While your pet fish may appear to be oblivious of your presence, chances are it knows you extremely
well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of human faces! At least, that is the conclusion
reached by scientists the University of Oxford in the U.K. and the University of Queensland in Australia,
following an extensive study of the archerfish, a species of tropical fish that can be found all the way
from India to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.
The discovery came as a big surprise given that the ability to distinguish between human faces is a
complex task. That’s because we all have the same basic features — two eyes sitting above a nose
and a mouth. It’s only the subtle differences that make humans discernable from one another. Since
this requires a combination of both visual perception and memory, researchers had always assumed
that it is a skill possessed only by those with sophisticated brains, i.e., humans, a few select animals —
such as horses, cows, dogs, primates — and some birds, like pigeons.
Image Credit: By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
To test if this hypothesis was accurate, a team of scientists led by Dr. Cait Newport, Marie Curie
Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, decided to study fish. The aquatic
animals have small brains that lack the neocortex, or neocortex-like structure, believed to help
recognize the subtle differences between human facial features.
The archerfish was the ideal candidate for the study because of the way it catches its prey. Known as
nature’s sharpshooters, the aquatic animals “hunt down” land insects by spitting jets of water at them.
The stunned flying bugs fall into the water, where the crafty fish is waiting to devour them. The fact that
the archerfish can identify their prey so accurately made the researchers wonder if the fish could be
trained to distinguish between humans as well.
Photo Credit: Dr. Cait Newpor
t
The team began by presenting four archerfish with images of two human faces. Initially, the fish spit
indiscriminately at both. However, they soon learned that pelting water at the one selected by the
researchers earned them a food treat. After that, they focused primarily on that image. The researchers
then took the experiment one step further, by introducing 44 other human faces to the mix.
To the researcher’s astonishment, the trained archerfish were able to recall the learned image almost
81% of the time. And this accuracy improved to 86% when the researchers made the identification even
harder, by replacing the colored photos with a set of black and white images and concealing the shape
of the head.
The results of the study, which were published in the scientific journal Nature.com on June 7, suggest
that despite having tiny brains, some fish may have developed high visual discrimination capabilities.
While it debunks the previous theory that a sophisticated brain with a neocortex is necessary to
recognize human faces, the researchers believe that the fish most likely do not process the faces like
human brains do. This means that they do not recognize faces by recalling complex facial information
like gender and identity, but more likely by discriminating between intricate patterns. Even so, the fact
that these archerfish could “remember” those faces demonstrates that they have an impressive memory
for details that lasts much longer than the reputed 3 seconds!
Examples
of face images representative of those used in Experiment (Photo Credit: Cait Newport via Nature.com)
This is not the first time researchers have realized how “smart” fish are. Previous studies have shown
that the aquatic animals can distinguish between predators and non-predators, recognize fish they
have “socialized” with previously, and even recall complex three-dimensional maps of their
surroundings.
The most recent discovery has led the researchers to contemplate the possibility that other species of
fish could also be capable of recognizing human faces. That, of course, raises the all-important question
– Is your pet fish amongst them? Let us know if you are able to find out!
In August, a team of Mongolian and Japanese researchers unearthed the world’s largest dinosaur footprint in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. The print that measured 3.6-feet long
and 6.4-feet wide, is believed to be that of the titanosaur, a diverse species of sauropod dinosaurs that inhabited Earth during the Cretaceous period, between 70 and 90
million years ago.
What makes the discovery even more exciting is that the footprint is a natural cast, created by sand and silt that filled the dent left by creature’s left foot as it stomped the
muddy ground. Previous dinosaur footprints have all been indentations, and therefore, not as well-defined. Hence, for the first time, researchers will be able to study the
shape of the entire foot, including the three claws, and learn more about how the massive animals walked the earth.
A drawing illustrating the dinosaur that may have left a footprint in Mongolia's Gobi Desert (Photo Credit: Okayama Universit y of Science)
Based on the size of the print, the researchers estimate that the Mongolian titanosaur was about 30-meters long (98-feet) and 20-meters (65-feet) tall. If true, it could be the
largest titanosaur ever discovered. But before it can lay claim to the title, the paleontologists will have to unearth some remains of the giant.
Shinobu Ishigaki, a professor at the Okayama University of Science and the leader of Japan’s research team, is not worried. He says, “footprints are living evidence of
dinosaurs,” and adds, “A fossilized skeleton of such a dinosaur is expected to be eventually discovered.” His team has partnered with Mongolian Academy of Sciences’
Institute of Paleontology and Geology, to help with the search.
Photo
Credit: newsblog.drexel.edu
But until they can find some evidence, Dreadnoughtus schrani, the titanosaur whose remains were found in the Patagonia region of Argentina in 2014, will retain the title of
the world’s largest land animal for which a body size can be accurately estimated. Based on the fossils, which include an 8-feet tall thigh bone, experts believe that
Patagonia giant was 85ft (26m) long and weighed over 65 tons. To put it in perspective, that is more than the weight of seven Tyrannosaurus Rex’s or a dozen African
elephants – and, the dinosaur might not even have been entirely grown at the time he died!
Titanosaurs, a diverse group of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous era, are believed to be the last surviving group of their species following
the extinction. The one reason for their survival could be that the herbivores that roamed Earth almost 70 million years ago, occupied nearly every continent. Their remains
have been found all the way from the Antarctica to Europe, and even South America.
In 1924, two years after he began excavating Egyptian King Tutankhamun’s (Tut) burial chamber, British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter finally
discovered what he had been seeking: The young pharaoh’s well-preserved sarcophagus. In addition to the scores of precious jewels, amulets, and bracelets that had been
buried alongside, Carter also unearthed two daggers wrapped around the boy king’s body. One was carved completely out of solid gold. The other also featured a gold
handle, but its blade appeared to be made from iron.
Though the gold dagger was certainly valuable, it was the latter that intrigued experts more. That’s because 14th-century Egyptian artisans largely worked with metals like
tin, copper, or gold which have low melting points. They did not have the technology to create the high amount of energy needed to extract iron from iron ore.
Mask on
King Tut’s innermost coffin (Photo Credit: By Jon Bodsworth [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons)
Some researchers theorized that the blade might have been made from meteorite iron. They believed that while the craftsmen could not melt the extraterrestrial rock,
which is an alloy of iron and other metals like nickel, they could hammer it into weapons like King Tut’s dagger. However, the findings could never be substantiated.
Now, 91 years since the dagger was first discovered, scientists from Italy and Egypt have finally been able to verify that King Tut’s dagger was indeed carved with iron
from an ancient meteorite.
Solving this age-old mystery was no easy task given the delicate nature of the old dagger. To ensure that the ancient artifact was not damaged, the team of researchers from
the Polytechnic University of Turin, the University of Pisa and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, used a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine to examine the dagger.
The non-invasive technique entailed bombarding the dagger with X-rays and observing the radiation emitted in response. Since each metal gives out a different
wavelength of radiation, the scientists were easily able to determine the different metals in the dagger.
King
Tut’s meteorite dagger (Photo Credit: University of Pisa)
Their findings, which were published in the journal Meteorites and Planetary Science, earlier this year, revealed that, in addition to iron, the dagger also contains nickel and
cobalt. These same proportions were observed in the 11 meteorites that fell within a 1,250-mile radius of the area during King Tut’s time. Specifically, its configuration is
almost identical to that of a meteorite called Khara that was discovered in Marsa Matruh, a seaport that lies 150 miles from Alexandria, where the young boy king ruled
from 1333 B.C. to 1323 B.C.
The researchers say the craftsmen knew that they were using extraterrestrial metal and believe that “ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the
production of fine ornamental or ceremonial objects." A recently discovered hieroglyph, which translates to “iron of the sky,” seems to confirm their hypothesis. The team
now plans to study other iron objects found in the tomb to learn more about how meteoritic iron was used and how ancient Egyptians worked with the space metal.
The current president of the United States named his daughter after her.
Her friends included civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., famous choreographer Alvin Ailey, singer Billie Holiday, talk show host Oprah
Winfrey and former U.S. president Bill Clinton and she influenced millions around the world.
Not bad for a humble poet, eh?
But Maya Angelou was so much more than a poet. She died this week at the age of 86, but her words will live on forever.
In addition to her poetry, Angelou was perhaps most famous for her autobiography (the story of her life which she wrote) called “I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings.”
She rose from relatively humble beginnings, the daughter of a doorman and a nurse, to become a leader in a mind-boggling number of fields.
In addition to writing many books, plays, movies and TV shows, she was an actress, a journalist and an activist for human rights, including working
to end racism against blacks in South Africa. She was a singer in nightclubs, a restaurant cook, and the first female African-American streetcar
conductor in San Francisco. She formed a dance troupe with Alvin Ailey, toured Europe in an opera called Porgy and Bess, was an administrator of
the University of Ghana in Africa, and spoke six languages.
She was a journalist, a market researcher and a famously wonderful cook, who also wrote two cookbooks. She created greeting cards for card
company Hallmark, and she published seven autobiographies and 30 books.
Angelou composed songs for movies, and she was nominated for a Tony Award (a top award given to actors in stage plays), and a Pulitzer Prize for
writing.
After all of her success in so many different areas, she referred to herself as, simply, “a teacher who writes,” according to the website Wikipedia.
Although she never earned a university degree, Angelou taught philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theatre and writing in universities. She
received 30 honourary degrees from universities.
Her influence was felt, and will continue to be felt by millions of people around the world.
Mammoth article – very possible
A woolly mammoth carcass that was frozen in ice for 40,000 years may make it possible for scientists to bring the extinct species back to life.
The mammoth was found embedded in ice on a remote island off northern Russia in May 2013. The ice had preserved the body so well, a liquid
that looked like blood oozed out of it when it was first discovered.
Scientists were very excited because fresh blood cells may contain DNA, or genetic information about the mammoth. If scientists can find the
mammoth’s complete DNA, they might be able to clone the animal.
(Cloning is a process that makes it possible to create an exact copy of an animal. Scientists take genetic information from the cell of one animal and
insert it into the egg of another animal. The second animal then gives birth to an exact genetic copy of the first animal.)
After the mammoth carcass was dug up, scientists spent three days studying it and taking samples of its blood and tissues. Then they froze it again
to prevent it from rotting.
Sooam, a biotechnology company from South Korea, is studying samples taken from the mammoth to see if they can find enough genetic
information to try cloning it.
Woolly mammoths have been extinct for 10,000 years. Many scientists think they could learn a lot more about the species if they could study a
living example. Other scientists think cloning an extinct species is a bad idea.
Dr. Tori Herridge, a scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, England, helped study the wooly mammoth’s body. She doesn’t think
scientists should try to clone it.
She said that scientists would need an Asian elephant to be the clone’s mother. This means they would have to keep several elephants in captivity
while they experiment with the cloning process. But Asian elephants are endangered, and don’t do well in captivity.
Dr. Herridge said that giving birth to a woolly mammoth could be dangerous for the elephant mother. Once the baby was born, it would also have
to live in captivity. In addition, it would be the only mammoth in the world, and woolly mammoths preferred to live in herds.
Dr. Herridge thinks scientists can learn a lot just by studying the remains of the woolly mammoth.
So far, scientists have found out that the woolly mammoth, who they nicknamed Buttercup, was 2.5 metres tall and about 50 years old when she
died. By studying the growth rings in her tusks, they can tell that she gave birth to eight calves. Her teeth show that she had dental problems.
By examining the contents and bacteria found in her intestines, scientists can tell she ate grassland plants like dandelions and buttercups. They think
she died after she became trapped in the peat bog and then was attacked by predators such as wolves.
Insung Hwang is one of the scientists at Sooam. He said they have not yet found complete DNA in any of the samples, but they have found pieces
of DNA that could be pieced together.
He added that it will take scientists a long time to analyze the genetic information from the mammoth, and even longer before they actually try
cloning the animal.
Dinosaur extinction - possible
Most scientists agree that dinosaurs became extinct after a huge asteroid (space rock) struck the Earth. Now, an international team of researchers
thinks they can show exactly why the asteroid caused dinosaurs died out.
Dinosaurs lived on the Earth for more than 160 million years. There were more than 1,000 species of land-based dinosaurs, living all over the
world. But the dinosaurs disappeared very suddenly about 66 million years ago, soon after the asteroid hit the Earth. Scientists call this a “mass
extinction,” which means many species died out in a very short time.
The researchers wanted to understand better why this happened. They studied all of the information that had been gathered over the past 20 years
on climate change, sea levels and volcanoes in the late Cretaceous period – the time just before the asteroid struck the Earth.
They also looked at dinosaur “biodiversity” for that period. Biodiversity is the number of different species of animals or plants living in an area at
one time.
By studying fossils, the researchers discovered that the populations of large herbivores (plant-eating dinosaurs like triceratops, duck-bills and
ankylosaurus) had gotten much smaller by the late Cretaceous period.
The researchers do not think that the dinosaurs were slowly dying off. Animal populations sometimes get bigger or smaller naturally for awhile, and
eventually go back to their usual size. The number of plant-eating dinosaurs probably would have increased again if the asteroid had not hit the
Earth.
But the researchers do think that the smaller number of herbivores combined with the effects of the asteroid was what caused the mass extinction of
dinosaurs.
When the asteroid struck, it caused big changes on the Earth. It left a crater about 200 kilometres wide in the area that is now Mexico. The impact
caused tsunamis (huge waves) in the oceans and earthquakes around the world.
Fires started near the crater. Gases were released into the atmosphere, causing cooler temperatures and acid rain. A huge cloud of dust filled the air,
blocking out the sun’s light and warmth and causing many plants to die.
Fewer plants meant there was less food for plant-eating dinosaurs. Because there were already fewer herbivores, the lack of food caused them to die
off quickly.
This led to what the researchers call “cascading extinctions.” That means that, as dinosaurs at the bottom of the food chain died out, the dinosaurs
that preyed on them also became extinct. The effects were felt all the way up the food chain, to the largest meat-eating dinosaurs.
The asteroid impact wiped out about 80 per cent of the species living on Earth in the late Cretaceous period. Mammals were also affected –
especially larger species, or those that had specialized diets. But those that survived began to increase and spread rapidly after dinosaurs became
extinct. More species emerged, until eventually mammals became the dominant animals on Earth.
Steve Brusanette, a paleontologist at Edinburgh University in Scotland, was one of the researchers involved in the study. He believes that if the
asteroid had hit a few million years earlier or later, when the plant-eating dinosaur population was at a normal level, the dinosaurs probably would
not have gone extinct.
If that had happened, says Brusanette, mammals would not have had the chance to thrive and evolve the way they did, and humans might not even
exist.
Sleeping artist
Lee Hadwin is a talented artist. He has drawn sketches of horses, celebrities, and beautiful landscapes. He only draws in black and white. Oh, and
there is one other thing. Hadwin only draws in his sleep.
Ever since he was about four years old, he has been waking up to discover detailed drawings beside his bed. But he doesn’t remember ever having
done the drawings. When he is awake, Hadwin says he can’t draw at all. In fact, he has no interest in art. During the day, he works as a nurse.
When he was young, Hadwin, who now lives in London, England, used to cover his walls and tables with his sketches. In his teens, the drawings
became more detailed and intricate.
He started leaving charcoal, paper and pencil crayons out for himself. While he is asleep, he gets up out of bed and sketches, without ever waking
up. Even though there are paints and coloured pencils for him to use, he never works in colour—only black and white.
Sometimes he draws twice a week; other times he will go three or four months without drawing. Hadwin, 33, says if he has had some alcohol to
drink the night before, he is more likely to draw in his sleep.
Once, Hadwin woke up in the morning to find that he had cut up a pair of his favourite jeans in the night and incorporated it into a piece of artwork.
Researchers at the Edinburgh Sleep Centre are going to be doing some research on Hadwin to understand how and why he can sleep-draw. He will
also be the subject of an upcoming documentary film.
Other people have been known to sleepwalk, to eat in their sleep or even drive a car in their sleep. The sleep researchers say Hadwin’s sleepdrawing condition is unique. One researcher speculated that it could be a rare form of epilepsy.
Hadwin is planning to exhibit some of his artwork (which has raised thousands of pounds for charity) at galleries in London and in Paris. He says
his biggest fear is that he will suddenly stop drawing in his sleep. He says that every time he wakes up and sees some new art by his bedside he
breathes a sigh of relief
Very possible
In January and February of 2016, a total of 13 young sperm whales washed up on the
beach near the town of Tönning in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. An autopsy revealed
that the whales had all died of heart failure. The researchers believe that the young
bulls, all between 10-15 years old, may have entered the North Sea by mistake. Since the
sea floor here is too shallow for these deep sea dwellers, it caused the whales to become
disoriented and perish.
While that is certainly sad, what is worse is the amount of plastic the scientists
discovered inside the mammals’ stomachs. Among the man-made trash mistakenly
ingested by the young whales was the remains of a 13-meter long and 1.2-meter wide
safety net used for shrimp fishing. The scientists also found a 70-centimeter-long plastic
cover from a car engine and some sharp-edged pieces from a plastic bucket.
Environment Minister Robert Habeck (left) and Gerd Meurs shear show waste parts that
were found in sperm whale stomachs. Photo Credit: Claussen / LKN.SH
Though the plastic was not responsible for the death of the sperm whales, the discovery
is a harsh reminder of the harmful consequences of our plastic ridden society. Ursula
Siebert, head of the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research at the
University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, whose team examined the sperm whales,
says, "If the whales had survived, the garbage in their guts might have caused digestive
problems down the line." Also, as the whales eat more trash, it may give them the false
comfort of being full and reduce their desire to feed, resulting in malnutrition.
Sperm whales are not the only marine animals hurt by the increasing amount of plastic
in our oceans. Sea turtles also mistake the brightly colored trash for food. As pieces of
the man-made material get stuck in the animal's digestive tract, they result in a buildup of gas causing what scientists refer to as "floater syndrome." As the name indicates, it
means that the turtles can no longer dive deep into the ocean to seek food. Instead, they
just float on the surface of the water and if not rescued in time, starve to death.
According to researchers from the University of Queensland, in the past six to seven
years, the number of marine life species ingesting or getting entangled in plastic has
increased almost three-fold, from 250 to 700. The scientists warn that even the tiny
plankton, the food source for many marine animals, is consuming the trash.
Sea
turtles with "floaters syndrome" (Photo Credit: University of Queensland)
Dr. Qamar Schuyler from the UQ School of Biological Sciences says: “Unfortunately, what
this means is that if the bottom of the food chain is eating plastic, it bio-accumulates up
the food chain, and there have been several studies that have looked at food fish – fish
that we go out, and purchase – and even these fish have plastics in their intestines.”
If the possibility of consuming seafood filled with plastic does not serve a wake-up call
to change our careless habits, we don't know what will!
Edible cutlery to save the environment – very possible
Tossing a plastic spoon or fork into the trash after using it once is not just acceptable; it
is fashionable. Experts estimate that over 40 billion pieces of plastic cutlery end up in
the garbage each year - And that's just in the US. The numbers are even worse in India
where an astounding 120 billion pieces clog the landfills annually. But that may
change soon thanks to Indian entrepreneur Narayana Peesapaty whose start-up Bakey's,
transforms mundane cutlery into delicious treats!
The company's first product is a spoon. Made of sorghum, rice, and wheat flour, it is
vegan, has no preservatives and is both trans-fat and dairy free. The edible cutlery has a
shelf life of up to three years when stored in a dry and cool place. The spoons also come
in numerous sizes and therefore, can be used for both eating and serving food. Thanks to
its primary ingredient, sorghum, the utensil is quite resilient and able to withstand
anything from hot soups to frozen desserts for about 15-20 minutes without
disintegrating.
Photo Credit: Bakey's
With flavors like sugar, ginger-cinnamon, and cumin, the utensils are a culinary treat.
However, even those that do not wish to consume the spoons will feel no remorse in
tossing them out. That's because unlike plastic spoons that sit in landfills for eternity,
Bakey's utensils decompose within 5-6 days when exposed to the elements.
While these attributes should be enough to have everyone clamoring for the edible
spoons, there is more. Peesapaty, says that the reason for selecting sorghum instead of
the more commonly used sugarcane and corn, is that the climate-smart hardy grain
requires fewer nutrients and water to cultivate. As a result, Bakey's spoons use far
fewer resources than other biodegradable alternatives. The entrepreneur says that as
his product becomes popular, he hopes to encourage more farmers to switch to growing
sorghum instead of rice which requires 60 times the amount of water! Peesapaty
believes this simple change will help restore the area's rapidly declining underground
water table.
Photo Credit: Bakey's
And if that is not enough to impress you how about this? In addition to helping the
environment, the company is also making a positive impact on the local community by
employing women in need of income.
Peesapaty, who has sold over 1.5 million spoons since he established Bakey's in
Hyderabad, India in 2011, has two main challenges he still needs to overcome. He needs
to lower the production costs so that the edible spoons are as affordable as their plastic
counterparts, and also establish an international distribution system so that they can
be available globally. The company also hopes to expand its offerings to additional
cutlery items like forks and chopsticks.
To achieve these goals, Bakey's recently set up a Kickstarter campaign with an aim to
raise a modest $20,000 USD. With three days still to go, it has managed to raise over
$240,000 USD from over 8,000 individual backers. Though Bakey's may never be able to
replace the use of plastic cutlery, it will make a difference — That's because every edible
spoon the company sells means one less utensil in the landfill!
Narratives
Music for the clouds
There was once a tiny country that was suffering from a long drought. It had gone so long without
rain that the people there were starting to go hungry because of the bad harvests.
It just so happened that a group of musicians were travelling the country, trying to make a
living from their concerts. But with so many problems in the land, no one felt like listening to
music.
"But music can help overcome any problems," objected the musicians, without anyone paying
them the slightest attention.
So the musicians tried to find out the reason it wouldn't rain. It was very strange, because the sky
was overcast, but no one could provide an answer.
"It's been cloudy like this for many months, but not a single drop of rain has fallen,"
people would tell them.
"Don't worry, we'll bring rain to the country," the musicians responded, and they began
rehearsing for a concert at the summit of the highest mountain.
Everyone who heard the music was seized by curiosity and went up the mountain. And the
conductor of this strange orchestra gave the order, and the musicians began to play.
From their instruments came small, playful musical notes, that rose and rose into the clouds.
The music was so joyous, happy and fun, and the notes started playing with with the clouds'
soft, fluffy bellies, running here and three, up and down, and the whole sky turned into one big
game of tickle torture. Before long, the giant clouds were thundering with laughter.
The musicians continued playing joyfully and a few minutes later the clouds, crying with
laughter, soaked the little country below with their precious tears, bringing happiness to all.
And in memory of that musical rain, everyone in the land learned how to play an instrument
and, taking turns, would go up the mountain every day to bring joy to the clouds with their
beautiful songs
The world’s rarest animal
Once, there were several researchers in the forest, trying to study the rarest beast in the world.
No one had seen it, and its existence was only known by some remains, and by its highly
characteristic call. The call was similar to that of a dog with a toothache: "Oooh..wa-ooOOOH!"
Everyone wanted to be the first to photograph and study it. The 'beast' was a nocturnal creature,
so during the day the scientists would pass their time studying other matters or in discussion.
The most remarkable of them was Sir Walter Tick-Fondler. He was a very pleasant and reliable
chap, with a tiny little moustache and a huge explorer's hat. Every day, before tea, he would
spend an hour sitting at his desk, putting all his equipment and bits and pieces in their proper
place. He did this with meticulous precision. The notebook went right at the far edge of the desk,
on the right hand side, slightly beyond the recorder, and next to the five pencils which were
always in the same order: black, red, blue, green and yellow. The lamp was always towards the
end of the desk, next to the camera, on the left... and so it was with all his things, even with the
smallest of details.
Everyone was amused that this gentleman was such a perfect example of the famous English
obsession with order.
The researchers spent many nights in that area before the creature appeared, and before it did so
some of them even doubted its existence. It appeared suddenly, while everything was quiet.
Only a few metres away, the scientists heard its call loud and clear. The famous call of the dog
with a toothache. It lasted only an instant, because all the commotion of the researchers
scrabbling for their cameras and notebooks scared the creature, and it shot off before it could
apparently be seen or studied in any detail.
The next morning they all compared their findings. Some had managed to record its call, others
had noted down how it moved, and the most fortunate of all had even managed to photograph
parts of its tail or legs. They all congratulated each other on what they had got, but when they
saw what Sir Walter had they were shocked.
He had taken several complete photos, as well as recording its cry, and making full-colour
annotations on the creature!
And they were all perfect!
They ran to congratulate him as the best researcher of them all. They now understood that his
obsession with order had been the best way to prepare himself for working in the dark. This had
meant Sir Walter had no problem in finding and using the recorder, the camera, the notebook and
the pencils, all in just fractions of a second and without having to look for them.
Of course, the work he did on 'The Rarest Creature in the World' made Sir Walter famous. He
founded a successful school for researchers and scientists called IOTO: 'In Order To Investigate',
and had the honour of naming the animal. And as it had all been such fun and he so enjoyed the
field trip, after recording that characteristic call, he didn't hesitate to name the animal the
'Whatahoot'.
A Doorway to the World
Albert was mad about computers and video games. He could spend hours and hours in front of
the screen, and even though his parents found it hard to believe, he really enjoyed every minute
of it. He hardly left his seat. When people encouraged him to get involved with normal life, he
would respond:
-"This is my doorway to the world, there is much more here than you realise."
Among all his games there was one he especially liked. In it he would move a character around,
collecting turtles on an infinity of levels and screens. He was a real expert at it. Maybe there was
no one else in the world who had collected as many turtles as he had, but, nevertheless, Albert
still wanted more and more and more...
One day, when he got home from school, everything had changed. As usual, as soon as he arrived,
he ran to his room to switch the computer on. But this time he heard some strange noises, like
breaking glass. Suddenly the screen broke, and from inside came dozens, then hundreds, then
thousands of little turtles. And they filled every square inch of his bedroom. Albert was stunned.
He couldn't believe what was happening. But after pinching himself, he shut down and started
the computer up many times, and called to his parents to see if he was dreaming this. As it
happens, he had to accept that on that day something very strange was happening.
On entering, his parents put their heads in their hands. Seeing that the turtles were staying in
Albert's room, they decided to make them his responsibility.
Looking after thousands of turtles, day after day, was no easy task. Over the following days Albert
set himself to learning all he could about turtles. He studied their diet, their habits, and he began
to think up ways to feed them. He also tried to trick them into leaving his room, but it never
worked. Gradually, he got used to living among turtles, and actually began to enjoy it. He liked
playing with them, showing them tricks, and calling them by their names. This despite the fact
that feeding them and cleaning up after them hardly left him with any free time. And everyone,
including his parents, his friends, and his teachers, enjoyed hearing Albert's stories and his
growing knowledge about nature.
Finally, the day arrived when Albert forgot about his beloved computer. He now much preferred
living with his turtles, learning about them and watching the way they interacted. He went out
into the countryside to see how they lived there. He felt happy that they were part of his world.
That same day, just as quickly as they had arrived, the turtles disappeared. On finding out, his
parents worried that he would return to his video games, and go back to being grumpy, but that
didn't happen. Albert didn't shed a tear. Nor did he waste a second looking for the turtles
amongst the cables and chips of his computer. Instead, he emptied his savings from his piggybank
and shot straight down to the pet shop. He returned with a turtle, and some other animal he
wanted to look after and learn about.
And even today Albert is still learning and discovering new things about animals and nature. Now
he also uses the computer to do that. However, any time someone asks him about it he points at
his pets and says,
-"They are definitely my doorway to the world, there's a lot more to them than you'd realise."
The Cave of Fear – very possible
There was once a town where the thing everyone feared the most was getting lost at night in the
"Cave of Fear". No one had ever returned from there, and whenever anyone got lost and ended up
there, the last that was heard was a great cry of terror, followed by a few enormous guffaws. The
townsfolk lived in terror that one day the monster would leave the cave. So they regularly left
gifts and food at the mouth of the cave, and these always soon disappeared.
One day, a young man came to town, and, as he heard about the situation with the cave, he
thought that it was unfair. So he decided to enter the cave and confront the monster. The young
man asked for some help, but everyone was so afraid that not a single person approached the
mouth of the cave with him. He went inside, finding his way with a torch, and calling out to the
monster, wanting to talk with it and discuss the situation. At first, the monster had a good long
laugh, and the young man followed the sound of the monster's voice. But then the monster went
quiet, and the young man had to carry on, not knowing in which direction to go.
Finally he arrived at a huge cavern. At the bottom of the cavern he thought he could make out the
figure of the monster, and as he approached it, he felt that something hit him hard on his back.
This pushed him forward towards a hole in the rock. He couldn't avoid it, and fell through.
Believing that he was about to die, he let out one last cry. Then he heard the great guffaws.
-"Darn it, I think the monster has swallowed me,"
he said, whilst falling.
However, as he fell, he heard music, and voices. They got clearer, and when he made a soft
landing at the bottom, he heard a group of people shout:
-"Surprise!!"
Hardly believing it, he found himself right in the middle of a big party. The partygoers were all
those people who had never returned to the town. They explained to him that this place had been
the idea of an old mayor of the town. That mayor had tried to accomplish great things, but was
always held back by the fears of the people around him. So the mayor invented the story of the
monster to demonstrate to people how such an attitude was so limiting. So the young man stayed
there, enjoying the party and the company of all those who had dared to approach the cave.
And what about the town? In the town they still believe that to enter the Cave of Fear is the worst
of all punishments...
The Boy Who Always won –very possible
There was once a boy who liked nothing more in the world than to win. He loved winning at
whatever it may be: football, cards, video games... everything. And because he couldn't stand
losing, he had become an expert in all kinds of tricks and cheating. He could play tricks in
practically every situation, without being noticed; even in video games or playing alone. He could
win without ever being caught.
He won so many times that everyone saw him as the champion. It meant that almost no one
wanted to play with him, he was just too far ahead of everyone. One person who did play with
him was a poor boy, who was a bit younger. The champion really enjoyed himself at the poor
boy's expense, always making the boy look ridiculous.
But the champion ended up getting bored with all this. He needed something more, so he decided
to apply for the national video games championship, where he would find some competitors
worthy of himself. At the championship he was keen to show his skills but, when he tried using
all those tricks and cheats he knew from a thousand different games, well... none of them worked.
The competition judges had prevented any of the tricks from working.
He felt terribly embarrassed: he was a good player, but without his cheats, he couldn't beat a
single competitor. He was soon eliminated, and sat there, sad and pensive. Finally, they
announced the name of the tournament champion. It was the poor boy from home. The one he
had always beaten!
Our boy realised that the poor boy had been much cleverer than himself. It hadn't mattered to the
poor boy if he lost and got a good beating, because what he was really doing was learning from
each of his defeats. And from so much learning he had been transformed into a real master.
From then on, the boy who had loved winning gave up wanting to win all the time. He was quite
happy to lose sometimes, because that was when he would learn how to win on the really
important occasions.
The colourless tiger
Once upon a time, there was a colourless tiger. All his shades were greys, blacks and whites. So much
so, that he seemed like something out of an old black and white movie. His lack of colour had made
him so famous that the world's greatest painters had come to his zoo to try to put some colour on him.
None of them succeeded, as the colours would always just drip down off his skin.
Then along came Van Cough the crazy painter. He was a strange guy who travelled all about, happily
painting with his brush. Well, it would be more accurate to say that he moved his brush about, as if to
paint; because he never put any paint on his brush, and neither did he use canvas or paper. He painted
the air, and that's why they called him Van Cough. So, when he said he wanted to paint the colourless
tiger, everyone had a good laugh.
When entering the tiger's cage he began whispering in the animal's ear, and moving his dry brush up
and down the tiger's body. And to everyone's surprise, the tiger's skin started to take on colour, and
these were the most vivid colours any tiger had ever had. Van Cough spent a long time whispering to
the animal, and making slight adjustments to his painting. The result was truly beautiful.
Everyone wanted to know what the painter's secret was. He explained to them that his brush was only
good for painting real life, and that to do that he needed no colours. He had managed to paint the tiger
using a phrase he kept whispering in its ear: "In just a few days you will be free again, you shall see."
And seeing how sad the tiger had been in his captivity, and how joyful the tiger now seemed at the
prospect of freedom, the zoo authorities transported him to the forest and set him free, where never
again would he lose his colour.
David
He old man on the moon
From an early age, Parker always said that he would be an astronaut. But no matter how much he
studied, worked, and took tests, he was never selected. Finally, he grew over the maximum age for
taking the selection tests. He would never be able to fulfill his dream.
People thought about all the time and effort Parker had put into trying to be an astronaut, and they felt
sorry for him. Despite what he was told about having to abandon his ambition, Parker continued
training and studying, as though he was going to sit the tests next month.
He carried this on as he got older, and when he was a very old man he heard that they were doing some
very important medical experiments. For those experiments they needed a very old astronaut. Parker,
who now walked with a stick, was the only old man in the whole world who was trained to fly in a
rocket. So, when no one expected it, Parker found himself flying in space, all in the aid of science. The
knowledge gained during those missions helped to cure one of the worst sicknesses for old people,
and Parker was celebrated as a hero.
Photos of the astronaut with a walking stick and no teeth spread all over the world, and became a
symbol of how you can never train or learn too much. It showed that persistent effort always brings
reward, even though that reward may not be in the form we had first expected.
Grandma’s Favourite Doll
A little girl had a doll she loved so much that she would treat it with great care and infinite delicacy,
despite the fact that her friends would laugh at her for being so careful.
As time passed, the girl grew up, moved houses, became an adult, married, had children, and finally
became an adorable little old woman with many grandchildren.
One day, she returned to her original town, and finding her old house abandoned, she went in. Among
hundreds of old things and souvenirs, the now-old little girl found her doll. It was as well looked after
as it always had been. She took it home with her to give to her granddaughter, and her granddaughter
loved it.
Each time the old woman saw the little girl playing with it, tears of joy would roll down her cheeks,
and she was so glad that she had looked after the doll so well, so that now she could enjoy it as much as
she had when she was a girl, seeing it now in the hands of her granddaughter
The Two Princes
Once upon a time, the King's two Princes were playing in a forest, and - meeting one at a time -, they
came across four dwarves who asked them to be more careful.
The first dwarf had a headache and he asked them not to shout. The second dwarf was painting a
landscape, and he asked the children to move away because they were blocking out the light. The third
dwarf was doing a giant jigsaw puzzle in the middle of the road, and he asked the children not to tread
on it. The fourth dwarf was watching a butterfly and he asked them not to frighten it away.
The Prince who respected others did as the dwarves asked, but the disrespectful Prince ignored the
dwarves´ pleas, and kept bothering them. In the evening, both boys had become separated and lost.
They needed to get back to the palace quickly.
Each of them separately came across the four dwarves again, and asked for their help. They refused to
help the disrespectful Prince, but with the respectful Prince they did whatever they could to help, and
took him along some secret tracks which led right to the palace.
The other Prince arrived much later, and was punished for it. He now understood that it's much better
to respect everyone if you want to have friends.
The bird of stone
Once upon a time, there was a bird made of stone. She was a beautiful creature, and she was also
magic. She lived near the entrance to a picturesque forest between two mountains. The bird was so
heavy that she had to walk along the ground.
Despite this, though, she enjoyed looking up at the trees every day, dreaming of one day being able to
fly and enjoy viewing the beautiful countryside from up high.
But that dream disappeared after the great fire.
All that was left of the trees were charred stumps, and any plants and animals that lived there had gone.
The stone bird was the only form of life able to survive the fire, but when she saw what had become of
the forest, she was overcome with sadness, and couldn't stop crying. She cried and cried for hours, then
days. She cried with such feeling that her tears were wearing away her stone body. Finally the body
was completely worn away and the bird had turned into a puddle of water.
But when the sun came out, that puddle of tears evaporated into the sky and became a happy little
cloud which could fly over the trees and see everything below.
Since then, the little cloud has travelled all over the world, enjoying the views of all the forests and
beautiful countryside. And remembering what destruction fire brought to its own forest, the cloud is
now very careful to pour its rain down on any tree it sees burning.
Report
An old photograph may solve the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart, the famous pilot who
disappeared on a round-the-world flight 75 years ago.
Earhart was the first woman to fly alone across North America and back, and the first woman to fly
alone across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping.
In 1937, she and a navigator, Fred Noonan, set out to fly around the world. They had travelled more
than two-thirds of the way when their plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Ships and airplanes
searched the area, but they were unable to find any trace of the plane or its crew.
What happened to them has remained a mystery. One theory is that the plane ran out of fuel and was
forced to land on a tiny island called Nikumaroro, about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
An organization called The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been
searching for Earhart’s plane. The group has an old photograph of Nikumaroro that was taken about
three months after the plane disappeared.
Recently, they used new technology to make the picture clearer. Now they believe that a dark shape in
the picture, sticking up out of the water, may be part of Earhart’s plane.
In July, members of TIGHAR will travel to the island to search the area shown in the photo. The team
will use robotic submarines with video cameras to search in the water, hoping to find the plane and
solve the mystery.
Once upon a time lived on a cloud that was grown up over a very beautiful country. One day, she saw
another much bigger cloud and she felt so much envy, than the cloud decided that in order to get bigger
and grow more, her water would never abandon her, and will never start raining again.
Indeed, the cloud grew up, while his country was getting dried. First, rivers dried up, then people,
animals, plants, and finally, the whole country became a desert. The cloud did not care much, but she
also did not realize that by being over a desert there was no place where she could obtain new water to
keep growing. So slowly, the cloud began to lose size, and was unable to do anything to stop it .
The cloud then realized her mistake, and that her greed and selfishness were the cause of her vanishing;
but just before evaporating, when she was just a sigh of cotton, there started blowing a gentle breeze.
The cloud was so small and weighed so little that the wind took her far away, to a faraway beautiful
country, where once again she recovered her original size.
Having learned this lesson, our cloud remained small and modest, but she became so generous when
raining, that her new country became even greener, giving away to all people there the most beautiful
rainbow in the world.
A Christmas Surprise
It was two days before Christmas. Harry, Cornelius, Monty and I were busy building a snowman when
Fritz appeared with his little niece Emily and introduced her.
“Emily is from the South and has never seen snow before,” Fritz told us. “She doesn’t know much
about our winters.”
It turned out that Emily didn’t know much about Christmas also. ”Who is Santa Claus, Waldo?” she
asked me, shivering in the cold air.
“Santa Claus,” I explained, “brings presents and toys to human children at Christmas time.”
“Does he bring presents to animal children also?” Emily asked.
“Well,” I said, “he hasn’t been around this part of the forest for many years. I guess he is too busy
visiting all the human children to have much time left for animals.”
“Do you think he will come if I write to him?” Emily asked.
“I don’t think so,” said Monty. “I’ve never seen him, myself.”
“Neither have I,” Harry added, shaking his head.
“You see. Santa Claus is only for human children,” Fritz said to Emily. “So forget about the whole
idea. Let’s go home now before you catch a cold.”
Early the next morning I saw Emily pulling Fritz toward the mailbox.
“I wrote a letter to Santa Claus,” she said, waving a large envelope, “and I asked him to come and
bring me a present!”
“Good luck!” I said. “But don’t get your hopes up too high. I don’t want you to be disappointed if he
doesn’t come.”
“He will – you’ll see!” Emily cried.
Poor Emily, I thought. Christmas Day was tomorrow. She was setting herself up for a big
disappointment. I was sure.
Suddenly I had an idea. If Emily wanted to see Santa, she would, I decided.
I quickly went to town and bought a few things for a surprise. I was very pleased with my idea and
could hardly wait to see Emily’s eyes on Christmas morning!
The next day, I got up very early to get ready. I put on the red Santa Claus suit that I had bought.
I looked at myself in the mirror. I was delighted! Even my own mother wouldn’t have recognized me.
I put on my boots and tried out a few Ho, Ho, Hos. Then off I went, carrying a present for Emily.
When I was near Fritz’s house, I noticed many other tracks in the snow leading to his front door.
I guessed Fritz was having a big Christmas party. It’s strange that I didn’t get an invitation, I thought.
But it was Christmas, and Santa was always welcome on a day like that!
Then I knocked.
I could hear little Emily’s footsteps coming to the door.
“Hi, Waldo!” Emily cried as she opened the door. “I’m so happy you could come too. We were
expecting you. Please come in.”
Expecting me? Waldo? How did she know it was me? Didn’t I look like Santa Claus?
I didn’t even have the time to try out any of my Ho, Ho, Hos but followed her into the living room.
There were Fritz, Monty, Cornelius, and Harry, sitting on the sofa and having tea. And each one was
dressed up as Santa Claus!
“We didn’t want Emily to be disappointed!” Monty explained.
“I know, I know!” I said. “I thought of the same surprise. Merry Christmas to all of you
Soon Emily opened all her presents. There was a beautiful jacket from Fritz, a pair of warm winter
pants from Monty, a woolen cap from Harry, and mittens from Cornelius.
Then Emily opened my gift. “Oh, red boots – my favorite color!” she said happily. “Let’s all go Short
Stories - Christmas Surprise_Pic1outside and play in the snow. I won’t be cold now!” she added.
Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.
“Who could that be?” asked Fritz. “Everybody is here already.”
We cautiously went to the door.
But by the time Fritz opened the door, the visitor had already left. We could see the back of his sleigh
disappearing behind the snow-covered tops of the fir trees.
“Santa Claus!” called Emily as loud as she could. But all we heard was a faint “Ho, ho, ho!”
“Look, he brought me a present!” Emily said. She pointed to a beautiful red sled. Hanging from it was
a label that read FOR EMILY FROM SANTA CLAUS.
“I knew he would come! I knew it!” cried Emily as she danced around her new sled.
This was certainly one of the best Christmas Days we had ever had! And Emily enjoyed riding on her
special sled – pulled by five Santa Clauses!
Biography
1
Louis Braille
Have you ever noticed when you step into an elevator that next to the buttons showing
the floor numbers, there are small plates with a series of raised dots and bumps? Did you ever
wonder what those bumps and dots mean and why they are there? When you run your fingers
over those plates, you feel the ridges. When blind people touch them, they read the floor
numbers. In a grid of six bumps, with two across and three down, a configuration of two raised
bumps across the top and one down on the right side is the number 4; one dot on the top left
side and two across the middle is the number 8.
Who invented this elaborate setup of bumps and dots that comprise an entire alphabet
and numerical system that allows blind people to read with their fingers? Was it a
distinguished scientist, or a brilliant author, or perhaps a famous artist?
Actually, this system, which is called braille, was created by a blind 12‐year‐old French
boy and was named for him. Louis was not always blind. He became blind by accident. Louis
Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in a small country village near Paris called Coupvray. His
father was a leather worker who made harnesses and other leather goods. One day, when he was just
three years old, Louis was in his father’s leather workshop. Like many young children,
Louis enjoyed imitating his father. He was fiddling with an awl, a small tool with a round
wooden handle and a sharp, pointed metal tip that is used to punch holes in leather. While he
was playing, the awl slipped and poked Louis in the eye. A doctor treated the wound as best
he could and patched the eye. But the eye became infected, and the infection spread to the
other eye. Within a short time, young Louis was totally blind in both eyes.
In those days, many blind people became beggars or performers in sideshows. But
Louis’s parents refused to allow their son’s disability to get in the way of his studies or his life.
Louis attended school like his brothers and sisters, relying on his creativity, intelligence, and
drive to overcome obstacles. To help him navigate the village, his father made him canes. The
local priest taught him to use his other senses to learn: his hearing to distinguish the calls of
different birds, and his sense of smell to identify different plants and flowers. Louis was one of
the brightest students in his school.
In 1819, at age 10, Louis earned a scholarship to attend the Royal Institute for Blind
Youth in Paris, the first school in the world devoted to blind children. For Louis, going to the
school meant leaving his family and the village he knew well, where he felt safe. But Louis and
his family knew the school offered him the best opportunity to get an education and lead a
successful life. There he excelled in studying history, math, science, and grammar, but he
proved especially gifted at music. Louis became an accomplished pianist and organist. He even
got a paid job as an organist, playing in a small church near the institute.
The students at the school learned most of their subjects by listening to lessons. But
there were a few books that the school’s founder, a man named Valentin Hauy, had developed
by printing raised, or embossed, letters. Reading that way was slow, and the books were large
and heavy. But they were the only books available then for blind people. Louis Braille began to
wonder: wasn’t there a better way to allow blind people to read?
One day Louis learned about the work of a former French army captain named Charles
Barbier. Captain Barbier had invented something called “night writing,” a code of 12 raised
dots and dashes that allowed soldiers to communicate with one another at night without using
lights that would alert the enemy to their location. The soldiers could “feel” the messages with
their fingers, and keep safe. The code turned out to be too complex for the soldiers, but it
inspired Louis Braille. Louis simplified the system, reduced the series of dots from twelve to six
and eliminated the dashes. By the time he was 20, Louis published his first alphabet for the
blind, a system he continued to work on and perfect.
And how did Louis create the dots he used in his revolutionary new system? He used an
awl. The very tool that caused his blindness became the instrument that brought the
opportunity for reading to Louis and generations of blind people to this day.
The world was slow to accept Louis Braille’s innovation. Indeed, during his lifetime, his
method was not widely accepted. Louis Braille died at the young age of 43 from tuberculosis, a
devastating respiratory disease. He was buried in his home village of Coupvray.
In time, Braille’s method became accepted around the world. “Braille” alphabets were
created in languages spanning the globe. Today, we find them not only on elevator plates, but
also on computers and cell phones.
And the name Louis Braille stands for innovation, courage,
and determination.
3. Li Bing very possible – Historical recount
A very long time ago there were people who lived along a river in China. The river was
named the Min River.
There was a problem with the Min River. The people who lived along it were scared of it
because it would overflow. This happened once a year, every year. When the river overflowed,
water would flood the people’s homes, and everything would get wet. This was a very bad thing
for the people who lived along the Min River. It was a big problem. So some of the people got
together and started to think about how they could fix it.
Eventually the governor of the people got involved. His name was Li Bing, and he was very
smart. Li Bing investigated the problem. To investigate a problem means to study it carefully and
learn as much about it as possible.
Li Bing found out that the problem of the flooding river started up in the mountains. The
tops of the mountains were very high up in the sky, where it was very cold. When it was
wintertime, it would get so cold that the tops of the mountains would become covered in snow.
When springtime came, all the snow would melt. When snow melts it turns into water. The
problem was that the melted water would fall down the mountains and go into the Min River.
This is why it would overflow and flood people’s homes.
Li Bing knew that the melting snow was the cause of the flooding. But he also knew that he
couldn’t stop the snow from melting. So he started to think about other ways that he could fix the
problem. Then Li Bing had a great idea. He realized that the best way to solve the problem would
be to turn it into an opportunity. An opportunity is a chance for something good to happen.
Away from the river there was a flat piece of land that had its own problem. It didn’t
have any water. It needed water. So Li Bing started thinking about how he could get the extra
water that was bad for the people who lived along the Min River to the flat plain of land that
needed water to grow plants.
Li Bing got a bunch of workers together and created a levee in the Min River. A levee is a
big wall that people build to stop water from going somewhere. The levee makes the water go
somewhere else.
Li Bing and his workers made the levee out of bamboo and stones. It took him and his
men four years to build. When the levee was done, the water stopped flooding the homes of
the people who lived along the Min River and started going into the land that was flat and
needed water. Now the people who lived along the river didn’t have to worry about the river
flooding, and plants began to grow in the flat land.
More Li Bing
Some of the most fertile farm land in the world lies in the valley of Sichuan (four streams) in
southwestern China. However in the natural state of the land there is often too little water
and at other times too much water. The rainfall of the mountains runs rapidly down into the
plains of the valley where it can easily create extensive flooding. This water flows from the
hillsides of the Minshan (Min Mountain) and becomes the Minjiang (Min River).
In ancient times the kingdom of Qin in northwestern China conquered the kingdom of Shu in
Sichuan about 316 BCE. (For more on the ancient kingdoms before the formation of the
empire and a map see Warring States Period.) Li Bing as a young man helped fortify the
cities Sichuan in 309 BCE. About sixty years later Li Bing was appointed governor of the
province. Li Bing conceived a plan to control the floods and provide irrigation water for the
farming in the region. However by that time Li Bing was an elderly man and it fell to his son,
Li Erh-Lang, to bring the project to its final development.
The name for the project is Dujiangyan, meaning roughly, dam on the capital's river.
The first step was the creation of a diversionary canal on the west side of the river. This was
for irrigation. A projection called the fish snout was created which divided the river in two.
On the eastside of the river south of the town there was a rock structure that stood in the
way of a diversionary canal. The only means available at that time to crack the rock was to
build fires of straw upon it and then pour cold water upon the heated rock. The cracked rock
was cleared away and the process started all over. It took about seven years to cut a channel
through the rock.
The channels were cut at different levels to given a different flow distribution during flood
times compared to the flows in times of low river water. There were also small channels or
flumes connecting the central river flow and the eastern diversionary canal to correct for
imbalance.
The system was a great success and remained in operation for the past 2200 years. Even the
2008 Wanchuan earthquake did not disrupt its operation. The imperial government and the
local people built shrines to honor Li Bing and his son.
Dujiangyan is the oldest man-made water system in the world, and a wonder in the
development of Chinese science. Built over 2,200 years ago in what is now Sichuan
province in Southwest China, this incredible feat of engineering is still in use today to
irrigate over 668,700 hectares of farmland, drain floodwater, and provide water resources
for more than 50 cities in the province. Dujiangyan is now undergoing its largest
renovation in over a decade.
More than two millennia ago, the region in which Dujiangyan now stands was threatened
by the frequent floods caused by flooding of the Minjiang River (a tributary of the Yangtze
River ). Li Bing, a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, together with his son,
discovered that the river was swelled by fast flowing spring melt-water from the local
mountains that burst the banks when it reached the slow moving and heavily silted
stretch below. One solution would have been to build a dam but Li Bing had also been
charged with keeping the waterway open for military vessels to supply troops on the
frontier, so instead he proposed to construct an artificial levee to redirect a portion of the
river's flow and then to cut a channel through Mount Yulei to discharge the excess water
upon the dry Chengdu Plain beyond.
Li Bing received funding for the project from King Zhao of Qin and set to work with a
team said to number tens of thousands. The levee was constructed from long sausageshaped baskets of woven bamboo filled with stones known as Zhulong and held in place
by wooden tripods known as Macha. The system uses natural topographic and
hydrological features to solve problems of diverting water for irrigation, draining sediment,
flood control, and flow control without the use of dams.
Cutting the channel through Mount Yulei was a remarkable accomplishment considering
that this project was undertaken long before the invention of gunpowder and explosives,
which would have enabled the builders to penetrate the hard rock of the mountain. But Li
Bing found another solution. He used a combination of fire and water to heat and cool
the rocks until they cracked and could be removed. After eight years of work a 20 metre
wide channel had been gouged through the mountain.
After the system was finished, no more floods occurred. The irrigation made Sichuan the
most productive agricultural place in China and the people have been living peacefully
and affluently ever since. Now, the project is honoured as the 'Treasure of Sichuan'.
Dujiangyan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is admired by scientists from around
the world, because of one feature. Unlike contemporary dams where the water is blocked
with a huge wall, Dujiangyan still lets water go through naturally, enabling ecosystems
and fish populations to exist in harmony.
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology-ancient-technology/legacy-dujiangyanchina-s-ancient-irrigation-system?nopaging=1
Function of first paragraph
A. Introduces
B.
Lists to legacy
4.Recount (kind of narrative) – very possible
Morgan has always loved fishing. He is about to graduate from high school and has been
fishing his entire life. His entire family loves to go fishing—even his grandmother! Morgan
started learning how to fish before he could even walk.
“My dad would have to hold the pole,” he said, “and I’d reel.”
By the time Morgan was two, he could hold the fishing pole all by himself. Now he is
eighteen years old and still goes fishing a lot. He tries to make sure he can go at least once
every few months. He has gotten even better at it than his father and his grandfather!
When Morgan was ten years old, he caught the biggest fish of his life. It was 4:45 a.m.,
and he was out in his boat at his favorite fishing spot. But he just wasn’t catching anything.
Suddenly, he felt his fishing pole bend forward, and the reel started spinning! He had caught a
fish, and it was trying to get away! The fish kept trying and trying to get away, but Morgan
held on tight. He struggled with the fish for 45 minutes before he finally caught it! When
Morgan finally pulled the fish into the boat, it was almost as big as he was!
The fish was 42 inches long, just 5 inches shorter than Morgan, and wider than him. The
fish was so big, Morgan even got to have his picture on the cover of a magazine!
However, Morgan says not every fishing experience turns out so well. Once, when he
was 12, he had a fishing experience he will never forget! He was out fishing one morning, and
it was very cold. To make matters worse, he also wasn’t wearing enough clothes. However, he
had caught a fish, and it was one of the largest he had ever caught. After catching it, he
attached it to his boat using a stringer, which is a device used to attach the fish to the boat
while still keeping it in the water.
When Morgan went to pull the fish out of the water, it escaped with the stringer and
started swimming away! He immediately jumped in after it, right into the cold water! Of
course, he couldn’t outswim the fish, so it got away. “We never saw the fish again; I was
freezing, and I lost my stringer,” said Morgan. “But it’s funny if you think about it.” Morgan
always tries to have a positive attitude when he is fishing. He thinks being a fisherman has also
taught him some important lessons about life. “Fishing has created the person I am,” he said.
“It brings out the better in me, and it shows me there’s more to life than what goes on immediately.
Some days you’ll get nothing, and the next day you’ll go out and catch the biggest fish.”
1. When did Morgan start learning to fish?
A when he was two years old
B before he could walk
C when he was 10 years old
D when he was about to graduate from high school
2. In the passage, the author compares which two events?
A a fishing trip when Morgan caught a fish AND a fishing trip when he caught a
fish and then lost it
B a fishing trip with his father AND a fishing trip with his grandfather
C a fishing trip when Morgan fell off the boat AND a fishing trip when Morgan
went swimming
D a fishing trip with a big, strong fish AND a fishing trip with a small, fast fish
3. In the passage, the author says that Morgan "goes fishing a lot" and that he "has
gotten even better at it than his father and his grandfather." Based on this evidence,
what can be concluded about the sport of fishing?
A Fishing can be learned in less than a week.
B Being good at fishing takes a lot of practice.
C Only teenagers are good at fishing.
D Fishing is best taught by family members.
4. Read the following sentences from the passage:
"The fish kept trying and trying to get away, but Morgan held on tight. He struggled with
the fish for 45 minutes before he finally caught it!"
Based on this evidence, how can Morgan best be described?
A determined
B lazy
C angry
D uncertain
5. What is the main theme of the story?
A Learning how to fish is a good way to learn how to swim.
B Fishing makes you strong if you hold onto the pole.
C Fishing is a good family activity.
D Fishing is like life, with some days that are a success and other days that are
not.
6. Read the following sentences: "When Morgan went to pull the fish out of the water, it
escaped with the stringer and started swimming away! He immediately jumped in after
it, right into the cold water! Of course, he couldn't outswim the fish, so it got away."
What does the word "outswim" mean?
A to get out of the water
B to swim faster than
C to swim slower than
D to swim past the boat
7. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below.
Morgan jumped in the water ______ it was cold.
A after
B because
C when
D even though
5. Personal expereince
Imagine watching hundreds of thousands of bats swirl around you, swarming to form a
large, black mass that flies off into the horizon. At Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, this scene
is a regular occurrence. The caverns, located in a United States National Park, are home to
around 400,000 Mexican free‐tailed bats that fly out into the night sky each evening at dusk to
feed on nearby moths and insects, returning at dawn to their caves. The spectacle draws
crowds from around the world into the Chihuahuan Desert, where the park is located. One
such visitor was Laurel Mathews, who once visited the caves with her family on a road trip.
“At the entrance to one of the caves, there’s stadium seating for visitors to watch the
bats,” she remembers. “We waited a long time to see them. Finally, they started circling out of
the cave and they flew off—out came more and more and more, all of them flying in loops and
then out into the sky. It was amazing that there were so many!”
Laurel also remembers the sound the bats made, describing the high, screeching noise.
“It was really creepy, but also really cool,” she says.
Laurel recalls her family’s arrival at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. “It didn’t look
very spectacular when we first drove in,” she admits. “But then we started exploring the big
network of underground caves.”
The formation of the caves is a result of a fossilized reef that existed 250 to 280 million
years ago in an inland sea that has long since disappeared. Since limestone is typically made up
of fragments of coral, a large limestone deposit eventually formed in the area. Today, you can
still find several fossilized plants and animals in the caves’ limestone that date back to a time
before dinosaurs walked the earth. Starting sometime between four and six million years ago,
water from the earth’s surface began moving through the cracks in the stone deposit. There is
a type of acid in surface water. When this water combined with rainwater, the two mixed to
form another type of acid as a result of their chemical compositions. This acid slowly dissolved
the limestone to eventually form the winding caves that exist today in Carlsbad Caverns. This is
a very common process that happens to limestone—many caves all around the world exist in
limestone deposits due to the stone’s solubility (the ability of a substance to be dissolved) in a
mixture of water and acid.
Eventually, speleothems—formations that arise from mineral deposits in caves—began to
take shape in the lower levels of the caverns. In fact, these speleothems existed during the last
ice age, when instead of a desert, a pine forest sat above the caves. Over the years, park
employees and rangers have found clues that hint at the caves’ history. For example, according
to the National Park Service, people have found some bones of ancient ice age animals
scattered around the entrance to some of the caves. In 2003, an employee found a part of a
stone scraper dating back to the last ice age near a cave entrance as well. Clearly, the caves have
a long history—researchers have discovered that American Indians first inhabited the area
sometime between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. Ever since then, the caves have been explored
by several groups, including Spanish explorers in the 1500s, and later by American explorers and
guides who drew attention from all across the country to the natural phenomenon.
Laurel remembers this phenomenon very well. “It took us between one and two hours
to get all the way to the bottom,” she says, recounting the windy pathway leading deeper and
deeper into the heart of the caves. “The park had put in blue and red lights to highlight the
beautiful rock formations.”
Once they reached the bottom, Laurel says that she had to take an elevator to get back to
the top. “My ears popped so much in the elevator!” she remembers. “It took a really long time
to reach the top; I didn’t realize how far down we were until we were on our way back up.”
Narrative
Andy is frightened when he sees the pirates. They have eye patches and big swords, and they
do not look happy to see him. But the pirates are not the reason why Andy feels scared. The
pirates are supposed to be there, because Andy is starring in the school play. He had been
excited when Mrs. Roberts, his teacher, chose him to star in Treasure Island. The play is based
on a famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, and it is one of Andy’s favorites. He has been
looking forward to this for weeks. But now that he’s up on stage, with his family and friends
watching from the audience, something terrible has happened. Andy does not remember what
he’s supposed to say.
It’s the big scene at the end of the play, when Andy fights the pirates. When they were
practicing the play, this was his favorite scene, because he got to run and jump and fight with
his sword. Andy loves pretending to be a pirate. He and his friends spend every recess
imagining the jungle gym is a ship. They run back and forth across it, having sword fights and
yelling about buried treasure. Sometimes they jump off the side and pretend to be eaten by
sharks. During recess, they pretend to fight with swords, and hold them like pirates.
But before the fight can happen, there’s something Andy has to say to Long John Silver, the
leader of the pirates. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t remember his line.
Is he supposed to say, “This is the end for you, Long John Silver!”? Is he supposed to say, “Get
your hands off my treasure!”? Maybe he’s supposed to say, “En garde!” That’s what people
say in pirate movies. But Andy doesn’t want to just make up the words. If he says something
wrong, he might confuse the other actors. He might get in trouble.
Andy’s mother was very proud of him when he got picked to star in the play. He can’t see
her in the audience, but he knows she’s out there somewhere, waiting for his big scene.
Andy is worried about letting her down. The other actors are waiting for him to say
something. They look angry. He isn’t sure if their anger is pretend. He waves his sword at
them, but they don’t do anything. Nothing can happen until he says his line. Andy is
beginning to sweat.
From somewhere out in the audience, he hears a voice yell, “Get ‘em, Andy!” It’s his mom!
Suddenly, Andy knows just what he has to do. He still can’t remember his line, but it doesn’t
matter. Andy raises his sword above his head and roars like a lion. He runs at the pirates,
and they begin to fight.
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argumentation
Make a Mess
Parents often tell us to tidy our bedrooms, and teachers always ask us to keep our desks neat.
Although they
mean well, a new book by economists Tim Harford argues that being messy can actually be good for us. This is
because a lot of the things that we value such as creativity and fast-thinking come from mess.
One example is mess in the workplace. Tim studied how people work, comparing ‘pilers’ (those who keep piles of
paper on their desk) to ‘filers’ (those who prefer an organised system). He found that the filers often put things
away too soon, leading to desk draws full of rubbish. With the pilers, on the other hand, the useless documents
naturally sank to the bottom of their desk and eventually got thrown out. They were managing their work much
more efficiently and getting more stuff done.
Scientists have also shown that when we’re interrupted, distracted or meet a difficulty, it can provoke creative
thinking. So if you’re working tricky problem at your messy desk and suddenly need to stop to find an important
piece of paper or a calculator, this can free your mind and help you to solve the problem. What’s more, those brief
stops also free you to listen more carefully to others.
Of course messiness is not always helpful. There are lots of situations where order is important.
be done very quickly or in a careful order then messiness can actually be harmful.
seriously ill patient doesn’t have time to look for a surgical knife.
If a task needs to
A doctor operating on a
The patient may die!
But in most
circumstances mess is undervalued. We hardly ever think it is a suitable way, and we don’t give it enough of a
chance. We all think, “If only I could get tidier, I’d get more done.” But I don’t think we would – life is messy, and
we should accept that.
So how can we introduce a little helpful messiness into our lives? Firstly, let paper build up on your desk – what
finds its way to the top is the important stuff.
Secondly, force yourself into situations where you’re
uncomfortable, such as meeting new people, trying a new activity or visiting an unfamiliar place. And thirdly,
when there is too much mess just throw a lot of it away. You’re often better of simplifying rather than trying to
impose a system.
In paragraph three, the writer refers to a doctor performing an operation to show
A.
why messiness at work can sometimes be helpful
B.
a situation where neatness and order are necessary
C.
how too much order can actually be harmful
D.
an example where mess can help creative thinking
Why does the writer suggest you keep all your papers on your desk?What is the benefit of keeping all your papers
on your desk?
A.
You will have more time to do important works
B.
The most useful papers will eventually rise to the top.
C.
You avoid the risk of accidently throwing out something important
D.
The mess will help you come up with a new solution
The underlined word ‘it’ in paragraph four refers to _____/ ‘this’ in paragraph three
A.
Mess B. the operation C. tidiness D. the chance/ A. the break
B. the mess
C. the problem
D. the
solution
How can being untidy help people to be more creative according to the passage?
A.
The mess create more problems that people need to solve
B.
The time people use looking for something gives them opportunity to think/The time people use looking
for something is also used to think./People have more opportunity to think/When people are looking for
something they have more time to think
C.
It forces people to pay more attention to the most important issues
D.
Looking for something can give people’s brain a rest/break from the problem
What is the difference between ‘piler’ and ‘filer’ office workers according to Tim Harford’s study?
A.
‘Pilers’ and untidy but get more work done
B.
‘Filers’ are tidy and get more work done
C.
‘Pilers’ are tidy but get less work done
D.
‘Filers’ are untidy and get less work done
Today’s Star Cinema Movie Guide
ARRIVAL: Spaceships have suddenly landed in different places around the
world and a language professor is hired by the army to find out whether the
space aliens come in peace or are a threat.
RUNNING TIME: 116 mins
Show time: 11.30am, 3.30pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30pm
Recommended age – 16+
DOCTOR STRANGE: After his career as a medical doctor is ended by an
accident, this brilliant but proud man get the chance at a new life. While
travelling though Asia he meets a wizard/sorcerer who trains him to defend
the world against evil by using magic.
RUNNING TIME: 115 mins
Show time: 9am, 11.30am, 1.45pm, 4,30pm, 7pm, 9pm, 11pm
Recommended age – 16+
STORKS: A cartoon movie about a group of birds who run a delivery service.
When an order for a baby appears by mistake, the best delivery stork must
try to solve the problem by delivering the baby to its mother.
RUNNING TIME: 120 mins
10.30am, 2pm
Recommended age – family
HACKSAW RIDGE: is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss, who
saved 75 men without carrying a gun, during one of the most savage battles
of World War II
RUNNING TIME: 138 mins
Time: 8.30pm
Recommended age – over 18 only
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS: The quiet life of a cartoon dog named Max is
turned upside-down when his owner brings Duke, a lost dog whom Max
instantly dislikes. But they have to co-operate to stop an army of lost pet
planning to attack them.
RUNNING TIME: 90 mins
Showtime:10.30, 2pm, 7pm
Recommended age: family-all ages
SULLY: The true story of Chesley Sullenberger, who became a hero after
landing his plane on the water of the Hudson River in New York, saving all of
the airplane flights 155 crew and passengers.
RUNNING TIME: 96 mins
Showtime:12.30pm, 2,30pm, 7.45pm
Recommended age – 16 +
What can we guess about the movie Doctor Strange?
A.
It is a movie about a doctor working in a hospital/trying to save his patient
B.
It is the most popular movie currently showing
C.
It is only suitable for people over the age of 18
D.
It is about a doctor who dies then comes back to life
What do the movies Sully and Hacksaw Ridge have in common?
A. They are both stories about war
B. They are based on real events/a true stories
C. They are being shown at the same time
D. They are recommended for the same age groups
John must go to work at 12noon today but wants to take his daughter to a movie in the
morning. What movie should he choose?
A. Doctor Strange
C. The Secret Life of Pets
B. Stork
D. Arrival
The movie Arrival can best be described as a/an ______
A. Science fiction movie
B. Romantic movie
C. Children’s movie
D. Funny movie
Julie will have dinner with her friend at a restaurant next to the cinema, then watch a movie.
She expects the dinner to finish at about 8pm. How many movies can she choose from?
/How many movie choices does she have?
A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5
When Ana Dodson traveled to Peru two years ago, she went on more than just a vacation. She
was visiting her native country. Ana, 13, was born in Peru, but she was adopted by an American
family and grew up in the United States.
While in Peru, Ana got a glimpse of what her life could have been like had she not been adopted.
She visited several Peruvian orphanages, including one in the hills of Cuzco, near her birthplace.
"Conditions were really terrible," Ana told Weekly Reader. "The paint was falling off....The
girls...were very unfed. The were so thin."
When Ana returned home to Colorado, the memory of the orphanage in Cuzco haunted her. "I
really couldn’t get the girls out of my mind, and I really wanted to do something...because I could
have been one of those girls in that orphanage."
She decided to start a group called Peruvian Hearts to help. In two years, Peruvian Hearts has
raised about $18,000 for the orphanage. The group also bought a chicken coop so the girls can
eat fresh eggs.
Ana’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. She recently won a Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.
The award is given to kids and teens who make a difference. Ana says any kid can do what she
did. "Really believe in yourself, and follow your heart," she says.
Greek myths Arachne
The ancient Greeks are famous for their many myths and stories. The Greeks used these stories
to help understand the world around them and their own actions. They used myths to explain
the things they didn’t understand, like thunder and earthquakes. And they used myths to make
scary things seem less frightening. Over time, myths changed, and their events and details varied
from one telling to the next, but their narrative outcomes remained largely the same.
Myths were also often entertaining, and sometimes humorous and intriguing; in the time before
television, myths and stories were an important source of entertainment for people. But
perhaps most importantly, myths told people how to live, and how to tell right from wrong.
These stories were often used/intended to teach valuable life lessons and encourage good
behaviour in their readers. Take, for instance, the story of Arachne.
Arachne was a young girl famed her spinning and weaving. Her cloth was said to be the softest
and fairest of any in the land—so fine that some believed it to be spun from gold. Because of her
skills, Arachne was prideful. She thought herself the best cloth maker in the world, and she was
certain that no one could match her talents and gifts.
One day, an old woman walked past Arachne weaving and asked her, “Who taught you to weave
so well?” Arachne replied that she had taught herself, and that she was the best weaver in the
world.
“But perhaps Athena, the goddess of craft and weaving, taught you to spin and weave without
your knowing it?”
Arachne, in her vanity, replied, “No, not even Athena is as good as I am.”
The old woman then tore away her disguise and revealed herself as Athena. She was furious that
a human that a human could be boastful and would dare to compare herself to a god. And so,
Athena challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. The rules of the contest were simple: each
woman would weave a piece of cloth, and Zeus, king of the gods, would act as the judge. If
Arachne won, Athena would never weave again. And if Athena won, Arachne would never make
another piece of cloth.
Hundreds gathered to watch the two women weave. Arachne wove a cloth from the finest silk. It
was said that the cloth was so fine it could barely be felt, but that it had the strength to hold a
hundred men. On the cloth, Arachne depicted the failings of the gods, portraits of the gods acting
immorally and foolishly.
Athena, on the other hand, is said to have spun with sunbeams, the sky, the fields, and the
clouds. She wove a tapestry that showed the gods in all their strength and glory, praising them for
their splendor. It was obvious that Athena’s cloth was more spectacular than Arachne’s. Even
Arachne, upon seeing Athena’s tapestry, hid her face in her hands in shame.
Arachne was broken-hearted at the thought of never again making silk and wanted to die.
Athena took pity on the girl and transformed her into a spider so that she could continue to spin
and weave beautiful patterns. All spiders, in Greek mythology, are said to be the children of
Arachne.
This particular Greek myth served to warn against the dangers of pride and vanity, as well as
caution those seeking to compete against or humiliate the gods.
Archimedes is considered to be one of the world’s greatest ever scientists and inventors. The
ancient Greek’s first and greatest love however was mathematics. Unfortunately his first love
would also be the cause of his death.
Little is known about Archimedes early life. He was born in the Greek city of Syracuse in 287 BC,
and, as a teenager was studied mathematics Alexandria, Egypt. He then returned to Syracuse,
where he spent most of the rest of his life, devoting his time to research and experimentation in
many fields.
He also worked as an advisor to the King of Syracuse, helping him solve different problems. It
was in his service to the king that Archimedes came up with many of his most famous discoveries
and inventions.
Perhaps best-known among these is what we today call “Archimedes’ Principle”, which states that
the weight of an object can be calculated by measuring the amount of water it displaces. The
king, suspecting he had been tricked by his crown-maker, asked Archimedes to determine if his
new crown was 100% gold or made from less valuable (and lighter) silver covered with gold. After
working on the problem for several days without success, the scientist decided to take a bath to
relax. As he got into the bath, he noticed the water spilling over the side of the tub. Suddenly he
had found the solution. It is said that Archimedes was so excited that he immediately got out of
the bath and ran down the street shouting ‘Eureka! Eureka!’, the ancient Greek word meaning ‘I
have found it’. Unfortunately in his excitement Archimedes forgot to put on his clothes!
Several years later, when the Roman army invaded Syracuse, the king instructed Archimedes to
design war machines to help defend the city. Archimedes is said to have invented the catapult,
which could hurl 200 kg rocks at the enemy. He also invented giant hook/claws that could lift
warships out of the ocean and crush them. Some stories even claim he created a system of giant
mirrors that could set enemy ships on fire using the heat of the sun.
Archimedes died in 212 BC after Syracuse fell to the Roman army.
It is said that he was so
absorbed in solving a math problem that he refused to obey a Roman soldier’s order to leave the
king’s palace until he had finished. This angered the solider so much that he killed Archimedes at
once.
In recognition of his achievements, many things have been named after Archimedes. A crater and
a mountain range on the Moon are called Archimedes and Montes Archimedes, respectively. An
asteroid is called 3600 Archimedes after this great scientist. The Fields Medal, awarded to
mathematicians with great achievements, carries his portrait. His expression “Eureka!” is now
used as the state motto of California.
Where did Archimedes study mathematics?
A. In Syracuse
B. In Egypt
C. In Rome
D. In Athens
How did Archimedes develop the ‘Archimedes Principle’ according to the passage?
A. By carrying out many experiments
B. By studying how gold was made
C. By taking a bath to relax
D. By running down the street
What is the correct order for the following events from Archimedes’ life?
a. Returned to Syracuse after studying
b. Ran down the street shouting ‘Eureka’
c. Was asked to determine of the king’s crown was 100% gold
d. Invented a machine that could throw heavy rocks
e. Was invited to work for the king
Why was Archimedes killed by the Roman solider?
A. He was busy solving a mathematical problem
B. He refused to obey the soldier/He refused to do what the soldier demanded
C. He was trying to escape from the palace
D. He was considered to be a dangerous enemy
The underlined word X is closest in meaning to ______
After solving the kings problem, Archimedes ran down the street because _____
A. He wanted to tell the king at once
B. He was tryi
Who invented the bicycle?
German inventor Karl Drais has that
honour, although the machine he
invented in 1817 had no pedals.
Scotland’s Kirkpatrick Macmillan is
often credited with being the first to
add them and he’s said to have
proved their worth by cycling 68 miles
to Glasgow in 1842. By the 1860s
firms like France’s Michaux company
were producing machines with
pedals, known as ‘boneshakers’
because of their iron-rimmed wheels.
What’s the story behind the
penny-farthing?
Until gearing was developed, the only
way to make a bike go faster (other
than pedalling more quickly) was to
make the front wheel bigger. By the
1870s young men perched on bikes
with front wheels of up to 5 feet in
diameter were a common sight. The
‘penny-farthing’ nickname comes
from the fact that, from the side, they
looked like the two coins, although at
the time they were usually known as
‘high-wheelers’ or ‘ordinaries’. They
weren’t easy to ride, and if you fell off
it was a long way down…
What made cycling popular?
With wheels of equal size and a chain
that drove the bike from the rear
wheel, Starley’s ‘safety bicycle’ of
1885 made cycling less dangerous.
Three years later, John Dunlop’s
pneumatic rubber tyre also made it
more comfortable. Cycling was no
longer the preserve of the young
daredevil and, once mass-production
made bicycles cheaper, its popularity
spread rapidly.
When did bicycle racing begin?
The first recorded meeting was
held at St-Cloud, Paris in 1868.
English-born James Moore won the
1,200 metre race and the following
year he showed his versatility by
winning a 123km road event from
Paris to Rouen.
How about the Tour de France?
It was first staged in 1903 to promote
the French newspaper L’Auto (the
yellow jersey worn by the race
leader is a nod to the colour of the
paper) and was won by Maurice
Garin. The tour has had its controversies over the years but nothing
compares to the 1904 event. Garin
was one of a number of competitors
disqualified for cheating in a race that
featured sabotage, attacks on
cyclists, and claims that some
riders even travelled parts of the
course by trail
While your pet fish may appear to be unaware of your presence, chances are it knows you extremely
well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of other faces! At least, that is the conclusion
reached by scientists following an extensive study of the archerfish, a common type of tropical fish.
The discovery came as a big surprise given that the ability to distinguish between human faces is a
complex task. That’s because we all have the same basic features — two eyes sitting above a nose
and a mouth. Spotting the small differences between faces requires a special combination of both sight
and memory.
Scientist had always assumed that it is a skill possessed only by those with well-
developed brains, i.e., humans, a few animals — such as horses, cows, dogs, apes — and some birds,
like penguins.
To test if this idea was correct, a team of scientists from Oxford University, decided to study fish. These
animals have small brains that lack the lack the structures believed to help recognize the small
differences between human faces.
The archerfish was perfect for the study because of the way it catches its prey. These aquatic animals
“hunt down” land insects by spitting jets of water at them. The stunned flying bugs fall into the water,
where the clever fish waits to devour them. The fact that the archerfish can identify their prey so
accurately made the researchers wonder if the fish could be trained to identify humans as well.
The team began by presenting four archerfish with pictures of two human faces. Initially, the fish spat
equally at both. However, they soon learned that shooting water at the one selected by the
researchers earned them a food treat. After that, they focused primarily on that image. The researchers
then steadily increased the number of faces in the experiement to 44.
To the researcher’s astonishment, the trained archerfish were able to recall the learned image almost
81% of the time. And this accuracy improved to 86% when the researchers made the identification even
harder, by replacing the colored photos with a set of black and white images and later hinding/covering
the shape of the head.
The results of the study, suggest that despite having tiny brains, some fish may have developed high
visual discrimination capabilities. The researchers now want to run the test on other types of fish to
compare the results.
That, of course, raises the all-important question – can your pet fish recognize
your face? Why don’t you try to find out?
Why was the archerfish chosen for the experiment?
A. Smallest brain
B. Easy to find
C. Style of hunting
D. Common pet
Or
In the experiment how did the archerfish show which image they chose?
A. By swimming towards the picture
B. By touching an electronic button
C. By spitting water at the picture
D. By jumping out of the water
Before carrying out the experiment what did the scientist assume about the fish?
A. They would not be able to identify the different human faces because their brains were
too small/The(ir) brains (of the fish) were too small to remember different faces
B. They would not be able to identify the different human faces because their eyesight was
too poor./Their eyesight/vision was too poor to identify difference
C. They would be able to identify the different faces because their brains had the required
structures
D. They would be able to identify the different faces just like they identified each other
Or
How did the scientists feel about the results of their experient?
A. Amazed C. disappointed
C. satisfied
D. confused
Purpose of the artile?
How were the fish trained to choose the right picture of a face?
A. They were rewarded for the correct choice
B. They were punished for the wrong choice
C. They were given more time at the beginning to chose
D. They were encouraged to swim towards the right picture
The passage mentions each of these changes in the experiment EXCEPT/During the experiment
the scientists change each of these EXCEPT/Which part of the experiment was NOT mentioned as
having been changed?
A. The number of pictures used
B. The colour of the pictures used
C. The shape of the faces in the picture
D. The position of the fish tank/The number of fish used
The underlined word ‘they’ in paragraph four refers to ___
A. The fish B. the scientists
C. the faces/pictures
D. the results
The underlined word ’devour’/ ‘prey’ in paragraph four means _____
A. eat /Food(target/victim)
B. remove(use) / Trap
C. guide / Mate
D. return /enemy