Facebook Celebrates 5th Bithday

Facebook, the worlds biggest social networking site, is celebrating its fifth birthday. In a blog post, the sites founder, Mark Zuckerberg, states that Facebook will continue to work as hard as it has in the last five years in order to stay the webs number one communication site. The company started in a dorm room in 2004. Today it has 150 million active users, more than the 130 million of rival MySpace. Facebook is different from other social networking sites because you can communicate with people you really know and trust. Before, most people didnt want to share their real identities online. Facebook has given people a safe and trusted environment for people to interact online. It has changed the way people view the world. A friend from any country is only a few clicks away. It was back in February 2004 when Zuckerberg started The facebook from a Harvard students room. The aim was to help students get in touch with each other over the Internet. Within 24 hours over a thousand students had signed up and soon after that the network spread out to other universities. By 2005 a research study showed that about 85% of the students in the network had a Facebook account. Another survey showed that Facebook was almost as important as an iPod. At the end of 2005 Facebook came to the U.K. and up to today the site has been translated into 35 languages. Five years after its start Facebook has escaped the universities and colleges. More than half of its users are not at college anymore and the fastest growing group are the 30 to 40 year olds. Every day 15 million users update their profiles to tell their friends and the world whats happening to them. They also share photos, upload videos, chat, make friends, join groups and simply have fun.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y

aim = something you want to do blog = a webpage that has information on a certain subject; the newest articles are at the top celebrate =to do something nice and have fun at a special event dorm room = a room where students sleep environment = the world around us founder = a person who started something interact = to talk to each other and work together research study = if you look at a topic in a serious way and try to find out more about it share =to use together sign up = to join , become a member

y y y y y y y

social network = Internet platform where people can become a member and find friends all over the world spread out =here: to move to state = say survey = questions that you ask people in order to find out what they think about something translate = to write something in a different language trust =to believe that someone is good to you and won't do anything bad update = to add new information about something

Lady Gaga - The Queen of Social Media

Lady Gaga dominates the social media world. The queen of pop has more followers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube than any other person in the world. Even though she lost her number one spot on Facebook to Rihanna she is still the overall social media star. Lady Gaga has 41 million Facebook fans, almost 12 million Twitter followers and 1.6 billion YouTube views. Forbes, a leading business magazine, has recently named Lady Gaga the most powerful celebrity on earth. Lady Gagas social media success started a few years ago on MySpace, a social media platform that, at that time, was as popular as Facebook. In 2009 her team started concentrating on Facebook. Today Lady Gagas social media success is based on a great team that supervises her fan pages and the star herself who tries to have as much contact with her fans as possible. She connects to her followers daily on Twitter, which she manages herself. No other pop star in history has made so much success so quickly. One reason is that Lady Gaga, often compared to Madonna, is not scared to try something new. Apart from creating games for mobile phones the staff of the pop queen launched GagaVille , a virtual world with games, music and many surprises.

Words
y y y y

apart from = in addition to billion = a thousand million celebrity = a very famous, living person connect = to get into contact with

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

create = make something new dominate = to be better than the others even though = while follower = here: fan, a person who wants to find out what you do all the time launch = start manage = control, deal with overall = general, all together recently = a short time ago scared = afraid social media = to use the Internet , mobile phones and other types of communication to get into contact with people spot = place, ranking staff = the people who work for her success = when a lot of people like what you do supervise = oversee, manage virtual = not real; only online

Twitter
Twitter is a social network that allows users to send and receive short messages , called tweets. Tweets can be up to 140 characters long. You can send tweets from your computer or even from your mobile phone. While some social networking services are like Facebook or MySpace are more complicated Twitter is fairly simple to use. To send or receive messages you just have to create an account on Twitter. You can only send text to twitter, images are not allowed. Twitter users can follow what other people post. It makes you feel a part of someone elses life . People all over the world talk about all kinds of topics . In most cases Twitter is made up of many small groups of people. Sometimes only they can follow each others movements . You could post Hey, Im going to the pub , and all of your friends could read it at once . Your messages on Twitter can be private, meaning only your friends can read them or you could make them public , meaning they can be seen by everyone.

Twitter is used for many things. You can post an upcoming event , organize group conversations or just tell the world what youre doing at the moment. You can also use twitter

instead of sending many SMSs to different people . Just post your messages on Twitter and everyone else can see them. Many people update their Twitter status very often, sometimes even a couple of times an hour. Recently , Twitter has also been used in business . Companies use twitter to inform people about new products or just to post something that is on sale .

Twitter has become very popular . Since its birth in 2006 over one hundred million people around the world have been using it regularly .

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

at once = quickly business = trade, buying and selling of things character = letter or number complicated = difficult to use couple = a few create = sign up for , make event = something interesting or important that happens fairly = quite, pretty image = picture instead of = in somethings place message = a written piece of information movement = where you go and travel to on sale = if you can buy something at a special price popular = liked by many people post = to write a message on a social networking platform public = so that everyone can see them receive = get recently = lately , not long ago regular = very often social network = a structure on the web made up of people who are connected to each other topic = theme, a subject that people talk or write about upcoming = future update = to add new information to something

The End of Harry Potter - But Pottermania Is Still Alive

With the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II the adventures of the boy wizard and his friends come to an end. Since 1997 seven books and eight movies have captured the attention of millions of youngsters and adults around the world. The story may have come to an end but Harry Potter and friends are still with us. Joanne Rowling, the author of the books, is shifting to the Internet. Pottermore is a new website in which Rowling wants to publish new material and give fans insights into the lives of the characters. Potter fans hope that Rowling might continue writing and come up with a character that is as likeable as the boy wizard . The fastest selling book series of the past has broken all records. More than 400 million copies of Harry Potter have been sold in 67 languages around the world. When Rowling finished her first manuscript she hardly found a publisher who was interested. Since then she has earned about $1.5 billion . From 2001, when the first film was released , until the present, movie goers have paid a total of $6 billion at the box office . The success of Harry Potter is a mixture of many elements. The boy wizard and his friends live in both a real and magical world. Rowling combines the real life of England with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. More than once they meet evil characters and find ways to defeat them. For many youngsters Harry Potter is a boy they grew up with and a character they identified with. In a world full of multimedia and the Internet getting youngsters to read is no small task . But Rowling has achieved nothing less. She hopes that young people who grew up reading Harry Potter will pass the books on to the next generation. For the main actors of the Potter films - Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint stardom has come faster than normal. Their feelings are mixed. Daniel Radcliff is relieved that the series is over, whereas Emma Watson describes her feelings as bittersweet . Not everyone sees Harry Potter in a positive light. Some critics say that the later books and films have become increasingly darker and more evil . Nevertheless , even though the Harry Potter story has come to a close, Pottermania lives on. Magic wands , Potter clothes and other Hogwarts items are sold at a value of millions of dollars every year. In Orlando, Florida a new wizardry theme park opened in 2010.

Words
y y y y y

achieve = reach , do adult = a grown up person, not a child attention = interest author = a person who writes books billion = a thousand million

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

bittersweet = happy and sad at the same time box office = the place where tickets are sold capture = get combine = bring together copy = here: a single book critic = someone whose job it is to read books and say if they are good or bad defeat = win over evil = bad hardly = very difficult, nor easy increasingly = more and more insight = an better understanding of something or someone item = object likeable =nice, easy to like magic wand = stick used by a wizard manuscript = the story of a book before it is published mixture = combination nevertheless = all the same pass on = give on to premiere = first performance of a film or play publish = to give the public information publisher = a company that prints a book release = make public relieve = to feel happy or no longer worried about something series = a group of books about the same topic stardom = being a star success = victory task = thing to do, job theme p ark = a place where you can have fun ; it is about one subject value = how much something is worth whereas = but witchcraft = the use of magical powers to make things happen wizard = a person who has magic powers youngster = young person

Charles Darwin - Father of Evolution

When Charles Darwin was born in 1809 science was still in its baby shoes. Chemists were talking about atoms, physicists about energy and electricity. Nobody really knew what it was. By the time he died in 1882 scientists were able to explain light and electromagnetic waves. And, thanks to Darwin, biologists were able to explain how life on Earth developed.

Darwin was the best biologist of all times. He was an expert on plants, animals and insects. But he didn't want to be a biologist at first. At school and the university Darwin was just an average student. He read a lot and collected beetles and butterflies. He went to Edinburgh to study medicine but soon found out that it wasn't the right thing for him. At Cambridge he met a fellow botanist, John Steven Henslow. Henslow helped him get a job on the exploration ship Beagle. The ship travelled around the world for five years and Darwin learned a lot about the forms of life. When Darwin returned to England he was a well-known scientist who lived an isolated life in the countryside where he did experiments and studied plants and animals. Darwin read a lot of interesting books. One of them influenced him a great deal. A popular economist claimed that when the population grew the people would need more and more food. But there was not enough for everybody, so food would become scarce and not everyone could survive and have children. Darwin thought that this had to be true for animals and plants as well. Those that had food would survive and the others would die. This helped Darwin solve many questions of life. While many scientists thought that all animals and plants had always been the same Darwin wasn't sure about this. During his voyage on the Beagle he began to think about it. He explored places where he saw that many animals and plants were similar, but in a way they were different too. Some of these differences were good and helped animals survive. They passed these on to their offspring. Darwin proved that species could change. We humans have some features from our parents, but we also have others, maybe better ones as well. We will probably pass on these better features to our children. The same works in the world of animals and plants. As time goes on species change completely, sometimes slowly, at other times quite fast. His book On the Origin of Species explained how species change. Many people didn't like it because it had many totally new ideas. But today almost all scientists agree with Darwin's ideas. They have continued work on his basic ideas and observe how life develops.

Words
y y y y y y

agree = to have the same opinion or think in the same way average = not good and not bad basic = important beetle = an insect with a round hard back which is usually black botanist = someone who studies plants claim = to say that something is true even if it has not been proved

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

develop = grow economist = a person who studies the way in which goods are produced and how people buy and sell things electricity = the power that goes through wires and gives us light and heat and make machines work electromagnetic wave =the waves that are caused by electric and magnetic fields explain= describe, give details exploration = to travel to places for the first time and find out something about them feature = marks, characteristics fellow =friend great deal = a lot human = person influence = to change the way someone thinks about something isolated = alone observe = watch offspring = the babies an animal has pass on = give prove = to show that something is true scarce = rare, not enough science = knowledge about the world and nature scientist = a person who works in science similar = almost the same solve = to find the answer to a problem species = a group of animals or plants that have the same features survive = to live on, not to die voyage = a trip you make with a ship

Larry King Ends 25-Year Old Show on CNN

After a record-breaking 25 years, Americas most famous interviewer, Larry King, has ended his show Larry King Live. It was broadcast over 6,000 times on CNN and Larry King conducted over 50,000 interviews. In the last show King thanked his staff and his producers for 25 years of great work. Larry King will continue to work for CNN and do specials, as well as radio work. In a message to the interviewer President Barack Obama called King one of the giantsof broadcasting. Former president Bill Clinton, who appeared on Kings show 28 times, is one of the talk-stars greatest admirers. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pronounced December 16 Larry King Day in California.

Larry King has been on radio and television for half a century. He interviewed celebrities, politicians and everyday people, from Oprah Winfrey to Vladimir Putin. They all wanted to be on the show because Larry King gave them an audience of millions around the globe. King announced in June 2010 that he would step back because he wanted more time with his family. He promised to keep wearing his suspenders, a personal trademark. Larry King was born as Larry Zeiger in Brooklyn in November 1933. When he found that his last name was not really American, he changed to it King. Early in his career Larry King became popular by hosting national radio shows. In 1985 he joined CNN, a network which was still very young at the time. During the heyday of the show in the mid 1990s over 2 million people watched Larry King Live every week. In the last years the number of viewers dropped to 600000, a number that might have made Kings decision to leave easier. King not only had admirers but also critics who said he was too soft on his guests and was not always prepared for the interviews. King himself says that his only aim was to get the guests to talk.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

admire = to like and respect someone because they have done good work and been successful aim = something you want to reach or do appear = to be on the show audience = viewers broadcast = to send out on television career = job, profession celebrity = famous person, icon century = a hundred years conduct = carry out critic = person who does not always like what you do decision = choice drop = to go down former = ex- , past giant = here: a great person globe = world heyday = time when something was very popular and successful host = to introduce a television or radio program join = go to message = note network = TV station politician = person who is in government or who has a high position in a country, state or city producer = person who is in control of producing the show

y y y y y y y y

pronounce = to officially make something record-breaking = the highest or most that has ever happened soft = not hard or tough enough special = here: special program that is not broadcast regularly staff = the people who worked with him and made the show step back = retire, stop suspenders = two bands of cloth that go over your shoulder and hold up your trousers trademark = something special that only you have

Donald Trump - The Key to Success

Donald Trump is one of Americas most successful business magnates . He operates several companies all over the world. His assets are worth a total of about $3 billion . Now Donald Trump has announced that he might become a candidate for the presidency in 2012. When he was in his twenties Trump developed into a tycoon who built large buildings like Trump Tower in New York. He and his wife Ivana became celebrities in the Big Apple. Towards the end of the 1980s Trump got into financial difficulties and almost became bankrupt . It was during this period that his first marriage ended. Nevertheless Donald Trump fought back. With the help of banks he managed to pay back most of his debt . He sold off some of his buildings and started a comeback towards the end of the 1990s. Today Trump is married to his third wife and back in business again. His three children are executives in his financial empire . In the last few years Trump has built hotels, holiday resorts and golf courses all over the world. Trump World Tower, finished in 2001, is a luxury apartment building in the middle of Manhattan. Every year he organizes the Miss Universe beauty contest . One key to success is how Donald Trump deals with the media . He wrote his autobiography The Art of the Deal at a very early age, before the financial crisis. He is a big celebrity and has appeared on TV series more than once. Some years ago he started producing his own reality show , The Apprentice . Another reason for Donald Trumps longlasting success is that he knows how to make money out of his name. But many of his friends say his real goal is not money but being famous. Donald Trump has learned from the mistakes he had made during the financial crisis. Today he admits that expanding his business at such a fast rate was a grave mistake he wouldnt make any more.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

admit = to say that you have done something wrong announce = say officially appear = show apprentice = someone who works for a person in order to learn new things asset = all the things a company owns, which can be sold to pay bills bankrupt = without enough money to pay what you owe beauty contest = an event in which men and women are judged by the way they look candidate = here: someone who wants to become president celebrity = famous person who is in the media very often company = firm, business deal with = manage, work with debt = the money that you must pay back others develop = grow difficulty = problem empire = group of organizations controlled by one person executive = manager in an organization; a person who makes big decisions expand = grow goal = aim grave = very bad in business = here: successful key = answer long-lasting = to last for a long time luxury =very expensive magnate = rich and powerful businessperson manage = to do something difficult marriage = the relationship between two people who are married media = TV, radio and newspapers nevertheless = however, even so operate = own organize = carry out presidency = the office or job of the American president produce = make rate = speed reality show = television show that is about real people and what they do resort = place where people go for holidays series = television program that is broadcast every week with the same characters success = become famous and rich successful = to make a lot of money towards = near tycoon = rich and powerful businessperson

President Obama Wants Longer School Year for US Pupils

American school children spend less time at school than pupils in other industrialized countries. According to American President Barack Obama, this should change. He notes that, because of a longer summer vacation, American children forget a lot of what they learn over the year.

Not all Americans are in favour of this idea, especially pupils who would like to have a long summer vacation. Teachers would have to work longer and the tourist industry would suffer from a shorter summer break.

A research conducted on schools nationwide show that private institutions that keep their pupils in school longer get better results than others, especially inner city schools. Some school districts have already followed Obama's suggestion and are offering courses and other activities during the summer holidays. On the other side there are many schools that have cut their summer programs because they do not have enough money.

The research paper has also showed that Americans are falling behind in fields like science and mathematics, where they were once number one in the world. Today America ranks 21st in the world of science and 25th in maths.

President Obama also made an appeal to parents. They should check and see if children do their homework and motivate their children to learn hard.

Words:
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

according to = as shown by someone appeal = ask for something important break = vacation, holiday conduct = carry out district = here: an area in the United States with a number of schools that are governed together especially = above all field = area in favour of = to be for something motivate = to make someone want to do something nationwide = around the whole country note = to mention or talk about something important research = the study of a topic in order to discover new facts or ideas research paper = a written document about the results of such a study suffer = a situation that becomes worse suggestion = idea or plan vacation = holidays

Why do Students Drop Out of School?

Some American high schools have a dropout rate of up to 50%. There are many reasons for students leaving school :
y y y y

For two thirds of the dropouts motivation is the problem. They can't just work hard enough. Almost half of them said that they had missed so many classes that they could not catch up any more. Many said that they were not prepared well enough in their earlier school. For a third of them getting a job was more important than finishing school.

High school dropouts have more problems in society and in their future lives. They are more likely to be unemployed or live in poverty. There is also a big difference in income if you compare high school dropouts with graduates. According to data by the US Census bureau Americans with a bachelor's degree earn about $ 50,000 , those with a high school diploma about $28,000 and dropouts only about $ 20,000. Many pupils do not understand the implications of dropping out of school. They often demand better teachers, more lessons to catch up in subjects and more help with learning problems. Some schools have adopted to this situation. They offer evening classes or allow students to come back at a later age.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y

dropout = to leave school before you are finished with it catch up = to get as far as the other pupils because you have missed something society = people in general unemployed = out of work income = the money you get when you work graduate = if you finish the last class of school successfully Census bureau = the organisation that counts the number of people who live in a country bachelor's degree = the first part of studies at a university implication = effect demand = want adopt to = to change the way you think about something

Adermatoglyphia - People Without Fingerprints

In 2007, a Swiss woman had trouble entering the United States because immigration officials discovered she had no fingerprints. They were baffled because they had not seen a phenomenon like this before. Fingerprints are a feature with which people can be identified. Even twins have different fingerprints, but not everyone in the world has them. There are a few people in the world who were born with a genetic difference, causing them to have no fingerprints at all. This disease is called adermatoglyphia. Such a condition is caused by a genetic mutation. According to researchers there are only four families on earth whose members do not have fingerprints. Fingerprints develop with the unborn baby, when the fetus is about 24 weeks old. They do not change during life. Although scientists do not know what functions fingerprints have, some say they increase the ability to hold things in your hands. People who were born without fingerprints often dont have the grip to grasp things. Adermatoglyphia is a disease that affects not only your fingers but also the palms of your hand and the soles of your feet. People with this disease often dont sweat normally. Because body heat cannot escape they are often in danger of suffering a heatstroke. Such victims often have other skin problems too..

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

ability = skill, talent according to = as said by . although = while baffled = surprised cause = lead to discover = find out disease = illness escape = get out feature = characteristic , quality fetus = a baby before it is born genetic = about cells that control what you look like or how you grow grasp = grab, take hold of grip = to hold tightly heat stroke = when the body temperature goes up very quickly ; it can be deadly if you do not treat it quickly identify = recognize; to find out who someone is immigration = when you enter another country to work or live there increase = add to; make better

y y y y y y y y y y y

mutation = change official = someone who is in a high position in an organization palm = the inside part of your hand with which you hold things phenomenon = something unusual researcher = person who studies a topic and tries to find out new facts about it sole = the part of your foot on which you stand suffer = go through sweat = drops of salty water that comes out of your skin when it is hot or because you have exercised a lot twin = one of two children born at the same time to the same mother unborn = not born victim = a person who suffers from a disease

Passive Smoking Kills over 600,000 Every Year

A study carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) says that in the year 2004 passive smoking killed over 600,000 people around the world. A quarter of them were children. There are 1.2 billion smokers worldwide. They are not only risking their own lives but the lives of non-smokers as well. Both active and passive smoking kill almost 6 million people a year. The report says that passive smoking led to almost four hundred thousand deaths from heart diseases , 150,000 from respiratory infections and thousands from asthma and lung cancer . Children are the group that is hardest hit by passive smoking. But while in Europe only 71 died because of secondhand smoke over 40,000 were killed in Africa. A few months ago a report released in the US showed that more than half of American children between the ages of 3 and 11 had particles in their blood that came from passive smoking. Most adults who smoke do so at home and in front of their children. Children whose parents smoke also have a higher risk of infections and other diseases like pneumonia and bronchitis . About a third of all adults and 40% of all children worldwide are exposed to passive smoking on a regular basis . Experts say that banning smoking in public places can help cut health care costs and lower the number of people who die through passive smoking. Studies show that strict anti-smoking laws in bars and restaurants can massively lower exposure to smoke. Such laws can also help people quit smoking. The report comes to the conclusion that more needs to be done to protect non-smokers at their place of work and on public transport . Right now only 7% of the worlds population lives in areas with strict anti-smoking laws.

Words

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

adult = a grown-up person billion = a thousand million bronchitis = an illness that makes you cough cancer = serious disease in which cells in a part of your body grow in an unnatural way conclusion = end, finish cut = reduce, lower disease = illness expose = not protected exposure = contact with health care = the system that is responsible of looking after the health of people in a country heart disease = illness related to your heart hit = affected law = system of rules in a country lower = reduce massively = very much non-smoker = a person who does not smoke particle = very small part of something pneumonia = a serious illness of your lungs that makes it hard for you to breathe protect = defend, save from public = for anyone public transport =buses, trains, trams, subways in a certain place quarter = 25 percent quit = stop regular basis = regularly release = to make public or show to the people respiratory = connected to your breathing or your lungs secondhand = passive strict = harsh, powerful study = research; a piece of work that is done to find out more about a special topic

Obese Teenagers Show Signs of Heart Disease

Canadian researchers have found out that the blood vessels of obese teenagers look like those of older people. It is a sign that heart disease may be approaching. The aorta, the largest blood vessel of our body, was stiffer and thicker than it was supposed to be. In the last two decades the number of obese children and teenagers has increased sharply. Doctors say that this will lead to massive heart problems, strokes and diabetes when such young people get older. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels were also higher. Young obese children may also develop bone and joint problems.

The research team suggests rethinking ways on how to protect our children from such diseases. Numbers in other western countries show the same signs. Figures show that about a fourth of all youngsters are obese. When they become adults they will experience many health problems. This means that health costs will go up and obese adults may have problems getting work. Stopping such a time bomb is not easy. Families have to be informed that healthy food and exercise are the best ways to avoid such diseases. There are also other things that can be done. More physical education in schools and healthier school food could be one way. Experts also suggest that parents let their children walk to school, where possible, not drive them.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

aorta = the largest artery that takes blood away from your heart approach = come avoid = stop; keep away from blood pressure = the force with which blood travels through your body blood vessel = one of the tubes through which the blood of your body flows cholesterol = a chemical material in your blood; if you have too much , it may lead to heart disease decade = ten years develop = grow diabetes = disease in which there is too much sugar in your blood disease = illness exercise = to do sports or other physical activities experience = something that happens to you figure = number increase = go up inform = give information joint = flexible part of your body where two bones meet obese = overweight physical education = sport that is a subject at school research = study of a subject in order to find out new facts about it sharply = a lot sign = symptom stiff = firm, hard, inflexible stroke = when a blood vessel suddenly breaks or becomes blocked so that you may die or be unable to move some parts of your body suppose = should

Michael Jackson - The Ups and Downs

Michael Jackson, the seventh of nine children, started his musical career with his brothers in 1964. They called themselves the Jackson Five. Michael quickly became the centre of attention. During the following years the band released hit after hit and became the most successful Motown group. In 1975 the Jackson Five decided to leave Motown for more money at CBS records. Young Michael began his solo career while he was still with the group. His big breakthrough came in 1982 with the arrival of his biggest selling album, Thriller. The album had seven hit singles and became famous for its video clip. Michael Jackson was not only a great singer, he also did crazy things. In 1984 he set his hair on fire for a commercial in Los Angeles. He was injured and carried out on a stretcher. This and many other strange stories about Jackson brought him the nickname Wacko Jacko. Nevertheless the sales of his records went up. In the same year Michael bought his Neverland ranch in California. It cost 17 million dollars and had a ferris wheel, a movie theatre and a zoo. Three years later Jackson returned to the music scene with bleached skin. His album Bad sold more than 30 million copies and Michael Jacksons first solo tour became a big success. It featured a colourful laser show and magic tricks. Even Prince Charles and Lady Diana were fascinated when they saw the show at Wembley Stadium.

Black and White was the biggest hit of the 1991 album Dangerous. During the promotion of his album he invited US talk master Oprah Winfrey to Neverland. There he gave the world insights into his private life, said that he was lonely and admitted that he had undergone plastic surgery. In 1993 the King of Pop was accused of harassing children but a settlement with the 13-year olds parents saved him from prison. The following year Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley but the couple separated a year and a half later. By the mid 1990s Jacksons popularity had started to fall. History was a collection of greatest hits plus a few new recordings. The pop star appeared at the Brit Awards to perform his number one single Earth Song, together with a group of children.

A second marriage with Nurse Deborah Rowe produced a son Michael and a daughter Paris. Jacksons downturn continued into the new millennium. It took almost 6 years to finish the album Invincible but when it was released in 2001 it was only in the charts for six weeks. The singers personal life became the centre of discussion when he admitted that he took children to bed. In 2003 Jacko was arrested at his Neverland ranch after molesting a fourteen year old boy. The five month trial made him weak. He looked stressed and lost a lot of weight. After his acquittal by the court he fled to the Persian Gulf. In March 2009 Jackson surprised the pop world by announcing that he would go on stage one last time. A series of ten concerts, definitely his last ones, are planned for July 2009 in the O2 arena in London.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

accuse = to say that you believe someone is guilty or has done something wrong acquittal = when the court officially says that you are not guilty admit = to say that something is true announce = to say officially bleach = to make something white and pale breakthrough = success you have for the first time commercial= an ad on television downturn = when success stops and things start going badly feature = show ferris wheel = a very large wheel that stands on the ground ; it has seats for people to ride in harass = to say bad things about someone or to threaten someone, especially sexually insight= to look inside release = to make public molest = to attack someone and try to have sex with them Motown = a music company of the 1960s and 70s , based in Detroit nevertheless = but plastic surgery = to make someone look better through an operation popularity = when something is liked by many people produce = make promotion = to do something to help sell a product release = to bring out something new separate = to divorce; to end a marriage stretcher = a bed that you use to take out an injured person trial = a court meeting that decides if someone is guilty or innocent

Polar Bears - How Dangerous Are They to Humans?

Polar bears are animals we love to see at zoos. They attract humans with their white fur and black noses. However , we often forget that polar bears are hunters, which mainly get their food by eating seals, walruses or whales . Sometimes they even attack humans . In August 2011, a polar bear killed a British boy and injured several others on the island of Spitsbergen, Norway. This is, by no means , the only attack of polar bears against people. In the past 20 years six people were killed by polar bears in Canada alone. In Norway, one person was killed in the same time period. Recent studies show that the aggression polar bears show towards humans is increasing . One of the reasons may be climate change . As it gets warmer in the Arctic regions, polar bears may be forced to move from the coastline inland , where they may encounter more humans. They are starting to spend more time on land than on Arctic sea ice. Another reason may be that people are coming too close to the bears, which see them as a dangerous enemy . Polar bears live all across the Arctic region, in Russia, Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada. But their numbers are falling quickly. Polar bears do most of their hunting on sea ice. As more and more ice is melting , experts think that fewer polar bears will be able to survive . They can go on for a longer time without food, but they do get aggressive when they cant find anything to eat. Another study suggests that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct because of increasing pollution in the Arctic region. Chemicals and other waste may have an effect on the body and bones of polar bears. When polar bears attack humans, it is mostly because they are very hungry, desperately in need of food. As more and more polar bears and humans are starting to share the same living areas, encounters are will probably be more frequent and more people may die from polar bear attacks.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y

aggression = violent behaviour attack = to use violence to hurt or harm someone attract = create a centre of attention for, to pull towards by no means = not at all climate change = global warming; the atmosphere of the earth is getting warmer because heat is trapped in it close = near coastline = where land meats the sea desperately = to do anything to get what you want and need effect = result encounter = meet enemy = rival

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

extinct = to die out force = they have to frequent = often fur = the thick soft hair that covers the bodies of some animals however = but humans = people increase = to go up injure = hurt inland = away from the coast, to the centre of an island or land mainly = in most cases melt = to turn to water pollution = the process of making air, water etc.. dirty recent = not long ago, lately seal = large sea animal that eats fish and lives around the coast share = use together study = a piece of work that is done to find out more about a certain topic suggest = say survive = to live on after a dangerous situation walrus = a large sea animal with two long teeth coming down from the side of its mouth waste = things that we do not need and dump somewhere whale = a large animal that looks like a fish but has to come up to the surface to breathe

First Planet From Outside Our Galaxy Found

Astronomers say they have found the first planet that came from out of our galaxy. The planet is similar to Jupiter and once belonged to a galaxy that was consumed by our Milky Way. Astronomers in Chile discovered the new planet with a powerful telescope. The new planet is revolving around a star, called HIP 13044. It is about 2,000 light years away from earth and once belonged to a neighbouring galaxy, which was swallowed up by the Milky Way about 6 billion years ago. The planet, about the size of Jupiter, travels closely around its sun in an orbit that takes 16 days to complete. Up to now, astronomers have discovered 500 planets, all of which have their origin in the Milky Way. The new discovery gives scientists proof that many more planets may exist outside our own galaxy. HIP 13044 is in its dying phase. The star has turned into a red giant, consumed all of its fuel and is getting larger and larger. It has eaten up all of its planets, but obviously only one survived. The discovery can be helpful to scientists in showing them what may happen in our own solar system when our sun is expected to become a red giant in about 5 billion years.

A red giant

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

astronomer = a scientist who studies the stars and the planets billion = a thousand million closely = very near complete = finish consume = take up, eat up discover = to find something for the first time fuel = energy galaxy = one of the large groups of stars that make up our universe light year = the distance that light travels in one year ; about 9.4 trillion kilometres Milky Way = the galaxy that our sun and the planets are in obviously = clearly orbit = to go around an object in a circle origin = beginning proof = facts that show that something is true red giant = a star getting near the end of its life and shining in a red glow revolve = go around similar = like solar system = the sun and the planets survive = to keep existing swallow = consume

telescope = object shaped like a long round tube; it makes faraway objects look larger

Prehistoric Mammals Much Bigger Than They Are Today

After the age of dinosaurs had ended about 65 million years ago mammals became the largest animals to roam the earth. Rhinos and elephants however were much larger than they are today. Huge mammals weighed almost 17 tons. The biggest mammal of our age , the African elephant, by comparison , weighs only about 6.5 tons. When dinosaurs roamed the earth mammals were small creatures that stayed the same in size for over 150 million years. The journal Science claims that after dinosaurs had become extinct , mammals became larger and larger but then stopped growing. In the 1990s, a French team discovered prehistoric fossils in Baluchistan, the area between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The fossils belonged to an extinct hornless rhinoceros , the Baluchitherium , which lived about 40 million years ago. It was 5 meters tall and had the size of three elephants. Scientists are not sure how mammals got that big. During the age of dinosaurs they often had to fight for food and served as food for the giant reptiles themselves. When the dinosaurs disappeared nobody was there to eat the leaves of trees and plants. For the first time mammals had plenty of food to eat. Why mammals stopped growing is still a mystery. One theory claims that continents became smaller and there wasnt enough land available . According to other experts, a colder climate led to the death of dinosaurs. Mammals grow best in cold weather because bigger animals can conserve the heat better.

Words
y y y y y y y y y

according to = as said by age = era, time available = to be used; to be had claim = to say that something is true comparison = contrast conserve = keep, save creature = a living thing disappear = vanish, go away discover = to find something for the first time

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

extinct = to die out fossil = an animal or plant that lived thousands or millions of years ago; the shape of such an animals and plant has been preserved in rock giant = very big however = but huge = very , very big journal = magazine lead led = cause mammal = type of animal that drinks milk from its mothers body when it is young plenty = a lot, enough prehistoric = a time in history when nothing was written down reptile = type of animal like a snake or lizard , whose body temperature changes; it lays eggs to have babies rhino = short for rhinoceros rhinoceros = a large heavy animal with a thick skin and one or two horns on its nose roam = walk around scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a laboratory serve as =here: were size = how big something is sure = certain weigh = how heavy something is

Polar Bears Are Becoming Smaller Because of Global Warming

Global warming is starting to have a big impact on some of the worlds animals. Scientists have found out that polar bears are becoming smaller because they do not get enough to eat. A polar bear weighs only two thirds of what it used to weigh 30 years ago. It is harder for them to hunt their main source of food seals. In open water polar bears can not catch them. They wait on the ice for them to come up for air, and then they snatch them. As the ice sheets in the Arctic are melting away bears cannot get to their food so easily. Other scientists say that instead of hunting seals, polar bears are now hunting each other in order to survive. Two years ago an American government study predicted that global warming would kill two thirds of the worlds polar bears by 2050. But if the melting of the ice sheets goes on at the current speed the Arctic Ocean could be completely ice-free in the next 20 years.

Words
y

current = at present, now

y y y y y y y y y y y y y

global warming = the rise in the temperature of the Earths atmosphere because of greenhouse gases ice sheet = an area of thick ice that covers the Arctic and Antarctic impact = effect predict = forecast, to say what will happen in the future scientist = a person who works in science seal = a large sea animal that eats fish and lives around the coast snatch = catch source = supply speed = how fast something is study = a piece of work that wants to find out more about a subject o topic survive = to continue living used to = something that happened in the past weigh = how heavy something is

Yakutsk - Coldest City on Earth

Yakutsk lies in the far-eastern part of Russia, about 450 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It holds the title of the coldest city on earth, with winter temperatures dropping below -50C. It is the capital of the Sakha province. Yakutsk has a population of about 200,000, with a million people living in the rest of the region. Most of Siberia is covered with up to 1,500 meters of permafrost. Buildings and houses in the city are built on stilts, about 2 meters above the surface. During the Siberian summer temperatures can rise to 30 and more. Up to 3 meters of soil can thaw and the earth gets wet and muddy. The foundations of the houses must be built into the permafrost ground because the thawed layer is unstable and can move easily. Yakutsk is six time zones away from the capital, Moscow. A plane trip takes about 6 hours. The other possibility is to go up the Lena River by boat. The road to Yakutia was built by former labor camp inmates. It is used mostly by trucks that bring supplies to remote villages. The Yakutsk region came to Russia in the 1600s. The natives who were found there were nomads who raised reindeer. During the 20th century the Soviets found gold, diamonds and other minerals in Yakutia. They turned Yakutsk into a regional centre. During the Stalin era thousands of prisoners were sent to labor camps in Eastern Siberia where they worked in mines. Today mining is still an important factor in the region. Russian authorities bring people to Siberia by offering them more money and homes. Today Yakutsk is a modern city with hotels, cinemas, a university and even an opera house.

Although winter lasts up to 8 months near the Arctic Circle, locals here get used to it. The climate is very dry so that it is bearable despite the Arctic temperatures of up to -50 C. In the wintertime nobody leaves their houses if they do not have to. And if they do go out they make sure that they are wrapped up in warm clothes, mostly coats and boots made of rabbit, fox and reindeer fur. Work goes on at its normal pace during the winter. Construction workers, for example, can work until minus 50. Below that metal can break easily. Children go to school up to temperature of -55C Locals often leave their cars running when they go to the store; others leave engines on the whole day when they are at work. Summers, on the other hand can be even more unbearable. Temperatures rise to over 30Celsius. It gets sticky and humid with mosquitoes all around you. This makes eastern Siberia the region with the worlds largest seasonal temperature differences.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

although = while Arctic Circle = the imaginary line around the earth that goes around the North Pole at a certain distance authority = organization or government department that has the power to make decisions bearable = difficult, but you can deal with it boot = shoe that covers your whole foot, sometimes up to your knee capital = most important town or city, place where a government is century = a hundred years construction workers = workers who make buildings, houses , roads, bridges etc.. covered = to have a layer of something on top drop = fall, go down engine = motor of a car era = period, time factor = here: sector former = in the past foundation = groundwork, basement fur = the thick soft hair that some animals have humid = wet inmate = prisoner labor camp = a place where prisoners have to do hard work layer = cover locals = people who live there make sure = to see if something is true or not metal = hard shiny material, like steel or iron mine = place where you dig minerals out of the earth mineral = material that is formed in the earth, like coal, salt or gold mosquito = small insect that sucks blood out of people and animals muddy = wet earth that is soft and sticky natives = people who lived there before the Russians came nomad = person who travels all the time to find food for their animals

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

offer = give pace = speed permafrost = a layer of soil that is always frozen in cold countries population = all the people who live there possibility = option, route raise = to look after animals and plants so that they can be used as food reindeer = large deer with wide antlers that live in cold areas remote = faraway soil = the top layer of earth on which plants grow stilt = a pole that is put into the ground and can hold up a house or building supplies = important things that people need to survive surface = the top layer for something thaw = melt, become soft time zone = one of the worlds 24 areas that has its own time unstable = unsteady, does not stay in the same place wet = watery wrap up = cover in

Increasing Jellyfish Population May Lead to Environmental Disaster

The jellyfish population around the world has been constantly on the rise in the last year. Many scientists say this is because of global warming. However, new studies show that the jellyfish themselves maybe harming the world's environment by producing too much carbon dioxide .

Bacteria that live in the world's oceans can recycle most of the carbon that dead organisms leave behind. They absorb carbon, nitrogen and other chemicals that are set free by most fish. When jellyfish die, they turn into biomass with a high amount of carbon. Bacteria cannot use this to grow but, instead, breathe it out in the form of carbon dioxide, which is then set free into the atmosphere. In the past two centuries oceans have been taking up about a quarter of the carbon dioxide that mankind has been producing . As more and more carbon dioxide is trapped in the sea ocean water is becoming more and more of an acidic liquid . Jellyfish are also eating up a lot of the plankton, normally the food that fish and other organisms rely on. The increase in the number of jellyfish is not only caused by global warming but also by over-fishing and an increasing amount of fertilizers and other chemicals that find their way into the oceans. Tourists are also complaining about jellyfish that populate coastal waters in increasing numbers. Many seaside resorts have reported that fewer holiday tourists are arriving because of jellyfish.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

absorb = take in acidic = containing acid; sour biomass = natural materials that come from living or dead plants, trees or animals; it can be used as fuel or to make electricity carbon dioxide = a gas that is breathed out by people and animals or produced by burning things complain = protest, criticize constantly = all the time environment = the world around us fertilizer = a chemical that you put into the ground to make crops grow harm = endanger jellyfish = sea creature that has a soft, shaky body and thin arms that can hurt your liquid = a watery substance mankind = people nitrogen = a gas that is in the air that we breathe over-fishing = to take out so many fish from the sea that there are little left populate = live in quarter = 25 % recycle = to use over and over again rely on = depend on; need resort = place where people go on holiday or vacation studies = a written paper that examines topics in detail trap = lock in, so that it cannot escape

Chernobyl - 25 Years After the Worst Nuclear Disaster in History

On April 26, 1986 the worlds worst nuclear catastrophe happened in the Ukraine. A nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded. The radiation that escaped in Chernobyl was four hundred times the amount that was released by the atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima at the end of World War II. About 100,000 people had to leave their homes immediately after the explosion. Neighboring villages had to be evacuated and up to today nobody has been allowed to live within 30 km of the plant. Pripyat , founded in 1970 to house the workers of the power plant , has become a ghost town. Before the disaster 50,000 people lived in modern apartment buildings. Today it is completely deserted with cars still parked on the streets. Radiation levels are still so high that nobody will be able to live here for the next one to two hundred years.

An area of about 150000 square kilometers was contaminated by radioactive cesium, which has a half life of 30 years. Most of the nuclear fallout came down on Bellarus, Russia and the Ukraine itself. Even though Chernobyl does not produce electricity anymore about 4,000 workers still work at the nuclear power plant. They can only stay for two weeks at a time because of the high radiation. 25 years after the disaster the cleanup of Chernobyl is still going on. There is still almost 200 tons of radioactive material stored in the sarcophagus, which was built in only six months after the explosion in 1986. Today it is slowly breaking apart and cracks are letting radioactive material escape. The Ukrainian government has promised to build a new shelter that will replace the old sarcophagus. This cover is expected to last for over a century but it is still not clear where the Ukrainians will get 800 million Euros to finance such a huge dome. Debate is still continuing on how many people died in the Chernobyl disaster. 31 people were killed as a direct result of the accident. 30 more died of radiation sicknessdue to the blast. Thousands of cases of cancer have been detected in people who were children at that time. The population in the area is still in danger. Greenpeace claims that thousands of Ukrainians are eating food that is contaminated by the nuclear blast although Ukrainian food ministry officials say that food is regularly checked. The environmental organization says milk, mushrooms and berries in the whole region will stay polluted for many decades to come. Today, more and more tourists are coming to northern Ukraine. Tour guides in Pripyat show westerners the homes that they lived in before the explosion. Buses take them to the nuclear power station but stop a few hundred yards from the disaster site where they can spend 15 minutes on taking pictures.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y

although = while berry = small soft fruit with small seeds catastrophe = disaster; event that kills many people or destroys large areas and buildings century = a hundred years cesium = a soft silver white metal; splitting a cesium atom produces a radioactive element check = control claim = to say that something is true clean-up = to get rid of unwanted material or waste contaminate = to make material dirty or dangerous by putting chemicals or poisons into it continue = go on cover = something that is put on or over an object

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

crack = small lines decade = a period of ten years deserted = empty; with nothing or nobody in it disaster = catastrophe, tragedy dome = round building environmental = about the world around us escape = to set free evacute =to send people away from a dangerous place to somewhere where it is safe even though = while finance = get money to build found founded = to start something new government = the people who rule a country half life = the number of years it takes radioactive material to lose half of its radioactivity immediately = at once; quickly level = amount mushroom = simple plant that grows on the ground; it has a stem and is round and some can be eaten official = someone who is in a high position in an organization or a country pollute = to make something dirty so that you cannot use it any more power plant , power station = building that produces electricity radiation = form of energy that comes from nuclear reactors; in large amounts it is very harmful to your body and can kill you release = to set free sarcophagus = in old times it was a stone box used to keep dead bodies: here: a building that does not let anything escape from it shelter = cover, protection site = location store = save, keep

Child labour
Child labour occurs when children get paid to do work. Although they have always had to work in some way, child labour started to become a major problem when children started to work in factories and mines in England during the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century . Many of them were very young. Factory owners forced them to work long hours and they got very little money for their work. Working conditions were very unhealthy. Factories were dirty and the air was bad. In mines children had to crawl through tunnels that were not wide enough for adults . Most children worked to help their families survive .

During the 19th century the situation of children started to improve . Most of them were able to go to school and lead a better life. In his novel Oliver Twist the famous English novelist, Charles Dickens, showed how factory work was ruining the lives of children in England.

Child labour today

Although many countries have laws that forbid child labour under a certain age, there are millions of children all over the world who are forced to work, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Common for children is factory work, working on farms or even prostitution . Some work as tourists guides ; others sell things on the streets or are beggars . According to the United Nations there are about 200 million child workers all over the world. Among them are about a hundred million who work in dangerous jobs. Over 22,000 children die in accidents at work every year. Most children in the Third World work in agriculture . In Brazil, for example, children work on sugar plantations , sometimes as young as four. Others work on the streets. They polish shoes, wash cars, carry luggage or do any chore that is thinkable. The majority live in slums on the edge of big cities. Sometimes children are forced to be prostitutes or have to serve rebel or army groups in civil wars . In Iran, thousands of children served as soldiers in the war against Iraq during the 1980s.

Causes of child labour

y y y y

One of the major causes of child labour is poverty . Adults often earn so little that children have to work. Schools in many countries are far away or expensive. More and more employers see that they can make bigger profits when they employ children. In Africa, many children have become orphans because their mothers died of AIDS and they have nobody to care for them.

Bonded labour
In bonded labour families often sell their children to factory owners in order to get money or they give them to employers if they owe them money. This type of labour is very common throughout southern Asia, especially the rural parts of India and Pakistan. Such children work up to 18 hours a day and often get very little food. There is seldom a way to escape bonded labour.

Dangerous jobs
Half the child labourers around the world work in jobs that are considered to be dangerous. Among them are
y y y y y y

working with dangerous chemicals in factories working in mines prostitution selling drugs fighting in conflict areas working on plantations in hot climates

Rights of children
The International Labour Organization has been fighting child labour for many decades . The United Nations declared that children must be protected from dangerous work. Over the past years many agreements , which protect the rights of children, have been signed . The ILO has set 15 as the lowest age for legal employment . Although many countries have already applied this law , some countries in the Third World do not control it enough.

What needs to be done

y y y y

Education is the key to ending child labour. If children go to schools they are less likely to work. A better education also means a better chance of getting a good job later on. Women must get better jobs so that they can escape poverty and their children dont have to work. Replace child workers with adults . Consumers can help by refusing to buy products made by children. Sometimes there is a label on clothes or other items that indicate children are not involved in manufacturing them.

Words
y y y y y y

accident = a situation in which someone is hurt according to = as said by adult = grown-up agreement = when two people or groups of people promise to do something agriculture = farming although = while

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

apply = use, put to work beggar = someone who lives by asking people for food and money care for = look after cause = reason century = a hundred years certain = special chore = job civil war = war in which two groups in a country fight against each other common = usual, normal community = public consider = people think that consumer = a person who buys something in a shop crawl = move along the ground with your hands or knees decade = ten years edge = border employ = to give work employer = a person who gives others work employment = work escape = get away from especially = above all factory = building in which products are made forbid = not allow force = to make someone do something guide = a person who shows you things improve = to get better indicate = show Industrial Revolution = time during the 18th and 19th centuries when machines were invented and the first factories were built International Labour Organization = a part of the United Nations that cares for the rights of workers around the world involve = here: work in item = product key = solution, answer label = tag, sign, sticker labour = work law = the rules of a country legal = allowed by the law less likely = probably will not luggage = suitcases major = very big, important majority = most of them manufacture = produce mine = a deep hole in the ground from which people remove minerals like coal, copper etc.. novel = a long story with characters that are not real occur = happen

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

orphan = a child whose parents are dead owe = if you have borrowed money from someone and have to give it back owner = a person who has or possesses something plantation = a large area of land on which crops are grown polish = to make something shine poverty = being poor profit = income , money prostitution = someone, especially a woman or girl who earns money by having sex with people protect = defend, guard quarry = to dig sand or stone out of the earth rebel = people who fight against the government replace = to take the place of retail trade = to sell products to final customers right = something that you are officially allowed to do ruin = destroy rural = in the countryside seldom = not often serve = work for sign = to put your name on a document soldier = member of an army in a country storage = to put something in a place so that it cannot be moved survive = to live on throughout = in all of wholesale trade = to sell products to other businesses working conditions = the quality of your workplace

The Statue of Liberty - American Symbol of Freedom

Every American is proud of the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom . The Statue of Liberty, one of the largest ever built, stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor and has greeted millions of American immigrants who have come from Europe to the New World. The Statue of Liberty was built by Fredrick Bartholdi. The French gave it to America as a gift in honour of the revolutions for freedom and liberty in both countries. The monument was built out of copper plates that were put on a steel frame. Together with the concrete which it stands on the statue rises almost 100 metres into the sky. It shows a woman in a robe , wearing a crown with 7 spikes and holding a torch in her hand. In her left hand she holds a tablet with the inscription "July 4, 1776" , the date of the Declaration of Independence .

The statue soon became a major tourist attraction. Visitors were originally able to go up the spiral staircase to the observation deck and the torch. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 the Statue of Liberty was closed. In 2004 Liberty Island reopened to tourists, but today you are only allowed to visit the museum in the pedestal.

Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island

Words
y y y y

y y y y y y y y y y y

concrete = building material made out of a mixture of sand, stones, cement and water copper = a soft reddish-brown metal that is used for wires and pipes crown = circle made out of gold and worn by kings and queens Declaration of Independence = document written in 1776 in which the thirteen American colonies declared that they were a free nation and no longer a colony of Great Britain freedom = liberty greet = to say hello immigrant = person who leaves their home country and goes to another country to live and work there in honour of = to show that you like someone and respect them inscription = a piece of writing major = very big monument = statue pedestal = base on which something stands originally = at first robe = long piece of clothing that you usually wear at special events spikes = a long thins pointed piece of metal

y y y y

spiral staircase = stars that move up in a circle steel = a strong metal made out of iron; it can be easily formed and shaped tablet = a flat piece of stone on which you can write something torch = a long stick that burns on one end

The End of Printed Newspapers?

The newspaper industry is entering a new era. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has become America's first newspaper to stop printing and become the first newspaper to appear online only. The newspaper was 146 years old, the oldest in Washington State. Only about 20 people work for seattlepi.com , the Internet version of the newspaper. Once over 150 people worked in the newsrooms of Seattle's most famous paper. There is only one daily newspaper left in Seattle, The Times. Many people think that it could follow the PostIntelligencer by going online only too. Among other big cities in the US, Denver only has one daily newspaper because the Rocky Mountain News closed a few weeks ago. Some newspapers around the US are afraid of going bankrupt. Among these are the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. One of the main problems that printed newspapers face today is advertising. Big local newspapers earn a lot of their money with ads. But that market has moved to advertising on the Internet which is either free or costs very little. Another reason is that many newspapers have become bigger and bigger. They have spent too much money expanding and buying up other papers. Newspapers are reducing costs wherever they can. In Detroit daily newspapers are delivering their papers on only three days a week. In Ohio the state's largest newspapers are sharing stories. Almost 8,000 jobs have been lost in the newspaper industry. Newspapers have lost millions of readers in the past years because a new generation of readers has emerged. Much of the news that people get online still comes from newspapers and most of them publish it for free. While newspapers have fewer reporters in big cities and abroad, observers say that they have lost much of their quality. The question is: Will they find a new home on the Internet?

Words
y y y y

abroad = in other countries advertising = marketing; to show products and make people buy them appear = here: to be published bankrupt = if you don't have enough money to pay back what you owe someone

y y y y y y y y y y

deliver = to bring to the homes of the readers emerge = show up, grow era = time expand = to get bigger face = have local = in a certain region observer = expert who knows a lot about the industry publish = print reduce = to lower share = to use with someone else

Street Art - New Culture of the Cities

Street Art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and trash cans from Tokyo to Paris, from Moscow to Cape Town. Street art has become a global culture and even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists. Street art started out very secretly because it is illegal to paint public and private property without permission. People often have different opinions about street art. Some think it is a crime and others think it is a very beautiful new form of culture. Art experts claim that the movement began in New York in the 1960s. Young adults sprayed words and other images on walls and trains. This colorful, energetic style of writing became known as graffiti. Graffiti art showed that young people wanted to rebel against society. They didnt want to accept rules and travelled around cities to create paintings that every one could see. In many cases they had trouble with the police and the local government. One well-known New York Street artist is Swoon. She cuts out paper images of people and puts them on walls and or sets them up on sidewalks. Swoon didnt start her career as a street artist. She studied art but, as time went on, got bored with the work she saw in museums and galleries. The people in New York enjoy Swoons strong and imaginative style. Some museums have already bought some of her work.

Swoon Image in Berlin Many street corners in Paris show the work of Space Invader. The French artist uses small pieces of glass to make images of space creatures. He has been doing this for some years and the police have arrested him a few times. On his website (http://www.space-invaders.com/) you can see many other places where he has created this form of art.

Street artists do their work for a reason. Some of them do not like artists who make so much money in galleries and museums. They choose street art because it is closer to the people. Some artists try

to express their political opinion in their work. They often want to protest against big firms and corporations. Others like to do things that are forbidden and hope they dont get caught. Advertising companies also use street art in their ads because it gives you the impression of youth and energy. The New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue recently used a street artists design for their shop windows and shopping bags. In todays world the Internet has a big influence on street art. Artists can show their pictures to an audience all over the world. Many city residents, however, say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it live. The street art movement lives with the energy and life of a big city. There it will continue to change and grow.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

accept = agree to advertising company = a company that designs ads for others audience = people who see or watch something corporation = a big company create = here: draw creature = living things energetic = full of energy enjoy = like express = show global = worldwide illegal = against the law image = picture, painting imaginative = creative, original impression = feeling influence = power local = here: city movement = idea ; way of painting opinion = the things you believe in and think permission = to be allowed to do something popular = liked by many people property = the things that someone has or owns public = open to everybody rebel = to fight against society or the government because you do not accept the rules or their ideas resident = a person who lives in a place secretly = without many people knowing about it sidewalk = American word for pavement ; the hard surface at the side of the street for people to walk on society = people in general spread = to move from one place to another trash can = large container, in which you throw away empty bottles, paper etc...

Physical Fitness
The body is an amazing object; the more you ask of it, the more it can do. If you are inactive most of the time, your body will quickly become tired when it should be active. But if you are active many times each day or week, your body will get used to the hard work and it will become easier to do. Children who want to play active games with their friends should exercise regularly so they have the energy to play as long as they want. Many young people want to be physically active because it helps them look and feel good. Activity burns more calories than just sitting , so it is important for keeping a healthy weight . Exercise also makes your muscles and bones stronger and keeps your body in a good condition . Physical activity also helps people stay healthy. Exercise strengthens the immune system , and helps the body fight off illness . Daily exercise also helps people sleep better. Active students dont complain about being tired. They have a good nights sleep and have the energy to work hard and have fun every day.

Strength
Strength is the force that muscles use. People used to think only boys could be strong, but that is not true. All people who want to be active and healthy must be strong. Strength training keeps your bones strong. People who are strong can do activities more easily and may learn sport skills more quickly. Being strong does not always mean that you have big muscles . Muscle size is often determined by your genes-very few people will look like bodybuilders when they get stronger. Age also helps find out muscle size. Children of elementary school age will become stronger by doing exercises, but their muscles probably will not grow much bigger . Boys may get bigger muscles if they do strength training because their hormones may rise . Girls can also become stronger but they wont get bigger muscles because their balance of hormones is different from that of males .

Making Muscles Stronger

To strengthen your muscles , you must make them work harder than usual. Lifting weights in a gym is not the only way to increase strength . You can build strength just by helping to do things at home like lifting or bringing grocery bags from the car to the kitchen. To increase strength , try moving a heavier object than normal. This could be a heavier weight or a heavier grocery bag . After a while it will be easy to move this heavier object. Anytime an object becomes easy for you to move, you must increase the weight again if you want to

continue to get stronger. Remember, it takes time to become strong. But you should increase weights slowly, otherwise your muscles may get hurt. Exercises like push-ups and sit-ups will also build strength . When you do these exercises, you move the weight of your own body. Although you cannot increase your own weight, you can continue to build strength by always doing more sit-ups or push-ups . You must also do the right exercises. Lifting weights with your arms will not make your leg muscles stronger. If you want stronger legs, you must do leg exercises. For the best fitness, it is a good idea to work on strengthening all your muscles by doing many different exercises.

Aerobic Fitness
The lungs bring oxygen to the blood, and the heart pumps the blood through blood vessels to the muscles . Cardiovascular fitness is the bodys ability to bring oxygen to the muscles for a longer time. The more oxygen you can bring to your muscles , the longer you will be able to exercise without becoming tired. Cardiovascular fitness is also called aerobic fitness. Perhaps you have done aerobic activities, such as biking or running, that make you breathe faster and harder. You breathe harder because your body is trying to take more oxygen from the air and bring it to your muscles . The more work you do, the more oxygen you need. Regular physical activity makes the heart, lungs, and muscles become stronger and more efficient .

Counting Your Pulse

Every time your heart beats , it pushes blood through your blood vessels . You can feel this beating or pulse with your fingertips . The best place to feel your pulse is near your wrist . Place your index and middle fingers at the beginning of your thumb on the inside of your wrist . To find out your heart rate , count your pulse for six seconds and put a zero at the end of the number you counted. For example, if you counted nine pulses (or heartbeats) in six seconds, your heart rate would be 90 beats per minute. Compare your heart rate when you are at rest with your heart rate during or just after aerobic exercise . It should be much faster then.

Improving Your Aerobic Fitness

To keep healthy, everyone should try to be active for 30 minutes at least five days a week. But if you want to improve your aerobic fitness, you need to exercise hard enough to raise your heart rate into the target heart rate zone on at least three of those days. The target heart rate zone is the level at which the heart and lungs become stronger most quickly. When athletes train to perform better in a race , they try to keep their heart rate in the target heart rate zone for as long as possible.

This zone depends on a lot of things like age, weight and sex . Generally if your pulse is between 125 and 170 beats per minute, your heart rate is in the target heart rate zone . Try to keep your heart rate in that zone for at least 15 minutes. Slowly increase the amount of time you maintain your heart rate in the target heart rate zone until you can do it for 30 minutes each time you exercise .

What Type of Activities Are Best for Aerobic Fitness?

Any activity that makes your heart beat faster and that you enjoy is a good type of aerobic exercise. If you like jumping rope or cycling, that is the activity you should do. You dont have to do same thing every day. In fact, two days of basketball, three days of swimming, and two days of bicycling can be more fun than jogging every day.

Flexibility
Joints are points in your body that allow you to move. Your body has many joints , including the shoulders , elbows, wrists , hips , knees, and ankles . A joint that is healthy can move in all directions very easily. Why is this important? Your muscles and ligaments are important for joint health. Stretching activities are important to keep joints healthy. Flexibility slowly decreases when people get older. By doing regular stretching activities, you can help keep the full range of motion at each joint . If you watch athletes warm up, you will see that they all do stretching activities before competition . Stretching helps athletes avoid injuries because it moves blood to the muscles and prepares them for difficult activities. Stretching after exercise moves blood through the whole body and you dont feel so much pain in your muscles the next day. Stretching can also help you feel relaxed . If you are tired or worried , try doing flexibility activities and deep breathing together. You may feel better and will keep your joints healthy at the same time.
Flexibility Exercises

Flexibility exercises should be done with slow, controlled movements . You should move slowly until the muscle being stretched starts to hurt a little. Hold this position for 10 to 20 seconds and then relax.

How to get started

People who have not been very active in the past should begin slowly. Do not try to exercise too much at once. If you are normally active, you may want to try some new exercises.
Clothes

The right clothing will make exercise easier and more enjoyable . A good pair of shoes gives support to the feet during exercise . Athletic shoes do not have to be expensive, but they should fit well and be comfortable . Make sure shoes are tightly laced , and wear socks so that you wont get blisters . You should choose clothing that is suited to the type of activity and the temperature. If you are exercising in warm weather, wear lightweight and light-colored clothing and a cap or hat to shade your head from the sun. If you are active in the cold, try wearing many layers of clothing instead of a heavy coat. This keeps you warmer and lets you move more freely. If it is raining outside or you will be playing in the snow, wear clothing that is water-resistant -once your clothes get wet, it is hard to stay warm. It is also important to wear things that will protect you. For example, you should always wear a helmet when cycling. Pads , mouth guards , or protective eyewear might be necessary when taking part in other activities.

Soreness, Aches, and Pain

You may feel muscle soreness for a few days after trying something new. This may mean the activity you did was too strenuous or involved muscles you do not use often. Muscle soreness is normal and will usually go away in a few days. Soreness is different from pain . If you ever feel pain in a muscle or joint , you should tell an adult or go to the doctor. Sometimes you may develop an ache on the side of your upper stomach during activity. Nobody knows exactly what causes a sideache . Stretching the side that is hurting, taking deep breaths , or putting pressure on the ache with your hand may help. At other times, you might have to rest for a few minutes until the ache goes away.

Selecting an Activity
There are many factors to look at when selecting a new physical activity. The most important is choosing something you enjoy and will want to do often. Everyone needs activities that help them keep or improve their strength , aerobic fitness, and flexibility . You may want to select an activity from an area in which you think you need to

become better. For example, if you are flexible and able to run long distances but are not very strong, you could choose some activities that increase strength. If you are strong but need more aerobic fitness, try walking, jogging, biking, or dancing. Different activities need different skills . Your school years are an excellent time to develop athletic skills. Some skills will improve with practice while others may always be difficult for you. Some people are better at certain activities than others, but do not let that put you off. If you enjoy an activity, feel free to do it. You may need to try several activities before you find the ones that are right for you. For example, you may find you enjoy activities you can do alone, like running or biking. Or you may prefer to participate in team activities. Some people like competition , while others prefer activities in which there are no winners or losers. Whatever activities you choose, becoming physically fit will make you healthier for life.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

ability = being able to do something activity = something that you do because you enjoy or like it aerobic = kind of activity or exercise that uses up oxygen and makes your lungs and heart stronger although = while amazing = surprising amount = how much ankle = the joint between your foot and your leg athletes = people who do sports in a competition avoid = to prevent something from happening balance of hormones = the substances that help your body grow; you should not have too many or too few of these substances beat = hit blister = when your skin starts to swell for example after a burn blood vessel = one of the tubes through which blood flows in your body breathe = to take air into your lungs cap = a flat hat that is curved at one end cardiovascular = everything that deals with the heart and blood system of your body cause = lead to certain = special comfortable = to make you feel good compare = measure, here: to see how high something is competition = an event in which people or teams play against each other complain = to say that you are unhappy about something condition = shape controlled movement = to move in a way that you are in command of what you are doing deep breathing = to take in as much air as you can through your lungs depend on = to be affected by

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

determined = influenced by develop = grow direction = way, course distance = the space between two things efficient = to work well together without wasting energy elementary school = the first few years at school enjoy = like enjoyable = something that you like exercise = to do sports very often so that you stay healthy fingertip = the end of your finger fit = the right size flexibility = when you can bend the parts of your body easily force = power full range = here: in all directions get used to = to do things that no longer seem difficult or strange to you grocery bag = a bag that you put food from a supermarket in gym = a special building or room that has machines to exercise or do sports with heart rate = the number of times your heart beats every minute helmet = a strong hard hat that you wear to protect your head hip = one of the two parts on each side of your body between the top of your leg and your waist illness = disease immune system = the system by which your body protects itself against disease improve = to make better inactive = not active increase = to go up or make bigger index finger = the finger next to your thumb injury = to be hurt instead of = in somethings place involve =here: use joint = a part of your body that can bend because two bones meet there jumping rope = a long piece of rope that you use to jump over layer = material between two other things ligament = a band of strong material that holds bones together lightweight = not very heavy and easy to wear maintain = keep male = about a man motion = movement mouth guard = an object you put in front of your mouth to protect your teeth muscles = one of the pieces inside your body that you use so that you can move ; it also holds your bones together otherwise = or else oxygen = a gas that is in the air and that we need to breathe pad = object that is made of cloth or rubber , used to protect parts of your body pain = the feeling that you have when something hurts participate = take part in

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

y y y y y y

physical = everything that is about your body pressure = to put force or weight on something protect = guard, defend protective eyewear = to wear something so that your eyes will not get hurt pulse = the beat that you can feel when your heart pumps blood through your body push-up = an exercise on which you lie with your face on the floor and push your body up with your arms put you off = dont let it stop you race = an event in which people run against each other and see who is fastest raise = to go up regularly = at the same time every day, every week etc.. relaxed = to feel calm and not worried rise = go up several = many sex = whether a person is a man or a woman shade =to protect from direct light shoulder = part of your body where your neck is connected to your arm side-ache = a pain on the side of your body sit-up = an exercise to make your stomach muscles stronger; you lie on the floor and try to sit up without moving you legs size = how big something is skill = the ability to do something well, because you have learned it soreness = when something causes pain because you have exercised to much strength = power, how strong something is strength training = exercise that you do to make you stronger strengthen = to make stronger strenuous =something that makes you very tired stretch = to straighten your arms, legs and body after exercise suited = the right things to wear support = here: something you wear that holds you up target heart rate zone = the heart rate at which it is best to exercise - it makes you physically stronger and improves your health ; normally it is about 50% -80% of your maximum heart rate tightly laced = to fasten something and keep together by tying it up water resistant = it does not allow water to get in weight = how heavy you are whatever = any, it doesnt matter which worried = upset, unhappy about something wrist = the part of your body where your hands come together with your arms

Stress - Signs, Symptoms and How to Manage Stress

Stress is a feeling we have when we react to events that dont make us feel very good. Such events can happen at school, like a test or examination, at your office, like getting a new boss or in your private life, like preparing for a divorce. Our body has certain hormones that it releases during times of stress. In this period more adrenalin gets into your blood. The hormones make your heartbeat go up and change your blood pressure and the way you breathe. Blood vessels become wider and let more blood pass through. Our body heats up and produces sweat to cool it down. Stress response is what your body does to fight stress. It makes you handle stress and do well during such situations. Stress response happens, for example, when you are in a car and step on the brakes to avoid an accident. Or when you are the one chosen to shoot a penalty in a football game that may decide if you win or lose. Stress can also be long term, like preparing for a difficult exam or having private problems with your parents, teachers or friends. Stress happens when you work too much and dont have the time to relax. This long-term stress keeps your body alert and pumps hormones into your bloodstream for a longer time. This can hurt your body, make you tired and weaken your immune system. Although the right amount of stress can be good, too much stress isnt. A little stress can motivate you to study hard. But if stress lasts too long your body cant cope with it any more. Some people overact to stress and even make small problems seem difficult to solve. They feel worried, upset and anxious all the time.

Signs of stress

People who are experiencing long-term stress may have the following symptoms:
y y y y y y y y

panic attacks the feeling of constant pressure on them they change moods quickly stomach problems, headaches sleeping problems drink too much alcohol smoking depression

How to keep stress under control

Managing stress is not an easy thing to do. Knowing how to de-stress can keep it under control
y y y y y y y y y

Don t think you can do everything. Concentrate on the things that are important Be realistic- Don t try to be perfect! Get enough sleep! It helps your body relax Learn simple breathing exercises and use them in stressful situations Read a book or take a relaxing bath Treat your body well. Get enough exercise, go for long walks or a run Give your body the right food and enough vitamins. Think positively. Many people who endure long-term stress are pessimistic. Solve small problems. This gives you a feeling that you are in control. It gives you confidence and you can manage bigger problems better.

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

adrenalin = a chemical that your body produces; it makes your heart beat faster when you are afraid, or excited alert = aware, awake although = while amount = quantity anxious = nervous avoid = keep away from blood pressure = the force with which blood travels through your body brake = a tool that makes your car stop or go more slowly breathe = to take air in through your mouth or nose and push it out choose- chosen = select confidence = feel good constant = always cope = deal with de-stress = fight off stress divorce = to end a marriage and break up endure = suffer from exercise = keep fit, work out, do some training experience = have heartbeat = the sound of your heart as it pumps blood through your body hormone = a chemical that your body produces immune system = the system by which your body protects itself against a disease long term = last a longer time manage = deal with mood = how you feel overreact = to react to something with too much emotion

y y y y y y y y y y

prepare = get ready for pressure = stress relax = rest release = set free solve = work out stress response = how you react to stress sweat = drops that come through your skin when you are hot , are frightened or do exercise symptom = sign upset = troubled, sad weaken = to make weaker

At 27, Your Brain Starts Getting Old

Old age starts at 27, at least when you look at the human brain. Scientists have found out that the power and strength of the brain is best at 22. In your late 20s certain functions of the brain start getting weaker. In order to test the powers of the brain people who took part in the studies had to solve puzzles, remember spoken words and retell a story. In 9 out of 12 tests test people got their best results at the age of 22. Memory stays good until 37 , long-term knowledge and general information increases until the age of 60. The study shows that the ageing of the brain starts much earlier than we think. If we understand what goes on in the brain at an early age, we may find out what goes wrong in diseases like Alzheimers.

Words
y y y y y

disease = illness increase = to go up long-term knowledge = information that you remember for a longer time strength = power study = work you do to find out about a problem

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare is often called the worlds greatest playwright. He wrote comedies, tragedies and historical plays in England in the last part of the 16th and the early 17th century. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a businessman and the towns mayor. His mother came from a family that owned land near Stratford. William had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. Like other boys of middle-class families, William attended a grammar school in Stratford where he got a good education and also learned Latin. When William was 18 he married Anne Hathaway. They had three children, first Susanna and then twins, a son named Hamnet and a daughter named Judith. Hamnet died when he was 11. We dont really know what William did during the following years but in 1592 he went to London to work as an writer and actor. It was a difficult job and only the best found work in London. From 1592 to 1594 the Black Death spread across England. Many public places were closed and plays couldnt be performed either. Shakespeare spent these years writing sonnets and poems. When the theatres opened up again in 1594 Shakespeare joined the best acting company of the countryLord Chamberlains Men. It had the best actors, the best writers and the most famous theatrethe Globe. The Globe was a huge amphitheatre without a roof. The seats were curved around a stage that was built on many levels. Plays always started at 2 oclock in the afternoon. People who didnt have the money to buy a seat were allowed to stand in the front of the stage. All kinds of people came to see the shows housewives, children, noblemen and even visitors from other countries. The company also presented special plays for kings and queens. Shakespeare and his fellow actors were responsible for everything in the Globe theatre. They owned the building and the costumes, they wrote the scripts and they also shared the profits that they made. The actors and writers of the theatre worked together successfully for many years.

In the twenty years that he worked on stage Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. They can be put into three big categories:
y y y

Tragedies are plays that show the downfall of a main character. His most famous tragedies are Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth. Comedies are funny plays that have a happy ending most of the time. A Midsummer Night s Dream, As You Like It and The Merry Wives of Windsor are among the most popular. Historical plays are dramas about the lives of some of England s most powerful kings like Henry IV or Richard II.

William Shakespeare retired from the theatre in 1610 and went back to his home town Stratford, where he lived until his death in 1616. At that time the people of England did not know that their countrys greatest poet and playwright had died. They thought of him only as a popular actor and writer.

Shakespeares plays

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teen-aged lovers whose families hate each other. At a ball the two young people meet and fall in love. The next day they marry secretly, but Romeo has to leave Verona after he kills Tybalt. Juliets cousin. Juliets father doesnt know that his daughter is already married and tries to force her to marry her cousin in Paris. A friar wants to help Juliet. He gives her a drug that puts her to sleep for 42 hours and tells everyone that she is dead. When Romeo hears that Juliet has died he hurries to her grave and poisons himself. When Juliet wakes up and sees her dead lover she stabs herself. The two families discover their dead children and end their fight.

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a comedy about money and greed. Antonio is a merchant in Venice, Italy. He borrows money from the Jewish moneylender Shylock and then gives the money to his friend Bassanio who needs it. Antonio promises Shylock a pound of his flesh if he cannot pay the money back. After three months Shylock wants his money back but Antonio cannot pay. In the meantime Bassanio has married a beautiful girl, Portia. She has a plan to save Antonio. She dresses up as a lawyer and when they meet in court she tells Shylock that he can take

Antonios flesh, but not his blood. If he spills any of Antonios blood he will lose his land. So Shylocks gives in and Antonio is saved.

Taming of the Shrew

Petruchio , a young Italian gentleman, loves Katherine , a beautiful but very bad-tempered young woman. He marries her and makes fun of her in order to cure her of her bad tempers. After many funny quarrels Petruchio succeeds and Katherine becomes a good wife whom he loves very much.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Shakespeare wrote this play because Queen Elisabeth liked the comic character of Falstaff from earlier plays so much. She asked Shakespeare to write a play that showed Falstaff in love. The comedy shows Sir John Falstaff trying to make love to two honest housewives in the town of Windsor. He ends up as the victim of tricks that the women play on him.

Julius Caesar

This play is set in Ancient Rome before, during and after the murder of Julius Caesar. The main character is Brutus, a Roman general and Caesars best friend. When there is a plot to kill Caesar, Brutus at first does not want to take part but then agrees to help kill Caesar. When the killers attack Caesar in the Roman Senate, he cant believe that his friend Brutus is one of them. At the funeral Brutus allows Mark Anthony to speak in front of a crowd of Romans. He points out what a good man Caesar was and turns the mob against the plotters. They have to flee Rome and Mark Anthony leads an army to follow them. At the end of the battle Brutus kills himself and Mark Anthony says that he was an honourable and noble Roman.

All s Well That Ends Well

Helena is a beautiful daughter of a doctor. She loves Bertram , a nobleman. In Paris, Helena cures the French king of an illness and as a reward he gives her Bertram. But Bertram doesnt want Helena because he thinks that she is not on the same social level as he is. He leaves her after the wedding. In a letter he tells her that she can never call him her husband unless she can take off a ring from his finger and become pregnant by him. One night Helena disguises herself as a girl who Bertram likes and goes to bed with him. She manages to get pregnant and also slips the ring off his finger. Bertram finally realizes that she is a good woman and promises to love her dearly.

Hamlet

After the King of Denmark dies, his wife marries Claudius, the kings brother. The kings son, Prince Hamlet, feels sorry about his fathers death and is also against his mothers marriage. The ghost of Hamlets father appears and tells the prince that he was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet doesnt know whether to believe the ghost or not. When the king shows his guilt at a play Hamlet is convinced he is the murderer. Polonius, the kings advisor, listens in to a conversation between Hamlet and his mother. He hides behind the curtain. Hamlet feels that someone is in the room and stabs him. Claudius sends Hamlet to England. He gives orders to execute him when he arrives there. But Hamlet finds out about this and comes back to Denmark. When he arrives he finds out that Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius and a girl that Hamlet loved, is dead. Laertes, Ophelias brother blames Hamlet for the death of his father and sister. During a fencing match with Hamlet he uses a poisoned sword to kill him. Hamlet is hurt by the sword and Laertes wounds himself too. Hamlets mother drinks from a poisoned cup of wine that Claudius prepares for the prince. At the end of the play Hamlet, his mother, Claudius and Laertes all lie dead on the floor.

Othello

Othello is a noble black Moor. He has spent all his life as a soldier and is now a general in the army of Venice. He marries Desdemona, a beautiful Venetian girl who is much younger than he is. After the wedding Othello must go to Cyprus and Desdemona follows him there. Othello has an aide, Iago, who hates the general. He wants to destroy Othello by telling him that Desdemona has also made love to CassioOthellos lieutenant. Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has become unfaithful and loves another man. Othello is full of hate and anger and murders Desdemona. After the Moor learns that he has been tricked , he stabs himself and dies.

Macbeth

The drama is about a man who does everything to get power. Macbeth, a nobleman, returns back home to Scotland with his friend Banquo. On their way home he meets some witches. They predict that Macbeth will, first, become a baron and then king of Scotland. After the first part comes true Macbeth thinks that he really may become king. After his wife, Lady Macbeth, persuades him to murder King Duncan, Macbeth becomes king of Scotland. However , Macbeth cannot live in peace. Duncans son, Malcolm, has escaped to England. Macbeth orders his men to start killing all of his enemies. Macduff who has also fled to England after King Duncans murder puts together an army to overthrow Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts thinking that she is guilty and becomes crazy. She turns into a sleepwalker and finally dies. Macduff returns to Scotland and kills Macbeth. Duncans son becomes king of Scotland.

Words
y y y y y y y y y

acting company = a group of people who owned theatres and performed plays advisor = a person who gives you help and who you listen to agree = to say yes aide = you help someone with his job amphitheatre = a building with many seats that has the form of a circle . It normally doesn't have a roof. ancient = old anger =a feeling of hurting someone because they have done something bad to you appears = to start to be seen attend = go to

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

bad tempered = if you become angry very easily baron = a lower nobleman battle = a fight between two groups of people Black Death = an illness that killed millions of people in Europe and Asia at the end of the Middle Ages blame =to hold someone responsible; accuse of category = group century = a hundred years character = a person in a play convince = to really think that something is true costume = the special clothes that actors wear during a play court =place where a trial is held and a judge and jury decide if someone is guilty or not crowd = a large group of people who get together cure = to make an illness go away curtain =piece of cloth that hangs over a window or divides a room curved =bent, rounded dearly = very much destroy =damage completely discover = find out disguise = to dress up as someone else so that people dont know you downfall = the end of someone, a persons ruin or defeat dress up = to put on clothes so that nobody knows who you are drug = medicine escape = to get away from a place where it is dangerous execute = kill, murder fellow = the actors who worked with him fencing = a sport where you fight with a long thin sword fleefled = to leave a place very quickly because it is dangerous flesh = the soft part of a person between the skin and the bones following = next force = to make someone do something friar = a poor man who teaches Christianity funeral =to officially bury someone who has died give in =to finally accept something even if you dont want to grave = a place in the ground where you put a dead person greed =if you want more and more money and power more than you need guilt guilty =fault, blame honest =truthful, someone who does not normally tell lies hounourable = respectable however = but in the meantime =the time between two events lawyer =a person who helps people in court or who writes agreements between two people or companies level =platform lieutenant = an officer in an army listen in = to listen to something in a way that nobody knows you are there

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

manage = to do something that is difficult mayor = the leader of a town or city merchant = a person who buys and sells things merry = happy middle-class = people who are educated and have good jobs mob = a large crowd that can turn very angry moneylender = a person who gives money to others and makes them pay back much more than he has given to them Moor = a Muslim person from northern Africa who came to Spain in the 8th century noble =fine, good and generous nobleman = a person who belongs to the highest social class and usually has a title like Duke or Baron order = to tell someone to do something overthrow = to remove the king from his throne own = if something belongs to you perform = to act persuade = to help someone decide to do something because there are good reasons for doing it playwright = someone who writes plays plot = a secret plan by a group of people to do something that is against the law point out =show poison = to put something into your food or drink that makes you ill or kills you popular = many people know it and like it predict = to tell something that will happen in the future pregnant = to have a baby growing inside your body prepare = to make something ready so that it can be used present =show, perform profit = the money that you earn public places = places where a lot of people get together quarrel = an argument realize = to start to understand something responsible =in charge of, in control of retire = to stop working reward = something that you get because you have done something good or helpful script = the written form of a play seat = a place to sit secretly = if not very many people know about something Senate = the highest level of government in Rome set = takes place share = to have or use something with other people shrew = a woman who argues a lot and always gets angry sleepwalker = someone who walks while they are sleeping slip = take off social level =here: class in society sonnet = a poem with 14 lines that rhyme spill = here: to kill or hurt a person

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

spread = to move to other places stab = to kill with a knife stage = the place where actors perform during the play succeed = to do what you wanted or tried successful = to be good at something and earn a lot of money sword = a long knife with a handle on it tame =here: to make someone obey and be calmer and more quiet trick =to mislead someone in order to get something from them or make them do something unfaithful = to love another man or woman unless = if not Venetian = from Venice victim =someone who suffers because of something bad happening to him whether = if he should .. witch = a woman who people think has magic powers and does bad things wound = hurt

Pasta - The World's Favorite Food

Pasta is the worlds favorite food. A survey taken in 17 countries confirmed that pasta is what people like to eat most. Not only is pasta the number one food in its home country Italy, but is also enjoyed in faraway places like the Philippines, Mexico and South Africa. Pasta has become popular, for one thing, because it is cheap and easy to prepare. Just cook noodles or other forms of pasta, make a sauce to go with it and youre finished. Many different types of meals can be created with pasta. It tastes good and fills your stomach. It produces energy in the form of carbohydrates, which is why athletes eat pasta regularly. Pasta can also be kept for a longer time. You dont have to use it up at once. Pasta has also become popular because it stands for the Italian way of life. People all over the world like it because its so simple. It has two basic ingredients, wheat and water, just like bread. Before it became popular in Italy during the 19 th century, earlier civilizations also ate forms of pasta. The ancient Greeks and Romans created pasta-like foods that they baked in ovens. Legend has it that Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy with him but this is not true. Arabs probably brought a noodle-like dish to Sicily in the 8th century. Farmers have been growing wheat, the main ingredient of pasta, there for ages. Pasta first became popular in Naples in the 1700s where it was combined with tomato sauce. It was an ideal food to feed large parts of the population. When more and more Italians

immigrated to America at the beginning of the 20 th century they took their eating habits with them. Pasta and pizza immediately became widespread and popular in America. Although many people refer to spaghetti as the main form of pasta there are over 600 types with different forms and shapes. And each of them is cooked in a different way. The worldwide sales of pasta have risen sharply over the past decade. $16b dollars worth of pasta were sold in 2010, compared to $13b dollars worth of the favorite food in 2003 $. Italy leads the pasta-eating community of the world. The Italians are the number one consumers (26 kg of pasta per head annually) followed by Venezuela and Tunisia.

Words
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although = while annually = every year athlete = a person who does sports for a profession carbohydrate = chemical that is in food like bread, noodles or potatoes; it gives your body energy century = a hundred years combine = join, mix with community = people compare = to look at two things or put them side by side confirm = prove, to say that something is true consumer = a person who goes to a shop and buys something create = make, cook dish = meal enjoy = like immediately = at once, quickly immigrate = to leave your home country and move somewhere else in order to live or work there ingredient = element, part of population = all the people who live in a country refer = look at something as Sicily = big island in the Mediterranean Sea that is a part of Italy survey = a number of questions that you ask people in order to find out what they think or what they like wheat = a plant that is used to make white bread widespread = popular worth = the value or price of something

People Spend Half the Day Daydreaming

According to a recent American study people spend almost half of the day daydreaming. An iPhone app , which they downloaded, questioned them about their thoughts and moods during the day and at night. The study comes to the conclusion that 30% of the time people are not really concentrating on what they are doing. Their minds wander around other things. Most of them admit they are distracted easily. Those who took part in the survey were called at different times of the day and had to answer a few questions on what they were doing, if they were concentrated on it and how they felt. The survey team found out that almost half of the time the participants did not concentrate on what they were doing. There might also be a connection between daydreaming and happiness. Most of those who said they were daydreaming also admitted they were not very happy at the time. People who were phoned while exercising , having a conversation or making love were the happiest, while those who were working or sitting in front of a computer said that they were unhappy. The survey however does not say whether daydreaming leads to unhappiness or not.

Words
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according to = as said by, as reported by admit = to say that something is true app = application , small program that runs on a telephone conclusion = something you decide after you have all the information on a subject distract = unable to think exercise = to do sports or other physical activities, like jogging etc.. mind = the thoughts that you have mood = the way you feel at a certain time participants = those who take part in something study = research; a piece of work that is done to find out more about a subject ro problem survey = number of questions that someone asks you in order to find out something about a subject wander = here: you no longer pay attention to something

Internet Gives us More Ways to Watch Television

Some time ago most of us watched television in an old-fashioned way. The whole family got together, sat on a couch, flipped through the channels and watched a prime time TV show or a football game. Today the media , especially television, is changing. The internet has caused a fundamental change in the world of television. People watch TV on their mobile phones , laptops or iPads . They watch different things at the same time on different kinds of devices . We watch TV in the same way that we used to listen to the radio. We turn it on but really dont concentrate on it because we are doing many things at the same time. TV, however , is not really in danger. The number of people with TV sets is still increasing . Big TV events like the Super Bowl still draw millions of viewers in front of the TV set. Today we have more than one way of watching television. Not only can we follow our favorite programs on different mobile devices but we can also choose what we watch and when. Hulu , for example, is a platform that offers episodes of TV shows and movies on demand . We can record them and watch them whenever we want. Traditional television meant that you could only watch one program at a time. And you had to be there, or else youd miss it. In the days of digital content, many of us have a digital video recorder or a smart phone with which we can watch TV. A company in California has already invented a media device with which you can record TV content and watch it on smart phones, laptops, iPads and other devices . Especially youngsters are watching TV and surfing the web at the same time. The internet has not destroyed television but is giving us more ways to watch it.

Words
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cause = lead to choose = decide concentrate = focus destroy = to damage completely device = small machine digital = system in which information is recorded as a 0 or 1 digital video recorder = machine that records content to a hard disc draw = attract episode = a television program that is one in a series in which the story is continued every week especially = above all flip = switch channels quickly follow = here: watch fundamental = basic, deep, important however = but

y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

increase = to go up iPad = a tablet computer made by Apple; with it you can watch and listen to all kinds of content media = television, radio, newspapers and the Internet mobile = portable, something that you can carry around with you mobile phone = a phone that you can carry around and use in any place = cell phone not only = in addition to , also offer = give, present old-fashioned = traditional, conservative on demand = whenever you want to watch something platform = here: website prime time = the time in the evening when the largest number of people are watching record = save content on a recorder or hard disc smart phone = a mobile phone with which you can also run programs Super Bowl = the final game of the American football season; it is played on a Sunday in January surf = to look quickly through information on the Internet youngster = child or young person

Child-Free Flights in the Future?

Many people go mad when they sit next to a child who is screaming in an airplane. Some travelers get nervous, not only because planes are packed and foot space is limited , but also because crying babies get on their nerves. In some cases parents dont do anything to stop screaming , in others nothing helps to calm a child down. Now more and more travelers are demanding child-free flights or sections reserved for families on planes. Some passengers would even pay extra money if they could avoid the crying and screaming of toddlers in the cabin. Many parents are in favor of the suggestion as well because crying children are a stress for them too. A section for parents and their children would give families a chance to laugh, cry and talk to their children. The airlines themselves, however, do not like this idea. They say that flying is a tough industry and they are not going to tell passengers to take another flight if they want a certain one. There are many difficulties in family sections on planes too. How would you arrange the seating? What if parents want to sit in the back row and children up in the front? What would happen if a large family suddenly cancelled a flight? If you provide an area for families

some people might then want a section for obese people, or ones only for seniors . Airlines simply cant let that happen. One airline official especially trained to handle children says there are things parents can do to make flying with children more stress-free. You could supply an infant with something to do during a flight or request a seat in the last row of the plane where you wouldnt bother anyone else. In any case, its important to stay calm .

Words
y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y

arrange = put together avoid = stop bother = to be a trouble to calm = quiet cancel = call off , withdraw from certain = special child-free = without children demand = want to have especially = mainly, specially foot space = room to put your feet in favor of = to be for something infant = small child or a baby limited = not very much obese = fat, overweight packed = overcrowded, with many people in the plane provide = offer, give request = ask for row = line of seats scream = cry loudly section = area, place senior = old person suddenly = unexpectedly supply = give toddler = small child tough =very difficult