A Ton of Crap (70 page)

Dialects
Mandarin is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, and due to China’s size and population, there are many Mandarin dialects spoken. The dialects include the Northeastern dialect, the Southwestern dialect, the Beijing dialect (which Standard Chinese is based on), the Zhongyuan dialect, and the Ji-Lu dialect. Almost all of the cities in China have their own variation on Mandarin.

GANDHI

Quit India
As World War II began to encroach, Gandhi declared that India would not help the British in a war for independence when they themselves were not granted that freedom. Gandhi’s demands for independence grew, and he drafted Quit India, a resolution that would make the British exit India. Gandhi’s actions were met with great support by the Indian protesters, and great oppression by the British. Thousands were killed, and Gandhi and the Congress were imprisoned. Though Quit India didn’t achieve its goal, it left a dramatic impact. Shortly after the end of World War II, British control over India was to end.

HORROR

Stephen King
Of the past forty years, one name in horror fiction has stood out above the rest, and is forever associated with horror novels: Stephen King. King has won six Horror Guild awards, six Bram Stoker awards, three World Fantasy awards, five Locus awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of his most famous works include
The Shining
,
Carrie
,
Salem’s Lot
, and
It
.

CALCULUS

Integration
Integration in calculus deals with two things. The first is to find the antiderivative, which is the inverse transform of the derivative. The other thing integration does is find the value of the area below the curve. Integration is represented by
∫
 
f
(
x
) 
dx
. And
dx
equals the difference of
x
ⁿ
and
x
^n
-1
. Two common equations for integration are:

If
f
(
x
) =
x
ⁿ
, then
f
(
x
)
dx
=
x
^n
+1
/(
n
+1)

If
f
(
x
) =
cx
ⁿ
, then
f
(
x
)
dx
=
cx
^n
+1
/(
n
+1)

QUANTUM MECHANICS

The Photoelectric Effect
The photoelectric effect was explained by Albert Einstein and led him to win the Nobel Prize in 1921. The photoelectric effect explains that when light shines on a piece of metal, a current will flow through it. The light provides energy to the electrons of the metal’s atoms, which makes them move around and create a current. Not all lights will have this effect, however. Einstein concluded that instead of light being thought of as a wave, light was made of photons that acted like particles.

MANDARIN

Useful Mandarin Phrases
Here are some useful phrases to use when traveling to China. Note that these are written in pinyin, which is a phonetic spelling that uses the Latin alphabet (with the inclusion of
zh
,
ch
,
sh
, and no
v
):

Hello.
Nĭ hăo
.

Good morning.
Zăoān.

Good afternoon.
Wŭān.

Good evening.
Wănān
.

I don’t understand.
Wŏ tīngbùdŏng.

Excuse me.
Duìbùqĭ.

Where’s the toilet?
Cèsuŏ zài năli?

How much is this?
Zhège duōshăo qián?

Goodbye.
Zàijiàn.

1. Gandhi developed Satyagraha, which was:
   

   1. Another name for Quit India
      
   2. A march in protest of the British taxing salt
      
   3. A concept of truth
      
   4. A commonwealth of civil resisters
      

2. Which of the following concerning the Dandi March is true?
   

   1. The march was 240 miles long and in protest of British taxes on salt.
      
   2. In Dandi, Gandhi and the protesters made their own salt from the seawater, which was breaking the law.
      
   3. The march lasted twenty-four days and over 60,000 people were imprisoned.
      
   4. All of the above.
      

3. Robert Louis Stevenson is the author of:
   

   1. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
      
   2. The Castle of Otranto, A Gothic Story
      
   3. Dracula
      
   4. The Shining
      

4. Bram Stoker created:
   

   1. Frankenstein’s Monster
      
   2. Cthulhu
      
   3. Dracula
      
   4. It
      

5. The largest value a function has within a specific area is called the:
   

   1. Minima
      
   2. Maxima
      
   3. Limit
      
   4. Derivative
      

6. What does the equation ∫ 
   f
   (
   x
   ) 
   dx
   represent?
   

   1. Limit
      
   2. Integration
      
   3. Power rule
      
   4. Constant rule
      

7. According to quantum mechanics, particles at such microscopic levels behave:
   

   1. Counterintuitively
      
   2. According to Newton’s laws
      
   3. Only like protons
      
   4. Only like electrons
      

8. Which of the following explains that when light shines on a piece of metal, a current will flow through it?
   

   1. Schrödinger’s Cat
      
   2. Black body radiation
      
   3. Bohr’s Model
      
   4. The photoelectric effect
      

9. Which dialect of Mandarin is Standard Chinese based on?
   

   1. The Northeastern dialect
      
   2. The Southwestern dialect
      
   3. The Beijing dialect
      
   4. The Zhongyuan dialect
      

10. What is pinyin?
    

    1. The phonetic spelling of Mandarin that uses the Latin alphabet
       
    2. How you say “Excuse me”
       
    3. A dialect of Mandarin
       
    4. A form of Mandarin introduced by the Qing Empire
       

ANSWER KEY: c, d, a, c, b, b, a, d, c, a

HISTORY:
The Russian Revolution
A Century of Repression, The February Revolution, The Bolsheviks, The Summer of 1917, The October Revolution, The Aftermath

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Humor
Mark Twain, John Kennedy Toole, P. G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, David Sedaris

MATH:
Trigonometry
Ratios, The Law of Cosines, The Law of Sines, Radian Measure, Reciprocal Identities, Inverse Trigonometric Functions

SCIENCE:
Albert Einstein
About Albert Einstein, Theory of Relativity, E = mc2, Total Eclipse, Brownian Motion, His Brain

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Cantonese
The Origins, Differences Between Cantonese and Mandarin, Writing System, Phonology, Cantonese Today, Useful Cantonese Phrases

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A Century of Repression
Following the Napoleonic wars, ideas of democracy began to spread throughout Europe. Russians, under the rule of Czar Alexander I, began calling for a constitution guaranteeing basic rights. Though Alexander I granted Poland a constitution, he never made his mind up about Russia. Following Alexander’s death, there was great chaos as Nicholas I, the Czar’s younger brother, came to power. The reign of the son of Nicholas I, Alexander II, brought heavy police repression, creating resentment among the people.

HUMOR

Mark Twain
Mark Twain is one of the most well-known American humorists. He is the author of such classic books as
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
, and
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
. The latter is regarded as one of the greatest books in American literature. Even to this day, Twain’s impact in humor can be seen. Every year since 1998, the Kennedy Center has awarded the Mark Twain Prize to those comedic voices that have left an impact on the world. Past winners include Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Tina Fey, and George Carlin.

TRIGONOMETRY

Ratios
Trigonometry
literally means “measurement of triangles,” and that is exactly what it is: the study of triangles. Trigonometry is based on the measurements of right triangles, meaning triangles with right angles, and the ratios of each side. In ratios, you use cardinal and ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers are the numbers that you use for counting (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while ordinal numbers are in the form of first, second, third, fourth, etc. When a large number is a multiple of another smaller number, that smaller number is part of the larger number. For example, 3 is the first multiple of 3, and 9 is the second multiple of 3. A ratio of two numbers is the relationship regarding the relative size. This is expressed in a sentence. For example, if you were asked what ratio has 3 to 9, the answer would be 3 is the third part to 9.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

About Albert Einstein
Perhaps one of the most famous scientists of all time, and deservedly so, Albert Einstein lived from 1879 to 1955. Einstein, born in Germany, studied physics and mathematics at Zurich, and he became a Swiss citizen in 1905. In 1909, he became a professor in theoretical physics at the University of Zurich, and a year later, he held the same position at the German University of Prague. In 1913, he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Science in Berlin, and, as he taught at the University of Berlin, he once again became a German citizen. When the Nazi party began to rise in Germany, Einstein left for the United States. He taught at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death.

CANTONESE

The Origins
Cantonese originated in southern China. It is the most prestigious dialect of the Yue language. It is believed to have formed following the fall of the Han Dynasty in a.d. 220, due to isolation. By the Tang Dynasty in a.d. 618, Cantonese was its own distinct dialect. Because Hong Kong was a British colony from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, it was shielded from many of the linguistic reforms of China, most notably, the shift to Mandarin as the standard language.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION