Contents Sports Subcategory Article Title Page Extreme Dare to Jump? 8 Learning to Fly 10 A Frozen Sport 12 White Water Rafting 14 Surfing in the Sand 16 Equipment Getting Ready for Formula 1 18 The Fastest Cars in the World 20 Biking in Nature 22 Get in the Ball 24 A New Way to Travel 26 People The Greatest of All Time 28 Six Olympic Medals! 30 The Pride of Taiwan 32 Changing Baseball and the World 34 Never Give Up 36 Culture An Ancient Tradition 38 The Dancing Dragon 40 Believe It or Not! 42 The World s Oldest Sports 44 Why Do We Play Sports? 46 Special Great Athletes 48 Get the Cheese! 50 How Many Hot Dogs Can You Eat? 52 The Hardest Sport 54 Fighting Sports 56 4
Society Subcategory Article Title Page Environment Should We Use Nuclear Energy? 58 Is It Safe? 60 Clean and Popular 62 No More Polar Bears? 64 Less Every Day 66 Heritage Protection What Is Heritage Protection? 68 The Symbol of Ancient Rome 70 Tourism and Heritage Protection 72 War and Heritage Protection 74 Should All Heritage Be Protected? 76 Commerce Money That You Can t Touch 78 The Most Convenient Way to Shop 80 What Do You Think? 82 Let s Pay for It Ourselves! 84 Bottoms Up! 86 Trend Clean, Convenient, and Cheap 88 Make Home a Little Nicer 90 The Internet: Changing Everything 92 It s 3D! 94 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words 96 Events Who Is Watching You? 98 Typhoon Haiyan 100 Culture and Nature 102 Happy St. Patrick s Day! 104 A Fun and Strange Festival 106 5
Culture Subcategory Article Title Page Travel Be Safe and Have Fun 108 One of the World s Best Cities 110 A Beautiful City 112 A Trip to the Past 114 The Heart of Europe 116 Literature Want to Be a Writer? 118 One of Literature s Biggest Prizes 120 A Top Writer 122 The World s Oldest Novel 124 The King of Horror 126 Cuisine The Two Masters 128 Turning Food into Art 130 Free and Easy 132 Cooking Tips and Myths 134 Want to Try Fried Alligator? 136 Music The Stunning Music and Images of Woodkid 138 Play Me a Song 140 A Life of Music 142 The Changing World of Music 144 Rap Music 146 Creativity Turning Letters into Art 148 Send Me That Photo 150 Relax Your Body and Mind 152 49 Meters above the Ground 154 Little Inventions That Changed the World 156 6
Science Subcategory Article Title Page Human Body Why Do We Yawn? 158 The Brain: Myths and Facts 160 Don t Touch That! 162 An Amazing Invention 164 It s in Your Genes 166 Animals Africa s Most Dangerous Animal 168 Gone Forever 170 Biggest, Fastest, Smartest 172 Emperor Penguins 174 Staying Alive 176 Plants Hungry Plants 178 Giants of the Forest 180 Danger! 182 Plants That Can Help You 184 How Do Plants Spread Seeds? 186 Mysteries It s Raining Fish! 188 Nessie 190 England s Greatest Mystery 192 Stones That Move 194 The Most Powerful Force in Space 196 Future Traveling in the Future 198 Going to Mars 200 Inside a 4D Film 202 The World s Smallest Science 204 A Microchip in Your Body 206 Vocabulary List 208 Photo Credits 216 7
Society: Heritage Protection Track 032 What Is Heritage Protection? Heritage is traditional beliefs, customs, and culture. We use the word heritage in many different ways. People talk about their family s heritage, their city s heritage, and their country s heritage. Here are some examples of heritage. During Chinese New Year, people in Taiwan give red envelopes. That is part of Taiwanese heritage. Every year in the American city New Orleans, there is a huge party called Mardi Gras. That is a part of New Orleans heritage. Heritage can also be more private and personal. If your family has a big dinner every Sunday night, that s part of your family s heritage. Today, heritage is changing. The Internet connects people around the world. In many ways this is a good thing, because we can learn about the heritage of other countries, and we can show our own heritage to the world. However, some people worry that traditional heritage is disappearing. Think about it. In many ways, countries are becoming more and more alike. In just about every country around the world, you can find MacDonald s, Nike shoes, Starbucks coffee, and American movies. Some people think this is a good change, and others don t like it. You can decide whether or not you think it s a good thing. However, almost everyone wants to protect their traditional heritage, and sometimes this is hard. For example, when a new MacDonald s opens in your town, a traditional restaurant might have to close. This is why heritage protection is so important. Heritage protection is a simple idea. It means keeping your country s or your city s heritage alive. People do this in many ways. The biggest part of heritage protection is probably preserving old buildings. A few other examples of heritage protection are making sure your children speak your traditional language, and teaching your heritage to children. 68 The world is changing very fast. This change brings a lot of good things. But as the world is changing, it is important to remember the heritage of our parents and our grandparents.
Reading Comprehension Choose the correct answer for each question. 1. What is the main point of heritage protection? (A) Showing your heritage to other people (B) Using the Internet (C) Keeping your heritage alive (D) Making heritage disappear 2. What is the biggest part of heritage protection? (A) Protecting old buildings (B) Doing traditional dances (C) Giving red envelopes (D) Telling stories 3. Where does Mardi Gras take place? (A) Japan (B) Taiwan (C) Canada (D) The USA 4. What is happening to most countries? (A) They are becoming the same. (B) They are becoming more different. (C) They are getting smaller. (D) They are destroying old buildings. 5. What is the main point of the last paragraph? (A) It s OK to forget traditional heritage. (B) The world is changing, but it s happening very slowly. (C) As the world changes, we have to remember our heritage. (D) People should talk to their parents and grandparents a lot. 6. Which of the following is NOT an example of heritage protection? (A) Making sure your kids speak your traditional language (B) Protecting old buildings (C) Teaching your kids about your heritage Heritage Protection Group (D) Drinking Starbucks and wearing Nikes 69
Culture: Literature Track 057 Want to Be a Writer? Would you like to be a writer? A lot of people have a dream to write novels and share their stories with the world. If you want to choose this as your career, then you had better be ready to do a lot of work. Writing is fun, but it s not easy. If you want to be a professional writer, the first thing you will require is a good book. Stephen King, who is a famous horror writer, says that in order to become a good writer, you must read four hours a day and write four hours a day. This might sound impossible, but it s something that you have to do. Writing is important because it gives people practice. Writing is just like playing the guitar or playing basketball in order to get better, you have to practice all the time. Reading is important because you can learn from other authors. When you read novels, you learn about what you should do and what you shouldn t do. Let s say you have written a novel. Congratulations! Now you have to get it published. This isn t easy. In fact, it s often a lot harder than writing a book. In order to be published, the first thing you have to do is find an agent. An agent will introduce your book to publishing companies. Most publishing companies don t speak directly to authors; they only deal with agents. If a publisher accepts your novel, you still have plenty of work to do. Publishers usually have their own ideas about how to improve a book. An editor who works for the publishing company will probably read your book. The editor will look for mistakes, and he or she will give ideas about how to improve the story. 118 If you want to be a writer, you have to be very patient. Everything takes a long time. Writing a book, looking for an agent, looking for a publisher and editing your book all seem to take forever. Don t give up. If you keep trying, your dream might come true.
Reading Comprehension Choose the correct answer for each question. 1. According to Stephen King, how much should writers read every day? (A) One hour per day (B) Two hours per day (C) Three hours per day (D) Four hours per day 2. What do agents do? (A) Edit books (B) Introduce books to publishing companies (C) Write books (D) Come up with ideas for books 3. What does the third sentence of the second paragraph mean? (A) It sounds impossible, so you can t do it. (B) It sounds impossible, but you have to do it. (C) It s very easy, so you should give it a try. (D) It is possible to do it, but only for a few people. 4. In the last sentence of the third paragraph, what does they refer to? (A) Writers (B) Agents (C) Books (D) Publishing companies 5. What do editors do? (A) Work with agents (B) Write novels (C) Look for mistakes (D) Introduce books to publishing companies 6. According to the last paragraph, which is true about publishing a book? (A) It doesn t take a long time. (B) People who write books are never patient. (C) It takes a very long time. On Writing by Stephen King (D) It is very easy. 119
Science: Future Track 099 Inside a 4D Film A lot of people think that 3D films are pretty cool. When you watch a 3D film, it sometimes feels like you can reach out and touch the things that you see. In the future, however, 3D might be replaced by something even more advanced: 4D. What you see in a 4D film is the same as what you see in a 3D film. The screen is the same, and the glasses are the same. 4D films are different because they don t only use 3D technology. People in the audience also feel physical things during the films. Let s look at a few examples. Let s say that you re watching a film about earthquakes. If you re watching a 4D film, maybe your seat will suddenly start to shake. It will feel like you re in the middle of an earthquake, but you re not. The 4D effects are making your seat shake. Or perhaps during the film, one of the characters gives flowers to another character. The people in the movie theater might suddenly smell flowers. The point of 4D films is to make people feel like they are in the film. When we watch films these days, we only use two senses: our sense of sight and our sense of hearing. If we use our other senses, the film might feel more real to us. 4D films already exist. The film Avatar was released everywhere in 3D, but in Korea and Hong Kong, it was also released in 4D. People who watched Avatar in 4D felt wind and rain. They also smelled smoke from the weapons in the film, and sometimes their seats moved. Will 4D replace 3D films? It s possible, but we can t be sure yet. One problem with 4D films is that it s very expensive to show them in theaters. Before a theater shows a 4D film, it has to buy a lot of special equipment. However, 4D films are catching on. Other films shown in 4D 202 include Shrek 4-D, and Iron Man 3.
Reading Comprehension Choose the correct answer for each question. 1. Which film was NOT shown in 4D? (A) Avatar (B) Spider-Man 3 (C) Shrek (D) Iron Man 3 2. What is one problem with 4D movies? (A) They are expensive. (B) They are a little dangerous. (C) They don t feel real. (D) Actors don t like them. 3. What does the second sentence of the sixth paragraph mean? (A) We know that it s not possible. (B) We know that if definitely will happen. (C) It might happen, but we don t know yet. (D) We can t be sure because there are no 4D movies yet. 4. Which of the following is NOT true about 4D movies? (A) They use the same glasses and screen as 3D movies. (B) Some have been shown in Hong Kong and South Korea. (C) When you watch them, your seat might shake. (D) Movie theaters that show them don t need special equipment. 5. In line 2 of the second paragraph, what does they refer to? (A) 4D films (B) Glasses (C) Screen (D) 3D technology 6. What would only happen during a 4D movie? (A) The sound would be very loud. (B) You would feel like you could reach out and touch the things that you see. (C) Water would fall on your head. 4D films (D) You would wear special glasses. 203