Unit 10 — Technology in Everyday Life

Complete Solved Exercises

Textbook: English 9, KP Textbook Board — Unit 10, pp.94–102
(pp.103–107 are a second Revision block covering Units 6–10 — solved in its own file.)
Theme: Technology in everyday life
Grammar: Phrases and clauses — main, subordinate and relative clause
Writing: Essay writing, summary of the lesson with the help of a mind-map, translation

THE SIX USES OF TECHNOLOGY GIVEN IN THE LESSON

The writer's conclusion: "The positive effects of technology on society has brought progress and allowed us to reach new heights that were never conceived of before. Without science and technology we are left stagnant."

COMPREHENSION (pp.99–100)

1. Answer the following questions

1. What is the role of technology in daily life?
The importance of technology in our daily lives is undeniable. It plays a vital role and has added greatly to our lives. From the kitchen, bedroom, living room and bathroom to any other place of the home or office, technological equipment is present in different forms and manifestations. In today's dynamic world, life without technology is very strenuous, if not impossible. The offshoots of technological development have stretched out to the diverse fields of health science, communication, agriculture, architecture, engineering and transportation systems. Technology has brought progress and allowed us to reach new heights that were never conceived of before; without science and technology we are left stagnant.

2. Discuss how you use technology at home and in your personal life.
(A personal answer. Model:)

Technology surrounds me from the moment I wake up. My mobile phone wakes me with its alarm. At breakfast the refrigerator has kept our food fresh and the gas stove and electric kettle prepare our meal, while the television gives us the morning news. I use an electric fan or heater according to the season, and electric light to study at night. For my school work I use the internet to look up information, and I watch recorded lessons on YouTube when I do not understand a topic. I use WhatsApp to ask my classmates about homework and to send my father a message when school ends late. My mother uses a washing machine and a sewing machine, which save her hours of labour. When we travel, we go by car or bus, and when my uncle in Karachi wants to see us he makes a video call. In short, from cooking to studying to travelling and talking, technology is part of almost everything I do.

3. How does technology help transportation?
Transportation is one of the basic areas of technological activity, and both businesses and individuals have benefited from new technologies in the travel industry. Since time is money, we must have fast and efficient means of transport. The writer thinks of transportation "in the same light as food, clothing and shelter" — it has become a basic need, because we use advanced means of transport such as cars, trains and aeroplanes to go to work, to transport goods, to go shopping and to visit friends and families. In recent times transportation technology has become very fast and efficient.

4. What is the importance of technology in agriculture?
Technology has been of great benefit to the agricultural industry:

• It is now possible to determine climatic changes as well as the climatic conditions that favour various plants.
• Through agricultural biotechnology it is possible to grow crops even in a desert.
• With biotechnology, plants have been engineered to survive in drought conditions.
• Through genetic engineering, scientists have managed to introduce traits into existing genes with the goal of making crops resistant to droughts and pests.

5. How is technology being used to generate cheap electricity?
Technology has enabled humans to build large dams which can harbour excess water and use that water to generate power. Wind is being used to generate electricity, and we have converted solar energy to power which is being used in homes and businesses. In this way the very natural forces that once disrupted human life — water, wind and the sun — have been harnessed to produce cheap electricity.

6. What is the impact of technology on medicine?
Technology has been of great use in the health sciences industry:

• Modern electronic equipment has been discovered which has improved the quality of treatment people receive at health institutions.
• It has increased their survival chances from various ailments.
• It has enabled doctors to discover most health problems while they are still in the developing stages, and to treat them before they develop into advanced stages.

7. Does technology impact culture and society? How?
Yes, technology has deeply changed culture and society.

• The internet has turned the world into a global village, so that people of different regions, religions and languages know one another's ways of life and cultures mix as never before.
• Social media platforms have created new ways of forming friendships and expressing opinions, and news now travels in seconds.
• Business culture has changed: people buy and sell from the comfort of their homes through websites instead of going to markets.
• Family and social habits have changed: letter-writing has disappeared, and relatives now meet through video calls instead of visits.
• Work has changed too, since paperwork has given way to compact disks and microchips.
• However, there are negative effects as well: excessive use of mobile phones and social media reduces face-to-face contact, wastes students' time, harms health, and can spread false information. Therefore technology should be used with balance and responsibility.

2. Choose the correct answer

Use the following words in sentences of your own

VOCABULARY (p.100)

C. From the text look up the phrases meaning the same as:

D. Consult a thesaurus and find out the antonyms of the following words

Prefix route to antonyms (worth revising here): un-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, dis-, non- — possible / impossible, legal / illegal, regular / irregular, agree / disagree, advantage / disadvantage.

WRITING (p.100)

E. Write an essay on any scientific discovery of the 21st century

The Smartphone — The Greatest Invention of the 21st Century

Every age is known by its greatest invention. If the twentieth century belonged to the aeroplane and the computer, the twenty-first century undoubtedly belongs to the smartphone.

What it is. A smartphone is a portable cellular phone that combines, in a device small enough to hold in one hand, a telephone, a computer, a camera, a radio, a television, a library, a map and a bank.

Communication. As our lesson says, the invention and use of the internet has changed the world into a global village, and the smartphone is the key that opens that village to everybody. People hailing from different geographical regions communicate through video calls, e-mails and social media platforms. A message that once waited for the postal service now reaches the other side of the world in a second.

Education. A student in a remote village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can today attend an online lecture, look up any word in a dictionary, or watch an experiment he could never perform in his own school laboratory. Large amounts of data involved in research can be accessed instantly through the internet.

Business and daily life. Business owners create websites where customers click on items and buy them in the comfort of their homes. We pay bills, book tickets, call ambulances and find our way through unknown streets, all from the same small device.

The other side. Yet every invention has two faces. Excessive use of the smartphone wastes the precious hours of students, weakens eyesight, disturbs sleep, spreads false information and replaces real friendship with a screen.

Conclusion. The smartphone is neither good nor bad in itself; it is a tool, and its value depends on the hand that holds it. If we use it for learning, working and keeping in touch with those we love, it is the greatest blessing of our age. Without science and technology, as our lesson reminds us, we are left stagnant — but with technology used wisely, there is no height we cannot reach.

F. Develop a mind map and write down the summary of the lesson

Mind map — Technology in Everyday Life

        Health sciences            Communication
        (better treatment,         (internet, global village,
         early diagnosis)           video calls, e-mail, mobiles)
                    \                    /
    Storage of  ---- TECHNOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE ---- Agriculture
    information          /            \               (biotechnology,
    (CDs, microchips,   /              \               genetic engineering)
     passwords)        /                \
        Control of natural forces      Transportation
        (dams, wind, solar power)      (cars, trains, aeroplanes)

Summary

The importance of technology in our daily lives is undeniable, for technological equipment is present in every room of our homes and offices, and life without it would be very strenuous, if not impossible. Its offshoots have stretched out to health science, communication, agriculture, architecture, engineering and transportation. In the health sciences, modern electronic equipment has improved the quality of treatment and increased survival chances, and has enabled doctors to detect diseases in their developing stages. In communication, the internet has changed the world into a global village: people communicate through video calls, e-mails and social media, businessmen sell through websites, and portable cellular phones allow people to network anywhere at any time. Technology has also eliminated the bulkiness of paperwork by storing information on compact disks and microchips secured with passwords. In agriculture, biotechnology and genetic engineering make it possible to grow crops even in a desert and to make them resistant to drought and pests. Technology has further tamed the natural forces that once destroyed human life: dams harbour excess water and generate power, fire heats our homes, and wind and solar energy produce electricity. Finally, transportation has become as basic a need as food, clothing and shelter, and modern transport is now very fast and efficient. The positive effects of technology have brought progress and allowed us to reach new heights never conceived of before; without science and technology we are left stagnant.

G. Translate the following sentences from English to Urdu

1. Transportation is one of the basic areas of technological activity.

نقل و حمل ٹیکنالوجی کی سرگرمیوں کے بنیادی شعبوں میں سے ایک ہے۔

2. Technology has been of great use in the health industry.

ٹیکنالوجی صحت کی صنعت میں بہت زیادہ کارآمد ثابت ہوئی ہے۔

3. Communication across the globe is now easy.

دنیا بھر میں رابطہ اب آسان ہو گیا ہے۔

4. Natural forces affect and disrupt human life and daily economic activities.

قدرتی قوتیں انسانی زندگی اور روزمرہ کی معاشی سرگرمیوں کو متاثر اور درہم برہم کرتی ہیں۔

5. Technology has been of great benefit to the agricultural industry.

ٹیکنالوجی زرعی صنعت کے لیے بہت زیادہ فائدہ مند رہی ہے۔

LISTENING & SPEAKING (p.101)

Task: Share your point of view about the 'Contribution of Technology in our Daily Life'. Express satisfaction / dissatisfaction, approval / disapproval, and agreement / disagreement (fully and partially) politely.

Useful expressions to teach

Model response:

In my opinion, the contribution of technology to our daily life has been overwhelmingly positive, and I am fully satisfied with what it has given us. In medicine it has saved countless lives by detecting diseases early; in agriculture it lets us grow crops even in a desert; and in communication it has turned the world into a global village. I strongly approve of the way technology has made education available to students who live far from good schools.
However, I agree only up to a point with those who say technology has solved all our problems. I am rather dissatisfied with the way many young people waste their hours on social media, and I disapprove of the false information that spreads through it. I'm afraid I don't agree that a video call can ever replace sitting with one's grandparents.
So my view is this: technology is an excellent servant but a poor master. Used with balance, it is the greatest blessing of our age.

GRAMMAR — PHRASES AND CLAUSES (pp.101–102)

What is a phrase?

A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject and an action verb.

Examples given in the book: leaving behind the dog · smashing into a fence · before the first test · after the devastation · between ignorance and intelligence · broken into thousands of pieces · because of her glittering smile

In these examples you find nouns (dog, fence, test, devastation, ignorance, intelligence, thousands, pieces) and some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing a predicate verb. They are all phrases.

What is a clause?

A clause is a subject (or group of subjects) and a predicate (or group of predicates) working together. A sentence can have as few as one clause, or many.
"Clauses are to sentences what rooms are to houses." A sentence with only one clause is like a studio apartment with one room; a sentence with many clauses is like a house with many rooms. Clauses are the building blocks of longer sentences.

Kinds of clauses — quick reference

Identify the phrases in the following sentences and state their kind

The test: if the phrase answers "which one?" or "what kind of?" about a noun, it is an adjective phrase. If it answers "how? when? where?" about a verb, it is an adverb phrase. Items 1–7 all describe nouns; only item 8 describes the verb ran.

Extra practice — clauses drawn from the lesson itself

GLOSSARY (p.98 — as given in the book)

Words often confused (noted in the margin of the book):
affect = verb, to influence something — Natural forces affect human life.
effect = noun, the result — The positive effects of technology…

LIKELY EXAM QUESTIONS

1. What is the role of technology in daily life?
2. What is the impact of technology on medicine?
3. What is the importance of technology in agriculture?
4. How is technology being used to generate cheap electricity?
5. How does technology help transportation?
6. What is meant by "global village"? How has the internet created it?
7. Write an essay on any scientific discovery of the 21st century.
8. Develop a mind map and write the summary of "Technology in Everyday Life".
9. Translate the given sentences into Urdu.
10. Differentiate between a phrase and a clause. Define main, subordinate and relative clauses with examples.