CROSSROADS Language StudioÊs Newsletter June,June , 2024
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Our understanding of our earth’s
geology has been pretty much settled
for hundreds of years, right? You know,
for instance, that there are seven continents –or six if you don’t want to split Eurasia intoAsia and Europe. In addition to Asia andEurope (Eurasia), we have Africa, NorthAmerica, South America, Antarctica andAustralia. They all fit the criteria of what acontinent should be: They possess a wide
variety of rocks; A high elevation(compared to the seabed surroundingthem); A thick crust (again, compared tothe surrounding seabed crust); And they
are massive in size.
That just about sums it up as far as highschool geography goes. Or does it? Way backin the 4th century BCE, Aristotle theorizedthat there must be an unknown supercontinent in the Southern hemisphere toElla
counterbalance the landmass in the North.
Ptolemy, in the 2nd century CE, followed thisline of reasoning and included Terra Australis
Janis
Incognita("the unknown land of the south") in
his maps of the world.
The notion that a large continent existed
somewhere in the Southern hemisphereheld sway in the minds of Europeans until
the 15th century, when it was finallydiscovered, or was it?
The first European to reach what we now
know of as Australia
was a Dutchman,
Willem Janszoon,
in 1606. But, theland he had reachedand partly surveyed
was not the missing
1570 map showing a huge Southernlandmass, “Terra Australis Incognita.”
Southern continent.

The next character to appear in thesearch for the mysterious Southern
continent was the infamous Abel Tazman,
another Dutchman – the island state ofmodern-day Australia, Tasmania, is namedafter him. He reached the Southern islandof New Zealand, had a very unpleasantencounter with the native Maori people,
turned tail, never to return. But the record
stands.
375 years later and Zealandia is officiallyrecognized as the world’s eighth (or is that7th?) continent; perhaps not the greatSouthern continent that has tantalized
European imaginations for centuries, but acontinent it is, all-be-it 94% under water!
You can see from the map above that it lies
to the East of Australia, under New
Zealand. In spite of this, it matches all thecriteria of what a continent should be (seethe earlier description in this article). The
fact that it is under water matters little tothe experts who decide these things. At
3,156,300 sq km, it is over half the size of
the Australian continent and shelf,
including New Guinea, also called “Sahul”.

NET LESSONS: Too busy to come to CROSSROADS?
…. Try our lessons on the net!

For more on Zealandia, go here:
https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/new-hidden-continent-mostlyunderwater-scientists-say/Joshua Says “Beware of false knowledge, it’s more dangerous that ignorance.”
This is a quote from about 100 years ago by George Bernard Shaw. I wonder
what he would say about misquotes, innuendoes and other misleading“information”, even outright lies, that permeate the internet these days. If analien civilization were to judge the human race based on the rubbish I receive
daily in my email, I don’t think we would be granted the title of “civilized”.
Junko Says: What will make our students feel “happy” about becoming
accomplished speakers of English? After all, this is the goal, isn’t it? Aristotle once
said “Happiness depends upon ourselves”. He was not wrong! The point here is that
if you make the right effort, you’ll succeed in achieving your goals, and that
achievement will result in a feeling of accomplishment – happiness! So, no matter
how difficult the journey might be, never give up, just work hard and succeed!!
Marek Says: The rainy season is over, after much rain fell in a short spaceof time, filling up all the local dams and saturating the ground, which caused
an unexpected landslide on the northern slope of Matsuyama castle mountain.
With increased rainfall and higher temperatures projected for upcoming
years, the soil becomes less stable, and we will no doubt hear more about such
incidents, even in areas thought relatively safe.
Danielle dit: Les Jeux Olympiques de Paris approchent ! Le Japon s’attend àce que ses athlètes excellent en judo, à la lutte et en gymnastique. D’autres
disciplines telles le skateboard, l’escalade et le breakdance sont à leur portée.
Les équipes japonaises pourraient aussi remporter des médailles d’or entennis de table, en badminton et au football. À vos marques !
ACROSS
2 separate into parts
5 a large landmass
6 equivalent to
8 of equal weight or force
10 excite or tease
12 thinking logically
14 outer layer of the earth
16 meet, usually by chance
18 speculate without practical
proof
19 not completely
20 controlling influence
DOWN
1 very large
3 well known, usuallyunfavorably
4 decided with no doubt
7 clarify by example
9 half of the globe
11 the study of rocks
13 study of the earth's surface
15 a standard for measuring
17 vague idea

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(print version here)

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When to use a “verb-ing” (called a gerund), a “to + verb” and a no “to”verb (called infinitives)? Getting this right can be tough! Here are a few
examples for you to puzzle out:
1. I can’t [lend / to lend / lending] you any money. Not [having / to have / have][to go / going / go] to work every day for six months musthave been very relaxing, but now you’re [to have / having/ have] financial problems. Perhaps you can [to borrow/ borrowing / borrow from your rich uncle. [Discuss/ To discuss / Discussing] the matter with your bank
Manager might also help, but [call / to call / calling]
him after 3:00pm is not a good idea. In the meantime, I[to suggest / suggest / suggesting] you [check / to check / checking] out thewanted ads in the local newspaper [seeing / to see / see] if you can [getting /get / to get] a job.
2. She wants [going / to go / go] to the museum [do / doing / to do] some [research/ researching / to research] for her paper on the Jurassic, but themuseum is [to close / closing / closed] today. She is now [searching/ to search / search] for a good alternative source of informationon the Internet, but it is [taking / take / to take] a long timeand she is [getting / get / to get] frustrated and tired.
3. Her kids are [to spend / spending / spend] too much time [to watch / watching/ watch] TV instead of [do / doing / to do] their homework. She’s not [tothink / think / thinking] seriously about their education and if
she doesn’t [do / doing / to do] something, they will [have / tohave / having] difficulty [passing / to pass / pass] their exams.
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A P P L I C A T I O N SIRTN
G\Last Month’s Puzzle Solution

ACROSS
4 complete, without restriction
7 1,000 years
9 most important
11 provide relief from
12 loose flowing garments
15 part of the large intestine
17 adding, joining to18 cannot be resisted
19 something that can destroy germs
20 usages

DOWN
1 relating to cooking
2 safe, protected against
3 breathing
5 a type of plant reproduction system
6 forceful, strong effect
8 absolutely necessary
10 body pain, swelling, redness, heat13 something added to
14 giving relief, making easier
16 sphere or ball shaped

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