Stephen’s New School
Stephen’s family recently moved to a new city, and Stephen had to change schools. He did not know anyone at his new school, and he felt lonely every day. He ( 26 ) about his problem. Stephen’s mother said that he would make new friends soon, and his father suggested joining one of the clubs at his new school. However, Stephen did not like sports, music, or art, so he did not know what to do.
One day, Stephen saw a poster at school for a games club. The members met three times a week to play board games and card games. Stephen really liked playing games, so he joined the club. The members were very kind, and Stephen quickly made friends. Recently, Stephen decided to ( 27 ). He has been working hard to make the rules and the other things he will need for the game. Once it is ready, he plans to try it with the other members of the club.
The Return of Greeting Cards
During the 20th century, people often sent paper greeting cards to friends and family members on birthdays or at other special times. Greeting cards usually have a picture on the front and a message inside. In the 1990s, however, people began communicating online. Sending an electronic message by e-mail or through social media is quicker and easier than sending a paper greeting card. In addition, most greeting cards are thrown away. This creates a lot of trash. As a result, some people prefer online communication because they think it is ( 28 ).
For several years, sales of greeting cards in the United States went down. Recently, though, young adults have become interested in greeting cards. Many of them think that it is too easy to send a message online. Sending a greeting card to a person ( 29 ). It shows that you really care about that person. Because of this, Americans still buy around 6.5 billion greeting cards every year.
Although people once thought that the Internet might be bad for sales of greeting cards, it may actually be helping them. This is because people who use social media are often ( 30 ). For example, they may be sent a message to tell them that one of their friends has a birthday or wedding anniversary soon. As a result, they remember to buy a greeting card and send it to their friend.
Dear Peter,
I’m really excited to see you again next week. I had such a great week the last time that I visited. I can’t believe it’s been 12 months already. I’m glad I can stay for a whole month this time. I’m planning lots of fun things for us to do together. Please tell your little sister that I’m looking forward to playing with her again, too.
I thought we could go camping by Mirror Lake. We could try fishing in the lake, too. Have you ever been fishing before? I took your dad fishing many times when he was a boy. It’s very relaxing, but you have to be ready and move quickly if you want to catch anything! I can teach you lots of tricks to help you become a good fisher.
I also thought that we could go to watch a baseball game together. I haven’t been to any big baseball games for a long time because there aren’t any professional teams near my house. Your dad told me that you joined a baseball team in your town a few months ago. How is that going? If you want to, we can go to a park to practice throwing, catching, and hitting.
Anyway, I’ll see you very soon.
Love,
Grandpa
Drive-in Movie Theaters
Richard Hollingshead was an American businessman. His mother loved movies, but she did not like the hard seats in movie theaters. Hollingshead thought that she might be more comfortable if she could watch movies while sitting on the soft seats of her own car. He put a screen and some speakers in his yard and invited his family and neighbors to try his new business idea: a drive-in movie theater.
Hollingshead opened a bigger drive-in movie theater in 1933, but he did not make much money from it. Other people copied his idea, though, and drive-in movie theaters soon became popular, especially with people with small children. One reason was that the children could run around and shout without bothering other people. Some drive-in movie theaters even had playgrounds, so children could enjoy themselves while they waited for the movies to start.
At first, these theaters had large speakers near the screen. The sound was not good, so some theaters put a speaker by every car. However, there were other problems for drive-in movie theaters. One was that drive-in movie theaters could only show movies in the evening after it became dark. Also, movie companies got more money from indoor theaters, so many of them did not let drive-in movie theaters show their best movies. Drive-in movie theaters often had to show movies that were older or less popular.
In the 1970s, many drive-in movie theaters closed because people could rent videos to watch at home. Also, many drive-in movie theaters were just outside large towns and cities. Companies wanted the theaters so that they could build new homes on the land. They offered the owners a lot of money, and many owners decided to sell their theaters. Although there were over 4,000 drive-in movie theaters in the United States around 1960, today, there are just a few hundred left.
