Topic 1_equal numbers of male and female students_ngocphan

Recently, there has appeared a hot controversy over numbers of male and female students in universities. Many people think that the gender ratio should be set 1:1 by universities in every subject. However, as far as I am concerned, I totally dissent from this idea because it can cause inequality for students, inconvenience for the university and labor waste for society.
First and foremost, accepting equal numbers of students according to their sexes in all subjects is so unfair for them. It cannot be denied that males and females have their own characteristics, likings and abilities. For example, males are often stronger than females. They tend to like science and technology while women prefer lighter work like needlework or cooking, so each gender knows more about that field than the other does. As the result, there are some jobs that are more suitable to this gender than the other. Therefore, if the policy is administered, many skillful male students can be ruled out by worse female ones and vice versa, causing inequity between students.
In addition, this policy may cause a lot of troubles for the university itself. Needless to say, no one feel comfortable if he or she has to suffer disparity. Students, especially female ones, may oppose the policy and use some ways like complaining about that university through media to struggle for their interest. It eventually has bad effect on its reputation. Another obstacle is that the number of females and males applying for a subject is not equal. So if very few of one of the two sides want to take a subject, the university will encounter some problems finding enough students for a subject. More seriously, because man and women have different background on one certain field; for instance, men have more skills in computer programming than women do. Then teachers will also find it more difficult to instruct all students due to their differences of ability to acquire.
Finally, labor waste is likely to happen if the numbers of school-boys or school-girls are limited. The fact is that the policy will weed out many competent candidates while accepting less proficient ones. The outcome will be that the value of society’s labors will be less than it would be. The problem can become more serious if those competent candidates have to join other fields in which they do not have motivation to be willing to devote and they work very badly. Thus, it will be such a waste if universities indirectly impede what they want to pursue by that way.
In short, universities should not require equal numbers of genders because it may trigger injustice, troubles and labor waste. Instead, they should focus more on students’ quality.

Writing topic

Writing topic:Do you agree or disagree with the statement: Universities should accept equal numbers of male and female students in every subject.
Deadline: Thu, 25th, 2011 (today)

Should or shouldn't do things you do not enjoy doing_ Dung Leo

It is undeniable that anyone in this world sometimes encouter a situation in which he or she has to perform some unwanted tasks. In my opinion, it is for his or her own goods, as such tasks help them to learn more skills as well as experiencing new level of perception.

First and foremost, the tasks which someone does not want to do are often difficult to deal with. It requires a huge amount of time and effort to investigate, analize, and then resolve them. Hence, in the process of fulfilling these tasks, one would like to find a more efficient and proficient way to deal with those obstacles laying in their way rather than being stuck with traditional solution. There are more often the cases when someone has to deal with difficult problem, he becomes trailblazer in his field by finding a new efficient method to solve several alike problems. For example, my colleague, who struggled with transportation law, as he had a hard time to learn and remember all the tedious rules in a handbook before the exam to get his driver license. After that, he wrote a computer program which help others to learn these rules with visual images. Other people in the same situation use his program and find it very helpful for them.

Secondly, when a person do not want to do a thing, this task is oftern a difficult one or in more popular case, they find themselves incapable of performing it. Their imagination become the first and tremendous obstacle in their way to accomplish their task. In order to complete it, first they must have sufficient courage to disillusion their impression. With a illusion being removed, they can commence on solving real problem, and step by step, they can finish it undoubtedly. What important is, after finishing their task, they will find their problems are not as big as it seemed, and they have more confidence in themselves. If they are capable of doing this difficult task, why not the others?

To conclude, I strongly believe that one should challenge themselves by perform the task he or she does not want to do. By doing this, he or she not only learn more potential skills as well as possess a whole new level of perception.

Reminder

Hi guys!
This is to remind you to learn by heart all the new words in the readings of Mini Test 9, Lingual Forum.
And to inform you of the next class' schedule (on Friday):
- Listening (6:30 to 7:45): Mini Test 12 (including Daguerreotypes and Telescopes)
- Vocabulary (7:45 to 8:15): New words in 2 reading passages of Mini test 9
- Speaking (8:15 to 9:00): Integrated speaking, Practice Questions 1+2, page 76 and 77. Preparation in advance is recommended.
See ya.

Today's schedule (Aug, 9, 2011)

Nhung is gonna be absent today so Ngoc will be in charge of preparing laptop and My will bring speakers.
The class' schedule:
- Reading (6:30 pm to 7: 45 pm): Mini test 9, Lingual Forum (including Corals and Mount St. Helens)
- Vocabulary ( 7:45 pm to 8: 15 pm)
- Speaking (8:15 pm to 9: 00 pm): Lingual Forum, Independent speaking, Task 2 Page 132 to 146 (including 8 topics). You MUST prepare all these 8 topics in advance and when in class, you will draw lots to deal with one topic.
Plz be present at class on time. See ya.

Practice test 9_Ngocphan

Both the reading and the listening passage deal with the same topic: the body temperature of dinosaurs. However, their perspective is different. While the writer argues that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, the lecture casts doubt on the writer’s argument at three points as follows.

Above all, the writer says that dinosaurs and mammals have some similarities such as being active and having erect posture. So because mammals are warm-blooded; dinosaurs were, too. Conversely, the speaker claims that many creatures like komodo dragons which can run quickly to catch large prey like deer are active but still cold-blooded. Moreover, no one knows exactly how dinosaurs’ posture actually looked like and there is no evidence that warm-blooded metabolism is closely related to erect posture.

Second, according to the reading passage, the dinosaurs had some behaviors similar to that of some other warm-blooded animals. For example, they kept their offspring warm and fed them because their young had no teeth. On the contrary, the speaker contends that their young did not depend much on their parents because they could hunt food near their nests from a very early age. Furthermore, nurturing behavior can be observed in almost all mothers including snakes and lizards that lay eggs. Therefore, caring for their children is not persuasive evidence that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.

 Finally, the lecturer refutes the notion presented in the reading that the dinosaurs have feathers, hairs on their skin. And like in birds and reptiles, the main functions of feathers and fur of dinosaurs is to keep their body warm. Instead, she argues that such feathers serve many other purposes ranging from attracting mates to threatening enemies and even camouflaging.  Thus, saying that dinosaurs use their feathers for warmth is sheer speculation.

IT - practice test 8 - Bui Nhung

In the sets of material, both the reading and the listening focus on the reasons for the extinction of the dodo birds. The listening gives 3 main arguments to cast doubt on the reading.

At the first point, the writer states that the disappearance of dodo was mainly due to the overhunting and occupying land of the Dutch. However, the speaker presents a totally different point. He states that little remaining of the bird like bone or feather was found in Dutch settlement. Furthermore, to the Dutch, dodo’s meat had a terrible taste. There was a obvious evidence that in the Dutch language, dodo means “disgusting birds”.

Secondly, in the reading, the Dutch came and exploited the precious wood in the forest that destroyed the balance environment of animals there, especially the dodo. In contract to this point, the listening shows different evidences. The expansion of the Dutch has not succeeded at all due to some reasons. One of them is that they may be prohibited to do that. Moreover, there was a proof that in 18^th and 19^th centuries, the French and the Europe rulers played a main role in this extinction.

Last but not least, the writer claims that the introduction of some new predators that hunted and ate the birds was the most important reason. Nevertheless, the professor do not agree with that argument. There are a lot of evidences in many studies supporting his reasoning. It was the calamities in the 15^th century that made the mass deaths of not only  the dodo but also numerous other animals. It means that the enormous disasters like huge floods and cyclones mainly caused the disappearance of the dodo.

1. What would u prefer to get information, an internet or a book? Why? - My

1. What would u prefer to get information, an internet or a book? Why?

Thank for the development of technology, people have many ways to access information to gain knowledge for their study, work or entertainment. Beside the traditional resources like books, people can get information by electrical data through internet or vice verse. In such plenty of ways, I would like to use books more than internet because of three reasons: quality of information, benefit of authors and personal reason.

Firstly, books contain whole of highly believable human’s knowledge. Books are carefully examined by the publications and authorities before being printed, so people can trust in all information in books. There are no doubt that part of information currently available in internet has good references and well control by the authorities such as legal documents in government ministries’ website. However, there are a large number of information in internet are lack of precision, seeing that it is too easy for everyone to upload information to internet. An obvious example are Wikimedia, everyone can writing and edit or upload information. So information in books is good reference in every work and study.

Secondly, books bring benefit to the authors whose hard working is resulted in the books. Authors will receive payment when their books are published as well as the respect from readers. Therefore, the authors are more motivated to be able to contribute more valuable books. In contract, many authors are less willing to write any more when seeing that their works in many years are available in internet. Many internet users can use their work without permission or even though do not know the names of authors. So people are willing to pay for books as the thank to author; in addition, they encouraged author to produce more beneficial information.

Finally, beside the reasons above, personally, books are my interest. Not just reading books when needing any information, when being stressful, I found the peace in book and forgot all my troubles I was facing. Books like good friends to spend all the early morning in balcony with and enjoy the life. Books become part of my life; the part cannot be replacement by any resources or means of entertainment. Using internet can bring information but it cannot enrich the souls of people.

In conclusion, although internet is greatly convenience, many people still would like to use books. Nowadays, they would like to use other resources of information in addition to the tradition ways to get the best results.

P/S

Xin lỗi cả nhà em làm nhầm đề! Tại cái đề trước cái đề environment này cũng là small town hay big city nên em nhầm. E căn cứ vào đề trước để làm đề tiếp theo mà!

Topic 11_ Help or harm the environment_Ngocphan

It is said that we do not inherit our earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Being aware of that, what is the humans’ attitude towards the duty of protecting the environment? In my opinion, people are just doing so much harm to the environment. The writing is going to analyze this issue at three points as follows.

First and foremost, human beings are straining every nerve to exploit natural resources. There is a fact that people have much dependence on the nature. They need natural elements such as air, water and land to survive. They even need further things to satisfy their needs at higher levels. For examples, they destroy forest and develop minerals to make products or build constructions and natural gas or oil to use as fuels in the daily life. According to WWF, humans are consuming 20% more than the resources’ renewal rate and the people’s consuming rate of coal, oil and gas increased 700% between 1961 and 2000. As that process takes place day by day, natural resources - especially nonrenewable resources such as coal, metals, oil and so forth - are under threat to the edge of exhaustion.

Secondly, people discharge contaminants to the environment every day. Apart from environmental accidents that are out of people’s control like oil spills and nuclear explosions from which a lot of toxic chemicals are swept away to the oceans, people also do harm to the environment on purpose just to satisfy their needs and greed. Specifically, there are more and more companies’ scandals of discharging untreated wastewater every year. Besides, people toss trash and waste much of which is made up of one-time-use products and use plastics which are made from toxic chemicals and do not biodegrade. No matter they discharge the waste water and trash by chance or on purpose, their actions obviously pollute our lands, rivers, lakes and oceans a lot and make the pollution in an alarming state.

Finally, people have driven animals to the edge of extinction. It cannot be denied that most of animals are valuable, because they supply meat that is very healthy to humans. Some of their organs can be used as medicaments. Plus, people may tan furs from many kinds of wild animals like panthers and tigers to make leather which is a perfect material for making shoes, coats, gloves and the like. That is the motivation for people to directly kill animals. More notably, at present, people can kill wild animals in an indirect way. As mentioned above, people discharge poisonous waste to water resources and destroy forests where animals take up residence on. Since those animals do not have places to live, they cannot survive and as the result, many of them go to extinction.

To sum up, by exhausting natural resources, discharging contaminants to the environment and making wild animals gradually extinct, people have been seriously ruined the environment.

Topic 10 - hard-working or lucky - Bui Nhung

The formulate of success contains three main factors which are talented, lucky and hard-working. The lack of one of them could lead to failure. In my opinion, I totally disagree with the claim in the topic due to two core reasons.

First and foremost, luck could help our success come sooner. In many circumstances, we are a good understanding of knowledge and willing to spend all days to work. However, we still meet a lot of difficulties that obstruct us to come to a good result. On the contrary, having a little luck, everything runs more smoothly and easily. Time-consuming situation will never have chance to happen. For example, in business, to set up a small business, we desire capital. A feasible business plan has been outlined. Market opportunities to start up are favorable and available. But we just have little money. Without more money, our dream can not become true. Fortunately, there are business angels who are ready to invest in our company. Having money and other support form them like experience and administration management, our small enterprise at the beginning will become a large one in 2 or 3 years instead of 10 years. It should be noted that our process to succeed may last longer without luck.

Secondly, luck assists us avoid failure. In our life, there are a lot of situations which go beyond our control. At that time, only luck can save us. For instance, we have a severe disease. We have met a lot of doctors, tried to use enormous measures; however, that disease can not disappear. With little hope, by chance, we have been cured by a new method that has just invented. Or sometimes, we do prepare carefully for a outdoor trip. Unfortunately, it rains heavily. Our trip must be cancelled. That case is our of our control, so it is necessary for us to have luck.

On the other hand, luck that is not just a present of god can be created by ourselves. The saying that luck is nothing is mainly due to the fact that luck is just considered a gift. However, it is not a good chance if there is no our effort. I am strongly convinced that luck only come to persons who have bright goals, go right direction and have a good preparation. When the luck comes, they are able to catch it. there are a lot of people seeking a job in finance. Just some people know of recruitment of a large and famous bank which could facilitate our career. That is a really big chance. Nevertheless, without having the above standards, we will never have that job. In contrast, if having a right and suitable preparation, we can seize it easily.

All in all, being lucky gives us more advantages than having no luck. It helps our success come more earlier or stay away a breakdown. It is not only a present but also a result of our own attempt. 

Warning

This is to remind you guys to learn by heart all the new words in the previous Friday's listening prompts. There will be no exceptions next Tuesday. Nhung's gonna be in charge of  testing you. Good luck!
One more thing for Nga, Duc, Nghia, My: plz don't forget to bring money with you next time to pay a fine because of not having handed in your writings. 10k/person. Hahaha!!!

Contend and rules of our class

Reading: actual test 1 has been done. The next Tuesday, we will do actual test 2. After that, our group intend to turn to Cambridge book. However, this book will be finish by ourselves at home. We just take new words of each reading passage which will be tested at class. The duty to prepare new words will be followed a list in turn. About what passages for each class will be nominated later.

Instead of reading at class, we will change to reproduction task. It means that some short reading passage will be chosen. We have a fixed period of time to read. Then we must summarize it. Each person must present  one of them in our class.

Writing: We have 2 tasks.

·        The first one is about independent task. We have a list of topics. Now topic 8 have been covered.

·        The second task is about integrated task. We have gone to practice test 8 at p.77. (In the next Thursday, the practice test 8 must be posted).

·         

Speaking: We have some tasks:

·        First and foremost, it is independent task. A list of independent must be prepared by someone. At class, each member will pick one of them and response it.

·        Secondly, it is integrated task. We have done the page numbered 65. Next class: we will go to page 66.

Listening: as you know at our class in the recent Friday.

Vocabulary: we will take words from reading and listening parts. Each class, the coordinator who prepares for vocabulary section has to find out 30 new words.

·        From reading, as I explain before.

·        From listening: new words will be take from it. (Sometimes, a word is news to this person but another person already know it. It’s ok).

Rule:

·        Writing: Time to post independent essay and Integrated task is before 12pm of Monday and 12pm of Thursday, respectively.

If a person who posts late, he/she will be punished. The sentence is 10.000vnd.

·        Speaking: as you know. 500vnd for each time you speak Vietnamese at class is the punishment.

·        Vocabulary: we also use old rule. It is 500vnd for each word missed.

P/S: Vocabulary for the next class (on Tuesday) is new words (which are considered to be news to you) of the minitest 11 in listening part. Remember to learn them.

Essays of	is commented by
Nghia	My
Ngoc	Dung
Dung	Duc
Duc	Nghia
Nga	Ngoc
My	Nhung
Nhung	Nga

When commenting, we should take care of both grammar and ideas. If necessary, we can help each other to rewrite poor passages.

Practice 7_Dung Leo

Transmitting from crops to biofuel issue is discussed in both listening and reading material, however they have directly opposite opinions at some points.

First and foremost, the decrease of crop for cultivating food product is examined. The passage literally states that using higher percentage of agriculture land means lower percentage of crop will be used for food product cultivation. As a result, shortage of food will likely to occur. However, according to the professor, we only need to sacrifice 5% of the US's corn production for the whole world's biofuel consumption. Hence, the lack of food caused by biofuel product replacement is not likely to happen, and the profit is obviously outweight the disadvantage.

Secondly, according to the reading, food price going up might be a direct result if we replace food product by biofuel one. As the supply of food will be decreased, the price of food will likely to go up. However, the professor expresses a disagreement with the passage. She states that there are other factors contribute to the rise of food price. Moreover, the drop in gasoline price will compensate for the food price increase. Hence, the increase in food price is not a reasonable argument to stand againts the transmitting process from crops to biofuel.

Lastly, the reading passage claims that the farmers' intends to cultivate crop for biofuel might lead to less nutritional value of the food crop, and as a result, lead to some health problems. However, the professor states that, unlike food crop's byproduct, many biofuel ones are inedible to many livestocks. Consequently, the meat production from livestocks will likely to drop, and as a result, people will have to find other alternatives which free them from worrying about diseases cause by eating too much animal fats.

Practice test 7_Ngocphan

 Both the listening and the reading discuss some concerns of biofuels production from crops, but an opposition to the reading’s arguments is implied in the listening at three points as follows.

The first point is the decrease of crops cultivated for food. The passage shows that using crops for fuels means fewer crops will be left over for people’s consumption. In another words, there will occur a shortage of food to people.  However, the proportion of crops used for producing fuels, according to the professor, is not enough to have a large affect on the food supply. For instance, only less than 5% the US’s total yield of corn was needed in 2008 to meet the world’s demand of biofuels of that year. It is not counting billions of tons of corn produced in other countries.

The professor’s next argument focuses on the increase of food price. It is stated in the reading that the food prices will go up as the supply of food crops decreases each year. On the contrary, the professor says that it is true that food prices have been increased these days, but it is due to many causes. Moreover, the presence of biofuels will lead to the decrease of gasoline price. Therefore, the increase of food prices can be covered by the decrease of fuel prices.

Finally, with regard to human’s health, the lecturer refutes the notion presented in the passage that when farmers tend to cultivate them for fuels, they will degrade the nutritional value of their crops, so people will be deprived of some certain nutrients and it consequently causes them some health problems. Instead, he claims that most kinds of crops employed for fuels are uneatable and they are used as food to feed livestock instead. Nowadays, many people in the US have died of eating too much animal fats. So the deduction of cattle-feed can lessen the number of livestock. As the result, people will try to find healthier alternatives to eat.  

To sum up, the points made in the lecture contradict the reading. The lecturer concludes that making fuels from crops does not create problems related to food deprivation, higher food prices and negative effects on consumers’ health.   

IT - practice test 7 - Bui Nhung

In the sets of material, both the reading and the listening focus on some concerns about transmitting from food crops to biofuel. The listening casts doubt on the reading at some points.

At the first point, the writer contends that using too much agriculture land for biofuel production could cause shortage of food. However, the speaker has a different opinion. She claims that as estimated the current demand of biofuel is 1.5 billion gallon. To produce such amount of biofuel, we just need only 5% of the US’s whole corn production in 2008. Moreover, it should be noted that according to the US corn association, in 2 next decades, US’s corn yield will increase 2 times as big as the current yield. So, the concern about lack of food caused by biofuel can rarely happen.

Secondly, according to the reading, increment of food price results from biofuel production. But, the lecturer refutes this argument. She states that there are other reasons for increasing price of food. In fact, price of biofuel will not be on the rise. The customer may save a large amount of money which can be used to buy other things including food. Moreover, having the same sum of money, different people have different options in consumption. It means that instead of making price of food rise, consumption biofuel could deprive food cost of increment.

Lastly, with regard to health concern, the reading claims that more crops for biofuel could result in less nutritional value for farmers. In contrast to this attitude, the listening oppose it that a lot of products of biofuel crop are not used by both human and animal feed. As a result, the meat production from livestock will drop. People will eat less meat than before that helps us avoid some serious diseases caused by eating too much fat.

Topic 9 - city or countryside - Bui Nhung

Children need to be cared about both physical and spiritual life. From my point of view, living in a big city can create much more favorable conditions for children to grow up. There are 3 main reasons for me to hold my opinion.

First and foremost, in a big city, health care is better than that in the countryside. According to many reports, the density of hospital or health centers in cities is more. We will have more choices to find out the best department to cure for a particular diseases of children. Furthermore, in hospitals in urban areas, there are the latest equipments, most modern treatments and best doctors... In some emergency circumstances, it is such conditions that shorten time to give a first aid and save the life of our child. We can regularly take a lot of guidelines to look after them in health centers. In contract, there are few hospitals which possess poor health services in rural areas. That limits our choices or may cause danger in some cases.

It should be noted that education services in urban areas can supply better chance for our children to develop. It is obvious that big cities are centers of the best and largest schools, institutes... Each of them gives numerous curriculums. Based on the difference between children and what they need, we can find out the most suitable course for them. But the number of choice in the countryside is limited. Besides liberal arts schools, there are a big number of gifted schools in a big city. In early age, every child has chance to find out its talent and nurse its passion. For example, if our child is talented in music. Conservatories and chances to join competition system would facilitate such kids to develop and perform better than that in rural areas.

Finally, big cities have better entertainment conditions for children than countryside. After hard-learning days, entertainment is necessary for kids to relax and create interests for the next days. In towns, extra-curricular activities is more diversified such as going to the countryside, organizing camps in park or zoo, enjoying voluntary activities and orientation programs.... Moreover, there are a lot of entertainment centers for kids to play. Just going into a complex entertainment center, they can take part in various games ranging from dancing, swimming, singing to electronic games. Such activities helps children not only have fun but also improve the brain and mindset of children.

All in all, in order to take care our children, we need the best conditions. Living in a big city can provide us with such conditions. Our kids have better health care, education and entertainment services to assist their growth. 

R - 22nd July 2011

Listening: next class (on the next Friday): minitest 11
Speaking: next class (on the next Tuesday): pre-speaking 4 (p.66) and practice question 1 (p. 76)
Vocabulary: next class (on the next Tuesday) from "correlate"

IT - practice test 6 - Bui Nhung

In the sets of material, both the reading and listening focus on the camouflage mechanism whether or not helping zebra defense themselves. But the listening casts doubt on the reading at three points.

At the first point, the writer contends that white and black stripes of zebra’s coat may make its predators have optical illusion and misjudge the distance between zebra and the predator. However, the lecturer has a different opinion. He claims that through a lot of observation, hunting zebra is a long process. Instead of catching a zebra in one bound, predators like lions usually pursue their prey until their victims are too tired to run away. At this time, the lions will swarm and feed on their prey.

Secondly, according to the reading, when zebras gather together in a herd, it is difficult for their predator to pick out an individual from its herd. But, the speaker totally opposes that argument. He points out that this theory is only effective if zebras gather closely together. But such cooperation is easily broken down. Because each zebra tends to defense itself. When predators appear and go around zebra herd, zebras will panic and flee their herd. Therefore, the purpose to protect the young, small or injured zebra is over. Predators can pick any one they want.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Lastly, with regard to the ability to camouflage with other color in grasslands, the reading claims that the combination between the colors of zebra’s coat and grasses helps zebras be unnoticed by its predators. In contract, the professor states that this argument is opposite to the previous one that zebras camouflage by standing together in an open and wide plain. Furthermore, scientists have no evidence to prove that this activity can divert the attention of predator away and save the life of zebra.

R - 19th July 2011

Reading: next class (on the next Tuesday): Actual Test 1
Speaking: next class (on Friday): pre-speaking 3&4
Vocabulary: next lesson: from "contraception".

Topic 8: Book or experience_ Ngocphan

I agree with the statement “not everything that is learned is contained in books” because we actually gain knowledge from various sources including both books and experience. Although the two sources can provide us with a large amount of knowledge, they are different from each other according to some aspects.

Firstly, reading books seems more convenient because they are portable and contain various subjects to meet our demand ranging from fundamental to deeper knowledge. On the contrary, we cannot do it through learning from experience just because we do not have conditions. For example, we want to learn about Mars, the Sun, we cannot get there to experience. Also, apart from some scientists, we can hardly join the research plan to do research on them. Another example is that we cannot go to all places in the world to learn about those ones; the most common way is to read books.

Nonetheless, books are often theoretical and may become backward after a short time. The reality often changes and is often much more complex. Not everything can be covered in books. Sometimes, the theory in a certain period of time cannot be applied to other periods. There are also many things else that we have to do research on to discover new things or create new inventions which are not available in books. So we have to learn from experience. Only by learning from experience can we draw precious lessons which are the key to success.

Although both are important, in my opinion, “experience is the best teacher”. Through experience, we can learn much more things with up-to-date information and it has been proven to be easier for us to remember those lessons.  In the real life, any activities require skills. Without practice, we cannot possess them and succeed even if we are good at theory. In cooking, for instance, if reading books can help one be good at cooking without practicing, then anyone can be good at it. One even cannot cook a dish well for several first times but he needs to make many more attempts to succeed. There is a fact that one who does not read books can still work after some training programs by a certain company, but one who just reads books can hardly do a job without practicing.

To sum up, books are more convenient to read and have various topics to study, but experience can train us to work more effectively, proficiently and flexibly. As Learning from experience gives us more benefits, it is more important than learning from books.

Topic 8 - book or experience - Bui Nhung

In our life, there are a lot of sources for us to get knowledge such as books and experience. Each of them has their particular advantages. In my opinion, what we can gain from books is more importance than those from our experiencing.

First and foremost, reading documents provides us with various vital guidelines to direct what we experienced. Academic information from books gives us basics of making decision in professional work. Through reading paperwork, we know the overview or insights of our major, theories and opinions of experts who we can not meet face to face, what the requirements of our job are or anything that can be revealed by asking other people. Furthermore, in our daily life, our activities are influenced by what we read. For example, fairy-tales or history stories in books supply us morality standard and right behaviors which lead us to become a good person. More simply, if we do not know how to cook a disk we can take the recipe and instructions from a book.

Secondly, it can not be denied that information in books is organized more scientific and creditable that that from experience. In reality, books are usually written by professionals. They include the cream of the wise knowledge of human beings for generations. More importantly, they are also certified by a panel of judges before published. On the contrary, knowledge from practice usually goes form our own narrow sight that easily leads us to catch part of the whole view and negative or subjective actions. It should be noted that information of documents is arranged in order. It is very easy for us to take a broader view. Moreover, it also helps us save lots of time to get a huge amount of knowledge. Without books, we may lost many working experience years to know these information or may be never know about them.

Finally, gaining knowledge in books teaches us some important skills while experience can not. Books give us different aspects or opposite opinion on a particular subject. Frequently, the ideas in books are hidden. So, reading books helps our logical mindset, analytical skill and critical thinking skill be sharpened. In other words, experience can teach us some things like how to be happy or sad, how to get lessons after experiencing a failure, how to improve relationship and how to do a work after practicing many times... They are the fundamentals for us to just survive. It is obvious that it very easy for us to gain them. But if we want to go beyond our limitation, we need other extraordinary skills which are only provided by books.

All in all, books are considered as a more important source that experience. The guidelines, credit of books and what skills we can learn from books have strongly supported my opinion. 

IT - practice test 5 - Bui Nhung

In the sets of material, both the reading and listening focus on the placebo effect whether or not having influence on our health but the listening casts doubt on the reading at some points.

At the first point, the writer says that without placebos, immune system in our body can cure some diseases. However, the lecturer has a different opinion. He claims that most illnesses need to have a particular treatment which is prescribed by doctors and we can ourselves overcome these diseases. On the other hand, most doctors give patients a real physical treatment or just a false one like a sugar pill. That person strongly believe that these prescription make physical effect on their disease.

Secondly, in the reading, placebos are considered that they do not have real impact so they can not make physical change. But the speaker totally opposes that argument based on some studies. These studies show that placebos have real effect and create physical impact through the change of symptom of some illnesses. Even placebos are used as a trick to make psychological feeling. According to some researches, participants joining in these experiments had took placebos, 30 to 60 % of them have demonstrated physical change. They also found that during the period of treatment by placebos, there are some change in our brain which is related to physical recovery.

Lastly, with regarding to impacts of diet and exercise... the reading claims that these solutions is more effective than placebos. On the contrary, the professor points out that dieting or doing exercise just improves our health. They can kill bacteria or prevent some disease even ailments. But while placebos could help us to crack down on some illnesses like colds or attacks of bacteria. Furthermore, in some situations, physical activities could cause stress on us and make reverse effects.

R - 12th July 2011

Reading: next class: Practice test 10
Speaking: next class(on Friday): pre-speaking task 1&2. (you'd better prepare at home before going to class)
Vocabulary: next class: from "conserve"

Topic 7 - characteristics of a good friend - Bui Nhung

I have met a lot of persons who are intelligent, kind-hearted and reliable... Each of them gave me a particular feeling. Frankly, I like the sense of humor of my close friend most. From my point of view, sense of humor is the fundamental factor to be a good friend due to the following reasons.

First and foremost, I can learn how to cleverly make other people happy and limit my downside from that characteristic of my best friend. Owning a big sense of humor, he always find out good aspects in bad circumstances. Keeping smile, he is ready to make a amazing story or idea to encourage other people properly and change their bad humor into good mood. His way to support others by his exciting stories and optimistic spirit has being taught me so much. Furthermore, I am a firm person and lack of humor. I always tended to raise the difficulty level of an issue and rarely smile. Being a close friend with him, I laugh more and be flexible and less fear when facing problems. So, personally I can benefit much from the characteristic of a sense of humor.

Next, based on his sense of humor, our friendship is being better and deeper. Whenever I have sadness, he always give me confident and fun by telling a funny story. He are willing to spend hours listening to me, then he tries to make my sadness become comical and amazing. For instance, one time I got a bad mark in history subject because I can not remember exactly the time of historical events. By exercising this attribute, he transferred all these event to a game by combining each event with a step in a game and adding some actors that makes it more interesting. That game is my favorite, so I can remember much easier. On the other hand, a sense of humor always helps our conversation full of laugh and fun. By raising or slow down his voice and utilizing some humorous examples, he can transform a tense discussion into a comfortable one.

I am so lucky because having a close friend with a big sense of humor. Such kind of personality teach me not only the necessary of laugh but also the way to change our temper. It is also a vital element to support my friendship.

IT - practice test 4 - Bui Nhung

Both the reading and the listening passage discusses the same topic that is about sulfur dioxide. But their perspective is totally different. While the reading mentions three main bad effects of it, the listening claims that sulfur dioxide is helpful in some ways.

First and foremost, in the passage, that substance causes smog and makes fog thicker. So it harms people’s health and traffic business. However, in the lecture, sulfur dioxide owns a lot of good aspects. Huge and thick clouds created by sulfur dioxide are effective barriers to obstruct solar radiation and reflect sunlight back in the space. Through that process, the damage caused by global warming and the earth’s temperature are alleviated.

Next, the writer claims that sulfur dioxide should be responsible for breathing problems. However, the lecturer opposes that argument by giving two points. Just some substances containing in the air polluted do a harm for human’s breathing, and sulfur dioxide does contribute nothing to this issue. In addition, only people suffering from some diseases relating to breathing is sensitive to sulfur dioxide. It means that it is dangerous to few people who are weak before or old people.

Finally, with regarding to acid rain, the passage shows that sulfur dioxide is the main reason for damaging human heath and surrounding environments like trees and the surface of buildings. On the other hand, the speaker says that acid rain is created by a lot of ingredients including nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. But instead of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide is the main contributor to this severe phenomenon. Moreover, releasing this substance from the air can not end acid rain falling.