Word: testing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Crucial Test. Even as the weak grow weaker, the strong currencies become yet stronger (see chart). The value of the Swiss franc, the world's solidest currency, has increased 5% since last September, while the West German mark has risen 3%. The dollar, which had been suffering only two years ago, now has won new respect abroad as Europeans become increasingly impressed with the vigor of the U.S. economic recovery...
Floating is, in fact, a crucial test of the strength of a nation's economy. Now that central banks no longer intervene in money markets as frequently and forcefully as they once did, currency values are determined by supply and demand, which reflects international confidence-or lack of it-in a nation's economy. Britain and Italy, both troubled by rapid rates of inflation (16% and 12%, respectively), high unemployment (6.1% and 6%) and severe balance of payments problems, have failed to pass the test...
...tensions within the ruling Labor Party. The Conservative opposition combined with rebellious left-wingers to defeat a government White Paper outlining sharp cutbacks in social services-a key part of Prime Minister Harold Wilson's program to slow the inflation that is eroding the pound. As a test of strength, Wilson called for-and won-a vote of confidence. He intends to press ahead with his austerity policy, which has the backing of the trade union leaders. The government seemed, in fact, to welcome the cheapening of the pound as an automatic devaluation that would make British exports more...
...yard seasons; Mark Spitz did it in a swimming pool with his seventh Olympic gold medal. Any day now, Jockey Willie Shoemaker, 44, will do it in horseracing, riding a thoroughbred to victory No. 7,000, setting another of sport's Olympian records for generations to test against. By week's end "Shoe," 4 ft. 11½ in., was one win away, and well past the 6,032 mark set in 1966 by John Longden who was 59 at the time when he retired. No one else is within 2,000 wins of Shoemaker...
...Field Test. Bell Labs is currently field-testing an experimental fiber-optics communications system in Atlanta. But much work must still be done before glass replaces copper in regular systems. Engineers are still trying to find efficient ways of joining the threadlike fibers together. Researchers are working to increase the lifetime of the lasers used to generate the fine beams upon which optical communication depends; the lasers now in use have a projected lifetime of 100,000 hours; researchers would like to increase this to 1 million hours. Scientists are also developing integrated optical circuits, the optical equivalent...