Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Explorer's Triumph
Phileas Fogg Wins a Wager Day
Reading Comprehension for December 21
Do you like to travel? It is easy to go places now. Soon it will even be possible to take trips into space if you can afford to buy a ticket. We have many ways to travel quickly now, but it was very different 100 years ago.
One of the great authors of travel adventures was Jules Verne. Perhaps you have read or heard of some of his stories, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days. Most of his books are about exploration and the limits of science in the 1800s.
In Around the World in Eighty Days, we meet the character Phileas Fogg. (The name was misprinted in some versions of his books as Phineas.) As a member of the London Explorers Club, he wagered his entire fortune that he could travel around the world in eighty days. Other club members did not believe he could do it, so they wagered against him and then sat down to wait for the time to elapse.
Fogg set out on his journey with his valet but was followed by Detective Fix. He, in turn, was convinced that Fogg was a gentleman thief. Together, they traveled east across the globe, having many adventures before finally reaching England again.
In these modern times there would be nothing pressing about going around the world in eighty days. Some people might even think that was terribly slow. In 1873, however, it was amazing.
