Peakenglish - Active Reader ESL B1 Book 1

Copyright 2019 by peakenglish

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, email:

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Table of Contents

We are a dedicated group of English teachers who feel that the joy of reading is often lost in many curricula around the world. It became our mission to publish reader books for all ages in order to give everyone access to useful resources that will facilitate learning outside of the classroom.

This collection of books has 2 main aims.

First, we hope to encourage you into the habit of regularly reading engaging enjoyable texts. We accomplish this by peer reviewing all of our materials and choosing only the best, target specific and enjoyable reading texts. We realise that these types of books are based on the average BUT no one is average so we strive to make sure that there is something for everyone in our books. If the texts are too easy consider purchasing material for the next level up: if it is too difficult then perhaps try to do a few exercises from a lower level book.

Second, these books should help to prepare you for the academic aspect of reading exams. After each short reading text there are two sections which contain level appropriate questions based on comprehension, spelling, grammar etc. We use The Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and LancsLex to ensure all materials are suitable for the levels indicated and vocabulary is level appropriate.

Last but by no means least, thanks for buying this book and helping to support our venture, it is greatly appreciated. If you have any queries, suggestions or reviews then please feel free to contact us at .

Thanks

The peakenglish team

The best way to get better is to practise. If you want to play the guitar then you have to practise. Similarly, if you want to improve your English then you have to practise. Practice makes perfect. This means that you should read and understand as much as possible. Try to read every day.

You should choose reading passages that are correct for your level. If the texts are too easy, you will not be learning anything new and if it is too hard, you might lose motivation and give up.

Reading is one of the most important skills to learn in any language. Once you can read, you can read anytime and anywhere and your language skills will improve dramatically. Through reading you will improve your vocabulary, have a better understanding of grammar, and be more confident when you use English.

To become successful at reading comprehension you need to practise. You need to learn vocabulary and remember it so that when you see the word in a passage you know what it means.

The best way to do this is to try and guess the meaning of any new words from context. Try to associate them with other English words you know. This will help you build vocabulary quickly and efficiently. If you cant guess the meaning then use an English to English dictionary. Remember to keep a note of any new vocabulary so you can review it easily.

You can also learn vocabulary by using lists or flashcards. This method is good but you might not be able to remember too many words at once. It is best to use lists/flashcards a little every day.

After reading this book completely, revise any new vocabulary. Then read the book again and you will realise how much you have learnt. When you are comfortable with the readings here feel free to look at the other books in our series.

Good luck

Elon Musk was born in South Africa in 1971. He quickly became interested in computers and programming and started making games for himself and his brothers and sisters to play. His love of computers continued throughout his life. He got two degrees, one in physics and one in economics, and these degrees in science and business shaped his whole life.

After university he started a company called zip2 which provided maps for online newspapers and magazines. After he sold this company for $307 million, he started a new company called x.com which later became Paypal. When Paypal was sold for $1.5 billion in 2001, Musk had more than enough money to start some truly innovative companies.

In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to make space exploration much cheaper. SpaceX was highly successful and Musk managed to reduce the cost of rocket launches. Musk was chief designer in many of the rockets and spaceships the company produced. If SpaceX continues to improve their rockets, Musk hopes that one day, he will be able to send humans to Mars and, maybe, beyond.

Tesla is perhaps Musks most well-known company. Musk wanted to produce a sports car that ran on electricity, because most electric cars at that time were thought of as a bit boring. In 2006, Tesla introduced the Roadster which could go from 0 to 60 miles (97 km) per hour in less than four seconds and travel 245 miles (394 km) on a single charge. Since then, the company has released several models, and it has won many awards for design and innovative technology.

Musk is also a major player in Artificial Intelligence (A.I), solar energy, and tunnelling technologies. With his web of companies it looks certain that he will influence all of our futures.

1-What is the main purpose of the text?

2-How is the information in the text organised?

What do the following numbers from the passage refer to?

3-$307 million

4-2002

5-245 miles

6-$1.5 billion

7-2006

8-less than 4 seconds

Everyone likes to get an award for doing good work. For literature and science there is the Nobel Prize, for football there is the Ballon dOr, and for cinema everyone wants to win an Oscar. But not all movies are great, and some are really awful. The best movies have the Academy Awards (Oscar ceremony). The worst movies have the Golden Raspberry Awards (usually called Razzies or Razzie Awards for short).

The Razzies is an alternative award ceremony that started in 1981 and takes place in Los Angeles every year. It is usually held on the day after the Oscar ceremony. Instead of categories like best actress or best director, the judges give awards to the worst actress or for the worst film. If you want to have your say, you can vote for the worst in each category for $40. Many stars dream of winning an elegant Oscar statue but no one wants to win a Golden Raspberry. The statue is actually of a golden raspberry on top of a small reel of film.

There are some surprising winners of both Oscars and Razzies, but some movies are obvious choices. The biggest winner at the 2018 Razzie Awards was the Emoji Movie which won 4 awards including worst movie and worst director. A lot of people seem to agree that the movie wasnt very good.