Title of article: More young people caught lighting up in first two months
Author: By Teh Joo Lin & Chong Chee Kin
The Straits Times Tuesday, March 4 2008
In this article, the writer’s purpose is to raise awareness on the issue that more teenagers have been caught smoking. From the statistics shown, the number of people below the age of 18 caught smoking is increasing and the HSA is trying to curb the problem. From his findings, he felt that the main problem is that outlets are selling cigarettes to youths, and this encourages teenagers to smoke as cigarettes are made easily available. The writer supported his findings by providing information on the number of outlets caught selling cigarettes to minors
I do agree with the writer that one of the main reasons why there is a rise in teenage smoking offences is due to tobacco outlets selling cigarettes to youths without demanding their identification. When cigarettes are sold to youths, they are given a chance to smoke and making cigarettes easily available. This will hinder them from quitting smoking as the temptation to smoke is there.
However there may be other reasons which account for the rise in teenage smoking offences. It could be due to peer pressure. Firstly, someone can only start smoking if he is influenced to do so. He could be influenced by his peers or even his family. An example of influence from peers would be that as most teenagers grow up, they tend to want to be included in groups or cliques. They do not want to be an outcast, or be called a coward if they do not dare to do something. Hence, if their peers encouraged them to smoke, they will do it to prove they are brave and to be part of the group. An example of influence from family would be when a parent smokes in the presence of his child. As the child sees his parent smoke, he will follow suit and also smoke. Depression may also be a cause for teenagers to want to smoke. If a teenager has complicated feelings which he doesn’t dare to express, he may vent it out on smoking.
The writer highlighted that offenders will be fined and he also showed a rise in the number of retailers caught committing the offence and in the number of under-18s caught for smoking. This serves as a warning to others not to commit that offence.
In order to prevent the phenomenon of underage smoking, first of all tobacco stalls have to stop selling cigarettes to youths. Stall owners must be considerate and understand that they are harming the youths if they encourage them to smoke. In families, parents should set a good example for their children and not smoke in front of them. They should teach them from young the harmfulness of smoking. In front of peers, teenagers need to be stronger emotionally so that they can refuse enticement by their peers. They should bear in mind that once they start smoking, there is no going back. If teenagers feel depression, they should be counseled so that they will be self-confident and not easily fall into traps.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
comments on Russell Baker's essay - On Becoming a Writer
1. Baker’s piece begins without any introduction: he just starts right in. This opening is effective because it lets the reader know on the onset what to expect. Since Baker’s piece is entitled “On Becoming a Writer”, he starts with his own experience on how he wanted to be a writer. This helps build the reader’s expectation of more anecdotes he was going to share in later paragraphs.
2. Baker’s tone had been critical throughout the whole passage. He had found English grammar dull and baffling. He described the classics thrust on him to read as deadening as chloroform. He portrayed his teacher Mr. Fleagle as someone prim to a fault. The word “prim” was repeated many times to emphasize that Mr. Fleagle was too proper. Baker anticipated a listless, unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a long time was not disappointed. All these criticisms show how critical Baker’s tone was.
3. Baker thought Mr. Fleagle was going to fail his composition because he violated all the rules of formal composition. However, he was surprised to find that Mr. Fleagle read his essay out to the class because it was special. Moreover, the class was listening attentively with enjoyment and laughter. Mr. Fleagle praised Baker’s essay was the very essence of essays, instead of criticizing it, which Baker had expected. This reversal surprises me as it depicts the unexpected. Moreover, this new unexpected situation the writer was in pleases me, because the writer had changed from someone who hated English to someone who saw the possibility of becoming a writer. It has a happy ending.
4. The words “dawdled”, “sprawled”, “grim” and “scanned” emphasize how much the writer hated writing formal essays. The way he “dawdled, sprawled and scanned” shows that he found the task unimportant and useless, and he just was delaying doing it. In paragraph 2, Baker describes writing compositions as heavy labor, turning out leaden, lackluster paragraphs, and also the classics thrust on him to read as deadening as chloroform. Baker repeats the word prim many times in his illustration of Mr. Fleagle.
5. Baker is mentioning an important event which was his turning point. This event concludes his narration on how he became a writer.
6. In the last sentence Baker honours Mr. Fleagle as being among the finest teachers in school because of the inspiration he gave to Baker to be a writer, which is the main point of the essay.
7. Baker’s essay is endearing because he uses descriptions that are humorous. For example, he described how the students laughed at the way Mr. Fleagle read the Macbeth passage. This is a type of incident that will happen in the typical life of a student, so students can identify with it. The way he describes the time with his uncle and aunt and how they laughed over family arguments is also very endearing because in every family there bounds to be some form of argument. He uses a first person point of view, so it seems like he is speaking to the reader directly.
2. Baker’s tone had been critical throughout the whole passage. He had found English grammar dull and baffling. He described the classics thrust on him to read as deadening as chloroform. He portrayed his teacher Mr. Fleagle as someone prim to a fault. The word “prim” was repeated many times to emphasize that Mr. Fleagle was too proper. Baker anticipated a listless, unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a long time was not disappointed. All these criticisms show how critical Baker’s tone was.
3. Baker thought Mr. Fleagle was going to fail his composition because he violated all the rules of formal composition. However, he was surprised to find that Mr. Fleagle read his essay out to the class because it was special. Moreover, the class was listening attentively with enjoyment and laughter. Mr. Fleagle praised Baker’s essay was the very essence of essays, instead of criticizing it, which Baker had expected. This reversal surprises me as it depicts the unexpected. Moreover, this new unexpected situation the writer was in pleases me, because the writer had changed from someone who hated English to someone who saw the possibility of becoming a writer. It has a happy ending.
4. The words “dawdled”, “sprawled”, “grim” and “scanned” emphasize how much the writer hated writing formal essays. The way he “dawdled, sprawled and scanned” shows that he found the task unimportant and useless, and he just was delaying doing it. In paragraph 2, Baker describes writing compositions as heavy labor, turning out leaden, lackluster paragraphs, and also the classics thrust on him to read as deadening as chloroform. Baker repeats the word prim many times in his illustration of Mr. Fleagle.
5. Baker is mentioning an important event which was his turning point. This event concludes his narration on how he became a writer.
6. In the last sentence Baker honours Mr. Fleagle as being among the finest teachers in school because of the inspiration he gave to Baker to be a writer, which is the main point of the essay.
7. Baker’s essay is endearing because he uses descriptions that are humorous. For example, he described how the students laughed at the way Mr. Fleagle read the Macbeth passage. This is a type of incident that will happen in the typical life of a student, so students can identify with it. The way he describes the time with his uncle and aunt and how they laughed over family arguments is also very endearing because in every family there bounds to be some form of argument. He uses a first person point of view, so it seems like he is speaking to the reader directly.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)