The Beautiful Things

Early people hunted for food only when they were hungry. Later, they learned to farm, growing crops and keeping animals so they had a more regular supply of food. Today most of the food in shops and supermarkets still comes from farms- meat and dairy products, grains, and rice, fruit and vegetables. However, machines now do most of the work, and special chemicals kill pests and help crops to grow. As their lives became more settled, our ancestors formed into communities, and had more time to enjoy themselves. The simple entertainments of singing, dancing and drawing branched out over time into plays, and, much later, films and television.

Today, whether they live on high mountains, dry deserts, or swampy marshlands, all men and women have to feed, clothe and house themselves. But from country to country, people do these things in an enormous variety of ways of their day to day living.