If the government intervenes more in the market, what are the short-term and long-term results?

The answer to this depends on which government you are discussing, what markets, and the precise forms of intervention. 

For example, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, many governments in the developed world intervened by reducing interest rates and increasing monetary supply as a stimulus and to prevent recessions. Although this sort of intervention was successful, such tools are limited as of 2016 by interest rates being at a historically low level. 

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The answer to this depends on which government you are discussing, what markets, and the precise forms of intervention. 

For example, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, many governments in the developed world intervened by reducing interest rates and increasing monetary supply as a stimulus and to prevent recessions. Although this sort of intervention was successful, such tools are limited as of 2016 by interest rates being at a historically low level. 

Another way governments can intervene in markets is by setting industrial policies that might include subsidies or tax breaks for favored industries. While some industries might benefit from such policies in the short term, over the long term they can lead to inefficient companies that rely on taxpayer subsidies for their survival. Such policies can also contravene various global and regional trade agreements and lead to trade wars. 

Another type of intervention is direct government ownership of essential industries such as utilities, railroads, hospitals, and communications infrastructures that function as public goods. Economists are divided on whether such ownership allows for greater access to common goods for people of all incomes or whether such state-owned enterprises tend to be inefficient.

What is the exposition of "The Fat Girl"?

"The Fat Girl" is a short story by a master of the form, Andre Dubus. The title refers to the protagonist, Louise, and the story covers her experiences from childhood through adulthood. It's worth noting that that term "fat girl" describes how Louise sees herself (and how the people around her, especially her mother) view her when she is young. By the time Louise is a young adult, she's not heavy anymore. But she still views herself as a fat girl, even when she is in a slender body that she's worked hard to earn and maintain.

The fact that Louise's struggle with her weight will continue throughout the story is why the exposition is so important. We have to understand the protagonist's background to properly understand the rest of the story. Dubus doesn't waste any time in establishing this. In the second paragraph of the story, he reveals key details of Louise's childhood:

It started when Louise was nine. You must start watching what you eat, her mother would say. I can see you have my metabolism. Louise also had her mother’s pale blond hair. Her mother was slim and pretty, carried herself erectly, and ate very little. The two of them would eat bare lunches, while her older brother ate sandwiches and potato chips, and then her mother would sit smoking while Louise eyed the bread box, the pantry, the refrigerator.

In this passage, we learn plenty: Louise's mother is extremely image-conscious. Even though she is "slim and pretty," she worries that Louise will have weight problems. (We can't know whether or not Louise's mother was ever actually overweight, and that's part of the problem: is this problem about perception, or is it a real health concern?)

In the exposition, we also learn about Louise's father, who is kinder and more sympathetic to his daughter:

Her father was a lawyer and made a lot of money and came home looking pale and happy. Martinis put color back in his face, and at dinner he talked to his wife and two children. Oh give her a potato, he would say to Louise’s mother. She a growing girl. Her mother’s voice then became tense: If she has a potato she shouldn’t have dessert. She should have both, her father would say, and he would reach over and touch Louise’s cheek or hand or arm.

The story will go on to describe Louise's experiences in high school and, later, as a young woman entering the spheres of dating, marriage, and motherhood. But we'll see how Louise's judgmental mother and kindhearted father, and the interactions they have with their young daughter when she is nine years old, will shape the way she sees herself in the future.

Which inference can be best made about why the king is described as “semi-barbaric” rather than wholly barbaric?

The king is regarded as "semi-barbaric" in the sense that he has been influenced by his distant Latin neighbors. His ideas are described in the tale as "polished" and "sharpened" by Latin influence, which implies that he's steeped in the culture and learning of antiquity. However, despite this, he still retains vestiges of his indigenous heritage, whose barbaric nature manifests itself in the cruel "lady or tiger" punishment the king imposes upon those who displease...

The king is regarded as "semi-barbaric" in the sense that he has been influenced by his distant Latin neighbors. His ideas are described in the tale as "polished" and "sharpened" by Latin influence, which implies that he's steeped in the culture and learning of antiquity. However, despite this, he still retains vestiges of his indigenous heritage, whose barbaric nature manifests itself in the cruel "lady or tiger" punishment the king imposes upon those who displease him.

Yet there seem to be significant similarities between the "barbarism" of the king's own culture and the "civilized" life of the Romans. The king has a large arena in which brutal gladiatorial contests take place and in which the religiously unorthodox regularly meet a savage end at the claws and teeth of starving wild animals. This is precisely what used to happen in ancient Rome.

Had the king restricted himself to this form of punishment then perhaps he would've been regarded as fully civilized rather than in the least bit barbaric. The suspicion remains that his "lady or tiger" method of punishment is considered barbaric, not because it involves violence and bloodshed involved (after all, Roman punishments were often far worse), but because it is an expression of indigenous culture, which is not something imported from Rome and therefore deemed to be "uncivilized."

Why does she lie to her client about where the bowl had been bought? How does the author build suspense into the story?

Initially, the real estate agent feigns ignorance about the bowl but eventually tells her client that the bowl had been a present. Furthermore, she maintains that the owners of the home had no idea where the bowl had been purchased. 

The real estate agent lied because she does not want her client to know that the bowl actually belongs to her. Furthermore, telling the client the truth would have exposed the agent's use of the...

Initially, the real estate agent feigns ignorance about the bowl but eventually tells her client that the bowl had been a present. Furthermore, she maintains that the owners of the home had no idea where the bowl had been purchased. 

The real estate agent lied because she does not want her client to know that the bowl actually belongs to her. Furthermore, telling the client the truth would have exposed the agent's use of the bowl to manipulate the emotions of potential buyers. As the narrative reveals, the agent typically places the bowl in strategic places during each house viewing.

As for your other question, the author builds suspense by introducing a dilemma part way into the story, one that concerns the agent's relationship with the bowl. Essentially, the real estate agent becomes obsessed with the bowl and its contribution to her real estate business success. She describes the depth of her emotional distress when she unintentionally left the bowl behind during one of her property showings. In the agent's mind, the bowl had come to represent a sort of magic talisman that ensured her continued business success.

Thus, the author builds suspense by adding a sense of apprehension or the feeling of impending peril to the story. The bowl morphs into a quasi-mystical object, with a personality of its own. At the height of her paranoia, the agent wonders if the bowl feels slighted in some way. She begins to imagine herself a villain who has denied the bowl its just rewards for all the good luck it has brought her. The agent becomes possessive, much like a woman who suspects that her lover is planning to leave her. By this point in the story, we begin to question whether the agent harbors schizophrenic tendencies or whether the bowl will break in some tragic accident.

Essentially, the author uses this sense of impending peril to build suspense in her narrative. Interestingly, the story ends ambiguously, with the author pointing out that the agent often spends quiet moments merely staring at the bowl. 

I'm assigned to close read Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, from pages eleven to twelve. I would appreciate help to identify what key parts I should note...

These are important pages in this novel (I am going to hope we are on the same pages, and I have a hunch we are: I am using the 2002 paperback Perennial edition).

In these pages, Masuda, president of the unnamed country that is hosting the birthday dinner/opera singing, is notably not at the party. Mr. Hosokawa "barely noticed," as he is fixated on hearing Roxanne Cox. Ruben Iglesias, the Vice President, finds his mind...

These are important pages in this novel (I am going to hope we are on the same pages, and I have a hunch we are: I am using the 2002 paperback Perennial edition).

In these pages, Masuda, president of the unnamed country that is hosting the birthday dinner/opera singing, is notably not at the party. Mr. Hosokawa "barely noticed," as he is fixated on hearing Roxanne Cox. Ruben Iglesias, the Vice President, finds his mind wandering as well, from the party to an image of the president at home, watching his favorite TV program. An important quote from these musings foreshadows what is to come, though Iglesias is utterly unaware of it. He imagines the President's favorite TV show: "A picture of a beautiful girl tied to a chair . . . . She twisted her wrists . . . slid one hand free. Maria was free!" Soon Iglesias himself will be a captive.

The quiet irony of this passage is that these upper class characters are so caught up in their own thoughts and desires—their own bubbles—that they are completely unaware of what is about to happen, even when the lights flicker. They are competent people, but they are so privileged they are not living in reality. All Hosokawa cares about is an opera singer. The President of the country is so irresponsible that he subordinates his duties to his country to watching a melodramatic TV show. The Vice President daydreams about the President. They are a asleep at the wheel, as the the saying goes, unaware. The President and Vice President probably should have had a better awareness of the suffering in their country. You could mention that this bubble effect is reinforced by everything being seen from a highly privileged point of view, through the stream of consciousness thoughts of entitled, upper class characters, and by the lyrical, refined language Pachett uses to reflect their world. There is nothing blunt or crude about how these people think, nothing urgent. The fictional Maria as a captive is just a form of entertainment: her suffering is muted, separate from the president, a form of spectacle and consumption.

Then bang, everything changes in a flash: again, we are completely in the point of view of the guests of the party and Pachett narrates the events to convey their confusion: suddenly they are invaded, catching them utterly by surprise. The sense the event being like a natural disaster is conveyed in the important image of the dinner party as a cruise ship: "The house seemed to rise up like a boat . . . silverware flew . . . vases smashed." A wealthy, refined world is upended ("vases smashed"). People panic, but do not fight. Crude street fighting is alien to their world: "utter uselessness."

The guests begin to see their invaders, but despite noting such particular features as shingles on a face, the invaders are mostly undifferentiated, a "swarm." They "moved and spread" and couldn't be counted because they were "so similar." They have no reality to the upper class guests as human beings: they are simply an animal-like invasion. At this point, the guests view the violence as a natural, not political, disaster.

In summary, what we find here are upper class people so caught in their rarified bubbles that they are completely taken by surprise. They are more caught up in art—an opera singer, a TV show—than the hard realities of real life. The lyrical language and upper class images, such as "cocktails and hors d'oeuvres" and "creamy singing" reinforce this. Imageries of natural disaster—a tidal wave—are used to describe the rebel takeover in the minds of the guests, and the rebels are seen as a dehumanized swarm. All of this sets the scene for the growth characters will need to experience as the novel progresses. 

What are 3 physical characteristics of Connor with page references?

The first chapter is a good place to look for some physical descriptions of Connor.  My text might have slightly different page numbers, so I'll try to give a bit more information.  The second paragraph of the first chapter about Connor has information about his eye color.  Readers are told that Connor's eyes are brown.  We are also told that Connor has never changed his eye color with pigment injections.  In the next few sentences...

The first chapter is a good place to look for some physical descriptions of Connor.  My text might have slightly different page numbers, so I'll try to give a bit more information.  The second paragraph of the first chapter about Connor has information about his eye color.  Readers are told that Connor's eyes are brown.  We are also told that Connor has never changed his eye color with pigment injections.  In the next few sentences of the same paragraph, readers are told about Connor's skin.  He is tattoo free, and his skin is "tan" during the summer, but it is currently white and faded looking.  This paragraph closes with information about Connor's age.  He is 16.  

The next time that readers get a good physical description of Connor is in chapter 3.  This is Lev's introductory chapter.  The Connor description is near the end of the chapter.  That's when Connor physically removes Lev from the car and uses him as a human shield.  Readers are told that Connor hits Pastor Dan with a "quick powerful punch."  This hints to readers that Connor is either big or strong, or even both.  Next, readers see that Connor is strong enough to drag Lev away from the car, and Lev can't break free, because Connor is "much bigger."  

Lev is pulled to his feet again by the kid, who grabs Lev's arm and drags him off. Lev is small for his age. This kid is a couple of years older, and much bigger. Lev can't break free.

In 1984 by George Orwell, what is a quote about Winston from pages 17–29? How can I analyze that quote deeply?

Here is a quote about Winston from page 25:

"Years ago--how long was it? Seven years it must be--he had dreamed he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: 'We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.' It was said very quietly, almost casually--a statement, not a command. He had walked on without passing. It was only later and by degrees that they seemed to take on significance."

At the outset of the novel, Winston, despite working at the Ministry of Truth, or Minitrue, is beginning to doubt his faith in the Party and in Big Brother. This quote reveals the innermost thoughts in Winston's brain as he is beginning to rebel against the Party. In the dream he had several years before, he is in a darkness that represents the bleakness of Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain), where people are allowed no individual liberties. Someone promises him that he will emerge from this darkness, and he thinks that it is O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party, who speaks to him in the darkness and foresees a brighter future. 

When Winston originally had this dream, he did not think much of it. Only later did it begin to make an impression on him. Now, at the beginning of the novel, he wants to hasten the time when he can emerge from the darkness. He begins to write a diary in which he commits Thoughtcrimes, or thoughts that go against the Party. This dream is a fulfillment of his wish that he be able to live freely, not in the dictatorship that governs Airstrip One. It also foreshadows O'Brien's eventual duplicity towards Winston (in which O'Brien promises escape from repression that he never delivers). However, at this point in the book, Winston is not aware that O'Brien will be duplicitous towards him--Winston is only aware that he wants to change the dark and limited life that is his.