Chapter I - Count Dracula

My story begins about seven years ago, in 1875. My name is Jonathan Harker, and I live and work in London. My job is to buy and sell houses for other people. One day a letter arrived for me from a very rich man who lived in Transylvania. He wanted to buy a house in England and he needed my help. The man was Count Dracula, and I agreed to help him.

I found a house for him, and he asked me to take all the papers for it to Transylvania. I was not very pleased about this. I was planning to get married in the autumn, and I did not want to leave my beautiful Mina.

‘But you must go, Jonathan,’ she said. ‘The Count is rich, and perhaps he will give you more work later.’

So I agreed to go. I did not know then of the terrible danger which waited for me in Transylvania.

And so, on 4th May I arrived at a little town called Bistritz. Transylvania was a strange and beautiful country. There were mountains, trees and rivers everywhere. And somewhere high in the mountains was the Count’s home, Castle Dracula. I had six hours to wait before the coach came to take me there, so I went into a little hotel. Inside the hotel it was warm and friendly. The people there were all laughing and talking. ‘Where are you going?’ they asked me.

‘To Castle Dracula,’ I replied.

Suddenly the room was silent and everyone turned to look at me. I could not understand why they all looked afraid.

‘Don’t go there,’ someone said.

‘But i have to,’ I answered. ‘It’s a business.’

They began to talk again, but they were no longer laughing. Slowly, the hotel keeper’s wife took the gold cross from her neck and put it into my hand. ‘Take this,’ she said. ‘There is danger at Castle Dracula. Perhaps this will help you.’

When the coach arrived and I got into it, a crowd of people came to watch, and I heard the word ‘vampire’.

The coach travelled up into the mountains. Higher and higher it went, faster and faster. The sun was bright, but above the trees there was snow on the mountain tops. Then suddenly the sun went down behind the mountains and everywhere was dark. In the forest around us, the wolves were howling. It was terrible sound.

Suddenly the coach stopped. A small carriage came down the narrow road on the right. Four black horses were pulling it, and the driver was dressed in black, with a black hat pulled down over his face.

‘Where’s the Englishman?’ he called. ‘I’ve come from Castle Dracula!’

He looked strange, standing there in the moonlights, and suddenly I was afraid. But it was too late. I could not go back now.

Soon we were on our way to Castle Dracula. The mountains were all round us and the moon was behind black clouds. I could see nothing – but I could still hear the wolves. The horses went faster and faster, and the driver laughed wildly.

Suddenly the carriage stopped. I opened the door and got out. At once the carriage drove away and I was alone in front of the dark, silent castle. I stood there, looking up at it, and slowly, the big wooden door opened. A tall man stood in front of me. His hair was white and he was dressed in black from head to foot.

‘Come in, Mr Harker,’ he said. ‘I’m Count Dracula.’ He held out his hand and I took it. It was as cold as ice!

DRACULA – Bram Stoker

In the spring of 1875, Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania, on a business visit to the home of Count Dracula. Jonathan does not really want to go because in a few months’ time he is getting married to his beautiful Mina, and he does not want to leave her.

While he is staying in Castle Dracula, he keeps a diary. And every day he has more and more terrible things to write. Why does he see Count in the mirror? And who are the three beautiful women, with their red mouths and long sharp teeth, that come to his room at night?

At home in England, Mina is staying with her friend Lucy in a town by the sea. She waits for Jonathan’s letters, but they do not come, and Mina is afraid. Perhaps Jonathan is ill, or in danger…

Mina is not afraid for herself, of course, or for her friend Lucy. What danger can there possibly be for two young women in a quiet English seaside town?

Topic 7: Computer Games

1. How many types of games are there in the world?

There are a lot of people play game but not everyone knows the different types of games that are out there. Here are some basic types of games are listed below.

1.  Arcade style: first appeared in 80’s, they are Asteroids, Pac-Man. They are still very popular and it seems nothing can replace them.

2. Card, logic and board games: They are very regular in every computers.  Logic games usually simulate some well-known logic puzzle like Master Mind or the card game like poker or solitaire.

3. Adventures (text adventures and graphical adventures): This is a game in which the player assumes the role of the main character in an interactive story that is driven by exploration and problem – solving such as jumping over a traps, fighting against a killer….

Players can interact the game by text, that is called “text adventures”, or graphical interface, that is called “graphical adventures”. For examples: Romario (the most famous game series in 90’s)

4. Simulation: It is also called “Simply game”, is the game that emulate actions such as daily lives or case studies. For examples, the Sims, Sims city or Sims the zoo.

5. Strategy: Such as War craft or Star craft. They are the most attractive game in the world because of real time actions and methods of war . Players can direct a sum of unit and start a battle against other team using their line and methods of war.

6. Shooter (First Person Shooter (FPS) and Third Person Shooter): Is part of action games. They are used to test the speed and reaction’s time. The player have to assumes a character that use weapons such guns, knife to fight against the other players. The most famous game of this type is half life.

They also have first person shooter(FPS), that player have their own view, and third person shooter that player can see the character from the other view.

7. Role Playing Game (RPG): Anyone who played Final Fantasy knows exactly what an RPG is. The player play a character, sometime more than one, characterized by straits (such as strength, agility, intelligent, mana…), skills and properties (cash, levels). As you play, the character becomes the more powerful and the game adjusts itself accordingly, so instead of fighting orcs, at high levels you start fighting black dragons.

There are many games such as “Vo lam truyen ky”, or World Craft.

2. What are disadvantages and advantages of playing game?

Advantages of playing game:

1. Offer the potential to foster creativity

2. Provide a fun and social form of entertainment

3. Make kids feel comfortable with technology

4. Increase children' s self-confidence and self-esteem as they master games

5. Develop skills in reading, math and problem-solving

6. Promote pro-social behaviors, such as helping and caring

7. Teaching follow games help the children easier to study and remember the lessons.

Disadvantages of playing game:

1. Play violent games make children aggressive

2. Fall in academic performance and become lack of social interaction

3. Addict to the game and become exhausted because of playing game without eating.

4. Damage eyesight… etc.

3. There are some accidents because of playing game too much.

http://vietbao.vn/Vi-tinh-Vien-thong/Chet-vi-choi-game-lien-tuc-50-gio/40092959/217/

A guy in Korea had died because of being exhausted while playing game in 50 hours continually. The doctor said that he die because of starvation.

http://www.xaluan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16509

In china, a thirty years old man had died after three days playing game without drinking water or eating.

http://gamethu.vnexpress.net/News/Diem-tin/2005/09/3B9ACDFB/

In Vietnam, Trieu Quoc Cuong, who was born in 1981, is lied in emergency room. When he was driven to the hospital, his heart is stopped beating.

4. How does the government manage games?

- Restrict the playing game time.

- Stop the appearance of internet coffee shop(China)

- Going to manage the virtual game toys business.

5. What is the future evolution of game?

- Online game

- Web –based game

 

How about your opinions?

Chapter XII – The Ops Room

It was 5.30 the next morning. The sky was getting light. Darryl had driven the kids up to the airfield gates. The gates were shut and locked. And there was a new wire fence all around the airfield.

The kids got out of the van. Frankie, Jack and Regan were carrying a metal detector.

‘I’m going to hide the van over there, behind those trees,’ Darryl said. He pointed to a place a hundred meters away. ‘If i see anyone coming, I’ll sound the van’s horn. Good luck!’

The kids climbed carefully over the gates. Tom put on the headphones which were connected to the handle of the metal detector. Then the four friends started to search the ground carefully, meter by meter. They all looked carefully at the ground in front of them, and Tom moved the metal detector from side to side.

After he’d watched them climb over the gates, Darryl drove the van under the trees. He was very tired. He didn’t like getting up at five o’clock in the morning. He tried to stay awake. But after a few minutes, he was asleep.

____________

It was an hour later. The children had searched only a small area of the airfield.

‘This is taking too long,’ Reagan said angrily. ‘We’ll never find anything.’ She looked up for a moment. Then she gasped. She pointed to the small hill over the old Ops room.

‘Look!’ she whispered.

A line of women was walking over the grass. They were dressed in WAAF uniforms. A pale light was glowing all around them.

As the four friends watched them, the WAAFs disappeared into the hill, one by one.

Regan ran towards the women.

‘Come back! Come back!’ she shouted. But the women had gone.

Frankie, Jack and Tom followed Regan. Tom moved the metal detector over the grass on top of the little hill. Suddenly. there was a sharp sound in his headphones.

‘There’s a big piece of metal under here,’ he said. ‘Quickly! Dig, everybody!’

The kids started to dig with their spades. Ten minutes later, there had found a big black metal hatch – a door in the ground. The hatch was two meters and slowly, the heavy  hatch opened. Underneath it, they saw some concrete steps. And at the bottom of the steps there was a red metal door.

Chapter XI - The Diary

Radnor Road was in a new part of Lychford. The Bowles’ house was a large, modern one. There was a high fence around the house and garden.
The four friends walked up to the front door. Jack rang the doorbell twice, but there was no answer.
He turned away from the door and began to walk to the back of the house. He had to het inside. The others followed him.
At the back of the house, there was some white furniture in the garden. And there were two tall glass doors, which led into the house. They were not locked. Jack pulled open one door and took a step into a large room.
‘Wait for me here,’ he said to the others.
The room was an office. Jack could see a desk, a computer, a metal cupboard and lots of bookshelves.
There was a strange, frightening feeling in the room. For a moment, Jack wanted to leave. Then he saw a small green notebook on the desk.
‘That’s the Squadron Leader’s diary,’ Jack said to himself. ‘I must read it’
He walked slowly towards the desk. It was very difficult for him to move now. Something wicked was trying to stop him.
Jack’s fingers touched the diary. It was very, very cold…

Suddenly, it was night – dark, dark night. After first, Jack couldn’t see anything. Then he knew where he was. He was standing in the middle of Lychford Green airfield. He was near the control tower. But it wasn’t a ruin, covered with grass and weeds. It was a new control tower. There were other new buildings nearly. Jack heard a car passing a few metres away. Then he heard people walking about. He was back in 1940!
Two hundred metres away, Jack saw some large shapes. They were black against the dark sky. He had seen the ruins of these buildings from the air, earlier that day. Aircraft were kept in them. He knew that. He walked towards them.
When he was near the first building, Jack heard a sharp noise inside it. He went quietly into the building. There were several Spitfires inside.
Jack stood under the wing of the nearest Spitfire. A man was working on the plane. Immediately, Jack knew something about him. He was a wicked man!
Jack waited. After a while, the man finished his work and he turned around. Jack could see the man’s face now. The boy had seen that face before – in an old photo at the museum. It was the face of Squadron Leader Leighbridge-Smith. The Squadron Leader was the traitor at Lychford Green airfield!
‘This Spitfire is Glen Loostthawk’s plane,’ Jack thought. ‘Today is the 23rd of August, 1940. on the 24th, Glen’s plane will crash. He will die and so will the four evacuees. The Squadron Leader broke something inside Glen’s plane. He is a murderer!’

‘… and what are you doing in my house?’ a woman’s voice was shouting. ‘How did you get in here?’
Frankie, Tom and Regan were in the room with Jack now. The woman who was shouting at them was wearing a bathrobe. A towel was tied around her head.
‘We rang the front doorbell,’ Tom said quickly. ‘There was no answer, so we came round to the back of the house.’
‘You walked into my house while I was taking a bath!’ the woman shouted. ‘I’m going to call the police.’
‘No, please don’t do that,’ Jack said. ‘My name is Jack Christmas. I phoned you yesterday. I wanted to talk to your husband.’
‘My husband is busy at the airfield,’ Mrs Bowles said. ‘He isn’t going to speak to you.’
‘He’s at the airfield?’ Regan said. ‘Does he work for Facelift Construction?’
‘My husband owns Facelift Construction,’ Mrs Bowles replied. ‘Now get out of my house – all of you!’
There was nothing more that the children could do. They walked slowly down Radnor Road. As they were walking along, Jack told them his story.
‘So the Squadron Leader was the traitor,’ Regan said. ‘Mr Bowles must know about it. He knows what’s in his grandfather’s diary. He understands the code. That’s why he doesn’t want us to see diary.’
‘But why did the Squadron Leader kill Glen?’ Frankie asked.
‘Glen found out the truth,’ Tom said. ‘So the traitor killed him. It’s simple.’
‘And the proof of the traitor’s wickedness is under the ground somewhere on the airfield,’ Regan said quickly. ‘Mr Bowles knows that, and he is looking for the proof too. But we must find it first!’

Chapter X - The Battle in the Sky

The kids were in Darryl’s van. They were on their way to the airfield at Halleyford, about thirty kilometres from Lychford. Darryl was very interested in Glen’s message.
‘I argee with Tom and Frankie,’ he said. ‘There is something important under Lychford Green airfield. Glen wants you find it.’
Suddenly, there was a loud noise in the sky above them. For a moment, a dark shape covered the sun.
‘It’s a Spitfire!’ Tom said.
‘It’s Glen!’ Regan whispered.
Darryl laughed and shook his head.
‘No, it isn’t Glen,’ he said. ‘That’s a real Spitfire. It flies from Halleyford airfield? Good,’ Jack said. ‘The past and the present are getting very mixed up!’
Darryl and the kids were going to fly in an old plane – a De Havilland Dragon Rapide. There were eight seats for passengers in the plane, but they were very close together. Darryl and the kids climbed in. The heaviest people sat at the back, the lighest in the front. The pilot got in last. Regan was sitting nearest to him.
The pilot started the engines and the old plane began to move. And then they were in the air.
The children looked down. The cars on the roads were tiny. The little fields were green, yellow and brown squares.
‘We’ll soon be over Lychford Green airfield,’ Darryl shouted after ten minutes. The noise of the engines was loud and he had to shout. ‘Get your camera ready, Tom.’
The pilot took the plane lower. Now they could all see the airfield. They could see the old control tower and the other broken buildings. They could see the little round hill above the underground Ops Room. There were the three runways. And there were the Facelift Construction trucks. But there were no people working on the airfield.
‘Facelift Construction hasn’t started work yet,’ Jack said to himself. ‘Perhaps we will be able to use the metal detector. We really must get onto the airfield again.’
‘Have you taken your photos, Tom?’ the pilot shouted.
‘Yes, thanks. I’ve used all the film,’ Tom said.
‘OK. I’m turning back now. We don’t …’

Suddenly, there was complete silence. Had the plane’s engines stopped? Frankie turned round quickly. Jack was shouting at her. She could see his mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear his words. Behind Jack, Darryl was sitting very still. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing anything.
Regan and Tom were shouting now, but Frankie couldn’t hear them either. Jack pointed at the pilot. Regan touched the man on the arm. The pilot didn’t move, but the plane flew on. What was happening?
There was a dark shape in the sky, coming towards them. Then there were two dark shapes. And close behind them were two more. They were planes.
Tom knew what the planes were. They were Messerschmitt 109s – German fighter planes from the Second World War! The Messerschmitts had guns and now they were shooting at the Dragon Rapide. The kids saw the bullets hitting the wings of the plane. But there was still no sound.
‘Is this happening now or in the past?’ Jack asked himself.
The Dragon Rapide turned slowly. Now it was going down. The ground was coming nearer and nearer.
Frankie quickly unfastened her seat belt. She moved carefully towards the pilot. He was holding the control column in his hands, but he was not controlling the plane. Frankie put her hands over his hands, and tried to pull the column back. It was very difficult, but at last the control column moved. Soon, the plane was flying straight ahead again.
And now there were three more planes in the sky. They were Spitfires! The first Spitfires fired its guns. Its bullets hit one of the German planes and the Messerschmitt began to fall.

Then suddenly, the sky was empty. The Dragon Rapide’s engines were roaring loudly. The children could hear the wind again. And the pilot was speaking.
‘… have much fuel,’ the pilot was saying. ‘Have you all enjoyed the flight? Was it exciting?’
‘Oh, yes, we enjoyed it very much,’ Frankie replied. ‘It was very exciting.’ And the kids all laughed.

When they were back in Darryl’s van, the four friends told him what had happened.
‘Was that battle another Psychic Stain?’ Jack asked him.
‘No, Glen made that happen,’ Darryl said. ‘He was probably telling you to do something. But what?’
‘If Glen can do that, he must be very powerful,’ Regan said. ‘He can take us into the past whenever ha wants to.’
‘Perhaps we are giving Glen his power,’ Jack said.
‘Yes, that’s possible,’ Darryl replied. ‘Well, I’m going to get that metal detector for you this evening. Where do you want to go now?’
‘Take us to Radnor Road, please,’ Jack said. ‘I want to visit Mr Terry Bowles.’
‘Why?’ Regan asked.
‘I want to see that diary,’ Jack replied. ‘The diary is very important. I’m sure about that!’

Chapter IX - 'Glen Did This'

Back at their house, Jack and Tom were talking about Glen's strangle message - TRAITOR. What was the phan-tom airman trying to tell them?
‘Perhaps there was a traitor on the airfield,’ Tom said. ‘I want to see the Squadron Leader’s diary. We might learn about the traitor from that.’
‘Yes,’ Jack replied. ‘But there’s something strange about the diary. I’m sure of that.’
‘Let’s phone the Squadron Leader’s grandson, Terry Bowles. Give me the phone book, Jack,’ his brother said.
Tom read out the number and Jack dialled it. In a few moments, a woman’s voice answered. Jack asked for Mr Bowles.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Bowles isn’t here at the moment,’ the woman said. ‘I’m his wife. Can I help you?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Jack said. ‘My name is Jack Christmas. My friends and I are doing a project about Lychford airfield in 1940. someone in the RAF was working for the Germans. But we don’t know who it was. We’d like to see Squadron Learder Leightbridge-Smith’s diary. Can we speak to your husband about it when he comes home?’
Mrs Bowles laughed.
‘There was no traitor,’ she said, ‘I’ve been helping my husband with his work on the diary. There’s nothing in it about a traitor. You’ve watched too many spy films, Jack! But tell me your number. I’ll ask my husband to phone you, when he has time. He’s very busy at the moment.’
Jack put down the phone.
‘We won’t get any help from Mr or Mrs Bowles,’ he said. ‘Let’s finish putting out notes onto the computer. We’ll talk to the girls about this in the morning.’

In the middle of the night, Regan woke up suddenly. Something strange washappening. She was falling through the air and her room was full of smoke.
She fell to the ground, but she wasn’t hurt. She had fallen very gently. But now, part of her bedroom was on fire. She saw flames moving through the room.
The flames moved nearer and nearer to the terrified girl. And then they covered her.
Now Frankie was awake too. She heard noises – guns firing, and loud explosions that shook the room. Huge flames were anywhere. They were on the walls, on the curtains and all round her bed. And Regan had gone! Where was she?
Frankie opened her mouth, she was going to scream. Then she saw Regan. The American girl was walking through the flames towards her.
‘The flames are cold,’ Regan whispered, as she sat on Frankie’s bed.
Then the bed started to move. And all the other furniture in the room started to move too. It turned round and round. Everything was covered in flames. But the flames were as cold as ice!
Suddenly there was silence. No noise. No flames. The two girls sat on the bed and looked at each other. The room was wrecked. Everything was on the floor – books, clothes, magazines.
Regan pushed her long black hair away from her face.
‘Hi!’ she said.
‘What happened?’ Frankie gasped.
‘Glen did this,’ Regan replied. ‘He’s angry because we didn’t get all of his message. Perhaps …’
She didn’t finish her sentence because they heard a terrible scream outside the door.
‘Jennie!’ Regan shouted. She ran to the door and pulled it open.
Outside the bedroom, Regan and Frankie saw Jennie.
She was floating above their heads. She was turning round and round in a strong wind. And as they watched, the wind pushed Jennie to the top of the stairs.
‘No. Glen! No!’ Regan shouted. ‘Don’t hurt her!’
The wind stopped and Jennie fell gently to the floor. She stared at the two friends for a moment. Then, without speaking, she got up and walked into her own room. She shut the door behind her.
Regan and Frankie went back into Regan’s room. Together, they put everything in its place. Nothing had been broken. Nothing had been burnt.
Then the two girls lay on their beds and fell asleep immediately.

Frankie and Regan were still asleep when the boys rang the doorbell the next morning. When the girls were dressed, everybody went into the kitchen. Regan told Jack and Tom what had happened.
‘Why did you let Jennie throw away the piece of metal?’ Tom asked Regan. ‘Now we’ve only got half a message. And we can’t understand it.’
At the moment, the kitchen door opened and Jennie came into the room.
‘Hi, Jennie,’ Regan said. ‘You look terrible.’
This was true. Jennie looked tired and frightened.
‘You must tell me something,’ Jennie said. ‘In the middle of the night, did I wake up on the floor outside my room? That’s what I remember. You were there. I saw you. But perhaps I was dreaming. I was dreaming, wasn’t I, Regan? It was all a dream?’
‘Yes,” Regan replied. ‘You were dreaming.’
‘Thanks,’ Jennie said. ‘I’m going back to bed now.’
When Jennie had gone, Regan laughed. ‘We won’t have any more trouble from the Blond Bimbo,’ she said. ‘Now, what are we going to do about Glen?’ She repeated the message again. ‘It says, “Help me rest safe under the air” Perhaps the next letters were going to be f-i-e-l-d. is Glen buried under the airfield? Does he want us to stop the construction work?’
‘No, Glen can’t be buried there,’ Jack said. ‘Perhaps Glen was going to write two sentences. Perhaps he wanted to say, “Help me rest safe. Under the airfield” But he didn’t tell us what under the airfield.’
‘There must be something under the airfield,’ Tom said.
‘And Glen wants us to find it,’ said Frankie went on. ‘Perhaps it’s something about the traitor.’
“We must go to the airfield again,’ Jack told the others. ‘I want to use that metal detector there.’
‘Perhaps Darryl will have some more ideas,’ Regan said.
‘We’ll ask him,’ Jack replied. ‘We’re meeting him at one o’clock. We’re going up in the old plane this afternoon. Tom has bought his camera.’