Q: Washington (CNN) -- Mexican drug cartels have used cash and sexual favors as tools to corrupt U.S. border and customs agents, an inspector general investigation has found.

In exchange, agents allow contraband or unauthorized immigrants through inspection lanes, protect or escort traffickers or leak sensitive information, said Charles Edwards, acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

Testifying before a Senate subcommittee, Edwards cited the Zetas drug cartel as one of the leaders "involved increasingly in systematic corruption."

He did not elaborate on how non-cash methods of corruption, like sexual favors, have been used to corrupt agents.

Since October 2004, 127 Customs and Border Protection employees have been arrested or indicted for acts of corruption, said agency Commissioner Alan Bersin, speaking at the same hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's offensive against the drug cartels, combined with a surge in the hiring of border agents in recent years, have multiplied the risks of corruption, Bersin said.

Today, the Border Patrol counts more than 20,700 agents, more than double its size in 2004. Bersin implied that the rapid hiring spree may have come at the cost of hiring less qualified agents.

"The accelerated hiring pace under which we operated between 2006 and 2008 -- and, frankly, mistakes from which we are learning -- exposed critical organizational and individual vulnerabilities within CBP," he said.

To face this challenge, the commissioner touted the passage of the Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010, which requires that by 2013, all the agency's law enforcement applicants must receive a polygraph test before being hired. It also calls for periodic reinvestigations into the background of its agents.

1. Felipe Calderon
2. more than 20,700 agents,
3. no
4. 127
5. between 2006 and 2008
6. Charles Edwards,
7. Department of Homeland Security.
8. yes
9. yes
10. sexual favors
11. Zetas drug cartel
12. U.S. border and customs agents,
13. a polygraph test
14. by 2013
15. he Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010,
16. Alan Bersin
17. a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs.
18. yes
19. allow contraband or unauthorized immigrants through inspection lanes,
20. systematic corruption.

Numbered questions:
1. who is the president of Mexico?
2. How many are working for border patrol today?
3. Is this the same as in 2004?
4. How many employees have been arrested?
5. Between what years was the higher hiring rate?
6. who is the acting inspector general mentioned?
7. what organization does he work for?
8. Is cash used for corruption?
9. what about non-cash?
10. what is the non-cash example used?
11. what drug cartel is mentioned?
12. who is being corrupted?
13. what tests are the agents supposed to receive?
14. by when?
15. according to what act?
16. who is the commissioner mentioned?
17. where was he speaking?
18. Do agents leak private information?
19. What else do they do?
20. What did Edwards call the corruption?

Q: In 50 years of traveling, Colin McCorpuodale has visited every country in the world except three. And everywhere he goes, he sends himself a postcard. He always chooses a postcard with beautiful scenery . Usually he writes just a short message to himself. However, he wrote an interesting story on his latest one, from the Malians Island. Mr. McCorpuodale lives in London. On one of the walls in his room, you can see a large map of the world. There are hundreds of little red pins stuck in it. "These pins mean a lot to me." says Mr. McCorpuodale, "I follow the rule. I'm allowed to stick one in only if I've been in a place for more than 24 hours." Naturally, Mr. McCorpuodale has his favorite places. New Zealand, he describes as "a wonderful country". About China, he says, "This is the country in the world which is completely different. There is no European influence." Wherever he goes, Mr. McCorpuodale takes with him a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt with a secret pocket and a pen. So why does he do it? For the postcards or the travels? Mr. McCorpuodale laughs, "Neither. Only for the meaningful life."

1. Malians
2. London
3. 50
4. a map
5. three
6. a postcard
7. little red pins
8. 24 hours
9. beautiful scenery
10. short
11. an interesting one
12. it's wonderful
13. a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt and a pen
14. not at all

Numbered questions:
1. Which islands did Colin visit recently?
2. where does he live?
3. how many years has he been traveling?
4. what is on the wall of his room?
5. how many countries has he yet to visit?
6. what does he send himself after visiting each place?
7. what is stuck in the map?
8. how long does he have to visit a country before he can mark it with a pin?
9. what is pictured on the postcards?
10. does he write short messages or long ones usually?
11. did he write a short or long one this time?
12. what does he think of New Zealand?
13. what does Colin take with him everywhere he goes?
14. does he think China is influenced by Europe?

Q: CHAPTER VII

THE STATEMENT OF TIBBIE BIRSE

On a Thursday Pete Lownie was buried, and when Hendry returned from the funeral Jess asked if Davit Lunan had been there.

"Na," said Hendry, who was shut up in the closet-bed, taking off his blacks, "I heard tell he wasna bidden."

"Yea, yea," said Jess, nodding to me significantly. "Ay, weel," she added, "we'll be hae'n Tibbie ower here on Saturday to deave's (weary us) to death aboot it."

Tibbie, Davit's wife, was sister to Marget, Pete's widow, and she generally did visit Jess on Saturday night to talk about Marget, who was fast becoming one of the most fashionable persons in Thrums. Tibbie was hopelessly plebeian. She was none of your proud kind, and if I entered the kitchen when she was there she pretended not to see me, so that, if I chose, I might escape without speaking to the like of her. I always grabbed her hand, however, in a frank way.

On Saturday Tibbie made her appearance. From the rapidity of her walk, and the way she was sucking in her mouth, I knew that she had strange things to unfold. She had pinned a grey shawl about her shoulders, and wore a black mutch over her dangling grey curls.

"It's you, Tibbie," I heard Jess say, as the door opened.

Tibbie did not knock, not considering herself grand enough for ceremony, and indeed Jess would have resented her knocking. On the other hand, when Leeby visited Tibbie, she knocked as politely as if she were collecting for the precentor's present. All this showed that we were superior socially to Tibbie.

1. Thursday
2. Marget
3. Pete
4. Marget
5. Thrums
6. Tibbie
7. Saturday
8. yes
9. no
10. Leeby

Numbered questions:
1. When was the funeral?
2. Who is Davit's wife related to?
3. Who was she married to?
4. Who was fashionable?
5. Where do they live?
6. Who lived shabbily?
7. When did she show up?
8. Did she seem nervous?
9. Does she knock upon entering?
10. Who is better than Tibbie?