Intermediate English Writing

1. Intermediate English Writing Week Two

2. Tell your story to the whole class • You have written your first article of this course, with the topic “unexpected money”. • Now let’s see another aspect of your writing capacity – oral reproduction. Please close your exercise book first and try to recollect what you have written within three minutes. • Then please speak about your composition to your classmates.

3. Student works of the previous years

4. Money from Sky (in-class fast writing) Grade 01 Li Wendi (李文娣) One day, I was lying under a big tree alone. Wind blows, with leaves dancing. Not long, a leaf happened to touch my face gently. I intended to pick it up and throw it. Surprise! Money was what I hold! I hurried up and found pieces of money dancing like thousands of butterflies. No one is happier than me. I got a large sum of money. Then, I began to think what I could do with the money. The first idea slipped into my mind is to buy as many books as I could. This was what I longed to from long long ago. Then I could enjoy myself by reading books every day. In my opinion, books are the biggest property. Reading book is what I prefer in my life. “Hey, what are you doing? Get up, girl!” A sound woke me up. I opened my eyes, and found myself lying under the tree. Leaves still danced. What a dream! (finished within 15 minutes)

5. My dream will come trueGrade 04 Chen Ting (陈婷) • It was already 10 o’clock in the evening. My parents went to bed as usual. Sitting in front of the TV, I was waiting for the big football match to begin, nervously and excitedly. Frankly, the match itself was not so attractive to me. What I had been waiting to see was only one of those players – Ricardo Kaka, nicknamed Richy, a 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder of one of the greatest football clubs in the world – AC Milan. Richy is the superstar whom I am crazy about.

6. I talked to my best friend Margaret about Kaka’s marvelous performance at school next night. I told her how much I wanted to be his girlfriend. I’m a girl who always has this kind of dream. Finally, she stopped me and said, “Why don’t you write a fairy tale about your dream? It sounds like fun and you can use his name and yours to name the prince and princess.”“What a wonderful idea!” I cheered. In this way I can create a fantastic world of my own. Since he both lives in and plays for Milan, I decided the title of my fairytale would be Prince Milano.

7. So I started writing my fairy tale at once. “Once upon a time, there was a kingdom far, far away…” It began like this. Then I couldn’t help thinking of the story all the time. I tried very hard to make the story romantic and interesting, which was very demanding. I had a hard time because the pressure of exams and assignments spared me little time and energy. But creating the fairy tale of my own was the sweetest and most unforgettable experience I had ever had. Three months later, I finished it finally.

8. My friends, who appreciated the story very much became my first readers. I knew that I would never have finished Prince Milano without their continuous encouragement. They took my story home to read it. One day, my friend Cathy came and gave me a surprise. She said her mother, who was the editor of one of the most popular magazines among teenagers –– Sixteen, liked my story very much. She asked if I would like to publish my fairy tale. I was astonished by the news and couldn’t believe my ears. She shouted, “You are going to be famous!”

9. A week later, Cathy told me excitedly that in many bookstores, Sixteen has been sold out rapidly. Hundreds of readers wrote to her mother’s company to say how much they like Prince Milano. The magazine earned a fortune because of my masterpiece.

10. Fame brought me money as well as happiness. When I got my pay check, which was something I had almost forgotten, I was completely stunned by the figure written on it. “God! My novel really brings me a fortune!” I cried in my heart. Then I handed the check to my mother. With eyes goggling, she didn’t speak for a few minutes. But unexpectedly, she allowed me to do anything I wanted with this unexpected money, since it was earned by me. “Really? You mean I can spend it as I like?” She grinned, “I know what you are going to do with it. And nobody can stop you.” I jumped to my feet and hugged her. “You are the greatest mother a girl can have!” She was right. Actually, I had made the decision the moment I saw that check, “I’m going to Milan! I’m going to see Richy and the Italian football matches! What a wonderful moment! My dream will come true!”

11. Strapped in my seat as the plane to Milan is taking off, I straighten up and look out of the plane window at the dark clouds hanging over the city, thinking what I’ve got so far. A few months ago, Richy and Milan seemed to be at the other side of the world and unreachable for me. But with my impulsive decision to write a fairy tale to entertain myself, I’ve got the chance to go to Milan to visit my hero!

12. Input Reading An authentic article Written by an American

13. A new toy I was eight years old when our neighbours across the hall got a television. It was very small and very expensive, but that didn’t matter. It was wonderful. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. Some people, the lucky ones, stayed for a while and got to watch a whole program. That was in 1948. Soon a lot of people got new television, but not us. My parents didn’t like television. They didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good, docile son, I didn’t argue with them. But I did secretly watch television --- at my friends’ homes.

14. By 1955, television weren’t so expensive and they were much larger. My parents still thought television wasn’t good for us, but my sisters insisted. They said we were the only people in the neighbourhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but my sisters couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, and my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy.

15. One day, my youngest sister came from school and started to cry. She said she was never going back to school and that life without a television wasn’t worth living. She cried and sobbed. My parents’ usual arguments only made her more inconsolable. Nothing they said made her feel any better. Well, what could they do? The next morning, without telling us, my parents went out and got a new TV. That afternoon an antenna was put on the roof. Suzanne came home from school and ran into the house.

16. “Where is it? Where is it?” she cried. “I knew it’s here.” She was breathless, and her eyes were shiny with excitement. “It’s in the living room,” my mother said as my sister ran off to look at, to admire, this beautiful thing called a television. Later, I asked her, “How did you know the TV was here?” “The antenna. Now our house looks like everyone else’s.” She has a wonderful smile on her face.

17. When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV two hours a night. Oh, yes. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives, like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, they said. And we were not going to read books because watching TV was easier, they said. And TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said. They said lots of things like that --- once a day at least. I disagreed with them. I thought they were old-fashioned, thinking too much of old ways and ideas.

18. Today, people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV. It has an enormous, a very powerful, influence on our lives. On the average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.

19. Recently, I read an article in the newspaper about the people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers off the coast of Maine. These people don’t have electricity, and they decided, once again, that they liked it that way. Only a handful of people live there during the long winter, and they live without electricity --- by choice. Electricity, they think, would make things too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying home and watching television.

20. Suggested writing task: Write a composition of at least 300 words to describe your own experiences of the change in your life due to the advent of a household appliance — maybe also a TV, or a computer, or something else. Try to imitate the style of the article we have just read and use the newly learned words and phrases.

21. Student works of the previous years

22. My walkman and IGrade 01 Zang Xujia (臧旭佳) My walkman is one of my best friends. It has been with me for three years. It’s black, about 10.5 centimeters long, 7.5 centimeters wide and 2 centimeters thick. I was attracted by it at the first sight. But the price was too high for me—500 yuan. So I stopped buying snacks and worthless magazines. When I had got enough money, I went straight to the department store and bought it. With it in my bag, I went home happily, jumping and singing all the way. I even could see it smiling at me in a friendly fashion and hear it say, “I’ll try my best to help you, my friend.” Since then I developed a habit of saving money to buy something that was really worthwhile.

23. With its help, I could listen to the tape as well as broadcasting from cities in China and abroad. It took me nearly half an hour to school. “I can listen in to BBC news on the way to school.” I thought. “It’s a good way to improve my English listening.” But to say is one thing, to do is another. At first I could only catch very simple sentences, like “Good morning” and “Have a good night”. I was tired of hearing those and thought it was too hard for me to improve my listening in English. One day, I felt bored and was just about to throw my walkman into the drawer, when its angry face jumped into my eyes. It seemed to be saying, “I really want to help you. But why are you so impatient? Learning needs willpower!” My face turned red. It’s a shame to waste such a chance. After that I kept listening every morning and made rapid progress. Even now I am still in the habit of listening to the English broadcast. My walkman has showed me that if one works with perseverance, he will succeed.

24. Not only did it help me with my studies, but it also put me in good mood. Once I had a quarrel with my father. Afterwards I regretted, but did not know how to break the silence between us. Suddenly I thought up a good idea. I wrote a letter to a radio station, telling the DJ that I wanted to select a special song for my father and say sorry to him. Three days later, I turned on my walkman, intentionally. Without doubt, my father heard it. First, he was surprised and raised his head from newspaper. Then he went on reading, with a broad smile on his face. That evening, we had an unforgettably delicious dinner together. In the next three days, humming of that song was often heard in the kitchen. “Thank you, my friend.” I touched my walkman gently. It winked and said, “You are welcome.” Every day it plays music for me, informs me the weather report, tells me the time, and brightens up my day with little jokes and old sayings. It makes me realize the truth of the proverb “A friend in need is a friend indeed”.

25. Like man, my walkman sometimes falls ill. One day my cousin dropped it on the floor and broke it. I couldn’t hear any sound from it. “It must be very painful and needs some treatment.” I took it to a repairman. “Maybe it’s beyond repair,” the man said, “but I will try my best.” I got a bit of shock when I heard it. Thinking that maybe I would lose a good friend, I walked home with heavy feet, very unhappy. Fortunately, it was saved. Everything returned to normal after crisis. How happy I was! Even now, I still use it. Although it is out of fashion, and not as beautiful as it used to be, I still regard it as my best friend, my treasure.

26. Now your turn, To shine yourself!