Question 1 Why do we know so little about the life of William Shakespeare when we know comparatively so much about the lives of his less accomplished peers? Our lack of knowledge about Shakespeare has inspired countless conspiracy theories. The actual writing of Shakespeare’s works has been attributed to others from contemporary playwrights Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson to the brilliant Renaissance scientist and philosopher Francis Bacon. Shakespeare was an immensely successful dramatist as well as a prosperous property owner. Circumspect, and only too aware of the government-inspired branding of Johnson, its torture of Thomas Kyd, and its murder of Marlowe, Shakespeare kept himself nearly anonymous. Wary to the end, Shakespeare led a life virtually without memorable incident, as far as we can tell. a. Circumspect and wary are synonyms. In the context of the passage, what do they mean? b. Write down two words that start with spect-! c. How do the roots circum- and spect- relate to the definition of circumspect? Question 2 The world around us is filled with sound. There are loud sounds and soft sounds. There are pleasant sounds and unpleasant sounds. At this very moment, you are surrounded by sound. Where does sound come from? How does it get to your ears? Why are there different kinds of sound? The study of these questions about sound is called acoustics. Imagine a cymbal hit with a drumstick. The cymbal shakes rapidly, and this vibration causes the tiny particles in the air around it to vibrate. These vibrating air particles, called molecules, bump into the air particles next to them and make them vibrate. This spreading vibration moves outward in every direction from the cymbal in waves. When a small object is made to vibrate, the sound waves move up and down very quickly. This produces a high-pitched sound, like a high note in a song. When a large object is made to vibrate, the sound waves move up and down more slowly. This produces a low-pitched sound, like a low note in a song. Hitting a smal