The Fun They Had

Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed. May 17, 2155, she wrote: “Today
Tommy found a real book!”
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper. They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly,2 and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were 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 when they read it the first time.
“Gee,” said Tommy, “what a waste. When you’re through3 with the book, you just throw it away, I guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and it’s good 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..
“What’s it about?”
“School.”
Margie was scornful. “School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.” Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector. He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at her 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 how4 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. [.] The inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted her head. [.] 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?”
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,5 pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
Margie was hurt. “Well, I don’t know what kind of school they had all that time ago.”
She read the book over his shoulder for a while, then said, “Anyway, they had a teacher.. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
“A man? How could a man be a teacher?”
“Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them questions.” “A man isn’t smart enough.”
“Sure he is. My father knows as much as my teacher.”
“He can’t. A man can’t know as much as a teacher.

“He knows almost as much, I betcha.”
Margie wasn’t prepared to dispute that. She said, “I wouldn’t want a strange man in my house to teach me.” 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 same thing?”
“Sure, if they were the same age.”
“But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.” [.] She wanted to read about those funny schools.
They weren’t even half finished when Margie’s mother called, “Margie! School!” [.] Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. [.] 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.”
Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighbourhood 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 on the homework and talk about it.
And the teachers were people…
The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: “When we add the fractions 1/2 and 1/4…” Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the fun they had.

1. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
1.1 How old are the protagonists and what do they do?
1.2 What does the writer mean by .a real book. and what is strange about it?
1.3 How can you understand, at the beginning of the story, that real books had been used long before?
1.4 What are the disadvantages of having real books according to Tommy?
1.5 Why does Margie sound .scornful. when Tommy tells her that the book is about .school.? (line 15)
1.6 Why has Margie.s mother sent for the County Inspector? Why does the Inspector take .the teacher apart.? (line 19)
1.7 Look at the language used by Asimov! How can you understand that :
- the Inspector is fat
- Margie does not like her teacher
- Tommy knows more than Margie
- Margie would like to talk to her teacher
1.8 The words .book., .teacher. and .school. take different meanings in the passage according to what they 6 [I bet you] I am sure refer to. Find out the different meanings and, from the language used, say what the writer.s feelings are about them.
1.9 Why did Margie think old schools were better? Explain her feelings.