question: Minsk, is the capital and largest city of Belarus, on the Svislach and the Nyamiha Rivers. As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600. Minsk is the administrative capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and seat of the Executive Secretary.

The earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within the Principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499.

From 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship, in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union. Minsk will host the 2019 European Games.

Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest (upper reaches of the river Nioman) to the northeast that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude above sea level is . The physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. The Svislach River, which flows across the city from the northwest to the southeast, is in the "urstromtal", an ancient river valley formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin.
1. What is the largest city in Belarus?
2. When was it first heard of?
3. What century?
4. On what did they begin to settle?
5. What was it connected to in 1793?
6. As a result of what?
7. What was it a capital of until 1991?
8. Since when?
9. Where is it located?
10. Does it have land above sea level?
11. What divides the city from southeast to northwest?
12. How many are in the city?
13. What basin do they share in common?
14. What is it the admin capital of?
****
answer: 1. Minsk
2. 1067
3. 11th
4. on the rivers
5. the Russian Empire
6. the Second Partition of Poland.
7. the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
8. 1919
9. on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills
10. Yes
11. The Svislach River
12. Seven
13. the Black Sea basin.
14. Minsk Region

CHAPTER TWELVE.

VICTORY!

But before that winter closed, ay, before it began, a great victory was gained, which merits special mention here. Let us retrace our steps a little.

One morning, while Ian Macdonald was superintending the preparation of breakfast in some far-away part of the western wilderness, and Michel Rollin was cutting firewood, Victor Ravenshaw came rushing into camp with the eager announcement that he had seen the footprints of an _enormous_ grizzly bear!

At any time such news would have stirred the blood of Ian, but at that time, when the autumn was nearly over, and hope had almost died in the breast of our scholastic backwoodsman, the news burst upon him with the thrilling force of an electric shock.

"Now, Ian, take your gun and go in and win," said Victor with enthusiasm, for the youth had been infected with Rollin's spirit of gallantry.

"You see," Rollin had said to Victor during a confidential _tete-a-tete_, "ven a lady is in de case ye must bow de head. Ian do love your sister. Ver goot. Your sister do vish for a bar-claw collar. Ver goot. Vell, de chance turn up at last--von grizzly bar do appear. Who do shot 'im? Vy, Ian, certaintly. Mais, it is pity he am so 'bominibly bad shot!"

Victor, being an unselfish fellow, at once agreed to this; hence his earnest advice that Ian should take his gun and go in and win. But Ian shook his head.

"My dear boy," he said, with a sigh, "it's of no use my attempting to shoot a bear, or anything else. I don't know what can be wrong with my vision, I can see as clear and as far as the best of you, and I'm not bad, you'll allow, at following up a trail over hard ground; but when it comes to squinting along the barrel of a gun I'm worse than useless. It's my belief that if I took aim at a haystack at thirty yards I'd miss it. No, Vic, I must give up the idea of shooting altogether." What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Who was in charge of the meal?
2. What was the meal?
3. What was Michael doing?
4. What did Victor see?
5. What did Victor want his friend to get?
6. Why?
7. What season was it?
8. Was Victor excited about the animal?
9. What about Ian?
10. Was Ian a good shot?
Answer: 1. Ian Macdonald
2. breakfast
3. cutting firewood
4. the footprints of an _enormous_ grizzly bear!
5. his gun
6. to win
7. winter close
8. Yes
9. Yes
10. No

input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. (CNN) -- Vivienne Westwood is as bald as a baby, the faintest hint of downy white hair sprouting across her naked scalp.

Painted pink eyebrows sweep dramatically outwards. Wearing a sparkling, woven brown dress resembling an expensive hessian sack, she totters onto the stage at London's Southbank arts centre.

Straining forward in her chair, the 72-year-old "grandmother of punk fashion" appears both vulnerable and fierce. Fragile and yet fearless.

"The world was so mismanaged and we hated the older generation because they weren't doing anything about it," she says about forging Britain's punk aesthetic with then-boyfriend and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren in the 1970s.

"I don't hate the older people now -- I'm one of them. But I've been trying to do something to change things all my life."

'God Save the Queen'

Decades after the couple started their radical new clothes shop in an area of London called "World's End" -- displaying ripped t-shirts, rubber curtains, and even a live rat in a cage -- Westwood has become one of Britain's most prestigious fashion designers.

This is the woman who, after receiving an award from Queen Elizabeth II in 1992, famously twirled around for photographers -- without wearing any underwear under her skirt.

The provocative lady is still there, though a little more frail-looking these days, speaking at London's annual Women of the World Festival.

"Buy less, choose well, make it last," she tells a crowd of hundreds -- mostly women -- patiently listening to a lecture that meanders into climate change, banks, and social responsibility. 1. Who has been labelled "the grandmother of punk fashion"?
2. How old is she?
3. Who gave her an award in 1992?
4. What did she do afterwards to shock the press?
5. Which famous person did she date?
6. When did they have a relationship?
7. Why was he well-known?
8. What kind of store did they open?
9. offering what kind of products?
10. Where was it located?
11. In what city?
12. Why was she angry at the older generation?
13. Does she feel the same way today?
14. What advice did she tell attendees at her lecture?
15. Where was the lecture held?
16. At what event?
17. What was she wearing?
18. What other topics were covered during her speech?
numbered_answers:
1. Vivienne Westwood
2. 72
3. Queen Elizabeth II
4. famously twirled without wearing any underwear under her skirt
5. Malcolm McLaren
6. the 1970s
7. Sex Pistols manager
8. a radical new clothes shop
9. ripped t-shirts
10. "World's End"
11. London
12. The world was mismanaged and they weren't doing anything about it
13. no
14. "Buy less, choose well, make it last,"
15. London
16. Women of the World Festival
17. a sparkling, woven brown dress resembling an expensive hessian sack
18. climate change, banks, and social responsibility.