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<p><span lang=EN-US>Although Henry Ford&#8217;s name is closely associated with
the concept of mass production, he should receive equal credit for introducing
labor practices as early as 1913 that would be considered advanced even by
today&#8217;s standards. Safety measures were improved, and the work day was
reduced to eight hours, compared with the ten-or twelve-hour day common at the
time. In order to accommodate the shorter work day, the entire factory was
converted from two to three shifts. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>In addition, sick leaves as well as improved medical care
for those injured on the job were instituted. The Ford Motor Company was one of
the first factories to develop a technical school to train specialized skilled
laborers and an English language school for immigrants. Some efforts were even
made to hire the handicapped and provide jobs for former convicts. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>The most widely acclaimed innovation was the five-dollar-a-day
minimum wage that was offered in order to recruit and retain the best mechanics
and to discourage the growth of labor unions. Ford explained the new wage
policy in terms of efficiency and profit sharing. He also mentioned the fact
that his employees would be able to purchase the automobiles that they produced
- in effect creating a market for the product. In order to qualify for the
minimum wage, an employee had to establish a decent home and demonstrate good
personal habits, including sobriety, thriftiness, industriousness, and
dependability. Although some criticism was directed at Ford for involving
himself too much in the personal lives of his employees, there can be no doubt
that, at a time when immigrants were being taken advantage of in frightful
ways, Henry Ford was helping many people to establish themselves in America. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>24 Piano </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early
keyboard instruments of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries --- the spinet,
the dulcimer, and the virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the
clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard
group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end
of the eighteenth century. The clavichord&#8217;s tone was metallic and never
powerful; nevertheless, because of the variety of tone possible to it, many
composers found the clavichord a sympathetic instrument for intimate chamber
music. The harpsichord with its bright, vigorous tone was the favorite
instrument for supporting the bass of the small orchestra of the period and for
concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save by
mechanical or structural devices. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by
a harpsichord maker in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>
(though musicologists point out several previous instances of the instrument).
This instrument was called a piano e forte (sort and loud), to indicate its
dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a
felt-padded head. The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments. A
series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century,
including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the
perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally
produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate
harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing
tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>25. Movie Music </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made
before 1927 as&#8220;silent&#8221;, the film has never been, in the full sense
of the word, silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an
indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public
film exhibition in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
  States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in February 1896, they were
accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music
played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind
was sufficient. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing
lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take
some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a
violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain
cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a
number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in
the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the
principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so
much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces. Since the
conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown (if
indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical
arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies
started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In
1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such
indications of mood as &#8220;pleasant&#8221;, &#8220;sad&#8221;,
&#8220;lively&#8221;. The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged the
musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces
of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>Certain films had music especially composed for them. The
most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for
D.W Griffith&#8217;s film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>26. International Business and Cross-cultural Communication
</span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>The increase in international business and in foreign
investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign
languages and skills in cross-cultural communication. Americans, however, have
not been well trained in either area and, consequently, have not enjoyed the
same level of success in negotiation in an international arena as have their
foreign counterparts. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>Negotiating is the process of communicating back and forth
for the purpose of reaching an agreement. It involves persuasion and
compromise, but in order to participate in either one, the negotiators must
understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how compromise is reached
within the culture of the negotiation. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>In many international business negotiations abroad,
Americans are perceived as wealthy and impersonal. It often appears to the
foreign negotiator that the American represents a large multi-million-dollar
corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further. The
American negotiator&#8217;s role becomes that of an impersonal purveyor of
information and cash. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>In studies of American negotiators abroad, several traits
have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception,
while undermining the negotiator&#8217;s position. Two traits in particular
that cause cross-cultural misunderstanding are directness and impatience on the
part of the American negotiator. Furthermore, American negotiators often insist
on realizing short-term goals. Foreign negotiators, on the other hand, may
value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to
invest time in it for long- term benefits. In order to solidify the
relationship, they may opt for indirect interactions without regard for the
time involved in getting to know the other negotiator. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>27. Scientific Theories </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of
observed events that are related. A theory often involves an imaginary model
that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could be produced. A
good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases
are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant
motion. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>A useful theory, in addition to explaining past
observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed. After
a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory.
If observations confirm the scientist&#8217;s predictions, the theory is
supported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must
search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have
to be revised or rejected. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well
as collecting information and performing experiments. Facts by themselves are
not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said, &#8220;Science is
built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of
facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a
house.&#8221; </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US><br>
Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists
have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered,
the scientist comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable
imagination. Possible solutions to the problem are formulated. These possible
solutions are called hypotheses. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It
extends the scientist&#8217;s thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist
plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to test
hypotheses. Without hypothesis, further investigation lacks purpose and
direction. When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>28 Changing Roles of Public Education </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>One of the most important social developments that helped
to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the
effect of the baby boom of the <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1950" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1950&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s and <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1960" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1960&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s on the schools. In the <st1:chmetcnv
UnitName="&#8217;" SourceValue="1920" HasSpace="False" Negative="False"
NumberType="1" TCSC="0" w:st="on">1920&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s, but especially
in the Depression conditions of the <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1930" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1930&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s, the United States experienced a
declining birth rate --- every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave
birth to about 118 live children in 1920, <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="in"
SourceValue="89.2" HasSpace="True" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">89.2 in</st1:chmetcnv> 1930, <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="in"
SourceValue="75.8" HasSpace="True" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">75.8 in</st1:chmetcnv> 1936, and <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="in"
SourceValue="80" HasSpace="True" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">80 in</st1:chmetcnv> 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by
the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it young people
married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families
than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per
thousand in <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="in" SourceValue="1946106.2" HasSpace="True"
Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0" w:st="on">1946,106.2 in</st1:chmetcnv>
1950, and <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="in" SourceValue="118" HasSpace="True"
Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0" w:st="on">118 in</st1:chmetcnv> 1955.
Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the
only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of
the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers
began streaming into the first grade by the mid <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1940" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1940&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s and became a flood by 1950. The public
school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of
schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same
conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the <br>
food. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940
and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large
numbers of teachers left their profession for better- paying jobs elsewhere in
the economy. </span></p>

<p><span lang=EN-US>Therefore in the <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1950" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1950&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s and <st1:chmetcnv UnitName="&#8217;"
SourceValue="1960" HasSpace="False" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0"
w:st="on">1960&#8217;</st1:chmetcnv>s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and
inadequ