Would It Be Fun?

Everything that is done will have consequences, good or bad. People have to be careful with their actions and what will be their effects. Everyone should be more conscious of what they are actually doing and how that will affect others. And there is only one way of avoiding negative consequences, not doing anything. "If nothing is done, then all will be well."(pg. 5) If this is done bad things will occur, but just imagine a world with nothing being done. If this were to happen, it would be very boring. Nothing would happen it would be like living in a play world where everything's perfect, it wouldn't be exciting at all.

Count And Noncount Nouns

Exercise 1

world C textbook C acid D smoking N poetry N applause N thought D

banana C conduct N progress N biology N essay C crystal D shopping N

Exercise 2

defense X beauty X garbage ___ experience X baggage ___

rain X rug ___ nature ___ bag ___ emotion X

Exercise 3

Diabetes: Beyond the Basics

Because diabetes can cause devastating damage to virtually all body systems, people with diabetes should not underrate the seriousness of their disease. Learning to live with a chronic illness such as diabetes must be an ongoing process.

The Hospital's Center for Family Life Education is sponsoring a five-part educational series on diabetes. The series will begin on April 30 and continue through May 29. The program will be held in the second floor classroom of the Education Center from 7-9 p.m.

The diabetes series is free and open to the public and will be of specific interest to people who have diabetes and their families and friends.

Exercise 4

____ a table X these person ____ this furniture ____ that assignment ____ a boy

____ the poetry ____ a difficulty X a research X this eggs X those argument

Exercise 5

The Computer Jungle

Though you can make the decision on purely economic grounds, buying a computer is often more like joining a religious cult. Buy an Apple, for example, and almost by default you join Apple chairman Steve Jobs in his crusade against IBM. Every machine has its "users' groups" and a band of loyal enthusiasts who tout its merits. That makes it all the more difficult for the uninitiated to decide what machine to buy. Students have a huge advantage, however. The computer companies are so eager for students' business (it builds "brand loyalty") that many offer huge discounts.

In the past six months, IBM, Apple, and others have brought out new computers, and the fierce competition has forced prices down. Also, time is on your side: next year at this time you'll have even more choice and more computing power and features for the same price. On the other hand, this will probably be true for many years. So for those who need or want a computer now, it's a great time to buy one.

Quantity Terms with Count and Noncount Nouns

1. Quite a few students have trouble with economics.

2. It requires quite a little or quite a bit of* reading.

3. Few advisors spend as much time with their students.

4. He has little hope of passing his exams.

5. George's advisor spends quite a little or quite a bit of time with him.

6. He knows few people in the class.

7. Bill spends little money on clothes.

8. She spends quite a little or quite a bit of money on CDs.

9. He has few suits.

10. He understands little of the reading.

Virtuous

The Essential Analects is good book, that teaches people ways of becoming better, being good. It was very wise advice that can help you reflect about your own life. This may help you become a more conscious and helpful person for the others. This is a personal growth book, which may help many people feel better with themselves as well as with others. I really enjoyed reading the few chapters, it gave me a broader view of the many ways there are to improve as a person in a society.

Conservative?

In class we started discussing that Confucius was a very conservative man, this is not demonstrated as much in the book. "8.8 The Master said, "Find inspiration in the Odes, take your place through ritual, and achieve perfection with music."(pg 23) The Master was trying to teach them to be good in a very conservative way, by doing everything calmly and by following the rituals of the culture. Following rituals are conservative thoughts because not everyone believes the same things but they still do them because of their surroundings. Being conservative is a way of avoiding fear they usually fear the idea of a change. Because of this, they decide to do what the society think is best and what has been done for a while that hasn't fail. This is what Confucius means that by following rituals, they will be able to inspire themselves to do well. With music he wants them to understand the music's lyrics so that they will find the message of the songs, and therefore, get inspired by them.

Words That Sound Alike Practice

1. Where is my jacket? I wanted to wear it today, and if I can't find it, we're going to be late.
2. Jane wanted to go on the school trip, but her mother said that two hundred dollars was too much for the family budget.
3. As she waited for Rodney to become conscious, Selma was seized with an attack of conscience-- was there anything she could have done to prevent the accident?
4. The map led the intrepid treasure hunters to a lead box of precious stones.
5. Have you seen their coats? They're going to need them; it's cold outside. I last saw the coats over there.
6. After conducting careful research, Shufang had a brilliant idea; she'd write a paper on Thomas More's concept of the ideal society in Utopia.
7. Even though Bob would rather play video games than study, he decided to hit the books and then play some Halo.
8. It's easy to admire a business that puts so much effort into creating its signs and window displays.
9. You're fortunate to have survived the car crash without a scratch; it must have been because you were wearing your seat belt.
10. I would advise you to seek qualified legal advice about how to handle this situation.

Decisions

People believe everything they did was the best that could have happened, but most of the time you chose what path you take. The path you chose to follow can open your mind and opportunities. You have to search and try hard to get whatever you want, things will not get to you as easy as it may seem. "15.29 The Master said, Human beings can broaden the Way-it is not the Way that broadens beings."(pg 45) All the opportunities you discover and try you have to do them willingly, not as if you were obliged. It is a learning opportunity where you can improve being good.

Don't let opportunities pass by, enjoy them as much as you can while you have them, in one moment or another you will not have them. Many people might not notice many things they have until they lose them. Be grateful for what you have right now because you don't know what will actually happen in future and if you will continue having the same things you have now. Depending on the path you decide to take your opportunities will change accordingly and you'll not even notice.

Be Willing

"7.8 The Master said, "I will not open the door for a mind that is not already striving to understand, nor will I provide words to a tongue that is not already struggling to speak. If I hold up one corner of a problem, and the student cannot come back to me with the other three, I will not attempt to instruct him again." (pg20) The master says very wise things, including this one. When people want to teach, everyone will expect their students to be willing to learn. When the students don't want to learn, everything taught will be lost and have no purpose. Students are supposed to learn, but when their mind are closed nothing of what's supposed to being learned is lost, they should appreciate what they have.

People are just willing to do whatever they please, but some others are pleased with what the rest of the people do. Friends appreciate what the others do for them, just because of the action and not because of the way they did it. Another thing is that people have different ways of doing things, they are all accepted as long as they have a good purpose. There can be many ways of doing things in a similar area, but they can have many effects that will affect the people around it and that might be controversial. These can be seen as "bad" ways of doing things around people.

Everyone Is Good

Not everyone is considered good here, but being good implies many things. And many people might consider themselves as bad, but they are not as they think, they usually criticize harder on them than on others. This occurs often because people dislike giving so much positive credit to them. There can't be a person that's perfectly good, and that's why we live as a society. Bad and good people learn from others mistakes and henceforth they become better people. They also see the necessity of improving and not on what they will receive for what they do, "6.22…He then asked about Goodness. The Master said, "One who is Good sees as his first priority the hardship of self-cultivation, and only after thinks about results or rewards. Yes, this is what we might call Goodness."(pg 17)

People are always willing to improve in many ways and one way is having passion for what you do. You can not only be more successful, but also you will have a positive attitude towards your actions and that will not only influence you but the people around you. "6.29 The Master said, "One who knows it is not the equal of one who loves it, and one who loves it is not the equal of one who takes joy in it." (pg 17) this will change drastically the environment in which you are and the attitude of the people will also contribute for and improving and learning atmosphere. This will also influence the people in wanting them to become better and learn from the others and improve their way of doing the things. 

Finally Convinced

The acceptance speech of Obama was a great one, not only in content but also in the use of his gestures and ways of speaking and convincing. His gestures are well used, he moves his hands in a way that you notice his confidence on the topic. Through his gestures he transmits many of his ideas and demonstrates the charisma he has for his arguments. His movements were well controlled, therefore, it didn't create any distractions.

His speech uses many types of rhetoric, and describes topics in different tenses making a more convincing argument. He refers to the past trying to make precise arguments supported with stories and derails from the past. He also uses the future tense, giving the republicans a choice to help him during his presidency. And he also uses the present referring to McCain's campaign and how wonderful it had been to be at the side of his loved ones during this time, valuing their time and support during that time. He uses some hasty generalizations when he says "And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world -- our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down -- we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security -- we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright --tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope." Because he is saying that Americans in general, but there are still many Americans that don't believe in this.

Fallacies

In the beginning of the first question, Obama used circular reasoning, when he repeats part of the question in his answer "And a lot of you I think are worried about your jobs, your pensions, your retirement accounts, your ability to send your child or your grandchild to college."

"And I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain, that essentially said that we should strip away regulations, consumer protections, let the market run wild, and prosperity would rain down on all of us." Obama uses an irrelevant conclusion because he focuses more on what President Bush did and not on what he will do.

After several proposals Obama has for the economy, he at last said "And then long-term we've got to fix our health care system, we've got to fix our energy system that is putting such an enormous burden on families. You need somebody working for you and you've got to have somebody in Washington who is thinking about the middle class and not just those who can afford to hire lobbyists." In this part, he uses the "slippery-slope" fallacy he starts proposing some things and ends up suggesting many things.

To the same question as the one Senator Obama was answering, Mc Cain answered in a part with an either/or fallacy, "We've got to have a package of reforms and it has got to lead to reform prosperity and peace in the world." He's trying to say that if his reforms take place everything will improve, as if it were the only solution to the problem.

Never Give Up

While reading Night, I was shocked at the content and the way in which Wiesel told his memoirs, it´s incredible how many details he gave and the faith that most of the Jews had during difficult times. Their faith and their beliefs are the ones in The Bible, and the situation of Elie in the camp is very similar to the one of Job. He also accepts it, "How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (pg 42) Many people started to lose their faith and believed that God had abandoned them through these difficult moments.

They all remembered the Jewish holidays and some still tried celebrating. Others didn't because they could fast for fear of dying or starving, and others they had just lost their faith and saw no purpose on continuing their religious life. Some people tried to convince others to keep their faith and that God would help them survive the war, but many didn't mind anymore and had no fear of death and were sure that God wouldn't do anything for them.

At the end Elie noticed that God allowed him to get out of the concentration camps, unfortunately he was the only survivor from his family. At the same time he was almost sure that his father had rested from all the suffering he had to overcome for almost a year, and that he was not agonizing as he had been the last moments they were together.