Explain the conservative preference for the status quo and change in moderation.

Basically, conservatives do not have much faith in the
ability of people to devise perfect worlds.  They think that human beings are inherently
fallible and prone to error.  Because of this, they prefer the status quo and they
prefer not to have radical change.

So how does that go
together?  How does believing that people are fallible lead to
that?

Conservatives believe that the whole mass of people
are less likely to be wrong than individuals.  They believe that people are less likely
to be wrong in the long term than in the short term.  Therefore, the way things have
always been done is probably right and we should not depart from it too easily or
quickly.

Conservatives believe that when we try to change
quickly or radically, we are throwing away the wisdom of all the people who have come
before us.  Instead of heeding them, we are assuming that we know best.  Because
conservatives think that people are more likely to be wrong short term than long term,
they think we should be more humble and we should accept that the old ways are probably
there for a reason.

I am including a link to a discussion
of Edmund Burke's writing on the French Revolution, which is a classic of conservative
thought.  As that discussion says, Burke and conservatives argue
that

If every
human institution were not the best of its kind, then the institution would have evolved
otherwise. This vision reflects an innate pragmatism that trusts no a priori judgments
and leaves all arrangements to be forged in
experience.

In "Through the Tunnel", how has the relationship changed between Jerry and his mother by the end of the story?

I think you would benefit from looking at the story in
much wider terms - certainly the Jerry at the end of the story is very different from
the Jerry at the beginning, and you are right to identify that one way he has changed is
in terms of his relationship with his mother. However, more generally, by the end of the
story Jerry has gone through a journey from childhood to manhood, symbolised most
stridently in his journey through the tunnel.

At the
beginning of the story we are introduced to a character who is on the cusp of
adolescense, and very clearly feels responsible for his mother due to their enforced
intimacy. Yet despite his feelings of responsibility towards his mother, he nonetheless
feels drawn to the "wild beach", which is away from the "safe beach" and his mother's
attentive care. The wild beach here can be said to symbolise independence and life away
from the protection of a parent figure - note how Lessing describes the two beaches to
draw out this comparison.

His discovery of the tunnel and
the challenge that the French boys set him through swimming through the tunnel spur
Jerry on to train hard and eventually succeed in his attempt to go through the tunnel.
Although certainly at the beginning of the story it is Jerry's need to be accepted by
the older group of French boys that drives his desire to go through the tunnel, it is
interesting that at the end of the story he no longer feels this is the case, as he is
happy to go back home and spend time with his mother. This indicates that the tunnel was
more about a process of self-acceptance and doing something to show he could do it for
himself rather than for any other reason.

His relationship
with his mother likewise has changed by the end of the story. Jerry deliberately
witholds his triumph, only relating his ability to hold his breath. The dramatic irony
in his mother's response ("I wouldn't overdo it, dear") indicates the independence that
Jerry has achieved in his journey through the tunnel - he has now entered an arena where
he has secrets from his mother and is able to engage in activities, dangerous activies,
away from his mother's protection. He is no longer subject to her and has proved himself
a man in his own right.

What two categories do lifestyle changes fall under?I'm studying for a multiple choice exam and one of the pointers for the exam is: Know what...

**I imagine there could be several ways a textbook or
teacher could categorize "lifestyle changes" so my first advice is to double check the
text that will be tested, your notes, or another student's notes.  Very often, teachers
give an exam study guide that is specific to class discussion, lecture notes, and the
text.**

Generally speaking, in psychology, lifestyle
changes are often categorized as either health attitudes or
health behavior.  Making a change in health attitudes is a
mental change while a change in health behavior is a
physical change.  It is noted that behavioral lifestyle changes
often cannot be sustained unless a change in attitude occurs
first.

An example of this is the common desire to lose
weight.  It is common knowledge that short term dieting is not a permanent solution to
obesity.  Dieting typically means abstaining from or limiting certain foods.  Let us use
carbohydrates as an example.  Cutting out carbohydrates is a behavioral change
that often results in immediate weight loss, but the weight comes back as
soon as the diet ends.  The health attitude, in this case, only considered caloric
intake in the process of losing weight.

In order to make a
complete lifestyle change here, the health attitude must encompass more than simply
cutting out carbohydrates for a while.  The health attitude change would look at overall
healthy eating habits (not just foods to avoid, but foods to increase, times to eat,
number of calories per meal, eating from a  every food group, etc.), exercise habits,
sleep habits, stress levels, and outside factors such as smoking and drinking.  When
making a lifestyle change to lose weight and keep it off, it is more effective to
consider the healthy attitude that will then sustain the behavioral
changes.

How does the setting of "The Most Dangerous Game" influence the conflict between Rainsford and Zaroff and the conclusion of the story?

It is well worth looking at how the story itself describes
the dangerous setting of this excellent short story of suspense. Consider what General
Zaroff says to Rainsford:

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"This island is called Ship-Trap... [The lights]
indicate a channel.. where there's none; giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea
monster with wide-open jaws. They can crush a ship as easily as I crush this
nut."

Notice how the island
is described - it is full of danger and a simile is used to compare the island to a
massive monster with giant, dangerous teeth. This clearly shows the danger that there is
the island, but of course this is a danger that is not merely restricted to its natural
characteristics, but the deadly "game" that Zaroff and Rainsford will play on it. It is
a brutal place, with no softness, where every move could be your last and danger is
always around the corner.

Thus the setting clearly
establishes the kind of arena where the "game" will be played, foreshadowing the danger
and violence.

What story in Montag's past goes along with the title of the second book of Fahrenheit 451?

The title of Part II is "The Sieve and the Sand", which is a
reference to a childhood memory about how he once tried to fill a sieve with sand "...because
some cruel cousin had said, 'fill this sieve and I'll give you a dime!'" (Bradbury 78).  Of
course, since this is practically impossible to do but Montag was too young to know this, he
became tearful, hot, and tired.

In the next paragraph, Bradbury
discusses how Montag recalls this memory as he reads passages from the Bible as he rides on the
subway: "...if you read fast and read all, maybe some of the sand will stay in the sieve"
(Bradbury 78); of course, the words "fell through" as did the sand in the sieve.  At this point,
Montag seems to be struggling with his ability to retain the information from
books.

Explain the significance of founder crops.From Chapter 5

According to Diamond, not all places invented food
production (agriculture) on their own.  They did not all domesticate their own plants. 
Instead, many places simply got plants that were already domesticated from other
people.  These plants are what he calls founder crops.

The
importance of founder crops is that they allowed these areas to have agriculture. 
Agriculture is the factor that allowed them, eventually, to develop guns, germs, and
steel.  This was especially possible in Eurasia because its long east-west axis allowed
for the same founder crops to be used various times in various
places.

What is the poem, "Annabel Lee", about?

This poem written by Edgar Allan Poe is a tale of love shared by
two children "many and many a year ago,/In a kingdom by the sea". In it, the speaker is telling
of his one true love, Annabel Lee, who dies because the angels in heaven are jealous of their
love. The angels send a cold wind that causes Annabel Lee's death, but they are still jealous of
the couple's love because not even death can separate them; their souls will be forever joined.
The speaker spends his nights "by the sea" remembering her, the stars reminding him of her
sparkling eyes.