Matsusei Everyday Reading

① When you stand on the Golden Gate Bridge and look eat across the San Francisco Bay, you can see an island. It is very small, but everybody knows its name. It's Alcatraz. Every year, more than 1.4 million visitors visit this place. ② Alcatraz Island first became an important prison in 1907. At this time, it was only a prison for soldiers. Then, in the 1930s, the U.S. government needed a place for the most dangerous people in the country ― people from wild cities like Chicago or New York. They thought nobody would be able to escape from the island of Alcatraz.

At about midnight, on Monday, October 28th, the wind was blowing at 50 knots and some waves were about 45 feet high. At that point, the swordfishing boat, Andrea Gail , must have been climbing slowly up each wave, then going over the top and falling down the other side. An hour later, the waves were about 100 feet high, and the wind was blowing at 120 knots. And no one could get through to Captain Billy Tyne on the Andrea Gail 's radio... Junger, Sebastian. (2005).  The Perfect Storm .  London: Macmillan Readers.

Kino quickly pushed his knife into the shell. The shell tried to close, but Kino pushed hard and the shell fell open. The flesh of the oyster moved, then was still. Kino lifted the flesh and there lay a great pearl. the sunlight fell on the pearl and made it shine like silver. It was the largest pearl in the world. Kino and Juana are poor, and their difficulties are made worse when their baby son is bitten by a scorpion. When Kino finds a large pearl, they believe their prayers have been answered and that they will be able to buy medical help. But the pearl brings only greed and violence... Steinbeck, John. (2009).  The Pearl .  London: Macmillan Readers.