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is attending the Secondary School of Economics in Slavonski Brod (2B class). He is a very talented young man who claims to be more fluent in English than in his mother tongue, Croatian. According to his marks and his multiple English-competition results, it may be so…

Here are some of the works by Fran, done at school (in his English classes), for You to read. They are a record of not only a tremendous talent but also a modern, pro-European mind that strives to universal human values of justice, fairness and equality for all…

Fran’s English teacher

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Though he usually stayed in his chambers, this time Garian decided to go for a walk. A light breeze swept the autumn leaves, and the sun was about to set. He observed the medieval pavement on the forest road, sighing as he did so. He missed Earth. He knew Illeria was far

more beautiful; an amazing, unspoiled land, as if it were from a dream. And still, he missed Earth. But he shouldn’t get distracted. He once more gazed upon the scroll in his hand.

Why was it that ancient texts were always written in riddles? And they had to rhyme. It irritated him. It seemed killing dragons was far easier than translating their little poems. If only he could let someone else see the scroll, attempt to solve this riddle for him. But it

was too much of a risk… if someone discovered it before him, if they so much as glanced upon “My lord!”

Ah, that annoying, yippy servant of his. He couldn’t get a moment’s rest with her. Still, to avoid suspicion, he should let her speak.

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“What is it, Aryn? You know very well how busy I am. Whatever you decided to distract me over, I hope for your sake it’s urgent.”

“Yes, my lord, of course! Madam Currey wants an audience with you.

It seems the Draconic Empire is attacking again.”

He conquered their land, killed or

enslaved most of them, and still that little group decides to reject his authority! It doesn’t matter. Once he finds a way to break their barrier, they will not stand a chance against his overwhelming army.

“Tell her to await my audience. I will be there as soon as I can.”

He let out a long, drawn out sigh. Time to attend another boring, pointless political meeting.

The room was dark and intimidating, the walls painted black and decorated with his countless war trophies. Petrified heads of various beasts hung from the ceiling, bound by neigh-indestructible shadowsteel chains, the most prominent of which was the head of a massive red-scaled dragon, as terrifying in death as it was in life.

Garian once more remembered his days as a dragonslayer, these trophies serving as a symbol of his past glory.

Madam Currey, however, was not as inspired by the room as he was.

A sweet, slightly overweight woman, she was frail and easily intimidated. Elizabeth Currey’s talents, however, did not rest in her strength or her resolve, but her ingenuity. She was an economical genius. Born the daughter of a poor noble, Elizabeth turned her fortune around after her father died when she was thirteen, selling her

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family heirlooms and establishing a powerful trade chain. Three years later, she was the most influential noble in Taris, a city-state in Illeria’s central region. Two years after that, she was the head of The Trader’s Coalition, an alliance of city states ranging from Illeria’s west coast to the east.

Unlike the other nobles in charge of the coalition, Madam Currey proved an important, powerful ally in Garian’s conquests, knows by others as the Dragonbane War. And important she remained, as the Taris bordered with what little remained of the Draconic Empire.

And now they were on the offensive… again.

“I am most pleased to see you once more, my lord, as I require your assistance in dealing with this threat.”

Her words broke Garian from his daydream, forcefully tearing him from his past battles.

“Yes, of course, let us begin the meeting.”

Whatever it was they were planning, whatever crazy idea they had this time, the Draconic Empire will once more be crushed. And when he

reaches his goal, not just Earth or Illeria, but the whole universe will be in his grasp!

(

of a novel to be)

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Let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard a teenager say books or learning are “cool”? Getting drunk or smoking is bad? And what about adults? You’ll find their views to be entirely different. The reason I’m mentioning this subject is because this conflict of opinions leads to something far worse in the social worlds of teenagers. Let me start from the beginning.

We all know most teenagers prefer smoking, drinking and going out to doing anything that could expand their views, and personally I’ve never seen an adult considering smoking good and learning bad. This begs the question – why is it that our views are so different? In our society, everything that is clearly going to diminish our experience in life appears to be socially acceptable, and everything that has the opposite effect is rejected or, worse, ridiculed. So why is it that this happens?

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My personal theory is that, with all the responsibility in teenagers’ lives causing further pressure, stress and anxiety, we just want to break those chains, to be free. To rebel. And we find this freedom in joining communities that understand our problems, accept us as their own. These communities know well what our parents, teachers, aunts and uncles – our “oppressors” – want us to do. So, in an effort to show off our newfound freedom, we do the exact opposite of that. Where they force us to learn, to avoid problems and addictions in effort to protect us and secure our future, we reject their ideals and go our own way. We start smoking, drinking, refuse to study and never, ever read a book.

So where does this problem’s solution lie? Sure, we could restrict everything our children like to do and use oppressive force to make

them do what we know to be right. But is that the right way to solve this? Remember, it is this same oppressive force that caused this problem in the first place!

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You’ve got it on a leash, and all that’s left is to lead it back to its master. Still, the dog doesn’t want to go. The more you pull the leash, the more it resists. And to lead it to its master, to what it doesn’t know is its true goal, you keep pulling. Let me ask you, can this possibly end well? It will cause the dog to dislike and, eventually, hate you, pulling more and more away from where you want to lead it. And you keep thinking the solution is to pull harder? Eventually, the leash will break and the dog will run away or, worse, attack you. It is here that the

problems start.

So, how about you loosen your grip on the leash? Offer the dog some food and pet it, let it know it can trust you. It would resist less and

less, peacefully following you to its master, its goal. This may very well be the solution to our problem. If you stop forcing your children to fit some categories you find pleasing, you’ll be surprised how much their behavior improves.

Personally, I used to be among the “cool crowd”, attempting to escape my parents’ oppression, until, in the fourth grade, they got divorced.

For most people, this may sound like a sad story, but it actually worked greatly in my benefit. With all the problems around my family, both my parents did their best to make this divorce be as painless as possible for me. (Well, in actuality, it didn’t bother me at all… I knew people sometimes got divorced, and there was no way to

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prevent it.) When they stopped forcing me to do everything they said and let me have my freedom, my choice to do what I considered right, I started to see things from their perspective. I no longer needed my “crowd” or my curse words, and I actually started to like studying. My social status kept worsening, but the freedom I felt was invigorating.

What if we apply this to everyone? If we cut this problem at its source, we’ll see great improvements in parent-child relationships, and with it comes a change in our social system. A change for the better.

Still, adults’ effort isn’t enough to solve this problem. We must also do our part. Step one is to

We should at least try to

understand why our parents are doing what they’re doing. In the end, it’s our future they’re improving, not theirs. They’re investing in us, doing everything in their power to help us succeed in this merciless world that does not permit mistakes! They’ve been through all that, and they do their best to make it easier for us. So why not listen when

they ask you to study for that test? To avoid addiction? To come home before 12 p.m.? Not to please our parents, not to fit into the “perfect, hard-working student” category, but for the sake of ourselves and our future!

In conclusion, neither side can solve this problem alone

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So let us leave our prejudices behind, and work together toward a common goal; to improve our lives. And, with it, make the world itself a better place!

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The world we live in seems like a place of equality and liberty for all.

Yet, beyond this curtain of false truths, we can find this world does not, in fact, give everyone an opportunity. Indeed, if we work hard, we have a chance to succeed, but this chance is not equal for all, is it?

What about the oppressed? The belittled? The ignored?

There are seven billion people on this planet. We savor our lives, IMing with our friends about how much we “heart” various things; our greatest problems being schoolwork, social relations and the latest exploits of Justin Bieber. But that kid everyone in your class makes fun of for “being a queer”? That girl everyone thinks is stupid because of her hair color? His/ Her life is not so simple, and neither are the lives of many on this so called “world of opportunity”. And what about the elderly? The differences in our generations make us move further and further away from one another, never really giving each other a chance. So what do we do to make this world a better place for all these people?

Should we attempt to influence the government? They, after all, are the ones responsible for making all our lives better; they may as well direct some resources to helping the oppressed. (…) Doing so would

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greatly reduce the discrimination against them. Or does the problem lie in our society? It is, unfortunately, in our nature to hate and fear that which is different from us, which we cannot understand.

So should we attempt to modify our society by introducing these subjects to the world? Why don’t we tell our children about the nature of homosexuality instead of telling them it is an “abomination”? Why don’t we explain our grandparents why we spend so much time on our phones and computers instead of telling them to “get lost”?

We must build bridges between generations, between those of

different genders, races, nationalities and orientations, so we can all have a chance to succeed! And if we are determined, we can be the ones to lay the foundations of this bridge! To many of you, this may seem farfetched, even impossible. But what you fail to consider, is that this world will eventually be ours! It is us, the young, who determine its future. So, will we try to make the world a better place?

That, my fellow students, is up to you.

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This is an issue we constantly face in everyday life, no matter where we are or what we do. Perhaps you have anger management issues, or your pessimistic depression makes it harder to do jobs which include a social element. There is something we need to be aware of: our disposition has

an effect on the people around us, and whether you’ll make someone’s day or ruin it can depend on the extent to which you can control your own feelings and emotions. There is a term for this ability – Emotional Intelligence.

While the roots of EI date back to the days of Charles Darwin, the term was first coined in 1985 by Wayne Payne. It is described as the ability to control one’s own emotions and understand the emotions of others. While there is debate as to whether or not this has an actual effect on IQ, it is widely believed to be an important part of our personality. It can be divided into

which is related to traditional intelligence and

, related to personality. It’s measured with both actual tests and 12

questionnaires, which you can find on the internet. But how can we relate Emotional Intelligence to our lives?

Well, for a start, there are countless jobs which greatly depend on this trait. Politics, customer service, waitressing, psychiatry, the list goes on.

If we can find a way to improve our emotional intelligence, we can considerably increase our aptitude with these jobs. And even if you don’t plan to have such a job, EI can greatly improve our lives and the lives of people around us. Much like our IQ, our Emotional Intelligence can be improved, even more so. There are a few things we can attempt to do so.

First off, we need to notice and understand our stress triggers. Stress is a major factor in our lives, especially in today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Stop for a while and think – what causes you most stress? After you’ve figured it out, ask yourself why this particular thing increases your stress level.

Often, we stress about barely noticeable, nigh-irrelevant factors and

overcomplicate them. Why is a bad grade so bad? You can correct it.

Why do you worry about the bullies? Ignore them and move on. If you can reduce your stress level, your EI will greatly increase, and you will be able to react to events calmly and rationally.

Secondly, try being more open-minded and intellectually curious. There are far too many closed-minded people in this world, we don’t need more. Consider everyone’s opinion and focus on the message and not the 13

person. Don’t set your views, expand them. Consider all sides of an argument.

The truth is, and support it for what it is.

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