Word: shrill
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Sudden Tornado. Last week the festering resentment finally broke into a shrill serenade of street violence that escalated to the worst riots Egypt has witnessed since King Farouk was dethroned 25 years ago. The trigger: an announcement by Deputy Premier for Economics Abdel Moneim Kaissouni of sharp cutbacks in food subsidies. That, in turn, meant price increases in government stores of as much as 50% for a loaf of bread, while the cost of sugar leaped 25%, tea 35% and bottled gas, which Egyptians use for cooking and heating, 50%. In a country where the average wage is only...
...newsreel footage, they seem not heroic but very human and slightly absurd. A short fund-raising film for the Hollywood Ten, unearthed by Director Helpern, shows the group addressing the camera with starchy informality and faint condescension. But this impression of haughtiness compares favorably with the shrill, uproarious melodramatics of The Red Menace, an anti-Communist crime buster included to illustrate the degree of frenzy that gripped Hollywood. Hollywood on Trial contains no revelations and no tough questions addressed to any faction. It does keep a decent, compassionate political equilibrium, and is to be admired accordingly...
While this assessment may be a bit shrill, many Western military men agree with it. Similar views are certain to punctuate this week's separate meetings of the alliance's Defense Ministers and Foreign Ministers at NATO headquarters near Brussels. A classified combat effectiveness report, prepared for NATO Commanding General Alexander Haig, will serve as a tough briefing paper for the meetings. Haig's conclusion: the alliance's conventional ground forces are weak and must be strengthened. Because of the Soviet buildup, warns Haig, "NATO will have less and less warning of a potential Soviet offensive...
...holdouts are discovering that silence is golden. Nerves are no longer frazzled by a shrill ring. Importunate creditors and nagging in-laws must resort to the mails. Meals are not interrupted, and TV ball games can be viewed from beginning to end. Two gas stations in town serve as message centers when needed - although communication is no big problem in Hickory Corners (pop. 200). As one resident puts it, "We can yell across town...
...sensitivity, although the performance did not quite match that of the Persichetti symphony. The performers showed their versatility in the opening "Normandie," played with gusto, sprightly clashes of brass and a fine ensemble, and in "Bretagne," somber and haunting with a nice, accented contrast of low brass and shrill woodwinds...