Anecdote Text

Blessing behind Tragedy

There was a black family in Scotland years ago. They were Clark family with nine children. They had a dream to go to America. The family worked and saved. They were making plan to travel with their children to America. It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money. They had gotten passport. They had booked seats for the whole family member in a new liner to America.

The entire family was full of anticipation and excitement with their new life in America. However few days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy. Because of the possibility of getting rabies, there were being quarantined for long days. They were in quarantine when the departure time came. The family dreams were dashed. They could not make the trip to America as they had planned.

The father was full of disappointed and anger. He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family. He shed tears of disappointment. He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune.

Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland. The ship, the mighty Titanic, had shank. It took hundreds of passenger and crew with it. Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk. It was unbelievable but it was.

The Clark family should have been on that ship, but because of the bitten son by a dog, they were left behind. When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives. It was a blessing behind a tragedy. (Adapted from Look Ahead 2)

From Bankrupt Candle to Best Seller Soap

In 1879, William Procter and James Gamble's best seller was candles. They had begun business together in Cincinnati. While they were in peak of popularity, the candle company was in trouble as Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb. It looked as if their candle product would become obsolete. People would like to use light bulb and would not use candle anymore.

The fears became reality when the market for candles plummeted since the candle product was now sold only for special occasions. The outlook of Candle Company appeared to be bleak and depressing for Procter and Gamble. The situation was more miserable. Several months later the accident occurred. Without thinking one of the employee left to go to lunch and forgot to turn off the machine. Since the machinery was left in operation, air would work its way into the mixture.

However after discussing with his supervisor, the employee decided not to discard the mixture. Instead, he poured the mixture into frames and the soap hardened. Thus, the floating soap was born. Harley Procter decided to give the soap a name that people could remember. Then the soap was named IVORY. This ivory soap became the mainstay of the Procter and Gamble Company.

Amazingly, Procter and Gamble began to receive letters from buyers of this "accidental" soap. They wanted more of the soap that floats. Ivory soap was introduced to the marketplace. Even though this interesting formula was one of their best products, they were perplexed as to how this happened. The mysterious formula for the floating soap was resolved when the lunchtime accident was revealed.

Note: this example of anecdote text is arranged from liraz.com and essortment.com. Anecdote text is similar to narrative and also spoof and recount. What make different is the generic structure. Anecdote text is not only a matter of funny story like we often hear. Anecdote text, in term of text type is an inspirational story, a story which a bring a CODA which is included in the end of the text

Exercise

The modern world faces many major problems to which there are no easy solutions. These include unemployment, health, over-population and of course the environment. All have a bearing on all our lives, but is the environment really the most important?

If people are unemployed, they are unable to earn money and it is a fact of life that without an income it is difficult to live. Of course, work provides more than financial support; it gives people self-esteem and pride.

Unfortunately, technological develop-ments and other factors mean that the job market is shrinking world-wide and young people have reduced prospect s for work. Although this is certainly a major threat to people’s well-being, it needs to be addressed by individual governments rather than globally.

   Health is clearly an important concern that affects both individuals and the planet as a whole, Even though many illnesses have been eradicated, others remain a threat, and the overuse of antibiotics has led to the development of resistant strain of bacteria. Nevertheless, on the whole, general health is improving, and in the developing countries medical aid programs are already working towards creating a healthier population.

   Over-population has implications for all of us, and improved general health means that people are living longer. However, as with health, there are already programs in place implementing measures to deal with not only a rising population, but also an ageing population.

   So what about the environment?  There are urgent issues that need to be faced, including global warming, pollution and the loss of species. Unlike the other issues discussed, there is no clear global move a direct impact on the whole planet. Climate change and destruction of ecosystems could endanger all life on the planet if not dealt with quickly and at an international level.

In conclusion, other problems primarily affect only the quality of life, whereas environmental issues affect the actual existence of life itself. It is clear, therefore, that protecting the environment is the most important problem facing the world today.

1.      According to the text, the most complicated global problems to solve include the following, except …..

A.    the increase in the rate of unemployed people

B.     population explosion due to general health improvement

C.     the bad condition of medical care and services

D.    the threat of advanced technological developments

2.      The world’s job market is shrinking because of ……

A.    young people’s reduced prospects for work

B.     various developments in technology

C.     the lack of people who qualify for the available jobs

D.    people’s exaggerated self-esteem and pride

3.      In spite of the improved general health, a threat form illnesses still exists due to ….

A.    the use of too much antibiotics which makes bacteria resistant

B.     the fact that the number of ageing people is increasing

C.     the focus on the eradication of only major diseases

D.    the concern that health affects both individuals and the planet  

4.      Which of the following statements is true about environmental problems?

A.    They are problems related to the quality of life.

B.     They include unemployment, health and over-population.

C.     They should be solved by individual governments.

D.    They need to be overcome by the cooperation of all nations.

5.      The underlined phrase in ‘All have a bearing on our lives ……’ in line 2 means ….

A.    might endanger

B.     have an impact

C.     have difficulty

D.    cause trouble   

Text II

There are two types of monochromatic or black-and- white photos. One type is a gray-scale photograph, which is truly black and white. In a gray-scale photo, all you see is black, white, and shades of gray. Gray-scale photos tend to have a stark, cold look to them. The other type is sepia. Sepia photographs use shades of brown in place of shades of gray. Photographers started using the sepia process to give their photos warmer tones.

Some people think that sepia photographers are just gray-scale photos that have “aged”, that have changed color over the years, but this isn’t true. Sepia photos use silver sulphide in the developing process in place of silver iodide and can last 150 years with proper storage…………………

6.      With which of the following sentences should the paragraph end?

A.    Thus, only those who know about photographs will develop their photos in sepia.

B.     Hence, sepia and gray-scale look different because of different colors used in shades.

C.     This can be very valuable for the art photographic work to be displayed in galleries.

D.    Therefore, most old photographs you see use shades of brown because they use sepia.

7.      What is the topic of the paragraph?

A.    The use of gray-scale in photography

B.     Two types of monochromatic photos

C.     The advantages of gray-scale over sepia

D.    The history of photography

Text III

…………………………………………………..

(1) As many foods contain large amounts of water, they freeze solidly at or just below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. (2) When we lower the temperature to well below the freezing point and prevent air from penetrating the food, we retard the natural process of decay that causes food to spoil. (3) Freezing preserves the flavor and nutrients of food better than any other preservatives method. (4) The discovery of freezing has changed our eating habits more than any other related invention. (5) When properly prepared and packed, foods and vegetables can be stored in the freezer for one year. (6) Most vegetables and some fruits need blanching-putting in boiling water for a short time-before they are frozen, and to avoid this step would be an expensive mistake. (7) The result would be a product completely lacking of vitamins and minerals.

8.      The sentence which is irrelevant to the topic is sentence number ….

A.    3                      C. 6

B.     4                      D. 7

9.      What is the paragraph following the above text most probably about?

A.    Different kinds of vegetables and different time of blanching.

B.     The result of blanching different vegetables.

C.     The process of blanching and its effects.

D.    The vitamins and minerals in different vegetables.

Text IV

The human memory was formerly believed to be rather inefficient of compared with, for example, computers. But we are finding that we probably have a much more sophisticated mechanism than we had ….. (10) assumed. Researchers …. (11) the problem from a variety of points of views have all conclude that there is a great deal more stored in our minds than …. (12) generally assumed. Dr. Wilder Penfield, a Canadian neurosurgeon proofed that by stimulating their brains electrically, he ….. (13) elicit the total recall of complex events in his subject ‘lives’. Events dreams and other minor events supposedly forgotten for many years suddenly …. (14) in detail. The memory trace, which forms the internal representation of the specific information about an event stored in the memory, is probably made by structural changes in the brain, …. (15) the problem is that the memory trace isn’t really subject to direct …. (16) because it’s more a theoretical construct that we use …..(17) about how information presented at a particular time can cause performance at a later time.

10.  A. rarely               C. practically

B. originally        D. considerably

11.  A. thinking                      C. comparing

B. realizing                      D. approaching

12.  A. was being                   C. will be

B. is                                  D. is being

13.  A. would rather              C. should have

B. used to                        D. was able to

14.  A. are emerging              C. emerged               

B. were emerging           D. had emerged

15.  A. therefore                     C. hence

B. moreover                    D. but

16.  A. observe                       C. observation

B. observed                     D. observably

17.  A. speculating                C. speculated

B. to speculate                D. to be speculating

18.  ‘Do you teach all the tourists how to do batik painting?’

‘No, only those …. In batik’

A.    interest

B.     interested

C.     interesting

D.    to be interesting

19.  As I found out that not all the workshop participants knew about today’s schedule, I got my secretary …. It right away.

A.    distributing

B.     distributed

C.     she distributes

D.    to distribute

20.  ‘What is she worrying about this time?’

‘ ….from her son after the car accident.’

A.    Not to hear

B.     Having heard

C.     She hasn’t heard

D.    Not having heard

21.  ‘I heard that Lola’s marriage has been arranged by her family.’

‘Really? So she is marrying a man …. She hardly knows.’

A.    whom             C. that is

B.     to whom        D. which

22.  ‘Where are the song lyrics we’re going to give to the members of the coir?’

‘Oh, they ……..’

A.    are copying

B.     are being copied

C.     to copy

D.    to be copied

23.  Tari was punished by the teacher not only because she forgot to bring her book …..

A.    and she didn’t do her homework

B.     but she don’t do her homework either

C.     but also she didn’t her homework

D.    as well as she don’t do her homework

24.  ….the last lunar mission took place over thirty years ago, the desire to see people return to them one seems as strong now as in the 1960s

A.    when

B.     Since

C.     Although

D.    Before

25.  ‘I would have applied for the scholarship if I had seen the announcement earlier.’

‘ …..’

A.    Perhaps you can try next year.

B.     Let me help you complete the forms.

C.     Which university did you apply to?

D.    That’s a good idea. I’m sure you will get it.