Many scholars believe that the framers of the Constitution intended Congress to be the preeminent branch of government. Indeed, no other legislature in the world approaches its power. Yet most Americans have only a murky idea of how it works. In The U.S. Congress, Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional historian for more than thirty years, takes readers on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of Capitol Hill--pointing out the key players, explaining their behavior, and translating parliamentary language into plain English.
Here is a reference work that is also meant to be a teaching tool, helping its readers comprehend the complex processes and development of the legislative branch of the U.S. government. It describes in simple language selected persons, events, and terms associated with Congress, including arcane terms such as Blue-slip procedure, Morning hour, andShadow senators. Also included are significant court cases, major elections, scandals, and other controversies and many of the rules and customs that regulate congressional behavior.
On September 29–30, 2004, more than two hundred participants assembled in Lisbon, to take a fresh look at current orientations in Translation Studies (TS). In their Call for Papers, the organizers of the Fourth Congress of the European Society for Translation Studies (EST) had acknowledged that “perhaps the time has come to challenge some of the widely held assumptions, biases, and other presuppositions borrowed from other disciplines or based on beliefs and claims that are taken for granted.” Hence, the “Doubts and Directions” in the title of the Congress. Obviously, the contributions (more than 140 papers, 40 posters and six panels) did not all cover the same concerns, the same questions, the same concepts or the same methods. Diversity is a precious asset at a scientific meeting of this kind.
Every five years the Permanent International Committee of Linguists (CIPL) organises a world congress for linguists. And every five years the Committee faces the challenge of presenting a programme at the highest possible level. The CIPL Executive Committee decided for the Congress planned for 2003 in Prague to focus on four major topics which play an important role in today's linguistic debate: 1. Typology, 2. Endangered Languages, 3. Methodology and Linguistics (including fieldwork) and 4. Language and the mind. Leading experts have introduced the four themes in their plenary lectures in the course of the congress, which served as a basis for the articles presented in the current volume. This book should be a welcome tool for all linguists wishing to find their way quickly in current developments.
