UNIT 3 - READING 1 "SUCCESS STORIES"

This passage tells about four people and how they succeeded in different ways.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter who overcame disease and injury to become
a world-famous painter.

Bill Gates created Microsoft and became the world’s
richest man. Then he and his wife started a foundation with the aim of ridding the
world of disease.

Muhammad Yunus is an economist who started a bank to lend small amounts of money to the poorest people in Bangladesh. His idea was so successful that he and his bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to go into space. She later became the director of an institute that studies how modern technologies can
help developing countries.

Key Words

• self-portrait: a picture that you make of

yourself

• famine: a time of hunger and lack of food

• enterprise: the ability to work hard and think

of new ideas, especially in business

• scholarships: money awarded to pay for

students’ schooling

• excelled: did something better than almost

everyone else

• satellite: a spacecraft that is sent into orbit

around the earth or the moon

Academic Words

aid = assistance, especially in the

form of money, food, equipment

commitment = a promise and a

determination to do something

contribution = money or help that is

offered or given

global = affecting or relating to the

whole world

priority = the thing that you think is

most important

Highlighted

Words

paralysis, the loss of the ability to move or feel part of your body

exhibited, showed in public

program, set of instructions

contributed, given; donated

blows my mind, amazes me

doctorate, university degree of the highest level

economics, the way goods and services are produced and used

practical, relating to actions, not words

borrowers, people who use something and give it back later

orbit, a circular path

space shuttle, space vehicle that can fly into space and return to Earth

sustainable development, development that meets present needs without

endangering the needs of people in the future

Word Study

 Prefi xes under-, re-, multi-, inter-

A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning. As you read “Success Stories,” you will see the prefixes under-, re-, and multi-.

Independent and Dependent Clauses

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. An independent clause is a complete sentence. A dependent clause is not a complete sentence and must be connected to an independent clause by a relative pronoun. A relative pronoun relates the dependent clause to a noun in the independent clause. Some relative pronouns are that and who. When referring to things, use that. When referring to people, use who or that.

INDEPENDENT AND DEPEDENT CLAUSES