Central Board of Secondary Educa on Class - 10 Unit - 4 The Butterfly Effect Central Board of Secondary Educa on The CBSE-International is grateful for permission to reproduce and/or translate copyright material used in this publication. The acknowledgements have been included wherever appropriate and sources from where the material has been taken duly mentioned. In case anything has been missed out, the Board will be pleased to rectify the error at the earliest possible opportunity. All Rights of these documents are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, printed or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the CBSE-i. This material is meant for the use of schools who are a part of the CBSE-International only. Preface The Curriculum initiated by Central Board of Secondary Education –International (CBSE-i) is a progressive step in making the educational content and methodology more sensitive and responsive to the global needs. It signifies the emergence of a fresh thought process in imparting a curriculum which would restore the independence of the learner to pursue the learning process in harmony with the existing personal, social and cultural ethos. The Central Board of Secondary Education has been providing support to the academic needs of the learners worldwide. It has about 11500 schools affiliated to it and over 158 schools situated in more than 23 countries. The Board has always been conscious of the varying needs of the learners in countries abroad and has been working towards contextualizing certain elements of the learning process to the physical, geographical, social and cultural environment in which they are engaged. The International Curriculum being designed by CBSE-i, has been visualized and developed with these requirements in view. The nucleus of the entire process of constructing the curricular structure is the learner. The objective of the curriculum is to nurture the independence of the learner, given the fact that every learner is unique. The learner has to understand, appreciate, protect and build on values, beliefs and traditional wisdom, make the necessary modifications, improvisations and additions wherever and whenever necessary. The recent scientific and technological advances have thrown open the gateways of knowledge at an astonishing pace. The speed and methods of assimilating knowledge have put forth many challenges to the educators, forcing them to rethink their approaches for knowledge processing by their learners. In this context, it has become imperative for them to incorporate those skills which will enable the young learners to become ‘life long learners’. The ability to stay current, to upgrade skills with emerging technologies, to understand the nuances involved in change management and the relevant life skills have to be a part of the learning domains of the global learners. The CBSE-i curriculum has taken cognizance of these requirements. The CBSE-i aims to carry forward the basic strength of the Indian system of education while promoting critical and creative thinking skills, effective communication skills, interpersonal and collaborative skills along with information and media skills. There is an inbuilt flexibility in the curriculum, as it provides a foundation and an extension curriculum, in all subject areas to cater to the different pace of learners. The CBSE has introduced the CBSE-i curriculum in schools affiliated to CBSE at the international level in 2010 and is now introducing it to other affiliated schools who meet the requirements for introducing this curriculum. The focus of CBSE-i is to ensure that the learner is stress-free and committed to active learning. The learner would be evaluated on a continuous and comprehensive basis consequent to the mutual interactions between the teacher and the learner. There are some non-evaluative components in the curriculum which would be commented upon by the teachers and the school. The objective of this part or the core of the curriculum is to scaffold the learning experiences and to relate tacit knowledge with formal knowledge. This would involve trans-disciplinary linkages that would form the core of the learning process. Perspectives, SEWA (Social Empowerment through Work and Action), Life Skills and Research would be the constituents of this ‘Core’. The Core skills are the most significant aspects of a learner’s holistic growth and learning curve. The International Curriculum has been designed keeping in view the foundations of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005) and the experience gathered by the Board over the last seven decades in imparting effective learning to millions of learners, many of whom are now global citizens. The Board does not interpret this development as an alternative to other curricula existing at the international level, but as an exercise in providing the much needed Indian leadership for global education at the school level. The International Curriculum would evolve on its own, building on learning experiences inside the classroom over a period of time. The Board while addressing the issues of empowerment with the help of the schools’ administering this system strongly recommends that practicing teachers become skillful learners on their own and also transfer their learning experiences to their peers through the interactive platforms provided by the Board. I profusely thank Shri G. Balasubramanian, former Director (Academics), CBSE, Ms. Abha Adams and her team and Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Head (Innovations and Research) CBSE along with other Education Officers involved in the development and implementation of this material. The CBSE-i website has already started enabling all stakeholders to participate in this initiative through the discussion forums provided on the portal. Any further suggestions are welcome. Vineet Joshi Chairman Acknowledgements Conceptual Framework Shri G. Balasubramanian, Former Director (Acad), CBSE Shri Vineet Joshi, Chairman, Ms. Abha Adams, Consultant, Step-by-Step School, Noida CBSE Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Head (I & R),CBSE Ideators Ms. Aditi Misra Ms. Anuradha Sen Ms. Jaishree Srivastava Dr. Rajesh Hassija Ms. Amita Mishra Ms. Archana Sagar Dr. Kamla Menon Ms. Rupa Chakravarty Ms. Anita Sharma Ms. Geeta Varshney Dr. Meena Dhami Ms. Sarita Manuja Ms. Anita Makkar Ms. Guneet Ohri Ms. Neelima Sharma Ms. Seema Rawat Dr. Anju Srivastava Dr. Indu Khetrapal Dr. N. K. Sehgal Dr. Uma Chaudhry Advisory English : Material Production Groups: Classes IX - X Mathematics : Science : Ms. Renu Anand Ms. Gayatri Khanna Ms. P. Rajeshwary Ms. Neha Sharma Ms. Sarabjit Kaur Ms. Ruchika Sachdev Dr. K.P. Chinda Mr. J.C. Nijhawan Ms. Rashmi Kathuria Ms. Reemu Verma Ms. Charu Maini Ms. S. Anjum Ms. Meenambika Menon Ms. Novita Chopra Ms. Neeta Rastogi Ms. Pooja Sareen Geography: Ms. Deepa Kapoor Ms. Bharti Dave Ms. Bhagirathi Ms. Archana Sagar Ms. Manjari Rattan Political Science: Economics: Ms Sharmila Bakshi Ms. Archana Soni Ms. Srilekha Ms. Mridula Pant Mr. Pankaj Bhanwani Ms. Ambica Gulati Dr. Indu Khetarpal Ms. Vandana Kumar Ms. Anju Chauhan Ms. Deepti Verma Ms. Ritu Batra English : Ms. Rachna Pandit Ms. Neha Sharma Ms. Sonia Jain Ms. Dipinder Kaur Ms. Sarita Ahuja Material Production Group: Classes I-V Ms. Rupa Chakravarty Ms. Anita Makkar Ms. Anuradha Mathur Ms. Kalpana Mattoo Ms. Savinder Kaur Rooprai Ms. Monika Thakur Ms. Seema Choudhary Mr. Bijo Thomas Ms. Kalyani Voleti Material Production Groups: Classes VI-VIII Science : Mathematics : Dr. Meena Dhami Mr. Saroj Kumar Ms. Rashmi Ramsinghaney Ms. Seema kapoor Ms. Priyanka Sen Dr. Kavita Khanna Ms. Keya Gupta Ms. Seema Rawat Ms. N. Vidya Ms. Mamta Goyal Ms. Chhavi Raheja Political Science: History : Ms. Jayshree Srivastava Ms. M. Bose Ms. A. Venkatachalam Ms. Smita Bhattacharya Ms. Nandita Mathur Ms. Seema Chowdhary Ms. Ruba Chakarvarty Ms. Mahua Bhattacharya Geography: Ms. Suparna Sharma Ms. Leela Grewal History : Ms. Leeza Dutta Ms. Kalpana Pant Ms. Kanu Chopra Ms. Shilpi Anand Coordinators: Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Head (I and R) Ms. Sugandh Sharma, E O (Com) Dr. Srijata Das, E O (Maths) Dr. Rashmi Sethi, E O (Science) Shri R. P. Sharma, Consultant Ms. Ritu Narang, R O (Innovation) Ms. Sindhu Saxena, R O (Tech) Shri Al Hilal Ahmed, AEO Ms. Seema Lakra, S O Ms. Preeti Hans, Proof Reader The Bu erfly Effect Causes and Consequences Why should we do this unit? i. The Butterfly Effect is a metaphor for life in a chaotic universe. Earlier it seemed reasonable to believe that big influences had big effects and little influences had little effects. But the Chaos Theory, however, changed that premise and has built a theory that little things can also have big effects. Thus, students are urged to think how they are affecting the world and others’ lives. ii. The activities are designed to help them learn how much they matter and the decisions they make today, big and small, can truly change the world. iii. A number of activities have been provided to help those teachers who wish to widen the students’ horizons beyond the learning outcomes outlined here. iv. Research and life skills are built into the methodology of every unit. v. Understanding or thinking about the cause and effect relationship helps a student to learn how the world works. The students’ curiosities about the world often involve cause and effect without their realizing it. English literature is full of cause and effect scenarios. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo killed himself because he thought his love Juliet was dead. vi. Every subject that a student studies at high school level requires an understanding of cause and effect e.g. Why did the Bengal Mutiny happen? What happens when water is boiled to a hundred degrees? Why is the discovery of DNA the most important in the 20th century? The term “Bu erfly Effect” is a ributed to Edward Norton Lorenz, a mathema cian and meteorologist, who was one of the first proponents of Chaos Theory. Though he had been working on the theory for approximately ten years, with the principal ques on whether a seagulls’ wing movements changes the weather, but he changed his research to the more poe c bu erfly in the year 1973. The concept of small varia ons producing the bu erfly effect actually pre-dates science and finds its home in science fic on. Writers like Ray Bradbury were par cularly interested in problems that might occur if one travelled back in me; he has explored this possibility in his short story, ‘A Sound of Thunder’. General Learning Outcomes of the unit At the end of this unit, the students will be able to: Û understand the concept of cause and effect Û iden fy cause and effect rela onships in the short stories “A Sound of Thunder”, “The Gi ” and in the weblog on environmental conserva on Û appreciate and understand the examples of cause and effect in their real life situa ons Û iden fy and use words that depict cause and effect rela onship. Specific Learning Outcomes of the unit: At the end of this unit, the students will be able to: Û understand that the decisions they make today, big and small, can truly change the world Û familiarize themselves with the elements of a short story and a poem Û write a short poem, a story, a report and a descrip on Û prepare powerpoint presenta ons on themes related to ‘The Bu erfly Effect’ Û ar culate their views on causes and consequences, both in speech and in wri ng. The Bu erfly Effect-Causes and Consequences Section Listening Speaking Reading Writing Vocabulary and Skills Skills Skills Skills language conventions Sec on-A A Sound of Thunder (Story) • A/V: Time Travel • Oral presenta on • Iden fying main points of • Sharing views on a passage • A/V The Sound me travel of Thunder• Drawing Part 1, 2 and 3 inferences • A/V: Theory of Chaos • Film review • Descrip on of a friendly dinosaur • Descrip on of an imaginary creature • Puzzle out the meanings • Condi onal sentences • Making a Powerpoint Presenta on • Wri ng a diary entry Sec on-B The Bu erfly Effect (Poem) • Listening for • Sharing views comprehension on the theory of ‘The Bu erfly Effect’. • Understand the theory of ‘The Bu erfly Effect’ • Rewrite almanac using ‘if’ condi onal. • Synonyms • Poe c devices • Comple ng a summary Sec on-C The Gi (Story) • Enact a role play • Reference work - library and internet resources • Wri ng dialogues • Wri ng a diary entry • Comprehend • Wri ng an ar cle the visual cues • MCQ Sec on-D Tiny acts cause big changes (weblog) • A/V: The Secret Life of Chaos • Giving a Powerpoint Presenta on • Iden fying the • Wri ng a newspaper main points of report a passage • Compare and contrast the story and the two poems • Wri ng a summary • Words expressing cause - effect rela onship Content I. Sec on A 1 A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury (Story) II. Sec on B 20 The Bu erfly Effect by David Hernandez (Poem) III. Sec on C 24 The Gi by Philip Van Doren Stern (Story) IV. Sec on D 37 Tiny Acts Cause Big Changes (Weblog) V. Suggested Reading 47 VI. Suggested Websites 47 Sec on A Warm up 1. In pairs, study the verbal and visual cues given below and plan a tour to this loca on. i) Where do you think this city is located? ii) What is the iii) Is it possible to travel by a disc shaped aircra ? iv) What are your expecta ons regarding the social and poli cal life of this locale ? me period? Travelling into different me periods has always fascinated humanity. People have always tried to visualise life a hundred years ago and a hundred years ahead. Read more on: h p://scienceray.com/physics/riddles-of- me-travel/#ixzz1KGemxAdv 1 2. a. Working in pairs, use the encarta/encyclopedia to find out more about ‘ me travel’. Then, answer the following ques ons: i. Which me period in history would you like to visit? _____________________________________________________________ ii. Which year would you like to travel back to? _____________________________________________________________ iii. Whom would you want to meet ? Would you like to witness a specific event? _____________________________________________________________ iv. What is that one event which you feel has changed history? _____________________________________________________________ v. It you had the power, which event of the history would you have changed? Why? _____________________________________________________________ Share your answers with the class. b. Watch this animated video talk presented by the Na onal Geographic Society about how it is theore cally possible to travel into different me periods. This would help you appreciate the story more. h p://youtube/V7vpw4AH8QQ c. With the help of the presenta on, science journals, encyclopedia and your own understanding, make a two-minute presenta on to demonstrate how me travel is possible. Write a short descrip on in about 150 words. 3. a. Here is a picture of a scien st who is keen to protect prehistoric creatures. As the scien st, write a diary entry expressing your desire to save pre-historic creatures. 2 b. Give your views on whether me travel will have a posi ve or a nega ve impact on our environment and on human history. 4. Read this short story, “A Sound of Thunder” which involves a Time Travel Safari where rich businessmen pay to travel back to pre-historic mes and hunt real life dinosaurs. A Sound of Thunder Ray Bradbury 1. The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink over his stare. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile and his hand waved a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk. TIME SAFARI, INC. SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST YOU NAME THE ANIMAL. WE TAKE YOU THERE. YOU SHOOT IT. 2. “Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?” 3. “We guarantee nothing,” said the official, “except the dinosaurs.” He turned. “This is Mr. Travis, your Safari Guide in the Past. If he says no shoo ng, no shoo ng. If you disobey instruc ons, there’s a s ff penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible government ac on, on your return.” 4. A touch of the hand and this burning machine would, on the instant, beau fully reverse itself. Eckels remembered the wording in the adver sements to the le er. Out of chars and ashes, out of dust and coals, the old years, the green years, might leap; roses sweeten the air, white hair turn Irish-black, wrinkles vanish; all, everything fly back to seed, flee death, rush down to their beginnings, suns rise in western skies and set in glorious easts, moons eat themselves opposite to the custom. “Unbelievable”. Eckels breathed the light of the Machine on his thin face. “A real Time Machine.” He shook his head. “Makes you think, if the elec on had gone badly yesterday, I might be here now running away from the results. Thank God, Keith won. He’ll make a fine President of the United States.” 5. “Yes,” said the man behind the desk. “We’re lucky. If Deutscher had go en in, we’d have the worst kind of dictatorship. There’s an an everything 3 man for you, a militarist, an -human, an -intellectual. Said if Deutscher became President they wanted to go live in 1492. Of course it’s not our business to conduct Escapes but to form Safaris. Anyway, Keith’s President now. All you got to worry about is-” 6. “Shoo ng my dinosaur,” Eckels finished it for him. 7. “A Tyrannosaurus Rex. The Tyrant Lizard, the most incredible monster in history. Sign this release. Anything happens to you, we’re not responsible. Those dinosaurs are hungry.” 8. Eckels flushed angrily. “Trying to scare me!” 9. “Frankly, yes. We don’t want anyone going who’ll panic at the first shot. Six Safari leaders were killed last year and a dozen hunters. We’re here to give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever asked for. Traveling you back sixty million years to bag the biggest game in all of Time. Your personal check’s s ll there. Tear it up.” Mr. Eckels looked at the check. His fingers twitched. 10. “Good luck,” said the man behind the desk. “Mr. Travis, he’s all yours.” They moved, taking their guns with them, toward the Machine, the roaring light. First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night, then it was day-night-day-night. A week, a month, a year, a decade! A.D. 2055. A.D. 2019. 1999! 1957! Gone! The Machine roared. They put on their oxygen helmets and tested the intercoms. 11. Eckels felt the trembling in his arms and he looked down and found his hands ght on the new rifle. There were four other men in the Machine. Travis, the Safari Leader, his assistant, Lesperance, and two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. They sat looking at each other, and the years blazed around them. 12. “Can these guns get a dinosaur cold?” Eckels felt his mouth saying. 13. “If you hit them right,” said Travis on the helmet radio. “Some dinosaurs have two brains, one in the head, another far down the spinal column. We stay away from those. That’s stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them and go back into the brain.” The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. The Machine stopped. The sun stopped in the sky. The fog that had enveloped the Machine blew away and they were 4 in an old me. “The Pyramids are s ll in the earth, wai ng to be cut out and put up. Remember that. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler – none of them exist.” The man nodded. “That” – Mr. Travis pointed – “is the jungle of sixty million two thousand and fi y-five years before President Keith.” 14. He indicated a metal path. “And that,” he said,” is the Path, laid by the TIME SAFARI for your use. It floats six inches above the Earth. Doesn’t touch so much as a grass blade, flower or tree. An an -gravity metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching the world of the past in any way. Stay on the Path. Don’t go off it. For any reason! If you fall off, there is a penalty. And don’t shoot any animal, we don’t, okay.” 15. “Why?” asked Eckels. 16. “We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t belong here in the Past. The government doesn’t like us here. We have to pay big gra to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach and a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.” 17. “That’s not clear,” said Eckels. 18. “All right,” Travis con nued, “say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one par cular mouse are destroyed, right?” 19. “Right.” 20. “So they’re what?” dead,” said Eckels. “So 21. “So what?” Travis snorted quietly. “Well, what about the foxes that’ll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a fox dies. For want of ten foxes a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruc on. Eventually it all boils down to this: fi y-nine million years later, a 5 caveman, one of a dozen on the en re world, goes hun ng wild boar or saber-toothed ger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the gers in that region by stepping on one single mouse. So the caveman starves. And the caveman, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an en re future na on. Perhaps Rome never rises on its seven hills. Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming. Step on a mouse and you crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and you leave your print across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth might never be born, Washington might not cross the Delaware and there might never be a United States at all. So be careful. Stay on the Path. Never step off!” 22. “I see,” said Eckels. “Then it wouldn’t pay for us even to touch the grass?” 23. “Correct. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesimally. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. Maybe Time can’t be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed only in li le subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a popula on dispropor on later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starva on, and finally, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries. Who knows? Who really can say he knows? We don’t know. We’re guessing. But un l we do know for certain whether our messing around in Time can make a big roar or a li le rustle in history, we’re being careful. This Machine, this Path, your clothing and bodies were sterilized, as you know, before the journey. We wear these oxygen helmets so we can’t introduce our bacteria into an ancient atmosphere.” 24. “How do we know which animals to shoot?” 25. “They’re marked with red paint,” said Travis. “Today, before our journey, we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine. He came to this par cular era and followed certain animals.” 26. “Studying them?” 27. “Right,” said Lesperance. “I track them through their en re existence, no ng which of them lives longest. Very few. Life’s short, when I find one that’s going to die when a tree falls on him or one that drowns in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute and second. I shoot a paint bomb. It leaves a red patch on his side. We can’t miss it. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are never going to mate again. You see how careful we are?” 6 28. “But if you came back this morning in Time,” said Eckels eagerly, you must’ve bumped into us, our Safari! How did it turn out? Was it successful? Did all of us get through – alive?” 29. Travis and Lesperance gave each other a look. 30. “That’d be a paradox,” said the la er. “Time doesn’t permit that sort of mess-a man mee ng himself. When such occasions threaten, Time steps aside. Like an airplane hi ng an air pocket. You felt the Machine jump just before we stopped? That was us passing ourselves on the way back to the Future. We saw nothing. There’s no way of telling if this expedi on was a success, if we got our monster or whether all of us – meaning you, Mr. Eckels – got out alive. ”Eckels smiled palely. 31. “Cut that,” said Travis sharply. “Everyone on his feet!” They were ready to leave the Machine. Eckels balanced on the narrow Path and aimed his rifle playfully. “Stop that!” said Travis. “Don’t even aim for fun, blast you! If your guns should go off –” 32. Eckels flushed. “Where’s our Tyrannosaurus?” 33. Lesperance checked his wristwatch. “Up ahead. Look for the red paint! Don’t shoot ll we give the word. Stay on the Path!” 34. “Safety catches off, everyone!” ordered Travis. “You, first shot, Eckels. Second, Billings, Third, Kramer.” 35. “I’ve hunted ger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant but now, this is it,” said Eckels. “I’m shaking like a kid.” 36. “Ah,” said Travis. Everyone stopped. 37. Travis raised his hand. “Ahead,” he whispered. “In the mist. There he is. There’s His Royal Majesty now.” 38. Silence. 39. A sound of thunder. 7 5. Discuss in pairs and answer the following ques ons: a. How should a hunter prepare to shoot his prey, according to Travis? Why? b. How did Travis prepare for the hun ng safari? c. Why wouldn’t we meet ourselves if we travel into our past or future? 40. Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came Tyrannosaurus Rex. It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, folding its delicate watchmaker’s claws close to its oily rep lian chest. Each lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled skin. Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory and steel mesh. And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out in front, arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like toys. And the head itself, a ton of sculptured stone, li ed easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped, exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs, empty of all expression save hunger. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees and bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving prints six inches deep wherever it se led its weight. It ran with a gliding ballet step. 8 41. “It can’t be killed,” Eckels pronounced this verdict quietly. The rifle in his hands seemed a cap gun. “We were fools to come. This is impossible.” 42. “Shut up!” hissed Travis. 43. “Nightmare.” 44. “Turn around,” commanded Travis. “Walk quietly to the Machine. We’ll remit half your fee.” 45. “I didn’t realize it would be this big,” said Eckels. “I miscalculated, that’s all. And now I want out.” 46. “It sees us!” 47. “There’s the red paint on its chest!” The Tyrant Lizard raised itself. 48. “Get me out of here,” said Eckels. “It was never like this before. I was always sure I’d come through alive. I had good guides, good safaris and safety. This me, I figured wrong. This is too much for me to get hold of.” 49. “Don’t run,” said Lesperance. “Turn around. Hide in the Machine.” 50. “Yes.” Eckels seemed to be numb. He looked at his feet as if trying to make them move. He gave a grunt of helplessness. 51. “Eckels!”He took a few steps, blinking, shuffling. 52. “Not that way!” 53. The Monster lunged forward with a terrible scream. It covered one hundred yards in six seconds. The rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A windstorm from the beast’s mouth engulfed them in the stench of slime and old blood. The Monster roared, teeth gli ering with sun. The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jungle was the en re world forever and forever. Sounds like music and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were pterodactyls roaring with cavernous grey wings, gigan c bats of delirium and night fever. The rifles cracked again, Their sound was lost in shriek and lizard and lizard thunder. Its boulder stone eyes leveled with the men. They fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris. 54. Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell. 9 55. Thundering, it clutched trees, pulled them with it. It wrenched and tore the metal Path. A fount of blood spurted from its throat. They stood, red and glistening. The thunder faded. Billings and Kramer sat on the pathway and threw up. Travis and Lesperance stood with smoking rifles, cursing steadily. In the Time Machine, on his face, Eckels lay shivering. He had found his way back to the Path, climbed into the Machine. Travis came walking, glanced at Eckels, took co on gauze from a metal box and returned to the others, who were si ng on the Path. 56. “Clean up.”They wiped the blood from their helmets. Another cracking sound. Overhead, a gigan c tree branch broke from its heavy mooring, fell. It crashed upon the dead beast with finality. 57. “There.” Lesperance checked his watch. “Right on me. That’s the giant tree that was scheduled to fall and kill this animal originally.” He glanced at the two hunters. “You want the trophy picture?” 58. “What?” 59. “We can’t take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to stay right here where it would have died originally, so the insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to. Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture of you standing near it”. The two men tried to think, but gave up, shaking their heads. They let themselves be led along the metal Path. They sank wearily into the Machine cushions. A sound on the floor of the Time Machine s ffened them. Eckels sat there, shivering. 60. “I’m sorry,” he said at last. 61. “Get up!” cried Travis. Eckels got up. 62. “Go out on that Path alone,” said Travis. He had his rifle pointed, “You’re not coming back in the Machine. We’re leaving you here!” 63. Lesperance seized Travis’s arm. “Wait – ” 64. “Stay out of this!” Travis shook his hand away. “This fool nearly killed us. But it isn’t that so much, no. It’s his shoes! Look at them! He ran off the Path. That ruins us! We’ll forfeit! Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves the Path. He le it. Oh, the fool! I’ll have to report to the government. They might revoke our license to travel. Who knows what he’s done to Time, to History!” 65. “Take it easy, all he did was kick up some dirt.” 10 66. “How do we know?” cried Travis. “We don’t know anything! It’s all a mystery! Get out of here, Eckels!” 67. Eckels fumbled his shirt. “I’ll pay anything. A hundred thousand dollars!” 68. Travis glared at Eckels’ checkbook and spat. “Go out there. The Monster’s next to the Path. S ck your arms up to your elbows in his mouth. Then you can come back with us.” 69. “That’s unreasonable!” 70. “The Monster’s dead, you idiot. The bullets! The bullets can’t be le behind. They don’t belong in the Past; they might change anything. Here’s my knife. Dig them out!” A er a long me, like a sleepwalker he shuffled out along the Path. He returned, shuddering, five minutes later, his arms soaked and red to the elbows. He held out his hands. Each held a number of steel bullets. 71. “Next me he won’t go hun ng game like this. Okay.” He jerked his thumb wearily at Lesperance. “Switch on. Let’s go home.”1492. 1776. 1812. Travis glared at Eckels for a full ten minutes. 72. “Don’t look at me,” cried Eckels. “I haven’t done anything.” 73. “Who can tell?” 74. “Just ran off the Path, that’s all, a li le mud on my shoes-what do you want me to do-get down and pray?” 75. “We might need it. I’m warning you, Eckels, I might kill you. I’ve got my gun ready.” 76. “I’m innocent. I’ve done nothing!”1999.2000.2055. The Machine stopped. 77. “Get out,” said Travis. 78. The room was there as they had le it. But not the same as they had le it. The same man sat behind the same desk. But the same man did not quite sit behind the same desk. Travis looked around swi ly. “Everything okay here?” he snapped. 79. “Fine. Welcome home!”Travis did not relax. He seemed to be looking through one high window. 80. “Okay, Eckels, get out. Don’t ever come back.” Eckels could not move. 81. “You heard me,” said Travis. “What’re you staring at?” 11 82. Eckels stood smelling the air and there was a thing to the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry of his subliminal senses warned him it was there. The colors, white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky beyond the window, were . . . were . . . . And there was a feel. His flesh twitched. His hands twitched. He stood drinking the oddness with the pores of his body. …. 83. But the immediate thing was the sign painted on the office wall, the same sign he had read earlier today on first entering. Somehow, the sign had changed: TYME SEFARI INC. SEFARIS TU ANY YEER EN THE PAST. YU NAIM THE ANIMALL. Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He WEE TAEK YU THAIR. fumbled crazily at the thick slime on his YU SHOOT ITT. boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, “No, it can’t be. Not a li le thing like that. No!” Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, was a bu erfly, very beau ful and very dead. 84. “Not a bu erfly!” cried Eckels. It fell to the floor, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigan c dominoes, all down the years across Time. Eckels’ mind whirled. Killing one bu erfly couldn’t be that important! Could it? 12 His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: “Who – who won the presiden al elec on yesterday?” 85. The man behind the desk laughed. “You joking? You know very well. Deutscher, of course! Who else? Not that fool weakling Keith. We got an iron man now, a man with guts!” The official stopped. “What’s wrong?” 86. Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at the golden bu erfly with shaking fingers. “Can’t we,” he pleaded to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, “can’t we take it back, can’t we make it alive again? Can’t we start over? Can’t we –”He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited, shivering. He heard Travis breathe loud in the room; he heard Travis shi his rifle, click the safety catch and raise the weapon. 87. There was a sound of thunder. [Abridged] 6 a. In pairs, find and read the sentences where these words are given in the story. Puzzle out their meanings and write them in the space given in the table. Using a dic onary or a thesaurus, write the meanings that you find and compare the two meanings. Words Meanings you puzzled out Meanings in the dic onary /thesaurus 1 quaver 2 sheathed 3 stench 4 infinitesimally 5 depression 6 sterilized 7 boulder stone 8 taint 9 oddness 13 b. Match the meanings given below with the phrases given in the box and write the answers in the corresponding boxes. lump of earth; ar s c feelings; rough surface; complicated work; dead with mouth open; kill the animal; reverse occurrence; foul smelling s cky substance; heavy fines; bright light. Phrases 1 S ff penalty 2 Opposite to custom 3 Roaring light 4 Get a dinosaur cold 5 Finicky business 6 Death grin 7 Stench of slime 8 Heavy mooring 9 Subliminal senses 10 Clod of dirt 7 a. Meaning Now, watch a slideshow about Ray Bradbury and his short story to help you understand the writer’s message for his readers. www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/english/A%20Sound%20 of%20Thunder.ppt b. 14 In pairs, discuss the answers for the following ques ons: i. This safari is unusual in its purpose. Why? ii. Eckels was fascinated by the machine that would take them back in me. Why? iii. Briefly describe each traveller based on the details that you have gathered from the story. iv. How were the prey iden fied for the hunt? Do you think Travis is right? Give two reasons for your answer. v. Although a seasoned hunter, Eckels backed away at the last moment. Why? vi. What purpose does the metallic ‘Path’ serve? How does it work? vii. Do you observe any changes a er the Time Travellers’ return to 2055? What do you think could have happened? viii. The story ends with Travis’s firing his gun. What do you think happens a er this moment? c. Watch the unabridged film clips of the TV serial, based on the story ‘A Sound of Thunder’. Sound of Thunder 1 of 3: h p://youtu.be/wkLT57mVnGE Sound of thunder 2 of 3: h p://youtu.be/Kqd4Ol8FlGc Sound of Thunder 3 of 3: h p://youtu.be/-xuq3kOwGGw 8. In groups of four, respond to the following ques ons. Each member prepares a two-minute oral presenta on of the group’s findings and share it with the class. i. What is the Dominoes Effect ? Use an encyclopedia or internet to find more about the Dominoes Effect and apply it to the situa on being discussed in the story. ii. The elec on scene undergoes a dras c change? Make a connec on between what happened during the safari and the outcome of the elec ons. iii. Do you agree that Travis possesses the quali es of a modern leader? Why/Why not? iv. Travis lays down the following protocols for their trip, namely: i. Don’t change anything in the Past ii. Don’t leave anything behind iii. Don’t bring anything back. How closely did the hunters observe these protocols ? v. Recall the comment about Ray Bradbury’s style of wri ng given in the powerpoint presenta on. Support it with suitable examples from the story. 15 9. 10. The science fic on presented in the film version used the supernatural and cinema c effects to interpret Bradbury’s story. Write a film review, in about 200 words, illustra ng your observa ons. Use these guidelines to write the review: i. Understand the story in the film. ii. Give your opinion about ac ng, photography, cast, dura on, dress etc. iii. Find out who are the actors. Are they known for a certain style? iv. Is it a remake or a sequel? v. Tell the readers how it lived up to the original unabridged story. Grammar Read the following statements from the story. In pairs, iden fy and underline the part of the statement which expresses a condi on. Share your observa ons with the class. i. If he says no shoo ng, no shoo ng. ii. If you disobey instruc ons, there’s a s ff penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible government ac on, on your return. iii. But un l we do know for certain whether our messing around in Time can make a big roar or a li le rustle in history, we’re being careful. iv. “Stop that!” said Travis. “Don’t even aim for fun, blast you! If your guns should go off – ” v. If Deutscher had go en in, we’d have the worst kind of dictatorship. vi. If you fall off, there is a penalty. vii. “All right,” Travis con nued, “say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this par cular mouse are destroyed, right?” viii. If Deutscher became President, they wanted to go live in 1492. ix. Can these guns get a dinosaur cold?” Eckels felt his mouth saying. “If you hit them right,” said Travis on the helmet radio... x. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can blind them and go back into the brain.” 16 Read these guidelines to complete the given tasks: Condi onal sentences show how a result depends on a condi on/s. In English, there are four formulas to structure the condi onal sentences: 1. The first formula indicates the possible outcome of an event [e.g.] If I am late, I will call you. 2. The second formula indicates the possible outcome of an event that is less likely to occur. [e.g.] If it gets ho er, we may have a thunder storm. 3. The third formula indicates the possible outcome of an event that did not occur and is, therefore, a missed opportunity. [e.g.] If I had revised, I would have passed all my exams. 4. The fourth formula indicates that the statement is true. This is some mes called ‘zero condi onal’ where ‘if’ can be replaced with ‘when’. [e.g.] If you heat ice, it melts. It is possible to reverse the order of the clauses. Condi onals can also be introduced using ‘as long as‘, ‘un l’, ‘ ll’, ‘on condi on that’, ‘provided that’ etc. Now, complete the following tasks: Task 1 : Re-read the statements given in ques on no. 10 and state the condi ons expressed in them. Share your answers with the class. Task 2: Complete the following sentences based on the guidelines given in the box: i. It_____________________________, if we tried to cross the muddy river. ii. I’d watch the film only______________________________________good. iii. She’d have taken me to the sta on ________________________________. 17 iv. ________________________________, he won’t help you with the project. v. ________________________________ yesterday, we could have gone to the beach for a picnic. vi. Can I read this book un l _______________________________________? vii. I wouldn’t have opened the e-mail, if ______________________________. viii. We won’t get lost as ____________________________________________. ix. You can leave earlier provided ____________________________________. x. On condi on _____________________, I will lend you $ 10,000. xi. When___________________________, the stars shine brightly. xii. We could take a trip to planet Mars, _______________________________. 11 a. Read the writer’s descrip on of the dinosaur again. The Roar of Thunder It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, folding its delicate watchmaker’s claws close to its oily rep lian chest. Each lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled skin. Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory and steel mesh. And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out in front, arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like toys. And the head itself, a ton of sculptured stone, li ed easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped, exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs, empty of all expression save hunger. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees and bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving prints six inches deep wherever it se led its weight… 18 b. Iden fy and underline the words that are used to describe the animal. c. Now, write a similar descrip on of a friendly dinosaur. Your readers should find your wri ng realis c and interes ng. Make it easy for your readers to imagine the appearance, movements and other quali es of the animal. d. Create an imaginary creature with different parts from different animals. Draw a picture and describe the creature in 150-200 words. A me machine 19 Sec on B Warm up 1. Read the informa on given below. ‘The Bu erfly Effect ‘ is a term that has become quite popular, thanks to me-travel stories like “The Sound of Thunder”. It means that ny changes within a complex system lead to results that are impossible to predict. Can the flu ering wings of a bu erfly in one place really affect the weather condi ons in another far away place? Unbelievable it seems, but that is what “The Bu erfly Effect” theory says. Have you observed similar situa ons in your day to day life where ny changes led to results that were impossible to predict. Share your experiences with the class. 2. Now, read the illustra ve modern poem aloud: The Bu erfly Effect by David Hernandez If a butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing Palm trees bowing on the shore. could cause a hurricane off the coast of Florida, Grass huts disintegrating like blown dandelions. so could a deck of cards shuffled at a picnic. So could the clapping hands of a father Hard to believe, but when I rewind my life, watching his son rounding the bases, starting from a point when my heart thee wind sculpting his baggy pants. was destroyed by a hurricane of grief, So could a woman reading a book of poems, I see the dominoes rising, how that storm a tiny current from a turned page was just a gale weeks earlier, a gust slipping out the open window, nudging days before that. Finally I see where it all began. a passing breeze: an insignificant event I say hello to a woman sitting alone that could snowball months later into a monsoon at the park, a tattoo butterfly perched at a coastal village halfway around the world. on her ankle, ready to reek havoc. (Slightly edited) [You can also read David Hernandez’s poetry, “The Bu erfly Effect” in its en rety in Quarterly West issue #52] 20 3 a. Iden fy ten keywords or phrases. Replace them with words of similar meanings and find words which express the poet’s ideas as good as the words used in the poem. For example, ‘rounding’ can be replaced by ‘touching’. Words/phrases from the poem Your words/phrases b. Read the poem aloud to the class with words you have used. The class votes for the best ‘poem’. 4. Complete the summary of the poem with appropriate words. The writer, ________________, in his poem uses a tle that is derived from the scien fic theory called __________________. He expresses the idea that small __________________ might cause great changes in _________________ of a distant loca on. He proposes that even small vibra ons in the atmosphere caused by ___________________________, __________________________, ______________________, ________________________or ________________ can accelerate a devasta ng storm elsewhere. In stanza II, the poet applies this understanding to life itself. Who knows? There are mes in our lives when we feel as small as a bu erfly and make almost no difference in the lives of those around us. We believe the same for others. However, the poet believes that it was possible that the poet’s mee ng with ________________________ who had a ___________________________ ankle, had caused___________________ ________________________. 21 5. Read the following poem by Benjamin Franklin found in ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac ’, which also illustrates the same theme of ‘The Bu erfly Effect’. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; For want of the shoe, the horse was lost; For want of the horse, the rider was lost; For want of the rider, the ba le was lost; For want of the ba le, the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. [This poem is derived from a verse by George Herbert’s Jacula Pruden um, wri en in 1651.] 6. How is the cause and effect of human ac ons illustrated in these two poems? Share your views with the class. 7. In pairs, discuss the following ques ons and share your answers with the class. 22 i. Explain the use of personifica on in the phrase ‘sculp ng his baggy pants’. ii. What do you understand by the phrase ‘nudging a passing breeze’? iii. When and how does one ‘rewind his or her life’? iv. How does the poet use metaphors and similes to illustrate his feelings? v. How could a chance mee ng with a stranger be the cause of so much of emo onal distress, according to the poet? vi. What symbolism does he recognize in the ta oo bu erfly? vii. Rewrite Benjamin Franklin’s verse using the condi onal ‘if’ or ‘unless’ without changing the meaning of the verse. Share it with your class. 8. a. In pairs, study and think over this cartoon-Snoopy. A Butterfly! May be it’s a beautiful princess who has been turned into a butterfly by a wicked snowe. May be she wants me to follow her and when we reach the enchanted castle, we both will be turned into human beings. Forget it! b. What is the similarity in the message conveyed by the cartoonist and the poet? c. Bring out the symbolism in the cartoon and share it with the class. About the Poet David Hernandez is an American poet and novelist. Most recently, he was awarded a 2011 NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry. His recent collec on, Hoodwinked, won the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and is forthcoming from Sarabande Books this August. His other collec ons include Always Danger (SIU Press, 2006), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry, and A House Wai ng for Music (Tupelo Press, 2003). His poems have appeared in FIELD, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The Missouri Review, Tri-Quarterly, The Southern Review, and Poetry Daily. He is also the author of two novels, No More Us for You and Suckerpunch, both published by HarperCollins. David teaches at the University of California, Irvine. He lives in Long Beach and is married to writer Lisa Gla . 23 Sec on - C Warm up : Do I make a difference? 1. Look at the pictures given below: a. b. i. Who are the subjects in these pictures? ii. What do you think these people are doing? iii. Do you think their ac ons can have any significant impact? Give reasons for your answer. c. d. i. Have you ever par cipated in any of the ac vi es as illustrated in these pictures? Why or why not? ii. Are these children doing something important? Give reasons for your answer. iii. How can every li le act make a big difference to our planet? iv. Give some more examples where small things can make a big difference. Explain how it can happen. Share your ideas with the class. 24 2. Some stories can change the way we think and some can give a new perspec ve to our life. Have you read any story that has le an indelible imprint in your mind? Discuss it with your class. 3. Now, read the story given below: The Gi Philip Van Doren Stern 1. The li le town straggling up the hill was bright with colored Christmas lights. But George Pra did not see them. He was leaning over the railing of the iron bridge, staring down moodily at the black water gliding downstream under the bridge. He leaned s ll farther over the railing...A li le man he had never seen before said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” 2. “Wouldn’t do what?” George asked sullenly. 3. “What you were thinking of doing.” 4. “How do you know what I was thinking?” 5. “Oh, we make it our business to know a lot of things,” the stranger said easily. He was an unremarkable li le person. He was carrying a small black satchel-a salesman’s sample kit, George decided distastefully, probably some sort of peddler, the kind who would go around poking his sharp li le nose into other people’s affairs. The li le man shook his head. “You know you shouldn’t think of such things— You’ve got to consider Mary—and your mother too. George opened his mouth to ask how this stranger could know his wife’s name but the fellow an cipated him. “Don’t ask me how I know such things. It’s my business to know ’em. That’s why I came along this way tonight. Lucky I did too.” He glanced down at the dark water and shuddered. “Well, if you know so much about me,” George said, “give me just one good reason why I should be alive. The li le man made a queer chuckling sound. “Come, come, it can’t be that bad. You’ve got your job at the bank. And Mary and the kids. You’re healthy, young, and—” 25 6. “I’m stuck here in this mud hole for life, doing the same dull work day a er day. Other men are leading exci ng lives, but I—well, I’m just a small-town bank clerk that even the army didn’t want. I never did anything really useful or interes ng and it looks as if I never will. I might just as well be dead. I might be er be dead. Some mes I wish I were. In fact, I wish I’d never been born!” The li le man stood looking at him in the growing darkness. “What was that you said?” he asked so ly. “I said I wish I’d never been born,” George repeated firmly. “And I mean it too.” 7. The stranger’s pink cheeks glowed with excitement. “Why that’s wonderful! You’ve solved everything. I was afraid you were going to give me some trouble. But now you’ve got the solu on yourself. You wish you’d never been born. All right! OK! You haven’t!” 8. “What do you mean?” George growled. 9. “You haven’t been born. Just that. You haven’t been born. No one here knows you. You have no responsibili es—no job—no wife—no children. Why, you haven’t even a mother. You couldn’t have, of course. All your troubles are over. Your wish, I am happy to say, has been granted—officially.” 10. “Nuts!” George snorted and turned away. The stranger ran a er him and caught him by the arm. “You’d be er take this with you,” he said, holding out his satchel. “It’ll open a lot of doors that might otherwise be slammed in your face.” 11. He opened the satchel and displayed a number of brushes. “You’d be surprised how useful these brushes can be as introduc on—especially the free ones. When the lady of the house comes to the door you give her this and then talk fast. You say: ‘Good evening, Madam. I’m from the World Cleaning Company and I want to present you with this handsome and useful brush absolutely free— no obliga on to purchase anything at all.’ A er that, of course, it’s a cinch. Now you try it.” He forced the brush into George’s hand. George promptly dropped the brush into the satchel and closed it with an angry snap. “Here,” he said, and then stopped abruptly, for there was no one in sight. The li le stranger must have slipped away into the bushes growing along the river bank, George thought. 26 It’s a Good Life [1946] 12. The street lights had been turned on and candles in the windows glowed so ly. The li le town looked remarkably cheerful. He remembered the quarrel he had had when his car had scraped a piece of bark out of Hank Biddle’s big maple tree. He was ordinarily afraid to have Hank catch him even looking at the tree. Now he stepped out boldly into the roadway to examine the huge trunk. Hank must have repaired the scar or painted it over for there was no sign of it. George struck a match and bent down to look more closely. He remembered what the li le man at the bridge had said. It was all nonsense, of course, but the nonexistent scar bothered him. 13. When he reached the bank, he saw that something was wrong. The building was dark and he knew he had turned the vault light on. He no ced, too, that someone had le the window shades up. He ran around to the front. There was a ba ered old sign fastened on the door. George could just make out the words: FOR RENT OR SALE Apply JAMES SILVA Real Estate Agent Perhaps it was some boys’ trick, he thought wildly. Then he saw a pile of ancient leaves and ta ered newspapers in the bank’s ordinarily immaculate doorway. And the windows looked as though they hadn’t been washed for years. A light was s ll burning across the street in Jim Silva’s office. George dashed over and tore the door open. Jim looked up from his ledger book in 27 surprise. “What can I do for you, young man?” he said in the polite voice which he reserved for poten al customers. “The bank,” George said breathlessly. “What’s the ma er with it? “The old bank building?” Jim Silva turned around and looked out of the window. “Nothing that I can see. Wouldn’t like to rent or buy it, would you?” 14. “You mean—it’s out of business?” 15. “For a good ten years. Went bust. Stranger round these parts, aren’t you?” George sagged against the wall. “I was here some me ago,” he said weakly. “The bank was all right then. I even knew some of the people who worked there.” 16. “Didn’t you know a feller named Marty Jenkins, did you?” 17. “Marty Jenkins! Why, he—” George was about to say that Marty had never worked at the bank—couldn’t have, in fact, for when they had both le school they had applied for a job there and George had go en it. But now, of course, things were different. He would have to be careful. “No, I didn’t know him,” he said slowly. “Not really, that is. I’d heard of him.” 18. “Then maybe you heard how he skipped out with fi y thousand dollars. That’s why the bank went broke. Pre y near ruined everybody around here.” Silva was looking at him sharply. “I was hoping for a minute maybe you’d know where he is. I lost plenty in that crash myself. We’d like to get our hands on Marty Jenkins.” 19. “Didn’t he have a brother? Seems to me he had a brother named Arthur.” 20. “Art? Oh, sure. But he’s all right. He doesn’t know where his brother went. It’s had a terrible effect on him, too. Took to drink, he did. It’s too bad—and hard on his wife. He married a nice girl.” 21. “Who did he marry?” he demanded hoarsely. Both he and Art had courted Mary. 22. “Girl named Mary Thatcher,” Silva said cheerfully. “She lives up on the hill— Hey! Where are you going?” But George had bolted out of the office. He ran past the empty bank building and turned up the hill. For a moment he thought of going straight to Mary. But then he knew he couldn’t face Mary—not yet anyway. He decided to visit his parents and find out more about her. It was a li le weatherbeaten house on the side street. George raised the gate latch with a loud click. A dark shape hurled itself down the steps, barking ferociously. “Brownie!” George 28 shouted. “Brownie, you old fool, stop that! Don’t you know me?” But the dog advanced menacingly and drove him back behind the gate. The porch light snapped on and George’s father stepped outside to call the dog off. His father held the dog by the collar while George cau ously walked past. He could see that his father did not know him. 23. “Is the lady of the house in?” he asked. His father waved toward the door. “Go on in,” he said cordially. “I’ll chain this dog up. She can be mean with strangers.” 24. His mother, who was wai ng in the hallway, obviously did not recognize him. George opened his sample kit and grabbed the first brush that came to hand. “Good evening, ma’am,” he said politely. “I’m from the World Cleaning Company. We’re giving out a free sample brush. I thought you might like to have one. No obliga on. No obliga on at all...” His voice faltered. His mother smiled at his awkwardness. “I suppose you’ll want to sell me something. I’m not really sure I need any brushes.” “No’m . I’m not selling anything,” he assured her. “The regular salesman will be around in a few days. This is just—well, just a present from the company.” 25. “How nice, you people never gave away such good brushes before,” she said. “This is a special offer,” he said. His father entered the hall and closed the door. “Won’t you come in for a while and sit down?” his mother said. “You must be red walking so much.” 26. “I used to know this town pre y well,” he said to make conversa on. “Knew some of the townspeople. I remember a girl named Mary Thatcher. She married Art Jenkins, I heard. You must know them.” 27. “Of course,” his mother said. “We know Mary well.” 28. “Any children?” he asked casually. 29. “Two—a boy and a girl”. George sighed audibly. 30. “My, you must be red, perhaps I can get you a cup of tea,” his mother said. “No’m, don’t bother,” he said. “I’ll be having supper soon.” He looked around the li le parlor, trying to find out why it looked different. Over the mantelpiece hung a framed photograph which had been taken on his kid brother Harry’s sixteenth 29 birthday. He remembered how they had gone to Po er’s studio to be photographed together. There was something queer about the picture. It showed only one figure—Harry. “That your son?” he asked. She nodded. “I think I met him, too. His name’s Harry, isn’t it?” George said hesitantly. His mother turned away, her husband put his arm clumsily around her shoulder. His voice, which was always mild and gentle, suddenly became harsh. “You couldn’t have met him,” he said. “He’s been dead a long while. He was drowned the day that picture was taken.” George remembered that on their way home they had gone swimming. Harry had been seized with a cramp, he remembered. He had pulled him out of the water and had thought nothing of it. But suppose he hadn’t been there! “I’m sorry,” he said miserably. “I guess I’d be er go. I hope you like the brush. ” 31. George wanted desperately now to see Mary. He wasn’t sure he could stand not being recognized by her but he had to see her. He stumbled blindly up the path to his own house. The lawn was un dy, and the flower bushes he had kept carefully trimmed were neglected Art and Jenkins badly could sprouted. hardly be It’s a Good Life [1946] expected to care for such things. When he knocked at the door there was a long silence, followed by the shout of a child. Then Mary came to the door. At the sight of her, George’s voice almost failed him. 32. “Good evening, ma’am,” he managed to say at last. George entered the living room unhappily. George got his satchel open. One of the brushes had a bright blue handle and varicolored bristles. It was obviously a brush not intended to be given away but George didn’t care. He handed it to Mary. “My, that’s a pre y brush,” she exclaimed. “You’re giving it away free?” He nodded solemnly. “Special introductory offer. It’s one way for the company to keep excess profits down—share them with its friends.” There was a sudden scream from the kitchen 30 and two small children rushed in. A li le, homely-faced girl flung herself into her mother’s arms, sobbing loudly as a boy of seven came running a er her, snapping a toy pistol at her head. “Mommy, she won’t die,” he yelled. “I shot her a hunert mes, but she won’t die.” He looks just like Art Jenkins, George thought. Acts like him too. The boy suddenly turned his a en on to him. “Who’re you?” he demanded belligerently. He pointed his pistol at George and pulled the trigger. “You’re dead!” he cried. “You’re dead. Why don’t you fall down and die?” 33. There was a heavy step on the porch. The boy looked frightened and backed away. George saw Mary glance apprehensively at the door. Art Jenkins came in. He stood for a moment in the doorway, clinging to the knob for support. His eyes were glazed and his face was very red. “Who’s this?” he demanded thickly. “He’s a brush salesman,” Mary tried to explain. “He gave us this.” “Brush salesman!” Art sneered. “Well, tell him to get outa here. We don’t want no brushes and no brush salesmen neither.” George looked despairingly at Mary. Her eyes were begging him to go. George went to the door, followed by Art’s son, who kept snapping the pistol at him and saying: “You’re dead—dead—dead!” Perhaps the boy was right; George thought when he reached the porch. Maybe he was dead or maybe this was all a bad dream from which he might eventually awake. He hurried down the hill and was relieved to see the li le stranger standing on the bridge. He would try to persuade him to cancel the whole deal. “I’ve had enough,” he gasped. “Get me out of this—you got me into it.” The stranger raised his eyebrows. “I got you into it! I like that! You were granted your wish. You got everything you asked for. You’re the freest man on earth now. You have no es. You can go anywhere— do anything. What more can you possibly want?” George pleaded, “Change me back—please. Not just for my sake but for others too. You don’t know what a mess this town is in. You don’t understand. I’ve got to get back. They need me here.” 34. “I understand right enough,” the stranger said slowly. “I just wanted to make sure you did. You had the greatest gi of all conferred upon you—the gi of life, of being a part of this world and taking a part in it. Yet you denied that gi .” “You can’t cut me off like this. Why, it’s murder!” 31 “I’ve got to get back; you can’t cut me off like this. Why, it’s murder!” George said desperately! “Suicide rather, wouldn’t you say?” the stranger murmured. “You brought it on yourself. However, close your eyes.” George did as he was told. He felt a cold, wet snowdrop touch his cheek—and then another and another. Neither the li le stranger nor anything else could be seen. George groped for the bridge railing. 35. When he reached Hank Biddle’s house he peered down anxiously at the base of the big maple tree. The scar was there! He’d have to do something about the wound— get a tree surgeon or something. Anyway, he’d evidently been changed back. Maybe he had been hypno zed by the smooth-flowing black water. He had heard of such things. 36. At the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, he almost collided with Jim Silva. “Hello, George,” Jim said cheerfully. “Late tonight, aren’t you? I should think you’d want to be home early.” George drew a long breath. “I just wanted to see if the bank is all right. I’ve got to make sure the vault light is on.” 37. “Sure it’s on. I saw it as I went past.” 38. Pulling at Silva’s sleeve, George said, “Let’s look, huh?” He wanted the assurance of a witness. “I told you it was on,” Silva said with some irrita on. 39. “Thanks—!” 40. Then he was off like a streak, running up the hill. He was in a hurry to get home, but not in such a hurry that he couldn’t stop for a moment at his parents’ house, where he wrestled with Brownie un l the friendly old bulldog waggled all over with delight. He grasped his startled brother’s hand and wrung it fran cally, wishing him. Then he dashed across the parlor to examine a certain photograph. He kissed his mother, joked with his father and was out of the house a few seconds later, stumbling and slipping, up the hill. George flung the door to his home open and called out at the top of his voice: “Mary! Where are you? 32 Mary! Kids!” His wife came toward him and making gestures to silence him. “I’ve just put the children to bed,” she protested. But not another word could she get out of her, for he dragged her up to the children’s room, where he madly embraced his son and his daughter and waking them up thoroughly. 41. It was not un l Mary got him downstairs that he began to be coherent. “I thought I’d lost you and my kids!” 42. “What’s the ma er, dear?” she asked in bewilderment. He pulled her down on the sofa and just as he was about to tell her about his queer dream, his fingers came in contact with something lying on the seat of It’s a Good Life [1946] the sofa. His voice froze. He did not even have to pick the thing up for he knew what it was. And he knew that it would have a blue handle and varicolored bristles. [adapted] About the Author Philip Van Doren Stern was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, to I.U. and Anne (Van Doren) Stern. He was raised in New Jersey and a ended Rutgers University, a er which he moved to and lived the be er part of his life in New York City. Stern’s involvement in the literary community saw him serve in many roles: editor, novelist, biographer and lecturer. He was most deeply involved, however, in historical research and wri ng. Stern was one of the foremost historical authori es on Civil War era people, poli cs, sociology and military tac cs. His single most famous work, however, grew out of a message he wrote to some of his close friends in 1943. The following year, the message evolved into a fantasy short story about a mysterious stranger who appears to a suicidal man as he prepares to throw himself from a bridge. The man, explaining that he wishes he had never been born, is shown by the stranger exactly what his town would be like if he had never existed. ‘Greatest Gi ” was also adapted for the made-for-TV film. The film swells the heart with it’s vision of friendship, integrity, generosity, and of our capacity to make a difference in other people’s lives. The story was adapted by director Frank Capra and screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hacke and became the film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Philip Van Doren Stern’s literary career spanned over half a century, un l he re red to Sarasota, Florida. He passed away there from cardiac arrest on July 31, 1984. 33 4. Based on your reading, choose the meaning which is closest to each of the following phrases: a. Here ‘straggling up ’ means i. loitering around ii. extending across a specific area iii. spreading horizontally b. ‘Poking one’s nose into’ means i. A rude gesture ii. Being inquisi ve iii. Over friendly behaviour c. ‘Queer chuckling’ means i. Uncontrollable laughter ii. Laughing to oneself strangely iii. Rare childish laughter d. ‘Ordinarily afraid’ means i. normal to be frightened ii. afraid of a specific event iii. frightened most of the me e. ‘Mudhole for life’ means i. he hates the rainy, muddy surroundings ii. being dissa sfied with life and the world iii. a mud hole has become his home f. ‘Immaculate doorway’ implies i. Well swept entrance ii. Freshly painted door iii. No one stands at the doorway 34 g. ‘No obliga on at all’ here means i. No charges for anything ii. No favours owed to anyone iii. Need not thank anyone 5. Complete the table by wri ng the corresponding causes or consequences, as desired in the space given below. Causes Consequences Mary is married to Arthur. There was no scar on Hank’s tree The bank was bankrupt. Brownie, George’s pet, a acks him. His garden was kept shabbily. Mary’s son is rude and very destruc ve. Our hero gets to be ‘born’ again. George finds a varicoloured brush on his sofa 6. Discuss in pairs and find out the answers for the following ques ons. Add your own views, if required. a. ‘We make it our business to know a lot of things’. Bring out the inten on of the speaker in this sentence. b. Do you find George’s reasons to commit suicide acceptable? Give three reasons for your answer. c. ‘All your troubles are over. Your wish, I am happy to say, has been granted—officially.’ What does the word ‘officially’ imply here ? d. The stranger suggests the name ‘World Cleaning Company’. What, according to you, does he mean by it? 35 e. The speaker uses an idioma c expression when he says ‘“It’ll open a lot of doors that might otherwise be slammed in your face.” Explain and jus fy this statement. f. Give at least three occasions when George had to be careful not to reveal his iden fy. Why did he have to be cau ous? g. The dog’s ins nct is the most trustworthy but the dog did not recognise George. Why? What is the writer’s message here? h. George said ‘I’m just a small-town bank clerk that even the army didn’t want. …’. How was he proved wrong? How has ‘The Bu erfly Effect’ been illustrated in the story? 7. Suppose George Pra now decides to meet Hank Biddle with renewed self confidence. Predict the outcome of their mee ng. In pairs, write imaginary dialogues between George and Hank. Share your dialogues with the class by enac ng their roles. 8. As George, write a diary entry about your experience of mee ng with the ‘stranger’. 9. The stranger said ‘You had the greatest gi of all conferred upon you - the gi of life, of being a part of this world and taking a part in it’. Write an ar cle in about 150 words expressing your views on the topic ‘The Gi of Life’. 36 Sec on - D Warm up: Tiny acts cause big changes 1 a. Read the following passage and fill in the box given below. ”That’s not clear,” said Eckels. “All right,” Travis con nued, “say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one par cular mouse are destroyed, right?” “Right.” “So they’re dead,” said Eckels. “So what?” “So what?” Travis snorted quietly. “Well, what about the foxes that’ll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a fox dies. For want of ten foxes a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruc on. Eventually it all boils down to this: fi y-nine million years later, a caveman, one of a dozen on the en re world, goes hun ng wild boar or saber-toothed ger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the gers in that region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the caveman starves. And the caveman, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an en re future na on. Cause Effect 1 2 3 4 5 6 37 b. Share your findings with the class. State whether you agree or disagree. Give reasons for your answer. 2. The Audio-Video link given below makes a reference to the Theory of Chaos. Watch this video called ‘The Secret Life of Chaos’, to help you understand the theory. h p://youtu.be/R6NnCOs20GQ 3. Now, fill in the blanks with suitable words to complete this paragraph based on the presenta on. Notes: Title: _____________________________________________________________ i. Big changes:___________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. ii. What is Chaos effect? ___________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. iii. Order in Nature: _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. iv. Chaos in nature: _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. v. What is a feedback loop? ________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. vi. How does chaos occur as illustrated in the lecture? _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________. 38 4. Read the web log post from ‘Blog Ac on’... 1. The acre of land my family and I live on rests on a heavily-wooded eleva on which provides a panoramic view of a sparkling lake to the south. It’s quite a departure from the suburban tract home I grew up in and hope my kids end up with fond childhood memories of frolicking in a beau ful natural se ng. 2. One remarkable thing about the property is the amount of bu erflies it a racts, no doubt it is due to the variety of plant species that are permi ed to grow undisturbed. My 5-year-old daughter and her li le brother spend large chunks of me hopelessly chasing scores of Monarchs and other brightly-colored and fli ng bu erflies. 3. And all I can think about is the havoc these li le cri ers are having on the weather in China. Not the kids… the bu erflies. What if Bu erflies Disappeared? 4. While there’s li le agreement as to what’s going to happen ecologically due to human ac vity, there’s no doubt that we’ve made dras c changes to just about every natural habitat on the planet. Our oceans and natural water sources are polluted, the composi on of our soil has been chemically altered, the atmosphere has been heavily influenced by emissions, our forests have been drama cally reduced, and on and on. 5. One area of par cular importance is biodiversity. Beyond the fact that biodiversity itself protects humans from the effects of agricultural catastrophes like the Irish Potato Famine, the loss of a species results in significant changes in natural habitats that can hurt us badly down the road. Maybe you don’t personally care about the Mexican long-nosed bat, BIODIVERSITY but if they disappear completely, there will most assuredly be consequences that ripple well beyond Texas and New Mexico over me. We just can’t predict what they’ll be. If bu erflies disappeared, the world would most certainly be worse off for children of all ages. But it’s much worse than that. 39 Many flowering plants are so closely linked to bu erflies and vice versa that one cannot survive without the other. When you think about the natural interdependence network that could collapse due to the ex nc on of one important specie, it starts to get a li le scary. Each one wiping out between 50 to 95 percent of exis ng life including the dominant life forms of the me. Many scien sts believe that: i. we’re in the midst of the sixth ex nc on event ii. we’re the cause, and iii. we’re in danger of being wiped out ourselves The Posi ve Side of the Bu erfly Effect 6. Let’s face it—things will probably change for the worse regarding the environment no ma er what. Some of those changes will be pre y bad and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. 7. That doesn’t mean we should give up. The more posi ve change we introduce into the system star ng right now, the more bad things we avoid. Plus, we buy me for technology to help in protec ng us from adverse condi ons and even reverse some of the damage. 8. The corollary of the Bu erfly Effect is that ny changes you make do in fact make a difference. And when those ny changes are aggregated among millions of people, we can truly make a real difference in how much nature we save for our children, grandchildren and beyond. 9. We might even be saving them. It doesn’t need to be a sacrifice. Why not make changes that simply save you money? 10. Check out these planet-saving ac ons that keep more coins in your pocket: i. 40 Cut out bo led water: Producing plas c water bo les consumes massive amounts of fossil fuels only to crowd landfills. American demand alone requires 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel approximately 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. And if you think gas prices are bad, you’re paying $10 a gallon for water when you buy individual bo les. Get a simple home filtra on solu on and a reusable stainless steel bo le. ii. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs: CFL bulbs are more expensive but they last 5 mes longer than conven onal bulbs. They save $30 in energy costs per bulb and help in saving the planet. iii. Buy a new monitor: If you want a new LCD monitor, go ahead and do it. They use 1/3 the energy and they look cool. Just hold on to your computer as long as you can stand it or learn to recycle it when you trade up. 41 5 a. Complete the notes based on your reading of this blog. Use recognizable abbrevia ons and symbols wherever possible. Tiny acts make a big difference I. II. III. b. Causes of environmental problems a. ____________________________________ b. ____________________________________ c. ____________________________________ d. ____________________________________ e. ____________________________________ Effects/Consequences a. ____________________________________ b. ____________________________________ c. ____________________________________ d. ____________________________________ e. ____________________________________ Solu ons to the problems a. ____________________________________ b. ____________________________________ c. ____________________________________ d. ____________________________________ e. ____________________________________ Now, a empt a summary in your own words in about 150 words. The following guidelines would help you in wri ng the summary. A summary 42 i. is a part of the note-taking process ii. should be rela vely brief 6 a. iii. establishes the main ideas in an ar cle/essay iv. uses suitable linking devices to ensure a logical progression of ideas. v. has a relevant tle vi. exhibits quali es of comprehensiveness, conciseness, coherence and independence in style. Build your vocabulary: Although it is possible for one cause to lead to one effect, the concept is not so simple. One cause can lead to more than one effect, for example heavy rain can cause landslides and flooding. Also, more than one cause can lead to one or more effects, for example, ea ng too much pizza and drinking too much coke for lunch can result in ge ng fat and being late for class! Cause-effect Examples ...because of... There was a celebra on at home because of good result. ...reason for The very good result was the reason for the celebra on. ...a ributed to The celebra on was a ributed to the very good result. ...on account of There were celebra ons on account of the team’s success. ...owing to Owing to the team’s success, there was a celebra on. (These cause-effect phrases are all followed by noun phrases; i.e. ‘the heavy traffic’/”the very good result”’.) ...caused by The accident was caused by the heavy traffic. ...cause of The heavy traffic was the cause of the accident. 43 ... because There was an accident because there was heavy traffic on the road all night. (‘Because’ is followed by a verb phrase, ‘heavy traffic on the road all night’. Don’t use ‘Because’ as the first word in a sentence: it’s bad style.) b. may The heavy traffic may have caused the accident. could The heavy traffic could have caused the accident. might The heavy traffic might have caused the rain. can Accidents can be caused by heavy traffic. possibly The rain may possibly cause flooding. certainly The rain will certainly cause flooding. perhaps Perhaps the rain will cause flooding. definitely The rain will definitely cause flooding. probably The rain will probably cause flooding. undoubtedly The rain will undoubtedly cause flooding. Other Cause and Effect Phrases Causes 1. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, ... 2. Other causes played a part. Firstly, 3. A key factor was... (‘key’ means ‘important’) 4. This is due to ... 5. This is a reflec on of... Effects 6. As a result, ... 7. Consequently, ... 8. This meant that... 9. One consequence of this is that ... Note: Don’t write ‘are lacking of ...’ as a cause or effect. Use ‘there is a lack of ...’ or ‘they are lacking in ...... 44 c. d. 7 a. Here is a geographical phenomenon. Rewrite the sentences using at least 3-4 different cause-effect phrases. Then, write a short paragraph exploring the phenomenon. You can also add more stages. 1. Waves beat against the shore. 2. Waves hurl pebbles and boulders against cliffs. 3. Rocks wear away to form sandy beach. 4. So rock wears away forming caves and inlets. 5. Hard rock forms steep, rugged headlands. 6. Wind and water currents form waves. Now, find out at least five stages of each of the following and write a short paragraph explaining each phenomenon. Share your answers with the class. i. Soil erosion forms landslide ii. Hot desert storms on our landscape Work in groups of four and review the message conveyed in ‘A Sound of Thunder’ and the two poems. Now, take the ecological challenge tled ‘Looking Forward Time’ to find out how futuris c you are! Use the language of cause and effect to make your presenta on effec ve and logical. Looking Forward Time Humankind is responsible for some of the devasta ng effects on our eco-systems. Choose one of the topics and write five sentences about how the ‘future’ will be affected by our ‘present’ ac ons. An example has been done for you: Present : Deser fica on is spreading in many regions. Future : 1. Livestock and crop will die 2. People will buy expensive milk and vegetables from other states. 3. People will not be able to afford meat or vegetables. 45 4. Malnourishment diseases will spread. 5. Many people will die in that region Choose one topic from the present: a. Road rage b. Each one teach one c. Craze for internet games Future : b. 1. _________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________ 4. _________________________________________________________ 5. _________________________________________________________ Now, make a ten-minute powerpoint presenta on on any of the topics given above. Invite your seniors and juniors to watch and learn. Before you make a powerpoint presenta on, decide: 1. The tle of your presenta on. 2. What pictures and text will be placed on each slide. 3. How many slides you will make. 4. If you want a digital photograph of your group, objects, places, events etc. Take the photos and add to the slides. (your teacher will provide a camera). 5. Make a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual layout of the pictures and text you want in each slide. 6. Take the help of your other subject teachers so that the informa on you give is accurate. 7. Use internet, magazines, encyclopedias etc. to find relevant informa on on the topic. 8. Remember to use words/expressions that bring out cause and effect rela onship. c. 46 Now, watch your powerpoint presenta on and take necessary notes. Write a newspaper report in about 250-300 words. Suggested Reading 1. Ma lda by Roald Dahl 2. Gi of the Magi-O’ Henry 3. Face in the Dark by Ruskin Bond 4. The Foghorn by Ray Bradbury 5. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 6. The Time Machine by H G Wells Watch, learn and enjoy : 1. James and the Giant Peach[1996] 2. Jurassic Park [1993] 3. Apollo 13[1995] Suggested websites 1. mystoriesandpoems.com 2. lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/cause 3. www.englishprac ce.com/improve/expressing-condi on contrast/ 47
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