Chapter 7 A Visit to Cambridge Important Questions Class 8 Honeydew English
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Guess the first question put to the scientist by the writer.
Answer
The writer’s first question might be about Hawking’s disability and how he had accepted it.
Question 2. Describe the environment of Stephen’s Garden.
Answer
The garden was as big as a park, but Stephen Hawking covered every inch, rumbling along motorized wheelchair. The environment of garden was entirely different.
Question 3. Why was author watching his wrist?
Answer
He shifted his chair or turned his wrist to watch the time. He wanted to make every one of thirty minutes count.
Question 4. Who received the phone at Stephen Hawking’s house and what were the conversations?
Answer
The author was called to Stephen Hawking’s house. There was his assistant on the line and the author told him that he wants to meet Mr. Hawking. Even ten minutes would do “Half an hour”. Then he said “from three-thirty to four”.
Question 5. Who was Stephen Hawking?
Answer
Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest scientists of our time. He suffered from a form of paralysis that confined him to a wheelchair, and allowed him to ‘speak’ only by punching buttons on a computer, which spoke for him in a machine-like voice.
Question 6. What did Mr. Hawking reply when he asked “lot of people seem to think that disabled people are chronically unhappy”?
Answer
When he asked “A lot of people seem to think that disabled people are chronically unhappy”. About after three minutes later, he responded, that “I find it amusing when people patronize me”.
Question 7. The author asked Hawking that he had been an inspiration beyond clinched for me, what Hawking replied to it?
Answer
Hawking said “no”, according to him if his body is like claustrophobic room & the walls are growing narrower day by day, if doesn’t do much good to know that there are people outside smiling with admiration to see him breathing still.
Question 8. How did the author say good bye to Mr. Hawking?
Answer
The author didn’t know what to do at the time of leaving him. He couldn’t kiss him or cry. So he touched his shoulder and wheeled out in the summer evening.
Question 9. “I could feel his anguish”. What could be the anguish?
Answer
The anguish was that he found it very difficult to express himself with the right words on his computer. He felt frustrated. He could not express himself freely although ideas were floating in his mind.
Question 10. What is the scientist’s message for the disabled?
Answer
The scientist Stephen Hawking’s message for the disabled is they should concentrate on what they are good at. They should make the best use of their talent and thank God.
Question 11. Who is Firdaus Kanga?
Answer
Firdaus Kanga is a writer and journalist who lives and works in Mumbai. Kanga was born with ‘brittle bones’ that tended to break easily when he was a child.
Question 12. “A first glimpse of Hawking is shocking”. Why?
Answer
A first glimpse of Hawking is shocking, because he was like a still photograph – as if all those pictures of him in magazines and newspapers have turned 3 – Dimensional.
Question 13. The author had got appointment only for half an hour then why did he stay there for some more time?
Answer
He had got appointment only for half an hour but when he was going to back his way Stephen stopped him and said, “Have some tea and he can see his garden”. So he stayed there for some more time.
Question 14. Describe the emotions of the author at the end of the chapter.
Answer
He was in the feeling of embodiment of his bravest self. He thought Stephen Hawking might be waving at him though he wasn’t. At the end, he said his journey is over and he had a great interview of Mr. Hawking.
Question 15. What was the thing that makes author feel stronger?
Answer
The only thing that makes you stronger is somebody like you. It seems like achieving something huge. This makes him feel stronger.
Question 16. What did Hawking reply when author asked “Is there any advice you can give disabled people, something that might help make life better”?
Answer
Hawking replied that they should concentrate on what they are good at and according to him things I like the disabled Olympics are a waste of time.
Question 17. Why was there silence in the garden?
Answer
They cannot talk very much in the garden, because the sun made them silent, the letters on his screen disappeared because of the sunlight. So there were silence in the garden.
Question 18. Stephen Hawking said, “I’ve had no choice.” Does the writer think was a choice? What was it?
Answer
The writer thought that there was a choice. Stephen Hawking could have chosen to leave everything, be sad and depressed. He could have sulked. However, he chose to live creatively, knowing the reality of his disintegrating body.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Why does the writer refer to the guitar incident? Which idea does it support?
Answer
The scientist Stephen Hawking said that Olympics for the handicapped or disabled people are waste of time. The writer agreed with him. He remembered the years which he tried to play a big guitar. He felt defeated. So he destroyed it one night. He supports Stephen Hawking’s idea that the disabled should only concentrate on what they are good at.
Question 2. What endeared the scientist to the writer so that he said he was looking at one of the most beautiful men in the world?
Answer
When the writer asked the scientist if he felt annoyed when someone like the writer went and disturbed him in his work, then scientist answered ‘yes’ with his one-way smile. This endeared the writer as he knew without being sentimental or silly he was looking at one of the most beautiful man in the world.
Question 3. The narrator called him ‘a beautiful man’. How does he define beauty?
Answer
The narrator was inspired by the achievements of Stephen Hawking whose creativity is beyond measures. His never ‘giving up’ attitude attracted him the most. He could be associated with the difficulties faced by Stephen as he was also confined to a wheel chair. So it is rightly said that beautiful is the one, who do things beautifully and Stephen Hawking contributed so much that people will also be inspired and awestruck by his achievements.
Question 4. (i) If ‘the lantern’ is the man, what would its ‘walls’ be?
(ii) What is housed within the thin walls?
(iii) What general conclusion does the writer draw from this comparison?
Answer
(i) The walls of the lantern in Hawking’s case were his skeleton like physical structure.
(ii) The glow, the external soul was housed within the thin walls of his body.
(iii) The writer draws conclusion that the eternal soul is more important than the body.
Question 5. (i) Did the prospect of meeting Stephen Hawking make the writer nervous?
(ii) Did he at the same time feel very excited? If so, why?
Answer
(i) Yes, the prospect of meeting Stephen Hawking made the writer nervous. Stephen Hawking was the greatest scientist on the earth. He was the author of the world-renowned book “A brief History of Time”. He was doubtful whether he would be allowed to meet him even for ten minutes or not. Also, he was fed up with people asking him to be brave.
(ii) Yes, he felt very excited at the same time because Stephen Hawking was totally paralysed, still, he had made great achievement. This got him the strength to do still better.
Question 6. What is Stephen’s idea behind saying- ‘They should concentrate on what they are good at’?
Answer
Stephen Hawking was a differently able person who overcame him deformity. He was one of the greatest scientists of the present era. He had the idea to achieve what one is good at. Rather than justifying or proving to others, he wanted challenged person to accept the way they are. Because they do have potential and focus to achieve much more than any other normal people. He did not appreciate the things like the disable Olympics as they are a wastage of time to him.
Question 7. What is Stephen’s idea behind saying- ‘They should concentrate on what they are good at’?
Answer
Stephen Hawking was a differently able person who overcame him deformity. He was one of the greatest scientists of the present era. He had the idea to achieve what one is good at. Rather than justifying or proving to others, he wanted challenged person to accept the way they are. Because they do have potential and focus to achieve much more than any other normal people. He did not appreciate the things like the disable Olympics as they are a wastage of time to him.
Extract Based Questions
Extract 1
It was on a walking tour through Cambridge that the guide mentioned Stephen Hawking, ‘poor man, who is quite disabled now, though he is a worthy successor to Issac Newton, whose chair he has at the university.’ And I started, because I had quite forgotten that this most brilliant and completely paralysed astrophysicist, the author of ‘A Brief History of Time’, one of the biggest best-sellers ever, lived here.
When the walking tour was done, I rushed to a phone booth and, almost tearing the cord so it could reach me outside, phoned Stephen Hawking’s house. There was his assistant on the line and I told him I had come in a wheelchair from India (perhaps he thought I had propelled myself all the way) to write about my travels in Britain. I had to see Professor Hawking – even ten minutes would do. “Half an hour,” he said. “From three-thirty to four.”
Questions
(i) Why did the guide call Stephen Hawking a ‘poor man’?
(ii) What did ‘I’ speak about Stephen Hawking?
(iii) Why had he ‘almost tearing the cord’?
(iv) What time slot was given to him?
(v) What is astrophysics?
Answer
(i) The guide called Stephen Hawking a ‘poor man’ because he was a differently-abled man.
(ii) He said that Stephen Hawking is the most brilliant and completely paralysed astrophysicist, author of a best seller ‘A brief History of Time’ lived in Cambridge.
(iii) He rushed to a phone booth to take an appointment with Stephen Hawking and as he was on a wheel chair, he found it difficult to reach to the telephone.
(iv) He was given half an hour from three thirty to four to meet Stephen Hawking.
(v) Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry “to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space.”
Extract 2
“I haven’t been brave,” said his disembodied computer-voice, the next afternoon. “I’ve had no choice.” Surely, I wanted to say, living creatively with the reality of his disintegrating body was a choice? But I kept quiet, because I felt guilty every time I spoke to him, forcing him to respond. There he was, tapping at the little switch in his hand, trying to find the words on his computer with the only bit of movement left to him, his long, pale fingers. Every so often, his eyes would shut in frustrated exhaustion. And sitting opposite him I could feel his anguish, the mind buoyant with thoughts that came out in frozen phrases and sentences stiff as corpses. “A lot of people seem to think that disabled people are chronically unhappy,” I said. “I know that’s not true myself. Are you often laughing inside?”
Questions
(i) What do you get about Stephen when he spoke ‘I have had no choice’?
(ii) How did he manage to express himself?
(iii) What is the general opinion about disabled?
(iv) How did Stephen take his visitors?
(v) Change the word ‘patron’ into a verb.
Answer
(i) Stephen Hawking accepted his disability. He tried to be brave.
(ii) Stephen Hawking was tapping at the little switch in his hand, trying to find the words on his computer with the only bit of movement left to him.
(iii) The general opinion about the disabled people are that they chronically unhappy.
(iv) Stephen found it amusing when others patronize him and get annoyed when someone comes and disturb him.
(v) Patronise.
Extract 3
“Yes,” he said; it was a disadvantage of his voice synthesiser that it could convey no inflection, no shades or tone. And I could not tell how enthusiastically he agreed with me. Every time I shifted in my chair or turned my wrist to watch the time – I wanted to make every one of our thirty minutes count — I felt a huge relief and exhilaration in the possibilities of my body. How little it mattered then that I would never walk, or even stand. I told him how he had been an inspiration beyond cliche’ for me, and, surely, for others — did that thought help him? “No,” he said; and I thought how foolish I was to ask. When your body is a claustrophobic room and the walls are growing narrower day by day, it doesn’t do much good to know that there are people outside smiling with admiration to see you breathing still.
Questions
(i) What was the disadvantage of his voice synthesizer?
(ii) Why was he worried about time?
(iii) How was his body a ‘Claustrophobic Room’?
(iv) How did he feel after seeing admiring people?
(v) Choose a word that means the same as follows.
‘Phrase or idea used so often that it loses it meaning”
Answer
(i) The disadvantage of his voice synthesizer was that it could convey no infection, no shade or tone.
(ii) He wanted to make every minute of meeting count.
(iii) As he was dependent on others and confined to a wheel chair, he called his body to be a suffocating place.
(iv) He didn’t get to know that there are people outside smiling with admiration to see him breathing still.
(v) cliche.
Extract 4
“Stay.” I waited. “Have some tea. I can show you the garden.” The garden was as big as a park, but Stephen Hawking covered every inch, rumbling along in his motorised wheelchair while I dodged to keep out of the way. We couldn’t talk very much; the sun made him silent, the letters on his screen disappearing in the glare. An hour later, we were ready to leave. I didn’t know what to do. I could not kiss him or cry. I touched his shoulder and wheeled out into the summer evening. I looked back; and I knew he was waving, though he wasn’t. Watching him, an embodiment of my bravest self, the one I was moving towards, the one I had believed in for so many years, alone, I knew that my journey was over. For now.
Questions
(i) Why did Stephen say ‘stay’?
(ii) Why did ‘the sun made him silent’?
(iii) What did the narrator So to did bade him goodbye?
(iv) How was the narrator’s journey?
(v) Find the superlative adjective of ‘brave’ from the above lines?
Answer
(i) Stephen wanted him to stay with him and to show him the garden.
(ii) The letters on his screen couldn’t be displayed because of the sunlight. So he couldn’t communicate. It made him silent.
(iii) The narrator touched his shoulder and wheeled out into the summer evening.
(iv) The narrator’s journey was inspiring and thought provoking.
(v) Bravest.