Bees

    Bees are useful insects. There are about 20,000 kinds of bees, but only honeybees make honey.

     Honeybees live in  groups called colonies. Each colony has one female queen bee, tens  of thousands  of worker bees,  and a few hundred males, or drones. Honeybees   live in hives. Inside their hive,   the bees make a honeycomb of  wax. The honeycomb   is a kind of bee apartment building,  full of six-sided   rooms  in which  the bees raise young   and store food.

     The queen bee lays thousands of eggs. Worm like larvae  hatch from the eggs. Each larva becomes a pupa,   which looks partly like a larva and partly like an adult bee. The pupa then becomes  an adult bee.  Worker bees feed the young,   clean and guard the hive;  and fly to and from  flowers.  They collect tiny grains of pollen  and a sweet liquid  called nectar for food. The pollen is food for young   bees. Worker bees use the nectar to make honey.  With­ out bees bringing pollen from flower to  flower, many plants could not make seeds.

    Queen bees and  worker bees  have stings. Workers   use their  stings  to  defend themselves and their hive.   A queen    uses their stings to kill other  queens.

    Most other kinds   of bees live alone instead of in  a colony. These bees make  tunnels in wood or in the ground. The queen makes  her own nest.

     People 'admire bees  for their  busy ways. People called beekeepers  keep bees for honey and  for the beeswax the bees use to build their honeycombs.

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Electricity

    Electricity is one of the basic forms of energy. Electricity is associated with electric charge, a property ofcertain elementary particles such as electrons and protons; two of the basic particles that make up the atoms of all ordinary matter. Electric charges can be stationary as in static electricity, or moving as in an electric current.

    Electrical activity takes place constantly everywhere in the universe. 'Electrical forces hold molecules together. The nervous systems of animals work by means of weak electric signals transmitted between neurons (nerve celis). Electricity is generated, transmitted, and converted into heat, light, motion, and other forms of Energy through natural processes, as well as by devices built by people.

     Electricity is an extremely versatile form of energy. It can be generated in many' ways and from many different sources, it can be sent almost instaneously over long distances. Electricity can also be converted efficiently in to other forms of energy, and it can be stored. Because of this versatility, electricity plays a part in nearly every aspect of modern technology. Electricity provides light, heat, and mechanical power. It makes telephones, computers, televisions, and countless other necessities and luxuries possible.

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Agricultural Machinery

     Agricultural machinery devices are used to till soil and to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops. Since ancient times, when first culture began cultivating plants, people have used tools to help them grow and harvest crops. They used pointed tools to dig and keep soil loosened, and sharp knife like objects to harvest ripened crops. Modifications of these early implements led to the development of small hand tools that are still used in small-stale gardening, such as the spade, hoe, rake, trowel, and scythe, and larger implements, such as plows and larger rakes that are drawn by humans; animals, or simple machines. Much of the world's arable land is still tilled under conditions that do not permit use of expensive modern machinery. However, modern machinery is used extensively in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and Australia.

     Modern large agricultural implements, adapted to large-scale farming methods, are usually powered by diesel - or gasoline - fueled internal-combustion engines. The most important implement of modern agriculture is the tractor . It provides locomotion for many other implements and tan furnish power, via its power shaft, for the operation of machines drawn behind the tractor. The power shafts of tractors can also be set up to drive belts that operate equipment such as feed grinders, pumps, and electric-power generators. Small implements, such as portable irrigators, are often powered by individual motors.

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The Zoo Job (Funny Story)

     One day a clown 'was visiting the zoo and attempted to earn some money by making a street performance. He acted and mimed perfectly some animal acts. As soon as he started to drive a crowd, a zoo keeper grabbed him and dragged him into his office.

      The zoo keeper explained to the clown that the ZOOIS most popular gorilla had died suddenly and the keeper was fear that attendance at the zoo would fall off. So he offered the clown a job to dress up as the gorilla until the zoo could get another one. The clown accepted this great opportunity. So the next morning the clown put on the gorilla suit and entered the case before the crowd came. He felt that it was a great job: He could sleep all he wanted, played and made fun of people and he drove bigger crowds than he ever did asi a clown.

    He pretended to be the gorilla successfully. However, eventually the crowds were tired of him for just swinging on tires, He began to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the next cage. Not wanting to lose the attention of the audience, he decided to make a spectacular performance. He climbed to the top of his cage, crawled across a partition, and dangled from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this made the lion furious, but the crowd people loved it. At the end of the day the zoo keeper came and gave him a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this went on' for Some time, he kept taunting the lion, the audience crowd grew a larger, and his salary kept going up. Then one terrible day happened. When he was dangling over the furious lion, he slipped and fell into the lion cage. The clown was really in big terrible situation. He was terrified.

    Sooner the lion gathered itself and prepared to pounce. The clown was so scared. He could do nothing and he began to run round and round the cage with the lion close and closer behind. Finally, the lion could catch him. The clown started .screaming and yielding, "Help me, help me!”, but the lion was quick and pounces. The clown soon found himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and suddenly he heard a voice from the lion's mouth, "Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?"

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SOCCER

     The title above might be unfamiliar to you, but if I change it into football, you will know what is meant. It is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is a game played by two teams, each of which consists of eleven players. It is played outdoor on a football pitch. A football match is lead by a referee who is helped by two linesmen.

        Traditionally a team consists of a keeper, the last player who defends the goal and, prevents the opponent from scoring goals, two backs in front of the keeper, three centers in the middle of the field, and five forwards who are responsible for scoring goals in the frontest positton, Among those players only the keeper is allowed to keep the ball with his hands during the game, If the' ball is out of position. either on the left or right side, one of them accept the keeper must throw the ball into the field.

      There are some strict regulation that should be followed by the players. They are neither allowed to hit the opponent purposely nor do rude actions. An example of rude actions is an irresponsible sliding tackle. It happens when a player tries to prevent his opponent from moving further rudely . The referee will never tolerate the rude action and he will punish his team by giving a free kick to the opponent. If it is considered serious, besides a free kick for the opponent, the player will get a yellow card, or even a red card. The latter means that the player must leave the field Without being replaced. Another regulation is that fighting is prohibited, let alone hitting the referee.

     Every nation always tries to have the best team in the world and this must be proved in the World Cup event which is held once in four years. Brazil with its outstanding player, Pele, is the first country which has won and brought home the supreme World Cup three times. Other countries which also have good football teams are England, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, Uruguay, and still many others.

    Football is usually played by men. Nowadays, however, there are many woman-football teams in the world. Football is also played by the blinds. People put some small bells inside the ball so that the players can hear and identify where the ball is. Some people say that it is not humane since the spectators are. amused and laugh at the, blind players movements. They propose that such a kind of game is banned forever.

     Have you ever heard about 'elephant football'? It has two meanings. Literally, it means a football game played by well trained elephants and figuratively, it is a football game where a strong team gives a big score to its opponent to help it join the next competition.

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Our Newspapers

Nowadays, there is a great number of newspapers published in our country. Almost in each province, we have one or more newspapers published daily.

There are two types of newspapers: national and regional newspapers. National newspapers report the news based on what happens in entire country, Regional newspapers report the news from the province or a certain city or town. But, both types of newspapers describe what happens in the country and in other countries.

The arrangement of the newspaper usually consists of headlines, editorials, articles, classified ads, sports, and lighter sides. The headlines are usually. important plecesof news of the day. The editorial expresses the newspaper's opinion on a certain issue. The articles can be in various forms: economy and business development, religion, law, crime, and any other aspects of people's affairs. The classified ads contains various announcements and advertisements for job vacancies, services, offers, bargains, sales and other odd needs. The sport page informs the reader.of various news and events on sports, names of athletes and their achievements, and others. The lighter side usually contains fun items such as puzzles, crossword pieces, jokes, anecdotes, and so on.

Whatever form and type newspaper takes, it must prepare and present the news as interestingly as possible. We have the belief that the newspaper must inform our people about our development programmes. Although there are many kinds of newspapers, all of them are important for us. They help us keep up with what is happening around us.

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MAGAZINES

     There are magazines for the general reader as well as for the reader with a special interest. A news magazine gives articles on current events. A digest is a magazine that contains shortened articles from other magazines. Then there are magazines that give the news in pictures rather than in articles. A reader whose special is music may subscribe to a music magazine. It contains articles on music and gives comments on recent musical events. Women may subscribe to a magazine that is specially published for them, which usually contains articles on dressmaking, cooking, flower arranging. and the like., Children, of course. like to read entertaining material. Like newspapers. magazines can be, bought at the newsstand or the bookstore. Readers may also have them delivered to their homes.

     Articles are writings that based on facts. If one wants to write an article of Jakarta, for example, he will need to gather facts about it. One can write that Jakarta is the twelfth largest city in the world only if he has the facts. Fiction, on the other hand, is the product of the writer's imagination. A fiction can make the reader feel happy, sad or angry just because, it often Seems very real to him. Comics are drawings that are usually interesting children and even adults like to read them.

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Cigarettes, Smokers, and Smoking

     Smoking is bad habit that is very hard to break. Smokers are very everywhere. Many people smoke just to socialized, but many others are too addicted to quit.

     A cigarette is like a toxin hypermarket. You can find many kinds toxin in it : acetone, carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and toluene. The tar itself contains more than 43 substances that can caused cancer. Scientist say that when we are smoking, we put more than 4.000 kinds of toxic materials into our body.

      However, many smokers believe that cigarette with low tar is less dangerous. And so is a filtered cigarette. But the problem is one cigarette is never enough for addicted smokers.

      Another myth about smoking is that it can not only make them awake, but also raise their inspiration. This is contrary to the findings of a research in California which show that smoker's ability to think lower than that of non-smokers.

       Smoking is indeed a serious social problem in our country. The government keeps reminding that smoking is dangerous, not only for smokers themselves, but also for other people in the surrounding (passive smoker). But we warning do no seem to get any response.

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Ki Semar and Slamet Mountain (Folklore from Central java)

    A long time ago, Slamet Mountain was very high. It was so high that it could reach the sky. People heard that they could take the stars if they were on top of the mountain. But no one dared to go there.

     The people were afraid that the Gods in heaven would be angry if people took the stars. However, the beauty of the stars made some monkeys dared to go to the top of the mountain. Led by their king, they went there and took some stars. Then, the sky became dark at night. People were sad and the Gods were angry!.

       Batara Guru was the leader of the Gods. He held a meeting. He invited Batara Narada, Batara Brama, Batara Bayu, and others. Batara Narada had an idea how to stop the monkeys. They would ask Ki Semar to help them. Ki Semar was actually one of the Gods. He was even older than Batara Guru. But Ki Semar did not live in heaven. He lived on earth with his children, Gareng, Petruk and Bagong.

       Ki Semar had a great supernatural power. He could cut the top of the mountain easily. But first, he wanted to give a lesson to the naughty monkeys. They had to be punished for stealing the stars. He then set a plan with his children to trap the monkeys, Gareng went to the top of the mountain. He had to attract the monkeys to go down by giving them some bananas. It worked! The monkeys followed Gareng.

    After the monkeys left the top of the mountain, Ki Semar immediately cut the top of the mountain. He threw the biggest part to Cirebon. It became Ceremai Mountain and the small parts became small mountains, like Clirit Mountain, Tapak Mountain, and others.

     After the monkeys left the mountain and followed Gareng, Petruk was ready
with some hot water. He planned to pour the hot water over the monkeys. He waited and waited but the monkeys never came to him. He did not know that while the monkeys chased Gareng, they met a giant dragon. The monkeys had a fight with the dragon. It was so terrible that both the monkeys and the dragon finally died.

     Being tired waiting for the monkeys, Petruk left the place. He did not bring his hot water and left it there. People then named the place where Petruk left his hot water as Guci. It is about 50 kilometers from Tegal, Central Java. It is famous for its hot water.

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Miser's Final Wish

     There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife."

    So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.

     Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the. ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close. the casket, the wife said, "Wait just a minute!" she had a shoe box with her; she came over with the box and placed it in the casket.

     Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away. Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."

     She said, "Yes, I promised. I'm a good person, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him."

      "You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"
"I sure did," said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account
and I wrote him a check."

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The Olympic Games

     There are various international sports events. Among these events are the Olympic Games. They are the biggest sports event in the world. They are held every four years. Many countries participate in these events. People like to watch them because they want to see the achievements of international athletes.

     The first Olympic Games were held in Greece. Running was the only event in these games. They were not very glorious because besides there only being one event, the athletes participating were all men. The winner in these games did not get a medal or money from their country like today. They only got a crown of leaves.

      The Olympic Games are held in a different country each time. The host country always prepares for the events. It will build a large stadium, some sports halls and a new swimming pool. It also builds hotels for the many visitors and athletes from foreign countries. For efficient transportation, it might build wide new roads and a new railway system.

      For the opening of the Olympic Games, the host country holds a special ceremony. It is I the lighting of the Olympic Flame. The Olympic flame is brought from Greece by runners carry it all the way to the host country. There are also some special shows, such as fireworks, feasts, dances and air shows. The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has become an interesting show nowadays.

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Work and Careers

    Sometimes we say that someone we know is "a square peg in a round hole." This simply means that the person we are talking about is not suited for the job he is doing. He may be a bookkeeper who really wants to be an actor or mechanic who likes cooking. Unfortunately many people in the world are "square peg." They are not doing, for one reason or another. As a result they probably are not doing a very good job and certainly they are not happy.

    Choosing the right career is very important. Most of us spend a great part of our life at our jobs. For that reason we should try to find out our talents and how we can use them. We can do this through aptitude tests, interviews with specialists, and study book in our fields or interests.

    There are many careers opened to each of us. Perhaps we like science. Then we might prepare ourselves to be hemists, physicists, or biologists. Maybe our interest take us into the business, world and such work as accounting, personal management or public relations. Many persons find their places in the government service. Teaching, newspaper work, medicine, engineering. and many other fields offer festinating careers to person with talent and training.

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Land Transportation

     Transportation is carrying something or someone from one place to another. It plays an important role in people's mobility. Going to school, the office, business or other activities needs good transportation. If they cannot reach a place on time, they will have many problems.

      There are many kinds of transportation. One of them is land transportation. We can use animals (horse), carts, pedicabs or bicycles to go somewhere. These are called traditional transportation. We use these if the distance is not very far. If the place we want to reach is far, we can use modern transportation like motorcycles, cars, buses, trains, etc.

      People usually like to go by their own vehicle. It will be easier to go by their own motorcycles or cars, because not all places can be reached by public transportation.

     If the place is easy to reach or it is very far, it is better we use public transportation. Mini bus or city bus will take us to most places in a city. It is cheap and easy to use. However, if we want to go intercity, we should take a bus or train. Some people like the bus because they feel that bus is easy to catch and we can get off near our destination. Others like trains because it is comfortable and economical.

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