Resource Center for Teaching and Learning English

In 1804, by defeating the allied army of Russia and Austria in the battle of Asuterlitz, Napoleon came to the ultimate power as the Master of Europe. No country in the Europe dared to confront the Emperor except for Britain. This made Napoleon furious and he sworn to turn the country to ashes if he could set food in Britain. However, Britain was protected by the sea and its legendary Royal Navy commanded by the heroic captain Horatio Nelson. In order to invade Britain, Napoleon had to build a strong navy. He signed and alliance treaty with Spain, forming the Franco-Spanish fleets in hope of ending Britain’s power in the sea.

At that time, people had to use English to communicate since both French and Latin were considered to be too difficult to learn. Although Napoleon had spent a large amount of money hiring teachers to teach English for his crews, he didn’t know that most the the crew didn’t receive the proper education due to corrupt officers and low-leveled teachers. This led to the disastrous defeat of Napoleon’s fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar against Britain when English commands given by the officers were misunderstood by the crews. The problem of English caused Napoleon’s headache. One of his marshals, Jean-de-Deau Soult, advised him to take a trip to visit the temple of a Chinese strategist, Kongming Zhuge Liang. Soult said that although Zhuge Liang had left the mortal world along time ago, his spirit still remained at the temple.

Napoleon immediately booked a plane to Kongming’s temple. One night he was resting in the temple when he saw a man wearing a robe and holding a fan made of crane feathers entering his room. That was master Zhuge Liang’s spirit. Napoleon explained the reason he came and begged Master Zhuge to help him. Master Zhuge immediately whispered something to Napoleon’s ears and disappeared. Napoleon’s eyes were widened as he listened to Master Zhuge. When he woke up, he realized he had met Master Zhuge in his dream. However, he still remembered the Master Zhuge’s words. Napoleon immediately returned to Europe and applied what he had learnt to his army. Many years later, Napoleon won a lot of battles and remained invincible until 1812. The French army was considered at that time to be one the of most elite army in the world.

What did Master Zhuge tell Napoleon? After a long research conducted by world’s leading scientists, the mystery has been uncovered:

Master Zhuge said Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar was caused by the low level of English of the troops. He pointed that in order to solve this problem, Napoleon should introduce the following website to his troops: http:// khoaanh.net

This is a website created by English Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, with Mr Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ as its admin. The main goal of the website is to provide English teachers and learners a resource center, and at the same time, creating an English-using environment so that users can improve their communicative skills in English.

In this website, you can read articles of every academic field among which are ELT technologies, ELT Methodology, Business English, Linguistics, Cultures, etc.

Also, you can visit website’s forum where you can exchange your experience in teaching and learning English with other members. This is also an ideal place for you to improve your communicative skills in English as most of the posts in the forum are required to be written in English.

If you plan to study abroad, you many need to have a high TOEFL score. The website provides you a rich resource of TOEFL iBT tests built by teachers and students in the department.

When visiting Downloads section, you can find ebooks and other tools useful for teaching and learning activities.

So, what else are you waiting for? Come and join us for a BETTER you :D

Submission for EC Collection 2009

THE EMPEROR

He was one of the strangest “phenomenon” in the world’s history. His genius for military, recognized even by his enemies, surpassed all glories of conquerors in the past. No wonder that many wrote and nowadays still write about him: The legendary military genius, Master of Europe, Napoléon Bonaparte.
Napoleon was born in 1769, as a son of a nobleman in Corsica island (later the republic of Corsica). He went to military school in France and was trained as an artillery officer. The French revolution in 1789, which later led to the establishment of the First French republic, brought him a golden chance to prove his talent. After the Jacobins were overthrown by the anti-revolutionaries, Napoleon had had a hard time but that soon ended as the new government also needed his talent to fight against the Royalists whose dream was to bring the monarchy back to France again. And Napoleon didn’t let them down, using his most efficient weapon: canons, which he later used to suppress the rebellion and revolution of his own people. Earning the trust of the government, Napoleon marched to Italia, which at that time belonged to the Empire of Austria. There he proved his talent by victories over the Austrian army, forcing them to flee back to their country, leaving Northern Italia, especially Rome and the Pope in Napoleon’s hand. Then he marched to Austria and won several other battles, which left Austria no other choice but peace negotiation, offering Bonaparte numerous priorities. These glories gave him a big influential position in French politics. Napoleon returned to Paris as a hero.
Not long after his return, Napoleon started an invasion to Egypt, which he believed if conquered could help him reach the gate of Asia, particularly India, a colony of Britain. He met not much resistance in Egypt and soon conquered the whole territory. But at the mean time, fearing that the republic of France would threaten the monarchy of other countries in Europe, Britain started a campaign against France, forming an alliance of Austria, Great Britain, Russia, French royalists and Ottoman Empire, the Second Coalition. As a result, France suffered from several defeats and lost most of what Napoleon had conquered before.
After returning to Paris, Napoleon planned to overthrow the Republic he once protected and served, and this only took one month. He came to ultimate power as the First Consul of France, and not long later, Emperor of France. Within a year, he arranged all civil threats, getting France ready for the wars which took place in the next several years.
In 1805, Napoleon marched for Austria again, defeating the allied army of Russia and Austria at the battle of Austerlitz, breaking the Third Coalition, which had been started by Britain. At the same time, British fleet, under the control of the heroic captain Horatio Nelson, won the Franco-Spanish fleet at the battle of Trafalgar, becoming the ultimate power of the sea and simultaneously putting an end to Napoleon’s dream of conquering Britain. Nevertheless, Napoleon’s victories over Europe brought him to a position no other could reach.
A year later, Prussia, encouraged by Britain and Russia, started a campaign against France. But Prussian army, once famous for its iron disciplines, broke at the battle of Jena-Auerstedt after powerful strikes of French army. Napoleon conquered half of Prussian territory and Poland of Russia. Tsar of the Russian Empire had no other choice but signed a peace agreement and divided the Europe continent between the two powers.
In 1807, with the help of Spanish troops, Napoleon conquered Portugal. But Spanish king couldn’t stay in his throne any longer as Napoleon also invaded the country and put his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. This led to resistance all over the country and Britain took this chance to support Spain and Portugal in their fight against the French.
Austria once again declared war with France in 1809, and thanks to good preparation, they won at the battle of Aspern-Essling near Vienna. However, Austrian commanders failed to destroy French completely and gave them a chance to regroup. Napoleon didn’t miss this opportunity and won back again at Wagram, forcing Austria to sign another peace agreement, which strengthened Napoleon’s ultimate power as the Master of Europe.
“Peace” existed in Europe continent for more than two years before Russia broke its alliance with France in 1912. Ignoring repeated advice against a campaign attacking the Russian Empire, Napoleon marched his 450,000 troops to the East. The Russians kept avoiding fights with France and retreating deeper to their territory and only accepted to battle outside Moscow. France and Russian fought a decisive battle at Borodino and two sides both suffered from great losses. Although Napoleon succeeded in winning the battle, he admitted: "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible." As a result of this loss, Tsar ordered to abandon Moscow, leaving it at the hand of the French. Napoleon took the capital of Russia and intended to advance further. But this never happened as Moscow was burned according to Tsar’s order. French army suffered from a lack of supply and had to retreat. The harshness of Russian Winter and guerilla’s attacks along the way killed most of French army and by the end of the campaign, only 40,000 French soldiers survived.
The defeat of France in Russia gave other countries a chance to escape from Napoleon’s rule and Britain again established another coalition, the Sixth Coalition, against France. The Allied Army outnumbered French army and after the battle of Leipzig, Napoleon was forced to flee back to France. The Coalition continued to attack France and The emperor of France had to abdicate under the pressure of his subordinates and was exiled to Elba island in 1814 when the Coalition captured Paris.
In 1815, Napoleon made an escape from Elba island and soon regained control of France thanks to the favour of French troops for him. On receiving the news, the whole Europe declared war with France. Napoleon led his 200,000 troops to fight against the coming army of Britain and Prussia at the battle of Waterloo. British army, under the control of Arthur Wellesley, succeeded in withstanding repeated attacks from the French army while Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher led the Prussian army to break French army’s right flank. The defeat of France at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon’s military career. He was exiled to St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean and spent the rest of his life there.
Throughout his life, Napoleon fought nearly 60 battles (more than all the battles of Alexander, Hannibal, Ceasar…). Under his control, French army became one of the most terrifying army in Europe and earned the honour of war. In him, we see a figure of Ceasar, Genghis Khan, the image of conquerors who once shook the whole world by their genius.

Second Writing Paper in IELTS class

Topic: It is very important that children should study hard at school. Time spent playing sport is time wasted. Do you agree?

Knowledge is considered to be the key of modern life. As a result, many parents force their children to study hard at school, disregarding the necessity of physical activities like playing sports. This essay will take a closer look at the issue.

On the plus side, it is true that many excellent students who win big competitions don’t do anything but study. Since they spend most of their time studying, the amount of knowledge they can obtain surpasses that of normal students. In addition, schools these days provide students a variety of subjects, covering all fields of life, which requires a lot of time from the students if they want to keep up with others. Furthermore, this also comes from the social demand of excellent workforce for the development of the country.

Nevertheless, health is also significant for life since it is obvious that you cannot do anything long without health. Researches have shown that students, especially high school ones, suffer from very bad health conditions due to a lack of physical activities. Sports provide them a good chance to stay active, reducing bad consequences of sitting still for long hours. Also those extra activities help students to develop other skills that are necessary for their later life. What the society needs from a person may be more than just mere knowledge. Students are expected to have skills like communication and interpersonal skills, negotiation, cooperaion and teamwork, etc. Sports like football, volleyball need high level of mutual understanding and coordination between players, which offers them various ways to achieve these skills.

To sum up, knowledge is of high importance but health and other skills should not be ignored. A balance between study and physical activities guarantee a good improvement of a person.

First writing paper in IELTS class

Topic 16: Children should never be educated at home by their parents. Do you agree or disagree?

Education from the family is regarded as one of the essential instruction for children due to its contributions to the formation of children’s personality. Nevertheless, there are still people arguing that children should never get any guidance from their parents. This essay will take a brief look at the importance of home education.

The first point is, from the very days of our life, it is parents that are in charge of providing us basic facts of life. Thanks to these facts, we learn to distinguish ‘right’ from ‘wrong’, forming a solid foundation to develop our characteristics. For example, Vietnamese parents often teach their children to respect the elders by greeting them first in conversations.

In the second place, our parents also set examples for us to follow. Because children receive most of their education from their parents at first, it is easy for them to form the habit of imitating their parents. Positively viewed, this contributes a lot to the formation of our behaviours in later life. For example, children whose parents often do charity work are likely to take voluntary work at schools because they believe their parents are good people and they want to follow them.

Finally, no kind of education can be as regular as that we receive from our parents. Since we always live with our parents until we have grown up, every act of theirs affects us in different ways, giving us endless lessons about life. Even after we have graduated from school, our parents still continue to teach us through their daily activities.

In conclusion, I would argue that, for the reasons give above, education from the family is of high importance and that disregarding its role may lead to insufficiency in human characteristics formation.

ANSWER KEYS FOR LISTENING TEST– MODULE 4

The content of this entry is from Mr Homework's blog. Speacial thanks for his kindness in providing us the key so quickly ^^
Here is the Answer Key, I also include the test in this entry, plz roll down to see
SECTION 1: (0.3 for each correct answer) _ max. 3pts
1 C
2 B
3 B
4 A
5 students
6 staff
7 $20
8 equipment
9 Tuesday
10 four / 4
SECTION 2: (0.25 for each correct answer) _ max 2 pts
(Write the letter that corresponds to the answer, for example 1. A)
1. C
2. C
3. A
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. C
8. C
SECTION 3: (T or F) (0.2 for each correct answer) _ max 2 pts
1. T
2. T
3. F
4. F
5. T
6. F
7. T
8. T
9. F
10. T
PART 4: (0.2 for each correct answer) _ max. 3 pts
1. the past
2. France
3. universal society
4. emotion
5. language
6. different needs
7. feasible
8. (the) telegraph
9. steam
10. notions
11. (sts get 0.3 for this blank)
12. currency
13. the Europe
14. depression
15. relationships

TEST:

SECTION 1: (3 pts) Q
Listen to the recordings TWO times and do the tasks from 1-10 as instructed. The recording will be played TWICE at normal speed.
Questions 1-4
Listen to the conversation, between Lily and her friend. Circle the letter that answers the following questions.
1. What kind of music does Lily's brother like?
A. Classical B. Musical C. Opera D. Pop
2. What kind of music does Lily like?
A. Classical B. Musical C. Opera D. Pop
3. What has Lily decided to buy for her brother?
A. Romeo and Juliet B. Oklahoma C. Carmen D. West Side Story
4. How much is Lily going to pay?
A. 24 dollars B. 18 dollars C. 15 dollars D. 9 dollars
Questions 5-8
Fill in the blanks with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD or A NUMBER for each answer.
The College Badminton Club
- Accepts both (5) ____________________ and (6) _____________________ of the college.
- Membership Fees: (7) _______________________ per college term.
- Membership fees cover (8) _____________________, court, and drinks (tea and coffee).
- Beginners' level meets on Thursday; Intermediate level meets on (9) ___________________; Advanced level meets on Monday.
- All meetings are at (10) _____________________ o'clock.
- Registration will close soon.
SECTION 2: (2 pts)
You will hear a radio interview with George Johnson, Managing Director of Media-X, an organisation which invests in internet companies. For each question, choose the best answer. You will hear the conversation twice. You have 45 seconds to read through the questions.
1 The name Media-X was chosen for the company because ________
A it presented a serious image.
B it was connected with technology.
C it seemed easy to remember.
2 George Johnson started to invest in internet companies because the internet
A already had considerable educational value.
B was increasingly popular in Europe.
C was becoming easier to use.
3 What was George's first job?
A bank employee B economics lecturer C software programmer
4 George's father helps him by _________
A advising him on investments.
B providing him with suitable office space.
C giving him financial support.
5 Approximately how many companies in total does George help each year?
A 100 B 200 C 300
6 When choosing between proposals, George first considers
A the experience of the directors.
B the need for the product or service.
C the financial background of the company.
7 Media-X helps companies by providing advice on _________
A market research. B technical support. C pricing strategy.
8 Which of these UK companies has expanded into other countries?
A NetTrade.com B TravelDeals.com C OrderFree.com
SECTION 3 (2 pts)
You are going to hear someone reading the news. You will hear the news headlines followed by the news in detail. From the information you hear, decide whether the statements are true or false. In your answer sheet, write T for True and F for False. The recording is played two times at normal speed.
1.
_____________ PNO sails to 5 places in Europe.

_____________ PNO is making 1,200 people redundant.

_____________ The number of dentists will double.

_____________ Manchester has one dentist per 20,000 people.

_____________ The Prime Minister was in a military aeroplane.

_____________ The Prime Minister was in great danger.

_____________ Michael Soars is in prison.

_____________ Michael Soars worked for Capital Holdings.

3 4

1.
_____________ The pound is up against the dollar.

_____________ The weather will become worse through the day.

SECTION 4: (3 pts)
Listen to part of a talk about globalisation and complete the note. Use NO MORE THAN 2 WORDS for each blank.
The History of Globalisation
�.
Globalisation is commonly believed not to have been a concern in (1) ____________________.

In 1841, a writer from (2) ____________________ referred to a (3) “________________”.
His main concerns were:
i how people would express (4) ____________________
ii whether there would be a single (5) ____________________ and how it could integrate the confusions of (6) ___________________________
iii whether it was (7) _____________________ to have one governing body
His imagined future would be shaped by the new technologies of (8) ____________________ and (9) ____________________, which seem to be quite obsolete now, but the (10) _______________________ and (11) ____________ they brought are just the same as today.

In 1865-1871, there were plans for a single European (12) ____________________
It was to be called (13) “_____________________”
Plans failed due to a (14) ____________________ in 1870s.

Other 18th century writers (e.g. Adam Smith) were concerned about effects on (15) ____________________. His and others' ideas may help us deal with today’s problems.

Answer key for Reading Test Module 4

Thank dear Shark, Mr CPE and all my dear friends for helping me complete this.

Part A: 20 pts

1. firendishly

2. fret

3. alluring

4. assiduous

5. recuperation

6. mitigate

7. tentative

8. proceeds

9. exhilarated

10. impetuous

Part B: 10 pts
Read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each space.
Anyone who has gone on a skiing holiday at a ski (1) ..D of any size will be familiar with the age-old problem - the eternal wait for ski lifts and cable cars.Well, there is an alternative. If you feel like something just a (2)... different why not try heli-skiing in Canada? Somewhere in the snowy (3) ... of the Rocky Mountains the helicopter will deposit you and your group onto a slope of virginsnow that you have all to yourselves. It is all a (4) ……….cry from the busiestslopes of, say, Switzerland, France and Italy. You are fifty miles from the nearesttown and there is nothing remotely (5)….. a ski-lift, so you have to(6)…….. on legs, skis and the chopper. You might see the (7)…… mountain-goat or grizzly bear, but there won't be (8)………. of other skiers. There are one or two disadvantages. Your friendly helicopter pilot might just put you down in a five-metre snow (9)……… And freezing weather might ground yourhelicopter and leave you (10) ………in the wilderness.
1) D. resort
2) A. little
3) C. waste
4) C. far
5) A. resembling
6) C. rely
7) A. occasional
8) hordes
9) drift
10) B. stranded

Part C:
1 - 3 (3pts)
1. A // They were less able to concentrate
2. B // influences animal feeding habits
3. B // reaction to certain weather phenomena
4 - 8 (5pts)
4. Seasonal Affective Disorder is disrupting children’s education in Russia. NG
5. Serotonin is an essential cause of human aggression.F
6. Scientific evidence links ‘happy associations with weather’ to human mood.F
7. A link between depression and the time of year has been established T
8. Melatonin levels increase at certain times of the year.)T
9 - 11 (6pts) IN ANY ORDER
B // rainy weather
D // high serotonin levels
E // sunny weather
12 - 14 (6pts)
12. B // hot weather
13. A // daylight
14. F // time cues

English Literature Assignment - Lord of the flies

What is human nature like? There have been numerous arguments of this issue since the time human beings started to care about the origins of mankind. The ancient Chinese sage, Mencius, asserted the innate goodness of the individual with his famous sayings:
“People at birth, / Are naturally good / Their natures are similar / Their habits make them different”
- Three character Classic - Wang Yinglin (Ancient Chinese author – Song Dynasty) –
However, the following author had quite a different view of human nature from that of Mencius. His name is William Golding. His work, Lord of the Files, completely reflects his pessimistic view of human nature, which he described in the work as Devil.
The book is about a group of boys whose plane crashed bringing them to an isolated island with no adults. At first, they tried to work together with the leadership of Ralph (the protagonist), with the help of wise Piggy, to build shelters and gather food and water. But soon that small ‘society’ was ruined by Jack (the antagonist) and the boys became corrupted. A boy named Simon was cruelly killed by spears and stones when Jack’s “tribe” mistook him with the “beast” (that was what they called the thing they feared). Piggy was smashed by a rock dislodged by savages. And Ralph would probably be killed without the appearance of the adults at the end of the story.
The first impression that any reader may meet when reading this book is, perhaps, about the title of the book, “Lord of the flies”. Chapter VIII revealed that the “lord of the files” of this book was a pig head swarmed with scavenging flies, created by the children as a “gift” for their “beast”. It was this “lord of the flies” that told Simon (in his hallucination) that the beast was created inside everyone.
“- Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill … You knew, didn’t you. I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Lord of the flies to Simon, chapter VIII, page 200)
As mentioned in the beginning, he thought that we were all born in sin or would fall into sin. His book was written to imply the darkness of man’s heart. Thus he called his work, describing the progress of innocent and well-educated boys becoming corrupted and, perhaps, animalistic, “lord of the flies”, an implied symbol of Beelzebub (in Christianity, it is Satan).
The most interesting character of this book may be Piggy. He is a stout, asthmatic, shortsighted and wise boy. He is the knowledge of the party. He knows what mistakes might lead to in an unknown island and tries many times to stop the children from making mistakes although almost all the boys look down on him:
“- I got the conch! Just you listen! The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach. It wasn’t half cold down there in the night. But the first time Ralph says ‘fire’ you goes howling and screaming up this here mountain. Like a pack of kids! … How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper? … Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isn’t no use. Now you been and set the whole island on fire. Won’t we look funny if the whole island burns up? …” (Piggy in the assembly, Chapter II, page 56 and 57)
Piggy is the symbol of human intelligence, however, since Golding implied too much on the darkness of man’s heart, Piggy has to receive a terrible ending, being knocked through the air under a rock. His skull cracks and his brains spill out.
“The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee … Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went … Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed…” (Chapter XI, page 253 and 254)
“Lord of the flies” is a serious book about human nature, warning us that children, even those well-educated, would easily fall into sin without the guidance of adults. His book helps the grownups “to be more compassionate, to help Ralph, respect Piggy, control Jack and lighten a little the darkness of man’s heart” (E.M. Foster, King’s College, Cambridge May 14,1962).

Schindler's List - The song of humanity

I happenned to hear about this film in my Writing class.

It's about the life of the Jews in German-occupied lands and a Nazi party member, Oskar Schindler. I was moved when I watched this film.

Oskar Schindler was a businessman. He had quite a good number of relationships with Nazi high-rank officials. At first Schindler took advantage of the Jews, who had been forced out of their houses after German force defeated Poland, because the wage for them will be cheaper than that for the Poles. Through out the film, he witnessed the massacre of innocent Jews performed by German force. I was shocked when I saw a normal Jewish woman with her daughter being shot by the German when she was walking on the street. The lives of the Jews there were worth nothing to the German. If a Jew could not show that he was a "useful" worker, he would be shot down immediately without mercy, or he would be sent to a train which would bring him to German concentration camps where he would also find no happy ending. The crime done by the German force to the Jews could not be described simply in a few words. It was a crime against human. During World War II, the Nazi killed more than 6 million Jews. In the film, I caught a scene in which German killed 10000 Jews and burned their bodies to ash. The ash from the fire was like snow. And the German just looked at them, laughing wildly. The children of the Jews were separated from the parents and brought to concentration camps where finally they would be packed in large rooms and be gassed to death. I saw the sufferings of the Jews, witnessed the children, at a very young age, tried to find a place to hide from the German force in panic. A lot of kids even had to hide in an excrement-holding place. In the factory of the German, no Jew was allowed to sit still for a while. German killed them whenever they wanted. A Jewish worker would be killed if he could only do 10 things instead of 11 things as ordered. No reason for mistakes could be accepted by the German. The end of the Jews in thoses camps and factories finally was death. But in the factory of Oskar Schindler, no Jew was killed. In fact, Oskar at that time paid little attention to the workers, the only reason his workers were not killed was because Schindler only cared about money, not killing people like many Naziers, but later his accountant, a Jew named Stern, made he change. And when Schindler heard that the Nazi intended to ship his workers to a concentration camp, he used his money to buy their lives. The name of 1100 Jews made up the famous list named "Schindler's List". Thanks to the list, 1100 Jews were rescued from Death. Oskar spent all his money to sustain his workers and during the war time, though his factory was a military one which was supposed to produce weapons, none of his product could be used in the war. And when the war ended, he also went bankrupt. Because Schindler was a Nazi party member, he had to flee. I remembered most his tears when he said farewell to his workers. He said that it was his wasting money in the past that didn't allow him to save more Jews. The film end with the scene of a Soviet soldier guided the Jews to a new place to live and the Jews buildt another life.

While the German out there killed the Jews, Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, saved people. Although he couldn't help all the Jews, his 1100 workers brought up a whole generation.

This film is really of lesson of humanity.

My dear master

This essay is my submission for a competition. Though I don't know the result, I'm glad I've finished it ^^

-o__o-

Perhaps it’s unarguable that everyone, no matter poor or rich, successful or failed, has at least a teacher. He is the person leading us to the life outside our homes, opening up new horizons for us and showing us how to become a man. Teachers are sometimes viewed as “seed-planters” since the human resource of the society depends on them. I once read an interesting poem describing the teaching career:

“To be a teacher means to be a ferryman

helping others cross large rivers
Is it because the rivers are so big

that rarely do people remember him?”

For most part of his career, a teacher may witness generations after generations grow up, enjoying the happiness of seeing his “seeds” successful or feeling deeply disappointed when one of the “seeds” becomes spoiled. All those conditions and emotions, no one knows when, have become an essential part of a teacher’s life.
My dear teacher, who taught me English from the very beginning of my secondary life, is, perhaps, an embodiment of teaching career.
“Master”, the title I often call him with great respect, is a man of his fifties. His grey hair and the sunburned skin make him look older than he really is. His forehead is full of wrinkles which, perhaps, are the results of his hot temper. And cracks dominate his hands and feet. In fact, it’s easy for a stranger to come to the wrong conclusion that he must be over sixty. His dislike of colorful things explains his habit of wearing only white shirts and black trousers. A lot of people call my master ‘weird’ but for me, he just looks like a man of another previous age.
One thing I have to admit is that my master is quite strict, in which he will get angry if anyone of us comes to class without preparing the lessons well. Many don’t like his way of teaching since they argue that he is only a teacher of good students who always learn and complete all the assignments he gives out but I, as one of his students who were punished by him several times, know that he does so because he want us to have a high level of self-actualization. For most of the time I studied English with him, I saw his efforts in helping us to establish an appropriate study method. Master made us work hard so that we could have a solid and strong foundation for future development in our careers. Surely my master is not a good pretender because although he tried to behave in a strict and serious way, we could see his happiness in his eyes when each of us achieved a higher level.
A memory that I will never forget about master happened a couple of years ago when I was at high-school. In my old school, I was one of the top students in English, so the tests were often quite easy for me, which sometimes caused my ignorance of English. One day, after long hours of playing football, I was so tired that I didn’t care to revise his lesson. As a result, the next day I did one of the worst things in my life, cheating in the test. When master found out, he was extremely angry. Through his eyes, I could feel his deep disappointment. Tears filled my eyes and my lips just had enough strength to let a few words out: “I’m sorry, sir”. My master said nothing but left the room quietly. That afternoon I ate nothing, lying thinking about my mistake. Suddenly the phone rang and from the other end came his voice: “Son, are you alright?” I was so surprised that I could hardly say anything. Master called because he was afraid that something bad would happen to me. He told me that mistakes were a fact of life and that it was the way I respond to errors that counted. That day, though I made my master disappointed, he gave me the most precious lesson I had ever had.
One characteristic of his that I admire most is his ability to work restlessly. Master spends most of his time finding improvements and solutions to his teaching method. His effort reminds me of one saying of Confucius’s: “… study without boredom and teach without rest …” Though he usually tries to hide his exhaustion, we all see his sweat wash his clothes. For me, it is his spirit of working that gives me motivation to work tirelessly so as to achieve new heights. However, because of such a busy work schedule, master’s health is seriously affected. He once told us that sometimes he failed to concentrate on marking tests or that he had several headaches. The latest traffic accident happening to him put a stop to his teaching career at school. Tried hard as he did, master was unable to continue. When I heard the news, I felt a sense of sadness in his voice. Perhaps he was so accustomed to school-life that it was hard for him to leave it. But my master is not a person who would easily sit still in a place, doing nothing, he is now in charge of some evening classes. Although I really admire his love for work, I sincerely hope master can have more time to rest since the last time I visited him, sweat still washed his shirt.

Now we don’t study with master any more, but his lessons still guide us in our ways of life. For each of us, he is not only a teacher but also a father who always cares for our life. What he teaches us is more than English, it’s about how we should live and work to the fullest. His saying still echoes in my ears every day: “As a man, you have a Heart, Love and Industry will give you Strength and Intelligence”. Every year, we gather together in his house one time, recalling the old memories; and master always remembers everything. But the chance for us to meet him seems rarer because of the busy life of each of us. Each year our master is getting older and weaker; our only wish now is that master is healthier and can live with us much and much longer so that we can give him the present he always longs for, our success.

Reading : Doublespeak - my attitude and experience

We are living in an age when avoiding making harsh, unpleasant or distateful statements is necessary. Thus in daily conversations appears doublespeak. In general, doublespeak can be divided into three main kinds: euphemism, jargon and inflated language.

First of all, euphemism is a kind of indirect words or phrases that people often use to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is. For example, 'user fees' is a politician's euphemism for taxes. To some extent, euphemism can be used to avoid hurting others' feelings. In other words, it not only protects feelings but also shows our care for them. For instance, it may be said that one is not dying, but 'fading quickly' because 'the end is near'.

The second type of doublespeak is jargon. It is the language that is used by a particular profession or group of people. Its purpose is to help the colleagues or members communicate with each other more efficiently. As a result, not every one can understand the jargon of a job. With jargon, corporations never lose money, they just experience 'negative cashflow', 'deficit enhancement', etc. and banks don't have bad loans or bad debts, they have 'non-performing assets' or 'non-performing credits'.

Finally, talking about doublespeak, we also take a look at inflated language. This kind of doublespeak, as stated in its name, is the language that has been made to be more important or impressive than it really is. Corporations take advantage of doublespeak by using it to explain for their acts of firing workers. For example, they now offer 'vocational relocation', 'career assignment and relocation', a 'career change opportunity', or 'voluntary termination'. These days no one gets fired, and you are never unemployed, you are just in an 'orderly transition betweem career changes'.

To sum up, whereas it may be considered wrong to construct words to disguise meaning, doublespeak is now an accepted and established practice. In fact, we can see that doublespeak is highly strategic and has a wide range of applications. Thus it is the way that we deal with it that counts.

* Thanks to professor William Lutz, I could get those examples to illustrate the essays.