Carp is the name of several fish in the carp family. One of the best-known carp is the common carp. The common carp is a fish that lives along the muddy bottoms of ponds, lakes, and rivers. It swallows plants, insects and fish eggs. It was first found in Asia but was later taken into Europe and North America. Sometimes carp can live 100 years and grow to weigh 35 kilograms or more. Goldfish and minnows also belong to the carp family.
The carp has a blunt nose and a small thick-lipped mouth. Most types of carp have feelers, called barbels, at the corners of the mouth. The barbels help the carp find food in dark, muddy water. Their food is mostly obtained by probing in the bottom mud of their aquatic habitat.
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Pigs are among the smartest of all domestic animals. The world’s largest population of domestic pigs is in China. The second largest population of domestic pigs is in the United States, and the third largest is found in Brazil.
Wild pigs live in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The pygmy hog is the smallest of the wild pigs. The warty pig and the bearded pig live in parts of Southeast Asia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Both male and female wild pigs have tusks on their snouts.
A pig has a bulky body with short legs. They range in length from about 0.6 to 2.1 meters long. Domestic pigs can weigh as much as 320 kilograms. The skin of pigs is thick and tough, and it may be sparsely or thickly haired, depending on species.
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Peacocks live in the wild in Southeast Asia and belong to the pheasant family. Two important kinds of peacocks are the green peacock and the blue peacock. The green peacock is found from Myanmar to Java. The blue is found in India and Sri Lanka. They also can be seen in zoos around the world. Peacocks usually live in lowland forests. At night they sleep in trees.
A peacock’s feathers are brilliant shades of bronze, blue, green, and gold. At the tip of each tail feather is a big shiny spot ringed with blue and bronze that looks like an eye. The male’s body is about 90 to 130 centimeters long. Its tail is about 150 centimeters long. Peahens, female peacocks, do not have long tails. They are green and brown in color and almost as big as the males.
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Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is 70 km to the north-east of Moscow on the southern slope of the Smolensk-Moscow Upland in the city of Sergiev Posad. It is famous not only in the religious world. It was founded in 1345 by Sergius of Radonezh, who was a spiritual leader and monastic reformer. A century later the monastery became widely known spiritual and cultural center of the Moscow principality.
He was called Bartholomew, his parents were the Rostov boyars Cyril and Maria. From his childhood he was reading holy books. As a boy he wanted to devote his life to the Orthodox Church. But eventually his parents became impoverished and in 1328 the family moved to the Pokrovsky Monastery in Khotkovo – one of the first monasteries that was built on the lands of the Moscow principality. There lived men and women at that time, but later it became a nunnery. His parents and elder brother diligently served God and were buried there.
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Although the koala is often called a “koala bear” it is not a member of the bear family. It is a marsupial—an animal related to wombats, opossums, and kangaroos. It is found only in Australia.
Koalas are small and round, with little eyes and a big black nose. They have no tail. Adults range from about 61 to 90 centimeters in length and weigh about 4.5 to 13.5 kilograms. Males are much larger than females. Their fur acts as a rain repellant and provides warmth. Koalas are arboreal and nocturnal.
They have a keen sense of balance and are very muscular. Koalas climb by means of their large hands and feet, which are equipped with long, strong, curved claws.
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Corn, or maize, is one of the most widely grown food plants in the world. People eat the plant’s seeds, which are called kernels or grains. Corn belongs to the grass family. Its scientific name is Zea mays.
Mayan farmers of Mexico and Central America cultivated corn. Early European explorers of the Americas took corn back with them to Europe. Today corn is grown on every continent except Antarctica. Corn grows in areas that have rich soil and cold nights but no frost during the growing season.
The corn plant has a stout stem with a tassel at the top. Its leaves are large and narrow. Spikes grow from under the bases of the leaves and develop into ears. Leaves called shucks or husks surround each ear.
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The most magnificent building of the XIX century was built in London’s Hyde Park on an area of 7.7 hectares for the first World Exhibition in 1851. It was made of glass and iron. The admired inhabitants of London called it the Crystal Palace. The length of the palace was 563 m, width – 125 m, height – about 40 m. It was built in a record short time – 7 months.
The idea of organizing the first World Exhibition for the purpose of unifying humanity belonged to Queen Victoria’s husband, the ambitious Prince Albert, President of the Royal Society of Arts. According to Prince Albert, such exhibitions in the future should demonstrate the achievements of each country and promote rapprochement and understanding of peoples.
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