Hollywood Looks Overseas for Talent and Profit

Over half of ticket sales for American movies now come from other countries. But the
industry sees billions lost to piracy. Transcript of radio broadcast. Source: VOA

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This year, something happened at the Academy Awards that had not happened since
nineteen sixty-four. All the winners for best acting were from outside the United States.

Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton are British. He won best actor for "There Will Be
Blood"; she won best supporting actress for "Michael Clayton." French actress Marion
Cotillard won the Oscar for best actress for "La Vie en Rose." And Spain's Javier
Bardem won best supporting actor in "No Country for Old Men."

Hollywood is increasingly looking outside America's borders for stars and profit.

Jonathan Taplin is a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication at the
University of Southern California. He says that today, about fifty-four percent of the
ticket sales for Hollywood studios now come from outside the United States.

For the last three months of two thousand seven, foreign sales totaled about eight
hundred eighty million dollars. But there is fierce competition for each movie dollar.

Hollywood has lost market share in some places as other countries develop their own
film industries. For example, in the mid-eighties, American films had eighty percent of
the market in South Korea. Today that share is about forty percent.

Hollywood also faces competition from illegally copied movies, a major issue to the
Motion Picture Association of America. The trade group estimated more than eighteen
billion dollars in worldwide losses from piracy in two thousand five.

Hollywood reporter Alan Silverman says piracy has influenced how American movies
are released. In the past, Hollywood studios waited months after the American release
of a film to release it in foreign markets. Now, many aim to release films at the same
time around the world.

Foreign markets may also influence how people get their movies. Different nations have
different levels of technology.

Efforts to settle on the next-generation DVD got a lot of attention recently. Sony's Blu-
ray technology for high-definition televisions won the competition with Toshiba's HD
DVD format.

Yet DVD sales have dropped in recent years. This may be a sign that people are
increasingly getting their movies off the Internet. The Internet is another front in
Hollywood's war on piracy. But more than that, it presents complex business questions
for an industry now built mostly on DVD and ticket sales.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm
Steve Ember.

New Findings About Disorder in Bees

A number of viruses acting together may help explain cases of colony collapse.
Transcript of radio broadcast. Source: VOA

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Colony collapse disorder first struck honey bees in the United States in late two
thousand six. Over the next two years, beekeepers lost more than one-third of their
honey bees.

Scientists in the United States and other countries have been working to explain the
mysterious disappearances of bees. Now, a new study suggests that several viruses may
act together.

Scientists from the University of Illinois and the United States Department of
Agriculture did the study. Their report appeared in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.

The team compared bees from affected colonies with those from healthy colonies.  They
were looking for differences in gene expression in the guts of the bees.

The scientists found that the affected bees had a number of viruses from a group called
picorna-like viruses. The infections observed in the bees included Israeli acute paralysis
virus and deformed wing virus.

Tiny insects likely play a big part in spreading the viruses. Varroa mites have been
causing serious problems in bee colonies in the United States since the late nineteen
eighties. These mites carry picorna-like viruses. 

The viruses appear to harm the bees' ability to use their genetic material to produce
proteins needed to fight infections. Researcher Reed Johnson, now at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, says the study suggests that the damaged proteins are unable to
respond effectively when attacked.

University of Illinois Professor May Berenbaum says it appears that bees could deal
with one or two viruses at the same time, but not three or four.

She says the picorna-like viruses "hijack" the ribosome in cells. Ribosomes are
structures in which proteins are made. As a result the ribosome produces only viral
proteins.

The professor says ribosome is central to the survival of any organism. If it is

compromised, then the bees could not defend themselves against pesticides or fungal
infections or bacteria or poor nutrition.

These have all been identified as possible causes of the collapse disorder. Spanish
researchers, for example, recently said they suspected a parasitic fungus which has been
found among affected bees in Spain.

Bees add billions of dollars in value to many crops worldwide. For now, beekeepers
have been doing their best to try to protect their colonies.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm
Faith Lapidus.

Three Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Medicine

Their work involved the health of cells and the aging process. Transcript of radio
broadcast. Source: VOA

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Three scientists based in the United States have won the two thousand nine Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine. They are being honored for their work in the nineteen
eighties about the health of cells and the aging process.

The winners are Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California, San Francisco;
Jack Szostak from Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts and Carol Greider from
Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. They will share the one million four hundred
thousand dollar prize.

The scientists' work begins with telomeres. These are like protective coverings on the
ends of chromosomes. Elizabeth Blackburn compares them to the plastic tips on the
ends of shoelaces. She says without telomeres the chromosome and the genes it holds
would come apart.

Telomeres are necessary for a cell to divide. They also are involved in directing the
number of divisions.

Mizz Blackburn and Mister Szostak discovered the special system of genetic
information in the telomeres that protects the chromosomes from ruin. Later, Mizz
Blackburn and Mizz Greider discovered the substance in the body that builds telomeres.
The scientists named the enzyme telomerase.

Their research showed that cells age if telomeres are shortened.  But, cell death is
delayed if a lot of the enzyme telomerase is produced.
Rune Toftgard is a Nobel Committee member from Sweden's Karolinska Institute. He
says the work of telomeres is important to the understanding of how genetic material is
copied and saved.

RUNE TOFTGARD: "All genes are encoded by DNA and the DNA is present in the
chromosomes in the cell nucleus and telomeres, they are the ends of the chromosomes
and they have an important function to protect the chromosomes and maintain the
integrity of the chromosomes."

The telomere research expanded scientific knowledge about diseases and led to possible
new treatments. For example, some research suggests that cancer cells use telomerase to
grow uncontrollably. Some scientists are studying whether drugs that block the enzyme
can help fight cancer.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more
health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Twitter and
YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Mario Ritter.

NASA Crafts Smash into Moon in Search for Water

Transcript of radio broadcast. Source: VOA

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The U.S. space agency has smashed a pair of heavy space craft into the moon's surface
in the hopes of finding evidence of frozen water or other potential resources. It may take
weeks of analyzing data before NASA scientists announce their findings.

Scores of telescopes and other monitoring equipment turned toward the moon early
Friday to watch two NASA craft crash into the south pole of the Moon.

Flight director Paul Tompkins led the mission team as the first payload hit the surface.

"All stations, flight," said Paul Tompkins. "Mark Centaur impact."

Scientists with the Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite mission, or LCROSS,
said the payloads hit their target - the dark and frigid side of a crater near the south pole.
The mission however did not live up to expectations that the payloads would create a
cloud of debris visible to telescopes on Earth.

NASA officials had encouraged both academic and amateur space observers to view
what they thought would be an exciting sight.

The mission's lead investigator Tony Colaprete said the debris plume was not seen in
the first set of images, but it should have been detected with other scientific
measurements.

"We saw a crater, we saw a flash [afterward]," said Tony Colaprete. "So something had
to happen in between."

The NASA team used a series of photographic cameras and infrared sensors to
document the moment of impact and the resulting debris cloud. Additional data was
collected at observatories around the United States, as well as satellites including the
Hubble Space Telescope. The hope is the spectrum data will produce evidence of water,
hydrocarbons or other organic material in the debris cloud.

But lead investigator Colaprete said it may take weeks to analyze the information and
arrive at a conclusion.

"Life is full of surprises," he said. "We want to be careful not to make a false negative
or a false positive claim. I am excited we saw variations in the spectra because that
means we saw something, that was not just blackness. The information is there we just
need to get to it."

One thing the team did confirm was the presence of sodium. Colaprete said the impact
of the payloads apparently caused a reaction with sodium which was easily spotted from
Earth.

Regardless of the final scientific conclusions, NASA researchers said they were pleased
with the LCROSS mission. NASA's chief lunar scientist Mike Wargo said officials are
hoping to change the image of the moon as a desolate, unchanging place.

"We've really been thinking about the moon in a different way," said Mike Wargo.
"Who thought just a month ago we would be talking about the water cycle or the
hydration cycle of the moon?"

The LCROSS mission launched in June along with a separate mission to study the
moon's surface. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is surveying possible landing areas
and other conditions for the possible return of astronauts to the moon.

Landmark to Freedom Stands Above Mean Streets

An abolitionist firebrand's writings composed there inspired millions. Transcript of

radio broadcast. Source: VOA

Click here to listen

The Anacostia neighborhood - named for the polluted branch of the Potomac River that
runs past it - is the poorest, most run-down section of Washington, D.C.

It encompasses most of the city's public-housing projects and burned-out homes.

But among them, in what had been Washington's first suburb, are some beautiful places
and significant historical sites.
One sits on a high spot called Cedar Hill, from which one gets a magnificent view of the
distant U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress, and Supreme Court Building.

A small but elegant mansion was built there in 1852, when that part of Anacostia was
for white Protestants only - no Catholics, Jews, or, certainly, African-Americans were
welcome.

The owner got into financial trouble, and the property was taken over by an institution
called the Freedman's Bank, which was set up after the Civil War to help former
southern slaves.

And the Freedman's Bank sold Cedar Hill to a black man who broke the color line in
Anacostia. He was the bank's own president, Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who
had become the most rapturous speaker in the abolitionist movement.

Douglass, who had learned to read from little white boys to whom he sneaked food
when he was a slave, inspired other slaves to learn to read as the path to freedom and a
full life.

His home in Anacostia contains hundreds of Douglass artifacts, including his walking
sticks, swamp hats, and pens that he used to write his speeches and books in the little,
windowless building called a growlery out back.

The main house looks like a smaller version of his master's old manor home.

That's why he bought it, Frederick Douglass said. He couldn't pass up the opportunity
because of the irony of it all.

ack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer (or killers) active in
the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London in the
second half of 1888. The name is taken from a letter to the Central News Agency by
someone claiming to be the murderer, published at the time of the killings. Although
many theories have been advanced, Jack the Ripper's identity may never be proven.

The legends surrounding the Ripper murders have become a complex muddle of
genuine historical research, freewheeling conspiracy theory and dubious folklore. The
lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed subsequent authors, historians and
mostly amateur sleuths—dubbed Ripperologists—to point their fingers at a wide variety
of candidates. Newspapers, whose circulation had been growing during this era,
bestowed widespread and enduring notoriety on the killer due to the savagery of the
murders and the failure of police to effect a capture, with the Ripper sometimes
escaping discovery by mere minutes.

Victims were women earning income as casual prostitutes. Typical Ripper murders
were perpetrated in a public or semi-public place; the victim's throat was cut, after
which the cadaver was subjected to abdominal and sometimes other mutilations such as
those found in lust murder. Many now believe that the victims were first strangled in
order to silence them. Due to the nature of the wounds on some presumed Ripper
victims, several of whom had internal organs removed, it has been proposed that the
killer had a degree of surgical or medical skill, or was perhaps a butcher, although this
point, like most of the beliefs about the killer and facts in the case, is in dispute.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "Jack the Ripper". You can
explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. The murders were committed in 1888.

True.
False.
We don't know.

2. The name was taken from a letter received by the Central News Agency.

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. The killer was never identified.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. The killer may have had medical skills.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. The killer may have been a butcher.

True.
False.
We don't know.

The Royal Family

The British Royal Family is a group of people closely
related to the British monarch. Although there is no
strict legal definition of who is or is not a member of
the Royal Family, and different lists will include
different people, those carrying the title HM or HRH
are generally accepted as being members. Usually this
equates to the following people being considered to be
a member: the British Sovereign (the king or queen);
the consort of the Sovereign (his or her spouse); the widowed consorts of previous
Sovereigns; the children of the Sovereign (princes and princesses); the grandchildren of
the Sovereign in the male line; and the spouses of a Sovereign's children and male-line
grandchildren. Prior to 1917, great grandchildren in the male line would also be
considered to be royal.

The style His Majesty or Her Majesty (HM) is enjoyed by a King, a Queen (regnant), a
Queen consort, and a former Queen consort (a Queen Dowager or a Queen Mother).

Use of the style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness (HRH) and the titular
dignity of Prince or Princess is governed by Letters Patent issued by King George V on
30 November 1917 (published in the London Gazette on 11 December 1917). These
Letters Patent state that henceforth, only the children of the Sovereign, the children of
the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest son of the eldest son of The Prince of Wales
would "have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal
Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective
Christian names or with their other titles of honour." They further state, "the
grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the
eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title
enjoyed by the children of Dukes."

Under these conventions, The Queen's children and the children of The Prince of Wales
and The Duke of York are titled Princes or Princesses and styled Royal Highness.
Likewise, The Duke of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Hon.
Lady Oglivy, and Prince Michael of Kent enjoy the titular dignity of Prince or Princess
and the style Royal Highness as male-line grandchildren of King George V. However,
none of their children has a royal title. For example, the children of Prince Michael of
Kent are known as Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor (the courtesy
titles as children of dukes), instead of HRH Prince Frederick and HRH Princess
Gabriella, respectively. The children of The Princess Royal, Princess Alexandra, and the
late Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden, are not Royal Highnesses, since
princesses do not normally transmit their titles to their children. Princess Margaret's son
enjoys the courtesy title Viscount Linley as the son and heir of the Earl of Snowden,
while her daughter enjoys the courtesy title Lady. The children of the Princess Royal
and Princess Alexandra have no titles, because Captain Mark Philips and Sir Angus
Oglivy do not hold hereditary peerages.

Women marrying sons and male-line grandsons of a Sovereign are normally styled Her
Royal Highness followed by the feminised version of her husband's highest title. The
wives of royal peers are known as "HRH The Duchess of ..." or " HRH The Countess of
..." Thus, the wives of the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of
Wessex are "HRH The Duchess of Kent," "HRH The Duchess of Gloucester," and
"HRH The Countess of Wessex," respectively. Before her divorce, the late Diana,
Princess of Wales enjoyed the title and style of "HRH The Princess of Wales."
However, when a woman marries a prince who does not hold a peerage, she is known as
HRH Princess [Her husband's Christian name], followed by whatever territorial or
titular designation. For example, the former Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz
enjoys the title and style of "HRH Princess Michael of Kent," instead of "HRH Princess
Marie-Christine of Kent." Similarly, the former Birgitte Eva van Deurs was titled "HRH
Princess Richard of Gloucester" from her wedding day until her husband succeeded to
his father's dukedom in 1974. The widows of princes remain HRH. However, under
Queen Elizabeth II's 21 August 1996 Letters Patent, a divorced wife of a Prince of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland "shall not be entitled to hold and enjoy the
style, title or attribute of Royal Highness."

There has been one exception to the convention that wives of princes take their
husband's rank. In Letters Patent dated 28 May 1937, King George VI specifically
denied the style HRH to the wife of the Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward
VIII. Therefore, the former Wallis Warfield Simpson was known as "Her Grace The
Duchess of Windsor," not "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Windsor."

The daughters and male-line granddaughters of the Sovereign do not lose their royal
titles upon marriage. Men who marry the daughters and the male-line granddaughters of
the Sovereign, however, do not acquire their wives' royal rank and the style HRH. The
only exception to this convention is Prince Philip. Born a Prince of Greece and
Denmark, it was only after his wartime service that he renounced his title and became a
naturalised British subject, as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN. The day before his
marriage he was created Duke of Edinburgh with the style HRH by King George VI's
Letters Patent of 1947 November 19. The Duke of Edinburgh was not created a Prince
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland until 1957. On Tanna, one
of the islands in Vanuatu in the South West Pacific, the Duke is worshipped as a god.
Vanuatu was formerly the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, which
Prince Philip visited in 1971.

As grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line, the children of the then
Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh would not have been entitled to use
HRH or Prince or Princess until their mother became Queen, had those titles and styles
not been granted in Letters Patent of 22 October 1948.

Finally, on the wedding day of HRH The Earl of Wessex to the then Miss Sophie Rhys-
Jones, Buckingham Palace announced that, with the couple's agreement, any children
they have should not be given the style His or Her Royal Highness, but would have
courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an earl. HRH The Countess of Wessex gave birth
to a daughter on 8 November 2003. The press secretary to the Queen announced that the
infant would be styled the Lady Louise Windsor, though no Royal Warrant or Letters
Patent were issued to this effect.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "British Royal Family". You
can explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. HM and HRH are titles used only by the members of the Royal Family.

True.
False.
We don't know.

2. Great grandchildren in the male line also use the HRH title.

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. When a woman marries a prince, she is called HRH Princess followed by

her first name.

her husband's first name and the territory.
her husband's surname and the territory.

4. A divorced wife of a prince can still use the title HRH.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. The daughters and male-line granddaughters of the monarch keep their titles after
getting married.

True.
False.
We don't know.

6. The Duke of Edinburgh visited Vanuatu in 1971.

True.
False.
We don't know.

George Orwell

George Orwell was the pen name of British author Eric Arthur
Blair (25 June 1903–21 January 1950). Noted as a political and
cultural commentator, Orwell is among the most widely
admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, though he is best known
for two novels he wrote in the late 1940s, the political allegory Animal Farm and
Nineteen Eighty-Four. The latter described a totalitarian dystopia so vividly that the
adjective 'Orwellian' is now commonly used to describe totalitarian mechanisms of
thought-control.

Eric Blair was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, in the then British colony of India,
where his father, Richard, worked for the Opium Department of the Civil Service. His
mother, Ida, brought him to England at the age of one. He did not see his father again
until 1907, when Richard visited England for three months before leaving again until
1912. Eric had an older sister named Marjorie and a younger sister named Avril. With
his characteristic humour, he would later describe his family's background as "lower-
upper-middle class."

During most of his career Orwell was best known for his journalism, both in the British
press and in books of reportage such as Homage to Catalonia (describing his
experiences during the Spanish Civil War), Down and Out in Paris and London
(describing a period of poverty in these cities), and The Road to Wigan Pier (which
described the living conditions of poor miners in northern England). According to
Newsweek, Orwell "was the finest journalist of his day and the foremost architect of the
English essay since Hazlitt."

Contemporary readers are more often introduced to Orwell as a novelist, particularly

through his enormously successful titles Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The
former is an allegory of the corruption of the socialist ideals of the Russian Revolution
by Stalinism, and the latter is Orwell's prophetic vision of the results of totalitarianism.
Orwell had returned from Catalonia a staunch anti-Stalinist and anti-Communist, but he
remained to the end a man of the left and, in his own words, a 'democratic socialist'.

Orwell is also known for his insights about the political implications of the use of
language. In the essay "Politics and the English Language", he decries the effects of
cliche, bureaucratic euphemism, and academic jargon on literary styles, and ultimately
on thought itself. Orwell's concern over the power of language to shape reality is also
reflected in his invention of Newspeak, the official language of the imaginary country of
Oceania in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Newspeak is a variant of English in which
vocabulary is strictly limited by government fiat. The goal is to make it increasingly
difficult to express ideas that contradict the official line - with the final aim of making it
impossible even to conceive such ideas. (cf. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis). A number of
words and phrases that Orwell coined in Nineteen Eighty-Four have entered the
standard vocabularly, such as "memory hole," "Big Brother," "Room 101,"
"doublethink," "thought police," and "newspeak."

The comprehensive edition of Orwell's work was edited by Peter Davison and published
in 20 volumes in 1998.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are a British rock and roll band who rose to prominence during the
mid-1960s.

The band was named after a song by Muddy Waters, a leading exponent of hard-rocking
blues. In their music, The Rolling Stones were the embodiment of the idea of importing
blues style into popular music.

Their first recordings were covers or imitations of rhythm and blues music, but they
soon greatly extended the reach of their lyrics and playing, but rarely, if ever, lost their
basic blues feel.

The band came into being in 1961 when former school friends Jagger and Richards met
Brian Jones. They named themselves after a song by Muddy Waters, a popular choice of
name —at least two other bands are believed to have called themselves The Rolling
Stones before the Jagger/Richards/Jones band was formed. The original lineup included
Mick Jagger (vocals), Brian Jones (guitar), Keith Richards (guitar), Ian Stewart (piano),
Charlie Watts (drums) and Dick Taylor (bass). Taylor left shortly after to form The
Pretty Things, and was replaced by Bill Wyman.

By the time of their first album release Ian Stewart was "officially" not part of the band,
though he continued to record and perform with them. United by their shared interest in
rhythm and blues music the group rehearsed extensively, playing in public only
occasionally at Crawdaddy Club in London, where Alexis Korner's blues band was
resident. At first, Jones, a guitarist who also toyed with numerous other instruments,
was their creative leader.

The band rapidly gained a reputation in London for their frantic, highly energetic covers
of the rhythm and blues songs of their idols and, through manager Andrew Loog
Oldham, were signed to Decca Records (who had passed when offered The Beatles). At
this time their music was fairly primitive: Richards had learned much of his guitar
playing from the recordings of Chuck Berry, and had not yet developed a style of his
own, and Jagger was not as in control of the idioms as he would soon become. Already
though, the rhythmic interplay between Watts and Richards was clearly the heart of
their music.

The choice of material on their first record, a self-titled EP, reflected their live shows.
Similarly, the album The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hitmakers) which appeared
in April 1964 featured versions of such classics as "Route 66" (originally recorded by
Nat King Cole), "Mona" (Bo Diddley) and "Carol" (Chuck Berry).
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "The Rolling Stones". You
can explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Their first recordings were based on blues music.

True.
 False.
We don't know.

2. The band was created in

1960.
1961.
We don't know.

3. Keith Richards had learned to play the guitar from the recordings of Chuck Berry.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. The group used to rehearse a lot.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. They occasionally played in public in London.

True.
False.
We don't know. 

The Beatles

The Beatles were one of the most influential music

groups of the rock era, and many consider them the
best musical group on Earth. Initially they affected the
post-war baby boom generation of Britain and the U.S.
during the 1960s, and later the rest of the world.
Certainly they were the most successful group, with
global sales exceeding 1.1 billion records.

While they were originally famous for light-weight pop

music (and the extreme hysterical reaction they
received from young women), their later works
achieved a combination of popular and critical acclaim
perhaps unequaled in the 20th century.

Eventually, they became more than recording artists, branching out into film and —
particularly in the case of John Lennon — political activism. They achieved an iconic
status beyond mere celebrity, with far reaching effects difficult to exaggerate.

The members of the group were John Lennon, (James) Paul McCartney, George
Harrison and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey), all from Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
Original drummer Pete Best was asked to leave the group just before it started
recording. Stuart Sutcliffe was with them in Hamburg but also left.

Beatlemania began in the UK and exploded following the appearance of the Beatles on
The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States, on February 9, 1964. The pop-music band
became a worldwide phenomenon with worshipful fans, hysterical adulation, and
denunciations by culture commentators and others such as Frank Sinatra.

Some of this was confusion over the sources of their music (a similar confusion was
evinced in 1956 over Elvis Presley by commentators who were unaware of the tradition
of blues, R&B and gospel out of which Presley emerged), and some of it was simply an
incredulous reaction to the length of their hair. At any rate, it was regarded by the band
members with both awe and resentment.
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explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. They were the best selling group in history.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 2. All the members were from Liverpool.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 3. They appeared on TV on February 9, 1964.

True.
False.
We don't know.
 4. There was some confusion about the sources of their music.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 5. Their music was copied by Elvis Presley.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 6. Frank Sinatra didn't like the Beatles too much.

True.
False.

Spice Girls

The Spice Girls are an English all-female pop group, formed in London in 1994. The
Spice Girls, consisting of: Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie
Chisholm and Geri Halliwell signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single,
"Wannabe", in 1996. The song went on to spend seven weeks atop the UK Singles
Chart and helped establish the group as an "international phenomenon" who went on to
release three studio albums and ten singles, selling in excess of 55 million records world
wide.

The group embraced merchandise and became a regular feature of the British press.
Each member of the group was given an alias by Top of the Pops Magazine in 1996,
aliases which were adopted by the group and media alike. According to biographer
David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised
group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo", stating that the group was "a
social phenomenon that changed the course of popular music and popular culture".

They released three studio albums and went their separate ways in 2001 (a break-up was
never formally announced) to focus on their solo careers. On June 28, 2007, they
reformed and are now releasing a Greatest Hits album that will be accompanied by a
World Tour.
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explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. They formed in 1994.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 2. They released ten studio albums.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 3. The group broke up in 2001.

True.
False.
We don't know.

 4. In 2007, they became a group again.

True.
False.
We don't know.

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero, an outlaw who, in modern versions of
the legend, stole from the rich to give to the poor.

This redistributionist form of philosophy-in-action anticipates the work of writers such

as Proudhon and Karl Marx by many hundreds of years. Although most noted for his
material egalitarianism, in the stories he also pursues other types of equality and justice.
However, as mentioned below, Robin Hood was not originally so generous.

The stories relating to Robin Hood are apocryphal, verging on the mythological. His
first appearance in a manuscript is in William Langland's Piers Plowman (1377) in
which Sloth, the lazy priest boasts "I ken (i.e. 'know') 'rimes of Robin Hood." Three
years later the Scottish chronicler John Fordun wrote that, in ballads, "Robin Hood
delights above all others".

Printed versions of Robin Hood ballads appear in the early 16th century — shortly after
the advent of printing in England. In these ballads, Robin Hood is a yeoman which, by
that time, meant an independent tradesman or farmer. It is only in the late 16th century
that he becomes a nobleman, the Earl of Huntington, Robert of Locksley, or later still,
Robert Fitz Ooth.
His romantic attachment to Maid Marian (or "Marion") (originally known as Mathilda)
is also a product of this later period and probably has something to do with the French
pastoral play of about 1280, the Jeu de Robin et Marion. Aside from the names there is
no recognizable Robin Hood connection to the play.

The late 16th century is also the period when the Robin Hood story is moved back in
time to the 1190s, when King Richard is away at the crusades. One of the original
Robin Hood ballads refers to King Edward (Edward I, II, and III ruled England from
1272 to 1377). The idea of Robin Hood as a high-minded Saxon fighting Norman Lords
originates in the 19th century, most notably in the part Robin Hood plays in Sir Walter
Scott's Ivanhoe (1819), chapters 40 - 41, where the familiar modern Robin Hood
—"King of Outlaws and prince of good fellows!" Richard the Lionheart calls him—
makes his debut.

The folkloric Robin Hood was deprived of his lands by the villainous Sheriff of
Nottingham and became an outlaw. The Sheriff does indeed appear in the early ballads
(Robin kills and beheads him), but there is nothing as specific as this allegation. Robin's
other enemies include the rich abbots of the Catholic Church and a bounty hunter named
Guy of Gisbourne. Robin kills and beheads him as well. The early ballads contain
nothing about giving to the poor, although Robin does make a large loan to an
unfortunate knight.

In the ballads, the original "Merry Men" (though not called that) included: Friar Tuck,
Will Scarlet (or Scathlock), Much the Miller's Son, and Little John — who was called
"little" because he wasn't. Alan-a-Dale is a later invention in Robin Hood plays.
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explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Robin Hood appeared in print in the beginning of the 16th century.

True.
False.
We don't know.

2. The stories relating to Robin Hood are of questionable authenticity.

True.
False.
We don't know.
3. The folkloric Robin Hood was considered a criminal.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. According to an early ballad, Robin Hood kills the Sheriff.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. The legend of Robin Hood was associated to King Richard and the crusades.

True.
False.
We don't know.

6. Ivanhoe was written by Sir Walter Scott.

True.
False.
We don't know.

7. Little John was called like that because

he was little.
he was tall.
he was young.

Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra

Mary), styled HM The Queen, born April 21, 1926, is the
Queen regnant and Head of State of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and fifteen other
Commonwealth countries. She is Head of the
Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of
England, Commander-in-Chief of the UK Armed Forces,
and she is the Lord of Mann.

She has reigned since February 6, 1952. About 125

million people live in the countries of which she is head of
state. Before her succession, she held the titles of a British princess and by marriage,
Duchess of Edinburgh.

The Queen has never given press interviews, and her views on political issues are
largely unknown except to those few heads of government who have private
conversations with her. She is also regarded privately as an excellent mimic.

Rather conservative in dress, the Queen is well-known for her solid-colour overcoats
and decorative hats, which allow her to be seen easily in a crowd. Although she attends
many cultural events as part of her public role, in her private life the Queen is said to
have little interest in culture or the arts. Her main leisure interests include horse racing,
photography, and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

In diplomatic situations the Queen is extremely formal, and royal protocol is very strict.
Though some of the traditional rules for dealing with the British Monarch have been
relaxed during her reign (bowing is no longer required, for example) other forms of
close personal interaction, such as touching, are still discouraged. In 1992, the
Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was dubbed the "Lizard of Oz" by the British
press for touching the Queen on the back, and in 2000 his successor John Howard had
to deny that he too had touched the Queen. A similar flap occurred when Newfoundland
and Labrador premier Brian Tobin was photographed touching the Queen's back as he
accompanied her up a flight of stairs; he protested he was merely attempting to help an
elderly lady avoid falling. The queen is also notably the subject of the Sex Pistols 1977
song "God Save the Queen".

Her former prime ministers speak highly of her. Since becoming Queen, she spends an
average of three hours every day "doing the boxes"—reading state papers sent to her
from her various departments, embassies, and government offices.

Having done so since 1952, she has seen more of public affairs from the inside than any
other person, and is thus able to offer advice to Tony Blair based on things said to her
by Harold Wilson, Harold Macmillan, Edward Heath, Winston Churchill and many
other senior leaders. She takes her responsibilities in this regard seriously, once
mentioning an "interesting telegram" from the Foreign Office to then-Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, only to find that her prime minister had not bothered to read it when
it came in his box!
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom". You can explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Queen Elizabeth II was born in

1926.
1952.
We don't know.
2. Queen Elizabeth II never wears hats.

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. What animals does HM The Queen love?

Cats.
Horses.
Dogs.

4. Sex Pistols wrote a song about the Queen.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. She spends three hours every day reading newspapers.

True.
False.
We don't know.

6. Queen Elizabeth started her reign in

1923.
1952.
1978.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd is a British progressive band famous for its songwriting, harmonic classical
rock compositions, bombastic style and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd is one of rock's
most successful acts, ranking seventh in number of albums sold worldwide.

Pink Floyd formed in 1964 from an earlier band whose names included Sigma 6, T-Set,
Megadeaths, The Screaming Abdabs, The Architectural Abdabs, and The Abdabs. The
band was again renamed The Pink Floyd Sound and then simply The Pink Floyd (after
two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). The definite article was
dropped by the time their debut album was released.

Pink Floyd originally consisted of Bob Klose (lead guitar), Syd Barrett (vocals, rhythm
guitar), Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals), Roger Waters (bass, vocals) and Nick
Mason (drums). They covered rhythm and blues staples such as "Louie, Louie". As
Barrett started writing tunes more influenced by American surf music, psychedelic rock,
and British whimsy, humour and literature, the heavily jazz-oriented Klose departed and
left a rather stable foursome. The band formed Blackhill Enterprises, a six-way business
partnership with their managers, Peter Jenner and Andrew King.

In 1968, guitarist David Gilmour joined the band to carry out the playing and singing
duties of Barrett, whose mental health was deteriorating, but nevertheless was intended
to remain as the band's figurehead and songwriter. With Barrett's behaviour becoming
less and less predictable, the band's live shows became increasingly ramshackle until,
eventually, the other band members simply stopped taking him to the concerts.

Once Barrett's departure was formalised, Jenner and King decided to remain with him,
and the six-way Blackhill partnership was dissolved. Whilst Barrett had written the bulk
of the first record, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), he contributed little to the
second A Saucerful of Secrets (1968).

After the film soundtrack More, the next record, the double album Ummagumma (part
recorded at Mothers Rock Club, Birmingham, and in Manchester in 1969), was a mix of
live recordings and unchecked studio experimentation by the band members, with each
recording half a side of vinyl as a solo project (Mason's wife makes an uncredited
contribution as a flautist).

Despite their never having been a hit-single-driven group, their massively successful
1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon, featured a US number Top 20 track ("Money"),
and more importantly remained in the top 100 for over a decade, breaking many records
on the way, and making it one of the top selling albums of all time. Dark Side of the
Moon was a concept album dealing with themes of insanity, neurosis and fame. Thanks
to the use of new 16-track recording equipment at Abbey Road Studios and the
investment of an enormous amount of time by engineer Alan Parsons, the album set
new standards for sound fidelity.

By 1977, and the release of Animals, the band's music came under increasing criticism
from some quarters in the new punk rock sphere as being too flabby and pretentious,
having lost its way from the simplicity of early rock and roll. Animals contained more
lengthy songs tied to a theme, taken in part from George Orwell's Animal Farm, using
pigs, dogs and sheep as metaphors for members of contemporary society. Animals was
a lot more guitar-driven than the previous albums and marked the start of tensions
between Waters and Wright.

1979's epic rock opera, The Wall, conceived mainly by Waters, gave Pink Floyd
renewed acclaim and another hit single with their foray into critical pedagogy -
"Another Brick in the Wall, Part II." It also included "Comfortably Numb," which,
though never released as a single, became a cornerstone of AOR and classic-rock radio
playlists and is today one of the group's best-known songs. It is also one of a very small
number of songs on Pink Floyd's first four concept albums not to segue at either the
beginning or end.

The Wall remained on best-selling-album lists for 14 years. A film starring Boomtown
Rats founder Bob Geldof was adapted from it in 1982, written by Waters and directed
by Alan Parker, and featuring striking animation by noted British cartoonist Gerald
Scarfe. The creation of the film saw a further deterioration of the Waters/Gilmour
relationship, as Waters came to completely dominate the band.

1983 saw the release of The Final Cut. Even darker in tone than The Wall, this album
re-examined many of the themes of that album while also addressing then-current
events, including Waters' anger at Britain's participation in the Falklands War ("The
Fletcher Memorial Home") and his cynicism toward, and fear of, nuclear war ("Two
Suns in the Sunset"). Wright's absence meant this album lacked the keyboard effects
seen in previous Floyd works, although guests Michael Kamen and Andy Bown both
contributed keyboard work. Though released as a Pink Floyd album, the project was
clearly dominated by Waters and became a prototype in sound and form for later Waters
solo projects. Only moderately successful by Floyd standards, the album yielded only
one rock radio hit, "Not Now John". The arguing between Waters and Gilmour by this
stage was rumoured to be so bad that they were never seen in the recording studio
simultaneously. There was no tour, and the band unofficially disbanded in 1983.

All of the members of Pink Floyd have released solo albums which have met with
varying degrees of commercial and critical success. Waters' Amused To Death was the
most praised of these albums, though it was met with mixed reviews.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "Pink Floyd". You can
explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Pink Floyd appeared in 1964.

True.
False.
We don't know.

2. It was originally named "The Pink Floyd Sound".

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. David Gilmour replaced Syd Barrett.

True.
False.
We don't know.
4. The album "Dark Side of the Moon" was released in 1973.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. "The Wall" was an album based on a film.

True.
False.
We don't know.

6. The members separated from the band in 1983.

True.
False.
We don't know.

Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television series, starring

Rowan Atkinson. The programme was produced by Tiger
Television, later renamed Tiger Aspect productions (a
company in which Atkinson has a stake), for Thames
Television and originally shown on ITV. It is written by
Atkinson, Robin Driscoll and Richard Curtis. The first
episode was broadcast on 1 January 1990, with the final
episode, "Goodnight, Mr. Bean," on 31 October 1995.

In the show, Atkinson plays a selfish, sometimes ingenious

buffoon who frequently gets into hilarious situations due to
his various schemes and contrivances.

The show relies upon physical comedy, with very little dialogue. It features Mr. Bean
trying to undertake what would normally be considered simple tasks, such as going
swimming, redecorating or taking an exam. One of his acts, most beloved by fans, is
stuffing a turkey and getting it stuck on his head. The humour largely comes from his
original solutions to any problems, and a total disregard for others when solving them.

Mr. Bean is the only significant character in the programme (save for Teddy, his lovable
stuffed teddy bear). Other characters exist simply as foils for his various antics, and
besides the star, there are only two recurring supporting characters; his sometime
"girlfriend" Irma Gobb (played by Matilda Ziegler) and a light blue Reliant Regal
Supervan (if such can be called a 'character', given that its driver always remains
anonymous). However, Angus Deayton often appears alongside Atkinson in sketches as
various one-off supporting characters.
The show's title sequence (used from the second episode onward) depicts Mr. Bean
falling from the sky in a beam of light. Theories on the meaning of this have ranged
from Mr. Bean's being an alien to his being an angel sent to Earth. More humourously,
perhaps, as a character who is always having odd things happen to him, it could
represent his return after an abduction. However, the producers of the show claim that it
is intended to show his status as an ordinary man cast into the spotlight. Regardless of
meaning, this is clear: Mr. Bean is alone in the world, is frequently childlike, and often
seems unaware of basic aspects of the way the world works.

J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling (born 31 July 1965), pen name J. K. Rowling, is a

British novelist, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy
series. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple
awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have become the
best-selling book series in history, and been the basis for a series of films
which has become the highest-grossing film series in history. Rowling
had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control
by serving as a producer on the final instalment.

Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual

secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter
series on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990. The seven-year period
that followed entailed the death of her mother, divorce from her first husband and
poverty until Rowling finished the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone (1997). Rowling subsequently published 6 sequels—the last, Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)—as well as 3 supplements to the series. Since
then, Rowling has parted with her agency and resumed writing for adult readership,
releasing the tragicomedy The Casual Vacancy (2012) and—using the pseudonym
Robert Galbraith—the crime fiction novel The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) which,
according to Rowling, is the first of a series.

Rowling has led a "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on
state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. She is the United Kingdom's
best-selling author since records began, with sales in excess of Ј238m. The 2008
Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at Ј560 million ($798 million),
ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom. Forbes ranked
Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007, and TIME magazine
named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and
political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, Rowling was named the
"Most Influential Woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors. She has become a
notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families,
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Lumos (formerly the Children's High
Level Group).

Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling" (pronounced rolling), the
author's name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply "Joanne
Rowling". Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a
book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than
her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen
name, from her paternal grandmother. She calls herself "Jo" and has said, "No one ever
called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage,
she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business.
During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen
Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people
pronounced her name incorrectly.
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explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Harry Potter is the best-selling book series in history.

True.
False.
We don't know.

2. She participated in the production of all Harry Potter movies.

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. She got the idea for the Harry Potter series on a delayed train.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. Robert Galbraith is the name of her brother.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. She supports many charities.

True.
 False.
We don't know.

6. She doesn't have a middle name.

True.
False.
We don't know.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Mountbatten-Windsor, nйe Spencer) (1 July

1961–31 August 1997) was the first wife of HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.
From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996 she was styled Her Royal Highness
The Princess of Wales. She was generally called Princess Diana by the media despite
having no right to that particular honorific, as it is reserved for a princess by birthright
rather than marriage. Though she was noted for her pioneering charity work, the
Princess's philanthropic endeavours were overshadowed by a scandal-plagued marriage.
Her bitter accusations of adultery, mental cruelty and emotional distress visited upon
her by her husband riveted the world for much of the 1990s, spawning biographies,
magazine articles and television movies.

Diana's family, the Spencers, had been close to the British Royal Family for decades.
Her maternal grandmother, the Dowager Lady Fermoy, was a longtime friend of, and a
lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The Prince's love life had always been the subject of press speculation, and he was
linked to numerous women. Nearing his mid-thirties, he was under increasing pressure
to marry. In order to gain the approval of his family and their advisors, including his
great-uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma, any potential bride had to have an aristocratic
background, could not have been previously married, should be Protestant and,
preferably, a virgin. Diana fulfilled all of these qualifications.

Reportedly, the Prince's former girlfriend (and, eventually, his second wife) Camilla
Parker Bowles helped him select the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer as a potential
bride, who was working as an assistant at the Young England kindergarten in Pimlico.
Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981. Mrs. Parker
Bowles had been dismissed by Lord Mountbatten of Burma as a potential spouse for the
heir to throne some years before, reportedly due to her age (16 months the Prince's
senior), her sexual experience, and her lack of suitably aristocratic lineage.

The wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday 29 July 1981
before 3,500 invited guests (including Mrs. Parker Bowles and her husband, a godson of
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) and an estimated 1 billion television viewers
around the world. Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir-apparent to the
throne since 1659, when Lady Anne Hyde married the Duke of York and Albany, the
future King James II. Upon her marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The
Princess of Wales and was ranked as the most senior royal woman in the United
Kingdom after the Queen and the Queen Mother.

The Prince and Princess of Wales had two children, Prince William of Wales on 21 June
1982 and Prince Henry of Wales (commonly called Prince Harry) on 15 September
1984.

After the birth of Prince William, the Princess of Wales suffered from post-natal
depression. She had previously suffered from bulimia nervosa, which recurred, and she
made a number of suicide attempts. In one interview, released after her death, she
claimed that, while pregnant with Prince William, she threw herself down a set of stairs
and was discovered by her mother-in-law (that is, Queen Elizabeth II). It has been
suggested she did not, in fact, intend to end her life (or that the suicide attempts never
even took place) and that she was merely making a 'cry for help'. In the same interview
in which she told of the suicide attempt while pregnant with Prince William, she said
her husband had accused her of crying wolf when she threatened to kill herself. It has
also been suggested that she suffered from borderline personality disorder.

In the mid 1980s her marriage fell apart, an event at first suppressed, but then
sensationalised, by the world media. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales spoke to the
press through friends, accusing each other of blame for the marriage's demise. Charles
resumed his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whilst Diana became involved
with James Hewitt and possibly later with James Gilbey, with whom she was involved
in the so-called Squidgygate affair. She later confirmed (in a television interview with
Martin Bashir) the affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt. (Theoretically, such
an affair constituted high treason by both parties.) Another alleged lover was a
bodyguard assigned to the Princess's security detail, although the Princess adamantly
denied a sexual relationship with him. After her separation from Prince Charles, Diana
was involved with married art dealer Oliver Hoare and, lastly, heart surgeon Hasnat
Khan.

The Prince and Princess of Wales were separated on 9 December 1992; their divorce
was finalised on 28 August 1996. The Princess lost the style Her Royal Highness, and
became Diana, Princess of Wales, a titular distinction befitting a divorced peeress.
However, at that time, and to this day, Buckingham Palace maintains it; since the
Princess was the mother of the second and third in line to The Throne, she remained a
member of the Royal Family.

In 2004, the American TV network NBC broadcast tapes of Diana discussing her
marriage to the Prince of Wales, including her description of her suicide attempts. The
tapes were in the possession of the Princess during her lifetime; however, after her
death, her butler took possession, and after numerous legal wranglings, they were given
to the Princess's voice coach, who had originally filmed them. These tapes have not
been broadcast in the United Kingdom.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "Diana, Princess of Wales".
You can explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Diana Spencer was born in...

1960.
1961.
1962.

2. The royal wedding took place in 1981.

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. After the marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. The Prince and Princess of Wales got divorced in 1994.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. Diana lost her title of Princess of Wales after the divorce.

True.
False.
We don't know.

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25

December 1977) was an English comic actor and filmmaker who rose to
fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his
screen persona "the Tramp" and is considered one of the most important
figures of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from
a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88, and
encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Raised in London, Chaplin's childhood was defined by poverty and

hardship. He was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine; his
father was absent, and his mother was committed to a mental asylum.
Chaplin began performing from a young age, touring music halls and later working as a
stage actor and comedian. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company,
which took him to America. Chaplin was scouted by the film industry, and made his
first appearances in 1914 with Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona
and formed a large fan base. Chaplin directed his films from an early stage, and
continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, and First National
corporations. By 1918, he was one of the most famous men in the world.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, giving him
complete control over his films. His first feature-length picture was The Kid (1921),
followed by A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928).
He refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City Lights (1931)
and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue.

Chaplin became increasingly political and his next film, The Great Dictator (1940),
satirised Adolf Hitler. The 1940s was a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin,
and his popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of communist sympathies, while
his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women were
considered scandalous. An FBI investigation was opened on Chaplin, and he was
eventually forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland. He abandoned the
Tramp for his later films, which include Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Limelight (1952), A
King in New York (1957), and A Countess From Hong Kong (1967).

Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, scored, and starred in most of his films. He
was a perfectionist, and his financial independence meant he often spent years on the
development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick
combined with pathos, and often feature the Tramp struggling against adversity. Many
contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements.

In 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received an Honorary
Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the
art form of this century". He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush,
City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked among the greatest
films of all time.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the  Wikipedia article "Charlie Chaplin". You can
explore more on the Wikipedia website. The text and the images are used here only for educational purposes.

Questions about the text

1. Chaplin became famous with his character "the Tramp".

True.
False.
We don't know.
2. Chaplin was one the founders of "United Artists".

True.
False.
We don't know.

3. Since 1930 his films had sounds and dialogues.

True.
False.
We don't know.

4. He was also director and producer of some of his films.

True.
False.
We don't know.

5. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1972.

True.
False.
We don't know.