681 résultats pour "history"
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Arthur - anthology.
It must not be concealed, that the very existence of Arthur has been denied by some. Milton [17th-century English poet John Milton] says of him: 'As to Arthur, morerenowned in songs and romances than in true stories, who he was, and whether ever any such reigned in Britain, hath been doubted heretofore, and may again, withgood reason.' Modern critics, however, admit that there was a prince of this name, and find proof of it in the frequent mention of him in the writings of the Welshbards. But th...
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Portland - geography.
Garden arena, which opened in 1995. In 2000 the Portland Fire, an expansion Women's National Basketball Association team, began play in the Rose Garden as well. VI ECONOMY Portland enjoys a diversified economy. Major manufactured products include paper, transportation equipment, metal products, sportswear, and electronic componentsand equipment. Major corporations headquartered in the metropolitan region include Nike, a leader in the manufacture of sports footwear, in Beaverton; Louisiana-Paci...
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Inuit.
VII HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND CLOTHING Inuit homes are of two kinds: walrus or sealskin tents for summer and huts or houses for winter. Winter houses are usually made of stone, with a driftwood orwhalebone frame, chinked and covered with moss or sod. The entrance is a long, narrow passage just high enough to admit a person crawling on hands and knees.During long journeys some Canadian Inuit build igloos, winter houses of snow blocks piled in a dome shape (the term igloo comes from the I...
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Aerospace Medicine - astronomy.
medically as aeroembolism and popularly as the bends, leads to confusion, paralysis, or neurocirculatory collapse. The most characteristic symptoms of the bends arepain in the large joints resulting from pressure of the gas on tendons and nerves, together with spasm of the blood vessels. Preflight inhalation of pure oxygen toeliminate nitrogen from the system has proved valuable as a preventive measure. Rapid decompression, resulting from accidental failure at high altitudes of thepressure withi...
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Julius Caesar
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INTRODUCTION
Julius Caesar (100-44
BC),
Roman general and statesman whose dictatorship was pivotal in Rome's transition from republic to empire.
V CROSSING THE RUBICON In 52 BC, with Crassus out of the way, Pompey was made sole consul. Combined with his other powers, this gave him a formidable position. Jealous of his younger rival, he determined to break Caesar’s power. To achieve this objective, he first needed to deprive Caesar of the forces he commanded in Gaul. Pompey ordered him toreturn to Rome without his troops. To protect himself, Caesar suggested that he and Pompey both lay down their commands simultaneously, but this propos...
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Julius Caesar.
V CROSSING THE RUBICON In 52 BC, with Crassus out of the way, Pompey was made sole consul. Combined with his other powers, this gave him a formidable position. Jealous of his younger rival, he determined to break Caesar’s power. To achieve this objective, he first needed to deprive Caesar of the forces he commanded in Gaul. Pompey ordered him toreturn to Rome without his troops. To protect himself, Caesar suggested that he and Pompey both lay down their commands simultaneously, but this propos...
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Woman Suffrage - U.
form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. For many years thereafter the association worked to advance women’s rights on both the state and federallevels. Besides Stone, Anthony, and Stanton, leaders and supporters of the association included the noted American feminists Harriet Beecher Stowe, Julia Ward Howe,Clara Barton, Jane Addams, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Largely as a result of agitation by the association, suffrage was granted in the states of Colorado (1893), Utahand Idaho (18...
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Battle of Waterloo.
In the meantime, Grouchy had failed to overtake Blücher's army. At about 10 PM on June 17, Grouchy's scouts informed him that the Prussians, instead of retreating east to Namur, had turned northwest, seeking apparently a juncture with Wellington. Grouchy's message of warning to Napoleon brought the reply, sent at 10 AM on June 18, that Grouchy should keep trying to make contact with the Prussians. Grouchy's pursuit was slovenly and unhurried, and he failed to locate the enemy. On the morning o...
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Comedy
Socrates suffered in the comedy of Aristophanes. Throughout history, opposition to comedy and laughter has been strongest in societies which emphasize physical restraint, decorum and conformity. Many medieval monastic orders had statutes forbidding laughter. The Puritan and Victorian eras saw many condemnations of comedy and laughter. The more authoritarian the regime, the greater its suppression of comedy. Hitler even set up ‘joke courts' to punish those who made fun of his regime - one Berl...
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Utah - geography.
Temperatures decrease from the south to the north in the state. In the mountains the average temperature drops about 0.5°C (about 1°F) for every about 300 m(about 1,000 ft) rise in elevation. Average July temperatures range from less than 16°C (60°F) in the mountains to more than 27°C (80°F) in a few locations insouthern Utah. At Salt Lake City average July temperatures range from a low of 18°C (64°F) to a high of 33°C (92°F). There is a great variation between daytime andnighttime temperatures,...
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Martial Arts.
These movements are based on stylized renditions of ancient kung fu arm and foot blows. C Tae Kwon Do Tae kwon do (Korean for 'way of hands and feet') was founded in 1955 by a group of masters led by Korean general Choi Hong Hi. It is the national sport and pastimeof Korea and is also popular throughout the world. Often referred to as Korean karate, tae kwon do is reputedly based on ancient Korean and modern Japanesemethods of combat. Basic to tae kwon do are many spectacular kicks, particularl...
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Kolkata - geography.
area, and trains have north-south lines with a few east-west connections. There are two major train terminals: Sealdah in the east central part of Kolkata and Hāoraacross the river from the Central Business District. Electric trams operate in Kolkata proper. The aging buses, trains, and tram cars suffer from overloading, creatinguncomfortable rides. Subway construction started in 1972 and became operational with 7 km (4.3 mi) of line in 1984. By 1995 all of the subway’s 16.4-km (10.2-mi)route fr...
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Suicide.
C Sociological Theories Most social scientists believe that a society’s structure and values can influence suicide rates. French sociologist Émile Durkheim argued that suicide rates are related tosocial integration —that is, the degree to which an individual feels part of a larger group. Durkheim found suicide was more likely when a person lacked social bonds or had relationships disrupted through a sudden change in status, such as unemployment. As one example of the significance of social bond...
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Thailand - country.
E Natural Resources Thailand possesses a range of mineral resources. Tin is mined in the peninsula. Important gemstones, such as sapphires, are found in the southeast, and coal reserves,particularly lignite, are in the north. Fish are abundant in rivers and coastal waters. In addition to being consumed domestically, fish are also exported. F Climate Thailand experiences a typical monsoon climate. Winds blow from the northeast during the winter months of October to March or April (known as the...
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Vikings .
Wessex (England) and Charles II the Bald and Louis III in France could command their resources to move to fortify their towns, station fleets and naval patrols alongthe coasts, and organize localized and mobile military forces. Some Christian leaders paid ransom to the larger Viking armies of the 10th and early 11th centuries.Taxing their people to pay the “danegeld,” the tribute to the Vikings, became a regular defensive strategy. But in return for the cash, the Vikings often negotiatedpeaceful...
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Côte d'Ivoire - country.
D Culture Traditional artistic expressions in Côte d’Ivoire include woodcarvings (particularly masks), decorative fabrics, and acrobatic dancing. Urban populations have beengreatly influenced by French culture. The French language is almost universally used in the written literature of Côte d’Ivoire, to the exclusion of the African languages. IV ECONOMY About 60 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s total labor force is employed in farming and forestry. Government efforts to avoid dependence on a small...
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Federal Reserve System.
and their powers were also expanded. For example, discount rates now had to be approved periodically by the board. Sales and purchases of governmentsecurities—the open-market operation that previously had been managed solely at the discretion of the presidents of the reserve banks—were centralized in the FederalOpen Market Committee (FOMC), consisting of the seven governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four other reserve bank presidentsserving on a rotating basis....
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Belize - country.
Education is compulsory for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Attendance at primary schools was nearly universal in 2002–2003, but only 78 percent of children ofsecondary school age were enrolled in school. Higher education is available at colleges in Belize City and Corozal. The literacy rate of 93 percent is one of the highest inLatin America. C Government Belize is governed under a constitution that became effective at independence in 1981. Belize recognizes the British monarch as its o...
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Library (institution).
rooms, special galleries for exhibitions, auditoriums for lectures or concerts, computer rooms, children’s rooms, photocopy rooms, and classrooms. A3 Lending Materials As part of their mission to provide information resources to the community, public libraries allow users to borrow items from their collections for limited amounts of time.To be eligible to borrow public library materials, a user must register her or his name, address, and other basic information with the local library’s circulat...
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Europe .
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Europe - Geography.
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Indianapolis - geography.
Amateur athletic competitions are frequent in Indianapolis. Each summer it is the site for the finals of the Hoosier State Games, with athletes of all ages and skill levelscompeting in 21 sports. In 1987 Indianapolis hosted the Tenth Pan American Games, and is often the site for numerous Olympic trials and collegiate sportschampionships. Among the many sports facilities are those for tennis, bicycle racing, skating, and track and field. The city’s professional football team, the Indianapolis Col...
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Plato
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INTRODUCTION
Plato (428?
one of the individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave withthe message that the only things they have seen heretofore are shadows and appearances and that the real world awaits them if they are willing to struggle free oftheir bonds. The shadowy environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato the physical world of appearances. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolize...
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Plato.
one of the individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave withthe message that the only things they have seen heretofore are shadows and appearances and that the real world awaits them if they are willing to struggle free oftheir bonds. The shadowy environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato the physical world of appearances. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolize...
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Herman Melville
I
INTRODUCTION
Herman Melville
These lines (recited by an actor) begin the novel Moby Dick (1851), by Herman Melville.
short novel Billy Budd in manuscript form. Melville’s death in New York City on September 28, 1891, went virtually unnoticed. None of his books was still in print. VI MELVILLE’S EARLY WORKS With the exception of Mardi , all of Melville’s early books are narratives of maritime adventure based upon his own experiences and on his wide reading. Although London publisher John Murray accepted Typee for his Home and Colonial Library as a strictly factual account of South Seas travel, he was lar...
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God.
I
INTRODUCTION
God, the center and focus of religious faith, a holy
C Islam Islam arose as a powerful reaction against the ancient pagan cults of Arabia, and as a consequence it is the most starkly monotheistic of the three biblically rootedreligions. The name Allah means simply “the God.” He is personal, transcendent, and unique, and Muslims are forbidden to depict him in any creaturely form. The primary creed is that “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah.” Allah has seven basic attributes: life, knowledge, power, will, hearing, se...
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John Diefenbaker.
only Conservative elected from Saskatchewan, which had gone solidly to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a coalition party dedicated to social andwelfare reforms. In 1952 the Liberals in Saskatchewan abolished Diefenbaker's Lake Centre seat altogether by merging it with the neighboring legislative district of Moose Jaw, where theCCF had a vast majority. In 1953 Diefenbaker decided to run for election in Prince Albert. Again he was the only Conservative returned to Parliament fromSa...
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
disorder that local white officials would be forced to end segregation to restore normal business relations. The strategy did not work in Albany. During months ofprotests, Albany’s police chief jailed hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence. Eventually the protesters’ energy, and the money to bail out protesters,ran out. The strategy did work, however, in Birmingham, Alabama, when SCLC joined a local protest during the spring of 1963. The protest was led by SCLC member FredShut...
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Milwaukee - geography.
acts ranging from alternative rock to country music. During the rest of the summer months, the park is the site of weekend festivals staged by Milwaukee’s majorethnic groups: Italian, Irish, German, African American, Polish, Mexican, Native American, and Asian. The Great Circus Parade, featuring the world’s largest collection ofornate circus wagons, is another staple of Milwaukee’s festival season. The Wisconsin State Fair is held annually in nearby West Allis. V RECREATION The largest single u...
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Nebraska - geography.
by natural resource districts to limit the rate of pumping for irrigation. C Climate Nebraska has a typical continental climate with wide seasonal variations in temperature. C1 Temperature Winter temperatures below -20°C (0° F) and summer temperatures in the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F) are common. The average January temperature varies from about -7° C (about 20° F) in the northeast to about -2° C (about 29° F) in the southwest. The average for July, thehottest month, ranges from about 26° C...
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San Antonio (city, Texas) - geography.
The SBC Center is the home venue for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's NationalBasketball Association (WNBA). The dome also serves as the site for the Alamo Bowl, an annual post-season college football game. Large themed amusement parks inthe San Antonio area are Fiesta Texas and Sea World of Texas. San Antonio’s major annual event is the Fiesta, a ten-day celebration in late April with carnivals, ethnic feasts, art...
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Herman Melville.
information in Omoo , but various religious groups condemned both books for their unfavorable comments on the work and insensitivity of missionaries in the South Seas. Mardi is a philosophical allegory framed by another adventure at sea. The book’s hero, accompanied by characters representing the intellect, poetry, history, and philosophy, searches the world for universal truth. The book is filled with descriptions—intended as allegories—of human customs, religions, governments, and historical...
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Elizabeth I
I
INTRODUCTION
Elizabeth I (1533-1603), queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth’s reign, and Elizabeth reacted to them strongly. In 1569 a group of powerful Catholic nobles innorthern England rose in rebellion but were savagely repressed. The northern earls were executed, their property and those of their followers was confiscated, and theirheirs were deprived of their inheritance. In 1570 the pope excommunicated Elizabeth, sanctioning Catholic efforts to dethrone her. In 1571 an international conspiracywas u...
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Elizabeth I.
Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth’s reign, and Elizabeth reacted to them strongly. In 1569 a group of powerful Catholic nobles innorthern England rose in rebellion but were savagely repressed. The northern earls were executed, their property and those of their followers was confiscated, and theirheirs were deprived of their inheritance. In 1570 the pope excommunicated Elizabeth, sanctioning Catholic efforts to dethrone her. In 1571 an international conspiracywas u...
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Elizabeth I .
Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth’s reign, and Elizabeth reacted to them strongly. In 1569 a group of powerful Catholic nobles innorthern England rose in rebellion but were savagely repressed. The northern earls were executed, their property and those of their followers was confiscated, and theirheirs were deprived of their inheritance. In 1570 the pope excommunicated Elizabeth, sanctioning Catholic efforts to dethrone her. In 1571 an international conspiracywas u...
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Collectibles and Collecting.
common blond and thus commands a higher price. If there are different variations to a collectible, the least common one is usually worth more. Often there areinteresting stories behind rarities, such as the highly sought-after 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card. At that time tobacco companies manufactured and distributedbaseball cards, and when the antitobacco Wagner complained, his card was pulled from production. Very few copies in good condition have ever been found. C Age Age is often an indic...
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Pan-Africanism.
(in New York City). These congresses were attended by increasing numbers of representatives from the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. Severalimportant factors affected the growing popularity of the congresses. First, many delegates were sponsored by international labor movements, which were growing insize and power in the 1920s. A second factor was the growth of the black nationalist movement of Marcus Garvey. The Garvey movement was important in the UnitedStates as a popular ex...
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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...
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Australia - country.
itself forms most of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Considerable lengths of the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers are navigable during thewet seasons. The central plains region, also known as the Channel Country, is interlaced by a network of rivers. During the rainy season these rivers flood the low-lying countryside,but in dry months they become merely a series of water holes. The Victoria, Daly, and Roper rivers drain a section of the Northern Territory. In Queensland...
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Australia - Geography.
itself forms most of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Considerable lengths of the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers are navigable during thewet seasons. The central plains region, also known as the Channel Country, is interlaced by a network of rivers. During the rainy season these rivers flood the low-lying countryside,but in dry months they become merely a series of water holes. The Victoria, Daly, and Roper rivers drain a section of the Northern Territory. In Queensland...
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Native American Languages.
From Nahuatl, spoken in Middle America, come avocado, cacao, cocoa, chile/chili, chocolate, coyote, tamale , tomato , and many others. Contributions from South American languages include jaguar, cashew, tapioca, and toucan from Tupinambá; alpaca, condor, jerky, llama, puma, and quinine from Quechua; and barbecue, canoe, guava, hammock, hurricane, iguana, maize, papaya, and potato from Maipurean (Arawakan). Native American languages, in turn, have borrowed words from European language...
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Burundi - country.
D Way of Life Most Burundians live in self-contained compounds of small round grass huts scattered over the country’s many hills. The rugo , the traditional Tutsi hut, is divided into sections and surrounded by an enclosure and cattle corrals. Families farm scattered plots of land on different soils at different altitudes to minimize crop failure. Thefloors of valleys are avoided due to higher temperatures and tsetse fly infestation. Social roles are largely determined by ethnicity, with the T...
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United Kingdom - country.
B Natural Regions and Topography The island of Great Britain can be divided into two major natural regions—the highland zone and the lowland zone. The highland zone is an area of high hills andmountains in the north and west. The lowland zone in the south and east consists mostly of rolling plains. The zones are divided by an imaginary line running throughEngland from the River Exe on the southwest coast to the mouth of the River Tees on the northeast coast. The lowland zone has a milder climat...
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Prince Edward Island - Geography.
hectares (109 acres) each. In 2006 there were 1,700 farms, of which the average size was 148 hectares (366 acres). In 2005 the total farm cash receipts were C$510million. The most important agricultural products in terms of value include potatoes, milk and cream, cattle and calves, hogs, tobacco, vegetables, eggs, hens andchickens, and furs. For the most part the island’s agriculture is diversified, rather than specialized, because of the lack of a large urban industrial population within easy r...
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Solar System - astronomy.
dwarf planets according to the IAU because they have rounded shapes from their own gravity but have not cleared their neighborhoods in space of other objects—bothorbit through the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune containing thousands of small icy bodies. Pluto and Eris are composed of layers of ice around a rocky core.Ceres qualifies as a dwarf planet because it is spherical but is found in the asteroid belt, a zone between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that contains thousands of smallrocky...
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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...
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Republic of Singapore - country.
Singaporeans of Chinese and Indian ancestry live in small, nuclear families. Housing favors smaller families, as most units consist of small apartments in high-risebuildings. Western clothing is common, and foods reflect the Chinese, Malay, and Indian origins of the people. D Social Issues Since Singapore became an independent state in 1965, government policies have brought orderliness and efficiency to the country. Examples are supplanting slum andsquatter areas with high-rise public housing p...
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Warfare.
organizations as the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations in 1945, and détente (suggested for scaling down the cold war). See Arms Control. Modern antiwar sentiment and organized peace movements are derived in large part from the beliefs of religious sects such as the Society of Friends and the MennoniteChurch. The first peace societies in history were established in the U.S. in 1815, and since then pacifists have actively opposed wars and conscription, and promoted thecause of con...
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Space Shuttle - astronomy.
The two SRBs, with their combined thrust of some 26 million newtons (about 5.8 million lb), provide most of the power for the first two minutes of flight. The SRBs takethe space shuttle to an altitude of 45 km (28 mi) and a speed of 4,973 km/h (3,094 mph) before they separate and fall back into the ocean to be retrieved,refurbished, and prepared for another flight. After the boosters fall away, the three main engines continue to provide thrust. These engines are clustered at the rear end of the...