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jcz2008

The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric
lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine
what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure,
people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the
streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food
spoils in silent refrigerators.
Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more
than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this
field for million of years. Scientists are discovering more and more
that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity
that could benefit humanity.
All living cell send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats,
it sends out pulses of record; they form an electrocardiogram, which a
doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain,
too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an
electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living
cells are extremely small - often so small that sensitive instruments
are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells
have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not
work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cell are linked
together, the effects can be astonishing.
The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can seed a jolt of as
much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it
live. ( An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts.) As
many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s body are
specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it
can deliver corresponds roughly to length of its body.

jcz2008

Drama
There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece.
The on most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama
evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the
beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world-even the
seasonal changes-as unpredictable, and they sought through various means
to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which
appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated
until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which
explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some
rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted
and provided material for art and drama.
Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those
rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and
costumes were almost always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be
provided for performances and when the entire community did not
participate, a clear division was usually made between the "acting area"
and the "auditorium." In addition, there were performers, and, since
considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the
enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing
masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or
supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effect-success in hunt or
battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might.
Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious
activities.
Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in
storytelling. According to this vies tales (about the hunt, war, or
other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of
impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the
assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related
theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and
gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.

jcz2008

Television-----the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies,
marked by rapid change and growth-is moving into a new era, an era of
extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape
our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made
possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.
The word "television", derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin
(visi sight) roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a
distance. Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated
system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting
an image (focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera)
into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable.
These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set), can then be
electronically reconstituted into that same image.
Television is more than just an electronic system, however. It is a
means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such
becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.
The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by
its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which
reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of
television signals. Second, there is nonbroadcast television, which
provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups
through controlled transmission techniques.
Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses. We are most
familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about
thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those
years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast
networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news,
information, and entertainment. These giants of broadcasting have
actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We
have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment,
placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.

jcz2008

Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in
the United States, and , in the process, became one of the wealthiest
men in America. His success resulted in part from his ability to sell
the product and in part from his policy of expanding during periods of
economic decline, when most of his competitors were reducing their
investments.
Carnegie believed that individuals should progress through hard work,
but he also felt strongly that the wealthy should use their fortunes for
the benefit of society. He opposed charity, preferring instead to
provide educational opportunities that would allow others to help
themselves. "He who dies rich, dies disgraced," he often said.
Among his more noteworthy contributions to society are those that bear
his name, including the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, which has a
library, a museum of fine arts, and a museum of national history. He
also founded a school of technology that is now part of Carnegie-Mellon
University. Other philanthrophic gifts are the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace to promote understanding between nations, the
Carnegie Institute of Washington to fund scientific research, and
Carnegie Hall to provide a center for the arts.
Few Americans have been left untouched by Andrew Carnegie's generosity.
His contributions of more than five million dollars established 2,500
libraries in small communities throughout the country and formed the
nucleus of the public library system that we all enjoy today.

jcz2008

The American Revolution was not a sudden and violent overturning of the
political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and
Russia, when both were already independent nations. Significant changes
were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was
accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the
conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and
playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual
fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a
war was on.
America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern
nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of
English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled
there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a
penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and
debtors. The third newcomer-the United States-based itself squarely on
republican principles.
Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might
suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war
largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British
officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing
class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

jcz2008

If by "suburb" is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than its
already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during
the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the
nineteenth century. Before that period the city was a small highly
compact cluster in which people moved about on foot and goods were
conveyed by horse and cart. But the early factories built in the 1840's
were located along waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities,
and housing was needed for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect
of employment. In time, the factories were surrounded by proliferating
mill towns of apartments and row houses that abutted the older, main
cities. As a defense against this encroachment and to enlarge their tax
bases, the cities appropriated their industrial neighbors. In 1854, for
example, the city of Philadelphia annexed most of Philadelphia County.
Similar municipal maneuvers took place in Chicago and in New York.
Indeed, most great cities of the United States achieved such status only
by incorporating the communities along their borders.

jcz2008

With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding and
accompanying social stress-conditions that began to approach disastrous
proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric
traction line was developed. Within a few years the horse-drawn trolleys
were retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected
every major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that
transformed the compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis.
This first phase of mass-scale suburbanization was reinforced by the
simultaneous emergence of the urban Middle Class, whose desires for
homeownership in neighborhoods far from the aging inner city were
satisfied by the developers of single-family housing tracts.

jcz2008

Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used,
and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any
situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and
expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries.
Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that
are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal
speech or writing, but not considered appropriate for more formal
situations. Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language.
Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large
number of speakers but not accepted as good, formal usage by the
majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard
dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang
are more common in speech than in writing.

jcz2008

Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also
passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary
popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never
accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their
collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of
words to describe familiar objects and events. It has been pointed out
by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary
for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the
introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the
society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups;
third, association among the subgroups and the majority population.
Finally, it is worth noting that the terms "standard" "colloquial"
and "slang" exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study
language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be
aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers
of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three
types of expressions.

lighting2003

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