PREFACE
eading is a key part of learning English. Reading Out Loud 3 is intended for students
R in Level 3. This book provides students of English as a foreign or second language
with a highly motivated and carefully selected series of articles on a variety of
topics to interest people from all walks of life.
The twenty (20) articles in this book are modern in content and style. The length of the
articles increases as the language level becomes more difficult. The topics are all of general
interest and range from articles about famous people, world wonders, supernatural stories,
tales of natural disasters, insights into the lives of great scientists, writers, and artists, as well as
fascinating details from the worlds of science, technology, and so on. The vocabulary used
in this book is highly contemporary and not found in more traditional reader series.
The goal of Reading Out Loud 3 is to help second language learners learn the proper
method of reading passages aloud with the use of the American accent and the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols as a pronunciation guide.
Reading Out Loud 3 is designed so that students in Level 3 can apply the strategies and skills
introduced in this book to the reading materials they need to learn in the succeeding levels.
Teaching reading not only gives students access to knowledge from print, but also ma kes
them better able to use the language.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Unit 1: Hummingbirds_ Page 3
Unit 2: The Sahara _ Page 4
Unit 3: Halloween _ Page 5
Unit 4: The Oscars _ Page 6
Unit 5: Mark Zuckerberg _ Page 7
Unit 6: Coincidence? _ Page 8
Unit 7: Machu Picchu_ Page 9
Unit 8: Leonardo Da Vinci _ Page 10
Unit 9: The Empire State Building _ Page 11
Unit 10: The Number Thirteen _ Page 12
Unit 11: Double-Decker Buses _ Page 13
Unit 12: Colors _ Page 14
Unit 13: Mr. Emoji _ Page 15
Unit 14: The Louvre _ Page 16
Unit 15: The Great Barrier Reef _ Page 17
Unit 16: Mars _ Page 18
Unit 17: Redwood Trees _ Page 19
Unit 18: J.K. Rowling _ Page 20
Unit 19: YouTube _ Page 21
Unit 20: The Bermuda Triangle _ Page 22
References _ Page 23
Unit 1: Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are amazing little birds. They are the
smallest of all birds and weigh less than even a penny. The bee
hummingbird, at barely more than two inches long, is the smallest
bird in the world!
Unlike most birds, hummingbirds have iridescent
feathers. Iridescent feathers glitter and shine in the sun.
Hummingbirds are often dazzling combinations of greens
and reds or greens and blues. Others are violet, orange,
golden, silver or other combinati ons only Mother Nature could
dream up. All hummingbirds have long bills to insert into flowers. Some
hummingbirds have special bills to fit into specific flowers. Hummingbirds are
the only birds that can fly backwards.
Hummingbirds are also unique amo ng bird species in that they drink nectar
from flowers. You can attract hummingbirds to your yard with special feeders
that are filled with sugar water. These
feeders are usually bright red in color
because hummingbirds are attracted to red.
Unit 2: The Sahara
The Sahara is one of the world’s
biggest deserts. It covers a substantial
part of Northern Africa and includes
parts of eleven different countries.
Many people think that it has always
been a desert, but they are mistaken. At one time the Sahara was
underwater, and then the water went away and plants grew. However, hot
winds made everything very dry, and
then nothing could grow.
During the day the Sahara can be the
hottest place in the world. One day in
1924, it was 136.4°F or 58°C! At night, it
is not so hot, and in winter it can be
very cold.
Not many big anim als can live in the
desert because there is insufficient
water. But camels can survive for as long as seventeen days without water.
There are also people living in t he desert who are called Bedouins. They are
nomads, which means that they do not live in the same place all the time,
but move around from place to place.
Unit 3: Halloween
Halloween is on October 31. It is also called All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve.
This is because, according to some, the holiday has its roots in a Christian
holiday that remembers the dead. Others say the holiday has its roots in the
ancient harvest season traditions of
Ireland.
In the U.S. though, the focus is less on
memories of the dearly departed or
agriculture. It is about kids dressing up in
scary costumes and going door -to-door
asking for candy. This is called trick -or-
treating. When ch ildren knock on the
door of a house or ring the doorbell, they usually say "Trick or Treat".
Homeowners then give the children candy, raisins, or some other food treat.
Many homeowners decorate their houses to prepare for the holiday.
Traditional decor ations often include jack -o'-lanterns, which are pumpkins
with faces carved into them and candles inside. Jack -o'-lanterns were
thought to scare away evil spirits when Halloween was first celebrated
among the ancient Christians. Also turnips, not pumpkin s, were originally
used. People often decorate using the colors black and orange.
Unit 4: The Oscars
One of the most famous movie prizes in the world is the Oscar.
Every year in the United States of America, the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents Oscars to people
who have done well in the movies. There is an Oscar for the best
movie of the year, another for the best actor, and Oscars for
doing many other things well in the movies.
The Oscars are very significa nt because people want to see
movies that have won them. They also want to see actors
who have won Oscars. This means that movies that have
won Oscars make a lot of money. The academy first gave prizes to movies in
1927, but they were not called Oscars then. That happened four years later.
Most people think that Oscar was someone famous in the movies, but he
wasn’t. He was no one important. A woman named Margaret Herrick
(woman in picture) knew him. She
worked for the academy, and one
day, she saw the prize on a table. She
said it looked like her friend, Oscar,
and from that time on, the prizes were
called the Oscars.
Unit 5: Mark Zuckerberg
Born in White Plains, New York on May 14,
1984, Mark Zuckerberg developed an interest
in computer progr amming at an early age.
When he was just 12 years old, he had
developed a working messaging system that
his father Edward used in his dental office.
In high school, Zuckerberg developed a music software program that drew
interest from several large com panies. He enrolled into Harvard University in
2002, where he developed his first social networking site for students only. The
site was very popular, but it was shut down by the school for being
inappropriate.
During his sophomore year at Harvard, Zuckerberg began working on
Facebook, a site that allowed its users to create a profile, share photos, and
communicate with other members. He dropped out his sophomore year to
dedicate his work to his site. He moved his operation to Palo Alto, California .
By the end of 2004, Facebook had had more than 1,000,000 members.
Facebook generates more than $1.5 billion in net revenues today.
Unit 6: Coincidence?
Abraham Lincoln and
John F. Kennedy were
both American
presidents. Lincoln
became president in
1861, and Kennedy was
appointed president in
1961. Both men were assassinated by being shot in the head. They were
both assassinated on a Friday. The wives of both men were present when
they died.
John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Booth was shot soon after he killed the president. The man who assassinated
Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald. He was born in 1939 and was also shot
shortly after he killed the president.
Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy. This secr etary told him not to go
out on the day that he was shot. Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln.
This secretary told Kennedy not to go out on the day that he was shot. The
name of the man who became president after Lincoln was Johnson. The
name of the man who became president right after Kennedy was also
Johnson. What a lot of coincidences!
Unit 7: Machu Picchu
Tucked away in the rocky
countryside northwest of Cuzco,
Peru, Machu Picchu is believed
to have been a royal estate or
sacred religious site for Inca
leaders, whose civilization was virtually wiped out by Spanish invaders in the
16th century. For hundreds of years, until the American archaeologist Hiram
Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911, the abandoned citadel’s existence was a
secret known only to peasants living in the region.
Machu Picchu is made up of more than 150 buildings ranging from baths and
houses to temples and sanctuaries. The site stretches over an impressive 5 -
mile distance, featuring more than 3,000 stone steps that link it s many
different levels. The site’s finely crafted stonework, terraced fields , and
sophisticated irrigation system bear witness to the Inca civilization’s
architectural, agricultural, and engineering prowess.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 and d esignated one of the New
Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, Machu Picchu is Peru’s most visited
attraction and South America’s most famous ruins, welcoming hundreds of
thousands of people a year.
Unit 8: Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo Da Vinci is one of history’s most well-known men. He was born in
Italy in 1452 and died in 1519. He was a scientist as well
as a great artist. He invented many things. He studied
anatomy and botany and drew the first aircraft. He
also drew a ship that could go under th e ocean.
Other smart inventors were Benjamin Franklin and
Thomas Edison, but they were not artists as well.
They did not paint great paintings.
Leonardo painted one of the most famous
paintings in the world. It is called the Mona Lisa
and we can see it in Paris, France. The Mona Lisa is a painting of a mysterious
woman. Nobody knows who she was.
Leonardo also painted another world’s greatest paintings – The Last Supper .
This shows Jesus and his
friends dining together the
day before he was killed.
Unit 9: The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building may be
the most famous building in New
York City. It is 1,454 feet tall. Many
people think it is the tallest building
in the world. This was true when it
was built in 1931. In 1970, when the World Trade Center was built, that
became the tallest building. Now, the Empire State Building is the fifth tallest
building in the U.S. and the 35th tallest in the world. Inside the building is
mostly occupied by offices and
stores.
The landmark is not just famous
because of its height. In 1945, a
small plane crashed into it. More
than 30 people have tried to kill themselves by jumping off the building. In
1933, it was featured in the movie King Kong , where a giant gorilla climbs to
the top and falls to his death after being attacked by airplanes.
At night, the top of the Empire State Building is lit up in different colors. It is red
and green on Christmas, red for Lunar New Year, and blu e for Hanukkah. On
the Fourth of July it is red, white, and blue.
Unit 10: The Number Thirteen
Many people believe that the number thirteen is an unlucky number. This is
why many hotels do not have a thirteenth floor. The floors go from twelve to
fourteen, and the number thirteen is
missing. Some people will refuse to sit
at a table with twelve other people.
They will insist that someone leave or
ask another person to join them at
their table.
No one really knows why people in so
many countries do not like the
number thirteen. Perhaps, one reason
is that when people began to count, they used ten fingers and two hands.
This made twelve, and therefore they could not count higher than this.
Some Christians say that thirteen is unlucky because there were twelve
people at a meal with Jesus the day before he was killed. In a story about
the ancient Norse gods, twelve gods were asked to a meal, but one more
turned up. This made thirteen gods. The story says that this is why the god
Balder, who was at the meal, was done away with.
Unit 11: Double-Decker Buses
London's cherry red double -decker bus is practically
a national symbol, just as recognizable as Big Ben or
the Tower Bridge. The most famous model of the
double-decker is the Routemaster, which debuted in
1956 and remained in use as a way to show
tourists the city's sights until its phase -out in
2005.
The first commercial historical double decker bus is said to have been used
during the 1820s. The buses during that time were pulled by two horses, as
combustion engines were not yet developed and the main source of moving
vehicles consisted of animal pow er.
“Omnibuses” is the name given to the
early buses in England and in France.
Today, a number of companies run
sightseeing buses for tourists – they have
reverted to the early open -air upper deck to give sightseers a better view.
And the concept has now been exported to the US, where double- decker
sightseeing buses can now be found in cities like Los Angeles, Washington
D.C., and New York.
Unit 12: Colors
The first scientist to investigate color was Sir
Isaac Newton. He was an English scientist
who lived from 1642 to 1727. Newton was
the first person to discover that white light
can be divided into different colors.
In 1861, a Scottish scientist, James Clerk
Maxwell, discovered that he could create other colors by combining any two
of the three primary colors – red, blue, and yellow. These other colors are
known as secondary colors. For example, red and yellow make orange,
yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple.
Tertiary colors are made by increasing the amount of one of the primary
colors in a secondary mixture. By doing this, we end up with colors like
yellow-orange and blue- green.
We can make a room look as if it is bigger or smaller, or warmer or cooler, by
using color. Green and blue are
cool colors. They can make a room
look bigger. Red, orange, and
yellow are warm colors. They can
make a room look smaller.
Unit 13: Mr. Emoji
The man we can thank today for emojis is Shigetaka Kurita, the father of the
emoji. As an employee of the biggest mobile -phone operator in Japan back
in the day, he was part of the team that sought to revolutionize Japan’s
means of communication.
However, he soon realized that
digital communication –
whether it’s email or, at the
time, pagers – robbed human
beings of the ability to communicate emotion. In Japan this is particularly
important, as snail -mail letters have a tradition of being long -winded, full of
honorifics, and emotional messages of goodwill. With digital, you ended up
robbing people of this more per sonal aspect of communication, resulting in a
relationship breakdown and miscommunication that Kurita wanted to fix.
His solution was the emoji, which literally comes out to “picture” (e) and
“character” (moji). For inspiration, Mr. Kurita turned to mang a, Chinese
characters, and street signs. He looked for symbols that instantly conveyed
thoughts or emotions without inspiring strong likes or dislikes in the way a
picture might. The result: 176 12- pixel by 12-pixel images that became the
foundation for all emoji to follow.
Unit 14: The Louvre
The Louvre, located along the banks
of the Seine River in Paris, is the largest
art museum in the world with an area size of 782,910 square feet . This
museum is considered a historic monument in Paris and is part of the Louvre
Palace, which was built in the 12th century. This magnificent structure, which
has housed priceless art in France since 1793, is among Paris' most popular
tourist attracti ons.
The reason for its popularity
is its collection of 35,000
priceless ma sterpieces and
antiques, and therefore
offers the most extensive art galleries for its breadth of subjects, which range
from 6th century B .C. to 19th century. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is
undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of art in the Louvre, with people
from all walks of life traveling to the museum to catch a glimpse of the world
famous painting.
The Louvre’s glass pyramid was built in 1989 and is 21 meters high. It is made
solely of glass and metal and is now one of the city’s most recognizable
landmarks.
Unit 15: The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is one of
the seven wonders of the natural
world. As the largest living
structure on the planet, the Great
Barrier Reef is incredibly rich and diverse. Stretching 2300 kilometers, this
natural icon is so large it can even be seen from outer space.
While it’s known mostly for its large maze of colorful reefs, its intricate
architecture also provides a home for a huge number of animals and plants.
Some of these, such as turtles and crocodiles, have been around since
prehistoric times and have changed little over the millennia. The
breathtaking array of marine creatures includes 600 types of soft and h ard
corals, more than 100 species of jellyfish, 3000 varieties of mollusks, 500
species of worms, 1625 types of fish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays, and more
than 30 species of whales and dolphins.
In recognition of its significance,
UNESCO listed the Great Barrier Reef as
a World Heritage Site in 1981. Because of its natural beauty, both below and
above the water’s surface, the reef has become one of the world’s most
sought-after tourist destinations.
Unit 16: Mars
Mars, commonly referred to as “th e red planet,” is the fourth planet from the
sun. Its reddish color comes from the high amounts of iron oxide on its
surface. Mars has surface features simil ar to those found on the moon and
on Earth. It has mountain ranges, volcanic fields, valleys, ic e caps, canyons,
and deserts.
Mars is also home to Olympus Mons, the highest discovered mountain in the
solar system. A person standing on the surface of Mars (in any location in
which the mountain was visible) would have no chance of viewing the top.
With the peak at 88,600 feet, Olympus Mons is about three times as high as
Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. Mars’ Valles Marineris is the solar
system’s largest canyon, measuring more than seven miles deep.
There has long been speculation concerning the possibility of life and or liquid
water on Mars. However, the planet’s thin
atmosphere prevents water from
accumulating for any time over
significant portions of the planet.
Furthermore, fierce solar winds and
poor heat transfer across its surface
would make sustained life virtually
impossible.
Unit 17: Redwood Trees
The magnificent redwood trees are
some of the largest trees in the world .
They are found mostly in Northern
California where cool temperatures, misty
rains, and dense fog allow them to grow. Redwood trees live up to 2,000
years and have branches that grow up to five feet in diameter. Its bark can
grow up to 12 inches thick. The oldest of these trees can grow to over 300
feet tall.
Redwoods are so huge, a single
tree itself can be habitat for an
incredible number of species.
Redwood trees are home to
amphibians, beetles, crickets, worms, millipedes, spiders and mollusks.
Chipmunks, fishers, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, the northern spotted owl,
the marbled murrelet, and dozens of other species call the canopy home.
Redwood trees are preserved in California’s Redwood National P ark. Every
year, nearly a million visitors go to see the giant trees. Others just like to drive
along the 33 -mile-long Avenue of the Giants, a road that winds through the
park and surrounding areas .
Unit 18: J.K. Rowling
Joanne Rowling, best known as J.K. Rowling, was born on July 31,
1965, in Yate, England. She adopted her pen name, J.K.,
incorporating her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for
the latter initial. It was added at her
publisher’s request, who thought a book by
an obviously female author might not
appeal to the target audience of young
boys.
Rowling wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at the
age of six – a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’. At just eleven, she wrote her first
novel – about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.
Rowling came from humble economic means before writing Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone , a children's fantasy novel. The work was an international hit and
Rowling wrote six more books in the series, which sold hundreds of millions of copies
and was adapted into a blockbuster film franchise. Rowling became an
international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three installments of her Harry
Potter children's book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best -
seller list after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom.
From poverty as a single mother, J.K. Rowling has become one of the world's most
financially successful authors.
Unit 19: YouTube
YouTube is the world's most popular online video site,
with users watching 4 billion hours’ worth of video
each month, and uploading 72 hours’ worth of video every minute. Since its
inception in 2005, YouTube has grown from a site devoted to amateur videos
to one that distributes
original content.
Before February 14, 2005,
very few people had ever even heard the name "YouTube." It was founded
by former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim.
The idea was born at a dinner party in San Francisco about a year before the
official launch. On April 23, 2005, YouTube co -founder Jawed Karim posted
the very first video to YouTube, entitled "Me at the Zoo." The vi deo is exactly
how it sounds: Karim at the San Diego zoo standing in front of the elephants
and talking about their trunks.
In September 2005, YouTube got its first one million -hit video. The video was a
Nike ad that went viral. It was a clip of Brazili an soccer player Ronaldinho
receiving his pair of Golden Boots. In a little over 5 months, Gangnam Style
hit 1 billion views in December 2012. 2012 in general was also huge for
YouTube, with people watching more than 4 billion hours’ worth of video
every month.
Unit 20: The Bermuda Triangle
You won't find it on any official
map and you won't know
when you cross the line, but
according to some people, the
Bermuda Triangle is a very real
place where dozens of ships, planes, and people have disappeared with no good
explanation. Since a magazine first coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964,
the mystery has continued to attract attention.
The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded
by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. The area referred to as Devil’s Triangle, covers
about 500,000 square miles of ocean off the southeastern tip of Florida. When
Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his first voyage to the New World,
he reported that a great flame of fire (probably a meteor) crashed into the sea one
night and that a strange light appeared in the distance a few weeks later. He also
wrote about erratic compass readings, perhaps because at that time a sliver of the
Bermuda Triangl e was one of the few places on Earth where true north and
magnetic north lined up.
In all probability, however, there is no single theory that solves the mystery.
Moreover, although storms, reefs , and the Gulf Stream can cause navigational
challenges the re, maritime insurance leader Lloyd’s of London does not recognize
the Bermuda Triangle as an especially hazardous place. In fact, people navigate
the area every day without incident.
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