school buildings and that we can therefore decrease the budget for county-funded public schools."

　　the following appeared in a memo¹ from the president of bower² builders, a company that constructs new homes.

　　"a nationwide survey reveals that the two most desired home features are a bathroom with a whirlpool tub and a large kitchen. homes in a nearby development built by our competitor, domus construction, have whirlpool tubs and have sold much faster and at significantly higher prices than the average. to increase our sales and profits, we should include whirlpool tubs and larger kitchens as standard features in all our new homes. since
our recent buyers have voiced no complaints about small yards, we can also increase profits by decreasing the size of our yards."

　　the following appeared in a memo from a vice³ president of a large, highly diversified⁴ company.

　　"ten years ago our company had two new regional office buildings built in two different regions. the buildings were erected⁵ by two different construction companies—alpha and zeta. even though the two buildings had virtually identical floor plans, the building constructed by zeta cost 30 percent more to build, and its expenses for maintenance last year were twice those of the building constructed by alpha. furthermore, the energy consumption of the zeta building has been higher than that of the alpha building every year since its construction. such data, plus the fact that alpha has a stable workforce⁶ with little employee turnover⁷, indicate that we should use alpha construction company, rather than zeta, for all future building projects."

　　the following is a recommendation from the human resources department at techforce computer company.

　　"many working parents report that problems related to their childcare arrangements are a major reason for absenteeism from their jobs. bridgewell corporation, a tele-communications company, implemented⁹ an on-site childcare program and after one year, the company reported that unscheduled absences had declined by 25 percent. since techforce has had an increase in unscheduled employee absences over the past year, we should therefore implement⁸ our own on-site childcare program. the program will undoubtedly¹⁰ reduce our unscheduled employee absences, resulting in significantly increased productivity."

　　the following appeared in an article in supplements today.

　　"dieticians have long known that professional athletes who eat a lot of nuts have higher levels of endurance than those who do not. researchers have recently discovered that the particular combination of vitamin n and fiber¹¹ found in some nuts provides a boost for those who participate in strenuous¹² physical activities daily. both vitamin n and fiber supplements are easily synthesized and widely available. as a result, all those who participate in athletic¹³ activities will be able to increase their endurance and win more games by taking vitamin n along with a fiber supplement."