Auld Lang Syne Lyrics

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.  

Read the text below and complete the following task. [PMR 2011]

The newspaper is an extremely useful learning tool to students today. Besides being easily available and affordable, it offers them numerous benefits.

            A survey carried out on the benefits of the newspaper clearly shows that students who read the newspapers have better awareness of the world around them. This is because they are better informed of the current issues happening around the world. Hence, they become more knowledgeable.    

As language proficiency seems to be a problem amongst students these days, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. As such, they are able to put into practice what they have learnt.           

Meanwhile, once outside the classroom, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. For example, it can be used to obtain reference material or ideas for their school assignments.   

The newspaper today also motivates students to learn because it contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons. Besides, they also encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.

            It is without doubt that the newspaper is beneficial to students. As such, we should encourage them to read the newspaper every day.

Write a summary on how the newspaper can be a useful tool to students.

Your summary must:

not be more than 60 words, including the 10 given words below

be in continuous writing (not note form)

be written in one paragraph

Use your own words as far as possible without changing its original meaning. Begin your summary as follows:

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to……

Steps to answer a summary question:

Step 1:

Read the text once to get an idea on what the text is all about.

Step 2:

Read the question. Identify the keywords.

Write a summary on HOW the newspaper can be a useful tool to students.

Step 3:

Identify the content points. Read again the text. Read each sentence in the text one by one. Ask whether the sentence answers the question “HOW thenewspaper can be a useful tool to students”?

Sentence from the text	Does the sentence answers the question “HOW thenewspaper can be auseful tool to students”?	What is the content point? (highlight or underlinethe content point) * yellow – main points * blue – supporting points
The newspaper is an extremely useful learning tool to students today.	No	None
Besides being easily available and affordable, it offers them numerous benefits.	No	None
A survey carried out on the benefits of the newspaper clearly shows that students who read the newspapers have better awareness of the world around them.	Yes	have better awareness of the world around them.
This is because they are better informed of the current issues happening around the world.	Yes. When you see the word “because”, the sentence normally contains the supporting point for the previous sentence.	better informed of the current issues happening around the world.
Hence, they become more knowledgeable.	Yes.	become more knowledgeable.
As language proficiency seems to be a problem amongst students these days, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills.	Yes.	improve their language skills.
As such, they are able to put into practice what they have learnt.	Yes. When you see the phrase “as such”, the sentence normally contains the supporting point for the previous sentence.	able to put into practice what they have learnt.
Meanwhile, once outside the classroom, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information.	Yes.	continuous source of education and information.
For example, it can be used to obtain reference material or ideas for their school assignments.	No. Pay attention to the words like forexample, like, such as. These words indicate examples.Don’t write examples in a summary.	None
The newspaper today also motivates students to learn because it contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons.	Yes.	motivates students to learn The phrase after the word “because” is the supporting point: contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons
Besides, they also encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.	Yes.	to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.
It is without doubt that the newspaper is beneficial to students.	No.	None.
As such, we should encourage them to read the newspaper every day.	No.	None.

*C indicates content:

C1 - have better awareness of the world around them / better informed of the current issues happening around the world

C2 - become more knowledgeable

C3 - improve their language skills / able to put into practice what they have learnt

C4 - continuous source of education and information

C5 - motivates students to learn

C6 - encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading

Important:

If you are able to identify both main and supporting points, write either one in the summary.

It is not encouraged to write the supporting points. Sometimes, a supporting point is NOT accepted as the content point!

Step 4:

Write the summary. Write five (5) content points only. Begin your summary with the ten (10) words given. Copy the points EXACTLY from the text to avoid sentence errors and changing the meaning of the original text. Use sequence connectors like next, then, moreover, furthermore, lastly, etc.

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. (C1) They become more knowledgeable.(C2) Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. (C3) Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. (C4) Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn. (C5)

Step 5:

Count the number of words and write it at the bottom right of the summary. Make sure your summary is NOT MORE than 60 words.

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. They become more knowledgeable. Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn.

(57 words)

Step 6:

Read your answer again. Make sure there are no spelling errors.

Marks for the above summary:

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. They become more knowledgeable. Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn.

Positive Thinking

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply… I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

You Are My Sunshine Lyrics

You are my sunshine 

My only sunshine
You make me happy
When the skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
So please don't take
My sunshine away

The other night dear
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke dear
I was mistaken
And I held
My head and cried

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When the skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take
My sunshine away 

You are my sunshine 
My only sunshine 
You make me happy 
When the skies are grey 
You'll never know dear 
How much I love you 
Please don't take 
My sunshine away 

The Last Cab

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.

Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked.

“Just a minute,” answered a frail, elderly voice.

I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase.

The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

“Would you carry my bag out to the car?” she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness.

“It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”

“Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.

“Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.”

I looked in the rear view mirror. Her eyes were glistening.

“I don’t have any family left,” she continued. “The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. “What route would you like me to take?” I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

“How much do I owe you?” she asked, reaching into her purse.

“Nothing,” I said.

“You have to make a living,” she answered.

“There are other passengers.”

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

“You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,” she said. “Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life. We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware—beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

Determination and Persistence

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.

“We told them so.” “Crazy men and their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.

In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task.

As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.