The Pool of Argument Topics

When you take the analytical writing section of the GRE General Test, you will be presented with one Argument topic from this pool. Because the wording of some topics in the test might ary slightly from what is presented here, you should read your test topics carefully and respond to the wording as it appears in the actual test. Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.

The following appeared in a memo from the new ice president of !artorian, a company that manufactures men"s clothing. #$i e years ago, at a time when we had difficulties in obtaining reliable supplies of high% &uality wool fabric, we discontinued production of our delu'e alpaca o ercoats. (ow that we ha e a new fabric supplier, we should resume production. This coat should sell ery well) since we ha e not offered an alpaca o ercoat for fi e years and since our ma*or competitor no longer makes an alpaca o ercoat, there will be pent%up customer demand. Also, since the price of most types of clothing has risen in each of the past fi e years, customers should be willing to pay significantly higher prices for alpaca o ercoats than they did fi e years ago, and our company profits will increase.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the president of a company that builds and sells new homes in !teel +ity. #, er the past fi e years, the population of !teel +ity has increased by more than -. percent, and family incomes in !teel +ity ha e risen much faster than the national a erage. (ationwide, sales of houses priced abo e /01.,... ha e increased more than ha e sales of lower%priced houses. !uch data indicate that we should make changes in our business to increase company profits. $irst, we should build fewer low%priced houses than we did last year and focus instead on building houses designed to sell at abo e /01.,.... !econd, we should hire additional workers so that we can build a larger total number of houses than we did last year.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A recent sales study indicated that consumption of seafood dishes in Bay +ity restaurants has increased by 2. percent o er the past fi e years. 3et there are no currently operating city restaurants that speciali4e in seafood. 5oreo er, the ma*ority of families in Bay +ity are two%income families, and a nationwide study has shown that such families eat significantly fewer home%cooked meals than they did a decade ago but at the same time e'press more concern about eating healthily. Therefore, a new Bay +ity restaurant speciali4ing in seafood will be &uite popular and profitable. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the president of 6i a%Tech, a manufacturer of high%tech medical e&uipment. #7n order to reduce costs, we should close some of our e'isting small assembly plants and build a large central plant. Grand iew would be an ideal location for this new plant. $irst, of the locations that we ha e considered, Grand iew has the largest adult population, so that we will be able to staff our plant &uickly and easily. !econd, since the a erage wage earned by workers in Grand iew is less than that in the other locations, we should be able to keep production costs low. 8ast, as an inducement for us to build there, Grand iew"s town council has offered to allow us to operate for the first three years without paying city ta'es.#

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of the town of 9opewell. #Two years ago, the town of ,cean 6iew built a new municipal golf course and resort hotel. :uring the past two years, tourism in ,cean 6iew has increased, new businesses ha e opened there, and ,cean 6iew"s ta' re enues ha e risen by 2. percent. The best way to impro e 9opewell"s economy, and generate additional ta' re enues, is to build a golf course and resort hotel similar to those in ,cean 6iew.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the chairperson of the school board in the town of !aluda. #$or the past fi e years, 5r. +harles !chade has been the music director at !teel +ity 9igh !chool, and during that time the school band from !teel +ity 9igh has won three regional band competitions. 7n addition, the &uality of the music rehearsal facilities and musical instruments at !teel +ity 9igh has impro ed markedly o er the past fi e years. Because of such successes at !teel +ity 9igh, the !aluda school board should hire 5r. !chade to plan and direct the general music education programs for the entire !aluda school system.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a memo from the president of Automate, a company that manufactures automobiles. #7t has come to my attention that !parks, 7nc., the manufacturing company that *ust mo ed into our state, is ad ertising *ob openings at salaries that are twice as high as those paid to our e'perienced assembly%line workers. !ome of our employees ha e already left to work for !parks. 7n order to keep our best staff, we must pay them salaries e&ual to those !parks pays its employees. ,therwise we will continue to lose employees in the future, because !parks must staff the additional new plants that it plans to build in the state.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memo from the superintendent of the 5ylar school district. #A recent si'%month study, in which breakfast was made a ailable at school for 0.. schoolchildren ages fi e to twel e, found that children on the breakfast plan were less likely than other children to be absent from or late for school. +learly, eating breakfast before school plays a role in reducing student absenteeism and tardiness. 7t is also well known that children who regularly eat a healthful breakfast tend to perform better in school. Therefore, in order to reduce absenteeism and tardiness and to impro e academic performance in all of 5ylar"s elementary and secondary schools, we should pro ide breakfasts for all students before each school day.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% When 7da 5cAllister ran for mayor of 8ake +ity four years ago, she failed to win e en 2. percent of the ote. But since then, 5cAllister has made public her commitment to en ironmental causes. !he would be wise, therefore, to announce her intention to close all 8ake +ity parks to automobile traffic, thus following the e'ample of the former mayor of ;lains ille, Alecia 3u . ,n the recommendation of a small group of concerned citi4ens, 5ayor 3u prohibited automobile traffic in all ;lains ille parks, and therefore was credited with sol ing the pollution problem and impro ing the &uality of life in ;lains ille. This action would ha e great appeal to the citi4ens of 8ake +ity, most of whom participate in the community"s recycling program, and would guarantee 5cAllister"s success in her current &uest to be 8ake +ity"s new mayor. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

According to information recently reported in the Eliottown Ga4ette, the number of people who tra el to Eliottown has increased significantly o er the past se eral years. !o far this year o er 0..,... people ha e arri ed on flights to Eliottown"s airport, compared with only <.,... last year and =.,... the year before. Eliottown"s train station has recei ed more than 1.,... passengers this year, compared with less than =.,... last year and -.,... the year before. +learly tourism in Eliottown has been increasing, thanks to the new +entral ;ark and 5useum of 5odern Art that opened last year. Therefore, the funding for the park and museum should be increased significantly. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of a newsmaga4ine. #!ome states are creating new laws that restrict the use of of handheld cell phones by dri ers of automobiles. !uch legislation, howe er, is sheer folly. Although some people with cell phones undoubtedly cause problems on the road, including serious accidents, the ma*ority do not. Besides, problems are also caused by dri ers who are distracted by any number of other acti ities, from listening to the radio to disciplining children. !ince there is no need to pass legislation restricting these and other such acti ities, it follows that there is no need to restrict people"s freedom to use a de ice that they find con enient >or helpful in emergencies.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ?ntil recently, people in 9iparia did most of their shopping by dri ing to shopping malls. They are beginning, howe er, to do more of their shopping by ordering merchandise from mail%order catalogs and the 7nternet. These purchases are deli ered to them by mail or by a deli ery ser ice. $or many purchases, 9iparians no longer need to dri e to and from shopping malls@ there will therefore be a resulting reduction in the consumption of ehicle fuel in 9iparia. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following report appeared in an archaeology *ournal. #The disco ery of distincti ely shaped ceramic pots at arious prehistoric sites scattered o er a wide area has led archaeologists to ask how the pots were spread. !ome belie e the pot makers migrated to the arious sites and carried the pots along with them@ others belie e the pots were spread by trade and their makers remained in one place. (ow, analysis of the bones of prehistoric human skeletons can settle the debate) high le els of a certain metallic element contained in arious foods are strongly associated with people who migrated to a new place after childhood. 5any of the bones found near the pots at a few sites showed high le els of the metallic element. Therefore, it must be that the pots were spread by migration, not trade.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 5ilk and dairy products are rich in itamin : and calcium, substances essential for building and maintaining bones. 5any people therefore belie e that a diet rich in dairy products can help pre ent osteoporosis, a disease in which the bones weaken significantly with age and that is linked to both en ironmental and genetic factors. But a long%term study of a large number of people has found that those who ha e consistently consumed dairy products throughout the years of the study ha e a higher rate of bone fractures than any other participants in the study. !ince bone fractures are a symptom of osteoporosis, this study result shows that a diet rich in dairy products may actually increase, rather than decrease, the risk of osteoporosis. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of 5entia.

#!alicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past se eral decades food%processing companies ha e also been adding salicylates to foods as preser ati es. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the a erage number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty%year study. Recently, food%processing companies ha e found that salicylates can also be used as fla or additi es for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can e'pect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the a erage citi4en of 5entia.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an article written by :r. Aarp, an anthropologist. #Twenty years ago :r. $ield, a noted anthropologist, isited the island of Tertia and concluded from his obser ations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire illage rather than by their own biological parents. 9owe er, my recent inter iews with children li ing in the group of islands that includes Tertia show that these children spend much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the illage. This research pro es that :r. $ield"s conclusion about Tertian illage culture is false, and thus that the obser ation%centered approach to studying cultures is in alid. Because they are using the inter iew%centered method, my team of graduate students working in Tertia will establish a much more accurate understanding of child%rearing traditions there and in other island cultures.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Wo en baskets characteri4ed by a particular distincti e pattern ha e pre iously been found only in the immediate icinity of the prehistoric illage of ;alea and therefore were belie ed to ha e been uni&ue to the ;alean people. Recently, howe er, archaeologists disco ered such a #;alean# basket in 8ithos, an ancient illage across the Brim Ri er from ;alea. The Brim Ri er is ery deep and broad, and so the ancient ;aleans could only ha e crossed it by boat, but there is no e idence that the ;aleans had boats. And boats capable of carrying groups of people and cargo were not de eloped until thousands of years after the ;alean people disappeared. 5oreo er, ;aleans would ha e had no need to cross the ri er>the woods around ;alea are full of nuts, berries, and small game. 7t follows that the so%called ;alean baskets were not uni&ue to ;alea. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following memo appeared in the newsletter of the West 5eria ;ublic 9ealth +ouncil. #An inno ati e treatment has come to our attention that promises to significantly reduce absenteeism in our schools and workplaces. A study reports that in nearby East 5eria, where fish consumption is ery high, people isit the doctor only once or twice per year for the treatment of colds. +learly, eating a substantial amount of fish can pre ent colds. !ince colds are the reason most fre&uently gi en for absences from school and work, we recommend the daily use of 7chthaid, a nutritional supplement deri ed from fish oil, as a good way to pre ent colds and lower absenteeism.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of 9umana +ollege. #8ast year the number of students who enrolled in long%distance degree programs at ,mni ?ni ersity increased by 1.B. :uring the same year, ,mni showed a significant decrease from prior years in e'penditures for dormitory and classroom space, most likely because instruction in the long%distance programs takes place ia interacti e ideo computer connections. 7n contrast, o er the past three years, enrollment at 9umana +ollege has diminished and costs of maintaining buildings ha e risen. Thus, to increase

enrollment and sol e the problem of budget deficits at 9umana +ollege, we should initiate and acti ely promote long%distance degree programs like those at ,mni.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of E'cello $ood 5arkets. #7n C. towns where E'cello has food markets, natural%food stores speciali4ing in organic food products>products containing no chemical preser ati es and made with foods grown without pesticides>ha e opened nearby as competitors. !ur eys of our own customers re eal a growing concern about foods grown using pesticides or preser ed with chemicals. Recently our market in !un +ity participated in a local food tasting fair, and D1 percent of the fair goers who isited the E'cello booth re&uested free samples of organic fruit. !uch e idence indicates that to increase our profits, we should begin to stock a full line of organic food products in all our markets.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the ice president of a food%distribution company with food%storage warehouses in se eral cities. #Recently we signed a contract with The $ly%Away ;est%+ontrol +ompany to pro ide pest%control ser ices at our fast%food warehouse in ;alm +ity, but last month we disco ered that o er /-.,... worth of food there had been destroyed by pest damage. 5eanwhile, the Bu44off ;est%+ontrol +ompany, which we ha e used for many years, continued to ser ice our warehouse in Winter ale, and last month only /0.,... worth of the food stored there had been destroyed by pest damage. E en though the price charged by $ly%Away is considerably lower, our best means of sa ing money is to return to Bu44off +ompany for all our pest%control ser ices.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a proposal from the economic minister of the country of ;araterra. #7n order to strengthen its lagging economy, last year the go ernment of the nearby country of Bellegea began an ad ertising campaign to promote ecologically sound tourism EecotourismF. This year the number of foreign isitors arri ing at Bellegea"s main airport doubled, and per capita income in Bellegea increased by ten percent. To pro ide more income for the population of ;araterra and also preser e the natural en ironment of our tiny country, we too should begin to promote ecotourism. To ensure that our ad ertising campaign is successful, we should hire the current director of Bellegea"s (ational Tourism ,ffice as a consultant for the campaign.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a business plan de eloped by the manager of the Rialto Theater. #:espite its downtown location, the Rialto 5o ie Theater, a local institution for fi e decades, must make big changes or close its doors fore er. 7t should follow the e'ample of the new Ape' Theater in the mall outside of town. When the Ape' opened last year, it featured a ideo arcade, plush carpeting and seats, and a state%of%the%art sound system. $urthermore, in a recent sur ey, o er <1 percent of respondents reported that the high price of newly released mo ies pre ents them from going to the mo ies more than fi e times per year. Thus, if the Rialto intends to hold on to its share of a decreasing pool of mo iegoers, it must offer the same features as Ape'.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the business manager of 5onarch Books. #5onarch Books should open a cafG in its store to attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books, which recently opened a cafG. 5onarch, which has been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer following

because it is known for its wide selection of books on all sub*ects. ,pening the cafG would clearly attract more customers. The cafG would re&uire relati ely little space. !pace could be made for the cafG by discontinuing the children"s book section, which will likely become less popular gi en that the last national census indicated a significant decline in the percent of the population who are under age ten.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife *ournal. #Arctic deer li e on islands in +anada"s arctic region. They search for food by mo ing o er ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to co er the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to tra el o er it. ?nfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. !ince these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that ha e caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age%old migration patterns across the fro4en sea.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Although black bears are common in the eastern +anadian pro ince of 8abrador, gri44ly bears>often similar in color, but much larger>were belie ed to e'ist only in the western pro inces. :espite a nineteenth%century e'plorer"s account of ha ing startled and narrowly escaped from a gri44ly bear deep in the woods in 8abrador, modern scientists find no physical e idence that gri44ly bears ha e e er li ed in 8abrador. But recent research into the language and legends of the 7nnu, a people who ha e li ed in 8abrador for thousands of years, re eals that their language has words for two different kinds of bears, and their ancient legends attribute different characteristics to the two kinds of bears. Therefore, there probably were gri44ly bears in 8abrador, and the e'plorer"s account probably accurately identified the bear. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% !cientists studying historical weather patterns ha e disco ered that in the mid%si'th century, Earth suddenly became significantly cooler. Although few historical records sur i e from that time, some accounts found both in Asia and Europe mention a dimming of the sun and e'tremely cold temperatures. Either a huge olcanic eruption or a large meteorite colliding with Earth could ha e created a large dust cloud throughout Earth"s atmosphere that would ha e been capable of blocking enough sunlight to lower global temperatures significantly. A large meteorite collision, howe er, would probably create a sudden bright flash of light, and no e'tant historical records of the time mention such a flash. !ome sur i ing Asian historical records of the time, howe er, mention a loud boom that would be consistent with a olcanic eruption. Therefore, the cooling was probably caused by a olcanic eruption. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newspaper article published in the country of +orpora. #Twenty years ago, one half of all citi4ens in +orpora met the standards for ade&uate physical fitness as then defined by the national ad isory board on physical fitness. Today, the board says that only one &uarter of all citi4ens are ade&uately fit and suggests that spending too much time using computers may be the reason. But since o erall fitness le els are highest in regions of +orpora where le els of computer ownership are also highest, it is clear that using computers has not made citi4ens less physically fit. 7nstead, as shown by this year"s unusually low e'penditures on fitness%related products and ser ices, the recent decline in the economy is most likely the cause, and fitness le els will impro e when the economy does.#

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a newsletter on health issues. #$or the past decade, most health e'perts ha e ad ised teenagers to a oid eating greasy foods in order to pre ent acne and related skin conditions, but the number of teenagers who sought medical help for these skin problems has actually risen o er the same period. 7n a recent study, teenagers who a oided greasy foods for a month reported appro'imately as many outbreaks of acne and related skin conditions as did those who ate an a erage of two ser ings of greasy food per day. !uch data indicate that eating greasy foods is unlikely to be a cause of acne and related skin conditions. Therefore, health e'perts should no longer recommend that people a oid such foods.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% $rom a draft te'tbook manuscript submitted to a publisher. #As Earth was being formed out of the collision of space rocks, the heat from those collisions and from the increasing gra itational energy of the planet made the entire planet molten, e en the surface. Any water present would ha e e aporated and gone off into space. As the planet approached its current si4e, howe er, its gra itation became strong enough to hold gases and water apor around it as an atmosphere. Because comets are largely ice made up of fro4en water and gases, a comet striking Earth then would ha e apori4ed. The resulting water apor would ha e been retained in the atmosphere, e entually falling as rain on the cooled and solidified surface of Earth. Therefore, the water in Earth"s oceans must ha e originated from comets.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a medical newsletter. #:octors ha e long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing &uickly after se ere muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been pro ed by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle in*uries by :r. (ewland, a doctor who speciali4es in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on a erage, =. percent &uicker than typically e'pected. ;atients in the second group, all being treated by :r. Alton, a general physician, were gi en sugar pills, although the patients belie ed they were taking antibiotics. Their a erage recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well ad ised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo to the human resources manager at Baobob 7nc., a large architectural firm. #!e eral well%known, retired architects were inter iewed in Architecture Today about changes in the field. ,nly one had earned a college degree in architecture. All others had come into the field at an early age by ser ing apprenticeships that re&uired them to work under the direct super ision of an e'perienced architect. !e eral of the colleges that we recruit from report that many promising architecture students lea e school early in their undergraduate career. Therefore, because finding talented architecture graduates is becoming more difficult, Baobob 7nc. should start an aggressi e apprenticeship program and hire students who e'press an interest in architecture directly out of high school rather than wait for them to get out of college.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of -1 infants who showed signs of mild distress when e'posed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown oice. They disco ered that these infants were more likely than other infants to ha e been concei ed in early autumn, a time when their mothers" production of

melatonin>a hormone known to affect some brain functions>would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. 7n a follow%up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of these children>now teenagers>who had shown signs of distress identified themsel es as shy. +learly, increased le els of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter on dental health. #A recent research study reported the e'perience of dentists whose patients had, o er a period of fi e years, regularly used $lu' :ental $loss as part of their dental hygiene routine. The report indicates that these dentists had 1. percent fewer cases of gum disease than did dentists whose patients did not use $lu' regularly. 7n addition, most of the $lu' users who were sur eyed by their dentists agreed that $lu'"s mint fla or would encourage people to floss more often. Thus, e en though $lu' may cost more than other brands of floss, it is clearly a worthwhile in estment for those who want to be assured of healthy teeth and gums.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a 8etter to the Editor of the !hady 6illage newspaper. #+ommuters are complaining that the rush hour traffic on Blue 9ighway between !hady 6illage and Bright +ity has doubled their commuting time. !ome commuters ha e asked that an additional traffic lane be built, but the recent creation of such a lane on nearby Green 9ighway apparently attracted more commuters, *udging from the fact that rush% hour traffic *ams actually increased there this past winter. To reduce rush%hour traffic on Blue 9ighway, a bicycle lane should be added instead of a traffic lane. This approach will succeed because many citi4ens of !hady 6illage are a id bicyclists@ D1 percent of respondents to a recent &uestionnaire distributed there said they would like to bicycle more hours per week than they currently do.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +ollectors pri4e the ancient life%si4e clay statues of human figures made on Aali 7sland but ha e long wondered how the Aalinese artists were able to depict bodies with such realistic precision. !ince archeologists ha e recently disco ered molds of human heads and hands on Aali, we can now conclude that the ancient Aalinese artists used molds of actual bodies, not sculpting tools and techni&ues, to create these statues. This disco ery e'plains why Aalinese miniature statues were abstract and entirely different in style) molds could only be used for life%si4e sculptures. 7t also e'plains why few ancient Aalinese sculpting tools ha e been found. 7n light of this de elopment, collectors should e'pect the life%si4e sculptures to decrease in alue and the miniatures to increase in alue. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter on nutrition and health. #Although the multimineral Horba pill was designed as a simple dietary supplement, a study of first%time ulcer patients who took Horba suggests that Horba actually helps pre ent ulcers. The study showed that only -1 percent of those ulcer patients who took Horba under a doctor"s direction de eloped new ulcers, compared to a D1 percent recurrence rate among ulcer patients who did not take Horba. +learly, then, Horba will be highly effecti e in pre enting recurrent ulcers and if health e'perts inform the general public of this fact, many first%time ulcers can be pre ented as well.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an article from a popular newsmaga4ine. #7n 0<<< a stone was unearthed in northern Wisconsin with an inscription in an old !candina ian alphabet and bearing the date 02I-. !candina ians were not, howe er, e'ploring or emigrating to northern Wisconsin in the fourteenth century. Recent analysis

pro es, in fact, that the stone had been buried in the spot where it was found for no more than 0.. years. 5oreo er, the community near the disco ery site was home to a group of people who had formed a club to study medie al !candina ian culture>a period that includes the fourteenth century. The stone, therefore, is not a genuine artifact of medie al !candina ian culture inscribed in the fourteenth century but most likely a hoa' perpetrated by the group.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an article in the health section of a newspaper. #According to the a ailable medical records, the si' worst worldwide flu epidemics during the past 2.. years occurred in 0D-C, 0<2., 0C0<, 0C1D, 0CI<, and 0CDD. These were all years with hea y sunspot acti ity>that is, years when the Earth recei ed significantly more solar energy than in normal years. ;eople at particular risk for the flu should therefore a oid prolonged e'posure to the !un.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the health section of Glenntown"s local newspaper. #!e eral national medical studies suggest that older people who ha e pets tend to en*oy better health than those who do not ha e pets) those who ha e pets ha e lower rates of high blood pressure and arthritis. 7t seems clear that ha ing to care for an animal promotes good health for the older person. Therefore, Glenntown should establish a program to gi e a small pet such as a dog or cat to all of its citi4ens who are o er the age of I1. This will help to insure that our senior citi4ens en*oy good health and ha e fewer medical bills.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a report by the !chool :istrict of Eyleria. #(ationally, the a erage ratio of computers to students in kindergarten through grade 0EA%0-F is 0)1. Educators indicate that this is ery good ratio. This means that across the country, all students ha e access to and can use computers daily in their classrooms. 7n Eyleria"s A%0- schools, the ratio of computers to students is 0)D. This number is sufficient to ensure that all of Eyleria"s students, by the time they graduate from high school, will be fully proficient in the use of computer technology. Thus, there is no reason to spend any of the schools" budget on computers or other technology in the ne't few years.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The Treasury has once again introduced a dollar coin, the ;ine Tree dollar. (either the ;residential dollar coin, introduced 00 years ago, nor the Eagle dollar coin, introduced 2 years ago, remained in circulation long) people simply preferred spending paper dollars. 9owe er, a sur ey conducted soon after its release indicates that the ;ine Tree dollar is far more appealing than other dollar coins) DI percent of respondents own the coin@ Ipercent of those owning multiple coins consider it so attracti e that they are still sa ing rather than spending the most recent coin to come into their possession. !ince the ;ine Tree coin promises to become the dollar currency of choice, the Treasury is correct to begin sa ing money by dramatically reducing the costly printing of paper dollars. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% When !tanley ;ark first opened, it was the largest, most hea ily used park in town. 7t is still the largest park, but it is no longer hea ily used. 6ideo cameras mounted in the park"s parking lots last month re ealed the park"s drop in popularity) the recordings showed an a erage of only 1. cars per day. 7n contrast, tiny +arlton ;ark in the heart of the business district is isited by more than 01. people on a typical weekday. An ob ious difference is that +arlton ;ark, unlike !tanley ;ark, pro ides ample seating. Thus, if !tanley ;ark is e er to be as popular with our citi4ens as is +arlton ;ark, the town will

ob iously need to pro ide more benches, thereby con erting some of the unused open areas into spaces suitable for sociali4ing. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the :ean of the +ollege of Education at ,mni !tate ?ni ersity. #,nly se en of our state"s high schools offer e en one course in 8atin, but o er <. percent of the graduates who study 8atin at those se en schools enroll in college. $urthermore, a recent study shows that students who ha e mastered 8atin perform much better in logic and critical thinking. Thus, in order to increase the percentage of our high school students who graduate from college as well as to ensure that they recei e a better education in critical thinking, ,mni !tate ?ni ersity should begin an intensi e program to prepare our future teachers to teach high school 8atin.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the president of a chain of cheese stores located throughout the ?nited !tates. #$or many years all the stores in our chain ha e stocked a wide ariety of both domestic and imported cheeses. 8ast year, howe er, the fi e best%selling cheeses at our newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. $urthermore, a recent sur ey by +heeses of the World maga4ine indicates an increasing preference for domestic cheeses among its subscribers. !ince our company can reduce e'penses by limiting in entory, the best way to impro e profits in all of our stores is to discontinue stocking many of our arieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter from a firm pro iding in estment ad ice to a client. #9omes in the northeastern ?nited !tates, where winters are typically cold, ha e traditionally used oil as their ma*or fuel for heating. 8ast year that region e'perienced C. days with below%a erage temperatures, and climate forecasters at Waymarsh ?ni ersity predict that this weather pattern will continue for se eral more years. $urthermore, many new homes ha e been built in this region during the past year. Because of these de elopments, we predict an increased demand for heating oil and recommend in estment in +onsolidated 7ndustries, one of whose ma*or business operations is the retail sale of home heating oil.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a newspaper ser ing the illages of +astor ille and ;ollu'ton. #Both the illages of +astor ille and ;ollu'ton ha e e'perienced sharp declines in the numbers of residents who pay property ta'es. To sa e money and impro e ser ice, the two illages recently merged their once separate garbage collection departments into a single department located in +astor ille, and the new department has reported few complaints about its ser ice. 8ast year the library in ;ollu'ton had -. percent fewer users than during the pre ious year. 7t follows that we should now further economi4e and impro e ser ice, as we did with garbage collection, by closing the library in ;ollu'ton and using the library in +astor ille to ser e both illages.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a budget planner for the +ity of Grand iew. #To a oid a budget deficit ne't year, the +ity of Grand iew must eliminate its funding for the Grand iew !ymphony. ,ur citi4ens are well aware of the fact that while the Grand iew !ymphony ,rchestra was struggling to succeed, our city go ernment promised annual funding to help support its programs. 8ast year, howe er, pri ate contributions to the !ymphony increased by -.. percent, and attendance at the

!ymphony"s concerts%in%the%park series doubled. The !ymphony has also announced an increase in ticket prices for ne't year. !uch de elopments indicate that the !ymphony can now succeed without funding from city go ernment and we can eliminate that e'pense from ne't year"s budget. This action will surely pre ent a budget deficit.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 3ellow%legged frogs were once common in high%altitude lakes in the !ierra (e ada mountains, but they ha e become increasingly rare. Trout feed on tadpoles and young frogs. $ew lakes in the !ierra (e ada had any trout in them until a hundred years ago. At that time, many lakes were stocked with trout for recreational fishing, and now trout are common in irtually all bodies of water in the !ierra (e ada. Researchers remo ed the trout from one lake, and the frog population soon &uadrupled. !ince frogs are capable of mo ing se eral miles o er land, remo ing trout from *ust a few lakes is clearly the way to restore the frog population to its former le els. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% !tudies show that in D. percent of traffic accidents, at least one dri er in ol ed is less than 0. miles from home when the accident occurs. This statistic indicates that dri ers ha e a tendency to dri e incautiously when they are close to home, probably because familiar surroundings gi e them a false sense of security. Thus, the places where people feel safest are the places where they are in fact at greatest risk of serious in*ury. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +opper occurs in nature mi'ed with other minerals and aluable metals in ore, and the proportion of copper in the ore can ary considerably. ?ntil fairly recently, the only way to e'tract pure copper from ore was by using a process that re&uires large amounts of electric energy, especially if the proportion of copper in the ore is low. (ew copper% e'tracting technologies can use up to =. percent less electricity than the older method to process the same amount of raw ore, especially when the proportion of copper in the ore is high. Therefore, we can e'pect the amount of electricity used by the copper%e'traction industry to decline significantly. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 7n measuring electrical acti ity in different parts of the brain, researchers found that people who describe themsel es as generally happy ha e more acti ity in the left prefrontal lobe of their brains than do other people. Therefore, a medication for stimulating the left prefrontal lobe of the brain would be an effecti e treatment for clinical depression. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a manager of a car dealership. #Ten years ago, long%term car leasing became a ailable in our country of 5ohilia as an alternati e to outright car ownership, and leasing has steadily risen in popularity. $or each of the last fi e years, the number of people leasing new cars has surpassed the number buying new cars. The a erage age of cars dri en in 5ohilia is si' years@ hence, if new car leases again outnumber purchases this year, it is likely that the ma*ority of dri ers will be dri ing leased, not indi idually owned, cars. Therefore, we should change the focus of our business from selling cars to leasing them.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter about education policy. #The a erage annual earnings of high school dropouts are significantly less than the a erage annual earnings of high school graduates. To address this problem, the state go ernor has proposed that the state should establish free ocational training programs for high school dropouts. But the a ailability of such programs would probably encourage some students who would otherwise ha e graduated to drop out in order to

pursue ocational training. 9ence the proposed programs would lower, not raise, the a erage earning potential of young people. Therefore, the state should not establish the ocational training programs but should instead focus on impro ing academic programs in our high schools.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter about health. #The proportion of children in the ?nited !tates who are o erweight is greater now than e er before. ,besity rates among children ha e been increasing since the 0CD."s, and during that same time period, the proportion of children li ing in suburbs has increased. Whereas children in rural areas tend to ha e outdoor acti e chores and children in cities often walk to school or other places they need to go, children in suburbs are typically dri en e erywhere. Thus the increase in childhood obesity is probably due mainly to the suburbani4ation of America and the associated decrease in the opportunities children ha e for e'ercise.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of an article in a health and beauty maga4ine. #A group of olunteers participated in a study of consumer responses to the new 8u'ess face cream. E ery morning for a month, they washed their faces with mild soap and then applied 8u'ess. At the end of that month, most olunteers reported a marked impro ement in the way their skin looked and felt. Thus it appears that 8u'ess is truly effecti e in impro ing the condition of facial skin.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The cities of East !acunda and West !acunda are in an earth&uake%prone area. !ince 0C<1 both cities ha e had stringent building codes re&uiring all new buildings to ha e specific features designed to pre ent damage in an earth&uake. Buildings built before 0C<1 are e'empt from the codes, but many building owners ha e modified their buildings to make them conform to the 0C<1 codes. 8ast year a ma*or earth&uake hit the area, and many people lost their homes. The number of people who were left homeless was much higher in East !acunda than in West !acunda, howe er, so we can conclude that building owners in East !acunda were less likely to modify their buildings so as to bring them up to the 0C<1 code standards. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of an archaeological maga4ine. #Archaeologists e'ca ated a ca e that had been inhabited by prehistoric people for thousands of years. These people hunted wild animals, many of whose bones were found at le els corresponding to different times of habitation. 5ost of the bones at the oldest le els, o er =.,... years old, were from a deer species whose modern%day descendants are known to prefer woodland habitats, whereas most of the bones at more recent le els, dating from 2.,... to 0.,... years ago, were from a ga4elle species whose modern%day descendants are known to prefer grasslands. We can thus conclude that the climate of the area changed dramatically between =.,... and 2.,... years ago, causing the terrain to change from woodland to grassland.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a maga4ine for the trucking industry. #The 8onghaul trucking company was concerned that its annual accident rate Ethe number of accidents per mile dri enF was too high. 7t granted a significant pay increase to its dri ers and increased its training standards. 7t also put strict limits on the number of hours per week each dri er could dri e. The following year, its trucks were in ol ed in half the number of accidents as before the changes were implemented. A sur ey of other trucking companies found that the highest%paid dri ers were the least likely to ha e had

an accident. Therefore, trucking companies wishing to reduce their accident rate can do so simply by raising their dri ers" pay and limiting the o erall number of hours they dri e.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in a health maga4ine. #+lormium 1 is an odorless, tasteless, and generally harmless industrial by%product that can enter the water supply. A preliminary study has linked cooking with water containing clormium 1 to an increased incidence of allergies and skin rashes. Tests of the drinking water in se eral areas ha e re ealed the presence of clormium 1. Although it is possible to remo e clormium 1 from water, the costs of routine testing and purification are higher than many communities can afford. Therefore, in order to pre ent allergies and skin rashes, communities that cannot afford to rid their drinking water of clormium 1 should replace drinking fountains in public buildings, such as schools and libraries, with bottled% water coolers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Allergies are an o erreaction of the immune system to certain stimuli. ,ne iew is that allergies can de elop as the result of childhood e'posure to certain irritants, such as dust or animal dander, while the immune system is not yet mature. Another iew is that e'posure to particular bacteria early in childhood actually triggers the proper de elopment of the immune system, and that limiting e'posure to these bacteria through e'cessi e hygiene can cause children"s immune systems to o erreact to certain irritants later on. A new study supports the second iew) children who are washed especially fre&uently and whose parents clean their homes especially fre&uently are more likely to de elop allergies than are other children. !o in order to reduce the incidence of allergies in children and adults, parents should not limit children"s e'posure to irritants or bacteria. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to an editor. #7n many countries, wood is the primary fuel used for heating and cooking, but wood smoke can cause respiratory and eye problems, and e'tensi e use of wood causes deforestation, a ma*or en ironmental problem. 7n contrast, charcoal, made by partially burning wood in a controlled process, is a fuel that creates less smoke than wood does. 5oreo er, although charcoal costs slightly more than wood, less charcoal is needed to produce the same amount of heat. Therefore, people who use wood as their primary fuel can, without e'periencing economic hardship, switch to charcoal and can thereby impro e their health and preser e the en ironment.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the business manager of 5edicine, 7nc., a local drugstore. #5ost business analysts for the drugstore industry ha e stated that e en when a nation"s economy is weak, drugstores" profits are unlikely to decline appreciably. While consumers might put off some kinds of purchases when the economy is slow, prescription and o er%the%counter drug purchases are dictated by consumers" health needs, which are independent of the economy. Therefore, 5edicine 7nc. is likely to continue to ha e increasing profits and should plan to open an additional drugstore ne't year.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo written by the head of the Gorham !chool. #,ur school cafeteria should make changes in the lunches that it ser es in order to impro e the health of our students. !e eral teachers and 7 ha e obser ed that students who eat these meals tend to eat the main course and the dessert, but seldom finish the egetable portion. This pattern means that students are missing the ital nutritional

benefits of fruits and egetables, which are typically rich in itamins and minerals. Therefore, the school cafeteria should ser e larger fruit and egetable portions along with smaller main course and dessert portions. This change will be effecti e because, according to research conducted at the Rose +hildren"s 9ospital, children eat the same amount of food ser ed to them>about 11 percent, on a erage>no matter what the main course is.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the letter to an editor of a 5yrian newspaper. #?nder Go ernor Winslow"s leadership o er the past four years, 5yria has en*oyed unprecedented prosperity. A erage wage increases this year are higher than they ha e been at any time since the 0CD."s, the number of people who report being unemployed has decreased by 0. percent, and construction of new homes is up by one third. 7n contrast, o er the past four years Go ernor Winslow"s opponent, 5r. 9omer, has been mayor of a city in which only a small number of new businesses ha e opened. 7f 5yrians want another four years like the past four years, they should reelect Go ernor Winslow.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a member of the +lark +ity !chool Board. #5ason Elementary !chool is faced with a shortage of classroom space. At the same time, parents in our district are increasingly e'pressing the desire to see impro ements in their children"s reading abilities. Therefore, we should reduce the number of physical education classes at 5ason Elementary and con ert part of the gymnasium to class%room space. The school will gain the additional space for classrooms without the cost of e'tending the building and can use the time that students would ha e spent in physical education classes to pro ide more reading instruction. This plan will lead to impro ements in students" reading skills.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo to managers of +hristine"s, a chain of craft stores. #!e eral ma*or newspapers ha e recently run articles noting an increased interest in pottery. The number of potters in this country has risen by eighteen percent in the past fi e years, and pottery is particularly gaining popularity on college campuses. 7n order to take ad antage of these trends, +hristine"s should immediately begin carrying a larger olume of pottery supplies. !ince se eral of our stores ha e recently e'perienced a decrease in sales of painting supplies, all store managers should reallocate shelf space from the painting area for the display of pottery. !tores should display posters showing pottery that is designed to appeal to college%age indi iduals. These actions will undoubtedly increase our profits dramatically.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter about health published in the country of !auria. #According to !auria"s leading nutritional e'perts, a diet high in comple' carbohydrates, and low in fat is optimal for good health and longe ity. Because this was the diet of the people who li ed in ancient !auria, one would e'pect them to ha e had long and healthy li es. 3et the mummified remains of !auria"s ruling classes from two to three thousand years ago show the e'istence of many medical problems among the ancient !aurians, including dental problems, ele ated blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and early mortality. +learly, the diet of the ancient !aurians was responsible for these problems. The high incidence of high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease in !auria today e en among those who ha e tried low%fat, high%carbohydrate diets further pro es that !auria"s leading nutritional e'perts are wrong.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newspaper published in the state of +elera.

#!peed limits on our state"s highways should be eliminated in order to increase our state"s prosperity. Because greater speed means more efficient tra el, commercial deli eries will be faster, increasing business profits. Elimination of speed limits will also make dri ing more attracti e to motorists, so that more people will use the highways, pro iding more highway toll re enues for the state. At the same time, safety on our highways will not be affected) daytime speed limits were eliminated last year in the western states of our country, and no significant increase in the number of accidents in these states has been reported.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial on health problems in the country of +orpora. #!ome pharmacies now feature ultrasound machines that screen for an ele ated risk of stroke. $or a fee, a technician presses a probe against the neck to determine whether any pla&ue has thickened the walls of the main artery leading to the brain. Researchers ha e shown that a thickening of artery walls is associated with ele ated stroke risk, and such scans typically find that anywhere from 1 to -. percent of clients ha e detectable pla&ue. All pharmacies should offer this ser ice, because early detection of increased risk for stroke will encourage clients to consult with their doctors and make important life%style changes to reduce their risk of ha ing a stroke. This in turn will cause a decrease in o erall medical costs in +orpora.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an article in !upplements Today. #:ieticians ha e long known that professional athletes who eat a lot of nuts ha e higher le els of endurance than those who do not. Researchers ha e recently disco ered that the particular combination of itamin ( and fiber found in some nuts pro ides a boost for those who participate in strenuous physical acti ities daily. Both itamin ( and fiber supplements are easily synthesi4ed and widely a ailable. As a result, all those who participate in athletic acti ities will be able to increase their endurance and win more games by taking itamin ( along with a fiber supplement.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the human resources department at Techforce +omputer +ompany. #5any working parents report that problems related to their childcare arrangements are a ma*or reason for absenteeism from their *obs. Bridgewell +orporation, a tele% communications company, implemented an on%site childcare program and after one year, the company reported that unscheduled absences had declined by -1 percent. !ince Techforce has had an increase in unscheduled employee absences o er the past year, we should therefore implement our own on%site childcare program. The program will undoubtedly reduce our unscheduled employee absences, resulting in significantly increased producti ity.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a ice president of a large, highly di ersified company. #Ten years ago our company had two new regional office buildings built in two different regions. The buildings were erected by two different construction companies>Alpha and Heta. E en though the two buildings had irtually identical floor plans, the building constructed by Heta cost 2. percent more to build, and its e'penses for maintenance last year were twice those of the building constructed by Alpha. $urthermore, the energy consumption of the Heta building has been higher than that of the Alpha building e ery year since its construction. !uch data, plus the fact that Alpha has a stable workforce with

little employee turno er, indicate that we should use Alpha +onstruction +ompany, rather than Heta, for all future building pro*ects.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the president of Bower Builders, a company that constructs new homes. #A nationwide sur ey re eals that the two most desired home features are a bathroom with a whirlpool tub and a large kitchen. 9omes in a nearby de elopment built by our competitor, :omus +onstruction, ha e whirlpool tubs and ha e sold much faster and at significantly higher prices than the a erage. To increase our sales and profits, we should include whirlpool tubs and larger kitchens as standard features in all our new homes. !ince our recent buyers ha e oiced no complaints about small yards, we can also increase profits by decreasing the si4e of our yards.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a budget planner in !ophia +ounty. #+ensus data indicate that the number of retired couples without children who are mo ing into !ophia +ounty is steadily rising@ pri ate schools in our county report substantial increases in enrollment@ and a statewide sur ey of parents shows that o er 0. percent now support the idea of home schooling instead of public schooling funded by the county go ernment. !uch demographic trends suggest that our county will not ha e to construct new school buildings and that we can therefore decrease the budget for county%funded public schools.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a maga4ine focusing on health and fitness. #A recent study of se eral nutritional supplements showed that sub*ects who took a daily pill containing luceen had significantly better ision of distant ob*ects than sub*ects in the study who took other nutritional supplements. 8uceen appears naturally in a tasty fruit that grows on the island of Bonopia, and ery few inhabitants of that island wear eyeglasses or other correcti e lenses. !uch e idence suggests that people who de elop ision problems should take regular luceen supplements.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the manager of tele ision station A7+A. #A nationwide sur ey re eals that a si4eable ma*ority of men would like to see additional sports programs on tele ision. After tele ision station WA+A increased its sports broadcasts, its share of the tele ision audience in its iewing area almost doubled. To gain a larger audience share in our area, and thus increase company profits, A7+A should also re ise its broadcast schedule to include more sports co erage.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the director of a large group of hospitals. #7n a laboratory study of li&uid antibacterial hand soaps, a concentrated solution of (adasept killed =. percent more bacteria than the li&uid hand soaps currently used in our hospitals. :uring a subse&uent test of (adasept at our hospital in !aluda, that hospital reported significantly fewer cases of patient infection than did any of the other hospitals in our group. Therefore, to pre ent serious patient infections, we should supply (adasept at all hand washing stations throughout our hospital system.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the economic minister of the small country ;aucia. #?sing a newly de eloped ariety of seed, farmers in our neighboring country Abundia produced <. percent more rice last year than in any pre ious year. To increase the income of farmers in our own country, we should encourage them to culti ate this new ariety of

rice rather than some of their traditional crops. !uch high yields of rice will also impro e our country"s balance of trade by enabling us to begin e'porting it.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the chief operating officer of the ;resto 5anufacturing +ompany. #!ince orders for our ma*or product increased by o er -.. percent last &uarter, we should promptly e'pand production by building a new manufacturing plant in !ummit +ity. !ummit +ity is the ideal location for the new plant because it has low property ta'es, e'tensi e blocks of land a ailable for immediate purchase, and a large number of residents who are not currently employed.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the president of a company that makes breakfast cereals. #7n a recent study, sub*ects who ate soybeans at least fi e times per week had significantly lower cholesterol le els than sub*ects who ate no soy products. By fortifying our Wheat%, cereal with soy protein, we can increase sales by appealing to additional consumers who are concerned about their health. This new ersion of Wheat%, should increase company profits and, at the same time, impro e the health of our customers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter from the mayor of Tudor +ity. #After a ma*or airline chose 3ork ille as its regional flight hub, the number of businesses in that city almost doubled and local ta' re enue increased by 1. percent. 7n addition, as tra el to 3ork ille became easier, most respondents to a sur ey of the country"s top e'ecuti es identified 3ork ille as a desirable place to transact business. To secure efficient transportation for Tudor +ity and stimulate our local economy, we should build a new airport, like the one in 3ork ille, that is suitable for a regional flight hub.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Blue +ity 9ighway had always been notorious for its tight cur es and poor roadway isibility, and the accident rate there was generally ery high. 8ast year the highway was redesigned to broaden the cur es and impro e roadway isibility. :ri ers report that they now feel much safer dri ing on the highway and that the redesign has been a big impro ement. But the number of accidents on the highway has not been significantly lower in the si' months since the redesign than it was in the si' months before the redesign. Therefore, the redesign clearly did not impro e the cur es and roadway isibility enough to make a difference. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ,ne kind of brain%scanning de ice is used by doctors to monitor normal as well as abnormal acti ity in a patient"s brain. The de ice pro ides precise measurements of blood flow in the brain, a known indicator of how the brain is working. ?nfortunately, the de ice re&uires patients to remain completely still with their heads in the scanning machine, which makes a ery loud noise. ?nder these uncomfortable conditions, it is doubtful that doctors can get accurate measurements. A new head%mounted de ice that measures eye mo ements rather than blood flow and allows patients to mo e around will undoubtedly pro ide better brain measurements. Thus, the new head%mounted de ice should replace the older de ice at all hospitals and research institutions. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a health newsletter. #According to a recent study, people with many social ties report catching colds less often than do people with few social ties. +onse&uently, researchers conclude that ha ing an acti e social life probably helps strengthen the immune system. The researchers note

that catching a cold>one of a family of highly contagious iruses>gi es the cold% sufferer temporary immunity to that irus in the future, but not to the many other related iruses. 5erely being e'posed to a new cold irus, howe er, is not enough for a person to catch a cold, since a strong immune system can successfully fight off some new iruses. Thus, in order to pre ent catching a cold, people should strengthen their immune systems by becoming more acti e socially.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following editorial appeared in a newspaper in the country of !olaria. #The Eliot 6alley region was primarily agricultural twenty years ago. 7n the past twenty years, howe er, many computer%chip manufacturers ha e opened factories there. A recent study found that water pollution in the region was worse than in any other region in the country. 5oreo er, the computer%chip factories, which use large &uantities of water to manufacture the chips, are probably responsible for the low le els of water in the region"s lakes and reser oirs. Therefore, if the region"s computer%chip makers had limits placed on the amount of water they could use, water &uality would impro e.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in the !eatown newspaper. #!eatown has a large port e'clusi ely for fishing boats, whose owners pay fees for the upkeep of the docks and for facilities for cleaning engines and repairing nets. 7n recent years, declining fish populations ha e decreased fishing re enue and forced many owners to stop fishing altogether. As a result, the port has a high acancy rate and port managers are considering allowing pleasure boats, including cruise ships and other large essels, to use the port in order to increase re enue. But allowing pleasure boats into the port would be a mistake, because the fishing boats would be forced out of the port. We should preser e the port for the fishing fleet, which, unlike pleasure boats, contributes to the prosperity of !eatown.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a Brenton newspaper. #The Brenton power plant draws water from !cott"s Ri er for its cooling system and releases the warmed water back into the ri er. The town council recommends that the plant install a more efficient cooling system that uses less water, claiming it will be more en ironmentally sound. 9owe er, in ?ptown, where the new system is used, a study found that the comple' network of pipes in the new system tends to accumulate algae. The build up of algae can be a oided by scrubbing the pipes, which is costly, or by adding an herbicide to the water in the pipes to pre ent algae accumulation. But water containing the herbicide cannot be released back into the ri er and it is known that low water le els can harm ri er ecosystems accustomed to higher le els. Therefore, Brenton power plant should continue to use the old cooling system e'clusi ely.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the 5aple +ity newspaper. #Twenty years ago ;ine +ity established strict laws designed to limit the number of new buildings that could be constructed in the city. !ince that time the a erage housing prices in ;ine +ity ha e increased considerably. +hestnut +ity, which is about the same si4e as ;ine +ity, has o er the past twenty years e'perienced an increase in a erage housing prices similar to ;ine +ity, but +hestnut +ity ne er established any laws that limit new building construction. !o it is clear that laws limiting new construction ha e no effect on a erage housing prices. !o if 5aple +ity were to establish strict laws that limit new building construction, these laws will ha e no effect on a erage housing prices.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the ;rincipal of !herwood Junior 9igh !chool.

K#7t Kappears that the lighting in !herwood 9igh"s classrooms, which ha e large windows but minimal o erhead light sources, is impairing student academic performance and teacher morale. Records show that during :ecember and January, the two months with the fewest hours of daylight, attendance rates fall, a erage daily class participation drops, and grades decline. Teacher resignations are also highest during these months. According to a study of Tundra 6ocational !chool, which e'periences entire seasons with little daylight, students" grade point a erages increased when :ay Glow light bulbs, which mimic sunlight, were installed in classrooms. This study suggests that !herwood can impro e students" academic performance and teachers" morale by using :ay Glow light bulbs in winter.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the ice president of marketing at :ura%!ock, 7nc. #A recent study of :ura%!ock wearers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented #Endure# manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. :ura%!ock has always ad ertised its use of the #Endure# process, but the new study shows that the a erage :ura%!ock customer actually purchases new :ura%!ocks e ery three months. $urthermore, :ura%!ock customers sur eyed in our largest market, northeastern ?nited !tates cities, say that they most alue :ura%!ock"s stylish appearance and a ailability in many colors. These findings suggest that :ura%!ock can increase its profits by discontinuing its use of the #Endure# manufacturing process.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following proposal was raised at a meeting of the $ranklin +ity +ouncil. #$ranklin Airport, which is on a bay, is notorious for flight delays. The airport management wants to build new runways to increase capacity but can only do so by filling in C.. acres of the bay. The Bay +oalition organi4ation ob*ects that filling in the bay will disrupt tidal patterns and harm wildlife. But the airport says that if it is permitted to build its new runways, it will fund the restoration of 0,... acres of wetlands in areas of the bay that ha e pre iously been damaged by industriali4ation. This plan should be adopted, for it is necessary to reduce the flight delays, and the wetlands restoration part of the plan ensures that the bay"s en ironment will actually be helped rather than hurt.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following was published by a consumer protection agency. #Three years ago, !o%8ow launched a nationwide ad campaign, focusing hea ily on sunny regions and distributing free sunglasses there. But although !o%8ow sunglasses cost less than higher%priced brands, they block a smaller proportion of the !un"s rays, including the type of rays known to damage the eyes e en when the person wearing the sunglasses feels no discomfort. A recent study suggests that !o%8ow sunglasses can actually increase the risk of damage to people"s eyes by creating a false sense of security. The study shows a sharp increase in the incidence of ision problems in the sunny regions o er the past three years. These findings suggest that anyone concerned about eye damage from the !un should a oid !o%8ow brand and instead either pay for higher% priced brands or wear no sunglasses at all.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A recently completed study shows that people dwelling in stairs%only apartment buildings Ethat is, buildings without ele atorsF li e an a erage of three years longer than do people who li e in buildings with both ele ators and stairs. A second study shows that elderly residents of buildings with ele ators make, on a erage, twice as many isits to doctors each year as do elderly residents of buildings without ele ators. These findings suggest

that e en a ery moderate amount of daily e'ercise, such as that re&uired to use the stairs leading to and from one"s apartment, can increase people"s health and longe ity. The findings also suggest that new apartment buildings should be constructed with as few ele ators as possible. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a clothing industry trade *ournal in the country of !artoria. #A popular fashion maga4ine recently conducted a sur ey of consumers" opinions about clothing prices, using prepaid mailing en elopes. Eighty%nine percent of the appro'imately -.,... respondents reported that they were either #dissatisfied# or # ery dissatisfied# with current clothing prices. The large number of responses indicates that the !artorian clothing industry is at risk. Gi en the sur ey results, clothing manufacturers must find a way to reduce prices in order to keep their e'isting customers and maintain their businesses.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from Grocery Town"s regional manager. #The new Grocery Town store in Elm +ity, located near a new residential de elopment, has a "high%low" pricing policy where a erage prices are relati ely high, but deep discounts are offered on some items in weekly specials. This store has been showing increased profits e ery month as the nearby residential de elopment gets closer to full capacity. 7t follows that people prefer a pricing policy where they can find bargains on specific items. !ince there is a new residential de elopment planned in ,ak +ity, we should change the pricing policy at all of our ,ak +ity stores from our current "e eryday low prices" policy to a "high%low" policy. This will increase the profits at all of our stores in ,ak +ity.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memo from the business manager of 6alu%5art stores. #, er D. percent of the respondents to a recent sur ey reported that they are re&uired to take more work home with them from the workplace than they were in the past. !ince 6alu%5art has not seen impressi e sales in its office%supply departments in the past, we should take ad antage of this work%at%home trend by increasing at all 6alu%5art stores the stock of home office machines such as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fa' machines. We will also increase stock of office supplies such as paper, pens, and staplers. With these changes, our office%supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter from a national astronomy association. #6arious sources are predicting higher%than%a erage temperatures across the country ne't winter, including in !un +ity, the traditional location of our yearly winter conference. 9igher winter temperatures are sure to result in higher%than%usual tourism in !un +ity, a location already known for its attracti e beaches and good weather. 9otels will ha e fewer rooms a ailable, transportation will be more difficult to reser e, and public places such as parks and restaurants will be more crowded. These conditions are likely to significantly reduce attendance at the conference. We should therefore mo e our conference to a city less popular with winter tourists.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of the Waymarsh Times. #Traffic problems here in Waymarsh are ob iously reaching record le els. While *ust three months ago it would take me 01 minutes to get to work, it now takes closer to -1. Waymarsh should follow the e'ample of our neighboring city Gears ille. 8ast year, Gears ille implemented a policy that rewards people who share rides to work with

coupons for free gas. ;ollution le els in Gears ille ha e dropped since the policy was implemented, and se eral friends who li e in Gears ille tell me that their trip to work is &uicker than it used to be. With the terrible traffic and high pollution in Waymarsh, we must implement a policy similar to Gears ille"s.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a health newsletter. #A ten%year nationwide study of the effecti eness of wearing a helmet while bicycling indicates that ten years ago, appro'imately 21 percent of all bicyclists reported wearing helmets, whereas today that number is nearly <. percent. Another study, howe er, suggests that during the same ten%year period, the number of accidents caused by bicycling has increased -.. percent. These results demonstrate that bicyclists feel safer because they are wearing helmets and they take more risks as a result. Thus, to reduce the number of serious in*uries from bicycle accidents, the go ernment should concentrate more on educating people about bicycle safety and less on encouraging or re&uiring bicyclists to wear helmets.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memo from the president of +yberell +omputer +ompany. #All of our customer%ser ice employees recently attended a two%day retreat during which they recei ed retraining in effecti e customer ser ice. !ubse&uently, +yberell"s employee%performance study showed that the retreat benefited new employees>those who ha e worked with +yberell for less than two years>far more than it did e'perienced employees. According to the study, after the retreat new employees were able to handle an a erage of ten percent more calls per hour, and the total number of customer complaints about new employees decreased, but e'perienced employees showed little impro ement in these areas. Therefore, +yberell should send only new employees to future retreats and should use the resulting sa ings to double the length of the retreats so that the retreats will be more likely to yield optimum employee performance.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the ;ine +ity Ga4ette. #$ifteen years ago, ;ine +ity launched an electricity%conser ation program that reimbursed residents some of the cost for replacing energy%wasteful motors, home office e&uipment, and home appliances with energy%efficient ones. $or ten years, spending on this program increased annually, and annual total energy consumption declined. But spending on the program began to decline fi e years ago, and since then ;ine +ity"s total electricity consumption has increased sharply. 7f this increased usage continues, the city will ha e to build a costly new power plant. ,b iously the best way to a oid this e'pense is to increase reimbursement to residents for replacing energy%wasteful e&uipment. This will reduce energy usage to the le els of fi e years ago.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a health newsletter. #Eating a hea y meal may increase the risk of heart attack. A recent sur ey of -,... people who had had a heart attack re ealed that 01< of them said they had eaten a hea y meal within -= hours before their heart attack, and -1 of them said they had eaten a hea y meal within - hours before their heart attack. Eating and digesting food releases hormones into the bloodstream and temporarily increases heart rate and blood pressure slightly. Both of these things put stress on the heart. Therefore, people who are at risk of ha ing a heart attack can lower that risk by not o ereating.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memo from the business manager of (ational :aily (ews.

#To e'pand the home deli ery ser ice of our national newspaper, we should concentrate on the state of ?rba rather than on the state of !yl a. $irst, the population of !yl a is more widely dispersed, which would re&uire us to spend more money to deli er our papers in that area, resulting in less profit per customer. !econd, a long%term study of tele ision iewing habits suggests that !yl ans prefer local to national news, since they spend twice as much time iewing local news programs as they do iewing national programs. $inally, because e ents in ?rba recei e more co erage in our newspaper than do e ents in !yl a, we can e'pect ?rbans to be more interested in reading our newspaper.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the president of Appleby +ollege. #Whereas Appleby +ollege holds class reunions e ery fi e years, Edelston +ollege holds annual reunions for all classes, during which Edelston"s alumni are treated to ban&uets, lectures, and student performances, enhancing their loyalty to the college and their willingness to donate money. Edelston +ollege recei es most of its alumni donations during or shortly after these reunions. Therefore, the best way for Appleby to increase its alumni donations is to offer similar reunion acti ities and to ha e each graduating class hold annual reunions.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a health maga4ine. #7t has long been belie ed that getting at least eight hours of sleep a night is good for health. But a recent si'%year study of adult sleeping habits found that people who reported sleeping eight or more hours a night had a higher rate of certain health problems than did those who reported sleeping se en hours a night. ;eople who reported sleeping fi e hours a night also had an increased rate of the health problems, but this increase was slight compared to that for people who reported sleeping eight or more hours a night. +learly, people should try to get se en hours of sleep, and they should worry more about getting too much sleep than too little.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The ice president for human resources at +limpson 7ndustries sent the following recommendation to the company"s president. #7n an effort to impro e our employees" producti ity, we should implement electronic monitoring of employees" 7nternet use from their workstations. Employees who use the 7nternet from their workstations need to be identified and punished if we are to reduce the number of work hours spent on personal or recreational acti ities, such as shopping or playing games. By installing software to detect employees" 7nternet use on company computers, we can pre ent employees from wasting time, foster a better work ethic at +limpson, and impro e our o erall profits.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in the Garden +ity Ga4ette. #To address the parking problems in our downtown business district, it has been proposed that the city increase parking capacity by building a four%story parking garage. 9owe er, this pro*ect would cost more than it would to impro e the downtown pedestrian pla4a. Because the pedestrian pla4a is an important attraction that draws people to the downtown area, impro ements to it will increase business for downtown merchants. The merchants" higher profits will ultimately produce increased ta' re enues for the city. Therefore, we should in est in the pla4a impro ements first and then use the re enues thus generated to pay for the construction of the parking garage.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the !herwood Times newspaper.

#A recent study reported that pet owners ha e longer, healthier li es on a erage than do people who own no pets. !pecifically, dog owners tend to ha e a lower incidence of heart disease. 7n light of these findings, !herwood 9ospital should form a partnership with !herwood Animal !helter to institute an "adopt%a%dog" program. The program would encourage dog ownership for patients reco ering from heart disease, which will help reduce medical costs by reducing the number of these patients needing ongoing treatment. 7n addition, the publicity about the program will encourage more people to adopt pets from the shelter, which will reduce the risk of heart disease in the general population.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the annual report of a chain of stores that sell supplies for do% it%yourself home impro ements. #+urrent reports indicate that sales of new homes nationwide declined by C percent during the past year, while sales of e'isting homes increased by 0I percent. Thus we can e'pect that the percentage of homeowners who will be making repairs or impro ements to their homes will also increase. 7n addition, people who buy e'isting homes will ha e more money left o er after the purchase to spend on home impro ements. $inally, people who buy e'isting homes are more likely to make impro ements themsel es, as opposed to paying someone else. These factors combined indicate we can e'pect an increasing demand for products in all our stores nationwide, thus increasing our profits in the coming year.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an en ironmental newsletter published in Tria 7sland. #The marine sanctuary on Tria 7sland was established to protect certain marine mammals. 7ts regulations ban dumping and offshore oil drilling within -. miles of Tria, but fishing is not banned. +urrently many fish populations in Tria"s waters are declining, a situation blamed on pollution. 7n contrast, the marine sanctuary on ,mni 7sland has regulations that ban dumping, offshore oil drilling, and fishing within 0. miles of ,mni and ,mni reports no significant decline in its fish populations. +learly, the decline in fish populations in Tria"s waters is the result of o erfishing, not pollution. Therefore, the best way to restore Tria"s fish populations and to protect all of Tria"s marine wildlife is to abandon our regulations and adopt those of ,mni.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in the local newspaper of Work ille. #Workers should be allowed to reduce their workload from =. to -1 or e en -. hours per week because it is clear that people who work part%time instead of full%time ha e better health and impro ed morale. ,ne store in Work ille, which began allowing its employees to work part%time last year, reports that fewer days of sick lea e were taken last year than in pre ious years. 7n contrast, the factory in Work ille, which does not allow any of its employees to work part%time, had a slight increase in the number of days of sick lea e taken last year. 7n addition, a recent sur ey reports that most of the store employees stated that they are satisfied with their *obs, while many of the factory employees stated that they are dissatisfied with their *obs.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memo from the principal of Academia 9igh !chool. #Academia 9igh !chool should abolish its after%school performing%arts programs and replace them with computer%technology programs. When nearby Techno 9igh !chool did so last year, total enrollment in all of its after%school acti ities remained about the same. 5oreo er, on entering college, many Techno students chose a ma*or directly related to their after%school acti ities. ,n the other hand, last year only 0. percent of Academia"s

graduating seniors chose performing arts as their ma*or field of study in their first year of college, clearly indicating that most students do not ha e a strong interest in the performing arts.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following was taken from a guide for aspiring writers. #(ew writers usually cannot con ince large, prestigious publishers that their work is marketable, so they must first publish with smaller, less well%known presses to establish a sales record. But the editors of 5ystery Writers 5aga4ine ha e good news for aspiring writers) the number of mystery no els published in the last two years has grown significantly, and more people read mysteries than any other type of no el. 7n addition, almost half of the mystery no els published last year were written by first%time no el writers. !ince there is apparently an e'panding market for mystery no els, all publishers will want to increase the number of mystery no els they publish. Therefore, new writers should write mystery no els to increase their chances for first%time publication with a larger, prestigious company.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memorandum from the business manager of W8!! tele ision station. #, er the past year, our late%night news program has de oted increasingly more time to co ering national news and less time to co ering weather and local news. :uring the same time period, most of the complaints we recei ed from iewers were concerned with the station"s co erage of weather and local news. 7n addition, se eral local businesses that used to run ad ertisements during our late%night news program ha e *ust cancelled their ad ertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more iewers to our news programs and to a oid losing any further ad ertising re enues, we should e'pand the co erage of weather and local news on all our news programs.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is part of a letter from the Brookfree !chool Board. #As part of our new educational reform program, we identified ten schools most in need of immediate impro ement. An ad isory committee is now recommending that we hire consultants to study further the schools" problems and to propose a plan of action. ,nly two years ago, howe er, another group of consultants determined that se eral schools in our district had problems because their principals were ine'perienced. Thus, if we want to see immediate impro ement in our schools and sa e the district the money it would spend on hiring more consultants, we should replace all the principals in the ten worst schools with ten of our most e'perienced principals in the district.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in the 5ason +ity newspaper. #At present, 5ason +ity residents seldom use the nearby 5ason Ri er for any kind of recreational acti ity, e en though sur eys of the region"s residents consistently rank water sports Eswimming, fishing, and boatingF as a fa orite form of recreation. !ince there ha e been complaints about the &uality of the water in the ri er, residents must be a oiding the ri er because they think that it is not clean enough. But that situation is about to change) the agency responsible for ri ers in our region has announced plans to clean up 5ason Ri er. Therefore, recreational use of the ri er is likely to increase, so the 5ason +ity council will need to increase its budget for impro ements to the publicly owned lands along the 5ason Ri er.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following report appeared in a memo from the ice president of the !outhside Transportation Authority.

#We should abandon our current fi e%year plan to purchase additional buses to ser e the campus of !outhside ?ni ersity, because students there are unlikely to use them. +onsider the results of the recent campaign sponsored by the En ironmental +lub at !outhside ?ni ersity) in a program on the campus radio station, the club asked students to call in and pledge that they would commute to school by bus instead of by automobile at least one day per week. ,nly ten percent of the students called in and pledged. 7n iew of the campaign"s lack of success, we can assume that the bus ser ice we currently offer will continue to be sufficient to ser e the uni ersity.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of an educational publication. #,ne study at 8ee ?ni ersity found that first%semester grades of teenage students who had always attended public, ta'%supported schools were slightly lower than the grades of students who had recei ed some home schooling instruction by parents at home, although the grade differences disappeared in the second semester. These results suggest that home schooling is the best way to educate teenage children. Therefore, instead of spending more money on public education, the go ernment should pro ide financial incenti es so that home schooling is an option for more parents. After all, children schooled at home recei e more attention, since they are taught by the best possible teacher) a parent who has a high stake in educating them well.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a report of the +ommittee on $aculty ;romotions and !alaries at Elm +ity ?ni ersity. #:uring her se enteen years as a professor of botany, ;rofessor Thomas has pro ed herself to be well worth her annual salary of /1.,.... 9er classes are among the largest at the uni ersity, demonstrating her popularity among students. 5oreo er, the money she has brought to the uni ersity in research grants has e'ceeded her salary in each of the last two years. Therefore, in consideration of ;rofessor Thomas" demonstrated teaching and research abilities, we recommend that she recei e a /0.,... raise and a promotion to :epartment +hairperson@ without such a raise and promotion, we fear that ;rofessor Thomas will lea e Elm +ity ?ni ersity for another college.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter distributed at a recent political rally. #, er the past year, the +onsolidated +opper +ompany E+++F has purchased o er one million s&uare miles of land in the tropical nation of West $redonia. 5ining copper on this land will ine itably result in pollution and en ironmental disaster, since West $redonia is home to se eral endangered animal species. But such disaster can be pre ented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with +++"s copper until the company abandons its mining plans.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The article entitled "Eating 7ron" in last month"s issue of Eating for 9ealth reported that a recent study found a correlation between high le els of iron in the diet and an increased risk of heart disease. $urther, it is well established that there is a link between large amounts of red meat in the diet and heart disease, and red meat is high in iron. ,n the basis of the study and the well%established link between red meat and heart disease, we can conclude that the correlation between high iron le els and heart disease, then, is most probably a function of the correlation between red meat and heart disease. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a national newspaper. #3our recent article on corporate downsi4ingL in the ?nited !tates is misleading. The article gi es the mistaken impression that many competent workers who lost *obs as a

result of downsi4ing face serious economic hardship, often for years, before finding other suitable employment. But this impression is contradicted by a recent report on the ?nited !tates economy, which found that since 0CC- far more *obs ha e been created than ha e been eliminated. The report also demonstrates that many of those who lost their *obs ha e found new employment. Two%thirds of the newly created *obs ha e been in industries that tend to pay abo e%a erage wages, and the ast ma*ority of these *obs are full%time.# :ownsi4ing is the process in which corporations deliberately reduce the number of their employees. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% According to a poll of -.. charitable organi4ations, donations of money to nonprofit groups increased by nearly -1 percent last year, though not all charities gained e&ually. Religious groups gained the most E2. percentF, followed by en ironmental groups E-2 percentF, whereas educational institutions e'perienced only a ery small increase in donations E2 percentF. This poll indicates that more people are willing and able to gi e money to charities but that funding for education is not a priority for most people. These differences in donation rates must result from the perception that educational institutions are less in need of donations than are other kinds of institutions. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A new study collected data that shows that people who snore are more likely to gain weight than are people who do not snore. 7t is well known that many people who snore also stop breathing fre&uently during the night for a few seconds, a condition called sleep apnea. The interruption of breathing wakes the person>often so briefly that the waking goes unnoticed>and can lea e the person too tired during the day to e'ercise. Anyone who snores, therefore, should try to eat less than the a erage person and to e'ercise more. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper. #The librarians in our town"s school system ha e reported that the number of trips that our students make to their school library on a oluntary basis has decreased significantly in recent years. $or e'ample, the a erage se enth%grade student isited the school library fi e times last year, but four of those isits were part of re&uired classroom acti ities. This shows that our students are reading less than in the past. To address this problem, our town needs to impro e the atmosphere of the libraries so that they will be comfortable places in which to work. 7f students iew the libraries as uncomfortable, then they are unlikely to want to spend much time there.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in a business maga4ine. #Although the sales of Whirlwind ideo games ha e declined o er the past two years, a recent sur ey of ideo%game players suggests that this sales trend is about to be re ersed. The sur ey asked ideo%game players what features they thought were most important in a ideo game. According to the sur ey, players prefer games that pro ide lifelike graphics, which re&uire the most up%to%date computers. Whirlwind has *ust introduced se eral such games with an e'tensi e ad ertising campaign directed at people 0. to -1 years old, the age%group most likely to play ideo games. 7t follows, then, that the sales of Whirlwind ideo games are likely to increase dramatically in the ne't few months.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of 5onroetown"s local newspaper. #5ayor Brown was recently re%elected by a clear ma*ority of 1- percent of 5onroetown"s oters. 9er re%election, howe er, does not show that most people in our town fa ored 5ayor Brown"s proposal for ta' reduction o er that of her opponent, 5r. Greene, who proposed raising ta'es to impro e education. 7t has been shown that oters nationwide

tend to re%elect people already in office, regardless of candidates" proposals. 7n fact, a local sur ey after the election showed most people in 5onroetown disagreed with 5ayor Brown"s proposal. +learly most people in 5onroetown fa or impro ing education and therefore appro e of 5r. Greene"s proposal despite the fact that they did not ote for him.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memorandum from the director of personnel to the president of Get% Away Airlines. #!ince our mechanics are responsible for inspecting and maintaining our aircraft, Get% Away Airlines should pay to send them to the Muality%+are !eminar, a two%week seminar on proper maintenance procedures. 7 recommend this seminar because it is likely to be a wise in estment, gi en that the automobile racing industry recently reported that the performance of its maintenance crews impro ed markedly after their crews had attended the seminar. These maintenance crews perform many of the same functions as do our mechanics, including refueling and repairing engines. The money we spend on sending our staff to the seminar will ine itably lead to impro ed maintenance and thus to greater customer satisfaction along with greater profits for our airline.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of an en ironmental maga4ine. #The decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide clearly indicates the global pollution of water and air. Two studies of amphibians in 3osemite (ational ;ark in +alifornia confirm my conclusion. 7n 0C01 there were se en species of amphibians in the park, and there were abundant numbers of each species. 9owe er, in 0CC- there were only four species of amphibians obser ed in the park, and the numbers of each species were drastically reduced. The decline in 3osemite has been blamed on the introduction of trout into the park"s waters, which began in 0C-. Etrout are known to eat amphibian eggsF. But the introduction of trout cannot be the real reason for the 3osemite decline because it does not e'plain the worldwide decline.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of the Atticus +ity newspaper. #$ormer 5ayor :urant owes an apology to the city of Atticus. Both the damage to the Ri er Bridge, which connects Atticus to 9artley, and the traffic problems we ha e long e'perienced on the bridge were actually caused -. years ago by :urant. After all, he is the one who appro ed the construction of the bridge. 7f he had appro ed a wider and better%designed bridge, on which appro'imately the same amount of public money would ha e been spent, none of the damage or problems would ha e occurred. 7nstead, the Ri er Bridge has deteriorated far more rapidly o er the past -. years than has the much longer :erby Bridge up the ri er. E en though the winters ha e been se ere in the past se eral years, this is no e'cuse for the negligence and wastefulness of :urant.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the head of the tourism bureau on the island of Tria. #Erosion of beach sand along the shores of Tria 7sland is a serious threat to our island and our tourist industry. 7n order to stop the erosion, we should charge people for using the beaches. Although this solution may annoy a few tourists in the short term, it will reduce the number of people using the beaches and will raise money for replenishing the sand. Replenishing the sand, as was done to protect buildings on the nearby island of Batia, will help protect buildings along our shores, thereby reducing these buildings" risk of additional damage from se ere storms. And since the areas along the shore will be more attracti e as a result, the beaches will be preser ed and the area"s tourist industry will impro e o er the long term.#

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is from an editorial in the 5id ale ,bser er, a local newspaper. #E er since the 0C1."s, when tele ision sets began to appear in the a erage home, the rate of crimes committed by teenagers in the country of Alta has steadily increased. This increase in teenage crime parallels the increase in iolence shown on tele ision. According to se eral national studies, e en ery young children who watch a great number of tele ision shows featuring iolent scenes display more iolent beha ior within their home en ironment than do children who do not watch iolent shows. $urthermore, in a sur ey conducted by the ,bser er, o er C. percent of the respondents were parents who indicated that prime%time tele ision>programs that are shown between D p.m. and C p.m.>should show less iolence. Therefore, in order to lower the rate of teenage crime in Alta, tele ision iewers should demand that tele ision programmers reduce the amount of iolence shown during prime time.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of a health and fitness maga4ine. #7n a study of the effects of e'ercise on longe ity, medical researchers tracked 1.. middle%aged men o er a -.%year period. The sub*ects represented a ariety of occupations in se eral different parts of the country and responded to an annual sur ey in which they were asked) 9ow often and how strenuously do you e'erciseN ,f those who responded, the men who reported that they engaged in igorous outdoor e'ercise nearly e ery day li ed longer than the men who reported that they e'ercised mildly only once or twice a week. Gi en the clear link that this study establishes between longe ity and e'ercise, doctors should not recommend moderate e'ercise to their patients but should instead encourage igorous outdoor e'ercise on a daily basis.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. #Too much emphasis is placed on the de elopment of reading skills in elementary school. 5any students who are discouraged by the lonely acti ity of reading turn away from schoolwork merely because they are poor readers. But books recorded on audiocassette tape pro ide an important alternati e for students at this crucial stage in their education, one the school board should not re*ect merely because of the e'pense in ol ed. After all, many studies attest to the alue of allowing students to hear books read aloud@ there is e en e idence that students whose parents read to them are e en more likely to become able readers. Thus, hearing books on tape can only make students more eager to read and to learn. Therefore, the school board should encourage schools to buy books on tape and to use them in elementary education.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is taken from an ad ertisement placed in a weekly business maga4ine by the :ickens Academy. #We distributed a sur ey to senior management at 7nternational 5ega%;ublishing, 7nc. The result of the sur ey clearly indicates that many employees were well prepared in business knowledge and computer skills, but lacked interpersonal skills to interact gracefully with customers. 7nternational 5ega%;ublishing decided to impro e customer satisfaction by sending their newly hired employees to our one%day seminars. !ince taking ad antage of our program, 7nternational 5ega%;ublishing has seen a sharp increase in sales, an indication that the number of their disgruntled customers has declined significantly. 3our company should hire :ickens and let us turn e ery employee into an ambassador for your company.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

#As a local merchant, 7 wish to support the de elopment of a ski resort in the state park north of our township. Along with many other merchants who fa or the proposal by !ki the !lopes, 7ncorporated, 7 would, of course, e'perience a growth in my business. But 7 also know how much more prosperous, not to mention li ely and interesting, our community would be if tourism increased. !ince the main opposition comes from a few en ironmentalistsL who do not e en li e in this community, 7 see no reason to gi e in to their iews. The $irst (ational Bank has finally researched the pro*ect and agreed to fund it. As a result, 7 see no reason to delay de elopment of the resort.# En ironmentalists are people who ad ocate the preser ation of the natural en ironment. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The Trash%!ite !afety +ouncil has recently conducted a statewide study of possible harmful effects of garbage sites on the health of people li ing near the sites. A total of fi e sites and 2.. people were e'amined. The study re ealed, on a erage, only a small statistical correlation between the pro'imity of homes to garbage sites and the incidence of une'plained rashes among people li ing in these homes. $urthermore, although it is true that people li ing near the largest trash sites had a slightly higher incidence of the rashes, there was otherwise no correlation between the si4e of the garbage sites and people"s health. Therefore, the council is pleased to announce that the current system of garbage sites does not pose a significant health ha4ard. We see no need to restrict the si4e of such sites in our state or to place any restrictions on the number of homes built near the sites. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The nation of +laria co ers a ast physical area. But despite wide geographic differences, many citi4ens are e'periencing rising costs of electricity. A recent study of household electric costs in +laria found that families who cooled their houses with fans alone spent more on electricity than did families using air conditioners alone for cooling. 9owe er, those households that reported using both fans and air conditioners spent less on electricity than those households that used either fans or air conditioners alone. Thus, the citi4ens of +laria should follow the study"s recommendation and use both air conditioners and fans in order to sa e money on electricity. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% As people grow older, an en4yme known as ;E; increasingly breaks down the neuropeptide chemicals in ol ed in learning and memory. But now, researchers ha e found compounds that pre ent ;E; from breaking neuropeptides apart. 7n tests, these compounds almost completely restored lost memory in rats. The use of these compounds should be e'tended to students who ha e poor memory and difficulty in concentrating> and therefore serious problems in school performance. !cience finally has a solution for problems neither parents nor teachers could sol e. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 7n a study of reading habits of 8ee ille citi4ens conducted by the ?ni ersity of 8ee ille, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. 9owe er, a follow%up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most fre&uently checked out of each of the public libraries in 8ee ille was the mystery no el. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A recent study shows that people li ing on the continent of (orth America suffer C times more chronic fatigue and 20 times more chronic depression than do people li ing on the continent of Asia. 7nterestingly, Asians, on a erage, eat -. grams of soy per day, whereas (orth Americans eat irtually none. 7t turns out that soy contains phytochemicals called

isofla ones, which ha e been found to possess disease%pre enting properties. Thus, (orth Americans should consider eating soy on a regular basis as a way of pre enting fatigue and depression. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is taken from the editorial section of the local newspaper in Rockingham. #7n order to sa e a considerable amount of money, Rockingham"s century%old town hall should be torn down and replaced by the larger and more energy%efficient building that some citi4ens ha e proposed. The old town hall is too small to comfortably accommodate the number of people who are employed by the town. 7n addition, it is ery costly to heat the old hall in winter and cool it in summer. The new, larger building would be more energy efficient, costing less per s&uare foot to heat and cool than the old hall. $urthermore, it would be possible to rent out some of the space in the new building, thereby generating income for the town of Rockingham.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% +laitown ?ni ersity needs both affordable housing for its students and a way to fund the building of such housing. The best solution to this problem is to commission a famous architect known for e'perimental and futuristic buildings. 7t is common knowledge that tourists are willing to pay money to tour some of the architect"s buildings, so it can be e'pected that tourists will want to isit this new building. The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon co er the building costs. $urthermore, such a building will attract new students as well as donations from alumni. And e en though such a building will be much larger than our current need for student housing, part of the building can be used as office space. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a business maga4ine. #As a result of numerous consumer complaints of di44iness and nausea, ;romofoods re&uested that eight million cans of tuna be returned for testing last year. ;romofoods concluded that the cans did not, after all, contain chemicals that posed a health risk. This conclusion is based on the fact that the chemists from ;romofoods tested samples of the recalled cans and found that, of the eight chemicals most commonly blamed for causing symptoms of di44iness and nausea, fi e were not found in any of the tested cans. The chemists did find that the three remaining suspected chemicals are naturally found in all other kinds of canned foods.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a local newspaper. #;eople should not be misled by the ad ertising competition between +olde' and +old% Away, both popular o er%the%counter cold medications that anyone can purchase without a doctor"s prescription. Each brand is accusing the other of causing some well%known, unwanted side effect) +olde' is known to contribute to e'isting high blood pressure and +old%Away is known to cause drowsiness. But the choice should be clear for most health% conscious people) +old%Away has been on the market for much longer and is used by more hospitals than is +olde'. +learly, +old%Away is more effecti e.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A folk remedyL for insomnia, the scent in la ender flowers, has now been pro ed effecti e. 7n a recent study, 2. olunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on la ender%scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. :uring the first week, olunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. :uring the second week, the olunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they slept less soundly than the pre ious week and felt e en more tired. :uring the third week, the olunteers slept longer and more

soundly than in the pre ious two weeks. This shows that o er a short period of time la ender cures insomnia. A folk remedy is usually a plant%based form of treatment common to traditional forms of medicine, ones that de eloped before the ad ent of modern medical ser ices and technology. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Typically, as people age, their bone mass decreases, making them more ulnerable to bone fractures. A recent study concludes that the most effecti e way to reduce the risk of fractures in later life is to take twice the recommended dose of itamin : and calcium daily. The three%year study followed a group of $rench women in their eighties who were nursing%home residents. The women were gi en daily supplements of twice the recommended dose of itamin : and calcium. 7n addition, the women participated in a light weightlifting program. After three years, these women showed a much lower rate of hip fractures than is a erage for their age. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter from a department chairperson to the president of ;ierce ?ni ersity. #!ome studies conducted by Bronston +ollege, which is also located in a small town, re eal that both male and female professors are happier li ing in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same geographic area. Therefore, in the interest of attracting the most gifted teachers and researchers to our faculty and impro ing the morale of our entire staff, we at ;ierce ?ni ersity should offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member we hire. Although we cannot e'pect all offers to be accepted or to be iewed as an ideal *ob offer, the money in ested in this effort will clearly be well spent because, if their spouses ha e a chance of employment, new professors will be more likely to accept our offers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% $or the past fi e years, consumers in +alifornia ha e been willing to pay twice as much for oysters from the northeastern Atlantic +oast as for Gulf +oast oysters. This trend began shortly after harmful bacteria were found in a few raw Gulf +oast oysters. But scientists ha e now de ised a process for killing the bacteria. ,nce consumers are made aware of the increased safety of Gulf +oast oysters, they are likely to be willing to pay as much for Gulf +oast as for northeastern Atlantic +oast oysters, and greater profits for Gulf +oast oyster producers will follow. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the marketing director of Bargain Brand +ereals. #,ne year ago we introduced our first product, "Bargain Brand" breakfast cereal. ,ur ery low prices &uickly drew many customers away from the top%selling cereal companies. Although the companies producing the top brands ha e since tried to compete with us by lowering their prices, and although se eral plan to introduce their own budget brands, not once ha e we needed to raise our prices to continue making a profit. Gi en our success selling cereal, Bargain Brand should now e'pand its business and begin marketing other low%priced food products as &uickly as possible.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The 5o4art !chool of 5usic should ob iously be the first choice of any music student aware of its reputation. $irst of all, the 5o4art !chool stresses intensi e practice and training, so that students typically begin their training at a ery young age. !econd, the school has ample facilities and up%to%date professional e&uipment, and its faculty includes some of the most distinguished music teachers in the world. $inally, many 5o4art

graduates ha e gone on to be the best known and most highly paid musicians in the nation. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memorandum issued by the publisher of a newsmaga4ine, (ewsbeat, in the country of :inn. #,ur poorest%selling maga4ine issues o er the past three years were those that featured international news stories on their front co ers. , er the same period, competing news% maga4ines ha e significantly decreased the number of co er stories that they de ote to international news. 5oreo er, the cost of maintaining our foreign bureaus to report on international news is increasing. Therefore, we should decrease our emphasis on international news and refrain from displaying such stories on our maga4ine co ers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following recommendation was made by the president and administrati e staff of Gro e +ollege, a pri ate institution, to the college"s go erning committee. #We recommend that Gro e +ollege preser e its century%old tradition of all%female education rather than admit men into its programs. 7t is true that a ma*ority of faculty members oted in fa or of coeducation, arguing that it would encourage more students to apply to Gro e. But eighty percent of the students responding to a sur ey conducted by the student go ernment wanted the school to remain all female, and o er half of the alumni who answered a separate sur ey also opposed coeducation. Aeeping the college all%female, therefore, will impro e morale among students and con ince alumni to keep supporting the college financially.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the school board in the town of +enter ille. #All students should be re&uired to take the dri er"s education course at +enter ille 9igh !chool. 7n the past two years se eral accidents in and around +enter ille ha e in ol ed teenage dri ers. !ince a number of parents in +enter ille ha e complained that they are too busy to teach their teenagers to dri e, some other instruction is necessary to ensure that these teenagers are safe dri ers. Although there are two dri ing schools in +enter ille, parents on a tight budget cannot afford to pay for dri ing instruction. Therefore an effecti e and mandatory program sponsored by the high school is the only solution to this serious problem.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memorandum from the sales director to the president of the 9ealthy% and%Good food company. #A recent study indicates that 6enadial, a new margarine currently produced only in the country of Alta, actually reduces cholesterol le els. :eri ed from the resin of pine trees, 6enadial works by acti ating a metabolic response that is not yet well understood. 9owe er, cholesterol le els fell ten to fifteen percent among participants in the study who consumed 6enadial daily, and the risk of heart attack by one%third. 7n addition, the new margarine is so popular that stores in Alta are unable to keep it on their shel es. Therefore, if our company obtains the e'clusi e right to sell 6enadial internationally, our profits are sure to increase substantially within a ery short time.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter that recently appeared in the ,ak +ity Ga4ette, a local newspaper. #5embership in ,ak +ity"s +i ic +lub>a club whose primary ob*ecti e is to discuss local issues>should continue to be restricted to people who li e in ,ak +ity. ;eople who work in ,ak +ity but who li e elsewhere cannot truly understand the business and politics of the city. 7t is important to restrict membership to city residents because only

residents pay city ta'es and therefore only residents understand how the money could best be used to impro e the city. At any rate, restricting membership in this way is unlikely to disappoint many of the nonresidents employed in ,ak +ity, since neighboring Elm +ity"s +i ic +lub has always had an open membership policy, and only twenty%fi e nonresidents ha e *oined Elm +ity"s +lub in the last ten years.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the annual report from the president of the (ational Brush +ompany. #7n order to sa e money, we at the (ational Brush +ompany ha e decided to pay our employees for each brush they produce instead of for the time they spend producing brushes. We belie e that this policy will lead to the production of more and better brushes, will allow us to reduce our staff si4e, and will enable the company factories to operate for fewer hours>resulting in sa ings on electricity and security costs. These changes will ensure that the best workers keep their *obs and that the company will earn a profit in the coming year.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a memorandum written by the director of personnel to the president of the +edar +orporation. #7t would be a mistake to rehire the Good%Taste +ompany to supply the food in our employee cafeteria ne't year. 7t is the second most e'pensi e caterer in the city. 7n addition, its prices ha e risen in each of the last three years, and it refuses to pro ide meals for people on special diets. Just last month three employees complained to me that they no longer eat in the cafeteria because they find the e'perience "unbearable." ,ur company should instead hire :iscount $oods. :iscount is a family%owned local company and it offers a aried menu of fish and poultry. 7 recently tasted a sample lunch at one of the many companies that :iscount ser es and it was delicious>an indication that hiring :iscount will lead to impro ed employee satisfaction.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme ;ublishing +ompany. #5any other companies ha e recently stated that ha ing their employees take the Easy Read !peed%Reading +ourse has greatly impro ed producti ity. ,ne graduate of the course was able to read a fi e%hundred%page report in only two hours@ another graduate rose from an assistant manager to ice president of the company in under a year. ,b iously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. 5oreo er, Easy Read costs only /1.. per employee>a small price to pay when you consider the benefits to Acme. 7ncluded in this fee is a three%week seminar in !pruce +ity and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. +learly, Acme would benefit greatly by re&uiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% $rom a letter to the editor of a city newspaper. #,ne recent research study has indicated that many adolescents need more sleep than they are getting, and another study has shown that many high school students in our city are actually dissatisfied with their own academic performance. As a way of combating these problems, the high schools in our city should begin classes at <)2. A.5. instead of D)2. A.5., and end the school day an hour later. This arrangement will gi e students an e'tra hour of sleep in the morning, thereby making them more alert and more producti e. +onse&uently, the students will perform better on tests and other assignments, and their academic skills will impro e significantly.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Butter has now been replaced by margarine in 9appy ;ancake 9ouse restaurants throughout the southwestern ?nited !tates. ,nly about - percent of customers ha e complained, indicating that C< people out of 0.. are happy with the change. $urthermore, many ser ers ha e reported that a number of customers who still ask for butter do not complain when they are gi en margarine instead. +learly, either these customers cannot distinguish margarine from butter, or they use the term #butter# to refer to either butter or margarine. Thus, to a oid the e'pense of purchasing butter, the 9appy ;ancake 9ouse should e'tend this cost%sa ing change to its restaurants in the southeast and northeast as well. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 5any employees of ma*or ?nited !tates corporations are fearful that they will lose their *obs in the near future, but this fear is largely unfounded. According to a recent study, a ma*ority of companies e'pected to make new hires in the coming year, while fewer companies e'pected to lay off employees. 7n addition, although it is ery disturbing to be laid off, the proliferation of programs and of workshops designed to impro e *ob%finding skills has made being laid off far less painful than it once was. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 7n the Bayhead ;ublic 8ibrary, books that are rarely borrowed continue to take up shelf space year after year, while people who want to read a recent no el fre&uently find that the library"s only copy is checked out. +learly, the library"s plan to replace books that are borrowed no more than once a year with sufficient copies of more recent books will sol e this problem. The protest we ha e heard since this plan was made public has come from a small, and thus unrepresentati e, group of some thirty people and so should therefore be ignored. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the !unnyside Towers apartment building to its manager. #,ne month ago, all the showerheads on the first fi e floors of !unnyside Towers were modified to restrict the water flow to appro'imately 0O2 of its original force. Although actual readings of water usage before and after the ad*ustment are not yet a ailable, the change will ob iously result in a considerable sa ings for !unnyside +orporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. E'cept for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers ha e been reported since the ad*ustment. +learly, restricting water flow throughout all the -. floors of !unnyside Towers will increase our profits further.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the director of personnel to the president of ;rofessional ;rinting +ompany. #7n a recent telephone sur ey of automobile factory workers, older employees were less likely to report that ha ing a super isor present increases their producti ity. Among workers aged 0< to -C, -D percent said that they are more producti e in the presence of their immediate super isor, compared to 0- percent for those aged 2. or o er, and only < percent for those aged 1. or o er. +learly, if our printing company hires mainly older employees, we will increase producti ity and sa e money because of the reduced need for super isors.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of an article in a health maga4ine. #A new disco ery warrants a drastic change in the diets of people li ing in the ?nited !tates. Two scientists ha e recently suggested that omega %2 fatty acids Efound in some fish and fish oilsF play a key role in mental health. ,ur ancestors, who ate less saturated

fat and more polyunsaturated fat, including omega %2 fatty acids, were much less likely to suffer from depression than we are today. 5oreo er, modern societies>such as those in Japan and Taiwan>that consume large &uantities of fish report depression rates lower than that in the ?nited !tates. Gi en this link between omega %2 fatty acids and depression, it is important for all people in the ?nited !tates to increase their consumption of fish in order to pre ent depression.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A new report suggests that men and women e'perience pain ery differently from one another, and that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. When researchers administered the same dosage of kappa opioids>a painkiller>to -< men and -. women who were ha ing their wisdom teeth e'tracted, the women reported feeling much less pain than the men, and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This research suggests that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whene er pain medication is re&uired, whereas men should be gi en other kinds of pain medication. 7n addition, researchers should ree aluate the effects of all medications on men ersus women. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a recommendation from the dean at $oley +ollege, a small liberal arts college, to the president of the college. #!ince college%bound students are increasingly concerned about *ob prospects after graduation, $oley +ollege should attempt to increase enrollment by promising to find its students *obs after they graduate. 5any administrators feel that this strategy is a way for $oley to compete against larger and more prestigious schools and to encourage students to begin preparing for careers as soon as they enter college. $urthermore, a student who must choose a career path within his or her first year of college and who is guaranteed a *ob after graduation is more likely to successfully complete the coursework that will prepare him or her for the future.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of the Glen ille Ga4ette, a local newspaper. #, er the past few years, the number of people who ha e purchased ad ance tickets for the Glen ille !ummer +oncert series has declined, indicating lack of community support. Although the weather has been unpredictable in the past few years, this cannot be the reason for the decline in ad ance ticket purchases, because many people attended the concerts e en in bad weather. +learly, then, the reason for the decline is the choice of music, so the organi4ers of the concert should feature more modern music in the future and should be sure to include music composed by Richerts, whose recordings Glen ille residents purchase more often than any other contemporary recordings. This strategy will undoubtedly increase ad ance ticket purchases and will increase attendance at the concerts.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter from a professor at Panadu +ollege to the college"s president. #The de elopment of an e'tensi e computer%based long%distance learning program will enhance the reputation of Panadu +ollege. This program would allow more students to enroll in our courses, thereby increasing our income from student tuition. Traditional courses could easily be adapted for distance learners, as was shown by the adaptation of two traditional courses for our distance learning trial pro*ect last year. Also, by using computer programs and taped lectures, faculty will ha e fewer classroom obligations and more time to engage in e'tensi e research, thereby enhancing the reputation of Panadu.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of the Rose ille Ga4ette.

#:espite opposition from some residents of West Rose ille, the arguments in fa or of merging the townships of Rose ille and West Rose ille are o erwhelming. $irst, residents in both townships are confused about which authority to contact when they need a ser ice@ for e'ample, the police department in Rose ille recei es many calls from residents of West Rose ille. This sort of confusion would be eliminated with the merger. !econd, the sa ings in administrati e costs would be enormous, since ser ices would no longer be duplicated) we would ha e only one fire chief, one ta' department, one mayor, and so on. And no *obs in city go ernment would be lost>employees could simply be reassigned. 5ost importantly, the merger will undoubtedly attract business in estments as it did when the townships of 9amden and (orth 9amden merged ten years ago.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The :epartment of Education in the state of Attra recommends that high school students be assigned homework e ery day. 3et a recent statewide sur ey of high school math and science teachers calls the usefulness of daily homework into &uestion. 7n the district of !anlee, <I percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to fi e times a week, whereas in the district of 5arlee, less than -1 percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to fi e times a week. 3et the students in 5arlee earn better grades o erall and are less likely to be re&uired to repeat a year of school than are the students in !anlee. Therefore, all teachers in our high schools should assign homework no more than twice a week, if at all. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% A recent study suggests that people who are left%handed are more likely to succeed in business than are right%handed people. Researchers studied photographs of 0,... prominent business e'ecuti es and found that -0 percent of these e'ecuti es wrote with their left hand. !o the percentage of prominent business e'ecuti es who are left%handed E-0 percentF is almost twice the percentage of people in the general population who are left%handed E00 percentF. Thus, people who are left%handed would be well ad ised to pursue a career in business, whereas people who are right%handed would be well ad ised to imitate the business practices e'hibited by left%handers. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter from an editor at 8iber ;ublishing +ompany to the company"s president. #7n recent years, 8iber has unfortunately mo ed away from its original mission) to publish the works of regional small%town authors instead of those of big%city authors. Just last year, C. percent of the no els we published were written by authors who maintain a residence in a big city. Although this change must ha e been intended to increase profits, it has ob iously backfired, because 8iber is now in serious financial trouble. The only way to address this problem is to return to our original mission. 7f we return to publishing only the works of regional small%town authors, our financial troubles will soon be resol ed.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% !adly, widespread negati e images of businesspeople ha e been created in large part by tele ision. +onsider the fact that, although they make up a mere 0. percent of the characters in dramatic roles on tele ision, businesspeople are responsible for about one% fifth of all the crime on tele ision shows. 7n fact, in a recent sur ey of tele ision producers, only 21 percent of the tele ision roles for businesspeople were iewed as positi e ones. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a recommendation made by a faculty member to the president of a large uni ersity.

#(e er once in our 01.%year history as a uni ersity ha e we clarified our ob*ecti es. 9ow, then, can we hope to adapt as an institution to the new challenges facing higher education. As a first step in this e olutionary process, therefore, we should send out &uestionnaires asking faculty members why they teach, asking students what they want from this uni ersity, and asking former students what they gained from their own education here. When the replies come in, we can tabulate them and formulate an official statement of our educational mission. This will surely result in impro ed programs at our uni ersity.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There is a general idea that a translation always fails to preser e some of the &ualities that distinguish the original work>i.e., that "something always gets lost in translation." Writers, critics, and the general reading public unthinkingly accept this clichG. But this belief is unwarranted) translators are sometimes distinguished authors themsel es, and some authors may e en translate their own works. As the translator pointed out in the preface to an English ersion of :ante"s works, the iolin and the piano make different sounds, but they can play what is recogni4ably the same piece of music. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There is a general idea that waiters and waitresses are more likely to recei e larger gratuities from large groups of people. A recent research study suggests this is not true. The researchers e'amined the relationship between the si4e of tips in restaurants and the number of meals charged on the bill. They found that, while most tips were around 01 percent, the minimum percentage considered appropriate, people dining alone tipped consistently more E0C percentF and those dining in groups of four or more tipped considerably less E02 percentF than this 01 percent standard. These results strongly suggest that people dining in a group are less likely to feel personally responsible for lea ing an ade&uate or generous tip. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% !tatistics collected from dentists indicate that three times more men than women faint while isiting the dentist. This e idence suggests that men are more likely to be distressed about ha ing dental work done than women are. Thus, dentists who ad ertise to attract patients should target the male consumer and emphasi4e both the effecti eness of their anesthetic techni&ues and the sensiti ity of their staff to ner ous or suffering patients. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The citi4ens of $orsythe ha e adopted healthier lifestyles. Their responses to a recent sur ey show that in their eating habits they conform more closely to go ernment nutritional recommendations than they did ten years ago. $urthermore, there has been a fourfold increase in sales of food products containing kiran, a substance that a scientific study has shown reduces cholesterol. This trend is also e ident in reduced sales of sulia, a food that few of the healthiest citi4ens regularly eat. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 9umans arri ed in the Aaliko 7slands about D,... years ago, and within 2,... years most of the large mammal species that had li ed in the forests of the Aaliko 7slands had become e'tinct. 3et humans cannot ha e been a factor in the species" e'tinctions, because there is no e idence that the humans had any significant contact with the mammals. $urther, archaeologists ha e disco ered numerous sites where the bones of fish had been discarded, but they found no such areas containing the bones of large mammals, so the humans cannot ha e hunted the mammals. Therefore, some climate change or other en ironmental factor must ha e caused the species" e'tinctions. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The following appeared in a newspaper feature story. #At the small, nonprofit hospital in the town of !aluda, the a erage length of a patient"s stay is two days@ at the large, for%profit hospital in the nearby city of 5ega ille, the a erage patient stay is si' days. Also, the cure rate among patients in the !aluda hospital is about twice that of the 5ega ille hospital. The !aluda hospital has more employees per patient than the hospital in 5ega ille, and there are few complaints about ser ice at the local hospital. !uch data indicate that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better &uality than treatment in larger, for%profit hospitals.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a farming publication. #With continuing publicity about the need for healthful diets, and with new research about the harmful effects of eating too much sugar, nationwide demand for sugar will no doubt decline. Therefore, farmers in our state should use the land on which they currently grow sugar cane to grow peanuts, a food that is rich in protein and low in sugar. $armers in the neighboring country of ;alin greatly increased their production of peanuts last year, and their total re enues from that crop were &uite high.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a recommendation from the president of Amburg"s +hamber of +ommerce. #8ast ,ctober the city of Belle ille installed high intensity lighting in its central business district, and andalism there declined almost immediately. The city of Amburg has recently begun police patrols on bicycles in its business district but the rate of andalism there remains constant. !ince high intensity lighting is apparently the most effecti e way to combat crime, we should install such lighting throughout Amburg. By reducing crime in this way, we can re itali4e the declining neighborhoods in our city.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the ;ark ille :aily (ewspaper. #Throughout the country last year, as more and more children below the age of nine participated in youth%league softball and soccer, o er <.,... of these young players suffered in*uries. When inter iewed for a recent study, youth%league softball players in se eral ma*or cities also reported psychological pressure from coaches and parents to win games. $urthermore, education e'perts say that long practice sessions for these sports take away time that could be used for academic acti ities. !ince the disad antages apparently outweigh any ad antages, we in ;ark ille should discontinue organi4ed athletic competition for children under nine.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 7t is known that in recent years, industrial pollution has caused the Earth"s o4one layer to thin, allowing an increase in the amount of ultra iolet radiation that reaches the Earth"s surface. At the same time, scientists ha e disco ered, the population of a species of salamander that lays its eggs in mountain lakes has declined. !ince ultra iolet radiation is known to be damaging to delicate tissues and since salamander eggs ha e no protecti e shells, it must be the case that the increase in ultra iolet radiation has damaged many salamander eggs and pre ented them from hatching. This process will no doubt cause population declines in other species, *ust as it has in the salamander species. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the planning department of an electric power company. #!e eral recent sur eys indicate that homeowners are increasingly eager to conser e energy and manufacturers are now marketing many home appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, that are almost twice as energy%efficient as those sold a

decade ago. Also, new technologies for better home insulation and passi e solar heating are readily a ailable to reduce the energy needed for home heating. Therefore, we anticipate that the total demand for electricity in our area will not increase, and may decline slightly. !ince our three electric generating plants in operation for the past -. years ha e always met our needs, construction of new generating plants should not be necessary.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following recommendation was made by the 9uman Resources 5anager to the board of directors of the $ancy Toy +ompany. #7n the last three &uarters of this year, under the leadership of our president, ;at !al o, our profits ha e fallen considerably. Thus, we should ask for her resignation in return for a generous se erance package. 7n ;at"s place, we should appoint Rosa Winnings. Rosa is currently president of !tarlight Jewelry, a company whose profits ha e increased dramatically o er the past se eral years. Although we will ha e to pay Rosa twice the salary that ;at has been recei ing, it will be well worth it because we can soon e'pect our profits to increase considerably.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following is a letter to the editor of a news maga4ine. #+learly, the successful use of robots on missions to e'plore outer space in the past -. years demonstrates that robots could be increasingly used to perform factory work more effecti ely, efficiently, and profitably than human factory workers. The use of robots in factories would offer se eral ad antages. $irst, robots ne er get sick, so absenteeism would be reduced. !econd, robots do not make mistakes, so factories would increase their output. $inally, the use of robots would also impro e the morale of factory workers, since factory work can be so boring that many workers would be glad to shift to more interesting kinds of tasks.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum to faculty from the academic ice president of Waymarsh ?ni ersity. #!o that we can better accomplish Waymarsh ?ni ersity"s academic goals, we should adopt the *ob%opportunity E*ob%opF program offered at ;lateau Technical +ollege and strongly encourage all students at Waymarsh to participate in it. The success of the *ob% op program at ;lateau is e ident) o er the past two years, more than D1B of the freshmen at ;lateau ha e enrolled in the optional *ob%op program. 5oreo er, at ;lateau, the grades of *ob%op students are consistently higher than those of other students, C.B of the *ob%op students recei e *ob offers within a month after their graduation, and most former *ob%op students report much success in their careers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the new president of the ;atriot car manufacturing company. #7n the past, the body styles of ;atriot cars ha e been old%fashioned, and our cars ha e not sold as well as ha e our competitors" cars. But now, since many regions in this country report rapid increases in the numbers of newly licensed dri ers, we should be able to increase our share of the market by selling cars to this growing population. Thus, we should discontinue our oldest models and concentrate instead on manufacturing sporty cars. We can also impro e the success of our marketing campaigns by switching our ad ertising to the 3outh Ad ertising agency, which has successfully promoted the country"s leading soft drink.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The following appeared in a memorandum from the owner of Armchair 6ideo, a chain of ideo rental stores #Because of declining profits, we must reduce operating e'penses at Armchair 6ideo"s ten ideo rental stores. Raising prices is not a good option, since we are famous for our special bargains. 7nstead, we should reduce our operating hours. 8ast month our store in downtown 5arston reduced its hours by closing at I).. ;.5. rather than C).. ;.5. and reduced its o erall in entory by no longer stocking any film released more than two years ago. !ince we ha e recei ed ery few customer complaints about these new policies, we should now adopt them at all other Armchair 6ideo stores as our best strategies for impro ing profits.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 7n each city in the region of Treeha en, the ma*ority of the money spent on go ernment% run public school education comes from ta'es that each city go ernment collects. The region"s cities differ, howe er, in the alue they place on public education. $or e'ample, ;arson +ity typically budgets twice as much money per year as Blue +ity does for its public schools>e en though both cities ha e about the same number of residents. 7t seems clear, therefore, that ;arson +ity residents care more about public school education than do Blue +ity residents. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the Grand iew +ity +ouncil from a local business leader. #:uring last year"s se ere drought, when the water supply in the Grand iew city reser oir fell to an e'tremely low le el, the city council imposed much more rigid water%rationing rules. But *ust after these rules were imposed, industrial growth in the area declined. This clearly shows that the new rationing rules ha e hurt industry in Grand iew. Therefore, to promote the health of the local economy, the city council should now stop water rationing.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a maga4ine article about planning for retirement. #Because of its spectacular natural beauty and consistent climate, +lear iew should be a top choice for anyone seeking a place to retire. As a bonus, housing costs in +lear iew ha e fallen significantly during the past year, and real estate ta'es remain lower than those in neighboring towns. (e ertheless, +lear iew"s mayor promises many new programs to impro e schools, streets, and public ser ices. Retirees in +lear iew can also e'pect e'cellent health care as they grow older, since the number of physicians in the area is far greater than the national a erage.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a brochure promoting the purchase of local franchises for a national chain of gyms. #(ow is the time to in est in a ;ower%8ift Gym franchise so that you can profit from opening one of our gyms in your town. +onsider the current trends) ;ower%8ift Gyms are already popular among customers in 1.. locations, and national sur eys indicate increasing concern with weight loss and physical fitness. $urthermore, last year"s sales of books and maga4ines on personal health totaled more than /1. million, and purchases of home e'ercise e&uipment almost doubled. 7n esting now in a ;ower%8ift Gym franchise will guarantee a &uick profit.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of 9yper%Go Toy +ompany.

#8ast year, sales of our $ierce $ighter toy airplane declined sharply, e en though the toy had been a top seller for three years. ,ur customer sur eys show that parents are now more worried about youthful iolence and are concerned about better education for their children. Therefore, to maintain profits we should discontinue all our action toys and focus e'clusi ely on a new line of educational toys. !e eral other toy companies ha e already begun marketing educational toys and report sales increases last year of -.. percent. And since the a erage family income is growing, sales of new 9yper%Go toys should also increase.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from a ice president of the 5egamart department store chain. #$or the third year in a row, the a erage household income in our country has risen significantly. That prosperity means that families are likely to be spending more time and money on leisure acti ities. 5egamart stores should therefore concentrate on enlarging and promoting its line of products typically used in leisure acti ities) athletic and outdoor e&uipment, tele isions, gourmet cooking e&uipment, and luggage and tra el accessories.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an article in a maga4ine for writers. #A recent study showed that in describing a typical day"s con ersation, people make an a erage of -2 references to watching tele ision and only 0 reference to reading fiction. This result suggests that, compared with the tele ision industry, the publishing and bookselling industries are likely to decline in profitability. Therefore, people who wish to ha e careers as writers should ac&uire training and e'perience in writing for tele ision rather than for print media.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the editorial section of a student newspaper. #7n a recent sur ey, most students who were studying beginning Russian ga e higher course%e aluation ratings to classes taught by non%nati e Russian speakers than to classes taught by nati e Russian speakers. The reason that the non%nati e speakers were better teachers of Russian is easy to see) the non%nati e speakers learned Russian later in life themsel es, and so they ha e a better understanding of how the language can be taught effecti ely. Therefore, in order to impro e instruction for all languages and also sa e money, our uni ersity should hire non%nati e speakers as language instructors instead of trying to find and recruit nati e speakers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following article appeared in a recent issue of a college newspaper. #Among all students who graduated from 9ooper ?ni ersity o er the past fi e years, more physical science ma*ors than social science ma*ors found permanent *obs within a year of graduation. 7n a sur ey of recent 9ooper ?ni ersity graduates, most physical science ma*ors said they belie ed that the prestige of 9ooper ?ni ersity"s physical science programs helped them significantly in finding a *ob. 7n contrast, social science ma*ors who found permanent employment attributed their success to their own personal initiati e. Therefore, to ensure that social science ma*ors find permanent *obs, 9ooper ?ni ersity should offer additional social science courses and hire se eral new faculty members who already ha e national reputations in the social sciences.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in one of +ole ille"s city newspapers. #E en though a high percentage of +ole ille +ity"s businesses failed last year, we who li e in +ole ille +ity should keep in mind the fact that the +ole ille region has attracted a great many new businesses o er the last three years. 7t is well known that new businesses

are, on a erage, much more likely to fail than are long%established ones, so the business failures should not be considered a sign of poor economic health. 7ndeed, many analysts regard the presence of a significant number of new companies among a region"s businesses as a sign of economic health. Thus +ole ille +ity appears to be in good, not poor, economic shape.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a corporate planning memo at AB+ +ereal +ompany, the makers of Better Bran cereal. #!ales of Better Bran ha e declined in recent years, for reasons that management has now identified. $irst, Better Bran is a cereal with high sugar content, and recent research studies ha e found that most consumers say they are concerned about the amount of sugar added to their breakfast cereal. !econd, the price of Better Bran has increased by 1 percent in each of the last three years. Therefore, to increase our company"s profits we need to reduce the amount of sugar in Better Bran and lower Better Bran"s price.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. #:uring her three years in office, Go ernor Riedeburg has shown herself to be a worthy leader. !ince she took office, crime has decreased, the number of *obs created per year has doubled, and the number of people choosing to li e in our state has increased. These trends are likely to continue if she is reelected. 7n addition, 5s. Riedeburg has promised to take steps to keep big companies here, thereby pro iding *obs for any new residents. Anyone who looks at 5s. Riedeburg"s record can tell that she is the best%&ualified candidate for go ernor.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a memo from the manager of an automobile manufacturing company. #Because the demand for our automobiles is e'pected to increase dramatically, we need to open a new manufacturing plant as soon as possible in order to continue to thri e. ,ur marketing pro*ections indicate that <. million people will want to buy our automobiles, yet our e'isting plant can only produce =. million automobiles. The new plant can be opened on a part%time basis, with workers from our e'isting site rotating responsibilities, until an operational staff can be trained. A ma*or airplane manufacturer was e'tremely successful using this part%time rotating strategy when it opened its new plant fi e years ago.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in a local newspaper. #7n order to attract isitors to +entral ;la4a downtown and to return the pla4a to its former glory, the city should prohibit skateboarding there and instead allow skateboarders to use an area in 5onroe ;ark. At +entral ;la4a, skateboard users are about the only people one sees now, and litter and defaced property ha e made the pla4a unattracti e. 7n a recent sur ey of downtown merchants, the ma*ority supported a prohibition on skateboarding in the pla4a. +learly, banning skateboarding in +entral ;la4a will make the area a place where people can congregate for fun or for rela'ation.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter from a political organi4ation. #7n order to promote economic growth in the city, city residents should ote "yes" on the state go ernment"s proposal to build a new e'pressway linking the outlying suburbs directly to the city center. A direct link to the city center will enable downtown businesses to recei e deli eries more fre&uently, so that downtown retailers will no longer run out of stock and city manufacturers will not be affected by shortages of

materials. Booming businesses will attract &ualified workers from all o er the state, workers who will be able to take ad antage of the new e'pressway to commute to work in our city. 7n addition to these ad antages, hundreds of workers will be employed to build the e'pressway, further stimulating the local economyQ# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of a memo from the manager of a ha4ardous%waste disposal company. #,ur new plan will help us better protect our staff against e'posure to to'ic chemicals) we are fitting each new safety suit with an alarm that will sound in the main control booth when the suit is punctured. The control booth will notify the managers on duty, who will then take the necessary steps to ensure employees" safety. 7n addition to the ob ious safety%related benefits, the fast reaction time will ensure minimal work stoppage and thus result in increased worker producti ity and company profitability.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a recommendation from the planning department of the city of Transopolis. #Ten years ago, as part of a comprehensi e urban renewal program, the city of Transopolis adapted for industrial use a large area of se erely substandard housing near the freeway. !ubse&uently, se eral factories were constructed there, crime rates in the area declined, and property ta' re enues for the entire city increased. To further re itali4e the city, we should now take similar action in a declining residential area on the opposite side of the city. !ince some houses and apartments in e'isting nearby neighborhoods are currently unoccupied, alternate housing for those displaced by this action will be readily a ailable.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. #The members of the town school board should not be reelected because they are not concerned about promoting high%&uality education in the arts in our local schools. $or e'ample, student participation in the high school drama club has been declining steadily, and this year the school board refused to renew the contract of the drama director, e en though he had recei ed many awards for his original plays. 5eanwhile, o er /2..,... of the high school budget goes to athletic programs, and the head football coach is now the highest%paid member of the teaching staff.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the sales manager of Eco%;ower, a company that manufactures tools and home appliances. #5any popular radio and tele ision commercials use memorable tunes and song lyrics to call attention to the products being ad ertised. 7ndeed, a recent study of high school students showed that <1 percent could easily recogni4e the tunes used to ad ertise leading soft drinks and fast%food restaurants. :espite our company"s e'tensi e ad ertising in maga4ines during the past year, sales of our home appliances declined. Therefore, to boost company profits, we should now switch to ad ertisements featuring a distincti e song.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the ice president of a company that builds shopping malls throughout the country. #The surface of a section of Route 0.0, pa ed two years ago by 5cAdam Road Builders, is now badly cracked and marred by dangerous potholes. 7n another part of the state, a section of Route II, pa ed by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. Appian Roadways has recently purchased state%of%the%art pa ing machinery,

and it has hired a new &uality%control manager. Because of its superior work and commitment to &uality, we should contract with Appian Roadways rather than 5cAdam Road Builders to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newspaper feature story. #There is now e idence that the rela'ed manner of li ing in small towns promotes better health and greater longe ity than does the hectic pace of life in big cities. Businesses in the small town of 8ee ille report fewer days of sick lea e taken by indi idual workers than do businesses in the nearby large city of 5ason +ity. $urthermore, 8ee ille has only one physician for its one thousand residents, but in 5ason +ity the proportion of physicians to residents is fi e times as high. And the a erage age of 8ee ille residents is significantly higher than that of 5ason +ity residents. These findings suggest that people seeking longer and healthier li es should consider mo ing to small communities.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the general manager of A(,W radio station. #!e eral factors indicate that radio station A(,W should shift its programming from rock%and%roll music to a continuous news format. +onsider, for e'ample, the number of older people in our listening area has increased dramatically, while the total number of our listeners has recently declined. Also, music stores in our area report decreased sales of recorded music. $inally, continuous news stations in neighboring cities ha e been ery successful, and a sur ey taken *ust before the recent election shows that local citi4ens are interested in becoming better informed about politics.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a local !olano newspaper. #The !olano school district should do away with its music education programs. After all, music programs are not especially popular in our schools) only -. percent of our high school students participated in music programs last year. $urthermore, ery few of the !olano district"s college%bound students are interested in ma*oring in music at the uni ersity le el. Also, when the school district of our neighboring town of Rutherford eliminated its music programs two years ago, the o erall grade point a erage in the high school increased by 0. percent the ne't year. !urely the money spent on !olano music programs could be better used to impro e the &uality of traditional academic courses.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as part of an article in a local Beau ille newspaper. #According to a go ernment report, last year the city of :illton reduced its corporate ta' rate by 01 percent@ at the same time, it began offering relocation grants and fa orable rates on city utilities to any company that would relocate to :illton. Within 0< months, two manufacturing companies mo ed to :illton, where they employ a total of 2.. people. Therefore, the fastest way for Beau ille to stimulate economic de elopment and hence reduce unemployment is to pro ide ta' incenti es and other financial inducements that encourage pri ate companies to relocate here.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of 5ira 6ista +ollege to the college"s board of trustees. #At nearby Green 5ountain +ollege, which has more business courses and more *ob counselors than does 5ira 6ista +ollege, C. percent of last year"s graduating seniors had *ob offers from prospecti e employers. But at 5ira 6ista +ollege last year, only D. percent of the seniors who informed the placement office that they would be seeking employment had found full%time *obs within three months after graduation, and only half

of these graduates were employed in their ma*or field of study. To help 5ira 6ista"s graduates find employment, we must offer more courses in business and computer technology and hire additional *ob counselors to help students with their resumGs and inter iewing skills.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in the local newspaper of :alton. #When the neighboring town of Williams ille adopted a curfew four months ago that made it illegal for persons under the age of 0< to loiter or idle in public places after 0. p.m., youth crime in Williams ille dropped by -D percent during curfew hours. 7n Williams ille"s town s&uare, the area where its citi4ens were once most outraged at the high crime rate, not a single crime has been reported since the curfew was introduced. Therefore, to help reduce its own rising crime rate, the town of :alton should adopt the same kind of curfew. A curfew that keeps young people at home late at night will surely control *u enile delin&uency and protect minors from becoming ictims of crime.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo written by a dean at Buckingham +ollege. #To ser e the housing needs of our students, Buckingham +ollege should build a new dormitory. Buckingham"s enrollment is growing and, based on current trends, should double o er the ne't fifty years, thus making e'isting dormitories inade&uate. 5oreo er, the a erage rent for an apartment in our town has increased in recent years. +onse&uently, students will find it increasingly difficult to afford off%campus housing. $inally, an attracti e new dormitory would make prospecti e students more likely to enroll at Buckingham.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo at the P3H company. #When P3H lays off employees, it pays :elany ;ersonnel $irm to offer those employees assistance in creating resumGs and de eloping inter iewing skills, if they so desire. 8aid% off employees ha e benefited greatly from :elany"s ser ices) last year those who used :elany found *obs much more &uickly than did those who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less%e'pensi e Walsh ;ersonnel $irm in place of :elany. This would be a mistake because eight years ago, when P3H was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found *obs within a year. 5oreo er, :elany is clearly superior, as e idenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year :elany"s clients took an a erage of si' months to find *obs, whereas Walsh"s clients took nine.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared as an editorial in the student newspaper of Gro eton +ollege. #Tocombat the recently reported dramatic rise in cheating among college and uni ersity students, these institutions should adopt honor codes similar to Gro eton"s, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endea ors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others ha e cheated. Gro eton"s honor code replaced an old% fashioned system in which students were closely monitored by teachers and an a erage of thirty cases of cheating per year were reported. The honor code has pro en far more successful) in the first year it was in place, students reported twenty%one cases of cheating@ fi e years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. 5oreo er, in a recent sur ey conducted by the Gro eton honor council, a ma*ority of students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum written by the ice president of (ature"s Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health%related products.

#;re ious e'perience has shown that our stores are most profitable in areas where residents are highly concerned with leading healthy li es. We should therefore build our ne't new store in ;lains ille, which has many such residents. ;lains ille merchants report that sales of running shoes and e'ercise clothing are at all%time highs. The local health club, which nearly closed fi e years ago due to lack of business, has more members than e er, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. We can e en anticipate a new generation of customers) ;lains ille"s schoolchildren are re&uired to participate in a "fitness for life" program, which emphasi4es the benefits of regular e'ercise at an early age.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter sent by a committee of homeowners from the :eerha en Acres to all homeowners in :eerha en Acres. #!e en years ago, homeowners in nearby Brook ille community adopted a set of restrictions on how the community"s yards should be landscaped and what colors the e'teriors of homes should be painted. !ince then, a erage property alues ha e tripled in Brook ille. 7n order to raise property alues in :eerha en Acres, we should adopt our own set of restrictions on landscaping and housepainting.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newspaper article about law firms in the city of 5egalopolis. #7n 5egalopolis, the number of law school graduates who went to work for large, corporate firms declined by 01 percent o er the last three years, whereas an increasing number of graduates took *obs at small, general practice firms. E en though large firms usually offer much higher salaries, law school graduates are choosing to work for the smaller firms most likely because they e'perience greater *ob satisfaction at smaller firms. 7n a sur ey of first%year students at a leading law school, most agreed with the statement that earning a high salary was less important to them than *ob satisfaction. This finding suggests that the large, corporate firms of 5egalopolis will need to offer graduates more benefits and incenti es and reduce the number of hours they must work.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following was posted on an 7nternet real estate discussion site. #,f the two leading real estate firms in our town>Adams Realty and $itch Realty> Adams is clearly superior. Adams has =. real estate agents. 7n contrast, $itch has -1, many of whom work only part%time. 5oreo er, Adams" re enue last year was twice as high as that of $itch, and included home sales that a eraged /0I<,..., compared to $itch"s /0==,.... 9omes listed with Adams sell faster as well) ten years ago, 7 listed my home with $itch and it took more than four months to sell@ last year, when 7 sold another home, 7 listed it with Adams, and it took only one month. Thus, if you want to sell your home &uickly and at a good price, you should use Adams.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in the business section of a newspaper. #Gi en that the number of people in our country with some form of arthritis is e'pected to rise from =. million to I. million o er the ne't twenty years, pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs for the treatment of arthritis should be ery profitable. 5any analysts belie e that in ten years Becton ;harmaceuticals, which makes Penon, the best%selling drug treatment for arthritis, will be the most profitable pharmaceutical company. But the patent on Penon e'pires in three years, and other companies will then be able to produce a cheaper ersion of the drug. Thus, it is more likely that in ten years the most profitable pharmaceutical company will be ;erkins ;harmaceuticals, maker of a new drug called Pylan, which clinical studies show is preferred o er Penon by se en out of ten patients suffering from the most e'treme cases of arthritis.#

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following was written as a part of an application for a small business loan by a group of de elopers in the city of 5onroe. #A *a44 music club in 5onroe would be a tremendously profitable enterprise. +urrently, the nearest *a44 club is I1 miles away@ thus, our proposed club, the + (ote, would ha e the local market all to itself. ;lus, *a44 is e'tremely popular in 5onroe) o er 0..,... people attended 5onroe"s *a44 festi al last summer, se eral well%known *a44 musicians li e in 5onroe, and the highest%rated radio program in 5onroe is "Ja44 (ightly," which airs e ery weeknight. $inally, a nationwide study indicates that the typical *a44 fan spends close to /0,... per year on *a44 entertainment. 7t is clear that the + (ote cannot help but make money.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the +lear iew newspaper. #7n the ne't mayoral election, residents of +lear iew should ote for Ann Green, who is a member of the Good Earth +oalition, rather than for $rank Braun, a member of the +lear iew town council, because the current members are not protecting our en ironment. $or e'ample, during the past year the number of factories in +lear iew has doubled, air pollution le els ha e increased, and the local hospital has treated -1 percent more patients with respiratory illnesses. 7f we elect Ann Green, the en ironmental problems in +lear iew will certainly be sol ed.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum issued by the strategic planning department at ,mni 7nc. #5esa $oods, a manufacturer of snack foods that currently markets its products within a relati ely small region of the country, has strong growth potential. 5esa en*oyed a -. percent increase in profits last year, and its best%selling product, :iaboli&ue !alsa, has had increased sales o er each of the past three years. !ince ,mni 7nc. is interested in reaching 0=%to%-1 year olds, the age group that consumes the most snack food, we should buy 5esa $oods, and concentrate in particular on marketing :iaboli&ue !alsa throughout the country.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memorandum from a dean at ,mega ?ni ersity. #$ifteen years ago, ,mega ?ni ersity implemented a new procedure that encouraged students to e aluate the teaching effecti eness of all their professors. !ince that time, ,mega professors ha e begun to assign higher grades in their classes, and o erall student grade a erages at ,mega ha e risen by thirty percent. ;otential employers apparently belie e the grades at ,mega are inflated@ this would e'plain why ,mega graduates ha e not been as successful at getting *obs as ha e graduates from nearby Alpha ?ni ersity. To enable its graduates to secure better *obs, ,mega ?ni ersity should now terminate student e aluation of professors.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Bata ia newspaper. #The department of agriculture in Bata ia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now -1 percent greater than it was 0. years ago. :uring this same time period, howe er, the price of milk at the local E'cello $ood 5arket has increased from /0.1. to o er /2... per gallon. To pre ent farmers from continuing to recei e e'cessi e profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Bata ia go ernment should begin to regulate retail milk prices. !uch regulation is necessary to ensure both lower prices and an ade&uate supply of milk for consumers.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of the town of West Egg. #Two years ago, our consultants predicted that West Egg"s landfill, which is used for garbage disposal, would be completely filled within fi e years. :uring the past two years, howe er, town residents ha e been recycling twice as much aluminum and paper as they did in pre ious years. (e't month the amount of material recycled should further increase, since charges for garbage pickup will double. $urthermore, o er ninety percent of the respondents to a recent sur ey said that they would do more recycling in the future. Because of our residents" strong commitment to recycling, the a ailable space in our landfill should last for considerably longer than predicted.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from a ice president of Alta 5anufacturing. #:uring the past year, Alta 5anufacturing had thirty percent more on%the%*ob accidents than nearby ;anoply 7ndustries, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. E'perts belie e that a significant contributing factor in many on%the%*ob accidents is fatigue and sleep depri ation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on%the% *ob accidents at Alta and thereby increase producti ity, we should shorten each of our three work shifts by one hour so that our employees will get ade&uate amounts of sleep.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the chief e'ecuti e of a ideo game company. #We ha e recently been offered the opportunity to buy the rights to produce a ideo game based on the soon%to%be%published children"s book #!&uirrel ;ower,# by ;eter Wood. While the cost of the rights is substantial and will place economic constraints on our company in the short%term, there are two reasons that the purchase of these rights will undoubtedly be a wise in estment. $irst, Wood"s last three books ha e been best sellers and the mo ie based on his first book was highly profitable. !econd, the popular characters and story line in #!&uirrel ;ower# will sa e us time in de eloping our ideo game, thereby reducing our costs.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening +enter, a small business ser ing a suburban town. #There is e idence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own egetables. A national sur ey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the &uality of fresh egetables a ailable in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening maga4ine Great Gardens has sold out at the 6illage (ews stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening +enter can increase our profits by greatly e'panding the ariety of egetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a newsletter offering ad ice to in estors. #, er <. percent of the respondents to a recent sur ey indicated a desire to reduce their intake of foods containing fats and cholesterol, and today low%fat products abound in many food stores. !ince many of the food products currently marketed by ,ld :airy 7ndustries are high in fat and cholesterol, the company"s sales are likely to diminish greatly and their profits will no doubt decrease. We therefore ad ise ,ld :airy stockholders to sell their shares and other in estors not to purchase stock in this company.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper from a citi4en of the state of 7mpecunia.

#Two years ago our neighboring state, 8ucria, began a state lottery to supplement ta' re enues for education and public health. Today, 8ucria spends more per pupil than we do, and 8ucria"s public health program treats far more people than our state"s program does. 7f we were to establish a state lottery like the one in 8ucria, the profits could be used to impro e our educational system and public health program. The new lottery would doubtless be successful, because a sur ey conducted in our capital city concludes that citi4ens of 7mpecunia already spend an a erage of /1. per person per year on gambling.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Walnut Gro e town newspaper. #Walnut Gro e"s town council has ad ocated switching from EH :isposal Ewhich has had the contract for trash collection ser ices in Walnut Gro e for the past ten yearsF to AB+ Waste, because EH recently raised its monthly fee from /-,... to /-,1.. a month, whereas AB+"s fee is still /-,.... But the town council is mistaken@ we should continue using EH. EH collects trash twice a week, while AB+ collects only once. 5oreo er, EH> which, like AB+, currently has a fleet of -. trucks>has ordered additional trucks. $inally, EH pro ides e'ceptional ser ice) <. percent of respondents to last year"s town sur ey agreed that they were "satisfied" with EH"s performance.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in an editorial in a ;runty +ounty newspaper. #7n an attempt to impro e highway safety, ;runty +ounty recently lowered its speed limit from 11 miles per hour to =1 on all ma*or county roads. But the 11 mph limit should be restored, because this safety effort has failed. 5ost dri ers are e'ceeding the new speed limit and the accident rate throughout ;runty +ounty has decreased only slightly. 7f we want to impro e the safety of our roads, we should instead undertake the same kind of road impro ement pro*ect that Butler +ounty completed fi e years ago) increasing lane widths and resurfacing rough roads. Today, ma*or Butler +ounty roads still ha e a 11 mph speed limit, yet there were -1 percent fewer reported accidents in Butler +ounty this past year than there were fi e years ago.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter from the manager of a rock band named :ouble Rice. #,ne year ago, tickets for :ouble Rice"s concerts in stadiums around the country took, on a erage, at least -= hours to sell out, if they sold out at all. But the band has been en*oying a surge in nationwide popularity among 0= to -1 year olds, and the 2.,... tickets for a recent concert in 5egalopolis sold out in 0- minutes. +learly the ticket sales in 5egalopolis are a result both of the band"s increased popularity and of the ad ertising campaign run in 5egalopolis by the Ad 8ib ad ertising agency. Thus, in order to ensure that the band"s success in 5egalopolis is repeated across the country, the band should hire Ad 8ib to duplicate the 5egalopolis ad campaign on a nationwide scale.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer 7sland Ga4ette. #The population of Balmer 7sland increases to 0..,... duing the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents in ol ing mopeds and pedestrians, the town council of Balmer 7sland should limit the number of mopeds rented by each of the island"s si' moped and bicycle rental companies from 1. per day to 2. per day during the summer season. By limiting the number of rentals, the town council is sure to attain the 1. percent reduction in moped accidents that was achie ed last year in the neighboring island of Torseau, when Torseau"s town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals.# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%