The Forgotten Friend

The story introduces how a rare friendship without self-interest can be a warming experience. The story starts with a birthday invitation of a ten-year-old girl to her home party and sleep-over night at her place.

Seven girls were invited to stay over for the night and attend Judy's party. Carelessly, Judy forgot to invite one of her childhood friend, Sarah.

Judy was embarrassed and felt bad to see her good friend, Sarah arriving to her door, sending her the birthday present. She had a mixed feelings: regret for her careless mistake, embarrassed for getting the present that she wasn't deserved.

I think the story is a simple one. But it tells how friendship needs to be free of self-interest.

Where in the world is Carmen?

Introduction
The story introduces the conviction: how to seize the moment of excited curiosity. In other words, it is important to think creatively to make impossible tasks becomes possible.

Characters
Ashley: A young girl who got a dream of hitchhiking across America but she became reluctant to take risks and venture outside after she was cancer-free.
Carmen: A teddy bear who 'walk across' the world for Carmen.

Setting
America and
The world...

Plots
When Ashley was a ten-year-old, she wished to hitchhike across the world. But she became reluctant to take risks and venture outside after she was cancer-free. Carmen was a teddy bear who met Ashley when she was in the hospital. They decided to send Carmen to begin the trip for Ashley. Finally, Carmen 'hitchhike' across sixteen states and made many friend for Ashley.

My Thoughts
It is very creative to send a bear to hitchhike across the world. I never thought that it could work and meaningful. Sometimes we thinks that somethings is impossible to achieve. But Carmen told me that we should think more creatively and makes them become possible.

Why do we need to improve our language skills?

We need to improve our language skill because it can help us to create new thoughts.

Our brain can be compared to a hardware of a computer. To fully utilize the computer, a good software is needed. The software can help produce useful output, such as good ideas and creative thinking. In fact, a high command of language is like a good software, it can help produce good output.

Thus, the aim of improving language skill is to upgrade the function of our software, i.e. our language skill. This results in developing a better thinking and new thoughts.

Letter of advice

Dear Sandy,

I am sorry to know that you have a difficult time with your parents. I can see that you are upset about your strict parents who do not allow you to go out in the evenings. You are also worried that you will lose your friends soon.

As you are a teen girl, your parents do not want you to get into trouble and they also want you to be safe. This explains the reason why they are strict.I think you can do something to stop their worries.

First of all, it is always good to let your parents know more about you. For example, you can talk to them more often. Enough communication may help reduce their worries and they will realize you getting more mature. At the same time, you can let them understand your friends and your relationship with them. Besides, you can introduce your best friend to your parents so they will not be afraid of the bad influence. Moreover, I think your parents still see you as a immature teen so they will be worried about your safety.

You are also worrying about that you will lose your friends because of you not going out with them in the evenings. In my opinion, you should tell them your situation. At least they will not be angry with you if they really want to be your friends. Maybe they can even help you to persuade your strict parents. You can then improve your relationship with them.

Hope that the situation between you and our parents will improve very soon. And my advice can be useful to you.

Yours,

Wilson

Letter Writing

Scientists are warning about the need to save energy for the sake of the environment, yet some students don’t care enough to change their habits, such as recycling papers, save water and lights. Why haven’t they changed? What kind of activities should schools adopt to encourage students to change?
Write a letter to your school newsletter. Start your letter with the title, “Dear Editor”...

Dear Editor,

There are warnings by scientists about the need to save energy for our environment. Hong Kong government also started to pay a close attention on environmental problems in 80's. I am writing to give my opinion about encouraging students to change their habits for saving energy.

We all know that global warming and environmental problems are getting worse. Our parents’ generation did not receive any education about keeping our earth clean. If we ignore the problems, we will not be able to live in the clean world.

Students should be aware of the damaging effects of their bad habits on the earth. However most of them may not want to change their lifestyle because of laziness.

As students, we can suggest different ways to help people save energy and natural resources, such as to recycle papers even after the papers used on both sides. School should also consider using electronic mails or e-messages, or e-copies instead of printing hard copies.

Moreover, the excessive use of air conditioners and lights is another main source of energy wasting. We should encourage students to turn off the electrical appliances when they are not in use.

I await the time that all students start making effort to change their lifestyle so to save energy and help solve the environmental problems.

Yours faithfully,

Alvin

Essay

Television has become an essential part of entertainment for most of the bourgeois families in Hong Kong. Watching TV programs is the main activity of most children apart from playing computer games. Watching funny cartoons help students relaxed from heavy school work. This eventually helps them perform better. I would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of TV-watching for children and give my views on the subject.

Watching TV helps youngsters not only learn different subjects but also entertain themselves with the funny programs. However, most of them watch only the entertaining programs. Hence parents always prefer their children going out with her friends to staying home and watching television. They beleive that at least the youngsters can improve their social skills, such as getting a good relationship with their friends.

However, more time will be wasted in playing computer games if children are not allowed to watch TV. If a student is not allowed to watch TV, he will spend his time playing more computer games. As a result, more time will be spend on computer entertainment. Some teachers argue that they would rather have their students doing homework in front of a TV than doing nothing while playing computer games.

In fact, more parents would also rather have their children watching TV programs than playing computer games. They consider TV programs a better entertainment than computer games. It is easier for them to control their kids to stop watching television than surfing the internet.

I have reached a conclusion that watching television is a better means of entertainment than playing computer games. We should not totally stop children from watching TV.

Essay

Television has become an essential part of entertainment for most of the bourgeois families in Hong Kong. Watching TV programs is the main activity of most children apart from playing computer games. Watching funny cartoons help students relaxed from heavy school work. This eventually helps them perform better. I would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of TV-watching for children and give my views on the subject.

Watching TV helps youngsters learn different things in the world and entertain themselves with the funny programs. However, most of them watch only the entertaining programs. As a result, parents always prefer their children going out with her friends to staying home and watching television. At least, the youngsters can improve their social skills, such as getting a good relationship with their friends.

More time will be wasted in playing computer games if children are not allowed to watch TV. If a student is not allowed to watch TV, he will spend his time playing more computer games. As a result, more time will be spend on entertainment. Some teachers argue that they would rather have the students doing homework in front of a TV than doing nothing while playing computer games.

In addition, more parents would rather their children watch TV programs than playing computer games. They consider TV programs a better entertainment than computer games. It is easier to control their kids to stop watching television than surfing the internet.

I have reached a conclusion that watching television is a better means of entertainment than playing computer games. We should not totally stop children from watching TV.

Newspaper Article

Students bid for chance at Lunar New Year profit Budding entrepreneurs, many of them in school uniform, went head-to-head to bid for stalls at the 2010 Lunar New Year bazaar in Victoria Park.

//-->BeatriceSiu Friday, October 30, 2009
Budding entrepreneurs, many of them in school uniform, went head-to-head to bid for stalls at the 2010 Lunar New Year bazaar in Victoria Park.
They are hoping to turn a buck from the 2010 fair, amid signs the city is on its way to economic recovery.
New Method College was the highest bidder for a themed dry goods stall at HK$41,000.
A supervisor of extracurricular activities at the school, surnamed Cheng, said the experience will teach students how to do business. "Making a profit is not our aim. What's more important is to teach the students how to run a business and cooperate with their partners."
Student Cheng Wing-hong said profit was not his main motivation.
"I am happy even if I make little money. All I want is to learn from the experience," he said.
Wilson Tam Chin-wai, 23, took eight attempts before he won out with a HK$30,000 bid, eight times more than the opening price.
"As Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day are on the same day, I hope more lovers will buy my products," he said.
Tam is investing HK$300,000 in the stall and hopes to double his money.
The fair opens on February 8 and interest in the auction was likely boosted by auspicious dates. It closely coincides with the first day of the Year of the Tiger - February 14 - which is also Valentine's Day on the Western calendar.
On Wednesday, keen bidding saw the most sought-after fast-food site fetch a 10-year-high price of HK
$490,000 after opening at HK$230,180. A Mr Leung yesterday secured two stalls with bids of HK$60,000 and HK$40,000 respectively, five to seven times more than the opening price.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department auctioned eight themed dry goods stalls and 284 dry goods stalls yesterday.
Leung Yui-hung, a chicken biscuit hawker, secured a dry goods stall with HK$60,000, six times higher than the HK$8,740 opening price.

Comprehension Questions

Holistic Learning

Smart people don’t just learn better. They learn differently. While many students get caught up in memorizing facts, intelligent learners know to seek the bigger picture and connect the facts together. This form of learning I call holistic learning.

Holistic learning is basically the opposite of rote memorization. Instead of reciting lists of facts, rules or formulas, you seek to connect ideas together. Instead of having separate boxes in your head for geometry, algebra or ancient India, you deliberately link facts together, so they form a bigger picture.

1. What is holistic learning?
Holistic learning is the kind learning where the learners know how to understand what he learn by using and forming pictures to connect the facts and information together. In other words, holistic learners learn and understand the materials the first time they study.

Excessive studying shows you aren’t learning holistically. It shows that you didn’t learn the material the first time. If you properly link ideas together to see the bigger picture, studying should only be a brief refresher.

How to Boost Your Study Habits

Holistic learning isn’t like a brainstorming technique or mind-mapping. It is fundamentally changing how you look at the process of learning and how you absorb information. As such, there isn’t an easy ten step program to master it.

There are some tools that can help you shift your learning habits so they become more holistic:

Visceralize 感官和動作集中學習- You’ve probably heard of visualizing, right? Visceralizing means taking all of your senses and connecting it to information. Studies have shown that people remember more vividly information that comes to us in an emotionally aroused state. Linking feelings, senses and imagery to bland ideas makes them more real. You probably counted on your fingers when learning numbers, why can’t you do the same when you are learning now?

Metaphor隱喻 - The heart of holistic learning is relating things together. Metaphors are literary devices that link two things that normally don’t go together. Come up with metaphors to describe more complicated ideas in simpler terms.

Ten-Year-Old Rule十歲法則 - Explain ideas to yourself as you would to a ten year old. Sure, this isn’t always possible in your last years of a medical degree or learning how to apply neural networks to computer AI. But the idea is that you should be able to “dumb down” an idea enough so it seems obvious to yourself.

Trace Back 引用 - Put away your books and start with a random fact or concept. Then relate that idea to another concept in your subject. Keep doing this tracing pattern until you’ve linked many ideas together. The Gupta Dynasty reminds you of ancient Greece which reminds you of Socrates, reminding you of Confucius…

Refresher Scan 快速復習 - Scan through information in your text book. Notice whenever you encounter information that you either don’t remember or weren’t 100% sure about. Quickly link that information back to existing ideas through viscerlization and metaphor. If your refresher scan is turning up more than a few points per chapter, you haven’t learned it thoroughly enough.

Compress Information壓縮信息 - Not all information works well for holistic learning. A common point cited to me is learning anatomy for first year medical students. Anatomy involves learning arbitrary Latin names for hundreds of different elements of your body. There often aren’t clear patterns and constructs, just a dry list off acts. When encountering information such as this, your goal should be to compress it. Find ways to group information into smaller chunks of memory through pictures or mnemonics.

Write寫下有關聯想 - Take a piece of paper and write out the connections in the information. Reorganize the information into different patterns. The key here is the writing, not the final product. So don’t waste your time making a pretty picture. Scribble and use abbreviations to link the ideas together.

List two of the learning habits and explain how they help learners to learn better.

One of the learning habit is called virceralisation. Learners can benefit when they use feelings, senses, and imaginary to bland ideas and information when they learn something. This helps them remember better and more vividly because information that comes to them in an emotionally aroused state.

The other habit is called "Metaphor". Learners can benefit when they use metaphor to link two things to describe more complicated ideas in simpler terms.






Scott Young is a blogger on learning, productivity and habits. You can check out his website here. If you want to learn more about Holistic Learning, download his free e-book: Holistic Learning: How to StudyBetter, Learn More and Actually “Get” What You Want to Learn

Letter Writing

Dear John,

Have you watched the TV progromme on the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of China? I think it is a great showcase in terms of China’s military capabilities, the successful rule of communist party, and the social and economic development and progress of China.

As for the aspect of military achievements, I was impressed by the well-performed marching of the troops, they were totally robotic. I like their uniforms and the way they marched. The large number of fighter jets flying over the city is also impressive. The display of the high-tech weaponry, such as ballistic missiles clearly indicates China’s military capability.

As for the successful rule of communist party, president Hu Jintao reported the successful work of the communist party. He made us feel proud of China because of the achievement brought by the reform and opening up policy.

As for the social and economic development and progress of China, the parade showcased some of the social and economic accomplishments China made in the past 60 years through the reform and opening-up policy.

I hope you've seen the programme. If not, you must try to watch it if you can. You will be impressed, too.

With Best Wishes
Alvin

Homonym Words

Current
Judge
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-11-voa8.cfm

The current news is about the former president of Tai Wan sentenced to life in prison.
US dollar is not current in Hong Kong.


The judge sentence Chen to life in prison.
My uncle who judge this case is a honest man.

Ways to improve my reading comprehension

I need to improve both my reading speed and skills in understanding the passages. I need to put the emphasis first on comprehension. The speed will then be improved later. In other words, I must understand and remember what I have read before I try to increase my reading speed.

The target of enhancing comprehension can be achieved by repeated reading. So, I should try to keep the speed of reading 300 words per minute with 80% of comprehension. Read the same passages for about 3 to 4 times with an increasing comprehension of the passage.

After the reading, I need to get to the MC questions and answer them by eliminating the irrelevant items. Read the passage again only if I am asked; such as in line 1.....

The Mystery of the Mixed-up Zoo - Chapter One

A summary of Chapter One - Edward Marlow

The story started with a visit to Edward Marlow by James Alden with his four grand children: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny.

The setting of the story was at Rosedale, Massachusetts with a population of 85,000. It is all about the zoo run by Edward Marlow.

The children were all excited about seeing the zoo in the next morning after their arrival.


A summary of Chapter Two - The Mix-Up

After they helped Edward to clean his kitchen in the morning, they went to the zoo.

All the animal signs at the zoo have all been changed. They help Edward to put the signs in their right places.

They found that it was strange. The children went back to Edward's house and continue to helped him to clean his house and cooked dinner for him.


A summary of Chapter Three - The Snapshot

Edward had told them about the dirty basemant so they went to the basement to clean out the things and brought upstair anythings that they could use.

The children knew that Edward was a pilot in World War 2 by an old photo album in the basement. They were suprise for that.

On the next day, they went to a bookstore to find books about animals and they met the owner of the shop called Mac Thatcher.


A Summary of Charpter Four - More Trouble at the Zoo

They saw a woman was talking to Edward called Helen when they went back to Edward's house. Then they heard a bad news. The zoo should be closen down.

Edward told the children about the history of the zoo when they were walking to the zoo. He didn't want to close down the zoo because of his friend Billy. Billy was passed away and he loved animals.

Edward told the children the details of the animals in the zoo. Suddenly the electricity was cut off and the big food processor turned off. They worried about the food for the animals. They thought that they were done by Helen.



A Summary of Charpter Five - Hungry Animals

The Toy Club

Alvin walked into his bedroom. he is carrying his mobile phone he had borrowed from his friend. And he was taking his black, narrow, and old cupboard.

"Cool!" said Avin's sister, Sally, looking into the cupboard near the door. "We can make a camp!"

"It's going to be a clubhouse for my Toy Club!" Avin said, thinking about the toy book he had just read.

"What does the club do?"
"You'll see when you come inside," Alvin replied, picking up the idpot and crawling into the box. Sally followed.

Suddenly the cupboard began to shake and shake and shake. When it stopped, they tumbled out.

A 50-foot-long Lion walked toward them. It was a big Lion toy, but it was still walking.

A loud scream suddenly blasted from the mobile phone. The lion toy picked up the mobile phone
and then lay down.

"Its unconscious!" Alvin said with amazament.

"Let's go home!" Sally whispered.

"NO WAY!" said Alvin. "If I don't get that mobile phone back, I'll be in big trouble!"

Alvin thought hard and came up with an idea. He picked up a bough that had fallen off a tree and tickled the lion toy under its armpit. The lion toy move its hand that Alvin could catch the mobile phone. Alvin caught it and scrambled into the cupboard, pulling Sally behind him.

The minute they were in the cupboard, it began to shake and shake and shake. When they peeked out, Alvin and Sally were home.

"Want to go again tomorrow?" Alvin asked. "I'll ask my father, too!"

"Okay!" said Sally. "but let's not take his mobile phone this time."

Paul's Trip to Hong Kong

The tour started from Peak Tower. It was a sunny day. The sky was blue. My cousin Paul and I joined the HK tour. We took the mono-rail tram at Mid-level. When we arrived at the Peak Tower, Paul was amazed at the nice view of Hong Kong. He took a lot of pictures.

Ocean Park is our second stop. We arrived at 11 am. We took a lot of photos at the entrance. We visited many places: panda house, aquarium and performance theater. My cousin was excited when he saw the cute pandas.

That night we went to a Chinese restaurant in Tsin Sha Tsui for dinner. We ate a lot of Chinese dim sum. It was the first time that Paul tried dim sum. He said that the dim sums were so delicious but actually he did not like Chinese tea.

My cousin likes shopping very much. He said the products in Hong Kong are so cheap so we went to a shopping mall in Mong Kok on the last day's morning. He bought so many things that he must buy one more luggage case to hold them.

The Big Buddha in Lantau Island was Paul's last stop of the trip. But it rained so heavily that we canceled the plan. My cousin was disappointed about it.So we left to the Airport two hours ealier to make sure he would be on time for the flight.

Items to work on

Items to work on
A. Reading and Usage
1. Reading Comprehension
2. Tenses - Grammar Book Unit 1
3. Conditional Sentences Unit 4
4. Parts of Speech Unit 7
5. Adjective Clauses Unit 8
6. Adverb Clauses Unit 9
7. Vocabulary - Treasure Plus 3A Unit 2
8. MC Cloze and Open Cloze
9. Proofreading
B. Writing
1. Long Task – picture writing
2. Short Task
C. Listening
1. Short tasks – MC /filling in form / labeling / ordering
2. Integrated Task
3. TSA listening format
D. Oral
1. Individual Presentation ( 2 minutes)
2. Group Interaction ( 3 minutes)

poor (adjective) poverty (noun) poorly (adverb) 窮人（形容詞）貧困（名詞）很差（副詞）

I am poorer than you.我比你窮。
I write more poorly than you.我寫比你更差。
Driven by poverty, he robbed a bank.由於貧困，他搶劫銀行。

act (verb) action (noun) active (adjective)
The active actress acts so well in the action film.

decide (verb) decision (noun) decisive (adjective)
The decisive director decided to make smart decisions.

courage (noun) encourage (verb) courageously (adverb)
The director has the courage to encourage his staff to work courageously.

Parts of Speech

wise (adjective) wisdom (noun) wisely (adverb)

1. I have the wisdom about science.
2. I am wise in science.
3. I speak wisely.
   

poor (adjective) poverty (noun) poorly (adverb)

1. Most Indians are poor.
2. Their poverty is due to their poor lands.
   
3. They can do their farming poorly.
   

Vocabulary Learning

1. The recyclable activities help conserve the environment despite the global warming 雖然全球變暖, 回收活動可以保護環境.
2. We have the responsibility to reduce greenhouse effect and save the endangered animals.我們有責任減少溫室效應及保護瀕危動物.
3. Hong Kong citizens can reduce the negative effect on the environment by introducing biodegradable campaign 香港公民可透過引入生物降解的運動影響環境.
4. We consume the natural resources in the planet and earth /我們消耗星球和地球自然資源.
5. The government concerns關注 the need to reduce energy能源 waste by the heavy use of the electrical appliances 電器

Participles

1. Present Participle - boring lesson ( 1. describe an object) (2. describe something that happens now)
2. Past Participle - I am bored by the lesson (describe a person)