Academic Writing Assignment

                                                                   Meeting 1

Practice 1 (page 72)

1. OPINION Smoking is relaxing and, therefore, enjoyable.
2. FACT Dr.Kathleen Parker, a well-known cancer specialist, recently admitted in an interview, “Although I see the harmful effects of smoking nearly everyday in my work, I still enjoy relaxing with a cigarette after dinner.”
3. FACT Early in the next decade, more women than men will die young of lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. NFS
4. OPINION Smoking is attracting more and more adult.
5. FACT According to a recent New York Times article, cigarette smoking is increasing among adults in their forties as well as among the college educated and those earning more than $35,000 annually.
6. OPINION Red-light runners must take a driver’s education class. Then they will become safer drivers.
7. FACT Red-light runners cause scores of accidents, including deaths and injuries as well as million of dollars in damages. NFS
8. OPINION Red-light runners should have their driver’s licenses suspended for a period of time.
9. FACT Nationwide, the number of red-light running accidents increased18 percent from 1992 through 1995. In 1991, 2,425 deaths resulted, and in 1995, the number rose to 2,866.

Practice 2 (page 78)

 

World’s Major Consumers of Primary Energy

According to statistics published by the U.S Department of Energy, the world’s consumption of primary energy continued to increase in 1994 in quadrillion’s Btu’s. The three top consumers included the United States, China, and Russia. However, the largest consumer was the United States. It used 85.64 quadrillion Btu. Japan consumed 20.7 quadrillion Btu, whereas Germany consumed 13.87 quadrillion Btu. The countries that consumed less than 10 quadrillion Btu included India, United Kingdom, France, and Italy.

Writing Practice (page 78)

        According to USA Today survey, as people getting older, they are less concerned about the amount of debt they have on credit cards.  Those under age 30 are the most responsible people paying their credit cards, it is on 55% percentage moreover 59% of them pay the debt on time every month. People over 30 are less responsive as they only concern below 50%. The percentage of those who concern and not in the age between 30 to 45 are the same, they are on 43%. Only 51% of people paying the debt every month. A group of people from 46-60 are less concerned paying their debts, it was 62% of them say no. They either do not pay attention  to let their debts paid. The highest percentage of people who are not concerned was a group of people over 60, it reaches 81% no. They  give the least attention on paying the debts on time. 

 

                                                               Meeting 2

Practice 1 (page 85)

1. Dr. Yixuan Ma, a well-known astrophysicist who has been studying black holes, said, “It is one of the most interesting phenomena we astrophysicists have ever studied.”
2. As she explained, “In black holes the laws of nature do not seem to apply.”
3. “A black hole is a tiny point with the mass 25 times the mass of our sun,” explained Ma’s associate, Chun-Yi Su, “black hole are created by death of a very large star.”
4. “It is an invisible vacuum cleaner in space,” she added, “with tremendous gravitational pull.”
5. According to Dr.Su, “If a person falls into a black hole, he will eventually be crushed due to the tremendous gravitational forces.”
6. “Time will slow down for him as he approaches the event horizon”, she said, “and when he reaches the event horizon, time will stand still for him.”

 

Practice 2 (page 88)

1. According to television channel KSA General Manager Jim Burns , not everyone can attend college in the traditional way; therefore, taking courses via television will offer many more students the chance to earn a college degree.
2. Pre-med student Alma Rodriguez said that she missed being on campus, but he had to work and takes care of his family.
3. Other students said that last year they spend several hours a day commuting to and from school. Now they didn’t have to do that.
4. Computer engineering student Amir Mahdizadeh stated that he could choose when to study and how to study without a pressure. He also said that he would take more telecourses in the fall.

 

                                                                Meeting 3

Practice 3 (page 91)

Paraphrase

 

                                                        Artificial Languages

About five hundred people in Descartes time have been created artificial languages for international need. In the end of the nineteenth century, Dr.Zamenhof  from Poland, make a language called Esperanto. Esperanto become the most successful language throughout the world because it is easy to understand and built up by several languages. The new artificial language had been found was Interlingua which is built by some language experts from Latin, the Romance language, and English. But, Esperanto still be the favorite for the people around the world. (Pei 175-176)

                                                Artificial Languages—Objections

                Most important thing to build up languages is they should develop all the thought-carrying machinery and shades of meaning. So, natural language have a chance because it have been worked out for a long times; also, the artificial languages should contain Slavic, Asiatic, and African word as much as western European and American nations have words. (Pei 176)