This is Cambodia, but it could be anywhere in the developing world, because Suan and her family are trapped in an all too ubiquitous cycle: they are ensnared in a vicious circle in which poverty obstructs education, creating illiteracy and a lack of skills which, in turn, perpetuate poverty and so on ceaselessly until some external factor disrupts this pattern.
Something similar also seems to be happening in Nigeria, as Nollywood films, which are shown ceaselessly across Africa, are said to be drawing in visitors.Then there is the micro level: the effect of individual films, as with the "Lost in Thailand" example.
But in reality they are like Scott Fitzgerald's "boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".
Many cab steering wheels are marked with shiny depressions, where the drivers ceaselessly tap the horn in staccato bursts to warn off errant okada or simply to greet other motorists.
In all these aims, he has met with fair success.But, above all, Mr Guterres has tried ceaselessly to be a "good European".
Sometimes it feels permanently deferred, with dreams of progress borne back ceaselessly into the past.
IN THE fictional Colombian town of Macondo, in Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", it rains ceaselessly for four years, 11 months and two days.
He burned and burned, ceaselessly it seemed, and though we were sometimes scorched by his flame, we were seldom warmed by it.More than historical reconstruction is at work here.
Some pupils arrive speaking no English: they are offered up to four years' specialist help, but expectations are not lowered.Staff enforce the small details of behaviour ceaselessly, with meaningful looks, a warning finger briefly held up, or a word of praise every few seconds.
FOR decades, workers in rich countries have fretted about competition from Asians prepared to work ceaselessly for a pittance.
Most political journalists (but none at The Economist!) strike me as glorified sports writers who tell gripping tales about interesting personalities, debate ceaselessly about the strategic aspects of the next big game, track the relative status of competing teams, and, most boringly, report scores.The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports that he has "learned a lot from political science".
