2 @ Strange Messages
Anna
The next night Anna woke up suddenly. The computer was
at her best friend Julia's house. She often went
there to do homeworh with her. It was their last year of
school, and they always had a lot of homework.
Anna, what are you going to do when you leave school?'
asked Julia. Are you going to go to college?'
w¿ls
'Perhaps. I don't really know,' said Anna.
homework when
you learn at
home, usually in
the evening or at
the weekend
school students
learn here
colle8le you study
here after you
a
lrig thing that
you want to do
(before you die)
space the
sun
and stars are
in this
astronaut this
person works in
s
Anna didn't want to tell Julia, but she had a wonderful
ambition: she wanted to go up into space.
'One day,' she thought, '['m going to be an astronaut.'
Anna wrote a letter to NASA in America. She wanted
to work there. She s¿rid nothing to her mother and father
about it. 1'hey didn't unclerstand.
Anna's going to be a doctor,' her mother said to all their
Iiiencls. When she heard that, Anna smiled. She didn't
want to be a doctor. She had different ideas.
learn to be
asl ronauts here
on
workrng
strango
I
l! tl; ll
The next dery she phoned him.
'Thanks for the computer mess¿lge, Uncle Bob!'
'What message?' asked Uncle Bob.
thought Anna.
Anna told lulia about the message.
'Wow!' said ]ulia. 'What an interesting computer! But
Anna. . . clo you have a dream?'
'Well, yes . . . I do,' said Anna. And she told Julia all about
the letter to NASA, and about her mother ¿rnd father.
'I can't tell them about my ermbition,' she said. "'Only
boys want to be astronauts," they think, ¿rncl "Ourd¿rughter
wants to be a doctor," they say.'
'Oh dear! What are you going to do, Anna?'
One day, Anna's Uncle Bob came to her house. Anna liked
Uncle Bob. He r¡¡as different from her mother and father.
He [<new about Anna's ambition.
'Hello, Anna. Would you like this old computer? I have a
new one now. You can do your homework on it.'
'Oh, yes. Thank you, lJncle Bob,'
pace
NASA National
Aeronautics
and Space
Adminrstration
(USA); people
'Perhaps it's [Jncle Bob,' Anna thought.
'So who sent the message?'
leave school
ambit¡on
on agarin. This time there was a message on it.
'Hello, Anna. It's me. Follow your dream.'
Anna put the computer in her bedroom. 'l'hat night,
she went to bed and dreamt about going into space. At
two o'clock in the morning she suddenly woke up. The
computer was on.
"l'h¿rt's
nol
slcc¡'1.
strange,' she thought, but she soon went
b¿rck
to
A few days later, Anna got a letter from NASA. It told her
all about a good college in America.
After I go there I can worh for NASA,' she told Julia.
'But that college is in America,' said Julia. 'What zrre you
going to sny to your mum and d¿rd?'
'Oh, I don't hnow,lulia. They don't understand.'
That night there w¿rs ¿r new message on the cornputer.
'Hello, Anna. It's me. Follow your dream.'
Anna sat at the computer. She wrote: 'Who ure you?'
The mess¿rge on the computer said: 'I hacl a dre¿rm like
you. You can do it Ann¿r. You can be ¿rn astronaut.'
lrrlr lllrr rtr:xt lltrcc: night.s, Ann¿r s¿rt at hcr conrputcr uncl
message
you
write this to
some0ne
follow to go after
somethinÉ or
somcbody
something on it tonight about space. Are you interested?'
'Yes. Let's watch it,' said Anna.
The TV had a picture of some astronauts on it. One was
a young woman
with
a big smile
- the woman on Anna's
computer!Anna suddenly felt very cold.
'Who's that woman, Dad?' she asked.
An astronaut. She died in space ten years ago.'
'What? She ¿lierl?' Anna looked at the TV The happy
young woman looked back at her.
'What did you want to talk about?' her father asked.
'It doesn't matter, Dad. Forget it.'
That night, Ann¿r couldn't sleep. She wanted to read the
next message on the computer, but nothing happened. For
to hcr new fiicnd. Iivery l,irne she sent a message,
¿l new mess¿rge came bach. The messages were all about
being ¿rn astronaut.
On the third night, the friend wrote: 'Do it Anna. Be
happy. I was happy, and you can be happy too.'
With the message there was a picture. It was a photo of
a young woman, with dark hair and a friendly smile.
'I know her!' Anna thought. But she couldn't remember
her name. She phoned lulia and told her about the photo.
'What do you think, Julia?'
'Your computer friend is right. You must followyour dream.
But when are you going to tell your mum and dad?'
't¿rll<ed'
'llhe nexl cvening, Anna was with her lather in the living
room.
'Dad. Can I talk to you about something2'
'Of course, Anna, but let's watch TV lirst.
10
There's
Anna watched the computer and she only slept for
two or three hours every night. But there were no more
a week,
messages.
At lirst, Anna felt sad. Then she phoned Julia.
'I'm going to tell Mum and Dad about NASA.'
'Oh, good, Anna! You're doing the right thing,' said Julia.
The next day Anna told her mother and father, and Uncle
Bob talked to them. At flrst, they didn't like the idea, but
they talked to Anna's teachers and read the letter from
I{ASA. In the end, they said to Ann¿r: 'Of course you must
fbllow your dream'.
Anna went to college in America, and after five years
she went to work for NASA. She took tlncle Bob's computer
with her, and she never forgot the strange messages from
Space.
So
sad not happy
11
$iffi&fl$ftrfr trruflffitr
Put these sentences in
the
a
corect order. l{umber them l-8.
lhe computer
begins t0 send Anna messaÉes.
,_!
b I I Anna tells her mothen
and father about her ambition
G f]
Uncte Bob sives Anna his
old computer
d I
Annu phones Uncle Bob
about the messages.
e E Rnm writes a letter
to NASA
t l_l Anna g0es t0 collese in America
g Ll Anna sees a now
dead astronaut on TV.
h f] nnn, tells Julia
about the messages.
ww{,,$#tfit
The letters in the blue squares on paÉe 12 make one more word. rhe computer
sends these to Anna. What are they?
/'i
5 Use the words from Activity 1 to complete these sentences.
a Our teacher always sives us a lot ot
b
My...
....istobeadoctor
c Anna studied in the
USA
to be an
d After school, a lot of people go
'&$/fiu$"fl#.4:
.hQry:§:{Qf(
e
My brother is
f
Astronauts §o nto
to ... ..
because his dog is ill
r
e That's .. . .. . ..
.. . ..
. . I left my computer on the table and now it's on the bed!
Gomplete the puzzle with
words from the story.
a
b
C
e
r
ó
b
m
o
ffiü$[§s wffiJt§
t
b
I
G
S
a
O
n
fhe next story, 'Footprints in the Snow', is about a family in
Match the people in the family with their pictures.
e
a
t
o
d
c
o
p
c
n
e
I
fl
crrn
Granoao
fl v,,
k
a
E ou¿
I
m
h
t
d
E
I
nicnaro (the son)
srtty (the dauÉhter)
New Zealand.