Friday 18 November 2011
Man Ray
Tea in England
Monday 14 November 2011
Tea reminds us all of England but where was this tradition born?
Tea was introduced in England by Catherine of Braganza (Catarina de Bragança). When Catherine of Braganza married Charles II (Carlos II) in 1662, she took with her a big amount of tea, which was very valuable those days. Soon it became an habit to drink tea in the English court.
This habit was quickly spread around England and since then it is a very important part of the english culture.
Diana Barros
The Origin of OK
Friday 11 November 2011
We say “ok” everyday, it has lots of different meanings. We use it when someone asks for something:
“Take your shoes from the floor!”
And we say: “Ok! I’m going to do it.”
And we all know that sometimes, that’s a lie… We also use it to express sarcam:
“My dad is king of Portugal! So I’m a princess…”
“Ok, of course you are!”
The point is that we often use this word, with one thousand of different meanings but we don't really know it’s origin.
Well, the oldest written record of the word “ok” dates from 1815, in the diary of William Richardson, who was travelling from Boston to New York.
"Arrived at Princeton, a handsome little village, 15 miles from N Brunswick, ok & at Trenton, where we dined at 1 P.M."
There’s no consent about the origin of this word. Some say it comes from the greek: olla plus kalla, that meant “good”. Others defend other origins like finnish (okeia), scottish (och aye) or even from french (au quai). There’s also a connection with wars. It may be an abbreviation of Orrin Kendall biscuits, which soldiers ate during the American Civil War. There’s also the expression “0 killed”, which was used in the night’s death toll during the First World War.
In spite of its origin, “ok” is used not only by speakers ofEenglish, it has spread all over the world and used by many other people, including Portuguese, that use “ok” everyday, in their one language.
Inês Ribas
Remember me
Wednesday 9 November 2011
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| This picture is from the film |
This text was taken from a movie called "Remember Me" and it is about a young man of 21 years, whose brother died and has to deal with his family. Later, he will meet a young woman who saw her mother die when she was little.
This movie is very exciting and it is one of my favorite movies.
I took the text from the film, because for me it was the best part!
I think that this text can make us think about life, and what we do with it .
Marta Sousa
The importance of stories
If you want your children
to be bright,
read them faerytales.
If you want
them to be brilliant
read them even
more faerytales.
by Albert Einstein
Celebrating Marie Curie
Monday 7 November 2011
Marie Skłodowska Curie, was born in Poland, on 7th November 1867 (died 4 July 1934).
She was physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon paris.
In 1903 she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie (and with Henri Becquerel), but she was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Achievements - a theory of radioactivity (a term that she coined, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium.
Curiosity - She named the first chemical element that she discovered "polonium" (1898) for her native country.
Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms, using radioactive isotopes. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw.
Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia, brought on by her lifelong exposure to radiation.
