Tuesday, November 17, 2009

“Life is full of challenges and hardships.” From the novel that you have learnt, describe how a character overcomes the challenges and hardships in his/her life.

I choose to write about the life of Kino in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. Kino’s life was full of challenges and hardships as he was poor. In order to overcome this, the Song of Family reassured Kino as the song represented harmony, peace, well-being, love and unity in his family.

Everyone, except his own family treated him with scorn and disdain. For instance, the doctor refused to treat Kino’s son, Coyotito, when the child was stung by a scorpion. This was because the doctor considered Kino and his family to be animals, when he said “I’m not a veterinary.” Kino had no choice but to endure the discrimination and treat his son with a homemade remedy made of seaweed.

Kino thought his life would change for the better when he found the pearl. Unfortunately this was not the case as his life became worse after he found the pearl. The doctor and pearl buyers tried to take advantage of Kino in order to benefit from the pearl. Intruders entered Kino’s home and tried to steal the pearl. An intruder even attacked and injured Kino. Kino’s house was burned and his boat was destroyed. In order to overcome these challenges, Kino used his brawn and even killed a man as a result. He also decided to La Paz and head for Loreto in search of a better life.

State an important decision made by one of the main characters in the novel and show how the decision changed his/her life. Support your answer with close reference to the text.

I choose to write about a decision made by Kino in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Pearl. When Kino decided to keep the pearl, this decision led to drastic changes in his life. Everyone, including Kino, imagined how they could benefit from the pearl.

Kino wanted to marry his wife, Juana, in a church, buy new clothes and shoes for his family, buy a new harpoon and a Winchester rifle and give Coyotito, his son, a good education. On the other hand, the doctor wanted to earn enough money from Kino so that he can return to France. The pearl buyers wanted to benefit from buying the pearl so that they can start their own business.

The decision to keep the pearl caused many problems for Kino. The safety of Kino’s family was threatened when intruders entered Kino’s home and tried to steal the pearl. He was also attacked and injured. His house was burned and his boat was destroyed. Kino even attacked and killed a man in order to protect the pearl. He became abusive when Juana persuaded him to throw the pearl away. In the end, Coyotito was killed by a stray bullet as Kino was pursued by three men. In conclusion, Kino’s decision to keep the pearl made him greedy, abusive and violent. His decision also led to his home and boat being destroyed. The worst was when his only son was killed.

Monday, November 16, 2009

quick note

hi to everyone who's tuning in to this blog.

i've posted two essays, and i'll post a few more later today or tomorrow.

sorry for the delay, but i spent the whole day taking pictures in ipoh yesterday so i was pretty tired.

hope your revision is going smoothly!

Silence

The moment I opened my eyes, I knew that something was amiss. I could neither hear the sound of birds chirping nor the sound of distant traffic. My immediate thought was that I had gone deaf. As I got off the bed, I felt a little groggy and knocked my head against the closet. But there was no sound! I did it again and the absence of sound confirmed my worst fear --- I had lost my sense of hearing!

With tears in my eyes, I grabbed my mobile phone to break the tragic news to my poor mother. All those years of blasting my eardrums with loud rock music have finally caught up with me. I was now officially a handicapped person. The thought of going to a special school sent a terrible shiver through me. Then it dawned on me that calling my mother was pointless. I would not be able to hear anything! The realisation fell upon me like a sledgehammer and I started sobbing uncontrollably.

After crying for a few minutes, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I had hoped that it was just a cruel nightmare, but still, I couldn’t hear anything. It was useless to cry anymore so I decided to get dressed and pay my mother a visit at her workplace. When I opened the door, I was shocked to see a large number of my neighbours outside my house.

The strangest thing was how they were desperately moving their arms excitedly, pointing at each other and gesticulating wildly to make a point. My first thought was that they were arguing but when I saw some of them scribbling in a notepad and then showing it to the others, I knew that they couldn’t hear each other too.

Oddly enough, I felt slightly better. I suppose seeing how I was not alone in my misfortune made it more bearable. I calmly made my way over to the crowd and opened my mouth to speak. I was not sure if any sounds were made, but I definitely heard nothing. Mrs Lim and the others looked at me with mouth agape and eyes wide open. I gently took the notepad and marker pen from Mr Kupusamy’s hands and wrote:

“CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

Mrs Lim quickly scribbled something onto her exercise book and showed it to me.

“NO. YOU?”

I wrote my reply and showed it to her.

“NO. WHAT HAPPENED?”

She wrote something and showed it to me.

“DUNNO. WE ALL DEAF.”

Just then, I noticed a car from the corner of my eye. It was my mother. I wondered if she tried honking because our gate was blocked by several of our neighbours. I pointed at my mother’s car and they quickly moved away.

To cut a long story short, everyone in the world had gone completely deaf because of some strange and inexplicable reason. Scientists and experts have theorised that it could have been caused by the oversaturation of electromagnetic radiation in our atmosphere. Apparently the levels of electromagnetic radiation has become dangerously high in recent years due to mobile phone usage and the increasing number of base stations being built all over the world. Perhaps someday we will find out the truth.

All I can say is that living in a soundless world takes some getting used to. For me, the worst part is not being able to listen to any music. The world is slowly adapting to this drastic change. The colours of everything man-made seem to get brighter and more vibrant every day. Teachers no longer have to scold their students for making noise in class. And in return, students no longer have to worry about being scolded for talking in class. We no longer have to endure the annoying noise of loud motorcycles and modified cars. I cannot say for certain if the world has become a better place, but one thing I know for sure is that, the day we lost our sense of hearing, our ability to speak was made redundant too.

Parents are not spending enough time with their children nowadays. Discuss.

Nowadays, parents are not spending enough time with their children. In this article, we will look at several reasons why parents are not spending enough time with their children as well as the effects of this phenomenon.

In recent years, parents have become increasingly preoccupied with their jobs and careers. This is especially true following the 2007 global economic downturn which we are still recovering from. As a result, parents are more concerned about putting food on the table and trying their best to avoid losing their jobs than spending enough time with their children.

Another reason why parents are now spending less time with their children is due to their belief that spending quality time with their children can be replaced with showering their children with material goods. Such parents believe that as long as they keep their children happy with new clothes, mobile phones, portable music players and more pocket money, they do not need to spend time with them.

Given a choice, most children would prefer to spend time with their friends, rather than with their own parents. These children believe that their parents do not understand them the way their friends do. Moreover, they feel that their freedom is restricted when spending time with their parents.

While parents are preoccupied with their careers and jobs, their children spend most of their time being involved in their school life. The life of a student has become very examination-oriented. These days, not only do children attend school but also a variety of tuition classes and extracurricular activities. With this, children would hardly find the time to spend enough time with their parents except during the year-end school holidays.

There are both positive and negative effects when parents do not spend enough time with their children. On the positive side, their children may become more independent and there will be fewer opportunities for arguments. Their children will also learn to fend for themselves when their parents are not around. Family life may become more peaceful and harmonious if there is less friction between parents and their children.

On the other hand, children may become involved in unhealthy activities if their parents do not spend sufficient time with them. The lack of supervision may cause the children to mingle with the wrong company. Furthermore, the relationship between parents and their children may deteriorate if too little time is spent together as a family unit. Both parties may gradually feel less love for each other which may eventually break up the family.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Answers for Set 1: Questions 1-15

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. B
6. D
7. A
8. B
9. A
10. A
11. C
12. D
13. D
14. A
15. D

Formal Letter of Complaint/Suspicious Youths in Neighbourhood

Tan Ah Beng

111 Jalan Kekwa

Taman Bunga Baru

31400 Ipoh

Perak Darul Ridzuan

__________________________________________________

Chairman of the District Council

Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh

Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil

30450 Ipoh

Perak Darul Ridzuan 3 NOVEMBER 2009

Dear Sir

Neighbourhood Safety

On behalf of the residents in Taman Bunga Baru, I would like to call your attention to the safety of our neighbourhood. In recent months, several abandoned houses in our neighbourhood are visited by gangs of suspicious youths on motorcycles. This development has caused a great deal of concern among us as we have reason to believe that these youths are the cause of several problems.

2. Numerous houses have been broken into within the past month. We, the residents, are truly worried about the safety of our families. Cash, valuables and various electrical appliances have been stolen from these houses. Although police reports have been made, the problem still persists.

3. Apart from the burglaries, we have also found various items missing from the outside of our homes. These items include water meters, flower pots, shoes, bicycles and even the laundry which has been hung to dry. Not only do these petty thefts cause financial loss but also a great deal of inconvenience to us.

4. Vandalism has also become rampant in our neighbourhood. The walls of many houses have been spray-painted with obscene graffiti. Numerous public telephone booths have also been rendered useless by vandals.

5. Loud music from the abandoned houses can also be heard on a daily basis. This occurs practically every day and goes on until the wee hours of the morning. As a result, many residents have been disturbed from their sleep.

6. The irresponsible youths constantly organize illegal motorcycle races within our neighbourhood. We are concerned because illegal racing poses a danger to the residents, especially children. Moreover, such activities are usually associated with unhealthy activities such as drug abuse and gangsterism.

7. The presence of the delinquent youths has caused much distress among the residents of Taman Bunga Baru. Therefore, it is hoped that immediate action will be taken by the authorities to rectify the situation.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully

----------------------

TAN AH BENG

President

The Neighbourhood Committee of Taman Bunga Baru