A1 Reading Passage for Pronunciation

EMILY'S SECRET Emily is 8 years old. She lives in a big house. She has a huge room. She has many toys and she has a lot of friends. But Emily is not happy. She has a secret. She doesn't want to tell anyone about her secret. She feels embarrassed. The problem is that if nobody knows about it, there is no one that can help her. Emily doesn't write her homework. When there is an exam – she gets sick. She doesn't tell anyone, but the truth is she can't read and write. Emily doesn't remember the letters of the alphabet. One day, Emily's teacher finds out. She sees that Emily can't write on the board. She calls her after class and asks her to tell the truth. Emily says, "It is true. I don't know how to read and write". The teacher listens to her. She wants to help Emily. She tells her, "That's ok. You can read and write if we practice together". So Emily and her teacher meet every day after class. They practice together. Emily works hard. Now she knows how to read and write!

HOME ALONE 🏡🧍 It was a dark and stormy night. I was alone at home and about to go to bed, when I saw a scary shadow figure at my window. "Who’s there" I shouted. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning followed by thundershower. I saw a lion’s face followed by a scary thunderous roar at the window. It looked like the lion from the local circus that had been announced missing on the television news channel. I felt very scared. I ran to my bed and pulled my blanket over my head. I started to shout for my parents but there was no reply. Then I remembered they were at a late night party. I peeped out of my blanket but it was too dark to see anything. Then I heard footsteps. They were getting louder and louder. Soon the footsteps died off. The grand father clock struck 12. I went back to bed and tried to sleep, but couldn’t. I felt too frightened. I sat up my mind full of scary thoughts. After some time passed, finally I fell asleep. I woke up only after eight in the morning and switched on the TV news. I was excited to see the lion was already trapped in the wee hours of the morning by the ring master of the circus. I felt very much relieved after the news. Later I narrated the whole incident to my parents. They were dumb shocked and decided in future not to leave me alone at home during night.

A LITTLE FRIEND That was a bad day for our Mr. Lion King. During his chase to catch a rabbit he sprang into a small bush from where he came out not with the rabbit but with a large thorn in his palm. He cried for help. He tried his best to pull out the thorn. He shook his hand, tried to pull out the thorn with his mouth etc. but all his efforts was in vain. The thorn began to smile at Mr. Lion. Then he asked other animals for help. But they all feared the lion. So no animals came to help him. At last the lion approached the clever fox. The king asked, “Can you pull out the thorn please. I am suffering very much with pain." The fox said, “I am not very expert in this task. But I have a little friend who is very expert in this work. I will surely ask him to help you. But I have some demands." “What are your demands?" asked the king. “It is not just food or money Your Majesty! You should allow me to give you five kicks on your back!" the fox said. The lion king asked with surprise and anger “Do you want to kick me? Don’t you know who I am?" “I know! I know! But it is not my need to remove thorn from your palm. If you don’t want I am going. Good Bye" said the fox. “Hey! Wait! Wait!" said the lion and he began to think for a moment “I am suffering with the pain of the thorn. It has to be pulled out. Let him kick me five times. I just want to remove the thorn. After taking the thorn I will eat up his little friend." The fox then began to kick the Lion King with his permission. One, two, three… like that. The fox called his little friend. There comes a little porcupine. He pulled out the thorn with great ease. The pain in the palm of the lion was reduced. But his mind became filled with anger, grief and disappointment. What to say! He was very much disappointed in thinking how he can take revenge for the five kicks he got from the fox. How can he eat the porcupine with thousands of quills? At last he had to bow down before the great intelligence of the clever fox.

ROYAL SERVANT The King of Kamera in Africa was a proud and stern man, feared by all his subjects. One day while sitting in his mud palace, surrounded by fawning courtiers and watched by a multitude of people who had come to see him, he was suddenly overcome by a sense of grandeur and loudly declared that he was master of the world and that all men were his servants. “You are mistaken," said a frail voice. “All men are servants of one another." A deathly silence followed the remark. The blood froze in the veins of the people assembled there. Then the king exploded in anger. “Who said that!" he demanded, rising from the royal stool. “Who dares suggest that I am a servant!!" “I do," said a voice in the crowd, and the people parted to reveal a white-haired old man, leaning heavily on a stout stick. “Who are you?" asked the king. “I am Boubakar," said the man. “We have no water in our village. I have come to ask for a well to be dug there." “So you are a beggar!" roared the king, striding down to where the man stood. “Yet you have the temerity to call me a servant!" “We all serve one another," said Boubakar, showing no fear, “and I will prove it to you before nightfall." “Do that," said the monarch. “Force me to wait on you. If you can do that I will have not one but three wells dug in your village. But if you fail, you’ll lose your head!" “In our village," said the old man, “when we accept a challenge, we touch the person’s feet. Let me touch your feet. Hold my stick." The king took the stick and the old man bent down and touched the monarch’s feet. “Now you may give it back to me," he said, straightening up. The king gave him back his stick. “Do you want any more proof?" asked Boubakar. “Proof?" asked the king, bewildered. “You held my stick when I asked you to and gave it back to me when I asked you for it," said the old man. “As I said, all good men are servants of one another." The king was so pleased with the Royal Servant Boubakar’s wit and daring that he not only had wells dug in his village but also retained him as an adviser.

CHRISTOPHER'S ENCOUNTER WITH ALIENS 👽👾 It was a dark and stormy night. The whole of Greentown was covered by dark clouds. Christopher was returning home. It started raining cats and dogs. Suddenly he saw a U.F.O. appearing from the clouds above. In no time it landed on the road. Three aliens came out. Chris was astonished as he could understand their language. Their plan was to take all the trees away from earth. Not wasting a moment, Chris called his friends. Those aliens pointed out to a tree. An eerie blue light shot out from their hands making a tree vanish. Soon, Chris’s friends arrived. They tried to scare those aliens by throwing stones, but in vain. Luckily, Mr. Goon, the fat inspector of the area arrived. With a frightened look on his face, he shot at those aliens. One of them pointed his finger at Mr. Goon. To everyone’s amazement, Mr. Goon became as thin as a stick. Everybody laughed. Suddenly, Anna, Chris’s friend, ran towards them, shouting at the top of her shrill voice. Those aliens got the fright of their lives and vanished along with their spaceship. The kids were delighted. They had saved their planet. Mr. Goon was left fiddling with his pants.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 Once a gentle man was traveling in a train. He felt thirsty and got down at a station in search of water. No sooner had he reached the water tap then the engine whistled and started. He ran back but missed the train. It was getting darker and he decided to spend the night at the station. The next morning he enquired about the next train. He came to know that the next train was on the other day. So he decided to find a place for a day's stay. He went to the nearby lodges to ask for a room but found none. It was getting darker and he could not find a room. At last he reached a small hut. He asked the owner of the hut whether he could stay in his house for a day. The owner readily agreed. That day the owner served him food and gave him a room to stay. But did not ask nor expected anything in return. At night when it did strike seven in the clock, the gentleman heard a knock at the door. The villager opened the door. The gentleman saw that a man dressed in gaudy and rich clothes entered the hut and demanded the owner to pay his debts. The gentleman came to know that the villager was in need of money. The next morning he slipped a pocket in the drover of the room and left. When the villager came to know about the pocket, he saw that there was a note addressed to him, it read "You helped me but did not expect anything from me. Yesterday I heard the conversation between you and the stranger and came to know that you were in need of money. This is what you need".

𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙄𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 Long ago, a hawk lived on the top of a hill. At the foot of the hill there was a banyan tree on which a crow used to perch everyday. The crow was very foolish. He would imitate everyone. The hawk atop the hill would fly down everyday in search of food. The crow watched the hawk circling in the air for long hours and swooping down when he saw his prey. The hawk gifted with eyes that could see long distances would spot his prey from the hill top and then fly down to pounce upon the prey. The crow watched the hawk thinking, “Hunh! If the hawk can do that, I too can. What does he think? One day, I will show the hawk that I can do the same thing." A few days later, as the hawk was circling in the air, the crow decided to do the same. Suddenly a baby rabbit came out of the bushes. The hawk saw it and the crow too saw the rabbit. Before the crow could move, the hawk swooped down, caught hold of the rabbit in his strong sharp talons and flew away. “Swoosh!" was all the crow heard as the hawk disappeared in the sky with his prey. “Hmmph! That is no great skill," thought the crow, angrily. Next moment he spotted a big fat mouse coming out of a hole. Without wasting time, the crow swooped down. Like the hawk he tried to catch the mouse in his claws. But the mouse saw the crow and moved away, the crow crashed against the hill. “Eeeaaa!" cried the crow in pain. Just then the hawk came flying down. “I hope, now you know it is not easy to hunt and it is not easy to imitate, either," said the hawk and flew away. There after, the crow never imitated any one in its life. It lived happily with the god-given abilities.

𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼 𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙡 On a mango tree in a jungle, there lived many birds. They were happy in their small nests. Before the onset of the rainy season, all the animal of the jungle repaired their homes. The birds also made their homes more secure. Many birds brought twigs and leaves and others wove their nests. “We should also store some food for our children," chirped one of the birds. And they collected food, until they had enough to see them through the rainy season. They kept themselves busy preparing for the tough times. Soon the rains came. It was followed by thunder and lighting. All the animals and birds stayed in their homes. It continued raining for many days. One day, a monkey wet in the rain came into the forest. He sat on a branch, shivering with cold, water dripping from its body. The poor monkey tried his best to get shelter, but in vain. The leaves were not enough to save him from the rains. “Brrr! It is so cold!" said the monkey. The birds were watching all this. They felt sorry for the monkey but there was little they could do for him. One of them said, “Brother! Our small nests are not enough to give you shelter." Another bird said, “All of us prepared for the rainy season. If you had, you would not be in this piteous situation." “How dare you tell me what to do?" said the monkey, growling at the bird. The monkey angrily pounced on the bird’s nest, tore it and threw it on the ground. The bird and her chicks were helpless. The poor bird thought, “Fools never value good advice. It is better not to advise them."

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙖𝙡𝙡 One day Kavya and I were playing with the racket and ball and the ball went into a Takku’s house. Though we were scared, we went to his house and asked him if he could give us our ball. He said “No". We felt helpless. Suddenly, I had an idea. There was a water tank behind the Takku’s house. I looked at it and told Kavya “Kavya, look at this. We can climb the water tank and jump over the gate." Kavya agreed, but we were both wearing skirts. We couldn’t climb with that. “It doesn’t matter, we can see tomorrow. Don’t forget to wear pants." said Kavya. “Bye", I said and went back home. The next day I went to Kavya’s house early. We were both wearing pants. “Best of luck" said Kavya’s brother Vijay. He knew everything. He said, “Shout loudly if you need me." We went to the water tank. “Who will climb first?" asked Kavya. “You" I said. She agreed. She climbed down into the Takku’s house. I followed her and then we were looking under a bed for the ball when we heard a noise. It was Vijay. “Mother is calling you" he whispered. We hurried and took out the lost ball. But along with the ball was a … gold bar! We quickly took both the ball and the gold bar and climbed up the water tank again. When we reached Kavya’s house the T.V was on. It was News time. I couldn’t believe my ears when it said that 20 gold bars were stolen from a gold shop. They showed a picture of the gold bars and it was exactly like the one we had found. We all knew it because there was a look of surprise on every one’s face. We quickly told the story to Kavya’s mother and she called the police. The police came at once and caught the Takku. They found the rest of the gold bars in the Takku’s house. After some time the Police Inspector came and told us “Thank You Children for catching the thief. Here is a reward for all of you." When we opened the gifts, we were surprised. There were investigative books for Kavya and me.