1. Coca-Cola is the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup, used to produce more than 230 beverage brands. For information about the company, check out the web page at http://www2.coca-cola.com/ourcompany/index.html where you can read about its history and take a virtual plant tour.
2. Sputnik was the project name for three man-made satellites (sputnik means “travelling companion” in Russian) launched (i.e., sent into space) by the USSR in 1957 and 1958. Their purpose was primarily the scientific study of outer space, and they were used to discover if living organisms could survive space conditions. They also played a political role, however. Their launching marked the opening of the “space race” between the United States and the Soviet Union. Please visit http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/index.html for comprehensive information about Sputnik. The web page at http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/sputnik.html also has comprehensive information and links to other online resources about Sputnik.
3. The green revolution is a popular term created in the 1960s to talk about how agricultural technology from the technologically developed countries was being widely spread among and transferred to less technologically advanced agricultural areas. Wheat seed from Mexico and rice seed from the Philippines have greatly increased grain production in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Turkey. You can check out the web site at http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/bio/green.htm for a detailed account of the green revolution.
4. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, leader of the Indian nationalist movement, was one of the greatest national leaders of the 20th century. His methods and philosophy of nonviolent confrontation, or civil disobedience, not only led his own country to independence but influenced political activists of many persuasions throughout the world. Check out the web page at http://www.mkgandhi.org for extensive and detailed information about Gandhi.
5. Jawaharal Nehru (1889 - 1964) was the first prime minister of independent India. Nehru studied at Cambridge and was admitted to the English bar(取得英国律师资格) and then returned to India very westernized. After World War II he participated in the discussions between the United Kingdom and India’s leaders that eventually created the separate states of India and Pakistan. When independence came in 1947, Nehru became Prime Minister of India. The web page at http://www.bartleby.com/65/ne/Nehru-Ja.html provides a brief account about Nehru’s life.
6. Eton College http://www.etoncollege.com/default.asp, founded by King Henry VI in 1440, is a private secondary school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton’s academic and social importance is so great that children are registered at birth to attend there when they are older. Many of England’s most famous and admired men were educated there. Eton has an educational system similar to those at Oxford and Cambridge universities, in which each student (or small group of students) has a single, private teacher.
7. Oxford: Please visit http://www.ox.ac.uk/ for more information about University of Oxford.
8. Silicon Valley is an area that “located on the San Francisco, California, peninsula, radiates outward from Stanford University. It is contained by the San Francisco Bay on the east, the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west, and the Coast Range to the southeast” (Carolyn E. Tajnai). It is best known for its high tech industry. To read a history about Silicon Valley, please visit http://www.netvalley.com/svhistory.html and http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/sv&128.html. Extensive links to information about Silicon Valley can be found at http://www.gocee.com/valley/.
9. Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com is the manufacturer of the Windows operating systems that include MS-DOS/Windows3/Windows95/98/NT/2000/Me/XP and other software applications such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. For an official history of Microsoft and its Windows operating systems, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/museum/. The web site also contains many valuable educational materials for the general public. Interested readers may also want to check out a brief history of computing at http://ox.compsoc.net/~swhite/history/history.html and a history of computers at http://www.computerhope.com/history/index.htm.
10. Intel http://www.intel.com is the manufacturer of Pentium microprocessors as well as other computer chips. Please visit Intel’s online museum at http://www.intel.com/intel/intelis/museum/INDEX.HTM for information about Intel and microprocessors in general. You may also want to check out a brief history of computing at http://ox.compsoc.net/~swhite/history/history.html to have a historical perspective.
11. The term “welfare state” has been used since World War II to refer to the acceptance by some governments of the responsibility to make the lives of all their people socially and economically satisfactory. The programs of the welfare state have been aimed primarily to reduce the hardships caused by unemployment, disability, and old age and to secure a minimal but appropriate amount of medical care and other essential services for all, regardless of income.
