Eiken Grade 1 (2012-2) Vocabulary tests

(Additional information written on Nov. 22, 2016)

Thanks for someone in the United Kingdom often check this page, so I would like to update some parts.

For the past Eiken Grade 1 test booklet, here are the links.  (PDF file will be opened.  The first page is written in Japanese, but don't get panic.  Please scroll down a little bit to the page 3.  You may see the actual test sheets written in English.  Thank you! )

The latest test which was held on Oct. 9, 2016.

The test sheets for June 12, 2016

The test sheets for Jan. 24, 2016

You may see more by clicking here ------>   Eiken . 

* *  *  *  *

The city of Himeji attracts many foreign visitors who want to see its White castle.  If we pass the tourist guide examination, we can work as a Japanese guide to English speakers.  If we pass Eiken 1st grade,  the 1st written part of the guide examination is excused, then we have to pass the 2nd part only.  It sounds very attractive to me.

To pass the Eiken 1st grade level, we have to understand high level of vocabulary (such as 10,000).  I passed the below level, which is pre-1st grade (7,500 words level) two years ago.

We also expect a public speech in the Eiken 1st grade, and listening comprehenstion tests.  RareJob lessons are helpful to improve those skills, I guess.

But sometimes, I feel discouraged because some of the RareJob tutors haven't heard of the test of TOEIC much less Eiken.  They sometimes ask me "what is TOEIC?,"  "what is Eiken?"  It took me a long time to explain all about it to them.

Anyway, I would like to show that what kind of vocabulary test were done by showing a part of the past examination.

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Eiken Test 1st Grade (2012-2)  dated 2012.10.14

To complete each item, choose the best word or phrase from among the four choices.  Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and mark your answer.

(1)  The sociologist argued that human beings are ( 1. innately  ) selfish, and that throughout history attempts to cure them of this trait through education had failed.

1. innately  2. nominally  3. lethally  4. belatedly

RareJob tutor's sentence
4.  belatedly - happening or coming very late or too late
ex. I belatedly greeted the newlyweds because I was unable to attend to their wedding.

(2)  Anticipating an early morning attack by rebels, General Vicario sent helicopter gunships to make a ( 2. preemptive ) strike on their camps in the middle of the night.

1.  philanthropic  2. preemptive  3. flippant  4. stagnant

Tutor's sentences
1. Philantrophy - he practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people

2. preemptive - done to stop an unwanted act by another group, country, etc., from happening
ex. the government strengthened their military force as a preemptive measure to the attack of North Korea.

3. flippant - lacking proper respect or seriousness
ex.  He made/gave a flippant response to a serious question.

4. stagnant - not active, changing, or progressing
ex. He is lazy so he remains stagnant.

(3)  Mark searched the backstreets of Hong Kong for the hostel his friend had recommended, but with no luck.  The network of twisting alleys felt like a (  4. labyrinth   ) with no end.

1.  reverie  2. charade  3. figment  4. labyrinth
1. reverie (pronounciation) reh-veh-rih / 
Tutor's suggestion : (noun) daydream or fantasizes, daydream is something like when I awake
My sentence: I reveried about Tom Cruise.
　　
2. charade = (noun) a guessing game
My sentence:  Let's do some charades for fun to kill time.

3. figment: imaginary figure
My sentence:  Fairies are figment characters.

4. labyrinth = maze
Tutor's suggestion: http://www.unitync.net/images/labyrinth1.jpg
My sentence: The art gallery had an exhibition of labyrinth pictures.

(4) The speaker had hoped his comments would enlighten and inspire the audience, but the ( 2. quizzical ) expressions on their faces after his speech told him otherwise.

1.  profound  2. quizzical  3. enraptured  4. exultant

1.  profound = deep
My sentence: He has a profound knowledge of science.

2. quizzical = odd, strange or queer
My sentence: He showed us a quizzical expression on the opinion.

3. enraputred = delighted or captivated
My sentence= He was enraptured over the presents his father gave him during Christmas.

4. exultant =  /ig-ZULT- tnt/ (pronunciation) overjoy, a feeling of success, highly elated, exultant is a product of enraptured
My sentence = When I was exultant to receive the certificate when I finished the caregiver trainee course.

(5)  Although the dictator tried to ( 4. stifle ) any criticism of his policies, protests against him still occurred throughout the country.

1. churn  2. distend  3. flinch  4. stifle

Tutor's suggestion
1. churn =  (verb) violently agitate; (noun) a container for example butter, cream, milk to stir the cream https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=churn&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=za04U6f1D-euyQHAwIHIBg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=913&bih=622

2. distend = become swollen, or to expand by stretching
When we have injures, our skin becomes swollen.

3. flinch = make a quick movement
Tutor's suggestion: I flinched when I heard the bad news.  = I was very surprised about the news.

4.  stifle = [stahy-fuhl] to end with force
My sentence:  The Second World War was stifled by atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US forces.

(6)  I thought we would never finish the company's annual report on time, but a ( 2. concerted  ) effort by the whole team enabled us to meet the deadline.

1.  demure  2. concerted  3.  predestined  4. lurid

1. demure -  modest and reserved in manner or behavior, similar to shy
2. concerted - planned or accomplished together; combined, collected effort
3. predestined - destined

4. lurid - causing shock or horror, horrible; glowing or shining with the glare of fire through a haze: lurid flames.

(7)  Ryan was ( 2. distraught ) when he missed his flight to Australia, as he knew that he would no longer be able to get to his brother's wedding in time.

1. vindicated  2. distraught  3. rectified  4. enchanted

1. vindicated - to justify or prove the worth of, especially in light of later developments.

2. distraught - [dih-strawt] distracted

3. rectified - to amend

4. enchanted - under a spell; bewitched; magical, similar to surprise

(8)  Jane found herself in quite a ( 1. predicament  ) when she realized she had arranged to meet two different clients for business dinners on the same evening.

1.  predicament  2. premonition  3. rampart  4. rendition

1.  predicament - an unpleasantly difficult, perplexing, or dangerous situation

2. premonition - an early warning of a future event

3. rampart - means of protection or defense

4. rendition -  a performance of a musical or dramatic work.

 --- Please start our lesson April 3 from below.  Thank you!

(9)  Traditional haiku poems contain a "season word," a term used to (     ) the particular season in which the poem is set.

1. denote  2. provoke  3. ascribe  4. inflect

(10)  As a result of foreign immigration, the city has become a (     ) of different ethnic neighborhoods, each with its own distinctive atmosphere.

1. membrane  2. requiem  3. mosaic 4. reprieve

(11) The history society called a (     ) meeting to approve changes to its constitution.  Every one of its 500 members was asked to attend.

1. plenary  2. covetous  3. desultory  4. surreptitious

(12) Diana became (     ) when the elevator suddenly stopped between floors.  She began yelling for help, terrified she would be unable to get out.

1.  submissive  2. amenable  3. urbane  4. frantic

(13) The famous chef, concerned about the eating habits of the nation's children, is (     ) a campaign to promote healthier food in school cafeterias.

1. downplaying  2. spearheading  3. whitewashing  4. sidestepping

(14) The years leading up to the revolution were some of the most (     ) in the country's history, with frequent demonstrations, riots, and mass arrests.

1. fiscal  2. generic  3. turbulent  4. ecstatic

(15) The student remained calm when the professor criticized his conclusions, but he (     ) at the suggestion he had stolen other authors' work and left the room in anger.

1. dilated  2. bridled  3. prodded  4. chuckled

(16)  Government warplanes conducted an aerial (     ) of the rebel-held town, leaving most of the buildings in ruins.  The rebels surrendered soon after.

1. condiment 2. allusion  3. rendezvous  4. bombardment

(17)  It is clear from Wendy's apartment that she is (     ) about cleaning.  There is no dust anywhere, and everything is always exactly in its place. 

1.  meticulous  2. colloquial  3. delinquent  4. nomadic

(18)  The leader of the new religion said the government's refusal to let him build a place of worship was simple (     ).  He said such a closed-minded attitude had no place in a free society.

1. bigotry  2. empathy  3. fortitude  4. abstinence

(19) An argument over money cause a (     ) between the two friends.  They both refused to apologize, and 10 years passed before they spoke to each other again.

1.  creed  2. rift  3. pier  4. balm

(20)  The mountaineers completed a series of tough high-altitude climbs to (     ) their skills before they attempted to climb Mount Everest.

1. slash  2. chide  3. hone  4. swab

(21)  The company said it will offer (     ) to its customers for accidents caused by the defective product.  It may cost the company millions of dollars in total

1.  ardor  2. lineage  3. debris  4. redress

(22)  The leader of the volunteer group said he was pleased so many local residents had been (     ) to help clean up the city's parks.

1.  pitching in  2. bulking up  3. lashing out  4. flicking through

(23) A: (     ) it, Annette!  We'll never get this sales report done if you don't concentrate.
B: Sorry, Leonard.  I can't stop thinking about tomorrow's performance review.

1.  Get away with  2. Snap out of  3. Go back on  4. Put in for

(24)  At its annual general meeting, the company (     ) its future investment plans so that its shareholders would know what to expect.

1. forked over  2. lapped up  3. laid out  4. hemmed in

(25) Darrel was well behave until his teens.  Unfortunately, he (     ) a bad crowd in high school and was soon getting in trouble with the police.

1. fell in with  2. got down to  3. crept up on  4. bore down on

What I love about my current work

red letters ... suggested by a tutor
blue letters ... my revision after our lesson this morning

I once tried to write about what I love about online English lessons earlier this month.  However, I was able to write only 3 sentences because I don't have much use of English in my daily life.  What I really need is someone to talk to in English as I usually stay at home alone for 12 hours on weekdays. 

I checked with the local job placement office in Himeji.  One officer told me that he hasn't heard of any local companies operating import and export related businesses as I was engaged in Tokyo for 20 years.  Himeji is one of the small cities in the western part of Japan, so the environment doesn't attract such businesses.

There is not much job opportunities that requires English for a middle aged woman in a countryside like me.  Anyway, I found another topic to write about for our lessons.  How about changing the topic to "What I love about my current work?"  I am more comfortable with this topic.

I started working again as a caregiver trainee earlier this month.   I would like to express ten ways of reasons why I love my current work.

No. 1)  By visiting each individual patients' house by bike, I get to have my daily dose of exercise.  I get to learn my way around the area.  I found a convenience store located near one of my patients' house.  They sell fresh doughnuts, and I love them.

No. 2) Cooking meals for our patients is one of the services that I need to do, and because of this I learn how to cook new dishes again.  This is very challenging for me because I only cook dishes that I like at home.   

No. 3)  My grandmother used to take care of me when I was a small child.  I was very sad when she passed away when I was in my early 20s.  By providing services to elderly people, I am able to express my gratitude to my grandmother.

No. 4)  In Japan, we will have more elderly people in the near future.  Caregivers are greatly needed.  We even ask the help of Filipino and Indonesian nurses.  Working as a caregiver trainee, I am able to offer what little help I can.

No. 5)  Cleaning the patients' houses are also a part of my job.  I have to learn how to effectively manage my time because I need to finish everything within 60 minutes or so.  It gives me a chance to think how I can save time to do my house chores as well.   

No. 6)  Being a caregiver is very much in demand nowadays because of Japan's aging society.  Therefore, I will be assured of a job as long as I do it well. 

No. 7)  We have to visit our office sometimes to submit reports about our patients.  We are also required to participate in the meetings.  By doing this, we can make friends with our colleagues, and we can exchange opinions about work.

No. 8)  When our family or relatives are getting old, they may face health or mental problems.   By doing this job, we will be more prepared on.

No. 9)  Some patients are living alone and really waiting for our visit.  Some of them say "Thank you for your service today."  It makes me happy that I can be of help in my own little way.

No. 10)  Lastly, by providing services during my spare time, I can earn money to my hobbies.  I like to pay my monthly tuition to RareJob from my salary because I feel better when I talk to my tutors because they are good listeners.  I also helps me to improve my English.

Caregiver's bag

Our company provides employees who start working as caregivers with some items they may need at work.  These are new polo shirts (3 pieces each of long and short-sleeved shirts), two pieces of aprons, a hand soap set, and a versatile bag.  

I was especially happy to receive the bag because we can carry it in many ways, so I would like to show its design today.

I go to work by bike.  Oops, the bag is a little too wide for the bike's front basket.

Here is the front part of my bike.  

Then, I can turn the bag with the side on top.  I can still hold the bag using the side catch.

 



The silver line is visible at night when commuting after dark.

Car drivers can easily notice our presence.

We can also use this as a shoulder bag.  The long strap is attached to this bag.

 

The bag also has an easy catch. 

The catch helps to ease our hand when we hold it for a long time.

 

The bag also has the two straps that makes it a backpack.

I like the bag because it seems to be practical to each caregiver who commute by car or walk.

I work as a caregiver now and visit individual house to house these days. 

I put several A4 sized document files which contain maps, a service manual, and disposable plastic bag for my work.  I also put my private items such as a purse, some coins, a towel, a pair of socks, a raincoat and so on.  All of them are easily placed in this bag. 

My recent days

 I went to the police station to renew my driver's license last February 20.

On the way, I saw a want ad on bulletin boards seeking licenced caregivers or caregiver trainees.  The ad was posted by the group company where I had earned my care giver trainee licence two years ago.

The ad was impressive to me so I called one of their offices in my neigborhood and asked if they were also looking for licenced caregivers or trainees.  They said yes, and asked if I was interested in having a job interview.  I didn't know if I could do well in that position but I was curious about it so I asked them to set up an interview with me as soon as possible.   

I went to the interview the following week, and talked about the job in details.  I was very happy when I was informed that I was hired the very next day.  I was also told that I needed to submit two pictures, my blood test result, and my residential document for the employment.

Therefore, I went to a studio to have my picture taken, a hospital for the blood test, and a city office for my residential certification.  It took me a whole week to prepare all of them.

The next week I called the office and I had a meeting for my new job.  I told them I can work at individual elderly houses within a range of 15-minute bike ride from my place.  I would like to work no longer than 4 hours a day.  Then, they provided me some work assignment.

I started working for them on March 13. 

Today, March 20, is the day after a month has passed since I found the ad.   I am planning to go to the police station today to pick up my renewed driver's licence.

My daily schedule has begun changing.  Hopefully, I am expecting more jobs in a few weeks.

It seems challenging, but I think working for elderly people who need daily help would be something very valuable.

For example, one of my male patients who lives alone has a problem with his right hand.  He has some troubles in cooking, folding his clothes, and cleaning his apartment.    He asks us many things because we only pay him a visit one hour thrice a week.

I would like to offer some of my spare time for daily work for elderly people in my neighborhood through working.

A yellow budgerigar with black eyes

Last Sunday, March 10, I went to shopping to buy some food for my pet birds.  

 

My husband usually drives me to get there, but he had to work that day, so I went there alone by trains.

When I arrived at the pet corner, I noticed there was a yellow budgerigar with black eyes.  I had some yellow budgerigar with red eyes before.  They were cute, however, budgies with red eye seems to be weaker.  In my experience, they tend to have shorter life span compared with those  with black eyes.

I wanted to take the yellow budgie at home that day, but gave up at the same time because my hands were already full after shopping.  I also had to go back by train so I was afraid the young bird which weighs only about 30 grams might die or crush inside my bag.  Actually I had to walk to the station for 20 minutes, get on the train for 5 minutes, wait on the platform for 15 minutes, get on another train for 10 minutes, and cycling for 10 minutes.  That also may mean the young bird cannot tolerate the cold temperature outside at 15 degrees Celsius these days. 

 

I told my husband about the unique yellow budgie that night, and he got interested to see it.  He drove me there two days later when he had a holiday.

 

Immediately after seeing it, he liked the color, and we brought it to our house.  It was only 15 minutes from the pet shop by car.  It was also warm enough for the bird inside the car. 

 

I felt lucky because I have never seen the combination of colors, fully yellow feathers and black eyes, before throughout my 20-year experience as an owner of budgerigars.  When it came to our house,  it weighed at 32 grams that day.

 

I'm not sure whether this bird is male or female, but my husband guessed that it is a female bird.

She has fully yellow feathers.  But when we look at her carefully, she has some light green feathers.

 

 

The color of budgerigar’s nose determines its gender.

After six months or so, the nose color will be clearer to determine the gender.

 

Bright pink budgerigars would be male while pale pink would be female.

My white bird, which is male, has pink nose.  The yellow one looks just like the same.

 

 

I monitor her weight every day to see if she is eating proper amount of food;
less than 25 grams means budgies has serious condition to recover.

 

 

At the pet shop, I noticed that she likes to bite the straws which were placed for making the floor warm.  We also bought a pack of straws at the pet shop and placed some in her cage.

The next day after we brought her, she weighed only 28 grams.
 I have been checking the temperature because young budgerigars easily dies
when the temperature is too cold, which causes them to lose their appetite.

Budgerigar's body temperature is about 40 degrees, and we are supposed to keep
young birds in a warm place such as 28 degrees or so.  I put a pet warmer device beside
the cage when she came to our place, but I was thinking if this is enough.  
I'm worried about it.

 

I often use stick type food to my other birds (one cockatiel and two other budgerigars), so I tried to give her the stick type food and food in a plastic container. 

 However, she didn't realize that the stick was her food for the first 2 days.  

Maybe she thought it is another kind of straw.  

 

Finally, I found that she ate the stick voraciously on the third day.

Maybe she finally noticed it was her food. 

I was glad to find that she weighed 30 grams today.

 

The picture shows comparison of the stick type seeds: before and after eating.

We hope that she will gain more weight as much as 35 grams or so because that is the budgerigar's average weight.

What I love about my online English lessons.

Online English lessons relives me of loneliness.

1)  I I live in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, a countryside in the western part of Japan.

2) My husband leaves our place to work at 6:00 a.m. and comes back around 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.

3) Therefore, During the hours, I usually stay home alone most of the time.

4) I feel lonely sometimes.

5) I used to visit a women's office close to Himeji Station every other Friday.

6) The female staff who I met there was very nice because she always listened to me during the 50-minute meeting. 

7) The service is provided by the local municipal office for free women only.

8) I may have been able to meet her more often, such as twice a week, but I did not.

9) After two years of our meetings, the time came when she was ordered to leave the office after completing her 3-year working contract.

10)  I chose to abandon using the service anyfurther when she left the office because our local bus services are not convenient.  

Local bus service schedule
 (leaving my nearest bus stop to Himeji station for weekdays)
6:41, 7:05, 8:18, 8:47, 9:25, 10:39, 11:55, 13:39, 14:55, 16:09, 17:25, 18.28, 19:28, 20:24

(leaving Himeji Station to my nearest bus stop)
6:35, 7:45, 8:00, 8:55, 9:55, 11:25, 12:55, 14:25, 15:25, 16:55, 17:55, 18:55, 19:55, 20:55

11) I used to meet her at the office at 14:00, which meant that I take the 11:55 a.m. and arrive at the station at 12:10. 

12) After killing time to get around shopping centers, I met her at 14:00 and talked until 14:50.

13)  I hurriedly got on the 15:25 bus, and arrived home before 16:00.
  
14)  I feel inconvenient living in a countryside as I used to live in Tokyo metropolitan area where there are many "paper drivers" live becacuse the subway services and Japan Rail way services are excellent. 

15) If I miss catching a train in Tokyo, I didn't have to wait for the next train no more than 5-minute or so.

16) Online English service is excellent for me because there are many tutors who tries to listen to me just like the female staff at the women's office.

17) Not only imploving English skills, but also I can save a lot of time taking the bus services.

Preposition Exercises for our lesson Mar. 14

During the lesson, my tutor was great for offering me good grammer exercises for prepositions.  I was very shocked to find that I made so many mistakes in filling the answers.   There were 20 questions, and half of my asnwers, 10 were incorrect.  I should be more careful for basic grammatial rules.

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bold ... I was able to put correct answers. 
(parentheses) ... I was not able to put correct answers.  Red letters were the correct answers.
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About a third of all women in the European Union have experienced violence (at in ) some time in their life. A survey (from by) the European Union Agency (for of) Fundamental Rights found that around 62 million women (over at ) the age of 15 have experienced physical or sexual violence. The agency interviewed over 42,000 women (across in) Europe. The women gave details (about of) violence at home and at work. This included domestic abuse, rape, stalking, sexual harassment and online bullying. The survey found that 22 per cent of women suffered (from some) violence by a husband or boyfriend. It also found that 67 per cent of the women did not report serious domestic violence to the police.

The EU said that laws have to change to protect women. They want to make domestic violence a public offence. At the moment police in many countries cannot stop domestic violence because it happens (in to) the home. The agency's director said the violence (against to) women shows there is, "an extensive human rights abuse" in all EU countries. He added: "These survey figures simply cannot and should not be ignored." He said violence against women was a huge problem that affects everyone, saying: "The enormity of the problem is proof that violence against women does not just impact a few women only. It impacts (on in) society every day." The agency said there was a strong link between alcohol and the violence.                                            

For our lesson of Breaking News English (8th March, 2014)

I arranged my sentences for assignment of our next lesson.

1.  lived with

There is always someone who says rude (or unkind words) to for someone, but each employees are supposed to lived with them.   (get along with  / dealing with )

2.  survey

I participate in the daily online survey questionnaires which are surveyed by my credit card company.  By answering the questionaires them, I get some points in to my credit card.  By doing that, I get discount The point helps to discount the items when shopping online.


3.  cyber

We use the Internet more and more these days.  We must be careful so that we won't be victimized by  involved in cyber crimes.  

4.  offence

In general, we should not offence our parents but we proceed our lives by ourselves.
(Not a good idea!  Need to change the sentence completely.)

Pickpocketing some products is a major offence in this area.

5.  proof

I went to our grocery store with a proof that I collected 30 points seals from of a bread company yesterday.

With the exchange of the proof, I was given a shopping bag as an exchange.

The French words "Ca sera trop drole!" means "It will be fun."  

6.  link

I sent you my blog link, so that you can see my updates of daily life living.
7.  safeguard

DoCoMo is one of the Japan's Japanese largest cellphone companies.  They offer safeguards for children's cellphones so that they cannot access adult sites.  no able to look at adult sites.

8. evidence

My husband was offered from some company's for a bouquet for his event a week ago.  In return, my husband sent him a box of cookies yesterday as evidence token of kindness thankfulness.

Evidence is not a proper word in the sentence above.  The word "token" sounds more natural.
Make another different sentence. 

From a sample sentence from Eijiro online dictionary,
quote
I hope you will regard this as evidence of my esteem.
unquote

from the Breaking News English Article (6th February, 2014)

I read the article (please click here) for the preparation of RareJob lesson today. 

The lesson material was very enjoyable to me.  I also listened the news approx. 2-minute recording.

The followings are my answers of 1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Childcare is now more expensive than weekly bills for U.K. homes. (F) According to the article, they didn't show any weekly bills for UK homes.
b.	Childcare in some parts of the UK has increased by nearly 13%. (T) They say that nursery, in another word childcare, have risen by 13% in the past year.  Tutor's revision: They say that nursery or childcare fees, have risen by 13% in the past year.
c.	Nursery costs in the UK have risen by more than 13% in the past year. (F) They didn't say the whole area in the U.K., but in some parts of the country. Tutor's revision: but only in some parts of UK
d.	A report said there are too many nursery places in the U.K. (F)  They said an insufficient number of places in nurseries, which means nursery schools are not enough.   Original source  http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/nursery-world/news/1142471/childcare-fees-mortgage-rise-slows
e.	The article suggests the report could deter couples from having kids. (T)  Yes, I think so.  The article says would-be parents think twice about starting a family because they are required to pay more on childcare these days. New Vocabulary deter ... (from sth/ from doing sth) to make somebody decide not to do something or continue doing something, especially by making them understand the difficulties and unpleasant results of their actions.
f.	Average UK childcare costs over $500 more a year than housing loans. (T) This is true because the article says that an average of $12,571 is spent on childcare while housing loan payments is only $12,000.
g.	The report's figures included the costs of food and clothes for children. (F)  They say the report said the figures of them are not included.
h.	The head of a UK childcare agency said the UK system was fantastic. (F)   No. I don't think so.  The system is not attractive to young couples who want to start a family.  They have to spend more money on child care, so Jill Rutter says "the system isn't fit for the purpose".  2.  Make sentences using certain words. PROSPECTIVE (My sentences) He is a prospective buyer because he inquired about our products many times.  OBVIOUS (My sentence) You are obviously a good tutor to everyone because many students enjoy your lessons. OUTSTRIPPING (Tutor's sentence) Our company is outstripping me of my rights. meaning the company pays less than they should do. (Longman Dictionary's sentences) Speeding at 90 mph, Denny outstripped police cars for an hour. Demand for new aircraft production is outstripping supply. (My sentence) My sister belonged to a high school's athlete's club.  She outstripped everyone who participated in the parents' sports activity competition in school last week. My opinion (1) For young working couples, why don't the government suggest that the government or municipal offices offer some subsidies such as burdening half of school fee or nursery payment? (2) I also suggest that companies establish day care center or nursery close to the company building so that the employees can ask their children to take care of during their work.  The company should provide such service with lower payment compare to other facilities in their neighborhood.

Read more: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1403/140306-childcare.html#ixzz2vE0Nrrnq

My Saint Paulia flowers

No.1

 No.2

 The same pot of No.2, but the flower has more deep color.

 No. 3

 The same pot as above.  We can see more flowers of it.  

 No. 4

 The same flower as above