To protect its seagoing interests and trade routes, Portugal established strategic garrisons in Goa (India), Malacca (East Indies), and Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Portuguese explorers then embarked upon Macau (now Macao), the Congo, and various other parts of Africa, including the Sudan. The Portuguese policy was to avoid armed strife and to develop a trade empire, rather than to conquer nations. To this end it succeeded with relatively few blood-soaked episodes in its colonial history. Adventures abroad, however, proved disastrous during the second half of the 16th century. In 1557 the 14-year-old boy-king Sebastiao ascended the throne, the beginning of a calamitous reign that was to end at the battle of Alcacer-Quiber (Morocco) in pursuit of a vain crusade. Sebastiao's untimely demise, alongside some 18,000 ill-prepared, badly led followers, set the stage for a crisis of succession. For many years afterwards, legends and rumors bizarrely insisted that the king was still alive, and imposters turned up from time to time claiming the throne; those who were plausible enough to be deemed a threat were summarily executed. In fact, the only rightful claimant to the crown was the elderly Prince Henry. But after two years of alternating between the throne and his sickbed, he died, heirless. Surveying the situation and smelling an opportunity, Spain occupied the power vacuum, and Portugal's neighbor and long-time antagonist became its master. Spanish rule dictated Portugal's inadvertent involvement in Spain's ongoing wars. In 1587 a squadron of British ships commanded by Francis Drake attacked the Algarve (now a "legitimate target" as Spanish territory) and sacked Sagres, thus depriving the world of the relics of Henry the Navigator. Nine years later Faro was torched. The 1386 Treaty of Windsor, by which Britain and Portugal had pledged eternal friendship, seemed a distant memory. Portugal's empire was gradually eroded, and many of its trading posts (with the notable exception of Brazil) were picked off by the British and Dutch. Finally, after 60 years of Spanish rule, Portuguese noblemen (aided by the French, then at war with Spain) organized a palace coup and restored independence. The Great Disaster Portugal's greatest misfortune struck on All Saint's Day, 1 November 1755.

Question: "Sebastiao took the throne how many years before the attack on the Algarve by the British?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "20"

Response: no

Coleco Industries Inc., a once high-flying toy maker whose stock peaked at $65 a share in the early 1980s, filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that provides just 1.125 cents a share for common stockholders. Under the plan, unsecured creditors, who are owed about $430 million, would receive about $92 million, or 21 cents for each dollar they are owed. In addition, they will receive stock in the reorganized company, which will be named Ranger Industries Inc. After these payments, about $225,000 will be available for the 20 million common shares outstanding. The Avon, Conn., company's stock hit a high in 1983 after it unveiled its Adam home computer, but the product was plagued with glitches and the company's fortunes plunged. But Coleco bounced back with the introduction of the Cabbage Patch dolls, whose sales hit $600 million in 1985. But as the craze died, Coleco failed to come up with another winner and filed for bankruptcy-law protection in July 1988. The plan was filed jointly with unsecured creditors in federal bankruptcy court in New York and must be approved by the court.

Question: "How long after their stocks hit a high did Coleco file for bankruptcy-law protection?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "Two years"

Response: no

Once upon a time I had a dog named Toodles. He was black and white and had long floppy ears. He also had very short legs, but really big paws. Every Saturday we would go to the park and play Toodles' favorite game. Toodles loved playing fetch. One Saturday, Toodles ran over to the pond because he saw ducks swimming there. He ran all around the pond, barking at the ducks. The ducks ignored him, and kept swimming. Toodles wasn't having it! He jumped into the pond and started swimming toward the ducks, chasing around his new playmates. One of the ducks, braver than the others, poked Toodles with his beak - and then bit him right on one of his floppy ears! Toodles barked and ran out of the pond because the duck hurt his ear. Soaking wet, he ran toward where I was eating a sandwich on the grass and curled right up in my lap so I could make him feel better. After that, whenever he would see a duck, Toodles would run the other way.

Question: "What was the narrator doing when the duck bit Toodles' ear?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "He was watching toodles"

Response: no

We need natural resources for just about everything we do. We need them for food and clothing, for building materials and energy. We even need them to have fun. Table 2.1 gives examples of how we use natural resources. Can you think of other ways we use natural resources? Use Vehicles Resources Rubber for tires from rubber trees Steel frames and other metal parts from minerals such as iron Example iron ore Electronics Plastic cases from petroleum prod- ucts Glass screens from minerals such as lead lead ore Use Homes Resources Nails from minerals such as iron Timber from trees Example spruce timber Jewelry Gemstones such as diamonds Minerals such as silver silver ore Food Sunlight, water, and soil Minerals such as phosphorus corn seeds in soil Clothing Wool from sheep Cotton from cotton plants cotton plants Recreation Water for boating and swimming Forests for hiking and camping pine forest Some natural resources are renewable. Others are not. It depends, in part, on how we use them.

Question: "What do we need to have fun"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "Natural resources"

Response:
yes