Everybody knows that during an earthquake the ground shakes, lots of buildings fall down and sometimes cracks appear in the earth.
Our planet is covered with a thick crust, which is cracked into more than twenty sections. These cracked sections are called tectonic plates and they are always on the move. They move very slowly, but with incredible power. An earthquake happens when they rub against each other or collide with each other.
Earthquakes happen in all parts of the world. But most of them are so small that we don’t notice them. Big earthquakes are really dangerous.
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Everyone likes mysteries. Nowadays scientists work with modern technology to try to find answers to the mysteries of the past. Let’s have a look at some of the most mysterious places in the world.

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Huge stone walls in Zimbabwe, Africa were discovered in 1871 by Karl Mauch. The walls covered 25 hectares around what is now called Great Zimbabwe. Great Zimbabwe is the most impressive Iron Age site in Africa. On top of a hill, there is a large castle and underneath this is the Great Enclosure, which has enormous walls sometimes 11 metres high and 1.2 metres thick. They think it was built about 1,000 years ago. Inside the Great Enclosure there are many huts, passages and rooms and a mysterious 9-metre-high stone tower that has no stairs, no windows and no doors. Why was it built? And who built Great Zimbabwe? It is a mystery to African and foreign archaeologists.
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Florimond Hervé (1825-1892) was a legendary French composer, father of operetta. He wrote more than 120 operettas, he also wrote masses, motets and other spiritual compositions. The best of his operettas were prompted by stories that he got in… a madhouse.
Very sad seventeen-year-old young man was walking through the streets of Paris. He learned to play the organ, but a professional organist came to the church, which sheltered him. He didn’t have a musical instrument anymore.
Suddenly he heard a voice: “Here’s your future!” And the boy heard the sound of the organ. He saw the old church and decided to enter. The church was silent. Florimond saw the organ and began to play. The priest heard his musical improvisation and came to him: “Providence has led you into, my young friend! We really need an organist!”
Florimond was surprised: “But I heard that someone was playing the organ!”
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Reflecting on today’s rich cities we imagine a picture of tall skyscrapers and modern architectural innovations. At the same time few people think that there were metropolises and rich cities in the ancient world. Most often, they were the capitals of the vast empires, for example Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire, or Xian was one of the historical capitals of China. These cities became centers of wealth and prosperity because of their connection with major trade routes. According to modern standards, they were as rich (or even richer) as some famous today’s metropolises. In fact, they were the centers of technology, art and modern amenities, allowing their residents to live in comfort.
I’d like to tell you about a few of the most powerful and very rich cities of the ancient times.
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Shakespeare, the great master of the English Language, had one of the largest vocabularies of any English writer. He also had an extraordinary knowledge of medical science. In his plays he mentioned practically all the diseases and drugs of the day and some of his descriptions could not be bettered by any modern doctor. He spelled his name in 11 different ways: Willm Shakp, William Shakp, William Shakper, William Shakspe, William Shaksper, Wm Shaksper, William Shakspere, Willim bhakspere, William Shakspeare, William Shakspcar, William Shakespeare.
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In the 1880s a young doctor wrote stories to pass the time while waiting for new patients. His stories were about a man who was very good at solving crimes. They were so popular that the doctor decided to give up medicine and become a writer. The doctor was Arthur Conan Doyle and his creation was Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock and his famous friend Doctor Watson lived at 221b Baker Street. Their landlady was Mrs Hudson.
221b Baker Street is the world’s most famous address and people have been writing to it for more than 100 years. Most letters were from the United States and people asked Mr Holmes to help them with some problem, such as finding a missing relative (or a pet).
But the museum was opened only in 1990 there. Sherlock Holmes Museum is unique. There are no horrors, no mummies or hidden corpses, no wax figures… But you have a feeling as if the great detective had just left the room for a moment with Dr Watson, and Mrs Hudson is somewhere in the backrooms. The museum is filled with Holmes’ things – his violin, deerstalker and pipe, the Persian slipper in which he kept his tobacco, unanswered letters pinned to the wall with a knife, his magnifying glass… Dr Watson’s diary contains hand-written notes and extracts from The Hound of the Baskervilles.
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A witch… has magic in her fingers and devilry dancing in her blood. She can make stones jump about like frogs and she can make tongues of flame go flickering across the surface of the water. These magic powers are very frightening.
I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely.
But the fact remains that all witches are women.
Roald Dahl (1916-90), a popular British writer, especially of children’s books

From earliest times, people in all parts of the world have believed in witches. Originally, a witch was either a man or a woman who had magic powers. Through the years, however, only women came to be considered witches.
People once blamed witches for any unexplained misfortune, such as a sudden death or illness, or a crop loss.
They also thought that witches could raise storms and turn people into beasts. The legendary Circe, for example, turned Odysseus’s friends into pigs.
Witches, it was believed, worked with the devil and did everything they could to please him. Their job was to do harm and to bring bad luck. But they could help people too. For example, a person in love could ask a witch for a love potion.
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