2023/11/11(土)SMC
President's Remark: SM Kei Narisawa
He talked about the importance of following through what you have taken up. He cited the experience of the missionaries staying in Japan. After they spend two years, doing their missionary work and go back to college in America. Then they will land a decent job. Time goes by, and in their retired years, they forget about Japanese and don't even remember in what country they stayed. By that time, they surely have lost their touch and can't speak a word in Japanese. What a sad story! I said it for the fun of it, but alas, it didn't catch on among the SMC members. Ha, ha, ha. The long and short of it is that patience pays off. Once you start something, you should see it though.
Word of tthe Day:
"deligent"
adj.
1) carefrul and using a lot of effort
- A deligent student
- Leo is very deligent in/about his work.
2) done in a careful and detailed way
- The discovery was made after years of deligent research.
Lecture: SM Noro
Rephrasing
1. It isn’t the first time he has given me flowers for my birthday.
He has given…
2. She doesn’t like children as much as her husband does.
Her husband…
3. Going on holiday in the summer is very amusing.
It…
4. I wish I had won a journey to China.
If only…
5. You shouldn’t tell anything about it.
You’d…
6. The President was given a present during his visit.
A present…
7. Charles learned Russian more easily than I did.
I didn’t…
8. It is interesting to visit art exhibitions.
Art exhibitions…
9. What did she say when she saw her father at the disco?
Tell me…
10. You shouldn’t eat fish unless it is fresh.
If …
11. “Whose suitcase is this?”, the bus driver asked.
The bus…
12. I was very interested by her story.
Her story…
13. George had never been to a circus before.
It’s…
14. Daniel was too busy to go to the dentist.
Daniel didn’t…
15. They managed to sell the books at a high price.
They succeeded
16. The cake was so good that I couldn’t help eating it.
It was such…
17. “Those animals are not well-fed”, the vet said.
The vet said…
18. It’s not necessary for them to attend the lecture.
They…
19. Cindy thinks butter is better than margarine.
Cindy prefers…
20. How smart you look today!
You…
21. It has been ages since he studied history.
He hasn’t …
22. “When is Mary’s birthday?”, John asked me.
John asked…
23. They went on an excursion in spite of the cold.
Although…
24. I wish I had gone by car.
I regret…
25. I haven’t been to England for four and a half years.
I last…
Answer
1. It isn’t the first time he has given me flowers for my birthday.
He has given me flowers before for my birthday
2. She doesn’t like children as much as her husband does.
Her husband likes children more than she does.
3. Going on holiday in the summer is very amusing.
It is very amusing to go on holiday in the summer.
4. I wish I had won a journey to China.
If only had I won a journey to China
5. You shouldn’t tell anything about it.
You’d better not tell anything about it.
6. The President was given a present during his visit.
A present was given to the President during his visit.
7. Charles learned Russian more easily than I did.
I didn’t learn Russian as easily as Charles did.
8. It is interesting to visit art exhibitions.
Art exhibitions are interesting to visit.
9. What did she say when she saw her father at the disco?
Tell me what she said when she saw her father at the disco.
10. You shouldn’t eat fish unless it is fresh.
If fish isn't fresh, you shouldn't eat it.
11. “Whose suitcase is this?”, the bus driver asked.
The bus driver asked whose suitcase was that.
12. I was very interested by her story.
Her story was very interesting for me.
13. George had never been to a circus before.
It’s the first time George goes to a circus.
14. Daniel was too busy to go to the dentist.
Daniel didn’t have enough time to go to the dentist.
15. They managed to sell the books at a high price.
They succeeded on selling the books at a high price.
16. The cake was so good that I couldn’t help eating it.
It was such a good cake that I couldn’t help eating it.
17. “Those animals are not well-fed”, the vet said.
The vet said that those animals were not well-fed.
18. It’s not necessary for them to attend the lecture.
They needn't attend the lecture.
19. Cindy thinks butter is better than margarine.
Cindy prefers butter to margarine.
20. How smart you look today!
You look very smart today!
21. It has been ages since he studied history.
He hasn’t studied history for a long time.
22. “When is Mary’s birthday?”, John asked me.
John asked when Mary's birthday was.
23. They went on an excursion in spite of the cold.
Although it was cold, they went on an excursion.
24. I wish I had gone by car.
I regret I hadn't gone by car.
25. I haven’t been to England for four and a half years.
I last went to England four and a half years ago
Table Topic Speech
1) What do you have that you can't live without?
2) How do you spend the majority of your free time?
3) Where else would you like to live? why?
4) What I would do if I knew I could not fail?
5) What are you looking forward to?
6) When you close your eyes what do you see?
7) What is your goal in 6 months?
8) What do you keep going?
Prepared Speech
1) Good memories of living in Iran: SM Kakisu
I enjoyed living in Iran for 3 years with my family 50 years ago. Currently, Israel and Palestine are at war and there is only gloomy news. I would be happy if you could understand that 50 years ago the Middle East was a peaceful and comfortable place to live.
At that time, Iran was the kingdom nation of Pahlavi. Iran, the United States, and Israel had a good relationship as allied country. Beirut, Lebanon, was a beautiful resort city that is said to be an oasis in the Middle East. Japanese people living in Iran could only obtain a three-month visa, so had to leave and re-enter the country once every three months. Beirut was the destination for many Japanese people.
Iran, an oil-producing country, had begun construction of a nuclear power plant with support from France and the United States.
When you hear history like this, you probably understand that at that time Iran had good relations with Europe, the United States, and Israel. Unfortunately, the Middle East is currently in great turmoil.
I hope that this confusion will not spread to the whole world. Japan is surrounded by the sea, so we are enjoying a peaceful life without being invaded by other countries. Peace is the best. Peace is the best.
2) The Sengoku period: SM Yoko Narisawa
I have been enjoying watching NHK大河ドラマ「どうする家康」.As you know well, the main character of this drama is徳川家康. Almost all of his name and that he is a person who established the Edo shogunate. He lived through the Sengoku period and played a key role in unifying the country. Let me introduce his famous words that reflect his chracter.--- If the cuckoo does not sing, I’ll wait until it does. To speak more about him, he was known for his frugality. He wore plain clothes and had simple meals.
In this drama, a lot of castles such as 安土城, 大阪城 appear. Numerous castles were constructed during the Sengoku period, but only a dozen of them have survived over the centuries without being damaged or destroyed.
There are only 12 original castles in Japan which means they have a castle tower (天守閣). I have visited two of them. One is 犬山城in Aichi Pref. The other is 松本城in Nagano Pref.
Visiting castles offers us the opportunity to get to know the history and the backgrounds more deeply. I look forward to visiting other castles I have never been to, especially 姫路城in Hyogo Pref.
NHK大河ドラマ「どうする家康」continues until the end of this December.
I’ll never miss this drama.
3) Health comes from A NEW START: SM Ishimura
What do you think is the most important thing for us?
Money!
No, it’s health.
I would like to tell you the most essential ones for health. It is “A NEW START” that stands for important words for staying healthy.
"A" is Attitude : the way that you behave towards health.
"N" is Nutrition : the process by which living things receive the food necessary for them to grow and be healthy.
"E" is Exercise ; Physical or mental activity that you do to stay healthy or become stronger.
"W" is Water ; Needless to say, we humans cannot live for many days without water.
"S" is Sunshine : Human being, animals and plants in this world cannot grow or survive without sunlight.
"T" is Tenacity : That does not stop holding something or give us something easily;
In other word, Determined.
"A" is Air : You can’t live without air even 10 minutes.
"R" Is Rest : Rest a period of relaxing, sleeping or doing nothing after a period of activity.
"T" is Temperance ; The practice of controlling your behaviour, the amount you eat, etc., so that it is always reasonable ; Moderation
Let’s pay our attention to “ A NEW START “ in our daily life and live the life that is both mentally and physically satisfying until the end. Enjoy the precious life we only have once.
4) Blood types: SM Takahata
The speaker talked about personality anaysis based on blood types which is common in Japan.
Why do Japanese have more interest in blood types than non-Japanese? She shared one reason said that Japan has a relatively equal distribution of the four blood types: A (40%), O (30%), B (20%), and AB (10%). In Central and South America, about 90% of the population has blood type O. In Europe and the United States, nearly 90% of the population comprises Types A and O. Needless to say, people's personalities are influenced by a complex interplay of various factors and cannot be simply determined by their blood type. She concluded that it's essential to remember that these associations are not based on scientific evidence and should be taken with a grain of salt.
5) Daydream: SM Kaneko
Meeting Schedule
In-person: 9:30 AM on Nov. 25 at Oyama Community Center (tearoom)
(Coordinator: SM Noro, Word of the Day:SM Eda, Lecturer: SM Yu. Narisawa)
Zoom: 7:30 PM on Nov. 13 and 20
