THE VOCABULARY DETECTIVE
The greenhouse delivery
Listening is optional. It can help you follow the story and hear how the words are pronounced. You can solve the case using the book alone.
Listen to the case
Download storyHear each word
Listen at normal speed, or slow it down to hear each sound.
fragile
opaque
surplus
allocate
Choose Normal or Slow to listen.
Read along with the story
A cart stood between the greenhouse and the art room. It held two clear trays of seedlings and a black tub with a lid. A delivery label lay on the floor. “Perhaps all of this belongs to art,” Leo said.
He held a seedling gently. Its thin stem was fragile; one sharp bend could snap it. The black tub was opaque. Light did not pass through its sides, and Leo could not see its contents as he could through the clear trays.
The gardener said some supplies were surplus, left over after the greenhouse had everything it needed. “We allocate materials to different classes,” she explained. “Each class gets an assigned share.” She asked Leo to read the packing list and order sheet before moving anything off the cart.
The items had arrived together. Did that mean they were going to the same place?