Descriptive Essay and Exercises

The name of this animal, when translated into English is ‘man of the woods’. This man of the woods [MOW] is the only great ape that lives in Asia. It’s about 1 m tall and is the world’s biggest tree dweller. It’s just a little bit smaller than gorilla. MOWs live in the rain forest of Kalimantan and Sumatra. However loggers are destroying their homes and this animal now is in danger of becoming extinct.
Every day MOWs climb trees and look for food. Most of the time MOWs walk on all fours, they measure nearly 3m from hand to hand. How long are your arms? They use these long climbs to swing through trees and hold the branches with their hands and feet. Swinging is a hard work, so they never travel more than a few hundred meters a day.
MOWs sleep in the trees too – on a platform made from sticks. They make a new nest every few nights. Heavy adult males sometimes sleep on the ground. When it’s cold they cover their body with leaves.
Answer the following questions
1. How is the size of the animals compared to the size of gorillas and to your own size?
2. Is it possible to find these animals in the jungles of Africa? Why do you think so?
3. Why do you think the English translation of the name of these animals is ‘man of the woods’?
4. How is the length of the animals’ arms compared to yours?
5. Do you think that these animals really need that size of arms? Why do you think so?
6. How do these animals move?
7. How do they travel to different places? Can they travel long distance? Why do you think so?
8. What do they frequently make?
9. How do they keep their body warm when they feel cold?


Komodo Dragons
Komodo Dragons are the largest lizards in the world. They live just on few small islands in Indonesia. Komodo dragons can be 3m long. That’s very long – as long as a car.
Komodo dragons are very greedy. They eat almost anything, but their favourite food is wild pigs and deer. They can swallow a small animal, such as monkey, in one gulp.
Adult komodo dragons hide in long grass, then jump out and grab their prey. They grab their prey in their strong jaw. They can also chase the prey. Adult dragons can move faster than a human can run. Young komodo dragons are good climbers. They climb trees to catch and eat small lizards and birds.

Answer the following questions briefly!
1. In which paragraph can you find information about how they catch their prey?
2. In which paragraph can you find information about the size?
3. In which paragraph can you find information about their eating habit?
4. How big are adult komodo dragons?
5. How is the size of the animal?
6. What would happen if you threw a rabbit in front of them?
7. How do the young komodo get their food?
8. Who could run faster, komodo or you?
9. How is the size of the mouth of an adult komodo?
10. What does the word ‘they’ in the last sentence of paragraph 3 refer to?

A. find these words in the dictionary

1. biggest
2. derived
3. gave
4. built
5. botany
6. plant
7. begins
8. blooms
9. leaves
10. stem
11. main roots
12. fibrous roots
13. unpleasant smell
14. bottom
15. trunk

B. Complete the short paragraph with suitable words or phrase
The Rafflesia Arnoldi is the 1)...............flower in the world. The name Rafflesia is 2) ...........from the British governor general, Sir Thomas Stamford raffles, a man who 3) .................high attention to the study of botany and 4) ..................the botanical garden in Bogor.
The rafflesia plant 5) ...................to flower in its tenth year. It 6) ................three or four times in a year. Before it begins to flower, the 7) ...................and 8) ...............become dry and look death, but the main root in the ground is still alive. When it blooms, it has 9) ....................smell which attract insects. But when they touch the 10) ..................part, they die.

a. an unpleasant d. Bottom g. Biggest j. Flower
b. leaves e. Stem h. Blooms k. Built
c. begins f. Gave i. Derived

C. Arrange these following sentences into the good paragraph !
1. It consists of two parts, the stick and the pettals
2. It blooms three or four times in a year
3. The Rafflesia Arnoldi is the biggest flower in the world
4. It has a flower almost a meter in diameter and 1,40 meters in height
5. It is derived from British Governor General, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

DESCRIPTIVE

In the zoo, this animal stands like a mountain. This animal may be 3 or 4 meters high. The weight may be 5 or 6 tons. This mountain of flesh is wrapped in a wrinkled suit of rough, gray skin. Its legs are like pillars. Its huge ears flap gently back and forth like wings. Look at the long trunk. When you throw some peanuts, the trunk picks up the peanuts with the ‘finger’ at the tip of the trunk. Then, the huge beast will put it into its mouth and eat it happily. This animal is also remarkable for its tusks. Tusks are long teeth that continue to grow throughout its life.
The number of these animals, however, has decreased a lot. More and more of them are killed for their tusks. Many die because trees in their forest have been cut down. They cannot find food and protection in the forest anymore. If people aren’t able to save them, these animals, sooner or later, may vanish from this earth. [Adapted from The New Book of Knowledge, ‘74]

Task 1
Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words.
1. soft thing between the skin and the bone: ________________
2. not smooth: ______________
3. Move from side to side:________________________
4. animal: _________________
5. disappear: ____________________
6. the very long nose: ____________________
7. the very long teeth: _____________________

Task 2
Answer the following question by reading the text. Compare your answers to your friends’.
1. How do you describe the skin of the animal?
2. Find in the text what is meant by long teeth.
3. Can this animal be classified as a domestic animal?
4. In what way are these animals useful to us?
5. How can people help preserve these animals?
6. What is discussed in paragraph three?

RECOUNT TEXT

Recounts tell the reader what happened. They retell a past event eg a visit to a farm.

Recounts begin by telling the reader who was involved, what happened, where this event took place and when it happened. This is called the orientation.

The sequence of events is then described in some sort of order eg time.

There may be a reorientation at the end which summarises the event.


This sample recount is labelled to show you the structure and language features of a recount text:

title
A visit to a sheep property

orientation
Last holidays I visited a sheep property. I helped in the shearing sheds and in the yards.

sequence of events
On the first day the Merino wethers were crutched. I helped by sweeping up after the rouseabout picked up the wool pieces. Shearers start early (at 7.30 am).

After lunch, we started shearing the lambs. There were more than 400 so we didn't finish until the next day. Once again I was sweeping and picking up dags.

I was tired by the end of the day in the shed but our work wasn't finished. We all had to help to get the wethers and lambs back into the paddocks. As well, we had to get a mob of ewes and their lambs into the yards for shearing the next day. Then it was time for tea (that's what my nanna calls dinner).


reorientation
This was a very long day but I enjoyed it a lot


Writing recounts

When writing recounts you should:

• focus on individual people ie use the words, I or we
• use words which indicate when (eg after lunch) and where the events took place (eg in the shed)

• write in the past tense eg had, visited

• use action words eg helped, crutched.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur is Hindu - Budhist temple. It was build in the nineth century under Sailendra dynasty of ancient Mataram kingdom. Borobudur is located in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

Borobudur is well-known all over the world. Its construction is influenced by the Gupta architecture of India. The temple is constructed on a hill 46 m high and consist of eight step like stone terrace. The first five terrace are square and surrounded by walls adorned with Budist sculpture in bas-relief. The upper three are circular. Each of them is with a circle of bell shape-stupa. The entire adifice is crowned by a large stupa at the centre at the centre of the top circle. The way to the summit extends through some 4.8 km of passage and starways. The design of borobudur which symbolizes the structure of universe influences temples at Angkor, Cambodia.

Borobudur temple which is rededicated as an Indonesian monument in 1983 is a valuable treasure for Indonesian people.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

My friend’s new shoes

I have a close Friend. She is beautiful, attractive and trendy. She always want to be a trend setter of the day. She always pays much attention on her appearance. Recently, she bought a new stylist foot legs from blowfish shoes products. This shoes really matches on her.

Her new blowfish women's shoes are wonderful. When she are walking on that shoes, all her friends, including me watch and admire that she has the most suitable shoes on her physical appearance. The style, bright color, and brand represent her as a smart woman of the day. She really have perfect appearance.

She is really mad on that shoes. She said that the products covered all genders. The blowfish men's shoes are as elegant as she has. The products provide varieties of choice. Ballet, casual, boot athletic shoes are designed in attractive way. The products are international trader mark and become the hottest trend.