ISSUE NO. 7:"A Friend In Need, A Friend Indeed"

"A Friend In Need, A Friend Indeed"

Friendship is something beautiful in life, for this reason we have to search for friends carefully and choose the right one, so as to communicate with them and to exchange ideas, and to share with us happiness and sadness.

Actually, there are different ways of making friendships:

The first way is by your daily life, you will know and meet so many people within your academic life, and your career.

The second way is the cyber one, in other words, to make friendship via internet and its social networks (Facebook, twitter…etc.)

Friendship is divided into two forms: the materialistic form, as someone wants to be a friend of yours, because he asks you for doing something, then, you meet his need, he will disappear from your life. Or a person who becomes closer to someone due to his intelligence or wealth, so, to get benefit from him morally or materially, and if something wrong happens, he will walk away. This is why, you have to be aware of this type of friendship. Whereas the second form is a real one; this real friend who performs as if your brother or even better, he is always loyal to you whatever the condition is, and under any circumstance. He always protects you from any possible danger, he shares with you happiness and comforts you when you are sad.

Definitely, you understood what I was after. You should test your friend, to know whether he is gold or rusty metal. At the end of my article, I would like to remind you of the famous speech of Polonious to his son Learetes, before the latter’s departure (quoted from Hamlet By Shakespeare) "Cherish Your Old Friend And Choose The New One Carefully."

Written By: Ibrahim T. Al-Bayati

ISSUE NO. 7: An Interview With Assistant Instructor Dunia Khalil

An Interview With 

Assistant Instructor 

Dunia Khalil

1 - Who is Assistant Instructor Dunia?

*I am Dunia Khalil Esma'el , I finished my study in high school (literary branch) then I had my B.A and M.A from the Dept. of Translation and now I am a teacher in the same department.

2 – Did you choose to be in this department?

*Yes, I like it. In high school, I got high marks that entitled me to higher colleges, but I preferred this department in the College of Arts.

3 - Do you like your job as a teacher?

*Well, I wanted to work as an interpreter. But because of social and security circumstances, I entered the domain of teaching.

4 - Which subjects, in your opinion, are more difficult, translation or theoretical subjects?

*For our students, I think, theoretical subjects are more difficult.

5 - We always see Assistant Lecturer Dunia as a teacher of translation subjects. So, why you are far from theoretical subjects?

*I find myself in translation subjects, and simultaneous interpretation is my favorite subject to teach.

6 - For years now, you have been teaching sight translation, how do you deal with the students, especially that is their first year practicing oral translation?

*Oral translation is difficult for students, because they face the teacher, the text and the exam without a dictionary or other resources. But, as you know, I try to follow a step-by-step method and help the students with the vocabulary and grammatical structure.

7 - How do you treat your students?

*As grown-ups and adopt a mutual respect attitude.

8 - How did you build your language?

*I self-built my language; I practiced a lot and supported that with studying in the Dept. of Translation.

9 - Tell us about your life, what are your hobbies?

*Sewing.

10 - What about T.V?

*I like T.V, I watch English-speaking movies and series’, they give me a clue about the western culture, and they are very good and really entertaining.

"Thank you madam for your time

it was really an interesting interview"

Interviewed by Saleem Butti

ISSUE NO. 7: Human Unity

Human Unity

It’s my pleasure to write this article that, I believe, will satisfy all, God willing, because it’s one of the basics of essential principles which all classes of world should agree upon. Then, let’s initiate the concept of loving too which accompanies this principle.

One of the starting points of knowing this subject is to delve into the process of eradicating backwardness and illiteracy and the process of spiritual education, particularly within children as they have pure hearts, in order to bring up a united community that will be led by a group of persons who have this virtue built inside one’s soul. In addition, everybody knows that human unity is one of God’s teachings that are commanded by all Messengers of God. 

It is a fact that the world needs human beings to groom it with concepts that are developing man’s mind that is created to carry out God’s teachings on Earth such as pure love, co-operation, and agreement on one word welling up from a heart filled with God’s love. As a human being devote his efforts in order to gather his family and relatives to keep them safe and in peace, he is also to be devoted to love his nation and community, then he must serve and love the whole world.

The principle of human unity is one of God’s gifts, thus we should realize what a great essence it is? Because whenever a number of persons agree upon a thought suggested by them for the good of people, God will certainly endow them with all blessings and gifts that they cannot realize. For instance, one of the most important issues is service of society.

Last but not least, let’s imagine that this world - which is full with people of diverse colors, ideas, traditions and so forth - as a meadow with various shapes of roses. How beautiful would that meadow be! In contrast, if we look closely to a meadow that has similar roses, no one, as far as I think, will like to behold it.

We supplicate our Lord to take us all in his mercy and provide us with guidance so that we reach what we are in need for.

Written by: Mushriq A. Jaber

ISSUE NO. 7: Interview with the Dean of College of Science \ AL-Mustansiriya University Assistant Professor Yousif Kadim Abdulameer

Interview with the Dean of College of Science \ AL-Mustansiriya University

Assistant Professor 

Yousif Kadim Abdulameer

Q1\ Who is the Dean of The College of Science?

A\ I am Assistant Professor Yousif Kadim Abdulalameer, I was granted BA degree in Chemistry by The University of Baghdad \ College of Science in 1978. And I got MA degree from the same university in 1982, and I was given PhD degree by the above-mentioned university.

I am married and I have five children.

Q2\ What is your philosophy in life?

A\ To meet my need. I achieved my goal when I got PhD degree and then I was thinking of a way to make the experiences I gained from my work at The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for more than 23 years available for my students, so it they will be able to run practical and administrative tasks in a perfect way.

Q3\ What are the posts that you have occupied so far?

A\ I occupied many posts within my career, such as, participating previously in a large number of committees at The College of Education \ University of AL-Qadisiya.

I also worked in scientific, import, and examination committees for many years. After that I was appointed as the Head of Department of Chemistry at the University of AL-Qadisyia.

Then in 1999, I was transferred to AL-Mustansiriya University, College of Science. I got the title of assistant professor in 2002, and I worked for the afore-mentioned University with the capacity of a member at the promotion committee.

Afterwards, I became the Head of The Department of Chemistry, later on, Assistant Dean of The College of Science, then A Dean of The College of Science. There is a point that should be taken into consideration: My basic career is teaching.

Q4\ What is your viewpoint on the academic atmosphere in the university?

A\ The academic atmosphere has been improved within the last year, but students still suffer from the lack of freedom to develop their capabilities in the university. The most beautiful period of my life was at my college, when I was an undergraduate student, there were consolidated relationships between us and our professors, and our relations with professors were parallel. One of the problems that students suffer from now is the compression of lecture hours, because students' numbers have been doubled and because of the evening studies. This is why students get exhausted and students have no leisure time to exercise their hobbies and so on. There is an important point in respect of student behaviour in the university campus; Students have to interact with the academic life and should preserve traditions and religions at the same time. They should forget their ethnic, political and tribal affiliations, because they are students related to AL-Mustansiriya University and they shall be abided by laws, regulations and instructions of university and apply them literally. Students have to invest every single moment of their academic life and to gain knowledge and science. They have to wear appropriate clothes in the university.

Q5\ What are the achievements of AL-Mustansiriya University \ College of Science?

A\ A lot of achievements have been implemented during this year, including the international certificate of UNESCO that Dr. RIYAM gained, due to her research, which is about biology, this certificate was one out of fifteen winning researches all over the world.

College of Science occupies title No.4 after it has occupied title No.19 at the level of Iraqi Universities. It also gained in February title No.3 in the field of IC3 international certificates. It also intends to hold a conference on May\5 and that is to be the first national conference of "Nanotechnology" which is to be held on next Nov.

Q6\ What is your vision of University Press in general?

A\ The press in Iraq became free and open after 2003, so the journalist has the freedom to write about anything. Since, you are journalists, confirm the information by checking the source before publication.

Take care of credibility of publication, Not only focusing on the negative points You have to underline the positive ones too.

Q7\ Anything you would like to add?

A\ I am very glad to meet you, and I hope you will be important journalists soon, we are in need of international press to achieve our ultimate goals.

Interviewed by:

Dia Sulaibi,

Ibrahim T. Al-Bayati,

Mushriq A. Jaber

& Aseel K. Mahmood.

ISSUE NO. 7: Mother

Mother

“M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell
"MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.
Israa A. Ameen

ISSUE NO. 7: What is a mother?

What is a mother?

A mother is someone to shelter and guide us.

To love us whatever we do.

With a warm understanding and infinite patience

And wonderful gentleness, too.

How often a mother means swift reassurance.

In soothing our small, childish fears.

How tenderly mothers watch over their children.

And treasure them all through the years!.

The heart of a mother is full of forgiveness.

For any mistake, big or small,

And generous always in helping her family.

Whose needs she has placed above all.

A mother can utter a word of compassion.

And make all our cares fall away,

She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter.

And make life delightful and gay.

A mother possesses incredible wisdom. And wonderful insight and skill

In each human heart is that one special corner.

Which only a mother can fill!

Katherine Nelson Davis

ما الام؟

امنا هي ملاذنا و مرشدتنا للصواب

تحبنا مهما فعلنا

متفهمه جدا وصبوره

رقتها عاليه ايضا

دائما تكون بر الامان

وتهدأ روعنا من مخاوفنا الطفوليه

كيف ترعى الامهات اولادهن بحنان

وتحافظ عليهم على مر السنين

قلب الام يملؤه الغفران

لأي خطا كبير كان ام صغير

تساعد عائلتها دوما بسخاء

وتضع احتياجاتهم قبل نفسها

فكلمه حنان منها

تزيح كل الهموم

صوت ضحكاتها ينير البيت

ويجعل الحياه جميلة و سعيدة

تملك حكمه لاتصدق

ورؤية ومهارة رائعة

ففي قلب كل منا مكان

لا يملؤه سواها

كاثرين نلسن ديفيز

ترجمة اسراء عباس امين

ISSUE NO. 7: Mother's Day

Mother's Day

“Mom” is the first word most of us utter, the first face we ever remember, the first reason we smile, and the first and only reason that we survive every day.
I wanted to speak about motherhood but there is nothing really to say that can ever come close to be compared to all that she has done since the day you were born. Imagine a sacred vow where a woman is unconditionally willing to give her life ,her health and her being to carry you for nine draining months and to take care of you afterwards till the day you or she is gone for good. 

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends - but only one mother in the whole world. It makes one wonder why would anyone like to do that but motherhood is bigger than all the perceptions, expectations, and self considerations, beyond all ability, desire, patience and dignity. It's that unending bottomless kindness, care, love and nurture that teach us how to live how to survive teaches us everything we need to know or even don't need to know, giving you that fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible, an angel that stays all the way to protect you from everything, to fix everything from a scratched knee to a broken heart, to guard you with her own life and above all no matter what must guarantee that everything is alright for
you.

After contemplating all that combined in one wonderful creature so dedicated, so beautiful, strong and powerful how miraculously all that is in one woman, one human being.... as a matter of fact one angel from the sky.
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before.
The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolute that changes your life forever, being a mother is the hardest job in the world. Being a full-time mother is a also a life time job and one of the highest-salaried jobs in the field, since the payment is pure love. Motherhood is neither a duty nor a privilege, but simply the way that humanity can satisfy the desire for physical immortality and triumph over the fear of death.
You are probably thinking that this is all about mother's day but it's not. It's not enough to honor them by just one day. I would spend the rest of my life trying to thank her.

When I was 1 year old she taught me how to walk and I tripped and cried.
When I was 3 she taught me how to eat and I spilled the food.
When I was 5 she taught me how to write and I drew over the walls.
When I was 7 she taught me how to dress and I brought it back home dirty.
When I was 9 she taught me how to behave but I yelled at her.
Oh she kept on teaching me a lot of things, There were times when I got angry,
times when I thought she was being too intrusive and those times when I asked her
to let me be.. Despite all of that the heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. But, there came the time when I realized what I have been missing and how many thanks she owed me so far.

If you never had the chance to say thank you then seize the day. There was
never a great man who had not a great mother. All of us have moms; alive or in heaven.. may they all be blessed!
Written by Aseel K. Mahmood

ISSUE NO. 7: WHY AND WHEN

 WHY AND WHEN

Two friends got together by being question marks, you may not have a deep look at them and you may also say why an article is written about them? You may say that they're just simple words with simple letters. Yes, I agree with you; they look like that. But actually, the situation is completely different and they have a deep meaning inside of them. Look at (when), 

Ask yourself how many times you use this word a day? Yes, you use this word many times just because this happens naturally. Human being always tend to want to know (when); when they'll find a job? when they'll find stability? And when they'll catch their dreams? They Also complain from bad conditions and start questioning  when, when…. 

Each one of us is waiting for something in his life and is always asking when? But, no one knows (when) . Now, what about (why). We are always asking (why?), and I'll tell you why. Everything in your life has a reason, even if you don't know what it is. Your being in this life has a reason, your failure, your success, also have a reason. 

So, did you ever think whey there is always a reason? Yes, it's being alive. Think in these two words and give them some care. I promise you, you'll discover new secrets. Don't make them or anything else in this life deceive you by being simple cause greatness always gush out from smallness.

Written by Raghad H. Iskandar 

ISSUE NO. 7: CHEETAH

CHEETAH

Can you move as fast as a car? Probably not, unless the car is going very slowly. But a cheetah can keep up with a car. Cheetahs can run as fast as 58 miles (93 kilometers) per hour. That’s as fast as a car on the freeway! Cheetahs are probably the fastest animals on Earth.

WHAT ARE CHEETAHS?

 Cheetahs are big cats, a bit smaller than lions or tigers. Cheetahs have a yellow to pale brown coat covered with black spots. Their coloring helps them hide in bushes and grass. The spots become rings on the cheetah’s long tail. Each cheetah’s tail has a different pattern of rings. Scientists use the tails to tell cheetahs apart.

Cheetahs don’t roar like some big cats. Instead they make purrs, bleats, barks, and chirps. The chirps can sound a lot like a bird!

WHAT MAKES CHEETAHS SO FAST?

Cheetahs are built for speed. Their bodies are muscular and streamlined. They have long legs and backs that let them take big steps. They have long tails to help them keep their balance and steer at high speeds. They have large hearts and lungs that help them breathe easily during fast runs. In addition, they have ridges on the bottoms of their paws that provide traction, much like the ridges on snow boots that keep you from slipping.

Although cheetahs can reach their top speeds in two or three seconds, they can’t keep it up for long. Cheetahs can’t sweat to cool themselves down, unlike people. If a cheetah doesn’t catch its prey after it runs about 1,000 feet (300 meters)—the length of three soccer fields—it has to give up. Otherwise, its body could get so hot that the cheetah might die.

HOW DO CHEETAHS HUNT?

Cheetahs hunt over very large areas. A female cheetah might cover an area as big as 300 square miles (800 square kilometers) in search of food. Male cheetahs hunt over smaller areas, but they fight hard to keep other cheetahs out of their territory.

Cheetahs hunt gazelles, impalas, hares, and young wildebeests. Sometimes, males cooperate with other males to prey on even bigger animals, such as zebras.

Cheetahs don’t rely just on speed to catch dinner. They sneak up on their prey until they are within about 33 feet (10 meters), and then they burst into a sprint. Cheetahs catch the animals they stalk about half the time. Once the prey is caught, cheetahs bite its neck until it can’t breathe anymore.

Sometimes, cheetahs are the victims of theft. Lions or hyenas may bully a cheetah and steal its fresh kill. For this reason, cheetahs hunt during the day, when lions and hyenas like to nap.

HOW DO CHEETAHS LIVE?

Cheetahs live in dry places, such as grasslands. They can go a long time without water. They get much of the water they need from the prey they kill. Cheetahs like places where they can see for a long distance, so they can find more prey. Cheetahs also need bushes and shrubs to hide behind when they hunt.

Mother cheetahs give birth to four to eight cubs at a time. The cubs are born blind and helpless. They stay hidden in their den for about eight weeks while their mother hunts.

A mother cheetah may be away from her cubs for a day or two. While she is gone, jaguars and wild dogs often prey on the cubs. Most young cheetahs don’t live to be three months old!

Prepared by: Husham G. Naji

ISSUE NO. 7: Why Rivers Need to Flow - High and Low - Again ??

Why Rivers Need to Flow - High and Low - Again ??

Don't be surprised if the next time you head down to a river with a fishing pole you pull up a lowly carp instead of a prized native trout. Most rivers no longer flow the way they're supposed to flow -- and that's changing the mix of fish and other organisms that call them home.

That's a key finding of the most extensive study ever done of changes in river flows across the United States. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) examined flow patterns at 2,888 river locations and compared what they found with the flows they'd expect to find under natural conditions. They focused on changes in the magnitude of flows--the highs and lows that are so crucial to giving river creatures the habitats and life-cycle cues they need to survive.

Prepared by Saleem Butti

ISSUE NO. 7: TRAFFIC SIGNS TRANSLATED

Prepared by: Sanaria

ISSUE NO. 7: Sonnet No. 18

Sonnet No. 18

By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

Thou art more lovely and more temperate

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

And summer's lease hath all too short a date

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines

And often is his gold complexion dimmed

And every fair from fair sometimes declines

By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest

Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade

When in eternal lines to time thou growest

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

ISSUE NO. 7: السونيتة 18

السونيتة 18

لوليام شكسبير

ترجمها للعربية: أبراهيم البياتي

هل أصفك بيوم من أيام ألربيع

لكنك أحلى وتمتازين بجمال بديع

والرياح العاتية تهز براعم شهر ايار

وفصل الربيع من الفصول القصار

واحيانا تكون شمسه ساطعة في السماء

أو كئيبة تخفي ضيائها بغائم الغشاء

ويفنى كل جمال في نهاية ألامر

وهذه طبيعة ألحياة ، مد وجزر

ولن يفنى ربيعك ألدائم أبدا

ولا جمالك ألسرمدي ألخالدا

ولن يتمنى ألموت ان تمشين في الظلال

لأنك ستخلدين بتلك الابيات الشعرية الطوال

طالما يتنفس البشر وتبصر أعينهم ألسعادة

سيمنحك هذا الشعر حياة وريادة

I have come across so many attempts of translating Sonnet No. 18 by William Shakespeare, most of them were not successful enough due to SL orientation, I mean that those who translated it were SL-Oriented.
I believe that this is not the right way in Literary Translation because, we have to be TL-Oriented. The translator's job is to transfer the sense and the cultural flavour of source language text to target language readers as experienced by source language receivers.
In literary translation, we can manipulate and modify the wording and the structure of a text, in order to convey the essence of the SL text to make the reader feel the same emotion and passion that the original reader felt.
Many translators who translated Sonnet No.18 committed, as far as I can see, a big mistake. This mistake is that they translated (Summer) into (صيف)
It is literal translation, we can't describe our lovers, in eastern society, as Summer season because it is too long and very hot, so, it gives bad connotation for TL readers.
We should translate it intoربيع) ) due to its mild weather and Spring season is a short one compared with Summer, and gives good connotation for TL readers
NOTE:
SL:Source Language
TL: Target Language
Written By : Ibrahim T. AL-Bayati

ISSUE NO. 7: HOPE

 HOPE

Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved a girl so much. One day, she was driving on the highway and an accident happened when a lorry hit her car.

She went into a coma. By the time her lover heard about it he hoped that everything is ok and nothing bad happened.

As he arrived to the hospital. He wanted to talk to the doctor and he was shocked when he heard about the coma.

Then, he prayed that the coma will end as soon as possible. Day after day the grief increased but the man never lost hope.

He used to go every day after work to the hospital and sit next to her and talk to her about his day and his plans for the next day.

Two years later, a miracle happened when his phone rang and he heard the best news in his life. He wasn’t sure that she would remember him but he made sure to buy her her favorite flowers.

At the hospital she woke up from her coma and she asked the nurse about what has happened. When she heard the story she told the nurse that she is hoping that her love has not forget her and she wanted to see him, the nurse laughed and told her that he is on his way.

He arrived , met her, hugged her and their life journey began again.

HOPE is the torch that lightens our lives during dark times, and without it we will sink in the lake of painful memories.

Written by Saleem Butti

ISSUE NO. 7: HELLO IDIOMS!

HELLO IDIOMS!

• Rotten apple
A single bad person or thing.
There always is a rotten apple to spoil it for the rest of us. & Tom sure has turned out to be the rotten apple.

• It's written in the stars.
Something that you say which means something good was caused by the power that is believed to control what happens to people's lives
It was written in the stars that we should meet and fall in love.

• Come up smelling like a rose and come up smelling like roses
Fig. To end up looking good or respectable after being involved in some difficult or notorious affair.
I was surprised that my congressional representative came up smelling like a rose after his colleagues investigated him.

• No news is good news
Not hearing any news signifies that nothing is wrong.
Fred: I wonder if Jill is doing all right in her new job. Jane: No news is good news. & Jane: I'm worried about my sister. She hasn't called me for months. Alan: No news is good news, right?


• Every trick in the book
Every clever or dishonest way that you know to achieve something that you want (often + to do sth)
He used every trick in the book to get


her to sign the contract.

• Chew the fat and chew the rag
Fig. to chat or gossip.
Sit yourself down and let's chew the fat for a while. & We were just chewing the rag. Nothing important.

• Lull before the storm and calm before the storm
A quiet period just before a period of great activity or excitement. (Literal in reference to weather.)
It was very quiet in the cafeteria just before the students came in for lunch. It was the lull before the storm. In the brief calm before the storm, the clerks prepared themselves for the doors to open and bring in thousands of shoppers.

• Get the message? and Get the picture?
Inf. Do you understand?; Are you able to figure out what is meant?
Things are tough around here, and we need everyone's cooperation. Get the picture? & We don't need lazy people around here. Get the message?

• Funny as a barrel of monkeys
Cliché very funny.
Ron was as funny as a barrel of monkeys. & The entire evening was funny as a barrel of monkeys.


• Drive someone up the wall
Fig. to annoy or irritate someone.
Stop whistling that tune. You're driving me up the wall. All his talk about moving to California nearly drove me up the wall.
Written by Israa A. Ameen

ISSUE NO. 7: 5 STEPS FOR A BETTER VOCABULARY

5 STEPS FOR A BETTER VOCABULARY

If you want to be a great communicator, then you need to have a great vocabulary, as a translator. Then, you need as much vocabulary as you can get in order to express yourself in a better way. But, the question is how to maintain that much of vocabulary without forgetting some!

First: Read , read as much as you can, the more you read the more words you will encounter. anything you hear might contain a new or bizarre word of some kind. Try to keep yourself in contact with your second language and try to know, hear and use new things enriched with information and vocabulary you don't know.

Second: Keep yourself curious; try to find out what does any word you encounter or hear mean by looking at the context around it and if you found it unrecognizable then you may try to look it up in the dictionary. Try to keep in your mind seeking it in the context that fits the most. For maybe you will let yourself think of the better usage and thus you will never forget it.

Third: Write down; try to keep a a notebook for all the words you hear, review it every day, and you will see how much you can remember by then.

Fourth: Expand; Learn the roots of words. See how many words you can think of that contain the same root — for example, “predict,” and “verdict,” “dictionary,” and “dictate,” and do exchange words. Then you will have to see how many words you can replace without changing the meaning. Try regularly to use a thesaurus. and find synonyms for words you use often

Fifth: Words are fun, so Play word games like Scrabble, Hangman and Mad Libs and do crosswords and other word puzzles to train your mind for new words.

Written by

Aseel K. Mahmood

ISSUE NO. 7: READ & SAY WOW!

o French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel which has no verbs.

o There are 41,806 different spoken languages in the world today.

o A snowflake can take up to an hour to fall from the cloud to the surface of the Earth.

o Earth’s oceans are an average of 2 miles deep.

o All lily flowers are poisonous to cats.

o Cats can’t taste sweet thing.

o Wearing yellow make you look bigger on camera, green smaller.

o It is impossible to sneeze and keep one’s eyes open at the same time.

o When you sneeze, all your bodily functions stop even your heart.

o Months that start with a Sunday always has a Friday the 13th.

o A mosquito can smell the carbon dioxide you exhale from about 60 to 75 feet away.

o In 75 years the human heart pumps 3,122,000,000 gallons of blood, enough to fill in oil tanker over 46 times.

o A spider’s silk is stronger than steel.

o Human’s nose can identify over 10000 different odors.

o A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can’t.

o A rabbit’s teeth never stop growing.

o Rats can tell the different between two human languages.

o You have no sense of smell when you’re sleeping.

o Astronauts get taller when they are in the space.

o A book that has 1 million pages in would be 70m thick.

o The only nation whose name begins with an “A” and doesn’t end with an “A” is Afghanistan.

o The Pacific Ocean contains about 25,000 islands.

o Worms can have up to 10 hearts.

Prepared by

Eve Dhiab

ISSUE NO 7: TEACHER

TEACHER

My best regard to my teachers
Due to your performance and incredible features
You are the builders of generations
And solutions for sophistications
Your minds filled with knowledge and science
And you behave like angels in the skies
Your thoughts and visions are fruitful
And you refresh our minds to be useful
Our life without you is meaningless
Because you combat backwardness
Your ideas are glowing as the sun
You usually mix knowledge with fun
We will never forget you
Because, we are addicted to loving you
My teachers are my second family
And I wish you all the best finally.


Written By: Ibrahim T. Al-Bayati


(I dedicate this verse to all my beloved teachers)

ISSUE NO 7: Dreams and wishes

Dreams and wishes

You brought me in an eddy

So I was distracted in the

World of dreams and wishes.

My dream is to be a star

In your heavens’ fondness

To protect you from the

Falling star's spark.

And I wish to be a sun

That protects you from the winter’s coldness.

And another wish is to be

A moon that illuminates

Your gloomy nights.

A dream I have is to be a tear

That dwells in your eyes

And never leaves them

And to be a soul which is

Carried by the birds

To stay with your soul.

Dreams and wishes are

Hard to come true

But perhaps one of them

Will come true in an unknown day.

Written By: Safa Faris Abdulsahib

ISSUE NO 6: EDITORIAL: FAILURE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

FAILURE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Success will come after failure. In other words; if you do not commit a mistake you will learn nothing in life. This is why we must have WILL and DETERMINATION to solve our problems by ourselves without any help. Of course you will be definitely sad if you fail and you want to turn back the time to correct the mistake that you have committed. But, you must bear in mind that this is not the end of the world and you should be flexible to accept every result. Sometimes intelligent students become pessimist after they get unsatisfying marks. This is wrong, instead of being passive; you must be active by transforming this low mark into a positive reaction that motivates you in order to get higher marks next time. Sometimes people become desperate in a certain situation of their lives due to difficulties and bad consequences. 

One may ask the question: how can we tackle these problems? The answer is very simple: you can handle them up by your confidence, and for this reason you must have self-confidence. Maybe, you are wondering, why the writer of this article used "must" many times, well, because we must, and we have to understand life better otherwise we will come to a dead-end. I myself witnessed so many hard times, but fortunately I overcame these crises just by knowing that one will not be a good learner, if he doesn’t commit mistakes.

IBRAHIM T. AL-BAYATI

ISSUE NO 6: An Interview With The President Of Al-Mustansiriya University

An Interview with the President of Al-Mustansiriya University
Prof. Dr. Ihsan Al Qurashi

Q 1: Who is Prof. Dr. Ihsan Al Qurashi as a president of a distinguished university in our beloved country? and what are his qualifications?
- I am Prof. Dr. Ihsan Kadem Al-Qurashi, a professor in Mathematical Statistics. I was born in 1955. My civil service career is nearly 36 years. I hold a Ph.D. from Al-Mustansiriya University. I’m married and have three daughters, one son and five grandchildren.

Q2: What are the achievements you made during your presidency of Al-Mustansiriya University?
- The cooperation between the university president and the Council of Teachers and Staff has created a lot of achievements on the administrative and service levels. In the scientific field, we have established in the past year 15 scientific conferences (note that such conferences were absent from the faculties of the university since the year 2000), in addition to 35 scientific and intellectual seminars that were attended by important figures such as Deputy Ministers. On Science Day, our university received the award for First Professor along with other five scientific awards, in addition to winning 17 scientific rewards by our teaching staff. As for extra-curricular activities, we have started exhibitions of painting and organized sporting events last year. We have even won first place in football and basketball, second place in chess and third place in volleyball. But the most important achievement for me was taking the university away from the political and religious interactions and effects.

Q 3: What are the problems faced currently by the university in its colleges and what are the solutions proposed to fix them?
- Our problems are not much different from the problems of the rest of the universities, and in next April a conference will be held in which the university will assess and criticize itself. We do suffer from a lack of spaces, an increase in the number of students and old laboratories. In addition to the university's lack of scientific techniques. We are in the process of addressing these problems to solve them.

Q4: How do you deal with students’ hostels and the successful ways to develop them?
- Now that is a big problem! Unfortunately, many of the students residing in these hostels do not take care of the public propertis and do not maintain them in any way, they act irresponsibly and this is a waste of funds. In addition, there are a lot of students and there is no place for them to go. So, we try to expand horizontally and vertically, and provide the best services to our dear students and all we ask for in return is for them to maintain the properties that we are providing for them.

Q5: What do you think of last year’ success rates? Is it on the level required? What are your approaches in this concern?
- Success rates varied last year according to colleges, but they were not as good as we wish for, because the premises were weak, so it is natural that the results will be weak as well. There are a lot of students, and we seek that each one of them gets what he truly deserves. Still, this does not mean that every student that graduates from preparatory school must be enrolled in college.

Q6: What are your future plans for the development of postgraduate studies at the university?
- We seek to get rid of a lot of unwanted burden in terms of students, faculty and staff so that we can get to the level that we require, and in our abovementioned April conference we will reconsider the question of the admission to graduate studies in terms of number and type, and we will provide the necessary facilities. There are also regulations concerning study leaves. The conditions of applying for graduate studies are to obtain the TOEFL and IC3 along with the average.

Q 7: Students suffer from high prices of food and drinks in the Students’ Club, what would you say about that?
- We will form a committee to monitor the prices and hygiene of the students’ club.

Q 8: Do you have any intention in expanding the university as far as buildings and departments are concerned?
- Yes, there are facilities under development (for example, the medical campuses in Al-Baya’a and in Sab’ Abkar.) New departments will be established like the Dpartment of Mass Media and the the Department of Turkish Language, and there is also a plan to further activate the Department of French Language.

Q9: What is your opinion in TRANSMAG: The Translation Students Magazine? What are your suggestions to develop it?
- Currently, I have no comment because I need to read it and get to know its activities better before I can give it a just assessment.

Q 10: Is there anything you would like to add?
- First, I hope my colleagues of the teaching staff will keep taking their responsibility to the fullest and doing their best in raising the level of education as they always did. Secondly, I hope our dear students will know their duty and make the efforts required of them. One day, we will all be gone and they will take the responsibility and carry the burden on their shoulders. So, they must seize the opportunity. We will do our part by providing ways for them to develop themselves.

I am glad to meet you.

Interveiwed by:
Dia Sulaibi,
Ibrahim T. Al-Bayati,
Hussien Faisal,
& Eve Dhiab