Learnwell Smart Communicative English Class 8
Q.1. How do plants get their food ?
Ans. Plants get their food from the soil in which they grow. They also get their food from water and sunshine.
Q.2. What do animals have for their food ?
Ans. Animals have plants for their food. Some animals have for their food other animals that eat plants.
Q.3. What do you mean by healthy balanced food ?
Ans. A healthy balanced food has the right proportion of various nutrients — proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water.
Q.4. Why does our body need new cells every day ?
Ans. In our body, millions of cells die every day. They have to be replaced by new cells. That is why our body needs new cells every day.
Q.5. One may have enough to eat and yet fall ill. How ?
Ans. We can fall ill if we eat too much of one kind of food, but not enough of another. Thus one may fall ill in spite of having enough to eat.
Q.6. What is the importance of food for the human body ?
Ans. The human body needs energy to work. It needs energy to think and to play. It needs energy even when it is asleep. The heart needs energy to keep beating. Energy is needed for breathing also. It is food that provides the body all this energy. Thus food has great importance for the body.
Q.7. What is the importance of nutritious food for children ?
Ans. Children are always more active than older people. Their bodies are still growing. They need more energy and more body-building materials. Thus having nutritious food is very important for them.
Q.8. What are nutrients ? What nutrients are more important than the others?
Ans. Food substances needed to live and grow are called nutrients. They include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. All these are of equal importance. None is more important than the other for the growth of our body.
II.
- Roughage is not a nutrient, but it helps to keep us free from constipation.
- Our body keeps losing water in the form of urine, sweat, and the breathed-out air.
- Natural high-fibre foods are always better than the modern factory-made foods.
- Our body has a constant need of water because we keep losing it in the form of urine, sweat, and the breathed-out air.
- We should feel tempted to eat our food because it digests well in that case.
- An over-supply of energy to the body is as harmful as its under-supply.
- The building material for building new cells comes from food.
III.
| Nutrient | Importance for the Body | Source | |
| 1. | Carbohydrates | supply most of the energy required by the body. | wholemeal bread, peas, beans, potatoes, fruit, honey, etc. |
| 2. | Proteins | build up body tissues (bones, muscles, nerves, skin) and repair broken-down cells; help to protect us from disease. | eggs, meat, fish, cheese, milk, bread, potatoes, nuts, peas, beans, lentils. |
| 3. | Fats | provide more energy than carbohydrates, stored under the skin, keep the body warm, serve as cushions for body’s internal organs, but excess harmful. | butter, cream, cheese, eggs, fatty meat, corn oil, sunflower oil, nuts. |
| 4. | Vitamins | essential to keep us alive and in good health, vitamin deficiency causes many diseases. | different vitamins in different foods. |
| A | prevents infection; important to the health of teeth, bones, skin. | milk, egg-yolk, liver, lettuce, carrots, spinach, turnips. | |
| B | prevents nerve diseases. | yeast, milk, fresh fruits, vegetables. | |
| C | prevents scurvy (a disease affecting bones, joints, gums). | oranges, raw cabbages, turnips, tomatoes. | |
| D | important for babies, prevents rickets (a disease causing deformed bones). | egg-yolk, liver, cod-liver oil. | |
| 5. | Minerals | calcium for strong bones and teeth, iron for healthy red blood cells. | milk, cheese, meat, eggs, pulses, green leafy vegetables. |
| 6. | Water | essential for life. | tea, coffee, milk, lemonade, fruit juice. |
HOTS (PAGE 6)
The causes of obesity in different cases can vary. But some of the most common causes are lack of exercise and eating lots of high-calorie diet. If we utilize all the calories we take, high-calorie diet is good for health. But if we don’t, the diet gets stored in our body as fat and causes obesity. There can be some other causes of obesity also, but the most frequent causes are the unhealthy lifestyle of the individual, lack of exercise, lack of good sleep, and watching TV for hours.
WORD POWER (PAGES 6-7)
I. Match these words with their definitions :
- whisk : to beat into a froth
- boil : to cook in boiling water
- fry : to cook in hot, boiling oil
- slit : to make a long narrow cut
- shred : to cut or tear into thin strips
- peel : to tear the skin off (fruit, etc.)
- chop : to cut into pieces with a knife
- roast : to cook over or in front of fire
- simmer : to remain almost at boiling point
- pound : to crush with repeated heavy strokes
- bake : to cook food in an oven without extra fat or liquid
- grind : to crush something into powder or very small pieces.
II.
- We use a pair of scissors to cut paper.
- We use a pair of pyjamas when we go to bed.
- We use a pair of shorts if we are going jogging.
- We use a pair of spectacles if we can’t see very well.
- We use a pair of binoculars to see something a long way off.
- We use a pair of sunglasses if the sun is shining very brightly.
GRAMMAR IN USE (PAGES 7-8)
I.
- (a) Sonu has been reading for two hours.
(b) He has read 53 pages so far.
- (a) Raghav has been travelling for three months.
(b) He has visited six countries so far.
- (a) Sania has been playing tennis for twenty years.
(b) She has won national championship many times.
II.
- It’s been raining since lunchtime.
- Sonia has lived in Paris since 2005.
- I’ve been waiting for you for an hour.
- Tom has lived in Mumbai for ten years.
- Jane is not here. She’s been away since Friday.
- The weather is dry. It hasn’t rained for weeks.
- Kapil has been looking for a job since he left school.
- I wonder where Rohit is. I haven’t seen him since last week.
III.
Line 1. ear year 2. kichen kitchen 3. slise slice 4. carefuly carefully 5. reachd reached 6. puzled puzzled 7. to small too small 8. nob knob 9. salution solution 10. Than Then 11. pealed peeled 12. happyly happily.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING (PAGE 9)
(Left for the students to do as a class activity.)
WRITE WELL (PAGES 9–10)
Children should fill up the diet chart and discuss among themselves if they are having a healthy diet or not.
I.
Shakti Puram
Hanuman Garh
17 November 20__
Respected Papa
In your letter, you’ve desired to know what kind of food I’m taking daily. You’ll be glad to know that I don’t take any kind of junk food now. In our class, we have been taught the value of eating a balanced diet. Our teacher says that to stay healthy, we need to eat a balanced diet. This means a diet containing the right proportions of the main nutrients — carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and fluids. Not all foods contain all the nutrients. So I have planned my daily food in such a manner that I get all these nutrients in sufficient quantity. My daily food consists of bread or rice meal or cheese, fruit, and vegetables. I take sufficient quantity of fluids also. And then, of course, the morning walk and regular exercise. I keep weighing myself regularly to see that I don’t put on too much of weight. You will be glad to know, Papa, that this routine keeps me fit as a fiddle.
With love
Your loving child
ABC
II.
(Answers will vary as the recipes suggested for different dishes will be different.)
Here is a recipe for Palak Paratha which is rich in dietary fibre. (Fibre, as you know, has a range of health benefits, from easing bowel movement to improving heart health.)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup – wheat atta
- 1 cup – chopped palak (spinach)
- 1 tsp – jeera
- 1/8 tsp – turmeric (haldi) powder
- 3 tbsp – oil
- Salt as needed
- Water as needed
Method:
- Wash the spinach. Remove the thick stems from the leaves and chop the leaves roughly.
- Heat a pan with oil, and temper the jeera.
- Add the chopped palak, and fry on low flame.
- Cook for 2 minutes, without changing the colour. Add to it the atta along with other ingredients, except water.
- First mix the flour well with spinach and then add water to make a non-sticky dough (just like roti dough).
- Make six equal-sized balls and roll out into slightly thick parathas.
- Dust with flour while rolling whenever necessary.
- Heat a pan. Drizzle on it some oil and cook the parathas on both sides in medium flame, until the golden brown spots appear.
- Serve with tomato garlic chutney or boondi raita.
Note: The four stages in the recipe for scrambled eggs (given in the textbook) are already in the correct order.