If you say Israel…

Israel is the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population. But on the other hand has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S., Russia and China).

People in Israel are very clever; Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. And no wonder many interesting things were developed there - for example the cell phone. Also most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel and the Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel, too. Moreover both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in this country. In fact, the Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel as well J. And this is not the end. Imagine that also voice mail technology was developed here.

Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people - as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world - apart from the Silicon Valley, US.

You won´t be surprised if I tell you that Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK. Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees - ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. When Golda Mayer was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times. You can see that people living in this country are very modern people and erudite – for example Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books and is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert. They have more museums per capita than any other country, too.

And medicine? Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer. An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U.S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes. Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.

Believe it or not, this is Israel!

Cell phone = mobilní telefon
Consider = považovat
Contribution = příspěvek
Degree = titul
Develop = vyvinout
Device = zařízení
Ensuring = zajištění
Entirely = zcela, úplně, naprosto
Erudite = učený, vzdělaný
Exceed = překonat, překročit
Income = příjem
Mankind = lidstvo, člověčenstvo
Margin = marže, rozpětí zisku
Net gain = čistý zisk
No wonder = není divu
Opposed to = oproti
Patents filed = registrování patentů
Per capita = na hlavu
Proper = řádný, správný
Pump = pumpovat
Ranking = dosazující
Ratio = podíl, koeficient, ukazatel
Remarkable = významný, pozoruhodný
Remove = odstranit
Startup = inicializace
Strive = snažit se, usilovat
Thus = tak, tudíž, tedy
Tiny= mrňavý, drobounký
Treatment = léčba
Workforce = pracovní síla