Give reasons in support of your answer. Ans.. A robot must never replace a human being as a teacher. Robots lack emotions, sympathy, and don’t have the ability to express their feelings through body language. As a result, the invaluable ‘human touch’ is lost when human teachers are excluded from the education system.–
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2. There is so much debris in space, which sooner rather than later, is going to cause major damage. As a concerned citizen of Earth, write a letter to NASA Chief outlining your concerns. Your letter should be ‘formal’ in style and structure.
Ans..
From
XYZ Saxena
—– colony
Delhi
Date: December12, 2025
To
The Administrator
NASA
The United States
Subject: Widely-felt concern over the dangers posed by debris flying around in space
Sir/Madam,
Human ventures to explore space has always won accolades from all corners of the world. NASA, especially, is held with high esteem by one and all for its pioneering forays into the field exploration of space. However, as more number of countries join this field and send more satellites to outer space, an unexpected danger seems to escalate with each passing year and and each new satellite going up.
Some satellites outlive their lives, and just go around serving no scientific purpose. Gradually, they lose height and fall onto earth after a blazing brush with earth’s atmosphere. As they decay in orbit, they throw off parts, wastes and some such items. Some other satellites explode in space strewing huge numbers of debris all around. Manned missions also inadvertently throw off items that float around with no limit on their lives.
Conservative estimates say there are more than 5,00, 000 debris floating in space as of now. Such items pose great danger to new satellites and the existing ones. Collision of the debris could fatally damage a new satellite. The cost would be huge and could deem the prospect of sending more satellites to space.
For the International Space Station (ISS) that has humans on bozard, collision with any such debris, big or small, could be extremely dangerous. Losing an astronaut in space will be very painful for people on earth.
I know, collecting such garbage and bringing them back to earth could be enormously costly. But some attempts must be made with the participation of all countries. More than this, planning our satellite designs in a manner in which they quickly lose height and fall on earth after their projected life span could be a good idea to preempt generation of more debris.
NASA is the most respected space exploration organization. Using its formidable manpower, and technology wherewithal, NASA can lead a mission in this direction. I hope you will weigh my appeal and initiate steps early. Thanking you,
Yours sincerely
— Rao