Comprehending English text

Comprehending English text CHAPTER 1 1.0 Introduction Reading ability is a very important element in a higher education level. Since English has become the lingua franca or the language of all regions, students of a higher education as in the tertiary level must be able to read and comprehend English text. Reading is a vital for an individual especially students of a higher education for many reasons. Reading is done by most people in order to obtain information, to make decision or for pleasure. Professionals too read to expand their knowledge and skills. Hence, the ability to read well is a valuable asset because any act either education professional or less need at least some reading ability. Furthermore, tremendous quantity of reading material makes the reading possible. However, if an individual can read but could not understand the meaning of what he has read, then the reading served no purpose to him. In fact, he will face a lot of problem in order to acquire information. Since reading skill plays a major role in education, great emphasis is given towards this skill started from the early school. Knowledge in most cases is imparted through printed material. Therefore, in order to have an effective teaching learning atmosphere, the students should be able to read and comprehend English text. Same goes when the students are in the higher education level, reading is still one most important skill to be mastered as there are thousands of education source are written in English. Reading is an active mental process which deals with interaction between readers and the text. A good reader is hypothesized as who are not only able to comprehend the text as a whole but are also who are able to employ various skills such as scanning, skimming, locating information, predicting, understanding, sequencing and interfering while comprehending the text. Weak readers on the other hand may only read the text where they can only understand the text at the surface level. 1.1 Background Of The Problem Difficulties in comprehending English text within Malaysian students have occurred so many years ago. In order for them to excel in the higher education level as in the tertiary level depends very much on their ability to read and comprehend text because reading is a fundamental asset for every individual. Brunan W.K (1980) for instant defines reading as a two way interaction in which information is exchange between the reader and the author. From many researches done, it shows that there are a lot of difficulties faced by Malaysian students and also by the native speakers in comprehending English text. This happen caused by several factors or problems that contribute to the difficulty of comprehending text such as low vocabularies, different social background knowledge, sentence length and also the term used. Based on my own experience, I am facing with students who are having this kind of problem, difficulties in comprehending English text. This happen when they are given a text written in English such as journals by their lecturer as the material was the source of the subject matter, they rather ask me or some students who are good in English to translate the text into Malay language. This shows that they are having problem in comprehending English text. I do believe that they can read but what makes them refuse to read is because they cant understand or comprehend the text. 1.2 Problem Statement This problem arises when the students read English text or materials but could not be able to comprehend them. They simply could not get the essence or the main idea of the writing which would be very problematic when it comes to the higher education level. From my own observation which is concern with some UPSI students of different courses such as Sport science, Science, Business Study and Counseling, it was initiated that they are having problem in comprehending English text even though most of the references regarding the courses are most found in English language. As a result of having problem in comprehending English text, they face other difficulties when carrying out assignments or presentations. In order for them to understand and comprehend the text, they need the text to be translated into Malay Language as Malay language is their first language. People with a good language of English will be chosen as their translator. Hence their English skill will never develop. This is a very serious matter because they could not comprehend English text. It means that they are having problem with their reading skills. This study is necessary to find the difficulties faced by the students of various courses studying in a tertiary level at Sultan Idris Education University and it is hoped that this study will help the teachers as well as the students of how to handle these difficulties. 1.3 Purpose of The Study The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties faced by the students of various courses studying in a tertiary level at Sultan Idris Education University in comprehending English text. This is because being able to understand English text is necessary since English language is concerned to be the language used in most of the reference books. This study will also help teachers to know what are the difficulties that actually faced by the students and it is hoped that this difficulties can be eased to enhance students reading ability. I will analyze and look what are the problems faced by the students and what strategies that they do in order to overcome that problem. From the data gained, some suggestions will be added in contributing to the diminution of the problem. 1.4 Research Questions There are three questions that need to be answered as a guide throughout the study as well as a means for the data collection. The research questions are as follows: What are the main problems faced by the students in comprehending English text? What strategies they use to understand the English text? How do these difficulties effect on their study? 1.5 Theoretical Framework In this study, I am using two (2) theories that match the topic of difficulties in reading comprehension. The first theory is the schema theory which is based on the assumption that the readers prior knowledge directly impacts new learning situations. In schema theory the concept of Schema has been used to understand the major factor that affecting comprehension process. The concept of schema comprising of knowledge about concept, concepts: objects and the relationships they have with other objects, situations, events, sequences of events, actions, and sequences of actions. The schema theory is relevant to this study as the study investigate the difficulties faced by students in comprehending English reading text. In this context the readers knowledge about the topic is to be considered as the existed prior knowledge of the reader. According to the theory the existed prior knowledge on their first language (L1) will be used in comprehending reading text in their second language (L2) which is English. The second theory that will be used in this study is interactive approach by Grabe (1991). According to Grabe in his interactive approach model, interaction occurred between the reader and the text whereby the reader constructs meaning based partly on the knowledge drawn from the text and partly from the existing background knowledge that the reader has. This theory is suitable for the study as the study was aimed to investigate how students deal with the reading difficulties that they encounter. 1.6 Significance of the Study This study is beneficial to certain group of people because it might help them in some aspect of learning and teaching. This study is relevant as a guide for teachers in school to be prepared for some possibilities they might face in teaching their students. Besides that, this study will also give brief suggestions to the students on how they can deal with such a problem in reading. It is hope that from this study, the students will be much aware about their weaknesses and try to overcome and improve the weaknesses. University students are the most targeted group to view this study as it provides them with suggestions regarding problems in reading English text. The suggestion might help them to become a better reader and excel in their field. 1.7 Limitation of the Study In this study, there are several limitations that might occur. In order to get the data, I will use two methods. Those methods involve quantitative and qualitative design. For the quantitative design, I am going to distribute questionnaires for them to answer. The qualitative design on the other hand involves interviewing some respondent and it will be carried out verbally. I might have problem regarding data collection. Firstly, the data gathered from the questionnaires might not be as perfect as I wanted them to be. This is simply because the subjects are students of other courses that I am not familiar with. There is a tendency that they might simply answer the questionnaire without really focusing on the issue. This is something that usual to happen when questionnaires are being distributed. Besides that, I might have to face the risk that the questionnaires returned to me will not be as the same number as I have distributed them at the first place. Another limitation that I might face is from the interview. The respondent might not be able to communicate in English very well. As for that, a mixture of Malay language and English will be use in the interview. The idea is to get the information regarding the problem.

Essay --

Carly Starkin Psychology Mrs. True January 9th, 2014 Quarter Project- The Glass Castle The memoir The Glass Castle stood out greatly to me when I was given synopses of our book choices for this project. I have a great interest in family dynamics and how a child’s upbringing could potentially affect him or her. I am also interested in mental disorders, although no particular disorder is specified in the book. Another reason why I chose this book was because I have a relative who has alcoholism and I have become increasingly interested on this terrible disease. Upon opening this inspiring memoir and reading the first few chapters, I was immediately drawn in. The Glass Castle taught me one very important thing about children who are growing up in an extremely dysfunctional household- they do not always turn out as messed up as their parents or guardians. In fact, the author, Jeannette Walls, actually turned out extremely well. She is a successful writer and journalist and seems to be happy with her life. She has showed me that carrying around some serious baggage does not always stop a person from reaching the top. In the memoir, Walls’ parents are extremely selfish and have no morals. There is little to no love shown to Walls and her siblings, forcing them to mature faster than they should have. For example, she had to cook her own food at the young age of three. If I had known nothing about Walls’ success upon reading this memoir, I would never have assumed that she is a bestselling author and big-name journalist. I do not think that Jeannette Walls wanted to share the story of her life with people for the purpose of entertainment. I believe her main focus was to give hope for people who are growing up impoverished or who have a... ...nly parties of one. No one wants to hear about how horrible your day was. Instead, it is always a better conversation when a happy event is being discussed. The Glass Castle definitely relates to psychology. Rex, the father, is an alcoholic. After learning about alcoholism in class, I certainly had a better understanding of why he kept going back to the bottle time after time. The mind of someone suffering from drug addiction or alcoholism is certainly a subject that is being studied in psychology classrooms and labs all over the world. The book is full of mental illness, some of which can be tied to nurture, some to nature. Jeannette Walls’ success can be tied to personal choice because she made decisions about her lifestyle that were not influenced by her upbringing. This is definitely a great book to discuss in a psychology class and I hope we get to do so.

A Dirty Job Chapter 20

20 ATTACK OF THE CROCODILE GUY It was a brutally hot night in the City, and everyone had their windows open. From the roof across the alley, the spy could see the little girl happily splashing away in a tub full of suds, the two giant hounds sitting just outside the tub licking shampoo from her hand and belching bubbles as she screeched with glee. â€Å"Sophie, don't feed the puppies soap, okay?† The shopkeeper's voice from another room. â€Å"Okay, Dad. I won't. I'm not a kid, you know,† she said, pouring more strawberry-kiwi shampoo into her palm and holding it out for one of the dogs to lick. A cloud of fragrant bubbles burped out of the beast, through the bars of the window, and out into the still air over the alley. The hounds were the problem, but if the spy had his timing right, he'd be able to take care of them and get to the child without interference. In the past he'd been an assassin, a bodyguard, a kickboxer, and most recently a certified fiberglass-insulation installer – skills that could serve him well in his current mission. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. He wore a black silk tuxedo, but no shoes – his feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He rolled the large Persian rug to the edge of the roof and waited; then, just as he had planned, he heard, â€Å"Sweetie, I'm going to take the trash out, I'll be right back.† â€Å"Okay, Dad.† Funny how the illusion of security can make us careless, the spy thought. No one would leave a young child alone in the bath unattended, but the company of two canine bodyguards wouldn't make her unattended, would it? He waited, and the shopkeeper emerged from the steel door downstairs carrying two trash bags. He seemed momentarily thrown off by the fact that the Dumpster, which was normally right outside the door, had been moved down the alley twenty feet or so, but shrugged, kicked the door wide, and while it hissed slowly shut on its pneumatic cylinder, he dashed for the Dumpster. That's when the spy sent the rug off the roof. The rug unrolled as it fell the four stories. Unfurled, it hit the shopkeeper with a substantial thud and drove him to the ground. In the bathroom, the huge dogs perked up. One let out a woof of caution. The spy already had the first bolt in his crossbow. Now he let it fly – nylon line hissed out and the bolt hit the rug with a thump, penetrating the rug and probably the shopkeeper's calf, effectively pinning him under the rug, perhaps even to the ground. The shopkeeper screamed. The great hounds dashed out of the bathroom. The spy loaded another bolt, attached it to the free end of the nylon line attached to the first bolt, then fired it through another section of the rug below. The shopkeeper continued to shout, but with the heavy rug pinned over him, he couldn't move. As the spy loaded his third bolt the hounds burst through the doorway into the alley. The third bolt wasn't attached to a line, but had a wicked titanium-spiked tip. The spy aimed at the pneumatic cylinder on the door, hit it, and the door slammed shut, locking the hounds in the alley. He'd practiced this a dozen times in his mind, and it was all going exactly as planned. The front doors to the shop and the apartment building had been Super Glued shut before he'd come up on the roof – no easy job getting that done without being seen. His fourth shot put a bolt in the window frame over the hall window. The bars on the bathroom were too narrow, but he knew that the shopkeeper would have left the door to the apartment open. He attached a carabiner to the nylon line and slid silently down the line to the window ledge. He unclipped, then squeezed through the bars and dropped to the floor in the hallway. He kept close to the hall walls, taking careful, exaggerated steps to keep his toenails from catching on the carpet. He could smell onions cooking in a nearby apartment and hear the child's voice coming from the door down the hall, which he could see was open, if only a crack. â€Å"Dad, I'm ready to get out! Dad, I'm ready to get out!† He paused at the doorway, peeked into the apartment. He knew the child would scream when she saw him – his jagged teeth, the claws, his cold black eyes. He would see to it that her screams were short-lived, but nobody could remain calm in the face of his fearsomeness. Of course, the fearsome effect was somewhat reduced by the fact that he was only fourteen inches tall. He pushed the door open, but as he stepped into the apartment something grabbed him from behind, yanking him off his feet, and in spite of his training and stealth skills, he screamed like a flaming wood duck. Someone had Super Glued the key slot in the back door and Charlie had snapped his key off trying to get it open. There was some kind of arrow stuck on a string through the back of his leg and it hurt like hell – blood was filling up his shoe. He didn't know what had happened, but he knew it wasn't good that the hellhounds were bouncing around him whimpering. He pounded the door with both fists. â€Å"Open the goddamn door, Ray!† Ray opened the door. â€Å"What?† The hellhounds knocked them both down going through the door. Charlie jumped to his feet and limped after them, up the steps. Ray followed. â€Å"Charlie, you're bleeding.† â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Wait, you're dragging some kind of line. Let me cut it.† â€Å"Ray, I've got to go – â€Å" Before Charlie could finish his sentence, Ray had pulled a knife from his back pocket, flicked it open, and cut the nylon line. â€Å"Used to carry this on the job to cut seat belts and stuff.† Charlie nodded and headed up the steps. Sophie was standing in the kitchen, wrapped in a mint-green bath towel, shampoo horns still protruding from her head – she looked like a small, soapy version of the Statue of Liberty. â€Å"Dad, where were you? I wanted to get out.† â€Å"Are you okay, honey?† He knelt in front of her and smoothed down her towel. â€Å"I needed help on the rinse. That's your responsibility, Dad.† â€Å"I know, honey. I'm a horrible father.† â€Å"Okay – † Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, Ray.† Ray was topping the steps, holding a bloody arrow on the end of a string. â€Å"Charlie, this went through your leg.† Charlie turned and looked at his calf for the first time, then sat on the floor, sure that he was going to pass out. â€Å"Can I have it?† Sophie said, picking up the arrow. Ray grabbed a dish towel from the counter and pressed it on Charlie's wound. â€Å"Hold this on it. I'll call 911.† â€Å"No, I'm okay,† Charlie said, pretty sure now he was going to throw up. â€Å"What happened out there?† Ray said. â€Å"I don't know, I was – â€Å" Someone in the building started screaming like they were being deep-fried. Ray's eyes went wide. â€Å"Help me up,† Charlie said. They ran through the apartment and out into the hall – the screaming was coming from the stairwell. â€Å"Can you make it?† Ray said. â€Å"Go. Go. I'm with you.† Charlie steadied himself against Ray's shoulder and hopped up the stairs behind him. The harsh screaming coming from Mrs. Ling's apartment had dwindled to pleas for help in English, peppered with swearing in Mandarin. â€Å"No! Shiksas! Help! Back! Help!† Charlie and Ray found the diminutive Chinese matron backed against her stove by Alvin and Mohammed, swinging a cleaver at them to keep them at bay while they barked salvos of strawberry-kiwi-flavored bubbles at her. â€Å"Help! Shiksas try to take supper,† said Mrs. Ling. Charlie saw the stockpot steaming on the stove, a pair of duck feet sticking out of it. â€Å"Mrs. Ling, is that duck wearing trousers?† She looked quickly, then turned and took a swipe at the hellhounds with the cleaver. â€Å"Could be,† she said. â€Å"Down, Alvin. Down, Mohammed,† Charlie commanded, which the hellhounds ignored completely. He turned to Ray. â€Å"Ray, would you go get Sophie?† The ex-cop, who felt himself the master of all situations chaotic, said, â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"They won't back off unless she tells them to. Go get her, okay.† Charlie turned to Mrs. Ling. â€Å"Sophie will call them off, Mrs. Ling. I'm sorry.† Mrs. Ling had been considering her dinner. She tried to shove the duck feet under the broth with her cleaver, but to little effect. â€Å"Is ancient Chinese recipe. We don't tell White Devils about it so you don't ruin it. You hear of paper-wrap chicken? This duck in pants.† The hellhounds growled. â€Å"Well, I'm sure it's delicious,† Charlie said, leaning against her fridge so he didn't fall over. â€Å"You bleeding, Mr. Asher.† â€Å"Yes, I am,† Charlie said. Ray arrived, carrying the towel-wrapped Sophie. He set her down. â€Å"Hi, Mrs. Ling,† Sophie said, then she stepped out of her towel, went to the hellhounds, and grabbed them by their collars. â€Å"You guys didn't rinse,† she said. Then, buck naked, her hair still in shampoo spikes, Sophie led the hellhounds out of Mrs. Ling's apartment. â€Å"Uh, someone shot you, boss,† Ray said. â€Å"Yes, they did,† said Charlie. â€Å"You should get medical attention.† â€Å"Yes, I should,† Charlie said. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slid down the front of Mrs. Ling's refrigerator. Charlie spent the entire night in the emergency room of St. Francis Memorial waiting for treatment. Ray Macy stayed with him the whole time. While Charlie enjoyed the screaming and whimpering from the other patients waiting for treatment, the retching and pervasive barf smell began to wear on him after a while. When he started to turn green, Ray tried to use his ex-cop status to gain favor with the head ER nurse, whom he had known in that old life. â€Å"He's hurt bad. Can't you sneak him in somewhere? He's a good guy, Betsy.† Nurse Betsy grinned (which was the expression she used in lieu of telling people to fuck off) and scanned the waiting room to make sure that no one seemed particularly attentive. â€Å"Can you get him to the window?† â€Å"Sure,† Ray said. He helped Charlie out of his chair and got him to the little bulletproof window. â€Å"This is Charlie Asher,† Ray said. â€Å"My friend.† Charlie looked at Ray. â€Å"I mean my boss,† Ray added quickly. â€Å"Mr. Asher, are you going to die on me?† â€Å"Hope not,† Charlie said. â€Å"But you might want to ask someone with more medical experience than me.† Nurse Betsy grinned. â€Å"He's been shot,† Ray said, ever the advocate. â€Å"I didn't see who shot me,† Charlie said. â€Å"It's a mystery.† Nurse Betsy leaned into the window. â€Å"You know we have to report all gunshot wounds to the authorities. Are you sure you don't want to take a veterinarian hostage and have him sew you up?† â€Å"I don't think my insurance will cover that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Besides, it wasn't a gunshot,† Ray added. â€Å"It was an arrow.† Nurse Betsy nodded. â€Å"Let me see?† Charlie started to roll up his pant leg and lift his leg up on the little counter. Nurse Betsy reached through the little window and knocked his foot off the shelf. â€Å"For Christ's sakes, don't let the others see I'm looking.† â€Å"Ouch, sorry.† â€Å"Is it still bleeding?† â€Å"No, I don't think so.† â€Å"Hurt?† â€Å"Like a bitch.† â€Å"Big bitch or little bitch?† â€Å"Extra large,† Charlie said. â€Å"You allergic to any painkillers?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Antibiotics?† â€Å"Nope.† Nurse Betsy reached into her uniform pocket and pulled out a handful of pills, picked out two round ones and one long one, and slid them through the little window. â€Å"By the power invested in me by Saint Francis of Assisi, I now pronounce you painless. The round ones are Percocet, the oval one is Cipro. I'll put it on your chart.† She looked at Ray. â€Å"Fill out his papers for him, he's going to be too fucked up to do it in a few minutes.† â€Å"Thanks, Betsy.† â€Å"You get any Prada or Gucci bags in that store where you work – they're mine.† â€Å"No problem,† Ray said. â€Å"Charlie owns the store.† â€Å"Really?† Charlie nodded. â€Å"Free,† Betsy added. She slid another round pill across the counter. â€Å"For you, Ray.† â€Å"I'm not hurt.† â€Å"It's a long wait. Anything could happen.† She grinned in lieu of telling him to fuck off. An hour later the paperwork was done and Charlie was heaped in a fiberglass chair in a posture that seemed possible only if his bones had turned to marshmallow. â€Å"They killed Rachel here,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah, I know,† Ray said. â€Å"I'm sorry.† â€Å"I still miss her.† â€Å"Yeah, I know,† Ray said. â€Å"How's your leg?† â€Å"But they gave me Sophie,† Charlie said, ignoring the question. â€Å"So, you know, that was good.† â€Å"Yeah, I know,† Ray said. â€Å"How are you feeling now?† â€Å"I'm a little concerned that growing up without a mother, Sophie won't be sensitive enough.† â€Å"You're doing a great job with her. I meant how are you feeling physically?† â€Å"Like that thing where she kills people, just by looking at them. That can't be good for a little girl. My fault, all my fault.† â€Å"Charlie, does your leg hurt?† Ray had opted not to take the painkiller Nurse Betsy had given him, and now he was regretting it. â€Å"And the thing with the hellhounds – what kid has to deal with that? That can't be healthy.† â€Å"Charlie, how do you feel?† â€Å"I'm a little sleepy,† Charlie said. â€Å"Well, you lost a lot of blood.† â€Å"I'm relaxed, though. You know, blood loss relaxes you. You suppose that's why they did leeches in the Middle Ages? They could use them instead of tranquilizers. ‘Yes, Bob, I'll be right in to the meeting, but let me stick a leech on, I'm feeling a little anxious.' Like that.† â€Å"Great idea, Charlie. You want some water?† â€Å"You're a good guy, Ray. Did I ever tell you that? Even if you are serial-killing desperate Filipinas on your vacation.† â€Å"What?† Nurse Betsy came to the window. â€Å"Asher!† she called. Ray looked pleadingly at her through the window – a few seconds later she was coming through the door with a wheelchair. â€Å"How's Painless doing?† she said. â€Å"Oh my God, he's incredibly irritating,† Ray said. â€Å"You didn't take your medicine, did you?† â€Å"I don't like drugs.† â€Å"Who's the nurse here, Ray? It's the circle of meds, not just the patient, but everyone around him. Haven't you seen The Lion King?† â€Å"That's not in The Lion King. That's the circle of life.† â€Å"Really? I've been singing that song wrong the whole time? Wow, I guess I don't like that movie after all. Help me get Painless into the chair. We'll have him home by breakfast.† â€Å"We got here at dinnertime,† Ray said. â€Å"See how you are when you're off your meds?† Charlie had a foam walking cast and crutches when he got home from the hospital. The painkillers had worn off to a level where he was no longer painless. His head was throbbing like tiny twin aliens were going to burst out of his temples. Mrs. Korjev came out of his apartment and cornered him in the hallway. â€Å"Charlie Asher, I am having bone to pick with you. Last night am I seeing my little Sophie run by my apartment naked and soapy like bear, pulling giant black dogs around singing ‘not in butt'? In old country we have word for that, Charlie Asher. Word is nasty. I still have number for child service from days when my boys were boys.† â€Å"Soapy like bear?† â€Å"Don't change subject. Is nasty.† â€Å"Yes, it is. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I was shot and wasn't thinking straight.† â€Å"You are shot?† â€Å"In the leg. It's only a flesh wound.† Charlie had waited his entire life to say those words and he felt very macho at that moment. â€Å"I don't know who shot me. It's a mystery. They dropped a rug on me, too.† The rug diminished the machismo somewhat. He vowed not to mention it henceforth. â€Å"You come in. Have breakfast. Sophie will not eat toast Vladlena make. She say is raw and have toast germs.† â€Å"That's my girl,† Charlie said. Charlie was no sooner in the door and on his way to rescue his daughter from toast-borne pathogens, when Mohammed grabbed the tip of one of his crutches in his mouth and dragged a hopping Charlie into the bedroom. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said as her father went hopping by. â€Å"No skipping in the house,† she added. Mohammed head-butted the hapless Beta Male to his date book. There were two names there under today's date, which wasn't that unusual. What was unusual was that they were the names that had appeared before: Esther Johnson and Irena Posokovanovich – the two soul vessels he'd missed. He sat down on the bed and tried to rub the pain aliens back into his temples. How to even start? Would these names keep coming back until he got the soul vessels? That hadn't happened with the fuck puppet. What was different here? Things were obviously getting worse – now they were shooting at him. Charlie picked up the phone and dialed Ray Macy's number. It took Ray four days to come back to Charlie with the report. He had the information in three, but he'd wanted to be absolutely sure that all the painkillers had worn off and Charlie wasn't going to be crazy anymore – going on all night about being the big death, â€Å"with a capital D.† Ray also felt a little guilty because he'd been holding out on Charlie about breaking some rules in the store. They met in the back room on a Wednesday morning, before the store opened. Charlie had made coffee and taken a seat at the desk so he could prop his foot up. Ray sat on some boxes of books. â€Å"Okay, shoot,† Charlie said. â€Å"Well, first, I found three more crossbow bolts. Two had barbed-steel tips like the one that went through your leg, and one had a titanium spike. That one was stuck in the pneumatic closer on the back door.† â€Å"Don't care, Ray. What about the two women?† â€Å"Charlie, someone shot you with a deadly weapon. You don't care?† â€Å"Correct. Don't care. It's a mystery. Know what I like about mysteries? They're mysterious.† Ray was wearing a Giants cap and he flipped it around backwards for emphasis. If he'd been wearing glasses he would have whipped those off, but he wasn't, so he squinted like he had. â€Å"I'm sorry, Charlie, but someone wanted you and the dogs out of the house at the same time. They threw that rug on you from the rooftop across the alley, then, when you were pinned down and the dogs were outside, they shot the closer on the door so it would slam shut. They sabotaged the back door's lock and glued the front doors shut, probably before they even started with the rug, then they slid down a line to the hall window, slipped between the bars, and – well, then it's unclear.† Charlie sighed. â€Å"You're not going to tell me about the two women until you finish this, are you?† â€Å"It was highly organized. This wasn't a random assault.† â€Å"The hall window upstairs has bars on it, Ray. No one can get in. No one got in.† â€Å"Well, that's where it gets a little crazy. You see, I don't think it was a human intruder.† â€Å"You don't?† Charlie actually seemed to be paying attention now. â€Å"In order to get through those bars, an intruder would have to be under two feet tall, and less than, say, thirty pounds. I'm thinking a monkey.† Charlie put down his coffee so hard that a java geyser jumped out of the cup onto some papers on the desk. â€Å"You think that I was shot by a highly organized monkey?† â€Å"Don't be that way – â€Å" â€Å"Who then slid down a wire, broke into the building, and did what? Made off with fruit?† â€Å"You should have heard some of the stupid shit you were saying the other night at the hospital, and did I make fun of you?† â€Å"I was on drugs, Ray.† â€Å"Well, there's no other explanation.† To Ray's Beta Male imagination, the monkey explanation seemed completely reasonable – except for lack of motive. But you know monkeys, they'll fling poo at you just for the hell of it, so who's to say – â€Å"The explanation is that it's a mystery,† Charlie said. â€Å"I appreciate your trying to bring this†¦this furry bastard to justice, Ray, but I need to know about the two women.† Ray nodded, defeated. He should have just shut up until he'd figured out why someone would want to get a monkey into Charlie's apartment. â€Å"People can train monkeys, you know. Do you have any valuable jewelry in your apartment?† â€Å"You know,† Charlie said, scratching his chin and looking at the ceiling as if remembering. â€Å"There was a small car parked across from the shop all day on Vallejo. And when I looked the next day, there was a pile of banana peels, like someone had been staking the place out. Someone who ate bananas.† â€Å"What kind of car was it?† Ray said, his notepad ready. â€Å"I'm not sure, but it was red, and definitely monkey size.† Ray looked up from his notes. â€Å"Really?† Charlie paused, as if thinking carefully about his answer. â€Å"Yes,† he said, very sincerely. â€Å"Monkey size.† Ray flipped his notebook back to the pages in the front. â€Å"There is no need to be that way, Charlie. I'm just trying to help.† â€Å"It might have been bigger,† Charlie said, remembering. â€Å"Like a monkey SUV – like what you might drive if you were transporting – I don't know – a barrel of monkeys.† Ray cringed, then read from the pages. â€Å"I went to the Johnson woman's house. No one is living there, but the house isn't on the market. I didn't see the niece you talked about. Funny thing is, the neighbors knew she'd been sick, but no one had heard that she'd died. In fact, one guy said he thought he saw her getting into a U-Haul truck with a couple of movers last week.† â€Å"Last week? Her niece said that she died two weeks ago.† â€Å"No niece.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Esther Johnson doesn't have a niece. She was an only child. Didn't have brothers or sisters, and no nieces on her late husband's side of the family.† â€Å"So she's alive?† â€Å"Apparently.† Ray handed Charlie a photograph. â€Å"That's her latest driver's-license photo. This changes things. Now we're looking for a missing person, someone who will leave a trail. But the other one – Irena – is even better.† He handed Charlie another picture. â€Å"She's not dead either?† â€Å"Oh, there was a death notice in the paper three weeks ago, but here's the giveaway – all of her bills are still being paid, by personal check. Checks she signed.† Ray sat back on his stool, smiling, feeling the sweetness of righteous indignation over the monkey theory, and a little guilt alleviation for not telling Charlie about the special transactions. â€Å"Well?† Charlie finally asked. â€Å"She's at her sister's house in the Sunset. Here's the address.† Ray tore a page out of his notebook and handed it to Charlie.

A Career in Nurse Practitioning - 1143 Words

A Career in Nurse Practitioning Did you know that Nurse Practitioning is the number one populated health care job? With about 2.5 million registered Nurses, the job seems to be the biggest and most demanded job in America. (Frederickson 4) Nursing is a job that consists of helping a wide range of people with a variety of problems. You have to have good skills, knowledge, characteristics and training to become a Nurse Practitioner. Nurses can work in different places such as offices, health care centers, hospitals and several other. It is most likely for licensed nurses to work in hospitals. (Frederickson 94) They can work independently or as a joint team with other Doctors or Nurses. Nurse Practitioners earn a very high salary and earn many benefits. (Maurer 2) Nursing is a job that demands hard work and several years of training, but the reward of helping people and the high pay makes up for it. Nurse Practitioners help a wide variety of people with several problems. They can help in different fields because they are trained in fields of womens health, acute care, oncology, family and primary care, pediatrics, geriatrics, and psychiatry. Nurse Practitioners must be very knowledgeable to inform patients about medical information. (NP skills and knowledge 1) Nurses work in many different ways such as diagnosing, managing and treating diseases, doing tests on patients, and writing prescriptions (Nurse Practitioner NP 1). One of the most common things a Nurse PractitionerShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Nurse Practitioning : A Health Career With Good Prospects For A Work Essay1245 Words   |  5 PagesFrom a general point of view, nurse practitioning is a health-career with good prospects for a varied work in different departments and clinics. Often working alongside physicians, Nurse Practitioners have finally acquired the prescriptive authority despite related controversies . While RN’s (Registered Nurse) focus on providing patient care, and counseling, a NP’s schedule includes more independence. â€Å"The role of the NP is more independent, and includes diagnosis, prescribing medication, and treatmentRead MoreMedical Field : A Medical Assistant1143 Words   |  5 Pageswith the amount of schooling and how much debt I’d be in, I thought it through and figured out I want to be a nurse practitioner. They have similar duties to a registered nurse except they give advanced services to patients, and it can be cheaper going to medical school as well as having to go for a shorter amount of time than a regular doctor as well as great benefits and salary. Nurse practitioners serve mainly as specialty care providers, giving advanced nursing services to patients. They evaluate