Vocabulary

Complete the sentences with one of the following words: closet, hired, invent, laboratory, light bulb, nap.

1. Edison liked to ________ things.

2. Edison worked in his ________ day and night.

3. When you take a short sleep, it is a ________.

4. A place where you hang your clothes is a ________ .

5. Edison paid chemists and mechan­ics to work for him. He ________ them.

6. When the lamp in your house does not work, you may need to change the ________.

Comprehension

A. Looking for Main Ideas

Circle the letter of the best answer.

1. When Edison was a boy, he ________.

1. made a lot of money

2. built a laboratory in his house

3. invented motion pictures

2. In his laboratory at Menlo Park, Edison ________.

1. worked day and night

2. slept most of the time

3. did not work

3. Edison invented ________.

1. only a record player

2. his name

3. more than 1,300 things

B. Looking for Details

Number the sentences 1 through 7 to show the correct order.

___ He died in 1931, at the age of eighty-four.

___ With this money he started to invent.

___ Edison was ten when he read his first science book.

___ In 1876, he invented the phono­graph.

___ After that, he built a laboratory in his house.

___ When he was twenty-three, he made a lot of money.

___ He started his own laboratory at Menlo Park.

Mark twain

Mark Twain, who lived from 1835 to 1910, is one of America's most famous authors. He wrote many books, includ­ing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain's own life was interesting enough to be a book.

Twain was born in the state of Mis­souri, near the Mississippi River. He came from a poor family. His father died when he was twelve, so he had to leave school. While he was still a boy, he worked as a riverboat pilot. He steered boats up and down the long Mississippi River.

The Civil War, which started in 1861, made traveling on the Mississippi im­possible. Twain then went west to Ne­vada. There he worked on a newspaper. In 1864 he went to California to find gold. Twain did not have much luck as a gold miner. He left California to travel in Eu­rope. Twain wrote a book about his trips around Europe.

But the most important influence on Twain and his books had the Mississippi River. When Twain finally settled down, he lived in a house with a porch that looked like the deck of a riverboat. Huck­leberry Finn, Twain's greatest book, is about the adventures of a boy on the Mississippi River. Another of Twain's books is called Life on the Mississippi.

In fact, even the name Mark Twain comes from the Mississippi. Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. On the river Samuel Clemens often heard the boatmen shout "Mark Twain!" This meant the water was twelve feet deep. When Samuel Clem­ens began to write he chose for himself the name Mark Twain.

Vocabulary

Complete the definitions. Circle the letter of the correct answer.

1. People who write books are called ________.

1. states

2. trips

3. authors

2. The covered entrance area attached to a house is the ________.

1. boat

2. porch

3. luck

3. Someone who looks for coal or gold in the ground is a ________.

1. miner

2. boatman

3. pilot

4. The floor of a ship is called the ________.

1. house

2. deck

3. river

5. The action of driving a ship or car is ________.

1. steering

2. traveling

3. shouting

6. A person who gives directions to help steer a boat is a ________.

1. pilot

2. boy

3. Samuel Clemens

7. When you stop moving from place to place, you ________.

1. leave

2. come from

3. settle down

8. Another word for trip is ________.

1. influence

2. riverboat

3. journey

Comprehension

A. Looking for Main Ideas

Circle the letter of the best answer.

1. Mark Twain is ________.

1. the name of a riverboat

2. one of America's most famous au­thors

3. the real name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

2. Mark Twain ________.

1. left school to be a writer

2. was born in Nevada

3. worked at many different jobs

3. The greatest influence on Mark Twain and his books had ________.

1. his poor family

2. his porch

3. the Mississippi River

B. Looking for Details

Number the sentences 1 through 10 to show the correct order.

___ He left school when his father died.

___ Then he went west to Nevada.

___ In 1864 he went to California to find gold.

___ He wrote Huckleberry Finn.

___ Mark Twain was born in Missouri in 1835.

___ He left California to travel in Europe.

___ There he worked on a newspaper.

___ He worked as a riverboat pilot.

___ Mark Twain died in 1910.

___ He wrote a book about his trips around Europe.