NCERT Solutions for Class 8th English Chapter 5 Science And Curiosity
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Feathered Friend by Arthur C. Clarke is told by an unnamed narrator on an early space station. Sven Olsen , a wiry construction man, smuggles a canary called Claribel up on a ferry from Earth. She weighs almost nothing, eats almost nothing and is untroubled by the absence of gravity, so she becomes the crew's secret pet. One 'morning' Claribel is found collapsed. Oxygen revives her, then she keels over again. The narrator remembers that miners once carried canaries down to warn them of gas and realises the station air is bad. An eclipse by Earth's shadow had frozen part of the air purifier ; the one connected alarm failed and the duplicate circuit had never been wired up. A bird saves the crew that half a million dollars of engineering could not. Magnifying Glass by Walter de la Mare is a
- Feathered Friend (story by Arthur C. Clarke)
- Feathered Friend
- Magnifying Glass (poem by Walter de la Mare)
- Magnifying Glass
- Bibha Chowdhuri
Quick revision
| Word | Where it comes | What it means | Used in a sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| wiry | Feathered Friend | Thin but strong | The wiry fielder dived and stopped a certain four. |
| dovetailed | Feathered Friend | Fitted together exactly | The two halves of the bridge dovetailed on the first try. |
| abruptly | Feathered Friend | Unexpectedly; suddenly | The music stopped abruptly and the hall went quiet. |
| bulkheads | Feathered Friend | Dividing walls between compartments in a craft | The peeping came from behind the bulkheads. |
| sluggish | Feathered Friend | Inactive; slow-moving | My mind was sluggish after the long bus journey. |
| inexplicable | Feathered Friend | That cannot be explained | There was an inexplicable smell of jasmine in the corridor. |
| myriad | Magnifying Glass | Countless; a very large number | A myriad lamps floated down the Ganga on Dev Deepawali. |
| deft | Magnifying Glass | Skilful and quick in movement | With deft fingers Amma tied the rangoli thread. |
| surpass | Magnifying Glass | To go beyond; to be greater than | Her second essay surpassed the first in every way. |
| trailblazers | Bibha Chowdhuri | People who are the first to do something others later follow | The trailblazers of Indian cricket played on matting wickets. |
| periphery | Bibha Chowdhuri | The boundary; the outer edge, away from the centre | He worked on the periphery of the project and was rarely named. |
| tenacity | Bibha Chowdhuri | Determination to keep going at what you are doing | Her tenacity, not luck, got the experiment finished. |
| arduous | Bibha Chowdhuri | Difficult, needing a lot of effort and energy | The climb to Kedarnath is arduous but unforgettable. |
| beacon | Bibha Chowdhuri | A light, or an example, that guides and gives hope | For the village girls she became a beacon. |
Exercises
- Feathered Friend (story by Arthur C. Clarke) — Let us do these activities before we read Page 205 & 206
- Feathered Friend — Let us discuss Page 209
- Feathered Friend — Let us discuss Page 211 & 212
- Feathered Friend — Let us think and reflect Page 212 & 213
- Feathered Friend — Let us learn Page 214 to 217
- Feathered Friend — Let us listen Page 217 & 218
- Feathered Friend — Let us speak Page 218
- Feathered Friend — Let us explore Page 219
- Feathered Friend — Let us write Page 219 to 221
- Magnifying Glass (poem by Walter de la Mare) — Let us do these activities before we read Page 222
- Magnifying Glass — Let us discuss Page 223 & 224
- Magnifying Glass — Let us think and reflect Page 224 & 225
- Magnifying Glass — Let us learn Page 225 & 226
- Magnifying Glass — Let us listen Page 227
- Magnifying Glass — Let us speak Page 228
- Magnifying Glass — Let us write Page 229
- Magnifying Glass — Let us explore Page 229 to 232
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us do these activities before we read Page 233
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us discuss Page 237
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us think and reflect Page 237 to 239
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us learn Page 239 to 243
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us listen Page 244
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us speak Page 245 & 246
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us write Page 246
- Bibha Chowdhuri — Let us explore Page 247 & 248