RICE HUSK BUILDING MATERIALS

MALAYSIA CHOOSES KINGS

DEMOGRAPHIC EXPLOSION ON PLANET EARTH

"KNIGHT IN A TIGER'S SKIN" - IN PERSIAN

KOREAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OFFICE OPENED

METRO IN ISRAEL

JOSE RIZAL-WRESTLER AND WRITER

Krasnodar Krai is considered the rice granary of Russia. Significant areas of its land are occupied under this crop. But in high-yielding years, our rice farmers face a problem: how to deal with the waste of finished products-rice husks. Krasnodar residents who visited India said that there they learned to use rice husks efficiently - to make various building materials from it that are necessary for the national economy. Do the editors of your magazine know anything about this?

Serdyukov Village, Krasnodar

India is the world's largest rice-producing power. It accounts for about 20 percent of the world's rice production. In 1999, its harvest in India exceeded 80 million tons. This crop is cultivated mainly in the coastal ocean lowlands, as well as in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. Large areas of irrigated land are allocated for rice, for example, in Punjab and several other regions.

Indian rice farmers have a rich tradition of rice cultivation going back centuries. It is not surprising, therefore, that they hold the palm tree in inventing various ways of using waste for household needs. So, scientists of the National Corporation for Research and Development have developed a method for making building materials from rice husks. The technology of their production, writes the Delhi press, has no analogues in the world yet. On its basis, India operates a plant for processing rice waste and producing products necessary for the national economy, in particular, finishing and insulation materials. They are already used in the construction of residential buildings and office premises.

In order to protect copyright, the Corporation has patented its invention in many rice-producing countries-Malaysia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

A new technology for the production of building materials from rice waste was acquired by Malaysians, and Chinese companies are showing interest in it.

I learned from the press that Malaysia has recently elected a new king. In other countries, as far as I know, kings are not elected, but become members of the royal family by virtue of inheritance. Please tell us about the institute of monarchical power in Malaysia.

Korostelev settlement, Tyumen

Malaysia (an area of 333,000 square kilometers, a population of more than 22 million people) is a federal state consisting of 13 states, nine of which are headed by hereditary sultans.

According to the constitution, which was developed with the participation of England (Malaysia was an English colony until 1957), the" nine " ruling sultans elect the head of state at the Council of Rulers for a period of five years. The monarch appoints the Prime Minister and ministers responsible to Parliament, as well as 32 members of the Senate, the upper house of the legislature (there are 58 deputies in the Senate). The remaining senators, as well as the entire composition of the House of Representatives (177 deputies) are elected by the population. The monarch is the guardian of the national traditions and customs of the indigenous population - Malays, who make up about 50 percent of all residents.

After meeting, the Council of Rulers elected the 11th monarch since the country's independence. He was 73-year-old Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, who replaced Tuanku Jaafar.

In 1963, after the death of his father, Aziz Shah inherited the title of Sultan of Selangor. Previously, he served as a regular school inspector.

Nine years ago, the current king married a young financial college student. 27-year-old "first lady" Aisha is the youngest queen of Malaysia.

At the coronation ceremony in the capital Kuala Lumpur, the new monarch called on his subjects "not to succumb to the influence of Western values, to direct their efforts to increase labor productivity and the competitiveness of Malaysian goods."

Recently, the mass media have been paying great attention to the problem of rapid population growth on our planet, the so-called demographic explosion. At the same time, the media emphasize that the population is growing at a particularly high rate in the countries of the South, in particular in Asia and Africa. In light of this, it is interesting to ask what the forecasts are

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scientists regarding the increase in the number of earthlings in the foreseeable future.

N. Krovelev, Tambov

Especially rapid population growth on Earth has been observed in the last 100 years. According to demographic scientists, by 1800 - the beginning of the industrial Revolution - approximately one billion people lived on our planet. By 1900, the world's population was one billion 620 million. And at the end of the century, there were six billion Earthlings. In two centuries, their numbers have increased sixfold! At the same time, more than a third of the population is accounted for by two Asian countries - China (over 1.2 billion) and India (one billion people).

By the end of the Paleolithic era (15-16 thousand years ago), the number of people on Earth, according to rough estimates of scientists, was three million people. They covered an area of about 40 million square kilometers. Since then, the world's population has increased two thousand times, and the inhabited area has increased to 120 million square kilometers.

Since the 20th century, population growth has been truly explosive - in one century it has increased from 1.62 billion to six billion. According to scientists, the number of earthlings is growing daily by 225 thousand people. If this rate continues in the future, then by 2040 there will be twice as many people on Earth as today. And by 2100, demographers predict that at least 14 billion people will live on our planet.

Looking through literary magazines, I was surprised to learn that Iran, whose achievements in classical literature are undeniable, has only recently translated the famous Georgian epic "The Knight in the Tiger's Skin"into Persian Shota Rustaveli. After all, this work has long been translated into many languages of the peoples of the world. I would love to read more information on this topic in your journal.

N. Pershim, Yekaterinburg

We are pleased to note that the gap that existed in the literary life of Iran, as the author of the letter writes, has been eliminated.

Recently, for the first time in Tehran, almost eight centuries after the creation of the poem "The Knight in the Tiger's Skin", its full translation into Persian was carried out. The translator is a young scientist Farshid Delshad. He is 28 years old and was born in Shiraz, the city of Persian poets. After graduating from Shiraz University, he entered the postgraduate program of the Alam Tabatabaei University of Tehran, where he majored in Persian language and literature.

His scientific topic is F. Delshad chose the work of the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli. He wrote a dissertation entitled "Palanginepush-shahkare Shota Rustaveli", which means"Dressed in a leopard skin - Shota Rustaveli's masterpiece" in Russian. However, it is translated not in verse, but in prose.

Highly appreciating the work of F. Delshada, a well - known Russian Iranian philologist, Professor D. S. Komissarov, claims that his translation, compared to the Russian one, probably corresponds more to the name of the Georgian original, which does not contain the word "knight".

The Persian title of the book is shorter and more catchy. In addition, D. Komissarov emphasizes, the word "palang" in combination with other lexemes can be translated as "unusually strong", "very brave", so the Iranian reader will understand that the poem is about a "hero", "knight", and not about a simple warrior.

Sources for F.'s work. Delshad had translations of "The Knight in the Tiger's Skin" in English, Arabic, Tajik and Russian.

Currently f. Delshad is an intern at the University of Tbilisi, where he is improving his knowledge of classical Georgian literature. Perhaps an Iranian scholar, having mastered the Georgian language, will be able in the future to translate Sh. Rustaveli's poem into Persian in verse directly from the original.

Soviet Korean studies was famous for its fundamental research. And what is the current situation in this branch of knowledge?

A. Shirokova, Novosibirsk

The network of specialized Russian scientific and educational institutions in the field of Korean studies has recently been expanded with a new division. An Office of Korean Language and Literature has been opened at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University. It was created on the initiative of Kim Yong-soo, a public activist of the Republic of Korea, who is now a graduate student of the Philology Department of Moscow State University. The collaboration of the Institute of Asian and African Studies with Kim Yong-soo began more than a year ago, when she was invited to give a course of lectures at the Institute for students of philology in the Korean department. She said yes. As a highly qualified specialist in contemporary literature, Kim Young-soo came up with the idea of creating a special Korean study with her own library. And she herself made the first contribution - 300 titles of books on Korean philology. Now the library of the Cabinet has 500 books in Korean, and its fund is constantly replenished.

Kim Yong-soo managed to attract many well-known scientists and cultural figures in the Republic of Korea, who expressed a desire to contribute to the formation and development of the Korean Language and Literature Cabinet.

What are the tasks of this Cabinet? I. L. Kasatkina, Head of the Department of Philology of the Southeast Asian, Korean and Mongolian ISAA Countries, says: "The Cabinet has big plans: meetings of Russian students with scientists and cultural figures of the Republic of Korea, organization of eloquence and calligraphy competitions, holding traditional Korean holidays at Moscow State University, and many other events. Their implementation will increase students ' interest in the culture of the Korean people,

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It will serve to develop mutually beneficial relations between the two countries."

The opening of the Office shows that the study of Korea, its language, literature, and art in Russia is still given great importance.

It is known that Israel has a well-developed transport network. Is there a metro system in this country?

A. Deribasov, Voronezh

Yes, there is a metro system in Israel. Its only line operates not in the capital Tel Aviv, but in Haifa, the second most industrial city in the country. The metro was put into operation 40 years ago, in 1959. It connects densely populated areas of the city with the port. There are six stations on the highway.

The population of Haifa, according to the "Guide to Israel" published with the assistance of the Jewish Agency, is currently 240 thousand people.

Haifa is not only an industrial but also a cultural center of Israel. There are many historical, cultural and religious monuments here. Let's list some of them.

Mount Carmel, revered by adherents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This mountain is considered the place of the life of Elijah the prophet, from where, according to legend, he ascended to heaven. The Roman emperor Vespasian sacrificed to Jupiter on this mountain.

Tourists ' attention is drawn to the ruins of buildings dating back to the time of King Solomon (X century BC). In Haifa, there is a temple of followers of the Baha'i religion. The city is also home to the Baha'i legislative and administrative body, the World House of Justice. There are numerous museums here. Haifa, according to the Guide to Israel, is the only city in the country where public transport operates on Saturdays and where many entertainment venues are open on this day.

In our city library, I chose to read the novel "Don't Touch Me"by the Filipino writer Jose Rizal. I really liked this book. It combines an elegant narrative style with an expressive artistic representation of the tragedy of the heroes of the national liberation struggle of the Philippine people.

I would like to read about the life of Jose Rizal in your magazine.

N. Shumilov, Novosibirsk

Jose Rizal was born in the Philippine city of Calamba in 1861 to a wealthy family. At that time, the Philippines was a colonial possession of Spain.

Even at a young age, Jose Rizal often experienced the contempt of the colonialists for the Filipinos and their Tagalog language. As a child, he was beaten up by a Spanish officer for walking past him without bowing. Another offensive event occurred at the university where Rizal was studying medicine. Rizal's poems were recognized as the best in the student poetry tournament, which was held without naming names. When a Filipino, not a Spaniard, came on stage to receive the award, he was booed.

However, this "recognition" did not cool the young man. He continued to write, making fun of the "venerable enlighteners" -the rude, lazy, and ignorant monk teachers.

After writing the novel "Don't Touch Me", which our reader writes about, the colonialists and the supreme hierarchs of the Spanish Catholic Church declared Jose Rizal a heretic. His house was looted, and his book was required to be burned. "You can burn a manuscript, but you can't kill an idea," X responded to this lawlessness. Rizal. The book lived on. It was replicated in Berlin and smuggled to Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

The repressive measures of the colonial authorities did not frighten Rizal. In Manila, he created the "Philippine League" - the first political organization whose goal was to fight against the Spanish colonial yoke, for the freedom of the motherland. The rising tide of the liberation struggle frightened the colonialists. Jose Rizal was arrested while on a boat from Spain to Cuba, where he intended to work as a doctor. Under heavy escort, the patriot was transferred to Manila. The trial was swift and unfair. Risa-liu read the verdict: "Shoot them!" He was 35 years old at the time. Seven successive priests urged him to repent, but he remained steadfast. During the last meeting with his mother and sisters, Rizal secretly handed over the poems "Farewell to the Motherland", which he wrote the night before the execution, along with his belongings in a spirit lamp.

"Farewell to the Motherland" - a swan song by Jose Rizal. Every adult Filipino knows these lines:

Goodbye, my homeland, the pearl of the south seas,

A land caressed by the sun, our lost paradise...

In the poem - the pain of parting with loved ones, the oath of loyalty to the motherland, the curse of its enemies and faith in freedom. "Paint the coming dawn with my blood" - these words ended this patriotic song.

The banner of the liberation struggle raised by Jose Rizal brought Filipinos together. At the end of the XIX century, they achieved the elimination of the Spanish colonial yoke, although for almost 50 years they were in colonial dependence on the United States.

Filipinos honor the memory of a national hero. In Manila, a magnificent monument was erected to him, at the foot of which fresh flowers never fade. Every two hours, a guard of National Guard soldiers in full dress uniforms changes at the monument.

In Russia, Jose Rizal is known not only as a fighter against colonial oppression, but also as a writer. In addition to the aforementioned book, another of his novels, Filibusters, has been published in our country.

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