Passages 1

A new study has shown that millions of pieces of junk floating in space could be a big hazard for satellites orbiting Earth. Serious collisions could take place that would damage the satellites we depend on for communication. Scientists fear the problem could get worse unless something is done to clear up the mess.Could you live in a house or apartment that was only 30 square metres in size?There is currently a housing crisis in the UK, where there aren't enough homes for people to live in and the homes that are being built are getting smaller and smaller. People have to become 'creative' with their space in order to have enough room for their family and belongings.“The Great Gatsby”Director Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby”opened the famed international film festival in Cannes, France, this week. This was an unusual choice for the festival, which usually opens with a new movie. But “The Great Gatsby” has been showing in theaters around the United States for more than a week. It has also played in Canada and a few other countries.“The Great Gatsby” is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book of the same name, which was published in 1925. It tells about how some rich New Yorkers lived in the “Roaring Twenties.” For Jay Gatsby and his friends, life was full of music, parties and alcohol -- as well as cheating, lies and spiritual emptiness.Jay Gatsby is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Carey Mulligan plays his long time love, Daisy Buchanan. And Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway, who tells the story.The book has been made into a film at least twice before -- a 1926 silent film based on a stage play and a famous version released in 1974 that starred Robert Redford as Gatsby. Mr. DiCaprio told reporters he loved the book when he first read it as a teenager. But he said he did not understand it fully then. He noted the book’s power to still be read and discussed 90 years after it was first published.This version of “The Great Gatsby” is getting mixed reviews. The St. Louis Dispatch calls it “swooningly romantic and giddily energetic.” But the Chicago Tribune says the movie is “all look and no feel.”Director Baz Luhrmann says he does not care about the reviews. He says he is used to scoring in the middle when it comes to critics. He says he is just happy people are going out to see it.And they are -- theaters in the United States sold 51 million dollars worth of tickets on the movie’s opening weekend.Along with the film’s stars, “The Great Gatsby” features music from the jazz age as well as more modern offerings from Beyonce, Jack White and others. Jay-Z is an executive producer.Poetry for childrenMany people think of poetry as difficult to understand and impossible to write. New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs tries to change those beliefs. In 2002, it launched “Poem in Your Pocket Day” to teach the joys of reading and writing poetry to everyone, especially children.Faith Lapidus tells us about a literary center in the city that helps children learn to write poetry.We are at Poets House, in Manhattan. The library has 50,000 books of poetry. It is 9:30 in the morning, and the children have just been told to read their poems aloud, all at the same time. This may help the children be less nervous as they wait to speak on their own.They have for the past few months been learning to appreciate reading and writing poetry. An eight-year-old student named John has written a poem he calls “Answer My Questions.”“Do you know why worms have to get back to the dirt to survive?Why does the Sun have to rise and then fall? Why can’t male animals have babies?Why can't magic become real so we can do anything we want?Does a peacock know how to dance?Have you ever seen a mermaid play soccer without feet?”Lee Briscetti is the director of Poets House. She says childrens’ active imaginations and endless curiosity make them natural poets.“Seeing children as they’re going through language acquisition is experiencing the joy and the plasticity of language.”Fourth-grader Emma has written a poem called: “Elatedness is Everywhere.”“On the street of elatednessa cowboy catches a pig and slaps hisleg and says, “Yee-haw.”On the street of elatednessa girl gets a horse painted with splats of red, white and blue with 50 stars on its face.On the street of elatednessgooses talk to humans and aliensare a girl’s best friend.”Emma says she also likes to hear other people’s poems.“Yeah. Because you get to know how people’s experiences are like and their feelings and how they can express themselves in different ways. It can make me see who they really are and what kind of a person they are.”Children can use poetry to show what is happening in their lives. Third-grader Mia wrote about her community in “On the Colorless Street.”"On the colorless streeta man walks in graywith no expression.Like an ant, no expression.On the colorless street,a woman dresses in white,like a ghost.On the colorless street a boy wears black, as if he is a shadow.On this street,no one cares forcolor, NO ONE cares.”A poem lets children say what they might not say in a conversation -- listen to “I Wonder,” a poem by nine-year-old Ava Gardner.“I WonderI wonder, does the Earth sing to the Moon when it’s tired?Does snow yell to grass when snow is melting?When plates are struck, are they moaning and groaning? When people yell, do your ears burst?"Poet Dave Johnson led the school workshops for Poets House. He says poetry can help build a sense of community. He admits it can be scary to read a poem you have written out loud -- to open yourself up to criticism. But he says taking that risk can promote trust and inspire empathy from listeners.“We had a reading this morning where one young lady was petrified of getting up in front of this huge room of people... And when she finally got the courage to read, she was crying a little, they all rushed up and hugged her. And I thought, ‘You know, it’s poetry, but it’s more than that. It’s this moment, this coming together, this communal act of saying ‘It’s okay. We’re here and we’re listening to you.’”Poets House recently published a book of the poems created during this year’s project in the New York City schools.Room to ReadAlmost 800 million people in the world are illiterate, meaning they cannot read and write. Most are in developing countries and more that 65 percent of them are female.A former official with the Microsoft company is helping to lower those numbers. John Wood has opened 1,650 schools and 15,000 libraries in some of the world's poorest communities. Avi Arditti has more on the man and his “Room to Read” campaign.“The thing I learned at Microsoft was that bold goals attract bold people. From the very beginning, I said Room to Read’s goal was to reach ten million children around the world in the poorest countries.”That is former Microsoft executive John Wood. In 1998, while he was still with Microsoft, Mr. Wood went on a three week walking trip in Nepal. While there, the businessman met a man who led a school in a mountain village. The man asked him to visit the school.John Wood said the experience changed his life.“This headmaster has 450 students at the school, but he didn’t have any books. He had a library that was completely empty.”Mr. Wood promised to fill the library.One year later, he returned to the village with a team of yaks carrying bags filled with books -- 3,000 of them. But that was just the start. John Wood retired from Microsoft, and used some of his wealth to start Room to Read. The not-for-profit organization is based on the belief that world change begins with educated children. Today the group operates in ten countries across Africa and Asia.“It’s amazing what we’ve accomplished. We’ve built a world-class organization that’s really a thought-leader on solutions for education in the developing world.”That is Erin Ganju, co-founder and chief executive of Room to Read. She says that world literacy is the group’s first goal. But she says equality of the sexes is just as important. Ms. Ganju says Room to Read pays for a long term girls’ education program to help girls empower themselves. “It really focuses on not only keeping girls in school longer -- through the end of secondary school –but helps support them holistically. We bring female mentors into the communities that act as role models for the girls and we provide them with life skills workshops after school, where they learn critical skills such as goal-setting, leadership skills, problem-solving and they really become different.”John Wood says local involvement is needed for the program to be successful. Room to Read donates money and provides books. But communities donate land, parents help build the schools and ministries of education agree to pay teachers and librarians.Room to Read also has set up local printing plants that produce chi ldren’s books. Local writers write the books. Local artists draw the pictures for them.John Wood says Room to Read will have published 1,000 books in over 20 languages by the end of this year.“I often joke that Room to Read is the biggest children’s publisher you’ve never heard of because your children probably are not reading in the languages that we’re publishing in. But, those children in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, South Africa, they deserve to have books in their mother tongue just as kids here in America do.”Agnes is a Room to Read teacher in Zambia who also runs a library.“I’m very proud because I have seen that the literacy level of reading at this school -- even in my class -- it has really improved. I’m happy for that and that is why I can’t let it go. I have to work hard and make sure that every pupil can benefit from the library.”John Wood says that Room to Read faces huge demand.“So what drives me is really the idea of our strong local teams at Room to Read should not be in the business of saying ‘no’ or ‘not yet.’ They should be in the business of saying ‘yes.’ Yes to your community having literacy programs. Yes to your girls being empowered by education. Yes to every child having a place in a school that is well run and has really good teachers, and I am not going to give up on the goal.”Room to Read is expected to reach ten million children by 2015. That is five years earlier than John Wood promised.。