George Stoyonovich is the main charachter in the story "A Summer's Reading". He is a 20 year old unemployed young man that(ww. - who) lives with his father and sister. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 and hadn't(gr.) done much since then.

The fact that he dropped out of school and hasn't been able to progress in life for the last 4 years, shows that he is probably imature, lazy and dependant. He comes from a non-usual(ww.) family, his mother's(is) out of the picture and (his) father doesn't seem to be involved in his life. His sister, on the other hand, helps him and tries to push him to do something with himself. George grew up in a low-class neighborhood, the apartments were small and moldy, the train was right besides them and the general atmoshpehere was somewhat home-like(what do you mean? How is this poor, low class neighborhood home-like?).

As mentioned before, George dropped(out of) high-school early and hadn't(gr.) done much since then. He doesn't have any sort of diploma or work experience. The least thing he can do is reading(gr.) and enriching(gr.) his knowledge, but it seems like he is caught in a routine of doing nothing and finds it very difficult to do something productive. At some points of the story we can see that Mr.C gets very close to george. It seems like Mr.C really manages to get into George's head and even influence him. His sister is also helpful in her own way. The fact that she motivates George by telling him the truth in front of him(phr.) drives him to change his condition(not accurate).

Although I believe that we are the ones responsible for our own future and George is the main one to blame for his condition, I feel compassion for him. When he dropped out, he was only a kid, a teenage boy who didn't know crap(phr.) about life. He didn't get any support at all, not(ww. - neither) from his friends and not(ww.- nor) from his family. His life was(gr.) rough, and he isn't the only one to blame. George, obviously, did many mistakes in his life. The biggest one was that he didn't find a way to progress his life. he didn't get a steady job or basic education and after 4 valuable years he ended up doing nothing. I hope he will end up reading those 100 books, like he promised, and finally get a job, earn some money, try to progress. I certainly believe he'll do just fine.

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Daphna

Please correct your work. The whole point of our work is to learn from mistakes...

Daphna.

The Eyes of the Dragon

"The Eyes of the Dragon" was written by Stephen King and published in 1987. It's a fantasy book that describes a "classic" battle between good and evil. The story takes place whithin a kingdom called "Delain". It's written and told from a perspective of an unnamed story teller. The story is full of struggles and battles, scams and conspiracies and of course, a lot of magic.


There are 5 main characters involved in the story- King Roland, Queen Sasha, Prince Peter, Prince Thomas and the magician and king's advisor, Flagg. Right at the beggining of the story we witness Flagg's evil ambitions, his goal is to take control of the kingdom. He starts with his succesful attept to end queen Sasha's life while she's giving birth to Thomas and contiues with the poisoning of King Roland. The two princes develop into 2 complete different men. Prince Thomas who is intelligent, wise and handsome and Thomas who is chunky and clumsy.


The turning point of the story occures when King Roland is poisioned and Prince Peter (is) framed for the murder. Peter is sent to a tall tower and Prince Thomas, the younger brother, recieves the throne. Due to his very young age, 12, it seems that it is much easier for Flagg to manipulate him and get the kingdom's condition to relapse. Peter finally finds a creative way to escape the prison and take back the throne he deserves. After a long struggle, the two brothers overpower Flagg and he flees. From that event, it seems that the power balance changes; the good seems to overpower the evil.


In my opinion, the book is very well written, although it took me time to get used to the writing because I'm not used to read fantasy stories. The characters are well written and the story manages to keep up at a good pace. One fact (that) did disturb me though, is that the book seems like it was written for children; The "classic" villain that tries to gain power by manipulations and the "classic" hero, that opposes him and tries to eliminate his ambitions. Sadly, I felt the story wasn't sophisticated and intensive enough for me, but it was good and well written anyway.

Much better, Kobi. I enjoyed your review.
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Daphna

Healthy Food

Nutrition has always been an issue for most of us in our daily life. Our eating habits- whether we eat healthy or unhealthy food- are very important to us. But for others maybe not. Recently conducted studies show that there is a connection between the food we eat and our behavior. The question we're facing is whether food manufacturers are responsible for producing healthier food or not. I believe they are.


Let's take a school for example. It is a crowded institution, teenagers eat there every day. Their behavior can easily detiriorate by the smallest veriable. They can get violent and cause damage to the enviroment and themselves, and the food they eat can be a great factor to their behavior. Most of the food we eat today is processed by food manufacturers. That food is fortified with sugar, fat and other unhealthy additives. Therefore, it is possible to say that those food manufacturers have a great responsibility over us and our children, in particular.

Another example is prisons. Prisons tend to be very violent places. Giving the inmates healthier and sugarless food might cause a great improvment to their behavior. Therefore, producing healthier food by the manufacturers for the prisoners can do great and even save lives.

Some people might say that we are the ones responsible for the food we eat. I find that argument weak because a very big precentage of the food available to us is processed by manufacturers. They can't tell us to eat healthier food if there isn't any.

To sum up, I believe that food manufacturers must be held responsible for the food they produce. Those corporates have a big responsibility over our society. If they begin producing healthier food, their sales and profits will go up and make our world a better place. So it's a win-win situation.

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Daphna

10 Mote Gur Street
Holon

September 19, 2009

The Editor
Ha'aretz
P.O Box 28
Holon

Dear Editor,

Concerning the article you wrote about the Iranian and Israeli power balance, I'd like to express my support for Israel. I believe, as an Israeli, that Israel must not put itself under even the smallest existence risk. I can feel that Israel's right to attack Iran is justified and an all-out escalation is very likely to appear.

To begin with, Iran's president, Ahmenigad keeps wishing the destruction of Israel in every speech or interview. Being constantly threatened that way gives Israel legitimecy to strike Iran. I stronly believe that preperations are being made right now and an airstrike is very close, likely to appear between 2010-2011.

Concerning your opinion, I completely agree with most of your assumptions although I disagree with your statement that you think that sanctions will be able to stop Iran from its ultimate goal. Iran is few months away from a nuclear bomb, even the most severe sanctions will not be able to prevent it from getting its hands on a bomb. They have the knowledge, all they need is the time.

Therefore, I believe a strike is the ideal solution, it is likely to appear in a year or so and end Iran's ambitions for nuclear power.

Kobi Tavdish

Iran- nuclear power. How close?

Iran has been developing its nuclear technology since 1996. Nowadays, relying on foreign estimations, Iran is several months away from achieving enough nuclear power for a single bomb.

Israel has been trying for years to delay, sabotage and even prevent Iran's efforts to gain such power. It starts from activating secret undercover Mossad agents and opening straw companies to pressuring the international community to increase its economic embargo on Iran.

So far, it looks like it was all for nothing, Iran is closer than ever to have the capability of launching a nuclear bomb. The last and least favored option by the majority leaders of the west is the military strike on the nuclear facilities. Examining the events that occured not so long ago- the Israeli flag submarine, the "Dolphin", set off to the red sea through the Suez canal along with a powerful Israeli missile boat- can give us clues to estimate that a military strike may be closer than ever.

In this article we can see that Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, urges the international community to worsen the sanctions on Iran, probably a step of last resort before the last option appears on the table.

I believe that a military strike along with a wide Middle-East escalation is to happen somewhere between 2010 and 2011. Economical and social sanctions don’t seem to appear in the near future and Iran achieving a bomb is unavoidable. A wide military conflict is likely to appear, Israel vs. Iran and its extensions- Hezbollah and Hamas.

The next steps Israel will take shall determine the future of the Middle-East.

Very good.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1114452.html

Middle-East

There is some growing interest now in the Middle East's Israeli-Palestinian conflict since Obama's administration kicked in. Netanyahu's government is trying to do anything to delay or gain some time or even get any leverage on the American pressure being put on him.

In the last few months there have been some intense talks about the conflict and the results of those are the softening in Netanyahu's demands. In this article we can see the results of the American growing pressure over him. He says "Israel is ready to restart talks", meaning he's willing to get back to the negotiation table with the Palestinian "leader" Abu- Mazen.

But that’s not all; one of the most important demands is over the continuation of the building of the settlements beyond the green line. One of Bibi's promises to his voters was that he wouldn't give up to any pressure from any country concerning the settlements and here we can see his softening and willingness to adjust his demands with whatever he sees fit.

I believe he is doing the right thing. Obama is young and ambitious and that’s good but he's also naïve, he knows nothing about the tension and the complexity of the middle-east. He thinks that with his speeches and charming smile he can fix the world but unfortunately, it is a bit more complicated than that.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/13/1007809/netanyahu-israel-ready-to-restart-talks

Good work!

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School Uniform

School uniform has always been a major part of an educational system. During its history is has been subjected to many for and against arguments. Some educators believe it's unnecessary and others that believe that it is a must.

There are a lots of problems that S.U solve; first, it saves a lot of time in the morning. It requires a lot of precious time in the morning for teenagers to decide what to wear. That particular time is very valuable because most of us don’t have even few free minutes in the morning. The School uniform is also cheap, very cheap actually, relatively to normal clothes. Today we live in a society which consumes. We buy everything, we love buying brand clothes and we are affected by our friends. There are some students that can't afford expensive or even average clothing but they can afford the cheap school uniform. It saves a lot of money for the parents, who are struggling enough, probably.

The mentioned advantages can turn into disadvantages very easily. It is said that the school uniform prevents students from expressing themselves, every student has his own "style" and he expresses himself by it. So, taking it from him, his probably one of few ways of expressing himself and making him unique, is pretty cruel. As a student that wears his school uniform daily, I think that it is very ugly and uncomfortable. I like wearing good quality clothes that look good and comfortable to me.

To sum up, there are many advantages and disadvantages regarding the importance of SU.

I believe school uniform is necessary and should be used by every school in the country because of the reasons mentioned above.