Passage 1

From far out in space, Earth looks like a blue ball. Since water covers three-fourths

of the Earth's surface, blue is the color we see most. The continents look brown, like small

islands floating in the huge, blue sea. White clouds wrap around the Earth like a light blanket.

The Earth is shaped like a sphere, or a ball. It is 25,000 miles around! It would take more than

a year to walk around the whole planet. A spaceship can fly around the widest part of the sphere

in only 90 minutes.

Even though spaceships have traveled to the Moon, people cannot visit the Moon

without special equipment. The Moon has no air or water. Plants and animals can't live there

either. Astronauts first landed on the Moon in 1969. After that, there were six more trips to the

Moon. They brought back Moon rocks, which scientists are still studying. There are holes, or

craters, all over the Moon's surface. Scientists believe that meteorites smashed into the Moon

millions of years ago and formed the craters.

The Sun is the closest star to Earth. A star is a hot ball of burning gas. The Sun looks

very big because it is so close. But the Sun is just a medium-sized star. Billions of far-away

stars are much bigger than our Sun. The burning gases from the Sun are so hot that they warm

the Earth from 93 million miles away! Even though the Sun is always glowing, the night here

on Earth is dark. That's because the Earth rotates, or turns around, every 24 hours. During the

day, the Earth faces the Sun. Then we see light. During the night, the Earth turns away from

the Sun. Then, it faces the darkness of space.

Each day we learn more about the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.
 Passage 2

Butterflies are one of the most extensively studied insects---about 90 percent of the

world's butterflies have scientific names. Butterflies also have a favorable image with the

general public. Hence, they are an excellent group for communicating information on science

issues such as diversity.

Perhaps the diversity of butterfly that has received the most attention over the past

century is the striking difference in species richness between tropical and temperate regions.

For example, in 1875 one biologist pointed out the diversity of butterflies in the Amazon. He

mentioned that about 700 species were found within an hour's walk, while the total number

found on the British islands did not exceed 66, the whole of Europe had only 321. This early

comparison of tropical and temperate butterfly richness has been well confirmed.

A general theory of diversity would have to predict not only this difference between

temperate and tropical zones, but also patterns within each region, and how these patterns vary

among different animal and plant groups. However, for butterflies, variation of species richness

within temperate or tropical regions, rather than between them, is poorly understood. Indeed,

unlike comparison between temperate and tropical areas, comparisons of numbers of species

among the Amazon basin, tropical Asia and Africa are still in the documentation phase.
 Passage 3

Playing organized sports is such a common experience in the United States that many

children and teenagers take them for granted. This is especially true among children from

families and communities that have the resources needed to organize and sponsor sports

programs and make sure that there is easy access to participation opportunities. Children in

low-income families and poor communities are less likely to take organized youth sports for

granted because they often lack the resources needed to pay for participation fees, equipment,

and transportation to practices and games and their communities do not have resources to build

and maintain sports fields and facilities.

Organized youth sports first appeared during the early 20th century in the United

States and other wealthy nations. They were originally developed when some educators and

developmental experts realized that the behavior and character of children were strongly

influenced by their social surroundings and everyday experiences. This led many people to

believe that if you could organize the experiences of children in particular ways, you could

influence the kinds of adults that those children would become.

This belief that the social environment influenced a person's development was very

encouraging to people interested in progress and reform in the United States at the beginning

of the 20th century. It caused them to think about how they might control the experiences of

children to manufacture responsible and productive adults. They believed strongly that

democracy depended on responsibility and that a growing capitalist economy depended on the

productivity of workers.