Yi Suk Min Chapters 4 to 6

Chapter 4 Robert Harrison is a 35-year-old businessman who lives in New York City.

Two months ago, he was flying to L.A. for a meeting.

While he was writing a report, the battery in his computer died.

So he couldn't finish the report.

Mr. Harrison will not have this problem again.

Last month, he bought a special backpack that can make electricity from sunlight.

Mr. Harrison carries this solar backpack everywhere.

He says, “It's very convenient.”

“I don't have to worry about the battery anymore.”

Using solar energy is not new.

People started to use it a long time ago.

For example, about 2,200 years ago, Archimedes used solar energy to protect his city from Roman ships.

He burned them with big mirrors.

Much later, several new devices were made.

A solar heater and a solar cooker were invented in the 1800s, but these were not very popular because they worked only during the sunny daytime.

In 1953, there was a big change in the use of solar energy.

The solar cell was invented by three American scientists.

It was a great invention because it could change sunlight directly into electricity.

At first, solar cells were very big and heavy.

Now, they are a lot smaller and lighter than before.

They can be used for small devices such as watches and MP3 players.

Sunlight hits the solar cells on the backpack.

The solar cells change sunlight into electricity.

The electricity is stored in the battery.

A cell phone or an MP3 player can be plugged into it.

Solar cells are very expensive now, but the future of solar energy is bright.

Every year, solar cells are becoming cheaper and better.

Solar energy is also clean.

More importantly, it will never run out.

Therefore, many scientists believe that solar energy will become a main source of energy in the future.

Chapter 5 Many people in southern Spain live in cave houses.

People live in cave houses because the temperature in cave houses is always the same, about 20°C.

This is very surprising.

The temperature in southern Spain can go up to 40°C in the summer, and it sometimes snows in the winter.

Cave houses can have electricity, running water, and even the Internet.

In some places, there are even cave hotels and cave restaurants.

Bedouin people live in the Sahara desert.

They live in tents because they always move from place to place.

They make their tents with goat hair.

There are two sections in a Bedouin tent.

One section is for men, and the other is for women.

If guests come, the host usually invites them to the men's section.

Titicaca is a lake in Peru.

Uros people live on about 50 islands in the lake.

These islands are very special.

They are movable.

There are many reeds in the lake, and Uros people make their islands with these reeds.

They also make their houses and boats with reeds.

Uros people began to live this way because they could protect themselves easily from enemies.

When an enemy came, they could move the islands to a safer place.

Hakka people in southern China live in round houses.

They began to build these houses to protect themselves from enemies.

So the houses usually have only one entrance, and there are no windows on the first floor.

Round houses usually have four stories.

The first floor is for cooking, eating, and working.

The second is for storing food, and people live on the third and fourth floors.

Sometimes hundreds of people live in one house. Chapter 6

Last winter, Jiho visited Antarctica with a student group.

This is his travel diary.

We arrived in Antarctica this morning.

It took about three and a half days to get here.

After we left Seoul, we changed airplanes three times.

I was very tired, but it was great to be in Antarctica.

Everything was covered with snow.

It was so beautiful.

Our trip didn't end there.

We had to take a boat to get to the Sejong base.

The boat rocked so much that I got sick.

In an hour, we arrived at the base.

Today was the longest day of my life.

It was a beautiful day today.

We hiked to a mountain near the base.

On our way there, we saw lots of penguins.

They were walking around on their short legs.

They looked so funny that everybody laughed.

When I got close to the penguins, I had to cover my nose.

Surprisingly, they smelled terrible.

After breakfast, we went fishing with Dr. Kim.

I caught a big fish.

On our way back to the base, I heard a terrible sound.

The sound was from an iceberg which was breaking up.

Dr. Kim said that many icebergs were melting because of global warming.

In the afternoon, Yumi and I made a snowman.

The snow here is strange.

It is like flour, so it was very difficult to make snowballs.

We did our best, but our snowman looked ugly.

Tomorrow is my last day here.

We had a party this evening.

We ate galbi, gimchi, fish, and ramen.

They were all delicious.

Dr. Kim made patbingsu with ice from an iceberg.

I was full, but I still ate lots of it.

After dinner, we sang and danced together.

I had a great time here, and I'll never forget it.