Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Classifying Thinkers

-Last edited on 2nd January 2010 at 4pm.

We don't really know how to define intelligence. However, this does not discourage some people from categorizing others according to their intelligence or lack of it. In his essay, "Thinking as a hobby," author William S. Golding does exactly this. Golding divides people into three categories: grade-three thinkers, grade-two thinkers, and grade-one thinkers.


According to Golding, 90 percent of the population represents the largest category, called grade-three thinkers. These people are docile. They follow orders and they obey other people's wishes. They never learn to think for themselves and cannot distinguish truth from lies. A dictator could take control of them and make them do whatever he wanted, as if they were sheep. The resulting mob would be brutal and ugly.

Grade-two thinkers, Golding's second category, are less likely to be influenced by a dictator. These grade-two thinkers, who make up 9 percent of the population, see corruption in the world. For example, grade-two thinkers may question the honesty of religion or political institutions,but they fail to find new ideals to believe in.

The remaining 1 percent of the population are what Golding calls grade-one thinkers. They not only see corruption, but they also know how to seek truth. Their lives are defined by beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Such thinkers are creative and imaginative geniuses, like Mozart, Michelangelo, and Einstein, who opened new worlds in music, art and science.

One wonders in which category Golding would place himself. Surely not among the "sheep"! Golding may prefer to believe that intelligence prevents people in the top tenth percentile of the population from following political dictators, but the number of doctors, teachers, lawyers, and writers in many countries who were willing supporters of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao shows that this belief is incorrect. In fact, sometimes the common sense and compassion of the ordinary man is all that stands between civilization and barbarism. As one of the so-called sheep, I say bah to Mr. Golding!


Answer the Questions:

1. Circle the thesis statement. How does Golding classify people?

Thesis statement is : In his essay, "Thinking as a hobby" author William S. Golding does exactly this.
Golding classify people into three categories: grade-three thinkers, grade-two thinkers and grade-one thinkers.



2. Underline the topic sentence of each body paragraph.

i)According to Golding, 90 percent of the population represents the largest category, called grade three thinker.

ii)Grade-two thinkers, Golding's second category, are less likely to be influenced by a dictator.

iii)The remaining 1 percent of the population are what GOlding calss grade-one thinkers.


3. How does the author describe 90 percents of the population? The remaining 9 percent? The final 1 percent?

The author explains that 90 percents of the population are submissive, obey orders blindly and never think for themselves. The remaining 9 percent, however could notice corruption in the world but never try to seek new believes. The last 1 percent are those who could spot corruption and able to find truth.


4. Underline the examples used in the third body paragraph to describe "Grade-one thinkers."

Mozart, Michelangelo and Einstein.


5. What is the writer's opinion of Golding's essay? In which paragraph do you find this opinion?

Writer finds that Golding's point of view is denied by the current situation in the world. In fifth paragraph.



6. What support (facts, examples) are used in the conclusion to argue the writer's point of view?

....but the number of doctors, teachers, lawyers, and writers in many countries who were willing supporter of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao shows that this belief is incorrect.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Phrasal verb

Phrasal verb

verb + preposition/s
eg. : run down
run out of
run into

1. Guess who I ran [into] at the club!
2.She's always running [down] her husband.
3.I need to go to the market.I've run [out] of oil,meat and rice.

Put in a suitable preposition in each space.

1. Hundreds of people turned [up] in the rain to see the celebrity.
2.Most of my time is taken [up] with answering the phone.
3.Don't be put [off] by the price,a cool $ 20,000.
4.Something funny is going [on].
5.I think she made [up] the whole story!
6.Not many people turned [up] for the last lecture.
7.Don't worry,you can count [on] me.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Word collocation

A collocation is two or more words which often go together.

Natural English Unnatural English

fast food quick food

a quick shower a fast shower

(Tip:when you learn a new word,write down other words that collocate with it)

Eg.: make + the bed/ time/breakfast/friends/fun/a joke/money


Exercise

Both options make sense.Underline the one which forms a common collocation

1. Many small houses and huts were (flooded away/washed away) when the river bursts its banks.

2.Poor farming methods are responsible for soil (devaluation/erosion )in many areas of Saharan African.

3.During the earthquake,many people were( buried/covered )alive.

4.The forest fire left a wide area of the mountainside blackened and (ablaze/smouldering).

5.Villagers are hoping for rain this month after nearly a year of (dry weather/drought.)

6. Before the hurricane struck,many people were (evacuated/shifted) to higher ground.

7.Thousands of children in the famine-stricken area are suffering from (malnutrition/undernourishment).

10.Heavy snow has fallen in the mountains and many villages have been (blocked out/cut off) for the past two days.

11.The Aids (epidemic/plague) is having serious effects in some countries.

12.Many small islands in the Indian Ocean are threatened by rising sea (waters/levels).

Loony Teens






What does the cartoon have to say about teenagers and their lives?

1. How does the teenager feel about exam tension?

He feels confident for the final since he had made a proper preparation. However, after he receives the exam paper and glances part of the questions, his mind becomes blank (his brain jumps out from his head). This shows that his preparation before the exam gone with tension dominates his mind.


2. In what way there is a communication gap between teenager and his parents?

Perhaps it is because the difference between the school life of a teenager and that of his parents many years back then. My dad used to tell me about the his school life when he was a teenager, every day he would spend his time playing with friends and chit-chatting in school and every day was a different story to begin with. Unlike youngster these days, every day they have to cope with tons of homework and exams. Their school life was like a routine as been mentioned by the mother of the teenager. That is why the teenager asked back his dad, "How was blinking/digesting/breathing/chewing/swallowing?" (routine done by human body)


3. What point is the teenager trying to get across to his father in this cartoon?

In my opinion, he is trying to say that the internet is often down and his father did nothing to fix it. His father seems to ignore the problem every time he reports it to him. So, perhaps he needs to think of many different ways in order to persuade his father to fix the internet.


4. In what way does the father understand his son well?

He realizes that the school life his son is having now is so much different compared to his many years ago. He is aware of the dullness and boredom of his son's school time, fully occupied by homework and exams.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Create your own slogan/tag line for the advertisement.

Refer to here.




I hope I fulfilled the task. =)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Freestyle VS Academic

I bet most of you guys do not know that I started to blog since 2 years ago. First, I had my 1st blog in MySpace, then I switched to Blogger since May '08 for I favor its simplicity and MySpace was a total mess.

However, both of them are sites which I created as a platform to share my interesting encounters in my everyday of life with my friends. By viewing their comment, I felt satisfied, that they enjoy reading my blog. Perhaps, it was because I tend to share things in a funny way and even though it was about something bad, I would tried my best to write it in way that my reader would laugh at my silly or unfortunate encounter.

Of course, that blog are written in freestyle so it would be easy to create laughing point and could share it in a more relaxing way that reader would feel comfortable viewing it.

If you are interested in that blog, here's the link,

The Letters Crusade



My AUSMAT will officially start next year and for EALD (English as Additional Language and Dialect), our beloved teacher, Mr. Derick had asked us to open an academic blog. No rants, no raves, (no emo emo stuff?) no nothing. The materials will be used as input for our assessment and marks will be given for evidence of critical thinking, depth of analysis and synthesis of idea. Now that really sounds ACADEMIC.

This is my 1st time writing an academic blog and I have absolutely no idea on how academically should I be. Although it sounds so boring literally, I think there are methods to impart academic stuff in a more interesting way.



Now that will be a brand new challenge for me!!






And I hope that I won't be having schizophrenia for switching between academic writing and freestyle writing too often. XD