Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. Several walls have been built since the 5th century BC that are referred to collectively as the Great Wall, which has been rebuilt and maintained from the 5th century BC through the 16th century. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.

The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has recently concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers

اثار شکسپیر

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Welcome to the Web's first edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This site has offered Shakespeare's plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.

For other Shakespeare resources, visit the Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet Web site.

The original electronic source for this server was the Complete Moby(tm) Shakespeare. The HTML versions of the plays provided here are placed in the public domain.

(عروس دریایی)Jellyfish

Jellyfish (also known as jellies or sea jellies or Medusozoa) are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish have several different morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the Scyphozoa (over 200 species), Staurozoa (about 50 species), Cubozoa (about 20 species), and Hydrozoa (about 1000–1500 species that make jellyfish and many more that do not).^[1][2] Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers specifically to adult jellyfish.

Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea. Some hydrozoan jellyfish, or hydromedusae, are also found in fresh water; freshwater species are less than an inch (25 mm) in diameter, are colorless and do not sting. Many of the best-known jellyfish, such as Aurelia, are scyphomedusae. These are the large, often colorful, jellyfish that are common in coastal zones worldwide.

In its broadest sense, the term jellyfish also generally refers to members of the phylum Ctenophora. Although not closely related to cnidarian jellyfish, ctenophores are also free-swimming planktonic carnivores, are generally transparent or translucent, and exist in shallow to deep portions of all the world's oceans.

Alternative names for groups of jellyfish are scyphomedusae, stauromedusae, cubomedusae, and hydromedusae. These may relate to an entire order or class.

چطور با خواندن، انگلیسی خود را تقویت کنیم؟

چطور با خواندن، انگلیسی خود را تقویت کنیم؟
سریع خوانی



معمولاً افراد هنگام مطالعهی یک متن (مثلاً یک روزنامه) سعی میکنند با حداقل تلاش و حداکثر سرعت به مضمون اصلی مطلب پی ببرند. شاید بتوان این استراتژی را «سریع خوانی» نامید. در این استراتژی مغز تلاش میکند تا جای ممکن کلمات کمتری را بخواند و تنها کسری از ثانیه روی هر کلمه توقف میکند. ممکن است زبانآموزان نیز این استراتژی را برای خواندن متون انگلیسی بکار بگیرند.

حال باید دید این استراتژی (سریع خوانی) چه ویژگیهایی دارد:

کلمات گرامری از قبیل حروف اضافه و حروف تعریف دیده نمیشوند. چشم تنها روی کلماتی از قبیل اسمها، فعلها، صفات و قیدهای اصلی توقف میکند.

وجوه کلمه دیده نمیشود (مانند قسمت دوم یا سوم بودن یک فعل).

به املای دقیق کلمه دقت نمیشود. دانسته شده است که مغز کل کلمه را از روی شکل آن تشخیص میدهد و آن را بصورت حرف به حرف تجزیه و تحلیل نمیکند.

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day)^[1][2][3] is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.^[1][3] The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.^[]

ضرب المثل

ُtake heart:روحیه گرفتن

have a free hand:اختیار کاری رو داشتن

be in hot water:تودردسر افتادن

see eye to eye:تفاهم داشتن

a white elephant:بیهوده بودن

wet blanket:ایینه دق بودن

Ode

Ode (from the Ancient Greek ὠδή) is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally.

Contrary to a few scholars, the Greek odes did not lose their musical quality; they were originally symphonic orchestras accompanied by a poem sung. As time passed on, they gradually became known as simple poems whether sung or recited (with or without music). Most likely the instrument of choice was the aulos. The written ode, as it was practiced by the Romans, returned to the lyrical form of the Lesbian lyricists. This was exemplified, exquisitely, by Horace and Catullus; the odes of Horace deliberately imitated the Greek lyricists such as Alcaeus and Anacreon, and the poetry of Catullus was particularly inspired by Sappho.

satire

satire: a literary term used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack.

A piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work. While satire can be funny, its aim is not to amuse, but to arouse contempt. Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" satirizes the English people, making them seem dwarfish in their ability to deal with large thoughts, issues, or deeds.

Satire The literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it. The object of satire is usually some human frailty; people, institutions, ideas, and things are all fair game for satirists. Satire evokes attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation toward its faulty subject in the hope of somehow improving it. See also irony, parody

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/satire.html

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