Culture. Magazine. page Curious World 114 Laughing Out Loud 115

Transcription

1 Culture Magazine page Curious World Laughing Out Loud 5 They Did It! 6 Changing the Environment 7 Family-Life Traditions 8 Crime and Punishment 9 Radioactive Science 20 Laws and Superstitions 2 Household Beliefs 22 Answers 23 World Map 2 3

2 Culture Curious World Do the quiz.. Who cleaned the streets of New York 200 years ago? a. pigs b. children 2. Which city has got the worst traffic jams in the world? a. Tokyo, Japan b. Istanbul, Turkey 3. Which free tourist attraction in Rome gets about 3,000 a day? a. the Pantheon b. the Trevi Fountain. Where is the oldest underground train service in Africa? a. Nairobi, Kenya b. Cairo, Egypt 0 Read the facts and check your answers.. Two hundred years ago, people in the city of New York threw their old food and rubbish into the street. Pigs walked around the city at that time and ate the rubbish. They helped to keep the city clean. 2. According to a report by GPS-maker TomTom, people in Istanbul spend an extra 25 hours in traffic jams a year more than any other city in the world. 3. It doesn t cost any money to visit the Trevi Fountain in Rome, but there s a tradition to throw money into the fountain. So tourists throw about 3,000 into the Trevi Fountain every day over million a year!. Cairo s underground system was the first in Africa. It opened in 990 and carries about 500 million people a year. 02 The Mystery of the Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel in New York City, USA, connects New Jersey to Manhattan. But is it also a gate to another dimension? According to many New Yorkers, it is. There are strange reports of people losing their memory while they are in the tunnel, and they can even disappear! A couple were driving through the tunnel during a storm when they stopped to clean the window. People never saw them again! b a d Going c Up? There are some strange things in and around the world s cities. Match the items to the descriptions. The Bridge-Stair at Via Mala in Switzerland is a bridge and a staircase. One end is 22 metres higher than the other end. 2 The Norwegian city of Trondheim has got the 3 world s first bicycle The Elephant Building escalator. The city in Bangkok isn t the built the 30-metrelong escalator to tallest skyscraper in the world, but it s make it easier to get one of the strangest. up the hill. It s in the shape of an elephant! The AquaDom Lift is in a hotel in Berlin, Germany. The lift is in the centre of an 82-foot-tall aquarium, containing more than 260,000 gallons of water and about,500 fish.

3 Culture 2 a Laughing Out Loud b 03 People from different cultures laugh differently. Which texts describe the pictures above?. The Mbuti tribe in southern Africa have got the best laugh. They move their whole body, hit their sides with their hands and cry with laughter. Sometimes, they become too weak to stand, so they roll on the ground or hold each other for support. 2. The women of Japan, China and other parts of Asia try not to show much emotion. When they laugh, they usually cover their mouths and try to hide it. 3. American people laugh very openly and they sometimes put their hands on their knees for support. They use the expression rolling on the floor laughing (ROFL) but unlike the Mbuti, they rarely do this.. People from the country of Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean have got a very highsounding laugh. This is true of women and men. 0 Spontaneous or Fake? There are two major types of laughter. What is the difference between them? Spontaneous laughter is similar everywhere. It s a natural response to something amusing, and it s difficult to control. In groups, it s even harder to control spontaneous laughter. We think things are funnier when we are with other people and people rarely laugh when they are alone. Fake laughter isn t natural. People use fake laughter to hide their true feelings, especially when they re embarrassed. Fake laughter can also be nasty. People sometimes use fake laughter to laugh at other people. Some cultures use fake laughter more than others. Laughter Facts Complete the facts with the words below to find out more about laughter. telling adults jokes LOL sound talking statements People usually laugh for the first time between the ages of 3.5- months. That s a long time before they start.! Children laugh three times more often than 2., so try to stay young! Most laughter doesn t follow a joke. It follows simple 3., such as, The bus is late again. We laugh at the. of laughter. The popular text message abbreviation 5. (laughing out loud) is now in the English dictionary. Jokes are usually funnier to us when we know the person 6. the joke. People don t all laugh at the same 7., but most people laugh when they see someone trying not to laugh in an embarrassing situation. 5

4 Culture 3 They Did It! 05 Anything is possible if you work hard at it. Read about three successful teenagers. Which of the teens do you think could read words at the age of eight months? Cameron Johnson Cameron Johnson started his own business selling greetings cards when he was nine years old. It was the first of many successful businesses. By the age of 5, he was earning between $300,000 and $00,000 a month from his online advertising company. By the end of secondary school, Johnson was worth more than $ million! Flynn McGarry 2 Flynn McGarry learned to cook at the age of 0 because he didn t like his mother s food. At first, he created simple dishes. But by the age of 2, he was serving sophisticated meals at his own dinner club, EUREKA, in his mother s home. Since then, McGarry s cooking has become famous and he s appeared on TV. Top chefs have also invited him to cook at some of the most expensive restaurants in the USA. Alia Sabur 3 Alia Sabur became the world s youngest university professor when she was 8 years old. School lessons were always too easy for Sabur, so she started studying at the State University of New York at the age of 0. At the age of, she already had a university degree. Alia is also very good at sport. The talented young professor received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do when she was only nine years old! Answer, page 23 The Mad Scientist At the age of 5, Thiago Olson was looking for an interesting science project to do at home. He decided to build a nuclear reactor. After two years of work, he succeeded. Luckily, the reactor is safe, but it s easy to see why Thiago s friends call him the mad scientist! You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. Albert Einstein, scientist Success Quotes Do you agree with these quotes about success? Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Harriet Tubman, humanitarian You miss 00% of the shots you don t take. Wayne Gretzky, sports coach I have not failed. I ve just found 0,000 ways that won t work. Thomas A. Edison, inventor Success doesn t come to you. You go to it. Marva Collins, teacher Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it. Winston Churchill, politician 6

5 Culture Changing the Environment True or false?. Humans can catch Ebola from animals. 2. Rainforest plants are used in modern medicine. 3. Scientists have studied most of the plants in the rainforest.. CO 2 causes high temperatures in space. 5. Rubbish is flying around in space. 06 Read about some lesser-known effects of deforestation and check your answers. Spread of Ebola Disappearing Medicines 2 3 Faster Space The Ebola virus has killed many people in West Africa and deforestation is part of the problem. Animals deep in the African rainforest carry the Ebola virus. In the past, these animals didn t have much contact with humans. But as a result of deforestation, people have travelled further into the forest. This has put them into contact with infected The plants of the rainforest are used in about 25% of Western medicines. For example, the rosy periwinkle, a rainforest flower, is the main ingredient in a powerful medicine against cancer. So far, scientists have only examined about % of the rainforest plants, so there are probably many more medicines to discover. If the forests Deforestation is causing more CO 2 in space. While CO 2 causes high temperatures on Earth, it reduces the temperature in space. This is making the air in space even thinner than before, so satellites are travelling faster. Space rubbish from broken parts of satellites and spaceships is travelling fast, too. animals. Ebola can easily spread from disappear, we ll lose these important animal to human in that way. plants forever. Rubbish to the Rescue! a b 07 Recycling rubbish isn t just good for the environment. It s changed many people s lives. Match the pictures to the stories below. 3 Sergio Longo from Sao Paulo didn t have c a job or a home. Then, one day someone offered him a job recycling rubbish at the Coorpere recycling centre. The centre has created jobs for many homeless people like Longo. Coming here has saved my life, Longo says. Gerald McDougall started work at the age of nine because his family was very 2 poor. But now he s the owner of a Caribbean island. How did he do it? He built an artificial island from rubbish! Sculptor Gregory Kloehn makes creative boxes from old wood and other materials. But his boxes aren t just art. Homeless people live in them. Kloehn s creations look great and they have given many people a place to sleep. Paper Power Think about this: When you recycle one ton of paper, you save approximately 7 trees, 26,500 litres of water, 38 litres of oil,,000 hours of electricity and 2.3 cubic metres of space in landfills. That s enough energy to power your home for about five months! 7

6 Culture 5 Family-Life Traditions Look at the pictures from around the world of traditions related to different life stages. What do the pictures tell you about the traditions? Getting Married in the Congo 08 Having a Baby in Finland Read the facts and check your answers. Becoming a Man in Brazil In Finland, new babies sleep in a very strange bed a cardboard box! The box is sent by the government and it arrives full of clothes and other helpful items for the baby and its parents. This tradition started in 938, when many people were very poor. The box is designed to give all children in Finland an equal start in life. 2 Are you ready for the responsibilities of becoming an adult? In some cultures, teenagers have to pass difficult coming of age tests to prove they re ready. For example, the boys in Brazil s Xavante tribe must do a series of tasks, including spending 5 days in water. During this time, they are only allowed to leave the water for a few hours to sleep. When they complete the tasks successfully, the boys are painted red to show they have become men. 3 In Western culture, getting married is a very happy occasion and wedding photographs are full of smiling faces. But in some cultures, weddings are very serious events. In the Congo, for example, the couple mustn t smile on their wedding day. They mustn t even smile for their wedding photos! Long-Living Family On 20th June, 20, Guinness World Records verified a record set by the Melis family of Perdasdefogu, Italy: the highest combined age for nine living brothers and sisters with the same two parents. Together, their ages added up to 837 years and six days! At the time, their approximate ages were: Consolata 07 Antonino 95 Vitalio 88 Claudina 0 Concetta 93 Fida Vitalia 83 Maria 99 Adolfo 9 Mafalda 80 (the baby of the family) According to experts, the Mediterranean lifestyle is beneficial to a long, healthy life. The Melis family are definitely a good example of that! Family Sayings What do these sayings mean? Do you think they are true? Home is where the heart is. To understand your parents love, you must raise children yourself. A gram of blood is worth more than a kilogram of friendship. In time of test, family is best. 8

7 Crime and Punishment Culture 6 True or false?. In the past, children were sent to prison in Britain. 2. A hulk was an old prison ship. 3. Australian prison life was worse than prison life in Britain. 09 Read the information and check your answers. Prison sentences in Britain were very brutal 200 years ago. People went to prison for years, just for stealing bread! For more serious crimes, people were often given a death sentence. Children were sent to prison, too. They shared dark and crowded prison cells with dangerous criminals and murderers. In some places, they were given only bread or porridge to eat. 2 In 776, the British government started using old ships as prisons. These were called hulks. The hulks were cold, wet and very dirty, and many of the prisoners became ill. At night, the prisoners slept on the floor. During the day, they did hard physical work for up to 0 hours. 3 Many criminals were sent to work in a prison colony in Australia. The journey to Australia took months, and many people died on the way. The prisons in Australia were better than the cold, dark prisons in Britain. Prisoners could walk around and they were paid a salary for their work. When they finished their sentence, they were given land in Australia and they could start a new and better life. 0 Visiting the Queen Buckingham Palace is the home of Queen Elizabeth II. There are security guards outside the palace, so people believed it was impossible to get inside. But on the night of 9th July, 982, a thief broke into the palace and entered the Queen s bedroom. The Queen woke up to find a strange man standing next to her bed. Amazingly, the thief, 3-year-old Michael Fagan, said that it was his second time inside the palace! Fagan didn t hurt the Queen, but it was a very embarrassing incident for the palace security guards. Did You Know? The item in the picture is a pillory. It was used as a form of physical punishment until 837. The pillory was made of wood or metal, with holes for the head and hands. If you were put in the pillory, people would come to throw things at you. They usually threw soft tomatoes or eggs, but stones and other dangerous objects were used, too. Sometimes, the criminal s hair or an ear was cut off as an extra punishment! 9

8 Culture 7 Radioactive Science You ve probably heard of the famous physicist and chemist Marie Curie and her work in the field of radioactivity. But Marie wasn t the only scientist in her family. She wasn t the only Nobel Prize winner, either! Read about the rest of her amazing family below. How many family members have collected Nobel Prizes? Together, Marie and Pierre won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 903 for their research on radiation phenomena. Marie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 9 for her discovery of radium and polonium. Pierre Curie ( ) Marie Curie (867-93) Irène was very much like her mother. She and her husband, Frédéric, won the 935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on radioactivity. Frédéric Joliot- Curie ( ) Irène Joliot-Curie ( ) Ève Curie ( ) Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr. (90-987) Ève was the only Curie who didn t become a scientist. She was a writer and reporter. She didn t win a Nobel Prize, but her husband collected the 965 Nobel Peace Prize in the name of UNICEF. Pierre is a respected biologist. He was a scientific advisor to the French Prime Minister from 985 to 986. His wife, Anne, is a biologist, too. Pierre Joliot-Curie (born 932) Hélène Langevin-Joliot (born 927) Going Radioactive Hélène is a respected nuclear physicist and a member of the French government s advisory committee. Her husband, Michel, was a nuclear physicist and her son, Yves, is an astrophysicist. Answer, page Read the information to learn some interesting facts about radioactivity. Then match the titles to the paragraphs. Nuclear Fruit A Radioactive Game Undead Trees In the 950s, toy chemical laboratory sets were very popular. Children used them to try interesting experiments at home. One unusual laboratory set was the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. The lab had four radioactive elements, including polonium. Polonium is very toxic when it is absorbed into the body. In 2006, polonium was used to murder Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian security services! 2 In 986, there was a terrible accident at a nuclear plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. High levels of radioactivity travelled for many kilometres and scientists believe it caused about one million deaths. Plants and wildlife also absorbed the radiation and the insects and microbes in the area died, too. Normally, insects and microbes will eat dead trees until they break up and disappear. But the trees around Chernobyl died 30 years ago, and they still look like they re in almost perfect condition! 3 Believe it or not, bananas are radioactive! They contain the natural radioactive element potassium-0. The amount of radioactivity in one banana is very small and it can t hurt you. But nuclear detection machines are sometimes activated by lorries full of bananas! Radioactive or Not? Which of the items below do you think are radioactive? cigarettes 2 water 3 the sun

9 Laws and Culture 8 Superstitions June 3 Super Superstitions Read about some strange superstitions around the world. Can you guess which country below each custom comes from? Are there any customs in your country that would surprise a visitor? Turkey Denmark Greece Britain In this Scandinavian country, people save all of their broken dishes. Then, on New Year s Eve, they throw them at the houses of friends and family. The more dishes that are thrown at your house, the more good fortune you will have. 2 In this country, when two people say the same thing at the same time, they must say Piase Kokkino, which is Greek for touch red. Then, they must quickly touch a red object for luck. The best time for this to happen is at Easter. That s when the colour red is easy to find because everyone buys red Easter eggs. 3 In this country, you should say or repeat rabbit or rabbits or white rabbits in English when you wake up on the first day of a month. This will give you good luck for the whole month, but only if it s the very first thing you say that day. In this part-european part-asian country, people believe that you shouldn t chew chewing gum at night. According to this strange superstition, you re actually chewing part of a dead body. Yuck! Weird Laws Believe it or not, these laws are actually real! Which do you think is the strangest? In 933, the government of Syria prohibited yo-yos. They believed that the yo-yos were causing a drought, so police officers went round the streets and destroyed them all. According to an old English law, if you find a dead whale on the beach, you can t keep all of it. You must remove the head and tail and give them to the King and Queen. According to a law in Milan, Italy, people must smile at all times. The only places where they don t have to smile are hospitals and funerals. According to experts, smiles are good for your health and make you happy, so this might be a good idea. The Judge Who Ordered Rain In 986, people didn t arrive for a court session in California, USA, because there was heavy rain. The judge, Samuel King, jokingly said, I hereby order that it cease [= stop] raining by Tuesday! Amazingly, it stopped raining that Tuesday and it didn t rain again for many years. Five years later, King was in a California courtroom again. The director of the Santa Clara Water District asked King to cancel his order and to end the drought. So King ordered the rain to fall. Later that day, California had the heaviest rainfall in 0 years! 2

10 Culture 9 Household Beliefs Only one of these beliefs is true. Can you guess which one? If you use the same deodorant for too long, it will stop working. Therefore, you should sometimes change your deodorant. 2 Someone invented a light bulb in the 920s that you never needed to replace because it never stopped working. However, manufacturers didn t agree to produce the everlasting light bulb because it wasn t profitable. 5 3 Forks weren t ever used in China in the past. The Chinese have always eaten with wooden or bamboo sticks called chopsticks. Read the facts and check your answers. According to some skin experts, you should change your deodorant every six months. That s because after a while, your body may adapt to the ingredients and the deodorant will no longer be efficient. But some lucky people don t have to worry about this problem. Scientists discovered that about 2% of people don t have to use deodorants at all because they never smell bad! 2 Many people believe there was an everlasting light bulb, but that isn t true. However, a light bulb in the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in California was turned on in 90 and it s still working today! In 975, a German engineer invented a light bulb with a life of 7 years. The light bulb was never produced because the engineer died soon after he found a company to produce it. The first serviettes were made from cloth. In the past, it was too difficult and expensive to make them from paper, and the paper wasn t soft enough. 3 Forks were used in China long before chopsticks. Archeologists have discovered a fork from the Bronze Age Qijia culture ( BC). It was made from part of an animal. Forks have also been found from later Chinese eras. The first serviettes were used in Ancient Greece more than 2,500 years ago. At first, they were made from uncooked flour and water. Then, the Greeks used bread to clean their hands. Paper serviettes were first made in about 00 BC, in Ancient China. They were called chih pha. Answer, page 23 Did you know? Toilet paper was first made in China in the 300s for a Chinese emperor. Each piece was 60 centimetres wide and 90 centimetres long. Toilet paper only arrived in the US in 857. Before that, old newspapers and magazines were often used. The publishers of a magazine called Farmer s Almanac made this easier for their readers. They designed the magazine with a hole in it, so people could hang it on the wall next to the toilet. Amazingly, the Farmer s Almanac has still got a hole in it today, but most people probably don t know why. 22

11 Answers to Culture Magazine Culture, page Curious World. a 2. b 3. b. b Going Up?. d 2. c 3. a. b Culture 2, page 5 Laughing Out Loud a. 2 b. 3 Laughter Facts. talking 2. adults 3. statements. sound 5. LOL 6. telling 7. jokes Culture 3, page 6 They Did It! Alia Sabur Culture 6, page 9 Crime and Punishment. true 2. true 3. false Culture 7, page 20 Radioactive Science five Going Radioactive. A Radioactive Game 2. Undead Trees 3. Nuclear Fruit Radioactive or Not? all of them Culture 8, page 2 Super Superstitions. Denmark 2. Greece 3. Britain. Turkey Culture 9, page 22 Household Beliefs Culture, page 7 Changing the Environment. true 2. true 3. false. false 5. true Rubbish to the Rescue!. c 2. a 3. b 23

12 World Map A R CA T IRCC T I C O C EO AC NEAN GREENLAND R U S S I A R U S S I A CANADA CANADA United States MEXICO ATLA AN TT L IACN T I C O C EO AC NEAN United States THE BAHAMAS MEXICO PACP I FAI C CI F I C O C EO AC NEAN GUATEMALA GUATEMALA NICARAGUA EL SALVADOR EL SALVADOR COSTA RICA M SEN NICARAGUA ECUADOR VENEZUELA VENEZUELA PANAMA GUYANA GUYANA FRENCH GUIANA FRENCH GUIANA SURINAME SURINAME COLOMBIA COLOMBIA ECUADOR PERU Samoa DOM. REP. COSTA RICA PANAMA Samoa PERU BRAZIL BOLIVIA BRAZIL BOLIVIA PARAGUAY CHILE PARAGUAY CHILE ARGENTINA ARGENTINA URUGUAY antarctica P WES SAH THE BAHAMAS CUBA CUBA DOM. REP. JAMAICA JAMAICA BELIZE BELIZE HAITI HAITI HONDURAS HONDURAS 2 GREENLAND URUGUAY

13 A R CA T IRCC T I C O C EO AC NEAN ICELAND SWEDEN ICELAND SWEDEN FINLAND NORWAY FINLAND ESTONIA scotland DENMARK northern ireland LATVIA LITHUANIA THE NETHERLANDS POLAND SLOVAKIA PORTUGAL UKRAINE KAZAKHSTAN ALBANIA Spain GREECE Balearic UZBEKISTAN GEORGIA ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN TURKMENISTAN ALBANIA GREECE TURKEY TURKEY SYRIA CYPRUS CYPRUS LEBANON TUNISIA MOROCCO ISRAEL ISRAEL IRAQ JORDAN ALGERIA AFGHANISTAN KUWAIT egypt LIBYA QATAR GAMBIA GUINEA LIBERIA SIERRA LEONE GUINEA BISSAU SAUDI ARABIA NIGER MALI MALI GAMBIA BURKINA GUINEA BENIN IVORY COAST GHANA TOGO LIBERIA SUDAN NIGER CHAD BURKINA NIGERIA IVORY COAST KYRGYZSTAN NORTH KOREA BENIN GHANA TOGO CAMEROON SUDAN DJIBOUTI NIGERIA SOMALIA CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC CAMEROON CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC SIERRA UGANDA EQUATORIAL LEONE GUINEA EQUATORIAL GUINEA SAO TOME & PRINCIPE SAO TOME & PRINCIPE REPUBLIC OF REPUBLIC OF GUINEA CONGO CONGO BISSAU GABON GABON CONGO RWANDA BURUNDI ETHIOPIA KENYA CONGO ANGOLA ZAMBIA NAMIBIA AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN NEPAL NEPAL BHUTAN C H I N A india BHUTAN india OMAN YEMEN OMAN LAOS BANGLADESH MYANMAR CAMBODIA SOMALIA SRI LANKA TAIWAN LAOS THAILAND VIETNAM THAILAND DJIBOUTI VIETNAM PHILIPPINES CAMBODIA JAPAN PACP I FAI C CI F I C O C EO AC NEAN TAIWAN MYANMAR BANGLADESH SOUTH KOREA JAPAN PHILIPPINES SRI LANKA BRUNEI MALAYSIA KENYA BRUNEI MALAYSIA RWANDA BURUNDI COMOROS MOZAMBIQUE BOTSWANA SWAZILAND LESOTHO South Africa Africa N D O I N N E DS OI N A E S I PAPUA A NEW GUINEA PAPUA NEW GUINEA COMOROS MALAWI ZIMBABWE South I TANZANIA MALAWI ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE NAMIBIA BOTSWANA U. A. E. ETHIOPIA UGANDA TANZANIA ANGOLA PAKISTAN C H I N A QATAR SAUDI ARABIA YEMEN ERITREA ERITREA CHAD IRAN NORTH KOREA TAJIKISTAN SOUTH KOREA IRAQ IRAN JORDAN KUWAIT LIBYA MAURITANIA SENEGAL KYRGYZSTAN SYRIA LEBANON U. A. E. NEGAL UZBEKISTAN TURKMENISTAN TAJIKISTAN MONGOLIA Islands WESTERN SAHARA MAURITANIA KAZAKHSTAN MONGOLIA BOSNIA BOSNIA SERBIA SERBIA MONTENEGRO BULGARIA MONTENEGRO BULGARIA GEORGIA MACEDONIA MACEDONIA Canary ALGERIA Islands STERN HARA UKRAINE SLOVAKIA MOLDOVA MOLDOVA HUNGARY HUNGARY AUSTRIA SLOVENIA SLOVENIA ROMANIA ROMANIA CROATIA ITALYFRANCECROATIA ITALY Ceuta Melilla TUNISIA MOROCCO BELARUS AUSTRIA SWITZERLAND FRANCE PORTUGAL LATVIA LITHUANIA BELARUS POLAND wales GERMANYBELGIUM GERMANY BELGIUM LUX. CZECH LUX. CZECH SWITZERLAND R U S S I A ESTONIA DENMARK england THE NETHERLANDS ireland R U S S I A NORWAY MADAGASCAR MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUEMAURITIUS SWAZILAND I N D I IANND I A N O C EO AC NEAN FIJI MAURITIUS FIJI NEW CALEDONIA NEW CALEDONIA australia LESOTHO new zealand antarctica 25