A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

scue program . Inky survived longer in captivity than any other seriously ill py

gmy sperm whale , and Dr.Joseph H. Geraci , a consulting veterinarian and marine

 mammal expert , said she enabled scientists to greatly expand their knowledge o

f the species ' physiology and behavior , including the discovery that it emits 

the highest-frequency sonar-like sound of any whale . Even in being released , I

nky will continue to provide information until saltwater exposure disintegrates 

the bolts attaching the radio transmitter and microcomputer to the whale 's smal

l dorsal fin . Geraci said the tiny equipment will tell scientists remaining on 

NOAA 's Relentless `` what she 's doing out there , what temperature she likes ,

 how deep she 's diving , and that should tell us how well she 's made the adapt

ation to freedom . ''

 Foreign money is pouring into Japanese stocks again , convinced that the Japane

se economy 's four-year slide is over and that a robust corporate profit turnaro

und is imminent . Many foreign buyers also are betting on another , perhaps more

 important turnaround : a change in Japanese investors ' gloomy view of their ma

rket , which has left most of them watching unimpressed on the sidelines as the 

gaijin ( foreigners ) snap up Japanese shares . The Nikkei-225 stock index has s

oared from 17,417.24 at year 's end to 20,973.59 as of Tuesday , a 20.4 percent 

gain that makes the Tokyo market among the world 's best this year . In recent d

ays the Nikkei has been particularly strong , breaking above the 20,000 mark whe

re it had been lodged since February to a nine-month high . Optimism about Japan

 is running high among many American portfolio managers . The bulls believe that

 the Japanese economy is finally bottoming and that Japan therefore offers an op

portunity to buy stocks on the ground floor of a recovery . Any money manager wh

o missed loading up on U.S. stocks for two years while the U.S. economy languish

ed naturally doesn't want to make the same mistake twice . And those who played 

the U.S. market correctly are eager to repeat that success . Barton Biggs , glob

al investment strategist for Morgan Stanley & Co. and someone whose opinion carr

ies substantial weight with institutional investors , recently told clients that

 `` the Japanese market is a buy right now . '' Biggs ' case is that Japan 's ma

ny ills including a floundering political system , collapsed corporate earnings 

, a strong yen and horrendous unrealized real estate loan losses at banks are al

ready so well known to investors that they must be mostly discounted in the stoc

k market . `` What isn't discounted is that Japan is still a huge , powerful eco

nomy with a formidable business class running world-class companies located in t

he center of the fastest growth area of the world , '' Biggs told clients in a M

ay 11 report . Strictly by the numbers , Japan still looks problematic . Real ec

onomic growth , which was 4 percent in 1991 , plunged to about 1.5 percent in 19

92 and was a negative 0.1 percent last year . The problem last year was largely 

internal : Japan 's wealthy consumers sharply reduced their spending as the coun

try 's major corporations launched unprecedented restructuring efforts ( includi

ng layoffs and deep cuts in capital spending ) to cope with weaker global demand

 for Japanese exports . In short , 1993 was the year in which corporate Japan fi

nally bit the bullet and admitted that the glory days of the 1980s were gone for

 good . This year , Morgan Stanley expects only 0.7 percent real economic growth

 for Japan , far below expected U.S. growth and even below what still-suffering 

Europe should muster . But in 1995 , the Japanese stock market 's U.S. fans expe

ct the restructuring payoff to begin . Merrill Lynch & Co. is telling clients th

at Japanese corporate earnings could rocket 35 percent next year from this year 

's depressed levels . Morgan Stanley 's Biggs expects that a combination of revi

ved domestic demand and faster export growth will lead to 5 percent to 6 percent

 economic growth in Japan for 1995 and 1996 . `` When that happens , profits sho

uld explode , '' Biggs contends . `` I guess that reported earnings per share in

 the industrial sectors could double in the first year of recovery . '' Even so 

, many investors would argue that Japanese stocks already reflect 1995 earnings 

gains , and more . After all , the Japanese market 's price-to-earnings ratio is

 around 70 now , based on estimated 1994 earnings per share . Even cut in half ,

 the Japanese P-E would be 35 , still far above the 15 to 20 P-Es of most world 

markets . The bulls contend that the P-E argument isn't important , and not just

 because Japanese stocks have always sold for high P-Es . Adjust for accounting 

differences and look at real , cash earnings of Japanese companies versus cash e

arnings of American or European companies , and many Japanese stocks appear quit

e reasonable , says John Hickling , one of Boston-based Fidelity Investments ' s

enior international managers . By Morgan Stanley 's figuring , Japanese stocks n

ow sell for 7.8 times estimated 1995 cash earnings , versus 8.3 times for U.S. s

tocks . Hickling , who manages Fidelity 's Japan stock fund and Overseas stock f

und , among others , says `` a lot of the ( Japanese ) stocks I own sell for les

s than 10 times 1994 cash flow , '' which is cheap if you consider how depressed

 earnings still will be this year , he says . `` I think the Japanese market loo

ks terrific , '' Hickling says , and he 's focused in particular on industrial g

iants such as Toyota . `` You just have to look at what they 've done to their c

ost base '' to see rich future profit potential there , he says . William Stack 

, manager of the Lexington Global stock fund , also believes that Japan 's leadi

ng industrial and export companies are poised for surprising turnarounds . `` On

e of my strongest investment convictions today is Japanese cyclical stocks , '' 

says Stack , whose fund owns issues such as Toyota and Honda Motor . Yet beyond 

the obvious potential pitfalls in the bullish case on Japan another dive in the 

economy , or a further steep strengthening of the already overvalued yen ( which

 would hurt exports ) there 's one glaring market problem : The Japanese themsel

ves aren't buying stock . Still traumatized by their four-year bear market , Jap

anese regard the latest market surge as the work of `` silly gaijin , '' says Ja

mie Rosenwald , whose Rosenwald Capital Management has long been active in Japan

 . Rosenwald will be in Japan next week , specifically to look for hints that ca

sh-rich Japanese institutions are ready to begin trickling back into the stock m

arket . If he can't find signs that that 's ready to happen , he admits , he wil

l have to reconsider his bullish view of the market . Rosenwald believes that if

 domestic investors join in , the Nikkei could hit 25,000 in a hurry . But witho

ut their participation and soon he says , `` this rally could fizzle real quickl

y . ''

 VIERVILLE-SUR-MER , France A brisk wind is blowing off Omaha Beach into the sou

venir shop of Madame Sylvie le Gallois , a short , alert woman who speaks almost

 no English but is fluent in capitalism . `` Oui , '' she says , she has heard t

hat thousands of veterans soon will be flocking to the beach for the 50th annive

rsary of World War II 's Normandy invasion . She hopes that many will be stoppin

g to pick up the D-Day license plates , replica Zippo lighters and special `` 50

 Ans '' edition bottles of champagne displayed in her window . So business will 

be good , she is asked in halting French . Her eyes roll as if she has just been

 offered a prize truffle . `` Oh , '' she gushes , `` oui , monsieur ! '' Drivin

g around the city of Caen or through the coastal towns along the invasion beache

s , it is difficult to see which is winning commercial opportunism or genuine af

fection . Is it `` Vive le Debarquement ? '' Or is it `` Vive '' la buck ? Is th

e real spirit of the moment reflected in an advertisement for a risque revue , o

r in the American , British and Canadian flags displayed outside Norman farmhous

es ? Sit down to eat and you find your silverware flanking a placemat battle sce

ne complete with parachutes floating into Ste.-Mere-Eglise . Reach for a lump of

 sugar for your thick Norman coffee and discover a drawing on the package of a t

ruckload of GI 's reaching down to shake the hands of the French citizenry . Wal

k down the street and you will find replica `` clickers , '' the toys used by ai

rborne Allied troops to locate each other in the dark , selling for five bucks a

 pop . Probably one of the most overt examples of invasion capitalism is a poste

r slapped on buildings throughout Caen . They advertise a coming revue titled ``

 Nuit du Debarquement , '' which promises `` major dynamite '' and features a sc

antily clad woman floating to Earth with a parachute . The veterans have noticed

 the displays . `` You know what this is , don't you ? It 's D-Day . Dollar Day 

, '' says 74-year-old Jack Alexander , as he looks at souvenir tents recently pl

aced next to Utah Beach . The big-ticket items were fleece-lined World War II-st

yle bomber jackets for the equivalent of $ 600 to $ 800 . Alexander , who lives 

in Severna Park , Md. , landed here a half-century ago five days after the initi

al wave of GIs , but he shrugs when asked if he is alienated by the area 's comm

ercialism . `` Hell , no , '' he says . `` The Yanks probably taught it to them 

. '' But there is true warmth amidst the mercantilism one that springs from a on

ce-oppressed people . Cynics must take into account a postcard sent recently by 

a woman living near Paris to the Caen Memorial , the city 's new museum dedicate

d to World War II and the Normandy invasion . She begins by asking that the card

 be given to any of the D-Day veterans. `` .. . and others who risked their live

s in order to save us and give us back our liberty . Thank you a thousand times 

. '' The card is in French but she adds in English , `` We shall never forget wh

at you did for us . '' ( Begin optional trim ) Less obvious are the French who h

ave given rooms in their homes gratis to visiting former soldiers who arrived in

 an overbooked town . But quite visible are the French families who lead their c

hildren reverentially around the American Cemetery and Memorial as well , as the

 classes of French schoolchildren on field trips who listen as teachers tell the

m about their country 's liberation . `` We have worked very hard to learn about

 the ` Debarquement , ' ' ' says Dromain Marc , an instructor at the Jean Moulin

 School near Paris . His class of 9- and 10-year-olds play around him , in the s

hell holes and on the concrete chunks of destroyed German bunkers at Pointe du H

oc , the precipice scaled by the U.S. Rangers . `` It is history . It is the pri

ce of the liberty . '' ( End optional trim ) And then there are surprises like J

ean Marc , a thin , deferential Frenchman with an unruly moustache who owns a sm

all Normandy tour business . No , he doesn't want his last name used or his tour

s promoted , but he would be glad to bring over veterans on his tour if they wou

ld like to be interviewed . The countryside has undergone an amazing change late

ly , he says . Normandy folk are not known as loquacious , he says but locals ha

ve become surprisingly talkative when it comes to sharing tales about the day th

e Allies landed . `` Maybe it is time after 50 years , '' he says . Of course th

ere are some who will take advantage of the invasion memories for the buck , he 

says . But the show of generosity is real . `` Norman people don't forget . And 

next winter when everyone is gone , they will still remember . ''

 NEW YORK For Kenny Vixama 's first-grade teacher , an alarm went off when she n

oticed that the 6-year-old often invented his own text for the simple storybooks

 his class was reading . Though a bright child , as he read his eyes did not fol

low the left-to-right pattern of a successful reader . He had trouble identifyin

g specific words when asked to find them . And he showed confusion with certain 

patterns of letters a basic stumbling block in learning to read . Kenny 's diffi

culties had landed him in the bottom 20 percent in reading achievement among the

 first-grade students at Public School 41 in Greenwich Village . If Kenny 's pro

blems went uncorrected , he seemed headed down a path of reading failure that ha

s become frustratingly hard to address for teachers across the country . That wa

s when reading specialist Barbara Mandel intervened . Mandel is a soldier in a q

uiet revolution that is transforming the way some elementary schools deal with s

low readers . The program she teaches is known as Reading Recovery , and since 1

983 , when it was introduced in this country at Ohio State University , it has s

pread to 48 states and brought thousands of first-graders up to average or above

 reading levels . Developed in the 1970s by New Zealand educator and psychologis

t Marie Clay and used extensively in that country , the program 's premise is th

at the best way to avoid reading failure is to prevent it in the first place . T

he simple theory has won a cult-like following among an army of U.S. teachers wh

o have gone through yearlong training to more effectively tutor children in the 

most fundamental skill . Ohio State professor Gay Su Pinnell , who helped establ

ish the university 's pilot program and heads a de facto national organization o

f Reading Recovery teachers , estimates that by the end of the year , 9,000 teac

hers will have been trained and will have reached 50,000 to 60,000 students . Pr

ograms are booming in Ohio , California and Texas , and even in small states , l

egislatures and local school districts are approving special funding for trial p

rograms , she said . But Reading Recovery has not been universally endorsed , ma

inly because of its high personnel costs and selectivity . Though implementation

 costs vary from district to district , all have to foot the bill for teachers l

ike Mandel to take a year off for rigorous training . Then , they must dramatica

lly scale back the teacher 's regular duties to allow time to work with a small 

number of children . Some principals have complained that the program unfairly c

oncentrates limited funds on first-graders , leaving little for programs geared 

toward vulnerable children in later years . In the District of Columbia , where 

about 23 teachers have been trained , Deputy Superintendent Maurice Sykes said ,

 `` We 've had to do a lot of convincing '' to win over principals despite Readi

ng Recovery 's early successes . `` This has been our flagship intervention prog

ram , '' Sykes said . `` We have hard empirical data that demonstrates that chil

dren who 've gone through the program will do better , that it is a long-term in

vestment in the child 's future. . . . But for the principal with `` X ' dollars

 to spend , there 's a real tendency to put the money into programs that serve t

he most children . '' Reading Recovery assumes that every child can learn to rea

d if confusion with the language is detected and corrected as soon as it becomes

 a problem . Many educators see the program as a first step in a long struggle t

o break the failure chain that has cluttered junior high and high schools across

 the country with nonreaders . By the time students reach upper grades , experts

 say , the inability to read has usually taken an enormous academic and social t

oll . Sykes , whose district has contracted for special tutoring services for il

literate high school students , said most of the older students `` were probably

 exhibiting problems as early as first grade . But no one was scrutinizing ; bac

k then , there was no Reading Recovery . '' Studies of Reading Recovery children

 show that 80 percent who go through the 12-20 week intervention never need furt

her reading remediation or special education , according to specialist Angela Ja

ggar , a New York University professor who is conducting follow-up studies of ch

ildren who went through the program , which began in Manhattan 's District 2 in 

the mid-1980s . `` What the schools have traditionally done is wait until a long

 time has passed in a child 's life to decide they 're having difficulty in read

ing. . . . The longer you wait the harder it is , '' explained Jaggar . `` This 

program helps us understand how kids learn naturally , to spot their confusions 

and respond immediately with a repertoire of strategies . '' In Kenny Vixama 's 

case , Mandel several weeks ago began one-on-one tutoring sessions . The first l

essons allowed him to show off what he knew , a phase called `` Roaming Around t

he Room , '' designed to build the child 's self-confidence . Then , in each str

uctured 30-minute session , Kenny worked first on familiar materials and built g

radually to more challenging ones , with Mandel intervening when a difficult wor

d or phrase stopped him . At one recent session , with a timer clicking in the b

ackground , Kenny stumbled over the word `` how . '' Mandel quickly pulled out p

lastic letters to spell the word , let Kenny sound it out , write it on a slip o

f paper , rhyme it and find its proper place in a scrambled sentence . With each

 small victory , Kenny was able to move on through the text , his finger followi

ng the words , a technique Mandel purposely used to keep his attention properly 

focused . She watched intensely , keeping a written record of Kenny 's progress 

to help structure the next day 's session . With 12 of the maximum 60 lessons un

der his belt , Kenny seemed a candidate for success . But there were frustration

s . Though Kenny 's problems were detected early in the year , it had taken unti

l spring to work him into the program . Because Reading Recovery is only offered

 in first grade , Kenny would have only the few remaining weeks of school to wor

k . Mandel , who helped eight children move up to average reading ability this y

ear , expressed a complaint common in the movement there 's never enough time or

 teachers to reach all the children in need of help . In Jackson , Miss . , Supe

rintendent Ben O . Canada has decided to shoulder the costs that come with wide-

scale implementation of Reading Recovery . In 1991 , using federal Chapter 1 fun

ds for needy students , the Jackson district began implementing Reading Recovery

 in eight of its lowest performing schools . Seventeen teachers were trained in 

the technique . Now , Reading Recovery has expanded to 37 Jackson schools and 81

 teachers , and the district is cited as a national model of how the program can

 turn around reading progress in small school districts . `` Being in this for m

any years , I '' ve seen so many fly-by-night programs , fancy packaging for thi

ngs that didn't work . This has caused a revolution here almost , '' said Ida J.

 McCants , Chapter 1 administrator for the Jackson schools . `` The teachers are

 revitalized . The strategies they 're learning are helping them get through to 

children . And the parents are delighted . They see real growth in a short perio

d of time . '' Yet even the program 's strongest advocates concede that Reading 

Recovery is only a beginning in the enormous fight against illiteracy . `` We 'r

e optimistic , '' said Pinnell . `` But we know this problem is bigger than we a

re . ''

 The new supersonic jetliner sponsored by a $ 1.5 billion NASA research contract

 would require major breakthroughs in aircraft technology . Among them : Aerodyn

amic drag must be cut to an absolute minimum . One technique involves a radical 

new design in which massive pumps would suck turbulent air off the skin of the w

ings through millions of microscopic holes . The so-called laminar flow over the

 wings would be virtually free of turbulence , cutting the drag . The 311-foot-l

ong jet must be so light that its structure would probably be built in large par

t with thin sheets of titanium , held together through an exotic process called 

super plastic diffusion bonding . Engines that power supersonic jets are notorio

usly noisy , but the new planes would have to keep quiet if they want a chance a

t wide acceptance . A new design for the exhaust nozzles is expected to allow th

e plane to meet existing airport noise standards . Inside the engines , the comb

ustion chamber , or `` combustors , '' would operate at 3,600 degrees , hot enou

gh to melt existing steel alloys and about 700 degrees hotter than existing engi

nes . NASA is betting that a new fiber-reinforced ceramic composite liner would 

stand up to the heat . To prevent severe environmental damage , the engines must

 emit no more than five grams of nitrogen oxide for each kilogram of fuel burned

 . One proposed system would mix fuel and air in the engine upstream from the no

rmal burning zone , allowing the lean fuel mix to vaporize better . The other pr

oposed system would create a stratified fuel mixture , first injecting excess fu

el and then adding air later in the combustion to create a lean stage a concept 

called rich burn-quick quench-lean burn . NASA is still hoping to find ways to r

educe the sonic boom generated by the jet as it flies over the ocean . A boom , 

which is the acoustic shock wave trailing an aircraft , is a function of an airc

raft 's mass , shape and its speed . Although cutting the boom is possible , it 

must be done without significantly hampering flight efficiency .

 Dan Rostenkowski 's problem is that so many prospective jurors in America know 

all too well the perils of home renovation , the bore and expense of giving chin

a and crystal to people you 'd sooner not be obligated to , the inordinate cost 

of a daughter 's wedding , the pitfalls of auto leasing , the hoary dilemma of w

hat to do about an underemployed son-in-law and the never-ending vexation of how