Speak Lite

From ShadiSoft:

Speak combines the functionality of Microsoft Voice with Microsoft Agent animated characters to read your documents, email messages, Web pages, or Clipboard text. It ships with the Genie character, but you can download other characters from the ShadiSoft.com, as you like. Just keep the Microsoft Agent character on top of your desktop and click on him whenever you want him to read, plus a new feature that allows automatic reading when anything new is copied to the clipboard. Speak can also perform simple tasks such as shutting down your computer. You can also use it to create scheduled reminders that are read aloud when the time is right. This download contains the Microsoft Agent ActiveX control.