11/08/2010

Topic Choice for the Oral Presentation

     My topic is about the differneces between upper class and Lower class in 19th centry.  I chose this topic is because my novel Little Women is talking about a poor family os far, but their nighbor, Laurie's family is very rich.  But the relationship between them is pretty close. Sometimes Jo and her family will go to Laurie's home, and they can bring happiness to Laurie, even they are really poor.  So I want to learn the differences between these two kinds of families, how they live differently, how the dress differently,etc. 
     This is one of the informations that I found, maybe will be helpful.http://www.britannica.com.ez.sccd.ctc.edu:2048/bps/additionalcontent/17/12924/The-Class-War

11/05/2010

Week 6 ---- Four True Ghost Stories for Halloween

http://factoidz.com/four-true-ghost-stories-for-halloween/
by N/A, Staff Writer

A. Summary:
     There are four short ghost stories that author has heard of. The first one is the haunted house monument in Los Angeles. This place used to be a wealthy family, but one of the family members was murdered. There were more death after that, as result, it was closed to public, except for movie filming or some special events. There are lots of strange voice always be heard during night, such as footsteps, door slamming and screaming.
     The second story is the hunted brown palace hotel in Denver. This is a famous landmark and one of the most beautiful historic buildings.  a famous musician and a TV star went there but left during the night, because he heard and saw a woman floating down the hallway and babies crying.
     The next story is the security guard's video monitor. this is happened in downtown, Los Angeles. a security guard of a historic loft heard some noice from gym, such as footsteps on the treadmill and he saw the equiment was running. He left right away, but he didn't understand why the ghosts need to exercise.
     The last stoy is another story about a mansion in a Los Angeles suburb owned by a distant family relation. los of people heard noice from the big house, such as the pictures falling down from the wall, doors opening and closing, and the piano playing by itself. The author went there didn't see any ghosts but he(she) felt extreme cold.


B. Opinion:
     These stories are strange and a little bit scary if you read it during the night.  But I'm not the person who believes in ghosts. Maybe sometimes we need to believe a part of it, because science could explain it right now. I like to watch scary movies and I have been told some scary stories too, there is one that really scaried me.  My little cousin has a doll that she really likes and holds it every night.  Once the went to a store and she carried the doll with her, when the went back home, they found out the doll was not with her, might be left somewhere. They started to look for it, they went back the store and checked in car and house, because my little cousin needed it at night.  They didn't find it at the end, and her father got a similar one to her.  A few months later, people almost forgot about this. But one day morning, her father was going to work, he opened the door of the car, he saw the lost doll was right beside the kid's seat!  It was really scary!!


C. Vocabulary:
Estate: a piece of landed property, esp. one of large extent with an elaborate house on it: to have an estate in the country.
     Ex: My estate lies within a mile.
In retrospect: in retrospect, in looking back on past events; upon reflection.
     Ex: In retrospect it was a nightmare.
Decade: a period of ten years.
    Ex: He expects it to take a decade or more to overcome the shortage.