recording assignment

Click me to listen to our recording (made by S'uzanne"no.20" and Vivi"no.18")

Text:

BANGALORE, India (AP) -- A two-year-old Indian girl born with four arms and four legs regained consciousness Friday, wiggled her toes and smiled at her parents, 48 hours after massive surgery removed the extra limbs, doctors said.
Lakshmi, who has been revered by some in her village as a reincarnation of the four-armed Hindu goddess she was named for, was still in intensive care.
Doctors took her off a respirator later Friday but were still monitoring her closely during the critical 72-hour period following the operation. She was allowed to spend some time with her parents and seemed a bit confused by her ordeal, chief surgeon Sharan Patil said.
"Lakshmi appeared very perplexed and kept staring at her legs, wondering where the rest of her body had disappeared," he said.
But she was "doing well" as doctors slowly stopped sedating her, said Dr. Mamatha Patil, Sparsh Hospital spokeswoman.
"She had smiled at us and moved her limbs," Patil said. Besides her toes, the girl also moved her arms, Patil said
Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.
On Wednesday, a team of more than 30 surgeons concluded the 24-hour operation, removing the extra limbs, transplanting a kidney from the twin and reconstructing Lakshmi's pelvic area.
Doctors said the complicated surgery was a great success, meaning she would not need further major reconstructive surgery. However, Lakshmi will need further treatments and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk.
"We have seen many miracles and hope this one will happen soon," said Sharan Patil. "We are not really out of the woods. We still have to wait and watch."
Children born with deformities in deeply traditional rural parts of India such as the remote village in the northern state of Bihar that Lakshmi hails from are often viewed as reincarnated gods. But some had sought to make money from Lakshmi. Her parents kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl, they said.
Her parents said they were starting to believe she would have a normal life.
"They say she is going to be back to normal, I believe them," said her father Shambhu, who goes by one name. "I have just these doctors to thank for this miracle. It is a debt I could never repay."

News summary4:msn discussion

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-29-night-shift-cancer_N.htm
Wendy 說:
Our topic is...
Vivi 說:
Night-shift work linked to cancer
Cindy 說:
Yep.
S'uzanne 說:
Yeah, that's a really new research.
Vivi 說:
We just knew that burning the nigh oil hurts our liver.
S'uzanne 說:
Let's start from the first paragraph
Cindy 說:
Ok.
Cindy 說:
and it also causes other problems, such as the breast cancer.
Wendy 說:
But it's easy for university students to do that.
Vivi 說:
We often sleep late to do meaningless things.
Wendy 說:
Yes. That' s what I mean.
Vivi 說:
For example, chating online with friends.
S'uzanne 說:
And watch movies at night
Cindy 說:
As time goes by, our health situations may get worse.
Vivi 說:
Yes, but the workers do not have choices.
S'uzanne 說:
They have to support their families by working.
Wendy 說:
What is the reason to make a person to find a night-shift job?
S'uzanne 說:
Maybe they have to do another job at day.
S'uzanne 說:
Most people who work at night is people with low social status.
Wendy 說:
Oh, but it gets them higher opportunities to get cancer.
Cindy 說:
Right. And the WHO will add overnight shift work as a probable reason of cancer.
Vivi 說:
But those experts do not think Night-shift work is the only reason for cancer, right?
S'uzanne 說:
I think you are right.However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body's biological clock.
Vivi 說:
Yeah, the constant work and rest is important.
Cindy 說:
Yes. The body produces hormone melatonin at night , which can suppress tumor development. So rest is improtant.
Wendy 說:
I think it is also vital to take a body examination.
Wendy 說:
If we have the cancer tumor in our body, we can take the therapy ealier.
Cindy 說:
But people have little time to go to the hospital and have a check.
Cindy 說:
You know, they just think that they have lots of work to do.
Vivi 說:
Yes, the basic measure we should take is going to bed early.
S'uzanne 說:
We should try to reach this goal as well.
S'uzanne 說:
Because not getting enough sleep makes your immune system vulnerable to attack, and less able to fight off potentially cancerous cells.
Wendy 說:
As the matter of fact, we seldom take seriously about this thing.
Wendy 說:
University students spend too much time on chatting and going out with friends at night.
S'uzanne 說:
Researcher advises workers to sleep in a darkened room once they get off work. "The balance between light and dark is very important for your body. Just get a dark night's sleep."
Cindy 說:
That's a good idea. it's said that work in the artifical light can cut down the cancer rate.
Vivi 說:
I think that the boss of companies should care about employee's bodies.
Cindy 說:
Of course.
Wendy 說:
You mean they should let their employees take turn doing the night-shift work
S'uzanne 說:
That might be a good idea to be carried out.
Vivi 說:
No, the article said "If you worked at night and stayed on it, that would be less disruptive than constantly changing shifts."
Cindy 說:
Uh, the worse situation is flipping between night and daytime shifts.
Vivi 說:
We tend to misunderstand this concept.
Wendy 說:
But how can these people, who take the night-shift work, decrease the possibilities to get cancer?
Wendy 說:
Especially liver cancer.
S'uzanne 說:
Scientist are trying to invent a kind of light that doesn't do people harm.
S'uzanne 說:
Maybe that's the way.
Vivi 說:
But the current result is not satisfied by pepole.
Vivi 說:
Due to the red light.
S'uzanne 說:
The color that seems to have the least effect on melatonin is one that few people would enjoy working under: red.
S'uzanne 說:
That the quote from the article
Wendy 說:
If i am the worker, i won't enjoy doing things under the light, either.
Wendy 說:
It makes me feeling nervous,
S'uzanne 說:
and uncomfortable.
Wendy 說:
That's right.
Cindy 說:
So we must come back to the basic way of solving the problem.
Wendy 說:
At least we should try our best to protect our body from disease.
S'uzanne 說:
We can only hope that researchers can come up with a new invention to change this situation.
Cindy 說:
That's right.
Wendy 說:
Therefore, the conclusion is..
S'uzanne 說:
We have to get on bed and turn off our light right now.
S'uzanne 說:
So, end of our discussion.
Vivi 說:
OK, good night.
S'uzanne 說:
Have a sweet dream.
S'uzanne 說:
Ladies, let's go to sleep so we won't afflict over breast cancer.
Wendy 說:
That's a pratical suggestion.
S'uzanne 說:
I totally agree.
Wendy 說:
So, good night then.
S'uzanne 說:
Bye, ladies.
Cindy 說:
Ok~good night, everyone.

My suggestion to Cindy's summaries

Cindy’s:
1st summary
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/flydreams/home.html
According to this article, we know that the inventor tried to create a machine which can load one people to fly. It looks like a mini helicopter with two fans and 120 horsepower engines(engine). It is said that this machine would be sold next year on the market with(for) about a million dollars; however, it is still an unknown. Though NASA has signed on with the inventor to develop the machine (and) the innovation’s first usage would be on military.

Suggestion:
1. delete ”s”, it’s single.
2. sell +for+price
3. “the innovation’s first usage would be on military.”is not allowed to add directly after the previous clause. You’d better add a conj. Between them.

2nd summary
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071009/od_nm/heart_relationships_dc;_ylt=Agfq.ZWJLgtJ49nSEOQ7TUes0NUE
According to the news, the stress and anxiety of hostile and angry relationships can boost(increase) the risk of developing heart disease, and heart condition is obviously affected by the negative intimate relationships .If you have many positive relationships, it means “healthier life”, which can cut down the probability of heart disease. Therefore, the people you get along with are also factors of affecting(effecting) your health situation(condition); the good people are good to your health, and(while) the passive people are negative to your health.

Suggestion:
1. boost usually use in positive manner, not negative way. We can change that in to “increase”
2.affecting is a negative verb, in this situation, it’s better to use neutral verb.
3. Health condition is a common use.
4.The grammar here is ok, but it’ll be perfect if you use “while”

My suggestion to Vivi's summaries

Vivi’s:
1st summary
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/computergirls/home.html
This article shows that girls are not so active in technology as boys, because of the unlike personalities. For example , boys may do things directly; oppositely, girls usually think twice. In addition, boys like to play computer games to imagine that they become(becoming) other roles, but girls don’t like(delete). And these phenomena would lead to the new gender gap. However, the interval would be narrowed when girls' and boys' abilities get(reach) the same level someday.

Suggestion:
1. imagine+ving
2. If you want to use ‘’like”, you should add “it” after it.
3. Reach …level.

2nd summary
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_he_me/alcoholism_pill;_ylt=AvPZNOBImBFLfyTqPhsxnwbVJRIF
This news talks about a new pill, Topamax(,) which might help alcoholics to reduce their desire of liquor. However, promoting the medicine would face some difficulties. For example, it would cause some aftereffects and we would not know something(what) will happen after stopping taking it. In addition, the researchers did an experiment to observe the result, (plus "which shows that") and(delete) one man had succeeded to quit alcohol. But Topamax still has a few defects that other experts do not agree on(think it’s safe enough) .

Suggestion
1. You should add a comma before “which”.
2. Something is not used in this condition.
3. We can change the sentence into “which shows that one man had succeeded to quit alcohol “ so the reader understand the relationship between this sentence to the one before the comma.
4. “Topamax still has a few defects that other experts do not agree on.”means the other experts don’t think that there are a few defects about the pill. I think what you what to express is that other experts don’t agree on the opinion that every one who take the drug all been successfully treated and doesn’t suffer from the unknown side effects.

My suggestion to Wendy's summaries

Wendy’s:
1st summary http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/26/china.3gorges.ap/index.html

China has built a mammoth reservoir, the Three Gorges Dam, in order to solve electrical shortage. Although it has offered electricity to the masses, it has still brought many ecological disasters. And many locals were forced to move to another place. The China’s official knows that they couldn't achieve the economic prosperity at(by) the cost of environment. Therefore, now the government will heighten their guard to it, and work up(come up with) an effective way(solution) to these(those) questions(problems).

Suggestions:
1.”at” is not so appropriately used, “by” will be better.
2.’’work up” means inspire.
3. It’s the way(x) to the question (Actually, people use solution instead).
4. I myself think it’s proper to use those than these, but it’s ok if you think these is better.

5.What the offical of china faces is problems, not questions. In Chinese they all translate into 問題 whereas in English they are used in different situations.

2nd summary
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20071010/cm_usatoday/thenewhighschool;_ylt=AiWU56XUBrBlugG3eMqnL4f9wxIF

Three decades ago, people who owned(earned) college degree had better development and more opportunities than others. This phenomenon becomes more apparent than before. However, not all people have these kinds(this kind) of background and resource to support themselves for advanced education. Due to these reasons(this reason), many experts consider(bring up) some measures for solving the problems. They advocate college making tuition free and boosting applications. And further, they hope to give students a chance to earn college credits in high school.

Suggestions:
1. earn the college degree
2. “had development” is kind odd indeed, what about had more promising future.
3. I don’t understand why you us plural noun here.
4. In Chinese, the 想 is translated into consider, come up with, think, ponder and so on. But in this case, it weird to use consider, we can use “come up with” or “bring up”.