TEST 1

When a person dies their body decays. Skin and flesh disappear and as time goes on only a skeleton is left. A mummy is the dead body of a person or an animal that has been preserved by wrapping cloth or other material around it. Mummies have been found all over the world, most of them in Egypt. However, other cultures in South America and Asia also mummified their dead. 

The oldest mummy ever found dates back to 6,000 years before Christ. The British Museum in London currently displays the oldest Egyptian mummy, dating back to 3400 BC. The British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the remains of Tutankhamun in 1922, probably the most famous mummy in the world.

Today scientists study mummies with special equipment and X-ray machines. They discover more about the bodies of ancient people and how they lived. They can also find clues to what they ate and what kind of diseases they had.

Mummification also occurs due to extreme weather.  Mummies have been found in the cold regions of the world, including the Alps and the Himalaya mountains.  Salt water also helps preserve bodies.  Mummies have been found in deserts and in peat bogs. The most famous natural mummy is Ötzi, the Iceman, found in a glacier on the Austrian-Italian border in 1991.

TEST 2

Jeans have become one of the most worn pieces of clothing in the world. Everybody wears them, from the rural farmer to the urban lawyer and from models to housewives. But why have jeans become so popular. You’ll get many answers. For some people they look cool, for others jeans are simply comfortable.

Jeans were first designed as durable trousers for farm workers and miners in the states of the American west. A Nevada tailor, Jacob Davis, had the idea of using copper bolts at the corner of the pockets to make them stronger. They became popular instantly and soon many people bought them.

Although Davis knew that he had a great product which many people wanted to buy, he didn’t have the money to patent it. He asked Levi Strauss, who supplied him with cloth, to help him out. The two worked together and started making jeans out of denim, which was more comfortable and could be easily stretched. It also became softer as it got older. They were dyed with indigo because it did not go through the cloth like other dyes do.

At first jeans were worn only by workers, especially in factories. In the eastern part of the US jeans were hardly worn at all. They were associated with rural people and the working class. But when rich easterners went on holidays to escape everyday life they often put on jeans.

James Dean and Marlon Brando made them popular in movies and everyone wanted to wear them. Jeans became a symbol of the youth rebellion during the 1950s and 1960s. College students started to wear them as a protest against the Vietnam War and the establishment. The new trousers were banned in American schools and sometimes in theatres and cinemas. As time went on jeans became more acceptable and today they are worn not only as casual clothes but also at formal events.

Other countries quickly started to get accustomed to wearing jeans too. American servicemen on duty in Europe and Japan often wore them when they were not on duty to show that they were Americans. The trousers showed the world a happier way of life, something that people needed, especially after what they had endured in World War II.

Jeans were also worn because they made people equal. You could afford them and they couldn’t be torn so easily. They had practical advantages as well. They didn’t need to be washed as often as other trousers and women didn’t need to iron them. This became more important as more and more women started working and had less time for housework.

Today jeans are an essential part of our lives. They are almost always washed a few times before being sold to give them their faded appearance.

TEST 3

Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 . It is a joyous holiday where families get together, give each other presents, decorate houses, sing traditional songs and go to mass .

The word Christmas comes from the old English “Christes Maesse” , which means Christ’s mass . Although Christians believe that Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem, we don’t know the exact date of birth because stories about Jesus Christ were written down much later.

By the 4th century Christians were divided into two churches: the eastern church was in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, and the western church was based in Rome. Each church celebrated Christmas on different days. The eastern church chose January 6 and the western church chose December 25.

Today, most countries celebrate the Christmas holidays from December 25 until January 6. Many Christians celebrate this day as Epiphany , the day on which the three wise men came to visit baby Jesus.

Christmas customs

Giving presents is a special part of Christmas. In many countries magical figures like Santa Claus or Father Christmas bring children their gifts .

Decorating the house is an old custom that comes from pagan times. In northern Europe branches from evergreen trees were brought into the house to show that spring would return soon.

Our traditional Christmas tree also comes from northern Europe. In the Middle Ages people set up trees and hung apples on them. As time went on more and more objects were added : candles , cookies , mistletoe and other things. German settlers brought the Christmas tree to America. Today families decorate their trees with ornaments , glitter , candy cane and electric lights. Some people even put up trees outdoors in their garden.

Christmas cards started to become popular in the middle of the 19th century . Today, billions of cards are sent all over the world.

In medieval Europe Christmas was a celebration of feasting and dancing. Nowadays many families enjoy special meals. Turkey, goose, duck , fish, roast beef are some of the many dishes that you can find on dinner tables around the world. Housewives bake cakes and cookies.

Christmas is also a time of singing carols, songs that come from folk songs and ballads . Most of the carols we sing today were written in the 1800s. “Silent Night, Holy Night” is the most popular song . It is sung all over the world.

Many Christians attend mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In some churches children act out the story of the birth of Christ and people go to midnight mass. 

Christmas in other countries

In America children hang stockings over the fireplace. When they are asleep Santa Claus arrives with his reindeer , slides down the chimney and fills them with presents .

British children receive their gifts from Father Christmas. They enjoy a Christmas dinner of roast turkey and mince pie or plum pudding . People often go around from house to house and sing carols.

Children in France welcome the visit of Pere Noёl. They leave shoes by the fireplace so that he can fill them with gifts . After midnight mass many families have a special supper called “Le reveillon”. They eat a “Buche de Noёl”, a special cake that looks like a log .

In many Italian homes a nativity scene called “presepio” is the centre of celebrations . Many families have fried eel , called “capitone” , as a Christmas Eve supper . Other special dishes are “panetone”, a bread with dried fruit, and “torrone”, candy made with nuts and honey. On Epiphany “La Befana”, a nice witch, brings children presents.

In Sweden, Christmas presents are brought by Jultomten, who has elves as helpers. In this northern European country the Christmas season begins on December 13—St. Lucia Day. On this day the oldest daughter of the house puts on a white dress and wears a wreath with candles on her head. She serves coffee and buns to the rest of her family.

For German and Austrian children festivities begin on December 6, when St. Nicholas comes to their homes and gives them a bag filled with sweets, oranges and nuts. Christmas presents are brought by the “Weihnachtsmann” or “Christkind”. Families like to eat stollen, bread filled with fruits.

In Bethlehem, a small town in today’s Israel, there is a colourful procession on Christmas Eve. People walk through the narrow streets and carry a picture of Jesus in a cradle to the Church of Nativity . There it is put into a glass manger . Pilgrims from all over the world travel to Bethlehem to take part.

In Mexico children have a Christmas party and hang a “piñata” , on a rope from the ceiling . This is an earthenware jug or a paper figure that is filled with candy or small toys. Then they blindfold themselves and try to hit it with a stick until it breaks and the sweets and toys fall out. Many people take part in processions that show how Mary and Joseph searched for a place to stay in Bethlehem.

In the southern hemisphere Christmas comes during the hot summer season. In Brazil people have outdoor picnics and fireworks . Australians gather outdoors and spend the holidays on sandy beaches. For pupils it’s the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer holidays. 

TEST 4

On Thanksgiving Day American people get together with their families and friends to give thanks for the past year. It is celebrated with big dinners and special food.

In December, 1620, over 100 pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock. The following winter was very harsh and they didn’t have enough to eat, so more than half of them died. The next year friendly Indians helped them grow corn, barley and other crops . The harvest was good and the governor of the colony William Bradford organised a festival to thank God for the food that he had given them.

The first Thanksgiving of 1621 lasted for three days. Men shot ducks , geese and turkeys and caught fish. Ninety Indians came to the colonists and celebrated with them.

As time went on the custom of Thanksgiving spread from Plymouth to other New England colonies, but for many years to come the new country had no national Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln formally proclaimed that Thanksgiving should be celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the holiday a week earlier. He probably wanted to make the Christmas shopping season a bit longer. Today, the fourth Thursday in November is a holiday all over the United States.

The turkey has become the symbol of Thanksgiving. Roast turkey with cranberry sauce is one of the most popular meals that Americans have.

TEST 5

Halloween is a festival that takes place every year on October 31. It is a time when children and adults dress up in costumes, go trick or treating and make jack-o-lanterns from empty pumpkins .

Halloween goes back to the customs and traditions of the Celts , who lived between Ireland and Northern France about 2000 years ago. They were pagans who did not believe in god. They thought that witches , demons and the spirits of dead people wandered around the world on the evening before November 1. They lit bonfires to scare them away and they tried to confuse these demons by wearing the same clothes that they did. They also offered them something to eat.

In ancient Rome the festival of Pomona was held in honour of the Roman goddess of fruits and gardens. At about 800 A.D. the Roman Catholic Church introduced a new holiday which they called All Saints’ Day . It was celebrated on November 1 and the evening before became known as All Hallows’ Eve. Hallow was the old word for “ holy ”. Later on All Hallows’ Eve was shortened to Halloween. 200 years later All Souls’ Day became a church holiday. It was day on which people prayed for all their dead relatives , friends and the people that they had known.

Today Halloween is celebrated mainly by children who dress up as ghosts, witches and other evil spirits . When they go trick or treating from house to house they ask for sweets (a treat) or else they threaten to play tricks on the people who don’t give them anything. Some children and adults go to Halloween parties where they have fun and play games like bobbing the apple in a tub of water.

In 1950 a school class in a small American neighborhood started collecting money instead of asking for treats. They gave it to the United Nations Children’s Fund and ever since thousands of children have gone trick-or treating for this cause .

In many European countries people visit the graves of their relatives on All Saints’ or All Souls’ Day . At first Halloween was not celebrated in Europe as it was in America but during the past few decades Halloween parties have become more and more popular in Europe too.

The jack-o’-lantern is closely connected with Halloween. It is a pumpkin that you empty and carve a face into. Most of them have a candle or some other light in them.

According to an old Irish story jack -o’-lanterns were named after a man called Jack. He could not go to heaven because he was an evil person and often in a bad mood . However , he couldn’t go to hell either because he had tricked the devil many times. So Jack had to stay on Earth forever and wander around with his lantern . 

TEST 6

On Easter Sunday Christians around the world celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Jewish, religious teacher was the son of God. He was executed by the Romans about 2000 years ago. Three days after he had died he returned to life again and rose to heaven.

Many Christians think that they will also rise to heaven after death. That’s why Easter is celebrated with joyful music and symbols of new life, like flowers and new clothes.

The name Easter may come from “Eostre”, an Anglo-Saxon goddess. Every year a spring festival was celebrated in her honour. In most Christian churches Easter is celebrated sometime between March 22 and April 25. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring.

Easter marks the end of a time of prayer and fasting that we call Lent. It is believed that during this time Jesus Christ went through the desert for forty days without food.

The last week before Easter is called Holy Week. It begins on Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus entered Jerusalem. His followers threw palm leaves on the streets. On Holy Thursday, Jesus had his Last Supper with his disciples or followers. The next day, Good Friday, Jesus was nailed to the cross. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon church services around the world recall the last hours of his suffering.

On Easter morning resurrection is celebrated. On the evening before, many people take part in processions with candles in the hands. On Easter Day the fasting period is over and people get together with their families and friends and have big meals.

Symbols

The lamb is one of the most important symbols of Easter. It comes from the old Hebrew Passover, when God ordered the Israelites to smear lamb blood on the doors of their houses to protect their firstborn sons. Christians also use the lamb as a symbol and called Jesus the Lamb of God.

Another well-known symbol of Easter is the egg. It stands for life because all life begins in eggs. Ancient Persians and Egyptians saw eggs as a sign of spring and coloured and ate them.

In North America and in some European countries children enjoy searching for Easter eggs that are hidde n by the Easter bunny. On Easter Monday egg rolling has become a traditional event on the lawn of the White House in Washington D.C.

TEST 7

Passover is the Jewish feast of freedom. It is celebrated at about the same time as Easter and lasts for 7 or 8 days. During Passover Jews around the world remember their freedom from slavery in Egypt.

In ancient times Egypt was one of the most powerful countries in the worlds. It conquered smaller nations and made their people slaves. The early Jews, or Hebrews as they were called, also became Egyptian slaves. The Pharaoh forced them to work hard. They had to put up buildings and pull heavy stones across the desert. He gave them little food to eat and no freedom.

The Bible tells us that God chose Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt and to the land of Canaan, which is today's Israel. Moses went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the Jews free. When the king said no God sent down ten plagues, or punishments to force the king to change his mind.

The word Passover comes from the tenth plague. The firstborn son of every Egyptian family was killed. God told the Jews to mark their door posts with the blood of a roasted lamb to show him that they were his children. In this way the firstborn sons of the Jews survived.

When the Pharaoh’s son died he told Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. When they reached the Red Sea they heard Egyptian armies coming after them. Moses raised his staff over the water and the sea split open so that the Hebrews could go across. Then the sea closed up again and the Pharaoh’s army drowned. Moses and his people wandered around for forty years before they found the Promised Land. Moses, however, died and never reached it.

Today, many Jews gather in synagogues every year to retell the Passover story. The most important food of this holiday is “matzo”, which is bread made of flour and water. It is flat because Moses and his followers didn’t have time to let the bread rise. Many families sing songs and say prayers during the holidays.

TEST 8

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday of the Chinese calendar. The New Year begins between January 21 and February 20. The celebration starts with the second new moon after the beginning of winter (December 21) and lasts until the next full moon.

The Chinese name their years after 12 different animals: the rat, the ox, the tiger, the hare, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig. Some people believe that a human being’s personality and character depends on the animal of the year he or she was born.

The Chinese New Year marks the start of the next animal’s year. After the year of the pig the twelve year cycle starts over again with the year of the rat.

A lot of things are done for Chinese New Year. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom in the days before the beginning of the holidays. People write merry wishes on red paper and hang them all over the house. Rooms are decorated with flowers, plants and oranges.

On New Year’s Eve firecrackers send out the old year and welcome the new one. At midnight people open all their doors and windows to let the old year out. On New Year’s Day children and adults who are not married get red envelopes with money in them. This is a symbol of good look and wealth in the new year.

Food plays an important part in Chinese New Year celebrations. Special dishes are eaten on certain days. Many kinds of food have special meanings. Uncut noodles, for example, might give you a longer life. People who eat a lot of raw fish are said to be more successful in life.

The last event of the 15-day celebration is the Lantern Festival. Some people hang glowing lanterns in temples. Others carry lanterns in a moonlight parade. In many places long colourful dragons made out of silk, paper and bamboo are carried on the streets by dancers.

TEST 9

Until a short time ago , Italians mostly ate Italian food , but in the past decade more and more immigrants have been coming into the country and with them their food. Now Italians are fighting back.

The Tuscan town of Lucca does not want any kebab shops and Chinese restaurants in their historic city any more. Lucca, about  60 km from Florence, has declared that it wants to preserve its food tradition. Therefore,  no more foreign food shops are allowed.

A debate is going on between town leaders and the population. Is it possible to forbid other cultures in our era of globalization? Italy's agriculture minister supports the ban. He says that it is important to preserve Italian culture and tradition. 

Others are ashamed of  what has happened. Critics of the new law say that a lot of typically  Italian food does not originate in Italy but comes from other regions: tomatoes from South America or pasta from China.

The issue is also influenced by the politicians of the region. In northern Italy the right wing  Northern League is very strong. It is against foreigners and foreign culture in Italy.

Italians are also afraid that products from other countries are being sold as Italian. Cheap restaurants buy low  quality olive oil from Greece or Turkey . Truffles that are are imported from  China are often passed on as Italian truffles from the northern part of the country. 

On the other side the agriculture minister has told his fellow citizens that they should not eat their loved pineapples, but instead turn to panetone, a type of sponge cake.

TEST 10

Bullfighting is a great event that attracts many tourists to Spain and Spanish speaking countries. There it is an important element of culture and has a great tradition. Modern bullfighting goes back to the 1700s when the first bullrings were built in Spain.

A bullfight takes place in bullring. The matador, or bullfighter, has special training and is often a national hero in his homeland. The bulls used for bullfighting are very powerful, wild animals that are bred to attack. They weigh up to 500 kg or even more. Today many animal activists are against bullfighting because bulls are treated in a cruel way and have to suffer pain in the arena. Bullfights can also end with a matador’s death or injury if he is pierced by a bull’s horns.

A bullfight usually consists of six fights. Three matadors with their teams fight two bulls each. A bullfight has three acts. After the trumpets sound at the beginning, the bull is let into the ring. The bullfighter waves a colorful cape at the bull and tries to make it attack. During this part he studies the movements of the bull. A picador enters the arena on horseback. He makes the bull weaker by piercing his neck with sharp spikes.

 

In the second act, the assistants of the matador, called banderilleros, come into the ring on foot, run around and throw barbed darts into the animal’s neck to make it even madder.

In the final act the bullfighter is in the ring alone with the bull. He uses a small cape, waves at the bull and lures it into attacking him. He tries to be as close to the bull as possible. Finally, he thrusts his sword into the bull’s neck and kills it. If he succeeds in pushing the sword into the bull’s shoulder blades it dies at once. After the successful performance of the matador the spectators get up and applaud. The bullfighter gets one or maybe even two of the bull’s ears as a reward.

TEST 1

The last few years have seen a rise of far right parties in Europe. These right-wing parties often have Christian values and follow nationalist movements in their countries. They are against immigration  and some of them are anti-EU.

Europe's far right parties have their own section inside the European Parliament. Among the most prominent are France's National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, Italy's Lega Nord , The Dutch Party of Freedom and Austria's Freedom Party.

Recently, Austria's Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer almost became the country's first far right president, but lost narrowly to a green candidate. The Freedom Party was already in government once , between 2000 and 2006.

Many other countries in Europe are witnessing the rise of far right parties. Sweden, for example, has taken a liberal stance on immigration and allowed more refugees per capita into the country than any other European nation. As a result polls show that support for the right wing Sweden Democrats has risen to 25%.

One of the strongest right-wing movements is in Hungary, where conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been forced to move more and more to the right, under the pressure of the extreme Jobbik Party. Last year, he dealt with the refugee problem in his own way by building a much-criticised fence around Hungary's borders.

Many political experts see German chancellor Angela Merkel as one of the reasons for a rise in support for the far right. Last year she announced that the country would welcome all refugees that wanted to come to Germany. She is strongly criticized by the Alternative for Germany, a new right-wing party that almost made it into parliament in 2013.

Many people in Europe are attracted  right wing movements across the continent.  As refugees from the Middle East and Northern Africa are coming  to Europe in masses, citizens feel their countries threatened and jobs taken away from them. There is growing concern that the EU does not have a solution for the refugee problem , thus leading to increasing Euro-scepticism in almost all EU countries.

TEST 2

Boko Haram is an Islamic terrorist movement that operates out of north-eastern Nigeria. There are up to 10 000 members of the group, which wants to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. Boko Haram is also thought to have connections with al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The organization has been active since 2009, killing more than 5000 civilians, mainly in Nigeria’s Northern provinces.  In the last five years Boko Haram have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children, including some western tourists.  By 2014 over half a million people have fled from the conflict zone to neighbouring countries.

Boko Haram was founded in 2002. Violence started increasing in 2009 when its founder was killed. Since then the terrorist group has carried out numerous attacks on police buildings and other governmental organizations. Targets include politicians and religious leaders. In 2011 Boko Haram a car bomb exploded in a UN office in the capital, Abuja, killing 21 people.

The Islamic movement has been in control of a territory of about 50,000 square kilometres in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram is also active in neighbouring Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. Islamic fighters escape the Nigerian army by retreating to these countries. The army’s attempt to fight Boko Haram has not been successful. The country’s armed forces are short of money. Some officers and soldiers are corrupt and sympathise with Boko Haram.

Boko Haram is a fundamentalist movement that follows the sharia. It is against western values, especially education, and wants Nigeria’s poor people to receive a part of the country’s oil revenues. Since 2000, the sharia has been introduced by local authorities, mostly in the Islamic north of the country.

Since Nigeria became independent from Great Britain in 1960 the country has been ruled by civilian governments as well as military dictators. The country is split between the poor Islamic north and the wealthier Christian south. In the past few years northern politicians have become strongly sympathetic to Boko Haram and other Islamic groups.

Although Boko Haram has a hierarchical structure, the organization operates in cells with a few hundred fighters each. The terrorists get their money from kidnappings and are also funded by Islamic-friendly governments. Drug trafficking, smuggling and rhino poaching are other sources of income.