Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei lived in Italy from 1564 to 1642.. At the time Ramanujan lived, there were very few opportunities in India for people who were interested in mathematics.
Trang 1Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, ™
Lexile, ® and Reading Recovery ™ are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.
Scott Foresman Reading Street 3.4.1
ISBN 0-328-13369-8
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Special Talents
Extraordinary Lives
by Kristin Cashore
Genre Comprehension
Skills and Strategy Text Features
Biography • Cause and Effect
• Draw Conclusions
• Answer Questions
• Captions
• Heads
• Glossary
Biography
Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, ™
Lexile, ® and Reading Recovery ™ are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.
Scott Foresman Reading Street 3.4.1
ISBN 0-328-13369-8
ì<(sk$m)=bddgjh< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
Special Talents
Extraordinary Lives
by Kristin Cashore
Genre Comprehension
Skills and Strategy Text Features
Biography • Cause and Effect
• Draw Conclusions
• Answer Questions
• Captions
• Heads
• Glossary
Biography
Trang 2Reader Response
1 Copy this chart Supply the missing cause
and effect in this chart.
2 This book asks about what life is like for
very talented people What do you think is the answer to this question? How did you decide on that answer?
3 Choose two glossary words Use each
one in a complete sentence to show its meaning
4 Which person’s story in this book did you
like best? Tell why.
Cause Effect
Galileo talked about his discovery.
Galileo discovered that Earth revolves around the Sun.
Special Talents
Extraordinary Lives
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by Kristin Cashore
13369_001-024.indd 1 11/21/05 9:58:34 AM
Trang 3Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for
photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to
correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman,
a division of Pearson Education.
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ISBN: 0-328-13369-8
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3
Special Talents
The world has given us many talented
people Athletes have wowed us with their feats
Musicians and composers have given us beautiful music Scientists have discovered wonders
about our world Great writers and artists have expressed their thoughts and feelings
What is it like to be a person who is especially gifted? It seems that it would be exciting and rewarding, but that is not always the case In this book, you will read about nine people Some are from the past, and some are living now All
of them have special talents and, as a result, all of
them have lived extraordinary lives.
An artist at work
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Trang 4Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei lived in Italy from 1564 to
1642 Galileo was a great thinker who worked
in mathematics and the science of astronomy,
and he was also a brilliant inventor
In 1609, Galileo was visiting Venice when
he heard about a Dutch inventor That inventor
used lenses to make faraway objects look
closer Galileo used this idea and designed
an instrument with powerful
lenses Today it is known as
the telescope He used the
telescope to look at the Moon,
the planets, and the Sun With his
telescope, Galileo made an important
discovery He proved that Earth revolves
around the Sun!
Sometimes a genius such as Galileo is
also a pioneer, or the first person ever to do
something Before Galileo, no one had looked
at the Sun through a telescope, so no one knew
that it was harmful to the eyes That may have
been why Galileo lost his eyesight But being
a pioneer also got Galileo into trouble with
the law
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In the 1600s in Italy, people believed that the Sun revolved around Earth Even though Galileo was right, hardly anyone believed him
Because talking about his discovery was against the law, Galileo was arrested As punishment,
he had to stay inside his house for the rest of his life
Galileo was a genius who wanted his work
to be understood But because of the time in which he lived, Galileo’s talents got him into trouble Today, though, Galileo is a hero His discovery changed the way that people think about our solar system
Galileo may have used a telescope similar to this one.
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Trang 5Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson lived from 1743 to 1826
He was a brilliant thinker and a gifted writer
In 1776, Americans were unhappy about
being ruled by the government of England
Jefferson was asked to write the Declaration of
Independence
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents in American history In
it Jefferson wrote that all people are created equal
He said that the government should be the servant
of the people, not their master
Jefferson was a courageous man He knew
that the Declaration of Independence would
anger the British government He knew that if
America lost its battle for freedom from Britain,
he would be in trouble for the words he had
written Luckily, America won the war!
Thomas Jefferson became the third president
of the United States Today we honor his mind,
his talent, and his bravery
Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States
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7
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Trang 6Emily Dickinson
The poet Emily Dickinson lived in
Amherst, Massachusetts,
from 1830 to 1886
Dickinson’s style of
poetry was different from
any that had ever been
seen before
When Dickinson sent her poetry to an editor to
read, the editor thought that it
was interesting, but he was afraid that it was too
unusual and that readers would not like it He
was concerned that Dickinson’s poetry would
not be appreciated He decided not to publish,
or print, her poems unless she changed her
style
Dickinson did not want to change her style
of poetry She kept writing in her own unique
way She wrote poems for friends and family A
few of her poems were published, but mostly,
she wrote them for herself
What do you think this poem by Emily Dickinson means?
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9
After Dickinson died, her sister found hundreds of her poems and had them published
At first, people did not know what to think of the poetry But today, we honor Dickinson as one of America’s best writers
Because her style of writing was so extraordinary, Dickinson’s life was different from the lives of other poets of her time She was a pioneer of poetry who did not become famous until after her death
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! They’d advertise—you know!
How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one’s name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!
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Trang 7Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan lived from 1887 until
1920 He was born into a poor family in India
Ramanujan could do arithmetic problems in his head that were so difficult most people could
not do them on paper Because of his abilities,
he found that school was not very challenging
There were not many books about math for
him to use there, and there were not many good
math teachers
At the time Ramanujan lived, there were
very few opportunities in India for people who
were interested in mathematics Ramanujan
struggled to grow as a mathematician.
Finally, he decided to write letters to some famous mathematicians in England One of
those mathematicians, G H Hardy, wrote back
and asked Ramanujan to come to England to
study
In 1914, Ramanujan traveled to England He worked very hard with Hardy, but Ramanujan
did not adapt well to living in England The
English food, weather, and culture were very
strange to him
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11
Ramanujan became ill and returned to India in 1919, where he died a year later When Ramanujan died, he left notebooks full of
amazing mathematical ideas
Ramanujan is honored today as a great genius But, sadly, he was a genius who lived a difficult life
Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician
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Trang 8Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson lived from 1919 to 1972 He was an African American, and he lived at a time
when there was much prejudice against African
American people
Robinson was an extraordinary athlete He was talented in football, baseball, basketball, and
track At that time, only white people played
baseball in the major leagues African American
baseball players played with a group called the
Negro American League
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13
In 1945, Jackie Robinson became a player with the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro American League baseball team
However, times were changing in America
Many people thought that African Americans should play in the major leagues Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was amazed
by Robinson’s talent and invited him to join his major league team
In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play baseball in the major
leagues It was far from easy for him He faced a huge amount of prejudice, even from some of his teammates, because of the color of his skin But Jackie Robinson did not give up
Today, we honor Jackie Robinson for being such a courageous pioneer He paved the way for all of today’s African American baseball players, and
he used his great talent to do very important work
Jackie Robinson was a very courageous athlete.
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Trang 9Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris in 1955 When
Ma was four years old, his father began teaching
him to play classical music on the cello Soon it
was clear that Ma had a unique musical talent
He performed in his first public recital, or solo
concert, when he was only a small boy
When he was nine, his family moved to New York City so that he could study at the
Julliard School of Music Ma studied hard, and
during that first year in New York, he played in
a concert at the famous Carnegie Hall During
his teenage years Ma became world famous for
his cello playing
There were not many pieces of classical music that had been written for the cello Ma
could have decided that there was not much
more for him to learn in the world of music But
instead, he learned to play other styles of music,
including folk music and traditional Chinese
music Ma makes his concerts fun for audiences,
and he has a way of connecting with people so
that they feel involved in the music
Yo-Yo Ma, cellist
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Today, Ma still looks for exciting new ways
to play his cello He is a musical pioneer and one of the world’s most important musicians
The world of music is richer because he has helped it to grow Ma has used his amazing talent as a cello player to teach others that all kinds of music can be fun
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Trang 10Venus and Serena Williams
Venus and Serena Williams are sisters and tennis champions Venus was born in 1980, and
Serena was born in 1981 The sisters grew up
in Los Angeles, California They were young
girls when they learned to play tennis Both girls
were competing in tennis matches before they
became teenagers!
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Because of their great talent, the Williams sisters had unusual childhoods They practiced tennis for hours every day, and their father was their coach
School was also important for the Williams sisters The girls were homeschooled, and they were good students Between tennis and school, the sisters worked very hard
In time, all of their hard work paid off
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, both sisters began to win some of the world’s most important tennis tournaments Very quickly, Venus and Serena became two of the best tennis players in the world The sisters always supported each other, but sometimes they had
to beat each other to win a tournament!
It has not been easy for the Williams sisters
As children, they worked hard at tennis every day, and they have struggled with injuries throughout their careers But their talent and hard work have earned them many rewards
Venus and Serena Williams, tennis champions
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Trang 11Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini was born in Montana
in 1983 Like the Williams sisters, Paolini was
homeschooled He earned his high school
diploma when he was only fifteen years old
And then, he decided to write a novel about a
boy who becomes friends with a dragon!
To prepare for his novel, Paolini read books about
writing He and his sister
Angela made up three
languages for his characters
to speak Then Paolini got
to work It took him about
three years to write and
rewrite the book until he
was satisfied with it He
decided to call the book
Eragon, after the boy who
was the main character
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First the book was published by a small printing company, but then it caught the eye
of a big publisher in New York City When the book was published the second time, many people heard about it and it became very popular Readers agreed that it was a wonderful book with fantastic and interesting characters
Paolini was only a teenager when his first novel
was published, but his writing talent had made him a star
Today, Paolini still lives in Montana He is working on his second novel, which is also about Eragon Paolini became
a famous author at a young age He worked hard to finish his first book, but he also made time to play and do other
things that he enjoyed Paolini remembers his childhood as a very happy time in his life
Christopher Paolini taught himself how to write a novel when he was a teenager.
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