By :Davin,9Pre-Ib,6

English Journal

Books, newspapers, magazines, and internet are all the same. They are the world’s
window. Through all of them we can learn many things and we can get a lot of
information about other countries and other people’s life. With a purpose to gain
knowledge, I write this journal. It consists of 4 newspaper articles, 4 magazine articles,
and 1 novel. This journal really helps me to know about many things that I have never
known before.

Reader’s Digest, November, 2008, page 29-31

Scents and Sensibility

For Lisa Price, it was a really bad time to get sick. Her
fledgling skin and hair-care business, Carol’s Daughter, was preparing for a surge in
Valentine’s day sales. But instead of ramping things up, everything came to a half
while Price was in bed with the flu for two weeks. That’s when se realized that her
hands-on management style was a problem.
Price had started cooking up fragrances and lotions in her
Brooklyn kitchen in the early ‘90s. She wanted something unique, not something that
made her smell “like the department store her shelf. I found books that gave the basic
guidelines for balancing volatile notes with grounding notes," she says." I tried
different ingredients, and I wrote them down as I worked so if I got a recipe right, I
could reproduce it.”
Price opened her first store, in the fort greene neighborhood
of Brooklyn, in 1999. Three years later, she finally moved production out her kitchen
and into a warehouse. But while she kept coming up with new products –Black
Vanilla hair conditioner, Jamaican Punch Sea Salt Scrub, Almond Cookie Shea
Souffle moisturizer – she struggled to keep up with the bills and payroll. She needed
more expertise than her family could provide.
The company is now a multimillion-dollar business, with
seven stores and 85 employees.
My Comment :

I am amazed with this story, and I learn 3 major points from

this article. As I can see in this article, Lisa was brave to try something new. She mixed
ingredients that nobody has ever mixed before, and as the result she succeeded and
obtained a lot of money.
I think I have a similarity with her, even though mine
cannot give me a lot of money, like Lisa’s. This is the story about mine. When I had my
art project, my teacher asked us to draw a cubism picture, which was hard for me.
However I started to do it and I did something different, something that I had never done
before. I made my picture with unique color structures. At first it looked bad and ugly.
However at the end it was really nice and my teacher said that my picture was one of his
favorites.
After I read this article, I realize that to be a successful
person you need innovation, bravery to do something new and take a risk. However if we
fail, we must try over and over. We should not give up and we must learn from our
failure.

Vocabullary

1. Expertise : the ability that an expert possesses

- Counting complicated numbers is her expertise.

2. Fledgling: a person who is still lack of experience

- She is still a fledgling,she knows nothing.

3. Endorsements : approval

- I’m waiting for the endorsement from the government.

Reader’s Digest, November, 2008, page 18-20

Down by The River

In early 2001, Dale Edmonds traveled from her come in
Singapore to Cambodia to adopt two children 13 year old Nary and her one year old
brother Narith through an adoption agency based in the United States. While waiting
for the paperwork to come through, she found out that Nary and Narith were not
orphans their family had sold them to the orphanage.
 Six moth later Dale and her husband Jimmy Yap went back to
Cambodia with her children to search for the birth family. It was difficult because
Nary didn’t know the exact location of her parents’ home.
The children were of Vietnamese descent, and a Catholic
priest living in Phnom Penh pointed the couple to a Vietnamese community living
along the Tonle Sap River. There, Nary recognized a childhood friend and confirmed
that was where she had grown up. Dale and Jim was divested; they thought they
would have to give Nary and Narith back to their family.
However they discovered that the other two children’s
relatives had also sold the other two children 12 year old Helen and one year old Binh
to local traffickers. Dale and Jimmy decided to adopt them, reuniting the four
siblings.
Dale learned that many local children, many from broken and
abusive families, were in danger of being sold to traffickers. By 2005 she was helping
out 27 children, sending between $500 and $1500 each month.
Dale decided ti set up a proper non-governmental
organization, which she named the Riverkids Project, to help fight child trafficking.
“Through our children, we had trust and access to a slum community that no one else
was really working with,” Dale says.
Riverkids now has two after-school centers offering about 250
children vocational training and help with their schoolwork.
Dale works full-time without pay setting up programs, raising
funds and giving talks. She visits Cambodia every two months to make sure
everything is running smoothly. Even during difficult times, one thing keeps her
going: “seeing the kids just blossom”

My comment

This article astonishes me. It is good to see a couple who still

care for others in this hard life. Dale and his husband had made many children happy and
helped them find their parents. I think there is no other couples who can be this generous
in this world.
Furthermore, this article makes me remember about university
students who taught poor children in Galaxy Mall for free. It was wonderful to see the
young generation help one another. Even though they were busy with all of their tasks,
they gave their time for others.
This article teaches me to be a generous person and become a
person that cares for others. I am ashamed to myself, because I know that I am a selfish
person and I seldom put my friends as my priority. In short, this article encourages me to
become a generous person.
Vocabullary

1. Descent : the state of going down

- The descent of prices stimulates the economic growth.

2. Revelation : the openess of a secret

- After the revelation of her sin, she doesn’t go out very often.

3. Poverty : the state of being poor

- Nobody wants to live in poverty.

Reader’s Digest, November, 2008, page 65-69

The New Green

His Nightly routine isn’t just because he insists the
water runts faster than during the day, but because he has “to let the murky water sit
for a few hours to let the mud settle to the bottom of the water tank.”
The well water is so contaminated that Luki’s family
only uses it to wash their clothes and his motorcycle, and to mop the floor. They can
spend over $20 a week buying clean water to drink and use for bathing.
Luki is not alone. An estimated 700 million of us in Asia
do not have access to safe drinking water, according to Professor Tommy Koh,
chairman of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum Governing Council. Our water woes stem
from a combination of inadequate supplies to service an increasing urban population,
pollution, poor infrastructure and endemic corruption.
“if the present trends continue,” warns Kalidaikurichi
Seetharam, the director of the institute odd Water Policy in Singapore, “Asia will
soon face a water quality management crisis that is unprecedented in human history.”
Although 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by
water, only 2.5 percent of this water is fresh. On top of that, we only have access to a
fraction of this finite supply. The earth’s water cycle has done a great job of recycling
this finite supply but now population demands – often in places with limited supplies
– is putting this cycle under stress, Simply put, more people are using the same small
supply of water

My Comment

It is true that our earth now runs out of water, as we can

see from the article above. There are 700 million people in Asia who run out of fresh
water. As we can see above, Luki also has trouble in finding fresh water.
 From my experience in daily life, I have also found
many people that run out of water. There are so many people that live in remote areas
in Indonesia who hardly find fresh water. This phenomenon has been a global
problem now.
This article gives me more knowledge about water. At
first I thought about the reason why we ran out of water. There is a lot water in this
earth (70% of the earth is water). However after reading this article I know that only
2.5% of the water is fresh. Furthermore I believe that we can solve this problem if we
hold hands together.

Vocabulary

1. Inadequate : not enough

- The inadequate supply forces the people to be thrifty.

Reader’s Digest, November, 2008, page 106-112

Krystals’s Big Break

Landing a movie part is the stuff of dreams. It’s a heady,
narcissistic affair accompanied by chauffeured cars, private trailers and teams of hair,
makeup and wardrobe professionals fussing and fixing. The lights go on, cameras start
rolling and all the action is focused on you, to….you! Movie-star treatment spoils some
people rotten, but it can also be the most uplifting, rewarding and self-esteem-building
experience of a lifetime – or so it was for my 19 year old daughter, Krystal, who has
Down’s syndrome. It wasn’t just dreams that helped Krystal land the role of Phoebe in
the TV-movie version of the bestseller The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The years of
Saturday theater classes and the countless hours spent in lively animation, talking to the
full-length animation, talking to the full-length mirror in her bedroom certainly helped.
Her 140 centimeter, 33kilogram frame didn’t hurt
When we got an email last October from the Down
Syndrome Association of Toronto, announcing the audition, it was clear lifetime Network
was looking for two different girls to play Phoebe – one as a 13 years old, the other as a
young woman. But when Krystal walked into the audition, ready to read for the young-
woman role, director Mick Jackson eyed her tiny frame and asked her to read both parts.
“We knew she was the one,” executive producer Howard
Braunstein recalled to me on the set one day in Halifax “We’d searched across the North
America. When Krystal walked in, we knew we’d found our actor.”
Like that; little did I know, there’d be other bonuses.
Shortly after Krystal landed the role, the script arrived by FedEx. What happened next
was a thrill I’ll never forget: She ripped open the package and read all 95 pages in two
days. Teachers tell me Krystal has the reading abillity of a year 4 student. She’d never
enjoyed reading and had never finished a story longer than a few pages – until this one
arrived
I felt an odd mix of pride and trepidation when, partway
through her reading, she asked, “Why did the father not want a baby with Down’s
Syndrome?” I told her people in those day just didn’t understand how great a kid with
Down’s syndrome was. That seemed to appease her until, pages later, her hands clenched
and her face flushed with anger: “Why did he call Phoebe a mongoloid and say she has
half a brain? That’s wrong!”
“Yes it’s wrong,” I said. “and it’s going to be your job
acting in this movie to show everyone what a big mistake he made.”
As I companied Krystal in a limousine on her way home
from he momentous moviemaking experience, I looked at the tiny dynamo sitting beside
me, plugged into her iPod and wrote a screenplay aptly titled The Memory Keeper’s
Daughter 2, and thought the same e thought I had when she was born let her show me.

My Comment

It is wonderful to know there is a mother who still

loves her children, even though they are abnormal. Krystal’s mother was an amazing
mother. She never gave up trusting her daughter, even though many people
underestimated her daughter. She always had faith in her daughter, even though Krystal’s
teacher said that her reading skill was the same as a 4 th grade student. Finally Krystal was
successful and became a movie star
I know a relationship between a daughter and a
mother which is similar to Krystal and her mother. They have a lot of similarities. Her
name is Miyuki Inoue. She is an abnormal girl who lives in Japan. Her mother is strict,
discipline, but full of love. Miyouki is blind and when she was born her weight was 500
gr. However after many troubles and irritation, she is successful. Miyuki is the author of
the best seller book “Aku Terlahir 500gr dan Buta”. In her book, we can find how nice
her mother is. Her mother is certainly one of the greatest mothers in this world.
After reading this article and comparing it with my
mother, I know that my mother has the same love to me as Miyouki inoue’s mother and
Krystals’ mother’s love to their daughters.

Vocabulary

1. Aptly : in a suitable way

- You need to dress aptly.

 2. Momentous : Significant and serious

- The momentous discussion ends soon.

3. Thrill : excites someone

- The film thrilled me.

The Jakarta Post ,November, 18, 2008, page 4

Nonsmoking raid targets managements

The Jakarta environmental management board (BPLHD) and a number of anti-
smoking NGOs will target building managements ignoring the bylaw on nonsmoking
areas.
"We will warn managers or individuals overseeing buildings without smoking
rooms or nonsmoking signs in restricted public areas," BPLHD head, Budirama
Natakusumah, said Monday. "We will make them sign an agreement stating they will
immediately provide the facilities," he said.
Most smokers blamed the administration for not providing more public smoking
rooms. "I don't want to smoke in public, but with the lack of facilities, what can I do? The
administration should also consider providing us with more spaces," Nino, a university
student, told The Jakarta Post.

My Comment

Nowadays smoking is one of the problems in Indonesia, and as I can see in this
article the government is serious to solve this problem. However, to be honest, I am not
sure that the government can solve this problem, because in fact, the Indonesian
government can only talk but there is no proof.
After looking at Nino’s opinion in the article, I think we have the same opinion.
The one who is wrong is the government, not the smokers, because the facilities for the
smokers are not available so what the smokers can do. In fact, as long as I can see there
are no special places for smokers in Surabaya.
This article shows me that Indonesia still needs improvement in their facilities.
Furthermore it teaches me to become a man who always keeps his words.

Vocabulary

1. Raids : unexpected attack

- The raids surprised the enemy.

 The Jakarta Post, November, 18, 2008, page 11

Economic growth slowest in 6 quarters

Indonesia’s third quarter economy grew at the slowest speed in six quarters as
slumping commodity prices cut export revenues and the global economic slowdown
reduced demand for Indonesian products.
“It can be said that there was no increase in exports (in the third quarter of 2008
from the previous three months). But the economic growth of other countries is slowing
as well,” BPS chairman Rusman Heriawan.Exports were declining as major importers cut
demand in line with with the global economic downturn, the agency said. Rusman
believed the economy would slow further in the last quarter of 2008, but was still capable
of achieving full-year growth of slightly above 6 percent.
“Although the economy is likely to slow to below 6 percent in the fourth quarter
(of 2008), overall economic growth will still be above 6 percent for the whole year,” he
said.
Regarding projected economic growth for 2009, the BPS said growth would be
less than 6 percent as pessimism clouded businesses and the government. “A 6 percent
growth is the maximum,” Rusman said.Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said
Indonesia’s economy may slow to as low as 5 percent in 2009 as the world economy feels
the wider impact of the recession.

My Comment

This article is true. Now all countries in the world are facing the global crisis.
There is no increase in Indonesian export and the $US keep increasing from Rp9,000 to
around Rp13,000. If this thing keeps going on, the world will face great inflation.
Furthermore, the Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, has said that Indonesian
economy may become slower in 2009.
In this case I also feel the impact. At first I wanted to buy a laptop, but because of
this global crisis laptop price increased drastically. This problem made me unable to buy
a laptop, which was very important for me. Furthermore my friend’s parents were also
depressed with this crisis and it made me feel pity on my friend.
I hope that this crisis can be stopped, so there will be no great inflation and more
people who are depressed or bankrupt. Even though I am not sure that our government is
taking this problem seriously.
Vocabulary

1. Slumping : Decreasing of price or value.

- The price of oil slumped yesterday

2. Decline : going down

- It declines sharply everyday.

The Jakarta Post, November,9,2008, page 9

Chinese Website Offers T-shirt With Character

Shang Dong was amazed to see youngsters wearing his newly
designed T-shirt just a day after they went on sale on the internet.
“I never thought the T-shirt with the recent ionic character could
be so popular,” says the 30 years old IT worker
After majoring in costume design, Shang began to think of
designing T-shirts for young people, especially university students developing their
personalities.
Last month, he designed 60 T-shirts with the character and
advertised them on the Internet. As it has gained iconic status, most people think og it as
meaning “sad and frustated” since it resembles a human face and many young people
have even started using the word jiong in their everyday lives.
Although it’s started getting cold, the 60 T-shirts were sold out in
a day.

My Comment

Shang Dong has given a new idea about the concept of business.
It is cool to know that business through internet can give us a lot of money. I am amazed
to know that he sold 60 T-shirts in a day. I am sure that now he has become one of the
great aspirators for others.
Shang Dong makes me remember to university girls who sell their
goods through friendster. It is so innovative and creative. Even though they are not as
good as Shang Dong, they have done something new and fresh.
This article gives me inspiration about internet. Although
everyday I use internet, I don’t know that Internet can be a “shop”. Reading this article
opens my mind about internet and it encourages me to explore more about internet.
Vocabulary

1. Fad : An activity done for a short time

- Swimming is only a fad for her.

The Jakarta Post November,23,2008, page 20

Congo Children Fear Return to

War Evils of Rape and Killings

Nicole Mangaza used to shoot, guns, and fight off rapists

who were meant to be on her side, and meant to be on her side, and sometimes was
ordered to kill other children fighting at her side.
Nicole was just 12 years old when she abtucted by an
armed group. She was quickly forced to conforth death
“My brother Claude came to try and get the commander to
relase me. The commander told him you have no right, she is ours now,”she told AFP in
an interview at the center, a blow torch in her hand and protective goggles hanging round
her neck.
“They shot and killed him in fornt of me, I saw his body
with my own eyes, left on the road.”
Before going into battle, sometimes the commander would
give you a knife and tell you to kill another child soldier, to make sure you are ready to
go and kill people. It could even be your friend.
“Any soldier may come and force you to have sex with
him.There was no way to refuse. If you refuse they rape you, sometimes 10 or 15 or 20
would come and rape you one after the other.”
She now lives with her son David, who was born in the
bush as a result of her being raped by soldiers.

My Comment

This article really shocks me. It is terrible to know about

Nicole’s life. I just can imagine a 12 year old girl who was being abducted until near the
death. Furthermore and the worst, her brother was killed in front of her eyes in order to
save her. In addition, I also feel pity on her son who was born in the bush. Her life was
really bad and terrible.
If I were in her position, maybe I would have already
ended my life. Since I was born until now, I have never imagined about life that is so
terrible like Nicole’s life. All that I know is only a happy life, complete family, and many
happy things. Even though sometimes I have problems, it is nothing if compared to
Nicole’s.
The biggest problem in my life is about being lonely,
because my parents are too busy with themselves. However after reading this article, I
feel grateful to God. This article has encouraged me to love my parents more even though
they are too busy with their activities.

Vocabulary :

1. Rapists : a man who has raped a woman

- The rapist will never be accepted here.

By : C.S Lewis
The Chronocles of Narnia
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Once there were four children whoose names were Peter,

Susan, Edmund and Lucy. They were sent to the house of Proffesor Kirke because of
their hometown, Great Britain was attacked by German. Proffesor Kirke’s house was very
large.
One day in a rainy morning they played hide and seek.
Peter was the searcher and the rest were hiding. When trying to find a place for hide,
Lucy found a room with big wardrobe in it. She was hiding in the wardrobe and found a
light. Then Lucy walked to the light and she found a snowy place. After that Lucy walk
around in that snowy place and met a faun (half-man and half-goat). Lucy was greeting
the Faun and know that his name was Mr. Tumnus. Mr. Tumnus with happily asked Lucy
to go to his house.
In Mr. Tumnus’ house Lucy was told that she was in
Narnia, a land where animals ruled and talk. Mr. Tumnus said that In Narnia everday was
winter since the White Witch came. After that Lucy went back to the wardrobe and told it
to her sibllings. However no one was believe in her.
The next day when everybody was sleeping Edmund went
to the wardrobe and found that he was in Narnia. After a few minutes walking around,
she met Jadis, the white wittch. She asked Edmund to bring all of his siblings to her place
and promised that he would made Edmund as a king in Narnia. After came back to his
siblings, Edmund said that Lucy’s was a lier and Narnia wasn’t exist, he made her sister
cried.
 One day they were playing together and somehow Edmund
hited the ball to far, and broke the Professor’s window. Then all of them were hiding in
the wardrobe to avoid Mrs. Macready ( the housekeeper). Finally all of them were in
Narnia. After knew that Lucy was right and Edmund was lied, Peter gave strict advice to
Edmund as usual. Then four of them were going to Tumnus’ house
When arrived at Mr. Tumnus’ house, Everthing was ruined.
Lucy shocked and cried when she knew that Tumnus kindaped by Jadis, the white witch.
After that they all met Mr. Beaver. He asked them to follow him to his house. At Mr
Beaver house Mr and Mrs. Beaver told them about everthing, about Aslan, Cair Paravel,
The provercy about them.. Sudddently they realized that Edmusd was lost. Susan said to
Peter that all of this things was because of him,as usual she blamed others.
Finally they knew that Edmund went to the Jadis’ castle
and they tried to saved him. However they were late and then they decided to met Aslan
for asked help. The journey to found Aslan was hard and in the journey they met a
merchant. He said that they would save Narnia and he gave present to Peter, Susi, and
Lucy. Peter got magnificent sword and shield. Susi got incredible bow, arrows, and
magical horn. Lucy got magical potion that could heal evey wound and she also got a
knife.
Afterthat they met Aslan and They told everything to Aslan.
Aslan was a big lion, the wise, the king of Narnia, and he was so powerful. Aslan said to
Peter that he could be a king and he promised that he would tried as best as he could to
save his brother.
In order to saved Edmund, Aslan made an agreement with
Jadis. He sacrifised himself to save Edmund, he gave his life for him eventhough
Edmund was a traitor and he made Aslan lost his friends. After knew that incident, Lucy
and Susy told Peter that Jadis would attacked him and Aslan’s army.
When the war was begun, miracle was happen. Aslan was
alive, and he searched for the reinforcements. Back to the war, when Peter was busy with
her enemies, Jadis sneeked from behind. Luckily Edmund knew it and he fought with her,
and he was stabed by Jadis. After knew that her brother was saved his life, Peter became
angry and fought with Jadis. Suddently The Lion came and killed the White Witch. They
won the battle and by Luci’s magical potion he safed all people that wounded including
edmund. Finally They went to Cair Paravel, the castle of Adam’s and Eve’s children
After those experience four of them became closer like a
happy familly. One day went they go to the forrest they found the wardrobe and they
went back to Professor Kirke’s house. Afterthat all of them were lived happily.

My Comment

This book is very interesting and nice. I learn many things

from this book, especially from the four characters and Aslan. Even though this book is a
fiction, the characters’ behaviours are like us. Each child (Peter, Susan, Edmund and
Lucy) give me an experience and a lesson about family.
 First, from Peter I learn to become a leader that takes care
and loves his family. He is a good brother because he puts his siblings as his first priority.
Even though he is discipline and strict, he loves his brothers and sisters very much.
Second, from Aslan I learn about sacrifice. It is
unbelievable to see a human ( a man ) sacrifice himself for strangers. Aslan is an amazing
leader and he also takes care of his allies. Even though I am also a man, I am not sure that
I will sacrifice my life for others.
The third is from Edmund. Even though he is a traitor at
first, at the end he sacrifices his life for his brother. Even though Peter has always been
strict to him, he still wants to help his brother.
The fourth is from the children. It is amazing to see a
family that is really close and always works hand in hand. Their teamwork inspires me.
I’ll try to make my family become closer like their family.

Vocabulary

1. Sledge : a vehicle pulled by dogs or deer

- He went there on a sledge.

2. Sulking : angry

- The child sulks because he can’t buy the candy.

3. Spoils : ruin

- Garbage spoils the city scenery.

4. Jeer : laugh or shout impolitely

- The students jeered at the awkward teacher.

5. Fuss : to be nervous a worried because of unimportant things

- Don’t fuss! It’s ok!

6. Puff : breathe quickly after running

- She puffed after the exercise.

 7. Harness : a tool for controlling a horse

- The man puts the harness on his carriage.

8. Foamy : of bubbles on the surface of liquid

- The batter is foamy after the mixing procedure.

9. Solemn : made seriously

- Her solemn promise convinced me.

10. Despair : the loss of hope

- Her worse condition causes despair.

11. Shrill : high and sharp sound

- The shrill whistle frightened me.

12. Heave : to lift or push strongly

- We heaved the heavy chair together.

Note : Underlined word means, the sentences which make me interest at