Oil Consumption Essay

The modern world faces several important problems in the 21st century and oil overconsumption is definitely one of the most important ones. In the modern world oil is the primary source of energy. People overuse natural resources and pollute the environment. Amount of oil, which is extracted from the earth each year, approaches maximum amount which can not be increased by determination. If people break this limit, the amount of oil in the ground will decrease forever without any possibilities to improve the situation. Since people started using oil and gas from the ground in the 19th century, they have produced nearly a half of all reasonable resources of the earth. As soon as they reach this half-way point, they will achieve its production peak. This means that “more oil will be produced in a year near the half-way point than ever before or ever after.” (Deffeyes) This phenomenon was originally discovered and studied by M. King Hubbert. Modern researches prove his thesis. We can trace it on simple example. Oil production statistics prove that most oil fields show one characteristic curve. They reach peak in oil production when half of ultimately recoverable oil is produced. After this half-way point is reached aggregate rate goes down till all oil is produced. Hubbert has also predicted that the United States of America will reach its peak in oil production by 1972. Jean Laherrere, a famous petroleum engineer and world famous oil analyst, predicts that oil production will decline between 2010 and 2050.

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The development of modern economy is closely connected with the growth of transport industry. Most modern transport systems are based on oil. Statistics show that two thirds of all petroleum used in the US is used for power transportation. “At present, transportation fuels account for roughly half of the world’s oil consumption. Transportation’s share increases to 60% if we include bitumen for road asphalt, along with lubricants and the energy used in refinery production of diesel and gasoline. Oil use in the transport sector will thus remain a driver of total global oil demand” (Mandil, 3). The growth of transport sector will naturally lead to the growing needs in energy for transport vehicles. What is notable, despite extremely important role, which energy plays for economy, the rise of prices for energy will not result in bigger supplies of gas and oil. As soon as the production of oil reaches its half-way peak supplies will gradually decrease while the prices for oil will grow. This will definitely have negative effect on transport sector in particular and on the world economy in general.

Growing of oil consumption becomes a natural effect of the economic development. The use of oil in transport industry has negative effect on the surrounding.

Environmental problems, which are caused by the use of gas and oil in transport sector and industry, grow with each year. During the last 100 years people have produced a lot of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and as a result of it the average temperature has warmed up by over half a degree. Burning fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas influences our atmosphere and so the responsibility for the global warming in the 20th century lies on people. Nowadays the air temperature has become much warmer because the heat can not go back into space. Extra greenhouse gases increase the greenhouse effect. The use of oil in transport industry causes serious damage to the environment and this problem can not be neglected any more.

Energy efficiency is a key point of dealing with problem of natural resources and environmental protection. Energy efficiency can help to resolve not only the problems of transportation sector, but also any other sectors where energy of gas or oil is used.

The increase of energy efficiency can be a good way to save energy. Efficiency increase demands a better model of the transport vehicle. There is a progress, which can be noticed in this field. For example, “the pace of efficiency improvement has been rapid. For example between 1995 and 2003, there was an 11.8% decline in CO2 emissions from new passenger cars sold in the former 15 European Union countries (EU-15)” (Mandil 11). There are several ways to increase efficiency. These options include: improvements in existing engines switching from gasoline to diesel, use of hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, technologies that reduce the fuel efficiency shortfall.

At the same time efficiency increase is a slow process and counting on it will not resolve problems which exist now. It takes years for designers to replace old car models with more effective ones and it takes even more years to replace old models in the market. There is no one key technology option yet. Different cars require different approaches to the problem of efficiency increase. That is why other methods of dealing with the problem of oil depletion are necessary.

It is evident that fuel efficiency should be combined with the use of CO2-free fuels. The first step towards the solution of this problem is the usage of hybrid engines and new technologies. “By 2050, fuel-cell technologies and other advancements could boost efficiency to 54 miles per gallon” (Koffer, 2005). This approach can help to resolve problems caused by the significant increase of oil production. Synthetic gasoline, natural gas, bioethanol, biomass and diesel from coal can be regarded as alternative fuels. When talking about alternative fuels it is necessary to consider all pros and contras of these fuels. Most of the fuels mentioned can compete with the prices for oil. If prices for oil grow, the use of these alternative kinds of fuel will become even more profitable. “Alternative fuels must also been seen in the light of their contributions to a secure, environmentally acceptable and affordable energy system“ (Mandil 14). Regulation caused by the increase of prices for oil and gas can be combined with governmental policies, which would encourage the use of CO2-free fuel. If such policies are implemented by the government, it will naturally lead to the resolution of oil depletion problems.

Governmental support and technology progress are necessary condition of the successful resolution of this problem.

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Essay on US Dollar

Why The Dollar’s Decline Isn’t A Downer

Nowadays, many specialists in the field of economics are extremely concerned about the current trend of the US dollar to decline. Obviously, the question of the dollar’s decline, its current effects and possible consequences to the US economy as well as its causes is really one of the major concerns of leading economists since the role of dollar in the international economic relations is of a paramount importance.

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On analyzing the dollar’s decline, specialists have different views on this problem varying from pessimistic to optimistic positions. In this respect, James C. Cooper, the author of the article “Why The Dollar’s Decline Isn’t A Downer”, basically stands on an optimistic ground. First of all, the author analyses the recent trends and the current position of the US dollar. In fact, he agrees that the value of dollar has declined substantially within a few years since 2002, notably the decline constitutes about 33% in relation to euro.

At the same time, the author indicates that such a decline is not fully determined by objective economic factors. To put it more precisely, he underlines that the US economy is steadily growing, even though the growth is relatively slow it is still not a reason for the sharp decline of a dollar. Furthermore, the international trade is not very favorable to the US that may be viewed as one of the major reasons to the dollar’s decline.

However, the author does not share the fear that such a decline of US dollar can result in a profound economic crisis caused by the rapid downfall of dollar. Instead, the author argues that the decline would probably continue but it would not be sharp. Moreover, he underlines that such a slow decline may be useful for the US economy. In this respect, it is worthy of mention the author’s comparison of dollar to Japanese yen which seems to be in favor of the US currency. Also, it is important to indicate to the fact that interest rates in the US remain relatively low, while in the EU interest rates would probably grow in 2007 that may also provide dollar and the US economy with certain advantages in the international trade.

On the other hand, it should be said that the author seems to be too optimistic and he probably underestimates potential risks of the dollar’s decline. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the recent trends in China which currency reserves are getting to be more and more diverse. In other words, China gets more interested in other currencies which probably are more stable or perspective than dollars, but the author is not worried about such a threat. However, Chinese economy is rapidly progressing and the shift from the US dollar to other currencies may be quite disturbing since its example may be followed by other countries that may led to the weakening of the position of the US dollar in the international trade to the extent that it may be gradually replaced by euro, for instance.

This is why, it is possible to conclude that despite probable benefits from the dollar’s decline in international trade of the US, since lower dollar give larger export opportunities to the US goods, but the threat of the losing its position of the main currency of the international trade and fears of economists concerning the future of dollar are quite serious factor that should make the Fed to be very careful in its policy in order to minimize the risk of a sharp downfall of dollar which would inevitably cause a serious economic crisis in the US as well as in many other countries of the world.

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Astronautics and Space Essay

Among various programs of space exploration NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is probably the most successful one. Several missions were conducted over thirty years, including Mars Pathfinder of 1997 and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) of 2003. These two missions had much in common in technical characteristics. Both included spacecrafts with similar cruise stages, aero shells, parachute design, and airbags. However, two robotic rovers of MER (Spirit and Opportunity) have better mobility and equipment, carrying all scientific instruments in the landed parts. The MER mission has brought two major discoveries – the traces of water on Mars and Heat Shield Rock, the first meteorite found on another planet.

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International Space Station, the international project, was started in 1980-es. Being a joint program of five space agencies (NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA, and Roskosmos), ISS first launched a crew in 2000. However, the construction was delayed seriously due to shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. This incident caused the major halt of NASA Shuttle program that affected the process of ISS construction soundly. Currently NASA and other ISS participators accepted the new schedule, planning to complete the ISS program by 2010. In my opinion, there may appear other construction delays in this project, as it already happened before. For instance, such significant project may undergo budget problems or research delays.
Answering Questions

1. What was the name of the first American space station and when was it launched?.
a) Salyut 1, May 1973.
b) Skylab, April 1971.
c) Salyut 1,April 1971.
d) Skylab, May 1973.

2. The Cassini high-gain antenna was the contribution of.
a)ESA.
b)ASI.
c)JPL.
d)NASA.

3. The power used by the transmitter on Voyager spacecraft to communicate with Earth is in the order of magnitude of.
a)Thousands of Watts.
b)Millions of Watts.
c)Hundreds of Watts.
d)Tens of Watts.

4. What is the preferred orbit for telecommunication satellites?.
a)LEO.
b)MEO.
c)GEO.
d)HEO.

5. Which subsystem is not part of a spacecraft Bus?.
a)Payload subsystem.
b)Attitude control subsystem.
c)Power subsystem.
d)Telemetry, tracking, and command subsystem.

6. What is one of the advantages of liquid rocket fuels over solid fuels?.
a)It is cheaper to manufacture.
b)It is cleaner to burn.
c)It is less explosive and thus safer.
d)Fuel combustion can be regulated to produce variable thrust.

7. What is the name of the first component of the International Space Station put into orbit?.
a)Unity Node.
b)Russian Service Module.
c)Functional Cargo Block.
d)JEM.

Note: “Zarya” was the first module; in 2 weeks “Unity Node 1” was launched to join together with “Zarya”. Both are considered to be the first modules in IIS.

8. A comet or asteroid hit the Earth some 65 million years ago. How large was the diameter of the comet or asteroid?.
a)I kilometer.
b)10 kilometers.
c)100 kilometers.
d)1 meter.

9. What does the expression "economies of scale" pertain to?.
a)The total cost of the project is reduced by the addition of very efficient processes.
b)The development cost is spread over a large number of items, thus the cost per item is less.
c)The project is a large scale project offering many opportunities for cost reduction.
d)None of the above.

Note: Economies of scale characterizes a production process in which an increase in the scale of the firm causes a decrease in the long run average cost of each unit; hence I suppose it is the answer C.

10. Magellan spacecraft.
a) used type IV trajectory.
b) used type I trajectory.
c) landed on Mars.
d) was launched by a Delta II rocket.

11. What is the major similarity between Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover missions?
a) There is no similarity between the two missions.
b) the same exact type of rover was used for both missions.
c) the same entry, decent, and landing technology was used for both missions.
d) the objectives of the missions were the same

Note: I guess the aim of both was the same – exploration of Mars (answer D). However, there were some similarities between both missions, I described them earlier in this paper (answer C).

12. Specific Impulse is:
a) The thrust generated by a rocket.
b) A measure of effectiveness of a rocket fuel.
c) Energy generated by a rocket.
d) None of the above.

Note: Specific Impulse is a way to describe the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. It represents the impulse (change in momentum) per unit mass of propellant. Thus I think it is answer B.

13. What is the name of the first robotic vehicle sent to planet Mars?
a) Opportunity.
b) Mars Pathfinder.
c) Sojourner.
d) Spirit.

14. The boundary created between the solar wind and the interstellar wind is called:
a) the magnetosphere.
b) the heliosphere.
c) the heliopause.
d) the ionosphere.

15. Which statement is false?
a) Cellular phones used in urban areas use satellite communications.
b) Fixed Service Satellites use the C band, and the lower portions of the Ku.
c) Sales transactions including credit cards are mostly provided by a VSAT satellite.
d) Detection of missile launches is an example of a reconnaissance satellite mission.

16. The Martian atmospheric pressure is approximately:.
a) the same as atmospheric pressure on Earth.
b) 100 times smaller than on Earth.
c) 10 times greater than on Earth.
d) 10 times smaller than on Earth.

17. A comet has a bright tail because:.
a) Dust particles scape the comet's gravitational field and reflect sun light.
b) Friction between it and the sun's atmosphere creates a hot trail.
c) Photons emitted from it interact with the solar wind.
d) High energy gamma rays undergo lamda-epsilon transitions.

Note: Comet has tail because Sun radiation pushes the tiny dust particles in the direction from which they came, I guess the answer A is correct.

18. How are the planets outside of our solar system discovered?
a) By taking their picture with the Hubble space telescope in the visible spectrum.
b) By X-ray measurements.
c) By gamma ray measurements.
d) By analyzing the induced perturbations in the movement of their star.

19. What was the name of the first asteroid encountered by Galileo spacecraft?
a) Dactyl.
b) Ida.
c) Gaspra.
d) Shoemaker-Levy 9.

20. What kind of trajectory was used by Cassini spacecraft?.
a) Type I trajectory.
b) VVEJGA trajectory.
c) VEEGA trajectory.
d) None of the above.

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Juvenile Delinquency Essay

Nowadays the problem of juvenile delinquency is extremely important and the growth of the crime rate among youths is quite disturbing. In such a situation, it is quite natural that one of the major goals of the juvenile justice system to develop effective programs that could prevent juveniles from the commitment of crimes or cases of recidivism. At the same time, in spite of the variety of the existing programs, it is still necessary to underline that their effectiveness is not always high enough. Nevertheless, it is possible to find some programs which may be viewed as quite perspective though they basically represent two different approaches to the juvenile probation. These programs are the Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) and the Youthful Offender Program (YOP).

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It should be pointed out that both programs target at the prevention of crimes committed by juveniles but there exist some substantial differences in the approaches used by the programs discussed. First of all, it should be said that the ISP targets at the promotion of public safety through increased surveillance and risk control strategies. The program attempts to promote offender accountability to the victim, the offender’s family and the community at large through restitution, supervision fees, community service, support of family, mandatory school or employment, curfews and drug and alcohol screening. Also the program targets at the promotion of a long-term behavioral change by the offender by providing intensive services through substance abuse evaluation and treatment as well as other mental health services, life skills groups, cognitive thinking classes, educational and vocational training and employment skills.

Furthermore, this program implies that the probation officer visits, telephones, and otherwise checks on the client frequently and at all hours. It should be said that this program represents a phased system in which the frequency and restrictiveness of the monitoring decreases as the client succeeds.

It is worthy of mention that this program implies the use of quite sophisticated means of monitoring such as electronic monitoring that is traditionally used in the conjunction with other programs. Practically it means that the client wears an electronic bracelet and a specially equipped telephone is installed in the client’s home and alerts the probation officer when the client leaves the monitored area. The telephone also contains the breathalyzer to test for alcohol use. In addition, the probation officer can use a hand-held monitor that allows him to drive by the client’s school, or treatment facility, and detect the bracelet to assure that the client is at the assigned location.

Obviously, this program is based on the idea of a thorough control over the client’s behavior and correction process. It should be said that this program is really effective when it is necessary to establish the permanent supervision over the client’s behavior as this program provides ample opportunities to control the client’s at any moment at any place. Naturally, it may be viewed as an effective tool that can decrease the risk of recidivism among the clients. Nevertheless, this program may be criticized since it is basically oriented on a short-term success. To put it more precisely, on agreeing with its effectiveness during the fulfillment of the program and participation of a client, it is hardly possible to forecast the long-lasting effect of this program. Practically, it means that the program imposes certain model of behavior to clients but does not provide an opportunity to make independent choices. As a result, clients get used to the permanent surveillance but they cannot learn to make correct life choices without any external assistance.

Moreover, this program limits substantially the personal freedom of clients since they simply turn to be totally controlled by the probation officer that supervises them. This fact can have a dubious effect. On the one hand, the behavior of clients is supervised and thoroughly controlled, but, on the other hand, in addition to numerous physical limitations, this program produces a profound psychological pressure on clients because they actually feel the permanent supervision that can make them rebel against such severe restrictions. Anyway, this program cannot fully guarantee that clients will be able to lead a normal social life after the end of this program because they do not get used to make independent choices and they remain isolated from the rest of the community.

In this respect, the YOP seems to be more effective and more humanistic program because it primarily targets at the better integration of the youthful offenders in the community. In order to achieve this goal a number of community resources is used. However, it is worthy of mention that this program basically targets at the youths who has committed their first aggravated crime and, thus, are considered to be less dangerous than offenders that undergo the previously discussed program and who tend to recidivism. In fact, this program uses the community potential to rehabilitate and successfully integrate clients into a normal social life.

Naturally, there is no such a strict supervision like in the ISP and this is probably the most important difference of this program because it provides clients with an excellent opportunity to find the alternative way in their life after the commitment of a crime. In other words, they get a chance to make a conscious choice in favor of the integration in the community and normal non-delinquent life.
On analyzing the results of both programs, it is necessary to point out that the ISP turns to be more effective in relation to clients who committed crimes repeatedly and really need a thorough control, while the YOP is more effective in relation to clients who committed their first crime and should get a chance for rehabilitation within a community without strict surveillance and limitations.

Thus, it is possible to conclude that the YOP is more effective but it is necessary to improve or adapt this program in such a way that it could be really applicable to the clients which are characterized as recidivists, who in actuality really need more supervision than offenders that have committed their first crime.

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Essay on Imprisonment

Imprisonment as the Best Correctional Policy

Crime is a serious problem of modern society. People need safely surrounding for happy living and it is the duty of the state to provide their safety. A lot of attempts are made in order to find new ways of dealing with the growing crime rate. Correctional policies are designed in order to punish lawbreakers and prevent new crimes. Using differentiated approach when dealing with different types of crime can bring good results as it takes into account all peculiarities of each separate crime category. Despite there is a trend to modern society aiming to limit the use of imprisonment as correctional policy it stays one of the most effective and most widespread policies.

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Scientists provide a lot of theories trying to explain the origins and reasons of criminal behavior. Most of the theories turn to the ideas of inequality and trying poor people to get some compensation for their lower status and lack of possibilities in life.

Social Control theory regards all human creatures as naturally inclined to committing crimes and become surprised with those, who don’t. Despite these theories put all the guilt for the crimes committed on the society, it still serves the additional proof that only retributional policies can bring necessary result.
Rational arguments will not work with people, who feel social injustice. That is why preventive measures are not very likely to be effective in this case. At the same time there is a big hope that imprisonment can become a combination of preventive and punishing measure as it serves as a punishment to actual criminals and reminds about potential retribution to the potential ones.

There are four different theories on crime and punishment, which assume the use of different correctional policies. Justice theory is based on the Judeo-Christian idea of paying a debt for the crime committed. Idea of retribution is widely accepted in this system. Such a theory assumes that those who commit crimes will be punished and victim will feel better knowing about this. Second theory of the correctional policy is based on the principle of deterrence. This philosophy is based on the idea that “punishment should be sure, speedy, commensurate with the crime, and sufficiently conspicuous to deter others from committing crimes.” (Dye, p. 100) Incapacitation philosophy of correctional policy is based on the idea of protecting society from the threat caused by lawbreakers. This protection is provided by putting prisoners in prisons. The fourth theory is based on the principle of rehabilitation. It states that society is responsible for the criminal behaviour of individuals and, thus owns them rehabilitation in order to help them to come back to normal life.

If we study carefully all four approaches to correctional policy we will notice that not all of them are applicable in modern context. Judaeo-Christian philosophy of justice has some fallacies. First of all, it can be applied only in the cases when people believe in Judea-Christian moral and ethical norms and regulations. In this case they will perceive an idea of just punishment. In addition, it is not possible to count on this type of justice in all cases. Second theory canters on punishment and criminal’s responsibility paying little attention to potential danger that criminal can bring to the society. Rehabilitation theory can work well for those, who have already committed crime. At the same time it can not prevent from the committing of new crimes as potential criminals and lawbreakers will not be afraid of future punishment. In addition, rehabilitation theory does not exclude imprisonment as it correctional measure can be performed there. That is why I believe Incapacitation theory to be the most convenient and suitable for the contemporary situation. It combines punishment to the criminals with the protection of the society. In addition, it can be used together with such approach as rehabilitation and deterrence approaches.

Incapacitation theory corresponds to the demands of the contemporary society. Since the 1960s correctional policy makes an emphasis on two points: lawbreaker and the community. Offender and community are not separated by the contemporary justice and that is why correctional policy should be designed in such a way which would enable to punish offender and protect community.

Community is presented like a complex system of interconnected phenomena.

Correctional policy is generally aimed to defend community. In contemporary society correctional policy is designed in such a way that it combines retribution and rehabilitation. I believe prisons to be suitable place where these two policies can be successfully combined. In addition, as states Moore, in “correctional policy should be designed to help maintain the public safety at the lowest cost.” (Moore, 118) Till present moment prisons proved to be the most economically adequate correctional policy and there are no reasons to doubt this fact.

An accent, made on preventive measure during recent time, proves to be not as affective one as it was considered in the beginning. Growing crime rate proves ineffectiveness of such policy. It can be traced on the example of school violence, where imprisonment is not used at all or used very seldom. Growing crime rate becomes additional proof of the necessity of imprisonment as a correctional policy. The first and the main reason is the growing rate of school violence. The changing definition of the school violence has also become the subject of concern is. If only several decades ago chewing gun could have been considered as school violence, nowadays brining a gun to school is a usual thing. Schools, which aim to teach children not only basic knowledge on different subjects but also give them moral and ethical values and behavioral patterns, become the places where children meet violence and crime. Nowadays school authorities have to deal such serious problems as sexual assault, rape, drug and alcohol use, verbal threat and abuse, suicide, gun possession, assault with a gun or a knife and many others. “In 1999–2000, 20% of all public schools experienced one or more serious violent crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Seventy one percent of public schools reported violent incidents and 46 % reported thefts”(Capozzoli, p.79,). All these facts and numbers become additional proof that preventive policy used alone without punishment are not effective enough.

I believe that all these arguments give enough proof to the idea that imprisonment is the best correctional policy which benefits both, criminals and society.

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Kite Runner Essay

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is the debut novel written in English by an Afghan writer. The setting of the novel differs from chapter to chapter because it deals with five different periods of time: Afghanistan in late 1970s, Soviet occupation, Afghan community in Fremont, California from the 1980s to the early 2000s, and Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. This unforgettable and breathtaking novel is about the power of literature, the price of betrayal and dishonesty, and the possibility of redemption and mercy. Major themes explored in the novel are loyalty, devotion, forgiveness, friendship, redemption, sacrifice, class, fear and others.

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In my paper I would like to discuss the relationship between two antagonists of the novel: Amir and Hassan, which is the underlying force of the novel. Briefly I would like to explain the motives that Amir was guided by when refusing to be Hassan’s true friend and when testing his loyalty. To begin with I find it necessary to introduce Amir and Hassan. Amir is a wealthy boy from a good family, he is a Pashtun, he enjoys his life and is willing to become a writer. Hassan is the victim of constant discrimination because he is a Hazara, a minority whom the Pashtuns, the wealthy upper class, treat like slaves.

The relationship between two boys is rather difficult and many-sided. From one side, it can be seen that Amir loves Hassan in his own way. Hassan is the person he spent his childhood with and the person who had always been there for him. In fact, Hassan is actually Amir’s half-brother, but he is a servant, because no one but Baba, Amir’s father and Ali, Hassan’s father knows the truth. Still even though loving Hassan, Amir was ashamed to be his friend because he feels that it was beneath his place to have a Hazara boy for his best friend. He was a Pathan, the ruler and Hassan was a Hazara, the ruled. It took Amir many years to reconcile for how terribly he treated the loyalty and love that Hassan always offered no matter how bad of a treatment he was getting from Amir.

Even though the way Amir feels about Hassan is ambiguous they spent most of their time together. One of their most cherished times was when Amir read stories to Hassan under a pomegranate tree. As I have already mentioned, Amir had a love for literature, however that was something his father was not satisfied with. Baba was a pillar of strength, courage, and manliness for Amir. He was a true Pathan in his masculine spirit and bearing, he was as well a man of great heart, from whom none returned empty-handed. So, following his principles, Baba wanted Amir to be manlier, he was against Amir’s passion for writing and wanted him to be more engaged in male activities.

Trying to accomplish his goals Baba put Amir on a soccer team and tried to teach him to defend himself, but his attempts failed. Amir often felt he possessed neither his father’s generosity of spirit nor his courage. Amir loved his father greatly and not meeting his expectations was a heartbreak for him. He became increasingly insecure and developed hatred toward Hassan, whom Baba seemed to love more. That was the first time when Amir realized Hassan could not be his true friend, and after that everything Hassan would do just made Amir unreasonably mad.

However, even seeing Amir’s loathing Hassan did not stop being a good and loyal friend for him and continued to save him from the teasing boys of the neighborhood. Still Amir could not accept Hassan because he was jealous of his father’s deep affection for Hassan, which he was deprived of. Not knowing what do with his feeling of hate and anger, Amir often tested Hassan’s loyalty for him. He asked Hassan for ridiculous things, which he, in his turn, performed willingly. Being insecure and self-conscious Amir enjoyed the little power he had over Hassan. Still somewhere deep inside it was clear for him that Hassan was fulfilling all of the absurd tasks not out of fear but out of love. That was the way the boys spent their childhood till the day came that doomed Amir into repentance and nightmares.

The fatal event happened after the kite fighting game, the game in which children attempt to cut down each other's kite strings. Amir set himself on winning because for him it was the last chance to show his father that he was worth of something – and he won. Hassan was his partner in the game and at the end of the game ran to get the flying kite. Hassan was gone for a long time and having grown impatient Amir went to search for him. He found Hassan in a deserted alley surrounded by Asef, the cruel leader of the local hooligan gang. From standing behind the tree Amir saw how viciously Hassan was beaten by the hooligans and then raped by Asef. Amir witnessed it all breathlessly, being disgusted by his cowardice to step in for a friend.

After that occurrence Amir could not look at Hassan’s eyes any more. The weight of his guilt of cowardice was too heavy for him to bear, plus he was sure that if the situation had happened vice versa Hassan would have definitely stood up for him. Being in full despair and not knowing what to do, Amir accused Hassan and his father of thievery and they had to leave the house they spent years at. After this the story takes its normal course, Amir and his father escape to the USA, however through all his life Amir is tortured by the feeling of shame and remorse. The damage he had done in childhood caused irreversible scars that could not be made to disappear. Conversely, at the end of the book Amir reconciled with conscience, he went back to Afghanistan and saved Hassan’s son from the Taliban regime.

Both emotionally fascinating and well timely and topically written, The Kite Runner is an unusual, rather unexpected and powerful debut. The narration is written in the old-fashioned style, however its subject — the overwhelming history of Afghanistan – is contemporary indeed. The Kite Runner is a novel to be read, translated, discussed, and enjoyed by anyone who wants to change his life, correct the mistakes and reconcile with the past. This book gives us all strong hope that even though reconciliation never comes easy there is always a hope for it.

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Essay on Herodotus

At the beginning of the development of human civilization history was foremost the genre of artistic prose, connecting in itself two heterogeneous sides of human activity: science and art. Due to the latter fact, Greek and Roman historians’ works attract readers’ attention. The special place in history of European science occupies Herodotus’s masterpiece, which is the first sample of historical idea and simultaneously the first sample of artistic prose.

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Analyzing his historical methods, it is necessary to point out that basically he used empirical method since he traveled a lot and attempted to notice historical events he observed in his travels. At the same time, he amply used the “narrations of his contemporaries as well as myths and legends” which he carefully documented in his work from a historical perspective.

As for the question of sources, which the text of Greek original depends on, they are basically manuscripts related to the X-XV centuries which reflect the continuous handwritten tradition. According to Kurth (2004), these manuscripts, taken out by Byzantine scientists to Western Europe, are kept presently in the libraries of Rome, Florence, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and other cities. The number of them is considerable. For instance, in the critical edition of G.Stein (Berlin, 1869-881) 46 manuscripts are taken into account (Stern 2006).

However, when Herodotus began to write his work, the “birth of historical science was already an accomplished fact” (Kurth 2004, p.78). It arose up in the first half of the VI century B.C. in Ionia. The main reason of late development of historical narration genre consisted in the fact that terms for its development appeared only on the border of VII-VI centuries B.C., when deep social transformations, being the result of bitter class struggle in Greek policies, take place in Hellas (Kurth 2004). And that is why it is in that moment, when literary process stops to be the form of collective self-expression of the community.

The examples of the most ancient ionic prose were the historical, mythological, ethnographic, geographical, moralizing and natural-science works, and also collections of different sort of anecdotes and stories from the life of prominent people. It is necessary precise that Herodotus’s works principally did not differ from works of his predecessors and contemporaries, some specialists argue that the distinction consisted only in the “level of literary gift and breadth of project” (Kurth 2004, p.82).

It is already in antiquity, when Herodotus’s works was attributed to the most remarkable works by historiography (Stern 2006). It is possible to presuppose that reasons were not only his scientific merits but also brilliant talent of a teller, master of artistic prose managed from the most various materials - own supervisions and researches, legends, myths, historical anecdotes, verbal stories, documentary information, works of the predecessors, etc. to create bright and whole character work. It was the matter of all his life, and he described the events of the greatest world value - Greek-Persian wars, “predetermining the motion of the historical process in Hellas” (Kurth 2004, p.87). At the same time, the work of Herodotus seems to be able to surprisingly fully reflect Greek national character of those ancient times. No wonder, it is possible to estimate that his life and especially vast and long trips produced a profound impact on his work.

From the artistic point of view, it is accepted to name Herodotus’s style novelistic (Kurth 2004). This means that a historical fact, legend, fairy-tale and even fable, could take a form of a novel. Its historical framing, conciseness of form, sharp-cut, well-aimed and often gnomic speech, logical and artistic full valency of details belong to the personal traits and characteristic features of Herodotus’s novels.

The unusual variety of information, related to the most different spheres of the life of human society, artistic value of exposition, plenty of stories, fantastic details, taken by author from folk-lore of the most different people of antiquity, everything this very early incurred the accusation on Herodotus about distortion of real historical facts. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the example of the legendary cavalry of tribes, inhabiting Northern coast of the Black Sea, constituting of virgins (Kurth 2004) since this was often viewed as an unreal myth.

On the other side, many researchers, aiming to get into the spirit and sense of this surprising work, paid the attention to a generous amount of inaccuracies and mistakes in the work of Herodotus: the most ancient history of Egypt in the exposition of Herodotus contains very little reliable facts, though and it is impossible to deny the values of information, reported in it, for example, about building of pyramids. Herodotus was demanded to give information that he notoriously could not give by virtue of objective reasons. The sources which he used (mainly verbal stories of casual people; if he socialized with the Egyptian priests, only the lowest grade, least informed) were, extremely imperfect. At that time the level of source study and criticism the universal history with encyclopedic character, created by Herodotus, could only absorb the great number of folk-lore subjects along with actual facts.

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