Problem: Background: Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed. The band formed at Manchester University, but settled in London where they signed with Charisma.
Context: Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful outside of early 1970s Italy, they have inspired several notable musicians, including Rush, John Lydon, Marc Almond, Graham Coxon, Luca Prodan, Mark E. Smith, John Frusciante, Bruce Dickinson and Julian Cope. Dickinson, who has been a fan of the band since he saw them at Oundle School aged 13, said that Hammill was one of his childhood heroes. Coxon is particularly fond of "House with No Door" from H to He (1970), saying the track is "extremely beautiful, with Jackson's truly lovely sax-and-flute instrumental section." Almond recalled hearing "Killer" for the first time saying, "I'd never heard anything like it before. It wasn't just Peter's snarling operatic vocal, it was the mix of instruments ... I became an instant fan." Mentioning their reputation as something of an acquired taste, Lydon said, "There's a few Van Der Graaf things I like, but I'm not going to recommend anything to anyone. It might not be for them. Music doesn't come with a set of guidelines."  Although generally categorised as a progressive rock group, Cope is keen to distance the band from that movement, stating "Their music was like some Brechtian bar band - the opposite of prog rock, really". Nevertheless, the band have been acknowledged as an influence on the neo-progressive rock subgenre which emerged in the 1980s and featured Marillion as its most successful band. Marillion singer Fish thought highly of Hammill and invited him to be the support on the band's early tours.  The Canadian new wave band Men Without Hats have a song titled "The Van der Graaf Generator Blues" on their 1991 album Sideways.
Question: Did the group influence many people?
Answer: they have inspired several notable musicians, including Rush, John Lydon, Marc Almond, Graham Coxon, Luca Prodan, Mark E. Smith, John Frusciante, Bruce Dickinson and Julian Cope.

IN: Haruki Murakami (Cun Shang  Chun Shu , Murakami Haruki, born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country. The critical acclaim for his fiction and non-fiction has led to numerous awards, in Japan and internationally, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2006). His oeuvre received, for example, the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and the Jerusalem Prize (2009).

Sputnik Sweetheart was first published in 1999, followed by Kafka on the Shore in 2002, with the English translation following in 2005. Kafka on the Shore won the World Fantasy Award for Novels in 2006. The English version of his novel After Dark was released in May 2007. It was chosen by The New York Times as a "notable book of the year". In late 2005, Murakami published a collection of short stories titled Tokyo Kitanshu, or Dong Jing Qi Tan Ji , which translates loosely as "Mysteries of Tokyo." A collection of the English versions of twenty-four short stories, titled Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, was published in August 2006. This collection includes both older works from the 1980s as well as some of Murakami's more recent short stories, including all five that appear in Tokyo Kitanshu.  In 2002, Murakami published the anthology Birthday Stories, which collects short stories on the theme of birthdays. The collection includes work by Russell Banks, Ethan Canin, Raymond Carver, David Foster Wallace, Denis Johnson, Claire Keegan, Andrea Lee, Daniel Lyons, Lynda Sexson, Paul Theroux, and William Trevor, as well as a story by Murakami himself. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, containing tales about his experience as a marathon runner and a triathlete, was published in Japan in 2007, with English translations released in the U.K. and the U.S. in 2008. The title is a play on that of Raymond Carver's short story collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.  Shinchosha Publishing published Murakami's novel 1Q84 in Japan on May 29, 2009. 1Q84 is pronounced "ichi kyu hachi yon", the same as 1984, as 9 is also pronounced "kyu" in Japanese. The book was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2011. However, after the 2012 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China, Murakami's books were removed from sale there, along with those of other Japanese authors. Murakami criticized the China-Japan political territorial dispute, characterizing the overwrought nationalistic response as "cheap liquor" which politicians were giving to the public. In April 2013, he published his novel "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage". It became an international best seller but received mixed reviews.

Did he translate them himself

OUT: The title is a play on that of Raymond Carver's short story collection,

Background: The North American fur trade was the industry and activities related to the acquisition, trade, exchange, and sale of animal furs in North America. Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Native Americans in the United States of different regions traded among themselves in the Pre-Columbian Era, but Europeans participated in the trade beginning from the time of their arrival in the New World and extended its reach to Europe. The French started trading in the 16th century, the English established trading posts on Hudson Bay in present-day Canada in the 17th century, and the Dutch had trade by the same time in New Netherland. The 19th-century North American fur trade, when the industry was at its peak of economic importance, involved the development of elaborate trade networks.
Context: Deerskin trade was at its most profitable in the mid-18th century. The Creeks rose up as the largest deerskin supplier, and the increase in supply only intensified European demand for deerskins. Native Americans continued to negotiate the most lucrative trade deals by forcing England, France, and Spain to compete for their supply of deerskins. In the 1750s and 1760s, the Seven Years' War disrupted France's ability to provide manufactures goods to its allies, the Choctaws and Chickasaw. The French and Indian War further disrupted trade, as the British blockaded French goods. The Cherokees allied themselves with France, who were driven out from the southeast in accordance with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The British were now the dominant trading power in the southeast.  While both the Cherokee and the Creek were the main trading partners of the British, their relationships with the British were different. The Creeks adapted to the new economic trade system, and managed to hold onto their old social structures. Originally Cherokee land was divided into five districts; however, the number soon grew to thirteen districts with 200 hunters assigned per district due to deerskin demand.  Charleston and Savannah were the main trading ports for the export of deerskins. Deerskins became the most popular export, and monetarily supported the colonies with the revenue produced by taxes on deerskins. Charleston's trade was regulated by the Indian Trade Commission, composed of traders who monopolized the market and profited off the sale of deerskins. From the beginning of the 18th century to mid-century, the deerskin exports of Charleston more than doubled in exports. Charleston received tobacco and sugar from the West Indies and rum from the North in exchange for deerskins. In return for deerskins, Great Britain sent woolens, guns, ammunition, iron tools, clothing, and other manufactured goods that were traded to the Native Americans.
Question: What was happening in the fur trade during this time?
Answer:
Deerskin trade was at its most profitable in the mid-18th century.