Gold Rush!

Wise & Wide is a 6-level English reading program that consists of 60 books and each level is
systematically divided by Lexile Ⓡ measures. The Lexile Ⓡ Framework for Reading is the most popular reading measuring system in American formal education curriculums and many English programs.
Over 20 out of 50 states in the U.S. mark Lexile Ⓡ measures directly on students’ final report cards and over 300 well-known publishers adopt and use Lexile Ⓡ measures.
Experience many kinds of readings written by professional writers from the U.S. and England. They used interesting topics that were carefully chosen after analyzing elementary curriculums from around the world including Korea, the U.S., England, and Australia among many others.

Before Reading

What is a Gold Rush?

What comes into your mind when you think of the word “gold”? Perhaps you think of majestic crowns made of gold, accessories that are the result of great craftsmanship, shiny gold coins, or Olympic gold medals.
Everything about gold is precious and valuable. Since gold has always been a metal that people have valued throughout history, they have always wanted to find more gold. In the 19th century, long voyages became possible thanks to the development of different forms of transportation, so the phenomenon that a large number of people could move to any place where gold had recently been discovered started to occur. These phenomena were called gold rushes. Gold rushes happened all around the world such as the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa etc. Most importantly, the gold rushes in the United States were huge historic events which created a new culture and changed communities in the course of a few short years.

Summary

In 1848, small pieces of gold were found near the American River in California, USA. The news that gold had been found near the river spread faster than the wind, so the entire American population and the whole world knew about it very quickly. Dreaming of making a fortune at one stroke, a great many people headed towards California to dig for gold. The long distance trip to California that took as long as several months was so dangerous that people sometimes had to risk their lives. Besides, even if people reached their destination in one piece, their lives as gold diggers were never comfortable. Plus, there was no guarantee that they could become rich. In the book, we will find out about the beginning and the process of a gold rush in the USA and the lives of the people who gathered to dig for gold. How did they extract the gold? Could all of them find as much gold as they wanted? In addition, what changes happened to the California region due to the California Gold Rush? Let’s go on a trip together to find gold, a metal that mankind has always loved.