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Fun Facts about Texas / B2-C1

2359 Vues 1 J'aime Posté sur: July 13th 2020

Fun Facts about Texas

Level B2-C1

When you hear the word ‘Texas’, you probably think of ‘Dallas’ – the television series from the late 1970s – or cowboys rounding up a herd of cattle. Yeehaa! While you wouldn’t be wrong, Texas has so much more to offer than JR Ewing and stereotypes. It’s a diverse state with a rich historical and cultural background, and more interesting than you could ever imagine. Let’s look at some fun facts about Texas, the second-largest state in the USA.

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Texas is one of the most populated states in the US, and is also the second largest. Measuring about 695 673 km², it is a little bigger than France. Imagine that – a US state that is bigger than a European country!

While Alaska is understandably known as The Last Frontier and New York as the Empire State, Texas has a slightly more intriguing state motto. Texas is The Lone Star State. Why? The slogan represents the independence and pride of a state that broke away from Mexico in 1836. It stayed an independent republic for ten years before accepting annexation to the United States.

While its slogan is linked to its history, its motto is linked to the spirit of the people. Texas’ motto is simply ‘friendship’. The name of Texas, or Tejas, was how the Spanish pronounced the local Indian tribe’s word ‘teyshas’ meaning friends or allies. The Texans – a friendly bunch!

Texas is the proud owner of its own power grid. There are three power grids in the US – one covers the states east of the Rocky Mountains, and a second covers the states between the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains. The last one covers Texas and was built during WWII to ensure that the factories in Texas producing important war supplies were self-sustainable.

The Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument in Texas houses time capsules1. One of them can only be opened 1,000 years after it was sealed in 1968. What very important piece of information or article does it contain? A passbook to a bank account holding a $10 bill which will be worth 1 quadrillion in 2968!

Hooked yet? If you’d like to know more – and I’m sure you do – you can get Go English No103 July-August 2020 and learn about the history of the state of Texas, and much more.

to round up = rassembler

a herd of cattle = un troupeau de bétail

a motto = une devise

pride = la fierté

annexation = annexion

a bunch = un groupe de personnes

a power grid = un réseau électrique

self-sustainable = autonome

to seal = sceller

a passbook = un livret d’épargne

a bill = (ici) un billet de banque

1 A time capsule is a box filled with historical items, buried and destined to be opened many years later.

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Marque: Cours
Publié dans: Culture

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