Now read the following excerpt from Jared Diamond's "The Ends of the World as We Know
Them":
There is a similar story from Iceland. When the island was first settled by the Norse around 870,
its light volcanic soils presented colonists with unfamiliar challenges. They proceeded to cut
down trees and stock sheep as if they were still in Norway, with its robust soils. Significant
erosion ensued, carrying half of Iceland's topsoil into the ocean within a century or two.
Icelanders became the poorest people in Europe. But they gradually learned from their
mistakes, over time instituting stocking limits on sheep and other strict controls, and
establishing an entire government department charged with landscape management. Today,
Iceland boasts the sixth-highest per-capita income in the world.
Consider how each passage approaches the theme of the power of nature, and explain how
each author develops that theme. Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your
answer

Match the definition to the word for a better understanding of the paragraph. 1 money does not buy happiness or security. 2john ringling, one of the five brothers of the ringling brothers circus, started out in 1884 with a trained horse and a performing bear. 3for over forty years, he worked hard at the family enterprise, bought up smaller circuses, and imported new acts. 4in the 1920s, he was rated as one of the world's wealthiest men and owned every sizable circus in the country. 5over 5,000 people were on his payroll, and over 240 railroad cars were in his retinue each time the circus moved. 6at the time of his death, however, he was a nervous, unhappy man; he was also bankrupt and beset by lawsuits. 7his carefully built circus empire passed into alien hands. 8all those years of work had turned to dust. 1. business organization alien 2. group beset 3. without funds to pay debts retinue 4. troubled or harassed enterprise 5. strange; belonging to another person, place, country, or thing bankrupt