Passage 1
Kunitz, whose own work has a simple elegance, sees great value in the innovations of slam and hip-hop poets. “The various and diverse populations of the earth contribute to mainstream poetry,” he says, “and this contribution needs to occur generation after generation in order to invigorate the tradition itself.” Otherwise, “certain styles, techniques, even meanings tend to consolidate and perpetuate.” The poet’s life, he explains, is a process of transformation. “One must build a new image of self, out of which comes new styles, new leaps in one’s work.”

Passage 2
So, should we be concerned about the current spasm of extinction, which has been accelerated by the inexorable expansion of agriculture and industry? Is it necessary to try to slow down a process that has been going on forever? I believe it is. We know that the well-being of the human race is tied to the well-being of many other species, and we can’t be sure which species are most important to our own survival. But dealing with the extinction crisis is no simple matter, since much of the world’s biodiversity resides in its poorest nations, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America Can such countries justify setting aside national parks and nature reserves where human encroachment and even access is forbidden? Is it legitimate to spend large sums of money to save some species-be it an elephant or an orchid—in a nation in which a sizable percentage of the people are living below the poverty line?

Passage 3
American culture is not conservative; it is democratic. Given their strong suspicion of inherited authority and their almost infinite faith in an individual’s right to shape his own destiny, Americans have trouble accepting social customs whose provenance is unclear and whose authority they never consented to. This dose not mean that Americans are always comfortable with diversity, for as we know there have been periods of stifling conformity and moralism in American history. What it does mean is that Americans see cultural changes as matters of principle that need to be publicly debated, and those debates can be polarizing. Americans have a reputation abroad for being pragmatic, which in economic and technical matters might be true. But on large political issues, and almost all cultural ones, Americans tend to be dogmatic and uncompromising because they see democratic principles at stake in them.

Passage 4
But last August, she was fired—for refusing to wear makeup. Earlier this moth, Ms. Jespersen filed suit against her former employer in US district court, saying that being forced to wear mascara, lipstick, blush, and face powder to keep her job was not only humiliating but also gender discrimination. Her case is setting up the latest test of how far companies can go in mandating what employees should look like on the job. From men suing for the right to sport goatees, to airline stewardesses tired of company-mandated dieting, to TV news anchors being replaced because of encroaching wrinkles, the past quarter century has been filled with lawsuits by employees demanding their rights to look and be who they are.

Passage 5
By the time of the Great Depression in the 1930s, however, the image of the entrepreneur as an American ideal had lost much of its luster. The crucial change came with the rise of corporation. Few business barons remained. They were replaced by “technocrats” as the heads of corporations. These executives, expert in every phase of corporate activity, became the indispensable cogs in the industrial machine. The high-salaried manager replaced the swaggering tycoon. The big business leaders today are often involved in many areas of public life. They not only direct the fate of corporations, they also serve on boards in their community and as university trustees. The new corporate leaders fly to Washington to confer with government officials on national policy. They are concerned about the state of the national economy and America’s relationship with other nations.

Passage 6
Rising prices prompted many labor unions to demand higher wages, and in 1946, when their demands were not met, more than 4,500,000 workers engaged in strikes. This demonstration of strength by labor alarmed a large segment of the public, and so the following year a republican-controlled Congress enacted the Taft-Hartley Act. This measure was strongly opposed by labor leaders—it required a 60-day notice before either a union or an employer could end a contract, permitting management to sue union officials for violation of contract and limiting certain union privileges contained in existing contracts. Although labor continued to win higher wages along with increased security through retirement pensions and health insurance financed by employers, they viewed the Taft-Hartley restrictions as a deliberated attempt to eliminate much of their ability to bargain with industry. During the election of 1948, President Truman and the Democratic Party pledged to repeal the act.

Passage 7
The new administration sought legislative remedies for these conditions. An Area development Act gave the federal government power to help depressed communities start new industries and build needed public facilities. Another law provided retraining, with pay, for workers either unemployed or in low-paying jobs through lack of needed skills. In addition, states were given emergency authority to extend unemployment－insurance payments for 13 weeks beyond the standard 26-week period. Following the examples of his two predecessors, President Kennedy requested Congress to liberalize some of the existing social legislation. As a result, the Social Security Act provided workers the option to retire at age 62 instead of 63; the minimum wage was increased to $1.25 an hour; and the federal housing program was stepped up to help elderly persons and families with low or moderate incomes find homes at a reasonable cost.

Passage 8
It reminds us of what we believe and what we do not believe, what we need and what we want as a group. By portraying the enemy as the other, the threat, the danger to our stability and to our sense of order and value, we willingly come together to resist and to reassert our oneness with the group we belong to. We cooperate in order to rid ourselves of the threat from the unfamiliar, the different—them. In the process, we share our ideas, feelings, resources and willingly face threats we would normally avoid. Our enemy has made us human and civilized by forcing us to suppress our narcissistic urges and desires for the good of all. We become involved in our community of hate and, like good soldiers, obey orders by persuading ourselves that unless we do so ,our way of life-our values and beliefs—will be destroyed and we will have to embrace the values, beliefs, practices of those we have just made unfamiliar, unlike ourselves—the enemy. This will require change and we all know how utterly disruptive that can be to a well-ordered, habitual way of life. No wonder we are so angry and so eager to remove this threat.

Passage 9
Adolescence and age are the two stages in lives when the need for friendship is crucial. In the former stage, teens are plagued by uncertainty and mixed feelings. In the lat4ter stage, older people are upset by feelings of uselessness and insignificance. In both instances, friends can make a dramatic difference. With close friends in their lives, people develop courage and positive attitudes. Teenagers have the moral support to assert their individuality; the elderly approach their advanced years with optimism and an interest in life. These positive outlooks are vital to cope successfully with the crises inherent in these two stages of life.

Passage 10
It’s going to be a nervous year. The nabob of nerves at the moment surely has to be Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Microsoft closed out 1994 by announcing that the long－awaited Windows 95 would not now hit the streets until August-almost two years after the first projected release date. The expected bounty, as millions of users upgrade to the new system, may now not roll in until early 1996. The announcement saw Microsoft’s stock price drop $2.75 to $59.87 (it has already bounced back) and the shares of some software developers sagged, too. The problem for the developers is that Windows 95 catches up with improvements in hardware to become a 32-bit system (i.e., able to handle any combination of 32 bits of data simultaneously). They can’t release 32-bit versions of their applications until the new system is available and, in the meantime, customers aren’t upgrading their old 16-bit applications. .