Exercise on Passive Voice

1. Joanne was delayed by a client when she was leaving the office.

2. A meeting was being held by the tennis club at 6.30.

3. Sheba, the dog, blocked the doorway.

4. Sheba had to be taken to the vet.

5. The vet was worried by her condition.

6. The vet treated the dog while Joanne went home.

7. Joanne was told to get out of the house.

8. Joanne was confused by the telephone call.

9. The burglar was captured by the police.

10. His fingers had been bitten off by the dog.


1. The bottles cannot be opened easily by the children.

2. Outside her front door, the goverment built a road.

3. AS he walked through the store, the antique vase was broken by Mr. Ross

4. The changes amazed her, when she arrived.

5. All month long, the sreets are in repair, by the constructon workers.

Are we...Machines?

Are we machines? thats my big question. In the Selfish Gene, the author states that all living oragnisms are survival machines, being true and false. He tries to compare the living organisim, with a machine, or in other words, with the functionallity of a machine, like a program. This is beacuse of DNA. DNA is a double hilix, that defines us, humans, plants and animals, all living organisms have this, DNA can replicate and make more of us the same, or it can change our organism, if it changes. But on the other hand, plants & animals, have this but they dont move like us nor act like us. Plants move really really slow, with no turning back, they dont posses wide muscles, that can let them move back and fotrh. Instead animals need them, to prect from other eating them or even they to eat something, platns can "eat" by themself, I mean, without having to move a muscle.

On the other hand, the most important apsect of machines behaviors, is being capable of having a consious, being able to make decissions and actions. This is like the motor, or steering wheel, were you make all the direction, you say where to go. I really dont make to much of a deal with the genbes and everything, I believe that we have the same, or some of our ancestors and we are creating some new, or descovering them, we make our own lifes, not the ancestor genes.

Examples of Quotation, Paraphrasing & Summary

Example of Summary: nobody wants to go to school if they dont want to, says Roger Sipher. He gives six clear and perfect examples, if they abolish the archaic attendance to school. He estabvlishes that people who wan to learn they are free to go, but people who doesnt want to go, will no t learn anything and loose thier money and will not be anybody in the future. Within more exmaples he explains it more deeply.

Example of Paraphrasing: Roger makes a good point on all his essay, not the kids, but school has failed because they try so hard to enforce kids to do thigns, that they dont even care or just for rebeldy do them.

Example of Quotation: The author states with total perfection the reason why school fails on educating now days : "Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangentially so ...trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish."(page#)

Examples of Quotation, Paraphrasing & Summary

Example of Summary: nobody wants to go to school if they dont want to, says Roger Sipher. He gives six clear and perfect examples, if they abolish the archaic attendance to school. He estabvlishes that people who wan to learn they are free to go, but people who doesnt want to go, will no t learn anything and loose thier money and will not be anybody in the future. Within more exmaples he explains it more deeply.



Example of Paraphrasing: Roger makes a good point on all his essay, not the kids, but school has failed because they try so hard to enforce kids to do thigns, that they dont even care or just for rebeldy do them.



Example of Quotation: The author states with total perfection the reason why school fails on educating now days : "Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangentially so ...trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish."(page#)

Paraphrasing

1. "The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17.

· Earth has two main sources of heat and cold, heat is the sun, and cold The Antarctic. However this cold ocean water helps to cool the surface water and our atmosphere, by mixing it with warm water coming from the tropics.


2. The twenties were the years when drinking was against the law, and the law was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had. They were the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police seemed powerless to do anything against it. Classical music was forgotten while jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie became the heroes of the young. The flapper was born in the twenties, and with her bobbed hair and short skirts, she symbolized, perhaps more than anyone or anything else, America's break with the past. From Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide (1989): 25.

· During the years of 1920, the drinking law became crazy, everyone new where they could buy, for shure, alcohol. This were years were crime ruled the city and the police didn´t have any power at all. On the other hand, classical music went into the garbage, and jazz became a ¨BOOM!.¨people like Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and others, were the heroes of this new gender. Women didn’t stay behind, they invented The Flapper, a rebellious form of dressing.


3. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348.

· Bicycling is a really interesting sport, containing a lot of risk, most of them happen if you don’t wear a helmet, this can reduce the injuries on a 85%. Almost all of this injuries are head injuries, were half of them are kids that are not even in college. The helmet is a well designed protector, remember, ¨Drive slow, stay in school and…use a helmet! ¨

4. Matisse is the best painter ever at putting the viewer at the scene. He's the most realistic of all modern artists, if you admit the feel of the breeze as necessary to a landscape and the smell of oranges as essential to a still life. "The Casbah Gate" depicts the well-known gateway Bab el Aassa, which pierces the southern wall of the city near the sultan's palace. With scrubby coats of ivory, aqua, blue, and rose delicately fenced by the liveliest gray outline in art history, Matisse gets the essence of a Tangier afternoon, including the subtle presence of the bowaab, the sentry who sits and surveys those who pass through the gate. From Peter Plagens, "Bright Lights." Newsweek (26 March 1990): 50.

· In my opinion Matisse is the most realistic painter of all, he transportates me into his scene, landscape and thoughts. This painter gives a touch of spirit in a Tangier afternoon, mixing a lot of pastel colors, giving life to this painting.

5. While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15.

· Can a building pass the height of the Sears Tower? William LeMessurier has just finished a building that is two times the Sears Tower, can the world hold it on? Robert Soberl says that today’s technology can hold up till 500’ story building.

The Power and The GloryPart 2, ch.1&2

It may suound very courious, but I've just read chapeter 1 and chpater 2 of the second part, and my ocward decisin is, I',m going ro join both chapters becasyue they talk of a very important man in the novel and give hints to see more deep what is the priests personlaitie. The priest is a person who in chapter one, is not the example of what he should be. But then in chapter two, he looks desperate to find a bottle of wine to consagrate the next days mass. He only has fifteen pesos on his pocket and he is willing to spend it on the mass. This shows that he really cares for his people and religion. The sad part is that some "friends" (a beggar and the governors cousin) want a zip of his bottle, they end up drinking the hole bottle and the priest begins to cry and then he leaves. His emotions are really strong for the church.

A really interesting fact that I realized is that in chapter one, Greene in almost all the time he speaks as the narrator, and lets us, the reader, a lot of thoughts of the priest. In chapter two, the author makes a 360 degree change, he almost all the time speakes as conversations with other, and doenst lest us now any thoughts of the characters.

All along this chapter, we see new characters, which fomr me are really important and will appear next in the novel, this is the case of Brigida, his doughter and the Mestizo, a sorit of Judas to the priest.

The Power and the Glory IV

In this chapter, something that shocks me just as we star reading this, is the decision that Padre Jose makes on thr group burying the little girl. ALl the people in the funeral tell him to please performa a ceremony to this girl. But he is aware that he can't trust anybody on the town because then he'll be busted. This decision shows us a side of Padre Jose tha I never though of it, a coward man, a man who first puts his people and his religion first than everyhting. On the other hand Mr. Tench is writting a important letter to his fogotten wife, I think this is going to be a important aspect later on in the novel. Later on, we see that the author now focus on teaching children, we see how the mother of Coral reading to her the sotry of Juan, and the Coral asking her if she belives in God. This is a point where the characters are looking for glory, or at least Coral. She wants to know what is hermonther thinking about religion and Mrs. Fellows just starts looking for her housband, he tells Coral that wheteher you belive it or not, eht church brought alot of people together, believeng in one mighty and powerfull god. The "next" story is about the lieutenant that a little kid thorws him a rock and he gets an attitude towards him, showing him his gun. "Would you like to see my gun?." (pg.57) This for me is a irresponsabiliti, no matter if the lieutenant is his dad, you don't show or even less teach a kid youre gun or even aim. That will become ina huge porblem later on.

The Power and the Glory III

Chapter three, is a chapter where tons of ideas, thoughts, and description fo characters happen. We first see how Captain Fellows is a correct person, with the decision of taking the "stranger" out of his barn, and no t letting him hide in there, also not giving him anything to drink , or eat. His daughter, Coral, on the other hand, shows alot of tolerance and compassion to the priest. This is really important because the priest told her to pray for him and she asnwers "You see, I dont believe in God. I lost my faith when I was ten." (pg 41), but Coral shows all the virtues of chirstianity. The she teaches him to talk in Morse Code, so that whne he comes back the can communicate by a flahslight.

This chapter, opened a way to compare the tittle of the novel with the plot. I think it is that the stroy is "working" around the two priests and their lifes. Padre Jose wants only money, and he charges people when the get confessed, or to baptise a kid, meaning, he wants POWER! On the other hand, our "stranger" is a fugitive which has done nothing wrong, always trusting in Gods word, batpising people when he is fugitive for the police, and even conffesing people whithout asking for something in excahnge. But the most important aspect is the one that he says "...to choose pain like that - it's not possible. And its my duty not to be caught. You see, my bishop is no longer here." (pg 40), we see clearly that he belives in the glory of God, his will and decisons on him. For me this is the relationship on the tittle. Chapter has opened new ideas on my reading.

The Power and the Glory II

On this second chapter of The Power and the Glroy, the author, Graham Greene enters with a complete different story than the one in the beginning. The first is an English "doctor", you must be asking why did I put " to doctor, because I feel there is something behind this man, that he has a strange past. On the next chapter we have three different and important characters appearing in our reading,they are the lieutenant, Padre Jose and the kid. This three characters have alot of thing different, but at the end, perhaps the all have a connection one to one. The liutenant is a character that hates priests for exploting people, he has a high tattitude towards everyone and everything. In compare to the little kid, they both have some ideas about life, the lieutenant thinks that the universe is fundamentally chaotic, and the little kid doesn't pays attention to anything that his mother is telling him. Maybe theres a relationship in time of cahracters, maybe they are all just one character, represented in different ages, but in the same era (years). The third characeter is Padre Jose, is a guy, who we dont know alot exactly, we jus tknow rumors and tales, but nothing concriet. He is full of shaem to him self, with the other unnamed priest. This book is really interestinf becuase it leaves us, the reader, tons of questions and sapces to fill in with our imagination. I like this because it gives the reader perosnal opinions about the book and a way of interacting with the story. There is nothing tru now, all of this are some premonitions that I give to the book.

The Power and the Glory I

The Power and the Glory is a very complicated novel, at the beginning. It starts with Mr. Tench, a dentist, which lived in England and now in Mexico. The novel hasn’t told us exactly what’s the location of it, but by reading the text, we can conclude that it takes place in Mexico. Mr. Tench is a dentist, which has lived alone in his apartment for thirteen years. Just by reading this we can say that Mr. Tench has a relationship to Kapuscinsky, a very abandoned person, on the novel, they both don’t inter act a lot with people, they have lonely lives, no women, nor kids. This book is just starting and it catched my attention really fast, and I hope to see more comparisons and relationships, conflicts and drama on this book.

The Soccer War part III...

"And so we have misfortune, we have a war. It is an unjust, dirty, hooliganish war in which all methods are allowed-whatever it takes to knockout the opponent and gain control..." (pg 130). This war was happening in Nigeria on January 1996, a war which didnt had restricitons, nor limits. From this point on, my reading experience just grew 100%, not only I learned new facts about Africa and the world, but travled into Kapuscinski's time and lived his moments as he passed the roadblocks. ON every roadbock that he described, I felt more terrified, shocked and with mor interest to keep reading and know whats coming on the next paragraph or page. "No white man can come back alive. I was driving to see if a white man could, becasue I had to experience everything for myself." (pg 140).

A really interesting topic that catched my attention also was that the narrator talks about "perspiration." It is said that perspiration in the tropics is, if you will, healthy. Whoever perspires can bear the climate. It wont wear him out." (pg 138). To perspire you need to drink alot, juices, soft drinks, and a little alcohol do you some good to. This is like a little key to keep alive on the tropic, some times polite modest or even humble people in Europe fall into rage easily, this is because Africa is like a different world .

The Soccer War Part II

I've realized that Ben Bella isn't the main character, nor the good person I thougt he was. Yes, hes very honest and everything, but when you keeop reading the novel, you see that "He grew intolerant, he shouted at them...Today I've decided taht so-and-so" (pg 111). Ben Bella no longer trusted anyone, he decided everything. We see from this poitn on another Ben Bella another president of Algeria. This man now, met wiht the leftists and made promises to them he couldn't keep, and in the afternoon he met wight the right wing, and ma de more promises taht he couldnt keep, my hypothesis of Ben Bella was totaly wrong, this man became from a honset and respectfull man, to a menace to Algeria. Then a coup was organized by Hourari Boumedienne, the next president of Algeria. Ben Bella and Boumedienne were two radically different characters, they had really different mentalities. This coup showed Algerians for what they are, a Third World Country. Thats why Boumedienne conludes at the end of the chapter, "The Algerian revolution is a revolution of suprises."

Soccer War part I

Rysard Kapuscinski’s, Soccer War, is a novel base on real facts, about a African country called Algeria, and all its problems, coups, wars, economical and social. We started by reading this book on page 95 “Algeria Hides Its Face.” From the beginning, we know our main character, Ben Bella, the president of Algeria. By getting more deep on this chapter, we can see clearly all the conflicts that Algeria has passed, revolutions, economical problems, social problems and rebelion against their own goverment. But "Ben Bella had been a student of no ideological school and had joined the movement only becasue he wanted a free Algeria".(pg 107) we see clearly that from this point on, Ben Bella from his childhood wanted just the good for his country, we see him as a leader, as a man with his ideas straight at the age of 17-18. "He wanted to create a life for women. Now the men will lock us back up in the home."(pg 107) Here, it states when Ben Bella had been removed, one person told Kapuscinski (the narrator) that now that Bella was gone, women had no rights, meaning that he gave women another cnocepto of life, Ben Bella showed the correct way to treat and respect women. For me a disrespectful thing agaist women is leaving them locked on their houses doing nothing, women also have values, and courage to work just like men. Ben Bella is one of the few men in Algeria which cares about women and thats a big point on this book.

1) Sad...but True

It is really sad but true that Mersault, doesnt shows emotions to his mothers death, nor in his life to anyone. We see clearly that on the day of his mothers funeral, I realized that to him was more important the hot climate that was bugging him than his mothers funeral. After that i kept on reading and the author shows all the emotions that Mersaults mothers friends had for her, peoplehad all their face covered with teras, and her own son...nothing. After that all this I saw that Mersault, is a guy whith no feelings at all, even when he dates a girl, Marie Cardona, which they take aswim together and the go to see a movie. All that Mersault wants is a one night stand, but she really falls for him. I really dont like the way Mersault is maneging things, the death of his mother, the girl, and all his emotions. This guy for me, I can tell, that he is like a complete "Stranger". For me a stranger is a person who doesnt interacts, who is in the forgoten, doesnt shows anyone who he really is, and through out the story, Mersault completes all this factors on being the stranger.

Introduction:

Hi, welcome to my compelling blogspot, over the next 4 months I will be posting, commenting, and analyzing severl of the great novels written all over the globe. I hope that you enjoy all the hard work I put into this and rememeber...¨don´t quit school, stay cool.¨-Helvis