Q: Kyrgyzstan (, "Qrgzstan", , (); , "Kirgizija"), officially the Kyrgyz Republic (, "Qrgz Respublikas", ; "Kyrgyzskaja Respublika"), formerly known as Kirghizia or Kirgizia, is a country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

Kyrgyzstan's recorded history spans over 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires. Although geographically isolated by its highly mountainous terrain, which has helped preserve its ancient culture, Kyrgyzstan has been at the crossroads of several great civilizations as part of the Silk Road and other commercial and cultural routes. Though long inhabited by a succession of independent tribes and clans, Kyrgyzstan has periodically fallen under foreign domination and attained sovereignty as a nation-state only after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Since independence, Kyrgyzstan has officially been a unitary parliamentary republic, although it continues to endure ethnic conflicts, revolts, economic troubles, transitional governments and political conflict. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Turkic Council, the TURKSOY community and the United Nations.

Answer the following questions:
1. How long is Kyrgyzstan's documented history?
2. What is it officially?
3. What is it formerly known as?
4. Where is it located?
5. Is it landlocked?
6. With what type of terrain?
7. What is it bordered by in the north?
8. What is to the west?
9. What direction is China to it?
10. What is it's capital?
11. Is that also the largest city?
12. What type of republic is it?
13. What is it a member of?
14. What else?
15. What has helped preserve it's ancient culture?
16. Has it ever fallen under foreign domination?
17. When did it attain sovereignty as a nation-state?
18. After what?
19. What types of things does it still endure?
20. What has it been at the crossroads of?
A: 1. over 2,000 years
2. the Kyrgyz Republic
3. Kirghizia or Kirgizia
4. in Central Asia
5. yes
6. mountainous terrain
7. Kazakhstan
8. Uzbekistan
9. the southwest
10. Bishkek
11. yes
12. a unitary parliamentary republic
13. the Commonwealth of Independent States,
14. the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Turkic Council, the TURKSOY community and the United Nation
15. its highly mountainous terrain,
16. yes
17. in 1991
18. after the breakup of the Soviet Union
19. ethnic conflicts, revolts, economic troubles, transitional governments and political conflic
20. several great civilizations as part of the Silk Road

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Although 19-year-old George Dennehy is armless, he isn't letting that stop him from pursuing his dreams and sharing his passion with the world. Born without arms, the young boy's birth parents left him. Luckily, a warm-hearted couple _ him and took good care of him. However, his new parents never allowed him to use his disability as an excuse to be lazy. When George turned eight, they asked him to sign up for cello lessons. The instrument is tough even for people who have the use of both their hands, so it was even more challenging for George, who had to learn to play it with his feet. Thanks to his music teacher, the young boy not only mastered the cello, but also realized that he had a passion and talent for music. During middle school years, he also mastered the piano and guitar. His music talent caught the eye of an American rock band who invited him to perform alongside them at a ten-day-long music festival. The experience has inspired this once shy boy to pursue a career in music. He has also become a motivational speaker who encourages both able and disabled people to pursue their dreams, no matter how impossible these dreams may sound. Geoge Dennehy is armless, he isn't letting that stop him from pursuing his dreams and sharing his passion with the world.

1. What is unique about George?
2. Who made him learn to play Cello?
3. How old was he?
4. How did he play it?
5. Did he also learn the flute?
6. What other instruments did he learn?
7. What grade was he in?
8. Did a British rock band notice him?
9. Who did?
10. Did they go visit him?
11. Did he ever meet them?
12. Where?
13. How did he lose his arms?
14. How old is he now?
15. What happened to his biological parents?
16. When?
17. Did his new parents do everything for him?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. He is armless.
2. His new parents.
3. He was eight
4. He had to learn to play it with his feet.
5. No.
6. The piano and guitar.
7. middle school.
8. No.
9. An American rock band.
10. No.
11. Yes, he performed with them.
12. A music festival.
13. He was born without arms.
14. 19.
15. They left him.
16. When he was born.
17. No, he couldn't be lazy.

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the sovereign may appear personally in the House of Lords or may appoint Lords Commissioners, who announce that royal assent has been granted at a ceremony held at the Palace of Westminster. However, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the governor-general merely signs the bill. In Canada, the governor general may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill.

Royal assent is the method by which a country's constitutional monarch (possibly through a delegated official) formally approves an act of that nation's parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. In the vast majority of contemporary monarchies, this act is considered to be little more than a formality; even in those nations which still permit their ruler to withhold the royal assent (such as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Liechtenstein), the monarch almost never does so, save in a dire political emergency or upon the advice of their government. While the power to withhold royal assent was once exercised often in European monarchies, it is exceedingly rare in the modern, democratic political atmosphere that has developed there since the 18th century.

1. How does a monarch approve an act of parliament?
2. What does that do?
3. Is this just a formality?
4. Is there a ceremony to go with it?
5. In the UK do they hold a ceremony?
6. where?
7. Who will announce it?
8. Where might the sovereign show up?
9. Does Canada hold a ceremony?
10. Where will it be?
11. Does someone give assent in person?
12. who?
13. What is the other way in Canada?
14. Who will that go to?
15. What does it tell them?
16. Is there a ceremony in Australia?
17. What happens there?
18. Who?
19. How often does the monarch not give assent?
20. When might they not give it?

Numbered answers:

A:
1. through royal assent
2. makes it a law
3. yes
4. sometimes
5. yes
6. the Palace of Westminster
7. Lords Commissioners
8. in the House of Lords
9. sometimes
10. in the Senate
11. yes
12. the governor general
13. by a written declaration n
14. parliament
15. of the agreement to the bill.
16. no
17. the just sign the bill.
18. the governor-general
19. almost never
20. in a dire political emergency