2. Main Idea
Long ago most people couldn’t even write their won names. They
just wrote “X” or a cross to stand for their names. Then They kissed
the paper it was written on to show that they were sincere. After a
long time, “X” came to sand for a person’s signature and also for a
kiss. Today “X” is used as a sign of love.
• The story mainly tells:
1. Why people put “X” on their letters
2. How the meaning of “X” has changed
3. Why people couldn’t write their names
4. Why people kiss
3. Main Idea
One species of fish has a strange appetite. These fish, known as
glanis, catch and eat large birds swimming on the surface of the
water. Gulls, geese, and ducks are sometimes found in their
stomachs. It seems difficult to believe, doesn’t it? Most often we
think of birds eating fish. “Turnabout is fair play,” say the glanis.
• The story mainly tells:
1. What most fish eat
2. Why birds eat fish
3. How big the glanis are
4. What the glanis eat
4. Main Idea
Before the first World War, part of a skull was discovered in
Piltdown, England. Some scientists said it was 500,000 years old.
Scientists began to think that human beings had been on earth in
their present form longer than had been thought before their
wonderful Piltdown discovery. Years later they found out the skull
was a fake. It had just been made to look old.
• The story mainly tells:
1. What happened long ago
2. Where Piltdown is
3. What the Piltdown discovery was
4. How a skull looked old
5. Main Idea
The cat is one of nature’s most amazing animals. It has 288 light
bones of incredible strength. It also has 517 springlike muscles. As a
result, the cat almost seems to float into the air when it jumps.
Furthermore, it can pick up the direction of a sound ten times faster
than a dog can. Its vision is six times better than that of a person.
• The story mainly tells:
1. Why cats are unusual
2. How many bones cats have
3. How much cats weigh
4. How well cats can hear
