ERP

2 a. Write about a place that you would like to share with others, and describe how it became significant to you.

Music is always an important part of my life. Its magical power can change my emotion and behavior. This power keeps absorbing me and makes me fall in love with the music and those instruments which produce beautiful sounds.

There were a few small shops in my neighborhood including grocery, restaurant, and barbershop and so on. After dinner, I often walked along these shops and sometimes bought some fruits. One thing always attracted me was the music from one of the shops. It was from piano. Among these shops, one was very different as it was about music. This was not the place selling instruments, but teaching how to play musical instruments. I enjoyed the performance standing out of the shop, observing what was inside. I could see a player sitting in front of a black piano used his fingers touching the keys elegantly. With the colorful lights inside and the melody of reverie, I was led to an illusionary world. I began to dream that the person sitting in front of the piano was me, with a high level of skill.

The impact of music was so incredible that I decided to learn the piano at that shop. Though I knew piano was hard to master and I did not have enough time, I entered that attractive shop to fulfill my pledge, that is to pursue the music I love. It was so exciting when I pressed the key on the piano at the first time. I was overjoyed when I achieved to perform the first song by myself. I had the lessons twice a week but I went for practice every day, and even twice a day. Reading those notes, listening to what I played filled my life with pleasure and content. I was trying my best to play and let the people passed feel the beauty of music, just like what I felt before. In this shop, it seemed that I found my passion and motive to love the world I lived in much more.

Finally my family decided to move. I could not bear the fact that I was going to leave this place and hardly came back. I went for the last-time practice, willing to eliminate the sadness by playing music as usual. However, the door was locked because that day was a rest. Looking through the glass, I could see the piano standing there quietly. There was the place gave me happiness and dreams. Now I had to bid farewell to it and its response was a heavy lock on the door, but I was not depressed, and will never be because what I pursued was already in my heart.

This small instruments learning centre taught me the most beautiful moving thing in the world, music, and also taught me a way of life, which is the way I am practicing —— music keeps my company, no matter what is going on.

Response to Revolution of Goodness

According to the article I have read, the theory that explains why human beings do good to others exists. This kind of behavior is in order to protect the genes of their own species. Furthermore, the relationship among the cost of the act of goodness, the profit others will get and the relatedness between individuals has been formulated. This scientific explanation is quite convincing, however, I prefer to view this issue as a moral topic. In a society with harmony and humanity, we are required to love others and the love sticks us together to build a stable community. Every group needs love and respects and we express our love and respects through altruism. In general, we do good to others because we are trying to make the society better, and hence contribute to the progress of human beings.

Commentary Asessment

1. Summary
Nowadays, more and more youngsters are absorbed in their portable audio devices such as mp3 players and hand phones by listening to the headphones. This phenomenon may lead to some serious consequences. A lot of users of earphones have reported that they cannot hear sounds as clearly as before. Also, walking and listening to the music can get a high risk of accidents. This problem is strongly concerned. Experts suggest that we should be careful to use earphones.

2. Commentary

Do not let earphones spoil your life

Do you like to listen to the music with earphones? Do you think earphones will affect your life a lot? Probably you are listening to the earphones when you are reading this article. Music seems that has become a part of our lives. Wherever you go, you can always see many people absorbed in the music. Actually, it is a very dangerous behavior to plug into music. When you are walking on the road, the chance of accidents is much higher with earphones. Those earphones are also harmful to our bodies if we listen to the music for long time. Moreover, it is even possible to change person’s character and cause depression. These portable audio devices are spoiling our lives gradually.
It is very dangerous to walk along the pass way or across the road when listening to the music. The sound of music is loud enough to cover the ambient noise, such as alertness. Researchers have managed to prove that listening to the music distracts attention and may ignore the danger nearby. A lot of pedestrians failed to hear the bell of the bicycles and some walkers bumped into the person walking toward them. The result shows that the distraction from music is one of the main reasons for traffic accident. Sometime our lives are threatened only because of the attractive music.
Another disadvantage of earphones is that the sound from the earphones can be harmful to our body, especially to our ears. According to the study by American Medical Association (AMA), listening to the earphones can cause a long-term hearing loss if the ears are exposure to loud sound for long time. However, many youngsters love loud and noisy music. This bad habit may lead to serious hearing problems which are difficult to get well again. There have been many reports that a large number of the young got hearing loss because of using earphones for ling time. Thus, we should be really sensitive to use earphones.
Some people would argue that earphones can make their liver more colorful. Without music, they will be bored. In fact, this is the main reason why people love to listen to the music so much, but this may lead to another extreme problem. Many youngsters fail to communicate well with others because they do not want to talk to his friends and parents and they only like to listen to the earphones. They feel the music is their world. Depression or even suicide can be caused by this kind of behavior. As we can see, the use of earphones is very dangerous.
In conclusion, using earphones to listen to the music can lead to unexpected consequences. We shall pay much attention on this problem. Are you still going to use earphones for long time or walk with music? I decided to lock my earphones in the drawer. Do not let earphones spoil your life.

Introduction

After 10-month makeover, Orchard Road finally shows her new face to the foreign tourists and Singaporeans. What greet them are no longer the annoying noises of "Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat" or "Grr...grr...grr...". The shopping paradise is back with her new appearance and we have been missing her for 10 months! Though the responses of the citizens are not quite good, I have to argue that the 40-million facelift is not wasted. The changes of the road can stimulate the consumption in the shopping area. The new face attracts more people. Also the facelift help to promote the image of Singapore. By the makeover, we show the world a better Singapore.

Orchard Road Facelift

After 10-month makeover, Orchard Road finally shows her new face to the tourists and Singaporeans. Though the responses of the citizens are not quite good, I believe that the 40-million facelift is not wasted. The changes of the road can stimulate the consumption in the shopping area. The new face attracts more people. Also the facelift help to promote the image of Singapore. By the makeover, we show the world a better Singapore.

The makeup will increase the amount of consumption in Orchard Road. The road takes on a new look and surely it will attracts more attention from tourists and Singaporeans. Walking on the repaved sidewalk, observing the unforeseen views like new lights, glass panels, flower totems and various beautiful decorations, you will go shopping with excitement and curiosity. Also the promotion and sale events after the construction contribute to the craze of purchasing in Orchard Road. With the beautification of Orchard Road, the customers are enjoying the new feelings of shopping and willing to spend their money here.

Another important point is that the facelift is a long-term investment make Singapore stand out. Orchard Road is one of the most famous shopping streets all over the world. It represents the character of Singapore, which means its prosperity and ecological harmony. It is meaningful to maintain the fame of Orchard Road and keep developing. Therefore, the environment friendly concepts in the changes like the energy saving lights and cycle bins tell the world that Singapore places much importance on ecological conservation. The value of these changes is far more than 40 million dollars because such facilities benefit for the whole nation and even the world. In addition, the state-of-the-art makeover like power upgrading and heat-strengthened glass panels reflects the national strength in technology. All the ecological designs and technological applications enhance the image of Singapore.

To conclude, Orchard is the primary belt of Singapore. We are spending money on the image of Singapore when we beautify it. The facelift is also advantageous to Orchard`s business and tourism. Thus it is worthy to put so much effort to revamp Orchard Road.

Shall we scrap CCTs?

CCTs should not be scrapped. CCT refers to Common Class Test. Its function is to examine if the student understand what he has been taught. It gives marks which assess the result of one`s working and teachers and parents can also figure out the shortage or progress of the student from the marks. Knowing the level of the student, then it is easier to teach him in more efficient way. Moreover, CCT marks is one important component of the GPA result. If CCTs are canceled, more TAs, assignments, performance tasks, praticle tests and other tests will appear and are all graded. These small tests come to compensate the lacked percentages due to the cancellation of CCTs. Then, the situation will not be what we expect--we would be free to do our own things. Reversely, those small but important tests will cost more time than CCTs. In short, CCT is a good method to assess the working of the students and saves time for us, thus CCTs cannot be scrapped.

EXPOSITION

Exposition is a type of oral or written discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform. The creator of an expository text can not assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed. One important point to keep in mind for the author is to try to use words that clearly show what they are talking about rather then blatantly telling the reader what is being discussed. Since clarity requires strong organization, one of the most important mechanisms that can be used to improve our skills in exposition is to provide directions to improve the organization of the text.

Quote from:http://www.stanford.edu/~arnetha/expowrite/info.html