question: Nebraska is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. The state is bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River, Kansas to the south, Colorado to the southwest and Wyoming to the west. It is the only triply landlocked U.S. state. Nebraska's area is just over 77,220 sq mi (200,000km) with almost 1.9 million people. Its state capital is Lincoln, and its largest city is Omaha, which is on the Missouri River.

Indigenous peoples including Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, and various branches of the Lakota (Sioux) tribes lived in the region for thousands of years before European exploration. The state is crossed by many historic trails and was explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Nebraska was admitted as the 37th state of the United States in 1867. It is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan.

Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills and contains the state's largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln. The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska, characterized by treeless prairie, suitable for cattle-grazing. The state has a large agriculture sector and is a major producer of beef, pork, corn and soybeans. There are two major climatic zones: the eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification "Dfa"), with a unique warmer subtype considered "warm-temperate" near the southern plains like in Kansas and Oklahoma which have a predominantly humid subtropical climate. The western half has a primarily semi-arid climate (Koppen "BSk"). The state has wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, decreasing south through the state. Violent thunderstorms and tornadoes occur primarily during spring and summer, but sometimes in autumn. Chinook winds tend to warm the state significantly in the winter and early spring.
1. What is the thirty seventh state?
2. When?
3. What is unusual about it?
4. How many different peoples lived there?
5. Who explored it?
6. How big is it?
7. How many people live there?
8. How many land regions are there?
9. What is one of them?
10. And the other?
11. Which one contains the largest cities?
12. Does it have one climate zone?
13. How many?
14. Is it divided north and south?
15. How than?
16. When do they have violent storms?
17. What warms the state?
18. What is interesting about the state and its land that is the only one in the US?
19. Is it on a major river?
20. Which one?
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answer: 1. Nebraska
2. 1867
3. It is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan
4. At least 6.
5. Lewis and Clark
6. just over 77,220 sq mi
7. almost 1.9 million
8. two
9. the Great Plains
10. the Dissected Till Plains
11. The Dissected Till Plains
12. No.
13. two
14. No.
15. East and West.
16. primarily during spring and summer
17. Chinook winds
18. It is the only triply landlocked U.S. state.
19. Yes.
20. the Missouri

question: Turkmenistan ( or ; , ), formerly known as Turkmenia, is a country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north and east, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, and the Caspian Sea to the west.

Turkmenistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. In medieval times, Merv was one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road, a caravan route used for trade with China until the mid-15th century. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan later figured prominently in the anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR); it became independent upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Turkmenistan possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert. Since 1993, citizens have been receiving government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge.

Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in 2006. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president in 2007. According to Human Rights Watch, "Turkmenistan remains one of the world's most repressive countries. The country is virtually closed to independent scrutiny, media and religious freedoms are subject to draconian restrictions, and human rights defenders and other activists face the constant threat of government reprisal." After suspending the death penalty, the use of capital punishment was formally abolished in the 2008 constitution.
1. What was an important stop on the Silk Road?
2. What is that road?
3. Is it a caravan route?
4. What business did it aid?
5. Until when?
6. Turkmenistan has been where for centuries?
7. Is most of the country forest?
8. What is it, then?
9. What's one thing the residents get for free?
10. What natural resources is in abundance there?
11. Who ruled there until 2006?
12. What punishment did they end there in 2008?
13. What other punishment is no more?
14. What's to the southwest of this country?
15. What did the place used to be called?
16. What happened in 1881 there?
17. When did it become it's own country?
18. What caused that to happen?
19. Is it a repressed country?
20. Do the people have much freedom?
****
answer:
1. Merv
2. the Silk Road,
3. yes
4. for trade with China
5. until the mid-15th century.
6. at the crossroads of civilizations
7. no
8. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
9. electricity, water and natural gas
10. natural gas resources
11. President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov
12. capital punishment
13. the death penalty,
14. Iran
15. Turkmenia
16. It was annexed by the Russian Empire
17. 1991.
18. the dissolution of the Soviet Union
19. yes
20. no