&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS                                                           CA70804.TXT
GRADE 8  --- from the 1970s
Source: OISE / U. of Toronto
edited by dph 18 dec 2003
Re-edited by dph 20 March 2004
Re-edited again 21 June 2005


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BITTER WIND
=Concetta in on her private feelings. Fortunately, Mr =Leavitt now began to discuss the sketches.
=Olivia sighed with relief.
She didn't listen very carefully as he pointed out that the sailboat in the first picture was moving
in the opposite direction to the waves. She was waiting until he began to talk about hers. He
would say it was the only one in the group that showed real imagination, and then he would ask
=Olivia to explain about =Boreas because, of course, the rest of the class didn't study mythology
in public schools. Mr =Leavitt stopped at the sketch next to. hers, and her heart was beating so
heavily that she could scarcely hear what he said.
The picture showed a child standing on a street corner, her
shoulders hunched up, a newspaper blown flat against her legs. A
lock of hair swept a broad diagonal line across the lower part of
the face, so that the top seemed just a pair of big dark eyes. "Now, what's good about this
picture?" Mr =Leavitt asked. One of the boys at the back of the room said, "Perspective." "Yes,
the perspective is well handled; she's got the angle of the street corner and the building just right.
What else?" "The proportions of the kid," said someone else. "Yes," Mr =Leavitt said slowly.
"What else?" "It's a real kid." A girl's voice spoke eagerly. "I seen my little brother stand on a
street corner like that tons of times." "Good," said Mr =Leavitt. "But nobody's hit on the right
answer yet. Why does your little brother stand on the street corner, =June?
Why doesn't he play in the street?"
"Because when the wind blows, it's warmer near a building, of course." The girl was bored now;
she looked at Mr =Leavitt as if she thought he was dumb.
"Exactly," said Mr =Leavitt. "Now this is what I mean. This picture is the only one where the
artist has implied the wind by showing what it does. There isn't any wind in the picture, actually,
but you feel it, don't you? It's a cold sort of picture, isn't it? You know that child is cold."
"Oh, sure," a lot of the children muttered. 

SOME LONGER SELECTIONS   
place of the rollers about six thousand years ago, and now it has a part in almost everything we
do. Probably the first wheels were just two slices cut from the roller or log, with a hole cut in the
center, and fastened to the two ends of a long piece of wood called an axle. The wheel and the
axle both turned together but were held in place so that they could not roll out from under the
sledge. This made a kind of cart. Later the axle was fastened to the bottom of the cart, and only
the wheels turned. Sometimes, too, a wheel was made of planks of wood fastened together and
then roughly cut into a circle.
From the solid wheel came the wheel with spokes. By leaving holes in the wheel, the wheel was
made lighter.
Some of the wheels of long ago even had tires. Buried in the earth in =Britain, tires of iron from
ancient chariots have been dug up, and old chariot wheels have been found in =Egypt with thick
tires of twisted leather.
Many different peoples the world over had chariots, but they were all very much alike. They were
uncomfortable to ride in, but they could be driven at great speed. The sides were lower than the
front, the floor was near the ground, and the back was open. Some chariots were very beautiful.
They were inlaid with glittering gold and silver and were drawn by swift horses.
Many, many chariots were used in olden days. In the chariot in which only one man rode, the
reins of his horse were tied about his waist so that his arms were free for throwing spears or
shooting arrows. Chariots of some nations were large enough for a driver and a shield bearer.
The chariot spread from =Babylonia and =Assyria to =Egypt and other parts of the
=Mediterranean. Those of the =Greeks were very light and beautiful. The chariots of the
=Romans were often made of bronze. Their racing chariots were pulled by four horses, side by
side. In the triumphal processions the chariots of the =Roman conquerors were drawn by lions or
leopards or even bears or elephants.
The great =JuliusCaesar brought back to =Rome, from conquered =Britain, chariots which were
larger and heavier than his own. Some of them, too, were built with cruel, sharp knives fastened
to the wheels and body. For thousands of years people rode in chariots. The oldest known vehicle
in the world is a chariot found buried in the


DEVELOPING READING SKILLS 
Nickel still is a friendly mineral. It still likes to mix with other minerals and not always for its
own good. When nickel makes a mineral friend, good or bad, it clings right to it.
An old tale tells us that it was because of that very habit of sticking to its old friends that men
called the mineral nickel. There is an interesting story about how nickel got its name. Once upon
a time, in old =Saxony, a part of north =Germany, there were many rich copper mines. Early in
the eighteenth century some miners were out prospecting for ore. They chose a place and they
started to dig.
For days the men dug without finding anything; then all at once one of them called loudly to the
others. He had struck a fresh lode of beautiful ore.
The miners were happy when they started to work the mine. They had a hard time getting the ore
loose but they didn't mind that. They didn't know then that when they finally did get the ore from
the ground they wouldn't be able to take the metal from it.
They burned the ore and they burned it. Day after day, week after week, they worked. They tried
first one way and then another but they couldn't take the metal from the ore. They tried every way
they knew, again and again, but their beautiful ore would end as worthless slag.
The miners began to feel afraid. Never before had anything like this happened to them. They
couldn't understand it. There was something strange about this new ore. Perhaps, they whispered
to each other, this ore was bewitched.
A great many people believed in magic and in witchcraft in those days. Some of the miners of
that time thought there were gnomes who lived in and under the ground. Gnomes, it was said,
were in charge of the precious gems and the minerals and all the treasures in the earth. Most of
the gnomes were supposed to be friendly to human beings, but a few of them were spiteful and
mean.
The strangest thing about the gnomes was that they could move through the earth as easily as
birds fly through the air or as fish swim in water. That wasn't all! There was a king of the
gnomes. He was called "Old Nick." The worst of it was that "Old Nick" could put a curse on all
the things below the earth.
Surely, then, the miners murmured to each other, that was what had happened. This was
bewitched ore. They began to call the strange ore =Kupfer-Nickel (copper-nickel) after.


accurate is (a) the color and color pattern (b) the skeleton (c) the outside appearance.
Which sentence provides the answer to question ?

Rock is everywhere in the world, and everywhere it is being changed. High up on the
mountainsides, rock is split by the heat of the sun and cracked apart by freezing water. It is rolled
and crushed by rivers of water and rivers of ice. It is crumbled by lichens and dissolved by
flowing water. Over countless centuries, rock is turned into soil everywhere in the world.
But the journey of the rock is not ended. It is never ended. In every tiny part of every living thing
are minerals that once were rock that turned to soil. These minerals were drawn out of the soil by
plant roots, and the plant used them to form leaves and stems, flowers and fruits. When the plant
was eaten by an animal, these same minerals became part of the animal. And still the journey of
the rock is not ended, for nothing in the world remains unchanged forever.
A rock is not always a rock; a rose is not a rose forever. The fresh crisp apple that you may eat
today is as old as the hills. And when you eat it, a tiny bit of those hills becomes part of you.
Just think of what that apple may have been before it became part of you ! Once it may have been
in the autumn leaves that fell and crumbled into the soil near the trunk of the apple tree. Years
before it may have been in the shell of a robin's egg. And once it may have been part of a
stalactite in some dark underground cavern. Perhaps for a short while it sailed high over the earth
in a butterfly's wing. Long ago, it may have been in a kernel of corn planted by an =Indian.


Note where there are several subtopics in one sentence. Omit, rearrange, or alter the words in
order to express the ideas briefly.
     Omit all material that you consider unnecessary in a study outline.

July =20, =1969, will undoubtedly become one of history's red-letter days. It was on that date that
man first walked on the moon. Before that historic day, there had been many impractical schemes
for reaching the moon. Samples of =Babylonian art show a man flying toward the moon on the
back of a giant bird. After magnetism was discovered, dreamers believed that a giant magnet on
the dome of a spaceship could carry the craft to the moon. The =French author, =JulesVerne, in
his book =FromEarthtotheMoon, told how a cannon ten miles long and powered with a great
charge of gunpowder could shoot a moon train across space as far as the moon. Five hundred
years ago, a =Chinese merchant tried a moon shot in a chair driven by forty-seven rockets.
Whether the merchant reached the moon is not known. Nothing was heard of him after takeoff !

For centuries men speculated about the moon's surface. Through telescopes, scientists could
make out huge circular patches which they called "seas." They could see giant, jagged mountains.
They thought that the moon's surface was covered with dust, but they did not know how thick it
was or how tightly packed until the first men on the moon made an eyewitness report. The first
two astronauts on the moon in their first few minutes there radioed back to earth factual data
about the moon's surface. =NeilArmstrong reported "The surface is fine and powdery. The dirt
adheres in fine layers, like powdered charcoal, to the soles and insides.



Penetrating ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause serious and even fatal burns unless the space
traveler is well protected. The earth's atmosphere protects us here on earth from the effects of
ultraviolet radiation to a considerable degree. Nevertheless, even here on earth we sometimes get
a serious sunburn if we stay out in the sun's direct rays too long.
The space man will also be exposed to penetrating cosmic rays. These cosmic rays are similar to
powerful X-rays and atomic radiations and are much stronger in outer space than on the earth's
surface. To protect his eyes from damage by ultraviolet radiation, the astronaut wears protective
glasses, or the spacecraft mdst have windows made of special material.
Some of the powerful cosmic rays (charged particles) are emitted from the sun following a solar
flare. These flares occur periodically on the surface of the sun and are apparently venting valves
for the tremendous forces at work in the sun's interior. In nearly all cases, these flares occur
during solar "storms" which can be seen from earth as "sunspots." A satellite has been designed
to study this phenomenon along with other observations of the sun. This satellite is the =Orbiting
=SolarObservatory, or =OSO.
Another radiation hazard exists in the belt of electrically charged particles that surrounds the
earth. It was discovered in =1958 by a physicist at =IowaStateUniversity, Dr =JamesVanAllen ,
and bears his name.


In this selection, the author's purpose is to present information. He also wants to capture his
readers' interest. Let us analyze the selection to see if he succeeds.
First, scan the whole article, noting the subheadings. These give you clues about what to expect
in the body of the selection. Then read the article.
Buried in the sports news on page =5 of the December =19, =1903, issue of the =NewYorkDaily
=Tribune was an item headlined, "Flying Machine Works." The story following began:
=Norfolk, =va.  A successful trial of a flying machine was made yesterday, near =KittyHawk,
=NC, by =Wilbur and =OrvilleWright of =Dayton, =Ohio. The machine flew for three miles in
the face of a wind blowing at the registered velocity of twenty-one miles an hour, and then
gracefully descended to earth at the spot selected by the man in the navigator's car as a suitable
landing place. The machine had no balloon attachment, but gets its force from propellers worked
by a small engine.  This matter-of-fact, undramatic, and, incidentally, inaccurate treatment is
typical of public reaction to the world's first successful "flying machine." Maybe the news was so
sensational that many people doubted it. Certainly part of the explanation lies in the =Wright
brothers themselves, who were naturally reserved, shunned publicity, and did much of their work
in secrecy.  Partners in a Bicycle Shop =WilburWright, born in =1867 near =Melville, =Indiana,
and =Orville, born in =1871 at =Dayton, were sons of a bishop of the =Church of the =United
=Brethren in =Christ. In addition to their parents, the family consisted of two older brothers and a
younger sister.
Pressing financial matters cut short both boys' formal education, making it necessary for them to
leave high school before graduating, and start to work. From the very beginning, =Wilbur and
=Orville were partners and self-employed. In =1892, the brothers opened a bicycle shop in
=Dayton, where they sold, repaired, and eventually manufactured.



The =Wrights Get Some Advice
=Chanute was impressed by the brothers' plans and understanding of the problems of flight, and
wrote telling them so. By October of =1900, they had built a full-sized glider. Then, armed with
the knowledge they had gained from their reading and from working with models, and with the
encouragement of =Chanute, the =Wrights decided to "vacation" near =KittyHawk, =North
=Carolina, to test their glider in flight.
Although this visit to =KittyHawk in =1900 was short, before returning to =Dayton the =Wrights
succeeded in flying the glider. While it was far from perfect, they were elated to learn that their
basic design and ideas of control and structure were superior to any others known to be in use at
that time.  In =1901, =Wilbur and =Orville returned to =KittyHawk with a new, larger glider, in
which they had incorporated the lessons learned in the previous year's experiments. =Chanute
attended these trials, and thus these men, who had been in regular correspondence for more than
a year, met for the first time. Although the new glider flew, and surpassed the performance of the
=1900 model, the brothers were greatly disappointed because of the poor control they had over it.
After this experience, the =Wrights' interest in flying waned for a while. The seemingly
insurmountable obstacle facing them was the fact that the accepted aerodynamic tables were
incorrect, and these tables were of primary importance to the success of their machine.
Faced with the realization that the only solution to their problem was to develop their own
aerodynamic data, the =Wright brothers doggedly set to work. With several measuring devices -
notably a wind tunnel - and with the aid of =Chanute in solving the complicated mathematics
involved, the =Wrights compiled a new table. On the strength of the corrected figures, the
brothers began work on another glider.
New Theories Tried Out
In September of 1=902, they returned to =KittyHawk with a radically modified plane. The
=Wrights were jubilant over its performance after just a few trials. They were able to maintain
almost complete control over the glider, and the correctness of their revised tables and other
design theories was borne out.



little trick may upset a freight train of conversation for the sake of a battered witticism."
However, the =Autocrat was a terrific punner himself, and apparently his house served in its day
as a sort of pun exchange, for =Longfellow had occasion to observe that there was no place like
=Holmes.
Punning, for all its detractors, has a long history and an honorable lineage. =Shakespeare did not
disdain the aid of punning. In =Romeo and =Juliet, after =Mercutio has been stabbed, =Romeo
tries to assure him that the hurt cannot be much; and the dying hero expires with a pun : "No, 'it
is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door ; but it is enough, it will serve. Ask for me
tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." It is no accident that the best punsters have been
poets, for a pun plays with a word not. only for its sense but also for its sound. The
seventeenth-century poet =Wither wrote =IGrowandWitherBothtogether.
When reproached for not writing more serious poetry, =Thomas =Hood replied
If I would earn my livelihood, I have to be a lively =Hood.
=Hood is credited also with the immortal pun
The light that lies
In women's eyes
And lies and lies and lies!
Perhaps the best puns are those that embody not only a twist in meaning, but a trick of idea. No
one has ever surpassed the critical remark of =EugeneField, who ridiculed an actor's bad
performance of =KingRichardIII: "He played the king as if he were afraid somebody else might
play the ace."

There are puns that have been not only adopted by masses of people but practiced by them. Not
too many years ago the country was enjoying or suffering the "Knock Knock" craze. This was the
formula: "=Knockknock, who's there?" "Major." "Major who?" "Major come downstairs, didn't
I?" Many of these puns centered about songs. Here, omitting the opening "=Knock, =knock,
who's there?" are two: =Chester. =Chester who? =Chester song at twilight.


 is everywhere in the world, and everywhere it is being changed. High up on the mountainsides,
rock is split by the heat of the sun and cracked apart by freezing water. It is rolled and crushed by
rivers of water and rivers of ice. It is crumbled by lichens and dissolved by flowing water. Over
countless centuries, rock is turned into soil everywhere in the world.
But the journey of the rock is not ended. It is never ended. In every tiny part of every living thing
are minerals that once were rock that turned to soil. These minerals were drawn out of the soil by
plant roots, and the plant used them to form leaves and stems, flowers and fruits. When the plant
was eaten by an animal, these same minerals became part of the animal. And still the journey of
the rock is not ended, for nothing in the world remains unchanged forever.
A rock is not always a rock ; a rose is not a rose forever. The fresh crisp apple that you may eat
today is as old as the hills. And when you eat it, a tiny bit of those hills becomes part of you.
Just think of what that apple may have been before it became part of you ! Once it may have been
in the autumn leaves that fell and crumbled into the soil near the trunk of the apple tree. Years
before it may have been in the shell of a robin's egg. And once it may have been part of a
stalactite in some dark underground cavern. Perhaps for a short while it sailed high over the earth
in a butterfly's wing. Long ago, it may have been in a kernel of corn planted by an =Indian.

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