我的朋友

我介绍一下儿， 我叫张皇男， 我是 越南留学生，现在在新加坡大学学习。我有三个好朋友。 第一个人是 大为， 他是我的朋友， 他也是 留学生， 他是法国人。其他们是 宋华，和 王兰。
现在我学习汉语。大为在新加坡大学的语言学院 也学习汉语，是我的同学。宋华， 王兰都是新加坡人，也都是工程学生。他们常常去留学生宿舍看我和大为。
虽说宋华是新加坡人，但是他知道很多中国文化。因为，他父母都是中国人，宋华也在中国出生。小时候，他随父母到新加坡去了。宋华的汉语也很好。所以他常常教我学汉语，和做汉语练习。我很喜欢跟他学习汉语。
王兰是一个很高的人。他的数学很好，他很喜欢去打足球。他欢迎我去我家玩儿。他说，他家离大学很近，坐50路汽车可以到。我去的时候， 要先给他打电话。
上个星期日，他们 做一个聚会，祝贺我的生日。 我很高兴，想不到了。后来，我问他们怎么知道我的生日天。 他们说， 因为王兰 发觉 (fā jué:find,discover) 我的学生卡片，在桌子上。他们祝我生日快乐，还有送我很多礼物。我们吃宋华买的 大蛋糕，北京烤鸭， 手面， 香蕉 和苹果。 它们很好吃。啊， 我们还有喝 红葡萄酒。真恨有意思！
下个学期， 大为会回他的法国 大学。他请我，宋华和王兰去访客他的大学。他也给我们一个张法国大学的照片。那照片真恨漂亮。大为说，我们到法国的时候，他会介绍很多有名食品。
大为，宋华，和王兰都是我好的朋友。认识他们我很高兴。

张皇男 zhāng huáng nán
王兰wáng lán
越南yuè nán ：Vietnamese, Vietnam
留学生liú xué shēng : student studying abroad; (foreign) exchange student
其他们qí tā men : the others
工程 gōng chéng engineering

虽说 suī shuō
though; although
但是 dàn shì but
父母fù mǔ : parents
所以suǒ yǐ : thus, so, therefore.
离lí : to leave; to depart; to go away; from
近jìn: near; close (to); approximately
路lù: road
汽车qì chē : bus
打电话dǎdiàn huà: make a phone call
礼物lǐ wù: gift
学期 xué qī : semester
访客fǎng kè: visit
食品shí pǐn: foodstuff.

portfolio 5: prediction and minimization of potential unethical abuses via reading mind!

the more technology is developed, the closer to knowing how our brains thinks and process various information human beings are. Such technology, also known as bain mapping, can cause great impact to the society. At the positive side, this technology can be used to identify thoughts and study mental disorder (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2008). However, we should not neglect the negative effects this technology could have on society because the development of those technologies also cause a lot of issues about the ethics and legality.

As we can imagine, if this technology is made available to the public, it will be exploited by many parties in different ways. As pointed out by Lou (2003), this technology might be used by companies to examine the thoughts of their employees. If a particular employee is found to be likely to develop a negative habit, he/she might be fired without actual prove. Such situation is undesirable because the right of the employees are not protected.

Who should be tested with that technology and who will conduct the test? Can information from the test be used to judge the tested people? When will it be apply? these are critical questions that must be answered before the technology is deployed.
Moreover, only the government that should use this technology. The second issue is that of consent. The brain reading should only be conducted with the agreement of tested people, despite the case of hazardous criminals or international terrorists. In those cases, the government will consider whether to do the brain reading or not.
In conclusion, the government and the scientists should come to consensus of how this technology can be used. Points such as who will be tested, how the results will be used, and under what circumstances will they be tested must be considered. These points must be considered based on the privacy and the right of a person. Also, the government should take initiative to make laws regarding this matter and make sure the laws are enforced. Whoever break the laws should be fined accordingly with no mercy.
*Reference:
National Science Foundation. (2008, May 30). A computer that can “read” your mind [Press release 08-091]. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111641
Marano L. Ethics and mapping the brain (June 3, 2003), Washington TimesRetrieved November 2, 2008, from http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030603-042704-2032r.htm

portfolio 6: (summarized the article related to 14 grand challenges of engineering)

Today, the availability of water for drinking and other uses is a critical problem in many areas of the world. Lack of clean water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. In some countries, half the population does not have access to safe drinking water, and hence is afflicted with poor health. By some estimates, each day nearly 5000 children worldwide die from diarrhea-related diseases, a toll that would drop dramatically if sufficient water for sanitation was available.
Indeed, water is available in abundance in the world. It is just not always located where it is needed. For example, Canada has plenty of water, far more than its people need, while the Middle East and northern Africa suffer from perpetual shortages. Otherwise, in some developing countries, water supplies are contaminated not only by the people discharging toxic contaminants, but also by arsenic and other naturally poisonous pollutants found in groundwater aquifers. For the healthy, sustainable future for the planet, developing methods of ensuring adequate water supplies pose engineering challenges of the first magnitude.
In fact, there are two methods used to supply water to regions in need. The first one is diverting the flow of water from regions where it is plentiful to where it is scarce. Such diversion projects provide some short-term relief, but not appear practical as widespread, long-term, ecologically sound solutions, and this method generally will not be able to meet agricultural needs. The second is desalination which is extracting the salt from seawater. However, desalination plants are expensive to build and require lots of energy to operate, making desalination suitable mainly for seaside cities in rich countries. Therefore, new technologies with economical viability will be needed.
T o deal with the problem of providing clean water, many technologies have been developing. For instance, technologies are being developed to improve recycling of wastewater and sewage treatment so that water can be used for nonpersonal uses such as irrigation or industrial purposes. Some current projects are striving to produce inexpensive distillation units that can remove contaminants from any water source. A unit smaller than a dishwasher could provide daily clean water for 100 people.
In general, such approaches will help to address the very real problem of inequitable distribution of water resources. Even within a given country, clean, cheap water may be available to the rich while the poor have to seek out supplies, at higher costs, from intermediary providers or unsafe natural sources. Technological solutions to the world’s water problems must be implemented within systems that recognize and address these inequities.

portifolio 4: how to deal with writing difficulties?

One of the most important ways to present your ideas is writing which can help you disseminate your opinions to others. Hence, I have to be very serious about making an academic writing with a lot of efforts and strict choice of words. Because writing is also a main factor to make readers appreciate your whole work, so your ideas may be degraded by an ambiguous, unimpressive, or unclear writing even if the ideas are utmostly excellent. And for me, I also find some difficulties in writing critically about engineering topics because most of the topics are very academic and they could take me a bulk amount of time to finish.
In fact, writing about an engineering topic is not really easy because I have to comprehend the input information which I read before I start writing. In this circumstance, the main obstacle is about vocabularies. It means that I may face with many strange or new words which I have never seen before when I read engineering information, such MLE textbook or lecture notes. Thus, the first thing I have to do is to take note of them and try to memorize by practicing using those words many times or learning by heart. In addition to writing down new word, I also have to pronounce them correctly and clearly to store the words in my memory for a long time. In my opinion, if someone wants to improve their writing skill, they have to enlarge their word power beforehand.
Moreover, to write an academic subject require not only to choose relevant or correct words but also to use clear sentence structures to help readers understand easily what I want to say. I think it shouldn’t show off one’s expertise by using very complex sentence structures because sometimes they can make readers confused due to misunderstand the content or also make authors dizzy with some their fragment errors. Applying simple sentence structures with smooth linking words and strongly supporting words is quite enough for a completely best writing which everyone find easy to understand, rather than using a lot of confusingly complex sentence structures with difficult words. The important thing is just to write straight forward and smoothly, do not try to make yourself get stuck and confuse your readers.
Basically, writing is also a factor which is resulted by your English level. Therefore, I think the best way to improve my English skill is to practice frequently with others, such as my classmates or tutors. And one more imperative tip is not to avoid talking just because of being shy with your speaking, let always remember that you are practicing to improve yourself. As a result, you will remember new word deeply and know what kind of sentence structure you should apply to a particular case.
In conclusion, writing in engineering class is not an easy task and it require you to have a strong background about what you write and be expert in using words and sentence structures. In addition , you have also to think critically or seriously about your writing scenario, such as how much your readers can understand the writing or how they will feel about it. Generally, it require writer to spend a lot of time and efforts to finish successfully done or perfect writing.

portfolio 3: How serious is our water challenge?

Lack of water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. It is not that the world does not possess enough water. Globally, water is available in abundance. It is not just located where it is needed. For example, Canada has plenty of water, far more than its people need, while the Middle East and northern Africa- to name just two of many- suffer from perpetual shortages. Moreover, in some developing countries, water supplies are contaminated not only by the people discharging toxic contaminants, but also by arsenic and other naturally occurring poisonous pollutants found in groundwater aquifers. For a healthy, sustainable future for the planet, developing methods of ensuring adequate water supplies pose engineering challenges of the first magnitude. “Overcoming the crisis in water and sanitation is one of the greatest human development challenges of the early 21th century”, a recent U.N. report warns.
From digging wells to building dams, engineers have historically been prime providers of methods for meeting the water supply and quality needs of society. It means that flows of water will be diverted from regions where it is plentiful to where it is scarce. Furthermore, it is just a short-term solution because this method generally will not be able to meet agriculture needs, and sometimes may be an explosive political issue due to the fact that diverting water to some people often means less for others.
Desalination is extracting the salt from seawater. New technologies can require low energy and costs to operate this method. One potentially useful new approach called nano-osmosis would filter out salt with the use of tiny tubes of carbon. Otherwise, other approaches will also be needed.
Recycling of wastewater and sewage treatment is also very important so that water can be used for nonpersonal uses such as irrigation or industrial purposes. In addition, economical distribution of water to rural and low-income areas is also a main issue. Some current projects are striving to produce inexpensive distillation units that can remove contaminants from any water source.
Such approaches will help to address the very real problem of inequitable distribution of water resources. Technological solutions to the world’s water problems must be implemented within systems that recognize and address these inequities.

References:
Gleick, P.H., et al. The world Water 2006-2007: Biennial Report on Freshwater resources. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from Chicago: Island Press.
Website: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/water-recycling-time-to-get-serious.html

portfolio 2

In English, there are many ways to express the mood or feeling of the speakers or writers by adding adjective or adverb in the sentence. However, to represent the mood of main verb, you can use modal verbs which modify additional information for the main verb. In other words, they help to incorporate or add the level of necessity (must = obligation, requirement, no choice); (should = recommendation); (can/could = it is possible); and (may/might = option, choice). Usage of modal verb is not so difficult, but there are some main points which you have to comprehend clearly because sometimes they may be confusing for some students.
The common error of using modal verbs is that users sometimes use modal verbs as nomal verbs. It means that they assign -s, -es ending to modal verb corresponding to the subject in the sentence, such as "he wills do it" or "she cans sing well". In these cases, readers may understand the whole meaning transmitted but it makes the composer degraded due to the ridiculous error. To avoid this kind of error, we have to remember that all modal verbs are used only as a uniform appearance with all kind of subjects. Modals appear with verbs, but are not really considered verbs because they never take -ed, -ing, or -s endings.
another common errors of using modal verbs is that some students assign -s, -es endings or infinitive verbs plus -ing ending to main verbs accompanying with modals:
"he will goes"
"she will bringing the book"
"she should writes every day"
"his son could caught a ball"
To correct these errors, we have to transform main verbs into their base form or bare infinitive without "to" before the verb.
Finally, sentences using modal verbs do not use auxiliary verbs, such as "do" or "do not", to make a negative sentence or question sentence. Because modal verbs actually are auxiliary verbs and to make question sentence with modal verb is simply to move the modal in front of the sentence, or add "not" right after modal to make a negative sentence. Remember to prevent these following faults:
"we don't will go to the party tomorrow"
"do you may help me?"
The mentioned errors above are the most common errors which can be made easily if we lacks attention with using modal verbs. It is very essential that modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb used to indicate modality and different from normal verbs.

**Exercise to practise:
1. Ted's flight from Amsterdam took more than 11 hours. He.....................be exhausted after such a long flight. He ....................prefer to stay in tonight and get some rest.
2. If you want to get a better feeling for how the city is laid out, you................walk downtown and explore the waterfront.
3. Hiking the trail to the peak ..................be dangerous if you are not well prepared for dramatic weather changes. You ...................research the route a little more before you attempt the ascent.
4. When you have a small child in the house, you ..................leave small objects lying around. Such objects .....................be swallowed, causing serious injury or even death.
5. Dave:...............you hold your breath for more than a minute? Nathan: No, I can't.
6. Jenny's engagement ring is enormous! It ..............have cost a fortune.
7. Please make sure to water my plants while I am gone. If they don't get enough water, they .............die
8. I ................speak Arabic fluently when I was a child and we lived in Egypt. But after we moved back to Canada, I had very little exposure to the language and forgot almost everything I knew as a child. Now, I ..................just say a few things in the language.
9. The book is optional. My professor said we ..............read it if we needed extra credit. But we ..................read it if we don't want to.
10. Leo: Where is the spatula? It ...................be in this drawer but it's not here.Nancy: I just did a load of dishes last night and they're still in the dish washer. It ...............be in there. That's the only other place it ...............be
11. You .................take your umbrella along with you today. The weatherman on the news said there's a storm north of here and it................rain later on this afternoon.
12. ................we pull over at the next rest stop? I really ................. use the bathroom and I don't know if I..............hold it until we get to Chicago.
13. Oh no! Frank's wallet is lying on the coffee table. He .................have left it here last night.
14. Ned:.................I borrow your lighter for a minute?Stephen: Sure, no problem. Actually, you ................keep it if you want to. I've given up smoking.
15. I ..............believe she said that to Megan! She ...........insult her cooking in front of everyone at the party last night. She ...................have just said she was full or had some salad if she didn't like the meal.
16. Do you ..............chew with your mouth open like that? Geez, it's making me sick watching you eat that piece of pizza.
17. Mrs. Scarlett's body was found in the lounge just moments ago, and it's still warm! Nobody has left the mansion this evening, so the killer..............be someone in this room. It ..............be any one of us!!!
18. Ted: I don't know why Denise starting crying when I mentioned the wedding.Pamela: It ................have been what you said about her brother. Or, perhaps she is just nervous. After all, the big day is tomorrow.
19................you always say the first thing that pops into your head? ..............you think once in awhile before you speak?
19...................you always say the first thing that pops into your head? .................you think once in awhile before you speak?
20. I was reading the book last night before I went to bed. I never took it out of this room. It .............be lying around here somewhere. Where .............it be? be swallowed, causing serious injury or even death.

answers:
1. Might, might2. Can3. Might , should4. Should not , could5. Can6. Must7. Could 8. Could , can9. Have to, do not have to10. Must, must ,could11. Should , might12. Can, have to , can13. Must14. Could, can15. Can’t , shouldn’t, should16. Have to17. Must, could18. Might19. Must, couldn’t20. Must, could

portfolio 1

According to the article 1, nowadays engineering has to counteract many intricate and formidable challenges related to the daily life and work of humans. One of them is to solve the problems of pollution. Actually, pollution problems have been prevalently threatening our world for a long time which can severely degrade the living environment unless an optimal solution is made immediately. Acid rain, smog, gradually smelting iceberg at the poles, and global warming are the performances of the polluted globe. In this regard, conserving and refining the environment are the new missions of the engineering in this century.
First of all, concerning the environment is the next step in the growth of engineering and technology. In the past, engineering only focused on the creating machines which made work easier, and then engineers upgraded their products to satisfy different needs of humans which include convenience and safety for clients but not for surrounding yet. Therefore, the evolution order will require our modern engineers to revise the engineering creatures which have not harmonized with the environment yet.
Another difficult challenge of engineering is to solve the problem involved to the energy consuming, handling with exhaust, and discovering a novel kind of energy safe to environment. The excessively arising population is becoming the main factor which increases the number of energy consumers. In fact, fossil fuel has been the most favorite and popular kind of energy that is economically feasible. The more there are oil consumers, the more air is polluted. Oneday, people can die of lack of fresh air before oil sources are used up unless there is a freshly alternative kind of energy.
Finally, I want to emphasize that the target of engineering field is not only to create new technical machines and robots but also to make the human life more safe, sustainable and healthy. Thus, creating new machines harmonizing with the environment is a big mission of engineers in the twenty first century.