How hot was it?
It was so hot, you could fry an egg on the tennis court at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
And in fact, someone did.
Tennis player Novak Djokovic sent around a picture of an actual egg on a tennis court, frying in the heat. The picture quickly went viral, meaning that many people saw it.
If it was that hot for an egg, imagine people playing top-level tennis in that heat.
Some of the players took baths in ice water to offset the effects of the heat, as the temperature climbed to 43-degrees Celsius.
Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard is emerging as a rising star, advancing to the fourth round of the tournament.
She is the first Canadian in 22 years to reach the quarter-finals in a major (“Grand Slam”) tennis tournament.
At just 19 years old, Bouchard, who is from Westmount, Montreal, has moved to 31st place in the world of women’s tennis, up from 144th place last season.
Sports reporters recently voted Bouchard The Canadian Press female athlete of the year for 2013. (Tennis player Milos Raonic was voted The Canadian Press male athlete of the year.)
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
It was so hot…
The first line of this article is a popular joke. Comedians sometimes say, “It was SO hot…” and the audience says, “How hot was it?” And the comedian answers with a joke like, “It was so hot that by the time I got my loaf of bread home, it was toast!”
Think about the difference between a joke answer like that, and a straight answer like, “It was so hot I had to use a fan to keep cool.”
Why is one funny and the other isn’t?
Answer the following questions either with a joke or a straight answer:
It was SO hot…
He was SO silly…
Her kitten was SO cute…
They were SO angry…
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
When tennis player, Novak Djokovic, posted a picture of an egg frying on the tennis court, it went viral. Can you think of any other images, videos or songs that have gone viral? What do these viral pictures, videos and songs have in common? Why do you think some posts on the Internet go viral and others don’t?
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Grammar Feature: Italics
Italics are used twice in this article:
1. “How hot was it?”
2. “Sports reporters recently voted Bouchard The Canadian Press female athlete of the year for 2013.”
How are italics used differently in each of these two examples?
