WHY IS WALKING UNDER LADDERS BELIEVED TO BE UNLUCKY? There are a few explanations for this.

The most common is that someone on the ladder might be holding a pot of paint or a bucket of water which could drop on you if you walked underneath. Another explanation relates to the Tyburn gallows at what is now Marble Arch in London. Until 1783 criminals climbed a ladder to the gallows with a rope round their neck and this was then kicked from under them. The belief grew that walking under a ladder invited death. WHY IS THE EXPRESSION MAYDAY USED AS A DISTRESS CALL? The term Mayday is the internationally recognized radio telephone signal of distress. It is only used when a ship is in great danger and needs help immediately. The signal is transmitted on a wavelenghth of 2,182 kHz, which is permanently monitored by rescue services on the shore. The use of expression has a very straightforward explanation. It simply came from the French phrase maidez, which means help me. It was officially adopted internationally in 1927. HOW MANY NEW WORDS ENTER THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EVERY YEAR? Unfortunately, no list is kept. In France, there is the Academie Francaise which approves new words but in England there are only dictionaries. The most authoritative of these is the Oxford English Dictionary (ODE) which has 20 volumes, but this does not make rules about the language. It simply records the development of English worldwide as best it can. It accepts about 4000 new words (or new meanings) every year. The ODE has readers in all English-speaking parts of the world, who record repeated uses of new words, including numerous technical terms. Some words take a surprisingly long time to enter the ODE. For example acid rain was first used in 1859, but its usage was rare for over 100 years and it didnt appear in the dictionary until the 1980s.

TI SAO NGI TA CHO L I DI THANG L IM KHNG MAY? C mt vi gii thch cho iu ny. Ph bin nht l ai trn thang c th cm 1 thng sn hoc 1 x nc c th ri vo bn nu bn i bn di. Mt li gii thch khc lin quan n gi treo c Tyburn by gi l Marble Arch London. Cho n mi nm 1783 ti phm leo ln mt ci thang ti gi treo c bng mt si dy thng quanh c ca h v ci thang ny sau c git ra t di h. Ngi ta dn tin rng i di mt ci thang mi gi thn cht.

TI SAO L THNH NG "MAYDAY" C DNG NH 1 CUC GI NN? Thut ng "Mayday" c quc t cng nhn l tn hiu in i gp nn. N ch c s dng khi tu ang tnh th cc k nguy him v cn tr gip ngay lp tc. Tn hiu c truyn i trn tn s 2182 kHz, c cc dch v cu h trn b theo di vnh vin bi. Vic s dng thnh ng ny c gii thch rt ngn gn. N ch n gin l t cm t ting Php "m'aidez", c ngha l "gip ti". N c quc t chnh thc thng qua vo nm 1927.

BAO NHIU T MI C A VO TING ANH MI NM? Tht khng may, khng c danh sch no c gi gn. Php, c Vin hn lm Php ph duyt t mi nhng Anh ch c t in. C thm quyn nht trong s y l t in ting anh Oxford (ODE), b sch c 20 quyn, nhng n khng to nn cc quy tc v ngn ng. N ch n gin l ghi li s pht trin ca ting Anh trn ton th gii tt nht c th. N ghi nhn khong 4000 t mi (hoc cc ngha mi) mi nm. ODE c c gi trn tt c cc vng min ni ting Anh trn th gii, nhng ngi cng nhn s dng nhiu cc t mi, bao gm nhiu thut ng chuyn mn. Mt s t mt mt thi gian qu lu a vo ODE. V d "ma axit" ln u tin c s dng vo nm 1859, nhng s dng n rt t trong hn 100 nm v n khng xut hin trong t in cho n nhng nm 1980.

WHAT IS THE WORLDS BIGGEST OFFICE? The pentagon is the largest office in the world. This famous five-sided building, which is the US department of Defense, was built in just 16 months during World War II in Arlington, Virginia. It is designed to hold up to 40.000 people. It has 28 kilometres of corridors, 7.754 windows, 284 bathrooms, and parking space for 8.770 cars. 17.000 meals a day are served in its restaurants. WHY DO WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN? Women generally live about six years longer than men. Evidence suggests that boys are the weaker sex at birth, which means that more die in infancy. Also women do not have as much heart disease as men. In terms of lifestyle, men smoke more than women and thus more die of smoking-related diseases. They drink more and are more aggressive in behaviour, particularly when driving cars, so they are more likely to die in accidents. Also, they generally have more dangerous occupations such as building work. Historically, women died in childbirth and men in wars. Hence nuns and philosophers often lived to great ages. Now, childbearing is less risky and there are fewer wars. The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan, where the average age for men is 76 and for women is 82.

VN PHNG LN NHT TH GII L G? Ng gic l vn phng ln nht trn th gii. Ta nh nm mt ni ting ny l tr s B Quc phng M, c xy dng ch trong 16 thng trong sut chin tranh th gii II Arlington, bang Virginia. N c thit k cha n 40,000 ngi. N c hnh lang di 28km, 7.754ca s, 284 phng tm, v ni u xe cho 8.770 t. 17.000 ba n mi ngy c phc v trong nh hng ca n. TI SAO PH N LI SNG LU HN NAM GII? Ph n thng sng lu hn nam gii khong 6 nm. Bng chng cho thy rng con trai l gii tnh yu hn lc mi sinh, c ngha l cht nhiu hn trong giai th u. Ngoi ra ph n khng mc bnh tim nhiu nh nam gii. V li sng, nam gii ht thuc nhiu hn ph n v do c nhiu ci cht do nhng bnh lin quan n ht thuc. H ung ru nhiu hn v hnh vi quyt on hn, c bit khi li xe, v vy h c nhiu nguy c t vong do tai nn. Ngoi ra, h thng c nhng ngh nguy him nh cng nhn xy dng. Trong lch s, ph n cht trong khi sinh con v nam gii hi sinh trong chin tranh. Do cc n tu v cc trit gia thng sng cao tui. By gi, sinh t ri ro hn v c t chin tranh hn. t nc c tui th cao nht l Nht Bn, ni m tui trung bnh i vi nam gii l 76 v i vi ph n l 82. CI G NHN TO TRN TRI T C TH NHN THY T V TR? Khi ngi n ng u tin bay vo v tr, ngi ta ngc nhin khi pht hin ra rng vt nhn to thy c t qu o l Vn L Trng Thnh ca Trung Quc. y l mt tng tt, nhng iu khng ng. Vn L Trng Thnh ch yu l mu xm trong mt khung cnh mu xm v trn thc t l rt kh nhn thy ngay c t mt chic my bay bay trn 15 km. Nhng g c th c nhn thy t qu o quay quanh tri t (t khong 200 km ln) l nhng m chy ca sa mc ngi chu Phi, v nhng ngn n ca tu nh c ngoi khi Nht Bn, ngoi ra, mt hng ro dy rt di Ty c nh du t nng nghip mt bn cn sa mc bn kia.

WHAT MAN-MADE THINGS ON EARTH CAN BE SEEN FROM SPACE? When men first flew in space, they were amazed to discovery that the only man-made object visible from orbit was the Great Wall of China. This is a nice idea, but its not true. The Great Wall is mostly grey stone in a grey landscape and in fact is very difficult to see even from an aeroplane flying at a mere 15 kilometres above. What can be seen when orbiting the earth (from about 200 kilometres up) are the fires of African desert people, and the lights of fishing boats off Japan; also, a very long wire fence in Western Australia which marks farmland on one side and desert on the other.

WHY ARE HORSESHOES BELIEVED TO BE LUCKY? In 1700, Henri Misson, a Frenchman visiting Britain, asked villagers why they had horseshoes nailed above their doors. They said that it was to keep witches away. Horseshoes are made of iron and the strength of the iron was thought to protect from evil. Still today they are thought to bring good luck and many brides carry silver ones at their wedding. The position of the horseshoes is very important. It must point upwards like a cup so that the luck cannot fall out. WHY DO THEY DRIVE ON THE LEFT IN BRITAIN AND ON THE RIGHT IN OTHER COUNTRIES? The reason for this goes back to the days when people travelled by horse. Most people are righthanded, and thus the left is natural side to ride on if you are on horseback and need your right hand to hold a sword in case of trouble. So why didnt the rest of the world do the same? Because of Napoleon Bonaparte. He insisted that his armies marched on the right, and as he marched through Europe, he imposed this rule wherever he went . In the twentieth century Adolf Hitler did the same. Signs reading Rechts fahren were put up whenever he took over a country. The question suggests that only the British drive on the left , but in fact , out of 178 countries in the world , there are about 50 that drive on the left including Japan . However, most of them are former British colonies

TI SAO MNG NGA C TIN L IM MN? Vo nm 1700, Henri Misson, mt ngi Php n thm nc Anh, hi dn lng ti sao h li c mng nga ng inh trn ca ra vo ca h. H ni rng n ui ma qu i xa. Mng nga c lm bng st v sc mnh ca st c cho l bo v cho khi tai ha. Cho n ngy nay chng vn c cho l mang li may mn v nhiu c du eo hnh mng nga bng bc vo m ci ca h. V tr ca hnh mng nga rt quan trng. khe h phi quay tr ln ging nh mt ci cc may mn khng th rt ra ngoi. TI SAO ANH NGI TA LI LI XE BN TRI CN CC QUC GIA KHC LI LI BN PHI? L do iu ny xut hin thi im khi mi ngi s dng nga lm phng tin i li. Hu ht mi ngi u thun tay phi do bn tri l bn li t nhin khi bn trn lng nga v cn dng tay phi gi gm trong trng hp c rc ri xy ra. Ti sao nhng ni cn li ca th gii li ko lm tng t nh vy? Nguyn nhn l do Napoleon Bonaparte. ng yu cu qun i ca mnh diu hnh v bn phi v khi ng diu hnh qua Chu u, ng p t quy tc ny cho bt k ni no mnh i qua. n th k th 20 Adolf Hitler cng lm tng t nh vy. Cc bin hiu Rechts fahren c dng ln bt k khi no ng ta chim ng c mt quc gia. Cu hi ny a ra gi thuyt rng ch c ngi Anh li xe v bn tri nhng trn thc t th trong s 178 quc gia trn th gii th c khong 50 quc gia li xe v bn tri bao gm c Nht Bn. Tuy nhin phn ln nhng quc gia ny u l thuc a c ca Anh.

HOW CLEVER ARE DOLPHINS? Dolphins do have fairly large brains. There are many stories, ancient and modern, about dolphins saving sailors from drowning. Ever since the film Flipper, we have all seen how clever they are at learning how to do tricks. However, the truth is that dolphins are no more intelligent than rats, which can also be trained to do tricks. The stories about them rescuing people are true, but they automatically rescue anything which is about the same size as themselves. Sometimes they kill sharks and then immediately try to rescue them.

C HEO THNG MINH NH TH NO? C heo c b no kh ln. C rt nhiu cu chuyn, c c v hin i v c heo cu thy th khi cht ui. K t khi b phim Flipper, chng ti thy tt c chng thng minh nh th no khi hc cch lm tr. Tuy nhin, s tht l c heo l khng thng minh hn nhng con chut c th cng c hun luyn lm tr. Nhng cu chuyn chng cu ngi l ng s tht, nhng chng s v thc gii cu bt c ci g v kch c ging nh chng. i khi chng git c c mp v sau ngay lp tc c gng gii cu chng.