my final draft

FAQ; of the beginners, by the beginners, for the beginners


1.　How to get there? What you need to do is quite simple. First, you should go to Paddington underground station which is on four tube lines; Hammersmith&City, Bakerloo, Circle, District. Next, after you buy the tickets, you should search the train which is going there. Do not forget to bring your student identification card so that you can make a discount. There are five trains every hour from 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.


2. Where to meet my friends at Paddington? The ticket counter in the Paddington overground station is one of the good places to meet. Avoid choosing the Paddington underground station because you cannot get contact with your friends with phones there.


3. How long does it take to get there? It depends on the train which you get on, although it takes about between one hour and a half and two hours. This enables you to have a trip to Oxford, even if you are given a lot of weekend-homework by your teacher. One of my suggestions is that you should bring something interesting such as a book and music.


4. What is the trip of Oxford like?It will be a long journey, which means walking a lot. It is better to put trainers on than to do boots on.


5. Is there any recommendations?
There are two recommendations for your trip. First, it should be evitable to go there on rainy days and in winter. If you do not follow that, your trip should be though. Next, you decide clearly what you want to do there in advance. It is expected that many university students do not decide it but if you want to make your trip more fun, you should do it.

I hope your trip will be brilliant, following my suggestions. (309 words)

self-study; what I have done

From an article of the Observer I could find some collocations.
They put my cash in an A-rated firm. Turns out it was Lehman. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/05/1


To go into=if an amount of time, money, or effort goes into a product or activity, it is used or spent creating that product or doing that activity.

Medium-term=medium-term outlook remains favorable.

To downgrade sth from A to B=to move someone or something from a more important position to a less important position.

From another article on the Observer there are also some useful collocations.
It’s not just the banks: Britain itself is looking sub-prime.
I could not find the link to see the article.

To be combined with sth=to become mixed or joined, or to mix or join things together.

To kick in=to start to be effective or to happen

From another article on Guardian ’Nearly one quarter of world's mammals face extinction, annual 'red list' reports’; the link is below. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/06/conservation.wildlife
I like this phrase; "As human beings, we should be ensuring that we don't cause other species to go extinct."
Vast numbers of sth

6/Oct/08

Today is my birthday but unfortunately I have completely got a cold. I do not know why because I wash my hands and gagle after I come back to my home. In my opinion I pay attention to my health more than others do. Anyway I heard the winter in England is quite cold so you should tale care your health because most of us have never experienced it.



From my homework which was given by Alex there were some useful phrases and sentences.

To make indirect questions you should use some kinds of rules.
May I ask you what causes volcano to erupt?
Can I ask you what the biggest volcano is?
May I ask you whether a lot of people live near Vesuvius?

Some good phrases
Topographical constraints

From the web page about topic sentences there are some collocations.

To get rid of sth=to throw sth away or give sth to someone because you do not want it now

Followings are from the web page, which are biography about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Topic sentences are in Italic and the sentences which were added on purpose for exercise are in bold.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Probably the best loved of American poets the world over is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of his lines are as familiar to us as rhymes from Mother Goose or the words of nursery songs learned in early childhood. Thumbelina was written by Hans Christian Anderson. Like these rhymes and melodies, they remain in the memory and accompany us through life.

There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Many song birds are found in Massachusetts. Read or heard once or twice, his rhyme and meters cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten. Second, Longfellow wrote on obvious themes which appeal to all kinds of people. His poems are easily understood; they sing their way into the consciousness of those who read them.

Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes. Columbus called the Native Americans "Indians" because he thought he had landed in the Indies. He wrote about the American scene and landscape, the American Indian ('Song of Hiawatha'), and American history and tradition ('The Courtship of Miles Standish', 'Paul Revere's Ride', 'Evangeline').

At the beginning of the 19th century, America was a stumbling babe as far as a culture of its own was concerned. The people of America had spent their years and their energies in carving a habitation out of the wilderness and in fighting for independence. Wood carving was a common American pastime. Literature, art, and music came mainly from Europe and especially from England. Nothing was considered worthy of attention unless it came from Europe. But "the flowering of New England," as Van Wyck Brooks terms the period from 1815 to 1865, took place in Longfellow's day, and he made a great contribution to it.

I checked my writing which I have written so far and found two facts out. First, I have a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph, which means to give a general idea about what I want to tell to the readers. In my opinion, the readers can guess what are going to be in the paragraph from my topic sentence. It looks good. Secondly, however, the impression which is given to the readers by reading it is quite weak. So I need to get attentions of the readers but I do not know how to do it. It is my task from now on.

4/Oct/08 record of my self-study

For my self-study I read some articles from news papers.

From Evening Standard, ‘At 34 million pounds, it’s the most valuable Russian import.’ The link is below.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23563231-details/At+%C2%A334m%2C+it%27s+the+most+valuable+Russian+import/article.do

In excess of sth=more than a particular amount level or amount.
He earns in excess of 60000 pounds a year.

Masterpiece=’Mona Lisa’ is widely regarded as Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

To be on a par with sth=to be the same as or equal to someone or something

Instantly recognizable=immediately able to be known

‘Can I still get a mortgage?’ I put the link of the article below.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23563234-details/Can+I+still+get+a+mortgage/article.do

Amid=while sth else is happening
Amid the global financial turmoil

In the space of a week=during a period of a week

Shun=He was shunned by colleagues.

To be obliged to do sth=to be forced to do sth

I need to show all of what I did this week but today I have a match of my sport 'lacrosse' so I need to go to now. After I will come back home from the match I will write again.

From today England lacrosse season is going to start until next June. It must be exciting and hot!! My team which is named 'Spencer' was the 3rd place the last season. Thus this season we want to get the championship and go to the Madrid tournament which only 1st team are able to join in the next June.

Rewriting;Adi people for self-study section

I would like to talk about the similarities and differences about having a fun between the Adi tribe and my tribe, the Japanese.
First of all I intend to tell you about the Adi tribe. According to Wikipedia, the Adi people have lived in 'the Himalayan hills of Arunachal Pradesh'. The weather is the sub-tropical weather. It basically means where are in latitude from twenty to thirty degrees north and south. It is completely different from Japanese weather.

The most different thing between the Adi and the Japanese is the attitude towards foods and having meals. Much of their life revolves around eating and drinking. They have to go to forest to hunt to survive with members of the tribe. Sometimes the hunting is successful, other times not. In other words they are always next to the risk of starvation. Thus when they eat a dinner, their faces look quite happy. It is really impressive to my eyes. In their life eating is the happiest thing.

Conversely, in Japan it is easy to get foods even if you do not have enough money to buy them. There is no need to hunt animals and collect berries to eat. This is the evidence of the development but that is why I am usually not grateful to every time I have a meal at heart. Of course having a meal makes me happy, but in addition to this, there are a lot of things to do in Japan. For example, going to theater to watch movies, going shopping to buy something and going karaoke to sing songs.

2/October/08

For my homework I read some article from Oxfordshire which is one of local newspapers there and made some notes. I will put it below.

World-famous circus returns
http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/3720345.World_famous_circus_returns/

One of the Russian biggest circuses will be opened in Oxford over this weekend. This circus group will return to Oxford for the first time in seven years. The group is known well in the world. This show has not only traditional and but also unique and novel performances so that it definitely excite everyone coming there to watch.

In my opinion, this show will stimulate the town because a lot of people will come to Oxford to see it. Actually Oxford has been already popular for one of the oldest universities for a long time, although if you are younger generation like university students and go there to just watch the university the trip will be something boring. That is why I think it will be a good opportunity to make travelers more delightful.

The reason I was interested in this article is circuses are completely not connected to my image of Oxford in my mind. This fact taught me that if I would like to write something to attract people, it is necessary to put new or original information in my writing.

summary about oxford cafes

For today's homework I wrote description about where to eat in Oxford.



I intend to explain about where to eat in Oxford in this section. There are plenty of places which we can eat in Oxford but if you want to eat meal with your family or friends without waiting, it is the wise way to make an appointment in advance. The reason for this is not only tourists but also people living in London go to Oxford, using their weekend so it is quite crowded all the year around especially during holidays such as summer and winter.


Anyway I would like to focus on places which serve good lunch because this guide for mainly day-trippers and university students, although I said at the beginning, there are many kinds of restaurants, cafes and pubs to have a meal. Where I would like to introduce you are two cafes. One is named ‘The Big Bang’ and another is named ‘Harvey’s Sandwich Bar’.


First, the former, which is The Big Bang, serves you many ranges of sausages so that you can have a lot of choices of hamburgers and sandwiches for your lunch. Savory smell of the absolutely makes you hungry when you are in front of it. In addition, this cafe is not so expensive. That is why students like me choose this cafe.


Next, the latter also supplies you many kinds of sandwiches. This bar has some kinds of bread such as sandwiches, pitas and baguettes. This bar starts to make a meal for you after you ordered so that you can eat something fresh to eat such as vegetables, meats and cheeses. Similar to the former, this cafe is also cheap. Thus it is popular among younger generation. (275 words)