Contents
Chapter 2 The Tsunami Question and Answers
Class 8 – English – Honeydew
| Class | Class 8 |
| Subject | English |
| Book Name | Honeydew |
| Chapter Name | The Tsunami |
| Category | Class 8 English NCERT Solutions |
Comprehension Check
Page 27
Say whether the following are true or false.
1. Ignesious lost his wife, two children, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law in the tsunami.
Answer True
2. Sanjeev made it to safety after the tsunami.
Answer False
3. Meghna was saved by a relief helicopter.
Answer False
4. Almas’s father realised that a tsunami was going to hit the island.
Answer True
5. Her mother and aunts were washed away with the tree that they were holding on to.
Answer True
Page 28
Answer the following in a phrase or sentence.
Question 1. Why did Tilly’s family come to Thailand?
Answer Tilly Smith came with her family from South-East England to celebrate Christmas at a beach resort in southern Thailand.
Question 2. What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw?
Answer Tilly’s mother saw that the beach was getting smaller and smaller. They had already experienced massive earthquakes, early that morning, off the coast of Northern Sumatra. Tilly also noticed that the sea slowly started to rise, foam and bubble and form whirlpools in it.
Question 3. Do you think Tilly’s mother was alarmed by them?
Answer Tilly’s mother didn’t understand what was happening, but when she saw her frightened daughter screaming that it was a tsunami, she understood what was actually happening.
Question 4. Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?
Answer A video of a tsunami was shown to Tilly in a class by her geography teacher. She told them that tsunamis could be caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. That was the first time Tilly saw the sea behaving in such a strange fashion.
Question 5. Where did the Smith family and the others on the beach go to escape from the tsunami?
Answer The Smith family and the others on the beach ran back and took refuge on the third floor of the hotel to escape from the tsunami.
Question 6. How do you think her geography teacher felt when he heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket?
Answer Tilly’s geography teacher must be very happy and felt very proud of her when she heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket. She was pleased that because of her lesson and video, she was able to save her family and the lives of many others by warning them of the tsunami waves.
Question Page 30
Answer using a phrase or a sentence.
Question 1. In the Tsunami 150,000 people died. How many animals died?
Answer During Tsunami very few animals had died. The exact count of dead animals is not known compared to human casualties.
Question 2. How many people and animals died in Yala National Park?
Answer Dead bodies of two water buffaloes and sixty visitors who visited the park were found in Yala National Park
Question 3. What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?
Answer Three elephants ran away from the Patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit.
Question 4. What did the dogs in Galle do?
Answer The dogs in Galle refused to go for their daily run on the beach on the day the tsunami
Working with Text
Discuss the following questions in class. Then write your own answers.
Question 1 When he felt the earthquake, do you think Ignesious immediately worried about a tsunami? Give reasons for your answer. Which sentence in the text tells you that the Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after the tsunami struck?
Answer No, Ignesious did not think about the tsunami. He thought that it was just an earthquake. So he took the television off the table and put it on the ground. After the tsunami struck, there wasn’t enough time to discuss and plan their course of action and it led to only chaos and confusion. In the chaos and confusion, two of his children caught hold of the hands of their mother’s father and mother’s brother and rushed in the opposite direction.
Question 2 Which words in the list below describe Sanjeev, in your opinion? (Look up the dictionary for words that you are not sure of.)
| cheerful | ambitious | brash | brave | heroic |
| selfless | heartless | humorous | careless |
Use words from the list to complete the three sentences below.
(i) I don’t know if Sanjeev was cheerful, ___________ or ___________.
(ii) I think that he was very brave,___________ and___________.
(iii) Sanjeev was not heartless, ___________or___________.
Answer
(i) I don’t know if Sanjeev was cheerful, ambitious or humorous.
(ii) I think that he was very brave, heroic and selfless.
(iii) Sanjeev was not heartless, brash or careless.
Question 3 How are Meghna and Almas’s stories similar?
Answer Both Almas’ and Meghna’s families were swept away by the tsunami waves, and they were the only survivors in their respective families. Both of them floated in the sea for many days. Meghna spent two days floating in the sea, holding on to a wooden door and was brought to the shore by a wave. Almas also climbed onto a log of wood and fainted. Later she woke up in a hospital in Kamorta and was brought to Port Blair. Almas after the incident couldn’t talk about it and Meghna was seen walking on the seashore in a daze.
Question 4 What are the different ways in which Tilly’s parents could have reacted to her behaviour? What would you have done if you were in their place?
Answer Tilly foresaw the danger of the tsunami at once and she became hysterical. Her parents didn’t ignore her. They were sure that something wrong must be going to happen. So they all left the beach and were saved. Tilly’s parents instead of listening to her, alternatively, could have calmed her down and told her that there was nothing to worry about. If they would have done that the family would have been washed away by the tsunami. If I had been in a similar situation, I would have carefully listened to Tilly and realised that danger was approaching and immediately rush to the hotel by running away from the beach.
Question 5 If Tilly’s award was to be shared, who do you think she should share it with — her parents or her geography teacher?
Answer Tilly should have shared her award with her geography teacher, because it was she who made her aware of what a tsunami is and its various effects. Due to this awareness, she was able to save the lives of so many people. and her family.
Question 6 What are the two different ideas about why so few animals were killed in the tsunami? Which idea do you find more believable?
Answer Very few animals were killed in the tsunami because they feel the tremor much before humans do and the animals have strong sixth sense. Animals also have an acute sense of hearing that helps them to hear or feel the earth’s vibration. They can guess that the disaster is coming and so run away to safer places/higher ground. The acute sense of hearing and feeling the vibrations of the earth helped them to protect themselves, before the human being could even realize what was happening.
Working with language
Question 1 Go through Part-I carefully, and make a list of as many words as you can find that indicate movement of different kinds. (There is one word that occurs repeatedly — count how many times!) Put them into three categories.
fast movement slow movement neither slow nor fast
Can you explain why there are many words in one column and not in the others?
Answer
| Fast movement | Slow movement | Neither slow nor fast |
| Earthquake | Recede | Floating |
| Fall | Rising | |
| Rushed | ||
| Tremors | ||
| Swept away | ||
| Washed away | ||
| Ran |
The ‘fast movement’ column has many more words as compared to the other two columns. This is because it is natural for humans and animals to make fast movements during Tsunami.Due to the tsunami, all the immediate actions are fast, such as running, climbing and sweeping away people by water.
Question 2 Fill in the blanks in the sentences below (the verbs given in brackets will give you a clue).
(i) The earth trembled, but not many people felt the _________. (tremble)
(ii) When the zoo was flooded, there was a lot of _________ and many animals escaped into the countryside. (confuse)
(iii) We heard with _________ that the lion had been recaptured. (relieve)
(iv) The zookeeper was stuck in a tree and his _________ was filmed by the TV crew. (rescue)
(v) There was much _________ in the village when the snake charmer came visiting. (excite)
Answer
(i) The earth trembled, but not many people felt the trembling.
(ii) When the zoo was flooded, there was a lot of confusion and many animals escaped into the countryside.
(iii) We heard with relief that the lion had been recaptured.
(iv) The zookeeper was stuck in a tree and his rescue was filmed by the TV crew.
(v) There was much excitement in the village when the snake charmer came visiting.
Question 3 Study the sentences in the columns A and B.
| A | B |
| Meghna was swept away | The waves swept Meghna away |
| Almas’s grandfather was hit on the head. | Something hit Almas’s grandfather on the head. |
| Sixty visitors were washed away. | The waves washed away sixty visitors |
| No animal carcasses were found. | People did not find any animal carcasses. |
Compare the sentences in A to the ones in B. Who is the ‘doer’ of the action in every case? Is the ‘doer’ mentioned in A, or in B?
Notice the verbs in A: ‘was swept away’, ‘was hit’, ‘were washed away’, ‘were found’. They are in the passive form. The sentences are in the Passive Voice.
In these sentences, the focus is not on the person who does the action. In B, the ‘doer’ of the action is named. The verbs are in the active form. The sentences are in the Active Voice.
Say whether the following sentences are in the Active or the Passive voice. Write A or P after each sentence as shown in the first sentence.
(i) Someone stole my bicycle. __A__
(ii) The tyres were deflated by the traffic police. _______________
(iii) I found it last night in a ditch near my house. _______________
(iv) It had been thrown there. _______________
(v) My father gave it to the mechanic. _______________
(vi) The mechanic repaired it for me. _______________
Answer
i) Someone stole my bicycle. _____A_______
(ii) The tyres were deflated by the traffic police. ______P_______
(iii) I found it last night in a ditch near my house. _____A_______
(iv) It had been thrown there. ______P________
(v) My father gave it to the mechanic. _____A_______
(vi) The mechanic repaired it for me. _____A_________
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