Reading Journal-08

"China Flies High"by Bill Powell from "Time" August10,2009.

*Genre: News(Magazine)

*Source: Book Store

*Rating: 3 out of 5

*I read whole article

*2 new vocabulary words

1. Recession- n. a difficult time for the economy of a country, when there is less trade and industrial activity than usual and more people are unemployed

2. Zeitgeist- n. (from German, formal) the general mood or quality of a particular period of history, as shown by the ideas, beliefs, etc. common at the time


About few months ago, the world's economy had gone into a deep hole and it didn't seem like there were any answers. However, some people are now looking for another country which can save the world.
China is known for its very wide land, world-side language and its big population. The world is watching China. A few years ago, this would have sounded really ridiculous. However, now, China has developed really fast. From the Time article 'China Flies High', it is mentioned that China looks like a picture of economic dynamism.
Although China is recieving high expectations from the world, there are sill some problems now. I have learned that China's current situation is similar to the U.S's. So some people are worrying that China may fall into U.S's. current situation.
I think the world economy has become better than before. I hope we can find more special ways to recover our economy.

Reading Journal-07

"One Giant Leap"
by Craig Nelson from Rocket Man
July 2009, Singapore. The magazine READER'S DIGEST
*Genre: Magazine

*Source: Book Store

*Rating: 3 out of 5

*I read whole article

*2 New Vocabulary words:
1: Manoeuvre-n. A clever plan, action or movement that is used to give somebody an advatage.
2: monochrome-adj. (of photographs, etc.)using only black, white and shades of grey.

*The picure of Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin.

*The Moon Landing Conspiracy
1. Footprints in the extraordinarily fine lunar dust, with no moisture or atmosphere or strong gravity are unexpectedly well preserved- as if made in wet sand.

->The dust is silicate, and this has a special property in a vacuum of sticking together like that.

2.The flag placed on the surface by the astronauts flapped despite there being no wind on the Moon

->The astronauts were movin the flag into position. The flag's rippled appearance was form folding during storage, and it could be mistaken for motion in a still photogrpah.

Reading Journal-06

"About A Boy"
by Nick Hornby. Published by the Penguin Group in Great Britain, 1998.
*Genre: Fiction

*Source: High School Senior Library

*Rating: 4.7 out of 5

*I have read whole book

*2 New Vocabulary words
1: vertigo- n. the feeling of DIZZINESS and fear, and of losing your balance, that is caused in some people when they look down from a very gigh place

2: Abstracted- adj.(formal) thinking deeply about something and not paying attention to what is around you

*There is also movie which is based on this fiction.
(Directors are Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz).

*Best Line: No man is an island
Human must live together, leaning on each other.

*Comment on the opening. How effective?
How does it try to hook you?
What is introduced?

This book starts from introducing 2 different main characters, Will and Marcus.
There are huge differences between Will and Marcus. Will, who is thirty-six but acis like a teenager. Because of his father, although he has no job to earn money, he owns amount of money and play all the time. He reads the right magazines, goes to the club and knows how to get the score from the women. However, Marcus, who is only 12-year-old, is strange. He listens to Mozart, looks after his mum and he doesn't know what is popular now around all the other teenagers.
After the introduction of these 2 characters, the book implies about the future of the 2 peopel- Perhaps if Will can teach Marcus how to behave a teenager and Marcus can help Will to be grown up.

Reading Journal-05

"Foxspell"
by Gillian Rubinstein. First Published as a Trade Paperback in 1994 by Hyland House Publishing Pty Ltd in South Melbourne.*Genre: Fiction

*Source: From Ms.Farrer

*Rating: 4 out of 5

*I have read 3 chapters from this book

*2 New Vocabulary words
1: Haphazard- adj.(disapproving) with no particular order or plan; not organized will

2: Stammer- v. to speak with difficulty, repeating sounds or words and often stopping, before saying things correctly

*Question 9: How is this text similar or different to other things you have read?

I have read one book series called 'DARREN SHAN-CIRQUE DU FREAK'.
This serious is consisted of 12 books. This serious is a bit similar to 'foxspell' because foxspell's plot is about a boy who become half fox and half human. And Darren Shan's plot is about a boy who become half vampire and half human. However, the difference is completely different. Foxspell's main problem and story are to select to become fully fox or fully human. But, Darren Shan's main problem and story are about after the main character select to become fully vampire.

Reading Journal-04

I am so glad to write review of this book!!!!!:)
The book that I am going to write review is 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen.
Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. Although I only read Pride and Prejudice , I'm going to read another books of her- such as Persuasion, Emma....etc.
Of course, Pride and Prejudice is also one of my favorite books and I watched the movie too.

*PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY JANE AUSTEN.
PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED BY PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED

*Genre is Romance, fiction. I found this book from High school library and I also have read when I was in Korea.

*My rating of this book is 4.8 over 5.

*I have read whole book

*My 2 new vocabulary words are...

1. unjust: adj. not deserved or fair.

2. bewitch: verb. to attract or impress somebody so much that they cannot think in a sensible way.

Reading Journal-03

DID WE KILL THE NEANDERTHALS?- The mysterious extinction of our sister species may reveal much about the roots of human nature.
BY EBEN HARRELL FROM 'TIME' (Magazine) , AUGUST.2009.

*This article is scientific article and I found this article from 'TIME' magazien.

*My rating is 3.5 over 5.

*I have read this whole aritcle.

*My 2 new vocabulary words are...

1. INEVITABLE : adj. that you cannot avoid or prevent.

2. SUCCUMB : verb. th fail to resist and attack, an illness, a temptation, etc.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1863325/did_man_kill_the_neanderthals/

The two pictures of the top are the picure of the Neanderthals and the cave that the Neanderthals had lived and also, the url at the top of this sentence is short video about the Meanderthal - Did we kill the Neanderthals?

*My Question : 3. What is the setting? When? Where? How important is the setting to the stroy? Why does it have?

The setting is really important to this article. Because the setting that the Neanderthals lived in gives us many clues to extinction of the Neanderthals.
Scientists found Shanidar 3;s remains in the cave where he died in what's now modern day Iraq ( 'TIME' the article). Also, scientists think the Neanderthals were exist 50,000 years ago.

Reading Journal-02

THE PICTURE THAT SAVED A BABY'S LIFE BY ELIZABETH ADLAM
FROM READER'S DIGEST (MAGAZINE)- JULY 2009 SINGAPORE

*I found this article from 'Reader's Digest' magazine.

*My rating of this article is 3 over 5.

*I have read this whole article.

*Two new vocabulary words are..
1. MALIGNANT: (of tumour or disease) that cannot be controlled and is likely to cause death.
2. DILATE : verb. to become or to make something larger, wider or more open.

*The picture of the top is the photo that revealed Rowan's retinoblastoma - the white pupil can be seen in her left eye.

*Question: 12. What is an exciting or horrifying or sad or funny part of what you have read?

Briefly, the story about this article is the girl who got a rare disease was saved by one woman who is friend of the baby's mom. The woman was surprised after she saw the picture of her friend and friend's baby. The thing that made her shocked was baby's left eye. She noticed that her friend's baby has serious problem - Retinoblastoma which is a very aggressive cancer and suggested her to go to the hospital. The horrifying part of this article was when I heard that only 1 year baby got one of the most serious and aggressive cancer in the world - Retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a rapidly developing cancer which develops in the cells of the retina, the light detecting tissue of the eye(Wikipedia, the free encyclopeida).
I felt sorry for the baby and horrified about the baby's next future. However, luckily, because of the picture and the woman who suggested to go to hospital, the baby was cured at the appropriate time.

Incident in Japan

The incident that I had because of language when I was traveling around Japan.
I have learned Japanese for 1 year when I was in Korea for 3rd language in middle school so I know some words and I can speak basic Japanese.
Although I have learned Japanese, it's impossible to communicate fluently in Japanese, so I went to Japan with my mom using tourist agency in case. Japan is famous for 'onchun' (hot-spring). Because Japan is island, it has many advantages for forming hot bath naturally. Finally, my mom and I decided to go to 'onchun' for some rest. When we arrived at the place , it was too late and too dark. Hence, my mom and I just went to hotel again and slept for a while before we enjoy japanese' culture. The hotel for 'onchun' ( hot bath, hot-spring), was located very near to bath. In this sentence, bath means just normal bath where we can wash our bodies to make clean before we enter the 'onchun'. Of course, 'onchun' is for soaking our bodies in hot water for health and relaxation which can use for everybody(specifically, female and male), but as we know, the normal bath is divided into 2 rooms( of course, one room for male, another room for female).
I checked the location of the female bath before I went up to my hotel room. I was feeling happy about noticing some japanese words from the paper which was attached next to the female bath.
I can't remember what was it, but the one important words has meaning of go back or something. According to my memory, the paper says ' go back after 5:00 a.m.' . In the hotel room, my mom was snoring so loudly so I couldn't sleep at all and I think I wasn't sleepy that much. After I slept only like 4 hours, I checked the clock and it told me that it is acceptable time to go to bath.
I woke my mom up, but she was so tired, so I just went down myself and was heading for the location of female bath that I checked yesterday preparing some bath soap, bath towel....etc. I was almost opened the bath door and enter. However I was stopped entering by one person. It was my tourist agency. She was really surprised at me and asked "Do you know what were you doing?"
I almost enter the male's bath. I misunderstood something. I didn't know that the word from the paper which was attached next to the bath door has many meanings. I thought the word means go back. So I misunderstood that it's okay to go back to bath after 5:00 a.m. However, the word has another meaning - change or switch. Later, I understood that the paper wanted to say that after 5:00 a.m., the female and male bath are changing.