READING TEXTS

Text 1
How Do Floods Occur?

In winter there is snow on the mountain. When spring comes the sun comes out, it shines onto the snow. The snow melts. The melting snow turns into water and flow off the mountain and enters the rivers. The huge amount of water makes the water level rises
If rocks and concreted areas surround rivers they can cause floods. If the rain falls onto the rocks, nothing can soak up the water. The water flows down the rocks and into the river.
When it rains for a long time the huge amount of rain cannot soak into the soil. The water forms small streams. The streams all lead to the main river and feed it. As the water enters the river the water level rises. If there is not a dam on the bank of the river, the river will flood.
During spring while the rivers are still blocked by ice, flood occur in Siberia. The snow melts but the river is unable to flow because of the ice. The river stops and builds up. When it gets up as high as the ice, it is already so high that it causes a flood.
Though floods occur in most parts of the world, they do not occur very often. In the past 250 years there were 150 major floods. The most flood-prone river is the Huang the River (also called the Yellow River and China’s Sorrow) which is located in Northern China.

Text 2
Before we are going to smoke, it is better to look at the fact. About 50 thousand people die every year in Britain as direct result of smoking. This is seven times as many as those who die in road accidents. Nearly a quarter of smokers die because of diseases caused by smoking.
Ninety percent of lungs cancers are caused by smoking. If we smoke five cigarettes a day, we are six times more likely to die of lung cancers than a non smoker. If we smoke twenty cigarettes a day, the risk is ninety greater. Ninety five percent of people who suffer of bronchitis are people who are smoking. Smokers are two and half times more likely to die of heart disease than non smokers.
Additionally, children of smokers are more likely to develop bronchitis and pneumonia. In one hour in a smoky room, non smoker breathes as much as substance causing cancer as if he had smoked fifteen cigarettes.
Smoking is really good for tobacco companies because they do make much money from smoking habit. Smoking, however, is not good for everybody else.
Text 3

Jakarta: Two high-school students were last week presented with 2008 UNICEF Award for Indonesian young winners. Nurul Khusnul Khotimah, 15, a junior high school students from West Nusa Tenggara, and Alfinda Agyputri, 16, a senior high school student from Jakarta, beat the 1.800 other 18-year-olds taking part in the easy-writing contest themed “Children and Environment”. In her essay, Nurul described the environmental changer in her village. In the last three years, farmers have run out of water during the third parting season. So did they in March 2008 when big floods inundated my village. According to Granny Aminah, who is more than 80 year old, this had never happened before. Is this because many trees have been cut? The winning essay and 18 other selected essays will be published as a book. Jakarta Post.

Text 4
Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London. They saw their travel agent and booked their tickets. They went to the British Embassy to get visas to enter Britain. They had booked a fourteen day tour. This includes travel and accommodation. They also included tours around London.
They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours. On the plain the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them newspaper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way.
On arrival at Heathrow Airport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.
The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.
The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.
Text 5

I stayed a night as Sakhuwa of Gati VDC because a landslide near Baseri had blocked the road. The xext morning, I hopped onto the bus with registration number Ba 2 Kha 4013 that was on the way to Barhabise from Tatopani. I took a seat by the door side and remember that there were around 35 passengers, including me. The driver started the bus. A kilometer into the journey, I noticed a ditch on the road. The driver tried to avert the ditch. Before I could know what was going on, the bus started hurtling towards the Bhotekoshi. I had given up hope of surviving, but found a ventilator glass broken. I came out of the shattered glass and plunged into the Bhotekoshi. The river carried me for about 35 kilometers and left me on the shallow surface. I passed out after that. The rescuers took me to a hospital when I regain consciousness. I heard later that all except four passengers had survived. I have sustained injures on the face, hand and other body parts. Nonetheless, I feel that surviving was my destiny.

Text 6

RAIN

Rain always comes from clouds. But where do clouds come from? How does all that water get into the sky?
Think about your bathroom. There is hot water in your bath. Steam goes up from the hot water. The steam makes small clouds in the bathroom. These warm clouds meet the cold walls and windows, and then we see small drops of water on the wall and windows.
The world is like your bathroom. The water in the oceans is warm when the sun shines on it. Some of this water goes up into the sky and makes clouds. The wind carries the clouds for hundreds of kilometers. Then the clouds meet cold air in the sky. Then we’ll see the drops of water oceans. So the rain on your head was on the other heads before! The water in your garden was in other gardens in the countries.


Text 7


Letters intended for publication, including those sent by e-mail, should be brief and accompanied by a fixed identity card with a note “Your Letters” on it. All letters should contain a writer’s name, address and phone number.
Unsolicited features and opinion items are welcome but we cannot be responsible for the return of unpublished articles.
Please send letters and opinion items to opinion@thejakartapost.com or jktpost2@cbn.net.id and other articles to sundaypost@thejakartapost.com or features@thejakartapost.com.
Brief curriculum vitae of the writer are also needed.


Editor



Text 8

KHAOLAK, Thailand: Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves.
“I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before”, mahout Dang Salangan said on Khao Lak beach at the eight – elephants business offering rides to tourists. The elephants started trumpeting- in a way Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying- at first light, about the time an earthquake measured at magnitude of 9.0 cracked open the seabed of Indonesia’ Sumatra island.
The elephants soon calm down. But they started wailing again about an hour later and this time they could not be comforted despite their mahouts’ attempts at reassurance. The elephants didn’t believe the mahouts. They kept running for the hill”, said Wit Aniwat, 24, who takes the money from tourists and help them on to back of the elephants from a sturdy wooden platform.


Text 9

A kangaroo is an animal found in Australia, although it has a smaller relative, called a wallaby, which lives on the Australian island of Tasmania and also in New Guinea.
Kangaroos eat grass and plants. They have short front legs, but very long and strong back legs and a tail. These they use for sitting up on and for jumping. Kangaroos have been known to make forward jumps of over eight meters, and leap across fences more than three meters high. They can also run at speeds of over 45 kilometers per hour
The largest kangaroos are the great Grey kangaroo and the Red Kangaroo. Adults grow to a length of 1.60 meters and weight over 90 kilos.
Kangaroos are marsupials. This means that the female kangaroos has external pouch on the front of her body. A baby kangaroo is very tiny when it is born, and it crawls at once into this pouch where it spends its first five months of life.

Text 10



URGENTLY REQUIRED

We are established Airlines.
Needed as

1. Sales Representative (SR)
2. Accounting & finance Staff (ACC)
3. Administration (ADM)
4. Secretary (SS)
5. Mechanic GSE (MGSE)
6. Aircraft Cleaner (AC)
7. Towing Baggage Tractor (TBT)
8. Reservation & Ticketing Staff(RT)

Specific Requirement:

• Max. 28 years ( 2 to 7)
• Min S1 (1); Min D3 ( 2&4); Min D2 (3) with GPA 2.75, Min SMA (5 to 8)
• Min. 1 year experience in related field ( 1 to 8)
• Male & Female, Age min. 25 years (1); Min 20 years (8); Willing to be based in Bogor & Cikarang
• Good performance, Hard worker, Polite, Honest

Please send your application letter with Curriculum Vitae, copy of KTP, education certificate and 2 pieces of latest colour photograph within 14 days after this advertising date. Put code on the left top of the envelope and send to PO BOX 1963/JKP/10018


Text 11

During the 1970 season, the Club played 42 matches. Of these, 34 were League and Cup games, and the remainders ware friendly matches. In the League, the Club had a better season than in any previous year, and finished in third place, two points behind the champions. Out of 28 League games, 16 were won, 8 were drawn and 4 were lost, whilst the Club managed to reach the semi final of the Challenge Cup for the first time in its history. Of the eight friendly matches, four were won, two were drawn, and two were lost, but these defeats were at the hands of visiting teams whose standards were generally much higher than those of players of this area.
At the same time, the standard of play shown by our team was markedly superior to that seen in previous years, and this success is largely due to the intensive training program which has been which has been supervised by the team captain. In this connection, the provision of adequate training facilities must remain a priority, and the erection of indoors gymnasium or hall in which the players can practice on wet evenings is essentials. It would do much to supplement the outdoor training being carried on, and would help the Club in the recruitment of younger players.
There are now 28 players registered with the Club, and many more have asked to join but have been discouraged by the fact that the Club fields only one team. With the improvement in the financial position, concerning which the Treasurer will report in a minute, I suggest that the committee consider entering a team in the Second Division of the League.

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Text 15.

In a village there lived three men who were great friends. They used to go out to distant places to earn their living.
Once, when they were returning home with some money in their pockets, it became dark, and they had to pass the night in a village inn. With their money they got some rice, milk and sugar and made porridge. They ate a portion of it and kept the other aside for the morning.
Before they slept, a big quarrel arose. Each one wanted a bigger share of the porridge that was left over. Finally, the decided that whoever had the best dream would get the major share of the porridge.
They then went to bed. The first two friends were fast asleep but the third friend could not sleep. He started worrying about his beautiful dream the next morning. When he could not think one he quickly got up and ate up the rest of the porridge. After that he had a sound sleep.
The three friends woke up in the morning. Then they began to tell their dreams. The first friend said, “Look! I dreamt that I had gone to heaven. A very beautiful dance was performed to entertain me. There were many men and women in splendid dresses and they all wished me happiness. They offered me a sparkling drink in a silver cup. Just when I was going to drink, I woke up. Is it not a grand dream?
The second friend said, “ I dreamt that I had become a king. I was holding a court. My ministers were sitting around me and a court singer was entertaining us with a song. Just when he finished the song the dream ended and I woke up.
Then, they asked the third friend to tell his dream. The third friend thought of a dream and said,” I dreamt that a devil had come and was threatening me unless I finish the porridge he would beat me to death.”
When the other two friends heard this they directly asked him. ” What! Have you taken the porridge?”
The third friend said, “What could I do? I had to finish it, otherwise I would have been beaten to death.”
The other two friends spoke out, “Why did you not wake us?”
The clever friend gave a shy smile and said, “How could I wake you up? One of you had gone to heaven and the other had become king. I could not possibly go near either of you.”
The two other foolish friends did not know what to say. They cursed their own fate for not being clever enough in telling a better story. However, the three friends had a hearty laugh and admitted that none of them had a dream.


Text 16.

Daily Express: Fourteen-year-old Michael Whittaker and his grandmother are reunited for a few precious hours.
This is the moment Michael longed for when he stowed away on a ship three weeks ago and 11,000 miles away.
But yesterday’s reunion never looked like taking place. The stowaway was told he would not be allowed o see his grandmother, who lives in Scotland.
The captain of the 29,000-ton Botany Bay had orders to keep Michael on board the cargo ship, now docked in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge after a voyage from Fremantle, Western Australia.
So 68-year-old Mrs. Jessie Watters of Prestonpans, East Lothian, flew to the ship for a tearful reunion.
Scots-born Michael, who emigrated to Australia with his mother and two brothers six years ago, is to be sent home in the next few days.
‘I’m sorry that I’m being sent back to Australia but I hope to return as soon as I’m old enough, and have saved up the fare,” he said.
“But it was great seeing my granny, even for just a few hours. This made the whole trip worthwhile.”
It was a “wonderful day”, said Mrs. Watters. “I would have liked to have taken him home with me,” she sighed.
It was a memorable trip for Mrs. Watters in other sways. The 420-mile flight to Zeebrugge was the first time she had traveled by air and her first trip abroad.


Text 17

The clock struck a quarter past nine as Mary hurried into the big block of offices where she was going to work. Her bus had crawled through the dense city traffic, making her a few minutes late for her very first job. She resolved to leave home earlier the next day.
Inside the building she had to wait once again, this time for the lift to take her up to the sixth floor. When at last she reached the door marked “J. King, Manager”, she knocked rather nervously and waited. There was no answer. She tapped on the door again, but still there was no reply. From inside the next office she could hear the sound of voices, so she opened the door and went in.
Although it was without doubt the same office she had been shown into when she had come for an interview with Mr. King two weeks before, on that morning it looked quite different. In fact, it hardly looked like an office at all. All the employees were standing about, chatting and smoking. At the far end of the room a man must have just told a very funny story, for there was a loud burst of laughter just as mary came in. For a moment she thought that they were laughing at her.
Then one of the men looked at his watch, clapped his hands and said something to the others. Immediately, they all went to their desks and, in the space of a few seconds, everyone was working busily. No one took any notice of Mary at all. At last she went up to the man who was sitting at the desk nearest the door and explained that this was her first day in the office. Hardly looking up from his work, he told her to take a seat near him and wait for Mr. King, who would arrive at any moment. Then Mary realized that the day’s work in the office began just before Mr. King arrived. Later she found out that he came up every morning from the country on the same train, arriving promptly in the office at 9.35, so that his staff knew precisely when to start work.

Text 18

DRUG

Drug is one of the medical profession’s most valuable tools. Doctors prescribe drugs to treat or prevent many diseases. Every year, penicillin and other germ killing drugs save the lives of countless victims of meningitis, pneumonia, and other dangerous infections diseases. Vaccines prevent attack by such diseases as measles, polio, and small pox. Tranquilizers help in treating mental illness. The use of these and many other drugs helped millions of people to live longer and have healthier lives.
The many kinds of drugs people use can be classified in several ways. For example, they can be grouped according to their form, such as a capsule, gas, or liquid. Or they can be classified according to the way they are taken, such as by swallowing, inhaling, or injection.
Two main types of drugs kill or help the body kill bacteria: (10 antibiotics and (2) sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs. These drugs are used to treat meningitis, pneumonia, and many other infectious diseases.
A large dose of penicillin, streptomycin, or most other antibiotics kills bacteria. A smaller dose keeps the bacteria from multiplying and thus allows the body’s natural defenses to kill them off.
Two main kinds of drugs prevent disease (1) vaccines and (2) antiserums and globulins.
There are several kind of vaccines. Each kind causes the body to produce substances, called antibodies that fight a particular disease. The vaccine thus makes the body immune to the diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, measles, and cough, as well as polio and smallpox.


Text 19.

LYON is one of France’s oldest, largest and most important cities. As well as being the capital of the region, and a major banking and industrial centre, it also has great historical interest with its perfectly preserved Renaissance streets and fascinating Roman ruins.
Lyon is well known for its excellent food, a reputation which is based not only on the fact that a number of famous chefs live and work in the region, but also on the numerous little restaurants to be found everywhere in the city center. Just go for a stroll and take your pick; the choice is enormous. Some restaurants are closed on Sundays, and it’s always a good idea to book on Fridays and Saturdays.
Try the pedestrian area just off the main square, or the magnificent shopping center, which is the largest in Europe and has all you could possibly want under one roof. Whichever you choose, shopping is a wonderful experience in Lyon. Big stores are closed on Sundays and are very busy on Saturdays. Don’t miss the fruit and vegetable markets on Sunday mornings.
If you want to escape from the city for a moment, go to the park on the River Rhone where you can relax in the beautiful rose Garden, visit the zoo, or take a rowing boat on the lake for an hour or so. If you’re looking for somewhere more deserted, try the park at Miribel in the north east of the city.

Text 20.

Cars should be banned in the city

Cars should be banned in the city. As we all know, cars create pollution, and cause a lot of road deaths and other accidents.

Firstly, cars, as we all know, contribute to most of the pollution in the world. Cars emit a deadly gas that causes illness such as bronchitis, lung cancer, and ‘triggers’ off asthma. Some of these illnesses are so bad that people can die from them.

Secondly, the city is very busy. Pedestrians wander everywhere and cars commonly hit pedestrians in the city, which causes them to die. Cars today are our roads biggest killers.

Thirdly, cars are very noisy. If you live in the city, you may find it hard to sleep at night, or concentrate on your homework, and especially talk to someone.

In conclusion, cars should be banned from the city for the reasons listed.


Text 21

Should Automatic and Semi-automatic Guns be Banned?

First I’ll state my points on why they should be banned.

Automatic and semi-automatic guns are military weapons. The automatic guns fires continuously for about 20 seconds firing a magazine of hundreds of bullets until the trigger is released. Although they are military weapons they are sold to the public and are found from urbanized to the country farms.

People buy them for keeping them at the house in case of a break-in but in that case you wouldn’t need a giant weapon to fend off a robber and with children they can be fatal.

Also people with psychiatric disorders should not be allowed o own or use a weapon like an automatic firearm or people with great emotional difficulties otherwise there might be another Strathfield massacre.

If the gun also falls into the wrong hands (like they usually do) it will result in murder, robbery, and other crimes. If the gun is banned the rate of murder will go dramatically down.

In this section I’m going to talk about why they shouldn’t be banned.

Farmers sometimes need these rifles not as weapons but maybe to put down a cow with broken legs or spinal cord as it is the quickest way to kill an animal without it feeling a long period of pain.

Also people who shoot game for a sport will lose the privilege of having a gun that they can shoot a bullet immediately one after the other instead of losing sight of the animal.

Well, as you can see I have more points for getting rid of the weapons than against, so from this you obviously can see what must be done. Not only to make things safer but to bring humanity to parts of our society. I don’t think that automatic or semi-automatic weapons should be distributed throughout the community in urbanised areas because they are just another excuse for trouble.







Text 22

From : Anna Maria
Date : Tuesday, October 24th, 2010
To : Marcella
Subject : Helen Forbes, UNICEF Ambassador Visit
Attach :

Dr. Helen Forbes, Ph.D. a UNICEF Ambassador will be visiting our company on Monday, October 29th, 2010. I’d like you to prepare a program for her. She will arrive in the morning before noon. Please start with lunch in the cafeteria and then show her your department. After that, take her to our printing department.