A Ton of Crap (39 page)

Dutch Today
Dutch is currently the native language of Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Suriname. Dutch is said to be somewhere in between German and English; however, it most closely resembles German. It is spoken by 22 million people worldwide and was standardized in the seventeenth century. The Dutch of today has started to sound more like the dialect found in Holland.

THE MING DYNASTY

The Great Wall of China
The majority of the Great Wall of China that exists today is from the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368 to 1644. The project took over 100 years to complete, and the wall was made in an effort to protect the citizens of the Ming Dynasty from outside Yuan tribes such as the Wala and the Dada.

BRAILLE

Grade III Braille
Grade III is the last system of Braille, and it allows for reading shorthand. Grade III has not yet been standardized and is typically used for the convenience of the person reading. In Grade III, a lot of the vowels are omitted, and the spacing between words and paragraphs is much smaller. Sometimes, combinations of punctuation symbols are substituted for words.

ANGLES

Positive and Negative Angles
If an angle is counterclockwise, the angle (θ) will have a positive value. If the angle is in a clockwise motion, then the value of θ will be negative. θ equaling -50 and θ equaling 50 do not mean the same thing. Angles have degrees of rotation and directions of rotation. Even though both of those numbers have the same degree of rotation, their directions are the opposite, making them different angles.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Dwarf Planets
Until fairly recently, Pluto was referred to as another planet in our solar system; however, it is now referred to as a dwarf planet. Dwarf planets orbit around the Sun, have a mass that gravity has turned round, cannot be satellites to other planets, and have a mass that is larger than an asteroid but not large enough to be considered a planet. Dwarf planets are not categories of planets, but rather different objects entirely. There are three dwarf planets in our solar system: Pluto, Ceres, and Eris.

DUTCH

Useful Dutch Phrases
Here are some helpful phrases to use when traveling in a Dutch-speaking country:

Hello.
Hallo.

Good morning.
Goedemorgen.

Good afternoon.
Goedemiddag.

Good evening.
Goedenavond.

Have a nice day.
Nog een prettige dag.

I don’t understand.
Ik begrijp het niet.

Excuse me.
Neem me niet kwalijk.

How much is this?
Hoeveel kost dit?

Thank you.
Dank U.

Where’s the toilet?
Waar is de WC?

Goodbye.
Tot ziens.

1. One of the achievements during Emperor Chengzu’s reign was:
   

   1. Trading with Europe and America
      
   2. Defeating the “Latter-Jin” regime
      
   3. Reducing the burden on peasants
      
   4. The building of the Forbidden City
      

2. Which of the following
   occurred during the reign of
   Zhu Yuanzhang?
   

   1. A major source of finance was in porcelain making.
      
   2. There was wide trade with Europe and America.
      
   3. Urbanization and commercial metropolises appeared.
      
   4. The burden on peasants was reduced.
      

3. In Braille, how many possible combinations are there in one cell?
   

   1. 89
      
   2. 64
      
   3. 46
      
   4. 98
      

4. Which of the following is true?
   

   1. Grade I Braille uses a cell to represent each letter, Grade II Braille sometimes uses a cell to represent whole words.
      
   2. Grade I Braille uses a cell to represent words; Grade II Braille uses a cell to represent letters.
      
   3. Grade I Braille uses a cell to represent each letter; Grade II Braille uses a cell to represent numbers.
      
   4. Grade I Braille uses a cell to represent each number; Grade II Braille uses a cell to represent letters.
      

5. What are complementary angles?
   

   1. Two angles that add up to 180°
      
   2. Two angles that are obtuse
      
   3. Two angles that add up to be greater than 90°
      
   4. Two angles that add up to be 90°
      

6. Which measurement is an example of an acute angle?
   

   1. 91°
      
   2. 90°
      
   3. 89°
      
   4. 100°
      

7. What is the largest object in the solar system?
   

   1. Jupiter
      
   2. The Sun
      
   3. The asteroid belt
      
   4. Ceres
      

8. Pluto, Ceres, and Eris are examples of:
   

   1. Outer planets
      
   2. Inner planets
      
   3. Dwarf planets
      
   4. Galaxies
      

9. What type of language is Dutch?
   

   1. West Slavic
      
   2. East Germanic
      
   3. West Germanic
      
   4. East Slavic
      

10. How many distinct dialects of Dutch are there?
    

    1. 16
       
    2. 28
       
    3. 7
       
    4. 12
       

ANSWER KEY: d, d, b, a, d, c, b, c, c, b

HISTORY:
Columbus and the New World
Columbus Decides to Travel to the East, The First Voyage, The Second Voyage, The Third Voyage, The Fourth Voyage, The Impact on the Native Americans

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Dialects
What Is a Dialect?, Standard Dialects, Social Dialects, Geographic Dialects, Interlingua, Focal and
Relic Areas

MATH:
Pythagorean Theorem
What Is the Pythagorean Theorem?, Proof with Triangles That Are Similar, Euclid’s Proof, Algebraic Proof, Proof with Differentials, The Pythagorean Triple

SCIENCE:
The Big Bang
From Nothing to Something, The Universe Expands, Evidence for the Big Bang, Misconceptions, Other Theories, Does God Have a Role?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Swedish
The Origins, Old Swedish, Modern Swedish, Contemporary Swedish, Dialects,
Useful Swedish Phrases

COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD

Columbus Decides to Travel to the East
Christopher Columbus spent much of his life sailing the Atlantic Ocean. He became very interested in traveling to the far East, which he believed was just across the Atlantic Ocean. His idea was to create a sea route to India and attain the gold and spices of the East Indies. Columbus met with King John II of Portugal to support his journey, but was soon rejected. He then met with the monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who, although they had rejected him initially, would eventually agree to support his journey.

DIALECTS

What Is a Dialect?
A dialect is a variety of a particular language that is characteristic within a certain group of speakers of that language. It refers to differing speech patterns within the same language, and is often representative of social, geographic, and economic factors, as well as background. Dialects are distinguished by the use of grammar, syntax, morphology, and vocabulary.

PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM

What Is the Pythagorean Theorem?
The Pythagorean theorem is one of the most well-known formulas ever written:

a
2 + 
b
2 = 
c
2

The letters
a
and
b
represent the sides of the triangle, and the letter
c
represents the hypotenuse, which is opposite of the right angle. The Pythagorean theorem can only be used when dealing with right triangles (which as you might recall, means an angle of 90 degrees). There are at least 370 ways to prove the Pythagorean theorem.

THE BIG BANG

From Nothing to Something
The big bang is the most widely accepted theory that explains how the universe began. Before the universe started, there was literally nothing. Then, 13.7 billion years ago, the universe came into existence. This was known as a singularity. Singularities are thought to exist inside black holes and defy the laws of physics that we understand. Black holes have intense pressure from gravity, and finite matter was squished together, forming the singularity.

SWEDISH

The Origins
Swedish is a North-Germanic language, influenced by Middle Low German. It originally stemmed from Old Norse, which, in the ninth century, split into Old West Norse and Old East Norse. Old East Norse consisted of Sweden and Denmark, and in the twelfth century, the language between those two lands began to change, turning into Old Swedish and Old Danish.

COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD