Word: navel
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Ever since Homer called it "the navel of the sea," Malta has been an island in search of an umbilical cord. 'Alone and vulnerable in the Mediterranean, 150 miles south of Italy, the rock (9 by 17 miles) has no economic value. But a fine deep harbor on its northeast shore has brought it the "protection" of a succession of great seafaring peoples, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, and for nearly 300 years, the crusading Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Napoleon cut that tie. Then came Nelson, and the island, at the request of the Maltese themselves, became a crown...
...after the Mongols were driven out, Peking was rebuilt. Ming Emperor Yung Lo followed his astrologer's plan to make the city a geomantic portrait of No Cha, a three-headed monster with six arms. Its heads became the main gate, its intestine an open gutter and its navel a well. When Yung Lo had finished, Peking was a series of walled cities within cities, like a Chinese puzzle, box within...
Rear Admiral W. F. Boone, Superintendent of the Navel Academy, finally declared he was acting on "his own interpretation of existing directives," and the head of West Point issued a similar statement. The situation was particularly touchy since West Point is annually the location of the national collegiate debate tournament...
...stripes, dark green tunic and bright red sash. Underneath the blouse, he wore a brass plate to carry the weight of his vast collection of decorations. A horrified British officer noted that Britain's cherished Order of the Bath was hanging just about where the marshal's navel would be. The only medals Zhukov seemed genuinely proud of were the three gold stars of his thrice-awarded Hero of the Soviet Union...
...after a few months, the youngster still has a pronounced bulge around the navel, most parents get panicked about what the doctor calls umbilical hernia. It is customary then to strap the navel with adhesive, and in many cases surgery is advised. Needless, said Dr. Lawson. Even the bandages often cause skin irritation, and the vast majority of umbilical hernias disappear if left alone. Operations, he suggested, are unnecessary before the age of eight-and after that, they will be rare...