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Reader's Bank_Level 5_Unit 08                                    Reading Text

In the ocean, a shark can grow to be 150 to 210 centimeters long. What happens if a baby shark is placed in a small fish tank? It may only grow to be 30 centimeters long. Surprisingly, our minds can be like that baby shark. A person with only common ideas is like a shark in a fish tank. If we only accept simple, familiar ideas, our minds will not grow. However, if we take in big, challenging ideas, our minds will grow. This is just like a shark in the ocean. To grow and become great, leave your comfort zone. Challenge your mind and explore different ideas. Read books and gain a lot of knowledge. Go on adventures and experience new things. Then, you will be ready to achieve your goals.

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Can a female turn into a male? Yes, and it happens a lot with fish! One cool example is the goby fish. They can do this neat trick if they need to. Goby fish live in coral reefs. The colorful coral helps them hide from big fish and find food. They always stay near the coral. Even when it’s time to mate, they stay close to their home. Sometimes, there are more female gobies than males. This can happen because of changes in water temperature or when males compete.  But what if there are only female gobies in one area? No problem! Some female gobies can change into male gobies! This helps them mate without needing to find new friends. Some gobies can change in just a few days. Others might take a few weeks. Eventually, they become male fish. Scientists think this special trick helps gobies survive when things get hard. Isn’t that amazing?

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Have you ever loved someone who didn’t love you back? Greek mythology has an interesting story about why this might happen. Eros, the playful god of love, had two magical arrows. One arrow was gold and made people fall in love, while the other was made of lead and made people run away. One day, Eros wanted to . He shot Apollo with the gold arrow. Right away, Apollo fell in love with a beautiful girl named Daphne. But Eros shot Daphne with the lead arrow, which made her dislike Apollo. Apollo chased Daphne through the forest, but every time he got close, she ran away. In the end, Daphne turned into a laurel tree to get away from him. Apollo was very sad, but he still loved the tree. So, if someone doesn’t like you back, maybe it’s not your fault. It could just be a trick of Eros’s arrows!