Life Before Modern Technology
From paper maps to railway clocks, discover how older tools shaped work, travel, and communication.
Preview
Questions with solutions-
1. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What was the role of the road signs?
Before satellite navigation, a driver used a paper map and road signs to follow an unfamiliar route.
- To help the driver match the surroundings to the map.
- To update the printed map whenever a road changed.
- To automatically adjust the mapped route when traffic increased.
Think about how the driver knew which town or intersection they had reached.
Show solution
- To help the driver match the surroundings to the map.
Signs provided names and directions that drivers could compare with their maps. The drivers still had to track their own progress.
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2. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What did the phone number mainly connect the caller to?
A family's landline phone rang inside their home. Whoever was there could answer, but a family member who was out could not.
- A person wherever they traveled.
- A particular home.
- The public telephone closest to the family.
Consider what stayed in one place.
Show solution
- A particular home.
A household landline number was tied to a location rather than a device that someone carried.
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3. सही उत्तर चुनें।
How could a reader find books about gardening without knowing any titles or authors?
Library catalogs once used drawers of cards organized by author, title, or subject. The cards gave details about books and their shelf locations.
- Look through the author cards for the librarian's name.
- Look through the title cards for a shelf number.
- Look through the subject cards under gardening.
The reader knows the topic, but not a particular book.
Show solution
- Look through the subject cards under gardening.
Subject entries offered a way to discover books by topic. Digital catalogs still use this basic organizing idea.
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4. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What practical advantage did carbon paper offer?
An office typist placed carbon paper between sheets. Pressing a typewriter key then left a mark on more than one sheet.
- Copies could be made while the original was being typed.
- Errors could be removed from every sheet without retyping.
- The document could reach another office as soon as it was typed.
Focus on what happened to the sheets underneath the top one.
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- Copies could be made while the original was being typed.
Pressure transferred the marks to the lower sheets, saving a separate copying step. Carbon paper did not send documents or automatically correct mistakes.
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5. खाली जगह भरें।
Before electric motors, some factories powered their machinery with waterwheels. These factories depended on ___ to keep the wheels turning.
- steady winds
- flowing water
- burning coal
Think about the force that pushed the wheel.
Show solution
Before electric motors, some factories powered their machinery with waterwheels. These factories depended on flowing water to keep the wheels turning.
Moving water supplied the power. Access to suitable rivers therefore influenced where these factories were built.
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6. सही उत्तर चुनें।
How would this affect a traveler planning an onward journey?
On long voyages, sailing ships depended heavily on wind. Calm weather could delay a ship even when its crew was ready to sail.
- They could predict arrival from the distance alone.
- They could treat the advertised arrival time as guaranteed.
- They would need to allow extra time between connections.
Consider whether the traveler could count on a precise arrival time.
Show solution
- They would need to allow extra time between connections.
Extra time reduced the risk of missing the next stage of a journey. Wind conditions made sailing schedules less predictable.
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7. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What kind of message did this pricing encourage?
Telegraph services commonly charged senders by the word. News could travel quickly, but longer telegrams cost more.
- A brief message containing the essential details.
- A detailed message with plenty of background.
- A message that repeated each point for emphasis.
Each additional word increased the cost.
Show solution
- A brief message containing the essential details.
Senders often left out greetings and extra detail. The challenge was to stay brief without losing important meaning.
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8. खाली जगह भरें।
A photographer took pictures on film, with no digital preview. To check whether the finished pictures were sharp, the photographer usually had to wait until ___.
- the camera had been turned off
- the lens had been cleaned
- the film had been developed
Taking a photograph and being able to view it were separate stages.
Show solution
A photographer took pictures on film, with no digital preview. To check whether the finished pictures were sharp, the photographer usually had to wait until the film had been developed.
Film required processing before the results could normally be viewed. Problems might become clear only after the chance to retake a picture had passed.
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9. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What else had to happen to keep the accounts accurate?
A bookkeeper recorded sales figures and totals in a paper ledger. When a sales figure was corrected, the written totals stayed unchanged.
- Only the date beside the corrected sale had to be changed.
- Any totals affected by the correction had to be recalculated.
- The unchanged totals had to be copied onto a fresh page.
Think about which calculations used the original figure.
Show solution
- Any totals affected by the correction had to be recalculated.
Paper preserves what someone writes; it does not update related calculations. A spreadsheet can do this when its formulas are set up correctly.
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10. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What change in control over work does this illustrate?
Many home-based weavers organized their work around household routines. In factories, workers shared a workplace and followed hours set by the employer.
- Workers gained more freedom to choose individual starting times.
- Workers could fit factory production entirely around household tasks.
- Employers gained more control over workers' daily schedules.
Notice who decided when work began and ended.
Show solution
- Employers gained more control over workers' daily schedules.
Factory schedules helped coordinate workers and machinery, but often reduced individual control over the working day.
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11. सही उत्तर चुनें।
Why did railways encourage the use of a shared standard time?
Towns once set their clocks by the local position of the sun. Railways connected towns, so one journey could involve several slightly different local times.
- To coordinate departures and arrivals across towns.
- To make noon match the sun's position exactly in every town.
- To make every train depart at the same moment.
Think about a timetable covering more than one town.
Show solution
- To coordinate departures and arrivals across towns.
A shared time system made schedules easier to understand and compare. It did not mean that every train left together or that every town had the same solar noon.
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12. सही उत्तर चुनें।
What does this comparison tell us about accuracy?
A printed newspaper usually had to wait until the next edition to publish a correction. An online report can be corrected much sooner.
- A report that can be edited needs less checking before publication.
- Faster correction does not guarantee that the original report is accurate.
- Editing a report ensures that all its earlier readers learn about the correction.
Separate the ability to fix an error from the ability to avoid one.
Show solution
- Faster correction does not guarantee that the original report is accurate.
Technology can speed up corrections, but checking facts remains important. People who saw the original report may never return to read the corrected version.