第9章 Lesson 9: Why the Sea is Salty
A long time ago, the sea tasted like rain. There was a friendly giant who kept salt in his cave across the sea. People crossed the sea and asked for salt to make their food taste better.
One day there was a storm. The people could not go out to the sea for a long time. They ran out of salt. The kind giant stretched his leg across the sea so that the people could walk to his cave. However, the giant's foot landed on an anthill. Big, red ants started biting the giant's leg.
The people filled their bags with salt and began to return home. The ants bit the giant's leg again. The giant cried out and put his sore leg into the sea. The ants fell in the water, and so did the people and the bags of salt. The giant saved the people, but the salt melted in the water. From that day on, the sea was salty.
I. Word List
cave: a large, natural hole in a mountain
kind: very friendly
anthill: a large nest built by ants
giant: a very big person
II. Choose the correct answer for each sentence.
1. The sea tasted like _________ a long time ago.
a. snow b. rain c. lemon
2. The giant kept salt in his _________.
a. cave b. barrel c. tent.
3. The people could not go to the sea because there was a _________.
a. storm b. sun c. cloud
4. The _________ bit the giant's leg.
a. ants b. ladybugs c. bees
5. The people filled their bags with _________.
a. candy b. salt c. apples
III. Opposites scramble—Find words in the story that mean the opposite to these words and write them correctly.
1. mean: lydniefr __________
2. worse: etrtbe __________
3. short: nogl __________
4. run: aklw __________
5. small: gib __________
IV. Answer the following questions.
1. Why did the giant stretch his leg across the sea?
___________________________________________________________.
2. How did the giant hurt his foot?
___________________________________________________________.
3. Where did the giant live?
___________________________________________________________.
4. What happened to the people?
___________________________________________________________.
5. Why is the sea salty?
___________________________________________________________.