Passage One
   The card catalog is an alphabetical file that normally contains at least three 3 × 5 inch cards for every book in the library collection: an author card, a title card and subject card. The same information is included on each of these three cards. The only difference is that the author's name is at the top of the author card, the title is added at the top of the title card, and the subject is added at the top of the subject card.
   The author card usually contains the author's full name, the year of his birth and the year of his death, if he is no longer living. If you do not know the author's name, but you have the title, you will be able to locate the book by using the title card. The subject card is identical to the author card and the title card except that the subject of the book appears on the top line in black capitals or in red letters.
   The card catalog may not contain the exact subject heading you have in mind. Consequently, you will need to be resourceful in your search. If, for example, you are interested in the problems of child labor during the industrial revolution in England, it may be necessary to look under such headings as the following to find the information you need: industrial revolution; England--industrial revolution; child labor; employment--children; labor--child; factory system.

Passage Three
   Some desert regions get no rainfall for months, and even years. Yet water can be found if you dig deep enough. For a long time this was a puzzling question. Then geologists found the answer. The underground water is rainwater--but the rain fell hundreds of miles away! It soaked into the ground and then flowed underground through a rock sandwich.
   A rock sandwich with water in the filling has a scientific name: aquifer. An aquifer is composed of two or more layers of nonporous rock. That's the bread of the sandwich. The filling is a layer of porous rock or sand. The whole sandwich, or aquifer, is titled at a slant. The higher end is in a region of good rainfall, where the rain soaks into the porous rock or sand. The rainwater flows down at a slant between the nonporous rock layers. If a well is drilled through the top layer, the water flows up into the well.
   If the upper end of the aquifer is higher than the top of the well, the water is forced up without pumping. This convenient arrangement is called an artesian well because this kind of well was first developed in Artois, France.

Passage Five
   In 1924, Nordic ski events were held at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. But the American skiers came home without medals. Norway took most of the medals for cross-country and ski jumping events that year. They did the same for many years after. From 1924 through 1972, the American skiers had no medals to show for their Olympic trips. The U.S. was generally thought to be weak in ski competition.
   But in 1974 it was discovered that the U. S. record was slightly better than people had been led to believe. And Norway's record was not quite as good. The discovery was a surprise and a delight to American ski fans, but even more so to American skier Anders Haugen. After fifty years, Anders got the medal he should have won back in 1924.
   In the ski jump event at Chamonix in 1924, Haugen had scored in fourth place. He had just missed earning a medal. His score was 17.916, just slightly behind Thorleif Haug of Norway. Haug's score of 18 had won him the bronze medal.
   But in 1974, Norway's National Olympic Committee did a check of all final Olympic results. There had been an error in computing Haug's score! So Haugen, now, an elderly man, traveled across the ocean for his award. On September 12,1974, he was given a bronze medal in a special ceremony at the Norway Ski Museum.

Passage One
   Stories don't just happen ; they are created. There are no stories in the everyday course of events; there are only the ingredients for stories. A dozen people may watch a man standing on the fifth-floor ledge or a small child crying. There is no story involved in either case unless one of the dozen chooses to make one up—to surround the isolated event with a beginning and an end, thereby giving what we call a meaning to human action. In other words, there has to be a story-maker--a story-teller--if there is to be a story.
   You as the story-maker or writer are in complete control of all of the details of your story. You have control over who the characters are, what they do, and why they do it. You also have control over how the story is to be told and who is going to tell it. You can adopt one of a number of points of view, each of which will give a quite different total story.
   Broadly speaking, there are two major approaches a writer can take: (1) you can present the story as if told by someone who is completely outside it, or (2) you can present the story as if told by one of its characters. In either case, the teller's role is an assumed role.

Passage Four
   How can we get rid of garbage? Do we have enough energy sources to meet our future energy needs?
   These are two important questions that many people are asking today. Some people think that man might be able to solve both problems at the same time.  They suggest using garbage as an energy source, and at the same time it can save the land to hold garbage.
   For a long time, people buried garbage or dumped it on empty land. Now, empty land is scarce. But more and more garbage is produced each year. However, garbage can be a good fuel to use. The things in garbage do not look like coal, petroleum, or natural gas; but they are chemically similar to these fossil fuels. As we use up our fossil-fuel supplies, we might be able to use garbage as an energy source. Burning garbage is not a new idea. Some cities in Europe and the United States have been burning garbage for years. The heat that is produced by burning garbage is used to boil water. The steam that is produced is used to make electricity or to heat nearby buildings. In Paris, France, some power plants burn almost 2 million metric tons of the cities garbage each year. The amount of energy produced is about the same as would be produced by burning almost a half million barrels of oil.
   Our fossil fuel supplies are limited. Burning garbage might be one kind of energy source that we can use to help meet our energy needs. This method could also reduce the amount if garbage piling up on the earth.

Passage Two
   The thought of not sleeping for twenty-four hours or more is not a pleasant one for most people. The amount of sleep that each person needs varies. In general, each of us needs about eight hours of sleep each day to keep our bodies healthy and happy. Some people, however, can get by just a few hours of sleep at night.
   It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps. But everyone needs some rest to stay alive. Few doctors would have thought that there might be an exception on this. Sleep is, after all, a very basic need. But a man named A1 Herpin turned out to be a real exception, for supposedly, he never slept!
   A1 Herpin was 90 years old when doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They hoped to negate the claims that he never slept. But they were surprised. Though they watched him every hour of the day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. He did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
   The closest that Herpin came to resting was to sit in a rocking chair and read a half dozen newspapers. His doctors were baffled by this strange case of permanent insomnia. Herpin offered the only clue to his condition. He remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he had been born. Herpin died at the age of 94, never having slept a wink.

Passage Three
   Americans are well known for the strange diets they always seem to be following. It seems that Americans like to diet almost as much as they like to eat. New types of diet plans are always coming out. Usually, though, they don't stay popular for long.
   There are many diets on the market. It is often difficult to know which ones really work. It's also hard to believe how fast a dieter is supposed to shed pounds. A lot has been written about dieting. And some interesting facts about diets and foods have been discovered.
   For example, did you know that the more celery you eat, the more weight you will lose.9 Celery has "negative" calories. The body burns up more calories digesting a piece of celery than there are in the celery stick itself.
   Dieters shun potatoes because they think they are fattening. But they aren't. A potato has about the same number of calories as an apple. To gain a single pound, you would have to eat eleven pounds of potatoes!
   Some dieters even worry about getting fat from licking postage stamps. But they have nothing to worry about. The glue on an average stamp has only about one-tenth of a calorie. Maybe a diet of postage stamps would be popular?

Passage Three
   On October 17, 1829, Sam Patch did what he had said he would do. He perched on a platform built beside Niagara Falls, and jumped into the river a hundred feet below. A big crowd had gathered to watch Sam's well-advertised leap. The spectators held their breath as the daredevil hit the swirling water. At last his head burst out of the foam, thirty feet clear of the falls. The crowd let out a mighty roar. Men waved their hats and yelled out the expression that had become Sam's trademark : "There's no mistake in Sam Patch!"
   Sam began his career as a leaper in 1827, when he jumped eighty feet into the Passaic River, from a bridge that was still under construction. He was delighted with the notoriety he received. He traveled from town to town, jumping from masts, cliffs and bridges. Then he made his great conquest of Niagara Falls.
   Sam was spurred on by the widespread public excitement over his successful leap from the Fails. He turned to the higher Genesee Falls for his next feat. On November 13, a scaffold was constructed 125 feet above the base of the Falls. A huge crowd gathered on both river banks. At 2:00 pro, Sam climbed the shaky scaffold, made a brief speech, and jumped. Once again there was hushed silence as his body smacked the water. But this time Sam didn't resurface.
   Sam's body was pulled from the mouth of the river the following spring. Even so, for years afterward, a legend persisted that tile great Sam Patch was still alive.

Passage Four
   Unless you have visited the southern United States, you probably have never heard of kudzu. Kudzu, as any southern farmer will sadly tell you, is a super-powered weed. It is a strong climbing vine. Once it gets started, kudzu is almost impossible to stop. It climbs to the tops of the tallest trees. It can cover large buildings. Whole barns and farm houses have been known to disappear from view. It has even been said to engulf small, slow-moving children, but that is probably an exaggeration. Still, wherever it grows, its thick, twisting vines are hard to remove.
   Kudzu was once thought to be a helpful plant. Originally found in Asia, it was brought to America to help fight erosion. It was planted where its tough roots, which grow up to five feet long, could help hold back the soil. But the plant soon spread to places where it wasn't wanted. Farmers now have to fight to keep it from eating up all the nutrients in the soil and killing other plants. It has become a sign of unemployment in the South; where there is no one to work the fields, kudzu soon takes over.
   The northern United States faces no threat from kudzu. Harsh winters kill off its vines. It loves the warmth of the South. But the South surely doesn't love it. If someone could invent some use for kudzu, and take it off southern farmers' lands, their fortune would be assured.

Passage One
   The cultural values of a society determine the social norms of the society. The SOCIAL NORMS are the group-shared rules of behavior. These norms are the expected ways of behaving in the society based on the shared values--the purposes and goals--of that society. For example, because we place some value on physical modesty, we have the social norm of wearing clothes in public. To be an accepted member of society, one must live by the rules which that society imposes. When an individual does not behave according to these norms, that person is considered a deviant. A person who walks down the main street of an American city with no clothes on is regarded as a deviant, that is, a person who does not follow the standard rules of behavior.
   Some norms apply to all persons in a particular situation. For example, in our culture all persons are expected to be quiet in a library; obey the traffic signals; eat with a knife, fork and spoon; stand during the playing of the National Anthem ; and pay their bills. These are just a few of the many norms that every member of our society is expected to follow.

Passage Two
   If you've gone to the same seashore for several years, you may have noticed that the beach gets smaller every year. The wind and the waves carry the beach out to sea, bit by bit. Most shore towns try to fight the beach changes caused by ocean currents and the tides. Some dig sand out of backwater bays and dump it on the beachfront. Others build wooden piers and jetties made to keep currents away from the beach.
   A type of artificial sand that has been developed might be able to slow down beach erosion. Strangely, this new kind of sand is made of ground glass! You might think that walking barefoot on ground glass would be painful. But it's not. The reason is very simple. Sand and glass are made of the same kind of material, called silicate. When glass is ground very finely, you get a sand-like substance that is harder than real sand. The size of the pieces can be controlled. Larger pieces won't be as easily affected by the wind and waves. So, a beach covered with artificial sand would last longer than a beach with real sand.
   A wonderful thing about artificial sand is that it can be made from waste glass. But making artificial sand costs three times as much as using conventional methods of beach protection. So, it is not likely that sand made of glass will be used in the near future.

Passage Five
   There are many commonly held beliefs about eyeglasses and eyesight that are not proven facts. For instance, some people believe that wearing glasses too soon weakens the eyes. But there is no evidence to show that the structure of eyes is changed by wearing glasses at a young age. Wearing the wrong glasses, however, can prove harmful. Studies show that for adults there is no danger, but children can develop loss of vision if they have the wrong glasses.
   We have all heard some of the common myths about how eyesight gets bad. Most people believe that reading in dim light causes pool eyesight, but that is unique. Too little light makes the eyes work harder, so they do get tired and strained. Eyestrain also results from reading a lot, reading in bed, and watching too much television. But, although eyestrain may cause some pain or headaches, it does not permanently damage eyesight.
   Another myth about eyes is that they can be replaced, or transferred from one person to another. There are close to one million nerve fibers that connect the eyeball to the blain, and as if yet it is impossible to attach them all in a new person. Only certain parts of the eye--the cornea and the retina-- can be replaced. But if We keep clearing up the myths and learning more about the eyes, someday a full transplant may be possible!