Thursday, August 18, 2011

Online lesson 12

Task 1: The common theme in each of the scroll is the reference to the personality of the person that will choose each casket. Prince Morocco was very greedy, as seen from the fact that he wanted what "many men desire". This means he wants to get more than what many men deserves, as the word "desire" suggests a type of greed, and he feels that men would only desire for valuable things. Thus, he chose the golden casket as he was greedy and wanted to get the most out of anything, and since the golden casket states that many men want it, he chose it as it would most likely be the most valuable casket, as compared to the silver casket, where he only gets what he deserves, and lead casket, where he will need to loss out. Arragon chose the silver casket as he feels that he should get what he deserves, meaning that he was not very greedy, but he thinks too highly of himself, feeling that he is the wisest of all men. This can be seen by the fact that when he chose the silver casket, he feels that he was the best of all, and only the best of best, Portia, can be comparable to him. This shows that he feels that he deserves the best, as he himself was one of the best. Bassanio chose the lead casket as he feels that although lead is cheap, it is useful to us. This shows that Bassanio was appreciative, and values things more than their mere appearance.

Task 2: This is unbelievable! This question tests on a topic I have not learnt yet! There are four answers, but any one of them could be the answer! This is way too bad.......I knew nothing about this topic! I am going to lose marks. What can I do now? I will be dead! My teacher will scold and yell at me for not paying attention in class! What am I going to do? If I guess each answer, I only have twenty five percent chance of getting correct, but I will still fail. This is so lucky for me. Since I cannot guess and cannot solve, what should I do? Can I get it correct? Yes! Yes, it must be this way. Using logic, since there are only one answer to this question, the setter would not want to isolate this correct answer from the rest so obviously! In other words, the setter would not want to isolate the correct answers from the incorrect ones, as if people guessed it, they would normally pick the odd one out! The first property of the four answers is the units they are in. The first three are all in centimeters square, but the last one is in meters square! If the last one was correct, a person that randomly chose the odd one out would get the marks, so it must not be the answer! Thus, the last option must be incorrect as it is the only one which is different. Now, the second property, the square numbers rule. Only option two is not a square number, so it must be incorrect! Now I am left with option one and three. Option three does not have any possible combination to get to the sum of two square numbers as it is too small! Yes, I got it! It must be option one!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Online lesson 11

Theme: Justice and mercy

The United States should have shown justice toward Osama bin Laden by imprisoning him, before going to trial, rather than killing him. Answer me. Do you think it is alright to kill a defenceless man straight away, even if he had caused great harm? I strongly disagree.

We all know that Osama bin Laden was the head of the terrorist group that caused the September eleven terrorist attack on America, and that he had caused a huge loss of lives. This is a fact. However, does this give the US the rights to kill him without the proper procedure of going through trial? Imagine you were Osama. You killed people, and you deserve death. However, since you are unarmed, you are defencelessness, and you have not yet proven guilty, shouldn't you be allowed to live a few days, weeks or months until it is confirmed that you are guilty? Shouldn't you be given the chance to settle your own affairs and tell your family and friends about the news? If your answer is yes, then why must the US deprive Osama of human rights and assassinate him?

The US should have given Osama justice, by allowing him the chance to settle his personal affairs before death. Since he is no more threat, as he is safely caught and unarmed, there is no need to kill him straight away. The US should give everyone, including Osama proper rights, which is the proper procedure of going through imprisonment and trial. By assassinating him, the US is violating human rights! Furthermore, this might show the image that the US will not give terrorist a chance to mend their ways as upon seeing a terrorist, Osama, the US killed him.

I strongly believe that every human being, be it the US president Obama, or the head of terrorists, should be punished if they did wrong, but ought to be given proper rights like any other men, from the day they are born, until the day they are dead. Each of us is innocent until proven guilty by court. Since Osama was not yet proven guilty when killed, he is considered innocent, and killing an innocent man is a crime! In conclusion, only the court have the power to end someone's life, and the US should not kill Osama at first sight even though he had caused great harm, as they do not have the right to do so.