The genetics and us

How can apples be red and tasty the whole year? And why are we more resistent about certain diseases than 50 years before? The answer is simple: genetics. It is everywhere around us and influences our life, sometimes even without our knowledge.
Firstly I want to tell you that scientists developed many useful and great things by genetic research, for instance the manipulation of food. It holds longer and doesn’t get bad so far. The genetic manipulated apples are also bigger and less vermiculated (worms in it) than the normal grown apples.
Apart from that there are also dangers included. With gene manipulation we could set cruel things into the world, like more painful and destroying weapons for senseless wars.
Do you know the story about “Frankenstein”? I think that this could be come true. Scientists could create monsters and mutants that will kill us, without their will.
Another risk is also that plants could be overspread and suck the whole water from the world, so everyone has to die.
So, my opinion is that we have to be very careful and never underestimate the danger of experimenting with genetics. The consequences would be too much and horrible. But I’ll still eat genetic manipulated apples, because they taste better.

Writing a report

To: Mr. Jones

From: Chantal Werle

Subject: A great summer in Vorarlberg

Date: 19th October

Introduction:

As you ordered, I looked up for some great facilities, amenities and spezial places in Vorarlberg. Now I will present you the results from my successful research:

Feldkirch Altstadt:

This city is just characteristic and romantic. There are many old cafés and little pubs around there, but also lots modern shops like H&M, Wäscheprinz, Sajas, DM, … The road is stoned with cobblestones and on the housetops are many doves, which are typical for this city.

Dornbirn Messepark:

For the shopping queens in the group, the most attractive place would be the big shopping center in Dornbirn with more than 60 shops. Clothes, jewelries, shoes, sport articles, flowers, or just a little cute present for family and friends, the youngsters will find everything they need there.

Bodensee:

In Bregenz there is the biggest sea in Vorarlberg. You can walk down the Promenade near the sea, eat delicious ice cream and enjoy a sunny day between many other peoples. Or you can drive to the Rohrspitz in Höchst (also a part of the Bodensee) and relax at the sandy beach, drink cocktails at the restaurant near the Bodensee or do some activities like surfing, swimming and wakeboarding.

Alpine-Coaster Golm:

The “Alpine-Coaster” in Schruns is one of the funniest things you can do in summer in Vorarlberg. You sit in a so called “Bob” and drive 6 metres above the ground downhill. A great adventure for teenagers!

So therefore I recommend Vorarlberg as a vacation spot for younger people and I hope that they will come to this lovely country.

Opinion essay

When you watch TV and carefully look at the commercials, I am sure you will notice that there are hardly any without a happy family grinning out of the box. This shown family type is called the nuclear "ideal" family. But as I see it this type of family is not the ideal one and in the following paragraphs I will explain my opinion.

Let's imagine there is the nuclear family consisting of a father, a mother and one or two children and they have always stick together like that. So let's say the man has got a drinking problem, the woman choleric person and the children hate each other. Would this family still be ideal? Or wouldn't it be better if the parents get divorced and the children be separated?
But the downside of a single parent family type is that there is an important part of the child missing. So I also absolutely disagree with the opinion of some people, that this family type is the only real one.
I also strongly believe that the adoptive family is a bad type. Sooner or later the children want to meet their real parents and then the adoptive parents have no chance, except to accept the wish of the children and risk that they won't come back to them again. They'll never be the number one parents.
A widely spread family type is the blended family. This type is created, when two divorced people remarry and bring their children with them. Two days ago a friend of mine told me about his situation at home and how he hates his new father and his new sisters. So this also doesn't sound like the perfect type.

So what could be an ideal family? For me it is when everyone respect and love each other. There should be harmony and understanding between the family members and sometimes disagreements but no awful rows. Then nothing else matters, neither how many people being involved nor how is their relationship to each other.

I don't think it matters today for society how the family is setted together. 50 years ago it was important to have as many children as possible, because the child mortality was higher. And there was hardly any divorcement.

To sum up, I don't believe there is an ideal family type and everyone can make his own family perfect, no matter how the combination is.

Virgins

Introduction:

The play "Virgins" is a production of the Vienna English Theatre. It starts with an amusing dance by the actors which play Zoey, Jack, Suzie and Nick. Then the main play goes on with Zoey who writes in her diary about a party she've been. The happenings of this party will release the main conflicts of the story, because Jack did something bad and though he asks her sister Zoey not to tell it their father Nick she does. And Nick gets very angry in addition to his anger about his wife Suzie, because she works too much yet she doesn't have enough time for Nick. And so the play goes on ...

conclusion/bottom line:

Even though they had many conflicts to solve, they found together at the end of the play. Jack forgives Zoey that she told Nick about his problem with the two girls, Suzie promises that she will have more time for Nick in future and Nick release that Jack isn't just a stupid youngster like he was. My opinion is that the play remains of a normal family life. The teenagers are rebellious do wrong things, the parents quarrel about things f.i. too less time for each other. So, to conclude, the play seems to be a kind of reality show.

Dry your eyes

“Dry your eyes“ is a song written by “The Street“.
In the first stanza we can see that the lyrical I is sad and depressed about the fact that his girlfriend split up their relationship. The chorus shows how a good friend tries to comfort the love victim. The second stanza tells us how his life crashes and how he tries to get her back again by begging. He’s of the opinion that his life is empty without her. He wants to change what happened, but he isn’t able to. Finally he tells her that in past it was hard for him to tell her things, but the more he tells her the more she pulls away.
My interpretation of this song is that men can also be hurt by women.

Dear Cousin …

I was very shocked when I read your letter. I nearly got a heart-attack. But as I said once, I’ll help you whenever you get in troubles, though I didn’t expect such big troubles!

The story with the police man sounds like an accident. Do you recognize when we were kids and behaved mischievously? Our parents always figured it out, shouted at us and then everything was in order again. Therefore my opinion is that you should go to the police, because it makes all even worse when they catch you once and it also destroys yourself when you run away from “the problem”. Don’t be scared about the consequences, though it could mean prison.
The problem with the girl is much heavier! Sorry that I am joking, but the letter sounds too negative. You told her about the police man?! Ok mate, keep cool! Maybe she understands it and wait for you until you get out of prison. I think if she really loves you she will act like that. Girls can be very romantic yet they do stuff like that. Your life will never be the same again, but you have to make the best of it. If you decide to go to the police, please tell your mum first the whole story. She will be shocked, like I was, but she will understand it some day and help you to find to yourself again. Don’t be shy to tell her, because of her actually problems with your dad. Your mum is a strong person and I think she will bear it.

Finally I want to tell you that I am always by your side if you need my help. If you want me to leave Chicago and come to you I’ll do.
Yours,

Cousin from Chicago

xoxo

Book review of: Paranoid Park

The teenage drama “Paranoid Park” is written by the US-author Blake Nelson. It was published in 2006 an first published in the United States of America by Viking, a member of the Penguin Group (USA).

At first I will tell you the story of the “no-name narrator”. He used to be a normal teenager. His parents get divorced and his girlfriend Jennifer doesn’t really love him, although. One evening the narrator planned an evening with his mate Jared. They want to go out but then Jared cancelled their meeting and so the narrator goes to the so called “Paranoid Park”. It is a park, where only the best skaters drive around. There he meets “Downtown children” and starts to talk with one guy named “Scratch”. They make out to do “train hopping” and so it happens. A police man catches them and starts to beat them up. The narrator defends himself and killed the police man. And then he decides not to tell anyone about what happened. Only at the end of the book he writes a letter to his friend Macy McLaughlin.
In my opinion the story is good because it is exciting until the end, whether the narrator tells the police what he has done or not. I also think that there are many youngsters who relate to the main character because they have similar problems.

The message of the book is that if you made something wrong or get in troubles, it makes it even worse not to speak about it and therefore it would be great if many teenagers read the meaningful book.

Rate 8/10

Correction of the 1st SA

Amber ****

Street 6

England

Dear Amber,

I hope you are fine. I'm very sorry for writing back so late, but I had a bad period because of my family.
My older brother Jack told me a secret and I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone about it, but I really had to say it to Dad, because it could have been dangerous to Jack. I only wanted the best for Jack and I was so upset when Dad shoutet at Jack and afterwards he blamed me for the chaos. I really love my brother. And I was so angry with dad. Do you want to know the best part of this story? A couple of day later I found out that Dad behaved even worse when he was a youngster! In my opinion Dad only needed to let out his anger about Mum. For some years they don't see eye to eye on many things. My dad is a pig-headed person and very often bad tempered. But I can always talk to him in a normal way. That is a big problem in our family. No one, except me, says so if something is wrong. In my opinion everyone should immediately say when they have problems with something.
But now I'll come to the end of my sad letter to my best friend.
Yours,
Zoey xoxo

November 24, 2008

Camp Sunside

Wallstreet 1

New Jersey

Dear Madam June,

Job application

I was very pleased to read about your vacancy. My name is Chantal Werle and I've heard many good things about the "Super Camps". I would like to work there, because I'm very sociable and I love children. I've been working with children since I took the matura in "BORG Götzis". Your vacancy sounds like what I was searching for. My mother is a secretary and sometimes I help her with work and I'm very good at organizing and planning events.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Chantal Werle

Speak (describe character)

The main character, Melinda Sordinho, is a very tragic person. Before the party and the thing which happened there, Melinda was a normal teenager. She had friends and was almost happy. But after Andy raped her she was not the same again. She got split up. One part of her wanted to tell everyone what happened. But the other more stronger part in her kept silent. So she seems to be a very melancholic and ironic person now. This is the reason why a new friend of Melinda's, Heather, broke up the friendship. But it seemed that Melinda don't really like her. She was only her friend, because Heather was the only person in her age who talked to her in a normal way. Rachel was Melinda's best friend in the past. But after the party she avoids her. Melinda tried to speak to her, but Rachel (who is now called Rachelle!) didn't speak to her. The only two people Melinda really liked was her lab partner David Petrakis and Mr. Freeman. When David fought against the social teacher Mr. Neck and his rassism, Melinda said to herself that David would be her hero. But she never wanted him as a boyfriend. Only as a good friend. She was too afraid of boys since the party. Mr. Freeman was Melinda's art teacher and he knew that there was something wrong with Melinda. He was always nice to her and saw big potential in her drawing. Melinda really liked him. And at the end she even told him what was on her mind. The parents of Melinda also knew that Melinda wasn't the same again but they didn't ask her what's wrong. They only said to the headmaster that it was his and the teacher's fault that Melinda was so depressive. In the end, when Melinda told what happened, her friends first didn't believe her. Rachel thought that Melinda was only jeaulous. But then all stood behind Melinda and everybody hated Andy.

Speak (book review)

“Speak” was written by Laurie Halse Andersson. Speak is her best known book. She says that the character of Melinda, the main character, came to her in a nightmare. Other novels of Andersson are: Fever 1793, Catalyst, Prom...

Melinda Sordinho used to be a normal teenager until she went to a party with their friends in the summer before school start. There she got raped by a boy called Andy. She called the police, because she didn't know what to do. Some people got arrested. Then everybody started to hate Melinda because of that. But at first she couldn't tell anybody what really happened. Her friends didn't speak to her anymore. She was all alone. She couldn't even speak to her parents because they wouldn't listen or understand anything. On the first school day a girl named Heather sat next to Melinda and started to be her friend. But after a little time Heather broke up the friendship because she wanted to stay with "cooler" friends like the Marthas and she thought that Melinda was too depressive for her. Melinda got a new lab partner, David Perkins. First it seemed that he didn't like her. But then he invited her to a little party at his house. But she couldn't go because of what happened on the party. She was too afraid. The only place she felt a little bit safe was a secret room in her school. There she had all her "tree" pictures which she painted in her art class with her favourite teacher teacher, Mr. Freeman. In the meantime Melinda's ex best friend Rachel/Rachelle had a new boyfriend: Andy. One part of Melinda told her to tell Rachel about Andy and the other part of her wanted to hurt her. But in the end she told her that Andy has raped her on the party. First Rachel didn't believe her and called her a lyer and thought Melinda was only jealous. At the prom party she broke up with Andy and told him what Melinda have told her. Andy got very angry and followed Melinda the next day in school into her secret room and started to hit her and also called her a lyer. Melinda started to scream and wanted to cut his throat with a sharp triangle of glass. but she didn't do it and opened the door. There stood Melinda's ex friend Nicole and the whole lacrosse team with a stick in each hand. The ending scene was when Melinda told Mr. Freeman what happened.

Correction of the second SA

Come and take a virtual tour with me! We are now at the bus station in the Drummer Street, which is called this way, because there was built the first Drummer store. Straight ahead you can see the Lion Yard Shopping centre, which is a popular meeting point for young people. We are now walking to the Whipple Museum. It has a history of science museum which is very interesting. But we don't have to rush because on Monday until Friday it is open from 12:30 until 4:30. And the best thingis: Entry is free. But let's move on! At the end of the Pembroke Street we turn right. On the right side you can see the very famous Corpus Christi College. It was founded in 1352 and if you want to take a rest then you can go into the nice court which is in the middle of the college. We pass St. Catherines and the King's street. At the opposite side of the Senate house there is a market with many shops like art and craft shops and stalls selling vegetables. It's a nice place to meet the people of the town and make smalltalk. At the end of Trinity street we turn into Green Street. There you can see Trinity College, which is very famous. It was founded in 1546. Now we turn left into Sidney street and at the beginning of Bridge street we turn right into Jesus lane. After a short walk we can se Wesley House, where the famous bookwriter John Wesley lived. Now he has a beautiful house in L.A. At the end of the street we turn right. Now you can see the big Grafton Shopping centre. There you can find all the things you wish! Book shops, Pet shops, Electric stores, etc... The toilets are very clean and there's even a big cinema where you can watch many different movies: Bollywood, Thriller, Comeds... But let's walk on! After a 5 minute walk down Drummer street we are at the Bus station again. I hope you've enjoyed our short trip!

Correction of the first SA

Dear Alice,

I am shocked! I remember Jason, but I can't believe that he is taking drugs. I hope he will get clean soon. Last night I watched a documentary about the dangers of taking drugs on TV. The speaker said that if you take hard drugs like heroin a long time, you will get brain damaged. Drugs are also very expensive and if you don't have the money for them, you will maybe start to steal and become a criminal or you will become a pusher yourself.
So don't try it! When you try it once, you will go on taking drugs. If Jason only likes you, when you take drugs, then you should say "good-bye" to him. You shouldn't be forced by anyone to do something that can destroy your life. I know I'm sounding like a mother, but I think there are many other things which are more exciting than taking drugs. You can also feel high when you go bungee-jumping or when you dance to good music or when you go snowboarding on a nice day! So lets do it!
It is as dangerous as people say. Jason can be healthy now and look normal, but if he goes on taking drugs he will be sick and get bad marks at school. Don't think that he is "cool", because he smokes marijuana or injects heroin. He does it, because he has a weak personality.
So my advice is that you shouldn't try it. And please look for another boyfriend!
Yours, Chantal

HW: The Mosquito Coast (letter)

Dear Paul,

I didn't have the time to write you until now. Hope you are alright. You asked me to tell you how it is in the jungles of the Honduras. Well, I 'll never forget this time. The muddy place where we lived was called Jeronimo. My father told the Indians, who lived there until we came, that they could stay if they worked. And then he built an ice-machine! Yes, really! When it was finished he planned to bring some ice to the Indians, because my daddy assumed that they hadn't seen any ice before. He got disappointed when they already knew what it was and when he found out that it was the fault of the missionaries. Afterwards he got another stupid idea: He wanted to bring them a bigger block of ice. But when we arrived at the Indian's place, the ice had already melted. At their place we met some white guys and father thought that they were prisoners of the Indians so he told them where we lived. But they weren't prisoners. When they came to us, they had guns and didn't want to leave. So Daddy told them to sleep in the ice-machine and then I had to lock it so that the men couldn't get ouf of it and then Daddy burnt it. They tried to get out by shooting at the walls, which then started an explosion which destroyed everything and so we had to leave with a boat. The next day we reached Guampu. Daddy was really angry, because all was clean and there were normal houses and a church. Daddy said that he would teach them a lesson and so he did. He blew up the church! But then...when he came back and wanted to get into the boat a shot hit Daddy in the neck and after a few days he died... I could see how some birds pulled out his tongue. I will never forget this. Do you think it is a sign? That this is the punishment, because he lied to us?

Yours Charlie

HW: The Mosquito Coast (interview)

Inspector O'Mally is asking Charlie Fox about the death of his father.

O'Malley: Mr. Fox, I have a few questions for you. Is it ok for you?

Charlie: Yes, no problem.

O' Malley: What have you done in Guampo?

Charlie: We went away from Jeronimo, our home, which was destroyed. When we reached Guampo, we saw, that they had normal houses. My father jumped out of the boat and said something about teaching them a lesson...

O'Malley: And you didn't try to stop him?

Charlie: This was impossible for me.

O'Malley: Ok. Go on.

Charlie: Well. After father disappeard, my brohter and I visited our friend Emily Spellwood. We asked her to help us, but then all lights went off and we knew that it was father's work and ran back to our boat. When we reached the boat we suddenly heard a explosion and saw flames coming out of the church of the village...

O'Malley: And what happened then?

Charlie: My father also ran to the boat but before he could jump in a shot of a gun hit father in the neck. We drove away and after a few days my dad died because of the sequences of the wound.

Situation which makes me happy

Surf

The situation which makes me really happy is when I do my favourite sport: surfing.The first place where I surfed was in Croatia. There was a surf school with lots of nice guys. The water was clear and there were no high waves. Perfect to surf but the first three days were horrible! I fell into the water several times and I was very impatient. But the next day it worked! I was so happy and motivated that I nearly crashed a tourist boat!The next holiday we went to Teneriffé and it was the best holiday I have ever had! My surfing teacher was a typical surfer: long blond dreadlocks, sunburnt body and a smile like Heath Ledger. I liked him because he was really cool. One day it was very stormy (5 wind power!) and the sky was dark grey and the waves were very high, but he asked me to go out in the sea and surf! So I said yes and took my board and sail. Outside on the water I had such a good feeling! I felt free and my heart beat very fast. The high waves, the dark water under my board scared me but it wasn´t a bad feeling. I couldn´t hear my teacher, I could only hear the roar of the waves and the blowing of the wind. It was amazing!