Std 9 English chapters › Unit 1 · Question Answers ↓ · Take the lesson test ↓
In short: The lesson explains how tea grows, how it got its name, the legends about its discovery, how it came to India, and the special tea traditions of different countries.
(चहा कसा उगवतो, त्याला हे नाव कसे मिळाले, त्याच्या शोधाच्या दंतकथा, तो भारतात कसा आला आणि विविध देशांतील चहाच्या खास परंपरा यांची माहिती हा पाठ देतो.)
- Type: Prose (informative)
- Topic: The history, growing and drinking of tea
- Unit: 1
Summary in English
After water, tea is the most popular drink in the world. It is made from the leaves and buds of the Camellia sinensis plant, which needs a lot of rain and grows well on hill slopes. Only the top leaves, called flushes, are picked, and plants are pruned to waist height for easy plucking. India's three famous tea regions are Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiris.
Chinese legends say that Emperor Shennong discovered tea when leaves fell into his boiling water, and that the monk Bodhidharma chewed tea leaves to stay awake during meditation. The Chinese word 'ch'a' is close to our 'chai'. The British began tea plantations in India, and in 1823 Robert Bruce found tea growing wild in the Upper Brahmaputra valley. The first Indian tea was sent to England in 1838.
Different countries have special tea traditions: Chinese cups are half-filled so the rest is filled with friendship, Russians use samovars, and the Japanese use powdered green tea called matcha. In India, a cup of tea is offered to every guest as a sign of hospitality.
मराठीत सारांश (Summary in Marathi)
पाण्यानंतर चहा हे जगातील सर्वात लोकप्रिय पेय आहे. ते 'कॅमेलिया सायनेन्सिस' या झाडाच्या पानांपासून व कळ्यांपासून बनते. या झाडाला भरपूर पाऊस लागतो आणि ते डोंगरउतारावर चांगले वाढते. फक्त वरची कोवळी पाने (फ्लश) खुडली जातात आणि खुडणे सोपे जावे म्हणून झाडे कमरेइतकी छाटली जातात. दार्जिलिंग, आसाम आणि निलगिरी हे भारतातील तीन प्रसिद्ध चहा प्रदेश आहेत.
चिनी दंतकथेनुसार सम्राट शेननाँगच्या उकळत्या पाण्यात पाने पडली आणि चहाचा शोध लागला; बोधिधर्म भिक्षू ध्यानात जागे राहण्यासाठी चहाची पाने चघळत असे. चिनी शब्द 'चा' आपल्या 'चाय' शी मिळताजुळता आहे. भारतात इंग्रजांनी चहाचे मळे सुरू केले; 1823 मध्ये रॉबर्ट ब्रूसला ब्रह्मपुत्रा खोऱ्यात रानटी चहाची झाडे सापडली आणि 1838 मध्ये पहिला भारतीय चहा इंग्लंडला पाठवला गेला.
प्रत्येक देशाची चहाची खास परंपरा आहे: चीनमध्ये कप अर्धाच भरतात, कारण उरलेला भाग मैत्रीने भरायचा असतो; रशियात 'समोवार' वापरतात; जपानमध्ये 'माचा' नावाचा हिरव्या चहाचा चूर्ण वापरतात. भारतात प्रत्येक पाहुण्याला आदरातिथ्य म्हणून चहा दिला जातो.
Theme and Message (मध्यवर्ती कल्पना)
A simple everyday drink has a long and rich history that connects people, countries and cultures.
रोजच्या साध्या पेयाचा इतिहास खूप मोठा व समृद्ध आहे आणि तो विविध देश, लोक व संस्कृतींना जोडतो.
Useful Words (शब्दार्थ)
| Word | मराठी अर्थ | Use it in a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| beverage | पेय | Tea is my favourite beverage. |
| aromatic | सुगंधी | The kitchen was full of aromatic spices. |
| prune | (झाडे) छाटणे | The gardener prunes the rose plants. |
| legend | दंतकथा, आख्यायिका | There is a legend about this old temple. |
| hospitality | आदरातिथ्य | Indians are known for their hospitality. |
| connoisseur | जाणकार, रसिक | He is a connoisseur of classical music. |
For the Exam (परीक्षेसाठी)
- Learn the difference between a legend (story passed down) and recorded history (facts with dates).
- Language study: compound words (teapot, tea-making, tea club) and the infinitive (‘to drink’, ‘to read’).
1.4 The Story of Tea: English Workshop Question Answers
Every English Workshop activity for this lesson, as games. Score points, earn stars and challenge a friend on WhatsApp! (खेळा, गुण मिळवा आणि मित्रांना आव्हान द्या!)
🤔 Think as you read
After water, the most widely consumed drink in the world is ___.
Answer: Tea is the world’s most popular beverage after water.
Why are tea plants pruned to about waist height?
Answer: Left alone, a tea plant can grow into a small tree. Pruning keeps it about three feet high for easy plucking.
According to one legend, who first discovered tea when leaves blew into his boiling water?
Answer: Emperor Shennong, father of Chinese agriculture and medicine. Bodhidharma chewed tea leaves to stay awake.
Why are cups only half-filled at Chinese tea ceremonies?
Answer: A beautiful custom: the empty half stands for friendship.
🌱 Q7. Flow chart: from plantation to our homes
Put the journey of tea in order.
The journey of tea
- Tea plants grow on the plantation.
- The top buds and leaves (flushes) are plucked.
- The leaves are dried.
- The leaves are cured.
- The leaves are processed.
- The tea is packed.
- The tea is sold to us.
Q1. Geographical places in the lesson
🗺️ Is each place in India or outside India?
Sort the places
Full list of places
India, Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris, Upper Brahmaputra valley, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Japan, Europe, England, Korea, Russia, Vietnam.
Q2. Make smaller words
✍️ Try 5 words from each, then compare
actually: act, tall, call, tally, lay
refreshing: fresh, fish, shine, ring, fringe
immediately: media, tame, mile, dime, lady
investigations: invest, station, signs, vast, gate
meditation: diet, mate, time, note, tide
enjoyable: joy, able, bean, lean, bone
loneliness: lone, line, less, lens, noise
friendship: friend, fish, ship, dish, hide
Q3. Sentences beginning with ‘How’
Three sentences from the lesson
- How and when did people first begin to drink tea?
- How did this magical beverage get its name?
- How did tea first come to India?
Q4. Word meanings game
🎯 Tap a word and its meaning.
Dictionary meanings
Q5. Agriculture or chemistry?
🗂️ Sort the words from the lesson.
Which subject does each word belong to?
Full lists
Agriculture: plant, evergreen, rainfall, soil, tea estates, plantations, flushes, pruned, plucking, seeds, shrub, cultivation, botanist.
Chemistry: acidic, carbohydrates, fat, proteins, theanine, caffeine, antidote, poisons, free radicals, antioxidants, flavonoids.
Q6. Complete the sentences
👉 Tap the correct ending.
(a) Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant that grows in ___.
Answer: It needs warmth and 100-125 cm of rain a year.
(b) The teas we buy are usually classified according to ___.
Answer: Assam (largest leaves), China (smallest) and Cambod (medium).
(c) In many countries, tea drinking is an ___.
Answer: People meet and relax over tea; some countries have tea ceremonies.
(d) Our body produces chemicals called ___.
Answer: Free radicals can harm the body; flavonoids in tea help protect us.
Q8. Language Study: compound words
👉 Two words joined to make a new word = compound word. (जोडशब्द.)
Which of these is NOT a compound word?
Answer: refreshing is one word with a prefix and suffix. teapot = tea + pot; blood pressure = blood + pressure.
‘evergreen’ is made of ___.
Answer: ever + green = always green. Similarly every + day = everyday.
All ‘tea’ words in the lesson
tea plants, tea estates, tea gardens, tea-growing, tea shrub, tea seeds, tea-whisking, tea-making, tea-tasting, tea-minded, tea lovers, tea ceremonies, tea club, teapots.
Q9. Language Study: infinitives
👉 An infinitive is the base form of a verb, with or without ‘to’. Tap it.
It was funny to read words that stood still.
Answer: to + read = infinitive. ‘was’ and ‘stood’ change with tense, so they are finite.
To be or not to be, that is the question.
Answer: ‘To be’ (and ‘not to be’) are infinitives.
Can I read the book?
Answer: After can, the bare infinitive (without ‘to’) is used: read.
They could help one another with the homework.
Answer: help is the bare infinitive after could. (They could also ‘talk’ about it.)
Think and Write (विचार करा, लिहा)
- Draw a flow chart of tea's journey from the plantation to your cup.
- How is tea made in your home? Write the steps.
- Which food or drink in your area has a special tradition? Describe it.
Online test · 15 questions
1.4 The Story of Tea: Lesson Test
Multiple choice · instant score with answers · certificate for 80% and above · free, no login
शिक्षकांसाठी: धडा शिकवून झाल्यावर ही test वर्गाला पाठवा. प्रत्येक विद्यार्थ्याचे गुण तुम्हाला आपोआप मिळतील.
These are original study notes by englishresources.in to help you revise. Read the lesson in your Balbharati textbook first: these notes do not replace it and do not reproduce its text.