This is a reading comprehension lesson to test
your ability to understand information written in
English. Read the information below
and then answer the 5 test questions.
Hey
if you cannot understand something on this page,
then use the Fun Easy English
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Holiday:Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the
world on 10 December.
The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General
Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948,
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the
first global enunciation of human rights and one of the
first major achievements of the new United Nations. The
formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the
317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December
1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V),
inviting all member states and any other interested
organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.
The day is normally marked both by high-level political
conferences and meetings and by cultural events and
exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. In addition,
it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly
United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel
Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and
nongovernmental organizations active in the human rights
field also schedule special events to commemorate the day,
as do many civil and social-cause organizations.
Human rights is the idea that all people should have
rights. These rights are seen as universal, which means they
are meant for everyone, no matter what their race, religion,
ethnicity, nationality, age, sex (also women's rights),
political beliefs (or any other kind of beliefs),
intelligence, disability, sexual orientation, or gender
identity.
The idea of human rights originated from ideas found in
religion and philosophy in Western Europe. The modern
Western idea of human rights started in the European
Enlightenment. In the 16th century, some people started
suggesting that everyone had the religious and political
right to choose their religion and their leaders. This sort
of thinking was important in the English Civil War. After
the war, the philosopher John Locke argued that people
should have these rights; he was one of the first people to
call them "human rights." These ideas were also important in
the American revolution and the French revolution in the
18th century.
In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill was an important
philosopher who thought about human rights. He said that
people should be able to control their own bodies and minds.
He talked about three special ideas:
freedom of speech
freedom of assembly
freedom to do what a person
wishes if it does not harm others (even if other
people think it is bad)
Hegel was a philosopher who talked about the idea of
free will. He also talked about what makes a person
free: that a person has to have certain relations with
other people to have true freedom. A person has to be
able to:
Not everyone agrees on what the basic human rights are.
The following is a list of some of the most important
basic human rights. Please post a comment below
with your thoughts about Human
Rights.
Right to privacy
Right to live
Right to marriage and family
To own property
Free Speech
Safety from violence
Equality of both male and
female; women's rights
Fair trial
To be considered innocent until
proven guilty
To be a citizen of a country
To be recognized as a person
The right to express his or her
sexual orientation
To vote
To seek asylum if a country
treats you badly
To think freely
To believe and practice the
religion a person wants
To peacefully protest (speak
against) a government or group
Health care (medical care)
To communicate through a
language
Not be forced into marriage
The right to love and to be
loved
The right to work
The right to express oneself
Test:
Reading Comprehension
Human Rights
Read
the information above. In the test questions
below choose which is the best answer for each
question. There are 5 questions. Good luck.
1. Human rights are
seen as which of the following?
a. unimportant
b. regional
c. universal
d. national
2. The idea of human
rights originated from ideas found in which of the
following?
a. constitution
b. religion and philosophy
c. bill of rights
d. magna carta
3. The modern Western
idea of human rights began in which of the following?
a. Great Depression
b. Industrial Revolution
c. European Enlightenment
d. Declaration of Rights
4. John Locke was which
of the following?
a. inventor
b. philosopher
c. entrepreneur
d. president
5. John Stuart Mill
talked about three special ideas EXCEPT which of the
following?
a. freedom of speech
b. freedom of creativity
c. freedom of assembly
d. freedom to do what a person wishes if it does
not harm others
