Passive/Active Voice

1.Joanne was delayed by a client when she was leaving the office.
2. A meeting was being held by the tennis club at 6.30.
3. Sheba,the dog,blocked the doorway.
4. Sheba had to be taken to the vet.
5. The vet was worried by her condition.
6. The vet treated the dog while Joanne went home.
7. Joanne was told to get out of the house.
8. Joanne was confused by the telephone call.
9. The burglar was captured by the police.
10. His fingers had been bitten off by the dog.

1. Those bottles cannot be easily opened by children.
2. A road was built right outside her front door by the government.
3. The antique vase was broken by Mr. Ross as he walked through the store.
4. The changes amazed her when she arrived.
5. Street repairs are being made by the construction workers all month long.
6. His retirement will be celebrated by the party.
7. His oral exam was being discussed by his professors in front of him.
8. The homemade cookies were eaten by my son.
9. The hull of the ship was damaged by corrosion.
10. While I was there the old homestead were being visited by some children.

Chapter 4: The Gene Machine

This chapter talks about the different characteristics a gene needs to have in order to survive. There are many similarities with machines and computer. Therefore Dawkins who loves metaphors uses them for comparison.

"Behavior is the trick of rapid movement which has been largely exploited by the animal branch of survival machines" (page 47). Sometimes gene cooperate with each other in order to survive (co-evolution). This is a behaviour.

The timing of our muscle contractions is controlled by our neurones. Only living things that have to move in order to survive have neurones (plants don't). Neurones are cells with a longer, thinner wire-like projections. Sense organs are controlled by neurones and having this favours living things in the process of natural selection.

In order to function consciousness is needed. Machines or living things need to be motivated. Negative feedback is the fundamental principle which consists in measuring "the discrepancy between a current state of things, and the 'desired' state" (page 50). One form is the Watt governor. Genes act this way in living things. They don't act for their survival machines they just instruct us. They do "general prediction", for example the thick and white fur a polar bear has. When this generalizations are correct the 'machine' survives and propagates those same genes"(page 56). Genes exert ultimate power over behaviour.

Chapter 3: The Inmortal Coil

The hardest chapter up till now has been this one. The other two are a simple introduction to the huge and difficult world of genetics. There are many important terms mentioned for the first time in chapter three and it is very important to define them. There is also a more complete definition for the word gene that I think is very important to write down.

Dawkins changes the metaphor he has been using. Pages no longer fulfills to represent the gene because it starts to break down. Therefore he uses a ticker tape.

The immortal coil is the DNA. "It consists of a pair of nucleotide chains twisted twisted together in an elegant spiral" (page 22). There are four types of nucleotides and every living thing has them in a different sequence. Human beings have 46 chromosomes divided into 23 pairs. One of the mother and one of the father.

A gene can be recessive when it is ignored and dominant. Two genes that are rivals are known as alleles.

Mitosis takes place when a cell divides into two. Meiosis is different because it only occurs in the sex cells and it only contains 23 chromosomes.

A cistron encodes the information of when to start and when to stop.

Genetic unit is "a length of chromosome"(page 29). The smaller it is, the more probable it is that you share it with someone else.

"A point mutation is an error corresponding to a single misprinted letter in a book" (page 31).

Inversion is another form of mutation that occurs when a piece of chromosome detaches rotates and reattaches.

Therefore Dawkins states that the gene is the basic unit because it has longevity, fecundity, copying fidelity,and it is almost indivisible. He the goes back to his original topic of selfishness and altruism and says that altruism is a bad characteristic and that genes are the first to be selfish.

Sexual reproduction vs. non-sexual reproduction....Evolution.

Chapter 2: The Replicators (Page 12-20)

In chapter 2 Dawkins explains his theory of the beginning of life and how Darwinism is applied. He believed it all starts very simply and then it becomes more complex. Dawkins said that the most stable things are those who stay. Therefore instead of being 'the survival of the fittest' it is 'the survival of the stable'. He describes the Haemoglobin molecule to illustrate the principle that atoms tend to fall into stable patterns . Therefore, he concludes that "the earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones"(page 13).

So then after a long, long time the 'replicator' which is a molecule that can copy itself is created and this provides stabilization. Dawkins calls this the 'primeval soup'. For the first time and error leads to improvement. When the 'replicator' copies itself wrongly a new type is created and sometimes this new one is stronger and better. There are also times when it is worst and in this case it probably extincts because 'the survival of the fittest' has already began.

The example of what comes out of an error that Dawkins uses is incredible. I never new that such a dumb mistake of translation could create a huge thing that still affects women and has created a judgment for 'good' and 'bad' women. If it weren't because of this mistake virginity wouldn't be such a big deal and the mentality of the women would probably be completely different.

But anyways, the survival of the replicators depended on "the individual molecule lasted a long time, or they replicated rapidly, or they replicated accurately" (page 18). But like the world is not infinite there is a final factor that affected the evolution of the replicator, competition. So Dawkins believed that this lead the replicators to build 'survival machines' and this machines ended up being our body and mind, and the replicators are now our genes.

This is a very satisfying and complete theory of how the world became what it is right now and how we began. I enjoy Dawkins way of writing and the organization of each of his chapters.

Chapter 1: Why are people?

Richard Dawkins introduces his theory of evolution. He begins explaining how it all starts with Darwinism. Evolution consists on the 'survival of the fittest'. Then he defines selfishness and altruism in the living things, and combines them to finally conclude that our genes are in the competition to survive.

Altruism is the act of risking oneself for the well being of another, and selfishness is exactly the opposite. But for Dawkins altruism is "really selfishness in disguise"(page 4). The examples he gives about the two concepts make them look very different. However, he believes that "anything that has evolved by natural selection should be selfish"(page 4). Darwinism spoke of 'the survival of the species' Dawkins modified it to 'the survival of the gene'. When a living thing has an altruist behavior it is risking himself for the rest of his species, therefore even if he dies he is doing it selfishly for the rest of his species. The selfishness stops being individual. I would describe it by saying: 'I am selfish for us'. The example that called my attention the most was the mother and her child. She will most probably risk her life for her baby, but the truth is that she is protecting the reproduction of her species. She is acting selfishly because she wants this baby to live so it can grow and reproduce. I was also amazed when I compared the example of the soldiers and the kamikaze fighter bees. They risk their lives to save the honey for the community just as the soldiers risk theirs for their people.

I completely agree with the theory of the selfish gene and I think it is a logic interpretation of how the living things work. I also enjoyed reading this first chapter because Dawkins gives a brief but complete introduction of what the selfish gene is.

PARAPHRASE, SUMMARY AND QOUTING

QUOTATION Roger Sipher describes the public school situation by quoting "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink".

PARAPHRASING There will be various consequences if the rule of attending class is ended. Going to school will be completely optional therefore the students are responsible for their learning. Apart from that students who aren´t willing to learn are going to be able to skip class, so those who like to learn will enjoy a better environment.

SUMMARY Roger Sipher believes that schools have tried to fullfill all the formation of the students, but they are not prepared for this function so they fail.

PARAPHRASING

1. Jacques Cousteau said that as well as the provider of heat is the sun, the provider of cold on Earth is the Antarctic and it deeply affects the climate. The surface water and the atmosphere cool thanks to the merge of the cold water that flows from the Antarctic and the warmer water in the tropics, but human activity is putting this process in danger.

2. Drinking was prohibited in the twenties, but people bended the law and knew where to get alcohol. The police had no power therefore organized crime ruled the cities. Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie took over with jazz music and classical music was left aside. “America´s break with the past” was symbolized by the bobbed hair and short skirt of the flapper.

3. Three fourths of the1000 bicycling deaths every year are caused by head injuries, and young children compose half of these deaths. By absorbing the shock and cushioning the head, bike helmets reduce the risk of head injury 85 percent.