Word: strained
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...celebrity duo is visiting a school and counseling facility for children affected by the Sichuan earthquake, paid for by Versace and operated under the auspices of Li's charity, the One Foundation. The occasion is only theoretically private. Hundreds of people pour in from the road or strain at the wire mesh that separates the school from the tract of temporary housing it adjoins. There is barely room to stage the songs and dances that the children have so assiduously rehearsed. When Li and Versace tour a classroom, they do so while amazed farmers press faces at every window. Those...
...Though Harrell’s performance was mostly characterized by the dreamlike quality of nebulous sound, sometimes so soft that listeners had to strain their ears to hear the pitch, his virtuosity was not dampened by his sensitivity to touch and tone in the lyrical sections. Every note in the spiccato passages of later movements was clearly articulated, and difficult ascending scales and slides were timed to perfection...
...industrial development. He hopes to bring in building-material companies that will develop earthquake-resistant products. Once Beichuan is rebuilt, a process that is estimated to take three years, Zhang hopes that the firms can then produce materials for seismic hazard zones elsewhere in China and abroad. The strain on Zhang and other local bureaucrats is severe. A quarter of government officials died in the quake, and the disaster continues to take victims. On Oct. 3, a Beichuan official who lost his only son to the quake killed himself. Zhang says his job keeps him from remembering what happened...
...local government tentatively plans to turn the remains of the city into a memorial park. Zhang now heads the Beichuan department of commerce, working to attract new businesses and industrial development. But the strain on him and other local bureaucrats is severe. A quarter of government officials died in the quake. Zhang says his job keeps him from remembering what happened to his wife and daughter. "When I'm buried in my work, I think they are still alive," he says. "But when I look up and see that drawing, I remember they...
...chapter titled "Faux-Cons: Worse than Liberalism," Huckabee identifies what he calls the "real threat" to the Republican Party: "libertarianism masked as conservatism." He is not so much concerned with the libertarian candidate Ron Paul's Republican supporters as he is with a strain of mainstream fiscal-conservative thought that demands ideological purity, seeing any tax increase as apostasy and leaving little room for government-driven solutions to people's problems. "I don't take issue with what they believe, but the smugness with which they believe it," writes Huckabee, who raised some taxes as governor and cut deals with...