‘After three days we reached our destination: a historical rock in an abandoned field. That evening, as the wind began to gust, we could taste and smell the humidity rising and knew that the monsoons were brewing an imminent downpour. We searched around for a shelter and found a small stone structure abandoned long ago. We entered and flushed out several bats that were hanging from the ceiling. They hastily flapped outside.

The house consisted of nothing more than one room about ten feet by ten feet, with two openings for what were once a window and a door. The walls were crumbling. Moss and cobwebs were the only furnishings. Once inside, we sat silently as thunder shook the earth, winds lashed the trees, and a torrential rain poured down.Vasudeva gazed at me through tear-filled eyes. He asked me if he could pour out the storm in his heart. Honored that he would confide in me, I consented…’

…taken from The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami by Radhanath Swami

Reading the passage above, we manage to visualise the setting, how the room looked and what the weather was like at the time. It grasps the reader’s interest. Notice how the bad weather was at the time and how this situation was used to describe an outpouring of one’s heart to tell his story to another. (‘He asked me if he could pour out the storm in his heart.’) To pour one’s heart out means to tell someone your feelings and worries because you strongly need to talk about them.

We can foresee without reading much further into the story that Vasudeva's story was not a happy one. Try reading this passage out aloud to a friend or another member of your family after you have read it yourself and understood the meanings of any words you did not initially understand. Record your voice and play it back to yourself to listen to yourself. Did you succeed at bringing out the emotions of what was written through the way you read it? Did it interest your listener? Did they understand what you read?  

Try one of my lessons: Reading Aloud and Comprehension to practice your reading skills