Readable, teachable news.
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Every year, Rogers Cable offers a TV channel called the “Fireplace Channel.” It looks like a fire. It makes your TV look like a fireplace.
Now, Rogers has the “Rotisserie Channel.” It is some chickens cooking over a flame. It also has the sounds of chickens cooking.
Thousands of people in Vietnam are worried about a giant turtle they consider sacred. A sacred object is something that you worship because you believe it is very important.
The turtle is endangered. There are thought to be only four of them left. It is a giant turtle, weighing about 200 kilograms. Its Latin (scientific) name is Rafetus swinhoei.
After the tragic earthquake in Japan last Friday, things there are in turmoil. The tsunami (a huge wave caused by the earthquake) has left some villages and towns completely under water. Homes and buildings were destroyed.
The estimated amount of money lost by people and business owners because of the disaster is more than $180 billion, not to mention the many lives that have been lost and the people who have been injured or lost their homes.
Many countries around the world believe that they need to help this suffering nation in its time of need, including Canada.
The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team haven’t been doing very well this year. They started off looking pretty good, but before long they began playing poorly. Soon, they were near the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings. At one point, the Leafs were 14 points away from earning a spot in the playoffs, which meant they probably wouldn’t get to play in the playoffs.
But the Leafs have come back. They won seven of their last nine games and they now have a good shot at making the playoffs.
Last Friday there was a massive earthquake in Japan. It measured 9 on the Richter Scale, which is the scale that is used to measure how bad an earthquake is. This is the worst earthquake Japan had in 140 years, and they’ve had a lot of them. It was the fifth most powerful earthquake ever in in the world.
The earthquake caused buildings to “shake like palm trees,” according to one witness. Fortunately, because Japan does have a lot of earthquakes most of their buildings are built to be able to withstand them.
In grade four, students in Ontario, PEI and Nova Scotia start to learn French in school. To show our son Anton just how wonderful French culture is, I suggested our family visit Quebec City over March Break.
Then I put Anton in charge of planning the trip.
Anton started his research sites like www.TripAdvisor.com and www.bonjourquebec.com, Quebec’s tourism site. He also talked with Micheline Lachance from Tourisme Quebec.
Anton: I’m dying to see the Ice Hotel. It seems impossible. What’s it like?
Micheline: The tour shows you what each type of room is like and how you can sleep on an ice bed and drink in ice glasses. Each room has ice sculptures with different scenes of nature.
Anton: I read Quebec produces about 80 per cent of the world’s maple syrup. Is March a good time to visit a sugar shack?
There is a new musical playing in New York called Spider Man: Turn On the Dark, based on the popular comic book character Spiderman.
A musical is a type of play performed live onstage, but instead of telling the story by speaking, the actors sing. The music for Spiderman was written by Bono and The Edge from the band U2.
This musical hasn’t actually officially opened yet, but it has already received a lot of attention and not because it’s a really good musical. Spiderman has received so much attention because many actors have been hurt during the performances. There have been broken limbs, cracked bones and internal bleeding whenever an actor falls from the rafters.
There have been a lot of articles in the newspapers about concussions recently. A concussion happens when you hit your head, hard. For instance, if you run into a tree on the playground, or if someone hits you in the head when you’re playing a sport, or if you fall down and hit your head hard on the ground you can get a concussion.
That’s why in many sports, you must wear a helmet. Helmets can often help prevent a concussion.
Sometimes people go unconscious (black out) when they get a concussion but sometimes they don’t. Research shows that people who have just been hit in the head usually don’t know when they have a concussion.
Last year Apple invented an amazing new piece of technology, called the iPad. It was different from anything anyone had seen before. It is a slim, flat screen but it acts like a computer. And because it’s a “touch-screen,” you use your fingers to move and open files.
Last week, Apple announced the iPad 2, a new and improved version of the iPad.
The company was very excited about the iPad 2. In fact, the head of the company, Steve Jobs, has been away sick for a long time but he came back to make the announcement himself.
The people of Libya want rid of their leader, Moammar Gadhafi. He has been a brutal dictator for many years and they want him to step down.
They have been taking to the streets in protest.
However, Gadhafi (pronounced Ga-daf-fee)* refuses to leave. He said that he is “loved” by the Libyan people and he will never go.
