Module 8. Geography.

1. Which is the smallest country (by territory) in the world and how small (or big) is it? Which one is the largest country (by territory) and how big is it?

Vatican City - 0.44 km2 - The world's smallest country, Vatican has a population of 770. Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, Italy. Russia - 17,075,400 km2 –The world’s biggest country, Russia has a population of 141,927,297

2. What caused the Dead Sea to form? What country (counrties) does the Dead Sea reside in?

The Dead Sea, also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake in Jordan to the east and in the West Bank and Israel to the west. The Dead Sea formed, where two crustal plates are spreading apart.


3. Which highest peak of a continent is also known as the Carstensz Pyramid ?

Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) is the highest mountain on an island on the planet, rising to over 5000 meters on the tropical island of New Guinea.


4. Which is the third longest river in the world?

The third longest river in the world is The Mississippi River(3,730 km), which is located in the United States.


5. Which is the deepest ocean trench in the world?

Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest point in Earth's oceans. The bottom there is 10,924 meters below sea level.


6. Why was the famous explorer Sir Walter Raleigh placed in the Tower of London?

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer .In 1591 he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, without requesting the Queen's permission, for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London.


7. What is the biggest body of water in the world?Illustrate.

The biggest body of water in the world is Pacific Ocean (169.2 million km2)


8. What is the largest desert of the world? Give a short overview of its inhabitants in the history.

The Sahara ("The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres, it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. Berbers are one of the oldest known inhabitants of the Sahara Desert. They are the people that occupied (and still occupy) more than two thirds of the Sahara's total surface. By 6000 BC Egyptians were herding cattle in permanent settlements in Sahara. Phoenicians, who flourished between 1200-800 BC, created a confederation of kingdoms across the entire desert to Egypt. By 500 BC, a new influence arrived in the form of the Greeks. Greek traders spread along the eastern coast of the desert, establishing trading colonies along the Red Sea coast. European colonialism in the Sahara began in the 19th century.


9. By whose name was America named? When?

America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, who discovered it in 1507.


10. Who was the famous explorer who conquered the Incas of Peru and when?

In 1532,15 November: Francisco Pizarro reaches Cajamarca and captures Atahuallpa, the emperor of the Incas. Three years later Pizarro founded Lima, Peru which he called Ciudad de los Reyes meaning 'City of the Kings.

Links:

• http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/smallcountries.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia
• http://www.extremescience.com/DeadSea.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea
• http://peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11360
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_river
• http://geology.com/records/deepest-part-of-the-ocean.shtml
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Raleigh
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara
• http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/amerigo-vespucci.htm
• http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/francisco-pizarro.htm

Module 1. Olympic games.

1. What are the two most well-known myths about how the ancient Olympic Games were started? Illustrate your answers and add more myths or legends about the history of ancient Olympic Games.

One Greek legend said that the great Herakles (Hercules, in the Roman form) won a race at Olympia, a plain in the small state of Elis, and then decreed that the race should be re-enacted every four years. Another said that Zeus himself had originated the festival after defeating Cronus for the sovereignty of heaven.

2. What is the Olympic symbol? What is the Olympics motto? What is the Olympic flag and what do the symbols on it mean? Give your explanations with illustrations.

The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition. The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris. 


3. When did women first take part in the modern Olympic Games? Give the details of the fields of sports women participated in.

Olympic events for women made their first appearance in 1908. In London women participated in competitions in archery, tennis and figure skating.

4. Why aren’t the Winter Olympic Games held in leap years now?Give the short overview of the history of winter Olympic Games.

Winter and Summer Events used to occur in the same year, always a leap year, divisible by the number 4. However, they frequently occurred at different locations. 1992 was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. The IOC decided to split the years so that one Olympics would occur every two years.
In 1994, the Winter Olympics were held again. Summer Olympics had to wait for the usual four years, until 1996, for their next celebration. Thus now Summer Olympics still only fall on leap years, and Winter Olympics fall either two years before or after a Summer Olympics. Both Olympics are still four years apart, after the initial two-year distance from 1992 to 1994.
 
5. What are the principles of the modern Olympic movement?

The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination or any kind, in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

6. When have the modern Olympic Games been cancelled and why?

The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. There is no consensus on when the Games officially ended, the most common-held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated.

7. How many types of Olympic Games are there nowadays? When and where were the first Special Olympic Games officially held?

Nowadays there are 5 types of Olympic Games : Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Special Olympics World Games. The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1968.

8. Where will the next winter Olympic Games take place? Characterize the city.

The next XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held on February 12-28 2010, Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver is a coastal city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for British Captain George Vancouver, who explored the area in the 1790s. The summer months are typically dry, often resulting in moderate drought conditions, usually in July and August. In contrast, the rest of the year is rainy, especially between October and March.

9. Why are the Olympic Games of 1936 and 1972 specific? Give a short overview of the events of those games.

The 1936 Summer Olympics was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. The games were the first to have live television coverage.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, in 1972. On September 5, with six days left in the Games, eight Arab commandos slipped into the Olympic Village, killed two Israeli t
eam members and seized nine others as hostages. But IOC decided to continue Games.
 
10. What is the historical background of the marathon of the ancient and modern Olympic Games? Who hold the world records of the modern Olympic Games among men and women?

The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon, which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "Νενικήκαμεν" ('We have won.') before collapsing and dying.

1. Today a lot of world records belong to:
2. Michael Phelps - American swimmer.
3. Usain Bolt - Jamacian sprinter
4. Chris Hoy - British cyclist
5. Yana Klochkova - Ukranian swimmer
6. Claudia Pechstein - German speed skater
7. Elena Isinbaeva - Russian pole vaulter

Links:

• http://www.solarnavigator.net/olympic_games.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_symbols
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Summer_Olympics
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Olympics_World_Games
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071230150532AA0qeOV
• http://www.olympic.org/en/content/The-IOC/The-IOC-Institution1/?Tab=1&NewsTab=0
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver
• http://www.solarnavigator.net/olympic_games.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games

Module 7. Fashion.

1. Which fashion magazine has been the longest-lasting and most successful in the world? Give the details of the history of the magazine.

Vogue, founded in the US in 1892, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. The first illustrated fashion magazine grew out of a weekly society paper that began in 1892. Vogue magazine's inauspicious start as a failing journal did not preview the success that it would become. In 1909, a young publisher, Condé Nast, bought the paper and transformed it into a leading magazine that signaled a new approach to women's magazines.


2. Why is the name of the British fashion designer Mary Quant relevant in the history of fashion? Illustrate.

Mary Quant one of the most famous fashion designers of the 1960s. She invented mini-skirt. The first product were small white collars and black stretch stockings. Through the 1970s and 1980s she has concentrated on the goods and make-up, rather than just her clothing lines. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.


3. What does the term 'haute couture' refer to? Who was the first fashion designer to introduce the term? Which French fashion designer is considered to be one of the most chic in haute couture?

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. It originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worth's work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.


4. What is the function of buttons on jacket sleeves and where has this custom come from? Illustrate.

Have you ever asked yourself why there are buttons on the ends of jacket sleeves? According to information passed down through the ages, none other than Napoleon Bonaparte dictated that buttons be attached to jacket sleeves to stop the annoying habit soldiers had of wiping their runny noses on their jacket sleeves.


5. How did the women's wigs look like in the eighteenth-century England? Illustrate.

Among women in the French court of Versailles in the mid-to-late 18th century, large, elaborate and often themed were in vogue for women. These combed-up hair extensions were often very heavy, weighted down with pomades, powders, and other ornamentation. In the late 18th century these coiffures became symbolic of the decadence of the French nobility, which helped to fuel the French Revolution(although its influence is highly exaggerated).


6. What makes an item vintage? Examples.

Ten years ago, the words conjured up images of clothing worn by your grandmother when she was your age. Most vintage clothing has been previously worn. It's can be more sought after and more valuable if they have their original tags.


7. What is a 'brassiere '? What is a 'negligee'? History? Illustrate.

The negligee is a form of womenswear intended for wear at night and in the bedroom. It is a form of nightgown, first introduced in France in the 18th-century, where it mimicked the heavy head-to-toe style of woman's day dresses of the time. Today a negligee is designed as a women’s nightgown, primarily a fancy one that is sheer, silky, and often trimmed with lace. The early negligee was of French design, hence the word’s French origin. These 18th century originals were not exactly revealing. They often were quite similar to gowns worn during the day and completely covered the body, frequently also covering the arms. In the 20th century, the style of the negligee underwent significant change and negligee styles became immensely popular in most of the Western world.
The first modern brassiere to receive a patent was the one invented in 1913 by a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob. At that time, the only acceptable undergarment was a corset stiffened with whaleback bones. Mary found that the whalebones poked out visible around the plunging neckline and under the sheer fabric. Two silk handkerchiefs and some pink ribbon later, Mary had designed an alternative to the corset. The corset's reign was starting to topple.
 

8. Describe the history of perfumes. When and where were the perfumes first used?

The word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians. The world's first recorded chemist is considered to be a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.

9. Who is the top model ranked 15 among Top Icon models? Give a short biography of the model.

Carmen Kass. Carmen Kass grew up in the Estonian city of Paide. At the age of fourteen, she was discovered in a Tallinn supermarket by an Italian modeling scout. Four years later, she moved to Milan and later Paris to pursue modeling quickly appearing in fashion shows for many top designer. She has appeared on a variety of magazine covers and in advertisements for brands as diverse as Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Fendi, Michael Kors, the Gap, Sephora. She has a noted interest in business, as part owner of her mother agency Baltic Models. As an actress, she appeared in the Estonian film Set Point. She loves to play chess in her off time.

10. What is the name of the company, which first started to produce denim jeans? When and where?

A German-Jewish dry goods merchant Levi Strauss was selling blue jeans under the "Levi's" name to the mining communities of California in the 1850s. One of Strauss's customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co. wholesale house. After one of Davis's customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the top of the button fly. Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they both go into business together. After Strauss accepted Davis's offer, the two men received U.S. Patent 139,121, for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings," on May 20, 1873.

Links:

• http://www.loti.com/sixties_fashion/Mary_Quant_sixties_fashion.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Quant
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume
• http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-negligee.htm
• http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventions/a/brassiere.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligee
• http://www.bloxa.ru/2317/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vintage_clothing
• http://www.loti.com/sixties_fashion/Mary_Quant_sixties_fashion.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Quant
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_couture
• http://models.com/models/Carmen-Kass
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion
• http://www.bookrags.com/history/vogue-sjpc-05/
• http://health.learninginfo.org/fashion-facts.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeans
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wig

Module 6. Australia.

1. The world's longest continuous fence is 'The Dingo Fence' in Australia – how long is it? Why was it built? Illustrate.

The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. Fence was constructed in 1885.It stretches for 5,614 km and was built to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland.

2. Which world's largest reptile can be found in Australia? Give the details of the species and illustrate.

The Saltwater crocodile is the largest of all reptiles. These are found on the northern coast of Australia. The Saltwater Crocodile has been reported to grow to lengths of 7 metres!, but the average sizeof a crocodile is 4 metres long.


3. What kind of goverment does Australia have? Who is the present Prime Minister?

The government in Australia is a parliamentary democracy. The current Prime Minister is Kevin Rudd.


4. Which lake is the deepest lake in Australia and which is the longest river there?

The Deepest lake in Australia is Lake St Clair and the longest river is The Murray River, it’s length is 2520km.


5. Provide the name of Australian national anthem.Who is the composer of the anthem and how did the anthem become official in Australia?

‘Advance Australia Fair’ is the national anthem of Australia. It was officially declared the national anthem on 19 April 1984 after winning a competition for the new Australian anthem. The composer is Peter Dodds McCormick.


6. Describe the history and design of Australian national flag. What symbols are used in the design and why?

Design of Australian flag was chosen in 1901 from entries in a worldwide competition. The flag is a defaced Blue Ensign: a blue field with the Union Flag in the canton (upper hoist quarter), and a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter.

7. Describe the history of the name"Australia". Where does it come from and when was it first used in English?

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" date back to Roman times. The first recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625.


8. Why is the plant 'golden wattle' so significant in Australia? What do Australians celebrate on the 1-st of September?

Australia's national floral emblem is the golden wattle. The first day of September is National Wattle Day.

9. What kind of pet is 'litoria caerulea' in Australia? Where does it live? Characterize and illustrate the species.

The Australian Green Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea) is a species of tree frog native to northern and eastern regions of Australia. The Green Tree Frog is larger than most Australian frogs, reaching 10 centimetres in length. The Australian tree frog is a very popular exotic pet.


10. What is the name of the famous Australian rock band, which was founded in 1973 and is still successfully performing? Illustrate.

AC/DC is an Australian rock band formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young.

Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo_Fence
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_Crocodile
• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_type_of_government_does_Australia_have
• http://www.australianexplorer.com/interesting_facts.htm
• http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/nat_anthem.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Australia
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
• http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/symbols/flora.cfm
• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/australian-tree-frog.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Green_Tree_Frog
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC/DC