• ABC's

The first things you learn about something. The ABC's of riding a bike are how to steer and stop, the ABC's of cooking are how to read a recipe and measure ingredients, the ABC's of reading are — you guessed it — learning your ABC's!

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• clear as a bell

Easy to to see, hear, or understand — not mixed-up or confused. If your brain is clear as a bell, then it's easy for you to think, remember, and figure things out.

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• conductor

A special person who rides on the train to take tickets and make sure everyone gets on and off safely. The conductor yells "ALL ABOARD!" when the train is about to leave the station.

• depart

A fancy word for "leave"

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• early to bed

An old-fashioned way of saying "Go to bed early."

 

 

 

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• express

Something that travels without stopping or slowing down. An express bus or express train goes all the way to where it's going without making any stops. The "pony express" was an old-fashioned way of carrying mail by horse and rider before there were trucks or airplanes.

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• gravel

Sandy dirt, like what a dirt road is made of. If your eyes feel like gravel, it means they feel rough and scratchy — like they do in the morning after you stay up too late!

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• groggy

Sleepy and dopey. You might feel groggy when you first wake up in the morning —but if you didn't get enough sleep, you might feel groggy all day!

 

 

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• hotel

A big building with lots of bedrooms, where people can sleep when they
are away from home.

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• listen up

Pay attention!

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• prescription

A piece of paper the doctor gives you, where he has written down what you're supposed to do, or what medicine to take, to make you feel better.

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• recharge

Make strong or new again. When a battery gets weak and stops working, you can recharge it to make it work again.

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• regular

The same every time. A regular bedtime means you go to bed at the
same time every night.

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• relax

When you relax, you stop doing things, thinking, being busy, or
worrying — you just slow down, take it easy, and feel good!

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• scene

Everything you see all around you.

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• stash

A fun way to say "put away."

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• Taipei

A city on the island of Taiwan (it's the capital of Taiwan). If you look on a globe, you'll see
Taiwan in the ocean beside the big round edge of China, shaped like a
sweet potato.

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• to the letter

Exactly. If you follow directions to the letter, it means you do
EXACTLY what they say.

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• wildebeest

A big animal that looks sort of like a skinny buffalo with curvy horns and a fringe of hair under its neck. There are huge herds of thousands of wildebeest in Africa. The African name for wildebeest is gnu (pronounced "noo") because that's the sound they make.

Jerome Hamlin

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• wombat

A fat furry animal that looks sort of like a bear cub, about the size of a big dog. Wombats live only in Australia (or in a zoo). They have a belly pouch to carry their baby, like a Kangaro - but the pouch opens at the back end, so it doesn't fill up with dirty when mama is digging her burrow.

                           
Photo by Ron Collins