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id_2300 | Ergonomics is the scientific study of the interaction between people and machines. The discipline aims to design equipment and environments that best fit users physical and psychological needs, thus improving the efficiency, productivity and safety of a person using a device. A multi-disciplinary field, ergonomics encompasses aspects of psychology, physiology, industrial design and mechanical engineering. The field is divided into three main areas. Physical ergonomics addresses the relationship between human anatomy and physical activity, for instance designing tools that minimize or eliminate muscle strain. This area also looks at how the physical environment affects performance and health. Cognitive ergonomics studies the mental processes involved in humans interactions with systems, such as computer interfaces. In designing an airplane cockpit, for example, it is of vital importance that control panels take human factors into account. Organisational ergonomics focuses on optimising socio-technical systems, such as team structure and work processes. Increasingly, progressive organisations are looking for ways to improve workplace ergonomics. The benefit of this strategy is not only increased productivity but also reduced sick leave. In the United States, compensation to workers with repetitive strain injuries costs $20 billion annually. | The area of physical ergonomics can involve preventing repetitive strain injuries. | e |
id_2301 | Ergonomics is the scientific study of the interaction between people and machines. The discipline aims to design equipment and environments that best fit users physical and psychological needs, thus improving the efficiency, productivity and safety of a person using a device. A multi-disciplinary field, ergonomics encompasses aspects of psychology, physiology, industrial design and mechanical engineering. The field is divided into three main areas. Physical ergonomics addresses the relationship between human anatomy and physical activity, for instance designing tools that minimize or eliminate muscle strain. This area also looks at how the physical environment affects performance and health. Cognitive ergonomics studies the mental processes involved in humans interactions with systems, such as computer interfaces. In designing an airplane cockpit, for example, it is of vital importance that control panels take human factors into account. Organisational ergonomics focuses on optimising socio-technical systems, such as team structure and work processes. Increasingly, progressive organisations are looking for ways to improve workplace ergonomics. The benefit of this strategy is not only increased productivity but also reduced sick leave. In the United States, compensation to workers with repetitive strain injuries costs $20 billion annually. | Environmental factors can affect a workers productivity and wellbeing. | e |
id_2302 | Ergonomics is the scientific study of the interaction between people and machines. The discipline aims to design equipment and environments that best fit users physical and psychological needs, thus improving the efficiency, productivity and safety of a person using a device. A multi-disciplinary field, ergonomics encompasses aspects of psychology, physiology, industrial design and mechanical engineering. The field is divided into three main areas. Physical ergonomics addresses the relationship between human anatomy and physical activity, for instance designing tools that minimize or eliminate muscle strain. This area also looks at how the physical environment affects performance and health. Cognitive ergonomics studies the mental processes involved in humans interactions with systems, such as computer interfaces. In designing an airplane cockpit, for example, it is of vital importance that control panels take human factors into account. Organisational ergonomics focuses on optimising socio-technical systems, such as team structure and work processes. Increasingly, progressive organisations are looking for ways to improve workplace ergonomics. The benefit of this strategy is not only increased productivity but also reduced sick leave. In the United States, compensation to workers with repetitive strain injuries costs $20 billion annually. | Ergonomic design places little emphasis on aesthetics. | n |
id_2303 | Ergonomics is the scientific study of the interaction between people and machines. The discipline aims to design equipment and environments that best fit users physical and psychological needs, thus improving the efficiency, productivity and safety of a person using a device. A multi-disciplinary field, ergonomics encompasses aspects of psychology, physiology, industrial design and mechanical engineering. The field is divided into three main areas. Physical ergonomics addresses the relationship between human anatomy and physical activity, for instance designing tools that minimize or eliminate muscle strain. This area also looks at how the physical environment affects performance and health. Cognitive ergonomics studies the mental processes involved in humans interactions with systems, such as computer interfaces. In designing an airplane cockpit, for example, it is of vital importance that control panels take human factors into account. Organisational ergonomics focuses on optimising socio-technical systems, such as team structure and work processes. Increasingly, progressive organisations are looking for ways to improve workplace ergonomics. The benefit of this strategy is not only increased productivity but also reduced sick leave. In the United States, compensation to workers with repetitive strain injuries costs $20 billion annually. | One of the objectives of ergonomics is to increase the happiness of a work environment. | n |
id_2304 | Erin is twelve years old. For three years, she has been asking her parents for a dog. Her parents have told her that they believe a dog would not be happy in an apartment, but they have given her permission to have a bird. Erin has not yet decided what kind of bird she would like to have. | Erin and her parents would like to move. | n |
id_2305 | Erin is twelve years old. For three years, she has been asking her parents for a dog. Her parents have told her that they believe a dog would not be happy in an apartment, but they have given her permission to have a bird. Erin has not yet decided what kind of bird she would like to have. | Erin's parents like birds better than they like dogs. | n |
id_2306 | Erin is twelve years old. For three years, she has been asking her parents for a dog. Her parents have told her that they believe a dog would not be happy in an apartment, but they have given her permission to have a bird. Erin has not yet decided what kind of bird she would like to have. | Erin does not like birds. | n |
id_2307 | Erin is twelve years old. For three years, she has been asking her parents for a dog. Her parents have told her that they believe a dog would not be happy in an apartment, but they have given her permission to have a bird. Erin has not yet decided what kind of bird she would like to have. | Erin and her parents live in an apartment. | e |
id_2308 | Esperanto Cu vi paroli Esperanlon? Ne? Can you understand this? Should you be expected to? Depending on who you ask, somewhere from 10,000 to two million people in places all over the world could understand this sentence, and presumably reply in this same language. And it is not one that ever evolved through any natural process. To give it its technical name, it is a constructed auxiliary language. More specifically, it is Esperanto, and out of the several attempts throughout modern history to create artificial languages, Esperanto remains the most widely spoken. Widely spoken is a relative term here. Compared to any natural language, the number of Esperanto speakers remains pitiably small a far cry from the high hopes of its inventor, Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof, who was an eye doctor growing up in the racially divided Eastern-European town of Bialystok. In this complex and uneasy mixture of Poles, Jews, Russians, and Germans, each speaking their own language, a high-minded Zamenhof lamented how these languages so obviously categorised the citys residents into different, and often hostile, groups. He resolved to create an easily learnt and politically neutral language, one that would transcend nationality, ethnicity, race, colour, and creed. It would be a universal second language, and his first book detailing this idea was published in 1887. Surprisingly perhaps, the concept quickly gained acceptance and a loyal following. It seems that in a linguistically divided Eastern Europe, many people possessed the same idealism which drove Zamenhof. From there, then to the West, then into the Americas and Asia, Esperanto journals, magazines, and clubs, were formed, ultimately leading to the first world congress of Esperanto speakers in France, in 1905. These congresses have been held every year since then, apart from when world wars delayed proceedings. And today, Esperanto is still present, although very much under the radar. Whilst not yet having achieved the status of being an official language of any state or governing body, it is, at least, occasionally taught at schools and educational institutions on an informal or experimental basis. What actually keeps Esperanto going is the motivation of those who become interested. Language books, journals, and various online and video-based self-learning technologies exist, as well as an active speaking community, but the key question remains: whether it is worth investing the time in acquiring the language. In other words, does it have any innate advantages over other languages or equip its speakers with a useful skill in life? The first question can be promptly answered. Proponents explain that, by being so simple and internally consistent, Esperanto is easy to learn, being able to be mastered in a fraction of the lime needed for any conventional language. While we may accept that, the second question is far more problematic and raises further issues, the main one being whether the language is even necessary. Would international communication indeed be better if we all spoke Esperanto? Are there not other factors involved? And why cannot the English language take that role (which it virtually has)? Why divert state funds to support what may always remain a marginalised speech community, especially when there exists so many other languages spoken by far more people, and of far greater utility? The answers are emotional, complex, and confusing. One problem with Esperanto is that it is culturally European. Its vocabulary and internal rules of construction derive from European languages, making it difficult for Asian learners. There is also a large and imposing vocabulary, with many nouns rather idiosyncratically chosen, and a certain unnecessary complexity which Zamenhof (who was not a professional linguist) had not realised. In 1894, he suggested a reformed Esperanto; however, the Esperanto speakers of that day were loathe to alter a language which they had already mastered, rejecting Zamenhofs proposals, and also those of a special French committee formed 13 years later to discuss the adoption of a standard international language. In the meantime, another artificial language had emerged. Called Ido, it was a product of various academics who embedded the changes that Esperanto was thought to have needed. This new language, sharing the same lofty goals, divided the support base of Esperanto. A large number defected to Ido, which then underwent further changes through committee after committee, and eventually the formation of an independent academy. However, Ido suffered substantial decline when its best-known advocate was killed in a car accident, and with the advent of World War One. After the war, its most vocal proponent published his own constructed language, Novial, making the schism all too confusing, such that the original Esperanto quickly became the predominant language of its type. Esperanto may lead the field, but it falls far short of the aim of both its creator and many of its speakers that of a truly global second language uniting all in mutual understanding. This high-minded goal, almost universally shared in the early days of the language, has mellowed among many followers, who are now content just to have a special language and its culture and community with whom they can interact. The unlikelihood of achieving more than this was even admitted in an Esperanto convention in 1980, although many still cling to the pracelo, the original goal, of an official status and worldwide use. Will this ever be achieved? All I can say is estus agrable pensas tiel, sed preshau certe ne estos. | Zamenhof spoke many languages. | n |
id_2309 | Esperanto Cu vi paroli Esperanlon? Ne? Can you understand this? Should you be expected to? Depending on who you ask, somewhere from 10,000 to two million people in places all over the world could understand this sentence, and presumably reply in this same language. And it is not one that ever evolved through any natural process. To give it its technical name, it is a constructed auxiliary language. More specifically, it is Esperanto, and out of the several attempts throughout modern history to create artificial languages, Esperanto remains the most widely spoken. Widely spoken is a relative term here. Compared to any natural language, the number of Esperanto speakers remains pitiably small a far cry from the high hopes of its inventor, Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof, who was an eye doctor growing up in the racially divided Eastern-European town of Bialystok. In this complex and uneasy mixture of Poles, Jews, Russians, and Germans, each speaking their own language, a high-minded Zamenhof lamented how these languages so obviously categorised the citys residents into different, and often hostile, groups. He resolved to create an easily learnt and politically neutral language, one that would transcend nationality, ethnicity, race, colour, and creed. It would be a universal second language, and his first book detailing this idea was published in 1887. Surprisingly perhaps, the concept quickly gained acceptance and a loyal following. It seems that in a linguistically divided Eastern Europe, many people possessed the same idealism which drove Zamenhof. From there, then to the West, then into the Americas and Asia, Esperanto journals, magazines, and clubs, were formed, ultimately leading to the first world congress of Esperanto speakers in France, in 1905. These congresses have been held every year since then, apart from when world wars delayed proceedings. And today, Esperanto is still present, although very much under the radar. Whilst not yet having achieved the status of being an official language of any state or governing body, it is, at least, occasionally taught at schools and educational institutions on an informal or experimental basis. What actually keeps Esperanto going is the motivation of those who become interested. Language books, journals, and various online and video-based self-learning technologies exist, as well as an active speaking community, but the key question remains: whether it is worth investing the time in acquiring the language. In other words, does it have any innate advantages over other languages or equip its speakers with a useful skill in life? The first question can be promptly answered. Proponents explain that, by being so simple and internally consistent, Esperanto is easy to learn, being able to be mastered in a fraction of the lime needed for any conventional language. While we may accept that, the second question is far more problematic and raises further issues, the main one being whether the language is even necessary. Would international communication indeed be better if we all spoke Esperanto? Are there not other factors involved? And why cannot the English language take that role (which it virtually has)? Why divert state funds to support what may always remain a marginalised speech community, especially when there exists so many other languages spoken by far more people, and of far greater utility? The answers are emotional, complex, and confusing. One problem with Esperanto is that it is culturally European. Its vocabulary and internal rules of construction derive from European languages, making it difficult for Asian learners. There is also a large and imposing vocabulary, with many nouns rather idiosyncratically chosen, and a certain unnecessary complexity which Zamenhof (who was not a professional linguist) had not realised. In 1894, he suggested a reformed Esperanto; however, the Esperanto speakers of that day were loathe to alter a language which they had already mastered, rejecting Zamenhofs proposals, and also those of a special French committee formed 13 years later to discuss the adoption of a standard international language. In the meantime, another artificial language had emerged. Called Ido, it was a product of various academics who embedded the changes that Esperanto was thought to have needed. This new language, sharing the same lofty goals, divided the support base of Esperanto. A large number defected to Ido, which then underwent further changes through committee after committee, and eventually the formation of an independent academy. However, Ido suffered substantial decline when its best-known advocate was killed in a car accident, and with the advent of World War One. After the war, its most vocal proponent published his own constructed language, Novial, making the schism all too confusing, such that the original Esperanto quickly became the predominant language of its type. Esperanto may lead the field, but it falls far short of the aim of both its creator and many of its speakers that of a truly global second language uniting all in mutual understanding. This high-minded goal, almost universally shared in the early days of the language, has mellowed among many followers, who are now content just to have a special language and its culture and community with whom they can interact. The unlikelihood of achieving more than this was even admitted in an Esperanto convention in 1980, although many still cling to the pracelo, the original goal, of an official status and worldwide use. Will this ever be achieved? All I can say is estus agrable pensas tiel, sed preshau certe ne estos. | Esperanto is easier to learn than other languages. | e |
id_2310 | Esperanto Cu vi paroli Esperanlon? Ne? Can you understand this? Should you be expected to? Depending on who you ask, somewhere from 10,000 to two million people in places all over the world could understand this sentence, and presumably reply in this same language. And it is not one that ever evolved through any natural process. To give it its technical name, it is a constructed auxiliary language. More specifically, it is Esperanto, and out of the several attempts throughout modern history to create artificial languages, Esperanto remains the most widely spoken. Widely spoken is a relative term here. Compared to any natural language, the number of Esperanto speakers remains pitiably small a far cry from the high hopes of its inventor, Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof, who was an eye doctor growing up in the racially divided Eastern-European town of Bialystok. In this complex and uneasy mixture of Poles, Jews, Russians, and Germans, each speaking their own language, a high-minded Zamenhof lamented how these languages so obviously categorised the citys residents into different, and often hostile, groups. He resolved to create an easily learnt and politically neutral language, one that would transcend nationality, ethnicity, race, colour, and creed. It would be a universal second language, and his first book detailing this idea was published in 1887. Surprisingly perhaps, the concept quickly gained acceptance and a loyal following. It seems that in a linguistically divided Eastern Europe, many people possessed the same idealism which drove Zamenhof. From there, then to the West, then into the Americas and Asia, Esperanto journals, magazines, and clubs, were formed, ultimately leading to the first world congress of Esperanto speakers in France, in 1905. These congresses have been held every year since then, apart from when world wars delayed proceedings. And today, Esperanto is still present, although very much under the radar. Whilst not yet having achieved the status of being an official language of any state or governing body, it is, at least, occasionally taught at schools and educational institutions on an informal or experimental basis. What actually keeps Esperanto going is the motivation of those who become interested. Language books, journals, and various online and video-based self-learning technologies exist, as well as an active speaking community, but the key question remains: whether it is worth investing the time in acquiring the language. In other words, does it have any innate advantages over other languages or equip its speakers with a useful skill in life? The first question can be promptly answered. Proponents explain that, by being so simple and internally consistent, Esperanto is easy to learn, being able to be mastered in a fraction of the lime needed for any conventional language. While we may accept that, the second question is far more problematic and raises further issues, the main one being whether the language is even necessary. Would international communication indeed be better if we all spoke Esperanto? Are there not other factors involved? And why cannot the English language take that role (which it virtually has)? Why divert state funds to support what may always remain a marginalised speech community, especially when there exists so many other languages spoken by far more people, and of far greater utility? The answers are emotional, complex, and confusing. One problem with Esperanto is that it is culturally European. Its vocabulary and internal rules of construction derive from European languages, making it difficult for Asian learners. There is also a large and imposing vocabulary, with many nouns rather idiosyncratically chosen, and a certain unnecessary complexity which Zamenhof (who was not a professional linguist) had not realised. In 1894, he suggested a reformed Esperanto; however, the Esperanto speakers of that day were loathe to alter a language which they had already mastered, rejecting Zamenhofs proposals, and also those of a special French committee formed 13 years later to discuss the adoption of a standard international language. In the meantime, another artificial language had emerged. Called Ido, it was a product of various academics who embedded the changes that Esperanto was thought to have needed. This new language, sharing the same lofty goals, divided the support base of Esperanto. A large number defected to Ido, which then underwent further changes through committee after committee, and eventually the formation of an independent academy. However, Ido suffered substantial decline when its best-known advocate was killed in a car accident, and with the advent of World War One. After the war, its most vocal proponent published his own constructed language, Novial, making the schism all too confusing, such that the original Esperanto quickly became the predominant language of its type. Esperanto may lead the field, but it falls far short of the aim of both its creator and many of its speakers that of a truly global second language uniting all in mutual understanding. This high-minded goal, almost universally shared in the early days of the language, has mellowed among many followers, who are now content just to have a special language and its culture and community with whom they can interact. The unlikelihood of achieving more than this was even admitted in an Esperanto convention in 1980, although many still cling to the pracelo, the original goal, of an official status and worldwide use. Will this ever be achieved? All I can say is estus agrable pensas tiel, sed preshau certe ne estos. | Esperanto World Congresses have been held every year since 1905. | c |
id_2311 | Esperanto Cu vi paroli Esperanlon? Ne? Can you understand this? Should you be expected to? Depending on who you ask, somewhere from 10,000 to two million people in places all over the world could understand this sentence, and presumably reply in this same language. And it is not one that ever evolved through any natural process. To give it its technical name, it is a constructed auxiliary language. More specifically, it is Esperanto, and out of the several attempts throughout modern history to create artificial languages, Esperanto remains the most widely spoken. Widely spoken is a relative term here. Compared to any natural language, the number of Esperanto speakers remains pitiably small a far cry from the high hopes of its inventor, Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof, who was an eye doctor growing up in the racially divided Eastern-European town of Bialystok. In this complex and uneasy mixture of Poles, Jews, Russians, and Germans, each speaking their own language, a high-minded Zamenhof lamented how these languages so obviously categorised the citys residents into different, and often hostile, groups. He resolved to create an easily learnt and politically neutral language, one that would transcend nationality, ethnicity, race, colour, and creed. It would be a universal second language, and his first book detailing this idea was published in 1887. Surprisingly perhaps, the concept quickly gained acceptance and a loyal following. It seems that in a linguistically divided Eastern Europe, many people possessed the same idealism which drove Zamenhof. From there, then to the West, then into the Americas and Asia, Esperanto journals, magazines, and clubs, were formed, ultimately leading to the first world congress of Esperanto speakers in France, in 1905. These congresses have been held every year since then, apart from when world wars delayed proceedings. And today, Esperanto is still present, although very much under the radar. Whilst not yet having achieved the status of being an official language of any state or governing body, it is, at least, occasionally taught at schools and educational institutions on an informal or experimental basis. What actually keeps Esperanto going is the motivation of those who become interested. Language books, journals, and various online and video-based self-learning technologies exist, as well as an active speaking community, but the key question remains: whether it is worth investing the time in acquiring the language. In other words, does it have any innate advantages over other languages or equip its speakers with a useful skill in life? The first question can be promptly answered. Proponents explain that, by being so simple and internally consistent, Esperanto is easy to learn, being able to be mastered in a fraction of the lime needed for any conventional language. While we may accept that, the second question is far more problematic and raises further issues, the main one being whether the language is even necessary. Would international communication indeed be better if we all spoke Esperanto? Are there not other factors involved? And why cannot the English language take that role (which it virtually has)? Why divert state funds to support what may always remain a marginalised speech community, especially when there exists so many other languages spoken by far more people, and of far greater utility? The answers are emotional, complex, and confusing. One problem with Esperanto is that it is culturally European. Its vocabulary and internal rules of construction derive from European languages, making it difficult for Asian learners. There is also a large and imposing vocabulary, with many nouns rather idiosyncratically chosen, and a certain unnecessary complexity which Zamenhof (who was not a professional linguist) had not realised. In 1894, he suggested a reformed Esperanto; however, the Esperanto speakers of that day were loathe to alter a language which they had already mastered, rejecting Zamenhofs proposals, and also those of a special French committee formed 13 years later to discuss the adoption of a standard international language. In the meantime, another artificial language had emerged. Called Ido, it was a product of various academics who embedded the changes that Esperanto was thought to have needed. This new language, sharing the same lofty goals, divided the support base of Esperanto. A large number defected to Ido, which then underwent further changes through committee after committee, and eventually the formation of an independent academy. However, Ido suffered substantial decline when its best-known advocate was killed in a car accident, and with the advent of World War One. After the war, its most vocal proponent published his own constructed language, Novial, making the schism all too confusing, such that the original Esperanto quickly became the predominant language of its type. Esperanto may lead the field, but it falls far short of the aim of both its creator and many of its speakers that of a truly global second language uniting all in mutual understanding. This high-minded goal, almost universally shared in the early days of the language, has mellowed among many followers, who are now content just to have a special language and its culture and community with whom they can interact. The unlikelihood of achieving more than this was even admitted in an Esperanto convention in 1980, although many still cling to the pracelo, the original goal, of an official status and worldwide use. Will this ever be achieved? All I can say is estus agrable pensas tiel, sed preshau certe ne estos. | The number of Esperanto speakers is quite large. | c |
id_2312 | Esperanto is an artificial language constructed in 1887 by the eye specialist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof. Having experienced ethnic divisions and language barriers growing up in Poland, he aimed to create an easy-to-learn second language that could transcend cultural and political differences and further international peace. Although Zamenhofs goal of a universal auxiliary language was not realized, today there are 1.6 million Esperanto speakers in more than 90 different countries. Using an alphabet comprised of five vowels and 23 consonants, Esperanto is based on Indo-European languages. Its grammar has logical rules with no irregular verbs, and its spellings are phonetic, making Esperanto about five times easier for a native English speaker to learn than French or Spanish. While some Esperanto speakers still advocate the adoption of the language worldwide, other proponents see its value primarily as a language-teaching tool. Esperanto is on the curriculum in countries including China and Hungary, but it is not taught in British schools because it lacks an associated culture. It's lack of culture is a common criticism levied at Esperanto, yet its neutrality was intended to foster equality between speakers. Detractors also argue that Esperantos linguistic roots give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. The newer constructed language Loglan is based on logic and uses the worlds six most widely spoken languages Arabic, Mandarin, English, Hindi, Russian and Spanish as its vocabularys source. | One of the advantages of Esperanto is that it is universally easy to learn. | n |
id_2313 | Esperanto is an artificial language constructed in 1887 by the eye specialist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof. Having experienced ethnic divisions and language barriers growing up in Poland, he aimed to create an easy-to-learn second language that could transcend cultural and political differences and further international peace. Although Zamenhofs goal of a universal auxiliary language was not realized, today there are 1.6 million Esperanto speakers in more than 90 different countries. Using an alphabet comprised of five vowels and 23 consonants, Esperanto is based on Indo-European languages. Its grammar has logical rules with no irregular verbs, and its spellings are phonetic, making Esperanto about five times easier for a native English speaker to learn than French or Spanish. While some Esperanto speakers still advocate the adoption of the language worldwide, other proponents see its value primarily as a language-teaching tool. Esperanto is on the curriculum in countries including China and Hungary, but it is not taught in British schools because it lacks an associated culture. It's lack of culture is a common criticism levied at Esperanto, yet its neutrality was intended to foster equality between speakers. Detractors also argue that Esperantos linguistic roots give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. The newer constructed language Loglan is based on logic and uses the worlds six most widely spoken languages Arabic, Mandarin, English, Hindi, Russian and Spanish as its vocabularys source. | Contemporary Esperanto speakers do not share a common vision of the languages purpose. | e |
id_2314 | Esperanto is an artificial language constructed in 1887 by the eye specialist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof. Having experienced ethnic divisions and language barriers growing up in Poland, he aimed to create an easy-to-learn second language that could transcend cultural and political differences and further international peace. Although Zamenhofs goal of a universal auxiliary language was not realized, today there are 1.6 million Esperanto speakers in more than 90 different countries. Using an alphabet comprised of five vowels and 23 consonants, Esperanto is based on Indo-European languages. Its grammar has logical rules with no irregular verbs, and its spellings are phonetic, making Esperanto about five times easier for a native English speaker to learn than French or Spanish. While some Esperanto speakers still advocate the adoption of the language worldwide, other proponents see its value primarily as a language-teaching tool. Esperanto is on the curriculum in countries including China and Hungary, but it is not taught in British schools because it lacks an associated culture. It's lack of culture is a common criticism levied at Esperanto, yet its neutrality was intended to foster equality between speakers. Detractors also argue that Esperantos linguistic roots give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. The newer constructed language Loglan is based on logic and uses the worlds six most widely spoken languages Arabic, Mandarin, English, Hindi, Russian and Spanish as its vocabularys source. | Loglan is a more logically constructed language than Esperanto. | n |
id_2315 | Esperanto is an artificial language constructed in 1887 by the eye specialist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof. Having experienced ethnic divisions and language barriers growing up in Poland, he aimed to create an easy-to-learn second language that could transcend cultural and political differences and further international peace. Although Zamenhofs goal of a universal auxiliary language was not realized, today there are 1.6 million Esperanto speakers in more than 90 different countries. Using an alphabet comprised of five vowels and 23 consonants, Esperanto is based on Indo-European languages. Its grammar has logical rules with no irregular verbs, and its spellings are phonetic, making Esperanto about five times easier for a native English speaker to learn than French or Spanish. While some Esperanto speakers still advocate the adoption of the language worldwide, other proponents see its value primarily as a language-teaching tool. Esperanto is on the curriculum in countries including China and Hungary, but it is not taught in British schools because it lacks an associated culture. It's lack of culture is a common criticism levied at Esperanto, yet its neutrality was intended to foster equality between speakers. Detractors also argue that Esperantos linguistic roots give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. The newer constructed language Loglan is based on logic and uses the worlds six most widely spoken languages Arabic, Mandarin, English, Hindi, Russian and Spanish as its vocabularys source. | Esperantos lack of an associated culture or homeland can be viewed as both an asset and a disadvantage. | e |
id_2316 | Esperanto is an artificial language constructed in 1887 by the eye specialist Dr Ludovic Zamenhof. Having experienced ethnic divisions and language barriers growing up in Poland, he aimed to create an easy-to-learn second language that could transcend cultural and political differences and further international peace. Although Zamenhofs goal of a universal auxiliary language was not realized, today there are 1.6 million Esperanto speakers in more than 90 different countries. Using an alphabet comprised of five vowels and 23 consonants, Esperanto is based on Indo-European languages. Its grammar has logical rules with no irregular verbs, and its spellings are phonetic, making Esperanto about five times easier for a native English speaker to learn than French or Spanish. While some Esperanto speakers still advocate the adoption of the language worldwide, other proponents see its value primarily as a language-teaching tool. Esperanto is on the curriculum in countries including China and Hungary, but it is not taught in British schools because it lacks an associated culture. It's lack of culture is a common criticism levied at Esperanto, yet its neutrality was intended to foster equality between speakers. Detractors also argue that Esperantos linguistic roots give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. The newer constructed language Loglan is based on logic and uses the worlds six most widely spoken languages Arabic, Mandarin, English, Hindi, Russian and Spanish as its vocabularys source. | Dr Zamenhof's goal was to replace ethnic languages with the universal language of Esperanto. | c |
id_2317 | Ethical labels are now widely used on products, such as cofice, to show that the goods in question have been produced mn a worker- friendly manner. A ban on child workers 1s one labour practice to which ethically labelled suppliers must strictly adhere. Despite increased public awareness, many UK retail stores may still be sellng products produced by foreign workers paid extremely low wages. Although working conditions have mproved in some companies as a result of labelling, sweatshop wages and a lack of union representation remam prevalent mn other suppliers from developing countries. There 1s also a danger that, where ethical codes of practice have been implemented, the supply workers themselves are madvertently punished with lower pay. | The passage suggests that using ethical labels on products can have both a beneficial and a detrimental effect. | e |
id_2318 | Ethical labels are now widely used on products, such as cofice, to show that the goods in question have been produced mn a worker- friendly manner. A ban on child workers 1s one labour practice to which ethically labelled suppliers must strictly adhere. Despite increased public awareness, many UK retail stores may still be sellng products produced by foreign workers paid extremely low wages. Although working conditions have mproved in some companies as a result of labelling, sweatshop wages and a lack of union representation remam prevalent mn other suppliers from developing countries. There 1s also a danger that, where ethical codes of practice have been implemented, the supply workers themselves are madvertently punished with lower pay. | The use of ethical labelling has not mproved working conditions. | c |
id_2319 | Ethical labels are now widely used on products, such as cofice, to show that the goods in question have been produced mn a worker- friendly manner. A ban on child workers 1s one labour practice to which ethically labelled suppliers must strictly adhere. Despite increased public awareness, many UK retail stores may still be sellng products produced by foreign workers paid extremely low wages. Although working conditions have mproved in some companies as a result of labelling, sweatshop wages and a lack of union representation remam prevalent mn other suppliers from developing countries. There 1s also a danger that, where ethical codes of practice have been implemented, the supply workers themselves are madvertently punished with lower pay. | Ethical labelling is still quite rare n UK retail stores. | c |
id_2320 | Ethical labels are now widely used on products, such as cofice, to show that the goods in question have been produced mn a worker- friendly manner. A ban on child workers 1s one labour practice to which ethically labelled suppliers must strictly adhere. Despite increased public awareness, many UK retail stores may still be sellng products produced by foreign workers paid extremely low wages. Although working conditions have mproved in some companies as a result of labelling, sweatshop wages and a lack of union representation remam prevalent mn other suppliers from developing countries. There 1s also a danger that, where ethical codes of practice have been implemented, the supply workers themselves are madvertently punished with lower pay. | Unions are widespread in developmg countries. | c |
id_2321 | Ethical labels are now widely used on products, such as cofice, to show that the goods in question have been produced mn a worker- friendly manner. A ban on child workers 1s one labour practice to which ethically labelled suppliers must strictly adhere. Despite increased public awareness, many UK retail stores may still be sellng products produced by foreign workers paid extremely low wages. Although working conditions have mproved in some companies as a result of labelling, sweatshop wages and a lack of union representation remam prevalent mn other suppliers from developing countries. There 1s also a danger that, where ethical codes of practice have been implemented, the supply workers themselves are madvertently punished with lower pay. | Ethically labelled coffee cannot have been harvested by children. | e |
id_2322 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | The average summer temperature in 2003 is approximately four degrees higher than that of the past. | e |
id_2323 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | New ski resorts are to be built on a high-altitude spot. | n |
id_2324 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | Global warming has obvious effect of warmer winter instead of hotter summer before 2003. | e |
id_2325 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | In large city, people usually measure temperature twice a day. | n |
id_2326 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | Jones believes the temperature statistic is within the normal range. | c |
id_2327 | European Heat Wave A. IT WAS the summer, scientists now realise, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming at last made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat- related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clean. B. The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78c above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's lending institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. C. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's (Erector, isprepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. D. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions" of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0- 20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 andl990, departures from the temperature norm, or "anomalies': over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 20 c. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. E. "This is quite remarkable, " Professor Jones told The Independent. "It's very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn't get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. F. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe's lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. G. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230c (73.40T) at all between 7 and 14August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not dropbelow 25.50c (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with a lowest figure of 27.60c (80.60T) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. H. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94. I. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, " he said. "It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. " J. His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. "It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, " said the centres executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. "It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. "The 2003 heat wave will have similar repercussions across Europe. " | Human factor is one of the reasons that caused hot summer. | e |
id_2328 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | New ski resorts are to be built on a high-altitude spot. | n |
id_2329 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | Global warming has an obvious effect of warmer winter instead of hotter summer before 2003. | e |
id_2330 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | The human factor is one of the reasons that caused the hot summer. | e |
id_2331 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | Jones believes the temperature statistic is within the normal range. | c |
id_2332 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | The average summer temperature in 2003 is approximately four degrees higher than that of the past. | e |
id_2333 | European Heat Wave It was the summer, scientists now realize, when felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: global warming, at last, made itself unmistakably Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying of a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland as well as Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the worlds leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records. That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context but then you realize it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRUs director, is prepared to say openly in a way few scientists have done before that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions. Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are consistent with predictions of climate change. For the great block of the map that stretching between 3 5-5 ON and 0-20E the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and1990, departures from the temperature norm, or anomalies: over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such as the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years approaching, or even exceeding, 20 But there has been nothing remotely like 2003 when the anomaly is nearly four degrees. This is quite remarkable, Professor Jones told The Independent. Its very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldnt get this number. There turn period how often it could be expected to recur would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because weve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions. The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europes lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did. One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 230C (73.40F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.50C (77.90F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine valley with the lowest figure of 27.60C (80.60F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking night-time temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy. The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 50C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate in those aged 75-94. For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high-temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself defined as the June, July, and August period still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were long periods of intense heat. At the moment, the year is on course to be the third-hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002 but when all the records for October, November, and December are collated, it might move into second place, Professor Jones said. The 10 hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of the European summer of 2003. The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record, he said. It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that It was enormously exceptional. His colleagues at the University of East Anglias Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. It was a summer that has not: been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat, said the centers executive director, Professor Mike Hulme. It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionized the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe. | In a large city, people usually measure temperature twice a day. | n |
id_2334 | Evaluating the effectiveness of work place training is frequently stated to be of high priority to training and development departments, along with organisations as a whole. However, the vast majority of organisations evaluate solely using reaction sheets, capturing employees subjective opinion regarding the programs perceived effectiveness. However, reactions data has been shown to offer little predictive value as to the true effectiveness of the training program. Measuring reaction data however, is cheaper and more convenient than a more relevant, in-depth analysis of training outcomes, such as return on investment, improved knowledge/skills and increased job performance. The costs of training evaluation must be balanced with the costs of such methods, often leading to the omission of thorough training evaluation in organisations. | Few organisations measure the direct return on investment of their training programs. | n |
id_2335 | Evaluating the effectiveness of work place training is frequently stated to be of high priority to training and development departments, along with organisations as a whole. However, the vast majority of organisations evaluate solely using reaction sheets, capturing employees subjective opinion regarding the programs perceived effectiveness. However, reactions data has been shown to offer little predictive value as to the true effectiveness of the training program. Measuring reaction data however, is cheaper and more convenient than a more relevant, in-depth analysis of training outcomes, such as return on investment, improved knowledge/skills and increased job performance. The costs of training evaluation must be balanced with the costs of such methods, often leading to the omission of thorough training evaluation in organisations. | Most organisations do not collect training evaluation data. | c |
id_2336 | Evaluating the effectiveness of work place training is frequently stated to be of high priority to training and development departments, along with organisations as a whole. However, the vast majority of organisations evaluate solely using reaction sheets, capturing employees subjective opinion regarding the programs perceived effectiveness. However, reactions data has been shown to offer little predictive value as to the true effectiveness of the training program. Measuring reaction data however, is cheaper and more convenient than a more relevant, in-depth analysis of training outcomes, such as return on investment, improved knowledge/skills and increased job performance. The costs of training evaluation must be balanced with the costs of such methods, often leading to the omission of thorough training evaluation in organisations. | Reaction sheet data is the cheapest method of evaluating training programs. | n |
id_2337 | Evaluating the effectiveness of work place training is frequently stated to be of high priority to training and development departments, along with organisations as a whole. However, the vast majority of organisations evaluate solely using reaction sheets, capturing employees subjective opinion regarding the programs perceived effectiveness. However, reactions data has been shown to offer little predictive value as to the true effectiveness of the training program. Measuring reaction data however, is cheaper and more convenient than a more relevant, in-depth analysis of training outcomes, such as return on investment, improved knowledge/skills and increased job performance. The costs of training evaluation must be balanced with the costs of such methods, often leading to the omission of thorough training evaluation in organisations. | Measuring employees increase in job performance offers greater predictive value of training program effectiveness compared to reaction sheet data. | n |
id_2338 | Evaluating the effectiveness of work place training is frequently stated to be of high priority to training and development departments, along with organisations as a whole. However, the vast majority of organisations evaluate solely using reaction sheets, capturing employees subjective opinion regarding the programs perceived effectiveness. However, reactions data has been shown to offer little predictive value as to the true effectiveness of the training program. Measuring reaction data however, is cheaper and more convenient than a more relevant, in-depth analysis of training outcomes, such as return on investment, improved knowledge/skills and increased job performance. The costs of training evaluation must be balanced with the costs of such methods, often leading to the omission of thorough training evaluation in organisations. | Organisations rarely state that training evaluation is a high priority of theirs. | c |
id_2339 | Even during periods of low inflation, small businesses have faced increasing expenditure in a variety of areas over recent years. One approach to increase sales is offering discounts on products, but it is often ultimately necessary to raise prices in order to offset expenditure. Increasing prices by a reasonable margin will not necessarily have a negative impact on revenue from regular customers, as long as a suitable strategy is taken to justify price increase to the consumer. Consumers may not always be aware of the high cost in both time and money of administrative, 'behind the scenes' aspects of business. Customers must be reassured that they are paying for a high quality product, and that increased prices reflect the need to cover unseen, escalating costs of running a business. | Increasing prices will always reduce revenue from regular customers. | c |
id_2340 | Even during periods of low inflation, small businesses have faced increasing expenditure in a variety of areas over recent years. One approach to increase sales is offering discounts on products, but it is often ultimately necessary to raise prices in order to offset expenditure. Increasing prices by a reasonable margin will not necessarily have a negative impact on revenue from regular customers, as long as a suitable strategy is taken to justify price increase to the consumer. Consumers may not always be aware of the high cost in both time and money of administrative, 'behind the scenes' aspects of business. Customers must be reassured that they are paying for a high quality product, and that increased prices reflect the need to cover unseen, escalating costs of running a business. | Offering discounts is not an approach used to increase sales. | c |
id_2341 | Even during periods of low inflation, small businesses have faced increasing expenditure in a variety of areas over recent years. One approach to increase sales is offering discounts on products, but it is often ultimately necessary to raise prices in order to offset expenditure. Increasing prices by a reasonable margin will not necessarily have a negative impact on revenue from regular customers, as long as a suitable strategy is taken to justify price increase to the consumer. Consumers may not always be aware of the high cost in both time and money of administrative, 'behind the scenes' aspects of business. Customers must be reassured that they are paying for a high quality product, and that increased prices reflect the need to cover unseen, escalating costs of running a business. | It is necessary to reassure customers that price increases reflect increases in running costs. | e |
id_2342 | Even though the minimum age for obtaining a driving license has increased in recent years a substantial increase in car sales over the corresponding years has resulted in a staggering rise in fatal car accident numbers. As the latest figures show, fatal car accidents are especially prevalent among young drivers who have less than five years of driving experience. Last winter 50 percent of all fatal road accidents involved drivers with up to five years driving experience and an additional 15 percent were drivers who had between six to eight years of experience. The interim figures of the current year show that the massive advertisement campaign 'fighting accidents' has resulted in some improvements but the truth is that the number of younger drivers involved in fatal accidents is intolerably high. | Fatal car accidents are more prevalent amongst young drivers with six to eight years of experience than older drivers with similar experience. | n |
id_2343 | Even though the minimum age for obtaining a driving license has increased in recent years a substantial increase in car sales over the corresponding years has resulted in a staggering rise in fatal car accident numbers. As the latest figures show, fatal car accidents are especially prevalent among young drivers who have less than five years of driving experience. Last winter 50 percent of all fatal road accidents involved drivers with up to five years driving experience and an additional 15 percent were drivers who had between six to eight years of experience. The interim figures of the current year show that the massive advertisement campaign 'fighting accidents' has resulted in some improvements but the truth is that the number of younger drivers involved in fatal accidents is intolerably high. | The considerable increase in car sales is the reason behind the sharp increase in fatal car accidents. | e |
id_2344 | Even though the minimum age for obtaining a driving license has increased in recent years a substantial increase in car sales over the corresponding years has resulted in a staggering rise in fatal car accident numbers. As the latest figures show, fatal car accidents are especially prevalent among young drivers who have less than five years of driving experience. Last winter 50 percent of all fatal road accidents involved drivers with up to five years driving experience and an additional 15 percent were drivers who had between six to eight years of experience. The interim figures of the current year show that the massive advertisement campaign 'fighting accidents' has resulted in some improvements but the truth is that the number of younger drivers involved in fatal accidents is intolerably high. | The advertising campaign called 'fighting accidents' has failed to reduce the number of car accidents. | c |
id_2345 | Even though the number of factories is increasing at a fast rate in India, we still continue to import it from other countries. | The demand for sugar may increased substantially in future. | e |
id_2346 | Even though the number of factories is increasing at a fast rate in India, we still continue to import it from other countries. | Even the increased number of factories may be not able to meet the demand for sugar in India. | n |
id_2347 | Even when policies seem gender-neutral they can still affect men and women differently. Soon laws will mean that all public bodies in every area, from health and education to transport, will have a new responsibility to demonstrate that they are treating men and women equally. The law is outcome-focused rather than process- driven. The test of fairness will be the measurement of the experience of men and women and the amount of progress towards stated improvements. The new duty will ensure that men and women are treated and targeted equally. | The new law might mean that a supermarket must change the way it advertises so that men or women respond equally to promotions. | c |
id_2348 | Even when policies seem gender-neutral they can still affect men and women differently. Soon laws will mean that all public bodies in every area, from health and education to transport, will have a new responsibility to demonstrate that they are treating men and women equally. The law is outcome-focused rather than process- driven. The test of fairness will be the measurement of the experience of men and women and the amount of progress towards stated improvements. The new duty will ensure that men and women are treated and targeted equally. | The main idea of the passage is that the new law should be outcome-focused. | c |
id_2349 | Even when policies seem gender-neutral they can still affect men and women differently. Soon laws will mean that all public bodies in every area, from health and education to transport, will have a new responsibility to demonstrate that they are treating men and women equally. The law is outcome-focused rather than process- driven. The test of fairness will be the measurement of the experience of men and women and the amount of progress towards stated improvements. The new duty will ensure that men and women are treated and targeted equally. | It can be inferred from the passage that seemingly gender- neutral policies may affect men and women differently because men and women often have different needs. | c |
id_2350 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of the developments in gun design have been brought about by mans desire to protect himself, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | Guns are the reason our society is the way it is today. | c |
id_2351 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of the developments in gun design have been brought about by mans desire to protect himself, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | The gun was invented because the human race needs to protect themselves. | n |
id_2352 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of the developments in gun design have been brought about by mans desire to protect himself, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | Financial incentives had no part to play in the development of the gun. | n |
id_2353 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of theses changes have been brought about by mans desire to protect themselves, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | Financial incentives had no part to play in the development of the gun. | n |
id_2354 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of theses changes have been brought about by mans desire to protect themselves, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | The gun was invented because the human race needs to protect themselves. | n |
id_2355 | Ever since the guns invention it has been changing the world in many different ways. Many of theses changes have been brought about by mans desire to protect themselves, and the challenge of inventing bigger and more accurate weapons. Each time there has been a major innovation in the development of the gun, there has been a profound effect on the world. The gun helped in the exploration of the world, it has also helped in the development of society as we know it. | Guns are the reason our society is the way it is today. | c |
id_2356 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | Accountants introduced unique numeral signs for use with signs for commodities. | e |
id_2357 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | Numerals were created to keep records of commodities. | e |
id_2358 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | tokens eliminated because they were difficult to keep together in batches. | c |
id_2359 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | The numeral "18" developed from the sign for grain. | n |
id_2360 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | tokens eliminated because they were unnecessary when symbols were used on the surface of envelopes. | e |
id_2361 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | tokens eliminated because they were easily broken and then hard to count. | c |
id_2362 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | tokens eliminated because they were not numerous or varied enough to represent all of the trade commodities. | c |
id_2363 | Evidence of the Earliest Writing Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing. The original tokens (circa 8500 B. C. E. ) were three-dimensional solid shapestiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B. C. E. ) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbolsthe internal tokens and external markingscame to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B. C. E. ), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing. The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B. C. E. , more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens. Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisansand the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactionstestifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing. And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people's desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B. C. E. , when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondenceby repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting "18. " Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics. What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery is eased. | Numerals first developed around 3100 B. C. E. | e |
id_2364 | Except for Nepals, which is the shape of two connected triangles, all modern national flags are rectangular and their colours hark back to the days when flags were extensively used for identification and communication. Nowadays the colour red is inti- mately associated with nations born from left-wing political movements but at the time of the French revolution the tri-colour (blue, white and red) was the symbol of the fight for freedom and inspired the design of many national flags including, for example, those of the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland. In many instances green stands for Islam (along with the crescent moon) while the cross shape usually signifies a Christian nation. The pan-African movement adopted the colours of the Ethiopian flag (green, yellow and red), the oldest independent African nation, and many African states when they emerged from colonialism adopted these colours. | Today symbolic designs as well as colours are used to convey meaning and identity on national flags. | e |
id_2365 | Except for Nepals, which is the shape of two connected triangles, all modern national flags are rectangular and their colours hark back to the days when flags were extensively used for identification and communication. Nowadays the colour red is inti- mately associated with nations born from left-wing political movements but at the time of the French revolution the tri-colour (blue, white and red) was the symbol of the fight for freedom and inspired the design of many national flags including, for example, those of the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland. In many instances green stands for Islam (along with the crescent moon) while the cross shape usually signifies a Christian nation. The pan-African movement adopted the colours of the Ethiopian flag (green, yellow and red), the oldest independent African nation, and many African states when they emerged from colonialism adopted these colours. | Despite the fact that it is not, you can infer from the passage that the lag of the Republic of Ireland should be blue, white and red. | c |
id_2366 | Except for Nepals, which is the shape of two connected triangles, all modern national flags are rectangular and their colours hark back to the days when flags were extensively used for identification and communication. Nowadays the colour red is inti- mately associated with nations born from left-wing political movements but at the time of the French revolution the tri-colour (blue, white and red) was the symbol of the fight for freedom and inspired the design of many national flags including, for example, those of the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland. In many instances green stands for Islam (along with the crescent moon) while the cross shape usually signifies a Christian nation. The pan-African movement adopted the colours of the Ethiopian flag (green, yellow and red), the oldest independent African nation, and many African states when they emerged from colonialism adopted these colours. | The reason given for most flags being rectangular is that in the past they were extensively used for identification and communication. | c |
id_2367 | Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily associated with the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Parisian cafe society, existentialism was influenced by the earlier work of the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Although difficult to define, existentialism can be summarised by its emphasis on human existence over human essence, and the centrality of an individuals freedom of choice. It is an atheist philosophy that rejects moral rules, but not responsibility. Though each individual is free, he or she must co-exist with other individuals freedom. According to existentialists, the only certainty in life is death, the recognition of which leads to despair. This existential anguish, however, can be transcended when an individual undertakes a project that will give his or her life meaning. Although not a political movement, existentialisms links to social and political causes, such as the opposition of fascism, led to its widespread popularity in the 1960s. | Existentialism became a popular political movement in the 1960s. | c |
id_2368 | Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily associated with the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Parisian cafe society, existentialism was influenced by the earlier work of the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Although difficult to define, existentialism can be summarised by its emphasis on human existence over human essence, and the centrality of an individuals freedom of choice. It is an atheist philosophy that rejects moral rules, but not responsibility. Though each individual is free, he or she must co-exist with other individuals freedom. According to existentialists, the only certainty in life is death, the recognition of which leads to despair. This existential anguish, however, can be transcended when an individual undertakes a project that will give his or her life meaning. Although not a political movement, existentialisms links to social and political causes, such as the opposition of fascism, led to its widespread popularity in the 1960s. | The first existentialist ideas originated from Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. | n |
id_2369 | Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily associated with the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Parisian cafe society, existentialism was influenced by the earlier work of the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Although difficult to define, existentialism can be summarised by its emphasis on human existence over human essence, and the centrality of an individuals freedom of choice. It is an atheist philosophy that rejects moral rules, but not responsibility. Though each individual is free, he or she must co-exist with other individuals freedom. According to existentialists, the only certainty in life is death, the recognition of which leads to despair. This existential anguish, however, can be transcended when an individual undertakes a project that will give his or her life meaning. Although not a political movement, existentialisms links to social and political causes, such as the opposition of fascism, led to its widespread popularity in the 1960s. | Although existentialism eschews moral codes, it does not suggest that individuals act without regard for others. | e |
id_2370 | Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily associated with the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Parisian cafe society, existentialism was influenced by the earlier work of the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Although difficult to define, existentialism can be summarised by its emphasis on human existence over human essence, and the centrality of an individuals freedom of choice. It is an atheist philosophy that rejects moral rules, but not responsibility. Though each individual is free, he or she must co-exist with other individuals freedom. According to existentialists, the only certainty in life is death, the recognition of which leads to despair. This existential anguish, however, can be transcended when an individual undertakes a project that will give his or her life meaning. Although not a political movement, existentialisms links to social and political causes, such as the opposition of fascism, led to its widespread popularity in the 1960s. | Followers of existential philosophy suffer from depression. | n |
id_2371 | Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily associated with the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Parisian cafe society, existentialism was influenced by the earlier work of the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Although difficult to define, existentialism can be summarised by its emphasis on human existence over human essence, and the centrality of an individuals freedom of choice. It is an atheist philosophy that rejects moral rules, but not responsibility. Though each individual is free, he or she must co-exist with other individuals freedom. According to existentialists, the only certainty in life is death, the recognition of which leads to despair. This existential anguish, however, can be transcended when an individual undertakes a project that will give his or her life meaning. Although not a political movement, existentialisms links to social and political causes, such as the opposition of fascism, led to its widespread popularity in the 1960s. | Existentialism views mortality as lifes sole inevitability. | e |
id_2372 | Experts warn that the growing number of dementia cases may become the social problem of this century. The World Alzheimer Report predicts that the burden placed on social resources by cases of dementia will continue to grow as the number of cases escalates. A reason behind the growing number of people suffering from dementia is due to an increase in life expectancy, with more people living into their eighties and nineties that than ever before. In addition to the increasing number of cases, a difference in how differing European countries care for patients with Alzheimers has also been found. The World Alzheimer report noted that in counties with higher income, patients are more likely to be looked after by professional healthcare workers, than by family members themselves | Wealthy European countries are more likely to employ healthcare workers | e |
id_2373 | Experts warn that the growing number of dementia cases may become the social problem of this century. The World Alzheimer Report predicts that the burden placed on social resources by cases of dementia will continue to grow as the number of cases escalates. A reason behind the growing number of people suffering from dementia is due to an increase in life expectancy, with more people living into their eighties and nineties that than ever before. In addition to the increasing number of cases, a difference in how differing European countries care for patients with Alzheimers has also been found. The World Alzheimer report noted that in counties with higher income, patients are more likely to be looked after by professional healthcare workers, than by family members themselves | Increased dementia cases will be a burden on social resources. | e |
id_2374 | Experts warn that the growing number of dementia cases may become the social problem of this century. The World Alzheimer Report predicts that the burden placed on social resources by cases of dementia will continue to grow as the number of cases escalates. A reason behind the growing number of people suffering from dementia is due to an increase in life expectancy, with more people living into their eighties and nineties that than ever before. In addition to the increasing number of cases, a difference in how differing European countries care for patients with Alzheimers has also been found. The World Alzheimer report noted that in counties with higher income, patients are more likely to be looked after by professional healthcare workers, than by family members themselves | Life expectancy can be seen to be increasing | e |
id_2375 | Experts warn that the growing number of dementia cases may become the social problem of this century. The World Alzheimer Report predicts that the burden placed on social resources by cases of dementia will continue to grow as the number of cases escalates. A reason behind the growing number of people suffering from dementia is due to an increase in life expectancy, with more people living into their eighties and nineties that than ever before. In addition to the increasing number of cases, a difference in how differing European countries care for patients with Alzheimers has also been found. The World Alzheimer report noted that in counties with higher income, patients are more likely to be looked after by professional healthcare workers, than by family members themselves | European countries employ more nurses than other countries | c |
id_2376 | Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently. | Most people are too shy to try different things. | n |
id_2377 | Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently. | Fear of public speaking is a psychological illness. | c |
id_2378 | Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently. | When concern about embarrassment matters less, other fears become irrelevant. | n |
id_2379 | Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently. | If you think in an iconoclastic way, you can easily overcome fear. | c |
id_2380 | Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently. | Iconoclasts are unusually receptive to new experiences. | e |
id_2381 | FINDING THE LOST FREEDOM The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children's mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children's independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment. Children's independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place". This depends on "active exploration", which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less. ) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG) The reduction in children's freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors' children, and who can look out for their safety. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children's loss of freedom. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e. g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that "streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children" is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world. Modifying cities in order to enhance children's freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children's welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities. | Children usually walk or cycle to school. | c |
id_2382 | FINDING THE LOST FREEDOM The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children's mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children's independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment. Children's independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place". This depends on "active exploration", which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less. ) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG) The reduction in children's freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors' children, and who can look out for their safety. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children's loss of freedom. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e. g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that "streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children" is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world. Modifying cities in order to enhance children's freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children's welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities. | Children are more independent today than they used to be. | e |
id_2383 | FINDING THE LOST FREEDOM The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children's mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children's independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment. Children's independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place". This depends on "active exploration", which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less. ) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG) The reduction in children's freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors' children, and who can look out for their safety. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children's loss of freedom. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e. g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that "streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children" is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world. Modifying cities in order to enhance children's freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children's welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities. | Walking and cycling to school allows children to learn more. | n |
id_2384 | FINDING THE LOST FREEDOM The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children's mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children's independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment. Children's independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place". This depends on "active exploration", which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less. ) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG) The reduction in children's freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors' children, and who can look out for their safety. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children's loss of freedom. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e. g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that "streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children" is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world. Modifying cities in order to enhance children's freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children's welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities. | The private car has helped children have more opportunities to learn. | c |
id_2385 | FINDING THE LOST FREEDOM The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children's mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children's independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment. Children's independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place". This depends on "active exploration", which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less. ) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG) The reduction in children's freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors' children, and who can look out for their safety. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children's loss of freedom. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e. g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that "streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children" is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world. Modifying cities in order to enhance children's freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children's welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities. | Parents save time and money by driving children to school. | c |
id_2386 | FIRST AID Bleeding External Bleeding 1 Apply direct pressure. Place a clean, folded cloth over the injured area and firmly apply pressure. If blood soaks through, do not remove it. Instead, cover that cloth with another one and continue to apply pressure to the wound for 7 10 minutes. If the bleeding is from the ear, place a clean bandage over the ear, lay the victim on his side, and allow the blood to drain out of the bandage. 2 Elevate the injury. Position the wounded part of the body above the level of the heart if possible while you apply direct pressure. 3 Know the pressure points. If direct pressure and elevation do not sufficiently slow the blood flow, find a pressure point. Large arteries found close to the skins surface supply blood to the head and to each arm and leg. The most common pressure points used during first aid are located in the upper arms and in the creases above the upper legs. Apply pressure to the closest pressure point to the wound so that the artery is pressed between your fingers and bone directly behind the artery. If using the pressure point on a leg, you may need to use the heel of your hand instead of your finger. 4 Resort to a tourniquet. On very rare occasions everything above may fail. To prevent the victim from dying, you should apply a tourniquet. Once a tourniquet is applied, it should not be loosened or removed until the victim has reached medical help. Use a tourniquet ONLY if everything listed above has failed. If you use a tourniquet, write down somewhere on the victim the time it was applied, so medical personnel will know how long it has been in place. Internal Bleeding Internal bleeding results when blood vessels rupture allowing blood to leak into body cavities. It could be a result of a direct blow to the body, a fracture, a sprain, or a bleeding ulcer. If a victim receives an injury to the chest or abdomen, internal bleeding should be suspected. He will probably feel pain and tenderness in the affected area. Other symptoms and signs to watch for: * cold clammy skin * pale face and lips * weakness or fainting * dizziness * nausea * thirstiness * rapid, weak, irregular pulse * shortness of breath * dilated pupils * swelling or bruising at the site of the injury The more symptoms that are experienced, the more extensive the internal bleeding. What to do for the Victim 1 Check for an open airway and begin rescue breathing if necessary. 2 Call for medical help as soon as possible and keep the victim comfortable until help arrives. NB The bleeding anything to drink. victim may rinse his mouth with water, but DO NOT give a victim of internal | Tourniquets can be very dangerous. | n |
id_2387 | FIRST AID Bleeding External Bleeding 1 Apply direct pressure. Place a clean, folded cloth over the injured area and firmly apply pressure. If blood soaks through, do not remove it. Instead, cover that cloth with another one and continue to apply pressure to the wound for 7 10 minutes. If the bleeding is from the ear, place a clean bandage over the ear, lay the victim on his side, and allow the blood to drain out of the bandage. 2 Elevate the injury. Position the wounded part of the body above the level of the heart if possible while you apply direct pressure. 3 Know the pressure points. If direct pressure and elevation do not sufficiently slow the blood flow, find a pressure point. Large arteries found close to the skins surface supply blood to the head and to each arm and leg. The most common pressure points used during first aid are located in the upper arms and in the creases above the upper legs. Apply pressure to the closest pressure point to the wound so that the artery is pressed between your fingers and bone directly behind the artery. If using the pressure point on a leg, you may need to use the heel of your hand instead of your finger. 4 Resort to a tourniquet. On very rare occasions everything above may fail. To prevent the victim from dying, you should apply a tourniquet. Once a tourniquet is applied, it should not be loosened or removed until the victim has reached medical help. Use a tourniquet ONLY if everything listed above has failed. If you use a tourniquet, write down somewhere on the victim the time it was applied, so medical personnel will know how long it has been in place. Internal Bleeding Internal bleeding results when blood vessels rupture allowing blood to leak into body cavities. It could be a result of a direct blow to the body, a fracture, a sprain, or a bleeding ulcer. If a victim receives an injury to the chest or abdomen, internal bleeding should be suspected. He will probably feel pain and tenderness in the affected area. Other symptoms and signs to watch for: * cold clammy skin * pale face and lips * weakness or fainting * dizziness * nausea * thirstiness * rapid, weak, irregular pulse * shortness of breath * dilated pupils * swelling or bruising at the site of the injury The more symptoms that are experienced, the more extensive the internal bleeding. What to do for the Victim 1 Check for an open airway and begin rescue breathing if necessary. 2 Call for medical help as soon as possible and keep the victim comfortable until help arrives. NB The bleeding anything to drink. victim may rinse his mouth with water, but DO NOT give a victim of internal | You cannot see any physical signs of internal bleeding. | c |
id_2388 | FIRST AID Bleeding External Bleeding 1 Apply direct pressure. Place a clean, folded cloth over the injured area and firmly apply pressure. If blood soaks through, do not remove it. Instead, cover that cloth with another one and continue to apply pressure to the wound for 7 10 minutes. If the bleeding is from the ear, place a clean bandage over the ear, lay the victim on his side, and allow the blood to drain out of the bandage. 2 Elevate the injury. Position the wounded part of the body above the level of the heart if possible while you apply direct pressure. 3 Know the pressure points. If direct pressure and elevation do not sufficiently slow the blood flow, find a pressure point. Large arteries found close to the skins surface supply blood to the head and to each arm and leg. The most common pressure points used during first aid are located in the upper arms and in the creases above the upper legs. Apply pressure to the closest pressure point to the wound so that the artery is pressed between your fingers and bone directly behind the artery. If using the pressure point on a leg, you may need to use the heel of your hand instead of your finger. 4 Resort to a tourniquet. On very rare occasions everything above may fail. To prevent the victim from dying, you should apply a tourniquet. Once a tourniquet is applied, it should not be loosened or removed until the victim has reached medical help. Use a tourniquet ONLY if everything listed above has failed. If you use a tourniquet, write down somewhere on the victim the time it was applied, so medical personnel will know how long it has been in place. Internal Bleeding Internal bleeding results when blood vessels rupture allowing blood to leak into body cavities. It could be a result of a direct blow to the body, a fracture, a sprain, or a bleeding ulcer. If a victim receives an injury to the chest or abdomen, internal bleeding should be suspected. He will probably feel pain and tenderness in the affected area. Other symptoms and signs to watch for: * cold clammy skin * pale face and lips * weakness or fainting * dizziness * nausea * thirstiness * rapid, weak, irregular pulse * shortness of breath * dilated pupils * swelling or bruising at the site of the injury The more symptoms that are experienced, the more extensive the internal bleeding. What to do for the Victim 1 Check for an open airway and begin rescue breathing if necessary. 2 Call for medical help as soon as possible and keep the victim comfortable until help arrives. NB The bleeding anything to drink. victim may rinse his mouth with water, but DO NOT give a victim of internal | Its important for people suffering internal bleeding to drink a lot of water | c |
id_2389 | FIRST AID Bleeding External Bleeding 1 Apply direct pressure. Place a clean, folded cloth over the injured area and firmly apply pressure. If blood soaks through, do not remove it. Instead, cover that cloth with another one and continue to apply pressure to the wound for 7 10 minutes. If the bleeding is from the ear, place a clean bandage over the ear, lay the victim on his side, and allow the blood to drain out of the bandage. 2 Elevate the injury. Position the wounded part of the body above the level of the heart if possible while you apply direct pressure. 3 Know the pressure points. If direct pressure and elevation do not sufficiently slow the blood flow, find a pressure point. Large arteries found close to the skins surface supply blood to the head and to each arm and leg. The most common pressure points used during first aid are located in the upper arms and in the creases above the upper legs. Apply pressure to the closest pressure point to the wound so that the artery is pressed between your fingers and bone directly behind the artery. If using the pressure point on a leg, you may need to use the heel of your hand instead of your finger. 4 Resort to a tourniquet. On very rare occasions everything above may fail. To prevent the victim from dying, you should apply a tourniquet. Once a tourniquet is applied, it should not be loosened or removed until the victim has reached medical help. Use a tourniquet ONLY if everything listed above has failed. If you use a tourniquet, write down somewhere on the victim the time it was applied, so medical personnel will know how long it has been in place. Internal Bleeding Internal bleeding results when blood vessels rupture allowing blood to leak into body cavities. It could be a result of a direct blow to the body, a fracture, a sprain, or a bleeding ulcer. If a victim receives an injury to the chest or abdomen, internal bleeding should be suspected. He will probably feel pain and tenderness in the affected area. Other symptoms and signs to watch for: * cold clammy skin * pale face and lips * weakness or fainting * dizziness * nausea * thirstiness * rapid, weak, irregular pulse * shortness of breath * dilated pupils * swelling or bruising at the site of the injury The more symptoms that are experienced, the more extensive the internal bleeding. What to do for the Victim 1 Check for an open airway and begin rescue breathing if necessary. 2 Call for medical help as soon as possible and keep the victim comfortable until help arrives. NB The bleeding anything to drink. victim may rinse his mouth with water, but DO NOT give a victim of internal | If someone has a bad cut on their arm, lift the arm up above the rest of the body. | e |
id_2390 | Faced with the spiralling costs of medical care and double-digit increases in premiums for the fifth year running, American insurers and employers who offer employee medical cover are desperately looking for innovative ways to tackle the astronomical cost of medical insurance in the United States. One initiative that is proving effective involves encouraging employees to undertake health risk assessments and then following the assessment up with help to adjust lifestyles in order to reduce any iden- tified risks. The idea is that such preventive measures will stop conditions from developing in the first place and reduce the need for future expensive interventions. Employees are encouraged to take much more responsibility for their own medical care and the cost of it. This is achieved by offering sufferers with known conditions incentives if they attend specialist centres set up by the insurers to manage the condition rather than doing nothing until the condition becomes chronic and they then require much more expensive general hospital care. | All consumers of health care benefit from this initiative. | c |
id_2391 | Faced with the spiralling costs of medical care and double-digit increases in premiums for the fifth year running, American insurers and employers who offer employee medical cover are desperately looking for innovative ways to tackle the astronomical cost of medical insurance in the United States. One initiative that is proving effective involves encouraging employees to undertake health risk assessments and then following the assessment up with help to adjust lifestyles in order to reduce any iden- tified risks. The idea is that such preventive measures will stop conditions from developing in the first place and reduce the need for future expensive interventions. Employees are encouraged to take much more responsibility for their own medical care and the cost of it. This is achieved by offering sufferers with known conditions incentives if they attend specialist centres set up by the insurers to manage the condition rather than doing nothing until the condition becomes chronic and they then require much more expensive general hospital care. | Under the initiative an employee who smokes might be offered help to give up so that, if the insured person is successful in stopping, the insurance company will avoid the further cost of providing treatment for the many harmful effects of smoking. | e |
id_2392 | Faced with the spiralling costs of medical care and double-digit increases in premiums for the fifth year running, American insurers and employers who offer employee medical cover are desperately looking for innovative ways to tackle the astronomical cost of medical insurance in the United States. One initiative that is proving effective involves encouraging employees to undertake health risk assessments and then following the assessment up with help to adjust lifestyles in order to reduce any iden- tified risks. The idea is that such preventive measures will stop conditions from developing in the first place and reduce the need for future expensive interventions. Employees are encouraged to take much more responsibility for their own medical care and the cost of it. This is achieved by offering sufferers with known conditions incentives if they attend specialist centres set up by the insurers to manage the condition rather than doing nothing until the condition becomes chronic and they then require much more expensive general hospital care. | The new approach is described as involving a degree of compulsion. | c |
id_2393 | Fact 1: All chickens are birds. Fact 2: Some chickens are hens. Fact 3: Female birds lay eggs. | Hens are birds. | e |
id_2394 | Fact 1: All chickens are birds. Fact 2: Some chickens are hens. Fact 3: Female birds lay eggs. | Some chickens are not hens. | e |
id_2395 | Fact 1: All chickens are birds. Fact 2: Some chickens are hens. Fact 3: Female birds lay eggs. | All birds lay eggs. | c |
id_2396 | Fact 1: All dogs like to run. Fact 2: Some dogs like to swim. Fact 3: Some dogs look like their masters. | Dogs who like to run do not look like their masters. | n |
id_2397 | Fact 1: All dogs like to run. Fact 2: Some dogs like to swim. Fact 3: Some dogs look like their masters. | Dogs who like to swim also like to run. | e |
id_2398 | Fact 1: All dogs like to run. Fact 2: Some dogs like to swim. Fact 3: Some dogs look like their masters. | All dogs who like to swim look like their masters. | n |
id_2399 | Fact 1: All drink mixes are beverages. Fact 2: All beverages are drinkable. Fact 3: Some beverages are red. | All red drink mixes are drinkable. | e |
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