Nature still has many secrets. We uncovered one of them last week. A nature lover found a new species of orchid in Japan. It is unusual to find new plants in Japan. Scientists studied the new orchid. They believe it grows all over Japan. It is pink and white. Its thin petals look like they are made from glass. A professor said: "The discovery of new species in common places means it is necessary to keep exploring, even in everyday places."
There are 28,000 orchid species worldwide. The new orchid belongs to a class that is common in Japan. The class is in a Japanese poem from the year 759. The professor was "thrilled to have identified a new species". He was excited because it wasn't found in a rainforest or jungle. The discovery of the new orchid is good news. However, many orchids are in danger. We need to protect nature. If we lose more orchids, the world will be less colourful.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Orchids - Level 0, Orchids - Level 2 or Orchids - Level 3
Sources- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/17/asia/japan-new-species-orchid-scn/index.html
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/17/japans-most-familiar-orchid-is-found-to-have-near-identical-cousin
- https://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/research_at_kobe_en/NEWS/news/2023_03_17_01.html
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)