Wise Men of Gotham and Other Stories (ESL/EFL Version)

This is Book 9, Collection II, of the Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) readers. It is suitable for learners with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words.Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) is a reading project for ESL/EFL learners at the elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words). In two years, for about fifteen minutes each day, an ESL/EFL learner can read one million words, and reach the upper-intermediate level, gaining a vocabulary of about 3,500 words and a large number of expressions.[Text Information]Readability 83.35Total word count 15886Words beyond 1500 869Unknown word percentage (%) 5.47Unknown headword occurrence 2.09Unknown words that occur 5 times or more 28Unknown words that occur 2 times or more 187[Synopsis]Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, who are known for being foolish.Stories of foolish people are told in almost every country. In Germany there are the Schildburgers, from the town of Schilda, and in the backcountry south of Warsaw, Poland, there are Chelmites, who come from a small Jewish village, named Chelm. In Ireland, stories are told about a foolish man named Sir Gaulard, and there are pedants in almost every country. In the old days, these stories brought joy to the dull and hard life of the people.Even today, these stories still make us laugh. After laughing at these people, we might ask ourselves: aren't we modern people, who consider ourselves wise, sometime just as foolish or even more foolish than those ancient people? Qiliang Feng has been teaching English in senior high schools since 1983. A passionate advocate for integrating reading into TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), he specializes in adapting and simplifying graded ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) readers. He has authored several series of English reading course books and is actively promoting the Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP). This initiative encourages elementary-level ESL/EFL learners, with a foundational vocabulary of 1,500 words, to read one million words over two to three years, helping them progress to an upper-intermediate proficiency level with ease. Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) is a project in which ESL/EFL learners at elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words) are expected to read one million words within two or three years, and reach upper-intermediate level (with a vocabulary of about 3,000-3,500 words). This project contains about 40 simplified readers, enough for an ESL/EFL learner to read for two years, and this list is growing.