Trim the FAT

1.
Wild horses, which once roamed freely over the grasslands of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are found only in isolated
patches of Southeastern Africa and Eastern Asia now.
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2.
In a digital camera, light entering the camera is focused on a charged coupled device, or CCD, which converts light
energy into a charged electron.
Simple version:

3.
A major stumbling block in the development of a viable hydrogen-fueled car is the expectation of many drivers that the
vehicle will travel at least 300 miles before needing to refuel.
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4.
Prior to the development of germ theory, John Snow, a London physician, was able to halt an outbreak of cholera by
restricting access to a water pump that he suspected was contributing to the spread of the disease.
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5.
Cores of ice, drilled from glaciers in Greenland and the Antarctic, provide climatologists with valuable data on Earth’s
prehistoric climate, including changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
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6.
In 1899, Nikola Tesla, famed inventor of the alternating current electrical system, shocked an assembled audience at a
conference by operating a six-foot radio-controlled electric boat.
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7.
Fainting, which can be a sign of a serious ailment such as heart failure or a result of something as harmless as standing
up too quickly, results from an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain.
Simple version:
8.
One of the main provisions of the Taft-Hartley Labor Act was the government’s ability to prevent a strike by any
workers it considered essential to the nation’s health or safety.
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9.
After spending nearly 26 years in jail, South African statesman Nelson Mandela was elected president of South
Africa in that country’s first multiracial election in 1994.
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10.
On Shrove Tuesday in 217 B.C.E., soldiers in Derby, England celebrated a victory over Roman soldiers by playing
the first recorded soccer match, starting an annual event that lasted for almost 1,000 years.
Simple version:

The following sentences contain one or more difficult vocabulary words. Paraphrase each sentence, cutting
out extra phrases. Then simplify the sentence, taking difficult words and replacing them with more familiar
ones whenever possible.
1.
The authorship of The Art of War, an influential treatise on war, tactics, and espionage, is often attributed to
Sun Tzu, but the tome was more likely penned by a number of writers.
Simplify:

2.
One of the more controversial incidents of government intervention into the private sector occurred when,
during the early 1970s, the government imposed a cap on wages to combat inflation.
Simplify:

3.
Saccharin, a white crystalline compound that tastes more than 100 times sweeter than sugar, was discovered by
accident in 1879.
Simplify:

4.
The writ of habeas corpus functions not to ascertain a detainee’s guilt or innocence, but to determine if the
prisoner has been accorded due process.
Simplify:
5.
Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse, distinguished philosophers of the Frankfurt School, were
instrumental in formulating seminal critical theories on capitalism.
Simplify:

6.
Based on his observations of the Andromeda galaxy and others like it, Walter Baade inferred the existence of ancient
stars in the Milky Way that were formed from primordial hydrogen and helium.
Simplify:

7.
Most critics consider Dracula the archetypal horror novel, the one from which all other macabre stories originate.
Simplify:

8.
Archaeologists usually employ two types of dating methods: one that attempts to determine the temporal order of a
sequence of events and one that strives to date an object or event in terms of absolute calendar years.
Simplify:

9.
A modem operates by converting discrete digital data into an analog signal that varies continuously in reference to a
standard reference point.
Simplify:

10.
Abstract expressionism emerged from the turbulent 1940s New York City art scene and quickly captivated critics
with its stylistic diversity and nonrepresentational framework.
Simplify: