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1. lesson35
Summer Travel If you are tired of making vague excuses for another dull summer at home, here is a thought to elevate your spirits. You do not need anything so radical as winning a lottery to finance a trip to Europe. A student identity card that can be obtained for a few dollars from the Council on International Educational Exchange entitles you to discount tickets on certain charter flights to London and Paris, as well as reduced admission to many museums, cinemas, and musical events. Once in Europe, you can stretch your budget by staying at approved youth hostels for about ten dollars a night. So don't discard your hopes of becoming an international traveler. Soon you can be soaring into the skies or skimming over the waves to new adventures that you will subsequently relate to your stationary friends.
A Fan in the Air Fog, tiny droplets of water vapor, is the villain of the airports. In an effort to eliminate dense fog from airports, weathermen utilize giant fan, nylon strings, and chemicals dropped from planes or shot upwards from strange machines on the ground. Nothing works as well, though, as a new weapon in the fight against fog: the helicopter. Researchers believe that if warm dry above the fog could somehow be driven down into the humid blanket of fog, the droplets would evaporate. thus clearing the air. In a recent experiment to test their theory the researchers had a helicopter descend into the fog above barely visible Smith Mountain Airport near Roanoke, Virginia. The blades of the helicopter caused the air to circulate downwards and an enormous hole in the clouds opened above the airport. Weathermen predict that with larger, more expensive helicopters they will be able to make the thickest fog vanish.
An Unusual Strike The baseball strike of 1994-95, which kept the public from seeing the annual World series, was not atypical labor dispute in which low-paid workers try to persuade their employers to grant a raise above their minimum wage. On the contrary, players who earned millions of dollars yearly, who were visible on TV commercials, drove expensive autos, and dined with presidents, withheld their essential skills until the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government were forced to devise solutions to the quarrel. The team owners, a blend of lawyers, manufacturers, corporate executives, etc. felt that something had to be done about the huge salaries that the players were demanding. Since the talent beyond the major leagues was scarce they had to start spring training in 1995 with wholesale invitation to replacement players. The regular athletes returned in late April but there was a feeling that the strike could happen again.
Protecting Our Health Pick an apple, a tomato, a peach-no worms in the harvest. We are familiar with the abundant use of pesticides by farmers, but today's chemists are becoming uneasy. They calculate that there are 45,000 different pesticides, and all of them can be absorbed by the fruit on which they are sprayed. The chemists estimate that every morsel we eat in the future may contain a deadly quota of pesticide. The tragedy* will come slowly but the threat is real. These government chemists do not suggest that we ban pesticides. They are cautious* and do not easily panic. What is needed, they say, are appropriate, budgeted* doses that will not pollute* our food.
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