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1. lesson27

How Our Language Grows Many popular expressions in our language have interesting backgrounds. When we refer to a person's weak spot as his Achilles heel) we are recalling the story of the mighty Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, a warrior of unusual strength and valor. The mother of Achilles, in whose veins flowed the blood of the gods, was warned at his birth that her son would die in battle. In great distress, she sought to save her son. In order to diminish his chances of being hurt and to give him maximum protection in combat, she dipped the infant in the river Styx. The magic waters touched every part of the child's body except the heel that she held in her hand. Thus it happened many years later that as Achilles started to flee from an attack, a poisoned arrow struck him in the heel, the only spot where he was vulnerable. Today, the meaning of Achilles heel is not confined to a weak spot in the body but it also signifies a weakness in the character of an individual, or in the defenses of a nation, or in the structure of a system. American politics, rather than mythology, provides the explanation for the word bunk. This word came into the language in 1820 when Felix Walker, the representative from Buncombe County, North Carolina, formed the habit of making long, unnecessary speeches in Congress. When his colleagues asked him why he was tormenting them so, he apologized by saying it was his patriotic duty to put those speeches in the record out of loyalty to his supporters at home. The word "Buncombe" was shortened to "bunk" and came to mean any thought that has little or no worth.
Problems We Face Despite wars, disease, and natural disasters, our world is experiencing a population explosion (boom) that threatens to change or disrupt life as we have known it. Vast numbers of people must be fed and housed, and in the process a whole rash of problems has descended upon the human race. First has been the pollution of the air and the contamination of the water supply. Second has been the rapid exhaustion of fuels, minerals, and other natural resources. The response to this situation has ranged from utter disbelief to exaggerated concern. Since scientists themselves disagree on the severity of the problem, our feeble knowledge is surely unable to suggest the correct course of action. But we cannot stand still because there is too much at stake. We are, therefore, compelled to unite in our efforts to insure that human life on this planet does not cease. We must learn to be thrifty, even miserly, with the gifts of nature that we have formerly taken for granted. If our past reveals a reckless squandering of our natural possessions, we must now find an intelligent guide to their use so that we may remain monarchs of a world that has peace and plenty.
The Electric Auto Is on Its Way Ignite gasoline and you have noise and smoke; turn on an electric motor and you abolish two headaches that are dreaded* by urban populations. Automobile manufacturers are frank about the way their motors pollute the air, and that is why there are frequent* hints that the big companies will soon reveal a practical electric car. So far, lack* of knowledge of storing electricity in the car prohibits wide production of electric autos, but recently* Congress called urgently for adequate research into the battery or fuel cell problem. Electric autos would be inexpensive* to run and would decrease air pollution.* It might be weird,* however, to live in the quiet surroundings of a city where autos that used to be noisily audible would be whisper-quiet.
A Helping Hand Youth workers Bill Nash and Jim Boyle are house hunters, not so much for a house as for a concerned family willing to house and feed troubled youngsters temporarily. They try to give prompt attention to those who cannot or will not live at home. For some, leaving home may have been the result of a hasty decision, based on a scorching remark and the subsequent tempest within the family. The cooling-off period away from the family is a time to soothe feelings. With sympathetic outsiders, youngsters have a chance to redeem them-selves. The hope, of course, is that they will learn to relate to adults again and quickly resume a normal life of harmony with their own families. Some people refrain from offering their homes, expressing vague fears of the harmful effects on their own children. But this has not been the case, even when the problem of the "visitor" was the illegal use of narcotics. One parent remarked, "With us it worked the other way. The horror of drugs became real to my own son. We got a lot more than we gave."

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