206 résultats pour "thousands"

• Excerpt from Henry VI - anthology.

  SON. Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.This man whom hand to hand I slew in fightMay be possessèd with some store of crowns;And I, that haply take them from him now,May yet ere night yield both my life and themTo some man else, as this dead man doth me.—Who's this? O God! It is my father's face,Whom in this conflict I, unwares, have killed.O, heavy times, begetting such events!From London by the King was I pressed forth;My father, being the Earl of Warwick's man,Came on the part of York, pr...

• Biblical Archaeology.

  religion, among them the storm deity Baal (title of Hadad) mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. Moreover, the poetry of Ugarit has strong affinities with that ofthe Bible. They share much in the way of vocabulary, structure, and the use of figures of speech and other literary devices. In 1945, at ancient Naj‘Ḩamm ād ī in Upper Egypt, some 50 Gnostic writings in Coptic were discovered. They could be dated to the 4th century AD, but investigation of their character and content showed that t...

• Cycling.

  gather to cheer the riders as they pedal by on each lap. Unlike stage racing and time trialing, the emphasis in a criterium is on speed and bike handling rather thanendurance. Track racing is done in a stadium-like arena called a velodrome. A modern velodrome is an oval track with steeply banked corners that facilitate high speed. Velodromes can be enclosed or open-air, and the tracks are constructed of wood or concrete. Popular in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the 20th cent...

• Excerpt from Richard II - anthology.

  He may surrender. So we shall proceedWithout suspicion. YORK. I will be his conduct.Exit BOLINGBROKE. Lords, you that here are under our arrest,Procure your sureties for your days of answer.Little are we beholding to your love,And little looked for at your helping hands. Enter Richard and York RICHARD. Alack, why am I sent for to a kingBefore I have shook off the regal thoughtsWherewith I reigned? I hardly yet have learnedTo insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee.Give sorrow leave awhile to t...

• Cobra (snake) - biology.

  Most cobras prey on small rodents or other small mammals. They also eat birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, insects, and even eggs. Water cobras catch fish and kingcobras specialize in eating other snakes. Similar to other venomous snakes, cobras use venom to subdue their prey before swallowing it whole, generally head first. Thevenom may contain substances that also break down the prey for digestion. Despite their potent venom and dramatic threat displays, cobras are hunted and eaten by a num...

• Nova - astronomy.

  When first discovered, the spectrum of a nova shows that the expanding layers of gas that cause the brightening have temperatures of 40,000° to 50,000° C (70,000°to 90,000° F)—about eight times as hot as the surface of the Sun. By the time a nova reaches maximum brightness, the temperature of the material has fallen to about10,000° C (about 20,000° F), or lower. Just after maximum brightness, the escaping cloud of gas cools and expands enough to become transparent. This transparency allows astro...

• Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam - anthology.

  That just divides the desert from the sown,Where name of Slave and Sultán is forgot—And Peace to Mahmúd on his golden Throne! 12A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and ThouBeside me singing in the Wilderness—Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! 13Some for the Glories of This World; and someSigh for the Prophet’s Paradise to come;Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum! 14Look to the blowing Rose about us—”Lo,Laughing,” she say...

• Middle East - geography.

  years.Spectrum Colour Library Apart from the Nile River, which provides much of the water supply and irrigation systems of Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which supply Iraq, Syria, andTurkey, there are no major rivers or navigable waterways. The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) in northern Israel, fed from the north by the shallow, unnavigable JordanRiver, provides Israel’s main source of fresh water. With such a limited water supply, access to water for drinking, irrigation, and hydro...

• Dog Family - biology.

  muzzles, long and bushy tails, and large ears. Many foxes hunt by stalking prey and then leaping on it with a distinctive, stiff-legged pounce. Once thought to besolitary animals, foxes are now known to live in groups of up to six individuals. The remaining canids are each highly distinctive. Raccoon dogs and bush dogs are the least doglike canids in appearance. Raccoon dogs, found in eastern Asia, havestubby legs, a stout body, short ears, shaggy fur, and a black face mask that resembles a racc...

• Excerpt from The Merry Wives of Windsor - anthology.

  MISTRESS FORD. O sweet Sir John! FALSTAFF. Mistress Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot prate, Mistress Ford. Now shall I sin in my wish: I would thy husband were dead. I'll speak it before the best lord, Iwould make thee my lady. MISTRESS FORD. I your lady, Sir John? Alas, I should be a pitiful lady. FALSTAFF. Let the court of France show me such another. I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond. Thou hast the right arched beauty of the brow thatbecomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tir...

• Miami (Florida) - geography.

  VI EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS Colleges and universities in the area include the University of Miami, Florida International University, Barry University, St. Thomas University, and Florida MemorialCollege. Miami-Dade Community College, one of the nation’s largest two-year colleges, has six campuses in the region. Leading museums include the Historical Museumof Southern Florida, the Miami Museum of Science, the Miami Art Museum, the Lowe Art Museum on the campus of the University of M...

• Rock Music I INTRODUCTION Carlos Santana Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana became a superstar in the late 1960s with a string of hits and an appearance at the famous Woodstock rock festival in 1969.

  point (a single pitch sustained through a progression of chords), and the parallel movement of chords, derived from a technique on the electric guitar known as bar-chording. Many elements of African American music have been a continuing source of influence on rock music. These characteristics include riffs (repeated patterns), backbeats (emphasizing the second and fourth beats of each measure; see Musical Rhythm: Pulse and Meter ), call-and-response patterns, blue notes (the use of certain...

• Native American Literature I INTRODUCTION Leslie Marmon Silko Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko is perhaps best known for her first novel, Ceremony (1977), a coming-of-age story about a young man of mixed Native American and white ancestry.

  SequoyahNative Americans did not use a complex written language before the immigration of Europeans to the Americas. In theearly 1820s the Cherokee leader Sequoyah developed an alphabet and written language for his native tongue. ManyCherokee learned the new written language readily, and in 1828 they published the first Native American newspaper,written in both Cherokee and English.THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE Before Native Americans came into contact with Europeans, many tribes supplemented the spoken...

• brushing past me?

  trying tofind theone onwhich shewas born, herfirst love, when shelast saw herparents, andIwas looking forAnna, too, Isearched andsearched, Igot apaper cutonmy forefinger andbled alittle flower ontothepage onwhich Ishould have seenherkissing somebody, butthis was allIsaw: I wanted tocry but Ididn't cry,Iprobably shouldhavecried, Ishould havedrowned usthere inthe room, ended our suffering, theywould havefound usfloating face-down intwo thousand whitepages, orburied underthesalt ofmy evaporated tea...

• Neandertals.

  Neandertals made stone tools by striking flakes from rock “cores.” The cores were carefully selected and prepared so that only a single blow was normally required todetach a flake. A number of relatively standardized flakes were sometimes produced from a single core. These sharp flakes served as “blanks” that were further workedand shaped into the desired tools. Suitable stone was sometimes rare, and often tools were sharpened and resharpened to make new tools, yielding a whole variety ofshapes...

• Honolulu - geography.

  of Brigham Young University. The state’s largest museum, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, is located in Honolulu. It contains a large collection of Polynesian archaeological artifacts, as well asmany exhibits on Hawaiian history and culture. The museum also has an extensive entomological collection with more than 13 million specimens. Other importantmuseums include the Honolulu Academy of Arts, known for its extensive collection of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean art; the Contemporary Museum, wit...

• Excerpt from Barnaby Rudge - anthology.

  Mr. Dennis rolled lazily over upon his breast, and resting his chin upon his hand in imitation of the attitude in which Hugh lay, said, as he too looked towards thedoor: “ Ay, ay, you knew him, brother, you knew him. But who'd suppose to look at that chap now, that he could be the man he is! Isn't it a thousand cruel pities, brother,that instead of taking his nat'ral rest and qualifying himself for further exertions in this here honourable cause, he should be playing at soldiers like a boy?...

• Confucian philosophy, Korean

  neglected by more traditional Confucianism. Read with new eyes, an entirely new level of meaning was uncovered in the ancient texts: they discovered a Confucian foundation for the meditative cultivation of consciousness that had been a particular strength of the Buddhists, and to frame it and provide an account of sagehood equal to Buddhist talk of enlightenment, they found a complete metaphysical system, a Confucian version of the kind of thinking that had been elaborated mainly under Daoist au...

• Guyana - country.

  European patterns of living. People of mixed African and European ancestry form a distinct group in Guyana, maintaining closer social ties to the European communitythan to the African Guyanese community. Asians from the Indian subcontinent began to arrive in the 19th century, following the abolition of slavery in Guyana, to work as indentured and contract laborers. Theycontinued to arrive until 1917, when Britain outlawed indentured servitude. Thousands of Indians chose to remain in Guyana after...

• Soil. I INTRODUCTION Soil, the loose material that covers the land surfaces of

  an exchange between plants and the atmosphere, as oxygen diffuses into the soil and is used by roots for respiration. In turn, the resulting carbon dioxide diffusesthrough pore spaces and returns to the atmosphere. This exchange is most efficient in soils with a high degree of porosity. For farmers, gardeners, landscapers, andothers with a professional interest in soil health, the process of aeration—making holes in the soil surface to permit the exchange of air—is a crucial activity. Theburrowi...

• Cat. I INTRODUCTION Cat, small, mainly carnivorous animal, Felis silvestris catus, member of

  D Coat Colors The domestic cat's original coat color was probably grayish-brown with darker tabby stripes, a color that provides excellent camouflage in a variety of environments. Allother coat colors and patterns are the result of genetic mutations; for example, solid coat colors such as black and blue are the result of a gene that suppresses tabbystripes; an orange coat is the result of a gene that transforms black pigment to orange; and a solid white coat is the result of a gene that complet...

• Cat - biology.

  D Coat Colors The domestic cat's original coat color was probably grayish-brown with darker tabby stripes, a color that provides excellent camouflage in a variety of environments. Allother coat colors and patterns are the result of genetic mutations; for example, solid coat colors such as black and blue are the result of a gene that suppresses tabbystripes; an orange coat is the result of a gene that transforms black pigment to orange; and a solid white coat is the result of a gene that complet...

• Heredity - biology.

  allele from the mother and a mutated allele from the father. In both of these cases, the child will be a carrier. The child develops the disease only if he or she receives amutated allele from each parent. When both parents are carriers, there is a 25 percent chance that a child will be disease-free, a 25 percent chance that it will have thedisease, and a 50 percent chance that it will be a carrier. Examples of genetic diseases that follow the dominant-recessive pattern include sickle-cell anemi...

• Nuclear Weapons.

  Regardless of the method used to attain a supercritical assembly, the chain reaction proceeds for about a millionth of a second, liberating vast amounts of heat energy.The extremely fast release of a very large amount of energy in a relatively small volume causes the temperature to rise to tens of millions of degrees. The resultingrapid expansion and vaporization of the bomb material causes a powerful explosion. VI PRODUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIAL Much experimentation was necessary to make the p...

• Conservation.

  cancers, Hodgkin’s disease and leukemia. Unfortunately, human activities have greatly reduced biodiversity around the world. The 20th century encompasses one of the greatest waves of extinction, orelimination of species, to occur on the planet. The greatest threat to biodiversity is loss of habitat as humans develop land for agriculture, grazing livestock, industry,and habitation. The most drastic damage has occurred in the tropical rain forests, which cover less than seven percent of the Earth’...

• Trinidad and Tobago - country.

  III PEOPLE The history of Trinidad and Tobago is reflected in the makeup of its population, among the most ethnically diverse in the Caribbean. Blacks of African ancestry andAsians of Indian ancestry each make up about 40 percent of the population. The remainder is mainly of mixed ancestry, although there are also small groups of peopleof Chinese, European, South American, and Middle Eastern descent. The ethnic diversity of Trinidad and Tobago owes its origins to slavery and its abolition. Afr...

• Jordan (country) - country.

  whom belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, make up about 4 percent of the population. Islam is the state religion and Arabic the official language. C Education Jordan has made significant strides in education in recent decades, despite the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and the very large share of the nationalbudget assigned to the armed forces. Public education is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15. At the secondary level, about 85 percent of the malechildren and 87 p...

• Human Disease.

  disease can be transmitted through food infected with mutated proteins. B Spread of Infectious Disease Some pathogens are spread from one person to another by direct contact. They leave the first person through body openings, mucous membranes, and skin wounds,and they enter the second person through similar channels. For example, the viruses that cause respiratory diseases such as influenza and the common cold are spreadin moisture droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. A hand that...

• Telecommunications.

  commonly referred to as wireless communications, use technologies such as cordless telephones, cellular radio telephones, pagers, and satellites. Wirelesscommunications offer increased mobility and flexibility. In the future some experts believe that wireless devices will also offer high-speed Internet access. C Wires and Cables Wires and cables were the original medium for telecommunications and are still the primary means for telephone connections. Wireline transmission evolved fromtelegraph...

• Great Depression in the United States - U.

  prices would continue to rise and they could soon sell their stocks at a profit. The widespread belief that anyone could get rich led many less affluent Americans into the market as well. Investors bought millions of shares of stock “on margin,” arisky practice similar to buying products on credit. They paid only a small part of the price and borrowed the rest, gambling that they could sell the stock at a highenough price to repay the loan and make a profit. For a time this was true: In 1928 the...

• United States History - U.

  and improved upon the designs of Arab sailing ships and learned to mount cannons on those ships. In the 15th century they began exploring the west coast ofAfrica—bypassing Arab merchants to trade directly for African gold and slaves. They also colonized the Madeira Islands, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands andturned them into the first European slave plantations. The European explorers were all looking for an ocean route to Asia. Christopher Columbus sailed for the monarchs of Spain in 149...

• United States History - U.

  and improved upon the designs of Arab sailing ships and learned to mount cannons on those ships. In the 15th century they began exploring the west coast ofAfrica—bypassing Arab merchants to trade directly for African gold and slaves. They also colonized the Madeira Islands, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands andturned them into the first European slave plantations. The European explorers were all looking for an ocean route to Asia. Christopher Columbus sailed for the monarchs of Spain in 149...

• 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...

• Native Americans of North America.

  addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...

• Native Americans of North America - Canadian History.

  addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...

• Fire - chemistry.

  were usually natural caves. Eventually people learned to dip branches in pitch to form torches. They created crude lamps by filling a hollowed out piece of stone withmoss soaked in oil or tallow (a substance derived from animal fat). By cooking with fire, prehistoric people made the meat of the animals they killed more palatable and digestible. They learned to preserve meat by smoking it over a fire,vastly decreasing the danger of periodic starvation. Cooking also enabled them to add some for...

• John F.

  by the United States, was unable to withstand the advance of Communist forces under Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). By the end of 1949 government troops had beenoverwhelmingly defeated, and Chiang led his forces into exile on Taiwan. The triumphant Mao formed the People’s Republic of China. Truman’s critics, includingKennedy, charged that the administration had failed to support Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists. Kennedy easily won reelection to Congress in 1948 and 1950. In 1952 he decided to r...

• John F.

  by the United States, was unable to withstand the advance of Communist forces under Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). By the end of 1949 government troops had beenoverwhelmingly defeated, and Chiang led his forces into exile on Taiwan. The triumphant Mao formed the People’s Republic of China. Truman’s critics, includingKennedy, charged that the administration had failed to support Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists. Kennedy easily won reelection to Congress in 1948 and 1950. In 1952 he decided to r...

• Moon - astronomy.

  B Volcanic Features Maria, domes, rilles, and a few craters display indisputable characteristics of volcanic origin. Maria are plains of dark-colored rock that cover approximately 40 percent ofthe Moon's visible hemisphere. The maria formed when molten rock erupted onto the surface and solidified between 3.16 billion and 3.96 billion years ago. This rockresembles terrestrial basalt, a volcanic rock type widely distributed on Earth, but the rock that formed the maria has a higher iron content an...

• India - country.

  delta in the north, are intensely farmed. B Rivers and Lakes The rivers of India can be divided into three groups: the great Himalayan rivers of the north, the westward-flowing rivers of central India, and the eastward-flowingrivers of the Deccan Plateau and the rest of peninsular India. Only small portions of India’s rivers are navigable because of silting and the wide seasonal variation inwater flow (due to the monsoon climate). Water transport is thus of little importance in India. Barrages,...

• Croatia - country.

  III PEOPLE OF CROATIA The total population of Croatia at the time of the 1991 census was 4,784,265; a 2008 estimate was 4,491,543. During and after the war ethnic Serbs fled Croatia whileethnic Croats moved in. Croatia’s population growth rate in 2008 was -0.04 percent, despite population gains due to immigration. Croatia’s natural population growthrate, which measures births and deaths, has been negative since 1998. Life expectancy at birth was 75 years in 2008. The population density in 2008...

• Yemen - country.

  port. Al Ḩudaydah (155,110), in the Tih āmah, is the second largest port. Ta‘izz, (178,043), in the highlands above Aden, is an important commercial and light industrialcenter. Among Yemen’s larger towns are Şa‘dah, far to the north; Dham ār, Yarim, and Ibb, in the middle region; Al Mukall ā, on the southern coast; and in Hadhramaut,the towns of Shib ām, Say‘ ūn, and Tar īm. C Language Nearly all Yemenis speak Arabic. However, the country’s extremely rugged terrain, widely separated population...

• Butterflies and Moths - biology.

  The smallest butterflies are certain blues that have wingspans of a mere 0.7 cm (0.25 in). The largest are the female giant birdwings of Papua New Guinea, whichmeasure up to 30 cm (12 in) across. Moths range in size from tiny Microlepidoptera, several groups of small moths with wings no more than 0.16 cm (0.06 in) across, togiant silk moths, such as the atlas moth, which may exceed 30 cm (12 in) in wingspan. IV REPRODUCTION AND LIFE CYCLE Butterflies locate potential mates by sight, identifyin...

• Bangladesh - country.

  F Environmental Issues Waterborne diseases such as cholera are a serious threat to public health in Bangladesh. Until the 1970s, many of Bangladesh’s people became sick from drinkingpolluted water drawn from surface rivers. Aid agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) built shallow wells throughout the country to help provide asafe source of drinking water to Bangladesh’s poor. In the 1990s, however, it was discovered that many of these wells were contaminated by arsenic, a...

• Venezuela - country.

  Venezuela has six navigable rivers. Of the thousand or more streams in the country, the majority flow into the Orinoco. The Orinoco flows east across central Venezuelaand drains approximately four-fifths of the total area of the country. With the tributaries—the Apure, Meta, and Negro rivers—it forms the outlet into the Atlantic Oceanfor the waters of much of the interior of Colombia, as well as of inland Venezuela. F Climate The climate of Venezuela is tropical on the Llanos and along the coas...

• Laos - country.

  by the year 2025. About one-quarter of Laos’s people live in mountainous regions. The rest live in upland valleys or on the flood plains of the Mekong and its tributaries.Just over three-quarters of the population live in rural areas, although the proportion of people living in urban areas is steadily increasing. Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos. Louangphrabang, the former royal capital, is an increasingly popular tourist destination. Other major cities are theregional capitals...

• Mammal - biology.

  On land, mammals live in many different habitats, and at a wide range of altitudes. Many mammals dig burrows as refuges or as places to raise their young, but somehave developed a largely subterranean lifestyle, feeding on small animals or plant roots beneath the soil's surface. These animals, including moles and mole-rats, digthrough the ground either with spadelike front paws or with their teeth, and they detect danger by being highly sensitive to vibrations transmitted through the soil.Most m...

• Christianity.

  history of architecture. See Basilica; Church; Early Christian Art and Architecture;Prayer. C Christian Life The instruction and exhortation of Christian preaching and teaching concern all the themes of doctrine and morals: the love of God and the love of neighbor, the twochief commandments in the ethical message of Jesus (see Matthew 22: 34-40). Application of these commandments to the concrete situations of human life, bothpersonal and social, does not produce a uniformity of moral or polit...

• Ireland - country.

  F Plants and Animals Ireland’s animal life does not differ markedly from that of England or France. Over many centuries of human settlement almost all of Ireland’s natural woodlands werecleared, and indigenous animals such as bear, wolf, wildcat, beaver, wild cattle, and the giant Irish deer (a type of fallow deer) gradually disappeared. However, thehardy and versatile Connemara pony, Ireland’s only native pony breed, has been used by Irish farmers since prehistoric times. The great auk, or gar...

• The Alchimist