Tuesday, May 25, 2010


1. Compiling a list of ten analogies is about as much fun as unanesthatized bowel surgery. (Zero Punctuation)

2. It had that eerie, surreal quality like when you're on vacation and jeopardy comes on at 7 pm instead of 7:30. (Top 25 Analogies)

3. Jake was stubborn. Trying to convince him that he was wrong was like trying to convince Republicans that women had rights; it just wouldn't work.

4. My laugh is deep and hearty, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up. (Top 25 Analogies)

5. Her eyes were like two brown circles with little black dots in them. (Bad High School Analogies)

6. My vocabulary is as bad as, like, whatever. (Top 25 Analogies)

7. Ninjas have the power to disappear unnoticed, the period after the Dr on a Dr Pepper can. (Bad High School Analogies)

8. His hard, angry manner provoked hatred and distrust like Jessica Alba provokes animalistic lust.

9. John and Mary had never met, like two hummingbirds who had also never met. (Top 25 Analogies)

10. Listening to my analogies is like having your ear canals raped by a man wearing a sandpaper condom. (Zero Punctuation)

Idioms

An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand.

example:A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush:
Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for more, because chances are you might lose everything.

A Blessing In Disguise:
Something good that isn't recognized at first.

A Chip On Your Shoulder:
Being upset for something that happened in the past.

A Dime A Dozen:
Anything that is common and easy to get.

A Doubting Thomas:
A skeptic who needs physical or personal evidence in order to believe something.

A Drop in the Bucket:
A very small part of something big or whole.

A Fool And His Money Are Easily Parted:
It's easy for a foolish person to lose his/her money.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand:
Everyone involved must unify and function together or it will not work out.

Idioms Expression

An idiomatic expression are common phrases or sayings whose meanings cannot be understood by the individual words or elements.

Examples of these idioms are "Baker's Dozen", "Funny Farm" and "Cold War".
Idiomatic expressions are also non-standard speech, slang or dialect that are natural to native speakers of a language.

Examples of these idioms are "Apples and Pears" for stairs and "Ruby Murray' for curry

Adjectives

Adjectives are descriptive words. An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, shows or points out some distinguishing mark or feature of the noun.


Examples:
A black dog
An angry man
A round theatre

Imperative

Definition:
Imperatives are verbs used to give orders, commands and instructions. The form used is usually the same as the base form. It is one of the three moods of an English verb. Imperatives should be used carefully in English; to give firm orders or commands, but not as much when trying to be polite or show respect to the other person.

EG: Give me that tape, please.

Analogy



Definition: An Analogy is a likeness or similarity between things that are otherwise unlike.

Examples: Sleep and death - they share a lack of animation and a recumbent position.

Analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship but different meaning. Analogies provide insights

Antonyms and Synonyms

Antonyms: are words with the opposite meaning to another word.

Synonyms: (Grouped by Similarity of Meaning) of verb


Theme Of Robinson Crusoe


Fear

Robinson Crusoe must overcome his fear in order to survive his long ordeal on the deserted island. The trial by fear begins when he runs about like a madman, scared of every shadow, and sleeps in a tree with a weapon: "fear banished all my religious hope, all that former confidence in God." He quickly realizes that he must recover his wits and reason if he is to survive.

At several points in the narrative, Crusoe is almost overwhelmed by his fear of the unknown. It propels him to colonize the island, securing his shelter and becoming self-sufficient. His ability to funnel his fear into productivity and creativity allows him to survive under extreme conditions.

Crusoe masters his fear when he faces the ultimate challenge — the devil. Investigating a cave, he is met by a pair of eyes. At first scared, he realizes that he can confront this enemy just like he has met every other challenge on the island. "He that was afraid to see the devil, was not fit to live twenty years in an island all alone."

With that, he rushes in to confront the devil and discovers a dying goat. He has passed his trial. Had he not faced his fears, he would have run away in full belief that the devil lived in that cave. Instead, he investigates and confronts his fear.

Human Condition

Robinson Crusoe is a meditation on the human condition, and an argument for challenging traditional notions about that condition. Finding himself alone in a deserted island, Crusoe struggles to maintain reason, order, and civilization. His "original sin" is his rejection of a conventional life. When he leaves England for a life on the high seas, he refuses to be "satisfied with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed" him.

Crusoe struggles with — and eventually triumphs over — nature. The book suggests that this struggle is at the heart of human nature: man is on earth to triumph and gain profit from nature. Any profit makes sense in this view of the world, whether that means getting just one plank out of a huge tree or building a boat too heavy to bring to the water. Once Crusoe is able to overcome his fear and subdue nature is rewarded handsomely.

Money

Consistent with Defoe's writings on economics, money is an important theme in Robinson Crusoe. At the beginning of the narrative, Crusoe details how much money he has, what he does with it, and what he gains by his actions.

On the island, money loses all value. Crusoe has to find another way to measure his worth. While rummaging through a ship for salvage he laments aloud at the sight of some money, "O Drug! what are thou good for." At that point he realizes that just one knife is worth more than money. Usefulness is the key to evaluation of worth.

Crusoe's hope of returning to England is symbolized by these tokens of civilization — on the island, the money is only a reminder of his old life and he treasures it as a memento. In all of his other endeavors he freely admits his success or failure. But as a merchant, he knows that though separated from the world now, he can only reconnect with it if he has money. Once he returns to London, his old reliance on money returns.

Industrialization

Industrialization is defined here as a process whereby humans channel the forces of nature into the production and manufacture of goods for their economic consumption. This industrialization is Crusoe's occupation, according to his cultural background and his religion. He immediately sets out to be productive and self-sufficient on the island.

By the time of Robinson Crusoe, most villages were experiencing labor specialization. People began to buy bread instead of baking it. Thus Crusoe has to relearn many of these arts to survive. With practice, Crusoe is able to increase the level of industrialization on his island.

Crusoe has a few implements with which he is able to reconstruct a semblance of civilization as well as create more advanced technology. While building his house, he notes that every task is exhausting. In brief, he praises the idea of "division of labor" as he describes cutting timber out of trees, bringing the wood from the trees to the construction site, and then constructing his shelter. He soon devises labor-saving devices, thus increasing his efficiency and productivity.

The necessity of a sharp ax leads Crusoe to invent his own foot-powered sharpener. He has "no notion of a kiln," but he manages to fire pottery. He needs a mill for grinding his grain, but not finding a proper stone, he settles for a block of hard wood. The entire process of baking his own bread spurs a realization of how wonderful the state of human technology is.

People take the labor behind the necessities of life for granted when such items can be easily purchased in the market. Crusoe is not suggesting that people return to a world of self-sufficient households. Instead, as he goes about his Herculean tasks, like creating a simple shelf in his house, he comments that a carpenter could have finished the two-day job in an hour. Thus he appreciates the process of specialization that helps make industrialization so successful.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Smoking

Cancer Stages

Lung cancer normally takes many years to develop. Incidence tends to peaks between the ages of 55 and 65 years. The changes in the lung however can begin almost as soon as a person is exposed to carcinogenic chemicals.

Soon after exposure begins, a few abnormal cells may appear in the lining of the bronchi (the main breathing tubes). Gradually as you continue your exposure to these substances, more abnormal cells appear. Some will become cancerous and tumour forming.

If you stop smoking however, the risk of lung cancer decreases. Year on year, abnormal cells are replaced by normal cells. After ten years, the risk drops to a level that is one-third to one-half of the risk for people who continue to smoke. Quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of developing other smoking-related diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis but there are many more benefits to quitting smoking.

taken from: www.quit-smoking-stop.com/lung-cancer.html

Benefit of the internet

Global AudienceContent published on the World Wide Web is immediately available to a global audience of users. This makes the World Wide Web a very cost-effective medium to publish information. Reaching more than 190 countries.
Operates 24 hours, 7 days a weekYou don't need to wait until resources are available to conduct business. From a consumer's perspective as well as a provider's business can be consummated at any time. The fact that the Internet is operational at all times makes it the most efficient business machine to date.
Relatively InexpensiveIt is relatively inexpensive to publish information on the Internet. At a fraction of the cost to publish information by traditional methods, various organizations and individuals can now distribute information to millions of users. It costs only a few thousand dollars to establish an Internet presence and publish content on the Internet.
Product AdvertisingYou can use the World Wide Web to advertise various products. Before purchasing a product, customers will be able to look up various product specification sheets and find out additional information. You can use the multimedia capabilities of the World Wide Web to make available not only various product specification sheets but also audio files, images, and even video clips of products in action. The beauty of the Web is that it allows customers to explore products in as much detail as they desire. If the client just wants a general overview, he or she can look at the advertising information. For those wanting more in depth information, you can provide white papers and product descriptions for download. The Web allows a business to provide timely information, you can simply place the information on the Web page and it is available immediately for your customers.
Distribute Product CatalogsThe World Wide Web is a very effective medium for distributing product catalogs. In the old days, putting together a product catalog used to be very costly in terms of time and money needed to publish and distribute it. The World Wide Web changes all this by allowing content developers to put together a sales catalog and make it available to millions of users immediately. Furthermore, unlike printed product catalogs that are usually updated around once a month, product catalogs on the World Wide Web can be updated as needed to respond to various changing market conditions.
Online SurveysTraditional methods of performing surveys are often relatively slow and expensive compared to online surveys conducted on the Internet. For example, in order to fill out various needs of customers or what they would like to see in a future product, it's often necessary to compile a list of address and mail a questionnaire to many customers. The success of such an attempt is not always guaranteed and can be very costly in terms of mailing the questionnaires and entering responses to a databases and analyzing it. On the other hand, you can use the World Wide Web to automate the whole process. For example, you can set up a CGI script to conduct online surveys. Results of such a survey can be automatically updated to a database. This database can then be used to keep a pulse on various opinions and needs of customers.
AnnouncementsWith the World Wide Web, you can distribute various announcements to millions of users in a timely manner. Because there is virtually no time lag from the time it takes to publish information to making the information available to users, the Web is an ideal medium to publicize announcements. As more people discover the virtues of the Web and get connected to the Internet, the Web will become the medium of choice for many organizations and individuals to publicize various announcements.

taken from: www.invir.com/int-bus-advantages.html

Monday, March 22, 2010

Robinson Crusoe plot overview

R obinson Crusoe is an Englishman from the town of York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Encouraged by his father to study law, Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea instead. His family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend. When a storm causes the near deaths of Crusoe and his friend, the friend is dissuaded from sea travel, but Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a ship leaving London. This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his early profits in the care of a friendly widow. The second voyage does not prove as fortunate: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved to a potentate in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. Eager for slave labor and its economic advantages, he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but ends up shipwrecked off of the coast of Trinidad.Crusoe soon learns he is the sole survivor of the expedition and seeks shelter and food for himself. He returns to the wreck’s remains twelve times to salvage guns, powder, food, and other items. Onshore, he finds goats he can graze for meat and builds himself a shelter. He erects a cross that he inscribes with the date of his arrival, September 1, 1659, and makes a notch every day in order never to lose track of time. He also keeps a journal of his household activities, noting his attempts to make candles, his lucky discovery of sprouting grain, and his construction of a cellar, among other events. In June 1660, he falls ill and hallucinates that an angel visits, warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier sins. After recovering, Crusoe makes a survey of the area and discovers he is on an island. He finds a pleasant valley abounding in grapes, where he builds a shady retreat. Crusoe begins to feel more optimistic about being on the island, describing himself as its “king.” He trains a pet parrot, takes a goat as a pet, and develops skills in basket weaving, bread making, and pottery. He cuts down an enormous cedar tree and builds a huge canoe from its trunk, but he discovers that he cannot move it to the sea. After building a smaller boat, he rows around the island but nearly perishes when swept away by a powerful current. Reaching shore, he hears his parrot calling his name and is thankful for being saved once again. He spends several years in peace.One day Crusoe is shocked to discover a man’s footprint on the beach. He first assumes the footprint is the devil’s, then decides it must belong to one of the cannibals said to live in the region. Terrified, he arms himself and remains on the lookout for cannibals. He also builds an underground cellar in which to herd his goats at night and devises a way to cook underground. One evening he hears gunshots, and the next day he is able to see a ship wrecked on his coast. It is empty when he arrives on the scene to investigate. Crusoe once again thanks Providence for having been saved. Soon afterward, Crusoe discovers that the shore has been strewn with human carnage, apparently the remains of a cannibal feast. He is alarmed and continues to be vigilant. Later Crusoe catches sight of thirty cannibals heading for shore with their victims. One of the victims is killed. Another one, waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly breaks free and runs toward Crusoe’s dwelling. Crusoe protects him, killing one of the pursuers and injuring the other, whom the victim finally kills. Well-armed, Crusoe defeats most of the cannibals onshore. The victim vows total submission to Crusoe in gratitude for his liberation. Crusoe names him Friday, to commemorate the day on which his life was saved, and takes him as his servant.Finding Friday cheerful and intelligent, Crusoe teaches him some English words and some elementary Christian concepts. Friday, in turn, explains that the cannibals are divided into distinct nations and that they only eat their enemies. Friday also informs Crusoe that the cannibals saved the men from the shipwreck Crusoe witnessed earlier, and that those men, Spaniards, are living nearby. Friday expresses a longing to return to his people, and Crusoe is upset at the prospect of losing Friday. Crusoe then entertains the idea of making contact with the Spaniards, and Friday admits that he would rather die than lose Crusoe. The two build a boat to visit the cannibals’ land together. Before they have a chance to leave, they are surprised by the arrival of twenty-one cannibals in canoes. The cannibals are holding three victims, one of whom is in European dress. Friday and Crusoe kill most of the cannibals and release the European, a Spaniard. Friday is overjoyed to discover that another of the rescued victims is his father. The four men return to Crusoe’s dwelling for food and rest. Crusoe prepares to welcome them into his community permanently. He sends Friday’s father and the Spaniard out in a canoe to explore the nearby land.Eight days later, the sight of an approaching English ship alarms Friday. Crusoe is suspicious. Friday and Crusoe watch as eleven men take three captives onshore in a boat. Nine of the men explore the land, leaving two to guard the captives. Friday and Crusoe overpower these men and release the captives, one of whom is the captain of the ship, which has been taken in a mutiny. Shouting to the remaining mutineers from different points, Friday and Crusoe confuse and tire the men by making them run from place to place. Eventually they confront the mutineers, telling them that all may escape with their lives except the ringleader. The men surrender. Crusoe and the captain pretend that the island is an imperial territory and that the governor has spared their lives in order to send them all to England to face justice. Keeping five men as hostages, Crusoe sends the other men out to seize the ship. When the ship is brought in, Crusoe nearly faints.On December 19, 1686, Crusoe boards the ship to return to England. There, he finds his family is deceased except for two sisters. His widow friend has kept Crusoe’s money safe, and after traveling to Lisbon, Crusoe learns from the Portuguese captain that his plantations in Brazil have been highly profitable. He arranges to sell his Brazilian lands. Wary of sea travel, Crusoe attempts to return to England by land but is threatened by bad weather and wild animals in northern Spain. Finally arriving back in England, Crusoe receives word that the sale of his plantations has been completed and that he has made a considerable fortune. After donating a portion to the widow and his sisters, Crusoe is restless and considers returning to Brazil, but he is dissuaded by the thought that he would have to become Catholic. He marries, and his wife dies. Crusoe finally departs for the East Indies as a trader in 1694. He revisits his island, finding that the Spaniards are governing it well and that it has become a prosperous colony.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Reflection

15/2/2010

Today is birthday of my sister.My family wish and give cake that was baking by my mother yesterday.After that,we eat together and we are very happy.

Daily Log

17/2/2010

Today I go to cyber cafe with my brother.I go there to do my English homework that my teacher gave.After I finish do my homework,I go home.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Robinson Crusoe character and characteristic

Robinson Crusoe
the main character of the story, he is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. The novel essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result of his isolation. He is a contradictory character; at the same time he is practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness.
Xury
a friend/servant of Crusoe's, he also escapes from the Moors. A simple youth who is dedicated to Crusoe, he is admirable for his willingness to stand by the narrator. However, he does not think for himself.
Friday
another friend/servant of Crusoe's, he spends a number of years on the island with the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protege, a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one.
Crusoe's father
although he appears only briefly in the beginning, he embodies the theme of the merits of Protestant, middle-class living. It is his teachings from which Crusoe is running, with poor success.

Crusoe's mother
one of the few female figures, she fully supports her husband and will not let Crusoe go on a voyage.
Moorish patron
Crusoe's slave master, he allows for a role reversal of white men as slaves. He apparently is not too swift, however, in that he basically hands Crusoe an escape opportunity.
Portuguese sea captain
one of the kindest figures in the book, he is an honest man who embodies all the Christian ideals. Everyone is supposed to admire him for his extreme generosity to the narrator. He almost takes the place of Crusoe's father.
Spaniard
one of the prisoners saved by Crusoe, it is interesting to note that he is treated with much more respect in Crusoe's mind than any of the colored peoples with whom Crusoe is in contact.
Captured sea captain
he is an ideal soldier, the intersection between civilized European and savage white man. Crusoe's support of his fight reveals that the narrator no longer has purely religious motivations.
Widow
she is goodness personified, and keeps Crusoe's money safe for him. She is in some way a foil to his mother, who does not support him at all.
Savagesthe cannibals from across the way, they represent the threat to Crusoe's religious and moral convictions, as well as his safety. He must conquer them before returning to his own world.
Negroes
they help Xury and Crusoe when they land on their island, and exist in stark contrast to the savages.
Traitorous crew member
sthey are an example of white men who do not heed God; they are white savages.

source:from here http://www.gradesaver.com/robinson-crusoe/study-guide/character-list/

Robinson Crusoe synopsis

The famous story of Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts: Robinson’s youth and the time up to his shipwreck; his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; his lie and adventures after being rescued from the island. Published in 1719, Defoe places his story in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.
The first part of the novel relates that, against the advice of his father, Robinson wishes to pursue his livelihood by going to sea. He does so and after a false start has some success but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.
The bulk of the novel attends to Robinson’s life on the island —how he accomplishes his survival and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment; how he meets Friday and, finally, how he leaves the island.
Though anticlimactic, the third part of the novel traces Robinson’s securing of wealth through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, travels through the continent and a last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.

source:from here www.edocere.org/.../robinson_crusoe.htm -

Robinson Crusoe synopsis

The famous story of Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts: Robinson’s youth and the time up to his shipwreck; his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; his lie and adventures after being rescued from the island. Published in 1719, Defoe places his story in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.
The first part of the novel relates that, against the advice of his father, Robinson wishes to pursue his livelihood by going to sea. He does so and after a false start has some success but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.
The bulk of the novel attends to Robinson’s life on the island —how he accomplishes his survival and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment; how he meets Friday and, finally, how he leaves the island.
Though anticlimactic, the third part of the novel traces Robinson’s securing of wealth through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, travels through the continent and a last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.

source:from here www.edocere.org/.../robinson_crusoe.htm -