Previewing an article or an essay

Preview strategy — previewing essays and articles

1. First, preview the reading by

1.      Looking at the title of the selection and noting any sub-headings

2.      Reading any lead-ins—these are usually italicized

3.      Skimming the first and last paragraphs

4.      Looking at any accompanying graphics and captions

5.      Reading biographical information about the author

6.      Noticing the location of original publication

2. Then, think about and write down

1.      What the title and subheadings reveal about the content of the article or essay

2.      What the lead-ins reveal about the content

3.      How the first and last paragraphs may set up and wrap up the focus or thesis

4.      What the graphics may reveal about the content

5.      What the biography of the author and the original audience may reveal about the author’s purposes and possible biases

3. You may then consolidate your previewing focus if you write down answers to the following questions before beginning to read:

1.      What do you already know about this topic?

2.      List three things you would be interested in learning about this topic.

3.      What do you think is the purpose of this reading?

4.      What learning goal(s) can you set for yourself as you read this?

5.      Have you already noticed words which you do not recognize? How will you deal with unfamiliar vocabulary? Will you try to understand words first in the context of the sentence? Will you look them up in a dictionary or the glossary?

Your Instructor may ask you to record the answers to these questions for all your readings during the semester in a dedicated notebook or post them on online discussion boards or learning blogs.

Summary of Beowulf in English

Summary of Beowulf 

King Hrothgar, the ruler of the Danes, is troubled by the rampages of a demon named Grendel. Every night, Grendel attacks King Hrothgar's wealthy mead-hall, Heorot, killing Danish warriors and sometimes even eating them. Hrothgar was a great warrior in his time, but now he's an old king and can't seem to protect his people. Fortunately, a young Geat warrior named Beowulf travels to Heorot Hall from his own lands overseas to lend a helping hand – literally.

After explaining that he owes Hrothgar a favor because Hrothgar helped out his father, Beowulf offers to fight Grendel himself. King Hrothgar gratefully accepts his offer. The next time Grendel attacks Heorot Hall, Beowulf is waiting for him. Choosing to fight Grendel in hand-to-hand combat, Beowulf wrestles the demon into submission and eventually tears off his arm at the shoulder. Mortally wounded, Grendel flees into the wilderness and dies. Beowulf, Hrothgar, and their followers throw a wild party to celebrate. Hrothgar also gives Beowulf many presents and treasures to reward him for his heroic defeat of the demon.

Unfortunately, Grendel has an overprotective mother who decides to avenge her son. While all the warriors are sleeping off the party, she attacks Heorot Hall. But when the warriors wake up, she panics and flees back to her lair, a cave underneath a nearby lake.

Beowulf, his Geatish warriors, and some of Hrothgar's Danish warriors track her there. Beowulf dives into the lake and finds the cave, where he takes on Grendel's mother in another one-on-one battle. Seizing a nearby sword from Grendel's mother's stash of treasure, he slays her, even though her poisonous demon blood melts the blade. When Beowulf returns to the surface, carrying the sword hilt and Grendel's severed head, the Danish warriors have given him up for dead, but his own Geatish followers are still waiting patiently. When everyone sees that Beowulf has survived this second challenge, there's even more partying and gift-giving.

Finally, the Geats take their leave of the Danes; Beowulf says goodbye to King Hrothgar and sails back to Geatland, where he is a lord in the court of King Hygelac. Eventually, Hygelac and all his relatives are killed in different blood-feuds, and Beowulf becomes the King of the Geats. Beowulf reigns as king for fifty years, protecting the Geats from all the other tribes around them, especially the Swedes. He is an honorable and heroic warrior-king, rewarding his loyal thanes (warrior lords) and taking care of his people.

But one day, Beowulf finally meets his match: a dragon, woken by a thief stealing a goblet, begins attacking the Geats, burning villages and slaughtering people. Beowulf takes a group of eleven trusty warriors, plus the thief who knows where the dragon's lair is, to the barrow for a final showdown with the monster. When they see the dragon, all but one of the warriors flee in terror. Only one man, Wiglaf, remains at Beowulf's side. With Wiglaf's help and encouragement, Beowulf is able to defeat the dragon, but he is mortally wounded in the process.

After Beowulf's death, the Geats build an enormous funeral pyre for him, heaped with treasures. Once the pyre has burned down, they spend ten days building an enormous barrow (a large mound of earth filled with treasure) as a monument to their lost king.

                        Pride and Prejudice

Mrs. Bennet has five daughters and a big problem: none of them are married, there isn't much fortune to go around, and—thanks to a quirk of English property law—they'll all be kicked out of their house when Mr. Bennet dies. Enter Mr. Bingley, a rich, single man who moves into their neighborhood and takes a liking to the eldest Miss Bennet, Jane.

But don't save the date quite yet: Mr. Bingley might be easygoing and pleasant, but his sisters are catty snobs and his controlling friend Mr. Darcy isn't about to let Mr. Bingley marry beneath him. When they all meet up at a local ball, Mr. Darcy lets everyone around him know just how dumb and boring he finds the whole thing—including our new BFF and protagonist, the second Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.

It's clear to everyone that Mr. Bingley is falling in love with Jane, but Jane keeps her feelings on the down low, against the advice of Lizzy's good friend Charlotte Lucas. And, surprising no one, Mr. Darcy finds himself strangely attracted to Lizzy. The two get even more opportunities to snip at each other when Lizzy goes to Mr. Bingley's house to nurse her sister, who's gotten sick on a wet horseback ride over for dinner.

And now it's time to meet Bachelor #3: Mr. Collins. As Mr. Bennet's closest male relative, Mr. Collins will inherit the estate after Mr. Bennet's death. Mr. Collins has decided that the nice thing to do is to marry one of the Bennet girls in order to preserve their home. Unfortunately, he's a complete fool and Lizzy hates him on sight. Also unfortunately, he sets his sights on her.

As for the two youngest Bennet sisters, the militia has arrived in town and they're ready to throw themselves at any military officers who wander their way—like Mr. Wickham, who rapidly befriends Elizabeth and tells her a sob story about how Mr. Darcy totally ruined his life, which Elizabeth is happy to believe. Oh, and Mr. Collins's boss, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, just so happens to be Mr. Darcy's aunt. Small world!

Not too long after this, all the Bennet girls (including middle sister Mary, who's too wrapped up in books to notice boys) head to a ball at Netherfield (a.k.a. Mr. Bingley's mansion). It's kind of awful. Darcy, of all people, asks Elizabeth to dance, and Lizzy's entire family is unbearably embarrassing—like her mom loudly announcing that they all expect Bingley to marry Jane.

But it gets worse when Mr. Collins proposes the next morning. Elizabeth refuses, obviously, but hold your pity: Charlotte Lucas shows up to "help out," by which we mean "get Collins to propose to her instead." It works, which is good news for the 27-year-old Charlotte, who's too poor and plain to expect anything better; but bad news for Elizabeth, who can't believe that her friend would actually marry the guy—even when Charlotte explains that she's really out of options, here.

And then more bad news arrives: Jane gets a letter from Miss Bingley basically breaking up with her on her brother's behalf. Jane is super bummed, and she goes to stay with her aunt and uncle in London to get over it (and just maybe see Bingley, who's off to the big city). Elizabeth travels too: she's off to visit the newly married Charlotte, who seems to be holding up well. One problem: Mr. Darcy is on his way to visit his aunt, who's also, you might remember, Mr. Collins's boss.

Darcy almost acts like he's glad to see Lizzy, and even comes to visit her at Charlotte's house, but Lizzy is not having it: she learns from Mr. Darcy's friend that Bingley was going to propose to Jane until Darcy intervened. And that's exactly the moment Darcy chooses to propose. Can you guess how it goes?

Not well. During the proposal, mixed in with Darcy's "I love you" are some "I am so superior to you" comments, which, not surprisingly, don't go over so well. Elizabeth has some choice things to say to him, and the next day he hands her a letter with the full story about Wickham (he's a liar, a gambler, and he tried to elope with Darcy's underage sister) and Jane (Darcy was convinced Jane was just a gold-digger). Cue emotional transformation.

When Lizzy gets him, she finds that Lydia, the youngest of the Bennet girls, has been invited to follow the officers to their next station in Brighton. Elizabeth thinks this is a Very Bad Idea, but Mr. Bennet overrules her. Big mistake, as we'll find out soon.

But first, it's time for Elizabeth to accompany her aunt and uncle on a trip to Derbyshire, which, incidentally, is where Mr. Darcy lives. Uh-oh! Oh, but he's out of town. Phew. They visit his estate (Pemberley) as tourists—you can do that kind of thing in England—and Lizzy is impressed. Darcy's housekeeper also has nothing but compliments for her master. Weird, right? It gets weirder when they run into Darcy who's home early, and he's actually polite and friendly.

Before we can start practicing our wedding toasts, disaster strikes: Elizabeth learns that Lydia has run off with Wickham. This scandal could ruin the family, so Elizabeth's uncle and father try to track the renegade couple down. Elizabeth's uncle saves the day and brings the two young 'uns back as a properly married (and unapologetic) couple. When Lydia lets slip that Darcy was at her wedding, Elizabeth realizes that there's more to the story and writes to her aunt for more information.

Here's the full story: Darcy saved the Bennet family's honor. He tracked down the couple and paid off Wickham's massive debts in exchange for Wickham marrying Lydia. Why would he possibly do that? Well, we have some ideas—but we don't get to find out right away. First, Bingley comes back and finally proposes to Jane. And then, Lady Catherine visits Longbourn to strong-arm Elizabeth into rejecting any proposal from Darcy, which obviously doesn't work.

When Lizzy and Darcy finally get some alone time on a walk, we get the moment we've all been waiting for: they clear up all their past misunderstandings, agree to get married, and then make out in the rain. (Oh wait, that was the movie version.)

And they all live happily ever after. More or less.

Argumentative

I like to be a Vegetarian

            As we know that to get a healthy is easy actually. It depends on our daily life, lifestyle and our environment. One of some way to get it, is to consume some kind of fruit, vegetables and meat.

Generally, to be a vegetarian is not the only way to get our healthy life but in this case. I prefer to be a vegetarian because of some reasons.

Firstly, I prefer some vegetable than meat. The taste of each vegetable are unique and so tasty however it’s going to be, in the fresh condition, or in some kind of foods.

Secondly, as we know that there are so many content in each vegetable we consume, such as vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin B6, provitamins, dietary minerals and carbohydrates. Then, it also low of cholesterol which can make an obesity.

Thirdly, we can buy vegetables at everywhere we are, such as in the market, mini market, and so on.

The last, beside it’s price is not too expensive and we can find it easily, there are no some effect if we consume it in the excessive amount.

So, that’s why I wanna be a vegetarian.

  

Story telling "The Legend of Tangkuban Perahu"

The Legend of Tangkuban Perahu

Once upon a time, in heaven there are a pair of gods goddesses who made a mistake and all of them convicted by Sang Hyang Tunggal down to Earth and condemned to be animals. “You have been staining this heaven with your behavior, you do not deserve to live in this heaven”. The deity is cursed to become a dog by the name of Tumang and the goddess is cursed to be a boar with the name Wayung Hyang.

One day a boar or Wayung Hyang that thirst and drinking water which it was found in the Woods in a coconut shell. It did not know if those water was actually urine from the king whose name is Sungging Perbangka that can not hold pee when hunting in the forest. “What happens with my stomach? Dewata Agung, what happens to me?”. Miraculously, it was directly pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby. However, Wayung Hyang leave that baby in the middle of the forest which was later found by the King Sungging Perbangka. “waah.. who is left this baby in the woods here? Why her mother dared to leave this baby in the middle of the forest here? I should be informed my mother at the palace.”

Then, the King Sungging perbangka brought the baby into the Palace to be raised. “My son, what do you bring it? And he answered, I found this baby in the woods when I was hunting. Please, take care of this baby, mom. And I will be stopped for hunting start from now. Because I have became a father right now. and this baby will be given a name is Dayang Sumbi aka called Rarasati, mom”. Dayang Sumbi grows into a very beautiful girl and so many men who would like to ask for her hand. However, Dayang Sumbi was not interested them.

She liked weaving very much.  Once she was weaving a cloth when one of her tool fell to the ground.  She was very tired at the time so she was too lazy to take it.  Then she just shouted out loud.

‘Anybody there?  Bring me my tool, please.  I will give you special present.  If you are female,  I will consider you as my sister.  If you are male, I will marry you

Suddenly Tumang came.  He brought her the falling tool.  Dayang Sumbi was very surprised. “Why is the tumang that carying my tool?”. She regretted her words but she could not deny it.  So, she had to marry Tumang and leave her father.  Then they lived in a small village. Once Dayang Sumbi shocked when she saw the tumang changed to the original form. “Who are you?” then he tells everything going on himself to Dayang Sumbi.  Several months later they had a son. They gave his name was Sangkuriang.  He was a handsome and healthy boy.

Sangkuriang liked hunting very much.  He often went hunting to the wood using his arrow.  When he went hunting Tumang always with him.  In the past there were many deer in Java so Sangkuriang often hunted for deer.

One day, Dayang Sumbi wanted to have deer’s heart so she asked Sangkuriang for hunting a deer. “Sangkuriang, I want to eat a deer’s heart. Can you bring the deer’s heart to me?” Then Sangkuriang went to the wood with his arrow and his faithful dog Tumang.  But after several days in the wood Sangkuriang could not find any deer.  They were all disappeared.  Sangkuriang was exhausted and desperate.  He did not want to disappoint her mother so he killed Tumang.  He did not know that Tumang was his father.  At home he gave Tumang’s heart to his mother.

But Dayang Sumbi knew that it was Tumang’s heart.  She was so angry that she could not control her emotion. “You are rebilious son! You have killed your father”. She hit Sangkuriang’s head.  Sangkuriang was wounded.  There was  a scar in his head. She also repelled her son. Then, Sangkuriang left her mother in sadness. “This impossible, my father is a dog.. I don’t believe it!”

Many years passed and Sangkuriang became a strong young man.  He wandered  everywhere.     One day he arrived at his own village but he did not realized it.  He met Dayang Sumbi in there.  At the time Dayang Sumbi was given an eternal beauty by God so she stayed young forever.  Both of them did not know each other.  So they fell in love and then they decided to marry.

But then Dayang Sumbi recognized a scar on his Sangkuriang’s head.  She knew that Sangkuriang was his son. “Oh my gosh, you are my son Sangkuriang. I can’t marry you” he answered “No, I’m Sangkalana not Sangkuriang. And my mother passed away, I will marry you”. Dayang Sumbi gave a very difficult condition. She wanted Sangkuriang to build a lake and a boat in one night!  She said she needed that for honeymoon.

Sangkuriang agreed. With the help of genie and spirits Sangkuriang tried to build them.  By midnight he had finished  the lake by building a dam in Citarum river.  Then he started building the boat.  It was almost dawn when he nearly finished it.  Meanwhile Dayang Sumbi kept watching on them. She was very worried when she knew this.  So she made lights in the east. Then the spirits thought that it was already dawn.  It was time for them to leave.  They left Sangkuriang alone.  Without their help he could not finish the boat.

Sangkuriang was very angry.  He kicked the boat.  Then the boat turned out to be Mount Tangkuban Perahu.  It means boat upside down.  From a distant it looks like a boat upside down.