Unit Ten Text Do animals think? How could the earth show so many signs of design and purpose and yet be random? Our best scientists are heatedly debating both sides of these and other scientific questions. In the following essay, the author takes a l...
Unit Nine Text Every cloud has a silver lining, says the optimist. It follows naturally, then, that the pessimist must favor looking for the rusty lining. Just as the optimist can always find reasons for hoping that bad situations can improve, so the...
Unit Eight Text Science fiction is definitely not pure science, but neither is it pure fiction. This literary genre, argues science fiction writer Ben Bova, stands as a bridge between science and fict...
Unit Seven Text It is often said that cats have nine lives, that they are lucky enough to escape from danger again and again. Here is a science fiction tale about how one such lucky escape by a cat le...
Unit Six Text This essay on a famous man, whose name is not revealed until almost the end of the piece, is a study of monstrous conceit. Filled with biographical details that keep the reader guessing...
Unit Five Text If modern life is so wonderful, why do we feel so unhappy? In the following article, the author suggests that though living standards have improved, we, rather than feeling content, nev...
Unit Four Text As a black boy growing up in America in the early 1900s, Richard Wright knew well the meaning of racial prejudice. He was not allowed to play in a park or borrow books from a library. W...
Unit Three Text Are we humans alone in the universe? Or is there intelligent life on other planets? These questions are not new. What is new, however, is the scientific attempt to discover whether or...
Unit Two Text There is something fascinating about reading other people's mail if you are allowed to. Here is your chance to read the letters of American writer Sylvia Plath, which she wrote home to h...
Unit One Text Writing research reports for college or work is often found far more difficult than it need so be. The following article offers some excellent advice on how to make the task easier and t...
