Inventions

Task for August 15th:

Write an essay about the most constructive and the most destructive inventions. If you could invent something that would save humankins, what would that be?

Teachers answer: 9.5 Brilliant!

Inventions have been crucial all through time: from the stone tools hundreds of years B.C., to the most modern cellphone, they have made humankind's life easier. I am going to compare and contrast some inventions, and tell my opinion about them.

The most constructive invention, in my opinion, is the word. It has helped humanbeings to create art, to invent other things, such as school objects and writing, and, most important, to express one'sself. It is very connected to culture; it evolves and changes, and, therefore, it is always as people need it to be. In addition, it is very different all around the world: languages vary even in the same country, for example. Last but not least, it is one fo the few inventions that doesn't harm ecology, but still, it is the clue that can change the world.

The most destructive invention is definetely cigarettes. They are useless and give smokers a fake look ok coolness which is actually created by companies that just want to sell more packages. They simply give the smoker false confidence and the feeling of control, while they're actually destroying their health. Cigarettes are one of various things that should disappear from the world. Another thing to mention is that they contribute a lot to pollution, as well as to cancer and other diseases.

If I could invent something to help humankind it would be some sort of machine to finish with global warming and pollution, or a pill to be conscious of what's happening to our world, because I don't see too much future to it. If people understood what's happening, they would most likely do something about it and save the planet, but if not, every young person like me won't have any future to dream about, without mentioning that the animals, plants, and other living beings would see the actual end of the world.

Rounding off, I believe cigarettes are the worst invention ever and that the word is the best and most helpful, because with it, my 'awareness pill' isn't needed, because we can explain, just by talking, what needs to be done to save the world.

Note from the author: This had been written almost a year ago, so I would love to change it. Nevertheless, and due to all the hard work the re-writing process will take, I decided to post it just like it was. I will post my current opinions later on in my blog http://maryeastmacott.blogspot.com/. I only have to say, for now, that I consider education the best invention ever, and the only tool to save the world, and humankind as the worst invention ever, if you consider it from the POV of Creationism (and I am not Catholic).

The faraway trip - Short story

Task for two weeks ago:
Write a story with the ending and starting given in italics.

Teacher's answer:
10 excellent!

Emma could not believe what she saw in front of her. She had been sitting in the classroom for the las two hours, not thinking about anything except finishing her history exam. Then sudde4nly, feeling that something in her surroundings was not right, she had raised her eyes from the exam paper. The classroom had completely disappeared...
Instead, she saw an infinite blue sky, connected by the thinnest line with an infinite blue sea. She was standing on a ship, but not alone: she was surrounded by sailormen, dressed in 1940s clothes. Emma looked around discovering a man on the top of the mast, who looked very disappointed, shouting "No land at sight!". Ten miniutes went by, nobody seemed to notice her. The sailor who looked like the captain walked on deck, back and forth, back and forth, with the utmost worries written on his face. Suddenly, he axclaimed "Gentlemen, in towo days, if we don't find any land... Our provisions are growing scarcer every day... We will have to go back - or perish...".
With that, Emma appeared in the classroom again, in front of the desperatingly deserted blank sheet of paper. Realising she had just five minutes left, she completed her test, giving a complete description of the main financial problems of Christofulus Columbus's trip to the New Continent, whose ship she had just returned from.
Emma knew that after what she had been through, her life would never be the same again.

Note from the author: I didn't make such an effort for this one, because the teacher just gave us 15 minutes to finish... I even handed her in a poor page, full of words that she had to decipher, for my draft handwriting sucks... It's her fault, for being such a teacher and giving us (me, particularly) no longing to make an effort.

Task for November 10th:
Write an essay on the statement 'Most TV programmes are not worth watching'.

Teacher's answer: 9 Good arguments!


Most shows or TV programmes shown in Argentina are very watched and popular. However, most of them aren't worth watching.

First of all, some programmes show full or parcial nudity all the time, which is very repetitive and a bit boring. 'Bailando por un sueño' ['Dancing with the stars'] is a good example of this, for it shows 'accidental' nudity when the female dancers wear tiny pieces of cloth instead of actual outfits. Those kind of shows aren't worth watching and they aren't very interesting either.

As well as this, gossip shows are very embarrassing, because you get to see pseudo famous people angrily quarrelling with each other 24 hours a day, and the hosts try to encourage these fights. The worst is that people watch these shows and even gossip about them, as if they don't have a personal life to worry about.

What these shows try to do is to win more money by showing things people are attracted to: sex, fights, violence, etc, so that people watch them and they get to put more of those shows on TV (indeed, there are, at least, twenty TV gossip shows, and they are very watched).

Nevertheless, not everything on TV is pure garbage, there are some shows that could be 'watchable'. These are a few soap operas, especially the late night ones, such as 'Vidas robadas' ['Stolen lives']. This might be worth watching because it is really intersting, it is about kidnappers and has a deep plot. Other soaps, especially the ones for teenagers, might be shown for two or three years in a row. These are a bit stupid (most of them have stupid plots) and they, too, fight for more audience by showing sex, violence and fights.

Rounding off, there is a lot of sex, violence and fights on Argentinian TV, which attracts people's attention, and, although some late night soaps might be good, most Argentinian TV programmes aren't worth watching.



Note from the author: This was a difficult essay to write, as I had so many opinions on the subject 'TV'. I should say I hate it (which is strange, at my 14 short years of life), and the only programmes I truly enjoy watching are the 'Animal Planet' ones. There are lot's of quotes about tv I like, and several nicknames for it, for example "the dreaded box" (Roald Dahl, "Matilda").
In this case, I should quote, for the second time, Groucho Marx: "I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book".

Day of the Dead

Task for September 24th:

Write a short essay summarizing the article 'Day of the Dead', compare practises in article with mourning pactises done in this country (Argentina) and give your personal opinion about both practises: Which do you like better? Why?

Teacher's answer: 9 One of your best!

Death is accepted in very different ways all over the world. Some contries process it in a dramatic, horrible way, while others throw parties and celebrate. I am going to comapre and contrast these cultural differences between countries and give my opinion about them.

In Mexico, people don't take death dramatically, they celebrate it! They have a festive day called 'Day of the Dead' in which they celebrate by honouring the dead. In rural Mexico, for example, people go to the cementery, decorate gravesites and take gifts for their loved ones. And in cities, people build altars in their homes, which are decorated with candles, flowers and pictures of the dead.

In Argentina, on the other hand, people take death in a more dramatic and pesimistic way. When somebody dies, they have sad funerals in which they dress all in black, while in Mexico there are a lot of colours. Argentinian ceremonies are more depressing than Mexican because they believe they lose someone when he or she dies, but Mexicans just honour and welcome the souls back to earth.

In my opinion, Mexican celebrations are the best ones, because they don't encourage people to be sad or cry about death but to be happy because their loved ones have reached the continuation of life, which death is believed to be. I am also against sad funerals because I believe it's no use crying over spilt milk; that what's done is done, and by crying we are not going to bring someone back.

As you can see, death is celebrated and honoured, and suffered and cried over as well. And although I was born here, I agree more with the Mexican belief. I think we'd better keep on living without worrying about that and, instead of being sad, honouring our loved people as Mexicans do. Death doesn't have to be a drastic thing, after all.

Note from the author: I just found this essay in a pile of disorganised papers while I was looking for something to post in this blog. It's funny I found particularly this one now, because three days ago (exactly Wednesday 24th of December, at about 2:30 PM) my beloved grandpa died. It's funny I found this essay about mournings and funerals right now, because I've attended to my first funeral-like ceremony two days ago, and I think crying and wasting time on the dead isn't worth it, that we have to honour the dead by living our lives and being happy, because if I died, I would want the people I love to be happy in spite of it, not to be sad and depressed. Nevertheless, I understand the pain of the loss.

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out

WOW! Check out this cool poem our adorable Palmerita gave us to read today! Anyway, I doubt wether someone really read it, 'cause everyone was so focused on not doing anything, for we just have one week of calsses left!
Well, this is the poem, though you may already know it...


Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloopy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts…
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall…
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
“OK, I’ll take the garbage out!”
But then, of course, it was too late…
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

A.M.O.R.

This is a short story I had to write for my Spanish class... We had to write about a science-fiction invent and describe its aim.
The story was written in Spanish, but I'm leaving both English and Spanish versions.

A.M.O.R.

De chico, siempre me dijeron 'feo'. Cada vez que me cruzaba a una chica, ésta me daba la espalda deliberadamente y se alejaba de mí. Debo admitir que mi soledad, más que nada, se debía a mi preferencia por los libros de ciencia a las personas. No sabía nada de relaciones con los demás, pero era un experto en inventos, matemáticas y sobre todo, ciencia. De modo que por doce días y doce noches, me encerré en mi laboratorio, dispuesto a crear la máquina que me librara de mi situación.
Reconozco que al principio no tenía mucha idea de qué hacer con tantos tubos y palanquitas, pero luego ordené mis pensamientos y pude llevar a cabo la invención de mi salvación: una máquina extraordinaria, parecida a una radio, que me diría qué hacer.
Así que llamé a mi vecina de al lado, de quien había estado siempre secretamente enamorado, para probar mi creación. Me coloqué el auricular inalámbrico y golpeé a su puerta. Luego de varios intentos, y gracias a mi hermano, a quien había telefoneado previamente, logré invitarla a cenar, llevando siempre conmigo a mi fiel A.M.O.R., como lo había llamado (Aparato Multifunción Organizador de Relaciones). De más está decir que la cita fue un total fracaso. En ese momento no contaba con el conocimiento de lo que ahora sé: el amor no es ni racional ni una ciencia, por lo tanto, es una batalla en la que no se puede contar con más armas que la propia personalidad.
En cuanto a Romina, mi vecina de al lado, ya no conserva su apellido de soltera, sino que lleva el mío. Y todo se lo debo a mi querido A.M.O.R., quien me hizo darme cuenta de que para el verdadero amor no hay que ser un experto, sólo ser uno mismo.

L.O.V.E.

When I was a kid, they used to call me 'ugly'. Everytime I came across a girl, she would deliberately give me her back and walk away. I have to admit that my loneliness, more that anything, was due to my preference for Science books to people. I knew nothing about realting to others, but I was an expert about inventions, Maths, and, above all, Science. So for twelve days and twelve nights I locked myself up in my laboratory, longing to create the machine that would free me from my situation.

I admit that when I started, I didn't have know exaclty what to do with so many tubes and bars, but then I organised my thoughts and could carry out the invention of my salvation: an extraordinary machine, similar to a radio, that would tell me what to do.

So I called my nextdoor neighbour, with whom I had always been secretly in love, to try my creation. I placed my wireless earphone on my ear and knocked on her door. After various attemps, and with my brother's help, whom I had previously phoned, I could aks her out, always taking my faithful L.O.V.E., how I had called it (Logic Ornament Visible in Ear). There's no need to say the date was a total frustration. In that moment I didn't know what I know now: love is neither rational nor a science, therefore, it's a battle in which you count with no weapons but the own personality.

In regards to Romina, my next-door neighbour, she doesn't have her maiden name anymore, she has mine. And I owe everything to my beloved L.O.V.E., that made me realise that for true love you don't need to be an expert, just to be yourself.

Note from the author: The story is kinda silly, but as I had it already typed on the computer, I decided to post it.

Sorry if there are too many mistakes, translating isn't as easy as writing. However, I tried to translate it the best I could, following very carefully every word and looking for the ones I didn't know... I tried to put the exact words in English, but I did what I could do...

Hope you've liked it!

Complaining letter

Task for June 9th:
Write in pairs a short letter complaining about something (a holiday, a product, etc.).

Teacher's answer: 10 Too funny! : )


To whom it may concern:
We are writing this letter to you in order to let you know the conditions of your holiday neighbourhood.
First of all, the house you showed in the catalog didn't fit the real one at all: half of the roof was missing, three or four windows were broken and the door was out of its frame. As if that weren't enough, it was infested of rats, and we found some cockroaches.
As well as this, in the description of the village, you mentioned the friendly neighbours and the beautiful view. The day we arrived, the family next to us broke into our house and stole our car. We called the police, but they didn't want to help us; they argued that they had something more important to do. The 'beautiful view' was the only true description, but we couldn't enjoy it due to our worries about the neighbours.
In conclusion, we want a refund, because our dreamt holidays weren't as good as you guaranteed them.


Note from the author: I wrote this with my friend/classmate Valu, with whom I sit at our English class and always work with. = )