Word: skillfully
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...computer industry has been a source of profound national pride in recent years. While other parts of the economy have sagged, computer makers have maintained the tradition of American ingenuity and skill. But last week even they seemed badly shaken. Buffeted by plummeting profits, slow sales and excess capacity, the industry resembled a sophisticated data processor suddenly gone awry...
...Ellis conveys the hellishness of aimless lives with economy and skill; his efforts to distance Clay, the narrator, from all the other zombies is unsuccessful. True, he has a few scruples. He does not mainline heroin, he walks out before the end of an apparently genuine snuff film, and he refuses an obliging friend's invitation to rape a drugged and trussed up twelve-year- old girl. He is also sensitive. The crying jag he experiences at his psychiatrist's office may suggest some inner anguish, although it might just as easily occur because he spends so much time drugged...
...most primitive level, it must be admitted, Rambo works. Its hero is like a sullen but gorgeously sculpted James Bond, impervious to pain, implacable in the face of impossible odds and impeccable in his skill with any weapon that comes to hand, be it his own customized bowie knife or the Vietnamese helicopter he casually appropriates for the finale. The long sequences in which he builds his body count to inestimable levels are well designed and well executed by Director Cosmatos. They are, in fact, so compelling that one tends to chortle in anticipation of Rambo's next superhero ploy...
...disappointment when French President Francois Mitterrand refused to join the other leaders in agreeing to a new round of trade talks. Reagan managed to defuse the Bitburg uproar, but the incident nevertheless left a sour taste. By and large, however, Reagan handled his diplomatic duties with sensitivity and skill. Whether they liked him or not, Europeans could no longer dismiss him as an unschooled cowboy, as they did a few short years...
With that ringing flourish the President had completed a simplified but still stirring set of themes: horror at the past, vigilance in the present, hope for the future. Rhetorically, at least, he had approached a highly charged problem with directness and skill. As Reagan and Kohl reboarded Air Force One to return to Bonn, the President's relieved staff applauded both leaders. Said Reagan: "It was a very moving day for all of us, a day of remembrance and hope...