What is the significance of Hrothgar's speech in lines 655-661 of Beowulf?

Hrothgar's speech in lines 655-661 is significant for several reasons. First of all, Hrothgar, King of the Danes, transfers full control of the mead hall to Beowulf. As a member of a different tribe Beowulf is an outsider, but because he has triumphed over sea monsters and is already known as a hero, Hrothgar trusts him to take care of his people and his hall. 

Secondly, Hrothgar cautions Beowulf to prepare for battle, live up to his name, and to beware of Grendel. These are rather standard lines as Hrothgar simply gives Beowulf advice before his battle. 

Thirdly, Hrothgar promises Beowulf great riches if he succeeds. Because the story is an epic, we know that the hero will triumph - so it's no surprise when Beowulf defeats Grendel and is given treasure as a reward. Not only that, but Beowulf is also treated like Hrothgar's son after his victory. This was not done during the Anglo-Saxon time period, as tribes were usually not friendly with one another. Hrothgar's turning over of the mead hall to Beowulf was a foreshadowing of Hrothgar's adoption of Beowulf as a son (lines 1175-1176). 

Hrothgar's speech essentially sets up Beowulf as the hero of the story with a great opportunity for victory. 

Identify the region known as the Fertile Crescent and discuss what advantages led it to be the earliest site of human food production, as well as...

The Fertile Crescent is an area of the Middle East that was very important in the history of the ancient world. The Fertile Crescent is so named because it is somewhat in the shape of a crescent. On one side, the crescent ends at the Persian Gulf in what is now Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran. The crescent arcs to the northwest up the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and over to the Mediterranean. It then follows the Mediterranean coast down to Egypt. In ancient times, this region had fertile soil and a climate that was very good for agriculture. So far as we know, agriculture began in this area. The factors that made the Fertile Crescent good for agriculture can be found beginning at the bottom of p. 134 of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

On p. 136, Diamond lists the first factor that helped make the Fertile Crescent good for agriculture. He says that the region was part of a zone of Mediterranean climate. This kind of climate is good for plants that have characteristics that make them useful to people. This fact leads to the second factor that Diamond cites. This factor, also on p. 136, is the fact that there were many species of plants that people could domesticate in the Fertile Crescent. These plants were not yet domesticated but were still so useful that it was easy for people to use them to start engaging in agriculture. On p. 137, Diamond discusses a third factor. This is the fact that many Fertile Crescent plants reproduced in ways that made it easy for humans to domesticate them. These are the main advantages that, according to Diamond, led the Fertile Crescent to become the first site of food production.

Late in the book, on p. 410, Diamond gives reasons why the Fertile Crescent lost the advantages with which it started. The major reason why this happened is ecological. Simply put, the Fertile Crescent stopped being fertile. Diamond points out on p. 410 that

Large areas of the former Fertile Crescent are now desert, semidesert, steppe, or heavily eroded or salinized terrain unsuited for agriculture.

The formerly Fertile Crescent lost its fertility, Diamond says, through the mistakes of the people who lived there. On p. 411, he says that those people “committed ecological suicide by destroying their own resource base.” They cut down the trees, causing erosion. They used irrigation excessively, causing salinization of their soil. By overusing their environment, he says, they destroyed their land’s fertility.

According to Diamond, the Fertile Crescent enjoyed advantages because it had good soil, a good climate, and many native plant and animal species. The region stopped being fertile largely because it lost the first advantage. It lost its fertility when the people of the area abused their environment and caused it to become eroded and the soil salinized.

Diamond does not discuss the evolution of Assyria at all in Guns, Germs, and Steel. There is a great deal of controversy as to whether the evolution of that empire supports Diamond’s thesis at all. For example, Norman Yoffee, who coedited a book that takes issue with Diamond’s book Collapse, argues that Assyria developed and eventually fell for purely political reasons. Other scholars believe that Diamond is correct and that Assyria fell because of complications brought on by environmental catastrophes. However, this is not discussed in Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Why do the books of Prospero have importance in his life in The Tempest?

Prospero tells Miranda that when he was expelled from his kingdom, Gonzalo made sure that he was provided with clothes and food, and also gave him his books.

Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom. (Act 1, Scene 2)

The books are what give Prospero his magic. He is a wizard of sorts.  In addition to communing with magical creatures like Ariel, Prospero conjures up the gods Iris, Juno, and Ceres to entertain his daughter and Ferdinand at their wedding.

Caliban says that Prospero is powerless without his books.

Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command: they all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books. (Act 3, Scene 2)

Prospero is intent on revenge at first.  He causes the shipwreck and then has Ariel trap them in an enchantment. She calls them “men of sin,” referring to Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian.  They conspired to have Prospero ousted from his kingdom.  Propsero has a hard time forgiving his brother Antonio especially.

However, Prospero decides not to take revenge against them.  Ferdinand and Miranda are happy.  Prospero has been on the island long enough, and now has a chance to get off.  He decides to throw away his books and take back his kingdom.

But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book. (Act 5, Scene 1)

While magic means a lot to Prospero, family means more.  He loves his daughter.  He is thrilled with the chance to return to his kingdom.  Prospero decides that he has spent enough years in bitterness, and forgiveness is the way forward.

Describe the house and its surroundings in the poem "The Listeners."

"The Listeners" is a delightfully eerie poem by Walter de la Mare that describes a human traveler who, hoping to keep a mysterious promise he's made, knocks on the door of a spooky abandoned house.

The most important thing we know about this place is that it's silent and still. The speaker repeats that information throughout the poem. Here's what else we know about the house and its surroundings:

1. There's moonlight shining on the front door:

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,

Knocking on the moonlit door;

2. The house is located in a forest where there are ferns on the ground:

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses

Of the forest’s ferny floor:

3. The house has a turret, which is a small round tower that may or may not contain a spiraling staircase:

And a bird flew up out of the turret,

Above the Traveller’s head:

4. There are leaves around the window sill, indicating that no one is actively keeping the exterior of the house clean:

But no one descended to the Traveller;

No head from the leaf-fringed sill

5. The house is empty inside, but in a sense it's full, too, because there are lots of silent spirits in there. Also, the house stands alone (with no neighbors). It's at least two stories high, because there's a staircase inside, and the moonlight is shining in a little bit on that staircase:

But only a host of phantom listeners

That dwelt in the lone house then

Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight

To that voice from the world of men:

Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,

That goes down to the empty hall,

6. The trees in the forest surrounding the house are quite tall, because their leaves seem to be part of the sky:

’Neath the starred and leafy sky;

7. The rooms inside the house are large enough to cause the traveler's voice to echo:

Though every word he spake 

Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house

8. Finally, the property features some kind of stone walkway or driveway outside, because as the traveler leaves on horseback, the animal's iron horseshoes make a distinct sound against the stone:

Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,

And the sound of iron on stone....

Write the character sketch of young Jefferson of Three Men In a Boat, who was learning to play the bagpipes.

The narrator introduces us to this character in Chapter XIV of Three Men in a Boat. He says that he once knew a young fellow who was learning to play the bagpipes. But no matter where the man tried to practice, people were offended or even scared by the whiny sounds. From what little we’re told about him, it seems as though he was nevertheless quite determined to learn the nuances of the instrument, even if it meant that he was banished to practice at the other end of the property, away from everyone else. The narrator felt sorry for him:

There is, it must be confessed, something very sad about the early efforts of an amateur in bagpipes. I have felt that myself when listening to my young friend. They appear to be a trying instrument to perform upon.

No matter what the man did, it seemed he didn’t have the lung capacity to play the demanding instrument at length. He learned to play only one song successfully; but still, many people couldn’t identify the tune. Jefferson – whose name we are told only towards the end of the story – didn’t have the strength or the talent to make a go of it. And no one else supported him in his endeavor. He should have been applauded for making the attempt at such a challenge. But obviously, he was going to have to find something else to be good at. The narrator doesn’t tell us if Jefferson gave up the bagpipes and landed upon another occupation. Yet this is probably the logical conclusion to this character’s story. He would have to go through a process of self-realization first, because no one else seemed to want to tell him the truth about his music.

Can we create new atoms?

Atoms have two very important constituents: a nucleus and an electron cloud. The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons, while the electron cloud contains the negatively charged electrons. Atoms form elements and thus are all around us. We can also make new atoms, by one of the two processes: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. Fusion is the reaction in which smaller nuclei come together to form larger nuclei. Fission, on the other hand, breaks down heavier nuclei into smaller nuclei. 

The process of nuclear fusion takes place in stars, where hydrogen is converted to helium and so on. This process can go on, depending on the mass of the star, until we get iron. During the last moments of the star, further fusion causes heavier elements to be formed, all the way up to uranium. Scientists have successfully created heavier elements (beyond uranium) by bombarding elements with other elements or particles and have achieved atoms of newer, heavier elements. The only downside is that these super-heavy nuclei are unstable and decay to smaller nuclei.

Nuclear fission can be used to break larger nuclei into smaller ones and thus we can create atoms of lighter elements. An example is the decay reaction of uranium which generates lead atoms.

The process of creating atoms is very difficult; in general scientists don't do this.

Hope this helps. 

What is the theme, or central idea, of "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan?

In "Two Kinds," Amy Tan examines the longing to achieve the American dream and the volatility of mother-daughter relationships. Jing-Mei’s mother yearns for her daughter to live the American dream, even if it is on the mother’s terms. Having lived through unimaginable horrors in her homeland of China, she sees countless opportunities for her daughter. Unfortunately, the mother’s authoritarian tactics eventually drive her daughter away and develop a rift between mother and daughter.

Jing-Mei rebels and attempts to live life on her own terms. She never achieves her mother’s vision of the American dream, but she does create her own life with its trials and tribulations. It is not until after her mother’s death that she realizes it took both her mother’s fortitude and her own initiative to create a full life.

The central idea of “Two Kinds” is Jing-Mei’s journey to discover her identity in spite of her mother’s demands for an obedient daughter who was focused on an idealized image of American prosperity.