(I) Karen Cushman’s first book, Catherine, Called Birdy, published in 1994, was set in the Middle Ages. (II) From certain aspects, it was difficult to tell exactly when the Middle Ages began and ended, (III) To be perfectly informed, Cushman meticulously researched the period using a range of primary sources. (IV) She also studied the historical fiction of many well-known children’s writers in order to get a better feel for writing for young adults. (V) The result was excellent, and the book brought her the Carl Sandburg Award for Children’s Literature.

(I) Between 1984 and 1988, Sergey Bubka, the Ukrainian pole vaulter, increased the world record by 21 centimetres. (II) In his vaulting style, he gripped his pole several inches higher than other competitors did. (III) Bubka first cleared the 6-metre record in Paris on July 13, 1985. (IV) That height had long been considered an unattainable one. (V) In 1988 he neared the 6.1-metre barrier with a vault of 6.06 metres in Nice, France and won another gold medal by breaking his own record.

(I) In 1588 the French writer Michel de Montaigne published the completed version of his Essais. (II) In so doing, he gave a name to a type of literature that has become enormously popular among some readers and writers throughout the world. (III) Montaigne was not the first essayist, though. (IV) Before him, the ancient Greek writer Plutarch had written Moralia, a series of more than 60 essays on ethical, literary, religious, physical and political topics. (V) Plutarch is better known for his work Parallel Lives, which is made up of 23 sets or paired biographies.

(I) Water — oceans, seas, gulfs and straits — covers about 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. (II) The continents are distributed unevenly over the Earth’s surface. (III) More than 65 percent of all the land area, for example, lies in the Northern Hemisphere. (IV) Thus it is often referred to as the "land hemisphere". (V) The Southern Hemisphere, on the other hand, is truly an oceanic realm, with only about 11 percent above water.

(I) Ernest Bevin, the British trade unionist and statesman, was reared in a poor family and left school at the age of 11. (II) After holding a series of jobs, he found regular employment on a mineral-water delivery route in Bristol. (III) In 1905 he became the unpaid secretary of the Bristol Right to Work Committee, and in 1910, he formed a carters' branch of the Dockers’ Union in that city. (IV) The port is administered by the Port of Bristol Authority and includes the docks at Avonmouth, Portishead and West Dock. (V) By the end of World War I, he was functioning as the union's assistant general secretary.

(I) Beverly Hills is divided into three main parts. (II) North of Sunset Boulevard are foothills, containing the Beverly Hills Hotel and luxurious mansions. (III) Beverly Hills also has tragedies occasionally, like the huge fire at Beverly Hills Supper Club in 1977, which cost the lives of 165 people. (IV) South of Sunset Boulevard are the flatlands, containing other expensive homes. (V) Between Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard are many stylish shops, boutiques and department stores.

(I) Best-seller lists first began to be run in 1895 by Boo/cman, an American magazine of literature and criticism, when it began publication. (II) It compiled the list from reports of sales at bookstores throughout the country. (III) Popular literaiy taste and judgement did not always coincide with what critics said, though. (IV) Soon similar lists began to appear in other literary magazines and in metropolitan newspapers. (V) Today the lists most commonly considered authoritative in the United States are those of Publishers Weekly and The New York Times.

(I) The Aran Islands are three limestone islands on the west coast of Ireland. (II) The islands contain impressive prehistoric and early Christian hill forts and other remains. (III) They are made up of horizontal sheets of limestone. (IV) They do not have naturally occurring topsoil. (V) The absence of natural soil makes farming very difficult for the inhabitants.

(I) Human language is not an instinctual but a learned skill. (II) For example, a human baby raised by apes would learn only the language of apes. (III) Otherwise, apes resemble human beings both in behaviour and in appearance. (IV) Much animal "talk", contrary to humans, is not learned but inborn.(V) A cat will purr and meow even if it never hears another cat.

(I) Bernardo Bertolucci, an Italian film director, was raised in an atmosphere of comfort and inlellectualism, (II) His father was a poet, anthologist teacher of art history and film critic. (III) Bertolucci's early childhood interest in films came as a result of attending frequent screenings with his father. (IV) Bertolucci, best known for his film Last Tango in Paris, was strongly influenced by his father. (V) But it was his film II Conformista with which Bertolucci attained full maturity as a director.