Atlantis

Atlantis

Atlantis
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.1

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		concentric, dialogues, innermost, lawgiver, unfavorable, existence, corrupt, disprove, theory, kingdom, made-up, unlimited, link, philosopher, legend, entire
	content words:		In Timaeus, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Suppose Atlantis

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Atlantis
By Vickie Chao

¹     A long, long time ago, Poseidon, a Greek god, established a kingdom on a large island. There, he fell in love with a local woman. She bore him five sets of twins -- all boys. Poseidon made his eldest son, Atlas, the ruler of the entire island and the ocean around it. He called the island Atlantis and the ocean the Atlantic.

²     As the story goes, Atlantis was a rich and beautiful country. From a bird's eye view, the empire consisted of several concentric circles. Its capital was at the innermost circle, atop a hill. Radiating from that pivotal point were alternating rings of canals and fields. There was also a huge channel that cut across them all. It served as the link between the capital and the ocean. For thousands of years, Atlantis was a formidable force. It conquered many nearby kingdoms. As the empire continued to expand, its citizens became very greedy and corrupt. Their wicked ways made the Greek gods very angry. To punish the Atlantians, the deities resorted to using earthquakes and floods. In a single day and night, Atlantis sunk to the bottom of the sea. It would never be seen again!

³     The story of Atlantis is fascinating. It captivates our imagination. For centuries, people have had rounds of debates over the tale. They wondered if Atlantis really existed. And if it did, where was it exactly? To answer those questions, scholars poured through Plato's writings page by page. They carefully examined every clue and tried to solve the puzzle. So far, nobody has found Atlantis yet.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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