Self Test 2 - Teebee's Story

TEEBEE’S STORY

HE LOOKED OUT THROUGH THE WINDOW AND SAW A MILLION TWINKLING LIGHTS. Far below, a few thousand miles from where he was parked, he sensed the shuffle of humanity. The silence felt like a cold embrace, but it was a friend. Long ago, he had learned the secret of mastering fear. He needed company, but that would come tomorrow. For now, he wished to rest before resuming his mission.

The spaceship lay still, poised like a ballerina caught in a moment of grace. Powerful electromagnetic thrusters silently maintained the vehicle in place.

His name was Teebee, and he had been away for thousands of years. He did not look old, though. You see, in his wonderful world of space and time, age did not show through as white hair, wrinkled skin, and a stooped frame.

Teebee was almost as old as civilization itself: that is, civilisation on earth, if you could call it that. But if you looked into his eyes, you would know that he had learnt the secret of remaining young forever, beyond infinity! His eyes shone forth like beacons of radiant intelligence, charged by a power that reached him from the periphery of the universe.

Tomorrow would arrive soon enough. He knew that, till then, a slight adjustment of the sensor dials in his cortical capsule would allow him to shift focus and zoom into total relaxation.

It was marvelous operating from his spaceship, travelling at the speed of light cruising from galaxy to galaxy, communicating extensively with life in other universes.

It was so different from when he lived on earth amidst people whom he loved, but who failed to see anything beyond war, hatred, and destruction. The intelligence of his beloved planet was declining: it was there, yet no one cared to use it. In search of a solution, he contacted Vi-Enne, with a request to be beamed up into a more intelligent ecosystem where he could study what could be done.

Now it was time for him to return to his own people, He lay still, and gradually, night dissolved into the warm glow of morning.  A pale orange hue kissed the twinkling cosmos around him. It was time to get ready for the journey back to his people.

Signaling with intra-terrestrial intelligence, he got the sensors in the control panel of his spaceship to light up an d start powering away from its parking zone. With grace and precision, the vehicle came to life. In no time at all, or so it seemed, it saw the white sands of a deserted beach bordering the Atlantic Ocean.

Teebee slowed down his ship and activated the occipital scanners to survey the territory below him. The screen on his monitor showed no signs of human life; a seagull glided into view, and then a dolphin that leaped joyously as if to greet him. Palmed threes swayed in the early morning breeze; the ship’s olfactory cones drew in the scent of flowers, something skin to jasmine or frangipani.

It was wonderful to be back. Teebee felt a rush of joy as his heart lifted in anticipation of seeing the people of his planet again, although thousands of years had elapsed since he was last here. He now knew how to glide in and out though the centuries, across time, over and around space. Anytime. Anywhere.

Skillfully piloting his ship onto a stretch of beach near some foliage, he plopped onto cushioned pads at the base of his landing gear. The panel with rainbow lights dimmed into blackness as he sent a visual signal to the master controls. A hatch at the side of the ship swiftly changed desity, dissolving into an opening for Teebee to emerge.

Stepping onto the beach, Teebee felt a welcome rush of adrenaline throughout his body. How marvelous to be back home. He scanned the horizon, and then slowly surveyed the scenery around him.

No one there! Suddenly he heard the sound of happy laughter; a group of children came running towards him.

Realising that he was dressed rather differently. Teebee went into super focus and instantly received data on where he was, in what year, and on the type of people that lived here. He had developed his powers of intuition in such a way that his mind and brain operated as if that was all he needed to function effectively. It was thus that he was able to instantly assume the perception of wearing clothes that were donned in this part of the world. Language was no problem, since he had long ago found the simple formula that connected all the languages of the world. He was thus able to speak in any tongue with enough fluency not to be caught out as a stranger, if he so wished.

Striding down the beach so that the children could see him he hummed a tune to himself. It was one of the ancient ones in his library of music through the ages, and it made him smile at the memories that flooded his mind.

“Hey, look! There’s someone here.” Shouted the children. They stopped playing and turned towards him with questioning eyes. He smiled and said: “Hello! Can I join in?” It was his smile that grabbed them. And yes, his eyes, those beacons on intelligence. The children rushing up to him, and laughed. “Yes! We’re playing a secret game, but you” can join in only if you agree to tell us a story first!”

Teebee sat down on a rock, and got the others to sit around him in the sand. He looked at them, one by one, instantly greeting to know everything about them. Then he said, “Hello again! Now let me see. You’re Ray, You’re Paula, you’re Sylvia, and yes, of course, you’re Angie.”

They gawked in astonishment! How could this stranger know their names? Had he met them before? So they asked him, and his answer was: “Yes, we have met before.

In fact, we have all met, every one of us on this planet. Except we don’t care to remember…”

“But, but ….how, when?  Where? We’ve never seen you before! And yet you know all our names. Is it some sort of magic? Are you a magician?”

“Noooo, I’m a human as all of you. But you are right. We’ve never met in this way before. We have met in another sense. You see, since you call it magic, I guess we all have this magic in us. Do you wish to see a bit of it?”

“YES! Oh yes, please, Mister,,,,er, excuse me, what is your name?”

My friends call me Teebee. And you may call me.”

“Teebee. That’s a strange name. But nice, And you’re so friendly. And clever. Come on, we want a story now. Please?”

“What do you want me to tell you? Let’s see. Hmmm. Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was this beautiful planet called Earth. There was no life on it. So God decided to put a few tiny cells into the oceans that washed across the rocky continents. These cells were ever so tim, yet gradually they grew into many different types of plants, worms, fish, birds, and animals. And several millions of years later, human beings arrived.

“Sooooooo?” asked the children cautiously.

“Well, only the human beings amongst the living creatures could tame fire. They looked deep into its flickering presence and saw its qualities. It made them think about how they could use it to survive. Thinking made them look at thing in many different ways. This made their tiny brain cells sparkle, so that they grew and grew until they eventually became the ones we have now.”

“You mean we now have big brains?”

“Bigger brains. But that is not as important brains. We have the most intelligent brains on out planet, and perhaps, in our solar system. That is, if we choose to use this precious item.”

“But we do use it…..don’t we?” The children looked confused.

“Yes and no. Most of the time we use only a teensy weensy bit. That is why I have returned. Come here, all of you. Close your eyes. Angie, think of everything you know about the stars. Ray, you try to recall everything you’ve learnt about” numbers. Paula, do the same with languages. And Sylvia, you do well on music.” Teebee smiled and waited for them to recollect all the knowledge that they had accumulated in their lives. When they opened their eyes, all of them claimed that their knowledge was hazy. Some bits were clear, some not so. They struggled for a little longer and then gave up.”

Gently, Teebee drew them into a small circle. He closed his eyes for what seemed like and eternity, and them suddenly flashed them open! With a sweep of his arms, he gathered the children into one big embrace. He placed his hands on their heads…. The children felt a grwibng warmth which cause them to see and know everything. They smiled. A dazzling show of teeth!

“Who are you. Teebee!” they asked in wonder.

“I am the one who left this planet to find the secret of the brain. It is now my gift to you!”

High above, Vi-Enne smiled radiantly.

SpeedReading Self Test 1

SELF-TEST 1
CARROTS
The Little haunted house in Ang Mo Kio was as cosy a home as a ghost could want. Carrots couldn’t remember when he had move in, but had been happy there than most humans can imagine. Until a day when a school moved into the neighbourhood.
Carrots liked children. He had been a small red-headed boy once, which is when he got the name Carrots. (He couldn’t even remember what his real name was).
Carrots problems began when a few of the children spotted the little house, and what was worse, spotted Carrots! He was just haunting the corner of the verandah one evening, watching the children go by, when suddenly one of them exclaimed, “Look, up there! It’s a ghost!”
“No, it’s not,” said a little girl with short hair. “It’s a red-haired boy.”
“It’s a ghost!” insisted the first child. “Look Margaret, you can see right through him!”
In a minute, the children were all running down the lane as though a ghost was after them.  He wasn’t actually; Carrots was too surprised to move from his spot.
The next evening, the children were back. Margaret led a small group right up to the gate and pointed at the verandah. “Right there,” Carrots heard her tell her friends. “He was right there.”
“Just rubbish,” said Margaret. “Linda saw him fist. He was just there.
Carrots thought he would avoid the verandah for now. He went round to the back of the house and settled into a small tree. But the children had seen him. “There he is. There. See, I wasn’t kidding!” said Margaret, and they all raced round the side of the house for a better look. They didn’t leave until it was too dark to see.
The next evening was worse. “I dare you, Margaret,” Carrots heard. “I’am not scared, Robert.” Replied Margaret. In a minute , she had climbed over the gate and was in the garden. Then all the children warmed over the gate, with some trying the door of the house itself.
Carrots was miserable. He knew he would have to think of something, or they would come right in. He would have to scare them off. He really didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t neighbourly. It wasn’t nice. It wasn’t ghost friendly! Goodness me, it could give a ghost a bad reputation. But unless he wanted a noisy gaggle of children trashing his house, he would have to scare them off.
Luckily, the children found the door of the house locked, and starred to head for home.
The next evening, when the children came by once again, Carrots came by once again. Carrots was ready. He popped out from behind a bush and wailed eerily. He waved his arms and stood between the children and the lights on the street so they could see right through him. He shrieked loudly.
“Listen to that!” said Robert. “He sounds like my cat when my sister grabbed her tail.

“He sounds like he has a bad tummy ache.” Said Margaret. “My baby brother sounds like that when he has colic.”
“Maybe he wants us to leave?” suggested Linda. “No, why should he care? Look, you can see right through him,”
Carrots retired. Defeated. The children left.
A week later, it was even worse. He screams sometimes,” Robert told a group that included several new faces. “Maybe we should scream first.” Soon all the children were gathered in the front garden, screaming like enthusiastic banshees.
Carrots knew he’d have to take extreme measures. Fight fire with fire. This would be more dangerous than wailing. Someone might call the Fire Department. Still, he had no choice.
He made a small fireball and threw it across the garden. The children stopped shrieking and stepped back. Yes, that’s it, thought Carrrots. He threw a jagged line of ghost fire.
“Wow!” said Margaret. “ Fireworks!”
Carrots got a strange sinking feeling Fireworks?
By the end of the month, Carrots was desperate. His garden was littered with Coke cans and candy wrappers. It seemed as if Singapore’s ant-litter laws ended at his front gate. The children screamed every evening. They played with matches and lit candles to get him to repeat the “fireworks.”
Carrots began to realise that he would have to leave his nice home. But where could he go? Proper haunted houses were not easy to find. And most of them were already occupied.
If they keep coming to my place, I will go to theirs! He thought. And so the next night, Carrots floated out of his garden down the avenue, and over to the new school. He let himself in through a keyhole, and drifted over to a strange looking box with a little green light on it. Someone had left a computer turned on.” Carrots slid through the side and merged into the operating system.
He was dazzled. Suddenly he had a whole new world to play in.
The next day, when the children logged in, Carrots watched from inside the computed/ He made some words on the screen. The children were delighted.
“The computer said “Hello’!”
“It says, ‘I’ m Carrots.”
“Type in “Hello Carrots. I’m Jenny’ and see what happens.”
In a minute, Carrots was happily in conversation with the children. It took him a day or so to make friends with them, and then another to explain his problem.
Margaret, Robert,” and Linda were sorry.
“No more mess” Said Robert.
“Strict visiting hours,” said Margaret.
“Only five visitors at a time,” said Linda.
“Okay,” agreed Carrots. “Then I’ll do the fireworks once a month and wail on Wednesday s.”

STOP YOUR TIMER NOW!
Length of time: ____________ min

Next, calculate your reading speed in words per minute (wpm) by dividing the number of words in the passage (in this case, 937) by the time (in minutes) you took.
Words per minute (wpm) =  number of words / time
When you have completed your calculation, enter the number in the wpm slot in the progress chart and also enter it on the progress graph.
Words per minute: ___________