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How Did Thanksgiving Turkey Get its Name?
感恩节“火鸡”是如何得名？
The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is symbolized by its traditional food, a large bird we call a turkey. But turkey is certainly not from Turkey.
In fact, its English name is based on one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity.
Let’s set the record straight.
The word “Turkey” has meant “the land of the Turks” since ancient times. The word “turkey” as it refers to the bird first appeared in the English language in the mid-1500s.
The misunderstanding over the word happened because of two similar-looking kinds of birds.
There is an African bird called the guinea fowl. It has dark feathers with white spots and a patch of brown on the back of its neck. Portuguese traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa.
This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought of the bird as a “Turkish chicken.”
When Europeans came to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. This bird was native to the North American continent.
Orin Hargraves is a lexicographer, someone who writes dictionaries. Hargraves explains what happened.
“Some Europeans saw an American turkey, thought that it was the guinea fowl, which at that time was called the ‘turkey cock,’ and so gave it the same name."
Hundreds of years later, we continue to call this North American bird “turkey,” even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey, or even with Europe.
But English is not the only language with interesting -- and even questionable -- names for this North American bird.
The Turkish, for their part, call turkey “hindi,” the Turkish name for India. The reference to India probably comes from the old, wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia.
The French call it “dinde,” a name that also connects the bird to India. “D’Inde” means “from India” in the French language. “Turkey” has similar names in several other languages.
So, what do they call this North American bird in India? Well, in the Hindi language, “turkey” is “tarki.”
But wait, there’s more. In Portuguese, the same bird is called “Peru,” after the South American nation.
Thanks to our VOA Learning English Facebook friends, we have a few more names for “turkey” to share with you.
The Vietnamese word for the bird is “gà ty” or western chicken. Our Facebook friend Nguyen Duc explains that “local chicken is smaller than western chicken.”
A Facebook friend in Myanmar explained that the Burmese word for “turkey” is “kyat sin.” The name translates to “elephant chicken” in English.
“That animal looks like a big chicken,” Zaw Myo Win explained.
The Dari language name for the bird, "fel murgh" also translates to “elephant chicken.”
Abdulla Kawer explained to us that “here in Afghanistan this name represents the size of this delicious meal.” He adds that he thinks the descriptive name “elephant chicken” is “better than a country name.”
I’m Ashley Thompson.
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Words in This Story
symbolize - v. to represent or express a particular idea or quality
translate - v. to change words from one language into another language
From Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Climate researchers met recently in Cameroon to talk about threats to Africas land and animals. They said they believe the continent may lose as much as 30 percent of its animal and plant species by the end of this century. They blame the expected losses on the warming of earth, population growth and unrestricted development.
The researchers represent 20 African, American and European universities. They say countries south of the Saharan desert are losing forest faster than any place on earth. Wood companies are cutting down trees to meet growing demand from China, Europe and the United States.
The population is growing at 3 percent per year. There are now homes, factories and farms on land that once was forest. Many African animals and plants no longer have a place to live as result. Climate change also continues to threaten species.
Thomas Smith is the director of the Center for Tropical Research at the University of California.
With a 1.5 degree rise in global temperature, Africa may lose 30 percent of its animals and plants. And unfortunately with the increase in CO2 that has been now estimated to be up to three degrees in terms of rising global temperatures -- that means we may lose 40 percent of all mammal species in Africa by the end of the century, said Smith.
The African chimpanzee is one such animal at risk. Mary Katherine Gonder is a professor in the Department of Biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem says his nation is willing to work with the international community in the fight against Islamic State militants. He also appealed to others to end their support for the militants. The official spoke Monday; the day after Syria lost a major airbase in the northern Raqqa province.
Mr. Moallem said, My government is ready to cooperate and coordinate both regionally and internationally to fight terrorism.
He said that the Islamic State militants and Jabhat al-Nusrat, another jihadist group, are more dangerous than the Taliban or al-Qaida. The two groups have fought against the U.S. and its NATO allies since 2001
But, Mr. Moallem warned against U.S. airstrikes in Syria. He said any action in Syria must be approved by Syria. He warned that Syria could attempt to shoot down U.S. warplanes that take action without approval. The Syrian foreign minister also accused both Qatar and Turkey of supporting the militants.
Ukraine Says Russian Military Has Crossed Its Border
A top Ukrainian official said Monday Russian tanks and other military vehicles had crossed into southeastern Ukraine.
A spokesman for Ukraines National Security Council, Andriy Lysenko, said the group of 10 tanks, two armored vehicles and two trucks crossed the border near Shcherbak. He said the Russian military vehicles were flying flags of separatist Donetsk rebels.
From Learning English, this is In the News.
Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that he would leave his position as prime minister of Iraq. His decision opened the way for Haider Jawad al-Abadi to take Mr. Malikis place.
Former colleagues describe Mr. Abadi as a good speaker and a direct person who is open to the ideas of others. He will need strong qualities. Among the issues facing the new prime minister are extremist militancy, religious division and political disputes.
The man now responsible for leading Iraq out of crisis was born in Baghdad. But he has lived much of his life outside the country. For example, he worked in Britain as an advisor in the engineering industry until the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
His family suffered under the rule of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddams government arrested two of Mr. Abadis brothers in 1980 for their association with the Dawa Party and executed them two years later. In 1981, the government arrested a third brother for the same reason. That brother survived. But he spent 10 years in prison.
Mr. Abadi also was involved in the Dawa Party while in London. He served as an active party leader in exile.
He returned home to enter politics after Saddam was ousted from leadership. As communications minister, Mr.Abadi rebuilt telephone systems that had been destroyed by war. He also brought the first mobile and Internet communications services into the country.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators announced Tuesday that they have agreed to an extended ceasefire after seven weeks of deadly fighting in Gaza.
The ceasefire took effect at 7 p.m. local time 。 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced the truce from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Egypt organized the truce. It calls for Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza. The agreement will permit shipments of humanitarian aid and building materials for repair and reconstruction in Gaza. The two sides will continue talks about Israels demand that Hamas militants surrender their weapons.
The United States said it strongly supports the truce.
Over 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and more than 60 Israelis were killed in the almost two month long conflict.
Belarus Meeting Fails to End Fighting in Ukraine
Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko and Russias President Vladimir Putin met in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, Tuesday. They failed to reach agreement about the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Poroshenko said the conflict would end with a secure border for Ukraine. He said there must be a block to transports of arms from Russia to the rebels.
Mr. Putin demanded that Russia be permitted to meet with the rebels and supply humanitarian aid.
Cambodian Opposition Gets Parliamentary Commissions
Punctuality means observing regular or appointed time. A man who gets up at seven o'clock every morning is punctual. A man who has promised to call on a friend at five o'clock in the afternoon and actually does so at that hour is also punctual.
Punctuality is a good habit, and unpunctuality is a bad one. A few minutes delay may not be a serious matter, but it may have bad results. Getting up five minutes later than usual may upset the plan of the day. Calling on a friend five minutes later than the appointed time may cause him some unexpected trouble. Moreover, habitual unpunctuality leads to indolence and even failure in life. One delay after another makes a man unable to trust himself. It also proves him to be untrustworthy.
Those who are unpunctual should try their best to get rid of their bad habit. In doing this, they should avoid making any kind of exception. They should never say to themselves:"A few minutes delay does not matter this time. I shall never be unpunctual again." Those who think in this way will find excuses for delay from time to time, and will at least give up the attempt to cultivate the good habit.
Like all other good habits, punctuality becomes second nature with those who have duly cultivated it.