“The nation and its news media are going in opposite directions, and the public is paying the price,” (1) in 2013, Dori Maynard wrote this. She was following up on her point that although people of color (2) make up nearly 40 percent of the US population, (3) while only about 12 percent of full-time daily news journalists are people of color. (4) Her who’s an award- winning African American journalist, Maynard (5) became a Nieman fellow at Harvard University in 1993.

For much of her journalism career, she was involved with the Maynard Institute, a journalism-education institute in Oakland, California. (The institute was founded in 1977 by her father, Robert C. Maynard, former editor of the Oakland Tribune.) 

(6) Conversely, the organization is dedicated to recruiting and training    people of color to become journalists. By the time Dori Maynard became president of the institute in 2001, she was already passionately committed to this mission.

Diversity among journalists in the United States must increase, Maynard believed, (7) if the industry is going to meet (8) its’ ethical obligation to provide a wide audience credible and accurate news. She argued that a reporter’s cultural background inevitably influences his or her perspective on current events. More diversity in newsrooms will naturally lead to more complete, (9) nuanced, and sensitive news coverage of all communities, specifically communities of color (10) expressly. This, in turn, will better our society as a whole; we’ll gain a richer understanding of each other’s lives, she explained. 

Under Dori Maynard’s leadership, the Maynard Institute trained hundreds of minority reporters. The institute also has helped them get hired and heard. Many former trainees now (11) reports for influential (12) newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. (13) Dori Maynard helped show the journalism industry that presenting the culturally diverse voices of the United States through inclusive news stories written by people of color is (14) possible.

Bespoke tailors create men’s suits exactly to a customer’s specifications, aiming for refined elegance and technical flawlessness. (16) Regardless, a focus on bespoke tailoring has made Savile (17) Row a small, street in London, the world’s most distinguished location for menswear for over two hundred years. In 2008, Savile Row Academy, located within the bespoke suit shop called Maurice Sedwell, at 19 Savile Row, was established to (18) celebrate this time-honored craft.

Customers are fitted on the main floor of the shop. In the well-lit basement, students of various ages and backgrounds master the dozens of (19) skills needed to make a classic three-piece bespoke suit. Traditionally, a bespoke suit is created (20) beginning from start to completion by one tailor, who rarely uses a sewing machine. The students’ primary tools, therefore, are tailor’s chalk, shears, needles, and a thimble. During the two-year professional training program, students learn to take (21) measurements, draft patterns; cut cloth; hand sew coats, vests, and trousers; create pockets; and stitch finishing details. Creating one suit requires well over a hundred hours of concentrated work, even for an expert. [22]

[1] From the size of the buttons on the coat to the angle of the pleats on the (23) trousers and nearly every feature of a traditional bespoke suit (24) is chosen by the customer. [2] Still, Andrew Ramroop, owner of the Sedwell shop and founder of the (25) Academy, encourages his students, to develop their own style within those constraints. [3] Ramroop is known for his inventive use of color, especially contrast stitching in pockets. [4] Adhering to the traditions of the craft is a must, he explains, but your signature (26) style is what will bring your customers back. [27]

While mass-manufactured suits have become standard in many suit shops on Savile (28) Row; however, several Academy graduates have found jobs (29) pleasantly working in the shops on the street that remain committed to classic design and unmatchable craftsmanship. Many others have taken their shears and needles to fine tailoring houses (30) around the world.

[1]

Deep below the mountains of central Vietnam lies what could be described (31) as: another world. Located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, the (32) enormous Hang Son Doong (“Mountain River Cave”) is believed to be the largest cave in the world. [33] Son Doong is part of a system of 150 caves that snake beneath the ground throughout the region. (34) At roughly five miles long, 300 feet wide, and (35) 660 feet tall, Son Doong is large enough to hold an entire city block of forty-story buildings.

[2]

Even more impressive than the cave’s size, perhaps, (36) such as what grows within it. [A] Portions of Son Doong contain what many envision when they think of (37) caves, which dark chambers ornamented with gigantic calcite formations and populated by colorless (38) creatures that are very unique looking. Other parts of the cave, however, are dramatically (39) different, verdant ferns, palm trees, bamboo, liana vines, and stinging nettles flourish here as well. In fact, researchers have found that the dense subterranean jungle of Son Doong essentially (40) have mirrored the variety of plants and animals in the forest directly above ground.

[3]

(41) While the abundance of vegetation in Son Doong is possible because of the way the cave formed. Between two and five million years ago, the Rao Thuong River chiseled through the limestone (42) under the range now known as the Annamite Mountains, near Vietnam’s border with Laos. At the top of the cave, colossal “skylights,” measuring up to 300 feet across, (43) that formed when weak portions of the cave’s ceiling collapsed. [B] The gaps allow sunlight to pass through and nourish the life below. [C] 

[4]

Exploring Son Doong is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it isn’t easy. Simply hiking there from the nearest village takes more than a day. [D] Inside the cave, formidable obstacles, such as a 200-foot-high wall covered in mud, (44) make traversing it a major challenge. Still, year after year, Son Doong draws people from around the globe who want to experience what was once a hidden underground world.

[A] More fictional than factual, most maps made in medieval Europe combined a smattering of accurate information with a slew of inaccurate information, guesses, and outright inventions. [B] In 1139, however, when King Roger II of Sicily wanted a new map of the known world, (46) since he desired accuracy foremost. [C] To that end, he engaged Moroccan-born scholar Muhammad al-Idrisi. [D] Al-Idrisi adopted a systematic approach to the project, combining comparative analysis, eyewitness accounts, and scientific measurements. [47]

Al-Idrisi (48) had been educated in Córdoba, Spain. He also scrutinized accounts written by long-distance travelers. By comparing sources, al-Idrisi could judge their accuracy. If multiple sources agreed on (49) things—the route of a river, for instance—it was likely true. If sources disagreed, (50) likewise, al-Idrisi sought the (51) truth, he dispatched a research expedition to the area in question. 

Al-Idrisi brought a similarly logical approach Al-Idrisi brought a similarly logical approach (52) for the positioning to locations on his map. Most mapmakers at the time (53) arranged cities, mountains and (54) other features, on their maps quite haphazardly. But Al-Idrisi, informed by the work of the best Arab and Greek scientists, (55) lay out the sites on his map using astronomical coordinates. 

After fifteen years of (56) the daily grind, al-Idrisi completed his project. The final (57) products included: two-meter-wide silver disk engraved with a world map, an atlas containing seventy detailed regional maps, and a lengthy descriptive text. The maps were of a quality and accuracy unparalleled at the time. They noted the source of the Nile River— (58) in Africa’s equatorial highlands—and used a sophisticated (59) method of depicting the earth’s round shape on a flat map. Unfortunately, the maps never circulated widely. Moreover, the text wasn’t translated from Arabic for hundreds of years. It would be the twentieth century before al-Idrisi’s work received the appreciation it deserved.

[1]

Iridescent clouds—in which patches, bands, or waves of color (61) appears—are arresting phenomena. Aptly nicknamed “rainbow (62) clouds,” flaunting displays that (63) range from pastel suffusions to vivid, fiery streaks. But the conditions that iridescence requires are far more (64) allusive than those that produce rainbows, making iridescent clouds comparatively rare.  

[2]

[A] Think of every cloud as a vast collection of wet or icy particles. For iridescence to occur, many of these particles must be roughly uniform in size and shape. [B] They must also be minute: (65) smaller than most cloud particles. Finally, a portion of the (66) cloud (typically along the edges) must be nearly transparent. Together, these traits cause sunlight passing through the cloud to diffract consistently.

[3]

(67) Its consistency that allows people to see individual colors. [C] Visible sunlight is actually multiple wavelengths of (68) light, each with its own color. Sunlight usually appears as “white” light because all the (69) wavelengths are traveling at the same angle, and the eye can’t discern them individually. But when sunlight collides with a cloud particle, the component wavelengths are deflected at different (70) angles, an event known as diffraction. [D] When the diffraction is consistent (71) (when all the red light waves deflect at one angle, the blues at another, and so on), the eye can detect individual colors.

[4]

Diffraction happens in all clouds, but most cloud particles are too large and irregular to diffract sunlight consistently. One particle might deflect red waves at the same angle an adjacent particle deflects green. Or, in (72) really close-knit clouds, each light wave is likely to collide with a series of particles, deflecting at a different angle every time. In both cases, the different light waves cross paths, and the cloud appears white.

[5]

In iridescent clouds, (73) for example, deflection angles don’t conflict. As sunlight passes through the cloud, (74) patches, bands, or waves of color become visible.