Reading: Vocabulary & Comprehension

Right Move The great Zen teacher, Benzei had many pupils. One day, one of them was caught stealing by his fellow-students and they reported him to Benzei. But he took no action against the boy. A few days later the same boy was again caught stealing. And again Benzei did nothing. This angered the other students who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief. They threatened to leave en masse if the boy was allowed to stay. The teacher called a meeting of the students. When they had assembled he said to them: “You are good boys who know what is right and what is wrong. If you leave you will have no trouble in joining some other school. But what about your brother who does not even know the difference between right and wrong? Who will teach him if I don’t? No, I cannot ask him to go even if it means losing all of you." Tears coursed down the cheeks of the boy who had stolen. He never stole again and in later life became renowned for his integrity.

The End A young student of Zen happened to break a precious vase belonging to his teacher. When he heard his teacher's footsteps, he quickly held the broken vase behind him. As the teacher walked up to him, he asked, "Why does one die, master?" "It's natural," said the teacher. "Everything has a beginning and an end. Everything has just so long to live and then has to die." The student held out the pieces of the broken vase and said, "The time for your vase to die had come."

100 Percent Love A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl has some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he would her all his marbles in exchange for the sweets with her. The girl agreed. The boy kept the most beautiful and the biggest marbles with him and gave her the remaining marbles. The girl gave him all her sweets as she promised. That night the girl slept peacefully. But the boy could not sleep as he kept wondering if the girl has hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden the best marbles from her.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. Once upon a time there lived a lion in a forest. One day after a heavy meal. It was sleeping under a tree. After a while, there came a mouse and it started to play on the lion. Suddenly the lion got up with anger and looked for those who disturbed its nice sleep. Then it saw a small mouse standing trembling with fear. The lion jumped on it and started to kill it. The mouse requested the lion to forgive it. The lion felt pity and left it. The mouse ran away. On another day, the lion was caught in a net by a hunter. The mouse came there and cut the net. Thus it escaped. There after, the mouse and the lion became friends. They lived happily in the forest afterwards

The Dog and the Bone Once there was a dog who wandered the streets night and day in search of food. One day, he found a big juicy bone and he immediately grabbed it between his mouth and took it home. On his way home, he crossed a river and saw another dog who also had a bone in its mouth. He wanted that bone for himself too. But as he opened his mouth, the bone he was biting fell into the river and sank. That night, he went home hungry.

When Truth Dawned Ryokan, the Zen teacher, was requested by his sister-in-law to come to her house and talk to her son. “He does no work, squanders his father’s money in wild parties and is neglecting the estate," she complained. “If he does not reform, we will be ruined." Ryokan went to his brother’s house and met his nephew who was genuinely pleased to see him. The two of them had spent many happy hours together before Ryokan had turned to Zen and entered the monastery. The young man knew why his uncle had come and braced himself for the scolding he was sure he would receive. But Ryokan said not a word in rebuke, the whole day. The next morning when it was time for him to go, he put on his garments and then said to his nephew: “Will you help me tie the thongs of my sandals? My hands shake and I cannot do it." His nephew helped him willingly. “Thank you," said Ryokan. “A man becomes older and feebler day by day. You remember how strong and robust I used to be?" “I do," said his nephew, thoughtfully. “I do indeed remember how you used to be." It was the moment of truth for him. He suddenly realized that his mother and all those who had looked after him had become old and that it was now his turn to look after them and to take on the responsibilities of the household and the community. He gave up his dissolute life forever.

The Thirsty Crow After flying a long distance, a thirsty crow was wandering the forest in search of water. Finally, he saw a pot half-filled with water. He tried to drink from it but his beak wasn’t long enough to reach the water inside. He then saw pebbles on the ground and one by one, he put them in the pot until the water rose to the brim. The crow then hastily drank from it and quenched his thirst.

A human embryo that was frozen 24 years ago has now become a baby girl. Emma Wren Gibson was born in Knoxville, Tennessee from an embryo frozen in 1992. The mother, Tina Gibson, at 25, is only a year older than the embryo. It is the longest known frozen embryo that has successfully become a baby. The Gibsons are unable to have children of their own and, in the past, have taken care of several other children. Couples who use IVF to have a baby usually end up with more embryos than they need. They can decide to store them for later use, dispose of them or donate them for scientific research. Many parents who have leftover embryos give them to special centres where they can be used for others. Doctors claim them frozen embryos can develop just as well as fresh ones. The dangerous part, however, is the thawing process.Only about 75% of all frozen embryos survive it. Health experts think that there may be up to a million frozen embryos in the United States. For those who can't have babies, using a frozen embryo from a donation centre is similar to adoption, only that the baby grows inside the adoptive mother.

Words adoptive = to become parent of a child that isn't your own claim = to say that something is true dispose of = get rid of; destroy, to throw donate = give something to an organisation in order to help embryo = a human being that has not yet been born but just started to develop,, the start or beginning of something IVF = in vitro fertilisation = process in which a human egg gets together with male sperm outside a woman's body; it is also called a test-tube baby leftover = here: embryos that you do not need any more, left from what was consumed or used store = to put things away and keep them somewhere until they are needed thawing process = here: to take an embryo out of a freezer and wait until its body temperature becomes normal; to melt ice