ReadOasis Step 5 Creative Commons photo by Jiuguang-Wang Scientists have been experimenting with four-legged robots for years. They want robots to carry heavy loads over difficult areas of land and do other difficult jobs. But one problem is power. Now that has changed. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of... Read more
By Robert Louis StevensonReadOasis Step 5 Berit Watki Winter in Merstham (Creative Commons) Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;Blinks but an hour or two; and then,A blood-red orange, sets again.Before the stars have left the skies,At morning in the dark I rise;And shivering in my nakedness,By... Read more
Is That a Fish in Your Ear
B1-IntermediateBNC LevelsCEFR LevelsListen!ProtectedStep 5StoriesStyles 0
Book Trailer by David Bellos ReadOasis Step 5 Um, Well, different languages have words for mostly similar kinds of things. I mean, because we're all human, you know, we have words for legs, and arms, and hands. And we have words for up and down. And we have words... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 Many schools and companies care about IQ. IQ stands for “intelligence quotient.” It is supposed to be a measure of intelligence. But what about EQ? EQ stands for emotional quotient, and it is supposed to be a measure of emotional intelligence. Extensive Reading Central reports about... Read more
By Guy KawasakiReadOasis Step 5 The seventh thing is you need to follow what I call the 10-20-30 rule. I have this thing called Meniere's disease. Meniere's disease has three symptoms: hearing loss, tinnitus, which is a constant ringing in my ear, and sometimes I get dizzy or vertigo... Read more
Book Trailer by Daniel PinkReadOasis Step 5 What if everything we knew about sales turned out to be wrong? For instance, we think the only people in sales are the folks who try to get us to buy stuff. That's sales as we know it, and it’s huge. It's... Read more
Book Trailer by Jonathan Gottschall ReadOasis Step 5 Statisticians believe they could get a monkey to type Hamlet if they can only convince one to randomly thwack a typewriter for a long, long time. But a monkey already wrote Hamlet, or at least a great ape did. And long... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." This is the... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 One cold winter day, Johnny strolled through the woods. He felt sad, saying, "I wish I could give my sister a nice present for Christmas." But Johnny didn't have money. So, he walked on in the snow, looking down at the ground. And he listened to... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5(Part 1) Bugs Bunny“I'm trapped. Trapped. I gotta get out of this.I gotta think fast. Trapped.Oh boy, they've trapped a rabbit. Look, look fellows, I'm Rin Tin Tin.” Elmer Fudd“Now I got you. You're a dead rabbit.” Delivery Boy“Telegram for Elmer Fudd.” Bugs Bunny“Eh, what's up, doc?”... Read more
The Most Famous Not a Protest Song (Step 5)
ArtsBNC LevelsC1-AdvancedCEFR LevelsListen!ProtectedStep 5StoriesTimes 1
ReadOasis Step 5 Protest songs speak out against problems in society. We can hear protest songs at pivotal moments of activism in western history, during the civil rights, anti-war, feminist, labor, and environmental movements. Protest singers have also sung about slave emancipation and women's suffrage. Of the many protest... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5(Part 1) Sleepy By Varvara (Creative Commons) A young man sleeps in his bed. His face looks calm, not ready for what is about to happen. Sunlight from the window shines through white curtains and inches across the room. It slowly moves across the floor and touches... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 Do you think that having a lucky charm or carrying out a superstitious ritual is irrational? Then it’s time to think again. In 2010, researchers had people carry out a range of tasks with and without the their lucky charms. The results were remarkable. When people... Read more
The Themes of Frankenstein
ArtsB3-Intermediate++BNC LevelsCEFR LevelsListen!ProtectedStep 5Stories 0
ReadOasis Step 5 The author of Frankenstein (Mary Shelly) focuses on three critical themes. She is concerned with how we use science for good or evil; how we develop technology but become enslaved by it, and how we receive from nature the power of life and death. Knowledge Shelly... Read more
By Fast Company and Gina TrapaniReadOasis Step 5 A human’s ability to do several things at once, it’s a wonder of biology. It means we can eat a burrito while we walk down the street and listen to music and daydream about the weekend, all at the same time.... Read more
Book Trailer by Dambisa Moyo ReadOasis Step 5 In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, commodity prices increased 150 percent. Over the last twenty years, rising resource demand and constrained commodity supply have increased global tensions and triggered over 20 wars and conflicts worldwide, with more inevitably to... Read more
Book Trailer by Daniel Coyle ReadOasis Step 5 (52 Tips for Improving your Skills) TIP #21: Think in vivid Images. Here’s a quick quiz. Which of the following is easier to do? 1. Take the tennis racket back in a straight horizontal line. 2. Take the tennis racket back... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 Textured Tiger by Steve Wilson (Creative Commons) The Tiger by William Blake may be the most popular poem in English. This is because editors have put it in more poetry collections than any other English poem. Blake was a graphic artist and a genius with words.... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 Blues Legend Robert Johnson The blues is a great treasure of American musical culture. It stands as the foundation for practically every form of American music in the 20th century, including gospel, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and hip hop. Blues music has its... Read more
ReadOasis Step 5 Two Pots, one of brass and the other of clay, stood together on the hearthstone. One day the Brass Pot proposed to the Earthen Pot that they go out into the world together. But the Earthen Pot excused himself, saying that it would be wiser for... Read more