Darwin and natural selection

On February 12th 2009  the world marked the bicentennial birthday of Charles Darwin, a scientist who holds a rightful place alongside Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein. His theory of evolution ties together disparate biological facts into a single unifying framework. When he published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he triggered a revolution in evolutionary thought. Naturalists had theorized about evolution for centuries before him, but their ideas were generally unfruitful, untestable or wrong. Darwin’s insight was not that a simple mechanism—natural selection—made evolution possible. Rather it was that in organisms whose environment changed nonrandomly and whose reproductive success in that environment depended on inherited traits, evolution became inevitable.

Social media in the classroom

Researchers are studying the fact that people are logging on to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin like never before. One of the reasons may be that social media offer numerous opportunities for both personal and professional purposes and have become an integral part of everyday life for millions of people around the world, infiltrating not only the world of teenage interaction but also business and education.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in English literature. It is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about two young lovers whose deaths reconcile their enemy families: the Montagues and the Capulets. They have to hide their love because they know that their parents will not allow them to be together. There are many obstacles on their way, like Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, and Romeo's friend Mercutio. The play was among Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed.

Food and recipes

1. Find the English word for the food in the picture and write it:

mushrooms  bread  lemons  potatoes  lettuce  orange  carrot  peas  strawberry   sandwich  cucumber  egg  pizza  coffee  chicken  bananas  cherries tomato