So Many Things to See Trivia Quiz

Answer: Morning glory

This beautiful purple flower with a white center is called a morning glory. Some types of morning glory grow on vines. This flower is named that because it opens its petals very early in the morning, about when the sun is rising. The flowers usually close a few hours later, when the sun is at its brightest.

Answer: Mural

That's a mural! I don't know what the artist was drawing, but it sure is colorful. Sometimes people make amazing art. Sometimes people just make graffiti. That's when a person, without permission, sprays paint on a building or a train. But a mural is any kind of artwork done on a wall. Some of the biggest murals are more than a mile long!

Answer: Ice-cream parlor

Everyone loves ice cream! When it's a hot day in the middle of summer, ice cream is a nice, cold snack. In an ice-cream parlor, you can look through the glass display case and see all the varieties to choose from, each one in a big tub. The ice cream in this picture has FOUR flavors all swirled together -- it looks like a melting rainbow!

Answer: Hats and clothes

In the USA, a haberdashery is a place that sells and makes clothes, sometimes just for men. The person who owns the store is called a haberdasher, and he or she is an expert at making fancy, high-quality clothing. "Haberdasher" is a very old-fashioned word, and people aren't absolutely sure where the word came from. But it's fun to say, isn't it?

Answer: You'll have bad luck for seven years

According to the saying, breaking a mirror will cause you to have bad luck for the next seven years. Other ideas say that it's bad luck if you walk under a ladder, or if a black cat walks by you. And some things are said to cause good luck -- like seeing a rainbow. These kind of ideas are called "superstitions." If you're "superstitious," it means you believe that certain things or events can magically cause something to happen.

People have had strange ideas about mirrors for thousands of years. In some parts of the world, the idea was that you can see yourself in a mirror, and so if you broke the glass, it would "hurt" both your reflection and your actual self. People believe strange things!

Answer: Silhouette

The "silhouette" of a person means you can see their shape, but it's too dark to see their face or any details.

A "vignette" often refers to a small photo of a person, with a decorative frame around the edges of the picture. It can also mean "a short description of something." "Pantomime" often means a silent performance, but in Britain, it refers to a kind of silly comedy. And a "weirdo" just means someone who we think is acting strangely.

Anyway, a silhouette is sometimes used in theater and movies. If you want to make someone look mysterious, you can shine a bright light behind the actor, and it will make a big shadow that hides their appearance. Originally, though, a silhouette referred to a cheap way of making a portrait of someone -- by just drawing their outline in one solid color.

Answer: Fly up into the sky

With a huge balloon and a special basket, you can fly through the sky in what's called a hot-air balloon. The balloon part is called an "envelope," and the basket (where you stand) is called a "gondola." To keep the balloon inflated, a special machine pumps very-hot air into the envelope. Hot-air balloons are HUGE -- they're about 80 feet high, 50 feet wide, and weigh about 500 pounds! How do I know? Because I've gone on a hot-air balloon ride three times!

Answer: Make a wish

According to tradition, you should throw a penny into a water fountain and then make a wish -- just like when you blow out the candles on a birthday cake or see a shooting star in the sky at night. The idea of throwing a coin into a fountain (or into a wishing well) goes back to ancient times, when people believed that there were spirits or gods who lived in the water and who could bring people good fortune.

I guess you *could* push one of your friends into the fountain, but I don't recommend it! He'd be very wet -- and very upset!

Answer: They help play music

These "tubes" are actually the pipes of a musical instrument called a pipe organ! The organist (the person who plays an organ) sits on a bench in front of what looks a little bit like a piano, but it's much more complicated -- it has all kinds of keys, buttons and knobs.

The pipes are where the music comes from, and each key causes air to be pushed through some of the pipes. Pipe organs were invented hundreds of years ago, and they have hundreds or even thousands of pipes. If you've never heard a big pipe organ, you should go to hear one sometime -- the music is loud, amazing and wonderful!

Answer: Crescent moon

It's a crescent moon! It looks kind of like those croissants I saw in the bakery. In fact, the word "croissant" means "crescent" in French.

A "full moon" is when it looks like a bright circle. A "new moon" is when we can't really see it at all. And a "blue moon" is from the phrase "once in a blue moon," which means something that doesn't happen often. Anyway, the moon's shape never changes -- It just *looks* like it does. Earth gets sunlight, and the moon does too. So the moon looks bright because we're seeing sunlight being reflected off the moon's surface. When we can only see a little bit of that reflected light, the moon's shape seems smaller.

By the way, there's a famous little book called "Goodnight Moon." Your parents might have read it to you when you were younger. It's a poem about a rabbit saying goodnight to almost everything he can think of. My mother read it to me when I was very little. It's a short, simple book, but it brings back good memories.