News Item

People Killed and Injured in Blast at Nightclub

Three people have been killed and eight others injured in a hand grenade blast at a packed village nightclub.

The explosion in Idvor, north of Belgrade, occurred at 2:30 a.m. Sunday (0030 GMT Sunday; 8:30 p.m. EDT Saturday) when a man activated the grenade at the entrance to the club. About 150 customers were inside at the time.

Such incidents aren't unusual in Serbia since the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s when many hand grenades and firearms were taken home from war fronts.

Serbia's state TV says the man was angry because he and three of his friends were refused entry by the club's security. He and one of his friends were killed in the blast.

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Discussion Text

The advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning

A few years ago, distance learning was seen as an inferior way but nowadays even famous and established traditional colleges and universities are providing distance learning courses and it is generally considered a way to improve one's life.

However, people still argue whether distance learning give more advantage or disadvantage. Some of them who see the benefit of distance learning will say that distance learning needs no commuting. Of course it saves money and time that students would take. Furthermore, distance learning can be done at any student’s convenience. Mostly of the classes of distance learning are asynchronous. It means that students do not have to attend a lecture at a fixed particular time and place. Students can review the assignments and do their homework during off-hours or from home. Additionally, distance learning gives more accessibility. No one can deny it. People with limited mobility may encounter the problem when they take traditional class. With the online class system, the problem is absent.

Despite the many advantages, the other people will see that distance learning is costly and needs complex technology. To attend online learning, student must have a computer with possibly access to the internet. Admitted or not, such technology devices are not always available for common students. Another disadvantage of distance learning is that it does not provide immediate feedback. Unlikely traditional classroom, students have to wait for the feedback and comment until the instructor has review the works and sent response to them. Most of the time students will study alone. Distance learners may feel isolated or miss that social physical interaction that comes with attending a traditional classroom.

Regarding the individual’s learning style, some students are able to learn when there is a live interaction between them and the available of accompanying teacher while others don’t really need it. So before deciding a choice of attending distance learning or not, each student needs to do a fair analysis regarding the kind of person he/she is.

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Explanation Text

Making Paper from Woodchips

Woodchipping is a process used to obtain pulp and paper products from forest trees. The woodchipping process begins when the trees are cut down in a selected area of the forest called a coupe.

Next the tops and branches of the trees are cut out and then the logs are taken to the mill. At the mill the bark of the logs is removed and the logs are taken to a chipper which cuts them into small pieces called woodchips. The woodchips are then screened to remove dirt and other impurities. At this stage they are either exported in this form or changed into pulp by chemicals and heat. The pulp is then bleached and the water content is removed.

Finally the pulp is rolled out to make paper.

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Hortatory Exposition Text

The Importance Of Reading

I personally think that reading is a very important activity in our life. Why do I say so?

Firstly, by reading we can get a lot of knowledge about many things in the world such as Science, technology, sports, arts, culture, etc written in either books, magazine, newspaper, etc.

Secondly, by reading we can get a lot of news and information about something happening in any parts of the world which can we see directly.

Another reason, reading can give us pleasure too. When we are tired, we read books, novel, comic, newspaper or magazine on the entertainment column such as comedy, short story, quiz, etc. To make us relaxed.

The last, reading can also take us to other parts of the world. By reading a book about Irian Jaya we may feel we’re really sitting there not at home in our rooms.

From the facts above, it’s obvious that everyone needs to read to get knowledge, information and also entertainment. Or in summary we can say reading is truly important in our life.

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Analytical Exposition Text

Learning English

Why is Learning English Important?

Language is the mean of communication. Mostly groups of society have their own languages. Some of them appear the top global languages. Most people in the world hear about English, Arabic, and Mandarin. However English is the most global spoken language. Then if a man wants to catch a global goal, he has to master English.

Everyone recognize that English is an international language. English is used in writing and speaking by many people all over the world. It can be either as a first or second language. We even hear British, American, Australian, and even Singaporean English. Those various names of English are used as the first language in those countries. Futhermore, some countries have their own languages as a mother language but also use English mostly in daily comunication.

Besides usage in daily interaction, English is also used as a key to open doors leading to scientific and technical knowledge. No wonder we find manual guides and instructions of many devices written in English. Even if we have a pack of instant noodle, we will see the cooking instruction also written in English. This transfer of science and technic will include many countries in economic, social and politics development.

Finaly, the most easily seen in the importance of learning English is that most top requirement in filling job opportunities is the ability using English; active or passive. Job applicants who master English are more favourable than ones who do not.

The above facts prove that everybody needs to learn English if he likes to greet the global era.

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Procedure Text

How to make fried rice (nasi goreng)

Prep time: Depends on how fast you can chop up the ingredients. I take a long time to cut things. It also cuts a lot of time if the rice is already cooked. We use leftover rice, while fresh new rice is cooking. (*A helpful reader pointed out that it’s important to use leftover rice because it has less moisture. The full explanation is here.)

Calories: We don’t believe in counting those in Indonesia, and we’re fans of the empty calories (i.e. krupuks).

Ingredients:

·         A handful of shallots

·         A handful of garlic

·         2 eggs

·         A handful of red chili peppers

·         One large red chili pepper

·         About 5 cups of cooked rice

·         Vegetable oil

·         Salt

·         Cucumber (optional)

Steps:

1) Cut the red shallots, garlic, and red chili peppers.

2) Fry all this together using a wok-like pan and about ¼ cup of vegetable oil.

3) Once the mixture is sufficiently soft and cooked, remove it from the oil. Use a stone grinder to mash the ingredients;. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt.

4) Crack two eggs and scramble in the same wok with same, leftover oil.

5) Once the eggs are scrambled, stir in about 5 cups of cooked, white rice.

6) Stir in the ground mixture of garlic, peppers and shallots.

Done!

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Report Text

The Red Bird Of Paradise

An Indonesian endemic, the Red Bird of Paradise is distributed to lowland rainforests of Waigeo and Batanta islands of West Papua. This species shares its home with another bird of paradise, the Wilson's Bird of Paradise. Hybridisation between these two species are expected but not recorded yet.

The Red Bird of Paradise, Paradisaea rubra is a large, up to 33cm long, brown and yellow bird of paradise with a dark brown iris, grey legs and yellow bill. The male has an emerald green face, a pair of elongated black corkscrew-shaped tail wires, dark green feather pompoms above each eye and a train of glossy crimson red plumes with whitish tips at either side of the breast.

The male measures up to 72 cm long, including the ornamental red plumes that require at least six years to fully attain. The female resembles the male but is smaller in size, with a dark brown face and has no ornamental red plumes. The diet consists mainly of fruits, berries and arthropods.

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