Four-star general Walter (Dutch) Kerwin, who helped pioneer the US military’s historic shift to an all-volunteerforce in the 1970s, had seen firsthand the problems that could plague a conscripted army fighting a modern war.Kerwin was the Army’s personnel chief during the Vietnam War, grappling with draftees deserting, abusing drugs andeven murdering unpopular commanders. With draftees’ tours limited to 12 months, military units lost their vitalcohesion. In order to help “bring this level of indiscipline down,” as he told Congress at the time, Kerwin drafted plansfor what became the all-volunteer force that celebrated its 35th birthday on July 1, 2008.        

      Kerwin famously spoke of the line that he felt must be drawn between those in uniform and those they protect.“The values necessary to defend the society are often at odds with the values of the society itself,” he said. “The Armymust concentrate not on the values of our liberal society but on the hard values of the battlefield.”         The volunteer Army isn’t without problems—conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced it to lower recruitingstandards and increase bonuses to attract and retain soldiers—but with a conscripted force, the US probably couldn’thave waged the two wars now under way. Compared with morale during Vietnam, the spirit among US troops servingin war zones is relatively high—a fact that will no doubt be Kerwin’s legacy.

   In early 2011, former police officer Lin Jsung-yi began thinking about how he would spend his free time after he retired in March that year. As he was pondering, he 41 to hear about a citizen farmers program launched by the city government that allowed local residents to grow produce on plots of land rent-free for six months. He quickly 42 for the program and by July 2011 began his life as an urban farmer. “I thought I would just 43 .” Lin recalls. “But after I started, my interest in gardening grew. Seeing the plants get taller and larger each day gave me a great sense of achievement.” After Lin’s rent-free farming ended in December 2011, he decided to rent a new 44 directly from the landowner and continue what had become his favorite activity. Now he spends one to two hours every morning and at least half a day every weekend working on his farm, doing whatever is necessary: plowing, planting, watering, 45 , weeding, etc. For him, urban farming has not only filled his free time after retirement, but given him the spiritual rewards that he has never experienced before.

         A suspension bridge is a type of bridge that use overhead cables to support its roadway. The design of a suspension bridge is simple and straightforward, and uses several architectural techniques to distribute the weight of the bridge safely and evenly.

         The construction of a suspension bridge starts with its towers, which are usually located on dry land and anchored to bedrock. Once the towers are built, master cables are strung across them and anchored into the bank at both ends of the bridge. Next, suspension cables are strung from the master cables, and then the deck used as roadway is attached to them. Most of the weight of the bridge is transferred by the cables to the anchorage systems. These are embedded in either solid rock or huge concrete blocks. Inside the anchorages, the cables are spread over a large area to evenly distribute the load and to prevent the cables from breaking free.

         One of the oldest engineering forms, suspension bridges were constructed by primitive peoples using thick vines for cables. A much stronger type was introduced in India around 400 A.D. that used cables of braided bamboo. In the early nineteenth century, suspension bridges used iron chains for cables. Today, the cables are made of thousands of individual steel wires bound tightly together. A single steel wire, only 0.1 inch thick, can support over half a ton of weight without breaking.

         Light and strong, a suspension bridge could span distances from 2,000 to 7,000 feet, which is much longer than any other kind of bridge could. Its simple design allows high clearance under the deck, useful when the bridge is built over a major shipping waterway or a very deep gulf. A suspension bridge is also less subjected to collapse than some other bridge types such as those built on support pillars.

   One of the fastest growing industries around the globe is the creative and cultural industries. The industries basically combine arts, culture, business and technology. In Europe, the United Kingdom owns the hugest amount of creative sectors owing to the active and effective promotion of the government. With its excellent track record, the UK is regarded as a pioneer and a world leader in sustaining the development of creative and cultural industries. According to the UK’s definition, the creative and cultural industries generally refer to those industries that rely on original creativity, expertise and talent and have the capacity to generate wealth and jobs by means of the advancement of intellectual property. In total, there are thirteen sectors that can be seen as belonging to the creative and cultural industries, including advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software, and television and radio. Later definition of the industries has also added the aspects of enhancing social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development to the initial one.

   In comparison with other countries such as the UK, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, Taiwan still has space for the development of the creative and cultural industries. Although not necessarily coming in large number, three of the most prosperous cases in Taiwan include Liuli Gongfang, Seagull Group, and PiLi International. Liuli Gongfang emerged as a small enterprise and then became one of the world’s leading glassware makers. The Seagull Group has an internationally renowned brand, “Fran,” because of its successful promotion strategies. PiLi International with its incorporation of multimedia has remarkably converted itself from a traditional puppet theatre troupe into a modern and flourishing venture. While still adhering to the original puppet show philosophy, PiLi has in effect woven the modern and contemporary culture into the puppet show tradition so nicely that it has become a great success in the creative industry. PiLi’s innovative commercialization of traditional culture has received much admiration as well as an excellent model for related industries to imitate. In 2002, PiLi was also certified by the Government Information Office as part of an “important emerging industry,” recognizing its significant role in the creative and cultural industries. With the rapid emergence of these industries, both the government and the people in Taiwan have also paid much attention to the growth of these industries.

        Reviews are where an experience meets ideas. You go to a concert, a movie, an art exhibition, a restaurant,and it makes you think. Maybe the experience is a  21  for a brand-new idea; maybe it  22       somethingyou’ve been thinking about for a while. It becomes something worth writing about. 

       The job of the reviewer is to get both the experience and the ideas into words — and into proportion. Insome ways, a review is the same as reporting: The facts have to be correct and presented in a coherent way.And in some ways, a review is  23  reporting: your subjective experience and your reactions —intellectual, emotional, visceral — are a big part of it. 

        A review is not about the reviewer. A reader does not care about when the reviewer got to a location orhis mood or the weather that day. It’s about what a person experienced when he met his work head-on with fullattention: what his knowledge tells him about the work, what his immediate experience added to that and wherethe work can lead next. You might be writing about something your readers don’t know about  24  youhave discovered; help them share that sense of discovery. Or you might be bringing a new  25  tosomething familiar. Make it convincing. It’s about feeling, learning, thinking, judging, and making all that vividto your reader.