Entry 1- Nguyễn Bích Khuê

1/ Understanding cartoons
 source:(http://www.google.com.vn/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=lik&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=598&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=gaWBTACE1K7VwM:&imgrefurl=http://funnycollectionworld.blogspot.com/2012/03/funny-cartoons-joke-very-funny.html&docid=6UEnlRpEvQhomM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZVpq9HpIsHR8lSZVRHD526G-SHlfyIvPB_K0rS7KakqSWz2sXW8tjS7qiU9DwZ2MLMfLJcycPqTZEyISEe-HKiI3_Hv_p9IlOkHMYYhhNkGZCO8By_EojR6BUqlLVuqIuc6fEz5cKfoo/s1600/Funny%252BCartoons%252BJoke%252B(4).jpg&w=400&h=321&ei=LzJVUKemHYbwrQeA3oGoCQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=2&sig=103399167249063442649&page=1&tbnh=110&tbnw=137&start=0&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:139&tx=357&ty=246 ) 

The woman throws a coin into the well, wishing for less work and more money => She wants a break from her busy burdensome life.

The woman turns into a man => Man has more money and his life is more relaxing.

All in all, there is an imbalance between man and woman in term of job payment and household chores responsibility.

2/  Paradoxes

“ Experiences is the name that everyone gives to his mistakes” – Oscar Wilde

The author Oscar Wilde used paradox in this quotation.

Experience is the knowledge and skill that you have gained through doing something for a period of time. While Mistake is an action or an opinion that is not correct, or that produces a result that you did not want. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

There are 2 ways of understanding this saying. The first one is that through mistakes, one can learn a lot of things which can help improve oneself. Thus, one can call mistakes experiences. The second view might be more pessimistic. One can take advantages of the thought that making mistakes means he will have more experiences. He would keep failing at doing things, keep creating “experiences”.

3/ Rhyme

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

Reaping and singing by herself

Stop here, or gently pass!

Alone she cuts and binds the grain,

And sings a melancholy strain;

O listen! for the vale profound

Is overflowing with the sound.

( William Wordsworth- English Literature course book page 57)

 These are Terminal thyme or End-rhyme