327 résultats pour "almost"

• Newfoundland and Labrador - Canadian History.

  Precipitation averages about 1,120 mm (about 44 in) yearly in Newfoundland. In Labrador precipitation varies from about 1,020 mm (about 40 in) in the southeast toabout 510 mm (about 20 in) in the extreme north. Heavy winter snowfalls are common, especially in Newfoundland. D Plant Life About one-third of Newfoundland is forested, and most of the rest of the island is made up of barren areas of reindeer moss and lichens. The forests consist almostentirely of conifers. The most important species...

• Franklin D.

  Roosevelt entrusted his campaign management to the journalist Louis McHenry Howe. Howe, a genius at politics, performed brilliantly. Henceforth, Roosevelt and Howewere to be almost inseparable, and Howe, a wizened and colorful little man, guided the political fortunes of the Hyde Park aristocrat. B Assistant Secretary of the Navy Even before his reelection to the New York legislature, Roosevelt had entered the national political arena by taking part in the campaign of Governor Woodrow Wilson of...

• Franklin D.

  Roosevelt entrusted his campaign management to the journalist Louis McHenry Howe. Howe, a genius at politics, performed brilliantly. Henceforth, Roosevelt and Howewere to be almost inseparable, and Howe, a wizened and colorful little man, guided the political fortunes of the Hyde Park aristocrat. B Assistant Secretary of the Navy Even before his reelection to the New York legislature, Roosevelt had entered the national political arena by taking part in the campaign of Governor Woodrow Wilson of...

• American Revolution.

  C1 The South Southern agriculture was founded on the cultivation of tobacco, wheat, and corn in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, and of rice and indigo (a blue dye) in SouthCarolina and Georgia. There was a large demand for these crops in Europe. These crops were cultivated with the help of black slaves imported from Africa. The whiteplanter class in the South was the most powerful, both politically and economically. C2 The North Wheat was the main cash crop of the mid-Atlantic colonies...

• American Revolution - U.

  C1 The South Southern agriculture was founded on the cultivation of tobacco, wheat, and corn in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, and of rice and indigo (a blue dye) in SouthCarolina and Georgia. There was a large demand for these crops in Europe. These crops were cultivated with the help of black slaves imported from Africa. The whiteplanter class in the South was the most powerful, both politically and economically. C2 The North Wheat was the main cash crop of the mid-Atlantic colonies...

• South Africa - country.

  The major soil zones are conditioned largely by climatic factors. In the semiarid north and west, soils are alkaline and poorly developed. In the southern part of WesternCape Province, rain falls mostly in the winter months, and soils there form slowly and are generally thin and immature. The moderate temperatures and summer rainfallof the High Veld and eastern coastal areas create conditions for more productive organic decomposition, leading to dark, fertile soils, or chernozems, similar to tho...

• Han Dynasty - History.

  However, these reforms faced serious opposition. The feudal barons formed an alliance and rebelled against Wang Mang. They were joined by members of the Liufamily, who were descended from Jingdi (Ching-ti), a former Han emperor, and a civil war followed. As the empire fell into disorder, militant secret societies formedarmed bands and attacked villages and towns. Wang Mang had believed that proper institutions would eventually bring peace to China, but in AD 23, an army led by the Liu clan brea...

• United Arab Emirates - country.

  III PEOPLE Most people living in the UAE (known as Emiris) are Arabs, a large majority of whom are city and town dwellers. A small number are nomadic (having no permanent home). The population has grown dramatically since the mid-1960s, largely due to the influx of oil workers to the country. Four-fifths of the UAE’s inhabitants areforeign workers and their families. The UAE also has a very youthful population, due to the large numbers of young foreign workers, a cultural preference for larg...

• Protests in the 1960s - U.

  E Youth Culture Young people played an important role in the movements for social change during the 1960s. Numbers alone made them important; more than 76 million babies wereborn during the post-World War II “baby boom.” In addition, these young people spent more years in school and were more affluent than previous generations. In theearly 20th century, most young Americans had moved quickly from childhood to adulthood. In the 1920s only 1 in 5 Americans graduated from high school, and almostal...

• Ship. I INTRODUCTION Ship, vessel that is buoyant in the water and used

  B1 Biremes Experience soon proved that longer ships posed a new set of problems: They were weaker structurally, more difficult to maneuver, and presented a larger target to anyenemy ship with a ram. In the 8th century BC Mediterranean shipbuilders eliminated these problems with the bireme , a war galley built to accommodate two levels, or banks , of oarsmen. Oarsmen on the lower level rowed oars from ports cut into the side of the vessel, while those above rowed from the deck. This arrangemen...

• New York (city) - geography.

  The Bronx is the fourth largest and the northernmost of the five boroughs, and the only one on the American mainland. Even so, it is surrounded by water on threesides: Long Island Sound on the east, the Harlem and East rivers on the south, and Hudson River on the west. Encompassing 109 sq km (42 sq mi), it had 1,332,650inhabitants in 2000. Largely residential, the Bronx includes dozens of vibrant neighborhoods. Fieldston is particularly elegant, with great stone houses set among spacious lawns a...

• Vietnam - country.

  E Natural Resources Vietnam’s most valuable natural resource is its land, particularly the fertile, alluvial soils in the Red and Mekong deltas. Some 29 percent of the land is currently beingcultivated. Vietnam has some valuable mineral resources, including gold, iron, tin, zinc, phosphate, chromite, apatite, and anthracite coal. Most deposits are located in the northernpart of the country. Few attempts were made to extract these minerals until the French takeover of Vietnam at the end of the 1...

• Washington (state) - geography.

  The crest of the Cascade Range divides Washington into two distinct climatic regions. The area west of the Cascades, which is exposed throughout the year to rain-bearing winds from the Pacific Ocean, has a temperate marine type of climate that is characterized by mild wet winters and cool summers. The Cascades prevent themoist air blowing in from the Pacific from reaching eastern Washington. The Rocky Mountains on the eastern border also represent a climatic barrier. As a result, thesevere winte...

• Washington (state) - USA History.

  The crest of the Cascade Range divides Washington into two distinct climatic regions. The area west of the Cascades, which is exposed throughout the year to rain-bearing winds from the Pacific Ocean, has a temperate marine type of climate that is characterized by mild wet winters and cool summers. The Cascades prevent themoist air blowing in from the Pacific from reaching eastern Washington. The Rocky Mountains on the eastern border also represent a climatic barrier. As a result, thesevere winte...

• Abraham Lincoln I INTRODUCTION Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th president of the United States (1861-1865) and one of the great leaders in American history.

  fence in 4 hectares (10 acres) to grow corn. Then he hired out to neighbors, helping them to split rails. That year, Lincoln attended a political rally and was persuaded tospeak on behalf of a local candidate. It was his first political speech. A witness recalled that Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of theday.” In 1831 Lincoln made a second trip to New Orleans. He was hired, along with his stepbrother and a cousin, by Denton Offutt, a Kentucky trader and specul...

• Abraham Lincoln.

  fence in 4 hectares (10 acres) to grow corn. Then he hired out to neighbors, helping them to split rails. That year, Lincoln attended a political rally and was persuaded tospeak on behalf of a local candidate. It was his first political speech. A witness recalled that Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of theday.” In 1831 Lincoln made a second trip to New Orleans. He was hired, along with his stepbrother and a cousin, by Denton Offutt, a Kentucky trader and specul...

• Abraham Lincoln

  fence in 4 hectares (10 acres) to grow corn. Then he hired out to neighbors, helping them to split rails. That year, Lincoln attended a political rally and was persuaded tospeak on behalf of a local candidate. It was his first political speech. A witness recalled that Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of theday.” In 1831 Lincoln made a second trip to New Orleans. He was hired, along with his stepbrother and a cousin, by Denton Offutt, a Kentucky trader and specul...

• Abraham Lincoln - USA History.

  fence in 4 hectares (10 acres) to grow corn. Then he hired out to neighbors, helping them to split rails. That year, Lincoln attended a political rally and was persuaded tospeak on behalf of a local candidate. It was his first political speech. A witness recalled that Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of theday.” In 1831 Lincoln made a second trip to New Orleans. He was hired, along with his stepbrother and a cousin, by Denton Offutt, a Kentucky trader and specul...

• English Literature I INTRODUCTION English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present.

  evident. That feature is typical of other Old English literature, for almost all of what survives was preserved by monastic copyists. Most of it was actually composed byreligious writers after the early conversion of the people from their faith in the older Germanic divinities. Sacred legend and story were reduced to verse in poems resembling Beowulf in form. At first such verse was rendered in the somewhat simple, stark style of the poems of Caedmon, a humble man of the late 7th century who w...

• Iran - country.

  Zagros mountains. In the more arid central part of the country, wild pistachio and other drought-resistant trees grow in areas that have not been disturbed by humanactivity. Tamarisk and other salt-tolerant bushes grow along the margins of the Dasht-e Kavir. A wide variety of native mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects inhabit Iran. Many species of mammals—including wolves, foxes, bears, mountain goats, red mountainsheep, rabbits, and gerbils—continue to thrive. Others—including Caspian tigers,...

• Communism.

  In Britain, Robert Owen, a philanthropic Welsh manufacturer, strove against the social problems brought about by the Industrial Revolution and sought to improve thewelfare of workers. As manager of a cotton mill, he enhanced the environment of his workers by improving their housing, modernizing mill equipment for greater safetyand sanitation, and establishing low-priced stores for the workers and schools for their children. Owen believed that workers, rather than governments, should createthe in...

• Communism .

  In Britain, Robert Owen, a philanthropic Welsh manufacturer, strove against the social problems brought about by the Industrial Revolution and sought to improve thewelfare of workers. As manager of a cotton mill, he enhanced the environment of his workers by improving their housing, modernizing mill equipment for greater safetyand sanitation, and establishing low-priced stores for the workers and schools for their children. Owen believed that workers, rather than governments, should createthe in...

• Antelope - biology.

  antelopes still display complex patterns of behavior, although much of it is instinctive rather than learned. In open habitats, antelopes run a high risk of predation (being preyed upon). To survive they use several kinds of defensive strategy, including living in herds. Herd living ensures that many pairs of eyes and ears are on the alert for danger. Herd living also gives individuals a better chance of avoiding attack, because predators canchoose from many potential targets. When danger thre...

• Ballet I INTRODUCTION Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker The Nutcracker is a classic ballet with music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

  Joffrey Ballet SchoolTraining for classical ballet dancers must begin when the students are very young. Here, teacher Dorothy Lister workswith her pre-ballet class of six-year-olds at the Joffrey Ballet School. These students are learning the five basic positions ofclassical ballet.Susan Kunklin/Photo Researchers, Inc. Different systems of ballet training have evolved, named after countries (Russia, France) or teachers (Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti, Danish choreographer AugustBournonville). T...

• Boxing.

  C Offensive Techniques To be effective, boxers must have an assortment of punches that are coordinated with their footwork. Less powerful punches often serve the important role of settingup the fighter’s chief “weapons,” as boxing analysts sometimes call a boxer’s main offensive skills. C1 Feinting Moving the hands or head to confuse an opponent is called feinting. A smart boxer will first test the opponent by trying different feints, noting the reaction to each onebefore deciding which will b...

• Ronald Reagan.

  deposed shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment, a group of Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehrān and held 53 Americansas hostages. United States media publicized the plight of the hostages and Carter’s failure to win their release. They were eventually released in January 1981, on theday of Reagan’s inauguration. The contrast between the television personalities of the two candidates was also very important. Carter’s stiff, nervous manner had never bee...

• Ronald Reagan - USA History.

  deposed shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment, a group of Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehrān and held 53 Americansas hostages. United States media publicized the plight of the hostages and Carter’s failure to win their release. They were eventually released in January 1981, on theday of Reagan’s inauguration. The contrast between the television personalities of the two candidates was also very important. Carter’s stiff, nervous manner had never bee...

• Civil Rights Movement in the United States - U.

  The Great Depression of the 1930s increased black protests against discrimination, especially in Northern cities. Blacks protested the refusal of white-owned businessesin all-black neighborhoods to hire black salespersons. Using the slogan “Don't Buy Where You Can't Work,” these campaigns persuaded blacks to boycott thosebusinesses and revealed a new militancy. During the same years, blacks organized school boycotts in Northern cities to protest discriminatory treatment of blackchildren. The bla...

• Welfare.

  industrializing societies. Governments typically financed social insurance programs with tax funds and direct levies on the wages of potential recipients. Social insurancereplaced part of incomes lost when workers became disabled, were laid off, or had reached an age that forced them out of the labor market. Later, governments of Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, and other countries developed forms of social insurance that provided population-wide, or universal,coverage. Such forms included chil...

• Berlin - geography.

  boroughs of Wedding and Tiergarten. Other important central areas include Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, now united as the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, andPrenzlauer Berg, now incorporated as a part of the Pankow borough. Tiergarten contains a large wooded park, a zoo, and a variety of public monuments as well as the large, modern Congress Hall and the Reichstag building, which wasbuilt from 1884 to 1894. The Reichstag and the surrounding area have undergone renovation to accommodate the Bun...

• Electricity I INTRODUCTION Electricity, one of the basic forms of energy.

  electrons in the neutral object are attracted to the positive object. Some of these electrons flow to the side of the neutral object that is nearest to the positive object.This side of the neutral object accumulates electrons and becomes negatively charged. Because electrons leave the far side of the neutral object while its protonsremain stationary, that side becomes positively charged. Since the negatively charged side of the neutral object is closest to the positive object, the attraction bet...

• Ice Hockey.

  Each period begins with a face-off at the blue dot at center ice. During the face-off one player from each team lines up at the dot with the stick blade on the ice. After the referee drops the puck, the two players attempt to gain possession of it. Quick hands and strength are essential qualities for players participating in the face-off. Once the puck is dropped, it is in play until an official’s whistle stops it, a goal is scored, or time expires. The team on offense tries to move the puck f...

• Heart.

  situation. A Cardiac Cycle Although the right and left halves of the heart are separate, they both contract in unison, producing a single heartbeat. The sequence of events from the beginning ofone heartbeat to the beginning of the next is called the cardiac cycle. The cardiac cycle has two phases: diastole, when the heart’s chambers are relaxed, and systole,when the chambers contract to move blood. During the systolic phase, the atria contract first, followed by contraction of the ventricles. T...

• French Revolution.

  B2 Assembly of Notables and Estates-General To pressure the parlements into accepting the plan, Calonne decided to gain prior approval of it from an Assembly of Notables—a group of hand-picked dignitaries hethought would sympathize with his views. But Calonne had badly miscalculated. Meeting in January 1787, the assembly refused to believe that a financial crisis reallyexisted. They had been influenced by Necker’s argument that state finances were sound and suspected that the monarchy was only...

• French Revolution .

  B2 Assembly of Notables and Estates-General To pressure the parlements into accepting the plan, Calonne decided to gain prior approval of it from an Assembly of Notables—a group of hand-picked dignitaries hethought would sympathize with his views. But Calonne had badly miscalculated. Meeting in January 1787, the assembly refused to believe that a financial crisis reallyexisted. They had been influenced by Necker’s argument that state finances were sound and suspected that the monarchy was only...

• Delaware - geography.

  D Climate Delaware has generally hot and humid summers and mild winters. D1 Temperature In July, average daytime temperatures are usually in the upper 20°s to lower 30°sC (80°sF) or even higher. But because summer nights tend to be cooler than thedays, July averages are about 24°C (about 75°F). In addition, onshore sea breezes can reduce daytime temperatures along the coast by 3 to 6 Celsius degrees (5 to 10Fahrenheit degrees). January averages range from -1°C (31°F) at Newark, in the north, t...

• Delaware - USA History.

  D Climate Delaware has generally hot and humid summers and mild winters. D1 Temperature In July, average daytime temperatures are usually in the upper 20°s to lower 30°sC (80°sF) or even higher. But because summer nights tend to be cooler than thedays, July averages are about 24°C (about 75°F). In addition, onshore sea breezes can reduce daytime temperatures along the coast by 3 to 6 Celsius degrees (5 to 10Fahrenheit degrees). January averages range from -1°C (31°F) at Newark, in the north, t...

• Arkansas - geography.

  temperature rises to the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F). C2 Precipitation Arkansas receives about 1,000 to 1,300 mm (about 40 to 50 in) of precipitation a year, and some areas receive even more. Most of the rain comes during winter andspring and at times is so heavy as to cause flooding. Snow is rare in the south but amounts to more than 250 mm (10 in) a year in the mountains. C3 Growing Season Arkansas has a long growing season. It averages 211 days for the state as a whole and ranges from 241...

• Arkansas - USA History.

  temperature rises to the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F). C2 Precipitation Arkansas receives about 1,000 to 1,300 mm (about 40 to 50 in) of precipitation a year, and some areas receive even more. Most of the rain comes during winter andspring and at times is so heavy as to cause flooding. Snow is rare in the south but amounts to more than 250 mm (10 in) a year in the mountains. C3 Growing Season Arkansas has a long growing season. It averages 211 days for the state as a whole and ranges from 241...

• Nevada - geography.

  The Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers flow out of the Sierra Nevada, thread their way around several of the desert ranges, and also end in closed basins. The Walkerflows into Walker Lake, the Carson into Lahontan Reservoir. The major part of the Truckee’s flow is now diverted to Lahontan Reservoir, although as required by lawsome of it empties into Pyramid Lake. Because these three streams flow constantly, the lakes into which they empty never dry up. Winnemucca Lake formerly receivedoverflow w...

• Nevada - USA History.

  The Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers flow out of the Sierra Nevada, thread their way around several of the desert ranges, and also end in closed basins. The Walkerflows into Walker Lake, the Carson into Lahontan Reservoir. The major part of the Truckee’s flow is now diverted to Lahontan Reservoir, although as required by lawsome of it empties into Pyramid Lake. Because these three streams flow constantly, the lakes into which they empty never dry up. Winnemucca Lake formerly receivedoverflow w...

• Italy - country.

  C Natural Resources Italy is poor in natural resources. Much of the land is unsuitable for agriculture because of mountainous terrain or unfavorable climate. Italy, moreover, lacks substantialdeposits of basic natural resources such as coal, iron, and petroleum. Natural gas is the country’s most important mineral resource. Other deposits include feldspar andpumice. Many of Italy’s mineral deposits on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia had been heavily depleted by the early 1990s. Italy is rich...

• Detroit - geography.

  Automobile industrialist Henry Ford was born near Dearborn, Michigan, in 1863. Ford built his first automobile in 1893 and establishedhis own manufacturing company ten years later. The Ford Company headquarters are in Dearborn, as is the Henry Ford Museum,shown here, which tells of the transition of the United States from an agricultural to an industrial society, a change in which Fordplayed a central part.Townsend P. Dickinson/Photo Researchers, Inc. The Detroit city center also houses one of t...

• Venus (planet) - astronomy.

  level winds circle the planet at 360 km/h (225 mph), making a complete rotation in only four days. These winds are said to super-rotate because they travel muchfaster than the rotation of the planet itself. These high-speed winds cover the planet completely, blowing toward the west at virtually every latitude from equator topole. The motions of descending probes, however, have shown that the bulk of Venus’s tremendously dense atmosphere, closer to the planet’s surface, is almoststagnant. From th...

• Liberia - country.

  West Atlantic, or Kwa linguistic groups. D Education Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15. However, a scarcity of educational facilities means that few Liberians progress beyondprimary school. Almost all children of primary school-age attend school, but the figure drops to 23 percent (1999–2000) for secondary school-age children. Just 60percent of the population was literate in 2005. Higher education is provided by the University of Liberia (1862), in Monro...

• Sound I INTRODUCTION Sound, physical phenomenon that stimulates the sense of hearing.

  A fundamental law of harmony states that two notes an octave apart, when sounded together, produce a pleasant-sounding combination. Other combinations of notescan also be pleasing. Physically, an interval of a fifth consists of two notes, the frequencies of which bear the arithmetical ratio 3 to 2, and a major third, the ratio 5 to4. Fundamentally, the law of harmony states that two or more notes sound pleasant when played together if their frequencies bear small, whole number ratios; if thefreq...

• Ocean and Oceanography.

  of sediment. When studied in sedimentary core samples, which can represent many millions of years of deposits, they provide a detailed and continuous history of theearth’s environmental changes. The record is particularly informative for the most recent 2 million to 5 million years, during which major fluctuations in global climatehave occurred. Successive ice ages can be traced by the relative scarcity or abundance of the shells of warm-water and cold-water diatoms in various layers of asedimen...

• Ocean and Oceanography - Geography.

  of sediment. When studied in sedimentary core samples, which can represent many millions of years of deposits, they provide a detailed and continuous history of theearth’s environmental changes. The record is particularly informative for the most recent 2 million to 5 million years, during which major fluctuations in global climatehave occurred. Successive ice ages can be traced by the relative scarcity or abundance of the shells of warm-water and cold-water diatoms in various layers of asedimen...

• Mexican War.

  men, mostly Mexicans, rode to Nacogdoches to capture the rebellious Fredonians. The small garrison of Fredonians soundly defeated their attackers in the only battle ofthe rebellion. When Mexican troops arrived at Nacogdoches a short time later, the republic had been dissolved and the leader of the colonists had fled to Louisiana. B The Texas Revolution Although the Fredonians were not successful, by the 1830s the population of Mexican Texas included many immigrants from the United States. These...

• Mexican Revolution.

  growing economic and social difficulties. Although Madero called for free and democratic elections, and a ban on reelection at all levels of government, he offered little tourban workers seeking higher wages and better working conditions, or to indigenous people seeking the restoration of their traditional lands. Madero’s intention was tolead a political rebellion, not a social revolution. Despite the political nature of the plan, it became a rallying point for poor and working-class Mexicans, m...