The Mayans didn’t enjoy their chocolate in the bar form we do now today. It would be over one and half thousand years before that happened. Instead, they drank their chocolate. After grinding the cacao seeds into a paste, they would then mix it with water, chili peppers, cornmeal and other ingredients into a thick foamy bigger confection. Chocolate had a very special place in the Mayan society and was often used for ceremonial purposes. Mayan couples often drank chocolate at marriage ceremonies and was offered to the guest. Although chocolate was enjoyed by most social classes in the Mayan society, the Aztecs weren’t so lucky since most of the Aztec Empire consisted of high, dry land. It was nearly impossible for the cacao tree to forge(?). Because of it, the only way for Aztecs to come by would be to trade for it. The only members of Aztec society that could afford to consume the cacao beans were the merchants and the Aztec nobility. However, Aztec society was so obsessed with the product that they actually used it as money. People would actually carry around a pocket full of cacao seeds much like we do pocket change. In fact, people went so far as they actually counterfeit cacao beans to use as money.

Sample Answer:

Ancient people drank chocolate mixed with other ingredients instead of enjoying chocolate bars as we do. Chocolate played an important role in Mayan society and was used for ceremonial purposes. Although it was enjoyed by most social classes in Maya, Aztecs could only trade for it as it was impossible to grow in their high, dry land. They used cacao seeds as money and people even counterfeited them. (68 words)

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During the time of the Aztecs, cocoa was mainly used as a beverage. Wines and drinks were made from white pulp around the seeds of the cocoa pod. The beans themselves were used to make hot or cold chocolate drinks. Both the Maya and the Aztec secular drinks used roasted cocoa beans, a foaming agent sugar, toasted corn, and water. Vanilla and chili were also used as an ingredient in the drinks. Cocoa beans were also used as a currency and as a tribute tax from peoples ruled by Aztecs. The oily layer floating in the chocolate drink cocoa butter was used to protect the skin against the sun. For the Aztecs cocoa had a religious significance. Cocoa was believed to be of divine origin: the cocoa tree was a bridge between earth and heaven. Human sacrifices to propitiate God or sun were first sanctified by giving him chocolate. Cocoa beans were given to priest’s assistants at children’s coming of age ceremonies. During marriage ceremonies, the couple drank a symbolic cup of chocolate and exchanged cocoa beans. Aztecs believed that drinking chocolate gave mortals some of Quetzalcoatl wisdom. God of learning and the wind.

Sample Answer:

Cocoa was important in Aztecs times as it was mainly used as beverage and the beans were also used as currency and a tribute tax. The oily layer of cocoa butter was used to protect the skin against the sun. Besides cocoa had religious significance which was believed to have divine origin.

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Sea creatures are inspiring the latest devices that harness wave power.

This one called the Oyster sits on the sea floor and opens and closes as waves pass over it. Cables attach it to generators on the shore. Since November 2009, it’s been powering 9000 homes in the Orkney Islands. Another device looks like a snake. The anaconda is made from a rubber tube filled with water that floats just below the surface. When the swell hits the front of it, the tube squeezed above ripples done its links and powers a turbine in its tail. Prototypes are currently being tested, but the full-scale version will be 200 meters long.

This system also looks like a snake. But this one is made of steel. It floats near the surface, where waves make its joints move, this drives hydraulic systems that power electrical generators, like the anaconda. It’s still being tested. Results will prove that these devices are up to the job of supplying viable sources of green energy.

Sample Answer:

Simulating sea creatures inspires many devices to generate green energy. The first device is like an oyster, which opens and closes as waves pass over it. And it has powered nine thousand homes. The second one is a rubber tube like a snake, filled with water and floats below the surface. The third one is also like a snake but made of steel and capable of generating electrical power generators. (70 words)

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Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 51 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook.1 She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation.23From 1900 to 1907, Mallon worked as a cook in the New York City area for seven families.7 In 1900, she worked in Mamaroneck, New York, where, within two weeks of her employment, residents developed typhoid fever. In 1901, she moved to Manhattan, where members of the family for whom she worked developed fevers and diarrhea, and the laundress died. Mallon then went to work for a lawyer; she left after seven of the eight people in that household became ill.

In 1906, she took a position in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and within two weeks 10 of the 11 family members were hospitalized with typhoid. She changed jobs again, and similar occurrences happened in three more households. She worked as a cook for the family of a wealthy New York banker, Charles Henry Warren. When the Warrens rented a house in Oyster Bay for the summer of 1906, Mallon went along too. From August 27 to September 3, six of the 11 people in the family came down with typhoid fever. The disease at that time was “unusual” in Oyster Bay, according to three medical doctors who practiced there.

Audio:

Sample Answer:

Mary Mallon worked as a cook who was born in Ireland and immigrated to the US in 19th century. She was the first carrier of typhoid fever in the US which could be transmitted through food and water. Mary infected 22 people in her life, of whom one died. But she denied she had the disease and was isolated for three years before she dies. (65 words)

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I’m 43 years old, and I owe tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. Oh sure, I knew the loans were piling up as I went through school. But with one loan coming from here, another from there, I had no idea of the rock slide that was building.

Fifteen years later, I still experience moments of sheer horror regarding my families financial situation. My monthly student loan payment is more than triple my car payment. OK, so without my college degree, I would not have been able to get my current job. For that I’m grateful but at what cost?

My loans have been accruing at a rate of 10 percent, and now they have burgeoned to well. I’m an English major; you do the math. I don’t think they’ll ever get paid off. Were in debt way past our eyeballs, and there’s no hope in sight. I’m being kept in class a financial class of graduates whose only hope for attending college meant borrowing money from the government. Because of our mounting credit card debt and monthly payments that far exceed our families income, my kids will also join the class of citizens who can rely on their parents for college support. Do I wish I’d chosen another educational route? You bet.

Audio:

Sample Answer:

The forty-three-year-old woman owed enormous student loans that borrowed from the government, and after fifteen years later, she was still experiencing financial situation. It is more than triple than her card payment, and the rate was accruing at ten percent. Although her college degree helped finding the career, the debt exceeded family income and her kids require attending financial class because of lack of support. (68 words)

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We all know that there are some factors for species and animals to survive and reproduce, including environmental conditions, temperature, tolerance range, body size, weight, diets, seasonal and daily activity, behavior, and the altitude they live. Animals migrate to find a new habitat because the change of environment and only species that have the tolerance for the new environment could survive and reproduce. Human beings are the only organism that makes extensive use of technology to extend the limits of its natural tolerance range.

Sample Answer:

Animal survival and reproduction depend on many factors including the environmental conditions, temperature tolerance, body size, diet, seasonal and daily activity and behaviors. For instance, it is impossible for an animal to survive in the fridge, which indicates the importance of season and climate to animal survival. That is also the reason why some animals migrate to other habitats when the climate changes.

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Welsh is a Celtic language spoken in Wales by about 740,000 people, and in the Welsh colony in Patagonia, Argentina by several hundred people. There are also Welsh speakers in England, Scotland, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. At the beginning of the 20th century, about half of the population of Wales spoke Welsh as an everyday language. Towards the end of the century, the proportion of Welsh speakers had fallen to about 20%. According to the 2001 census 582,368 people can speak Welsh, 659,301 people can either speak, read or write Welsh, and 797,717 people, 28% of the population, claimed to have some knowledge of the language. According to a survey carried out by S4C, the Welsh language TV channel, the number of Welsh speakers in Wales is around 750,000, and about 1.5 million people can ‘understand’ Welsh. In addition, there are an estimated 133,000 Welsh-speakers living in England, about 50,000 of them in the Greater London area.

Sample Answer:

Welsh is a Celtic language spoken in many regions such as England and the USA. The proportion of Welsh speaker droped dramatically from half to 20% during the 20th century. Some of them can speak the language, some ca either speak, read or write Welsh, while others only have some knowledge of the language. In conclusion, there is still a positive trend. (62 words)

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They call it the marshmallow test. A four to six year-old-child sits alone in a room at a table facing a marshmallow on a plate. The child is told: “If you don’t eat this treat for 15 minutes you can have both it and a second one. Kids on average wait for five or six minutes before eating the marshmallow. The longer a child can resist the treat has been correlated with higher general competency later in life.

Now a study shows that ability to resist temptation isn’t strictly innate-it also highly influenced by environment. Researchers gave five-year-old used crayons and one sticker to decorate a sheet of paper. One group was promised a new set of art supplies for the project-but then never received it. But the other group did receive new crayons and better stickers. Then both groups were given the marshmallow test. The children who had been lied to waited for a mean time of three minutes before eating the marshmallow. The group that got their promised materials resisted an average of 12 minutes. Thus, the researchers note that experience factors into a child’s ability to delay gratification. When previous promises have been hollow, why believe the next one?

Sample Answer:

In the marshmallow test, children who can wait fifteen minutes without eating the marshmallow are promised to get the second one. The waiting time which indicates the ability to resist temptation is correlated with children’s competency later in life. However, children who are disappointed in the previous crayon test are less likely to wait 15 minutes for the second marshmallow. (60 words)

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People often forget their cards after taking money from the ATM. Occasionally, this is the common reason, because they get the money and walk away. In the UK, it becomes less common because people take their money after they’ve taken their card. In the past, people made the error by forgetting to get their cards after their money. UK has restructured the new ATM system. You have to get your card before you get your cash. Although you would forget to get your money, it is more catastrophic if you lose your card because it can access your bank account.

Sample Answer:

In the past, people always forgot their cards after taking money from the ATM. Since UK has restructured new ATM system which people have to take the card first before getting money, the phenomenon has been decreased. Although it gives the change that people forget to take money, it is more detrimental to lose your bank account since others can access it though the credit card. (66 words)

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So, we were founded just over ten years ago, when I was in the Royal Academy, a Museum in the center of London, with my three children, at the Aztec exhibition. I don’t know if any of you saw it. I had an older child and two younger children, twins, strapped in a pushchair, and one of my children, three years old, shouted – and I’ve never denied he shouted – he shouted, ‘Monster, monster!’ at this statue which looked just like a monster, had snakes for hair, a big beak for a nose. And, I thought, this is fantastic – I’ve got a three-year old that’s appreciating pre-Hispanic art – how good can it get?

So, I bent down and I said, ‘Yes, it looks just like a monster’. And, at that moment, a room warden came over, a gallery assistant came over and said we were being too noisy, and threw us out.

Wrong family. I was, at that time, a journalist with The Guardian newspaper, and two days later wrote a big piece in The Guardian about being thrown out of the Royal Academy. What was really interesting was, by the end of that day, we had had, at the paper, over 500 emails from other families saying, ‘Museums aren’t working for us. Let’s try and make it work’.

So, that’s what we did. In The Guardian, we set up a campaign. We called it the Kids in Museums campaign, but it didn’t really exist. It was just a few pages. We ran loads of stories on it; I began touring the country talking about how to make your museum family friendly; I was a journalist.

I was called in to see the then director of the National Gallery in London, and I’ll never forget this moment, when he called me in and said, ‘We really like this Kids in Museums campaign, and we’ve been talking on our board about it, and we have some ideas of how we might work together, and I’d like you to take them back to your team.

Audio:

Sample Answer:

A mother, a journalist with The Guardian newspaper, wrote an article in the newspaper complaining about her experience of being thrown out of a museum because of her kids shouting in the museum. She received emails from families about the same experience.They set up The Kids in Museums Campaign. Although it didn’t exist at first, the speaker began touring the country, talking about how to make museums family friendly. (70 words)

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