REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled domestic flights Sunday due to a powerful volcanic eruption.

Airport and air traffic control operator ISAVIA said Keflavik airport, the country's main hub, was closed at 0830GMT (4:30 a.m. EDT), and would stay shut for the rest of the day.

In April 2010, officials closed the continent's air space for five days,fearing the ash could harm jet engines.Some 10 million travelers were stranded.

The Grimsvotn volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacierabout 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of the capital, Reykjavik, began erupting Saturday for the first time since 2004. Grimsvotn also erupted in 1998, 1996 and 1993. The eruptions have lasted between a day and several weeks.

University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began Saturday, was Grimsvotn's largest eruption for 100 years.

Note: This example of news item text is simplified from yahoo news

Horseman In The Sky
Carter Druse was born in Virginia. He was a southerner. When the United States was divided by a terrible civil war, Carter decided to join the Union Army of the north.

He told his father about his decision to join the north army. His father looked deep into his son's eyes. "Carter, No matter what happens, be sure you always do what you think is your duty."

One sunny afternoon, Carter was sent to guard. It was his duty to be sure that no enemy soldier spied on. Suddenly, he saw a man on horseback standing on the huge rocky cliff. He held a gun in his right hand, and the horse's reins in the other. Unavoidably, Carter pointed his gun. Carter was calm as he pulled the trigger.

Soon after firing his gun, Carter was joined by a Union sergeant.
"Did you fire?" The sergeant whispered.
"Yes."
"At what?" The sergeant continued.
"A horse"
"Was there anyone on the horse?" The sergeant asked again.
"Yes."
"Who? " The sergeant kept asking.
"My father."

Note: This example of ironic spoof text is summarized from Ambrose Bierce's A Horseman in the Sky

This is another example of spoof text. This story is funny, humorous, and twisting. The story has unpredictable ending through organizing the tricky plot. Take a look!

The Perfect Husband?
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen.

MAN: "Hello"
WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes"
WOMAN: "I'm at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's
only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much."

WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2007
models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "$80,000."
MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."

WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing. The house we wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $950,000."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer $900,000."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you!"
MAN: "Bye, I love you, too."

The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment. Then he smiles and asks: "Anyone know whose phone is???!!!"

This example of spoof is taken from: www.cleanjoke.com/humor/The-Perfect-Husband.html

A spoof text is amusing. It is really entertaining as well as educating. A spoof text can be very simalar to NARRATIVE, RECOUNT or even NEWS ITEM. All are mostly composed in PAST TENSES mode. A spoof text is arranged in the generic structure of ORIENTATION, EVENTS, and TWIST. Because of this TWIST (an unpredictable ending), the story seems very funny. Take a look on the following example of spoof text!

Honey, What's For Supper?
An elderly gentleman of 85 feared his wife was getting hard of hearing. So one day he called her doctor to make an appointment to have her hearing checked. The Doctor made an appointment for a hearing test in two weeks, and meanwhile there's a simple informal test the husband could do to give the doctor some idea of the state of her problem.

“Here's what you do,” said the doctor. “Start out about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.”

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he's in the living room. He says to himself, “I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens.” Then in a normal tone he asks, “Honey, what's for supper?”
No response.

So the husband moved to the other end of the room, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, “Honey, what's for supper?”
Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, “Honey, what's for supper?”
Again he gets no response.

So he walks up to the kitchen door, only 10 feet away. “Honey, what's for supper?”
Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. “Honey, what's for supper?”
“Damn it Earl, for the fifth time, CHICKEN!”

Note: This example of spoof text is taken from: www.joe-ks.com/archives_nov2003/For_Supper.htm

This is another example of a news item text which tells the news of the Royal honeymoon. A news item text consists of NEWSWORTHY EVENT, BACKGROUND EVENTS and SOURCE as the generic structure. Let's take a look the following example of news item text!

Royal honeymoon begins for Prince William, Kate
Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, have left for a honeymoon at an undisclosed location, palace officials said on Tuesday.
British media widely reported they had jetted off to the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. William has two weeks leave from his job as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot, but palace officials would not say if the newlyweds will be away the entire two weeks.
After the media blitz surrounding their April 29 wedding at Westminster Abbey, the couple made it clear they'd like to be left alone by photographers. Still, their decision to delay a honeymoon surprise many. While William went back to work, Middleton - now known as the Duchess of Cambridge - was snapped by photographers grocery shopping near the couple's home on the remote Welsh island of Angelsey.
The idea of a Seychelles getaway gained traction when the Hamburg, Germany-based real estate mogul Farhad Vladi told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily he had rented the North Island in the Seychelles chain to the Windsors.

"Yes, we rented the island to the British royal family," Vladi told the paper. "Prince William and his Kate are spending their honeymoon there. But you will understand that we are not saying anything further."

Note: This example of news item text is taken from: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/05/10/royal-honeymoon-begins-prince-william-kate.html

We have several posts categorized as news item text. Additionally this is another example of news item which hopefully helps students to get a better understanding on what and how a news item text is

Indonesian Sailors Free as Pirates' Ransom is Paid
The crew of 20 Indonesian sailors aboard the Sinar Kudus cargo ship were finally freed by Somali pirates on Sunday.

“We received the cash of $4.5 million early this morning. We have abandoned the ship and it is preparing to sail away,” a pirate who gave his name as Geney told Reuters news agency

In March, a large group of 30 to 50 Somali pirates seized the Indonesian flagged and owned ship about 320 nautical miles northeast of the Yemeni island of Socotra. The Sinar Kudus was on its way to the Netherlands from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi when it was hijacked.

“The ship is now on its way to the nearest secure port and is being heavily guarded by Indonesian warships,” David Batubara, vice president of Samudra Indonesia told reporters late on Sunday.

Note: "Contoh" news item . It is arranged from: thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-sailors-free-as-pirates-ransom-is-paid/438494
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110501/wl_asia_afp/indonesiapiracysomalia