The symbol of Thanksgiving in the United States is its traditional food, a large bird we call the “turkey”. But the turkey is certainly not from Turkey. In fact, its English name is based on one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity.

The word “Turkey” has meant “the land of the Turks” since ancient times. The word “turkey” which refers to the bird first appeared in the English language in the mid-1500s.

The misunderstanding over the word happened because of two similar-looking kinds of birds. There is an African bird called the guinea fowl. Portuguese traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa.

This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought of the bird as a “Turkish chicken”. When Europeans came to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. This bird was native to the North American continent.

Orin Hargraves is a lexicographer, someone who writes dictionaries. Hargraves elucidates what happened. “Some Europeans saw an American turkey, thought that it was the guinea fowl, which at that time was called the ‘turkey cock’, and so gave it the same name.”

Hundreds of years later, we continue to call this North American bird “turkey”, even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey, or even with Europe. But English is not the only language with interesting — and even questionable — names for this North American bird.

The Turkish, for their part, call the turkey “hindi”, the Turkish name for India. The mention to India probably comes from the old, wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia. The French call it “dinde”, a name that also connects the bird to India. “D’ Inde” means “from India” in the French language. “Turkey” has similar names in several other languages. So, what do they call this North American bird in India? Well, in the Hindi language, “turkey” is “tarki”.

Ice cream is certainly the world's favorite dessert. 【小题1】 Of all the people across the world, more ice cream is eaten in Australia than in any other country: 16.6 liters per person per year.

A form of ice cream was eaten in China about 4,000 years ago. 【小题2】 Sounds strange today.

Ice cream was brought to Europe in the 16th century, but at that time only the super-rich could afford it. When the Italian princess Catherine de Medici married the future King Henry Ⅱ of France in 1533, a different kind of ice cream was served every day a month! 【小题3】

Ice cream was introduced to America in the 1700s, but mostly enjoyed by the wealthy. Around 1800, special ice houses were invented and ice cream became an American industry. 【小题4】 In 1946, they ate more than 20 liters of ice cream per person.

The world's most popular flavor is vanilla（香草）, which was produced from vanilla beans. 80% of the world's vanilla beans grew on the island of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. 【小题5】 And of all the days of the week, most ice cream is bought on Sunday!

One of the first great intellectual achievements of a young child is learning how to talk, closely followed by learning how to count. From earliest childhood we are so associated with our system of numeration(计数)that it is hard to consider the problems faced by early humans who had not yet developed this ability. Rather than being an ability that comes naturally to a person, it is one of the great achievements of the human race.

It will never be known how and when this numeration ability developed, but it is certain that numeration was well developed by the time humans had formed even semi-permanent settlements. When early humans began to settle, grow plants and herd animals, the need for a complex number system became important.

Evidence of early stages of numeration can be readily found. The indigenous (土著的) peoples of Tasmania were only able to count one, two, many. But in real situations the number and words are often accompanied by gestures to help smooth any confusion. For example, when using the one, two, many type of system, the word many would mean. Look at my hands and how many fingers I am showing you. This approach is limited in the range of numbers that it can express, but generally enough.

The lack of ability of some cultures to deal with large numbers is not really surprising. The average person in the seventh century in Europe was not as familiar with numbers as we are today. In fact, to qualify as a witness in a court of law, a man had to be able to count to nine！

Counting is not directly related to the formation of a number concept because it is possible to count by matching the items being counted against a group of pebbles or fingers. Such aids, while different, are still used even by the most educated in today s society due to their convenience.