Reading Inside <Level 1>
Unit 1. Nature
Reading 1. The Secret of Honeycombs
Bees are amazing honey makers. But they are also impressive honeycomb builders. To build a honeycomb, bees gradually make cells from a special wax that they produce from their bodies. The wax is hard to produce, so they must use it efficiently.
Therefore, honeycomb cells must fit perfectly together. Circles are not a good shape for cells because they don’t fit together. As gaps are left between them, wax is wasted. The shapes that fit together without leaving spaces are the triangle, the square, and the hexagon. Bees choose the hexagon, but why?
The hexagon, a six-sided shape, is the most efficient one for storing honey. A hexagon fits perfectly together with other hexagons, and it is very strong. But most importantly, it stores the greatest amount of honey with the least amount of wax. That’s because compared to other shapes, the hexagon uses the smallest *perimeter to cover the same area. It seems that bees are not only good at making honey. They are also good at mathematics!
Reading 2. Living Light
Imagine an ocean filled with millions of tiny lights. It may sound like a fantasy, but it is reality! Deep in our oceans, many sea creatures make their own light. This ability to create light is called “bioluminescence.”
Bioluminescence is caused by a special substance called luciferin inside a creature’s body. This substance produces light when it is exposed to oxygen. Bioluminescent creatures can control when they produce the light, and they use it for many different purposes.
Anglerfish, for example, use a bulb on their head that lights up to attract prey. Smaller fish don’t see the danger behind this light and swim toward it. Attracting mates and frightening away bigger fish are other uses of bioluminescence. Ostracods, small shrimplike creatures, attract mates by lighting up their upper lip. Some deep-sea worms also shoot bioluminescent bullets to confuse attackers.
The bioluminescence of sea creatures also benefits us: We can look upon our oceans and see the beautiful lights deep below the surface.
Unit 2. Language and Literature
Reading 1. Daddy-Long-Legs
Jerusha Abbott grew up in an orphanage. When she turns 17, a rich man offers to pay her college fees. In return, he asks her to write letters to him. Jerusha has only seen the rich man from behind. She knows that he has long legs, so she calls him “Daddy-Long-Legs.”
10th October
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
Have you ever heard of Michelangelo? Apparently, he was a famous Italian artist in the Middle Ages. In English Literature, all my classmates seemed to know about him. They laughed because I thought he was an *archangel. They thought it was funny. But I think he sounds like an archangel, don’t you? College is hard because there are so many common facts I don’t know. The other girls often discuss things I don’t know about. I used to get embarrassed about it. But now I just go and check an encyclopedia. Once, when someone said the name of a famous Belgian poet, I asked if she was a freshman. Everyone laughed hard. But it’s okay, because I know I’m as smart as my classmates!
Reading 2. The Language of Boxing
Q: I read the following sentences but couldn’t understand them. “I argued with my classmate, but no one was in my corner. I was totally on the ropes, so I threw in the towel and apologized first.”
Can you explain them, Professor Williams?
A: Actually, those expressions are from boxing. Over a century ago in England, boxing was so popular that several boxing terms entered the English language. Let me explain.
1. ‘In my corner’
Between rounds of a boxing match, boxers rest in opposite corners of the ring while their coaches encourage them. So ‘in my corner’ means that someone is on my side.
2. ‘On the ropes’
There are four ropes around the edge of a boxing ring. When a boxer is driven onto the ropes by the opponent, he or she is nearly defeated. So ‘on the ropes’ means to be in trouble.
3. ‘Throw in the towel’
Traditionally, boxers’ coaches admitted defeat by throwing their towels into the ring, so ‘throw in the towel’ means to give up.
Now do you understand the sentences?
Unit 3. Art
Reading 1. Picasso and Colors
Have you heard the phrase “I’m feeling blue” before? It means “I’m feeling sad.” As this phrase shows, colors remind people of emotions. Red means passion from love or from anger. Sometimes blue looks calm, but sometimes it shows sadness.
The famous artist Pablo Picasso used blue to make sad paintings. In 1901, a close friend of Picasso’s died. After this, Picasso became depressed. He began to paint pictures with many shades of blue and few other colors. This is called his Blue Period, and it lasted until 1904. His dead friend, beggars, and even drunk people were the subjects of his works from these years.
By 1904, Picasso had met his muse, Fernande Olivier, and was beginning to recover from his depression. From 1904 to 1906, he painted in tones of red and pink. His pictures were happier and often included clowns or other circus performers. This period became known as his Rose Period.
Picasso’s paintings show that art talks to us. With colors and images, art tells the story of a person’s thoughts. What color are your thoughts? Try drawing them and find out!
Reading 2. Facing Each Other
One of the most famous works from the Italian Renaissance is Piero della Francesca’s Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. These paintings are of Duke Federico da Montefeltro and Duchess Battista Sforza. Federico was a captain of professional soldiers and a supporter of the arts. But have you noticed anything odd about his appearance?
In the picture, we only see the left side of Federico’s face. This is because Federico lost his right eye in a competition. The artist needed to think of a way to hide the wound. So he only painted Federico’s profile. By now, you may have noticed the duke’s unique nose. The upper part of it was removed to help Federico see better with one eye. This may have been the first nose job ever!
His wife’s portrait is also interesting. Battista looks as pale as a dead person. It is believed the portraits were painted after she died to help Federico remember her. In addition, by painting her right profile, the artist ensured that Federico and his wife will always be looking at each other. Their never-ending connection will continue from this world to the next.
Unit 4. Economy
Reading 1. The Ice King
There’s nothing better than drinking ice water on a hot summer afternoon! These days, ice is cheap and easy to get. But before refrigerators were invented, ice wasn’t easy to find.
This changed when a Boston man, Frederic Tudor, began the ice trade in the 19th century. He decided to take ice from frozen winter ponds and transport it by ship to hot parts of the world. People thought this was impossible. “The ice will just melt!” they said.
At first, they were right. Most of the ice Tudor tried to ship melted. But he discovered that packing ice in *sawdust made it melt more slowly. Even when he shipped 180 tons of ice to Calcutta, India, most of it didn’t melt.
To make his business grow, Tudor marketed his product brilliantly. For example, he gave bartenders free ice so that people could try it and get hooked! The ice trade was a huge success until electric freezers were invented in the 1930s. So, thanks to his creativity and business skills, Tudor became a rich man!
Reading 2. The Sunk Cost Effect
Imagine you are watching a movie in a movie theater. Unfortunately, the movie is terrible. But you keep sitting there because you’ve already paid for the ticket. You are experiencing the sunk cost effect.
To understand the effect, you must first understand the term “sunk cost.” A sunk cost is time, money, or effort that a person has spent and can’t get back — like the money for the ticket. Now, imagine a man purchases a restaurant. It doesn’t bring any profit. He should accept his failure and give up. But he doesn’t want to think that he wasted the money he spent — the “sunk cost.” So he keeps spending more and more money on the restaurant. In the end, it is a waste of even more money, just like enduring a bad movie is a waste of your time. This is the sunk cost effect.
It can happen to anyone. For example, you might stick with something unsuccessful because you don’t want to admit that your previous efforts were wasted. But it would be much wiser to accept your losses and move on to something better!
Unit 5. Social Issues
Reading 1. Behind the Scenes
In 2015, an online video of a lion became popular. In the video, the 13-year-old lion experiences the outdoors for the first time. He happily scratches the dirt and rolls in the grass. How could a lion have never been outside? It was because before that day, he had spent his entire life in circus cages.
Many other circus animals are trapped in the same situation. From a young age, they are trained to perform difficult tricks. They do this not because they want to, but because they want to avoid being punished. Furthermore, some circuses transport large animals in small, dirty cages. In 2004, a circus lion died from heatstroke in a transport car in the Southwestern United States.
Circus animals are not the only ones that suffer. Elephants at tourist attractions, for instance, are often abused. As babies, they are taken from their mothers and trained to obey by being beaten and starved.
No creature deserves to be abused. Before you watch an animal perform, think about the lion in the video. Would you like to live your life in a cage?
Reading 2. A Selfie Controversy
People love funny Internet photos. But recently, a cute picture of a monkey caused a serious legal battle.
It started when a photographer named David Slater traveled to the Indonesian jungle. He set up a camera to automatically take pictures of animals, but a monkey stole it. Surprisingly, it took hundreds of pictures! One of these pictures was a perfect “selfie.” The photo appeared on websites, and Slater briefly became famous.
Slater believed he owned the copyright of the photo, so people had to pay him money to use it. However, an organization called Wikimedia added the photo to its collection of “royalty-free images.” So people thought they could download the image for free. Slater was very upset. But Wikimedia argued that the monkey actually took the photo, so the monkey owns the copyright.
People have different opinions about who is right. Some say the photo belongs to Slater, while others think the monkey is the owner. What do you think?
Unit 6. Places
Reading 1. A Beautiful Store
Dear Tammi,
Today we took a tour of the city of Porto, Portugal. The most beautiful place there was the Lello Bookstore. When we walked in, we saw walls and bookshelves made of gorgeous, carved wood. I climbed up a huge, red stairway and admired the ceiling. It was made of one long, stained-glass window!
I didn’t know it before, but this bookstore is actually really famous. Our tour guide said that it has been here since 1906 and that it is considered one of the world’s best bookstores. Many people want to see it, so visitors have to pay three euros to go in. If you buy a book, you get that money back.
I also heard that this bookstore might have given J.K. Rowling some ideas for Harry Potter! She lived near here in the 1990s, so some people think that the design of the store inspired her to create the Hogwarts Library!
I am really enjoying Portugal, and I wish you were here. It would be fun to read together in the Lello Bookstore!
Your friend,
Jimin
Reading 2. A forbidden Palace
We have all been forbidden to do certain things. But can a city be forbidden? Yes, it can! The Forbidden City was built in Beijing from 1406 to 1420. This Chinese imperial palace was the center of the Chinese government for about 500 years.
You might wonder why it is called a “city.” This palace is not just one building. There are almost 1,000 buildings, so it is as big as a small city. And it is called “forbidden” because no one was allowed to enter it without permission from the emperor. In fact, a 26-foot-high wall surrounded it!
But everything changed when the last emperor, Puyi, stepped down in 1912. Its role as a political center ended, but its great historical value continued. The Forbidden City became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and it is now known as the Palace Museum. It is one of the best places to see the beauty of traditional Chinese architecture. For example, all the roofs are yellow because yellow was the color of the emperor! Furthermore, it holds over 1 million Chinese artifacts and works of art!
Unit 7. Sports
Reading 1. The Science of Spin
During a soccer match between Brazil and France in 1997, something amazing happened. A young Brazilian player, Roberto Carlos, scored on an unbelievable free kick. Carlos was 35 meters away from the goal with several players in front of him. But when he kicked the ball, his powerful shot flew around the players, curved sharply left, and flew into the goal.
The shot curved so much that people called it a “banana kick”! But how did he do it? The trick was in the spin. Carlos kicked the lower right side of the ball, and that made it spin to the left. As the ball flew forwards, air flowed on both sides. On the left side, the air moved in the same direction as the ball’s spin, and this created low pressure. Meanwhile, on the right, the air moved in the opposite direction of the spin. This created high pressure. The pressure difference quickly made the ball curve into the low-pressure zone. This is called the Magnus effect. Top sports players use this effect to create seemingly impossible shots.
Reading 2. A Classic Sporting Event
For thirteen days this June and July, thousands of tennis fans will attend an event almost as old as tennis itself: Wimbledon. The tournament began in 1877. It is named after the area of London where it takes place. As fans enjoy this year’s competition, they will also experience two interesting traditions.
First, the players must wear all white. Today, this is a strict dress code rule, but, originally, white clothes were a way to prevent sweat stains. Colored clothing turns dark when it is wet, so early Wimbledon players wore white to avoid looking sweaty.
Second, fans will consume a stunning 28,000 kilograms of strawberries and 7,000 liters of cream. Strawberries and cream has been served at Wimbledon since the first tournament. At that time, it was a fashionable dessert. Since English strawberries grow in the summer, the season of the competition, strawberries and cream remains the perfect snack at Wimbledon today.
If you plan to watch Wimbledon on TV this summer, try taking part in these traditions. Dress in white, enjoy some strawberries and cream, and cheer for your favorite player!
Unit 8. Food
Reading 1. Measuring Fire
You just ate an unfamiliar pepper. Your mouth is on fire, and you are sweating! Next time, check the Scoville Heat Unit Scale before eating any strange peppers! American scientist Wilbur Scoville created this scale in 1912. It is used to measure the spiciness of peppers. Each pepper has a special number from zero to over a million units. Peppers with larger Scoville numbers are hotter!
To test a pepper’s spiciness, tasters drink a mix of sugar water and pepper extract. Sugar water is added until the heat is gone. This ratio of pepper extract to sugar water is the pepper’s Scoville number. For example, 8,000 is the hottest jalapeño’s Scoville number. This means 8,000 grams of sugar water is needed before the heat from one gram of the jalapeño extract disappears! Luckily for tasters’ tongues, machines are now often used to measure how hot peppers are.
In 2013, the Carolina Reaper became the hottest pepper on Earth. Its Scoville number is 2.2 million! That is stronger than pepper spray. You have been warned!
Reading 2. Baker’s Dozen
Imagine that you go to a bakery to buy a dozen cookies. You come back with a baker’s dozen. How many cookies do you have? The answer is not 12. It’s 13. And, even better, the extra cookie is free!
Where did the phrase “a baker’s dozen” come from? Many people think it originated from ancient laws against selling bread that weighed too little. In many countries, if a baker was caught cheating his customers by selling lighter-than-normal loaves, he could be severely punished. To avoid cheating anyone accidentally, bakers in England gave their customers extra bread. When customers asked for a dozen loaves, they received 13 instead. And eventually people began to use the term “a baker’s dozen” to refer to the custom.