Monday 30 November 2009

Silver Blaze & other stories


I like mystery story and I enjoyed reading this book. There were three stories in this book and all of them had a unexpected ending. Especially the third story " The six Napoleons" did. The speedy pace of change and unforeseen development pull me in to this story. In the last scene which shows how Holmes had solved the mystery, I had delightful surprise by his brilliant deduction.


Yukari

Sunday 29 November 2009

Rendezvous with Rama


This book is pure science fiction story. I enjoyed this better than the other which I read before this book, because I like to see science fiction movies and I've been interested in science.

This book was written by Arthur C. Clarke who is the most famous science fiction writers of the twentieth centuries. I think his most popular story is 2001: A Space Odyssey written in 1968. The story was written for a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick. I was impressed to see the movie when I was in high school. The movie has been one of my favorite movies even now. I think this story should become movie too. If it is possible, I would like to see the movie, Rendezvous with Rama, directed by Stanley Kubrick. But Arthur and Stanley were already dead. My hope is impossible.

I found a common point between Rendezvous with Rama and 2001: A Space Odyssey. A huge geometrical shape is used for the most important object in each story. A cylinder is used for the shape of big space ship called Rama in Rendezvous with Rama. Then a rectangular box is used for the shape of mysterious huge object called Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I think that these primitive geometrical shapes are effective in expressing mysteriousness and symbolizing wonder. The purposes of these huge objects aren't written actually.

Points for Understanding
3-1. 'The number three must be important to the Ramans,' Norton tells himself. What things, described in this chapter and in chapter two, have made him think this?
There were three upright cylinders standing on the ends of Rama. There were three airlocks into Rama. There were three ladders leading away from Hub, the centre of a wheel and the ladders are 120 degrees apart. There were three very long stairways lead on from the ladders, our towards the cylinder wall.

3-2. Norton and his crew have used flares to photograph the interior of Rama. They have photographed something that looks like an island in a sea. They have named this place New York. Why?
Because the shapes look like the buildings that people used to call skyscrapers in New York.


3-3. Doctor Perera says that Rama has been travelling for at least 200,000 years. How does he know this?
He know this from tracking path back through space and he know its speed.

Dangerous Game

Q)William says that he is not an interesting person. Do you agree? Why (not)?

Of course I agree that William is not an interesting person, because the story doesn't describe what he is interesting.
As he wrote, he doesn't go out muh, he doesn't dance, He hasn't got many friends. He has a talk with only 2 persons (his wife Julie and his old friend Louis). He is always jealous about Julie because she is very sociable type.
At last William killed Julie, but He was killed by Poldy (probably Julie's mind).
Anyway, I think he is not interesting but terrible.
Yoichi

The Perfect Storm

Before reading the book, I know what "The Perfect Storm" is and, I expected that it is exciting, buddy, cheesy and happy-end panic story. Like, fishermen were caught up in the storm and stood against the storm, and they eventually returned the their homeport Glouster. However, Contrary to my expectations, The fishing vessel Andrea Gail had been sunken and all crew member were dead.

After reading the book, I watch the film version of this story. It is peculiarly focused on the Andrea Gail more than the book. Geroge Clooney was performing the role of Billy who was Captain of the Andrea Gail. He performed well and advanced CG technology made the film exciting and alive. I can recommend the film as entertaining movie, however you should to read the book if you would like to know more. The book has more detail and it tells us more information linking The Perfect Storm.

Silver Blaze and Other Stories

This book is Sherlock Holmes's short collection.

I read Sherlock Holmes's stories when I was a child, but there is no story that I read before. Therefore, all stories were able to be read being interested. I think the mystery is trivial when a reader knows the trick before reading. I think the third story "The Six Napoleons" is the most interesting. A mysterious event in the first half of the story and the end from which the mystery is beautifully solved is wonderful.

By the way, the Sherlock Holmes series are made into films many times. The famous actor who performed Holmes posts was Buster Keaton, Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett and Roger Moore. I hardly saw those films, but I think Roger Moore matches unexpectedly to the image of Holms. James Bond and Sherlock Holmes were good at combative sports and gun, actives, and heavy smoker.

[Points for Understanding]
THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
2-1 Inside the goose.
2-2 The Countess of Morcar.
2-3 At the Hotel Cosmopolitan.
2-4 Mr. James Ryder, he was under-manager of the hotel.
2-5 Someone had broke into the Countess's room.
2-6 He thought Henry Baker knows anything about Blue Carbuncle.
2-7 He advertised in the newspaper.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

I have known the title of this book since my childhood, but this is the first time for me to read the book. This is the kind of a heroic story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I think the story were lasting to the present for generations.
You can see about King Arthur, Click here.

Q12-1: Why did Morgana Le Fey put a spell on the secret garden in the forest?
A12-1: She put a spell to fill King Arthur up the rumours of his wife, Guinever and Lancelot’s affair.

Q12-2: Where did Arthur fight his last battle?
A12-2: On the plain of sand

Q12-3: How did Morgana die?
A12-3: Arthur drove his sward Excalibur into Morgana’s body and killed him.

Koa

The Promise

This book was interesting for me.

Pedro and Maria live in Brazil. They were very poor. When son (Paulo) was born, a old woman said to them. "This boy will grow up and become famous." "He will give happiness to many countries all over the world." "He will help poor people." Paulo becames the excellent footballer. What the old woman said comes true afterwards.

Paulo fails once, but recovers from a failure. I want to imitate the shape he made an effort.

Saturday 28 November 2009

The eye of the Tiger

This story is a kind of suspense. If you like Hollywood's action movies, you would like it.

I was interested in reading about searching treasure under water. For example, they did wreck diving in the beautiful water. In chapter 11, Harry used a explosives to enter the wreck, but for the explosions, a lot of fish died and a shark appeared to eat them. It might be horrible, but I keep my mind to watch a shark such as whale sharks under the water.

About 6 to 10 years ago, I used to dive, because I developed dive computers for my job, so I had to check them by myself. I often went to Osezaki in Izu or Lake Motosu around Mt. Fuji for testing. This story reminded me that Lake Motosu has monument at the bottom of the lake. We hired a professional diver who was a owner of diving shop named GIGI. He used to collect some items from monument. He said those would be Yayoi-Period items.

I like diving in Lake Motosu, because the water transparency is so high that you can see everything well. Plus the water is not sea water, but fresh water, I feel comfortable after diving. Sea water is usually a little bit sticky. And I like watching fish such as eels, carps and crucian carps(Funa in Japanese). There were a lot of findings. For example, an eel escaped backward from the tail fin or carps were swimming in a couple. The best thing I liked was that the world was monotone and very quiet. It's so mysterious that it would be called Wabi-Sabi diving.



15-1. Harry Bruce was Harry’s real name, and Lorna Page was the blonde girl’s name.
15-2. Harry knew Manny well and his eyes were cold and hard.
15-3. She hits Sherry’s face.
15-4. This was the signal Harry planned with Chubby
15-5. They want to escape from Manny.
15-6. There was an enormous explosion.
15-7. He was shot by Resnick’s men in the motor boat.
15-8. Manny Resnick was killed by explosion.


Masao Kuroda

Friday 27 November 2009

BRAVE HEART

Q.32 Think of an important person from your country's history. Find out about her or him. Write about her or his life.

Tadataka Inou. He was a man who made very exact map of Japan. He was born in 1745. He worked at sake brewing about 30 years. When he was 50 years old, he had started to survey the shape of Japan. He was very interested in astronomy. He was very good at astronomy.
He surveyed the shape of Japan by his foot. It was very very difficulty work. At last, he walked about 40000 km. It was as long as about circumference of the earth.
He finished surveying the shape of Japan in 1815. Then he started to make a map from his surveyed data. He died in 1818.His companion completed the map in 1821. The map was very very exact. It is really surprize that the map made by him was a little difference by satellite photograph.
I think he was an important person of our country.

L.A. Winners

This story begins with a man meets a woman. A man is private detective in L.A. A woman is client.
That woman want to find her horse. And she hired private detective.Her horse has missed when she lend her horse to another man. They didn't come back. The horse was retired horse racing.
The detective looked for her horse. But there were a lot of riddle and had relation to the horse.

This story is described detailedly well. I understand very well. Several scene changed dramatically was interesting to me with had unimaginable next.
I recommend to read this book.

The Perfect Storm

This story is based on the true story which certain US ships caught in terrible storm. The first half of the story is a drama of the crew of swordfishing boat "Andrea Gail ". As for this story, it is drawn immediately before Andrea Gale's being rolled in a terrible storm. Next, the story continues to which other swordfish fishing boats and yachts are rescued in the storm. Do you think how the Andrea Gail became?

I felt short on fun. What does Andrea Gail that was the center of the story happen in the storm? What happened to the crews? These are the completely mysteries. Therefore, it is up to reader's imagination. As for this work, the mystery has been filled with. The difference of the common mystery story is there is no answer. Had Andrea Gail originated EPIRB signal before it sank? Why did not it originate if EPIRB was not originated? My reading comprehension might be insufficiency. Please comment if you have read this book.

Best wishes,
Masao Nishimura

Thursday 26 November 2009

Ideal home

Would you like to live in this enormous house, 5 minutes from school?

It's a spacious house with three larege bedrooms which have big windows, a living room, a kitchen, four bathrooms, a storage room and a garage for two cars. It also has a beautiful garden. The house has wooden floors, cable television, an Internet.

It's a very quiet place. The neighbours are very friendly. There are lots of kids around the house. The house is walking distance from restaurants and shops. It's thirty minutes from the airport by taxi.

The house is suitable for families. There are no restrictions.

Toshiya (12)

Speed up your typing

Kill sharks, piranhas (yes, in the same salty waters) and boost your typing speed.
Turn off the volume if your boss is watching?!

Enjoy!

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Letter to Lisa

Hi! This is Kiho. I'm Japanese and I live in Azumino. I'm fifteen.

I love sport. My favorite sport is swimming. I swim twice a week. I also enjoy riding my bike.

Write soon! Kiho x

A super new widget

Hey, funky learners and online gophers!

Found a brilliant & easy to use widget for you to enhance your learning day - it's the cool blue BBC World Service one on the right-hand side (scroll down a bit). Use it in this browser to search for stuff - a lot of you have asked how to find good podcasts, and this is one of my answers! Get it for yourself if you use iGoogle here

Another useful tool = a new list of podcast content providers (not individual podcasts because that would really take forever) also on the right-hand side, a little lower down.

Please remember to "follow" the blog to keep up to date with new postings etc.

Proofreading - what the doctor said

I have been helping a new student out with his paper for this conference in Singapore next month.

I can actually guess a bit when it comes to 'cortical processing of language' because I do some myself from time to time. With pictures, I can also get an idea about positron emission tomography (and the Latin, as I have said, helps).

I have no idea what otorhinolyrngology really means, but I can guess which part of my body might get poked and prodded if I went to see an otorhinolyrngologist!

I found talking with this very clever surgeon about language acquisition, learning, visual and audio cues, hearing, speech, speech therapy, voice timbre, rhythm/cadence, bi-lingualism & left-handedness/ambidextrousity absolutely fascinating - it does have a lot to do with my trade and from a completely opposite angle. We had polar perspectives but arrived at very similar conclusions (his empirical & medical, mine observational & linguistic)...

We finished our first chat together realising we had been talking about the same person for an hour! His data on hearing loss, and his insistence on the importance of early learning for speech development convinced me more than ever before of the crucial groundwork we are laying at Luna in our pre-school.

Proofreading - why I should have stayed awake in class

I have just finished proof-reading a document for this Conference (next June) which has had me scratching my head for several days. I was hopeless at physics and my maths is almost as bad.

I think I am allowed to say that the topic was Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors...I don't think I have ever been more baffled since my science teachers tried to teach left-hand and right-hand rules for magneticism or current or whatever it is.

I used to think proof-reading medical papers was tough (it is), but at least I can pretty much figure out the anatomy with the Latin I can remember. The pictures are usually gory but I know what they are supposed to be - never keen on the blood though, and lung cancer is pretty depressing...

Electrical wiring diagrams, phi over three, Greek letters and equations three lines long? Oh my head Hertz :)

Tuesday 24 November 2009

The Canterville Ghost (and other stories)

At the first I guessed this story was frightening and hoped so, but not freighting at all. The Ghost was so poor and misery guy. He couldn't frightened all Otis's family and was helped to go to heaven by the daughter who lived in the house. The children will enjoy this funny story.

I spent 3 hours to read this book. It was not easy for me to read the book. I try to read the next book faster than this book.

Posted for Shin

A Town Like Alice

At first, I didn't want to read this book,because this story was a story in World War II, and I thought I would feel sadness. To read a painful story needs courage. Actually, a Japanese commander is a bad man and it makes me a deeply apologetic.However, Jean had a strong, easy, positive mind. Moreover, it was small pleasure to get to know Jo in that pailful situation.After the war, Jean achieved success. It is not lucky even by chance, it is her power. I think I live with a positive idea like her.
Question 15-4. Jean had a big disappointment in Midhurst.What was it? Answer:Joe was not there. He had gone to England and would not be back for two months.








a

Monday 23 November 2009

Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)


Monday 23 November
Weight 9st 9, alcohol unit 0, cigarettes 5 (very good), calories unknown (I have never counted calories.)
I finish reading the book and doing the exercises. It took 3 weeks to read the book. It's not bad but I think it was a little bit slow. At first I was confused because the book is a diary. Working my way through, it is interesting and finally I enjoy reading the book. It is quite funny!
Ikaros,

The eye of the tiger


This story's hero is so-called tough guy who have a dark past, a secret career and a trauma. You can find this type in some favorite movies; "Die hard", "Lethal weapon", and so on. If you like this kind of movies you will enjoy it, there are thrills, lies, gun-fights, and romance. The key is a treasure which is called as "The eye of a tiger". He and his buddy fight against baddies over it. That's an entertainment.

The Red and the Black

Stendhal, the author of this story, was born in France, on 1783.
At that moment, there were three classes on society in France. First Estate was important members of the Church. Second Estate was called as Aristocrats. Members of these rich, powerful families had served the rules of France for may hundreds of years.
33% of the land was owned by this Estate. The Third Estate contain poor, low-class, and middle-class people. They have to pay the largest amount of tax. 80% of the French people were peasants. They could not own their land.
Based on these situation of society, many people do not want a King to rule them any longer.
A group of people called Jacobins accused the King Louis of being a traitor. After King Louis was executed, Jacobins controlled France, almost every French aristocrat was killed. In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte, he was so successful in war, become a leader of French army. Stendhal had worked for the army of Napoleon.
The Red and Black was written in these ages.

Julien Sorel was born as a peasant, his family was really poor. He had a intelligence and good memory. He hate his life, family, and the power in society. He decided to be a priests to obtain a power and money, then started to learn Bible and theology. One day, there appear the chance to change his life. A rich aristocrat, M de Renal, hope Julien to be a tutor of his sons. Even if Julien joined to high-class society, he never forget his thoughts. When he seduced the wife of M de Renal, he never felt true love for her. Just he want to obtain a power in society. He made a relationship with key person step by step in society to be closed to the Bishop of Agde. Through these process, he gradually recognized the true value of human-beings. But, everything was too late, when he recognized the tragedy of mind, he have to be destroyed by his own guilty.

I saw a principal of human-beings, and destiny in that decade from this story. But, many of the are still common in our decade.

Friday 20 November 2009

Continue the story..

I can see a bright light in the sky. It's moving. It's moving very fast....
Look. It's UFO. Wow. The door is opening. There is a alien. And alien is stretching. An alien catch the people. I think alien is eating Mr Jake. UFO go far far away.
"Are you ok Mr Jake?"

Yuuya

The Penang File

3.Sergio tells the police what happened to his family and why he wants to kill the Prince. Write his history.

The family of Sergio lived in U.K. with the immigrant of South America. Sergio's family was young Sergio and his father and his mother. At that time Sergio was two years old. The family was sent to South America forcibly by the U.K. government. Sergio's father and mother were killed by the police of their original country, Sergio was very angry, then he became dislike to the U.K. government. Accordingly, Sergio intended to kill the prince of U.K.

Halloween Alien Story

Today is Halloween. At school today's topic was of course Halloween.
"Why don't we go to "trick or treat" together? I asked my friends.
"Can I go with you?" my next desk friend asked me.
"sure" I said .
"Yesterday I made a new friend. Can I go with him?"
"OK" I answered again.

School finished and everyone ran to there own house. When I got to my house I quickly did my homework. When the homework finished I tried to where my witch dress that my mom made it for me. It fitted me! I was very happy.

And when it be came 6o'clock I went to my friends houses. And now all of my members are here. "Then lets go!"I said.

On the way to trick or treat I asked my new friend "What's your name?"
"My name is ET"
"Can I see your face?"
"Later please"
I thought, "What is ET?" while we were speaking.

We got to my teacher's house. We knocked on the door and the teacher came out and said "Trick or treat?" Then our teacher gave some candies. "Thank you!" we said to our teacher.

"Now can I see your face?"
"OK" he said.
And I saw it. He was a alien! Then I asked ET "Are you a alien?"

Remi



Very Cute ET

I can see a big Teddy Bear.
It's coming over there.
Oh! UFO is on the White House.
Obama came out.
He is wearing pajama.
A Teddy Bear pajama.
An ET came out!
Huh?ET is.....SHEEPS!!!
Sheep could speak English!?
But they are speaking with Obama!
So~cute.
I will interview him.
Hey sheep!
ET"I'm not a sheep"
Then what?
ET"I'm a Mery"
What?
ET"Mery!"
I mean what kind of animal.
ET"Kapibarasheep"
What the.......
Um...Where are you from?
ET"I'm from planet Kapi"
Where is Kapi?
ET"I can't tell you.And I'm very hungry."
Please come to my home!
ET"Thank you. We are three."
OK!You will eat very delicious supper!

Yuhi

The Black Pearls

Peters disguised a woman with long dark hair. He had a bag in one hand. He seemed to have something to emit smoke. He entered the museum, then he emitted smoke.
During some people running out, he seemed to break the showcase and take the necklace.

He is indeed the "Minute Man".


posted for Seiji

Sunday 15 November 2009

The Darling Buds of May

Before I read this story,I imaged this was the story which a visiter from tax office caused some troubles to this big family according to back discription.

It was wrong.

Although the man "Charlton" from tax office visited this big family to fill on tax form ,he fell in love with beautiful eldest daughter "Mariette" at first sight and big husband "Pop" and wife "Ma" led him their attractive country life.

Through some event in the beautiful country, he decided to quit the tax office and marry her.


By the way,In this story,I wondered about Pop's character and the relationship with his wife Ma.

Because he loved deeply Ma but he often met some sweethearts and Ma knew it and didn't appear to mind .

I didn't know if his character could fit this story or gave me depth on this story.


So I was interested in this story, I searched on Wikipedia about it.

I found it was a beginning part of long story.

How does this family become and I came to want to read continuation.

Star Trek movie night


Wow! Well, I must admit that I never expected this film to be so good. I also didn't realize that it was the 40th year of Star Trek anniversary remake of the original 1963 film. The Star Trek fans amongst us (namely Jim) were impressed with the casting as well as the script. The story itself was action packed, full of nail-biting moments and emotional drama. Wonderful stuff! Stuff which had us crawling up the back of our chairs at times and stuff which had us want to hide underneath them!

Thanks to all of you who came dressed up. Your costumes were wonderful!!!! We had Big Ears, a Big Nose, and some visitors from The Desert (not dessert - although the dessert was wonderful too - Home Made?? hahahahahahaha, not to mention the yummy pasta and party snacks!)

Live long and Prosper!
In other words....... Good Luck!

Friday 13 November 2009

Definition

The person who can post a comment to this posting with a definition, closest to midnight, gets a prize. (Haven't decided what it is yet!)

The word: paraskevidekatriaphobia

Thursday 12 November 2009

Rendezvous with Rama


This is a science fiction story written by Arther C. Clarke. Arther is so famous author who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey".
In the year 2131, an object was discovered beyond the orbit of the planet Jupiter. It was a 40 kilometres wide...

To tell the truth, I was bored with this story. This is a science fiction
story. I expected this is a science fiction and an adventure story, but this wasn't. So I wasn't excited but felt sleepy...zzz... and I couldn't read this quickly...

Perhaps I could enjoy this with better ability of English reading. I have to study more!

Points for understanding
2-1 Why has Commander Norton decided to land Endeavour at the center of Rama's north end? Give two reasons.
Because speed of rotation of there was slower than the edge, and there was a big enough area to land.
2-2 Norton is worried about the landing place that he has chosen. Why?
There was a circular groove, and he guessed that this circle was the door of some kind of airlock. His ship would be damaged if something inside Rama tried to use this airlock.

2-3 'Do Ramans have hands like us?' Karl Mercer asks. Why does he ask this question?
Because there were ladders inside or Rama which need grab with hands.
2-4 'Perhaps Rama is a tomb,' Norton thinks. Why does he think this?
Because there were no living things.

The Picture of Dorian Grey

I read the book "The Picture of Dorian Grey". This story is two times film up to now. But I never seen those film.
I think this story is very strange. Because the picture changed ugliness. Why??
Dorian Grey was very beautiful and young boy. His portrait was very beautiful too. That portrait was painted his friend artist. But Dorian gradually became bad man. He went to opium den and killed his friend. Then the picture (his portrait) changes if he does something.
Many years ago, Dorian was still a beautiful young man. But his portrait was wrinkled and ugly. It was evil. The portrait changed instead of him.
I felt interesting and strange. But I don't think to see that strange picture.
Noriko

Wednesday 11 November 2009

"A" is for Alibi

This story is about a private detective. She investigated the real criminal person who killed a divorce attorney. The client was second wife of the attorney. She had been in jail by being falsely accused. The attorney was very popular guy because he had many affair with several women. There were 2 or 3 person who I guessed as real suspect by progressing to read. But the truth was not simple. There are complex relationships with dark plot between each characters. And three people were killed one after another, during the investigation by the detective. At first I thought that this book was too difficult to understand the relationship of all characters. But the story had became thrilling and I wanted to read further. At last, she found the real criminal person with her love and hate.

Q5: Why does Grace Glass put headphones over her husband's ears when Kinsey starts asking questions about Libby?
A: Because her husband gets upset and angry if he hear about her daughter Libby.

Hideki

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table


I was very surprised when the sword name of King Arthur in English class.
The name was "Excalibur", and that was as same as the Hotel name of Las Vegas that our family stayed about five years ago.
The hotel's logo was the castle and the sword. I didn't know what means it was.
Now, I knew the story of King Arthur and the sword "Excalibur".I was very satisfied to know the origin.
Question 13-1. Why did Sir Bedivere not want to cast Excalibur into the lake?
Answer:Excalibur was too good to be thrown away.

By the stream

Mum is by the stream.

Kipper's teddy sits on the rug.

A frog is in the stream.

Three children are on the bridge. They drop sticks in the water.

Toru (10)

The Promise


I enjoyed reading book. I like story with a happy ending like "THe Promise". However, I do not know soccor enough. So sometime it is difficult to image details of the game for me.
Life has its ups and downs. Such is life. But I learned that it is important to work hard to make some dreams come true.

posted for Yukari

Monday 9 November 2009

Recipe


Dear Tana

My specialty is Maubou-tofu

You need

100g minced pork

1 tofu(momen)

1/2 onion

2 table spoon soy sauce

some garlic

some toubanjyan

some salt

some ajinomoto

some starch

some salad oil

some sesame oil

1 Boil the tofu and cut to a cube.

2 Finely chopped the onion and garlic.

3 Heat the salad oil in a frying pan.

4 Pan fry the onion and garlic add the minced pork,soysauce,ajinomoto,salt,toubanjyan.

5 Add the tofu and sesame oil.

6 Add dissolve starch.


See you later

From Mutsumi Maruyama

Sunday 8 November 2009

Grey Owl

Q26: There were a lot of women in Grey Owl's life. What do you think they felt about him? Why?

I think that Grey Owl was awful person for women, because he abandoned his wives and children several times.
He was generous for animals, but he was selfish for women.
I think that his first 4 wives (Angele, Marie, Ivy, Anahareo) and her children felt same as me. But his last wife Yvonne might fell that he was generous for women, because they hadn't divorced.
I think that Yvonne didn't know his love affair well.
If Grey Owl was born in modern age, he shouldn't supported by women.

Yoichi



Room 13 and other Ghost Stories

This book consists of five horror stories. One of those story is Room13. I knew that 13 was an ominous number for a certain people. So I was able to imagine that it would be a horror story. I was weak in English, so I had a long time to read... I understood that you should read this book in the daytime!

The Eye of the Tiger

The Eye of the Tiger is a name of the big diamond which put into the hole in the golden tiger’s head, The Tiger Throne. This is a kind of suspense story, but it seems the author wanted to include a love story. Unimaginable ending was interesting for me, and I want to know the rest of the story about Harry and woman who called Miss Sherry North.

Chapter 16:
Q1: Harry told Sherry his plan. What was his plan?
A1: Run away to Zurich and live together at there
Q2: On the way to the airport, Sherry tried to tell Harry something. What do you think she wanted to tell him.
A2: I think she wanted to tell him about her real identity.
Q3: What arrangements did Harry make at the airport at Zurich?
A3: He made an appointment to meet Sherry.
Q4: Who did Harry see walking behind Sherry?
A4: Policemen
Q5: How did Harry manage to speak to Sherry alone?
A5: He called up her at the phone-booth by asking the girl at the information desk.
Q6: What had happened to the real Sherry North?
A6: She was killed by Manny Resnick.
Q7: Where was the Tiger Throne?
A7: It was at President St Mary.
Q8: Harry gave the woman a choice. What was the choice?
A8: Whether she live together with Harry at Turtle Bay or not.
Q9: What was the deal Harry had made with the President?
A9: He gave the Tiger Throne the President, and the President promised his safe.
Q10: What had Harry kept hidden in Turtle Bay?
A10: He had the gold plates hidden in Turtle Bay.
Q11: What would be the first question that Harry would ask the woman when he met her at St Mary’s airport?
A11: Could you tell me your real name, please?

Koa

A Town Like Alice

This is the story about Jean, who was English woman and was thrown into the World War II in Malaya. The Thirty-one English women and children, including Jean, were taken by Japanese as prisoner at Pangon, and were forced to keep on the move from area to area over six month. They totally have marched more than hundred miles, and half of them were dead. Then...

After I had read this story, I rearized that We Japanese are the victim of war and at the same time are the victimizer of war. I think that We must not only urge the banning of nuclear weapons in the name of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we must atone for role in war in countries in Asia

Tales of Horror

This book is horror.Three strange and frightening short stories;
・The Judge's House
・The Iron Maiden
・The Return of Abel Behena
I felt to be afraid of me is The Iron Maiden. A man dropped the stone near the kitten to be puzzle the black cats. The stone fell and hit the kitten. The kitten died immediately.The mother cat was angry and revenged on the man...
It is said that once a black cat is a symbol of no good luck in Europe and America. It is said that once a black cat is the symbol of the amulet, luck, and the business prosperity in Japan in the old days.

However, I didn't think the man entered "that" .I thought all people who appeared in this book were funny.

Saturday 7 November 2009

Silver Blaze and Other Stories

This book is made up of stories that Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson help the police with the strange cases. There are three stories in this book, Silver Blaze is the most interesting.

I predicted stories as follows before I read book at class. Someone will bet one horse at horserace, but He can't win. Then Someone had killed, so It's relation to a horserace.

I read a story actually, I was interesting and be supried. Silver Blaze is horse name and racehorse. This horse's trainer had been murdered. His name is John Straker. The mystery of muder has a unexpected answer. Sherlock Holmes inverstigated and slove with Dr Watson.
I am telling a bit answer, John Straker was thinking a trick and had been killed.

In reality, The murderer is Silver Blaze. Whoa!



Hamlet

Dear all
This story is well-known on stage drama of William Shakespeare.

This book is written by Scenario. Hamlet is a play about revenge in it.
why does he revenged?

Hamlet is a young prince of Denmark. His father died but the ghost appeared to his son to tell Hamlet the deadful truth. King Hamlet had been killed by his own brother with poison. Uncle Claudius married with Hamlet's mother. The ghost tells Hamlet that it is his duty to kill his wicked uncle.

I red while imagining the scenes. If I watch a stage of Hamlet ,I will recall this book.

I recommend this story.
keiko

Friday 6 November 2009

The Perfect Storm

This book was very interesting for me. This story is nonfiction and some people such as the crew members on the Andrea Gail, on a boat named Satori, and a lot of rescuers really fiercely fought against the perfect storm.
The most exciting scene was chapter 8 and 9. I’ve finished reading these chapters quickly. All members except Ray on the boat named Satori did their best to survive, but the violent storm discouraged against their efforts. For example, first, the rescuers tried to rescue the crew members by dropping a raft into the water, but due to the big waves, they couldn’t because the boat made a big hole in the raft. Then they changed their plan. I don’t want to disturb someone’s interesting for reading this book, I’ll stop to explain the continuation.
Before reading this book, I didn’t know the meaning of the title “The Perfect Storm”. The perfect storm means that three powerful weather systems hit each other like a huge bomb exploding out at sea. In other words, the perfect storm means a very very awful dangerous strom. The perfect storm consists of three powerfull weather systems which are a front of cold air moving south from Canada, the line of clear dry air moving east from the Great Lakes and Harricane Grace moving north up the US coast. From this, I wonder we can use the word “perfect” for something. For example, can we say “The perfect food”? Maybe this has not only bad smell, dirty looking, but also awful taste, further more, dangerous to health....... :-)
Masao Kuroda

Trains, vowels and a picnic in November

Hijiri joined us in pre-school on Tuesday - he's been away for a while and was really sweet to see the girls literally take his hand and guide him back into the swing of things; it didn't take him long to get totally immersed in things and 'forget' about mummy! (He was going to come today, too, but mummy got a cold & best stay away from school).

As we know he into his trains, we showed him our train set and he helped us cobble it together - trains crashing into each other, bridges and tunnels in no time at all. Carnage!

We showed him a couple of our favourite songs and games, and he particularly liked the physical aspects of the Hokey Kokey and our vowel race, as you can see.

The weather today was so nice we just couldn't bear to stay inside; we took a blanket and had a picnic lunch on the riverbank outside Luna. The girls enquired about Trolls, but we couldn't see any :) It was a great change of scenery for us, with butterflies and ants to watch. There was a plane circling around, and a troop of kindy kids paraded past us too.

Lovely funshine and healthy appetites, all made us a bit sleepy in the afternoon. We know how Goldilocks felt when she gate-crashed the three bears' house - we watched her on DVD and started to remember the songs! Creative & problem solving puzzles are in high demand, no less so today. A new 60 piece one posed no real challenge, apart from size - took up the whole table!

Tokyo Bookfair & Bledisloe Cup

Last weekend I spent in Tokyo at the annual Tokyo EFL bookfair/English Teachers in Japan jamboree. I try to go every year, to dig up new ideas and remember old ones, figure out what the next big thing in teaching will be etc. It is also a good opportunity to meet old friends in the industry - teachers as well as publishers - and to catch up over a few beers on the Saturday evening.

Delightfully, somebody organised the Bledisloe Cup to coincide at the National Stadium...and along a good sized group of us went, finding a row of seats up at the back of the stand. No problem except we couldn't see the screen/scoreboard for replays, score updates etc; neither did the beer dollies manage to make it far enough up the stand with any supplies for our thirsty mob. Some parts of the ground apparently ran out altogether. Bad planning again, JRFU. Why do they insist on selling canned beer, openning each one and pouring it it a cup? Think this is why draft beer was invented...

Anyway, good game, and as will be with this weekend v England, Australia outclassed. We lost a few stragglers on the way to Shinjuku, picked up a few others including one of my old students at Waseda now. A fairly bizarre night as it was also Hallowe'en!

The presentations over the weekend proved valuable for me; these days I orientate towards the more technical ones as I have seen enough happy clappy ones to last me a while. One in particular on using Google documents more effectively made the trip worthwhile.

L.A. Winners

I read L.A. Winners.

Before I read this book, I thought this story is Jockey's story. A man who was winner of horse race past joins race again. He get a good horse but someone is going to preventing him to win race.
Although he won the race finally.

After I read this book, I found my prediction was wrong. This story is for detective man. He was hired a woman. Her request was looking for her horse. He looked for it in a racetrack.

I have a interrogations for this story. He was laid off her but he help her from criminal. Why did he help her? Did he get the payment?

MATILDA

Writing 36: Look at the picture of Miss Honey's house on page 29. Write a description of it.

It is a small and pretty house in the forest. It looks like the house where fairy in forest lives in. It is made by wood. The wall are painted cream color. There are two windows. There is a door which is painted blue color. The roof is made by wooden board. It has a small chimney. It is made by stone of nature, not brick. The house is surrounded big and tall trees. There are many kind of flowers (which are red, yellow, white, pink,etc) around the house. The house looks old, but it makes me relaxation. I love this pretty house.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Movie Night Invitation



Movie Night Sat 14 November 2009
Star Trek


Date: Sat 14 November 2009
Time: bring and share dinner starts at 7:00pm
the movie will start after that at about 8/8:30pm
Place: Luna International 'Space Lounge'
Who: humans, aliens and friends. ALL WELCOME!

Come dressed as your favourite Star Trek character (or just yourself), bring something to eat and drink, and join us for the latest Star Trek on Luna's big screen.

Hope to see you there!
Tana, Jim, and the Luna team

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Warsaw - postcard from Teruki

Hello everyone,

I'm in Poland. At first, I visited Waszawa. The city was destroyed by German army during the 2nd World War. However the people rebuild complietlly. Now we can see the city as it used to be. That's amazing! I'm going to Auschwitz tomorrow. I am able to know and think about saddness & fear by the war in this country.

Forgive me the miss-spelling.

Teruki

Monday 2 November 2009

Billy Elliot

I enjoyed this book and story. But storyline is a little speedy, so I didn't understand some points of story...
Anyway, my answer for "Writing" is below.

Writing 33
You are a teacher at the Royal Ballet School and you are at Billy's audition. Write a list of ten questions for him.
1. Who did teach you ballet?
2. What sports are you doing except ballet?
3. Why do you like dancing ballet?
4. Which is your best moving at dancing?
5. What kind of dancer do you want to be?
6. Why did you start learning ballet?
7. Why did you determine to take this audition?
8. Who does back up you?
9. Which ballet dancer do you want to be like?
10. Could you tell me your enthusiasm about the ballet?