Q: The centenary of the birth of William Faulkner, one of the great modern novelists, was celebrated in September 1997. Faulkner wrote about the southern states of the United States of America where he grew up, and where his family had an important part to play in the history of that region. His work became a touchstone for insights into the troubled issues of southern American identity, race relations, and the family interrelationships of the old time southern gentry .

Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 1897. Despite his interest in writing, he left Oxford High School, Mississippi, without graduating. After World War I, he entered the University of Mississippi as a special student, a right to study which was granted to retired soldiers, although Faulkner had only finished training with the Air Force in Canada, and not entered combat .

Faulkner began to write poems, a verse play, short stories and finished his first novel Sartoris in 1928. His fiction was centered for 14 of the 19 novels published during his lifetime in a fictional region called Yoknapatawpha County. The name is said to come from the Indian Chickasaw word meaning split land.

In December 1950, Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. When he accepted it in Stockholm, his speech emphasized that he wished to continue writing, but in a positive way that affirmed the power of humanity to prevail over adverse circumstances. As he said in his speech, he still felt that, despite the threat of nuclear war then hanging over the world, the central concern of the writer should be "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself". He wanted the tensions and problems that he had cast the spotlight on in the southern states of America to be resolved by the life-affirming attitudes and action of his characters. Like playwright Tennessee Williams, Faulkner was a major voice who spoke for the troubled heart of the southern states of America. His achievement is all the more remarkable because, as a schoolboy, he was not only a frequent absentee but also reportedly failed to reach pass grades in English class. His collected short stories, novels, poems, and other writings form a legacy( ) of literature which casts profound illumination on the special culture of the South, a culture which developed from a history and social circumstances that were always unique.

From the focus on a fictional county, and by remaining true to his view of a close-knit but real society that reflected the greater world around him, Faulkner in the end fashioned a legend of the Deep South that is one of the major achievements of the 20th century literature.

1. one of the great modern novelists
2. the southern states of the United States of America
3. the troubled issues of southern American identity
4. he entered the University of Mississippi
5. yes
6. 1928
7. yes
8. split land
9. he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
10. in Stockholm
11. yes
12. yes
13. English

Numbered questions:
1. Who was William Faukner?
2. What did he write about?
3. And what else?
4. What did he do after World War I?
5. Did he write poems
6. when was his first novel published?
7. Was it a fiction?
8. What does Yoknpaptawpha County mean?
9. What happened in December 1950?
10. Where did he accept the award?
11. Has he ever failed in school?
12. What about skipping school?
13. which classes did he fail in?

Q: (CNN) -- Pour yourself a cold martini, make sure it's extra dry, put some classic jazz on the stereo, a mournful saxophone is a must, and settle in with one of the best-reviewed novels of the year, "Rules of Civility."

Written by first-time novelist Amor Towles, a principal at a Manhattan investment firm, the book has shot up the best-seller charts and is drawing rave reviews from critics. It's a nostalgic love letter to New York of the late '30s, a novel of manners with lofty aspirations that evokes some of the classics of American literature.

The story unfolds largely in flashback, set on New Year's Eve in Manhattan 1937. The Jazz Age is over, the Depression in its final days, World War II just over the horizon. At its outset, there is a budding love triangle between Katey Kontent, that's "kon-tent, like the state of being"; her boardinghouse roommate, Eve; and a handsome banker, Theodore "Tinker" Grey, but an unexpected accident sends the story in a more serious direction.

Katey is the narrator and the wry heart of this novel. She's a young woman of "poise and purpose." Brooklyn-born, the daughter of immigrant laborers, she works in a Wall Street secretarial pool though aspires to much more.

Alongside a supporting cast with WASPy nicknames like Dicky, Bitsy and Peaches, Katey navigates her way through Manhattan jazz clubs and Long Island cocktail parties and into the upper echelons of New York society.

The novel takes its title from young George Washington's "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation"; you'll find all 110 of them in the novel's appendix. These rules are described as "a do-it-yourself charm school. A sort of How to Win Friends and Influence People 150 years ahead of its time."

1. an investment firm
2. Manhattan
3. yes
4. "Rules of Civility"
5. yes
6. a novelist
7. Katey
8. no
9. a young woman
10. Wall Street
11. a secretary
12. laborers
13. no
14. immigrants
15. Brooklyn
16. Manhattan
17. 1937
18. yes
19. New Year's Eve
20. yes

Numbered questions:
1. Where does Amor Towles work?
2. Where?
3. Has he written a book?
4. What's the name of it?
5. Is it his first?
6. What is he now considered?
7. Who narrates the story?
8. Is that an old woman?
9. What is she?
10. Where does she work?
11. As what?
12. What were her parents?
13. Were they born in New York?
14. What were they?
15. Where is Kathy born?
16. Where is the book set?
17. When?
18. Is it a holiday?
19. Which one?
20. Is there a love triangle?

Q: The University of Maryland, College Park (often referred to as the University of Maryland, Maryland, UM, UMD, UMCP, or College Park) is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, approximately from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the university is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland. With a fall 2010 enrollment of more than 37,000 students, over 100 undergraduate majors, and 120 graduate programs, Maryland is the largest university in the state and the largest in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is a member of the Association of American Universities and competes in athletics as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

The University of Maryland's proximity to the nation's capital has resulted in research partnerships with the Federal government. Members of the faculty receive research funding and institutional support from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Homeland Security.

The operating budget of the University of Maryland during the 2009 fiscal year was projected to be approximately $1.531 billion. For the same fiscal year, the University of Maryland received a total of $518 million in research funding, surpassing its 2008 mark by $118 million. As of December 12, 2012, the university's "Great Expectations" campaign had exceeded $1 billion in private donations.

1. The University of Maryland, College Park
2. in the city of College Park
3. Maryland
4. the University of Maryland
5. 1856
6. more than 37,000 students
7. over 100
8. 120
9. Yes
10. the Association of American Universities
11. Yes
12. research partnerships with the Federal government
13. Yes
14. the National Institutes of Health, and NASA
15. in 2009 it projected that it needed $1.531 billion
16. more than $1 billion
17. Great Expectations
18. 2009

Numbered questions:
1. what school is discussed here
2. where is it located
3. what state
4. what else is it known as
5. when was it founded
6. how many were enrolled in 2010
7. how many undergraduate majors are there
8. how many graduate programs
9. is it the largest in the state
10. what is it a member of
11. is it close to the capital
12. what has resulted because of this
13. do agencies give faculty funding for things
14. which ones
15. how much does it cost to keep their doors open
16. how much did they receive in 2012 in private donations
17. what was the name of their campaign then
18. did they receive more funding in 2008 oR 2009