Read the following informative text. The African elephant is the largest mammal on land. It takes nearly two years for a baby elephant to grow inside the mother elephant before it is born. Most elephants live to be between 50 and 70 years of age. The oldest recorded age of an elephant was 82 years old. What is the main topic of this text?
Baby elephants

Elephants

Elephants are large.

Elephants live between 50 and 70 years.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)

animal farm, written by george orwell, is a representation of russia after the revolution that led stalin to take over power.

in this excerpt, the central idea seems to be that the animals (a representation of society), when they believe to be working for a greater good and equality, are obedient and productive. they were convinced that, after expelling the owner (jones) from the farm, they would live in harmony and be fairly treated.

as we know, the pigs become the leaders and grow more selfish and dictatorial with time. in the end, they look and act in a way so similar to humans that it is impossible to tell the difference. the ideals of equality are shattered, and the farm turns out to be worse than it was before. the animals are manipulated with false propaganda and forced to work in order to enrich the pigs.

many battles and wars (such as the one at gettysburg), are commemorated by statues or monuments, with some areas preserved as monuments and national parks. do you think this contradicts the message of "grass"? in at least 200 words, explain your thinking and cite evidence from the poem to support your opinion.