Saturday, October 27, 2007

Functions Of English

ANALYZING PROBLEMS

I. Focusing on the main problem/issue

1. What is the main problem?
2. What is the real issue (here)?
3. (I think) the major problem is . . .
4. Our primary concern is . . .
5. The crux of the matter is . . .
6. (As I see it), the most important thing is . . .
7. The main problem we need to solve is . . .
8. We really need to take care of . . .
9. It all comes down to this
:

II. Asking for input

1. What should we do about it?
2. What needs to be done?
3. What do you think we should do?
4. What are we going to do about it?
5. Do you have any suggestions?
6. Any ideas?

III. Making Recommendations

1. I recommend that . . .
2. I suggest that . . .
3. I would like to propose that . . .
4. Why don't we . . .

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Improving Your Listening Skills


WEIGHING THE IDEA OF A YEAR OFF BEFORE COLLEGE


In Britain and other countries, young people sometimes take a "gap year," a year off between high school and college.

This idea never gained a big following in the United States. Recent news reports have suggested that interest may be growing, though there are no official numbers.

Charles Deacon is the dean of admissions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He estimates that in the current first-year class of one thousand six hundred students, only about twenty-five decided to take a year off. He says this number has not changed much over the years.

Mister Deacon says the most common reason is to have a chance to travel. But he says international students may take a gap year to meet requirements at home for military duty.

Some high school graduates see a year off as a chance to recover after twelve years of required education. But it can also give students a chance to explore their interests. Students who think they want to be doctors, for example, could learn about the profession by volunteering in a hospital for a year.

Many colleges and universities support gap-year projects by permitting students to delay their admission. Experts say students can grow emotionally and intellectually as they work at something they enjoy.

The Harvard admissions office has an essay on its Web site called "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation." It praises the idea of taking time off to step back, think and enjoy gaining life experiences outside the pressure of studies. It also notes that students are sometimes admitted to Harvard or other colleges in part because they did something unusual with that time.

Of course, a gap year is not for everyone. Students might miss their friends who go on directly to college. And parents might worry that their children will decide not to go to college once they take time off.

Another concern is money. A year off, away from home, can be costly.

Holly Bull is the president of the Center for Interim Programs. Her company specializes in helping students plan their gap year. She notes that several books have been written about this subject. She says these books along with media attention and the availability of information on the Internet have increased interest in the idea of a year off.

And she points out that many gap-year programs cost far less than a year of college.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Confusing Words

IDENTICAL / PREPOSITIONAL PAIRS

Here are some examples: on and on, again and again, round and round, up and down, little by little, all in all

  • You needn't go on and on about needing a holiday. I know we haven't had a break for over a year now.
  • I've told you again and again to stop swearing in front of the children, but you take no notice.
  • We're not making any progress by arguing like this. We're just going round and round in circles. My head's beginning to go round and round.
  • How are you getting on now? ~ Oh, up and down, as usual. I have good days and bad days.
  • Little by little his heath improved and he was able to walk further and further each day.
  • All in all, it was a successful holiday in spite of some scary moments.

    on and on: without pausing or stopping, usually with go

    again and again: repeatedly

    round and round: moving in circles or spinning, usually with go

    little by little: gradually or slowly

    all in all: taking everything into consideration

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Vietnamese Women's Day


On this occasion, i wish all of my female learners a big success, and an ever-lasting beauty.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Improving Your Listening Skills

BUSINESS NEWS

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez celebrated May Day, the international workers' holiday, by issuing a decree that transferred control of the country's last privately owned oil fields to government control. The state will own at least 60% of every oil field in the country, and Chávez encouraged the companies owning the remainder to retain their minority holdings in order to help develop the fields and refine the crude oil. The U.S. oil companies Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, the British company BP, Norway's Statoil and France's Total agreed to the transfer of control, although negotiations over compensation still have several weeks to go. Chávez has announced that he may nationalize private hospitals and the steel and banking industries as well.

The Chinese have arrested the general manager of a company northwest of Shanghai for selling wheat gluten used in pet food that killed at least 16 pets in the United States and made thousands of others sick. The wheat gluten contained melamine, a chemical that is normally used to make plastics and fertilizer but that is sometimes added to pet food because it fools the tests that measure the amount of protein in the food. Similar exports also killed more than 30 dogs in South Africa.The Chinese government first objected to claims that the animals were killed by exports from their country, and their new willingness to take action shows that they were worried about the effect of the animal deaths on their export business.

Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate the News Corporation has bid $5 billion for Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal newspaper. There had been no announcement that Dow Jones was available for sale. Although the Dow Jones board of directors announced that 52% of the voting shares of the company were against the sale, Murdoch is not giving up. He announced that he would create an independent editorial board for the Wall St. Journal and would not send his own editors to run it. Discussing his attempts to communicate with Boston's Bancroft family, who own 62% of the shares, Murdoch said "I think the next step for us is to be patient—and to be available at any time should they respond to my suggestion for a meeting."
The News Corporation is not the only media conglomerate trying to buy a well-known financial news publisher. British news and financial information provider Reuters announced that Canada's Thomson Corporation has made a bid to buy them out. Thomson has grown from a small newspaper publisher to a worldwide publisher of scientific, healthcare, tax, and especially legal research information. They publish some financial information, but are not a major player; a Reuters acquisition would let them compete with market leader Bloomberg for the business of delivering real-time financial information. News of the Thomson offer and Murdoch's offer for Dow Jones boosted the share price of most major publishing companies.
A US court decision on the design of a gas pedal for cars and trucks will have a huge effect throughout the country's technology industries. When Canadian pedal manufacturer KSR International added an electronic sensor to one pedal model, the Teleflex company claimed that the design infringed on their patent and demanded royalties. In a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that the invention was obvious enough to not be worthy of protection under patent law. Because so many hardware, software, communications and biotechnology companies make their money by charging royalties for technology that may infringe on their patents, this change in how courts view infringement will make it difficult for many of these companies to make this money so easily.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Improving Your Listening Skills


COLLEGES SEE GREEN IN SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES


We talked last week about a movement to build environmentally friendly school buildings in the United States. Today we look at the spread of "green" studies in higher education.

Many colleges and universities around the country now offer programs in sustainability studies. These programs combine environmental science, social science, economics, agriculture, renewable energy and other subjects.

Antioch University in New Hampshire and Maharishi University of Management in Iowa are just two of the schools with sustainability programs. At Dominican University of California, near San Francisco, students can receive a master's of business administration in sustainable enterprise. School officials say their Green MBA brings together the aims of the financial world with those of the social justice and environmental movements.

This year, Arizona State University opened its Global Institute of Sustainability. The aim is to do research across many departments, then bring that information to schools, businesses and industries.

Arizona State has also launched a School of Sustainability. Like many sustainability programs, this one grew out of an existing environmental studies program.

The school is just starting its first academic year. Students can take courses towards a master's degree or a doctorate in sustainability. And the school will soon offer undergraduate programs.
Officials say the School of Sustainability aims to educate a new generation of leaders to solve environmental, social and economic problems.

But experts sometimes question whether students who study sustainability will be able to sustain themselves by finding jobs.

Charles Redman is the director of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. He says more and more local governments around the country are forming sustainability committees that need environmental experts. And he says companies increasingly want experts who know how to make businesses as environmentally responsible as possible.

He cannot talk yet about graduates of his own school, since it has just started. But he says he does know that among colleges and universities, there is a high demand for professors who can teach sustainability.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Improving Your Listening Skills

MAKING SENSE OF A WEAK DOLLAR
Weak or strong. Which is better? If the question is about the American dollar, the answer depends on whom you ask.

The dollar has been weakening against several major currencies. One euro is currently worth about one dollar forty cents. A British pound is worth over two dollars.
Many widely traded products are bought and sold in dollars. These commodities include oil, soybeans and metals like copper. A weak dollar can mean a better deal for foreign buyers. But for oil producers and countries that tie the value of their own money to the dollar, weakness reduces their purchasing power.
A weak dollar, though, may help reduce the American trade deficit because it makes American exports less costly. But in the United States it can raise the cost of imports. An exception is imports from China.
The Chinese government sets the value of the yuan on foreign exchanges. This year the yuan has increased less than four percent against the weakening dollar. This has kept the prices of Chinese imports low.
In other cases, however, a weak dollar hurts American businesses that deal in imported goods. They may have to raise prices or sacrifice profits. Many companies do not want to raise their prices for fear that they may lose market share.
The Federal Reserve has said that inflation remains under control. But the Fed says it is prepared to take action if inflationary pressures increase.
Last month the central bank cut short-term interest rates by half a point. It did so to help keep problems in the housing and credit markets from harming the wider economy and causing a recession.
But some economic worries appeared to ease after the latest jobs report last Friday. The Labor Department said employment increased by one hundred ten thousand jobs in September. Also, new numbers for August showed a gain of close to ninety thousand jobs.
The department had earlier reported that the economy lost four thousand jobs in August, the first report of job losses in four years.
Still, critics warn of dangers from a weaker dollar and lower interest rates, which reduce the returns on dollar-based investments. A New York Times commentary, for example, said dollar weakness is rooted in the borrow-and-spend behavior of the government and the public. It said foreign lenders will be less and less likely to want to invest in dollars, and that will only make things a lot worse.

Functions Of English

GIVING ADVICE

There are a number of formulas used when Giving Advice in English. Here are some of the most common:

  • I don't think you should work so hard.
  • You ought to work less.
  • You ought not to work so hard.
  • If I were you, I'd work less.
  • If I were in your position, I'd work less.
  • If I were in your shoes, I'd work less.
  • You had better work less.
  • You shouldn't work so hard.
  • Whatever you do, don't work so hard.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Improving Your Listening Skills

US Auto Industry

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Labor relations in the American auto industry took a new turn this week with a deal that many are calling historic.

An employee returns to work at the General Motors factory in Warren, MichiganGeneral Motors and the United Auto Workers agreed on a proposed new contract after a strike that lasted two days. Seventy-three thousand union workers walked off the job.

Job security was the top issue for union members. The U.A.W. is seeking to protect jobs in the United States and limit the number of temporary workers used by General Motors.

For G.M., the main issue was to find a way to cut its costs for health care for retired workers. The nation's largest automaker estimates its long-term responsibilities at more than fifty billion dollars.

Under the agreement, G.M. would create a trust called a volunteer employee benefit association. This VEBA would pay health care costs for retirees. G.M. is expected to invest about thirty-five billion dollars to start the fund. The fund would be independently administered and the union would supervise it.

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said the fund should secure benefits for retirees for the next eighty years.

G.M. has seen its share of the North American market shrink while its labor costs have remained far above its biggest competitor, Toyota. The deal would give G.M. the right to lower pay for some new employees.

The agreement is likely to provide an example for coming talks with the two other major American automakers, Ford and Chrysler.

The new contract still needs final approval by the union. Until then the full details are not being released. The union expects its members to begin voting this weekend.

The trust would also need approval by the courts and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The process is expected to take two years. After that, G.M. would no longer have to pay for health benefits for its retirees.

Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the agreement will help his company become more competitive. This, he says, will permit G.M. to keep a strong manufacturing presence in the United States and make future investments.
This was the first nationwide strike against G.M. since nineteen seventy.

The existing contract ended at midnight on September fourteenth. Union members continued working until their leaders called the strike Monday morning. The strike ended early Wednesday after negotiators reached the agreement.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Confusing Words

APPROVE

The meaning of approve changes when you add the preposition of to make approve of. Approve by itself means 'sanction' or 'endorse' as in these two examples. In the first, an accountant is speaking, and in the second, a university admissions tutor.

  • 'I cannot approve the reimbursement because you haven't given me the receipts for your expenditure.'
  • 'I cannot approve your application to study law because you do not have the relevant qualifications.'

If you approve of something, then you consider it to be good or you agree with it. Consider:

  • 'I don't approve of smoking in restaurants because it is so upsetting usually for non-smokers.'
  • 'Why don't you approve of my friends? They are all good upright people.'

    [ə'pru:v]
    ngoại động từ
    chấp thuận; phê chuẩn; phê duyệt; chuẩn y
    that peace treaty has been approved by the national assembly
    hoà ước ấy đã được sự phê chuẩn của quốc hội
    the auditors approved the company's accounts
    các kiểm định viên đã chấp thuận các chứng từ thanh toán của công ty
    chứng tỏ; tỏ ra
    to approve one's valour
    chứng tỏ lòng can đảm
    he approved himself to be a good pianist
    anh ta tỏ ra là một người chơi pianô giỏi
    nội động từ
    ( to approve of somebody / something) tán thành; ưng thuận; bằng lòng
    to approve of the proposal
    tán thành lời đề nghị
    Lan doesn't want to take her new boyfriend home in case her parents don't approve of him
    Lan không muốn đưa anh bạn mới quen về nhà nếu bố mẹ không ưng thuận anh ta