Evaluation · Level 1

The ocean is always moving. On the surface, waves rise and fall. Out in the middle of the ocean, in normal weather conditions, waves usually reach a height of 3 metres at the most. In bad storms they can be 30 metres high. These huge, moving walls of water can cause severe damage if they reach land.

The most destructive waves, thought, are not caused by tides or winds. Undersea earthquakes or volcanic eruptions can disturb the floor of the ocean. This movement can send giant waves racing across the ocean.

When explorers first went inside the Egyptian pyramids they knew they would find the bodies of kings and queens that had been perfectly preserved thousands of years ago. But they were astonished to find the perfectly preserved bodies of stray cats. These cats must have got lost in the maze of tunnels inside the pyramids and mummified where they died.

One explorer decided to experiment with the shape of the pyramids. Back at home, he built a large model of a pyramid and placed the body of a dead cat in it. It mummified.

He tried other things in the pyramid. He found that razor blades stayed sharper for longer then normal. It kept food fresher. Meat became tender inside the pyramid. He found that it helped take away headaches.

It is hard for people who cannot hear to communicate with others One way for them to do this is to use sign language. Some words are spelled out by using the alphabet. In sign language, people shape the letters with their fingers and hands. Whole words or short sentences are shown with hand movements. In this way, others can see what they are saying.

It hasn’t always been like that though. This way of ‘speaking’ started in France only about two hundred years ago. It was next used in Germany. Today, sign language is popular all around the world.