Q: CHAPTER XX.

"White as a white sail on a dusky sea. When half the horizon's clouded and half free, Fluttering between the dim wave and the sky Is hope's last gleam in man's extremity."

_The Island._

The dawning of day, on the morning which succeeded, was a moment of great interest on board the different English ships which then lay off the Gulf of Salerno. Cuffe and Lyon were called, according to especial orders left by themselves, while even Sir Frederick Dashwood allowed himself to be awakened, to hear the report of the officer of the watch. The first was up quite half an hour before the light appeared. He even went into the maintop again, in order to get as early and as wide a survey of the horizon as he wished. Griffin went aloft with him, and together they stood leaning against the topmast rigging, watching the slow approach of those rays which gradually diffused themselves over the whole of a panorama that was as bewitching as the hour and the lovely accessories of an Italian landscape could render it.

"I see nothing _in-shore_," exclaimed Cuffe, in a tone of disappointment, when the light permitted a tolerable view of the coast. "If she should be _outside_ of us our work will be only half done!"

"There is a white speck close in with the land, _sir_," returned Griffin; "here, In the direction of those ruins, of which our gentlemen that have been round in the boats to look at, tell such marvels; I believe, however, it is only a felucca or a sparanara. There is a peak to the sail that does not look lugger-fashion."

Answer the following questions:
1. What Gulf is mentioned in this passage?
2. Who were the two people called?
3. Who else awakened?
4. To hear the report of what?
5. Where did they stand against?
6. Watching what?
7. did the rays diffuse themselves?
8. over the whole of what?
9. Who was disappointed?
10. Did he say there was nothing in shore?
A: 1. Gulf of Salerno
2. Cuffe and Lyon
3. Sir Frederick Dashwood
4. the officer of the watch.
5. the topmast rigging
6. the slow approach of rays
7. yes
8. a panorama
9. Cuffe
10. yes
Q: Bacliff, Texas (CNN) -- Sitting on their front porch in this Houston suburb, Edmond Demiraj and his family seem the picture of a contented family.

But the Department of Justice now wants to upend the family: threatening to deport his wife and 19-year-old son back to their native Albania, even though he says federal prosecutors a decade ago promised him help and a Green Card in exchange for Edmond's promised testimony in a human smuggling case against a fellow Albanian immigrant. For the Demiraj family, they believe it will mean great harm, even death, for those deported.

A decade ago, Edmond Demiraj (pronounced: dem-EAR-eye) was himself an illegal immigrant. He told CNN he had walked across the U.S. border from Mexico to Brownsville, Texas without any paperwork. He found work as a painter, he says, with a fellow Albanian named Bill Bedini.

Not long afterwards, the Justice Department indicted Bedini, accusing him and others of running a human smuggling ring, bringing illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States. Demiraj was named in the original indictment but charges against him were later dropped.

Attorneys for the Justice Department based in Houston wanted Demiraj to testify against Bedini. In exchange, Demiraj told CNN that prosecutors promised him and his family protection and promised him a Green Card, which would lead to citizenship. The offer, he says, was verbal and not on paper.

"I'm ready to work for the U.S. government, whatever they need from me," Demiraj told CNN.

But Bedini entered a plea of not guilty, was granted bail and soon fled to Albania, according to the U.S. Marshal's office in Houston. Federal prosecutors didn't need Demiraj's testimony and handed him over to immigration officials, who quickly deported him as well.

Answer the following questions:
1. Where were they sitting?
2. Did they seem happy?
3. Where did he flee to?
4. What is the DOJ threatening his family with?
5. To where?
6. WHy does he say this shouldn't happen?
7. Why did they promise that?
8. Against who?
9. Did he come to America legally?
10. When did he come here?
11. How did he get here?
12. To what US city?
13. What did he begin working at?
14. Who was he working with?
15. Who was charged with illegally smuggling people in?
16. From where?
17. What was he promised to get him to testify?
18. What happened?
19. WHat happened then?
A: 1. on their front porch
2. yes
3. Albania
4. threatening to deport his wife and 19-year-old son
5. Albania
6. the government promised him help
7. n exchange for Edmond's promised testimony in a human smuggling case
8. a fellow Albanian immigrant
9. no
10. A decade ago
11. walked across the U.S. border from Mexico
12. Brownsville, Texas
13. a painter
14. Bill Bedini
15. Bedini
16. Mexico
17. protection and a Green Card
18. Bedini entered a plea of not guilty, was granted bail and soon fled to Albania
19. he was deported
Q: Ibn Sina created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as the Islamic Golden Age, in which the translations of Greco-Roman, Persian, and Indian texts were studied extensively. Greco-Roman (Mid- and Neo-Platonic, and Aristotelian) texts translated by the Kindi school were commented, redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals, who also built upon Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry and medicine. The Samanid dynasty in the eastern part of Persia, Greater Khorasan and Central Asia as well as the Buyid dynasty in the western part of Persia and Iraq provided a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the Samanids, Bukhara rivaled Baghdad as a cultural capital of the Islamic world.

The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy, Fiqh and theology (kalaam) were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. Al-Razi and Al-Farabi had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy. Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh, Khwarezm, Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan and Hamadan. Various texts (such as the 'Ahd with Bahmanyar) show that he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time. Aruzi Samarqandi describes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Al-Biruni (a famous scientist and astronomer), Abu Nasr Iraqi (a renowned mathematician), Abu Sahl Masihi (a respected philosopher) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar (a great physician).

Answer the following questions:
1. What field of science is Al-Biruni know for?
2. What field is Nasr Iraqi known for?
3. Who is a respected philosopher that is known to have met with Avicenna?
4. Who is a great physician that is known to have met with Avicenna?
5. What dynasty was in in the eastern part of Persia, Greater Khorasan and Central Asia?
6. What dynasty was in the western part of Persia and Iraq?
7. What was one important cultural center of the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age?
8. What was another?
9. Was the Quran studied during the Islamic Golden Age?
10. How about the Hadith?
A:
1. astronomy
2. mathematics
3. Abu Sahl Masihi
4. Abu al-Khayr Khammar
5. Samanid
6. Buyid
7. Bukhara
8. Baghdad
9. yes
10. yes