NEWS IN ACT

STUDENTS, POLICE IN VIOLENT BRAWL

Police and students were involved in a violent clash on Jl. Diponegoro after students started to burn tires during a day-long rally held by students of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) and the Indonesian Persada University (UPI-YAI) in front of their campuses in Salemba, Central Jakarta.

Students effectively closing down a stretch of Jl. Diponegoro, beside the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) and set tires alight.

The students had been provoking police and were enraged when one activist was detained. They then stormed a police post on Jl. Dipongoro, demanding the student’s release.

Tensions heightened in the evening, when a police car was trapped in a traffic jam before being ambushed and set alight by students blockading Jl. Diponegoro in front of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) office. Protesters have been using the office as a kind of transit place.

Police deployed two Barracuda armored-vehicles to the office to look for the students who burned the patrol car.

The clashes ended at about 9:45 p.m. after the students retreated to their campuses while the police reopened Jl. Diponegoro.

The relationship between students of the two universities during the rally was somewhat ironic, as they have been known to dislike one other and brawl.

“This is the beginning of peace between the UKI and the UPI. We are united to reject the fuel-price hike plan,” a UKI student said in a speech during the rally, as quoted by kompas.com.

At around dusk, when the tires burnt out, several students from the UPI came along, bringing a new tire to burn. UKI students welcomed the “gift” while singing a song.

A similar clash also took place in Makassar, South Sulawesi, between security personnel with students of the Muhammadiyah University (Unismuh).

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/03/29/students-police-violent-brawl.html

THE LORAX

Movie Review: "The Lorax"

"The Lorax", or ìDr. Seussí The Loraxî as it is sometimes called, is an animated film based on one of the most beloved Dr. Seuss books. The movie adaptation is filled with colorful characters and lively animation. It also has some striking voices provided by Betty White and Danny DeVito. But while whatís good about it is good, the overall preachy message of saving the trees from ruthless big business gets a little tiring.

The story starts with a young teenager named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) wanting to impress the girl of his dreams, a beauty named Audrey (Taylor Swift). Audrey has a thing for real trees but they no longer exist in the town of Thneedville. Only plastic trees are there.

Ted learns from his Grammy Norma (Betty White) that there is a man who lives outside the city walls named Once-ler. This man, she says, knows all about real trees. Ted gets on his motorcycle and goes in search of this man.

When Ted finds the Once-ler (Ed Helms) he learns all about how trees were once abundant in the land and what happened to them. This tale involves the Lorax (Danny DeVito), a creature who is the self-proclaimed protector of the trees.

The message of the movie is that big business greed will lead to the destruction of trees and the vanishing of wild life. All business is bad and all who fight to save all the trees are good. There is a valid message in this but the all encompassing attitude dilutes it.

While White and DeVito are the ìstarsî of the voice providers, the creation of the characters is a little one note. Ted and the young Once-ler look similar, and the Once-lerís mother bears a striking similarity to Carol Burnettís Eunice on ìMamaís Family.

The movie has three or four songs which are immediately forgettable, and the humor in the movie is negligible. It seems the makers of the movie used Dr. Seussí book as a starting point and then dumped out all that was clever and fun.

The movie is rated PG for rude humor.

As lacking as I found this movie to be, the kids around me were having a great time. They laughed at every corny joke and a head over all the wonder of the Lorax. This stretched upward my opinion of the movie. Maybe they were able to see something in the movie I could not see.

I scored "The Lorax" a Seussed 7 out of 10

STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION

EXERCISE A

9. At 1:00 in the morning the alarm clock on the table beside the bed rang

Subject verb

· The sentence are R (Right) because there are subject is alarm clock and verb is rang

EXERCISE B

3. The tall green trees along the road

· the sentence is W (Wrong) because there is no verb

The correct sentence is :

· the tall green trees are along the road

Subject Verb

TOEFL EXERCISE

5. Between 1725 and 1750, New England witnessed an increase in the specialization of _________

a. Occupations

b. They occupied

c. Occupies

d. It occupied them

Answer (A) occupations is the best answer. Answer (B), (C), (D) are not correct because they cannot be subjects.