Viva! Exam!!

I had an interpreting test today. This is the final assessment of this class. This is the first test for me in a foreign country.

First, I took a theory test. This is a multiple-choice test. I selected one choice out of four. I prepared for the test for a long time. I quit going to Supanova because of it. However, this was a very easy test. The number of question was 20, but I can understand most of them if I check the note. The difficult ones are about NAATI. I thought that the test would ask what NAATI does and it is, in other words it is a national institutio of interpreter in Australia and qualifies the licence. But the question was about the abbriviation of NAATI's name (National Authority Accredit of Translation and Interpreting) and its established year. These were not mentioned in the lecture so they were difficult. However, I regretted not going to Supanova because of this very easy test.

Next, I had a practical test of interpreting. This required to show my ability to interpret dialog interpreting, concecutive interpreting and sight-translation skills. The tutor provided us with many information about the test. Accoding to her, interpreters gather the information such as contents of speech in advance; so he gave many information about the test. I made some glossaries for this test. But my concentration was not kept for a long time. The tutor said that study for interpreting does not last for a long time and it is good if I prepared for one hour. I found the statement is correct.

First of all, I did dialogue interpreting. This dialogue was conversation between an Australian teacher and a Japanese mother. The teacher tells the mother that her son neglects his class and troubles his classmates. The mother decided to care him strictly. But, the teacher advised her to be calm when she talks to him because too strict talking will prevent him to speak. The content was not so hard if the information was provided. Although there was a slang "wag", which means "neglect", I was able to understand it because the teacher had told the contents in advance. However, I relied on the context too much. I found it incorrect when the mother said "息子は誰かと一緒にサボっているわけではないのですね。". If I could have caught "not" in the dialogue, I would not have failed interpreting.

Secondly, I did sight-translation about real estate and welfare in both Japanese and English. I did it many times in the tutorials and I researched them very much. So, it was a piece of cake.

Finally, I did consecutive interpreting about education both English and Japanese. In this style, intepreters interpret a speech after all of contents has been read. The interpreting Enlish into Japanese was a very difficult task. I took a note but it is not well constructed. When I took it, I thought I would understand it. However, I could not remember what had been said. I know the contents because of the previous information. I understood that the true education is to make children open-minded and cosider others. However, I think the accuracy was poor because I omitted the last sentence because I was so upset. The last one was fairly easy because I cauth most of the contents. I found that comprehension is so important in the interpreting.

Anyway, this was my first test. I think I did my best. I hope that I can get better than credit.

絶対無敵の最新コラム 最終回

ついに、ゴッドライジンオーのコラムが完成したのでアップします。今回は、画像と文章が少なめ。なぜなら、ゴッドライジンオーになるとあまり動かない上に、神経を大きく使うからです。最終回のあらすじは気が向いたら書きます。なぜなら映像資料を見ていないので、どうだったか忘れちゃったのです。

えー、お気づきの方もいると思いますが、各個の表題は劇中のサブタイトルから引用しているのもあれば、主題歌のパロディもあります。元ネタは同番組内をよく見れば気づくので、探してみましょう。

というわけで、最終回のBRAVE合金ゴッドライジンオーのコラムをお楽しみください。

後、なかなかすばらしいバンクがそろったので、バンク集を作ってみました。まとめてみたいという人はどうぞ。


ついに最終回！


あの名場面をBRAVE合金でもう一度！

Summer time has begun!

Summer time has begun today. In Japan, we do not have to adjust our clock even if summer season begins. However, most coutries introduce this system in order to use day time effcielntly.

In this revison, we have to advance a clock one hour. That means our sleep time decrease one hour. On the other hand, we return a clock one hour in the end of May. That means we gain extra hour to sleep!

I can not go to Supanova

As I have a test on next Tuseday, I can not go to Supanova. It is too regretable for me.

I will study for the test...

Internship meeting

Today Iwent to Werrington to join a meeting about our internship. In the meeting, we chose the campus and task of the internship. We will work as an officer in university. Because I do not want to go to far campus, I chose Bankstown's task.

According to the guidline, I will assist the orientation of my university in 2007. I will cordinate the event. The internship is aiming to talk with many people through the work. We improve our skill to communicate in English at labour field. It sounds quite interesting.

The internship is going to start the end of November. I have an individual meeting about internship next week.

Too much sleep

I went to bed at 17:00 to take a little rest. But I woke up 5:00 in the next day. So this article is written briefly...

Corroboree

Today I participated in a party of my dormitory. The party was held because it is the end of semester. We went to a pub near the university. It is notrious that some crazy people make a problem in week end. However, since it is the middle of week, we did not meet such people.As I have never been to such a party, I was so excited.

However, before going to the party, I had a problem. That is about uniform. In order to take part in the party, I have to wear semi-formal uniform. In other words, I can not wear T-shirts and jeans. Actually, I do not have clothes other than those because I did not except that I will take part in such events. So, I borrowed a piece of shirt from a male friend in my unit. It is a unique point in the western country to wear a certain uniform to take part in a party.

The main purposes of the party is to drink and dance. The dinner was wonderful to have. I had a piece of pork and lamb and some salad. As alchole makes me sick, I drank some lemonade. As I have never danced in a party, I did not know how to dance. When I asked to a girl, she said "just move your body with matching a music". It seems that we have no certain way to dance.

Dancing tired me very much. As I danced after having a meal, the excercise was so hard. Because I was exhausted at dance, I lay down on the sofa near the room. During lying down, sevral people talk to me because they care me. I answered "I am fine. I am just sleepy." I am pleased at thier kindness.

I thought that dancing is like a karaoke in Japan. In Japanese drinking party, we often go to Karaoke shop after drinking.

I found some interesting difference in a party. When you dance, you can not decide the music to use unless you offer to the DJ. However, people do not care it and dance regardless of music. People dance as they like or match with other people's dance. On the other hand, in karaoke, you can choose the song to sing. However, we tend to choose caring about the atomosphere in the party. For instance, some people do not like a member to sing only anime-songs. This tendency reflects Japanese group orientation. This is a good example to assess the difference of cultures.


The appearance of party
As I care about image right, I use a dark picture

絶対無敵の最新コラム２

ガオファイガーのコラムから２週間ほどで次のコラムがアップできました。今回は、BRAVE合金ゴッドライジンオー付属の合体パーツ、バクリュウオーのコラムです。このバクリュウオーはすでによく知られているように、股関節その他もろもろが破損しやすいという地雷だらけの内容になっています。もう旬がすぎちゃったので、今回は「改造」を念頭に入れてコラム制作に当たりました。

ki-pa氏のモデリングスキルはなかなかのもので、見事難しそうな改造をやってのけて関節強化をしてくれました。その分、コラム完成に時間がかかっちゃいましたが、良質のコラムになりました。というわけで、バクリュウオーのコラムをお楽しみください。

余談ですが、最近バナーを作るのに凝っていまして、マスターピースドラゴンカイザー以降のコラムに関してはバナーを製作してます。告知していないので、気づいている人がどれだけいるかは疑問ですが。後ついでに、どさくさにまぎれてコラムが１個増えています。影が薄いので探してみましょう。


これから買おうと思っている人必見！

Swear Words

If you live in a foreign country, you learn some slangs during you are talking with young people. Native English speakers like to use such slangs in the conversation. For non-native speakers, the slangs look very cool. However, I think you should not use such slangs especially, swear words.

Swear words are offensive words. For example, fuck, shit, bulshit etc are categorized into swear words. These words are used when something which you do not like or you hate happens. Of course, if you are alone or you are with intimate people, you can use these words. However, if you use these words in official conetext such as court and class room, you are accused. Especially, in court, you are punished for contempt court, which means you insulted the court.

In Japanese English education, we learn formal languages in order to read or write English language. This is a good point in Japanese education although many people say that we should emphasize conversation skill. However, if the skill is emphasized, we can not ignore slangs. It is difficult for non-native spekers who are not well educated to use these words because the context in which slangs are available is very narrow. There is some rules to use these words and native speakers obey them unconsciously because of their experience which overwhelms that of non-native speakers. For such reasons, non-natives should not use these words even though they are good at English enough to speak as well as native speakers.

Revision of bad essay part 2

Following are my revision of a bad essay about economy.

Karl Marx and Fred Engels were socialists who wanted a revolution because working conditions were not as good as those of other contemporary societies in the nineteenth century, when Marx and Engels lived. They argued that capitalism was the problem and the workers should revolt because there was nothing to lose but their chains.

It is commonly known that capitalism contains problems and not all people can obtain a fair deal. However, revolution would not be the answer. Defects will be improved by solving problems. It simply means that it is necessary to know the detail of capitalism so as to figure out the solution. Marx and Engels mentioned the capitalistic mode of production. They obviously believed that there were some fundamental features to the capitalistic mode of production. Marx (1972) claims the features as much in his exceptionally significant notebook.

A mode of production is a term invented by Marx to describe appearance of people’s action. A mode of production is the interaction of the relations of necessary material which are inherent in it. According to Marx and Engels (1973), these relations are social and discuss a mode of production which becomes abstract. Marx (1972) suggests a basic assumption that the mode of production and the form taken by the society are determined by the range of productive faculties available to the individuals of a society. The manifestation of any society corresponds to itself and the productive forces at that time. Thus, the mode of production is nothing more than correspondence. For Marx and Engels (1973), these economic relations are transitory and historical, and this is a natural consequence of preceding assumption. To asses critically, this assumption is important. Acknowledgement of this assumption enables a clear understanding.

Mandel (1976) believes that there are three basic characteristics or features to the capitalistic mode of production; separation of producers from his mode of production, single social class’s monopoly of the means of production and existence of a class that has no means of subsistence other than the sale of its own labour-power. He also notes that these characteristics are also the origins of the capitalist mode of production.

Since the capitalist mode of production is the product of preceding modes of production, it follows that the characteristics were prevalent in at least the prior mode of production. Thus, they originate in the capitalistic mode of production. However, they are of a relatively crude form and have the general features of the modes of production. It is only as the capitalistic mode takes root that these three features become essential to the capitalistic mode.

According to Mandel (1976), these three characteristics combine with each other. This is because they work together, they can not do otherwise. This linkage is easily demonstrated. Firstly, the separation of producer from his means of production implies the existence of a class-controlling means of production and the means to separate the producer from his means of production. Furthermore, the existence of a controlled class and the controlling class causes the first. In this way, the three characteristics are in no gap dispensable to each other. Since these characteristics are inextricable, the features embodied in one characteristic will also be common to the other.

Thus, Mandel’s characteristics make a convenient point at which to start unravelling the essential features of the capitalistic mode of production. It is, first of all, necessary to define what is meant by the term, “means of production”, because it has a meaning that is separately and succinct from the term ‘means of production’. The means of production is the combination of everything for the goods and services to be carried out. These force things such as raw materials, machinery and human labour-power into themselves. The separation of his production means is to state that he no longer retains control over those things that enable him to produce. Consequently, he has no control over the products of any production process in which he might be engaged. Private property and division of labour are not peculiar to the capitalistic modes of production. However, they are necessary prerequisite for the formation and development of the capitalistic modes of production. They are a feature of a lot of modes of production. (Lichtime 1974) This is caused by the production and circulation of commodities, which is the fundamental over-riding aim of the capitalistic mode of production. (Marx 1977) This is in accordance with Marx’s initial assumption.

Once the division of labour in society reaches a certain stage, the division of labour in manufacturing spheres and in modern industry can develop itself. In the event of a division of labour in manufacture, the conversion of products into commodities is accelerated. The promotion leads to the production of commodities. This is an essential and distinguishing feature of the capitalistic mode of production. (Marx 1977)

Labour power is a commodity because it is offered for sale on the market place by its owner, the producer. According to Marx (1977), it is the exchange of money for labour-power in the market place that allows money to be converted into capital. This exchange marks the beginning of a “new epoch in the process of social production”. The production of comities to exchange is essential and is a distinguishing feature of the capitalistic mode of production.

There must also be some other features that characterise this particular mode of production. One feature is the process of converting money into capital. Since the word capitalist is derived from the word described as capital, it is relatively obvious that a capitalistic mode of production must have something called “capital” as an essential distinguishing feature.

Three other features must also be considered before a final analysis of the essential qualities can be decided; competition, credit and crises. Mandel (1976) considers competition to be essential to the capitalistic mode of production. It is through competition that the “coercive nature” of the relations inherent in the capitalistic mode of production is exerted. (Marx 1977) Thus, competition is an essential distinguishing feature of the capitalistic mode of production. Secondly, credit serves to centralise the means of production in the hands of those with money. (Marx 1977) And, bourgeoisies are perpetuated and propagated by credit. Bourgeoisies are an essential feature of the capitalistic mode of production. Finally, there is the possibility of a crises of overproduction in every case. This means that large amount of commodities would remain unsold.

In this way, there are at least three essential and distinguishing features of the capitalistic mode of production. The most fundamental, distinguishing and all encompassing essential feature is the fact that the means of production is no longer controlled by man in an effort to satisfy his needs but are reversed such that man is controlled and dominated by the means of production.
The two poles of this dialectic, namely the proletarian and the bourgeoisie, are dependent on each other for their continuous existence. Although the bourgeoisie control the means of production for their all intents and purposes, they are trapped by the means of production as much as the proletarian. Marx (1977) illustrates this with his analogy of the uncaught fish.

All of this alludes to the initial assumption that Marx makes, stating that the mode of production is governed by the productive faculties that are available at the time. Thus, all three bases serve as essential and distinguishing features of the capitalistic mode of production.

Bibliography
ENGELS, F. AND MARX, K., 1973. Selected Works. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
LICHTHIME, G., 1974. Marxism: An Historical and Critical Study. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
MANDEL, E., 1976. An Introduction to Marxist Theory. New York: Pathfinder Press.
MARX, K., 1972. In: Z. A. JORDAN, ed. Economy, Class and Social Resolution, London: Nelson University Paperbacks.
MARX, K., 1977. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume I. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

Final Assignment of History of English

The following is my final assignment of "History of English Language". I have my Jpananese friend who can speak English as well as native speaker checking my grammar and expression. I think this is the best essay that I can write.

It is commonly known that English words mast be spelt in a certain spelling when they are written. In the contemporary English language, the alphabet, consisting of twenty-six letters, is used in order to spell a word. Each word has the rule of available alphabetical letters and the certain order of alphabets. For example, English is spelt “E-N-G-L-I-S-H”. This is the generally accepted way to spell this word. On the other hand, it is impossible to spell “I-N-G-L-I-S-H” or “E-N-G-R-I-S-H”. Out of question would be “G-L-I-S-H-E-N”, which is completely wrong. Incorrect spelling of the word prevents smooth communication in writing and understanding authors’ intention. In this way, a basic rule and consensus are required in writing communication. These are usually called a “standard”. If a word varies from the standard, it is regarded as a grammatically wrong word and it is not accepted or understood ordinarily.

However, one question to decree the creator of the standard writing English arises. It is irrelevant to assume that the linguistic god created the rule of words, grammar and discourse. Only human being can speak language in order to communicate each other or to express themselves. It is natural to assume that human beings have been developing their language and has been creating the rule of language since language was used for the first time. This essay focuses on the origin of standard written English through exploration of language confusion in English before the introduction of printing and the historical event that printing technology was introduced to England by William Caxton. The introduction of printing contributed the formulation of Standard English writing system.

The English language was not unified before the introduction of printing technology. Groom (1934) describes the confusion inherent in the English language prior to advent of such technology. Between the 13th century and the 14th century, a lot of dialects exist in England. In Chaucer’s period, there were four typical dialects in England; Northern, Midland, Southern and Kentish dialect. Moreover, the number of dialects increased following this period because each region formulated its own dialect. Each dialect had local grammar, spelling and vocabulary. For instance, in terms of grammar to say “we sing”, people in Northcastle used “we singes”. In Oxford, people said “we singen” and in the Southampton dialect, “we singeth” was used. In terms of vowels, “mare” was used in North English whereas “more” was used in South English. Moreover, the variations, as for vocabulary, were infinite. Thus, Edward I and Edward III endeavoured for the introduction of unified domestic language so that nationalism could be fostered. In this way, it was difficult to communicate with people in other region unless the person was educated well with out a standard language.

The confusion of language occurred in literacy as well. This was caused not only by dialect but also by copying system. According to Knowles (1997), in those days, books were copied by scribes in church in hand-writing. It is obvious that the work was extremely inefficient and hard. As there was a limit to the number of books that could be copied, they were so expensive that ordinary people could not afford them. It was difficult for ordinary people to learn how to read and write a letter. Furthermore, hand-written books were less accurate than those in printing. They contained a lot of errors such as incorrect spellings and styles of text. In this way, the writing system of the English language was not unified and people were less literate than in the contemporary society because of the inferior production system of the time.

However, the situation started to change in the middle of the 15th century due to the development of the printing technology. Johnes (1997) describes the development of printing technology in Europe. The technology of printing was developed in the middle of the 15th century. Gutenberg conceived the idea of portable type of printing equipment. Printing was the aggregation of new technologies of the time, such as paper, oil-based ink and punching. Before the advent of printing, books were not made of paper but vellum which is made from calf or lamb skins. Vellum is such a sturdy material that the vellum which was used at that time is still in good condition. It was common to use vellum in religious publishing. However, vellum is not suited to printing which enables the mass production of books because of its high cost. Consequently, paper, which was brought from China in the 13th century, substituted of vellums for printing purpose although it was regarded as a fragile material for books. Oil-based ink was introduced for the printing of books instead of egg-based tempera, which was used to write on the vellum parchment. This was because the tempera was not appropriate for printing. The most significant factor that led to mass-production was punch and mold technology. A letter could be replaced if it was broken and furthermore, they could be reused after that particular batch of printing was finished. Most of all, it was possible to print a lot of material at once, dramatically reduced the costs involved in printing a book. In this way, the development of printing technology led to the spread of a great amount of books over the whole of Europe.

The development of printing affected the English language as well. The printing technology was introduced to England in the same period. According to Knowles (1997), printing technology was introduced by William Caxton in 1476. The purpose of the introduction of printing was to improve the production of manuscripts. As mentioned previously, scribes would hand write the words onto the page to copy a book before the introduction of printing. Thus, the text style was invariably different even though it was copied from the same book. However, by utilizing printing technology, 200 or more identical copies could be reproduced without errors. According to Blake (1969), Caxton published Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate because of his aristocratic preference and 28 out of 108 books were published were translated from other languages into English. Although books were published for the minority, a greater amount of books produced led to the spread of books to ordinary people because of a reduction in the price of books. Consequently, the literacy of ordinary people in England increased dramatically.

Culpeper (1997) argues that a great concern for Caxton was the selection of the language to be used in his publishing. It was impossible to publish works in every variety of English dialect spelling of cost involved. Caxton was required to select the dialect understood by the majority of people and valued in society. The Midlands dialects satisfied the requirement that the majority of population understood it. As this was the dialect spoken in the middle of England, people of both the North and the South people could understand it. The dialect which satisfied the social value was the London dialect. This was because the administration and commerce of England gathered in London, which was at the time, and still is, the capital city of England. Furthermore, major universities were established in the city. With these factors in mind, Caxton introduced the dialect which was based on that of London and contained the element of Central Midland in his publishing. This was called “Chancery Standard”. (Culpeper 1997)

However, it was also possible to use French and Latin languages in his publications of formal texts at that time. On the other hand, Caxton chose to use the English language in his publishment due to the factors the fact that companies which used fore-mentioned languages could not make enough of a profit to develop. (Knowles 1997) Culpeper (1997) suggests following as a reason why the languages lost their authority. The French language started to lose its prestige for political reasons. England and France were antagonizing at that time through what is known as “Hundred Years War”. The French language, being the language of the hostile country led to people hesitating to use the languages during this period. Moreover, as only aristocrats used Latin and French, the majority of people could not understand the languages. The government started to use London English in the official documentation. As the administration of England found the need to unify the domestic language in order to control both the elites and the ordinary, French and Latin did not satisfy their needs as an important requirement that the majority of people can understand the language. Therefore, Caxton’s choice was reasonable enough to spread his publishing both the elites and the ordinary. Through this, the English language recovered its authority for such reasons.

In this way, printing technology contributed to standardize the written English language. In the contemporary English language, it is accepted that a word has a certain spelling. This assumption, however, was not true until the introduction of printing. The English language had many dialects and each dialect had its own spelling, grammar, and pronunciation. Thus, uneducated people could not communicate with people in different regions. The Midland dialect was selected by Caxton in order to unify spelling with the intention of reducing the printing costs of books. Printing provided people with a great amount of identical copies. The mass-production of books led to a reduction in book price. Although ordinary people could not afford to purchase a book because of the high cost, following the introduction of printing, it was possible to purchase a book far more easily because the price had become inexpensive thanks to the merits of mass-production. This improved literacy level of people in England. As majority of people read identical books with the spelling, punctuation and grammar used in the books become a general part of the language. As a result, rules in writing system were unified. In other words, standard written English arose for the first time. The general rules developed during this period are still used in the contemporary English language although grammatical systems have changed somewhat over time. Although the original intention was for economic gain, the introduction of printing technology is a significant event in the history of the English language because it unified the rule of written English for the first time.


Reference

CULPEPER, J., 1997. History of English. New York: Routledge.

GROOM, B., 1934. A Short History of English Words. London:Macmilan

JOHNES, B., 1997. Manuscripts, Books and Maps: The Printing Press and a Changing World [online]. Available from http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Books/printech.html [accessed on 1st October 2006]

KNOWLES, G., 1997. A Cultural History of English Language. New York: Arnold.

BLAKE, N.F., 1969. Caxton and his world. In: G.KNOWLES, ed. A Cultural History of English Language. New York: Arnold, P.61.

The reason why you can not use Wiki and blog for reference

In a foreign university, you are required to use reference for your essay and report. In the process to research many reference, you can obtain much knowledge voluntarily. In foreign university, writing an essay and report is more important than lectures. Lectures are held to obtain background knowledge or to make a plan for a report. To find a good reference will improve your skills to express your idea and know many things deeply.

However, some resource is not available for reference. They are private blog and Wikipedia. In today’s article will derive the reason why they are not used for reference in academic field.

Private blogs are getting more popular all over the world. In Japan, the number of blog is increasing in recent years. Some people use their blog for academic purpose or criticize social problems. However, you are not allowed to use the blogs in academic field. In academic discourse, authority is emphasized. Published book has an author who wrote the book. So, you know a certain name of the author. However, blog has no authority because any people can publish it. Blog is available at websites and you can not know the name of the author in many cases. The anonymity is not preferred in academic discourse. Moreover, the advantage of books is that the book is checked objectively by publishing company. Therefore, more accuracy is expected in the books. On the other hand, no one checks private blogs except for the author. So, the article is wrong or prejudiced. For such reasons, you are not allowed to use blog as a source in academic discourse.

Secondly, Wikipedia has a great deal of articles and any people can revise or add the articles as well as private blog. However, you can not know the author of the articles. Moreover, because you can change the content of blog it happens that the content is different from one that you read previously. Therefore Wikipedia is not suitable for the reference.

However, some people claim that wikipedia is as accurate as other encyclopaedias. As Wiki’s text style is close to academic discourse, some articles use reference as well as essay in academic discourse. Such articles are reputable enough to use for source. In my opinion, you should use Wiki not to use as a source but to obtain background knowledge roughly.

In this way, you should use authorized source such as books, academic journal and newspaper for your essay. Writing essay is interesting activity because you can express your own idea with studying specific knowledge. Students in foreign country is intellectual because of this acitivity.

Important point in studying in a foreign country

Recently, I found some difficult points to study abroad. Today, I will discuss the difficulty.

If you aim to study only English, the easiest way is to make many friends to talk. If you want to improve your skill, you should talk with many people. However, if you live alone, it becomes much more difficult. Though I live in the dormitory lone, it is difficult to find a friend to talk because other mates live individually. Of course, some students cooporate each other, however, in my case, they are completely independent. I think home stay is the best way to find a person to speak. Actually, I enjoyed English study because I talked with the host family. It is common to live alone if you are an adult, however, it is possible that you do not use your English.

Secondly, you feel difficulty to accustom yourself to the different culture and language. I think this is for people who are weak in speaking foreign language. If you do not understand the language, you can not understand the culture and vice versa. As I am good at speaking English, I got easily accustomed to live in this country. Do not give up until you feel easy at your different culture. If you like the culture, you can improve your English skill too.

Finally, if you are good at speaking enough to live, you should think about your culture. For example, you should consider what you can do to improve your culture, what culture is and whether different culture can live together or not. I found the answer in the first three month although I have to take longer time to find it. If you find it, you get something important to be an international person.

Word list Part6

This is my list of words which I did not understand or have a new meaning for me.

続きを読む

Australia's dangerous animals

A few days ago, I wrote an article about spiders in Australia. While I was checking a glossary about real estate for today's assessment, I talked about pests with my friends. In Australia, all spiders include a pest because of poison. According to them, Blacke Widows have the strongest venom in Australia. In Japan, the spider is famous as セアカゴケグモ for being found in Osaka city a few years ago. Moreover, there is another poisonous spider in Australia. That is Funnel Web. This spider has the second strongest poison in Australia. But, it is said to be more dangerous than a black widow. If you go to a forest and leave your shoes, the spider comes into your shoes. And when you wear the shoes, you are biten. This spider has less strong poison than black widow, however, it bites several times with its second dangerous fang. So, you should be careful if you encounter the spider.

You have to be careful for a bird. The bird is Magpie. This is a white and black bird looking like a crow. It is a territorial bird and strikes an animal which comes into its territory. Actually, I was attacked by this bird. They approach to my head sevral time as if they try to attack me. Some birds poke at a head with a sharp nib. Some children and elderly are injured by this bird. They look like a crow, but they are much worse than a crow in this aspect.

Though I wrote an awful article, spiders basically are not so dangerous because a medication was invented. So, you rarely die from them. But I think you should be careful at magpies. They are common birds in Ausralia and you can find them near a tree.

Reflection of my assignment

Today, my assignment of synonym and preference came back. The mark was 64%, which is fairly good. However, the tutor told me some advice in the mark.

First of all, as I mentioned before, I am weak in article. I dropped many "the" in the essay. If the phrase "English language" is used in sentence, "the" is necessary. If it is English, "the" is needless. Article is difficult for me because we do not have such a system in the Japanese language. Some resources claim that the is used when to mention specific things in the material whereas "a" is used for the general. Maybe this is my carelessness, so I must improve this gramatical mistake.

The second problem is word choice in academic discourse. I am always sensitive to word choice, the tutor pointed out my bad choice. Especially, "basically" is not an academic word. I do not know the reason, but I have to keep it in my mind.

Thirdly, this is about my reference. According to tutor, etymonline is not a good resource. It is like a weblog and there are many mistakes. If we use oline resource, we have to check whether it is correct or not. Even though it is permitted to use online resource, we have to check the availability.

My Floppy Disks are broken

I have finished my assignments but a problem happens. My floppy disks are broken. I insult the disks to the computer in my university but they are not read by the computers. Maybe, magnetic system is dead for some reasons. I sometime left floppy disk and I have only two disks now. They are broken.

In order to solve the problem, I used my e-mail account. I updated my documents in draft. All I have to do is download the files in the labo and print them. It is easy to do my home work if you live in the university.

死のデッキ破壊ウィルス英語版

ちょっと、友達とメッセンジャーをしていたら面白い情報が飛び込んできました。前のSneak Previewでもらえる冊子の中になんと、大会商品であるはずの死のデッキ破壊ウィルス（Clush Card Virus）が入っていたとのこと。なにやら、Shonen Jump Championshipのカードが間違って混入されたそうで、非常に珍しいケースだとか。

ちなみに、この死のデッキ破壊ウィルスは英語化されていますが、一般では出ていないので公式デュエルでは使えないそうです。早く正式に印刷してほしいところですが。


証拠画像
これはうらやましい

My good roommates

I have good friends in my room. They are Spiders. Actually, since I do not clean my desk, spiders make a nest. Today, I found three spiders. They are fairly small and move quickly. My friend coming to my room killed one small spider. According to him, I should kill a spider because some have poison.

However, I am not scared at spiders if they are small. I hate big one such as アシダカグモ. In Australia, there are various kinds of spiders. Some are small, but have a poison. Some are very big enough to catch a bird. If you want to see spiders, you should go to Tronga Zoo in Sydney.

Today, I regard them good because one spider living at the window caught a noisy fly. In Australia, flies are much slower than those of Japanese, but they are tough. Even if you squash a fry, it could be still alive. I hit a fly in order to send it away. And then, it fell on the nest of spider in accident. It managed to escape from the nest, but unfortunately, he was killed by the master of the nest. The master treated the fly like a soccer ball and ate it slowly. Finally, the fly was tied with the threat. Even though the spider is small, he is strong.

In Japan, spiders are a benefit bug even if it is big. That is because they eat harm bugs such as flies and cockroaches. I think I got a good friend in my room though there is a high possibility that I will kill him by accident or intentionally...

Student discount

I use a bus to go to central of Bankstown or Burwood. In Australia, if you are a student, you are entiled to get discount. The price is halved if you show your student ID. However, this is not for international students but local.

However, interestingly, some bus drivers do not ask whether you are internatinal or local. They say "You are a student. It is regardless of international and local." You should remember his or her face.