The half-caste woman who looked after him (she smoked opium, and pretended to keep a second-hand furniture shop by the square where the cheap cabs wait) told the missionaries that she was Kim’s mother’s sister; but his mother had been nursemaid in a colonel's family and had married Kimball O’Hara, a young color-sergeant of the Mavericks, an Irish regiment.

He clambered back on his feet and grinned at them. The waning faggot cast red light over his fangs.

One sample question: How will Chinese ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs) based at Sanya, on Hainan Island, reach patrol grounds in the western Pacific should Beijing choose to send them out? To maintain stealth, SSBNs would first have to evade any adversary picket submarines lying offshore. Once in deep water, they would cruise eastward toward the Philippines. In all likelihood Chinese boats would exit through the Luzon Strait, the narrow sea between Taiwan and the Philippine island of Luzon. Or, more precisely, maritime geography will force them to exit through the narrow Bashi Channel, near the northern edge of the strait.

From the job seeker's point of view, however, it may be best to stay in school for an internship—if you can afford the time and expense. That way, some career advisers say, you can maximize your marketability to get the hottest job at the highest possible salary.