Word: clamberers
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...since 1945." The gibe has more than a little truth to it. On weekends rifle ranges around the country resound with the din of thousands of Swiss practicing their marksmanship. At the same time, Northrop F-5E Tiger fighter jets skim along mountain faces and blue-gray-uniformed figures clamber down couloirs and across alpine meadows. With a militia of 625,000 men, Switzerland, as the well-worn saying goes, does not have an army, it is an army...
They are Dennis the Menace come to life, half-pint hellions who drive parents and teachers to distraction with their disruptive antics. At home they clamber on kitchen counters, unscrew light bulbs and mess up the simplest tasks, from hanging up their clothes to making the bed. In school they throw erasers, kick desks, shove classmates and are so busy making nuisances of themselves that they fail to absorb their lessons. One bedeviled mother speaks for many when she says, "I would have given the kid away...
...demands and enforces toughness. In winter it is bitingly cold, with winds blowing down from Siberia; in summer, so hot that some choose to sleep in the streets. Simply negotiating the city is a task that is not for the faint of body. To cross busy roads, pedestrians must clamber up overpasses or, more frequently, descend into underground mazes that seethe with shops and exits. Thus a walk down three city blocks can become a ten-minute expedition that involves 92 steps down and 88 steps up, and leaves one feeling fit enough to enter the 10,000-meter...
...backup strategy requires sneaking near the rail yard to board in darkness. Railroad police are everywhere with spotlights. No sleep again. Just after midnight they find a grain car with a narrow porch. Twenty minutes later, the freight pauses to add an engine, and aliens from the Mexican border clamber aboard frantically. Finally, the clickety-clack commences for the last time. A hobbyist road-named the "Gentle Giant" defines this moment. "You face nature, and the train is your friend," he says. "All your senses are alive. You'll love your wife, your children and your home better." Three weary...
...puppy, partly because modern plastic surgery makes the plot anachronistic, partly because, even with his Cyranose, C.D. is a darned sight more attractive than his beefy rival. Aaaahh, who cares, as long as Steve Martin gets a chance to strut his physical grace, wrap his mouth around clever dialogue, clamber up to rooftops like a Tarzan of the Northwest, give new life to the old-fashioned nobility of the love letter, and drink wine through his nose? "Party trick," he shrugs. It's a neat trick, being Steve Martin. He's so good; his movies will get even better...