READINGS FOR LAST SIMULACRUM

text 1:
Imagine if everyone in your street suddenly came out into the road one day and started singing together. Singing teacher Ruth Black believes it would make everyone so friendly that they would never walk past each other again without saying hello.

Singing helps people live in peace together, she says. All over the world people have always
sung together and in most places they still do, but in England it is no longer traditional.

Nowadays, says Ruth, people only sing together in churches and football grounds, although it could be done anywhere. Everyone is able to sing, she says, but most of us either think we can't or have forgotten what we learned as children. However, as with everything musical, you need to practice and the same applies to your voice. Ruth believes that singing itself brings other benefits. It encourages good breathing, for example. Through singing, people often become more confident and also learn to control stress. But more than anything, it brings people together.

When Ruth first started singing, there was little opportunity to sing with others. Then, through a friend, she discovered an excellent singing class and became so keen that she started running her own classes. These are held twice a month for all singers, whatever their level, and are now enormously successful.





text 2:

Easter Island
Easter Island is a small triangle of rock situated in the Pacific Ocean. It’s about 2,000 miles from the nearest city. Easter Island is famous for its statues. Hundreds of these huge, stone faces can be found all over the island. Who made them? How did they move these giant pieces of rock? What happened to the people who lived there? Studies show that people first arrived on the island about 1600 years ago. They had a very advanced culture. They made many objects and they had their own written language. However, the number of people on the island grew and grew until it reached about 10,000 people. Soon there were too many people and there wasn’t enough food to eat. A terrible war started and many of the statues were broken. When western explorers discovered the island on Easter Day in 1722, the huge rock statues were the only sign that a great society had once lived there.



Text 3:
The bicycle is a cheap clean way to travel. The first bicycle was made about one hundred and fifty years ago. At first, bicycles were expensive. Only rich people could buy one. These early bicycles looked very different from the ones we had today.
Later, when bicycles became cheaper, many people bought one. People started riding bicycles to work and in their free time.
Today, people use cars more than bicycles; cars are much faster and you don´t get wet when it rains! But some people still prefer to cycle to work. They said that there are too many cars in town centres and you can´t find anywhere to park!