In Focus

Countries and people

1. What is a country?
2. Do all people have a country they can call their own?
3. Vatican City has been guarded by Swiss soldiers since the 16th century. True/false?
4. What are counties and states?
5. Who are refugees?

Languages

1. How many languages are spoken?
2. Do we all read from left to right?
3. Why can’t we introduce one language for the world?
4. Do we use different ways of writing?
5. Can we talk without words?

Food

1. What does haute cuisine mean?
2. Where do you buy milk by the kilo?
3. How do we keep food fresh?
4. Can you eat seaweed?
5. What is caviare?

[Answers]

Countries and people

1. A country is an area of land under the rule of a single government. It may be small or vast. The borders of the country (if it is landlocked) have to be defined on agreement with its neighbouring countries, although such borders sometimes lead to arguments and even war. Countries that rule themselves are called Independent and those that are ruled by others are called dependencies. Sometimes several countries join up to form a single new nation. Countries may also break up into smaller nations.

2. No. The ancient homelands of some people are divided up between other countries. The lands of the Kurdish people are split between many nations.

3. True.

4. If you look at a map of a country you will see that it is divided up into smaller regions. These often have their own local laws and are known as states, provinces, countries or departments.

5. Refugees are people who have fled their country because their lives are at stake due to political unrest, ethnic disputes or some other such turmoil.

Language

1. Over 6,000 languages are spoken throughout the world but some are spoken by very few people. One African language called Bikya could have only one or two surviving speakers while a language known as Liv is spoken by less than 500 people in Latvia. English as an international link language is spoken by about 470 million people but as the Chinese population is huge, over 1.2 billion people speak the language everyday.

2. No. Most languages are written from left-to-right but not Arabic and Japanese. The Arabic language is read right-to-left while traditional Japanese is read top-to-bottom.

3. A language called Esperanto was invented about a century ago to be used around the world. But only about 100,000 people have learnt how to speak it.

4. Yes, many different forms of writing have developed around the world over the ages, using all sorts of lines and squiggles and also little pictures. What you read now is in the Roman alphabet which has 26 letters. It is used in many of the languages.

5. People who are unable to hear or speak can sign with their hands. Various sign languages have been developed around the world from China to USA.

Food

1. Haute cuisine is a French word and it means high-quality cooking. People from all over the world love to eat French food. But it does not mean it is the most delicious food in the world. What is delicious depends on each one’s taste. Chinese cooking is very popular among many while some relish Italian food.

2. In the Russian Arctic it is extremely cold in the winter that milk is sold in frozen chunks rather than by the litre.

3. People keep food cool by refrigerating it. Today even butter can be sent from New Zealand to Europe in ships with refrigerators.

The first ever such ship was invented in 1876 to carry beef from Argentina. Before refrigeration, people used methods such as pickling, smoking and drying.

4. Yes, certain types can be eaten. In Japan various seaweeds are used as food. In South Wales a dish known as laver bread is made using seaweed. A seaweed known as Carrageen Moss is often used to thicken ice-cream and milk puddings..

5.It is one of the most expensive foods in the world. It is made of eggs from a fish called the Sturgeon which lives in rivers and lakes in Russia and other northern lands.