Tom needed to finish his school project by Friday. He sat down at his computer and pressed the power button. Nothing happened. Tom pressed the button again, but the screen stayed black. 'Oh no,' Tom said to himself. He checked if the computer was plugged in. The cable was connected, so that was not the problem. Tom went to find his older sister Emma. She was good with computers. 'Emma, my computer will not turn on,' Tom said. Emma came to his room and looked at the computer. She noticed that the power strip was turned off. 'Here is your problem,' Emma said with a smile. She turned on the power strip and the computer started. 'Thank you so much,' Tom said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Tom opened his project file and started to work. He typed for about thirty minutes. Then suddenly, the computer froze. The mouse would not move and the keyboard did not work. Tom waited a few minutes, but nothing changed. He had to restart the computer. When the computer started again, Tom opened his file. But all his new work was gone! He had forgotten to save the document. Tom felt very frustrated. He had to write everything again from the beginning. This time, he saved his work every few minutes. After an hour, Tom needed to find some information online. He opened the web browser and tried to load a website. But the page would not load. A message said there was no internet connection. Tom checked the wifi icon on his screen. There was a red cross on the wifi symbol. Tom went downstairs to check the router. The lights on the router were blinking strangely. His father was sitting in the living room. 'Dad, the internet is not working,' Tom said. 'Try turning the router off and on again,' his father suggested. Tom unplugged the router and waited thirty seconds. Then he plugged it back in. After a minute, the router lights turned green. Tom went back to his room and the internet was working again. He found the information he needed for his project. Tom copied some text and wanted to paste it into his document. But when he pressed the paste shortcut, nothing happened. Tom realized he had not copied the text correctly. He went back to the website and tried again more carefully. This time, the copy and paste worked perfectly. By evening, Tom had almost finished his project. He needed to print the final pages. Tom clicked the print button, but the printer did not respond. An error message appeared on the screen. It said the printer was out of paper. Tom found some paper in a drawer and put it in the printer. He tried to print again, and this time it worked. The printer made a humming sound and started printing. Tom felt relieved when he saw the pages coming out. Finally, his project was complete. Tom learned that computers can have many small problems. But he also learned that most problems have simple solutions. Now he always saves his work often. And he checks the printer paper before starting to print.
English Story (A2)Computer Problems
This A2 English story is designed for elementarys learning English. It includes simple vocabulary and short sentences to help you improve your reading and listening skills. Click any word to see translations and hear pronunciation.
About this story
Tom needs to finish a school project on his computer. He faces several problems: the computer won't turn on because the power strip is off, the computer freezes and he loses unsaved work, the internet stops working and he needs to restart the router, and the printer runs out of paper. With help from his sister Emma and his father, Tom solves each problem one by one. He learns that computers can have many small issues, but most have simple solutions. Now he always saves his work and checks the printer before printing.
Translations in English
Linked wordUnderlined wordOther words
Comprehension Questions
4 questions
1
Why did the computer not turn on at first?
2
What happened to Tom's work when the computer froze?
3
How did Tom fix the internet connection problem?
4
What problem did Tom have when he tried to print?
Vocabulary
30 words from this story
