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Passage Two
Frog Story
A couple of odd things have happened lately.
I have a log cabin in those same woods of Northern Wisconsin. I built it by hand and also added a greenhouse to the front of it. It is a joy to live in. In fact, I work out of my home doing audio production and environmental work. As a tool of that trade I have a computer and a studio.
I also have a tree frog that has taken up residence in my studio.
How odd, I thought, last November when I first noticed him sitting atop my sound board over my computer. I figured that he (and I say he, though I really don't have a clue if she is a he or vice versa) would be more comfortable in the greenhouse. So I put him in the greenhouse. Back he came. And stayed. After a while I got quite used to the fact that as I would check my morning email and on-line news, he would be there with me surveying the world.
Then, last week, as he was climbing around looking like a small gray/green human, I started to wonder about him.
So, there I was, working in my studio and my computer was humming along. I had
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to stop when Tree Frog went across my view. He stopped and turned around and just sat there looking at me. Well, I sat back and looked at him. For five months now he had been riding there with me and I was suddenly overtaken by an urge to know why he was there and not in the greenhouse, where I figured he'd live a happier frog life.
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As I looked at him, dead on, his eyes looked directly at me and I heard a tone. The tone seemed to hit me right in the center of my mind. It sounded very nearly like the same one as my computer. In that tone I could hear him \I want you to understand\weird. \jumped in. Then, after a moment of feeling this communication, I felt I understood why he was there. I came to understand that frogs simply want to hear other frogs and to communicate. Possibly the tone of my computer sounded to him like other tree frogs. Interesting.
I kept working. I was working on a story about global climate change and had just received a fax from a friend. The fax said that the earth is warming at 1.9 degrees each decade. At that rate I knew that the maple trees that I love to tap each spring for syrup would not survive for my children. My beautiful Wisconsin would become a prairie by the next generation.
At that moment Tree Frog leaped across my foot and sat on the floor in front of my computer. He then reached up his hand to his left ear and cupped it there. He sat before the computer and reached up his right hand to his other ear. He turned his head this way and that listening to that tone. Very focused. He then began to turn a very subtle, but brilliant shade of green and leaped full force onto the computer. And then I remembered the story about the frogs that I had heard last year on public radio. It said frogs were dying around the world. It said that because frog's
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skin is like a lung turned inside out their skin was being affected by pollution and global climate change. It said that frogs were being found whose skin was like paper. All dried up. It said that frogs are an \indicator species\first because of the sensitivity. Then, I understood.
The frogs have a message for us and it is the same message that some sober folks have had for us. \must be the adults for the planet, for the sake of the future generations of human and for frogs.
Because we are related.
Then I understood that there are no boundaries, that there is no more time. That we, for the sake of our relatives must act now.
And then I understood, not only why the frog was there, but, also why I am here.
Choose the best answer to each question with the information from the passage. 1. What is the author's purpose in writing the story?
A) He wants to tell the story of an extraordinary frog. B) He wants to tell readers the characteristics of frogs. C) He wants to show that frogs and humans can live together. D) He wants to encourage readers to fight against pollution.
2. Finally the author realized that the frog preferred staying in the studio rather than in the greenhouse because ______.
A) he wanted to remind the author that it's time to take actions against pollution
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B) he enjoyed being there surveying the world through a computer with the author C) he loved the tone of the computer which sounded like other frogs D) he was afraid the pollution outside might affect his skin
3. Frogs are called an \
A) their lungs are turned inside out B) their skin is dried up like paper
C) their skin is sensitive to environmental pollution and global climate change D) frogs can warn people of environmental pollution by killing themselves
4. What does \
A) People who are aware of the environmental problem. B) Adults not addicted to alcohol. C) People who lead a simple life. D) Adults on the planet.
5. By saying \______.
A) human beings have no more choices but act now B) human beings and frogs are connected in the ecosystem C) frogs can communicate with human beings in a certain way D) the fight against pollution is endless
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