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Once upon a time there were Five Chinese Brothers and they all looked exactly alike. They lived with their mother in a little house not far from the sea. The First Chinese Brother could swallow the sea. The Second Chinese Brother had an iron neck. The Third Chinese Brother could stretch and stretch and stretch his legs. The Fourth Chinese Brother could not be burned. The Fifth Chinese Brother could hold his breath indefinitely.   Every morning the First Chinese Brother would go fishing, and whatever the weather, he would come back to the village with beautiful and rare fish which he had caught and could sell at the market for a very good price. One day, as he was leaving the market place, a little boy stopped him and asked him if he could go fishing with him. "No, it could not be done," said the First Chinese Brother. But the little boy begged and begged and finally the First Chinese Brother consented. "Under one condition," said he, "and that is that you shal...

HICKORY, DICKORY, DOCK Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, The mouse ran down, Hickory, dickory, dock. BELL HORSES Bell horses, bell horses, What time of day? One o'clock, two o'clock, Three and away. A DILLER, A DOLLAR A diller, a dollar, A ten o'clock scholar! What makes you come so soon? You used to come at ten o'clock But now you come at noon. THE CLOCK Tick, tock, tick, tock, Merrily sings the clock; It's time for work, It's time for play, So it sings throughout the day. Tick, tock, tick, tock, Merrily sings the clock.

WASH ON MONDAY  Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday. Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday,  Rest on Sunday. 7 Days of the Week - Children's Song by The Learning Station Lyrics: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in a week. I like to sing them quiet. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in week. I like to sing them loud. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in week. I like to clap them out.      (Clap with each one) Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in week. I like to stomp them out. (Stomp sound for each one) Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in week. I sing them proud. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Seven days are in week. I like to sing again. Seven ...

ONE TO MAKE READY One to make ready, And two to prepare; Good luck to the rider, And away goes the mare. ONE FOR THE MONEY One for the money, And two for the show, Three to make ready, And four to go. SEVEN BLACKBIRDS IN A TREE Seven blackbirds in a tree, Count them and see what they be. One for sorrow Two for joy Three for a girl Four for a boy Five for silver Six for gold Seven for a secret That's never been told. ONE FOR ANGER One for anger, Two for mirth, Three for a wedding, Four for a birth, Five for rich, Six for poor, Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more. 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4, Mary at the cottage door 5, 6, 7, 8, Eating cherries off a plate. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! I caught a hare alive; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10! I let her go again. ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE One, two, Buckle my shoe; Three, four, Knock at the door; Five, six, Pick up sticks; Seven, eight, Lay them straight; Nine, ten, A big fat hen.

The device for detecting a lie is one of the tools in a criminal investigation and is used by the police in many countries. However, the data obtained using this device is not accepted everywhere as direct evidence in the courts, because this method of discovery of “truth” the science has not yet accepted. Testing by means of a lie detection is based on the fact that on the body of the person lying, certain reactions occur:  facial flushing, increased heart rate (pulse), swallowing saliva and other manifestations of excitement. The lie detector device records such changes in the body. The success of these devices, depend on the sensitivity of its components, and also from the expert who is performing the test. In order to have most relevant data, during the tests a preference is given to those reactions that the person being tested is unable to control, and even is not aware of, such as blood pressure, pulse and respiration. Neither of these reactions is not in itself, sufficient p...

Nuclear power stations use a radioactive material called uranium as an energy source to make electricity. Radioactive materials give out energy called radiation. It is a very powerful form of energy that is absorbed by everything around it. Plants, animals, and people are affected by radiation. It attacks the cells which make up our bodies. Radiation energy remains active for a long time. WHEN WAS THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT? Early in the morning of April 26,1986, alarm bells began to ring at a poorly constructed power station at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union. Soon after, there was an explosion at the power station, which sent a dangerous cloud of radioactive material into the air. The cloud contained radiation that is harmful to all living things. Radioactive clouds swept across many parts of Europe during the days following the explosion at Chernobyl. Chernobyl nuclear power plant For a few days after the explosion, wind spread the radioactive cloud over central and northwestern...

Is there a river near where you live? Many cities, towns, and villages are built beside rivers. Rivers provide us with water for drinking and cooking and for growing crops. Often, our rivers are waterways that can ferry us from place to place. But we also use our rivers to carry away waste to the sea. Many of these rivers are becoming polluted. WHAT CAUSES RIVER POLLUTION? Most river pollution comes from industry. Acid rain, caused by gases from factory chimneys, falls into lakes and streams. Chemical waste from factories and warm water from power stations may be pumped straight into the river. Some waste chemicals are poisonous to the plants and animals of the river, and warm water kills animals living at low temperatures. Nitrates, often found in fertilizers, may drain through the soil and pollute streams and rivers. Human waste, called sewage, is sometimes poured into the river. Sewage, together with other waste, decays in the water, using up valuable oxygen. Fish and other river...

Poisonous gases and other chemicals pour into the atmosphere every day. These are the waste products from our power stations, factories, and cars. Two of these waste gases, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, collect in the atmosphere. They then mix with the moisture in the air to become sulfuric acid and nitric acid. These acids are absorbed by rain clouds and fall to the ground again as acid rain. The acid rain clouds can drift hundreds of miles before falling as rain. Acid rain can fall a long way from the place where the gases first entered the atmosphere. WHERE DOES ACID RAIN FALL? The areas where most acid rain falls are the eastern part of North America, central and northwestern Europe, and parts of Asia. Acid rain falling on North America comes from the industrial cities of the United States. Much of the acid rain in northwestern Europe has drifted from Germany. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from coal-fired power stations and factory chimneys are causes of acid rain. WH...

Until about 6,000 years ago, the Sahara in northern Africa was a fertile plain.  Many animals roamed across the grassland.  There were also many people, herding their animals from pasture to pasture or farming the land.  Then the climate began to change. Less rain fell, and the dry land turned to desert. Today, the Sahara is the earth’s largest desert. And it is growing in size every year. Why does the land turn to desert? About one-fifth of the earth’s land area is desert. Each year, these desert areas of the world are becoming larger. As the soil dries up, the edges of the desert spread and the land can no longer provide food for grazing animals. This is caused partly by changes in the world’s climate.  But it is made worse by people who have dug up the grassland for farming or allowed too many animals to graze on it. When land is over-farmed or over- grazed, the topsoil turns to dust, which blows away in the wind. The layer of soil left behind is...

Until about 6,000 years ago, the Sahara in northern Africa was a fertile plain. Many animals roamed across the grassland. There were also many people, herding their animals from pasture to pasture or farming the land. Then the climate began to change. Less rain fell, and the dry land turned to desert. Today, the Sahara is the earth’s largest desert. And it is growing in size every year.

The land that we need for growing food is very important. We can't afford to spoil it. There are many ways in which farmers could make better use of the land and grow good crops without the help of factory-made chemicals. If it is farmed with care, the land will go on giving us enough food to eat for thousands of years to come. Sometimes, surface soil, or topsoil, is washed away by rain. This is called water erosion. Farmers can help prevent water erosion by plowing across a slope instead of up and down it. This is called contour plowing.  If it rains, water does not run down the hill, washing away soil as it goes. Instead, it is caught in the furrows and soaks in, leaving the soil behind. Contour plowing also prevents streams from getting blocked by washed-away soil, thus flooding low-lying land.

The land that we need for growing food is very important. We can't afford to spoil it. There are many ways in which farmers could make better use of the land and grow good crops without the help of factory-made chemicals. If it is farmed with care, the land will go on giving us enough food to eat for thousands of years to come. One farming method is to mix trees and crops on the same piece of land. This is called alley cropping.  Rows of quick-growing, deep-rooted trees are planted a few yards apart, with rows of crops such as sorghum in between. The trees help to prevent the soil from being blown or washed away. Their leaves rot and add to the humus in the soil.   Humus is made from dead plant matter. Tree shoots provide animal food and fuel for cooking. The trees and the sorghum take different nutrients from the soil, so they can grow side by side.

Day by day, there are more and more people to be fed. Farming produces most of the food that is needed. In many parts of the world, such as the open grasslands of the United States of America, Russia, Canada, and Australia, huge areas are plowed and planted with crops, year after year. This kind of farming is called intensive agriculture. Intensive agriculture produces huge harvests for a few years. Farmers grow the same crop every year. The crops need substances called nutrients found in the soil to grow. In time, the growing plants use up the soil’s nutrients. Fertilizers are added, but the soil still becomes worn out. Trees and hedgerows that divided the fields thin out and die. The soil is then more easily swept away by strong winds and rain. Some pests feed on one particular crop. If the same crop is planted each year, the pests will thrive. They often carry diseases to the new crop. If different crops are planted each year, the pests are not able to feed, and the diseases begin t...

The world is getting warmer. If you enjoy warm weather, you may think this is good news—but it’s not. Some experts say that over the last hundred years, temperatures on the earth have increased by 2.7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 5.6 degrees Celsius). The earth’s atmosphere is warming up, just as if it was trapped inside a greenhouse. This warming process is often called the greenhouse effect. The panes of glass in a greenhouse let in light from the sun but trap it when it is released as heat. This makes the climate inside the greenhouse hot. In a similar way, the earth’s atmosphere lets in sunlight and then traps the heat near the earth’s surface. This is the “greenhouse effect. Why is the earth warming up? More of the sun’s energy is reaching the earth’s atmosphere because the ozone layer is becoming thinner. But there is another reason why the earth is warming up. When we burn fuels like coal, oil, gas, or wood, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Plan...

Dead animals and plants rot and decay. In swampy areas, for example, dead plants fall into the water. As they decay, they give off - gas.  Scientists call this biogas. Biogas comes from garbage, sewage, and manure, too. Biogas is a source of cheap energy for many villages in China. Many vehicles are fueled by methane, a mixture of biogas and carbon dioxide. Biogas is a valuable source of energy that is often wasted. When materials decay, the biogas mixes with carbon dioxide, forming a gas called methane. Large amounts of methane can be dangerous—a tiny spark near the gas can cause an explosion. But if methane is collected safely and stored correctly, it can provide an important source of energy. Biogas could be important in countries where other fuels are scarce or too expensive. A small village can use its own garbage and sewage to produce biogas. People collect the droppings of farm animals and put them in a tank. Some of the waste turns into liquid.  The l...

The Geothermal energy is renewable, clean and sustainable energy generated from the Earth’s heat, which is constantly replenished. At the center of the earth, it is very, very hot. The temperature is thought to be about 13,000 °F (7000 °C), which is hot enough to melt rock. The heat spreads to the rock around the center of the earth and to water trapped between the layers of rock. In some parts of the world, this hot water is close to the earth’s surface. By pumping it out of the ground as hot water or steam, engineers have tapped a new source of energy. This energy is called geothermal energy, which means it is heat energy from under the ground.

Do you know what it is like at the center of the earth? It is very, very hot. The temperature is thought to be about 13,000 °F (7000 °C), which is hot enough to melt rock. The heat spreads to the rock around the center of the earth and to water trapped between the layers of rock. In some parts of the world, this hot water is close to the earth’s surface. By pumping it out of the ground as hot water or steam, engineers have tapped a new source of energy. This energy is called geothermal energy, which means it is heat energy from under the ground. Tropical fruit grows in Iceland! Hot water from inside the earth may be used directly to heat buildings. In Iceland, where there are many hot springs, hot water heats greenhouses and swimming pools as well as homes. And although Iceland is close to the Arctic Ocean, people living there can grow bananas and other tropical fruit in their greenhouses! Steam condenses into white clouds of water vapor rising from these hot springs in Ice...

Have you ever watched the sea during a storm? The waves crash down with enormous energy. Sometimes they are strong enough to damage seaside walls and buildings, or even make cliffs crumble. Do you know how we can make use of energy from the waves? One idea is to place a line of rafts floating on the sea. These rafts move up and down with the waves, and their kinetic energy can be converted to electricity. One type of raft is the Salter duck, named after its British inventor, Stephen Salter. Salter ducks bob up and down as the waves pass by. Their movement produces energy that pumps water through a turbine, which then turns a generator. As the tide water flows out, it passes through turbines to generate electricity. There are few large tidal power stations because they are expensive to build. The energy in the sea’s tides, which rise and fall every day, can be converted to hydroelectric power. When the tide comes in, the water is stored behind a dam. When the tide goes out, the...

The wind has been a source of energy for thousands of years. Before the development of the steam engine, most ships relied on wind power to fill their sails and push them along. Windmills were used to turn grindstones and pump water. Now scientists are turning to wind power again. This time they are using it to generate electricity. Windmills have been used to produce electricity since the early 1900’s. It is easy to produce electricity from a wind turbine. This is simply a windmill that converts the kinetic energy of the wind into electricity. Small wind turbines are used by farmers in remote parts of Australia and North America. In wide, open spaces, these turbines can make some of the electricity that farmhouses need. However, the winds are sometimes so strong that they damage the turbines and put them out of action. Engineers have designed many different kinds of wind turbines to try to solve this problem. Some turbines look like old-fashioned windmills, with four blades, or sai...

More energy reaches earth from the sun than could be converted by millions of power stations. The sun’s energy costs nothing, but how can we use it? We can use the sun’s energy to heat the water in our homes. One way this can be done is with a solar panel. This is a glass-topped box fixed to the roof of a building, facing the sun. The inside of the box is painted black. Black is best at taking in, or absorbing, heat. Water flows through pipes inside the box. During daylight, this water is heated by the sun’s energy. Heat can be produced by using mirrors to direct and concentrate the sun’s rays. One solar furnace in southern France uses a giant, curved mirror to collect sunlight from a series of smaller mirrors. The mirror then directs the sun’s energy onto a huge furnace. A solar power station in the Mojave Desert, in the United States, uses 1,800 mirrors. Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells, are made of layers of a material that produces electrical energy when li...

Did you know that a power station can produce electricity without burning coal or oil, and without using nuclear fuel? How? A power station can turn the potential energy of water into kinetic energy and then convert this energy into electrical energy by using a generator. This kind of power station is called a hydroelectric power station. Hydroelectric power stations are usually found in mountainous areas where there is plenty of rainfall. A large dam built across a river holds back a huge lake of water. Pipes carry the water downhill to a kind of waterwheel, called a water turbine, which is connected to a generator. There are two kinds of water turbines. Inside an impulse turbine, water flows onto the blades or paddles of a paddle-wheel and forces it to turn. In a reaction turbine, water flows out of tiny jets fixed to a wheel. As the water squirts out, the wheel turns. Water turbines thus convert the energy of moving water into electrical energy. The water held by this dam has hig...