<html><body><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div data-marker="__QUOTED_TEXT__"><div style="font-family:'times new roman' , 'new york' , 'times' , serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000"><div>Hi refurbishers and other digital inclusion activists,<br></div><br><div> One of my hobbies is writing nonfiction reading passages -- the kind that show up on reading tests. My reading passages show up<br></div><div>on various reading tests around the country -- and also in various English language textbooks used in other countries. I also give them<br></div><div>away for free on my web site at <a href="http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories.menu.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories.menu.html</a><br></div><br><div>(scroll down past the children's stories to get to the nonfiction reading passages)<br></div><br><div> I've created some multimedia versions of these reading passages where the text is read aloud by a computer voice -- highlighting the<br></div><div>sentences as the sentences are read. These might be helpful for ESL students -- as well as native English speakers learning reading and writing<br></div><div>skills.<br></div><br><div> I've collected these all together -- along with some other files -- in a package titled Reading Passages and More. You can download for<br></div><div>free from the Internet Archive and freely distribute these files for any purpose. The package is 1.3 GB in file size. You can grab it from the link<br></div><div>on the right side of <br></div><br><div><div><div><div style="font-family:'times new roman' , 'new york' , 'times' , serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000"><div><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT869_com_zimbra_url"><a href="https://archive.org/details/reading-passages-and-more" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/reading-passages-and-more</a></span><br></div><br><div> Use the torrent download, when possible, to save the Internet Archive bandwidth costs. <br></div><br><div> I'm hoping this small project of mine can spur others to share "digital culture" in such a way that the recipients of donated computers<br></div><div>can spend several hours (or days) poking thru different multimedia and text files.<br></div><br><div> phil<br></div></div></div></div></div><br><div>-- <br></div><div><div>--<br>Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com<br>http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/briefbio.html<br>http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro<br><a href="http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories.menu.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories.menu.html</a><br></div><br><div>He/Him/His<br><br>"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates<br>"Learning happens thru gentleness."<br></div><div><span style="color:rgb( 51 , 51 , 51 );font-family:'helvetica neue' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb( 255 , 255 , 255 )">"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options." David Suzuki</span><br style="color:rgb( 51 , 51 , 51 );font-family:'helvetica neue' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb( 255 , 255 , 255 )"></div></div></div><br></div></div></body></html>