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Dulcimers

Dulcimers are musical instruments that basically consist of wooden boxes with strings stretched over them. In one form or another, they have been around since ancient time, probably originating with the Persian santir. Today there are two varieties: the hammered dulcimer and the Appalachian, or mountain dulcimer. The former is shaped like a trapezoid, has two or more strings, and is played with wooden mallets. It is the same instrument played in a number of Old World countries. The Appalachian dulcimer is classified by musicologists are as a box zither. It is a descendant of the Pennsylvania Dutch Scheitholt and the French epinette. Appalachian dulcimers are painstakingly fashioned by artisans in the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. These instruments have three or four strings and are plucked with quills or the fingers. They are shaped like teardrops or hourglasses. Heart-shaped holes in the sounding board are traditional. Most performers play the instruments while seated with the instrument in their laps, but others wear them around their necks like guitars or place them on tables in front of them. Originally used to play dance music, Appalachian dulcimers were popularized by performers such as John Jacob Niles and Jean Ritchie during the folk music revival of the 1960s.

Active Voice, Passive Voice

The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:

active	subject	verb	Object
		>
	Cats	eat	Fish

The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb:

Passive	subject	Verb	Object
	<
	Fish	are eaten	by cats.

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

	Subject	Verb	Object
Active	Everybody	Drinks	Water
Passive	Water	is drunk	by everybody

Passive Voice

The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it.

Construction of the Passive Voice

The structure of the passive voice is very simple: subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle) The main verb is always in its past participle form. Look at these examples:

Subject	auxiliary verb (to be)		main verb (past participle)
Water	Is		Drunk	by everyone.
100 people	Are		employed	by this company.
I	Am		Paid	in euro.
We	Are	Not	Paid	in dollars.
Are	They		Paid	in yen?

Use of the Passive Voice

We use the passive when:

• we want to make the active object more important
• we do not know the active subject

	subject	Verb	object
give importance to active object (President Kennedy)	President Kennedy	was killed	by Lee Harvey Oswald.
active subject unknown	My wallet	has been stolen.	?

Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).

Look at this sentence:

• He was killed with a gun.

Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active subject. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody killed him with a gun. The gun is the instrument. Somebody is the "agent" or "doer".

Conjugation for the Passive Voice

We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is rather easy, as the main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always be. To form the required tense, we conjugate the auxiliary verb. So, for example:

• present simple: It is made
• present continuous: It is being made
• present perfect: It has been made
• Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:

Infinitive		to be washed
Simple	Present	It is washed.
	Past	It was washed.
	Future	It will be washed.
	Conditional	It would be washed.
Continuous	Present	It is being washed.
	Past	It was being washed.
	Future	It will be being washed.
	Conditional	It would be being washed.
perfect simple	Present	It has been washed.
	Past	It had been washed.
	Future	It will have been washed.
	Conditional	It would have been washed.
perfect continuous	Present	It has been being washed.
	Past	It had been being washed.
	Future	It will have been being washed.
	Conditional	It would have been being washed.

Active Voice :

-          Cats eat fish

-          Everybody Drinks water

-          Nasya writes a letter

-          Father is reading a newspaper now

-          Do you speak English ?

Passive Voice :

-          Fish are eaten by cats

-          Water is drunk by everybody

-          a letter is written by Nasya

-          a newspaper is being read by father now

-          is English spoken by you ?

Dolphin: Mamals with fins

    the name dolphin is originally from ancient greek, delphys which means womb. So, the name dolphin means " a fish wiht womb." Most dolphin are gray, but some species have black stripes, spots or black part. Dolphins have a streamlined body which has undergone several important and impressive adaptons to swim efficiently in the ocean. That's why they are hairless, unlike mammals, because hairs are inconvenient for swimming. Male dolphin are called "bull," females are "cows," and young dolphins are called "calves."
  
    there are 32 species of ocean dolphins and 5 species of river dolphins. The smallest species is the Maui dolphin which can grow to a
round 1.2 m in length and 40 kg in weight. The largest dolphin species is the orca, or famously known as killer whale. Male orcas grow to about 9 metrs and weight up to 6 tons. The most popular dolphin is the bottlenose dolphin. It can grow up to 2.8 meters and 300 kilograms.
  
    Dolphin live in a group which is called a "school" or a "pod." There can be up to a dozen dolphins in a pod. In places with an abundant supply of food, several pods can merge temporarirly,forming a superpod, a group of more than 1.000 dolphins.Dolphins communicate using a varietyof clicks, whistles and other vocalizations. They make ultrasonic sounds for echolocation. This technique uses the same principles of radar, and is used to find food navigate.
  
    Dolphins are highly sociable animals. They can establish strong social bonds. Dolphins will stay with injured or ill individuals. They even help the sick ones to breathe by bringing them to the surface if needed. If another dolphin is drowning. other dolphins will support it with their bodies so that its blowhole is above the water allowing it to breathe. They have also been seen protecting swimmers from sharks by swimming in circles around the swimming or charging the sharj to make them go away.
  
    Most dolphins live long lives. The bottlenose dolphin can live over 40 year and the orca can live to be 70 or 80 years. They are found worldide. mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves. They consume a variety of prey including fish. squid and crustaceans. They often hunt together by surronding a school of fish, trapping them ang taking turns swimming through the school and catching the fish. Dolphins will also follow seabird, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish the scare off or discard.
  
    They are well known for their agility and playful behavior,making the a favorite of wildlife watchers. Many species will leap out of the water , spy-hop (rise vertically out of the water to view their surrounding) and follow ships, often synchronizing their movements with one another. Scientists believes that dolphins conserve energy by swimming alongside ship. Dolphins are able to dive to great depths, and also leap to great heights. They may leap to avoid predators or show how powerful they are to females at mating time. Noisy splashing jumps may also be used to herd fish. Bottlenose dolphins can dive to depths of over 500m. They can satay up to 15 minutes underwater. Aren't they amazing ?

Courtesy : C n S English Teen Magazine