QUES: Formal membership varies between communities, but basic lay adherence is often defined in terms of a traditional formula in which the practitioner takes refuge in The Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha), and the Sangha (the Buddhist community). At the present time, the teachings of all three branches of Buddhism have spread throughout the world, and Buddhist texts are increasingly translated into local languages. While in the West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East it is regarded as familiar and traditional. Buddhists in Asia are frequently well organized and well funded. In countries such as Cambodia and Bhutan, it is recognized as the state religion and receives government support. Modern influences increasingly lead to new forms of Buddhism that significantly depart from traditional beliefs and practices.
West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and what?

ANS: progressive

QUES: These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either. However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems that contain them.
Interactions between quarks and leptons are the exchange of what?

ANS: unanswerable

QUES: The Late Bronze Age (from 1700 to 1200 BCE) Hittite and Hurrian Aplu was a god of plague, invoked during plague years. Here we have an apotropaic situation, where a god originally bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning the son of, was a title given to the god Nergal, who was linked to the Babylonian god of the sun Shamash. Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god ( ) who brings death and disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that separates him from the other Greek gods. In Iliad, his priest prays to Apollo Smintheus, the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from field rats. All these functions, including the function of the healer-god Paean, who seems to have Mycenean origin, are fused in the cult of Apollo.
What word means "the son of?"

ANS: Aplu

QUES: Some countries are eliminating or reducing climate disrupting subsidies and Belgium, France, and Japan have phased out all subsidies for coal. Germany is reducing its coal subsidy. The subsidy dropped from $5.4 billion in 1989 to $2.8 billion in 2002, and in the process Germany lowered its coal use by 46 percent. China cut its coal subsidy from $750 million in 1993 to $240 million in 1995 and more recently has imposed a high-sulfur coal tax. However, the United States has been increasing its support for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.
What country has been increasing its support for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries?

ANS:
United States