Summary: As the economy recover, employment rate has grown in U.S. In the article, it said that when the economy starts to recover, usually white people gets the job first. Later on, black people and Latino’s earn the job. This is because racial discrimination exists when people hire someone. Still, in 21st century, there is a trend that white people excels the blacks.

Reaction:

This article made me think of two things. First of all, I was glad that employment rate has been growing, because in a year or two, it will be my turn to look for a job. It was a good news to hear that more and more positions are made for the young adults as well. I hope the positive effect of economic growth influences the Japanese society as well. Second, I was shocked by the fact that there are still discrimination by skin color in U.S. However, I must admit that almost the same thing is happening in Japan as well. In Japan, it is said that the (mainly) Korean people, whose ancestor was taken to Japan, still receives certain kind of discrimination by the Japanese. Especially in elementary school, children are likely to discriminate people who aren’t same. Both Japanese, and Americans must somehow find a way to abolish this. I suggest the government to change from education. We must teach the children how wrong it is to discriminate people by there traits or mother country.

As a conclusion, I was happy to hear that the economic recovery is giving positive effect to the employment. Although, I was upset with the fact that discrimination still happens in many situation.

Summary: Last class, we did an activity, that calculated our life expectancy. Each of our life expectancy were determined by answering the yes, no questions that had a scientific proof for shortening lifespan. According to the article, longevity of our life depends on five factors: genes, outlook, diet, exercise, and active mind. Therefore, all the questions were somehow related with these 5 factors, such as “had cosmetic surgery after age 30?,” which asks about your outlook and active mind. Starting from age 79, we answered 22 questions and added or subtracted the number to calculate the age we’re going to die. MY life was estimated to be 93 years.

Reaction: I was glad that I can live much longer than the average life expectancy in Japan. I think there are 3 reasons to this result. First, I have a positive mind toward many things in daily life. That made me answer the correct, in the “active mind” question. Second, I care about my diet very much, to maintain a best performance in my sports. For example, in nutrition, I try to lessen the food with many fats, and try to increase protein and carbohydrates in my meal. Third, I exercise in daily basis. I’m an athlete, so this is obvious.

As a conclusion, this activity was a good chance for me to reflect my living style. It turned out to be OK, so I will continue with my diet and exercise as possible.  And of course, I will keep up with my active/positive mind until I die 73 years later.

Summary: There was a new discovery that the turmeric, a type of curry spice can repair the brain cells of people with neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer.  Turmeric  can cause the expansion of two key brain regions where the growth of neurons is known to take place. As a result it helps the brain to work as usual, if the brain had some diseases. However, this discovery was just found in the laboratory experiment that was held to the rats.  Whether it works for the human or not, is still under study.

Reaction: This was really surprising news for me, because curry is one of my favorite food. I used to live in India, the country of curry. The fact that I learned there, supports the news that was told in the article I read in class. In India, people’s chance of becoming Alzheimer, is 1/4 than the possibility of Americans to become a disease such as Alzheimer. What I thought is that,  there must be some kind of correlation  between the amount of curry that Indians eat each year, and their small risks of becoming Alzheimer.

But the problem is, it is still difficult, or expensive to buy turmeric spice for curry in Japan.  This discovery was surprising , though it is not useful enough to help the diseases yet.

I believe that sleep plays the most important role in our life, in order to make our life successful. Most people sleep every day, and it is obvious that the sleep is needed to maintain our health. However, is it necessary to achieve success in our daily life? I will explain why I think that way.

              First of all, sleep refreshes our mind. Don’t you feel your mind being cleared after a long sleep? In fact, mind is actually being cleared during the night. This fact has been proven scientifically, by many researchers. People are exposed to a shower of information every day. Information that we absorb during the day, will be put in a shelf called “hippocampus” inside the brain randomly. In that area, information are sorted and put in a shelf, so that we can access to those information afterwards. These shelves are called “memory,” and we depend on these in our daily life. If we lack sleep, our shelves would not be cleaned on time, so there are higher possibilities of losing memories. That’s why I take a small powernap before I start studying, and why I sleep so much after I studied for a long time.

              Secondly, long sleep will gain stamina when we are fatigued. As a result, we can live our life lively, and actively. Energetic actions always give positive effects to the others, which can attract the people around us. In Spain, there’s an old custom called “Siesta.” People there used to take a small break to take a nap, about 2-3hours after lunch, usually the period of time when everyone gets tired. I think, this system is wonderful, because we can recover our stamina once again, so that we can concentrate on our work after the nap. As an effect, the efficiency of the work could increase, and also enlighten the working-environment, which can lead to a success in our job.

              Finally, but most importantly, I believe that the sleep reduces our stress. People might regard sleep as a way to escape from a reality, but I think in an opposite way. Whenever there’s a problem, it is likely to be solved after some sleep is taken. Nothing would be solved if we try to treat the problem carrying so much stress. I recommend relieving all the stressors by sleeping, and then facing the problem. According to my experience, in that way we have more chances of working out a solution. Unless the problem has to be solved urgently, it is better to sleep first.

              As a conclusion, I believe in the power of sleep for three reasons; it refreshes our mind, regain us stamina, and reduces stress. I hope the listeners of my speech to try out some of my sleeping methods.

Summary: President Obama announced that he has a plan to shrink the U.S troops in Afghanistan to 9,800 by the start of next year, from current force of 32,000 .  His aim is to end the war in in Afghanistan which has been lasting for 15 years. He will withdraw all of the troops from Afghanistan before he ends his president’s career.

Reaction:  My first impression to this article was worry. It is said that U.S plays an important role in maintaining peace in the Middle East. What happens if the troops in Afghanistan leave the area?  There are some military bases in Saudi Arabia, but is it enough? I worry about these issues, because gasoline price is boosting  nowadays in Japan. U.S Army protects the sea lane at the Strait of Hormuz (only access  to the Gulf States by ship,) but can they preserve the peace after they leave Afghanistan? If not, the gasoline price in Japan can increase even more,  which can damage my wallet badly.

Another concern is the gaining power of extreme Islamic group called ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq & Syria. ) They have taken over some areas in Syria and Iran and claimed the establishment of “Islamic State.” The group has already done some extreme actions in the Middle East, and Africa, which has led to a large number of deaths. Therefore, much more peace keeping action is required in the countries around that area. My opinion is exact opposite with the content in the article; there are much necessity of U.S army’s  (“The World’s Police”) power in the Middle East to go against such  group.

Summary
Brazil is facing a big problem while they are hosting World Cup in June. It is said that 2 out of 13 airports in Brazil are not ready to operate yet. During the cup, 600,000 international tourists and three million Brazilians are predicted to transport across the country to watch the game. Brazil’s railway is not viable enough to allow travelers to transport by train, so Brasil’s reliance on air route is huge. Some experts say that unless airport construction is ready for the tournament, this enormous event will turn into a chaos.

Reaction 

In the class, our group discussed whether the Brazil World Cup will be successful or not. It was interesting that my group had separated exactly into 2 groups, people who thought it would succeed, and people who don’t. Opinion clashed, because the people who don’t think it would be successful, could not believe that the transportation without enough planes and airport would allow the fans to reach for the game in time. They also said that plane delays can lead to delay of the game. However, I think airport construction will end before the tournament starts, and even if it does not, I think they can solve the problems with the current number of airports. (Because the construction of the biggest airport in Brazil is already completed.) Afterall, everyone including me, is excited to watch games in World Cup!