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Question: This morning as I was getting the children ready or school, I helped them prepare breakfast and pack their lunches. I reviewed spelling words with them and made sure that their homework was collected in their bags. I had seen the weather forecast for the day and knew it was going to remain cool all day. I sug...
The most complex object known to humanity is the human brain -- and not only is it complex, but it is one of the few natural phenomena that science has no consciousness of. To try to replicate something that is so poorly understood may therefore seem like pride. But you have to start somewhere, and International Busi...
Question: A butcher watching over his shop was really surprised when he saw a dog coming inside the shop. He went over to the dog and noticed it had a note in its mouth. He took the note and it read "Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please. The dog has money in his mouth, as well." The butcher looked carefully...
Question: One morning I was woken by my mother's angry voice. I opened my eyes and found it was seven forty, so I jumped out of bed and rushed to a nearby bus stop without breakfast. Fortunately the bus started going as soon as I got on it. I was sure I could reach the school before the bell rang. However, the bus sudd...
Daniel Boone was born in the United States in 1734. He didn't go to school and couldn't read, although he learned all about the forests, streams and hunting. He could move silently like an Indian leaving no marks. He loved to live alone in the woods where nothing frightened him. When he grew up, he married and tried to...
The crust is made of different kinds of Answer: Picture the scene: the battery on your mobile phone has run out. You can't make any calls for help and no one can contact you. You are all alone - well, not quite. Just reach into your pocket and take out a piece of sugar.Put it into the battery, wait a minute, and you'r...
The doctor examined Nuala's leg. Nuala tried not to cry, but it was a challenge. Her leg really hurt. "How did you hurt yourself?" asked the doctor. "I jumped off a swing ," said Nuala. "Is it broken?" "It sure is," said the doctor, holding out the X ray. "See right here?" Two hours later, Nuala left the hospital on cr...
Hello, everyone! My name is Steve. Lunchtime is my favorite time. I love the school lunch. Many students don't like the school lunch. They take their own lunch to school. Their mothers may make hamburgers and salad for them for lunch. Some students take leftovers for lunch. But I don't! The lunch is very _ . For only...
Shirley Temple(1928--2014),an American actress,was considered among the most successful child stars in the history of film.Born by an ambitious mother,Temple first appeared in a film at the age of three,and at six she starred in Stand Up and Cheer (1934).Known and recognized for her ability to sing and tapdance in seve...
How did a ban on smoking in public places come into place? In 1998 the Smoking Kills White Paper set out a national strategy to reduce smoking prevalence and passive smoking, including in public places. The measures were voluntary and poorly carried out. After a public conference in England in 2004, the Government ...
Technology helps people do everything from planning to meet for a movie to keeping in touch with a friend who lives in a different country. When planning to get together with friends, Julian said , " If I want to go and see a movie with a few friends, I usually send them text messages. By telephone, you have to cal...
Question: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a novel about a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher Boone. After discovering the dead body of Wellington, his neighbor's dog, Christopher decides to find out the cause of the dog's death. He records his findings, as he has decided that he will create...
Jeff noticed that the big dipper was in a different spot in the sky at 2am than where it was at 10pm. Why? Answer: Welcome to our food shop. All kinds of food are on sale! Do you need vegetables? We have many kinds of vegetables. They are not dear. Do you like milk? We have good milk, like Guangming, Mengniu and Yili,...
From furniture to jewelry, from the medical industry to civil engineering,three--dimensional printing can turn all sorts of ideas into objects. "I wanted to print large objects such as buildings,"said Behrokh Khoshnevis,professor of the University of Southern California.He planned to construct a house in 24 hours b...
While going to the office, I found an old man lying by the side of the bus stop.He seemed very sick and poor.Instinctively.I gave him some money.After a few minutes, I realized that he was probably too sick to get up and buy something with that money.I was thinking about how to help him when my bus arrived, halting my ...
Question: Have you ever noticed the colour of the water in a river or stream after a heavy rainfall? What do you think caused this change in colour? It is soil that has been washed into the river from the riverbank or from the nearby fields. Components of Soil Soil is made up of a number of layers, each having its own ...
In some countries, the most common unlucky number is thirteen. People don't like to live in a house that is number 13. People don't like to have parties with thirteen people. People don't like to do important things on the thirteenth of the month. Also, when you add the Japanese unlucky numbers together---nine and four...
At a day care center in Taxes, children were playing outside. One of the children was Jessica McClure. She was 18 months old. Jessica's mother, who worked at the day care center, was watching the children. Suddenly Jessica fell and disappeared. Jessica's mother cried and ran to her. A well was in the yard of the center...
Can animals do work for us? Some scientists think that animals may do a lot of jobs. They say that we may see many elephants, monkeys, dogs, bears and other animals do a lot of things. Animals can get something to eat if they do some work for people. Some scientists say that many different animals may do lots of jobs ...
Donald had his own difficulties in sleeping that night. Not just because of the bright lights of the shelter or people's constant voices, it was the happening repeatedly nightmare that caused him to stay awake, to fear sleep. Donald was back in his small house. He did his best to ignore the howling winds outside his wi...
Movie Extras Would you mind lying in a coffin ? Would you shave your head? Are you willing to take out your false teeth? These are just a few of the questions Anne Marie Stewart and her staff sometimes ask the "talent" who serve as non-speaking "extras" in special films, television series, and made-for-TV movies produ...
A man went to buy a piece of meat. As he didn't know how to cook meat, he asked the butcher to tell him the way of cooking it. The butcher told him how to cook it, "But I can't remember your words," the man said. "Will you please write them down for me?" The butcher was kind enough to write them down for him. The ma...
Amsterdam is a city like Venice founded on and around water or waterways. However, unlike Venice, Holland's largest city isn't only a museum. Amsterdam is a real, living and large city. The Dutch capital has clearly come a long way since it was founded. A story goes that two fishermen and a seasick dog first came...
Question: Getting in touch with nature can help keep people fit, reducing the burden of sickness on the health service, conservation experts say. Natural England is starting a campaign to get people to spend more time outside among the country's wildlife and natural environment. The aim of the campaign is to ge...
Some children wish to be writers when they grow up. They mean that they want to write stories or books. They would be happy if many people read their stories or books some day. But I would like to tell these children that they will need to be good readers and read a lot before they become good writers. Nearly all great...
The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't sleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted his special Christmas gift to be. He wondered how Santa Claus would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself. As he was sitting u...
I love music. I learned to play the guitar at 11 and I wrote my first song four years later. My dream -----to become a country singer. After years of hard work, a record company was showing interest in me. One day during a trip to mountains, a friend gave me a bit of meth, a kind of drugs . I smoked it. And that was al...
Three rich ladies met every day by the river. They sat there and talked the whole day. Once the three ladies quarreled . One of them said. "Look, how white and beautiful my hands are!" Another one said, "My hands are more beautiful." The third one said, "Mine are the most beautiful ones." An old beggar woman came up t...
Broker needed a certain rare coin to complete a set that he had contracted to assemble and sell to Collecta. On February 1, Broker obtained such a coin from Hoarda in exchange for $1,000 and Broker's signed, written promise to re-deliver to Hoarda "not later than December 31 this year" a comparable specimen of the same...
Last Friday, after doing all the family shopping in town I wanted a rest before catching the train, so I bought a newspaper and some chocolate and went into the station coffee shop. It was a cheap self-service place with long table to keep a place and went to get a cup of coffee. When I came back with the coffee, there...
The writer Margaret Mitchell is best known for writingGone with the Wind, first published in 1936. Her book and the movie based on it, tell a story of love and survival during the American Civil War. Visitors to the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia, can go where she lived when she started composing the story...
No one knows exactly how many disabled people there are in the world, but estimates suggest the figure is over 450 million. The number of disabled people in India alone is probably more than double the total population of Canada. In the United Kingdom, about one in ten people have some disability. Disability is no...
Question: Dear Eric, How are you? This is a picture of my room. You can see a nice computer on my desk. It is my birthday present from my uncle. A tape player is next to the computer, and some tapes are on the computer. My school-bag is on the chair. My pencil-box and two books are in the schoolbag. And you can see ...
Question: Where would algae be safe from predators but likely die? A. a lake B. a delta C. the ocean D. the desert Answer: D Question: The stars have come together for the 2014 QUT Classic fun run on Sunday, May 4! This year's fun run around central Brisbane not only promises a fantastic family day out--it also happen...
You need to be of a certain age to understand why so many people in Hollywood are caring about the possible closing down of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .For the past 40 years, its output has been good, but now it is on the ropes, with debts of $ 3.7 billion and will have to sell off its most valuable assets. In its golden tim...
TUVALU, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it will be swallowed up by the sea. Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu's nine little islands is more than five meters above sea level.Salt water is already entering the country's drinking water supply, as well as damag...
Though chopsticks are used in many Asian countries, they have their beginning in China. Chinese history says that the Chinese had chopsticks as far as the Xia Dynasty (about 4, 00 years ago). In the Spring and Autumn Period copper and iron chopsticks appeared. With the Han Dynasty lacquered chopsticks came, followed ...
Some people can stay up all night and still get work done the next day. I'm not one of them. After a night without enough sleep, I feel bad-tempered. I have trouble remembering things. And all I want to do is go to bed. How do you feel after you've stayed up late to finish schoolwork or the day after an overnight party...
I am not just a successful architect . I also like to play the piano. In my spare time I often turn some dry musical symbols into beautiful music. Many years ago, while I was in a university studying architecture, I worked in a workshop. During the break I found an old piano in the corner of the room. With the allowanc...
Kangkang's father is a doctor. When SARS, a kind of serious disease, spread in Beijing, he took an active part in the battle against it. He left his wife and his son to work in the Xiaotangshan Hospital. He cared for the patients day and night. He couldn't go home and he could only talk with family on the telephone. "D...
Alex London Research Laboratory (ALRL) is part of Alex Co., Ltd., a major Australian medicine-making company. Opened in 1992, ALRL specialises in the development of new medicines for the treatment of heart diseases. A position is now open for a Research Operations Manager(ROM) to support our growing research team at th...
The ability to memorize things seems to be a vanishing technique.So what can we do to bring out brain cells back into action? A newly published book on memory, Moomvalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by American journalist Joshua Foer, makes a telling point, one that is an analysis o...
Behind the traffic noise and modernday confusion on Stoney Creek Road in Bexley lies a small but amazing piece of history.Just a century ago,Mr Harold Chapman Snr.founded Sydney's Famous Original Doll Hospital and,although the Hospital has relocated several times,you cannot help but get a sense of days gone by when you...
Since the 1990s, education has been required for all South Africans from age seven to fifteen. Last December, the government announced that 70% of students passed their final examination to finish high school. In 2008, the pass rate was about 63%. There have been increases each year since then. Professor Shireen Motala...
Agatha Christie went out at night.She never forgot the night when she met a robber many years ago. That evening, she was invited to a birthday party which lasted until 2 o'clock in the morning.Agatha walked in the quiet street alone. Suddenly from the shadow of a dark building a tall man with a sharp knife in his right...
Are you planning to visit Britain? Here are a few suggestions for a beautiful weekend away. Bournemouth This famous tourist town has 11 km of beautiful beaches. Last year, 10,000 tourists visited this beautiful town. It's the perfect place to go swimming or sailing. There are lots of lovely parks and gardens to visit a...
All students need to have good study habits .When you have good study habits, you will learn things quickly and also remember them easily. Do you like to study in the living room? This is not a good place because it is usually too noisy. You need to study in a quiet place, like your bedroom. A quiet place will help you...
In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception of the food in front of us. Studies have shown. for instance. that eating in front of the T...
A lot of people today are used to working, going on holiday, and having money---but many of them aren't happy. Yet other people seem to be really happy , even if they are poor. Why? Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from the University of Chicago, has interviewed thousands of people who have a happy life to f...
If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech "Information Age" demands people who are flexible and who have good communica...
When a 13-year-old Virginal girl started sneezing, her parents thought it was merely a cold. But when the sneezes continued for hours, they called in a doctor. Nearly two months later the girl was still sneezing, thousands of times a day, and her case had attracted worldwide attention. Hundreds of suggestions, ranging...
Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks' time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a deser...
When I looked at the grade on my math paper my jaw almost dropped to the ground: a big "65" in bright red ink. I had never received such a terrible grade before. I was so ashamed that when I got home that afternoon I lied to my dad. I told him I got 85 and that the report wouldn't come until the end of the month. Dad s...
Allen : I've never been a big fan of the bears ,especially the vacation show .On my last trip to Disneyland (1999) we passed it by ,because we didn't want to spend the time on something we didn't really enjoy. If we'd known it would be closed by our next visit, I'm sure we would have watched it one more time. I was jus...
External bleeding Apply direct pressure. Place a clean, folded cloth over the injured area and firmly apply pressure. If blood soaks through, do not remove it. Instead, cover that cloth with another one and continue to apply pressure to the wound for 7~10 minutes. If the bleeding is from the ear, place a clean bandage ...
Two kittens were playing. They had come in from outside. Now they were in the living room in the house. One kitten was named Snowball and one kitten was named Fuzzy. Suddenly, Snowball saw something interesting. "Look at that!" said Snowball. "What is it?" asked Fuzzy. "It's a ball of yarn. On the top shelf!" said S...
With the beautiful music, the first lesson of the new term in 2014 began at 8:05 on the evening of September 1st, 2014. The program includes four parts: be nice to your parents, be polite to others, love others and be self-improved. It really makes a great difference to the students and the parents' ideas. Family educa...
Amazon is taking a leap into movie production, planning to fund a dozen original feature films each year, and to _ the time it takes to move them from theatres to viewers' homes. The first film projects are expected to begin production at Amazon Studios later this year, and to make their first public appearance in U.S....
Meadow vales are Answer: hard of hearing Robert is sixteen now. He'll finish middle school in two years. His father has a shop and got much money. He hopes his son can go to university and makes him study hard. But the young man likes to play cards. He has to go out when his parents fall asleep. One night, when Robert...
More college graduates in China are seeking for work experience instead of advanced degrees, a survey shows. The practical approach, coupled with a record number of students graduating from college, is expected to strengthen competition in the job market, analysts said. More than 76 percent of university students said ...
The Cambridge Science Festival Curiosity Challenge Dare to Take the Curiosity Challenge! The Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) is pleased to inform you of the sixth annual Curiosity Challenge. The challenge invites, even dares school students between the ages of 5 and 14 to create artwork or a piece of writing that show...
The World Bank is warning that the West Africa Ebola outbreak could seriously harm the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless action is taken quickly. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim spoke to reporters recently to discuss the effects of the Ebola spread. "Our findings show that if the virus continues ...
Believe it or not, going to school is not a legal requirement in the United States. It is a legal requirement that all kids be educated, though. When parents believe they can give their kids a better education--- or have other reasons for not wanting to send their kids to a local school --- they may choose home school...
Why is music so important to children? Here are some of my ideas. Music has a positive influence on children's intelligence ! New research shows that music can offer children an interesting environment. It has a good influence on children's intelligence. Children can learn, understand and think in a logical way if t...
One night, I was sitting in my room half listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy fought with my 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn't pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face. About 20mintes later, as I was walking up-stairs I heard Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door ...
Question: The Big Brother in the novel 1984 listens to everything and nothing can escape his ears . Now in reality , we have Facebook . The social media giant has never denied that it's keeping track of conversations you have near your phone ( if the Facebook app is open , that is ) , but not , one expert has told NBC ...
You'd be forgiven for thinking that running after children each day would leave parents in the best shape of their lives.But a study has found that the mothers and fathers of young children are more unhealthy than their childless peers . Mothers with young children are heavier and eat more calories and fatty foods,and ...
What is the definition of "happiness?" Is it material wealth filled with fancy cars, a dream house or jewelry? Or does happiness simply mean having a roof over your head? Food in the fridge? Having a swimming pool? A designer Gucci bag? Love? Money? A perfect job? Do you recall a time----let's say when you were about 5...
There are an extremely large number of antsworldwide. Each individual ant hardly weigh anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.Foranimals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely...
Which system absorbs and carries food from the digestive system to the rest of the body? Answer: circulatory system In my thirty years as a Time Management speaker, I have observed a lot of what we can and should not do to increase our daily success. Time management is not necessarily working harder, but quicker and m...
Mark Twain's First Money Mark Twain was asked one day if he could remember the first money he ever earned. He thought a long time and then said , "Yes, it was at school.I can remember everything about it .School boys in those days did not take good care of their chairs and desks.There was a rule in our school that if a...
Paris in springtime was, is and always will be, something rather special. Why not experience it for yourself with this excellent break for four days? This attractive city has something to offer everyone with prices at just PS 129. It's of great value too. Your break begins with executive coach transfer from a regional ...
Urban citizens can enjoy a more colorful life than rural citizens.Townspeople are wellinformed because they have the easier access to news,while country people are uniformed because these districts are hard to get to.Urban traffic is so welldeveloped that the residents there often visit exhibitions and parks which are ...
The young turtle has been swimming for three months now in the same warm shallow bay, dreaming of calm water and plenty of food. But as the days begin to shorten and the night comes earlier and earlier, the water grows colder. It drops to fifty degrees Fahrenheit . Swimming is harder. Its heartbeat slows--and almost st...
Plants, like animals, are subject to diseases of various kinds.It has been estimated that some 30,000 different diseases attack our economic plants; forty are known to attack corn, and about as many attack wheat.The results of unchecked plant disease are all too obvious in countries which have marginal food supplies.Th...
From the beginning rivers have played an important in the life of man.Man of the earliest times used the rivers as a means of travel.Today rivers still serve as a great waterway for the transport and people. In ancient times, man settled near rivers or on river banks and built up large empires. Water is nature's most v...
Question: Britain's Solo Sailor Ellen MacArthur started sailing with her aunt when she was eight. She loved it so much that she saved her money for three years to buy her first small sailing boat.When she was 18,she sailed alone around Britain and won the "Young Sailor of the Year" award. But Ellen really became f...
One potential problem with allowances is that children's responsible behavior can become about earning the allowance rather than the intrinsic value of their family responsibilities. For example, if you pay your children for taking out the rubbish, they see this chore as a job that they should be rewarded for instead...
For most seventh graders,life doesn't get much harder than a history test.But for Grant Reed of Bellville,Ohio,it's his own current events that are so painful."Honestly,I don't want to die,"Grant says.Last year,doctors at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus found a tumor in Grant's brain.They cut it out,but the ...
Question: Have you ever felt tired or had too much stress? Do you know how to deal with them? Here is some advice about these. Learn to relax. Overwork is the main reason why so many students feel tired and stressed. Cut down some of the jobs you need to do each day so that you can only concentrate on the most importan...
Will there be a time in our lives when cars don't crash? When we can just sit back and relax and our cars will drive themselves. Auto technology experts say "yes". And they say that some of those advances may happen quicker than you might think. They will require the users to input the name of the destination or the co...
In America, each of the states likes to promote itself with a slogan .I currently live in Utah, where the slogan is "Life Elevated". It's a nod to outdoor entertainment in the high country,including the ski industry. I previously lived in Colorado, a land with red dirt, great mountains and golden plains. T he slogan t...
Not so long ago, most people didn't know who Shelly Ann Francis Pryce was going to become. She was just an average high school athlete. There was every indication that she was just another American teenager without much of a future. However, one person wants to change this. Stephen Francis observed then eighteen-year-o...
Which can view an ocean? A. bogs B. logs C. pogs D. dogs Answer: D. dogs WASHINGTON The head of the World Bank says for the first time in human history, it is possible to end poverty around the world. Jim Yong Kim told a Washington audience Tuesday, he wants to make ending world poverty by 2030 a top goal for the ba...
Kim's birthday was the next day. Every year on her birthday, her mother would make her favorite meal, and they would give Kim her birthday presents. Kim wanted spaghetti for dinner, and a special dollhouse as her present. On the morning of her birthday, Kim's brother Jamie woke her up by pretending to be a monster and ...
A man had two large pots. One of the pots had a crack in it, so while the other pot always delivered a full pot of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to his house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. This went on every day for years. One day a neighbor asked the man, "One of your pots has been bro...
Fighting racial stereotypes on US campuses often begins by putting students of different ethnic backgrounds together -- under one dormitory roof. Sam Boakye was a freshman at Ohio State University and the only black student on his floor. He was determined to get good grades -- in part to make sure his white roommate ha...
Just saw the superhero movie, Kick-Ass, and it raised an interesting question: just because we are not superhuman, can we lead a super-heroic life? I believe we can do it in some easy steps! Activate our super powers. Superheroes are all good at different things. Some are really fast, some can see things others can't,...
The introduction to Music Bibliography Site Welcome to the introduction to Music Bibliography Site. In the site Friedheim Library will establish Music Bibliography Course. This year four sections of this course will be offered: two sections in fall and two sections in spring. Time and Place Section 1: Tues. & Thurs. 9:...
When a lady beetle is grown up, she may spend time A. laying a clutch B. making a memory C. making friends D. seeing the sights Answer: A. laying a clutch The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant...
Put yourself in these tourists' position. You are walking an icy mountain path in the Alps in Europe. Suddenly you spot a body on the ground,face downward and stuck to the ice. You think someone may have been murdered or in an accident. So you rush back and call the police. The police,however,quickly realize that this ...
India was once part of the British Empire, but thanks to modern technology and a booming economy, it has turned the tables on its former colonial master. Indian tutors are helping to teach math to British children over high-speed Internet connections. Early results suggest the idea is improving exam results. But not ev...
All too often, a choice that seems sustainable turns out on closer examination to be problematic. Probably the best example is the rush to produce ethanol for fuel from corn. Corn is a renewable resource --you can harvest it and grow more, almost limitlessly. So replacing gas with corn ethanol seems like a great idea....
Dana Cummings was in his thirties before he first went surfing. But, even more interesting is that Dana Cummings chose to learn the sport after losing a leg in a car accident. Now, nine years later, he helps other disabled people learn how to ride the waves in AmpSurf. On the coast of Maine, he is working with 27-yea...
Frogmore House has been a royal place since the 18th century and is today used by the Royal Family for private entertaining. It is especially linked with Queen Charlotte, The wife of George III, and her daughters, whose love of botany and art is reflected throughout the house. Unfortunately, parts of a visit to Frogmor...
Spending a lot of time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Web causes a lot of healthy problems to children such as overweight and smoking, US researchers said yesterday. U.S. experts analyzed 173 studies on how media sources influence the physical health of children and adolescents . The studies, mostly...
Look at the picture. This is our school. There are five buildings in our school. There are thirty- two classrooms in the Teaching Building. Our gym is behind the Teaching Building. The teacher's offices are in the Office Building. Our Library Building is next to the Office Building. There are many books and magazines ...
Have you ever thought of joining a book club and buying new books through the post? Here at the International Book Club, we already have many members buying books from us by mail. Immediate benefits: *As a special offer, you may choose any reduced-price books from our new members' book list, to the value of $6 in total...
In Wiltshire, England, volunteers are being sought to visit a nature protection area to count the butterflies living there and on surrounding fields. The project is promoted by an environmental protection organisation,which has contributed to improving the living environment for wild animals. Recently, the organisation...
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to the patients at the clinic. One evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man. He's hardly taller th...