The outline:
1. The beginning
2. Importance of Science
3. How it has helped
4. Changes in our homes, etc.
5. The end

Science has brought many changes in the world today. It is used in all the corners of the world for the benefit of man.

The motor-car or the electric lamp that we use today was not known to people who lived generations ago. Owing to the use of Science the people of today are able to do many things with ease and comfort. Travel has become very easy. So men’s activity has increased greatly.

Science has also been used to treat the sick and the sounded. As a result, people can now live a longer life than their ancestors could. Even the most serious diseases do not frighten people so much as they did before.

Further, Science has made it possible for people to sit at home and see the world around. The television, the newspaper and color books help millions of people to learn at home. The radio too has done much to teach and inform people in all parts of the world.

It is therefore necessary for us to learn Science, if we wish to enjoy greater comforts.

A teacher usually has her own reasons to suggest a book to students. The book must be useful or it must cover some subjects that they are going to learn or there is a good view of something or it may be invaluable for collecting ideas, and so on. Most of the cases, the teacher does not require the students to read the whole book. In other words, some chapters or some pages relate to the subject they concerned or they discuss are recommended.

Many students, however, tend to read without the aim to a specific content when they start reading. They simply read the book and they generally read it from the beginning. Word by word, from line to line, this page and another are read for great details. It is plain that they do not organize the ideas that they have just read. They just follow the basic order of ideas that are shown in the book according to the intention of the author. Therefore, they have not a general overview of the aspects of the book. As the result, the students easily forget the knowledge they gain from that book.

Those are my own ideas about the way most students read books. Students in high-schools should be taught some techniques of reading. This will make them good habits of reading materials, especially text books.

A good library is an ocean of information, whose boundaries continue to extend with the endless contribution of the numerous streams of knowledge. Thus, it has a peculiar fascination for scholars, and all those whose thirst for knowledge is instable.

The usefulness of libraries in the spread of knowledge has been proved through the years. The field of knowledge is so extensive and life is so brief that even the most avid reader can never expect to absorb it all. Those who have a love for knowledge, therefore, try to master only a small fraction of it. Even this requires reading of hundreds of books, cheap and expensive, new and old. But few people are able to buy all the books on the subject in which they wish to attain proficiency. It is therefore necessary for them to visit a good library, where they can read a great variety of books on the subject they love. Besides, many old and valuable books on certain subjects are found only in a good library. Even the original manuscript of an author, who died several years ago, can be found in it, sometimes.

Today, men everywhere have discovered the benefits of learning. More and more books are being written to extend human knowledge and experience. Governments and individuals throughout the world are, therefore, opening more and more libraries to enable people to read as many books possible. Libraries have been opened even in the remotest regions of the earth, so that people who are unable to buy books from the towns can still gain access to the various sources of knowledge. Mobile libraries serve the people in various parts of the earth.

The importance of libraries, however, is felt most acutely by students in schools and universities, where most students are engaged in deep studies. The number of books that a student has to study, especially at a university, is so large that unless he comes from a rich family, he can hardly buy them all. Besides, many of the books may not be available in the book-shops within his reach. It is therefore to his advantage to visit a good library.

Some people even have their own private libraries in which they spend their leisure, reading the books that they have collected over the years, and drive great intellectual benefit and pleasure.

In short, libraries have contributed so much to the extension of knowledge that they have become almost indispensable to all literate men.

Nowadays in one language only, scores of new books are published in a month, and thousands in a year. Think of the number in all the languages in the world!

Thinking of books in English only, no one can hope to read them all. Even a man of leisure can read only a limited number of books in a year. And most readers are busy people, they can spare only a little time a day to reading. Try as we can, a large number of books must remain forever unread. So a choice of books must be made.

On what lines should the choice be made? Well, it is good to begin with classics. A “classic” of a book has stood the test of time, and has been placed by critics and readers of taste in the first class. A book that is the rage of the moment may be forgotten in a few years, it may be worth reading, or it may not. But a book that has been read for generations with pleasure and profit, has proved itself to be worth reading. So let the young reader begin with some of these. Let him read, in fiction, some of the novels of Scott, Dickens, Thackeray; in history, Macaulay, Gibbon, Green; in poetry, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning; in general literature, Lamb’s Essays, De Quincey, Ruskin, Carlyle, Stevenson, and so on. These books will help to form his taste for good literature.

For the rest, individual taste must determine the choice. Some will take to history and biography; some to travel and adventure; some to science and philosophy; others to general literature and poetry. Whatever the subject chosen, the best books, old and modern, should be sought out and read carefully. After all, it is not the number of books one reads that counts most. A few books read thoughtfully will be of more value to the reader than many skimmed through and forgotten.

Some books are meant for light, reading while others are for serious reading. However reading any books simply gives the reader pleasure and amusement. If we are tired of our school work, it is healthy to read a story book to relax our mind.

There are good books written by famous authors. There are many such books available in our libraries. The stories of well known authors teach us morals, which we need to learn to become good citizens. It does not matter what subject we choose – a novel or a biography. Reading good books makes us realize the virtues of mankind.

There are many good books on literature, history, travel, science and religion. Choose the best book which you think is valuable to you. In Singapore, children can borrow any books they like from the National Library and enjoy the pleasures of reading.

Men who learn English as a foreign language often say that writing is more difficult than any other skills. As the fact of the matter, most native speakers of the language have to make their efforts themselves to write accurately and effectively even on what they are well aware of. Needless to say, it is not easy at all for a non-native speaker to do something that an average native speaker usually considers a difficult job to do. Here are three reasons which, in my opinion, can answer the question why writing becomes the most difficult skills.

Firstly, writing requires good grammar. A non-native person has to remember a large number of rules in structure which are quite different from their own language. This is a very big problem if he or she learns the grammar with an English native teacher at the beginning. The teacher cannot help to point out the distinct differences between the two languages. In this case, the learner must figure out the differences themselves and even outline some rules to convert from their own language to the target language.

Secondly, people are often known to spend less time to write than to listen, to speak and even to listen. Learners learning the language in their country are proved to read more than any other skills while learners learning overseas must listen to the language most of their time. In any cases, they spend little of their time for writing. It is clearly known that an average person spend the most for listening, the second most for speaking, then reading and finally writing.

Thirdly, when students of English as a foreign language write something, they have a big question in mind whether what they write is correct or incorrect. Who can answer the question for them and help them recognize the mistakes. It is, in many cases, the teacher who is teaching them and is ready to give them a hand. The problem however I want to mention is that the teacher does not have enough time to correct for all of them if there are more than ten students in the class. When the teacher corrects the writing for just some of them, the other students cannot recognize their own mistakes. Without correction, the mistakes may be repeated many times and become bad habits which are hard to adjust.

In conclusion, writing is the most difficult skill that learners of any foreign language may face. To be good at it, learners must give much effort.

There is a general belief that British climate is cold, wet and foggy. A thick fog is often used as the setting for a mystery or detective film, but in fact the number of foggy days, even in the worst sports in Britain, is not high compared with most parts of the world. It is everywhere temperate. The climate is a generally healthy one and has given the women and children their lovely complexions. To it, the fruit owes its delicate texture and flavour, and the turf its springiness and colour.

Britain is a geologist’s paradise. All periods in history are to be found in its earth-from the recent chalk hills to the early rocks of mountain. These various kinds of earth show in the beech-woods and the smooth turf of the rolling Downs of southern England, in the rich soil of the river valleys that feeds the crops and orchards, or provides pastureland for the dairy industry. Farming on a big scale has carved up much of the land into fields divided by hedgerows or stone fences which give the British countryside its distinctive look. A great area of Britain was once clad in ancient “high forest” but the last 2000 years of occupation have stripped much of this away. The great industrial cities are found for the most part round the ore and coal regions in the Midlands and the North. The main ports and shipbuilding yards lie by the natural habours.

The British are a race of mixed peoples. There is, however, a strong unity, of common interests and a way life linked by one language. In England and Southern Scotland, the earliest people, known as the Ancient Britons (after the prehistoric period) were followed by the Danes from Scandinavia. These are, of course, other local mixture found today in the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh, together with those from Yorkshire or Lancashire, all proud of their beginnings but all uniting to form a solid group loyal to their country. Great Britain has produced such persons as the Duke of Wellington, the famous soldier who defeated Napoleon, and William Shakespeare, the top writer of plays. The British are known for their kindly feelings which shows itself in understanding, dislike of cruelty and oppression and a distrust of extremes. When the nation is threatened, the people are very strong in resistance. The average Briton does not believe in extremes. He is saved from them by a sound common sense that shows itself more particularly in a tolerance, in a willingness to meet objections, and if need be, in an agreement to disagree. The average Briton is calm and cool in time of trial. This showed itself on the last war under ceaseless bombings. The British temper has been well described in this term “phlegmatic as Anglo, or English phlegm”.

The British were never a stay-at-home race. Their record in exploration and colonization is a remarkable one. The spread of the English language and of British traditions of democracy over five continents is the proof of their venture and of the strength of British civilization. Britain is renowned for its great literary tradition. It is the birthright of over two hundred million people throughout the world whose mother tongue is English, the Canterbury Tales, Hamlet, Paradise Lost, the Ode to a Nightingale, to name only a few of its treasures, are theirs. Nor is that tradition dead today. There are few fields of study in which British names do not appear in the forefront. Thirty-seven scientists have received Nobel Prize awards – the highest world honour that can be accorded to any scientist. Gartwright’s power loom, driven by water, and Hargreaves’s spinning jenny opened the way for the modern mass production of textiles. Steel is produced by process named after Sir Henry Bessemer. The electrical developments of the press-button age owe much to the researches of Michael Faraday. Newton was among the leading mathematicians studying the nature of the universe. In the study of life and of man, Darwin’s name is outstanding, while in medicine and surgery many advances have been due to Briton such as William Harvery, discoverer of the circulation of the blood. Lord Lister, the founder of antiseptic surgery, and sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. It is likely due to a sporting spirit, carried over into everyday life, that has made Britain a Power. Not a day passes but you will hear in ordinary use the term “a good sport”, “a sporting chance”, “fair play”.

Where home life is concerned, the Briton would much rather have a house than a flat. He likes to lead his own life in his own way and feels that a house in a permanent thing so he builds himself a flower garden and a lawn. The number of property owners who live in their own houses is growing. The majority of British people are Protestants, but there are also many Roman Catholics. There are opportunities for all in Britain. There has been a great leveling of the classes, especially upward, in Britain society and poverty has for the most part been done away with. Wealth and birth are no longer the only way by which one may reach the top in society. No society in the world is as well-organized as that of Britain. Today there is one big scheme of social services to which all contribute and by which all benefit. It is not charity but is a sound away of providing social security, health and freedom. National Insurance, family allowances, and national assistance cover the whole population for the basic necessities from birth to burial.

Britain is a country of industry and commerce. In the 19th century she was known as the “workshop of the world” Britain has today special links with many countries. Although she has developed interest in all parts of the world, Britain has always kept close ties with the free world. In peace and war alike, Britain has always taken the side of those who are interested solely in “progress and freedom for all” as Sir Winston Churchill put it in one of his speeches. With improved trade and with firm friends at her side, Britain faces the future with growing confidence.

The most difficult thing for a person to accept when he begins to learn a foreign language is that the foreign language is so different from his own. Of course, he expects to find some differences; it may sometimes seem to him that some of the differences are completely unnecessary.

A person’s native language has a powerful influence on him. After all, he has been speaking his language since before he can remember. His family, his friends, even complete strangers – everyone around him uses that language. Under such circumstances, it is only natural that a person would have the feeling that his language is the most beautiful, the most perfect and the most logical of all languages.

Therefore, the first thing that one must learn as he begins to study a foreign language is that, each language is the best possible language for the people who use it. We would not expect a person from India to think and act exactly like a person from France. And we should not expect the languages of India to be exactly like the French language. After this fact has been understood and accepted, many of the problems in language learning disappear.

There are other attitudes which you will have to develop in order to learn a language successfully. The most important of these is that learning a language requires constant practice. You must not think that because you have seen or heard a word or phrase one time, or five times or ten times, that you really know it and know how to use it. You must be ready to repeat new lessons again until you can really use them, automatically, without having to think about them.

Many students have the idea that if they can memorize long list of vocabulary words they will be learning the language. Learning a language is much more than that. In the early stage of studying a language, we must learn more important things, such as pronunciation and grammatical structure. After the student can use the grammatical structure, he can then begin to increase his vocabulary. Learning new vocabulary without knowing the grammatical structure of the language is something like trying to build a house without using a plan.

Another important thing to remember is that it is not necessary to begin with a lot of reading or writing in the foreign language. Reading and writing lead to many very special problems which may complicate learning for the beginning student.

The most important thing of all in learning a language is to have patience. If you keep working steadily, day after day, constantly practicing the language and using it at every opportunity, you will learn to speak a language well.

Many find it advantageous to purchase a home, but others find renting more suited to their needs. While there are advantages for both options renting is generally the best choice for young students. Students often do not have money to buy a home and need to know that it will not be necessary to find a buyer for the home if they decide to transfer to another school or return home.

Owning a home provides a number of benefits. For example, a home owner can make more noise than someone who lives in an apartment without having to worry that every small noise might disturb neighbors. Unlike apartment dwellers, homeowners can also put holes in walls and redecorate without being concerned about losing part or all of a security deposit.

There are also benefits to renting. A renter is only tied down only by the terms of the rental agreement or lease. If a renter wants to move, it is not necessary to find a buyer. In addition, a renter does not have to provide a large down payment as does a home owner.

A student who plans to return home after college or who wishes to transfer to another school often cannot be tied down to a house. Consequently, renting is the answer for most young students.

At various times of their lives, people have different needs. While purchasing a home is often the best choice for somebody with an adequate income and roots in a community, for the reasons discussed, it is often not the most feasible choice for young students.