Level 3.

Now, its not a dish for everyone, certainly not for those afraid of bugs, but one
small Mexico restaurant is offering up a new food challenge tacos with
insect toppings!
Yeah, La Cocinita de San Juan even has a full list of Mexican-style tacos
with wild menu items such as scorpions and spiders. And they really are wild, says
restaurant owner Pedro Hernandez.
Its really hard to catch them. Theyre wild, so there are people who are in charge
of going into the hills to go and lift up the rocks and uncover them in the weeds.
You have to be really careful when you grab them because the scorpions, if they
sting you, those little scorpions will send you to hospital.
So, how do you get your customers to eat something they would normally send
back to the kitchen? Well, apparently some of the dishes are easy to disguise.
Scorpion doesnt have a very characteristic flavour, really. Its the preparation that
really gives it a characteristic flavour. Then, theyll eat it. Because otherwise, theyll
say, No wait, Im not going to eat a scorpion, then seeing it all prepared, they eat it
and say, Well, its good.
Well, we dont know about you, but wed rather stick to a burger!
Difficult words: topping (something you put on top of food), wild (something that
lives in nature AND something that is very exciting and strange), weed (wild
plant), grab (take), disguise (make look or taste like something different), send
back to the kitchen (tell the restaurant you dont want to eat something because it
has something disgusting in it), stick (pick something familiar or normal).

Level 1
This news is about food. A restaurant in Mexico offers something special. It
puts insects in its tacos. You can have, for example, bugs, spiders and scorpions.
The insects are wild. People go into the hills, lift up rocks and catch them. This can
be dangerous because some insects sting.
Some people dont want to eat insects. Then they try it, and they like it! Some
insects dont have a characteristic flavour. You can give them any flavour that you
want.
Difficult words: insect (small animal with six legs), sting (attack with a sharp part
of the body), flavour (how something tastes).
Level 3
Restoration experts in Mexico were left shocked after they discovered an
18
th
century statue of Christ contained real human teeth.
Art restoration specialists from Mexico's National School of Restoration x-
rayed the figure before starting their project, but what they found was far more
surprising.
When the X-rays came back, the team discovered the teeth in the statue once
belonged to an adult human, before they were inserted into the head of the Christ
figure.
In this case we found that it has teeth that belonged to a human. We noticed it
because the roots can be perfectly seen in the X-rays.
Teeth and nails in some statues are often made of animal bone but its rare that
human teeth would be used.
In the 18
th
century, people often donated human hair and clothes to be used on
statues to give them a more realistic look.
Difficult words: art restoration specialist (person who makes art look like how it
used to look), x-ray (to photograph something with x-ray, which is an
electromagnetic wave which can pass through many materials).

Level 1
This news is from Mexico. Experts study a statue. It is a statue of Christ. They x-
ray the statue. They find something interesting. There are human teeth inside the
statue.
This is very rare. Usually, people used animal bones for a statues teeth. People
also donated hair and clothes for statues in 18
th
century. They made statues look
realistic.
Difficult words: x-ray (to take picture with a special machine which lets you see
through things), rare (special), donate (give).






Level 1
People hold a festival in South Korea. This festival is special. It is a mud festival! It
is held every year.
People come to the festival in clean clothing. They leave covered in mud. People
enjoy wrestling in mud, mud slides, and even a mud prison. You must get dirty!
Three million people came to the festival last year. This year, around 3 million
people came again. The festival ends on 27
th
of July.
Difficult words: hold (happen), wrestle (fight with your hands and body), slide (flat
object on which you sit and ride down).

Level 1
This happens in Santiago, Chile. A fire breaks out in an old building. It starts on
the 12
th
floor of the building.
A dog is in danger. It has a few burns on its body. Firefighters find the dog. It
is unconscious because of the smoke.
The firefighters take the dog. They help him by putting on an oxygen mask. The
dog is with its family now. It is getting better and better.
Difficult words: break out (start), danger (it can get hurt or die), unconscious (not
able to see, move or feel), oxygen mask (thing that goes on your face and helps
you breathe).

Level 1
A plane flies from the Netherlands to Malaysia. It carries 298 people. Someone
shoots it down in Ukraine. The plane loses contact.
Someone shoots it down in a dangerous area. This area is in the east of Ukraine.
People say that rebels probably shoot the plane down.
Nobody on the plane survives. However, one family is lucky. They miss the plane.
They save their lives. The mother of this family speaks to the press. She is in
shock and she shakes. She does not know what to do, but she says that she feels
like something has given her a second chance.
Difficult words: survive (live), miss (they come too late to the airport and the plane
is already gone), press (people who work for newspaper, radio or
television), second chance (an opportunity to stay alive).