Article: Copyright 2003 Weekly Reader Corporation. All rights reserved. Weekly Reader is a registered trademark of Weekly Reader Corporation. Used by permission. 1 Bird Man Winging It Who?! Felix Baumgartner, 34, is not Superman. He's a stuntman from Austria, a country in Europe. In July of 2003, Felix made history. He became the first person to fly across the English Channel without an aircraft. The English Channel is a body of water that separates England from France. "I felt like a bird," he said. First, Felix rode in an airplane to 30,000 feet over the coast of England. That is higher than Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. Then he jumped out. Felix wore a special suit. He had gliding wings strapped to his back. The wings helped him ride the wind while dropping through the clouds. He also carried oxygen with him to help him breathe. The air that high up is very thin. Felix took 14 minutes to glide 21 miles across the English Channel. He flew as fast as 217 miles per hour. When Felix got close to the ground in France, he used a parachute to make a safe landing. "It's exactly 100 years ago that the Wright brothers were doing the first flight with a plane," Felix said. "And now I'm here, with my little wing."
Let's face it. People are not made to fly. We don't have wings. And humans have dense bones that weigh us down. Our small shoulder muscles don't allow us to flap our arms fast enough to lift us off the ground. Gravity always wins. That is, unless you are Jari Kuosma. He is known as the world's best sky flier. Kuosma even has a nickname. Call him "Bird Man." Kuosma is a sky diver in DeLand, Florida. He jumps out of planes for fun. He has designed a "wing suit" that gives him the sensation of swooping. When he is not soaring through the air, Bird Man's wing suit looks kind of odd. There are bright red flaps hanging from both his armpits and between his legs. Non-fiction:Bird Man
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Article: Copyright 2003 Weekly Reader Corporation. All rights reserved. Weekly Reader is a registered trademark of Weekly Reader Corporation. Used by permission. 2 After jumping, Bird Man spreads his arms and legs. The red fabric unfurls and catches air like a parachute. The wings increase his surface area and slow his drop speed. From the ground, Bird Man looks like he's floating. Regular sky divers fall to Earth at about 120 miles per hour (mph). They can plummet 10,500 feet in about one minute. With his special suit, Bird Man takes about three minutes to fall the same distance. He falls at slower than 40 mph. The design of his suit also allows him to "steer" somewhat. "It's an incredible experience," Bird Man says. "You pick a spot, like a canyon between two clouds, and you fly there. You can play with your own shadow against the cloud." (The wing suit might seem familiar to movie fans. Angelina Jolie wore one of the suits in the movie Lara Croft Tomb Raider.) Humans have always dreamed of soaring like birds. But it has been a dangerous dream. Sky divers have been trying to fly with fake wings since the 1920s. From 1930 to the early 1960s, 72 out of 75 people died trying. Bird Man's suit has an excellent safety record. But even with his suit on, Bird Man falls much too fast to make a safe landing. He pulls a ripcord and opens a parachute for a soft landing. One day, Bird Man hopes to land with no parachute. Until then, he'll just have fun flying like a bird.
Questions: Bird Man
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Name: ____ Date: ____________________________
1. Why did Felix Baumgartner have to carry oxygen when he flew across the English Channel?
A because he was flying in such thin air that he needed help breathing B because his special suit with gliding wings needed extra air to fly C because he was in the air for 14 minutes and he couldnt hold his breath that long D because he needed to breathe more deeply since he was flying across the English Channel
2. Which of the following best describes the structure of this text?
A The author tells about the similarities and differences between the flying stunts of Felix Baumgartner and Jari Kuosma. B The author sets forth in detail the record-breaking flight across the English Channel of Felix Baumgartner. C The author describes Felix Baumgartners flight across the English Channel, then writes about how Jari Kuosma flies when he jumps from planes. D The author describes Jari Kuosmas hobby as a skydiver. 3. It can be inferred from the passage that A most skydivers do not wear the same kinds of special suits as those worn by Felix Baumgartner and Jari Kuosma B most skydivers understand that skydiving is extremely risky and they try to be very careful C most skydivers have tried to set the record for flying across the English Channel without an aircraft D most skydivers fall to Earth slower than Bird Man
4. Read the following sentence: When he is not soaring through the air, Bird Man's wing suit looks kind of odd.
As used in this sentence, soaring means
A getting bigger quickly B hurting very badly C flying at a great height D flowing extremely rapidly
5. What would be another good title for this passage?
A Jaris Wing Suit B Almost Flying C Gliding Across the English Channel D The First Flight Ever Questions: Bird Man
2012 ReadWorks
, Inc. All rights reserved.
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6. Why does the author say that trying to fly like a bird is a dangerous dream?
