What were the Europeans first impressions of the Japanese?

Portuguese traders reached Japan in 1543 over 200 years after Marco Polo made contact with the region and its people. They introduced firearms and worked as middlemen dealing in products from China in the Nanban trade.

Marco Polo suggested that the people he met were civilized and more like Europeans. A description by Tome Pires argued that the Japanese were trustful men and more dignified compared to their Asian counterparts. Religiously, the first Europeans considered the Japanese as heathens just like other Asian communities they encountered during their voyages and exploration. Racially, they referred to the Japanese as white, but not as pale as people in the northern nations. The Europeans regarded the Japanese as a superior people and compared them to the ancient Romans in terms of character. This was stated and confirmed by Alessandro Valignano and Giovanni Maffei.

“...not only all other Oriental people, but surpass the European as well”- Alessandro Valignano

“They surpass in judgment, docility, and memory not only the oriental but also the occidental nations.”- Giovanni Maffei

Why did the treaty of Nanjing hurt China?

The Treaty of Nanjing, signed in 1842, ended the first Opium War. The war, fought between Britain and China, resulted in the Qing dynasty losing power and the British gaining more power in their trade relationship with China. The war was fought over Britain's illegal importation of opium from India into China, which had disastrous effects for China's economy and society. Britain won this won and was able to gain more privileges in their trade with China. 

As a result of the treaty, Britain gained the territory of Hong Kong, and their trade expanded from one port city (Canton) to five treaty ports. Shanghai was one of the new ports that was opened to British trade, and it quickly became an international center of trade. In addition, Britain was able to try its citizens who were accused of crimes in their own courts, and Britain gained most favored nation status (meaning that they had any rights that were granted to other foreign countries). The treaty began the process of China's loss of power to foreign nations, including France and the United States, both of whom soon demanded and received the same trading privileges as Britain had. 

What aspects of contemporary family life do the "Happylife Home" and the nursery satirize? What exactly have the Hadleys "purchased" for their...

The Happylife Home and nursery in "The Veldt" satirize the inventions of the early 20th Century that made life more convenient for many Americans and the rise of television, which became a regular household item about the time the story was published in 1950. 

It's important to look at the history surrounding the writing and publication of "The Veldt." The early 20th Century saw a boom in the creation of items that made life in America easier. Automobiles, radios, televisions, escalators, air conditioning, refrigerators, and electric washing machines were all invented in the decades before Ray Bradbury wrote this story. 

In "The Veldt," Bradbury takes the convenience created in this part of the century and extrapolates what might happen in the near future. This is how the Happylife Home and nursery are created. The Happylife Home offers the Hadleys convenience. The narrator says, "the house clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them." 

Unfortunately, for the Hadleys, the family has become completely dependent on the home.

When George suggests they shut off the house entirely, Lydia, the wife, says the following:

"[Y]ou'll have to change your life. Like too many others, you've built it around creature comforts. Why, you'd starve tomorrow if something went wrong in the kitchen. You wouldn't know how to tap an egg."

This dependence on household items has continued today. Cell phones, computers and cable television have becomes items originally created for convenience into things that have become crutches for people. Removing these items from peoples' hands can be a traumatic experience. This is why "The Veldt" remains relevant today.

According to Chapter 9, what is Lyddie's first impression of the mill?

Lyddie’s first impression of the mill is that it’s noisy and frightening.

Lyddie is fascinated by the machines she sees at the mill.  She uses a lot of animal imagery to describe them.

Creation! What a noise! Clatter and clack, great shuddering moans, groans, creaks, and rattles. The shrieks and whistles of huge leather belts on wheels. And when her brain cleared enough, Lyddie saw through the murky air row upon row of machines … (Ch. 9)

Lyddie is impressed by the reactions of the girls who work at the factory.  They are not bothered by the noise, and they handle the machines well.

The girls didn't seem afraid or even amazed. As she walked by with the overseer, girls glanced up. A few smiled, some stared. No one seemed to mind the deafening din. How could they stand it? (Ch. 9)

Lyddie wants to turn and run, because the noise and controlled chaos is overwhelming.  When she is spoken to, she can’t even understand the words.  Diana rescues her from Mr. Marsden, offering to help her out.

Lyddie is amazed at how Diana manages the machines.  She tells Lyddie to be careful not to ruin the piece, because if she does she does not get paid.  It takes all of Lyddie’s strength to run the machine.  Diana helps her learn her way around it so that she does not get hurt.

After this long day, Lyddie has to study the regulations.  Diana helps her, but reading the regulations is a struggle for Lyddie because she is not well educated.  She did not get to go to school after her father left because of her mother’s fragile mental condition.  Lyddie does soon discover a love of reading when she first hears Oliver Twist read to her.

Where is the fulcrum when a boat is being rowed?

The two pivot points that attach the two oars to the side of the rowboat are the fulcrums on the rowboat.

A fulcrum is the point on which a lever rests or is supported. The lever pivots on the fulcrum. A pivot is a central point on which a lever or other mechanism turns.

A rowboat uses mechanical power to move. On a row boat, a person sits on a “bench” in the middle of the boat. This person is called the rower. The rower has two oars, one in each hand. An oar is a pole that has a flat blade attached to the end. The oar is anchored in a pivot that is attached to the side of the row boat. The rower moves, or rows, the oars in the water in order to project the boat forward.

In Frankenstein, how does Victor become lost at sea?

Victor rows out to sea to dispose of the body of the second creature, a female, he has created. While out on the water, Victor feels refreshed by the breeze on the water, so he stretches out in the boat and resolves to stay out on the water longer than he has planned. He is lulled by the dark atmosphere and the waves, so he falls asleep in the boat. When he wakes, Victor realizes that the boat has drifted way off course, and he is lost. He does not have a compass with him, and he distresses over his state. The entire day passes before Victor sees land where he can dock and get provisions for himself. So Victor gets lost at sea and ends up sailing towards Ireland because he simply falls asleep in the boat.

How does the author in "There Will come Soft Rains" feel?

The author, Sara Teasdale, wrote "There will Come Soft Rains" in the aftermath of World War I, which to her seemed to raise the prospect of the complete annihilation of the human race. She herself was a chronic invalid, prone to melancholia. She committed suicide at the age of 48. 

In the poem, however, we see the point of view of a narrator. We cannot assume that the narrative voice necessarily expresses the attitudes and feelings of the poet herself. 

First, we can assume some degree of sadness at the prospect of humanity destroying itself utterly. The notion of "soft rains" washing away the evidence of war and bloodshed seems inherently sad; most people do not rejoice at the idea of the deaths of millions of people (approximately 18 million people died in World War I). 

There is an elegiac tone to the poem, but one that mingles sadness at human death with an appreciation of the great beauty of nature and its resilience.