Q: The Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of disabilities, including impaired muscle power (e.g. paraplegia and quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome, spina bifida), impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency (e.g. amputation or dysmelia), leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The Paralympics has grown from a small gathering of British World War II veterans in 1948 to become one of the largest international sporting events by the early 21st century. Paralympians strive for equal treatment with non-disabled Olympic athletes, but there is a large funding gap between Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

The Paralympic Games are organized in parallel with the Olympic Games, while the IOC-recognized Special Olympics World Games include athletes with intellectual disabilities, and the Deaflympics include deaf athletes.

Given the wide variety of disabilities that Paralympic athletes have, there are several categories in which the athletes compete. The allowable disabilities are broken down into ten eligible impairment types. The categories are impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. These categories are further broken down into classifications, which vary from sport to sport.

1. Paralympic Games
2. Two
3. Winter and Summer
4. 1948
5. British World War II veterans
6. impaired muscle power and impaired passive range of movement,
7. the Deaflympics
8. Special Olympics World Games
9. no
10. 10
11. impairment types.
12. the International Paralympic Committee
13. no
14. no
15. Seoul, South Korea
16. the Winter and Summer Paralympic Games
17. no

Numbered questions:
1. What event is held following the Olympic Games?
2. How many seasons are the games held?
3. Which are?
4. When did they begin?
5. Who were the first to participate?
6. What are two types of disabilities that athletes may have?
7. What event do those with hearing loss participate in?
8. And those who have limited comprehension abilities?
9. Does everyone in Paralympics compete in the same category?
10. How many are there?
11. What are they divided by?
12. Who provides oversight of all Paralympic games?
13. Do athletes in the paralympics have as much financial backing as athletes in the Olympics?
14. Are the events organized simultaneously?
15. Where were the Summer Olympics in 1988?
16. What tradition began following the Olympics that year?
17. Was the first Paralympics game a huge event?

Q: The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as John McCain and Barack Obama were formally nominated as candidates of the two major parties. This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.

The big question for voters, as they face both an economic downturn and international threats, is: who will they elect? A young first-term senator promising change and new ideas, or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick ?

American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama. He has a white mother from theprefix = st1 /USand a black father fromKenyawho left the family when Obama was very young. He spent part of his youth inIndonesia.

His supporters say Obama's childhood gives him the advantage to repair the recent damage done toAmerica's image abroad. His opponents focus on his inexperience, noting he hasn't finished his first term in the Senate.

However, McCain has a very different life story.

He grew up in a Navy family and was a pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia, McCain's plane was shot down overVietnamand he became a prisoner of war. McCain could have been released if he _ Americabut he refused and so was held for five years.

So in the end, the election may hinge on (...) several factors that are hard to judge: Will Obama's race matter to a significant number of voters? Will working-class whites who tended to support his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all, will swing voters be more drawn to Obama's vision or to McCain's experience?

Whatever happens, one thing is clear: Whoever walks into the White House on January 20, 2009, will find enormous challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office, both at home and abroad.

1. Vietnam War
2. no
3. pilot
4. yes
5. the Navy
6. his plane was shot down and he became a prisoner of war
7. yes
8. attending kindergarten in Indonesia
9. Hillary Clinton
10. working-class whites
11. no
12. no
13. no
14. no
15. change and new ideas
16. the senate
17. no
18. senate
19. no
20. January 20

Numbered questions:
1. What war was McCain in?
2. Was he in the army?
3. What was his job?
4. Were any of his family in the military?
5. What branch?
6. What happened to McCain while over there?
7. Did he have a choice in what happened to him?
8. What was Obama doing at this time?
9. Who did Obama defeat in the primary?
10. Which segment of the population were on her side?
11. Is the election expected to be an easy choice for most voters?
12. Is that because both candidates are disliked so much?
13. Is the economy humming along during this election?
14. Is the U.S. safe from international threats during this time?
15. What is Obama promising the people?
16. Is he in the Senate or House?
17. Has he served many terms?
18. Is McCain in the senate or house?
19. Is McCain's reputation one of timidness and caution?
20. When will the new President take the oath of office?

Q: (CNN)Buddy Elias spent much of his life preserving the memory of his cousin Anne Frank. His death Monday brought back memories for me.

We met three years ago in an Atlanta hotel conference room. He and his wife, Gerti, were touring the United States to promote a new book.

I could tell instantly that he was related to Anne. His face resembled hers so much that it felt almost as though I was meeting her in person.

"Anne Frank's Family" had just been published, based on 14 boxes of letters, postcards, photos and documents that Gerti accidentally discovered in the attic of their house in Basel.

Elias told me that it wasn't just Anne who loved to write; everyone in the family did.

The 6,000 recovered documents told a story of a family torn apart by war and anti-Semitism. That day in Atlanta, I listened to Elias tell me about loved ones he lost. He told me he was lucky that his family had remained in neutral Switzerland when World War II broke out.

I thought back to our conversation Thursday when I learned the news of Elias' death. He died peacefully at his home in Basel, Switzerland, at 90, said an announcement posted on the website of Anne Frank Fonds, the foundation that Elias headed.

Like millions of people who read "The Diary of Anne Frank," I was deeply influenced by her words and in awe of her family's courage.

Anne received her diary on her 13th birthday and wrote in it for the two years that her family hid from the Nazis in the secret annex of an Amsterdam apartment. I was only in seventh grade when my father bought me the book in 1975.

1. Anne Frank's Cousin
2. Buddy Elias
3. Gerti
4. 90
5. Switzerland
6. Switzerland
7. In a hotel in Atlanta
8. yes
9. An annex in Amsterdam
10. her diary
11. 13
12. her birthday

Numbered questions:
1. Who is the man who is the focus of the story?
2. What is his name?
3. What is the name of his wife?
4. How old was Elias at his death?
5. What country was he in when he died?
6. What country was he in when WWII started?
7. Where did the author of this article meet him?
8. Did Anne and Elias look as if they were related?
9. What place did Anne Frank spend time hidden?
10. What did Anne write in?
11. How old was she when she got it?
12. For what occasion did she receive it?