Chapter 5: Talking to Animals

(Fry Words 301-325:   being   it's   your   stand – stood   sun   questions   fish   area   mark   dog   horse   birds   problem   complete   room   know – knew   since   ever   piece   tell - told   usually   didn't   friends   easy - easily   heard) 

As the sun set on the burning wreck Bill sat down. There was nothing he could do. He was lucky to be alive, but how many people on that ship had died? Had it been an accident? Or was someone trying to kill him?

Too many questions. But he knew sitting out here looking at a burning ship wouldn't solve his problem. Which was communication, as usual.

Ever since he was a young man he'd never had many friends. He didn't make friends easily. His mother usually told him to go out and talk to people, but he liked to just stay in his room and think. He liked being in his room. His parents had been farmers and he'd preferred to talk to his animals – he liked animals much better than humans.

He remembered their red horse, called Flame, whose job was to plough the fields but could run like the wind through the woods. They also had a black dog called Coal, that Bill had loved to play with for hours in the fields and out on long walks, whatever the weather. They'd had other animals as well – fish, birds – that for fun Bill had sometimes asked questions to, and usually he never heard them answer, but sometimes - just sometimes - he thought he did.

“It's your problem,” he remembers a bird singing to him once. 

“What's my problem?” he asked.

But they just kept repeating, “It's your problem.”

He didn't find it easy to understand the fish, however, as they were usually under water. He wondered what happened to Flame and Coal.

And now this was his problem. How to communicate with the black sponge balls. Where had they come from? Nobody knew. One morning five years ago the people of the town had woken up and they had been there ever since. A complete mystery. A piece of a puzzle.

It was almost dark. It was time to stand up and go back to the town square. Bill was hungry, but he had to mark out an area around the sponge balls to stop other people touching them. He decided to try one more time tonight and then go to bed.

Read Chapter 1 : The English Scientists
Read Chapter 2 : Song Of War
Read Chapter 3 : The Plan
Read Chapter 4 : Bill's Ship Sails

Read Chapter 6 : The Indian Girl

© Chris Young 2018

Image credit : https://pixabay.com/en/arabian-arabian-horses-horses-2853176/

Chapter 4 : Bill's Ship Sails

Fry Words 326 to 350 : order   red   door   sure   become   top   tip   across   today   during   short better   best   however   low   hours   black   products   happen - happened   whole   measure   remember   early   waves   reach - reached

Bill had become better at remembering what happened. He sat on the beach where the waves almost reached his toes. He had been there for many short hours today, since early morning, remembering the whole conversation between himself, the farmer and the English Scientist. They had told him he was sure to be the best person to learn how to speak to the black sponge balls, to ask for their help, if possible, and then catch a ship across the sea to the island.

However, that had not happened. During his time trying to communicate with the six black sponge balls in the town square, he had learnt nothing. He had measured them and found them to be one hundred centimetres across, from top to bottom. And when he reached up and touched them they became red and warm. But that was all.

So now he was sitting here on the beach, watching the waves and feeling not a whole lot better.

He looked across the sea to the island and saw the ship he should have gotten on.

Bill knew he had to do more tests on the sponge balls, but he had to order some products to help him. He would order them tomorrow.

The ship had stopped, and black smoke was now coming from its engines.

Bill stood up in surprise and shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand to try to get a better look.

Suddenly the ship exploded.


Read Chapter 1 : The English Scientists
Read Chapter 2 : Song Of War
Read Chapter 3 : The Plan

Read Chapter 5 : Talk To Animals.

© Chris Young 2018
Image Credit : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burning_Ship_144x.jpg

Chapter 3 : The Plan

Words used : (Fry 351-375) : listen  wind    rock   space   covered fast   several   hold – held   himself   towards   five   step – stepped morning   pass – passed   vowel   true   hundred   against   pattern numeral   table   north   slow – slowly   money   map   door   waves low   units   six   sponge    balls   English   scientist   course   listen – listened – listening 

Check these words in a dictionary and write down the meanings:

strike (v)

genetic (adj)

grotesque (adj)

be up to someone

The Plan

The farmer slowly pulled out something from his cloak and placed it on the table. It was money – a lot of money – and a map. Along the top were the numerals from one to five, and up the side were the vowels A,E,I,O,U, to form a grid pattern. Bill and the English Scientist looked at the map. In square A-three was the town to the north, where they had come from in the morning. In square O-five was the location of the farm they were at now, three hundred units away.

Outside the singing voice had stopped. Bill stood up and put his ear against the door to listen but heard nothing but the wind.

“So what is your course of action, old man?” asked the English Scientist. Bill turned round and took a step towards the table. “We are listening.”

The old man with the scar leaned heavily against the table and waited until several seconds had passed. Finally he said, “We, the famers, will strike.” Bill and the English scientist looked at each other. “The king and his armies will have no food. Then you and the English scientists will take this money and map and prepare an attack on the night of the next full moon.”

“You are crazy,” said the English scientist. “We are scientists, not soldiers. We cannot fight against an army, even a hungry one.”

Then the old man smiled, his scar twisting grotesquely. “It's true, you cannot. You must use the science of the six sponge balls to fight,” he said. “And you must win.”

There was silence in the room, and the wind howled outside.

Suddenly the door opened and a young woman came in. She was beautiful and shy, and had the same scar on her face as the old man.

Bill and the English scientist looked at her in surprise.

“It's genetic,” said the old man, as the young woman stepped towards him to be held.

That evening we took off fast and flew low over the waves back to the town in the north.

Alone in a space in the town square Bill sat and watched the red light of the sunset play against the black sponge balls, and held himself. The map and the money were in his pocket. 

It was up to him.

Reading/Writing tasks :

1. What is the old man's plan?

2. Why does the English scientist think this will not work?

3. How do you think Bill feels at the end?

Choose five difficult new words and write an example sentence for each one below:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Read Chapter 1 : The English Scientists
Read Chapter 2 : Song Of War

Read Chapter 4 : Bill's Ship Sails
Read Chapter 5 : Talking To Animals

© Chris Young 2018

Chapter 2 : Song of War

Words used (P4d): farm   pulled   draw   voice   seen   cold   cried  plan    notice    south   sing   war   ground   fall   king   town   I'll  unit   figure   certain    field   travel   wood   fire    upon    slowly north   himself    covered    wind   rock   listen   Oh   fact   scientists  course   decided   though   language   heat

The boat-plane flew south and landed upon the ground in a field near a farm. They went inside, and a dark figure whose face could not be seen said, “Are you cold?” and he pulled up a chair near the wood fire. “Please,” said the figure, whose face could not be seen. “Sit.”

Bill was certainly cold and fell into the chair upon a blanket.

“We have travelled from the town,” said the English scientist. “The king will certainly fall.”

That's when Bill noticed the sound of someone singing. It was a beautiful voice, singing a song of war – so beautiful he almost cried.

“The king will never fall,” said the figure as he came closer to the fire and slowly pulled back his hood. “I am certain of it, and I'll show you why.”

“Is that a fact?” said the English scientist.

“We, the farmers, have a plan,” the figure said, drawing near the fire, “We have decided a course of action.”

Bill saw a red scar stretch from the man's left eye to his mouth.

The heat of the wood fire was warming Bill's hands. Outside, the beautiful voice continued singing, though Bill could not understand the language well. Something about a certain town in the north.

He covered himself with a blanket and listened to the patterns of the wind whistling against the rocks.

Suddenly the voice that had been singing so beautifully, cried out, “Oh! War! War! There will be war!”

Read Chapter 1 : The English Scientists


Read Chapter 3 : The Plan.
Read Chapter 4 : Bill's Ship Sails

Read Chapter 5 : Talking To Animals

Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-civil-war-destruction.jpg

The Plesiosaur

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35115195 : 18/12/2015

200-year-old fossil mystery resolved

Scientists have reconstructed how an ancient reptile swam in the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs.

Discussion

1. What dinosaurs do you know of?
2. What's your favourite dinosaur?
3. When were they alive on earth?
4. Have you ever been to a dinosaur museum?
5. What's your favourite dinosaur movie?
6. What do you know of the Loch Ness Monster?

New Words:

plesiosaur (n)   a limb (n)  gait (n)

unveil (v)  palaeontologist (n)  Jurrassic (adj)

hind (adj)  forelimb-dominated (adj)

manoeuvrability (n)  palaeobiology (n) 

 ferocious (adj)

Read the article and answer this question:

1. What is it about? 

Read it again in detail and answer the questions at the end.

Computer simulations suggest the plesiosaur moved through the water like a penguin, using its front limbs as paddles and back limbs for steering.

The creature's swimming gait has been a mystery since bones of the first known specimen were dug out of a Dorset cliff 200 years ago.

Watch the video of how it moved here.

The plesiosaur was discovered by the fossil hunter Mary Anning in 1821.

At the time even the name dinosaur had not been invented.

A scientific paper unveiling Anning's find a few years later raised the question of how the marine creature swam, given its unusual pairs of wing-like flippers.

The debate has continued until today, with a computer simulation based on a Jurassic fossil specimen providing evidence in favour of penguin-like motion.

Dr Adam Smith of Nottingham Natural History Museum, Wollaton Hall, worked on the study.

He explained that palaeontologists were divided on whether the marine creature used its four limbs in a rowing action like the oars of a boat; a flight stroke similar to modern penguins and turtles; or some sort of combination of the two.

"Our study shows the up-and-down movement is more likely," he told BBC News.

"That's how turtles and penguins swim today.

"Penguins are literally flying through the water."

The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, is based on a computer simulation of a Jurassic fossil from Germany.

The fossil is unusual in being an almost complete skeleton with all four limbs preserved.

It is smaller than many other members of the plesiosaur family, at about 3m long.

The computer model shows the animal's hind limbs provided "relatively weak thrust", say Dr Smith and co-researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, US.

"We conclude that plesiosaurs were forelimb-dominated swimmers that used their hind limbs mainly for manoeuvrability and stability," they report.

The plesiosaurs were predatory marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

They are unique in the animal kingdom for having two pairs of large wing-like flippers.

Palaeobiology expert Dr David Martill of the University of Portsmouth said the new work suggested that in the small plesiosaur at least, the forelimbs did all the work.

He said it remained to be seen if the same was true of the largest plesiosaurs, which were ferocious marine predators.

"These beasts probably fed by twist feeding like the large crocodiles of today," he said.

"If this were the case, then the hind limbs may have been used to spin the animal on its long axis."

Questions:

1. When were the bones of the first specimen found?

2. Who found them and where?

3. Why is the time of this finding especially interesting?

4. What two ways of swimming were suggested to be the way of motion through water of the dinosaur?

5. Which way is chosen by Dr Adam Smith of Nottingham Natural History Museum?

6. What is special about the fossil found in Germany?

7. What does the computer model show?

8. Is this the same for small and large plesiosaurs?

9. How is it thought that they feed?

Discussion / Writing Ideas

1. Write a story abut a dinosaur set in modern day. How did it get here? What happens? How many people does it eat? Can it get home? Happy or sad ending?

2. Do you think we will ever be able to clone dinosaurs like in the movie Jurassic Park? Do you think we should, or not?

3. Do you think the Loch Ness Monster may have been a plesiosaur?

Last UK Guantanamo Bay Detainee Comes Home

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34675324

In October 2015, after 13 years, Shaker Aamer finally came home to the UK.

1. What do you know about Guantanamo?

2. Where is it and what kind of people are kept there?

3. Look at the picture. Describe Shaker.

New Vocabulary

detainee (n)   interrogation (n)  torture (n)

resilient (adj)  condone (v)  find one's feet  jihadist (adj)

allegations (n)  an ordeal (n)  to be charged (v)  to be tried (v)

Now watch the video and answer the question:

1. What's the video about?

Watch again and answer the following questions:

1. How many years was he held?

2. When was his son born?

3. Who campaigned for his release?

4. Had he been found guilty of any crimes?

5. When and why did he go to Afghanistan?

6. How was he captured?

7. What happened to him in Afghanistan?

8. What did the documents claim?

9. Why is what happened to him embarrassing politically?

10. Will his return be the end of his ordeal?

11. What does he say he needs to do when he gets back?

Discussion / Writing Ideas:

1. Write/say an example sentence with each of the new words.

2. What are your opinions about Guantanamo Bay? Do you think it is/was a necessary evil?

Don't forget to leave a comment and write up any new words in your vocabulary notebooks! :)

Pilot Lands Plane After Propeller Falls Off

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-34537135

1. Do you like flying? Why/ Why not?
2. Have you ever had a scary experience in a plane?
3. Have you heard or read of any dangerous things happening with planes in the news recently?
4. It is said that flying is the safest way to travel - do you agree?

Check the underlined words of the article below in a dictionary or by clicking on them to see the Google definition. On the Google definition page you can also listen to the pronunciation by clicking on the small speaker icon, and check synonyms and other useful information :) Don't forget to copy any new words into your vocabulary notebook!

Now read the article and answer this question:

1. What happened?

In October 2015, a pilot managed to glide his single-engined aeroplane to safety after the propeller fell off at 2,000ft (610m).

The man was flying between Bodmin and Roche in Cornwall when he was forced to make the emergency landing at a country club airstrip near Polzeath just after 16:00 BST on Wednesday.

The club was evacuated during the landing. The pilot later had a glass of water there, said witnesses.

The propeller was recovered from a building site in Polzeath.

The pilot, Nick Chitterdon, said the aircraft is a vintage 1936 plane.

"When the propeller went there was a loud bang and it disappeared to the left.

"I switched the fuel off and started looking for field to land in. I then remembered a private airstrip at a nearby golf course and it took sometime to glide down."

Eva Davies, one of the directors at The Point at Polzeath Club, where the aircraft landed, said: "We had a phone call from the fire service who told us to evacuate the building, which included the restaurant, golf club, health club, gym, changing rooms, and swimming pool.

"The aircraft was spotted by a few golfers as it came in. He was gliding down straight on to our airfield.

"Although he landed safely, within five minutes we had six fire engines, three police cars and  an ambulance here. They didn't know if he was injured.

"The pilot then came in and had a glass water."

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: "Thankfully, he was obviously a very skilled pilot.

"The pilot has recovered the plane, and the propeller which landed in New Polzeath has been recovered by the police."

A spokesman from Bodmin Airfield said pilots were trained to glide in aircraft before "going solo" to prepare them for such incidents.

The plane was an Aeronca. The incident has been reported to The Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Now read again more slowly and answer the following questions:

1. Where did the incident happen?
2. What kind of plane was it?
3. Tell us about the pilot.
4. Why was he able to land the plane quite easily?
5. Was it luck or training that saved the pilot?

Writing/Discussion Ideas

1. Write or say example sentences using any new words you have found in this article.
2. Write a short story about someone who has a problem in their flying machine.
3. Has this article changed your opinion about flying? If so, how?
4. Would you like to be the pilot of a plane?
5. What's the difference between 'I flew in a plane,' and 'I flew a plane'?

Remember to leave a comment below with your thoughts on this story :)