The custom of exchanging flowers may have less to do with romance and chivalry than with anxiety. For the shy or uncertain, handing over a bouquet is often the easiest way to express the sentiment.
Roses are among the oldest of cultivated flowers, with the first known to have grown in Asian gardens 5,000 years ago. In its untamed from the flower goes back even further; fossils of wild roses date back 35 million years.
Ancient myths, biblical stories, and fables all assigned meaning to flowers. In the early 1700s Charles II of Sweden introduced a new language to Europe when he brought the Persian poetical art called “the language of flowers” to the West. Floral lexicons were published throughout the 18th century, allowing secrets to be exchanged with a lily or lilac, and the entire conversation to take place in a bouquet. It seems the more popular flower, the more superstitions and meanings have been associated with it. The rose carries the most baggage by far.
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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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If you look at our planet from Space you will see it as a blue planet scattered with brown patches. The areas coloured blue are water and the brown patches are land. Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, which forms a huge world sea, or ocean.
The Earth was born more than 4,5000 million years ago and there were no oceans on it. Our planet was too hot and water only existed as vapour. When the Earth began to cool down, the water vapour condensed into storm clouds, and rain began to fall. Rain water began to form pools on the surface. Nearly 1,000 million years later the oceans were born. The oceans and continents are still on the move and they couldn’t be in the same places as they were.
Some people think that the sea floor is flat but they are wrong. There are vast plains, high mountains and deep valleys on the seabed. The deepest valleys and tallest mountains on Earth are found under the sea.
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Kasia Polkowska is a talented contemporary artist based in Colorado, the USA. Kasia was born in 1983 in Warsaw, Poland. In 2006 the artist graduated from Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. Her work ranges in various themes of architecture, fantasy and landscapes. She is keen on nature, patterns, colors and the hand-made. She always looks for something beautiful, curious, and inspirational. She investigates and explores everything she finds fascinating. Not only magic, mystery and magnificence of nature, but also man-made environments and structures attract her.
She is in love with the nature, which comes alive in her wonderful stained glass mosaics. Picturesque landscapes made of colorful glass amaze with the realism and completeness of colors.
We can see the beauty of Mother Nature in her wonderful mosaics.
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The Sequoia trees are the oldest living things in the world. They grew in large forests millions of years ago, in the age of dinosaurs. During the Ice Age many kinds of Sequoias disappeared and only two kinds left on our planet. One of them, the giant Sequoia, can be found only in the north of California.
The tree was named after Sequoyah, an American Indian, who invented a written alphabet for his tribe.
No one knows how long a Sequoia can live. Many trees in Sequoia National Park, in California, are more than 3,000 years old. Now there is a law that protected Sequoias from being cut. But before it was passed one of the oldest and largest of them was chopped down. The growth ring at the center of this giant Sequoia dated back to 1305 BC. It means that it was more than a thousand years old at the time of the birth of Christ!
The General Sherman tree is one of the biggest Sequoias in the world. It is 83.8 metres high, and the diameter of its trunk is 31.4 metres.
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Scientists are learning more than ever about the moon. Astronauts have travelled to the moon. Our knowledge about the moon has grown, but it has remained unchanged. The moon lights up the night. It makes the sky beautiful. It makes people stop, look and wonder.
The Moon was formed billions of years ago. It is about 3,540 km from side to side. The diameter of the Earth is about 12,870 km, nearly four times wider than the Moon.
The Moon is a satellite of the Earth. The Earth has a stronger gravity and the Moon is caught in its gravitational pull. It moves around the Earth and can never get away.
Air and water are held to the Earth by gravity. The Moon’s gravity is too weak to hold them. So it has no oceans, lakes, or rivers. It also has no air.
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Niagara Falls is one of the most spectacular and popular sights in North America. This charming and beautiful natural wonder attracts tourists from all over the world. Honeymooners and stuntmen also like this place.
Niagara means “roaring water”. Niagara Falls is located on the Niagara River, between Lakes Erie and Ontario. It actually consists of two waterfalls, the Horseshoe Falls and American Falls.
The Horseshoe Falls is on the Canadian side of the border in the province of Ontario. Its height is about 56 metres and length of its curving line is about 670 metres. About 90 per cent of the water flows over the Horseshoe Falls.
The American Falls is on the United States side in the state of New York. It is about 58 metres high and 320 metres wide.
At the falls, the Niagara River plunges into a steep deep gorge. The gorge extends beyond Niagara Falls for about 11 kilometres. It is about 61 metres deep and consists of layers of different kinds of stone. Through the years, the gorge has become longer and longer. The ledge of the Horseshoe Falls wears away at a rate varying from about 8 centimetres to as much as 2 metres a year. The ledge of the American Falls erodes more slowly because less water flows over it. Each year, about 2.5 centimetres wears away.
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