Hi Maggie,

I am so impressed with your writing! There are just a few corrections. I wish I had the energy to learn Chinese so you could help me :) But I think that's too much for me at the moment. Best wishes, Susan

A New Novel

I started reading a science fiction novel yesterday. It's titled The Three-Body Problem, the first of a trilogy by the Chinese wrtier Liu Cixin.

It's the first time I have tried a science fiction. I heard from the news that it had just won the Hugo Award for Best Novel and decided to download it to my kindle, both the Chinese version and the translated English version. It works great for me reading this way. It allows me to read and learn in English without losing any of the original flavor,Yay! And believe it or not, it helps me understand the book better as it's full of physical terms which are usually hard to get ("get" is okay here but "find" would probably be better). But when you read it twice in both languages,it becomes much more comprehensible.

I'm just getting started and can't tell you much.The book begins with the background of China's Culture Revolution in the 1960s,a chaotic period of time when people's minds and actions were twisted. Ye Wenjie,the daughter of a renowned theoretical physicist, is the name of the heroine.She witnesses the death of his her father in a struggle session(批斗会) (would this perhaps be what we call a "torture session" in English?) and that has a profound influence on the course of her life.......

And an idea just popped into my mind: If you happen to be learning Chinese and are interested in the novel too, we can read together! That'll be fun,right?

Joseph Bech (II)

The Benelux Treaty was signed in 1944, during the World War Two. At that time Bech, who was the Foreign Minister, was forced to go into exile due to the Nazi invasion of Luxembourg in the spring of 1940.
The Benelux Treaty would underpins the idea of European Union, encouraging free movement of goods, services, people and capitals.
Building a strong international network amongst countries was of vital importance for Bech. Luxembourg was (and is, nowadays) a small country, so it was in the its interest of him not to be swallowed by another country as it was going to happen had happened during and after the First World War.
He led his country to join the UN and NATO, for instance.

The European Coal and Steel Community was another step forward for Luxembourg. It gave it a say in on the European stage, thanks to the fact that it was decided to locate the headequarters of this institution was decided to be located in this country. He boosted for promoted a European Defence Community as well, nonetheless this proposal has never seen the light of the day.

Ciao, Mario. Very interesting. I had never heard of the Benelux Treaty. In the last sentence, I know what you're talking about when you say "boosted for" but that it probably wouldn't be expressed that way. I think "promoted" is a better choice.

Good luck with you exam! Susan

Hi, Mario! Nice job - just a few corrections. Ciao, Susan

A founding father of Europe - Joseph Bech (III)

Joseph Bech chaired the Messina Conference, at the beginning of May in 1955.
The focus of this conference was a memorandum drafted by the three Benelux contries. This memorandum undertook new activities in the fields of transport and energy (especially nuclear) and the building of a single market.
The proposal put forward by the three Benelux Foreign Ministers would be the basis of the 'Spaak Report', named after Belgian Minister Spaak, who drafted a resolution of what was had been told said during the Siciaian conference and which led to the Treaties of Rome in 1957.
In 1959 gave up the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and at the age 1977 left the political scene.
Bech let a small country such Luxembourg play a crucial role in European integration.


(I've got another part of this short-biography which I wrote few days ago a no-one corrected it yet, if you have time a pleasure, thank you)

Christian, I'm sorry to hear about Pretor's problems. He sounds like a wonderful dog! I have mad some corrections - in English we use use "he" for a male dog rather than "it". Very well written, overall. 

Best wishes, Susan

My dog´s issues

I have an dog, its his name is Pretor. We called him that way in honor to of the Praetorian guard (in spanish "Guardia Pretoriana"). They were the bodyguards of the emperor in the ancient Rome. Pretor is a golden retriever, a very big dog and and an old one. it He is 9 years old and It he had has been a great dog, very noble and vey kind with us. Pretor cannnot be a guard dog because he is very friendly, even with the strangers.

But lately and maybe because its of his age, it he has several issues. He has a hip problem, the veterinarian said that this problem is common in that race and because of its his size a surgery will would be dangerous. So we have to give him some painkillers.

And this week he was diagnosed with an eye problem and a liver problem, so we have to wait for some laboratory results to for the diagnosis. My mother and my little brother are very concerned about the heatlh of Pretor. I tell them that we have to wait to for the diagnosis. I am not sad but I

don´t like to see Pretor getting old.

my school

my school is very funy because the techers are happy and in this place I want to practice and learn to english an computer, my school is little but is confortable, I like my school

Yeli Li, I think this is what you are trying to say:

My school is very fun because the teachers are happy and in this place I want to practice and to learn English on the computer. My school is little but it is comfortable. I like my school.

I'm glad you like your school! Keep working hard and you will soon be able to speak more English!!

Susan

Well done, Jenny! and very interesting to read. You write English quite well. Best wishes for your studies, Susan

Racial Discrimination

Last August, an 18 year old African-American teenager was shot dead. He was shot by a policeman even though he was unarmed and posed no threat to the policeman. (policeman is one word) The court found the police not guilty on the grounds that he did not infringe upon civilian rights. About 8 months later, a similar case happened. An African-American teenager was found dead while he was confined in jail. He was badly injured in the middle of being arrested but the police left him untreated, and it eventually led him to die.


In the United States, racial issues are often compared to the wounds being festered festering under the skin. While you think the wound is almost healed and don’t give it a proper look, it gets even worse before you know it. 152 years have already passed after the since President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of African-American slaves. However, American society is still gripping coping with racial issues till now. The formal former President Jimmy Carter also pointed out, “Every time when we are faced with theses racial discrimination issues and unfair treatments done by law enforcement to the black community, it only reminds us of the fact that we have a long way to go ahead of us to deliver full equality to the society."


At this point, it is very important to look closely at ourselves as well. Are we civilized or self-conscious enough to care about the racial issues growing here in Korea? A couple of years ago, a survey about racial preference was conducted and it turned out Koreans have a high preference towards Caucasians. On the other hand, we have a relatively low preference towards Southeast Asian immigrants who are taking up manual jobs here in Korea. While they are working so hard to make their so-called ‘Korean Dreams’ into reality, we often give them discriminatory looks and use bad languages towards them. Now that we have more and more expat communities here in Korea, it is critical to consider racial discriminative discrimination issues and related unfair treatments to foreigners as a problem of our own, not just to dismiss them as something of Americans’.

This is excellent, Maggie! Good job! You write very well - and very poetically. By the way, they are also called "ginkgo nuts" in English!! Best wishes, Susan

Morning walk(Please help me correct it,thanks a lot!)

I got up at 6:30 today and then took the usual morning walk with my dog along the riverbank which is just beside the neighborhood where I live.There is this spot where grows some gingko trees grow. That is where i I usually do some stretches and practice Baduanjin (a set of 8 easy tai ji movements) or yoga for a little while just to get my body warmed up for the day.

It's the beginning of autumn now, and you can see lots of gingko nuts on the trees(I don't know what they are called in English, they look a lot like pistachios when the fleshy outlayer's removed) and sometimes there are some fallen to the ground. I often see people picking these up.Gingko nuts are believed to be very healthful, rich in vitamin C, carotene and a bunch of other micronutrients.

But this morning when I got there, I found two men under the tree. One was using a long stick with a hook tied to one end to hold the branches and shaking violently,and gingko nuts fell like big raindrops as he shook. And the other was busy picking them up from the ground. I watched for a while hoping them to they would finish soon only to find that they just wouldn't stop,tree after tree,shaking and picking.Finally, the two stopped and left with a big bag full, leaving gingko leaves and broken branches behind them lying on the ground.

Very well done, Diego! Sounds like you have had a busy day - good luck with English and your workouts!  Melhores desejos, Susan

Start of the week

Start of the week

Today is being a nice day, I got up earlier than usual to enjoy the day better. I am managing the tasks that I planned to do: like write this text in Portuguese and try to translate it to English. (probably would be better to say, "like writing this text in Portuguese and trying to translate it....)

I got up around 08:00. I went to prepare my breakfast: I ate two slices of a loaf with a fried egg and a smoothie with kefir, albumin and oats. (It is not so yummy, but I am adjusting my eating (or diet) to get better results with my gym workout).

I did all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms and the bathroom in the first hours of the day. I did all this while I was listening to my English audio lessons on in my cellphone.

After the lunch I ran some errands in the downtown and now I'm here: writing this text and getting ready to study more and create some phrases in English.

- -

Original text in Portuguese:

Início de semana

Hoje está sendo um dia bom, consegui acordar mais cedo do que o habitual para aproveitar melhor o dia. Estou conseguindo fazer as tarefas que planejei: como escrever este texto em português e tentar traduzi-lo para o inglês.

Levantei por volta das 08:00. Fui preparar meu café da manhã: comi duas fatias de pão de forma com um ovo frito e uma vitamina com kefir, albumina e aveia (não é algo muito saboroso, mas estou ajustando minha alimentação para ter mais resultados com os exercícios que estou fazendo na academia).

Lavei e guardei toda a louça, arrumei a cozinha, a sala, os quartos e o banheiro logo nas primeiras horas do dia. Fiz tudo isso enquanto ouvia minhas lições de inglês pelo celular.

Depois do almoço fui resolver algumas coisas no centro da cidade e agora estou aqui: escrevendo este texto e me me preparando para estudar mais um pouco e formar algumas frases em inglês.