cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Synagogue

A synagogue is a place where Jews meet to worship and pray to God.

In Hebrew, a synagogue is called beit knesset, which means, a "house of gathering". The word "synagogue" comes from sunagoge, which is a Greek word. In a synagogue, Jews carry out the Jewish services, which consist of prayers, sometimes with special actions.

A synagogue will usually have a large room for prayers. There might be some smaller rooms for studying. There will be some offices. There will also usually be a big room for special events. 

The front of a synagogue faces towards Jerusalem in Israel.  In the front is the holiest part of the synagogue, the Ark. This is a closet which has the Torah scrolls inside.  The Torah scrolls have the holy writings of Judaism on them.  The Ark usually has a curtain in front of it.

On top of the Ark is light which is always lit, called the “Eternal Lamp”. It is a symbol which means that God is always there.
Every synagogue has a raised platform called the “Bimah”. The person who reads the Torah scroll stands there when he reads. The Bimah is either in the middle of the hall, or in front of the Ark.

In some synagogues men and women sit in different places. Some synagogues even have a short wall so that they can not see each other. This is so that the people will think about the prayers better.

Jews may call synagogues by different names. Many Orthodox and Conservative Jews living in English-speaking countries use the name "synagogue" or the word "shul", which is Yiddish. Jews who speak Spanish or Portuguese call synagogues esnoga. Some Jews call the synagogue a temple. 

Jewish worship does not have to be carried out in a synagogue.  It can be wherever a minyan of ten Jews are. It could be in someone's home or anywhere such as a cruise liner or an airplane. Some synagogues have a separate room or torah study, this is called the "beth midrash" meaning house of study. Some kinds of Jewish worship can be done alone or with fewer than ten people.
Synagogues are places were Jews can worship.

 
Judaism
Tragedy

In theatre, a tragedy as defined by Aristotle is a play that ends badly for the hero or heroine or others. A tragedy is usually about a person who has many good qualities, but also has one poor quality (called a "tragic flaw") that causes trouble for him, and maybe his family or friends.

Often in a tragedy, there is one possible event that the hero fears and tries to prevent, but no matter what he does, it makes this thing more and more sure to happen.  Tragedies originated in Ancient Greek theatre, where they were performed at religious festivals. The three most famous Greek tragedy writers were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Later famous writers include Shakespeare and Jean Racine.

Sometimes the word tragedy is also used to mean something with a bad outcome in real life e.g. crime or death.

Related pages
English Renaissance drama
Henrik Ibsen
Arthur Miller

Theatrical forms
Theft

Theft is when one person or group takes from another persons or state any object, money, or information without permission. A person who has been convicted of theft may be called a thief. However, the practice of engaging in theft is also called stealing. There are many different types of theft, such as pickpocketing and shoplifting. Burglary and robbery are separate crimes which involve theft.

Stealing is basic and is illegal almost everywhere.  Thieves steal things sometimes because they want to have something for themselves, or because they want to sell something for money.  Sometimes thieves will make plans to rob a store, bank, house, or person, and sometimes they will just see a chance to steal something and take it.  Some thieves have kleptomania. 

When thieves steal things for money, they usually pick cars, electronics, laptops, or other things they can sell easily. Sometimes thieves use pawn shops to sell things easily to someone who will not ask questions.
United States customary units

U.S. customary units is the system of units of measurement used to measure things in the United States and U.S. territories. The system of Imperial units is similar and in some parts identical.

Length or distance units include the inch, foot, yard and mile.

Land units include square miles (2589998.47032 square meter) and acres (4046.8726 square meter).

Common volume units are the teaspoon, tablespoon (3 teaspoons), fluid ounce (two tablespoons), cup (8 ounces), pint (2 cups, or 16 fluid ounces), quart (2 pints, or 32 fluid ounces), US gallon (16 cups, 128 fluid ounces, or 3.8 liters).

A barrel is the unit to measure oil.

Temperature is measured in degrees Fahrenheit (°F). Here is a formula to convert from °C to °F: 

Units of weight and mass include the pound (453.6 grams), which contains 16 ounces. This should not be confused with the British pound which is a type of money. The different uses of the word pound can cause confusion. Different sizes of ounce are also in use.

Some people have been trying to replace these units with the metric system since the 1820s. Much infrastructure in the United States and British Empire was built in past centuries using the old measures. During the 20th century some sectors such as science, medicine and the military of the United States converted to metric but Americans still use the old units for daily purposes. On the other hand, world trade is conducted using the metric system and except for the US, the world uses the metric system for almost all purposes.

Length

Area

Volume

Mass and weight

Related pages
Units of measurement

Notes 

Measurement
Value

Value is how much something is worth. Often the best way to find the value of something is to use the price that it can be sold for. However Oscar Wilde wrote that 'people know the price of everything but the value of nothing'- in other words true value does not depend on money alone.

In math, a value is a number which is concrete, something everyone can agree upon.  However people may disagree on the value of water, depending if you live in a desert or next to a river.  Disagreements on the value of things can create fights between nations, political parties, religions, etc.

Basic English 850 words
Economics
Volapük

Volapük is a constructed language created in 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer. Schleyer was a Catholic priest from Germany. He felt that God had told him in a dream to make an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884, 1887, and 1889. The aim was to help people from different cultures speak to each other.

Volapük became less popular after 1887 when Esperanto was published. Part of the reason was that Esperanto is easier to learn with a simpler grammar. There are believed to only be 20-30 Volapük speakers in the world today.

The vocabulary of Volapük is mostly English, with some words from German and French. 

"Vol" and "pük" come from the English words "world" and "speech". The grammar is based on Indo-European languages.

An example of Volapük is the translation of the Lord's prayer:

References

Other websites 

 Basic course in Volapük, in English 
 Basic grammar of Volapük, in Esperanto 
 Volapop: A site about popular culture written in Volapük  
 Discussion group on the vocabulary and grammar of Volapük
 A complete Italian grammar of Volapük (1888) by V. Amoretti 
 Una grammatica completa di Volapük in lingua italiana (1888) a cura di V. Amoretti 
 General Volapük discussion group
 Flenef bevünetik Volapüka / International Friendship of The World Language

Constructed languages
Vocabulary

A vocabulary is a list of words.

The vocabulary a person uses is all the words that person knows and uses. In general, a person who is five knows about 4,000 to 5,000 words. Adults who have gone to college may know 20,000 words. A hearing vocabulary and reading vocabulary are bigger than a speaking vocabulary or writing vocabulary, as people understand some words that they do not use.

The number of words in a language is more than the words listed in one dictionary. One dictionary may have a list of 500,000 (half a million) words. Another dictionary may have some other words that the other dictionary does not have. When you add all the words in those dictionaries, there are about 750,000 words in English. There may be more words than that.

You may think to yourself, "If there are 750,000 words, how can we talk with only 3000 words?" Because, we do not need to know all the words. You can say most things with around 3,000 words. 

The most used words are short words. That is true in all languages. The 50 most common words in English have fewer than seven letters. Half of these words have fewer than four letters. 

The vocabulary of a language is always changing.  New words are made or words change their meaning. Words about computers, like "download" are new to the English language. The new word "bling" came from hip hop.  Words like "cool" have developed new meanings.

Related pages
 Grammar

References

Other websites 

 Complicated vocabulary detector
 Simplevocab - A multi-word dictionary
Velocity

Velocity is a measure of how fast something moves in a particular direction. To define it needs both magnitude and direction. If an object moves east at 9 metres per second (9 m/s), then its velocity is 9 m/s to the east.

The idea behind this is that speed doesn't tell us in which direction the object moves in a given frame of reference. Speed is one part of velocity, direction is the other part. Depending on the frame of reference, the velocity can be defined with many mathematical concepts required for making the correct analysis.

Velocity in one-dimensional motion

Average velocity 
To calculate the average velocity of an object, we divide its displacement (its change of position) by the time it took to change position.

For example, if an object moves 20 meters (m) to the left in 1 seconds (s), its velocity (v) would be equal to:

Instantaneous velocity 
Unlike average velocity, the instantaneous velocity tells us how fast something is moving at only one time, because velocity can only change with time.

Velocity in two-dimensional motion 
The concept of velocity allows us to consider two different means of calculating the velocity. Two-dimensional motion requires us to use vector notation to define the physical quantities found throughout the kinematics.

Distinction between average velocity and instantaneous velocity regarding two dimensional motion

Average velocity 
To calculate the average velocity of an object, we divide its displacement (its change of position) by the time it took to change position.

where: is the total distance traveled in a given time interval . Each of these quantities can be calculated by substracting two different values intertwined within the given quantity, hence give the desired .

Instantaneous velocity 
Contrary to average velocity, the instantaneous velocity tells us the rate of change at which a given object is moving along a certain path at a given instance of time, which usually tends to be infinitesimally small.

When , we can see that . Taking that into consideration we can conceptualize this rate of change between displacement vector and interval of time using mathematical analysis (most notably- Calculus)

Relative velocity
Velocity can also be measured by comparing the motion of two objects. This is called relative velocity. The second object is called the reference frame. To find the relative velocity, subtract the velocity of the reference frame from the velocity of the first object. For example, Earth moves at 67,000 miles per hour around the Sun. Usually, we do not care about this motion. So we subtract the vector that represents Earth's motion from the total motion.

References

Measurement
World Wide Web

"The Web" redirects here. For other uses, see Web (disambiguation).

The World Wide Web ("WWW" or "The Web") is the part of the Internet that contains websites and webpages. It was invented in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.  Sir Tim Berners-Lee created a new markup language called HTML.  Websites are composed of pages linked by hypertext links that are written in HTML.

The software to see the World Wide Web is called a web browser. One also needs a connection to the Internet. 

Many companies nowadays offer limited website hosting allowing one to make websites that can be displayed on the World Wide Web like any other domain (www.stuff.com) site. These sites usually make money from advertisments instead of fees.

Invention of WWW 
While working at CERN in 1989, Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web. He was a computer scientist from England. Tim Berners-Lee was a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at Oxford University and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Related pages
Minitel

References 

Internet
Wiki

A wiki is a type of a website that lets anyone who can access the wiki create and change its pages. The word is Internet slang. The word wiki is short for WikiWikiWeb. Wikiwiki is a word from the Hawaiian language, meaning "fast" or "speed". Examples of wikis include Wikipedia, Everipedia, Citizendium, Scholarpedia Conservapedia, Wiktionary and Wikibooks. 

Every wiki can be changed, or edited, by anyone who has an account on the wiki, or by everyone in the world if the wiki allows it. Some important pages can only be changed by certain users. Wikis are central places where we all can share information, people can add new information, and then people read them. Wikis allow information from all around the world to be collected.

On a wiki, people can write pages by collaboration. Pages are watched closely to see whether changes are good or bad. If one person writes something wrong, another can correct it. Other users can also add something new to the page. Because of this, the page gets better when people change it. Administrators can block someone from editing if they vandalize, or for other reasons.  
T
Users can also discuss things on wikis. Discussion can help people understand things better and get a chance to tell their views. In Wikipedia the talk pages are for that, but in some wikis, the article and the discussion are in the same page.

Wikis can be used for different things; not all wikis follow the same rules for using them. For example, the purpose of Wikipedia is to write articles for an encyclopedia. That is why in Wikipedia, people do not want general discussion that does not help in writing articles.

Ward Cunningham started the first wiki in March 1995. Many people liked it, and wrote there, after which they started similar websites such as Wikipedia. MediaWiki is the most used software for wikis and is the software used for Wikipedia and many other Wikis. JSPWiki is one of many others. "Wiki" is also sometimes an abbreviation for Wikipedia.

Vandalism 

Most wikis can be edited by anyone and everyone. Some wikis are even available to people without an account, so sometimes wikis will become a target for vandals to add unwelcome, disruptive or even misleading content. There are many ways to prevent this. Individual pages can be protected to allow only certain users, or only those with an account, to edit them. Administrators can also block users who make repeated vandalous edits after a minimum of a single warning. Vandalism may not be stopped totally, but regular, careful checking can limit the amount of disruptive edits you will see in a day.

Related pages  
 Simple English Wikipedia

References

Other websites 

Internet slang
Software
Wikis
Word

A word is something spoken by the mouth, that can be pronounced.  In alphabetic writing, it is a collection of letters used together to communicate a meaning. These can also usually be pronounced. A logogram is also a word.

Some words have more than one meaning, for example 'spring' can refer to the season, the device, or a conjugation of the verb. These are homonyms. Some words have different pronunciation, for example, 'wind' (the noun) and 'wind' (the verb) are pronounced differently. 

Some words have different spelling for example 'color' and 'colour', which are both correct. Color is used in American English and colour is used in British English. Some words can be only one letter, for example "a" and "I" in English. Besides English, other languages have their own words. When written with an alphabet, words are usually separated by a space. When written with ideograms, each word is usually a separate symbol.

Words can be invented. This is called neologism. For example, radar was originally an acronym but became an actual word. Two words may be joined to make a compound word.

Fuller definition 
A word is the smallest thing which can be said with meaning. For example, hello is a word.
This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but may not stand on its own. A word may consist of a single morpheme (for example: oh!, rock, red, quick, run, expect), or several (rocks, redness, quickly, running, unexpected), whereas a morpheme may not be able to stand on its own as a word (in the words just given, these are -s, -ness, -ly, -ing, un-, -ed).

The meaning of a word can be found in a dictionary.

Related pages 
 Lexeme
 Parts of speech

 
Basic English 850 words
Web browser

A web browser is a computer program application for reading pages of the World Wide Web. Since the late 1990s, most personal computers and mobile phones and other mobile devices have a browser.

Web browsers are used by people to find and look at websites on the Internet. The first web browser was created in 1990. Many web browsers are available for free. All web browsers can go to websites but each browser has good things and bad things about it. For example, some browsers focus on data security and keeping computers safe from viruses. Other browsers are made so that web pages appear on-screen faster.

Some popular web browsers include:

 Mozilla Firefox
 Google Chrome 
 Opera
 Safari
 Internet Explorer included with Microsoft Windows
 Microsoft Edge, a more modernized version of Internet Explorer, included with Windows 10

Other browsers are:
 Flock
 Epiphany

Web browsers and HTML 
A webpage is one page of a website.  Every web page has a web address.

A web browser goes to a web page using a web address. It downloads the HTML file stored at that address. Its browser engine then reads and translates the HTML file. The browser will then show the webpage on the screen as text, images and clickable links.

Other websites 
 What is browser? Video by Google
 How browsers work
 Web Browser -Citizendium
Webpage

A webpage (or web page) is a document from the internet which can be seen with a web browser.  Web pages each have a URL or address, which is how a page is found, and is different for every page.  When a webpage is part of a larger group of pages managed by a company, person, or organization, it is part of a website.

Pages can have words, pictures, videos, and links. Links are ways to get to other web pages.

For example, this article is a webpage. It has the URL https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webpage, and is part of the Wikipedia website.  It has words and links.  The links in this page are shown in blue and can be clicked to go to other webpages.

Technology 
Web pages are usually stored in HTML code which describes what to show on the page like words or pictures. Web pages also use two other types of code to tell the page how to work: 
 Cascading Style Sheets (or CSS) is a code used to tell the page how to look. 
 JavaScript (or JS) is used to change the words, style, or pictures on the page.

Internet
Wiktionary

Wiktionary is a wiki-based project to develop a multilingual online dictionary, or a group of meanings for words, in the form of a wiki. There are many languages of Wiktionary. Wiktionary is also a thesaurus. Wiktionary is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, which also runs Wikipedia. The English Wiktionary currently has over 6.1 million pages  and 3.5 million users. Much like Wikipedia, the Wiktionary is run in several different languages that can be selected from its main page.

Logo
In 2006, there was a vote for the change of the logo of Wiktionary. The original logo of only words was replaced. However, there were very few people who voted in this contest. Therefore, smaller wikis used the newer logo but the English Wiktionary stayed with the same logo.

In 2009, there was a second contest for a newer logo (pictured). This was a step to make all the Wiktionaries to have the same logo on all projects. However, the English Wiktionary still did not use the new logo. The Simple English Wiktionary voted on the new logo on November 30, 2010 and the community decided the new logo to use it as their logo. However, no changes were made to the logo and the discussion was thus forgotten.

Sources

Other websites

 Simple English Wiktionary main page
 English Wiktionary main page
 Simple English Wiktionary mobile version
 English Wiktionary mobile

Dictionaries
Wikimedia
Wikis
Websites established in 2002
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is an operating system for computers made by the United States-based company Microsoft. Windows is used by almost 90% of desktop and laptop computers.

History 
The first version of Windows, Windows 1.0, came out on November 20, 1985. The newest version, Windows 11, came out October 5, 2021. Most personal computers made after 2015 come with Windows 10. However, some older or cheaper personal computers may come with Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.

Windows makes it easier to run programs (applications) than MS-DOS did. DOS required typed commands to make the computer do something. DOS required correct syntax of each command. Making mistakes caused the computer to usually give an error message and do nothing.

Design 
Users control their Windows computer by its graphical user interface (or GUI for short). It only needs a keyboard or a mouse to work. In later versions, a touch screen works as well. However, using both a keyboard and a mouse makes many tasks easier. By clicking a few buttons on the screen, Windows helps keep your files safe, and easier to change and move. Versions of Windows after 2005 make it even easier for some users with disabilities because these versions have touch screens. For use of a touch screen, some mobile devices come with Windows. Tablet computers and smartphones such as Microsoft Surface and Microsoft Lumia use Windows.

Programs 
The following programs are included with Windows:

 WordPad – to write simple documents, typically using words/text.
 Windows Photo Viewer – to look at pictures.
 Microsoft Paint – to make simple drawings or change pictures.
 Microsoft Edge web browser – to use the Internet to look at web pages and download files.
 Windows DVD Player to watch videos.
 Windows Groove to play and listen to music

Windows has several kinds of applications/programs available. Popular applications include games, word processors (to write words) or additional programs like Adobe Flash Player (to watch some videos and play many games on internet sites). Adding new applications to Windows is called "installing". Applications can be bought/purchased on a CD or DVD. Applications can also be downloaded from the Internet.  Some internet applications can be downloaded for free, and others can be bought using the internet.

Versions

Criticism 
Many users complain that Windows creates problems for them. Some users complain that Windows made their computers slower when they changed from DOS. Many people also complain about problems that make their computer less safe to use, even though Microsoft tries to fix these problems. Many computer viruses are created to infect computers running Windows since it is such a popular operating system. Windows was the most popular operating system until recently (today mobile operating systems such as Android are more popular).

References

Other websites 
 The Microsoft Windows website
 The Windows Team Blog – Official blog of the Windows Team at Microsoft

Microsoft operating systems
Window

A window is an opening in a wall or roof of a building, in a car etc., to let air and light in. It is usually filled with a sheet of glass. There can be many different shapes and sizes, including rectangular, square, circular, or irregular shapes. Some windows include coloured glass. Windows are usually transparent so that people can see through them.

Before glass was used in windows, people in Asia used paper to fill the hole in the wall. The paper would let light in.

Types of window
These are different types of windows. They are:

Cross-window
A cross-window is a window that has a mullion and a transom, that makes a cross.

Fixed window
A fixed window is a window that cannot be opened. It is made to allow light to enter. The windows in churches are usually fixed.

Single-hung sash
A single-hung sash window is a window that has one horizontal sash at the bottom that can move up and down.

Double-hung sash
A double-hung sash is a window that has two horizontal sash at the top and bottom that can move up and down.

Casement window

A casement window is a window with a sash that has a hinge that swings in or out like a door. Casement windows are usually held open using a casement stay.

Skylight

A skylight is a window built into a roof. This type of window allows natural daylight and moonlight to enter.

Roof lantern

A roof lantern is a glass structure that has lots of different colors. It looks like a small building. It is built on a roof for day or moon light.

Stained glass window

A stained glass window is a window that is made up of pieces of colored glass. The colored glass can be transparent, translucent or opaque. It usually shows people or places. Usually the glass in these windows is separated by lead rods. Stained glass windows are very common in churches.

How they are made
Different materials are used when making a window. For the frame of the window wood, polyvinyl chloride, composite, aluminium, steel, fiberglass are used.

Many windows have movable window coverings such as blinds or curtains. They keep out light, give extra insulation. It also ensure privacy. Windows allow natural light to enter. But too much can have bad effects such as glare and heat gain.

References

Basic English 850 words
Windows (architecture)
Width

Width or breadth is the side-to-side length, measuring across the object at right angles to the height.

For example, the distance between the left side and right side of a chair is its width.

Related pages
Height
Depth

Physical quantity
Yiddish

Yiddish is a language used by some Jews. At first, it was a dialect of German  that Jews began to use in Europe about 1000 years ago. It was and still is used in the United States, especially in New York City, and other countries that now have Jews.

Most Yiddish words come from German, but many words are also from Hebrew and Slavic languages, especially Polish, and some from French, Hungarian and Latin. Yiddish is written usually by the Hebrew alphabet.

In the world, Yiddish is spoken by about 3 million people, mainly Hasidic Jews.

European Charter 
In the Netherlands and Sweden, Yiddish is protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Related pages 
 Ladino language

References

Other websites 
Di Velt fun Yidish: Audio Stories
Year

One year is about 365 days long (except in a leap year). It is the time it takes the Earth to go completely around (orbit) the sun once. A year is actually 365.25 days long, but a calendar has 365 days, except in a leap year.

The year starts on January 1 and ends on December 31 in the Gregorian calendar, but a fiscal year or a school year can start on a different day of the year.

There are several ways used to measure the length of a year.

 a solar year is based on the seasons. The Gregorian calendar is based on the solar year. The solar year is 365 days long. 
 A tropical year (also known as a solar year) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the cycle of seasons, as seen from Earth; for example, the time from vernal equinox to vernal equinox, or from summer solstice to summer solstice. The word "tropical" in this sense comes from the Greek tropikos meaning "turn". 
 a lunar year is based on the moon and is usually 12 lunar months (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes each) or 354 days long.
 a sidereal year measures the time between when a selected fixed star is highest in the night sky.
 an anomalistic year is the difference between the times when the Earth gets closest to the sun.
 an eclipse year is the time between node passages. This is when the sun moves through a part of the sky where it is possible for the sun, Earth and moon to be in a line. It is also when eclipses can happen.

Solar and lunar years are used by different calendars for daily life. The other measurements are used by astronomers.

 Ma (for meganum) — a unit of time equal to one million years. The suffix "Ma" is often used in scientific disciplines such as geology, paleontology, and astronomy to signify very long time periods into the past or future. The simpler term "mya" for "million years ago" is generally preferred on this wiki as being intuitively more simple for non-technical readers.

Basic English 850 words
Units of time
Zoology

Zoology is the science  of studying animal life. It is part of biology. The word is pronounced Zō-ölogy, not Zoo-ology. Animal life is classified into groups called phyla, of which there are at least thirty. 

Zoologists are scientists who study animals. They may work in laboratories, or do field research. The methods are many and various. At the heart, they cover the structure, function, ecology and evolution of animals. The structure is investigated by dissection, and microscopic examination. The function is investigated by observation and experiment. Palaeontology supplies information about extinct animals. Zoologists may be employed by universities, museums, or by zoos.

Short-list of zoologists 
Some zoologists:

 Louis Agassiz (malacology, ichthyology)
 Aristotle
 Henry Walter Bates
 Buffon
 Jennifer Clack
 Charles Darwin
 Theodosius Dobzhansky 
 Dian Fossey (primatology)
 Conrad Gessner
 Geoffroy
 Jane Goodall (primatology)
 John Gould, ornithology
 Stephen Jay Gould
 Ernst Haeckel
 Julian Huxley
 Thomas Henry Huxley
 Libbie Hyman (invertebrate zoology)
 William Kirby (father of entomology)
 Lamarck
 Louis Leakey (palaeoanthropology)
 Linnaeus (father of systematics)
 Konrad Lorenz (ethology)
 John Maynard Smith
 Fritz Müller
 Richard Owen (Natural History Museum)
 John Ray
 E.O. Wilson, (entomology, founder of sociobiology)
 Jakob van Uexküll (animal behavior, invertebrate zoology)
 Alfred Russel Wallace
 James Watson 
 August Weismann
 Gilbert White

Animal phylum 
List of animal phylum

Related pages
Ecology

Other websites

References
Zebra

Zebras are mammals of the family Equidae. Zebras are African horses. They are in the same genus as the common horse, Equus caballus, and donkeys. Zebras are known for having many black and white stripes. There are three main species of zebra, Grevy's Zebra, the Plains Zebra, and the Mountain Zebra.

Species 
 Genus Equus
 Grevy's Zebra (Equus grevyi)
 Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
Crawshay’s Zebra (Equus quagga crawshaii)
Selous' Zebra (Equus quagga borensis)
Grant’s Zebra or Boehm's Zebra, (Equus quagga boehmi) 
Chapman's Zebra (Equus quagga chapmani) 
Burchell's Zebra (Equus quagga burchellii)
Quagga (Equus quagga quagga)  
 Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra)

Appearance
All zebras have very short fur because they live in hot areas. Their fur has black and white stripes. The main part of the body has mostly vertical stripes, and the legs have horizontal stripes. They also have a dark line directly down their spine. Each of the different zebra species has different type of stripes. Each zebra has a unique pattern.

Despite many attempts, we do not really know what the advantage is of having those characteristic stripes. There are different species and sub-species of zebra, and they all have stripes, so scientists think it must be important.

Life
Zebras are social animals that spend time in herds, they graze together and sometimes even groom each other. They can have babies (foals) when they are about five years old and can have one every year. Zebras mainly eat grass, but they also eat fruit, leaves and some vegetables. They always live near water and are an endangered species. 

Zebras live in Africa, south of the Sahara desert.

References
Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, or zoo is a place where many different species types of animals are kept so people can see and watch them.

Modern zoos try not only to be for people's entertainment, but for education, research, and the conservation and protection of animals. Many zoos are centers where rare animals are preserved when they are in danger of dying out. These modern zoos also want to give the animals a natural life, so that they are healthy and behave normal. This is done for the animals, but also that people can see the animals as if they were in nature, and not in a zoo.

Zoos cost money. They educate the public on the biological diversity that makes up the world. They help people and wildlife successfully coexist. They pursue continuing research and education for people. They preserve crucial natural resources. They work to ensure zoos can provide the most natural environment possible for wildlife in its care. Without enough money they cannot do these things.

Many zoos are not like the modern type of zoo. There the animals are held in bad conditions. They are kept in small cages, and they are bored and get sick.

Types
There are different types of zoo all over the world. They are:

Safari park

A safari park is a type of zoo where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles given by the park to see the animals. Sometimes, visitors can feed the animals through the car windows. The first safari park was Whipsnade Park in Bedfordshire, England. It was opened by the Zoological Society of London in 1931.

Public aquarium

A public aquarium is a type of zoo which has lots of aquatic animals and plants for people to see. Most public aquariums have very large tanks. They may also have smaller tanks. The first public aquariums were made in the mid-19th century.

Petting zoo

A petting zoo is a type of zoo that has domestic animals and some wild animals that are very calm so that the visitors can touch and feed them. Most petting zoos usually have very calm herbivorous domesticated animals, such as: sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits or ponies, to feed and touch them safely. Few petting zoos have wild animals (such as pythons or baby big cats) touch. These are rare and usually found outside Western countries.

Animal theme park
An animal theme park is a combination of a theme park and a zoo. It mainly built for entertainment, amusement, and commercial reasons. Many animal theme parks combine theme park elements, like entertainment and amusement rides, with zoo elements such as live animals kept inside cages so that visitors can see them.

Pictures

References
Simple English

Simple English might mean:
Basic English
Simple English Wikipedia gives information about a certain subject using fewer words and simpler grammar than the normal English Wikipedia.
Simple English Wiktionary
Plain English Campaign: a commercial advocate for the use of simple ("plain") English to communicate with the public.
Special English: the Voice of America form  of simple English used for public radio news items for a large audience.
Specialized English SPOTLIGHT word list for broadcasting in a controlled version of the English language.
Simplified English word list of ASD Simplified Technical English. This is for the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA, now ASD www.asd-europe.org).
Globish (Nerrière) by Jean-Paul Nerrière.

References
Butter

Butter is a dairy food. It is made by moving the cream from whole milk for a long time. The fat in the milk separates from the liquid. The fat is butter.

Butter is often put on on bread, as a main ingredient in biscuits, as a shortening agent in some baking and cooking recipes, and for frying foods.

Often, butter is made from cows' milk, butter can also be made from the milk of other mammals, like sheep, goats, bison, and yaks. Salt, flavorings and preservatives are sometimes added to butter.

Many people use butter in their foods instead of oil.

It has a melting point of about .

There are 717 calories in  of butter.

Types 
Cultured butter is a butter made from fermented cream. Sweet cream butter is butter made from pasteurized fresh cream. Raw cream butter is butter made from fresh or cultured unpasteurized cream.

References

Other websites

 
Basic English 850 words
Dairy products
Spreads
Cooking fats
Climate

Climate means the usual condition of the temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, and other Meteorology|meteorological Weather|elements in an area of the Earth's surface for a long time. In simple terms climate is the average condition for about thirty years. Climate and weather are different. Weather is the day to day conditions in the atmosphere.  The types of climates are: Tropical, Desert/dry, Temperate, Polar, Mediterranean. 
 Polar climate (also called boreal climate), has long, usually very cold winters, and short summers.
 Temperate climates have four seasons. Some of the countries which have a temperate climate are: most of the European countries.
 Deserts. They just have one or two seasons such as: Saudi Arabia and most of the African countries.
 Tropical climates have warm temperature and only two seasons; wet and dry. An example of a place with a tropical climate is the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
 The Mediterranean climate is usually hot and dry in summer, and is cool and wet in winter. An example of a country with a Mediterranean climate is Spain.

The latitude, ground, and height can change the climate of a location. It is also important to note if oceans or other large bodies of water are nearby. Climates are most commonly classified by temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used classification was the Köppen climate classification, first made by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system, which was used from 1948, not only uses temperature and precipitation information, but evapotranspiration too. This makes it useful for studying how many different kinds of animal species there are, and about the things that could happen when climates change. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus more on where the air masses which help make climates come from.

Climates can change after a long time. Nowadays people are making the world warmer.

Related pages 
 Climatology
 Köppen climate classification

References
Fold (geology)

Rock often deforms in such a way that it bends instead of breaking. This is called a fold. The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat, level surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of pressure and high temperature. The basic cause is likely to be some aspect of plate tectonics. 

When two forces act towards each other from opposite sides, rock layers are bent into folds. The process by which folds are formed due to compression is known as folding. Folding is one of the endogenetic processes; it takes place within the Earth's crust. 

Folds in rocks vary in size from microscopic crinkles to mountain-sized folds. They occur singly as isolated folds and in extensive fold trains of different sizes, on a variety of scales. A set of folds distributed on a regional scale constitutes a fold belt, a common feature of orogenic zones. 

There are large-scale and small-scale folds. Large-scale folds are found mainly along a collision boundary between two tectonic plates.

Structure of a fold  
The upfold is called an anticline. The downfold is called a syncline.

The imaginary line joining the highest points along the upfold is called the crest line. 

The flanks of a fold are known as the limbs.

The central line from which the rock strata dip away in opposing directions is called the axis of fold.

According to the degree of folding of the layers, folds can be classified into five main types.
 symmetrical fold: two limbs are of equal steepness
 Asymmetrical fold: one limb is steeper than the other
 Overfold: one limb is pushed over the other
 Recumbent fold: two limbs are nearly parallel
 Overthrust fold: compressional force is so great that the rock strata are broken and slide over the other.

Formation of a fold mountain 
Large depressions called geosynclines form between plates. Seas filled the geosynclines and rivers flowing into them carried sediments (sand and silt) which build up on the sea bed.
Over millions of years the sediments were compressed, by their own weight, into sedimentary rocks, e.g. sandstone, limestone etc.

Landforms formed by folding 

Large-scale folding will develop parallel ranges of round-top mountains along destructive plate boundaries. These mountains are known as fold mountains. 

Examples of fold mountain ranges:
 Himalayas
 Alps
 Andes
 Rocky Mountains

Geology
Basket

A basket is a container. It is usually light.

Basket makers use a wide variety of materials to create a basket, such as bark, willow rods, leaves, wire, plastic, paper, and rope.  There are three basic kinds of baskets—coiled, twined, or woven.  A woven basket is made of spokes and weavers:  the spokes run up and down and the weavers go over and under the spokes. A coiled basket is made by sewing rings of a fibrous material to the previous ring. Twined baskets have flexible weavers that are twined around the spokes in a variety of patterns. 

Basketmaking is so old that it features in myths from various cultures.  Baskets are used to carry babies, plants, fruit, cotton, and Easter eggs.  Coroners once used a basket coffin to collect bodies, thus the expression "a basket case" which meant the person was dead. 

In basketball, the basket is an open net fixed to a metal ring in which players try to throw the ball.

Basic English 850 words
Software

Computer software, also called software, is a set of instructions and documentation that tells a computer what to do or how to perform a task. Software includes all different programs on a computer, such as applications and the operating system. Applications are programs that are designed to perform a specific operation, such as a game or a word processor. The operating system (e.g. Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Android and various Linux distributions) is a type of software that is used as a platform for running the applications, and controls all user interface tools including display and the keyboard.

The word software was first used in the late 1960s to emphasize on its difference from computer hardware, which can be physically observed by the user. Software is a set of instructions that the computer follows. Before compact discs (CDs) or development of the Internet age, software was used on various computer data storage media tools like paper punch cards, magnetic discs or magnetic tapes.

The word firmware is sometimes used to describe a style of software that is made specifically for a particular type of computer or an electronic device and is usually stored on a Flash memory or ROM chip in the computer. Firmware usually refers to a piece of software that directly controls a piece of hardware. The firmware for a CD drive or the firmware for a modem are examples of firmware implementation.

Today, software has become an important part of our lives. software is used everywhere. software engineers are responsible for producing fault-free software which has literally become an essential part of our daily lives. Changeability and conformity are two of the main properties of software design. There are also different processing models for designing software including Build and Fix, Waterfall and Agile software processing design methods.

Types of Software 
The  different types of software can be put into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. There are three broad classifications:
 Application software are the computer programs for performing user tasks such as word processing and web browsers.
 System software is used to start and run computer systems and networks. This includes operating systems.
 Computer programming tools (also known as development software) are used to create application and system software. This is done by translating and combining computer program source code and libraries into executable RAMs. These include compiler and linker.

Related pages

 Computer program
 Free software
 software engineering

 
Computer science
Asia

Asia is a large region on Earth mainly in the northern hemisphere. Asia is connected to Europe in the west, forming a continent called Eurasia, though sometimes it is viewed as a separate continent from Europe. Some of the oldest human civilizations began in Asia, such as Sumer, China, and India. Asia was also home to some large empires such as the Persian Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Mongol Empire, and the Ming Empire. It is home to at least 44 countries. Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Cyprus are partly are also considered european.

Area 

Asia includes a large amount of land. Covering about 30% of the world's land area, it has more people than any other continent, with about 60% of the world's total population. Stretching from the icy Arctic in the north to the hot and steamy equatorial lands in the south, Asia contains huge, empty deserts, as well as some of the world's highest mountains and longest rivers. 

Asia is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. It is separated from Europe by the Pontic Mountains and the Turkish Straits. A long, mainly land border in the west separates Europe and Asia. This line runs North-South down the Ural Mountains in Russia, along the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, and through the Caucasus Mountains to the Black Sea.

Regions 

 East Asia
 Southeast Asia
 South Asia
 Central Asia
 West Asia
 North Asia

List of countries 

 Geologically in Europe and Asia
 Geologically in Europe and Asia

 Geologically in Europe and Asia

 Only Sinai Peninsula
 Geologically in Europe and Asia

 Geologically in Europe and Asia

 Geologically in Europe and Asia

 Geologically in Europe and Asia

Some countries are variously located in both Europe and Asia, namely Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, and Turkey.

The Sinai Peninsula of Egypt lies in the Arabian peninsula, with the rest of the country lying in North-East Africa.

Related pages

 Asia Minor
 Asian Games
 Southeast Asia

References