Text : Narrative

Queen of Arabia and Three Sheiks

Maura, who like to be thought of as the most beautiful and powerful queen of Arabia, had many suitors. One by one she discarded them, until her list was reduced to just three sheiks. The three sheiks were all equally young and handsome. They were also rich and strong. It was very hard to decide who would be the best of them. One evening, Maura disguised herself and went to the camp of the three sheiks. As they were about to have dinner, Maura asked them for something to eat. The first gave her some left over food. The second Sheik gave her some unappetizing camel s tail. The third sheik, who was called Hakim, offered her some of the most tender and tasty meat. After dinner, the disguised queen left the sheik s camp. The following day, the queen invited the three sheiks to dinner at her palace. She ordered her servant to give each one exactly what they had given her the evening before. Hakim, who received a plate of delicious meat, refused to eat it if the other two sheiks could not share it with him. This Sheik Hakim s act finally convinced Queen Maura that he was the man for her. Without question, Hakim is the most generous of you she announced her choice to the sheiks. So it is Hakim I will marry .

Text : Narrative

The Smartest Parrot

Once upon time, a man had a wonderful parrot. There was no other parrot like it. The parrot could say every word, except one word. The parrot would not say the name of the place where it was born. The name of the place was Catano. The man felt excited having the smartest parrot but he could not understand why the parrot would not say Catano. The man tried to teach the bird to say Catano however the bird kept not saying the word. At the first, the man was very nice to the bird but then he got very angry. You stupid bird! pointed the man to the parrot. Why can t you say the word? Say Catano! Or I will kill you the man said angrily. Although he tried hard to teach, the parrot would not say it. Then the man got so angry and shouted to the bird over and over; Say Catano or I ll kill you . The bird kept not to say the word of Catano. One day, after he had been trying so many times to make the bird say Catano, the man really got very angry. He could not bear it. He picked the parrot and threw it into the chicken house. There were four old chickens for next dinner You are as stupid as the chickens. Just stay with them Said the man angrily. Then he continued to humble; You know, I will cut the chicken for my meal. Next it will be your turn, I will eat you too, stupid parrot . After that he left the chicken house. The next day, the man came back to the chicken house. He opened the door and was very surprised. He could not believe what he saw at the chicken house. There were three death chickens on the floor. At the moment, the parrot was standing proudly and screaming at the last old chicken; Say Catano or I ll kill you .

Text : Argumentative Discussion

Giving Children Homework; Pro and Contra

There are a lot of discussion as to whether children should be given homework or not. Is it enough for children having time to study at school or needing additional time in home for study after school time? Some people claim that children do enough work in school already. They also argue that children have their hobbies which they want to do after school, such as sport or music. A further point they make is that a lot of homeworks are pointless and does not help the children learn at all. However, there are also strong arguments against this point of view. Parents and teachers argue that it is important to find out whether children can work on their own without the support from the teacher. They say that the evening is a good time for children to sit down and think about what they have learned in school. Furthermore they claim that the school day is too short to get anything done. It makes sense to send home tasks like independent reading or further writing task which do not need the teacher support. I think, on balance, that some homework is good idea but that should only given at the weekend when children have more time.

Text : Argumentative Discussion

Pro and Contra of National Exam

National exam becomes the hot topic in most of discussions. Though the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the go-vernment on the organization of the national exams, the controversy over whether it is necessary to maintain the national exams (UN) has continued. Some debates include the primary questions such as; does the quality of Indonesia education depend on the national exam?, will the quality of the Indonesian education system worsen without natipnal exam? People, who support the national exam explain that the quality of the Indonesia education system will drop without the national exam, so they try to defend the current system. Hoever there are people who disagree with the opinion. Those who against this national exam kept in our high school education say that it doesn't need the national exams because the quality of education does not just depend on the national exam. Further, the national exam only measures a small portion of students' competence in specific subjects, and does not measure students' competences throughout the semester. I n fact, the national examination can still be useful as an instrument to evaluate or detect the level of students' cognitive competence in several subjects, on a national scale.

Text : Explanation

Tsunami
The term of tsunami comes from the Japanese which means harbour ("tsu") and wave ("nami"). A tsunami is a series of waves generated when water in a lake or a sea is rapidly displaced on a massive scale. A tsunami can be generated when the sea floor abruptly deforms and vertically displaces the overlying water. Such large vertical movements of the earth's crust can occur at plate boundaries. Subduction of earthquakes are particularly effective in generating tsunami, and occur where denser oceanic plates slip under continental plates. As the displaced water mass moves under the influence of gravity to regain its equilibrium, it radiates across the ocean like ripples on a pond. Tsunami always bring great damage. Most of the damage is caused by the huge mass of water behind the initial wave front, as the height of the sea keeps rising fast and floods powerfully into the coastal area.

Text : Explanation

How Chocolate is Made

Have we wondered how we get chocolate from? Well this time we will enter the amazing world of chocolate so we can understand exactly we are eating. Chocolate starts a tree called cacao tree. This tree grows in equatorial regions, especially in place such as South America, Africa, and Indonesia. The cacao tree produces a fruit about the size of a small pine apple. In side the fruits are the tree's seeds. They are also known as coco beans. Next, the beans are fermented for about a week, dried in the sun. After that they are shipped to the chocolate maker. The chocolate maker starts by roasting the beans to bring out the flavour. Different beans from different places have different qualities and flavour. So they are often shorted and blended to produce a distinctive mix. The next process is winnowing. The roasted beans are winnowed to remove the meat nib of the cacao bean from its shell. Then the nibs are blended. The blended nibs are ground to make it a liquid. The liquid is called chocolate liquor. It tastes bitter. All seeds contain some amount of fat and cacao beans are not different. However, cacao beans are half fat, which is why the ground nibs from liquid. It is pure bitter chocolate.

Text : Report

Mangrove Tree
A mangrove is a tropical marine tree. Mangroves have special aerial roots and saltfiltering tap roots which enable them to thrive in brackish water. Brackish water is salty but not as salty as sea water. Mangrove trees are commonly planted and found in coastal areas. Mangroves can serve as walls of protection for natural disaster in coastal area like tsunami. According to BBC News, healthy mangrove forests had helped save lives in the Asia disaster tsunami and people tended to respect these natural barriers even more, especially after the tsunami. There are several species of mangrove tree found all over the world. Some prefer more salinity, while others like to be very-close to a large fresh water source such as river. Some prefer areas that are sheltered from waves. Some species have their roots covered with sea water every day during high tide. Other species grow on dry land but are still part of the ecosystem. The Times of India reported that rare species of mangrove had been found and was also known as the looking-glass tree, probably because the leaves are silver-coated. Mangroves need to keep their trunk and leave above the surface of the water. Yet they also need to be firmly attached to the ground so they are not moved by waves. Any part of root that appears above the water flows oxygen to the plant under water surface. as the soil begin to build up, these roots procedure additional roots that become embedded in the soil.

Text : Report

Human Body Energy

Human body is actually a living machine and is like all other machines. This living machine needs fuel to supply it with energy. The fuel is provided by the food which we eat. However do we know how much we need to stay healthy? The energy value of food is usually measured in calories. A calorie is the amount of heat which is required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree C. The number of calories which people need per day varies. It depends on the activity which the people are involved in. For example; people will need more calories for standing than for sitting, people need more for running than for walking, etc. The energy which is provided by food is in the form of three kinds of chemical substances. They are carbohydrate, protein and fat. Carbohydrate provides 8.8 calories per gram (cal/gm) of energy, protein 4.0 cal/gm and fat 8.0 cal/gm. Each food contains different proportion of these substances.These three chemical substances are all important for body staying healthy.

Text : Recount

My Rush Time as a Journalist

I usually woke up at eight o'clock a.m. and went to the Press Center to check the daily schedule of briefings and press conferences. It was usually held by the United Nation officials or disaster mitigation team. It was challenging to visit different refugee camps to find soft stories, human interest stories. After that I went back to the Press Center to cover the press conferences of the day. It was heart breaking when I saw these survivors fight for food and secondhand clothing. Unfortunately as they said, the food and clothing were limited and inadequate. Emerging to glaring, fool noon, it was time to go back to Press Center to write stories and race against time. I was always fearing that the internet would come crushing down. After everything was done, only then I remembered to eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because I always had to rush and again it was difficult to find food. I had to travel quite far. I needed to spend a 30 to 45 minutes by car just to find fresh food.

Text : Recount

My Holiday was Fantastic

Last summer I got a fantastic holiday. I visited some great places. I went to an airport and was going to fly to Cleveland. I was spending there two days. I liked to see some Cleveland Cavaliers basketball matches. Then I went to Hollywood. Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It had become world-famous as the center of the film industry. Four major film companies Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia had studios in Hollywood. I did not want to leave but I had to. After that, I went to New York city. I visited the Statue of Liberty. I went from the bottom of Manhattan to the top of the crown. That was very amazing.

Text : News Item

Growing Number of High School Student Smoking

A survey has found about 13 percent of first-time smokers in the country are junior high school students. It also revealed 89 percent of young female employees were smokers. The survey was conducted in five major cities across the country, including Surakarta in Central Java. Muhammad Syahril Mansyur, the Surakarta Health Agency s respiratory illness division, said that the finding of the survey showed an alarming growth rate of Indonesian smokers. "This situation is a cause for concern, he said. It appears the country s younger generation is uneducated about the health risks of smoking. The Indonesian anti-tobacco campaign has reportedly been deemed as ineffective as the government refuses to sign the international convention on tobacco control. It said that cigarette producers contributed to a large amount to state revenue and gave jobs to thousands of workers.

Text : News Item

Student found dead in waterway in Serpong

The body of a high school student was found in a waterway on Jl. Pare in the Bumi Serpong Damai housing estate in Serpong , South Tangerang, on Wednesday. Serpong Police chief Comr. Hibertus Omposungi identified the student as Taher Achmad, 16, from SMK Bina Kesehatan Cendakia in Tangerang. Omposungi refused to comment on the possible cause of the student s death. We are still looking into the death of the student and will be sending the body to Tangerang General Hospital for an autopsy. Only autopsy results can explain the cause of death, he said.

Contoh Surat Resmi

YAYASAN PEMBINA UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA SMP NEGERI 613

Jakarta, 22 Oktober 2008 Nomor : 132/YP-UI/SMPN-613/XIII/2008 Lampiran : Perihal : Undangan Latihan

Kepada Yth. Bapak/Ibu Orangtua/Wali Siswa SMP Negeri 613 di Jakarta

Dengan hormat, Dengan maksud melatih dan menambah pengalaman murid yang mengikuti Ekstrakurikuler Golf, kami menyampaikan kepada Bapak/Ibu Orangtua/Wali bahwa akan diadakan latihan tambahan menjelang Turnamen Pelajar pada: 1) Hari, tanggal : Jumat, 24 Oktober 2008 Waktu : Pukul 15.00 18.00 WIB 2) Hari, tanggal : Minggu, 26 Oktober 2008 Waktu : Pukul 19.00 21.00 WIB 3) Hari, tanggal : Jumat, 31 Oktober 2008 Waktu : Pukul 15.00 18.00 WIB Tempatnya di Lapangan Golf Pondok Indah. Sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, kami sangat senang apabila Bapak/Ibu dapat mengijinkan putra-putrinya pada latihan tersebut. Apabila ada hal-hal yang perlu ditanyakan, silahkan menghubungi guru pembimbing Ekstrakurikuler Golf yaitu bapak Rizal Ahmad, S.Pd. pada nomor 081324354657. Demikian undangan yang kami sampaikan, atas perhatian Bapak/Ibu, kami mengucapkan terima kasih.

Kepala SMP Negeri 613, Wakil Bidang Kesiswaan

Muhammad Arief Gunawan, S.Pd.