I translated these paragraphs from a book. please feedbak is appreciated.

the maya

guatemala is a small,but beautiful country, in central america. it is the land of the maya, who were an ancient but very

advanced and cultured civilization.the maya appeared and lived in a portion of lowlands in the rainforest region of the atlantic ocean over two thousand year ago. they had hieroglyphic writing and wrote on tall heavy stones called stellae. they created also the concept of zero in mathematics,predicted the eclipses of the sun and the moon, and used a twelve month calender that was equal to the one we use today. the maya used their knowledge of astronomy to plant seeds and to harvest. they used fish as fertilizer and were very good farmers.

the maya built their cities around steep, high, stone pyramids, where they met to worship their gods. an astronomer priest lived in the highest pyramid of the city. he served as the leader of the city and was also in charge of the pyramid where animals were sacrificed to honor of the gods.

the most important mayan ruins in guatemala are located in tikal, in the northern departament of el peten. there in the market place, the maya traded, this was because they did not use money. under the shadow of an enormous ceiba tree, there were cages of beautiful birds with brilliantly colored feathers, a red and black carpintero, woodpecker an orange and black chorcha, a black and yellow chested toucan with a big green, orange and brown beak, great blue turkey, and the resplendet green quetzal, with a tail one meter long, a marvelous red chest, the sacred bird of the maya.

the maya also traded animals turtles, iguanas,and monkeys and other foods such as dried smoked meat,corn,vegetables,and delicious tropical fruits. they had jewelry too,made, of jade stones and feathers. they were also the first people who used chewing gum,because in el peten there is the chicozapote tree from which they obtained chicle ffrom  chewing.