Aquarium

An aquarium is a tank for keeping fish and other marine life in a home or in a museum. A museum for fish is called an aquarium. In a public aquarium, visitors may watch fish. Some of the fish are as large as sharks.

Scientists study these fish. The first public aquarium was built in London, England, in 1853.

The fish kept as pets in home aquariums are often fish that live in tropical rivers in nature. They are small enough to live in a tank. And they are usually colorful and beautiful. Pet stores may have as many as 150 different kinds of fish for home aquariums.

Arabs

Arabs are a group of people who speak the Arabic language and follow the Arabic way of life. Over 100 million Arabs live in 19 countries fourths of them live in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Morocco. Most Arabs are Muslims, that is, follower of the Islamic religion. But about 100 million are Christians.

The name Arab was first given to the nomadic tribes that lived in the Arabian desert. About 610 A.D., the prophet Muhammad united the desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula. After his death, the Arab empire spread all across the Middle East and into Africa and Europe. The Islamic religion and Arab culture spread with the empire.

Today, the oil industry has brought great wealth and change to many Arab nations. Yet Muslims still follow closely Muhammad’s teaching in their daily life.

Ape

Apes are large animals that look like monkeys. They have no tails, and they can stand up and walk on the feet. There are four types of apes: chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons.

Chimpanzees are the smallest apes. They use long sticks to get honey, ants, and termites from nests. They crack nuts using stones.

Gorillas are the biggest apes. They grow as tall as men but are heavier and stronger. Although gorillas look mean, they are really peaceful and shy. Chimpanzees and gorillas live in Africa. Orangutans live on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans are forest animals. They have arms that are almost as long as their bodies. They feed on fruit during the day. At night they sleep in trees.

Gibbons, the smallest of the apes, live in Southeast Asia. They swing from tree to tree, and run along on branches. Their feet grip like hands. Gibbons eat fruit, insect, and eggs.

Aphid

Aphids are small insects about the size of a pin head. They drink sap from the stems of plants. Aphids can kill plants by sucking out all the plant sap with their sharp beaks.

When they are only a few days old, aphids start laying eggs. One aphid can lay thousands of eggs. Most of these eggs are eaten by other insects and birds. If this didn’t happen, the world would be filled with aphids.

Many kinds of ants take care of aphids. The ants drink a sweet juice that drips out of aphids. The juice is called honeydew. To get honeydew, ants “milk” aphids by patting their backs. In this way, ants are “farmer” and aphids are their “cows.”

Anthropology

Anthropology is the scientific study of man. An anthropologist studies everything about people. This includes how people live, how they behave, and what their ancestors were like. There are four branches or types of anthropology:

Archaeology. This branch studies the way people lived long ago. Archaeologists explore ruined buildings and towns and dig up objects that were buried thousands of years ago. They study the ruin and objects to find out about the people who created them.

Physical anthropology. This branch studies the physical changes in people’s bodies. These anthropologists study the bones of prehistoric people. They want to know how people have changed over thousands of years.

Cultural anthropology. This branch studies everything about the way people in a certain place live. What do they eat? How do they do? What are their religions? These are few of the things that cultural anthropologist want to know.

Linguistics. This is the study of languages. An anthropologist can learn a great deal about a group of people by studying its language

Antelope

Antelope are animals that have hoofs and horns. They look like deer, but they are not. They are related to cattle. Like cows, they chew their cud. This means that they chew their food before it goes to their stomachs. Then they bring it up and chew it again.

Antelope live in Africa and Asia. Most live in groups in grasslands and forests.
Antelopes vary greatly in size. The royal antelope is only about 10 inches (24.4 cm) tall at the shoulder. The eland is over six feet (1.8 m) tall at the shoulder.
Some antelope have horns that look like corkscrews or spirals. The horns of the kudu antelope sometimes grow to a length of five feet (1.5 m). Unlike deer, antelope never shed, or lose, their horns.

Antelope are peaceful, shy animals. They travel together in herds, and they warn each other of danger. They can outrun most of their enemies. Some antelope can run 40 miles per hour (64 kph). Also, they can keep running longer than most other animals can. The impala can jump six feet (1.8 m) high. In one leap it can cover 30 feet (9 m).

Anteaters

The giant anteater is an odd-looking animal. It can grow to 6 feet (1.8 m), but its mouth is the size of a button. Its skinny head is shaped like a tube.

Giant anteaters don’t have any teeth. They eat ants and termites without chewing them.
Anteaters catch insects with their tongues, which can be 20 inches (50.8 cm) long.

Anteaters rip open ant and termite nests with their sharp claws. Then they stick their tongues inside the nests to lap up the insects. Anteaters also use their claws to fight other animals. Giant anteaters hunt for food at night and sleep in the grass during the day.

When they sleep they cover themselves with their tails. The tails hide them from other animals and shade them from the sun

Antarctica

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in the world. The South Pole is located on it. Antarctica covers five million square miles (12,944,500 sq km). This is the coldest area in the world. The land is buried under ice a mile thick. In winter it is often 100 degrees Fahrenheit below zero (-73c).

Few plants or animals can stand the cold. In the summer, mosses and lichens grow in a few places. The animals that live in the Antarctic eat fish and sea animals. Seal, whales, and birds live along the shores of Antarctica.

In 1911, Roald Amundsen became the first man to travel to the South Pole. Today, much of Antarctica has still not been explored. But scientists continue their study of this cold, icy region.

Animation

Animation is the way motion pictures are made from still drawings. A ten-minute cartoon is made from more than 10,000 separate drawings. Each drawing shows the action a split second after the picture before. When the drawings are put on a screen, one after another, it looks like the drawings are moving.

The first step in making an animated film is to prepare a story board. This shoes the main scenes. Skilled animators make the drawings that show the action.
The drawings are then traced onto sheets of plastic. Then the artists paint in the colors. The drawings are then photographed

Animal Behavior

Animal behavior is anything an animal does. Animals find food. They fight. They mate. They have babies and take care of the babies. They make homes. They even seem to have fun playing.

People have always studied how animals act because they hunt and raise animals for food and clothing. The study of animal behavior is very important today. People are animals. The more we know about ourselves.

Animals communicate. This means they have ways of keeping in touch with each other. Elephants, apes, and many other animals make sounds that tell their families where they are. Birds sing when there is danger, when they want to mate, and when they want to warm other birds to stay away.

Animals build different kinds of homes. Prairie dogs and ants dig their homes in the ground. Owls, squirrels, and skunks often live inside dead trees.
Many animals live in a different place in summer and in the winter. They migrate. This means the travel from one place to another. A sea bird called the tern spends its summer in the Antarctic at the bottom of the world. For the winter, it flies to the Arctic at the top of the world.

Animals mate to have babies. To find mates, male birds show off their bright feathers. Fireflies flash lights. Female dogs send out odors that bring male dogs to them. Survival means being able to stay alive. Animals must find food to survive. And they must hide, run, or fight other animals.

Animal

The world animal means “living being.” There are more than one million kinds of animals. New kinds are always being found. The smallest animal is so tiny that it can only be seen if you look at it though a microscope. The largest animal is a blue whale that grows to be 100 feet (30.48 m) and weighs 300,000 pounds (136,080 kg).
There are six main groups of animals: mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians.

Mammals have hair or fur on their bodies. They give birth to babies that feed on mother’s milk. People, dogs, cats, and most larger animals are mammals.
Birds have feathers. Their babies hatch out of hard eggshells.

Most fish have scales all over their bodies. Gills allow them to breathe in the water. Fins help them to swim. Most fish hatch from eggs. Insect have three pairs of legs, and a body divided into three parts. Most insect have wings. They lay eggs.

Reptiles live on both land and in the water. Their bodies have scales. They lay egg on land. Turtles, snakes and lizards are reptiles. Amphibians also live on land and in water.

They lay eggs in the water. Frogs, toads, and salamanders are amphibians.
The animal kingdom is divided into two groups. One group is vertebrates. These are animals with backbones. The second group is invertebrates. These are animals without backbones. Mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have backbones. Insects, worms, starfish, snail and one-celled animals have no backbones.

Anhingas and Cormorants

Anhingas and cormorants are large water birds like pelicans. Their bodies are about 2 to 3 feet (61 to91 cm) long.

Anhingas are often called ”snakebirds” because they have long, curved necks that look like snakes. The anhinga holds its neck bent close to its body when it swims. It springs a passing fish with lightning speed the way a snake does. It spears the fish on its sharp bill.

Cormorants usually live near the ocean. Cormorants swim well underwater. They can dive as deep as 100 feet (30 m). Oriental people use cormorants to catch fish. A ring around the bird’s neck stops it from eating the fish it has just caught.

Anglerfish

Catching fish is called” angling.” Some kinds of fish really do “angle” for other fish. Anglerfish have spiny threads that stick out from the fins on the backs of their heads.

These threads look like fishing lines. A bit of flesh at the tip of the “line” looks like a worm to other fish. When these fish come near it, the anglerfish catches them in its big, wide mouth.

Anglerfish can swallow a fish as large as they are because their stomachs will stretch. There are many kinds of anglerfish. Some grow to be 5 feet (1.5m) long. Many anglerfish live in the shallow waters around Europe and North America.

Andersen, Hans Christian

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875) was a Danish writer of fairy tales. Among his most famous stories are “The Ugly Ducking” and “The Little Mermaid.”
Andersen had little schooling as a boy. But he was imaginative and he loved to listen to the stories and folk tales his father and grandmother told him. At 14, he left his home in Odense to go to Copenhagen. He wanted to become an actor or a singer or a dancer. He was not good at any of these. He finally managed to finish his schooling and he became a writer. His first novel, published in 1835, was a success, and he wrote several others. He also wrote poetry, plays, and travel books.

But his fairy tales made Andersen famous. He wrote his first four when he was 30 qnd 164 more before he died. They are read by children-and adult-all over the world. Today, visitors to Copenhagen can see a statue of “the little mermaid.” in the city’s harbor. It was put there by the Danish people to honor Andersen.

The Andes Mountain are the longest chain of mountains in the world. They stretch along the west coast of South America for 4,500 miles (7,240 km).
The Andes are also one of the highest mountain ranges in the world. Only the Himalayas in Asia are taller. Many of the Andes are over four miles (6.4 km) high. Some peaks are covered with large masses of ice called glaciers. Other peaks are active volcanoes which can do great damage.

There are also many earthquakes in the Andes. Lima, Peru, and Valparaiso, Chile, are two South American cities that have been badly damaged by earthquakes.
South America’s major river, the Amazon, begins in the Andes. High in the Andes, between Bolivia and Peru, is Lake Titicaca. This is the largest lake in the world.
About a third of all South Americans live in the Andes region. The Andes provide the world with important minerals, including copper, tin, and petroleum. Among the many animals that live in the Andes are llamas, alpacas, and vicunas.

Ancient Civilization

A civilization is a group of people living together in an advanced way. The people have a written language. They produce food. They have a system of government. They have different jobs. And their artist and craftsmen create art of different kinds.
Ancient civilizations began when people settled in one area to live. Earlier, tribes of people moved from place to place. They looked for food and for animals to hunt. Around 9000 B.C. they learned how to farm. They settled near rivers and grew grains such as wheat, barley, and millet. They learned how to raise goats, pigs, sheep, and cattle. They built houses and lived in villages.

Around 3000 B.C. man learned how to make tools and weapons out of metals. This provided many jobs. Farmers began to grow more food for these workers. Men began to exchange the objects the made for food and trade began.
During this time the wheel was invented. With the wheel, man figured out how to make a cart. He could now move heavy objects. He invented the plow. Finally, writing developed.

The ancient civilizations were cities that grew up around the Mediterranean Sea between 3000 B.C. and A.D. 476. During this time ancient man invented many tools and developed many ideas that we still use today.
Here are some of the ancient civilizations and what we got from them:
Egypt had a system of writing and a calendar. Egyptian doctors learned to set broken bones with splints and casts.

The Sumerians lived near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They invented bricks. The Babylonians also lived in this area. They invented the first clocks.
The Greeks and Romans produced great literature. They produced great sculpture and architecture. They made advances in science. Students today study the writings of ancient Greek and Roman dramatists, scientists, and philosophers.
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Anaconda

The anaconda is a giant snake. It may be 30 feet (9 m) long. Most are only half this size.
Anacondas are a dark, dull green with black spots. They live near water in the swamps of South America.

The anaconda is not poisonous. Instead, it squeezes its victim to death. Sometimes it drowns a larger animal, such as a wild pig. The anaconda swallows animal whole. Like other snakes, the anaconda has loose jaws that will stretch. It can eat animals much wider than itself. An anaconda hangs from the branches of a tree when it rests or when it waits for prey.

Amphibian

Amphibians (am-FIB-ee-uns) are a class of cold-blooded animals. They live both in the water and on land. Frogs, toads, salamanders and newts are all amphibians.

Amphibians hatch from eggs laid in the water. They are born without arms or legs. At birth, they look like tiny fish with long tails. They live in the water and breathe with gills. The adults have legs. They breathe with lungs and live mostly on land.

Frogs have smooth skin, and are often green or brown. Fully grown frogs spend most of their time in or near water. Toads have dry, warty skin that us often dull brown.
Salamanders and newts look like small lizards

Amethyst

Amethyst (AM-uh-thist) is a semiprecious gemstone. It is highly prized in jewelry. But it is not as rare or as expensive as diamonds.

Amethyst is a form of quartz. Quartz is a hard mineral that forms crystal. The amethyst can be pale violet or deep purple. The best amethysts are clear and not cloudy.

The ancient Egyptians and Romans made charms and jewelry from amethyst. Old legends say that an amethyst cup is protection against poison. Many bishops wear amethyst rings. People born in February have the amethyst as their birthstone

Amazon River

The Amazon River is the longest and most important river in South America. Ships can cross almost the entire continent by sailing on it. The Amazon starts in Peru. It crosses Brazil and empties in to the Atlantic Ocean. The river is almost 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long. More than 200 other rivers flow into the Amazon.

The Amazon was first traveled by a Spanish explorer in 1541. Today the Amazon is still an important trade route. Ships sail up and down the river. They carry food, tools, and clothing to people who live along the river. The ships carry out different products from the forest, such as animal skins, Brazil nuts and lumber.

Fierce piranha fish and alligators live in the Amazon. Monkeys, parrots, and snakes called anacondas are found in the dense forest around the Amazon. In the rainy season, the river often overflows its banks. Then it floods the land around it. The natives call it the River Sea.

Much of the land near the Amazon is still unsettled. There are very few roads and modern cities along its banks. Indian tribes have been the only people to see some parts of the Amazon.

Alphabet

An alphabet is a group of letters that is used to write a language. The letters follow each other in a certain order. Each of the letters stands for a sound.
Thousands of years ago there were no letters. People drew pictures to describe their thoughts and ideas. At first these pictures were simple. They could be understood by most people. A picture of an eye meant an eye.

Later, the picture of an eye might mean “to look at.” The Chinese, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians developed very complicated picture writing. It was not easy to write with pictures. The writer had to remember about 600 symbols.

The Phoenicians developed the first alphabet. They used a sign for each sound in their language. These sign were borrowed by the Greeks. They called the first two letters alpha and beta. The word alphabet comes from these two names. The Romans borrowed the Greek alphabet. They made some changes and added a few more letters. That alphabet became the one we use today.

Alligator

The alligator is a reptile. Turtles and snakes are also reptiles. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that have backbones and breathe with lungs. Like many other reptiles, alligators have thick, scaly hides and creep around on short legs.
Alligators look like big lizards. The largest kind is the American alligator. It can grow to be 19 feet (5.8 m) long. But most are only about half this size. The Chinese alligator is only about four feet (1.2 m) long.

Alligators have long, powerful tails that help them to swim and to fight off enemies. They have flat heads with long, rounded snouts. Their jaws are very strong and they have sharp teeth.

A female alligator lays about 40 eggs in a nest buried in the mud. She guards the nest from animals that like to eat the egges. The babies are about six inches (15 cm) long when they are born.

Alligators have many close relatives. The crocodile is one. The crocodile has a longer, narrower snout than the alligator. It can live in salt water.

Alexander the Great

Alexander was a great military leader. He and his armies conquered lands from Greece all the way to India. This made him the ruler of all the world then known.

Alexander was born in 356 B.C. His father was the king of Macedonia, a small country north of Greece. When Alexander was 20 years old, his father was murdered and Alexander became king. First he conquered all of Greece> Then he led his army on a march that lasted 11 years.

Alexander and his men won many battles from Greece to India and south to Egypt. Under Alexander’s leadership, Macedonia became the country that ruled the world.
Alexander founded the great city of Alexandria in Egypt. Alexandria became one of the world’s leading centers of learning for over 1,000 years. He also spread Greek ideas, laws, and customs throughout his empire.

Alexander died in 323 B.C. He was 33 years old. His great world kingdom broke up after his death.

Alcohol

Alcohol is a chemical. It is one of the most important industrial chemicals. Alcohol is used to make many other chemicals. It can dissolve oils and fats. It is used as fuel in rockets and for antifreeze in cars. It is used to make cosmetics, medicine, inks, detergents and perfumes.

There are hundreds of different kinds of alcohol. Some are clear liquids. Some are thick, oily fluids and some are solid.

One kind of alcohol, ethyl alcohol, is the only kind that is not poisonous. Ethyl alcohol is found in beverages such as wine, beer, and whiskey. It is the alcohol in these beverages that causes a drinker to become intoxicated, or “drunk.” Those who use alcoholic beverages may in time suffer from alcoholism and become alcoholics. The alcoholic cannot control a desire to have more alcohol.

Alcohol is made from grains and fruits by the process called fermentation. Fermentation takes place when yeast is added to grains or fruits. Fermentation changes the sugars or starches in grains or fruits into alcohol.

Albatross

The albatross is the largest of all sea birds. It is found mainly in South Pacific waters. There are about 15 different kinds, or species, of albatross. The largest kind, the wandering albatross, has wings that measure more than 11 feet (3.4m) from tip to tip. This wingspan is the largest of any bird.

Its large wings make the albatross a very strong flier. It is able to fly through the roughest storms. It hardly ever lands except to nest.

A nesting albatross always returns to the place where it was born. The female lays one egg. About eight months after its birth, the baby albatross is ready to fly.

Airport

An airport is a place where airplanes take off and land. At a large airport, giant planes such as “jumbo jets” may take off or land every few minutes. More than 100,000 people may pass through such an airport everyday.

Passengers who are coming or going pass through buildings called terminals. Here airline workers check passengers’ ticket and help them with their luggage.

An airport has many runways. These are long highways on which the airplane take off and land. An airport also has a control tower. The people in the control tower are called air traffic controllers. They talk by radio to the pilots who fly the airplanes. They tell the pilots when it is safe to take off and to land. Other workers in the ground crew make sure the plane’s engines are working and that the plane has enough fuel

Airplane

Airplanes are machines that can fly. Ballons fly because they are lighter than air. Airplanes need engines to lift them into the air and keep them going.
The early planes had no engines. They were like kites or gliders. On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright became the first men to fly in a plane that had an engine.
In 1909, a Frenchman named Louis Bleriot was the first man to fly across the English Channel. He was also the inventor of the monoplane. A monoplane has one wing instead of two. Bleriot’s design became the model for the airplanes we use today.

In World War I, airplanes became war weapons. Pilots shot at each other from planes high in the sky. After the war, planes were use to carry mail and to explore new places. But there were very few flights that carried passengers. Then, in 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh flew his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, nonstop from New York to Paris.
Lindbergh became an international hero. His flight made people believe in the idea of longdistance passenger airplanes. Travel by airplane began to grow. At first there were few airfields. Many airlines used seaplanes. They had pontoons-boat-shaped “feet” so that they could land on water.

Airplanes played a major role in World War II. During the war, the jet engine was developed. Jet planes can fly faster and carry more passengers than planes with engines that have propellers. In the 1960s, a new kind of jet engine called the turbofan was invented. Turbofan engines have more power than jet engines. Planes with turbofan engines can be built larger to carry more passengers.
Today, the fastest passenger plane, the Concorde, can fly across the Atlantic Ocean in just over three hours.

Agriculture

Most of the food we eat comes from farms. A farm is a place where plants and animals are raised for food. A farm may grow vegetables or grains like wheat. A farm may raise cattle and pigs for their meat.

The work of raising plants and animals for food and other products is called agriculture.
Agriculture began about 10,000 years ago. Before then, people got the food they needed by killing wild animals or eating wild plants. Agriculture began when people started to grow their own crops and tame wild animals for ilk and meat.

The modern farmer uses many machines. With then, the farmer today can raise much more food than farmers of the past. People must have food to eat. For this reason, agriculture is probably the world’s most important kind of work.

Age

When you tell someone your age you tell them how many years have passed since you were born. As people age, their minds and bodies go through changes. Year by year, a child becomes taller and stronger. And a child’s mind also grows and develops.

At certain age, it becomes possible for children to have babies themselves. Usually these happens between the ages of 11 to 14. This stage of a child’s growth is called puberty. At
Puberty both boys and girls start to reach their full height. They start to grow hair on their bodies. And a girl’s hips grow wider and she develops breast. During adolescence – the teenage years – children begin to behave like gown-ups. This is called maturing.

People age in different ways. Some people age faster than others. The period of time a person lives is called a life span. As time passes, our bodies begin to wear out. This is the period of old age that ends with death.

Agate

An agate is a beautiful and brightly colored rock. It is formed from a mineral called quartz.. Many other gemstones also same from quartz, including amethysts and onyx.

Agate is formed in holes or cracks in larger rocks. Sometimes agates are as small as peas. But some agates are more than two feet (61 cm) wide. Usually an agate has bands of different colors, one inside the other.

Agates used to be made into children’s marbles. That’s why some marbles are called agates or aggies. The main use for agate today is in objects such as lamp bases and paperweights.

African People

Many different group of people live in Africa. Arabs and Berbers live in North Africa. Europeans and Asians, such as Indians, live in the southern part of Africa. Black Africans live in the most of the countries in Africa. These people are members of different tribes. Some of these tribes are the Bantus, Tutsis, Pygmies, Bushmen, and Hottentots.

Africa has many different languages, English, French, and Arabic are spoken in the north. Native African languages such as Zulu, Bantu, and Swahili are spoken by many of the tribes.

Most Africans are farmers. Wheat and barley are grown in the north. Coffee is grown in the western part of Africa. Some Africans hunt, fish, and cut down trees to earn money.
Africa is rich in ore and minerals like gold, copper, and uranium. African countries now are working hard to develop industries.

More and more Africans are moving to large cities such as Cairo, Egypt; Nairobi, Kenya; and Johannesburg, South Africa. One reason is that there are more jobs in the cities

Africa

Africa is the second largest continent. It has an area of 11,707,000 square miles (30,308,252 sq km). The Nile River in Africa is the longest river in the world. The largest desert in the world, the Sahara, is also in Africa.

Africa was called the Dark Continent when it was first explored by Europeans in the 1800s. Most African countries were colonies of different European countries until the 1950s. Today there are many independent African countries.

African has many different climates and types of land. The desert are dry and sandy. Foxes and rabbits live there. In central Africa there are dense jungles, which are hot and rainy. Monkeys, chimpanzees, and gorillas live there. Many unusual African animals live in the large wild areas called the grassland. Some of these are antelope, zebras, giraffes, lions, elephants, and rhinoceroses. Africa is also the home of ostriches, crocodiles, cobras, and pythons.

Tourists on camera safaris come to central and southern Africa to see the wildlife. Africa’s scenery is wonderful. Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is a magnificent mountain peak. It is the highest spot in Africa, 19,340 feet (5,895 m) tall.

Aesop

Aesop is famous as the man who wrote Aesop’s Fables. A fable is a short story that teaches a lesson about life. Many of Aesop’s fables have animals as characters. But the animal talk and act the way that humans do. In Aesop fables, the lesson of the story is always in the form of advice to the reader.

This advice is called the moral. One of Aesop’s most famous fables is “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” In the summer, the ant begins to put away food for the winter. The grasshopper plays instead. When winter comes, the ant has plenty to eat. The grasshopper has no food at all. Aesop’s moral is “It is best to prepare for the days of need.”

Little is known about Aesop. He was probably born in Asia in 620 B>C and became the slave of a wealthy Greek. Aesop made up his fables and told them to amuse people. His fables were written down and collected together about 300 B>C Other popular fables by Aesop are “The Fox and the Grapes” and “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.”

Advertising

The commercials on television are advertising. Advertising is any message paid for by a company to sell its products. The company could be selling anything from cars to candy. Advertising is not new. In ancient Greece shopkeepers put signs above their shop doors to Advertise.

Advertising today has become a huge business. Companies hire special advertising agencies to prepare advertising campaigns. A campaign is a series of advertisements, or ads, that may appear on TV and in newspaper.

Actors and Actresses

Actors and actresses are performers who appear in plays and movies and on television. Actors and actresses play many different roles. In one part, they will be sad. In another, they will be happy. A play or movie in which funny things happen to people is called a comedy. A sad play or movie in which terrible things happen to people is called a tragedy.

It takes a long time to become a good actor. Many actors learn how to act in acting schools. One thing they are taught is how to use their voices. They must be able to whisper or scream, or to make their voices sound high or low. Young actor will also train their bodies. They will practice playing different roles. They will play parts that are sad or happy or happy. In this way, they learn how to use their voices and their bodies to make the audience believe the characters they are playing.

We all know the names of actors who have become famous on television or in stage plays or in the movies or in all three. Among the most famous actors of the past 50 years are: Charlie Chaplin, James Cagney, Bob Hope, Richard Burton, Lord Laurence Olivier, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Woody Allen, John Travolta, Robin Williams, Micheal Landon. Many of these actors have been honored with awards. The Oscar is given for outstanding acting in films. The Tony is given for outstanding acting on the Broadway stage. And the Emmy is given for outstanding acting on television.

Some actresses and actors become famous when they are very young. Shirley Temple
Became a well-known actress of the 1930s when she was not yet a teenager. Andrea McArdle was the leading actress in the Broadway musical play, Annie, when she was only twelve. Gary Coleman starred in his own television show at the age of ten. And there are even famous animal actors such as Benji, Lassie, and Morris the Cat.

Acting

Acting is playing “let’s pretend.” When you
play “let’s pretend” with friends, you may
make believe that you are a nurse or a firemen
or a musicians. You are acting when you
pretend to be someone else.

On television, an actor will pretend to be a
policeman or a housewife. The actor may wear
a costume or put on make-up. This helps the
audience believe the performance.

People who work as actor and actresses are
paid to perform on TV or in movies. There are
also actors on the radio. And there are actors
Who perform in theaters in the stage plays.

Abalone

The abalone is a shellfish. This means that it has a soft body and a hard shell. Most of the soft body stays inside the shell. The part of the body outside the shell is called the foot. This large foot has muscles. The abalone is able to hold onto rocks with these muscles. The abalone’s shell has holes near the top through which water can pass.

Abalones live in the ocean. There are about 100 different kinds of abalones in the world. Fishermen have taken abalones from the sea since ancient times. The inside of an abalone shell is a shiny material called ”mother-of-pearl.” This is used to make jewelry and buttons. The soft part of the abalone, the body, is used for food.

The flesh of the abalone is tough. To soften its meat, cooks pound abalone with a wooden mallet.

The abalone shell is sometimes called the earshell or sea ear. It can be seven inches(18cm) long.