Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore is a monument to the ideals of the United States. The faces of four presidents who contributed to the formation of the nation are carved on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. These four presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Each had a vision of what the United States of America should be and shaped the development of the country. Doane Robinson, the superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society, first envisaged the idea of a monument consisting of colossal stone carvings situated in South Dakota in 1923. He proposed the carving of giant statues of historical figures of the Old West, such as General George Custer and Kit Carson into a mountainside. Robinson lobbied for support of the idea, as he believed it would promote tourism in the area. Although many thought the idea was ludicrous, Robinson managed to enlist the support of U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck. Norbeck suggested that Robinson find a sculptor skilled enough to undertake the project, so Robinson contacted Gutzon Borglum, an American artist, who accepted the commission. Borglum was not interested in creating a sculpture using regional historical figures as subjects because he thought that such a sculpture would not be of great interest or historical importance. So Borglum, together with Norbeck and Robinson, decided upon a sculpture of great presidents who had contributed to the birth and development of the United States and to the achievement of its aspirations. Borglum selected Mount Rushmore in the Harney National Forest for his carving because it faced southeast and would be in direct sunlight for the better part of the day. The site was also ideal because the granite that made up the mountain was suitable for the work. Although Robinson, Norbeck, and Borglum managed to obtain permission for the project from the federal legislature, the project stalled due to opposition and lack of funding. Finally, in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge took an extended holiday in the area and was convinced that the project should proceed. As an indication of his commitment, he provided federal funding for the project. Coolidge insisted that the four presidents selected should include two Republicans and a Democrat, along with George Washington. Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt were chosen as they best represented the first 150 years of the United States of America, and were admired by the trio that had conceived and brought the project to fruition. Each president immortalized on Mount Rushmore made a significant contribution to the country. George Washington was the country's first president, serving from 1789 to 1797. Washington was instrumental in the nation's attainment of its independence from England and was responsible for the democracy now existing in the United States. Thomas Jefferson served as president from 1801 to 1809. He was responsible for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase, which expanded the country westward. Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 but assassinated while still in office in 1865. Lincoln guided the country through the Civil War and was often referred to as "The Great Emancipator" for his part in the abolition of slavery. Theodore Roosevelt served as president from 1901 to 1909. He was responsible for the construction of the Panama Canal. However, Roosevelt's inclusion was controversial because he had only been out of office for less than twenty-five years when the project started, so his contribution to the United States had not yet been judged by history. But despite the controversy, the project continued. In 1934, the team of artists and sculptors completed the face of George Washington, followed by Thomas Jefferson in 1936, Abraham Lincoln in 1937, and Theodore Roosevelt in 1939. It took 14 years to complete the sculpture on Mount Rushmore but only about six and half years were actually spent on carving. ■(A) Much of the work was accomplished with the use of dynamite and the rest with air hammers. ■(B) There were no fatalities and very few injuries among the workers during the construction of the sculpture. Unfortunately, Borglum died before the work was done. ■(C) His son Lincoln, named after President Lincoln, took over and finished the carvings on Mount Rushmore. ■(D) On 31 October 1941, the project was completed.

TheEffectsofSleepDeprivationSleeprestoresthebodyandthemindandhelpspreventdiseasebystrengtheningtheimmunesystem.However,manyadultsdonotgettherecommendedeighthoursofsleepeachnight.Theaverageadulttodaygetsonly6.4hoursofsleep,nearlyanhourandahalflessthanwhattheaveragepersonreceivedacenturyago.Onlyinrecentyearshavehealthprofessionalsbeguntorealizetheprevalenceandseverityofsleepdeprivationintheworkingpopulation.Asignificantnumberofpeopleworkatnight,worklongshifts,orsufferfrominsomniaorjetlag.Othersaredeprivedofsleepbecausetheyworktoohard,stayouttoolate,ortrytodotoomanythingsinaday.Adultswhoregularlysleepsixhoursorlessmightthinktheyaccomplishmorebystayinguplate,buttheypayforitthenextdaywhentheyfeelsleepyorirritableorareunabletoconcentrate,rememberthings,orbeveryeffectiveattheirwork.Studiesshowthatthebrainisadverselyaffectedbysleepdeprivationbecausecertainpatternsofelectricalandchemicalactivitythatoccurduringsleepareinterruptedandthebraincannotfunctionnormally.Inonestudy,thirteenhealthyadultsubjectswhousuallyhadnormalsleeppatternswerekeptawakeandcarefullymonitoredinahospitalsleeplaboratoryduringaperiodof35hours.Duringtheexperiment,thesubjectswereaskedtoperformseveralcognitivetasks,suchasarithmeticandwordproblems,whileundergoingmagneticresonancescansoftheirbrainactivity.Thescansrecordedeachsubject'sbrainactivityfromarestedstatethroughvariousstagesofsleepdeprivationoverthe35-hourperiod.Thescansproducedimagesshowingincreasedactivityinsomeregionsofthebrainanddecreasedactivityinothers.Theresearchersfoundthatthetemporallobeofthebrain,theregioninvolvedinlanguageprocessing,wasactivatedduringverbaltasksinrestedsubjectsbutnotinsleep-deprivedsubjects.Whensubjectswerefullyrested,theirmagneticresonancescansshowedthatthetemporallobewasveryactive.However,afterseveralhourswithoutsleep,therewasnoactivitywithinthisregion.TheeffectsoftheinactivityincludedslurredspeechinthesubjectswhohadgoneforprolongedperiodsWithnosleep.Severalstudiesshowthatgettinglessthansixhoursofsleepanightcanimpairshort-termmemory,coordination,reactiontime,andjudgment,thusposingaseriousriskofaccidentorinjury.Inonestudyofdrivers,researchersreportedthatsleepdeprivationhadsomeofthesamehazardouseffectsasbeingdrunk.Theyfoundthatpeoplewhodroveafterbeingawakefor17to19hoursperformedworsethanthosewithabloodalcohollevelof0.5percent,thelegallimitfordrunkdrivinginmostwesternEuropeancountries.Thestudyalsofoundthat16to60percentofroadaccidentsinvolvedsleepdeprivation.Theresearchersconcludedthatcountrieswithdrunkdrivinglawsshouldconsidersimilarrestrictionsagainstsleep-depriveddriving.Thereareotherproblemsassociatedwithsleepdeprivationbeyondimpairedmotorskillsandjudgment.Driverswhogettoolittlesleepmayhavehigherlevelsofstress,anxietyanddepression,maytakeunnecessaryrisks,ormayexpressragetowardotherdrivers.Thesedangersaffectnotonlydriversbutalsopeoplewhoworklongshiftsornightshifts,suchasmedicalpersonnelandotheremergencyworkers.Thedangersofsleepdeprivationgofarbeyondtheobviousrisksandcan,infact,undermineallareasofanindividual'sphysicalandmentalhealth.Sleepdeprivationweakenstheimmunesystem,makinganindividualmorepronetodiseasessuchasthecommoncoldanddiabetes.Withoutsleep,thenumberofdisease-fightingwhitebloodcellswithinthebodydecreases,asdoestheactivityoftheremainingwhitebloodcells.Sleepdeprivationhasbeenlinkedtoadecreaseinthebody'sproductionofhormonessuchasinsulin.Resultsofarecentstudysuggestedthathealthyyoungadultswhoregularlygotunder6.5hoursofsleepanighthadgreaterinsulinresistancethanpeoplewhogot7.5to8.5hoursofsleep.Insulinresistanceisasilentconditioninwhichthepancreasdoesnotmakeenoughinsulinorthebodyisunabletousetheinsulinthatispresent.Thus,themuscleandlivercellscannotmetabolizethesugarcalledglucose.Asaresult,glucosebuildsupinthebloodstream,settingthestagefordiabetesandheartdisease.Glossary:insomnia:theinabilitytofallasleeporremainasleepjetlag:thedisruptionofbodilyrhythmscausedbyhigh-speedtravelacrosstimezonescognitive:relatingtomentalprocesses

Whatisthediscussionmainlyabout?A.Theevolutionofinterstellargasclouds.B.Thelifetimeofstars.C.Thequalityofmain-sequencestars.D.Theformationofstars.

Evidences of Human History In the study of human history, there are many points that require study and research; there is one very important and interesting aspect to pay attention to, that is, the use of left or right hand in ancient humans' activities. There has been some evidence which archaeologists have noticed and studied. What is more, many archaeological records—paintings, drawings, and carvings of humans engaged in activities involving the use of their hand—indicate that humans have been predominantly right-handed for more than 5000 years. These archaeological artworks are found almost all around the world, and though they were found to have been made in different times and places, there are many similar or identical features concerning hand use among them. In ancient Egyptian artworks, for example, the right hand is depicted as the dominant one in about 90 percent of the examples. What is more, in the archaeological artworks unearthed in Henan province, China has shown over 85 percent of the use of the right hand in manufacturing.(A) [■] Fracture or wear patterns on tools also indicate that a majority of ancient people were right-handed. In some experts' theories, they also find that some patterns and styles can reveal the use of the right hand or the left hand. Cro-Magnon cave paintings of some 27000 years ago commonly show outlines of human hands made by placing one hand against the cave wall and applying paint with the other.(B) [■] With few exceptions, the left hands of Cro-Magnons are displayed on cave walls, indicating that the paintings were usually done by right-handers.(C) [■] This point can also be reflected in modern life. If you like, imagine the general gesture of painting or doing anything in your daily life, you will find the general features and styles of your actions, which can reflect your habit of hand use, and furthermore try to find a friend or someone else who uses the other hand and compare with his or her habits, the difference will be very clear and obvious. Besides the above archaeological artworks in the study of ancient human beings' hand usage, there are also other kinds of evidence in this field, at first the anthropological evidence can push the record of handedness in early human ancestors back to at least 1.4 million years ago.(D) [■] Important evidence comes from the flaking patterns of stone cores used in tool making, and the implements flaked with a clockwise motion (indicating a right-handed toolmaker) can be found much more than those flaked with a counter-clockwise rotation (indicating a left-handed toolmaker). That means usually a right handed person chose the clockwise direction to make tools while a left handed man chose the counter-clockwise direction to make tools. Even scratches found on fossil human teeth offer clues. Ancient people are thought to have cut meat into strips by holding it between their teeth and slicing it with stone knives, as do the present-day Inuit. Occasionally the knives slip and leave scratches on the users' teeth. Scratches made with a left-to-right stroke direction (by right-handed toolmaker) are more common than scratches in the opposite direction (by left-handed toolmaker). Still more evidence comes from cranial morphology: scientists think that physical differences between the right and left sides of the interior of the skull indicate subtle physical differences between the two sides of the brain. The variation between the hemispheres corresponds to which side of the body is used to perform specific activities. Such studies, as well as studies of tool use, indicate that right-or left-sided dominance is not exclusive to modern Homosapiens. Populations of Neanderthals, such as Homo Erectus and Homo Habilis, seem to have been predominantly right-handed, almost the same situation as ours today.

Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions. Give yourself 20 minutes to complete this practice set. POWERING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION In Britain one of the most dramatic changes of the Industrial Revolution was the harnessing of power. Until the reign of George III (1760-1820), available sources of power for work and travel had not increased since the Middle Ages. There were three sources of power: animal or human muscles; the wind, operating on sail or windmill; and running water. Only the last of these was suited at all to the continuous operating of machines, and although waterpower abounded in Lancashire and Scotland and ran grain mills as well as textile mills, it had one great disadvantage: streams flowed where nature intended them to, and water-driven factories had to be located on their banks, whether or not the location was desirable for other reasons. Furthermore, even the most reliable waterpower varied with the seasons and disappeared in a drought. The new age of machinery, in short, could not have been born without a new source of both movable and constant power. The source had long been known but not exploited. Early in the century, a pump had come into use in which expanding steam raised a piston in a cylinder, and atmospheric pressure brought it down again when the steam condensed inside the cylinder to form a vacuum. This "atmospheric engine," invented by Thomas Savery and vastly improved by his partner, Thomas Newcomen, embodied revolutionary principles, but it was so slow and wasteful of fuel that it could not be employed outside the coal mines for which it had been designed. In the 1760s, James Watt perfected a separate condenser for the steam, so that the cylinder did not have to be cooled at every stroke; then he devised a way to make the piston turn a wheel and thus convert reciprocating (back and forth) motion into rotary motion. He thereby transformed an inefficient pump of limited use into a steam engine of a thousand uses. The final step came when steam was introduced into the cylinder to drive the piston backward as well as forward, thereby increasing the speed of the engine and cutting its fuel consumption. Watt's steam engine soon showed what it could do. It liberated industry from dependence on running water. The engine eliminated water in the mines by driving efficient pumps, which made possible deeper and deeper mining. The ready availability of coal inspired William Murdoch during the 1790s to develop the first new form of nighttime illumination to be discovered in a millennium and a half. Coal gas rivaled smoky oil lamps and flickering candles, and early in the new century, well-to-do Londoners grew accustomed to gaslit houses and even streets. Iron manufacturers, which had starved for fuel while depending on charcoal, also benefited from ever increasing supplies of coal; blast furnaces with steam-powered bellows turned out more iron and steel for the new machinery. Steam became the motive force of the Industrial Revolution, as coal and iron ore were the raw materials. By 1800 more than a thousand steam engines were in use in the British Isles, and Britain retained a virtual monopoly on steam engine production until the 1830s. Steam power did not merely spin cotton and roll iron; early in the new century, it also multiplied ten times over the amount of paper that a single worker could produce in a day. At the same time, operators of the first printing presses run by steam rather than by hand found it possible to produce a thousand pages in an hour rather than thirty. Steam also promised to eliminate a transportation problem not fully solved by either canal boats or turnpikes. Boats could carry heavy weights, but canals could not cross hilly terrain; turnpikes could cross the hills, but the roadbeds could not stand up under great weights. These problems needed still another solution, and the ingredients for it lay close at hand. In some industrial regions, heavily laden wagons, with flanged wheels, were being hauled by horses along metal rails; and the stationary steam engine was puffing in the factory and mine. Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. Thus the railroad age sprang from what had already happened in the eighteenth century.

Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions. Give yourself 20 minutes to complete this practice set. EUROPE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY Europe in the eleventh century underwent enormous social, technological, and economic changes, but this did not create a new Europe—it created two new ones. The north was developed as a rigidly hierarchical society in which status was determined, or was at least indicated, by the extent to which one owned, controlled, or labored on land; whereas the Mediterranean south developed a more fluid, and therefore more chaotic, world in which industry and commerce predominated and social status both reflected and resulted from the role that one played in the public life of the community. In other words, individual identity and social community in the north were established on a personal basis, whereas in the south they were established on a civic basis. By the start of the twelfth century, northern and southern Europe were very different places indeed, and the Europeans themselves noticed it and commented on it. Political dominance belonged to the north. Germany, France, and England had large populations and large armies that made them, in the political and military senses, the masters of western Europe. Organized by the practices known collectively as feudalism, these kingdoms emerged as powerful states with sophisticated machineries of government. Their kings and queens were the leading figures of the age; their castles and cathedrals stood majestically on the landscape as symbols of their might; their armies both energized and defined the age. Moreover, feudal society showed a remarkable ability to adapt to new needs by encouraging the parallel development of domestic urban life and commercial networks; in some regions of the north, in fact, feudal society may even have developed in response to the start of the trends toward bigger cities. But southern Europe took the lead in economic and cultural life. Though the leading Mediterranean states were small in size, they were considerably wealthier than their northern counterparts. The Italian city of Palermo in the twelfth century, for example, alone generated four times the commercial tax revenue of the entire kingdom of England. Southern communities also possessed urbane, multilingual cultures that made them the intellectual and artistic leaders of the age. Levels of general literacy in the south far surpassed those of the north, and the people of the south put that learning to use on a large scale. Science, mathematics, poetry, law, historical writing, religious speculation, translation, and classical studies all began to flourish; throughout most of the twelfth century, most of the continent's best brains flocked to southern Europe. So too did a lot of the north's soldiers. One of the central themes of the political history of the twelfth century was the continual effort by the northern kingdoms to extend their control southward in the hope of tapping into the Mediterranean bonanza. The German emperors starting with Otto I (936-973), for example, struggled ceaselessly to establish their control over the cities of northern Italy, since those cities generated more revenue than all of rural Germany combined. The kings of France used every means at their disposal to push the lower border of their kingdom to the Mediterranean shoreline. And the Normans who conquered and ruled England established outposts of Norman power in Sicily and the adjacent lands of southern Italy; the English kings also hoped or claimed at various times to be, either through money or marriage diplomacy, the rulers of several Mediterranean states. But as the northern world pressed southward, so too did some of the cultural norms and social mechanisms of the south expand northward. Over the course of the twelfth century, the feudal kingdoms witnessed a proliferation of cities modeled in large degree on those of the south. Contact with the merchants and financiers of the Mediterranean led to the development of northern industry and international trade (which helped to pay for many of the castles and cathedrals mentioned earlier). And education spread as well, culminating in the foundation of what is arguably medieval Europe's greatest invention: the university. The relationship of north and south was symbiotic, in other words, and the contrast between them was more one of differences in degree than of polar opposition. feudalism: a political and economic system based on the relationship of a lord to people of lower status, who owed service and/or goods to the lord in exchange for the use of land.

{{B}}Narrator{{/B}} Listen to a part of a lecture in an ecology class.

THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE 1 The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City was one of the worst workplace disasters in the history of labor. The incident highlighted the inhumane working conditions faced by many industrial workers, including low wages, excessively long hours, and an unsanitary and dangerous work environment. The Triangle Waist Company, a shirt factory, was a typical sweatshop in the heart of New York's garment district. Most of the workers were women, some as young as 15 years old, mostly recent Italian and European Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States with their families to seek a better life. Already struggling with a new language and culture, these workers could not speak out about working conditions for fear of losing their desperately needed jobs, and this forced them to endure exploitation by the factory owners. 2 On March 25, 1911, one of the five hundred employees of the Triangle Waist factory noticed that a rag bin near her eighth-floor workstation was on fire. She and her co-workers immediately tried to extinguish the flames, but their efforts proved futile, and piles of fabric ignited all over the eighth floor. The factory manager ordered his employees to unroll the fire extinguisher hose, but they found it rotted and useless. Panic erupted as the fire spread. 3 The shirt factory occupied the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building. The seventy employees who worked on the tenth floor escaped the fire by way of the staircases or by climbing onto the roof, where students from New York University, located across the street, stretched ladders over to the Asch Building. The 260 workers on the ninth floor had the worst luck of all. Although the eighth-floor workers tried to warn them by telephone, the call did not reach them, and by the time the ninth-floor workers learned about the fire, their routes of escape were mostly blocked. When they found many of the exit doors locked, some managed to climb down the cables of the freight elevator. Others crammed into one narrow stairway. Still others climbed onto the single, inadequately constructed fire escape. However, the fire escape led nowhere, and it bent under the weight of hundreds of workers trying to escape. The spindly structure separated from the wall, falling to the ground and carrying many people with it. 4 To combat the disaster, the New York Fire Department sent thirty-five pieces of equipment, including a hook and ladder. The young women trapped on the ninth floor waited on the window ledges to be rescued, only to discover that the ladder, fully raised, stopped far below them at the sixth floor. Water from the hoses could not reach the top floors, and many workers chose to jump to their deaths rather than to burn alive. Within minutes, the factory was consumed by flame, killing 146 workers, mostly immigrant women. City officials set up a temporary morgue in a building on 26th Street, and over the next few days streams of survivors filed through the building to identify the dead. 5 The ten-story Asch Building was a firetrap typical of the working conditions of the period, and the Triangle fire tragically illustrated that fire inspections and safety precautions were very inadequate. The victims of the fire were trapped by the lack of fire escapes and by management's practice of locking the exit doors during work hours. The incident had a profound impact on women's unionism and job safety, affecting local and national politics in the process. An era of progressive reform began to sweep the nation, as people decided that government had a responsibility to ensure that private industry protected the welfare of workers. There was a public outcry for laws to regulate workplace safety. The New York Factory Investigating Commission was formed to examine the conditions in factories throughout the state, and their report led to many new regulations in the years following the fire. 6 The fire at the Triangle Waist Company highlighted the excesses of industrialism. The tragedy remains in the collective memory of the labor movement, and the victims of the tragedy are still honored as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.

AScientificDebate:Neptunismvs.Plutonism1.Formoderngeologists,thequestionofhowrocksareformedhasbeenanswered.Theprocessesbywhichsedimentsarecementedtogethertoformsedimentaryrocks,subterraneanmagmashootstothesurfacetoformigneousrocks,andintenseheatandpressuretransformbothoftheseintometamorphicrocksarewellunderstood.Butinthedayswhengeologywasjustbeginningtodevelopasaseparatescientificdiscipline,theoriginofEarth'srockswasthesubjectofanintensedebate.Amongthetheoriescirculatingaroundthelateeighteenthandearlynineteenthcenturiesweretwoprimarycontenders:Neptunism,positedbytheGermanAbrahamWerner,andPlutonism,atheoryofJamesHutton,aScottishgeologist.2.TofullyunderstandthedebatebetweenNeptunismandPlutonism,itisessentialtofirstexaminethebroaderscientificcontextinplaceatthetime.Beforethenineteenthcentury,theacceptedviewofEarth'shistorywasdefinedbyaconceptknownasCatastrophism.Itsbasictenetswerethattheplanetwasofayoungageandthatitspastwasmarkedbyaseriesofdistinctandcatastrophicevents.InEnglandinparticular,thistheorywasinfluencedbythebeliefthataworldwidefloodhadoccurredasdescribedintheChristianBible.3.Werner'stheoryofNeptunismreliedonsomeoftheassumptionsinherentinCatastrophism.ThewordNeptunismcomesfromthenameoftheRomangodofthesea,Neptune,asWernersuggestedthatallofEarthhadoncebeencoveredbyavast,hotocean.Thewatersofthisocean,hesaid,containedsmallamountsofdilutedminerals.Overtime,theseancientwatersevaporatedandsanklower,andastheydisappeared,themineralsremainedandfusedintocrystalstoproducetherocksandlandmassesvisibleonEarth'ssurface.Aseriesoflatercatastrophicfloods,suchastheonereportedintheBible,addedmorerocksandexplainedthedifferentrocklayersthatgeologistswerebeginningtodiscoveraroundthistime.4.Concurrently,thereweremanyothergeologistswhowerestartingtorejectthenotionofCatastrophism.Muchofthecontemporaryevidencebeingcollectedregardingfossilsandthecomplexityanddiversityofgeologicformationssuggestedthattheplanetwasmucholderthananyonehadpreviouslythought,Asaresult,thetheoryofUniformitarianismwasintroduced,whichstatedthatEarth'sgeologicprocessesweregradualandunfoldingatanincrediblyslowrateoveranimmensetimeframe.Evenmoreimportantforthefieldofgeology,Uniformitarianismheldthatthosesameprocesseswerestilloccurring.5.JamesHuttonwasamongtheearliestproponentsofUniformitarianism,anditgreatlyinformedhistheoryofPlutonism.NamedfortheRomangodoftheunderworld,Pluto,itstatedthatEarth'srockswerecreatedthroughthetremendousheatandforceofvolcanicactivity.HuttondescribedacontinuouscyclebywhichheatdeepwithinEarthpushedupthelandabove,creatingmountainsandvolcanoes,anddepositedrocksonthesurface.Erosionovertimewouldbreakdowntherocksandtransporttheirsedimentstothebottomoftheoceans,wheretheywereheatedandturnedintosolidrockoncemore,andagainliftedtothesurfacebyvolcanicactivity.Thisconceptofalong,continuouscyclewasaclearexpressionofUniformitarianismandprovidedabetterexplanationforhowthegeologiccomplexitiesofEarthhadtakenshape.6.Duringthefirsthalfofthenineteenthcentury,increasingnumbersofscientistsadoptedHutton'sviews,andtodayheisoftenreferredtoasthe"fatherofgeology"Werner'stheoryofNeptunism,ontheotherhand,wasdismissed,andUniformitarianismreplacedCatastrophismastheguidingprincipleofgeologicstudy.EventhoughPlutonismwaslatershowntocontainmanyinaccuracies,someofitsconceptsturnedouttobeclosetothetruth.Forinstance,itsdescriptionsofthevolcanicupliftofthecrustandthecontinuousrecyclingofrockfitwellwiththemoderntheoryofplatetectonics.Moreover,Hutton'sideasencouragedthedevelopmentofmoreaccuratemethodsfordeterminingtheageofrocks,suchasradiocarbondating,bywhichgeologistshavebeenabletoconfirmthatEarth'shistorystretchesbackbillionsofyears.

→HolmesandRahe(1967)developedtheSocialReadjustmentRatingScale(SRRS)tomeasurelifechangeasaformofstress.Thescaleassignsnumericalvaluesto43majorlifeeventsthataresupposedtoreflectthemagnitudeofthereadjustmentrequiredbyeachchange.Inrespondingtothescale,respondentsareaskedtoindicatehowoftentheyexperiencedanyofthese43eventsduringacertaintimeperiod(typically,thepastyear).Thepersonthenaddsupthenumbersassociatedwitheacheventchecked.→TheSRRSandsimilarscaleshavebeenusedinthousandsofstudiesbyresearchersallovertheworld.[]Overall,thesestudieshaveshownthatpeoplewithhigherscoresontheSRRStendtobemorevulnerabletomanykindsofphysicalillness—andmanytypesofpsychologicalproblemsaswell(DerogatisCoons,1993;Gruen,1993;Scully,TosiBanning,2000).Morerecently,however,expertshavecriticizedthisresearch,citingproblemswiththemethodsusedandraisingquestionsaboutthemeaningofthefindings(CritelliEe,1996;MonroeMcQuaid,1994;Wethington,2000).First,theassumptionthattheSRRSmeasureschangeexclusivelyhasbeenshowntobeinaccurate.Wenowhaveampleevidencethatthedesirabilityofeventsaffectsadaptationaloutcomesmorethantheamountofchangethattheyrequire(TurnerWheaton,1995).Thus,itseemsprudenttoviewtheSRRSasameasureofdiverseformsofstress,ratherthanasameasureofchange-relatedstress(McLeanLink,1994).→Second,theSRRSfailstotakeintoaccountdifferencesamongpeopleintheirsubjectiveperceptionofhowstressfulaneventis.Forinstance,whiledivorcemaydeserveastressvalueof73formostpeople,aparticularperson'sdivorcemightgeneratemuchlessstressandmeritavalueofonly25.→Third,manyoftheeventslistedontheSRRSandsimilarscalesarehighlyambiguous,leadingpeopletobeinconsistentastowhicheventstheyreportexperiencing(MonroeMcQuaid,1994).Forinstance,whatqualifiesas"troublewiththeboss"?Shouldyoucheckthatbecauseyou'resickandtiredofyoursupervisor?Whatconstitutesa"changeinlivingconditions"?Doesyourpurchaseofagreatnewsoundsystemqualify?Asyoucansee,theSRRSincludesmany"events"thataredescribedinadequately,producingconsiderableambiguityaboutthemeaningofone'sresponse.Problemsinrecallingeventsoveraperiodofayearalsoleadtoinconsistentrespondingonstressscales,thusloweringtheirreliability(KleinRubovits,1987).Fourth,theSRRSdoesnotsamplefromthedomainofstressfuleventsverythoroughly.Dothe43eventslistedontheSRRSexhaustallthemajorstressesthatpeopletypicallyexperience?Studiesdesignedtoexplorethatquestionhavefoundmanysignificantomissions(Dohrenwendetal.,1993;Wheaton,1994).→Fifth,thecorrelationbetweenSRRSscoresandhealthoutcomesmaybeinflatedbecausesubjects'neuroticismaffectsboththeirresponsestostressscalesandtheirself-reportsofhealthproblems.Neuroticindividualshaveatendencytorecallmorestressthanothersandtorecallmoresymptomsofillnessthanothers(Watson,David,Suls,1999).Thesetendenciesmeanthatsomeofthecorrelationbetweenhighstressandhighillnessmaysimplyreflecttheeffectsofsubjects'neuroticism(CritelliEe,1996).Thepossiblecontami-natingeffectsofneuroticismobscurethemeaningofscoresontheSRRSandsimilarmeasuresofstress.TheLifeExperiencesSurveyInthelightoftheseproblems,anumberofresearchershaveattemptedtodevelopimprovedversionsoftheSRRS.Forexample,theLifeExperiencesSurvey(LES),assembledbyIrwinSarasonandcolleagues(1978),hasbecomeawidelyusedmeasureofstressincontemporaryresearch(forexamplesseeAmesetal.,2001;DenisoffEndler,2000;Malefo,2000).TheLESrevisesandbuildsontheSRRSsurveyinavarietyofwaysthatcorrect,atleastinpart,mostoftheproblemsjustdiscussed.→Specifically,theLESrecognizesthatstressinvolvesmorethanmerechangeandasksrespondentstoindicatewhethereventshadapositiveornegativeimpactonthem.Thisstrategypermitsthecomputationofpositivechange,negativechange,andtotalchangescores,whichhelpsresearchersgainmuchmoreinsightintowhichfacetsofstressaremostcrucial.TheLESalsotakesintoconsiderationdifferencesamongpeopleintheirappraisalofstress,bydroppingthenormativeweightsandreplacingthemwithpersonallyassignedweightingsoftheimpactofrelevantevents.Ambiguityinitemsisdecreasedbyprovidingmoreelaboratedescriptionsofmanyitemstoclarifytheirmeaning.TheLESdealswiththefailureoftheSRRStosamplethefulldomainofstressfuleventsinseveralways.First,somesignificantomissionsfromtheSRRShavebeenaddedtotheLES.Second,theLESallowstherespondenttowriteinpersonallyimportanteventsthatarenotincludedonthescale.Third,theLEShasanextrasectionjustforstudents.Sarasonetal.(1978)suggestthatspecial,tailoredsectionsofthissortbeaddedforspecificpopulationswheneveritisuseful.

Mountain Climbing Mountain climbing, or ascending mountains, is popular worldwide, wherever hills rise high enough to provide a challenge. The activity's rewards include the physical exercise it provides, the satisfaction of overcoming difficulties by working with others, the thrill of reaching a summit, and the unobstructed views from a mountaintop. Exploration and research are other reasons that people climb mountains. Since ancient times, people have viewed mountain peaks as towering objects of myth, spiritual inspiration, and romantic beauty. Early peoples made ascents only to hunt game, to rescue lost or strayed animals, or to gain a military advantage over an enemy. Eventually, the unknown and inaccessible peaks ceased to be feared and avoided, and the conquest of the major mountain peaks and ranges of the world began. Mountaineering as a sport was born on August 8,1786. Since that ascent, mountain climbing has evolved into three related sports: alpine climbing, ice climbing, and rock climbing. These sports require the same fundamental techniques. The style of alpinism or alpine climbing encompasses much of the basic climbing techniques, equipment, and safety precautions that form the basis for ice climbing and rock climbing. Alpine climbing began in the European Alps in the late 18th century and is now practiced in all mountain ranges of the world. Alpine climbing involves the continuous ascent of a mountain peak over a period of one to several days by a team of at least two alpinists. Teams may consist of as many as four climbers. The climbers carry all the equipment they need—a camping stove and fuel, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, a tent or bivouac sack, first aid gear, a water bottle, and food. Each night the climbers spend the night on a mountain ledge before continuing upward. Ice climbing grew out of traditional mountaineering, and ice climbers use the basic equipment, techniques, and safety precautions that alpinists do, with certain specialized changes to account for the added difficulties of ascending vertical sheets of ice. For example, Eckenstein's ten-point crampons enabled mountaineers to ascend more difficult and steeper climbs over icy routes.A. [■]Ice climbers later created more radically drooped ice axe picks and ergonomically designed ice axe shafts, allowing them to venture onto continuously vertical, and even overhanging, frozen waterfalls. In the early 20th century, French and German mountaineers sought out new challenges by training on cliffs and boulders near their homes.B. [■]The earliest documented rock climb done for sport was the 35-m high Nape's Needle in the Lake District of England.C. [■]Climbing areas may be relatively small crags of rock, large canyon sidewalls, or immense mountain faces.D. [■]Granite, limestone, sandstone, metamorphosed schist, and gneiss are the five most popular rock types for climbing. In recent years, well-publicized successes and tragedies in mountaineering activities and improvements in climbing equipment have given rise to an increased number of mountain climbers worldwide. The sport's popularity has led some countries to require mountaineers to purchase climbing permits. Himalayan expeditions must also pay an environmental bond to guarantee that they will remove all of their waste at the conclusion of their trip. Environmental protection efforts are underway at many rock climbing areas to ease ecological strains on popular areas. Local climbers participate in an annual cleanup day to maintain approach trails, wash gymnastic chalk off the rock, and pick up litter. The Access Fund is the national organization that helps climbers gain access to climbing areas and also assists with environmental problems associated with cliffs in the United States. Beginning in the 1980s indoor rock-climbing gyms have played a key role in introducing large numbers of people to climbing by featuring short climbs in a controlled setting. However, making the transition to climbing outside is not always easy. New skills and judgment calls are required outdoors, because real cliffs are subject to bad weather and other hazards such as loose rock and falling stones. In the late 20th century, climbing competitions became popular with rock climbers and ice climbers of all ages and skill levels. Regular competition climbing is judged on how high the climber can ascend within a specified period of time. Speed climbing competitions pit climbers against a clock to see how fast they can scale a wall. Local climbing gyms and clubs sponsor competitions, as do national organizations such as the American Sport Climbing Federation.

{{B}}Set2{{/B}}{{B}}JobSatisfactionandPersonnelMobility{{/B}}Europe,andindeedallthemajorindustrializednations,iscurrentlygoingthrougharecession.Thisobviouslyhasseriousimplicationsforcompaniesandpersonnelwhofindthemselvesvictimsofthedownturn.AsBritainapparentlyeasesoutofrecession,therearealsopotentiallyequallyseriousimplicationsforthecompanieswhosurvive,associatedwiththeemploymentandrecruitmentmarketingeneral.Duringarecession,voluntarystaffturnoverisboundtofallsharply.Staffwhohavebeenwithacompanyforsomeyearswillclearlynotwanttorisklosingtheiraccumulatedredundancyfights.Furthermore,theywillbeunwellingtogotoaneworganizationwheretheymaywellbejoiningona"lastin,firstout"basis.Consequently,evenifthereislittleornojobsatisfactionintheircurrentpost,theyaremostlikelytoremainwheretheyare,quietlysittingitoutandwaitingforthingstoimprove.InBritain,thissituationhasbeenaggravatedbythelengthandnatureoftherecession--asmayalsoprovetobethecaseintherestofEuropeandbeyond.Inthepast,companiesusedtotakeonstaffatthelowerlevelsandrewardloyalemployeeswithinternalpromotions.Thisopportunityforalifetimecareerwithonecompanyisnolongeravailable,owingtodownsizing"ofcompanies,structuralreorganizationsandredundancyprogrammes,allofwhichhaveaffectedmiddlemanagementasmuchasthelowerlevels.Thisreducetioninthelayersofmanagementhasledtoflatterhierarchies,which,inturn,hasreducedpromotionprospectswithinmostcompanies.Whereasambitiouspersonnelhadbecomeusedtoregularpromotion,theynowfindtheirprogressisblocked.Thissituationiscompoundedbyyetanotherfactor.Whenstaffatanylevelaretakenon,itisusuallyfromoutsideandpromotionisincreasinglythroughcareermovesbetweencompanies.Recessionhascreatedanewbreedofbrightyounggraduates,muchmoreself-interestedandcynicalthaninthepast.Theytendtobemorewary,scepticalofwhatisonofferandconsequentlymuchtoughernegotiators.Thosewhojoinedcompaniesdirectlyfromeducationfeeltheeffectsmoststronglyandnowfeeluncertainandinsecureinmid-life.Inmanycases,thishasresultedinstaffdissatisfaction.Moreover,managementitselfhascontributedtothisgeneralill-feelingandfrustration.Thecaringimageoftherecentpasthasgoneandthefearofredundancyisoftenusedastheprimemotivator.Asaresultofallthesefactors,whentherecessioneasesandpeoplefindmoreconfidence,therewillbeanexplosionofemployeesseekingnewopportunitiestoescapetheircurrentjobs.Thiswillbeledbyyounger,less-experiencedemployeesandthehard-headedyounggraduates."Headhunters"confirmthatolderstaffarestillcautious,havingseensomanygoodcompanies"gotothewall",andarereluctanttojeopardizetheirredundancyentitlements.Pastexperience,however,suggeststhat,oncetriggered,theexpansioninrecruitmentwillbeveryrapid.Theproblemwhichfacesmanyorganizationsisoneofstrategicplanning;ofnotknowingwhowillleaveandwhowillstay.Oftenitisthebestpersonnelwhomoveonwhilsttheworstclingtothelittlesecuritytheyhave.WhilstthisexpansionintherecruitmentmarketislikelytohappensooninBritain,mostemployersaresimplynotprepared.Withthelossofmiddlemanagement,inastaticmarketplace,personnelmanagementandrecruitmentareoftenconductedbyjuniorpersonnel.Theyhaveonlyknownrecessionandlacktheexperiencetoplanaheadandtoimplementstrategiesforgrowth.Thisistreeofmanyotherfunctions,leavingcompanyieswithouttheskills,abilityorvisiontostructurethemselvesforlong-termgrowth.Withoutthisabilitytorecruitcompetitivelyforstrategicplanning,andgiventhespeedatwhichthesechangesarelikelytooccur,arealcrisisseemsimminent.

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is made of coral, a colorful rock-like substance actually composed of many small marine animals, each one less than half a centimeter in size. Coral grows in colonies that can reach over a meter and a half in height, and several of these colonies grow in close proximity to each other, eventually joining up to form an underwater chain or reef. The Great Barrier Reef refers to a series of almost three thousand coral reefs that stretch across the ocean floor in a twelve hundred mile chain, which makes it so long that it can actually be seen from space. Apart from its size, the Great Barrier Reef is also renowned for its age. The living part of the reef itself is around 8,000 years old, but sits atop the remains of dead coral that is much older, in some places almost half a million years old. A system of living organisms so anc ient and so large would be fascinating to scientists by the simple fact of its existence alone, but the Great Barrier Reef is also of great scientific interest because of the diversity of marine life that lives in its vicinity. As stated above, the Great Barrier Reef is made of coral, but just as there are many different varieties of dogs, cats, and finches, there are many varieties of coral, over 500 of which are found in the Great Barrier Reef. The rocky formations of the reefs also provide shelter for a variety of smaller marine fish, and these in turn provide food for larger, more predatory fish. As a result, some scientists believe that the Reef is home to up to twenty-five percent of all marine fish species. However, this is only a rough estimate since so few of the Reef's fish species have been documented. In addition, the Reef hosts a variety of sponges, anemones, sea turtles, sea snakes, sea birds, and whales. Marine biologists, therefore, value the Reef for what it can teach them about ocean ecology, while other scientists are eagerly investigating the practical applications of chemical compounds produced by the creatures of the Reef. Indeed, chemicals initially discovered in Reef organisms are already the basis for many potent new medicines, including some that help battle AIDS and various cancers. Coral reefs in general, and the Great Barrier Reef in particular, have been considered so environmentally important that the governments that control the waters where they exist have designated vast tracts of ocean as environmentally protected areas. Nevertheless, the reefs form one giant, interconnected ecosystem, and human activities in unprotected areas of the reefs can affect the entire system. One such human activity is fishing. ■(A) The rich biodiversity of the reefs attracts many predatory fish that in turn draw large numbers of fishing vessels. ■(B) Unfortunately, many modern fishing techniques employ nets that catch not only the target species, but all fish too big to slip through the holes in the net. ■(C) Besides fishing, the reefs face pressure from shipping and oil spills. ■(D) Shipping can become a problem when freighters make mistakes in navigation and run into the reef,shattering segments of it that have taken decades or even centuries to grow. Oil spills-- always damaging to the environment--have an especially devastating effect when they occur near the reefs because so many endangered species are affected. The future of the Great Barrier Reef is uncertain. In addition to the environmental hazards outlined above, the Reef is under threat of global warming. Although coral consists of tiny, carnivorous animals, those animals do not get most of their nutrients from the organisms they catch. Instead, they enjoy a symbiotic relationship with a form of algae called zooxanthellae. These algae live off the nitrogen emitted by the coral. Like many other types of algae, zooxanthellae undergo photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight to create sugars that they can use for fuel. Some of those sugars are also absorbed by the coral that shelter the algae, providing the coral with the fuel it needs to live. However, these particular algae can only perform photosynthesis if the water around them is within a very narrow temperature range. If the temperature of the water in the ocean increases by too much, the algae cease to be able to carry out photosynthesis and are expelled by the coral, which then begins to starve to death. Because it is the presence of zooxanthellae that normally gives coral its rich color, coral that has expelled the algae becomes white, leading scientists to term this process "coral bleaching."

Clipper Ships Clipper ships are small, lightweight vessels with three masts that boast a massive array of sails which allow them to move extremely quickly. The name "clipper" is thought to come from the fact that the bow of such a ship seems to cut through water as it advances, something also true of older types of ship. Certainly, people were using the expression "to go at a good clip" to mean "to travel quickly" long before the advent of the clipper ship, so the explanation seems to make sense. In fact, it is difficult to date the emergence of the first true clipper, since the word was liberally applied to several speedy ships from the early 19th century that did not possess the technical specifications to qualify as clippers under the later definition of the term. What is known, however, is that by the 1840s, several shipyards were engaged in building vessels that were recognizably clipper ships. The great advantage of the clipper ship was its speed. A decently built clipper ship could routinely cover 250 miles per day, and with good winds, would often travel much faster, in some cases surpassing 400 miles per day. This made the clipper ideal for transporting people from one place to another, since prolonged sea voyages at that time were unpleasant and risky. The clippers were also used to transport freight, but in a more limited fashion, since clippers had considerably less cargo space than ordinary freighters of the time. ■(A) This meant that it was often cheaper to transport durable goods, such as furniture and jewelry, on regular ships that could carry a greater amount of cargo, even if it took longer for that cargo to reach its destination. ■(B) However, for perishable goods, such as spices and teas which would lose their potency over time, clippers proved an immensely profitable method of transport. ■(C) Clippers were also pressed into service in situations where time was viewed as more valuable than money. This was the case at the time of the California gold rush, when gold-crazed individuals were determined to be the first to reach what they hoped would be prime prospecting locations. ■(D) The clipper ship was also used for less respectable activities. Because its great speed meant that it could outrun or overtake virtually any other type of seafaring vessel known at the time, clippers became the ships of choice for pirates and smugglers. Pirates would use clippers to chase down slower, heavier freighters, then board their victims, transfer the most valuable pieces of cargo to the clipper, and make a speedy getaway before the authorities could get there. Smugglers could more easily conceal small clippers from prying eyes than they could large sloops, and if discovered, they had a much greater chance of successfully fleeing pursuit. This in turn forced coastal and military authorities to make use of clipper ships as well, simply to keep up with the criminal element. As a result, clippers also became favorites of maritime authorities and privateers. The term "privateers" refers to those whocrewed ships that were legally entitled by their governments to attack vessels in the service of foreign powers with whom those governments were at war. Unfortunately, privateers operated essentially unsupervised, and it was not uncommon for clippers initially commissioned to guard the seas to turn pirate if the Crew saw an opportunity for a quick profit. The era of the clipper was fairly short-lived. Clippers began being built just before the advent of steam-powered boats. These steam-powered boats quickly replaced clippers as the vessels of choice for traders, not because they were faster, since they initially weren't, but because they were much more reliable. A clipper, fast as it was, could only make good time with the wind behind it. Headwinds would slow it considerably, and no wind at all would leave it helplessly adrift. A steam boat would often take longer to reach its destination than a clipper would have done, but reach its destination it would, regardless of the strength and direction of the prevailing winds. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 was the final nail in the coffin of commercial clippers, since only steamboats could easily navigate the canal, which shaved thousands of miles off of the journey between Europe and Asia. In addition, clipper ships were notoriously short-lasting vessels, and most were junked well before reaching twenty years of service, much sooner than the average steamboat. For all of these reasons, by the turn of the 20th century, clipper production had all but ceased.

Listening9"PhilosophyClass"