the willow

Dear students,

I planned to give you a quiz this week, but since you had a lot of tasks to do, and as you suggested as well, I postponed it. You also wish that this week you had an on line class instead of classroom meeting. I, then, decided to give you this material, which emphasizes on reading comprehension and passive voice. I hope that you do what you have to do well. Good luck and Happy New Year!

Reading and Vocabulary Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

The willows all have abundant watery sap, bark which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant, tough wood, slender branches and large, fibrous, often stoloniferous roots. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity of life, and roots readily grow from aerial parts of the plant.

The leaves are typically elongated but may also be round to oval, frequently with a serrated margin. All the buds are lateral; no absolutely terminal bud is ever formed. The buds are covered by a single scale, enclosing at its base two minute opposite buds, alternately arranged, with two, small, scale-like, fugacious, opposite leaves. The leaves are alternate, except the first pair which falls when about an inch long. They are simple, feather-veined, and typically linear-lanceolate. Usually they are serrate, rounded at base, acute or acuminate. The leaf petioles are short, the stipules often very conspicuous, looking like tiny round leaves and sometimes remaining for half the summer. On some species, however, they are small, inconspicuous, and fugacious (soon falling). In color the leaves show a great variety of greens, ranging from yellowish to bluish.

Willows are dioecious with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on different plants; the catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves, or as the new leaves open. The staminate (male) flowers are without either calyx or corolla; they consist simply of stamens, varying in number from two to ten, accompanied by a nectariferous gland and inserted on the base of a scale which is itself borne on the rachis of a drooping raceme called a catkin, or ament. This scale is oval and entire and very hairy. The anthers are rose colored in the bud but orange or purple after the flower opens, they are two-celled and the cells open longitudinally. The filaments are threadlike, usually pale yellow, and often hairy.

The pistillate (female) flowers are also without calyx or corolla; and consist of a single ovary accompanied by a small flat nectar gland and inserted on the base of a scale which is likewise borne on the rachis of a catkin. The ovary is one-celled, the style two-lobed, and the ovules numerous.

The fruit is a small, one-celled, two-valved, cylindrical beaked capsule containing numerous tiny (0.1 mm) seeds. The seeds are furnished with long, silky, white hairs, which allow the fruit to be widely dispersed by the wind.

Almost all willows take root very readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground. There are a few exceptions, including the goat willow and peach leaf willow. One famous example of such growth from cuttings involves the poet Alexander Pope, who begged a twig from a parcel tied with twigs sent from Spain to Lady Suffolk. This twig was planted and thrived, and legend has it that all of England's weeping willows are descended from this first one.

Willows are often planted on the borders of streams so that their interlacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the water. Frequently the roots are much larger than the stem which grows from them.

B. Find the words from the text that have similar meaning to the words below.

1. plenty

2. smooth

3. slim

4. big

5. often

6. one

7. small

8. pink

9. also

10. supplied

C. Answer the following questions relating to the text.

1. How many colors are mentioned in the text? What are they?
2. What is the difference between red and reddish?
3. Mention five adjectives you find in the text.
4. What part of speech is ‘toughness’? Can you mention three more words ending with –ness?
5. What part of speech is ‘readily’? Can you mention three more words ending with –ly?

Grammar Section

Change the following passive forms into active ones

1. No absolutely terminal bud is ever formed.
2. The buds are covered by a single scale.
3. The catkins are produced early in the spring.
4. The seeds are furnished with long, silky, white hairs.
5. Willows are often planted on the borders of streams.

healthy diet: Omega 3 Fatty Acids

HEALTHY DIET: OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS

Reading and Vocabulary Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

Omega 3 fatty acids have recently gained a lot of attention from media, health practitioners and food distributors alike; but what exactly are omega 3 fatty acids, and what are the nutritional benefits of incorporating fatty acids into a regular diet? The following nutrition facts regarding omega 3 benefits can help you understand precisely what the omega 3 foods health buzz is all about.
Omega-3 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids meaning that they can only be obtained from food sources in your diet and cannot be manufactured from other nutrients by the body. In other words, if you do not obtain sufficient quantities directly from foods containing omega 3 fatty acids, your body cannot compensate for this deficiency in your diet. Omega 3, as well as Omega 6 fatty acids, are considered polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Eating a diet that balances the quantities of these two PUFAs is a crucial part of maintaining health including normal growth and development as well as healthy brain functioning (since omega 3 acids tend to be concentrated in the brain.)
A healthy balance of these essential fatty acids involves maintaining a ratio of one omega 3 fatty acid to every four omega 6 fatty acids. The average American diet is believed to contain exceeding amounts of omega 6 fatty acids, with a typical ratio of one mega 3 to every 11-30 omega 6 fatty acids. This has made the intake of sufficient levels of omega 3 fatty acids an important focus for the American diet.
There are three main types of omega 3 fatty acids that are derived from foods and that are used by the body: EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid), DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid), and ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid). EPA and DHA Omega 3 fatty acids are most readily absorbed and used by the body; however, ALA fatty acids which are mostly derived from vegetarian food sources are naturally converted into EPA and DHA by the body.
The following are some common foods containing omega 3 fatty acids:
1. APA: dark green, leafy vegetables; (ground) flax seeds; hemp seeds; (raw) walnuts; soybeans; pumpkin seeds; certain vegetable oils and oils derived from omega 3 foods.
2. EPA and DHA: cold water fish including salmon, cod, mackerel, herring, halibut, sardines, and tuna; fresh seaweed; organically raised animal products such as free range eggs, chicken, and grass-fed beef.


B. Scan the text and complete the following statements.

We can get omega 3 fatty acid from …….
Omega 3 fatty acid is concentrated in our …….
The balance ratio of omega 3 fatty acid and omega 6 fatty acid is …….
The three main types of omega 3 fatty acid are …….
Salmon, cod, mackerel, herring, halibut, sardines and tuna are kind of …….


C. Complete the following table of part of speech.

No Noun Verb Adjective Adverb
1. fatty

2. practitioner

3. distributors

4. nutritional

5. health

6. typical

7. naturally


Grammar Review

Change the following passive form into an active one.
1. Omega 3 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids.
2. Omega 3 fatty acids can only be obtained from food sources.
3. Omega 3 fatty acid cannot be manufactured from other nutrients by the body.
4. Omega 3 fatty acids are derived from foods.
5. The average American diet is believed to contain exceeding amounts of omega 6 fatty acids.


Translation Section

Translate the following text into Bahasa Indonesia

Mediterranean diets are believed to contain well balanced omega 3 foods such as whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, olive oil, garlic and moderate wine consumption combined with little meat intake.
Studies have linked Omega 3 fatty acids and a diet balancing Omega 3 and Omega 6 with a variety of health benefits. It is believed that an inappropriate balance of these fatty acids contributes to the development of serious diseases.
Omega 3 balance has been linked extensively with reducing inflammation and preventing certain chronic diseases such as heart disease and arthritis. Omega 3 benefits have been shown to help treat or prevent the following conditions: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, weight loss, arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), eating disorders, burns and skin disorders, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), asthma, eye disease (such as macular degeneration and glaucoma), menstrual pain, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, ulcers, migraine headaches, preterm labor, emphysema and psoriasis, Lyme disease, lupus, panic attacks.

pregnancy

Reading and Vocabulary Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

Pregnancy is a natural process that involves big changes in a woman's body. It's different for everyone. Some women have long, difficult, uncomfortable pregnancies that change their daily lives right from the start. Others have fairly easy pregnancies and their daily routines may not change until the last few weeks before delivery. Most women experience emotional shifts and mood swings during pregnancy. It's natural to feel doubt, anxiety, and fear about pregnancy and childbirth, as well as happiness, excitement, and anticipation.

Pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks (about 9 months). That time is divided into three sections called trimesters (three-month periods) during which different things happen to a woman's body and to the fetus.

The First Trimester (Weeks 1-12)

During the first trimester, a woman's body goes through many changes so that it can accommodate the growth and development of the fetus.

- Menstruation stops or becomes very light.

- Breasts become larger.

- The volume of blood circulating doubles.

- The uterus enlarges to about three times its normal size.

- "Morning sickness" occurs.

- Nausea and sometimes vomiting occur in many pregnant women. Don't be fooled by the name. Morning sickness can happen any time of day. It may help to eat small meals throughout the day, snack on crackers or toast, or drink juice or lemonade.

- Many women experience fatigue.

- Some women have bleeding at the time of a missed period during the first trimester.

- Constipation and heartburn are common.

The Second Trimester (Weeks 13-26)

The second trimester is often comfortable for the woman, as the discomforts felt in the first trimester have passed. It's during this time that other people can start to notice the pregnancy. Lots of women take on the "radiant glow" of pregnancy — caused not only by excitement but by an increased level of hormones that affects the skin.

- Water retention that causes swelling of the feet and ankles. (This is called edema).

- A woman can feel the fetus moving.

- Nosebleeds and nasal congestion.

- Breast enlargement and discharge.

- Hemorrhoids and varicose veins.

- Heartburn, indigestion, and constipation.

The Third Trimester (Weeks 27-40)

During this period, the shape of the abdomen changes a few weeks before the onset of labor as the fetus drops towards the opening of the pelvis.

- Movement of the fetus can be seen from the outside.

- The navel pushes out.

- Some women experience backaches.

- In order to accommodate the weight of the fetus women tend to walk differently.

- Finally, labor and delivery!

B. Read all of the statements below and make sure you understand them. Write “T” for true and “F” for false next to each of these statements.

No	Statements	T / F
1	Pregnancy is arbitrarily divided into trimester.
2	The mammalian blastocyst is characterized by an outer layer of cells.
3	Implantation usually is completed seven days after fertilization.
4	Geterone and estrogen are important hormones during pregnancy.
5	All of the HCG that passes into the mother’s blood is used in her ovaries during pregnancy.

.

predator and prey

Vocabulary and Reading Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

Predator is the organism that feeds on another organism which is the prey. The predator is always bigger in size or possesses special features that are advantageous such as fangs, sharp claws, sharp eyesight, poisonous venom and others. The prey also usually possesses its own advantageous features to avoid predators such as the capability to run fast, fly, sharp eyesight, sharp hearing, horns and others.

In some animals, in order to avoid from being detected or eaten, these animals possesses features of other common other organisms which are avoided by predators. For example, the Monarch butterfly is poisonous and tastes bad for birds. The Viceroy butterfly is edible but looks very similar to a Monarch butterfly. Therefore, they are avoided by birds too. Such a phenomenon is called mimicry. Grasshoppers are green in color. This will make them blend in with the green background and can’t be easily overlooked by predators.

To be able to live successfully, an organism has to adapt itself to the environment that surrounds it. In the effort to adapt itself, the organism usually possesses special features of functions, behavior and structures. Fish can live in water because of the presence of the gills to make respiration possible. Cactus can live in the deserts successfully because of its long roots to reach for ground water, tiny leaves and waterproof cuticle to prevent evaporation. Camouflage is a common feature of organism in adapting themselves to their environment. Moth has the pattern and colors that fits into its background such as the wood. This way, its predator may overlook the moth thus ensuring the safety of the moth.

B. Find out the words from the text which have the same meaning as the words below.

1. have
2. get away from
3. the same as
4. creature
5. existence

Grammar revision

Change the following sentences into active form.

1. They are avoided by birds.
2. They can’t be easily overlooked by predators.
3. The prey is being eaten by the predator.
4. Grasshopper’s color is changed from brown into green.
5. The feather was flown by air.

Translation Section

Translate the following text.

The Stupid Donkey

A hungry lion slipped out of the forest into a barnyard one evening. When he saw a plump donkey, his mouth began to water. But just as he was ready to jump on the donkey, a rooster crowed. He was frightened, and so turned away into the forest again. “Hey, look at that cowardly lion,” the donkey brayed to the rooster. “I’m going to chase him.” And the donkey ran after the lion. “Wait!” the rooster shouted, “You don’t know that…” But it was too late. The lion had turned and killed the donkey. “Ah, my poor, stupid friend,” the rooster said as he watched the lion eating the donkey. “The lion wasn’t afraid of you, but of my crowing.”

on-line task

Dear students,

Here’s the on-line lesson. It’s about the application of your understanding about English tenses. Each of you will get similar task with different subject and verb.

You must submit your work in the blog with the post title “On-line task”.

To remind you on the sixteen English tenses, look at the example below:

Subject: A dog

Verb: bark

Form/time	Simple	Continuous	perfect	Perfect continuous
Present	A dog bark	A dog is barking	A dog has baked	A dog has been barking
Past	A barked	A dog was barking	A dog had barked	A dog had been barking
Future	A dog will bark	A dog will be barking	A dog will have barked	A dog will have been barking
Past future	A dog would bark	A dog would be barking	A dog would have barked	A dog would have been barking

You must make sixteen sentences with sixteen different tenses.

Here is the task for each of you:

1. Iis Fatmawati (a rose/bloom)

2. Silvia (roses/bloom)

3. Isni Amelia (wind/blow)

4. Dita Anindya N (a hen/breed)

5. Neneng Nurmawati (a cat/climb)

6. Cici Handayani (cats/climb)

7. M. Kurniawan (fish/swim)

8. Ridwan Alwialhudin (a horse/run)

9. Lufty Hari Susanto (horses/run)

10. Didik Dwi Wahyudi (a dog/dig)

11. Anti Mulyanti (dogs/dig)

12. Ela Nurlaela (a bear/eat)

13. Desti Sukmawati (bears/eat)

14. Rumanah (a lion/sleep)

15. Dessy Endriyani Saputri (lions/sleep)

16. Devi Apriasi (an ant/feed)

17. Ema Hermawati (ants/feed)

18. Ilham Maulana (a plant/grow)

19. Tri Handari (plants/grow)

20. Wellda Auliya Fitriani (a crocodile lay)

21. Irma Susilawati (crocodiles/lay)

22. Daniar Kurniasih Darma (the earth/shrink)

23. Aan Nurdiana (water/flow)

24. Ismaswati (a lizard/crawl)

25. Didik Indra H (lizards/crawl)

26. Raswan (a monkey/swing)

Don’t forget to write the article and its resource (the website) together with this task.

Remember, this is individual work not a class work. So, do your best.

population

Vocabulary and Reading Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don't know some of the words.

Organism of the same kind that lives together in the same habitat is called a population. In the population the organisms can interbreed and produce their own kind. For example, all the grasshoppers in the garden will make a population. They stay in the garden which is their habitat and can interbreed and produce within their population. The ants, spiders and butterflies also make their own population in the garden. Here in the garden, within their population, they will breed and reproduce new ones. A population of a certain organism may decrease or increase in size. If the environmental resistance is low, the population will increase in its size. For example, rabbits in Australia were brought in by British immigrants. When they were first introduced to Australia, the population of rabbits in Australia multiplied in size because there were no natural predators of rabbits in Australia. However, if the environmental resistance is high, a population will decrease in size. For example, the panda that lives in China only feeds on one special kind of bamboo. The size of the population is kept constant by the constant amount of this bamboo in their habitat. However, the panda population has decreased drastically and now they face extinction because of the shortage of this bamboo as their food. More and more land from their habitat is being cut down for agriculture purposes.

Now, answer the following questions based on the text you have read.

1. What is a population?
2. What populations live in the garden?
3. Why does a population decrease?
4. Why did the population of rabbits increase in Australia?
5. What does:

o ‘their’ in line 2 refer to?

o ‘they’ in line 4 refer to?

o ‘new ones’ in line 7 refer to?

o ‘they’ in line 10 refer to?

o ‘this’ in line 16 refer to?

Grammar Review

What kind of English tense is used in the following sentences?

1. All the grasshoppers in the garden will make a population.
2. The ants, spiders and butterflies also make their own population in the garden.
3. The population of rabbits in Australia multiplied in size.
4. The panda population has decreased drastically.
5. People are cutting down the land for agricultural purposes.

Writing Section

Make one sentence for each of the following words.

1. population (noun)
2. habitat (noun)
3. breed (verb)
4. environmental (adjective)
5. natural (adjective)

Translation Section

Translate the following story.

Several men were sitting around bragging about how smart their dogs are.

“My dog is so smart,” said the first one, “that I can send him out to the store for eggs. He sniffs around the boxes and refuses to accept any boxes unless they are fresh.”

“My dog is so smart,” said the second man, “that he goes out for cigars, and he always comes home with my favorite brand.”

The two men turned to a third man who had been sitting quietly. “Have you ever heard of any dog that is as smart as ours?” asked the first man.

“Well, only one dog. Mine.”

“How is that?”

“My dog runs the store where your dogs go shopping.”

talk trees

Vocabulary and Reading Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

Trees talk about a plot to kill caterpillars

	Trees talk to each other! At least they do in the woods near Seattle, where Dr. Gordon Orians and Dr. David Rhoades from the University of Washington have found that the willows and the alders warn each other when they are being attacked by leaf-eating insects. ‘I know it sounds like something right out of a comic strip, but it is definitely a form of communication we’ve witnessed in dozens and dozens of trees’, Dr. Orians said. ‘We cannot explain what happened without assuming that trees being damaged by insects released a chemical in the air that warns nearby undamaged trees to prepare a defense against these insects.’ About four years ago, Dr. Orians and Dr. Rhoades set out to find how trees survive mass attacks by insects such as tent caterpillars and webworms. The two ecologists placed swarms of as many as 700 tent caterpillars and webworms in the branches of willows and alders. The trees being attacked began producing chemicals such as alkaloids and terpenoids. ‘The insects began to loose their vitality,’ Dr. Orians said.

Now, write T if the statement is true according to the text and F if the statement is false.

1. ‘they’ in line three refers to the trees.
2. Dr. Orians and Dr. Rhoades are ecologists.
3. Caterpillars and webworms are leaf-eating insects.
4. Willow tree and alders tree communicate to each other.
5. The chemicals produced by the tree make the insects loose their vitality.

B. Learn the following idioms and their meanings.

idiom	meaning
In apple pie order	very well organized
Full of beans	full of nonsense
Out of the frying pan into a fire	from a bad situation to a worse situation
Apple of someone’s eye	someone’s favorite person or thing
As cool as cucumber	calm

Writing Section

Make one sentence for each of the above idioms.

Example:

- In apple pie order: Her room is so neat; everything is always in apple pie order.

1. Full of beans
2. Out of the frying pan into a fire
3. Apple of someone’s eye
4. As cool as cucumber

Translation Section

Translate the following text.

Habitat

A habitat is a place where organisms live. Habitat is the place where the animals can obtain food, shelter, and protection. Two kinds of habitat are natural habitats and man-made habitats. The man-made habitats are such as the zoo and the aquarium. These habitats are prepared by man for animals to live in. they are not natural and built in based on man’s understanding towards the surrounding needed by animals in their home. The forests, lakes, rivers and seas are all natural habitats for various kinds of animals. These natural habitats are found and exist naturally.

what an animal

Vocabulary and Reading Section

A. Find the animals hiding in the following sentences.

Example: Close the door at once! (rat)

1. That will be a real help.
2. She came late every day.
3. Eric owes me ten cents.
4. We made errors in each one.
5. Do good workers succeed?
6. If I shout, he’ll hear me.
7. If Roger comes, we’ll begin.
8. We will go at two o’clock.
9. Is it the sixth or seventh?
10. In April I only came once.

B. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the words.

A new branch of ant learning

Seeing ants gather around the early broad beans is not a sight to gladden the amateur gardener. For the ants are there because tiny aphids have arrive earlier. Aphids feed on the plant sap, and they produce a kind of nectar which the ants collect and carry off to their underground nests. Everybody wins – except the plants. But scientists at Cornell University in New York have been investigating another case of ant-plant behavior where both sides come out winning. It is described as ‘mutualism’, a state in which both plant and insect derive benefit from the other. The plant, a tropical shrub, has the ability to produce globular food bodies – comfortable ant-sized meals – on the interior of hollow stems. The stems make a cozy home for the ants, while the ants defend the plant against the hordes of other insects which would otherwise consume it. This seems sensible and beneficial relationship. But there is a twist to the tale or at least to its biochemistry. In some way, as yet not defined, the plant knows when the ants arrive to colonize its attractive apartments. When the ants are not there, it produces no food for them. When the yare there it produces food in abundance. How does the plant know when the ants are there?

Now, write T if the statement is true according to the text and F if the statement is false.

1. The ants consume the plant where they live.
2. Mutualism means give benefit to each other.
3. The plant grows in a place with a tropical climate.
4. The plant does not know whether the ants are there.
5. In a beneficial relationship, the ants win and the plant loose.

Speaking Section

How do you feel about these statements? Say a few words giving your opinion about some of them. For example:

- I strongly agree

- I agree

- It depends

- I have no idea

- I disagree

- I disagree strongly

1. Animals should not be kept in zoos.

2. It is wrong to hunt animals for sport.

3. People shouldn’t buy clothes made of animal fur.

4. It is wrong to kill animals for food.

5. Hunting and fishing are good, natural sports.

Translation Section

Translate the following facts about some animals.

Did you know?

- A giraffe’s heart weighs 22 kilos.

- A grizzly bear can run as fast as a horse.

- In a lion family, the females do more than 90% of the hunting.

- The first camel lived in North America.

- A new-born baby blue whale weighs as much as an adult African elephant.

- A new-born panda is smaller than a mouse, and weighs about 100 grams.