Kites in Guatemala
Guatemala celebrated the Day of the Dead. It is a time when the world of the living and the dead mix together.
One of the most interesting events about this holiday is flying kites. The kites are made by young people 40 days before they are flown. Guatemalans fly the giant kites outside cemeteries. They say that the kites carry messages for the dead in heaven.
This tradition is 110 years old and it is a big tourist attraction. Guatemala is a very folkloric country. That is what many people like about it.
Difficult words: cemetery (place with dead people in the ground), attraction (something which is interesting and people want to see it), folkloric (traditional).
Two men under the ground
A coal mine in Central China has collapsed because of flooding. The flooding was probably caused by a mining explosion.
Thirty-six miners were working in the mine when it collapsed. Thirty-one of them managed to escape and they are fine. Five miners, however, got stuck.
Two of them have been found recently and moved to hospital. They are still looking for the other three.
Difficult words: coal (hard black mineral which is burnt), collapse (fall down), flooding (big water).
Tunnel from Mexico
Police found a smuggling tunnel between Mexico and the USA. It’s another win for the war on drugs.
The tunnel is 1,760 feet long (536 metres) and it is fitted with a rail system, ventilation and electricity. More than 17,000 pounds (7,711 kilograms) of marijuana and 325 pounds (147 kilograms) of cocaine were found in the tunnel. All of it was confiscated.
Police say that this is the first time cocaine has been found in a smuggling tunnel. Three people were arrested.
Difficult words: smuggling tunnel (tunnel for taking something from one country to another illegally), fitted (has), confiscate (take officially).
Bus driver helps a girl
A school bus driver was driving his bus on a New York bridge when he saw a girl.
She was standing on the edge of the bridge. She likely wanted to kill herself. The driver stopped and addressed the girl a few times. She didn’t say anything, so he got out of the bus and came to her. The girl got back to safety after a short conversation.
Police and an ambulance arrived to help her. When they were gone, the driver got back on his bus. He received a standing ovation from the high school students that were on the bus.
Difficult words: address (speak to somebody), standing ovation (when people stand while they’re clapping because they like something very much).
Uncle of T-Rex
Scientists found a dinosaur species. It is the T-Rex’s “great-uncle.” It was smaller than the T-Rex but not less dangerous.
The bones were found in volcanic ash so scientists were able to find out the dinosaur’s age. The animal is 80 million years old. Scientists think that the discovery will help them understand more about the environment where the animal lived.
The fossils of the dinosaur have been found along Utah’s border with Colorado in the southwestern United States. Scientists believe that this kind of dinosaur lived from Mexico to Alaska.
Difficult words: species (kind of an animal), ash (soft grey “sand” from a volcano), fossil (old bones or animals turned to rock).
Man flies around Fuji
A Swiss pilot, known as Jetman, flew nine times around Mount Fuji. It took him 13 minutes.
He wore his 2-metre-wide wings with 4 jet engines. The average flight speed was 200 kilometres per hour.
Japan’s sacred volcano must look amazing when you fly around it. The Swiss man was pretty excited after the flight.
Difficult words: jet engine (motor used in planes), sacred (relating to god or religion), excited (happy).
Syrian baby in Israel
Hundreds of Syrians have been escaping the country recently because of its civil war. Some, who are wounded, go to Israel and seek medical care.
An Israeli hospital, however, received a Syrian who was not hurt. It was a 20-year-old pregnant woman. She was transferred to Israel by the army because there was no local hospital for her.
The hospital in Israel received her and the doctors helped. Everything was fine and the woman gave birth to a little boy. He is the first Syrian baby to be born in Israel.
Difficult words: wounded (hurt), seek (look for), pregnant (with a baby inside her).
Map of Mars
If you’d like to see the planet Mars in detail, you can. There is new video of Mars’s surface.
You can see all the mountains, craters and river beds. The video uses images which were taken by a special camera. The camera can sees Mars’s surface from 9 different angles.
The satellite with the camera started to work in 2003. Its mission was originally two years long, but it still works. The satellite has gone around Mars 12,500 times and it will continue to work until the end of 2014.
Difficult words: crater (hole in the ground), river bed (bottom of a river), satellite (machine which goes around a planet).
Many robots in Tokyo
Every two years, Tokyo holds a robot exhibition called iREX. Hundreds of companies showed off their new designs this year.
Many people were interested in all kinds of robotic toys, but there was serious stuff, --a robotic suit, for example. This suit has artificial muscles which support the user’s body. The Japanese population is getting older which can be a problem. This suit is a wonderful solution.
Another interesting robot looked like a real snake. This robot is able to move very well even over rough surfaces. It can swim, too. This robot might help a lot with finding people who have survived an accident.
Difficult words: exhibition (event during which things are shown to people), artificial (man-made), rough (not good for transportation).