Word: methodical
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THERE is a third method of dealing with examination questions--that is by the use of the overpowering assumption, an assumption so cosmic that it is sometimes accepted. For example, we wrote that it was pretty obvious that the vague generality was the key device in any discussion of examination writing. Why is it obvious? As a matter of fact it isn't obvious at all, but just an arbitrary point from which to start. That is an example of an unwarranted assumption...
Theme-park actors do not, to be sure, make much use of training in Shakespeare or Method-style character analysis. But they say acting study helps nonetheless. Kevin Kraft, 22, is a University of Southern California junior in his second summer as a clown and juggler at Hersheypark; he has also toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Says Kraft: "If I pretend in slow motion to grab for a nonexistent ball, I'd better have a real intention to catch it, which is acting technique, or the comedy falls flat...
...sport does have its hazards. Gliding along on a pair of molded thermoplastic blades equipped with high-performance ball bearings, skaters can reach speeds of 30 m.p.h. or more, which means stopping is no easy feat. Learning to slow down smoothly -- one method is to lean back on the skates' rear-mounted brakes -- takes lots of practice and usually a few spills. Novices should wear hand and knee guards and probably helmets as well. The most common injury: broken wrists from pitching forward onto the pavement...
...back their output to offset the excess pumping of other members. In 1986 the Saudis got tired of playing the sucker and flooded the market with their unrivaled stores of crude, pushing prices down in an attempt to punish the cheaters and force them to play straight. That method proved of little value in taming Kuwait and the U.A.E., which have rich petroleum reserves and tend to favor lower prices as a way of discouraging Western countries from pursuing alternative energy sources. But Iraq desperately needs higher prices, and Saddam reckoned he had something more powerful than the Saudis' economic...
...nearly a half-century, East German workers have held lifetime jobs in companies that had only to meet production goals, without much concern for costs, quality or innovation. The madness in this method is symbolized by the Trabant, the plastic-enclosed, four-wheel motorcycle posing as a small car. Until last November, customers waited up to 15 years for the privilege of buying one for then 22,000 ostmarks, or about $4,000; currently, the Trabant cannot be sold at any price...