Author: Sobat RIL

123. Blind and Kind Philip is 55 and blind. He has been blind since birth. He says he does not feel like he is missing anything, because he cannot imagine what sight is like. He can smell a rose, but he cannot tell if it is red, white, or blue. It does not matter to…

122. A Good Buy Christopher loved to shop at thrift stores. Almost a month ago, he bought a popular word game that uses little chips of wood with different letters on them. As he was purchasing it, the clerk said, “Oh, look, the game box hasn’t even been opened yet! That might be worth some…

121. A Big Lottery Winner A 58-year-old grandmother in Massachusetts won one of the biggest prizes in U.S. history—$294 million. If she had taken the 26-year payout, Doris Stevens would have received $11 million a year for 26 years, before taxes. Mrs. Stevens decided to take the lump sum payment. People who take the lump…

120. Independence Day Parade It was, as usual, a hot and sunny July 4–Independence Day. Eight-year-old Jeffrey was excited about the annual parade. He wanted to see everything, and he wanted to see it now. But the parade wouldn’t start until 10 o’clock. His mom Julia tried to keep Jeffrey in check. She made him…

119. What’s in the Box? Perry’s 32nd birthday was today. His wife, Amanda, had promised him something special. Perry couldn’t imagine what it might be. He already had everything he needed or wanted. Whatever she was going to give him, it was definitely going to be a surprise. She had not asked him whether he…

118. Put up with It The pounding was driving Edward crazy. A new neighbor had just moved into the apartment below him. The newcomer was deaf, or seemed to be, because he played his stereo loud enough for the whole building to hear. On the first day that he heard the stereo blasting away, Edward…

117. A Mad Adder A zoo employee was bitten by an African puff adder, a large poisonous snake. He was trying to put the snake into a bag so that it could be moved to a new snake house. The snake handler was wearing heavy gloves and thick boots, but the adder sank its fangs…

116. Drinking Is Fun Charles, a 29-year-old painter, tried to beat an 83-car freight train across the railroad tracks yesterday and lost. Fortunately for Charles and his two friends, the train hit the bed of his pickup truck. The force of the impact separated the rear of the truck from the front. The rear end…

115. Learning English According to the 2000 US Census, 39 percent of people who live in California do not speak English at home. In Las Casas, a city in southern California, 79 percent of residents speak little or no English at home or at work. To combat this problem, Las Casas is instituting a program…

114. Because God Says So The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania is being sued by a group of parents after it added “intelligent design” to the curriculum presented to high school biology students. Intelligent design, the parents argue, is false science. It is simply a clever phrase for creationism. Creationism is based on the…