Chocolate is popular throughout the world. It begins with the seeds of the cacao tree, which grows in North and South America, Africa, and Asia. The dry seeds are called cocoa beans. There are basically two types of cacao beans, the Forastero and the Criollo. The Forastero is the standard, or base, bean, which makes up the greater part of the world’s production. The main cultivation areas are in West Africa, Brazil, and Southeast Asia. The Criollo is the flavour bean. It is cultivated on a much smaller scale in Central America, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
At the plant or factory machines grind the beans into a paste called chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is made up of chocolate solids and a kind of fat called cocoa butter.
Chocolate for eating is made by adding extra cocoa butter to chocolate liquor.
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Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is named after the god of agriculture in Roman mythology. This planet is visible without a telescope.
It is the second largest planet after Jupiter. Like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, it is a gas giant.
The astronomer Galileo was the first to use a telescope to view the planet.
The inside of Saturn is probably a core of iron, nickel, silicon and oxygen compounds, with smaller amounts of rocks and dust, then a layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium and finally, an outer gaseous layer. The rings extend thousands of miles out from the planet. They are made up mostly of pieces of water ice and dust. Many ancient astronomers believed that Saturn’s rings were its satellites. The rings of Saturn in the novel Martian Way by Isaac Asimov have become a major source of water for the Martian colony.
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Gemstones can be lucky and unlucky. They have associations with each month of the year and have special meanings.
According to tradition, the unluckiest stone of all is the opal which is often called the stone of tears. But it will bring good luck to those who were born in October.
It is believed that an engagement ring containing pearls will bring tears to the marriage. But it’s lucky for those who were born under a Watery sign.
The garnet means constancy and cheerfulness. In the Middle Ages it was used against all diseases.
The ancients believed that the amethyst is fortunate for lovers, businessmen, sportsmen and hunters. It is a talisman against drunkenness, cures diseases and calms fears.
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Weather is simply what the air or atmosphere is like at any time. Weather may be any combination of different amounts of heat, moisture, and motion in the air. And it changes from hour to hour, day to day, season to season, and even from year to year.
Heat causes the winds as well as different way in which water vapour appears in the atmosphere.
Humidity, the amount of water vapour in the air, combined with the temperature, causes many weather conditions. Clouds are a kind of weather condition, and they are formed when water vapour condenses high above the ground. When the cloud droplets grow larger and become too heavy to be held up by the air currents, they fall to the ground and we have the weather known as rain. If the raindrops fall through a layer of air which is below freezing, the drops freeze and our weather is snow.
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The Vikings came from the three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The name ‘Viking’ comes from a language called Old Norse and means ‘a pirate raid’.
The Viking age in European history was from about 700 to 1100. Vikings left Scandinavia and travelled to other countries some to fight and steal treasure and others settled in new lands as farmers, craftsmen or traders.
The Vikings conquered England in 1013 under Sweyn I, whose son Canute was later crowned king of England, Denmark, and Norway. The City of Dublin was founded by none other than the Vikings in the ninth century.
After invading Russia, they moved far inland and mixed with the native people. The name of Russia comes from a Viking word.
The sight of a Viking ship was enough to strike terror into the hearts of people. Some people think that Viking warriors wore helmets with horns in battle. But there is no archaeological evidence.
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Since earliest times, man has been curious about the changing of the seasons. There are a lot of questions. Why is it warm in summer and cold in winter? Why do the days gradually grow longer in the spring? Why are the nights so long in winter?
In ancient times people thought that Gods were changing the weather and the seasons.
As we know now the earth revolves around the sun, and at the same time it revolves on its own axis. The axis of the earth isn’t at right angles to the path of the earth around the sun. The reason for this is a combination of forces: the pull of the sun, the pull of the moon, and the spinning action of the earth itself. The earth goes around the sun in a tilted position. It keeps that same position all year, so that the earth’s axis always points in the same direction, toward the North Star.
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Doctors believe that laughter not only improves your state of mind, but actually affects your entire physical well-being.
William Fry, a psychiatrist from California, found that laughter has a similar effect to physical exercise. It speeds up the heart rate, increases blood pressure and quickens breathing.
A French newspaper found that in 1930 the French laughed on average for nineteen minutes per day. By 1980 this had fallen to six minutes. Eighty per cent of the people questioned said that they would like to laugh more. Other research suggests that children laugh on average about 400 times a day, but by the time they reach adulthood this has been reduced to about fifteen times.
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