Word: sparking
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...twists emerge from the House of Astonishing Coincidences. And every character is designed either to point Lily in the right direction (the women) or to dramatize the rural bigotry she's trying to escape (the white men). I wish T. Ray, well played by Bettany, had been given some spark of ambiguity, some inner life beyond his meanness; and that June - her arms folded in disapproval, like a stern nun concealing a ruler in her sleeves - didn't have to endure the standard redemption process of being enlightened, converted, broken. But this is a parable, and the people...
...client passed, but the idea took off: there are now more than 65 million 401(k) accounts, which allow participants to invest in stocks and bonds, often with matching funds from employers--all at a lower cost than the pension plans that 401(k)s replaced. The accounts helped spark a financial-industry boom, funneling billions from under retirement savers' mattresses into mutual funds and the stock market...
...since Bush took office. "They don't want to be branded by the degree." Interest has been so low at Lancaster University that administrators have decided to phase out their program; the 14 freshmen who entered it in October will be the last to do so. According to Alasdair Spark, a lecturer in American studies at the University of Winchester, high school students selecting their majors are particularly sensitive to criticism of the U.S. on issues such as torture and global warming. "Would you study English if you were told novels were evil?" he asks...
...this merely a psychological effect that could proceed without God? Nevins insists not. "I think that hope and strength and sense of worth are an extraordinary gift that I view as the spark of the divine within our souls...
...system unravels. It can't afford to. China has bought up some $1 trillion in U.S. debt, making it a major financier to the American credit binge. There have been longstanding fears that Beijing would at some point stop buying U.S. Treasury securities. That is unlikely because it could spark a selloff that would cause the U.S. dollar to plunge in value, eroding China's huge dollar holdings. Besides, China is still earning billions a day through its exports and "has to do something with the money," says one senior Beijing economist who asked not to be named...