Word: absorbency
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...recover swiftly from the havoc of last week, when two storms slammed into the coastal areas of Quezon province north of Manila, because the disaster was only partly natural - and largely the work of man. Normally, the roots of trees that cover the interior Sierra Madre mountains would absorb the rain. But four decades of logging - much of it illegal - has steadily denuded the island's mountains...
...stance can only perpetuate the very attitudes it finds problematic. Stereotypes about “New England liberals” that President Bush brought so memorably into play during the debates have a great deal of currency in some parts of the country. If students from socially conservative areas absorb the type of rhetoric they hear at Harvard and take it home, they will confirm the notion that Ivy Leaguers are a bunch of leftists who will not deign to even consider opposing positions as anything but ignorant. This lexicon of alienation can take many forms. For one thing...
VEGETATION Rising temperatures will let forests expand north into areas that now support only scrubby flora. Trees absorb more heat than bushes, speeding up local warming. Loss of tundra will also rob many animals of breeding and feeding grounds...
...death, though well anticipated, was nevertheless difficult for many Palestinians to absorb, not least because he had cultivated an aura of immortality by rejecting earthly comforts. He didn't have real friends, didn't particularly care for food, slept fitfully, never took vacations. When he wed, in old age, the marriage seemed like a sideshow, fatherhood an even stranger subplot. "No personal questions," he used to tell reporters, as if any creaturely detail would detract from the power of his cause. Even those closest to Arafat experienced him as a mystery, which was how he liked...
...with China will make headlines, but Washington's leaders will also have to cope with unfinished business on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea's nuclear program remains untamed. The U.S. economy, too, is now intimately connected to that of Asia's. Here are some issues that will most absorb Washington in the next four years...