The Statue of Liberty
One of the most famous statues in the world stands on an island in New York. This statue is the Statue of Liberty - a woman holding a torch. Visitors can go inside the statue. The statue is so large that as many as twelve people can stand inside the torch. Many people can stand in other parts of the statue. The statue weighs 225 tons and is about 100 metres high.
The statue of Liberty, was put up in 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France for America's 100th birthday. French people gave money for the statue. Americans designed and built the pedestal. The French engineer Alexander Eiffel, who was famous for his Eiffel Tower in Paris, found out how to make the heavy statue stand. People who come to the United States see the Statue of Liberty holding her torch. She symbolises a welcome to a land of freedom.
The USA
The USA is divided into 50 states and the District of Columbia. Some states are famous for their noisy cities. Others are famous for their trees and mountains. Some states have kilometres and kilometres of farmland. The largest state is Alaska. You can see big bears there. Michigan is situated in the valley of the Great Lakes. New Jersey, on the Atlantic coast, is famous for its gardens, and Minnesota, for its wonderful wheat fields. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president, began his political activity in Illinois and this state is called the Land of Lincoln. California is situated on the west coast and is famous for Hollywood and films. Montana is full of sheep and cows. It's also the land of cowboys, Indians and rodeo. Do you know what Florida is famous for?
The origin of the Olympic Games
The origin of the Olympic Games was in Greece. The first Games took place in a valley called 'Olympia' and the Games got their name from this place. In those days the Games took place every four years and they lasted for five days. During the five days there were athletics competitions and competitions in music and poetry. The original Olympic Games were only for men.
The Modern Olympic Games began in 1896 when a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, decided to organise international Olympic Games. He thought that athletics were important for forming a person's character. He also thought the Games could help world peace. The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1897 in Athens, the capital of Greece. Women began to compete in 1900. Most competitors in the Games are amateurs. They take part for fun and for a love of sport - not for money. There are no prizes, only medals.
The Millennium games
'm having a great time here in Sydney. The different sports are exciting, and there are lots of other exciting things too. For example the mascots are really great! They are called Olly, Syd and Millie. They are Australian ' animals and they are the symbols of the Sydney Games. The kookaburra is an Australian bird. She got her name, Olly, from the word 'Olympics'. She's a symbol of friendship and honesty. Then there's Syd (from Sydney). He's a platypus with a duck's nose. He's the symbol of the city of Sydney and its people. The third mascot is Millie. She's an Australian animal - an echidna. She's the symbol of the new millennium. So now I've got a mascot too. He's called Ozzie (from Australia) and he's a cute, cuddly koala.
The history of jeans
Do you want to know the history of jeans? In 1850 a young man, Levi Strauss, came to California from Germany. California was famous for its gold. Many people were working there. They were looking for gold and needed strong clothes. First Levi Strauss sold canvas to workers. Canvas was strong and soon Levi used it to make jeans. All workers liked his jeans and bought them. His first jeans had no colour. Then Levi coloured his jeans. Today everyone in the world knows the famous blue jeans of Levi Strauss.
Olympic Symbols
The Olympic Games have their own flag and motto. The flag is white with five circles. The circles represent the five continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America. The circles are black, blue, green, red and yellow. The flag of every country in the games has at least one of these colours. The motto of the Olympics is 'Faster, higher, stronger'.
The most exciting moment of the opening ceremony is the lighting of the Olympic Flame, another symbol of the Olympic Games. Runners bring a torch from the valley of Olympia in Greece. Thousands of runners take part in the journey. The journey starts four weeks before the opening of the Games. At the opening ceremony, the final runner carries the torch to the stadium, and lights the new Olympic Flame. Then there is a very big song, dance and music show. The Olympic Flame burns until the end of the Games.
The International Olympic Committee works hard between the Games. They choose the place for the next Olympics and new sports for them too.
Marco Polo
Marco Polo is famous for his journeys across Asia. He was one of the first Europeans to travel in Mongolia and China. He wrote a famous book called 'The Travels'.
He was born in Venice, Italy in 1254. In 1272, when he was only 17 years old, he travelled to Asia with his father and uncle. The journey was very long. They visited a lot of places and saw wonderful things: eye glasses, ice-cream, spaghetti and the riches of Asia.
After three years they entered China through the Great Wall. In 1275 Kublai Khon, the Emperor of China, met the visitors at his Summer Palace in the capital of China at Xanadu. The palace was very beautiful. There were a lot of gold things and silk curtains. The Emperor gave a big banquet. There were more than a thousand people in the palace. On the emperor's birthday 5,000 soldiers rode through the city to the palace on elephants. Marco Polo visited some huge markets, where merchants from all over the world bought and sold all kinds of things. He was happy to see one of the greatest cities of the thirteenth century and spent 18 years in China.
When he returned to Italy in 1295, he became a popular storyteller. People came to his home to hear stories about his journeys in the East. Many of them did not believe him. When he died, he said: 'I haven't told half of what I saw, because no one can believe it.'
Advertising: good or bad?
Advertising companies say advertising is necessary and important. It informs people about new products. Advertising hoardings in the street make our environment colourful. And adverts on TV are often funny. Sometimes they are mini-dramas and we wait for the next programme in the mini-drama. Advertising can educate, too. Adverts tell us about new, healthy products. And adverts in magazines give us ideas for how to look prettier, be fashionable and be successful. Without advertising life is boring and colourless.
But some consumers argue that advertising is a bad thing. They say that advertising is bad for children. Adverts make children 'pester' their parents to buy things for them. Advertisers know we love our children and want to give them everything. So they use children's 'pester power' to sell their products. Finally, consumers say, if there is advertising there must be rules. Some adverts advertise unhealthy things like cigarettes and make people waste their money.
PART 2
Cosmonauts and austronauts
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin was the first man to go into space. On April 12, 1961 at the age of 27, he left the Earth.The Soviet spaceship/satellite Vostok 1 was put into orbit around the Earth with Yuri Gagarin on board. He became the first man to look down on the planet Earth from above the atmosphere.
Neil Armstrong
Through centuries, people have gazed at the Moon, worshipped it, and studied it. The long-time dream of travelling to the Moon became history on July 20,1969. Neil Armstrong, the captain of the Apollo spacecraft, became the first person to walk on the Moon.
George Washington
George Washington was born on February 11, 1731 in America. He is known in American history as the 'Father of the Country'. For nearly 20 years he guided his country.
In three important ways, Washington helped shape the beginning of the United States. Firstly, he commanded the army that won American independence from Great Britain. Secondly. Washington served as President when the United States Constitution was written. Thirdly, he was elected as the first President of the United States.
When Washington became President there were only 11 states in the Union. By the end of his time in power, there were 16.
He died in 1799 at the age of 67.
Halloween
Halloween is a festival celebrated on October 31. It began long ago in Britain, when bonfires were lit to keep spirits and ghosts away. Today it is celebrated in many countries and has become a time for parties and games.
One game is called 'trick or treat', when children dress up in costumes and masks as ghosts or witches. Then they go to all the houses in their street and knock on the door. When the door is opened, they ask for 'treats' (sweets or pocket money). If they aren't given anything, they'll try to scare their neighbours.
One of the traditional decorations is the jack-o-lantern. This is made from a pumpkin, which has a scary face cut into it and a lit candle inside.
Inventions
Inventions help people to improve the way they live. Some people invent to make money; others make up something to satisfy their needs. Here are interesting facts about some inventors and their inventions.
The Earl of Sandwich was an English nobleman of the 1700s who liked to play card games so much that he didn't want to spend time eating. He decided to combine eating with playing. He ordered his servant to bring him a new meal that made him famous: two slices of bread with a piece of roast meat between them. We call them sandwiches now.
Another great invention that helped and still helps blind people is Braille. It is a system of small raised dots on paper that can be read by hand. Louis Braille who invented it lost his eyesight when he was three years old. He was 15 when he developed this system. He got this idea from the system of messages that soldiers read at night without light
To create an invention, a person needs good knowledge, materials, the ability to see the key idea and good luck. A good example of this is the periodic table in chemistry, developed by Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian. He had worked on the arrangement of chemical elements for a long time before he saw it in his sleep.
Our solar system: Where we live
When you look at the sky at night you can see millions of stars, which are known as the Milky Way. Our Sun is one of the 100 billion stars in our galaxy. More than a million Earth-sized planets could fit into the Sun.
The Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit the Sun and get light and heat from it. It takes eight minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth, five and a half hours for it to reach Pluto and more than four years to reach the next star, Alpha Centuria.
Each planet moves on its own orbit around the Sun. It takes the Earth one year to go around the Sun and it takes Pluto 248 Earth-years to do the same.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Venus spins the opposite way to the Earth, so the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east. The next planet is ours. It's the only planet that we know has life - maybe there is life on another planet but we don't know yet. Mars is like a bright red star. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system and has fifteen more moons than the Earth. To reach it from the Earth you have to go through the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Saturn looks beautiful with its coloured rings, but it is very cold and has lots of strong storms. The last three planets are Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Pluto is the farthest. They are all part of our solar system.
Tutankhamun
In 1922 the attention of the whole world was on Egypt and the fantastic discoveries of Howard Garter, an English archaeologist, and Lord Carnarvon, whose money paid for the work.
For thirty years Carter had been searching the sands of Egypt and on November 4,1922 he discovered steps leading down to the tomb of Tutankhamun.
At the bottom of the steps above the door there was an inscription. It read: 'He who enters here will die of hunger and thirst and their names will cease to exist in the land of Egypt.'
On April 5,1923, only four months after the discovery of the tomb, Lord Carnarvon suddenly died from a mysterious bite. Had the curse of Tutankhamun struck?
Valentine's day
There are many stories about the origin of this holiday. The following is one of them. In the third century, the Roman Emperor Claudius forbade young men to marry, as then they didn't want to join his army. A priest named Valentine secretly married young people. One night he was caught and thrown in prison. His punishment was death. On that day, February 14, he left a little note for the daughter of the prison guard, who had become his friend. He signed it: 'Love from your Valentine'. Today, people celebrate Valentine's Day in many ways. They send cards, sweets or flowers to someone they love. Children usually decorate their classrooms with red paper hearts. They put all the greetings cards into one box and then distribute them. Sometimes it is difficult to guess who the sender is, as the cards usually say 'Be my Valentine' and are not signed.
William I
William I, the Conqueror, was born in 1027 in France.
He crossed the English Channel with an army of 12,000 men in 1066 and won the battle of Hastings. On Christmas day 1066 he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey.
William I was one of the first kings of England who started British royal history. He reigned from 1066 until his death.
His greatest achievements include the Domesday Book, which was finished in 1086. The Domesday Book is the first official record which says how many people, towns, villages and farms England had. William founded a strong central government in England.
During his reign many cathedrals and castles were built. He started the construction of the Tower of London.
PART 3
Education in England and Wales
There are four types of schools in the English and Welsh education system - nursery. primary, secondary and private schools. Scotland has its own education system, which is different.
Children start school at the age of five, but there is some free nursery-school education before that age. The state nursery schools are not for all. They are for some families, for example for families with only one parent. In most areas there are private nursery schools. Parents who want their children to go to nursery school pay for their children under 5 years old to go to these private nursery schools.
Primary school is divided into infant school (pupils from 5 to 7 years old) and junior school (from 8 to 11 years old). In some areas there are middle schools instead of junior schools, which take pupils from 9 to 12 years old. Primary schools have from 50-200 pupils.
Secondary schools are usually much larger than primary schools and most children - over 80 percent - go to a comprehensive school at the age of 11. These schools are for all. Pupils do not need (to pass an exam to go to these schools. These schools are large. They have from 1.200 - 2.500 pupils. School lasts all day in the UK, so there is only one shift. In some areas there are grammar schools. Pupils must pass special exams to go to these schools.
Some parents prefer private education. In England and Wales, private schools are called public schools. They are very expensive. Only 5 per cent of the school population goes to public schools. Public schools are for pupils from 5 or 7 to 18 years old. Some public schools are day schools, but many public schools are boarding schools. Pupils live in the school and go home in the holidays.
Education in the USA
There are five types of schools in the US educational system. They are: kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school and private school. Children go to kindergarten when they are 5 years old They go to elementary school from ages 6 through 11 (1-5 grades), middle school from ages 12 through 14 (6-8 grades) and high school from ages 15 through 19 (9-12 grades).
About 90 percent of all children attend public school, which is free. The other 10 percent go I private schools, which often include religious education. They are similar to the public schools but parents must pay for their children to go to these schools. About half of all private schools are run by Catholics.
In the United States, education is mainly the responsibility of state and local governments, not the national government. The amount of money spent on education differs from state to state. The subjects studied also differ a little. The school year usually runs from September to June. At the high school level, there are some specialized schools. They include schools that emphasize vocational subjects like business or auto mechanics. Most high schools are general schools. High school students are often involved in the non-academic activities that their school offers -for example, in drama clubs, sports teams, or the school newspaper.
Queen Elizabeth II
Since 1066 there have been forty monarchs in England, thirty-five kings, five queens and seven dynasties. Only fourteen monarchs have stayed on the throne for more than twenty-five years, one of them is Queen Elizabeth II.
Every royal house or 'dynasty' has a surname. In Britain's case that name is Windsor Queen Elizabeth II is the fourth Windsor monarch. She is also the head of a very large family. She has three sons, one daughter, and many grandsons and granddaughters.
The most famous British royal home is Buckingham Palace. But it is not the only one. The Queen and her family have several other castles, official residences and country houses too. Today Buckingham Palace is the best known palace in the world. It stands at the end of a long boulevard called The Mall and it has 600 rooms on three floors, 400 staff, and 300 clocks.
After Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's next monarch will probably be Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. He will be King Charles III. Even further in the future his son, Prince William, will become king too. His title will be King William V. The National Anthem is called 'God save the Queen'. But if Prince Charles becomes King, it will be 'God save the King'.
The Internet
The Internet was invented in the late 1960s by the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 1969, there was a network of just four mainframe computers. A mainframe computer is a large, powerful computer, shared by many users. The idea of the electronic mailbox was born when users looked for a way to talk to each other electronically. By 1984,the Internet had begun to develop into the form we know today. Electronic mail is much faster than traditional mail, because once the message is typed out, it arrives in the electronic mail box of the recipient within minutes. It's better to use e-mail to contact friends rather than phone them, because e-mail is cheaper for long distances than the phone. People can share their interests through the Internet and it makes it very easy to exchange ideas and information.
The fax machine is a very convenient aid to contact companies and friends because messages are transmitted immediately. Fax machines work like photocopiers. They make a copy of a document and then send it down a telephone line to another fax machine. In this way they can send and receive information from each other. You can send any kind of thigs by fax, but it is more expensive than e-mail.
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