Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
Early humans led a nomadic existence, relying on hunting and gathering for sustenance. Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, systematic cultivation of plants and the domestication of animals allowed for more permanent settlements. During the fourth millennium B.C., the requirements for the "urban revolution" were finally met: the production of a surplus of storable food, a system of writing, a more complex social organization, and technological advances such as the plough, potter's wheel, loom, and metallurgy.
Source: History Of Cities And City Planning by Cliff Ellis
During the forty years from 1950 to 1990, China carried out a massive capital investment program. Aside from railroads, roads, canals, airports, factories, and urban development, China has built over 86,000 new reservoirs, including 300 major reservoirs. After building some 523 dams per year between 1951-1982, China has started construction on 150 dams per year in the early 1990s, about half of the dams started each year world-wide. As a result of this commitment to construct hydroelectric projects, China has had to resettle over 10 million people in the past 40 years. To date, the largest completed resettlement effort for a hydropower project was associated with the Danjiangkou project on the Yangtze River (Changjiang) where 383,000 persons were resettled. In addition to the resettlement efforts associated with hydropower development, major capital developments in China have resulted in the relocation of more than 30 million people since 1950.
Source: The Development of Resettlement Policy in China
Shintaro Ishihara: Governor of the metropolitan prefecture of Tokyo-to, whose population, including Yokohama and Kawasaki is 33,900,000, making it the largest urban agglomeration in the world.
Barry Wakelin: the federal member of parliament (since 1993) for the vast electorate of Eyre, covering 904,881 sq.km, or 91.8% of South Australia. South Australia has an extremely low population density of 1.5 persons per square kilometre, reflecting its vast inland arid and semi-arid areas that do not sustain large cities or towns. Eyre contains only 2.2% of the population of South Australia.
Metropolis (1927): written and directed by Fritz Lang and starring Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich and Brigitte Helm as Maria and Der Maschinen-Mensch (The Robot). Tagline: There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator. Plot Outline: The Workers, led by the beautiful Maria, plan a revolt against the aloof Thinkers that dominate them in this future dystopia.
Source: IMDb
Country (1984): directed by Richard Pearce and starring Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard. Plot Summary: Gilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
Source: IMDb
10 biggest urban agglomerations (total population)
1.Tokyo, Japan (33,900,000)
2.Mexico City, Mexico (22,150,000)
3.Seoul, South Korea (21,950,000)
4.New York, USA (21,750,000)
5.São Paulo, Brazil (19,900,000)
6.Bombay, India (19,200,000)
7.Delhi, India (18,700,000)
8.Los Angeles, USA (17,600,000)
9.Osaka, Japan (16,750,000)
10.Jakarta, Indonesia (16,650,000)
10 least densely populated countries in the world (inhabitants per square kilometre)
1. Mongolia (1.7)
2. Namibia (2.2)
3. Australia (2.5)
4. Botswana (2.7)
Iceland (2.7)
Mauritania (2.7)
Suriname (2.7)
8. Libya (3.1)
9. Canada (3.2)
Guyana (3.2)
shanty town: an area in or on the edge of a city, in which poor people live in small, very cheaply built houses
country club: a sports or social organization based in the countryside, often one which does not allow membership to people who are considered to be unsuitable because of their social position, job or lack of wealth
Source: Cambridge Dictionaries Online
We Built This City by Jefferson Starship
See lyrics
Down On The Farm by Little Feat
See lyrics
City chicken
See recipe
Country pumpkin bread
See recipe
City
In Swahili, jiji means "city" and kijiji means a small city or village, which have three and five dotted letters in a row. Other examples of places with three dotted letters in a row are Beijing and Shijiazhuang (Chinese cities) and Ajijic and Pijijiapan (cities in Mexico).
Both ABCOUDE (city in the Netherlands) and ZABCIKVILLE (city in Texas) contain the rare sequence of ABC.
NEUQUEN (a city in Argentina), QAANAAQ (the administrative capital of Northern Greenland) are both palindromes. GLENELG is one of the most common palindromic geographic names worldwide. The original is a village in Scotland. There's also a town in Maryland, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, a village in Nova Scotia, and a township in Ontario.
The longest place-name in the world is the full name for Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand: KRUNGTHEP MAHANAKHON BOVORN RATANAKOSIN MAHINTHARAYUTTHAYA MAHADILOKPOP NOPARATRATCHATHANI BURIROM UDOMRATCHANIVETMAHASATHAN AMORNPIMAN AVATARNS ATHIT SAKKATHATTIYAVISNUKARMPRASIT, meaning "The land of angels, the great city (of) immortality, various of devine gems, the great angelic land unconquerable, land of nine noble gems, the royal city, the pleasant capital, place of the grand royal palace, forever land of angels and reincarnated spirits, predestined and created by the highest Deva(s)."
Country
In 1934 Variety printed perhaps its most famous headline of all time, STIX NIX HICK PIX, meaning "rural communities reject movies about rural personae."
Hillbilly is a nine-letter word consisting of only long letters.
NAJNEOBHOSPODAROVAVATELNEJSIEHO (31 letters) is the longest Slovak word, according to Miroslav Sedivy, who reports it means "of the less cultivable" (about a field).
http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words.html
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Summary: http://www.awerty.com/taletwo2.html
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Summary: http://www.awerty.com/farfrom2.html
City
He that is not eager to be pawed in cash is not a businessman. (Chinese)
He who does not know what to do in his spare time is not a businessman. (Chinese)
He who has never been cheated, cannot be a good businessman. (Chinese)
The city that negotiates is half conquered. (French)
If you enter the city of the blind, cover your eyes. (Iranian)
You can close the city gates but not the mouths of men. (Iranian)
Country
The corn is not choked by the weeds but by the negligence of the farmer. (Chinese)
Manure is the farmer's gold. (Estonian)
A warrior dies in battle; a mountain climber on the rocks, but a farmer dies of old age. (New Zealander)
If the farmer is poor then so is the whole country. (Polish)
The farmer is a born philosopher, the aristocrat has to learn how. (Polish)
What the farmer does not know he doesn't eat. (German)
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