The ground shook on Saturday in the South Asian country of Nepal when the region was hit by a massive earthquake. The quake registered 7.8 on the Richter scale, a 10-point system developed to measure the magnitude, or force, of earthquakes. It was the largest earthquake to strike Nepal since 1934.

While the epicenter of the earthquake was located 50 miles northwest of Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, it was Kathmandu that suffered significant damage. In much of the countryside, it was worse. The earthquake caused buildings to collapse and triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain. It was strong enough to be felt across parts of India, Bangladesh, China's region of Tibet, and Pakistan.

"There are people who are not getting food and shelter," said Udav Prashad Timalsina, a top official in Nepal. "I've had reports of villages where 70 percent of the houses have been destroyed."

So far, than 4,000 people are known to have lost their lives. About 7, 180 people were injured by the quake, police said.

Helping Hands

More than a dozen countries and many charity groups are sending aid to Nepal to assist in the recovery. Teams from the Unites States, China, India and other countries have traveled to Nepal to help the government with search -and-rescue," said Jagdish Pokhrel, the Nepalese army spokesman. "We are focusing our efforts on that, on saving lives.

However, many of the affected villages are not easy to reach, as landslides have blocked roads. Another problem is aftershocks. Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that happen after a large earthquake. They can often cause additional damage.

Nepal's rescue coordinator, Lila Mani Poudyal says aftershocks are delaying rescue crews.

"There have been nearly 100 earthquakes and aftershocks, which is making rescue work difficult," he said. "Even the rescuers are scared running because of them."

More than a dozen countries and and many charities have contributed aid to the people of Nepal. Here, South Korean aid workers prepare to travel to Kathmandu, where fresh drinking water is badly needed.

Aftershocks have also been a concern for Nepali citizens. Many have refused to return to their homes. Afraid that buildings might collapse, many people are sleeping in tents outside.

In a country cripples by this natural disaster, Poudyal is calling for more help from the international community.

"We are appealing for tents, dry goods, blankets, mattresses and 80 different medicines that the health department is seeking what we desperately need now," he said.

Questions

1. What was the author's purpose in writing this article?

2. What is the main idea of the article?

3. Explain what the effects of the earthquake were.

4. Define the Richter scale?

5. What was the difficulty in reaching the villages that were affected?

6. Name one natural resource that was in short supply.

7. An appeal was sent out for assistance. List 3 items which were requested.

8. Name some of the countries that assisted with providing aid.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master

If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

If Quiz

Question 1

What does the speaker say is necessary to be self-confident?

a. Accept some failures and losses

b. Bravery and some recklessness

c. Patience and time

d. Face uncertainty and disagreement

Question 2

What must a righteous person avoid?

a. Sounding "preachy"

b. Being self-righteous

c. Appearance of impropriety

d. Temptations of sin

Question 3

What two things are impermanent by nature?

a. Life and love

b. Triumph and disaster

c. Joy and anger

d. Hope and fear

Question 4

What sort of balance should one try to achieve?

a. Faith and reason

b. Enjoyment and contemplation

c. Solitude and togetherness

d. Private ideals and public action

Question 5

For whom is the poem intended?

a. Everyone

b. The speaker's younger self

c. A graduating class

d. A boy or young man

Question 6

Short Answer

Why does the author start many of the lines with the word “If”?

Question 7

Short Answer

Does this poem offer good advice? If so or if not, explain by providing two pieces of textual

evidence.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Who is the speaker?

2. Reread lines 13-16. Rewrite this advice in your own words.

3. According to the speaker, how should you respond if you fail in meeting your goals?

4. According to the speaker, what kind of qualities should a man have? List 5 qualities supported by evidence from the text.

5. The speaker says it important to not make dreams your master. What does he mean by this? Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.

Sick

By Shel Silverstein More Shel Silverstein

“I cannot go to school today,"

Said little Peggy Ann McKay.

“I have the measles and the mumps,

A gash, a rash and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,

I’m going blind in my right eye.

My tonsils are as big as rocks,

I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox

And there’s one more--that’s seventeen,

And don’t you think my face looks green?

My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--

It might be instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,

I’m sure that my left leg is broke--

My hip hurts when I move my chin,

My belly button’s caving in,

My back is wrenched, my ankle’s sprained,

My ‘pendix pains each time it rains.

My nose is cold, my toes are numb.

I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,

I hardly whisper when I speak.

My tongue is filling up my mouth,

I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,

My temperature is one-o-eight.

My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,

There is a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?

What’s that? What’s that you say?

You say today is. . .Saturday?

G’bye, I’m going out to play!”

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!

On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!