@jonathan
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Lesson 5 Mock Exam
(Paranoia Prompt)
As the wind stabbed into my bones, I laid back on my camping chair. The rain struck on the huge tent above my head; thin, but enough to protect a faint bonfire underneath. As the flame danced in the wind, I stared at my friend, Mack, who reached into a bag, his head almost diving into the bag as well.
Yes, I introduced him as my “friend”, but day by day, clusters of suspicion silently grew in me. Shoes soaked, stomach growling, but Mack was energized as ever, as if this predicament was all nothing but a fever dream of me! Date back to one week ago, Mack and I went on this camping trip. Days were ordinary, until Mack started blabbering about fishing in a random morning. Since then, he would disappear in the morning, and return with empty hands at night. But you should look at his appearance, face flushed, walking clumsily as if an entire watermelon was stuck in his belly! Rather conveniently, the way he was heading to was where a nearby pub was located at. Mack was a traitor! Chest inflated by the thoughts, I stood up, and walked towards him with the might a lion approaching its prey. But when Mack turned around I was left speechless, hating myself for my hideous thoughts.
He was holding a gigantic fish!
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Lesson 5 Mock Exam
Bare concrete walls, faded plastic chair, pieces of shattered furniture on the ground… Nothing could survive this fire – even nobody. I unrolled the newspaper in my hand. The headline read: “Family of Five Oddly Disappeared in Fire”. 13 years ago, this house went up in flames and was burnt to ashes, as well as the entire family’s whereabouts. Neither of their corpse, ashes, footprints, or anything was found. No one, even the gossipiest newspapers, knew any information about the family. All we knew, was they were the Sodder family.
For a split-second, my sight was blurred by the eerie, overwhelming information. I pulled myself back into my surroundings, and the first thing came to sight was a giant tunnel in the wall. It was truly a disaster when I peeked inside: dust forming a layer of skin on the tunnel wall, piles of broken pieces of wood blocking my vision, especially when there was nothing to look through – the tunnel seemed endless, extended to infinity, where sunlight couldn’t reach.
This had raised my suspicion. Could this be where the Sodder family escaped to? But for such an obvious possibility, how could the police investigators never have thought of it? Or… they chose to keep silent about it?
With this in mind, I decided to hop into this bottomless pit of mystery. As a retired agent, I would never hesitate to relive my adventurous career. When the police abruptly closed the case 9 years ago, I knew something was wrong. When I worked with the police and the FBI, this was not their style of acting. After 4 years of investigation, you were telling me the family of five died of the fire, with absolutely no traces? This didn’t sound like a reasonable inference of what happened. Who were these people?
Little did I know, these questions would just form more and more in my head, as I dug deeper into the mystery of the Sodder family…
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Lesson 2 Homework
Our long-lasting friendship originated from a tiny accident. In a regular afternoon back in my college days, I was sitting in a café, studying for the exam on the next day. Everything was perfectly regular: the taste of the coffee, the seat I took, and the view of the bustling road framed in the window; of course, the studying part was tedious as usual as well. After two hours of learning, my brain went on a strike. It felt like a rusty electronic component, who tried its best but just could not function anymore. I decided to reward myself a break. Putting on my headphones, the pressure of the upcoming exam was cancelled out along with the surrounding noises. For the first time in that day, I finally felt the liveliness resurrecting in me, who was no different than a skeleton, in the middle of the exhausting exam week. I moved my sight away from the computer screen – a great relief – and stretched it as far as I could over the horizon. I imagined going on a thrilling adventure over there, hiking on the mountains that were barely visible at the misty nightfall. I dreamed of everything, just to take my mind away from the miserable reality; but in the end, realizing my fate of never being able to enjoy the gorgeous evening, I could only sigh a few more times.
Suddenly, a ring of my phone interrupted my stream of thoughts. A unfamiliar name appeared on the screen. Thomas Miller? I searched through my lifetime of memories, even the most minor encounters, but the name did not came out. With curiosity and doubt, I opened the message. It read: “What’s up Jonathan, want to hang out tomorrow at 5:30PM? Let’s meet in Crescent Park.” I was confused: how did this guy know my name? I clicked into his profile page – seemed like a friendly person, but definitely not a familiar face. He must had a friend named Jonathan, but accidentally sent this message to me, I explained to myself. But the second question immediately arose: how did he know my address? The city I lived in did have a park named Crescent Park, which would not be a common name for parks. This person coincidentally lived in the same city as me!
Bizarrely, I began looking forward to meet this man named Thomas Miller. Maybe because of curiosity, maybe because of the stress of exams, maybe because of my lack of socializing… I was fascinated by this thought, and wished if I had the courage to accept the invitation. My rationality told me to politely decline and tell him that he messaged the wrong person. But before I finished pondering, I found a green bubble I just sent out on the screen – somehow, without realization, I already replied to him, agreeing to his invitation! It seemed that my hand had subconsciously typed out my inner thoughts, as I looked forward to meet this person, when I saw the message at first. Oddly, I did not panic, nor did I tried to recall the message. A part of me even felt satisfied of agreeing to this, as if I had been waiting for an unknown adventure like this to happen in my dull life for a long time. “Well, what could go wrong?” I silently said to myself. I decided to get on with it.
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Lesson 10 Mock Exam
‘Education is not just about which school you go to, or what qualifications you gain; it is also about what you learn from your experiences outside of school.’ Dear school administrators and my fellow students, what traits do you think should good education include? To me, a good education means a school giving students freedom, the freedom to experiment with different fields of study, the freedom to develop any hobbies or skills, the freedom to make their own decisions.
A good education should be a miniature of the society. Students, are no longer students; they are the innovators of the world. A student can have diverse identities: they can be an athlete, an artist, an author, or a mathematician. Only in this way, the students can seek their true ambitions of life. Their ambitions should not be restricted by the school system or other’s expectations; it should be unique for every single one of them. With a free learning environment, the students’ dreams become the fuel for learning, and they will chase their dreams without hesitation. As they run and run, until they graduate from school, the long chase becomes a force of habit. the students will acquire a progressive mindset, which they will benefit from in the rest of their lifetime.
Only with an environment of freedom, the students can keep in touch with reality, a reality where you need to face cruel decisions and occurrences every day. A majority of schools are ivory towers, not to enable the students to fly high like a free bird, but to trap them in for eternity. To me, a good student is not a student who gets full marks for all of their courses; instead, a good student is a student who has adaptability, who has survive and enjoy the world in their own way. In a rigid school system, a student will never become the latter. They will become a person with no capability with anything in life besides studying. But with a school system of freedom, students can adapt to the real society ahead of time. How to deal with social relationships, how ensure safety, how to arrange time well… All of these are important life lessons for students to learn in the future. But with a school providing students freedom, students will learn them beforehand, and gain an advantage when starting off in the lifelong race in the society, compared to the other peer competitors.
Therefore, a school should always provide students with freedom. Only with freedom, students can choose their life path with free will, pursue it with all of their energy, without leaving lifelong regrets; only with freedom, students can keep in contact with the real world of cruelty, which they ought to face in the future, and become ready for it. A school of freedom, is my definition of good education.
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Lesson 9 Homework
Have you ever wondered how do people keep themselves focused when studying? If you do a survey, you will find music to be a popular choice. Music does have a value when studying. It relieves your stress, it enhances your concentration, and it boosts your memory.
We all have tried putting on a headphone and playing music when studying. Be honest with yourselves, that feeling of cancelling off distractions is phenomenal. Even if you have an exam coming up tomorrow, music can put your anxiety aside, and focus your mind on studying. Do not think this is only your own perception: according to USA Today, music can reduce anxiety as much as a massage. Sounds impressive, right? If you are frequently bothered by poor academic performance due to anxiety, music is the medicine you need. Simply worrying about the future uncertainty is futile; but by listening to music, you become capable of doing the most effective method at the very moment: begin studying. You will gain more knowledge and perform better. Music is the stepping stone to success, and what it simply does is cutting you off from worrying.
The science behind this is mind-blowing. According to a Stanford study, music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention. Thus, the external distractions can be muted, and your brain energy will be utilized for the most important thing – studying. Furthermore, an UC Davis study has shown the strong connection between music and memory. People tend to store memories into a song. When the song is played, they can clearly remember their incidents or emotions related to the song. If you ever heard about the term “earworms”, that is an effective way of improving memory. As the melody you played during studying is stuck in your head, the knowledge memorized along with the melody will also be memorized, and hence improves your academic performance.
Music is the key to successful studying. If you study in silence, any noises will be amplified, and no knowledge will last long. Studying with music empowers you to relieve, to concentrate, to memorize. Some people are one step away from success; all they lack is music, the tool scientifically-proven to be effective for studying. Next time you study, try playing a song from your device. All of your stress will magically disappear, and the only thing that enters your head will be the knowledge you learned!
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Lesson 7 Homework
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, I stand before you as a believer in hope and compassion, advocating for a cause that transcends self-interest and touches the core of humanity: volunteering with charity. In our present-day world, where inequalities constantly emerge, volunteering offers us a pathway to reshape our environment, to uplift those in need, and to foster a sense of community and connection.
There are countless ways to get involved with charity, each offering its own unique opportunities for service and impact. From hands-on activities such as serving meals at a local shelter or participating in community clean-up projects, to more specialized tasks like fundraising, event planning, or offering professional skills, there is a role for everyone to play in contributing to the greater good.
But what kinds of charities can we support, you might ask? The beauty of volunteering is that it has no boundaries. Charities encompass a diversity of activities, each dedicated to addressing specific issues and improving the lives of others. Whether it’s supporting minorities, providing aid to disaster-stricken areas, promoting environmental sustainability, advocating for animal welfare, or advancing medical research and humanitarian efforts, there is a cause out there that speaks to each of us, waiting for us to lend our support and make a difference.
And why is it important to volunteer, you may wonder? The answer lies in the power of service. Volunteering not only benefits those we serve, but also enriches our own lives. It fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment, cultivates empathy and compassion, and nurtures personal growth and development. Through our collective efforts, we not only address urgent societal challenges but also strengthen the bond of our communities and build a brighter, more inclusive future.
Moreover, volunteering offers us an opportunity to connect with others who share a mutual passion for making a difference. It provides a sense of belonging, as we come together with like-minded individuals to effect positive change. In a world often characterized by division, volunteering serves as a unifying force, bringing all people together in pursuit of a common goal: to create a world where compassion is established for everyone.
In conclusion, I urge every one of you to respond to today’s proposal by volunteering with charity. No matter your expertise, your profession, or your age, your contribution matters. Together, let us harness the power of volunteering to build a brighter, more compassionate world.
Thank you for your attention and your commitment to making a difference.
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Jonathan Lesson 5 Exam Answer
In the extract of Dombey and Son, the author has successfully created Florence’s thoughts and feelings of sorrow, with a variety of literary techniques.
To begin with, the author illustrates Florence’s intense conflict, “Where to go? Still somewhere, anywhere!” As a child, under the circumstance of being rejected by her own parents and left to the world alone, Florence’s mind is overflowed with a fusion of emotions. In reality, she has no place to go; she has no relatives or close friends. However, her instinct commands her to run away from her home, as a way to escape from the misery her family is giving her. This use of hypophora and exclamation demonstrates the struggles Florence is dealing with within her mind. With the hypophora displaying Florence’s fluster under stress and the exclamation displaying her emotional outburst of sadness, the author builds up tense and brings a feeling of despair for the reader, intriguing the reader to read on.
Afterwards, the author also uses speech to demonstrate Florence’s thoughts and feelings, ‘Oh, Di! oh, dear, true, faithful Di, how did you come here? How could I ever leave you, Di, who would never leave me?’. Once again, this is a method Florence uses to comfort herself and to flee from grief. Instead of intending to actually let her dog understand, she is also presenting her thoughts to herself through speech. ‘How did you come here’ seems to be corresponding her current situation of being abandoned by her family and running away. This clever use of rhetorical question demonstrates Florence’s emotions of sorrow once again, and her attempt to comfort herself and extract herself from the mess. As a result, the anxiety and is developed further, and a sorrowful feeling for the reader is created.
Therefore, with the use of hypophora, exclamation, and rhetorical question, the author has successfully created Florence’s thoughts and feelings, which exhibits her misery due to the rejection of her parents.
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Lesson 1 Homework
In the extract from Dracula by Bram Stoker, the author successfully creates an atmosphere of suspense, with various compelling language choices.
The extract begins with Dracula’s speech with a whimsical tone. For instance, it reads, “Be warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, then haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then”. The old-fashioned speaking style naturally gives the reader a sense of mysteriousness. Meanwhile, words such as “Be warned!”, “overcome”, or “haste” all serves for the purpose of intimidation and enforcement, which builds up the horror further. The sudden pause at the end of the speech is frightening. Silently informing the narrator the consequences, Dracula threatens him to leave. To this moment, the setting leaves a strong impression to the reader: the castle appears to be haunted by the sinister Dracula.
Moving on to the next paragraph, sensory details are sufficiently used to emphasize the suspense ongoing in the castle. It starts with a description of the narrator’s internal fear. An example would be “I felt that I was indeed in prison”, metaphorically giving a feeling of claustrophobia, which also foreshadows the upcoming plot. Also, the narrator mentions how he wants “a breath of fresh air”, suggesting a suffocating feeling in the castle. Similarly, the description of “It is destroying my nerve” implies the scary surroundings are causing the narrator’s anxiety. Suddenly, this terrifying sensory description is transitioned to the beautiful scenery outside of the castle. The huge contrast depicts a bizarreness of the haunted castle seeming to be separated from the outside world. Moreover, there are hidden information conveyed in the description of the natural scenery. For example, descriptions such as “melted” and “velvety blackness” sets a blurry, mysterious sensation, increasing the feel of uncertainty. The sensory details, combined with the contrast of setting, eventually intensifies the suspense.
As Dracula finally makes an appearance, the suspense has reached its peak. Dracula slowly craws in an eerie manner. He craws “with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings”. The author uses imagery to show the unnatural and strange characteristic of Dracula. The way Dracula moves is described as how “a lizard moves along a wall”. At first, the narrator is amused by the strange creature Dracula, but as he observes it closely, he is shocked and terrified by the scene in front of him. Dracula is looking bizarre, something the narrator has never seen before. Facing this mysterious beast, the sense of horror is at the maximum. Finally, in the ending, the feeling of claustrophobia is stressed again. Words like “overpowering”, “no escape”, “encompassed” implicates the atmosphere of horror and suspense is taking the narrator’s breath away. The narrator explicitly states his fear of this castle. The story abruptly ends here, leaving a cliffhanger for the reader to wonder about what will happen to the narrator in this haunted castle. The suspense is raised up once again.
To summarize, the extract from Dracula uses multiple language choices, including tone, sensory details, imagery, metaphor, contrast, etc. to successfully construct the atmosphere of suspense. The castle and Dracula have been portrayed bizarrely, with the story plot intensifying more and more in each scene. The vivid narration gives the reader goosebumps while reading the suspenseful descriptions of the scenes.
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In my opinion, the most important theme in Othello is prejudice. The theme of prejudice is mainly displayed in two aspects: racism and misogyny.
First of all, other characters have prejudice of Othello because of his Moore background/black race. For more than once, Iago has described Othello as livestocks, showing his despise and thinking Othello as naturally being more lower-classed because of his race. The more others impose this prejudice on Othello, Othello starts to acknowledge this concept in his mind. He begins to become a beast-like character, similarly to what other characters think of him. Eventually, this leads to the supreme tragedy: when he hears the betrayal of Desdemona, his feeling of disgrace drives him to kill Desdemona.
Secondly, the misogynistic prejudice is shown in the play as well. For instance, Iago never exhibits respect when speaking and acting to his wife, Emilia. When Emilia finds the handkerchief Iago’s searching for, only to beg for love from Iago, Iago only cares about the handkerchief his master plan. He shows no gratitude. Another example is Othello chooses to believe the words of the evil Iago rather than his own wife Desdemona, and ends up taking her life. These two examples can both prove one thing: the low position of women in marriage/love relationships at that time. This inequality in power leads to prejudice towards women, since women have less rights to speak and defend for themselves, compared to men. Contrarily, men have a larger right to execute actions or punishments on women, such as Othello taking Desdemona’s life in the end.
To conclude, prejudice is reflected through racism and misogyny, both leading to the ultimate tragedy of the death of Desdemona and Othello. The prejudice is deeply embedded into the views of the characters, and is a huge factor impacting the plot and the logic behind the character’s action. Therefore, prejudice is definitely one of the most important themes in Othello.
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Writing challenge 1
I woke up to the smell of burning. It was a burning wooden house. No one cared about it because it was empty. No one cared about it because it was on such a small, desolated island, unlike places like Australia.
Fortunately, I was only sailing on a ship. The flames screamed for days and nights; the calmness before riot; nature’s warning for humans. Quietly and wildly, animals and plants are killed by this murderer.WWW: Description
EBI: Have a more complete ending
4/10Writing challenge 2
The hardest thing about being a parent is there is no instruction manual. Parents need to cope with their children for many years in their life. Every child is different, so parents do not have a definite instruction manual.
The process of metamorphosis is difficult for children and parents, and if they do not communicate well, they will have endless arguments.
Even though this is obvious, some people still say it is not that hard without instructions. This statement is untrue. Parents face tons of family conflicts and life decisions every day. We should be more kind to parents instead of negating their effort.
How to communicate with children? How to educate children? How to help children establish a positive outlook on life? Only for parents to figure it out by themselves…WWW: Well structured
EBI: Include better points to persuade
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Jonathan Lesson 44
“Graffiti-when done skillfully-is a wonderful art style that brightens a city like nothing else.”
Graffiti is a modern art form that connects deeply with us. It infiltrates a city with its warmth and brightness. It makes us closer because all of us can appreciate it. Graffiti brightens everyone’s day.
Graffiti is creativity. It is the cozy wind on a beach; it is the lollipop in your childhood; it is the snowman in winter. Every piece of graffiti is unique.
Some people might wonder, what if some don’t like it? Graffiti can’t satisfy everyone, but you can try to enjoy it. Appreciate the art with your heart.
Graffiti may not be a perfect solution, but it does brighten a city. When you are tired, find graffitis, and hop into the world of imagination.
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The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy L1 HW
Jonathan
The Explorld, a strange system, originated from the Universe. It became independent since scientists discovered an unusual characteristic: the atomic theory does not apply to this world.
The Explorld’s peculiar system produced peculiar creatures; they had a significant difference compared to humans; they were silicon-based, intelligent, and enormous; they were known as Inters.
The Explorld was a harsh place for survival. It was formed out of toxic waste produced by humans. Inters were almost extinct because of this contamination. Luckily, a single mutant survived. It developed immunity from any poisonous chemicals. This immortal creature was known as Gnorts, who later became the ruler of The Explorld.
Gnorts reproduced insanely like a virus. Soon, The Explorld was crammed with Inters. They evolved stronger and more intelligent. As they became more intelligent, the idea of society and government was formed. Gnorts’s reputation and strength announced his control of The Explorld.
To develop more advanced technology, Gnorts forced every Inter to work in laboratories. Their life was fleeced; opposing ideas were restricted. Finally, workers erupted, and launch a revolt. Millions of Inters fought against the Gnorts army. Expectedly, the Gnorts army surrendered, and a new leader was elected.
The new leader was the organizer of the revolt, called Liarf. By strengthening the ideology of democracy, Liarf led the Inter society to huge success. The success was at an astonishing height. Every Inter was fully armored and has portals everywhere.
However, the Explorld was completely destroyed by an accident. The government laboratory was researching a virus. Inters collected a specimen from Earth, where humans live.
The Inter scientists accidentally lost the specimen, and by the time they found it, the virus had already spread widely. Inters’ armors suddenly became useless in front of the mighty virus.
The chance of survival for Inters was 0%. The gigantic Inter empire collapsed in a week. There wasn’t a second miracle for Inters. The Explorld became uninhabited, and it never recovered.
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Jonathan Lesson 41
Dear sir/madam,
Fireworks take part in cultural celebrations. Even though they have their importance, they are still dangerous, still injure people, and still pollute. According to a report, an estimated 19,500 fires started by fireworks were reported to local US fire departments in 2018, causing five deaths, 46 injuries, and $105 million in direct property damage. We should restrict the use of fireworks and create policies immediately. Fireworks do not worth people injuring themselves and harming the environment.Primarily, we need to manage and restrict fireworks instead of banning fireworks completely. But how? We should make everyone who produces or sets off a firework be registered. This action guarantees the quality of fireworks and one’s ability to set off fireworks. Even if there is an accident, like a fire, this policy still avoids the fire being a dumpster fire.
However, the pollution problem is still not solved. So, the second policy is to restrict the firework consumption for each person. This policy greatly decreases the total number of pollution and helps to improve the environment.
In conclusion, fireworks are harming people and the environment. Due to potential danger, we must take immediate action to provide safety and a healthy environment. Despite the fact that cultural celebrations need fireworks, we should still restrict fireworks.
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Jonathan Lesson 37
Josh, the son of a soldier, carried his father’s job. No one knows that an accident would happen: a bullet hit his arm.
He woke up in an unfamiliar place, on a temporary folding bed. His uniform was dyed with the color of blood; his arm was covered with bandages. The booming sound of bombs and bullets is still raging, like a psychopath screaming in his ears. The only sound he could make was a painful moan.
On the other hand, Josh started to recognize himself as a real soldier. He recalled the movie War Horse and the character Albert Narracott. Josh felt like the injury is demonized. He thought recovering is easy, but he was wrong. Sicknesses show up slowly.
Unknowingly, the demon of injury and pain is seizing Josh by his throat.
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