Englischverständnis für fortgeschrittene Anfänger – Buch 1

ausfindig machen
    carnivores – animals which eat meat, e.g. cats, dogs, snakes. Fleischfresser
    hide - here hide is a noun and means an animal’s skin, not the verb ‘to hide’. Haut, Fell
    throw up - ‘to throw up’, a phrasal verb meaning ‘to vomit’. erbrechen
    stable - here stable is an adjective which means ‘something which doesn’t change’. stabil, beständig
    due to - because of. aufgrund
    a great deal to learn - ‘a great deal’ means ‘a lot’. viel, eine Menge
    reveal – ‘to reveal’, to tell a fact or secret that was unknown. offenbaren, enthüllen
    in captivity - not living in the wild but in a zoo. in Gefangenschaft
     
    Questions about the text
    1. Why is the bite of a Komodo dragon dangerous?
    2. Why might a Komodo dragon vomit?
    3. How do Komodo dragons hunt?
    4. How are Komodo dragons different from other large carnivores?
    5. What happened in 1926?
    6. Name three factors that have made Komodo dragons endangered. 
    7. How do Komodo dragons find prey which they have bitten, but which has escaped?
    8. There are not many Komodo dragons in captivity . Why is this?
    9. How many Komodo dragons did W. Douglas Burden take back to America?
    10. True or false? - Komodo dragons can run quickly for long periods of time.
    Click here to check your answers.

Jainism
     

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    We have all heard of the six biggest religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. However, there are hundreds of lesser-known religions around the world. Jainism is one of these ancient belief-systems.
    Jainism wasn’t started by just one person. Its teachings have been shared at different times by a ‘tirthankara’.  A tirthankara means ‘a teacher who shows the way’. Other religions, such as Islam, call this kind of person a 'prophet'. Jains believe that tirthankaras have achieved the highest spiritual level of existence. Jains believe that these teachers can then show others how to achieve this for themselves. In the era which Jains call the 'present age', there have been twenty-four tirthankaras
    There are two sects of Jains. One is the Digambara sect and the other is the Svetambara sect. Each sect agrees about the basics of Jainism, but they disagree about other things. One thing they disagree about is the spiritual status of women. Svetambara Jains believe that tirthankaras can be men or women. They say that Malli (one of the twenty-four tirthankaras) was a princess. However, Digambra Jains believe that women can't be tirthankaras. They say that Malli was a man.
    Jains believe that animals, plants and human beings, all have living souls. They believe each of these souls is equal and that we should treat them with compassion , love and respect. Because of this belief, Jains are strict vegetarians. They try not to harm animals, including insects. Jains see vegetarianism as a way for a peaceful existence, non-violence and cooperation .
    The most important rule in Jainism living is non-violence. Non-violence is one of the five mahavratas (the five great vows ) of Jainism. The other mahavratas are: non-attachment to belongings (things you own), honesty (not lying), not stealing, and sexual restraint (with celibacy as the ideal). 
    A man called Mahavira taught the five mahavrats. Mahavira is an extremely important person in Jainism, although he is not the religion’s founder . He was the most recent of the twenty-four tirthankaras and he was responsible for shaping the religion into its present form.
    Jains believe that the universe is not an illusion and that it really exists. Furthermore, they believe that nothing in the universe is ever destroyed or created. Instead, they believe that it simply changes from one form to another. Jains believe that the universe has always existed and that it will continue to exist forever. Just like modern scientists, Jains believe that the universe is regulated by cosmic laws. They also think it has its own energy processes, which renew it and help it to work properly.
    Jains do not believe that any sort of god created the universe. However, they venerate ‘liberated souls’. Liberated souls are souls who have escaped the cycle of rebirth and who are now free. Jains worship these souls as an example of perfection and something which they can try and follow in their own lives.
    Another belief of Jainism is karma. The idea of karma in Jainism is completely different to karma in the Hindu