Text 

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very much she admired him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.” 

“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.”

“Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”

“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“Certainly not – at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice, chapter 4. Available at:

<https://www.gutenberg.org>. Accessed on: October 29th, 2018.

TEXT 2: A painting discovered on the wall of an Indonesian cave has been found to be 44,000 years old.

    “The art appears to show a buffalo being hunted by part-human, part-animal creatures holding spears and possibly ropes. Some researchers think the scene could be the world's oldest-recorded story.

    Adam Brumm - an archaeologist at Griffith - first saw the pictures two years ago, after a colleague in Indonesia shimmied up a fig tree to reach the cave passage.

    The Indonesian drawing is not the oldest in the world. Last year, scientists said they found "humanity's oldest drawing" on a fragment of rock in South Africa, dated at 73,000 years old.”

(Adapted from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50754303). 

TEXT 1: How brightly the moon glows is a mystery, but maybe not for long.

    “The lunar dark side may be the moon’s more mysterious face, but there’s something pretty basic scientists still don’t know about the bright side — namely, just how bright it is.

    Current estimates of the moon’s brightness at any given time and vantage point are saddled with at least 5 percent uncertainty. That’s because those estimates are based on measurements from ground-based telescopes that gaze at the moon through the haze of Earth’s atmosphere.

    Now, scientists have sent a telescope beyond the clouds on a high-altitude airplane in hopes of gauging the moon’s glow within about 1 percent or less uncertainty, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reports in a Nov. 19 news release.

    Knowing the exact brightness of Earth’s celestial night-light could increase the reliability of data from Earth-observing satellites that use the moon’s steady glow to check that their sensors are working properly. Those satellites keep tabs on things like weather, crop health and dangerous algal blooms.”

(Adapted from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-brightly-moon-glows-is-mystery-but-maybe-not-long).

The difficult journey to Olympic success

For Jessica Morgan, a young athlete New Zealand, a typical day starts early. Most mornings, she gets up 4:30 a.m., while her family is still bed, and trains before school. As an elite rower, she is one the best in her country, and she aims to compete in the next Olympic Games.

Jessica’s weekly schedule is grueling. She trains twice a day, six days a week, and competes in rowing events on the weekends. However, she’s also a normal schoolgirl, and like every other sixteen-year-old at high school, she regularly does her homework, too. Jessica’s motivation is impressive. She never hangs out with friends or takes a vacation. She isn’t only an amazing athlete – she usually gets good grades in school, too. Of course, it isn’t easy to become successful. Being the best at your sport requires hard work, determination, and the help of family and coaches. Young athletes’ relationships with their family and coaches can influence their success in the future. Jessica’s parents usually spend hours every week taking her to training and competitions, and they help her to eat a healthy diet. Her coach plans her training and enters her for competitions. But both parents and coach must offer emotional support, too – for example, when Jessica loses a competition or she gets an injury. Luckily for Jessica, she has a good relationship with both her coach and family. But in other cases, these relationships can place too much pressure on young athletes. For this reason, some of them lose their motivation to do well. For Jessica, the most important factor in her future success is her own desire to win. “I know talented young athletes who give up because they feel lonely without their friends,” she says. “But I prefer not to think negatively.” Jessica believes she is responsible for securing her future success. “It’s my decision to train every morning and go back to it again every afternoon. It’s my decision not to have a social life, and never to take a vacation.” Not everyone can cope with this kind of lifestyle. But each day Jessica moves one step closer to achieving her Olympic dream.