The Book that Saved the Earth

Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow.
Question 1.
Noodle : (bowing) O Great and Mighty Think-Tank, most powerful and intelligent creature in the
whole universe, what are your orders?
Think-Tank : (peevishly) You left out part of my salutation, Apprentice Noodle. Go over the whole
thing again.
(a) Who is Noodle?
(b) What does the extract reveal about Think-Tank?
(c) Find a word from the extract which means ‘feeling or showing nutation’.
(d) What is the opposite of ‘powerful’?
Answer:
(a) Noodle is the apprentice to Think-Tank, the ruler of Mars.
(b) The extract reveals Think-Tank to be a vain and egoistic creature.
(c) ‘Peevishly’ from the extract means ‘feeling or showing invitation’.
(d) It opposite is ‘weak’.

Question 2.
Iota : I can’t figure it out, Captain. (holding up a book) I’ve counted two thousand of these peculiar
items.
This place must be some sort of storage barn. [CBSE 2014]
(a) What could Iota not figure out?
(b) Where was Iota?
(c) Find the antonym of the word ‘ordinary’ in the extract.
(d) What part of speech is ‘peculiar’ as used in the extract?
Answer:
(a) Iota could not figure out what the book were because he had never seen a book before.
(b) Iota was at Centerville Public Library on Earth.
(c) The antonym of ordinary is peculiar.
(d) It is an adjective.

Question 3.
Think-Tank : It can’t be worth much, but go ahead. Give us your trifling bit of data.
(a) Whom was Think-Tank addressing?
(b) What was the data?
(c) Find the word ih the extract which is a synonym of ‘insignificant’.
(d) What part of speech is ‘It’ as used in the extract?
Answer:
(a) Think-Tank was addressing his apprentice, Noodle.
(b) The data was that the earthlings did not eat those ‘sandwiches’. They used them for
communication.
(c) The synonym of‘insignificant’ in the extract is ‘trifling’.
(d) ‘It’ is a pronoun.

Question 4.
Historian : (chuckling) And that’s how one dusty old book of nursery rhymes saved the world from
a Martian invasion.
(a) What was the name of the book?
(b) Why did the Historian chuckle?
(c) Which word in the extract is a synonym of ‘Conquer’?
(d) What part of speech is ‘And’ as used in the extract?
Answer:
(a) ‘Mother Goose’ was the name of the book.
(b) The historian chuckled at the idea that the misinterpretation of a book saved the Earth.
(c) ‘Invasion’ from the extract is the synonym of‘conquer’.
(d) ‘And’ is a conjunction.

Short Answer Type Questions [2 Marks each]

Question 1.
Why did Think-Tank wish to contact the space probe?
Answer:
Think-Tank wanted to contact the probe to find out what the crew of the probe had observed about
Earth.

Question 2.
What difficulty do the crew of the space probe face on Earth?
Answer:
The space probe lands in a public library. The crew is shocked because the place looked very
strange as they had no idea of books. They think the library to be some kind of storage barn.

Question 3.
How does Think-Tank explain the books to his probe crew?
Answer:
Think-Tank told his crew that the books were sandwiches. He even ordered his crew to eat them.
Then, he called them communication devices and later he said that they were meant for watching.

Question 4.
Why do the space probe crew take vitamins?
Answer:
Think-Tank wanted the probe crew to find out what was in the books. So, the probe crew take
vitamins to increase their intelligence. They are able to read the books after taking those vitamins.

Question 5.
What is Think-Tank’s interpretation of words like ‘shells’, ‘silver bells’ and ‘garden’ from the nursery
rhyme? What is its impact?
Answer:
Think-Tank interprets the given words to mean that the earthlings grew shells and silver in their
gardens. This caused him to withhold their planned invasion of Earth as he felt that Earth was
more advanced than Mars.

Question 6.
Think-Tank thinks that Earthlings are after him. What is the reason? [CBSE 2015]
Answer:
Think-Tank crew read about Humpty-Dumpty’s fall in the rhyme and showed the picture to Think-
Tank. Think-Tank’s head resembled that of Humpty-Dumpty. This makes Think-Tank feel that
earthlings were planning to invade Mars and capture him.

Question 7.
Mention any two striking qualities of Noodle.
Answer:
The apprentice of Think-Tank, Noodle, comes out as an interesting figure in the story. He is very
polite and smart. He corrects the mistakes of his ruler very humbly by giving indirect suggestions.
Also, he is very wise and well informed.
Question 8.
Elaborate the escape that Think-Tank plans for.
Answer:
Think-Tank orders his entire fleet to evacuate Mars. He gets a capsule for himself. They decide to
move to the distant star Alpha Centauri to escape invasion by earthlings.

Question 9.
Describe Think-Tank in your our words.
Answer:
Think-Tank is the ruler of the planet Mars. His head is huge and egg shaped. He wears a robe
decorated with stars and circles. He is very proud of his intelligence and might.

Question 10.
How did one old book of nursery rhymes save the Earth from a Martian invasion? [CBSE 2011]
or
How did a book change Think-Tank’s opinion about the Earthlings? [CBSE 2014]
Answer:
This book is totally misunderstood by the Martians.
The Martians thought that earthlings were planning to invade Mars. So, they cancelled their
invasion of Earth and went back. Think-Tank totally misunderstands the book. Phrases like ‘shell’,
‘silver’, ‘garden’ gave him a false idea that earthlings grew silver and weapons. He starts thinking
that earthlings are very advanced technologically.

Long Answer (Value Based) Type Questions [8 Marks each]

Question 1.
Noodle hails Think-Tank as the most powerful and intelligent creature in the whole universe. Do
you agree? Write your opinion of Think-Tank citing instances from the given text.
Answer:
Noodle is an trainee under Think-Tank. He bows before him and hails his ruler as the most
powerful and intelligent creature in the universe. However, Think-Tank is not really intelligent. He
misinterprets the nursery rhymes completely. ‘Silver’, ‘shells’ and ‘garden’ for him mean that the
earthlings are growing metals in farms.
He thinks books to be sandwiches and wants the crew to eat them. When he is read out the
nursery rhyme which says, ‘Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall’ he is terrified and plans his escape
from Mars Thus, Think-Tank in nothing more than a show off and a pompous fool.

Question 2.
Mars and Earth become friends. How?
Answer:
Think-Tank evacuates Mars and the martians move to Alpha Centauri. They fear an invasion by
Earth. In the twenty-fifty century, the two planets become friends. The wise and wonderful Noodle
replaces Think-Tank. Earthlings tell Martians the difference between sandwiches and books.
They even taught them how to read. At the same time, they have created a model library for
Martians at Marsopolis. Still there is one thing that Martians have never learnt to do. They have
never tried to read the nursery rhymes of ‘Mother Goose’.

Question 3.
Compare and contrast the characters of Noodle and Think-Tank. [CBSE 2012]
Answer:
Noodle and Think-Tank have contrasting characters. Think-Tank likes to be called the ‘Great and
the Mighty’. He orders and commands. He is the ruler of Mars, but has no intelligence.
He thinks books to be sandwiches. He is wrong about everything. He demands that the crew obey
him. He likes to pass on other’s idea as his own. He is a coward who simply boasts about his
power.
Noodle, his apprentice, is very clever and wise. He corrects the mistakes of the ruler (Think-Tank)
very gently. He never takes credit for his ideas. But he offers them to the ruler very gently. Think-
Tank makes them as his own.

Question 4.
The play, The Book That Saved the Earth’ conveys the message that misunderstanding of cultural
differences between various races can cause confusion and conflict. Based on your reading of the
play, write how such confusion and conflicts can be checked so that peace and harmony is
maintained. [CBSE 2015]
Answer:
The confusion in the mind of Think-Tank occurred due to the literal interpretation of the nursery
rhymes in the book-‘Mother Goose’. To ensure that conflicts are checked so that peace and
harmony are maintained, cultural differences should be sorted out by initially sending mature and
wise people from one culture to the other to establish contact before deciding to wage war.
Think-Tank had sent an initial probe, but the crew members of the probe were not sufficiently
intelligent or mature to understand Earth’s culture. That is why they literally interpreted the nursery
rhymes and caused misunderstanding in the mind of Think-Tank.