NCERT Solutions Class 8 English (Honeydew) Chapter 2 The Tsunami

NCERT Solutions Class 8 English (Honeydew) 

The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 8 English (Honeydew) Chapter – 2 The Tsunami has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise. 

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English (Honeydew)

• Chapter – 1 : The Best Christmas Present in the World
• Chapter – 3 : Glimpses of the Past
• Chapter – 4 : Bepin Choudhury’s Lapse of Memory
• Chapter – 5 : The Summit Within
• Chapter – 6 : This is Jody’s Fawn
• Chapter – 7 : A Visit to Cambridge
• Chapter – 8 : A Short Monsoon Diary
• Chapter – 9 : The Great Stone Face 1
• Chapter – 10 : The Great Stone Face 2

Chapter – 2 (The Tsunami) 

Comprehension Check

1. 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.
2. Sanjeev made it to safety after the tsunami.
3. Meghna was saved by a relief helicopter.
4. Almas’s father realised that a tsunami was going to hit the island.
5. Her mother and aunts were washed away with the tree that they were holding on to.

Answer –
1. Ignesious lost his wife, two children, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law in the tsunami. (True)
2. Sanjeev made it to safety after the tsunami. (False)
3. Meghna was saved by a relief helicopter. (False)
4. Almas’s father realised that a tsunami was going to hit the island. (True)
5. Her mother and aunts were washed away with the tree that they were holding on to. (True)

Comprehension Check

Answer the following in a phrase or sentence.

1. Why did Tilly’s family come to Thailand?
Answer – Tilly’s family came to Thailand to celebrate Christmas.

2. What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw?
Answer – Both of them saw the sea rise and start to foam, bubble and form whirlpools.

3. Do you think Tilly’s mother was alarmed by them?
Answer – Tilly’s mother could not understand what was happening and only realised that it was serious when Tilly got frightened and mentioned what a Tsunami was.

4. Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?
Answer – Tilly had seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion in a video of a tsunami (shown in her geography Class) which had hit the Hawaiian Islands in 1946.

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 took refuge on the third floor of a hotel.

6. How do you think her geography teacher felt when she heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket?
Answer – Tilly’s geography teacher must have felt proud of her as she had made use of what she had learnt in Class to help save so many lives.

Comprehension Check

Answer using a phrase or a sentence.

1. In the tsunami, 150,000 people died. How many animals died?
Answer – Not many animals died.

2. How many people and animals died in Yala National Park?
Answer – Sixty visitors and only two water buffaloes died at the Yala National Park.

3. What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?
Answer – The people at the Yala National Park had seen three elephants running away from the patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit.

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 hit the coast.

Working with the text

Discuss the following questions in class. Then write your own answers.

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 suspect a tsunami when he felt the tremors. He took his television set and placed it on the ground so that it would not fall and break. This shows that he did not get worried of a tsunami immediately. Otherwise, he would have rushed out of the house at the first instant. The sentence in the text which shows that the Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after the tsunami struck is: ‘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.

2. Which words in the list below describe Sanjeev, in your opinion? (Look up the dictionary for words that you are not sure of.)

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 – In my opinion, the words that describe Sanjeev are brave, heroic and selfless.
(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.

3. How are Meghna and Almas’s stories similar?
Answer – Both Meghna’s and Almas’ families were washed away. Both of them kept floating in the sea for days. Meghna floated in the sea for two days holding on to a wooden door. She was brought to the shore by a wave. Similarly, Almus climbed on to a log of wood and fainted. She woke up in a hospital. Both the girls were traumatised after the incident. While Meghna was seen walking on the seashore in daze, Almus does not talk about the incident to anyone.

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 – Not taking her seriously, Tilly’s parents could have tried to calm her down thinking that she had been frightened by something. As a result, they could have been washed away by the tsunami waves. If I were in their place, I too would have listened to her and realised that there was a danger approaching. Consequently, I too would have rushed away from the beach.

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 – If Tilly’s award was to be shared, she should share it with her geography teacher who made her aware of tsunami in the first place. It was this awareness that helped her save so many lives.

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 – Many people believe that animals possess a sixth sense and know when the earth is going to shake. On the other hand, some experts believe that animals’ more acute hearing helps them hear or feel the earth’s vibrations. They can sense an approaching disaster long before humans can realise it. This second idea is more believable.

Working with language

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.

Can you explain why there are many words in one column and not in the others?

Answer –

The ‘fast movement’ has more words than the other two columns, i.e., ‘slow movement’ and ‘neither slow nor fast’. This indicates that there are fast movements in a tsunami, because of which it is extremely difficult to instantly avert such a critical situation for both men and animals. Although people were fast in their movements such as running or climbing, most of them got washed away by the tsunami waves.

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.

3. Study the sentences in the columns A and B.

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__________