Night Talk in Room 104

In the middle of the world map, there is a country, called Singapore; in the middle of the map of Singapore, there is a hall, called Eton Hall; in the middle of Eton Hall, there is a room, called 104.
Here, lying eight brothers. Though they come from different places, though they have different background, though they have different families, now, by fate, they are gathered together in this place, thousands of miles away from their homeland. They combine their hearts as one. With this heart, they form a new family under the eave of room 104.
With their friendship and brotherhood, they make their room a warm and harmonious home for the eight. In this tiny but peaceful room, they share their own stories, share their feelings, like their happiness, their sorrow, their past, as well as things that are happening and will happen.
This sharing time always starts with the remaining smell of the instant noodles around midnight, when the darkness totally occupies the sky and the whole world comes into tranquility.
They call this period of time “lying and talking meeting”.
When the lying on the soft bed, the exhausted body is totally got relaxed after the whole day’s tiring work. And meanwhile, the mind also gets free from every burden, and soars freely in the blue sky of the memory and imagination.
During the “meeting”, they usually gossip or tease on each other. Such a talk all ways leads to a great laughter, which even makes neighbor rooms could hear, and which even makes them could not breathe. And don’t why, whenever there is a test, regardless whether it is a progress test or just a reading comprehension, they will always be very “high”. With a higher volume, they could continue it till very late night (or maybe should say morning). Though it may make them a bit tired next morning sometimes, it does bring a lot of laughter and happiness and make the room no longer that boring as some others’. In this way, they relax both body and mind, and are able to make the study life less stressful.
But the meaning of the “meeting” is no that simple. They share their happiness and sorrow. When one is happy, the others also get happy so that there is more happiness; when one is sad, the others always try to help him so that there is less sadness; when one is facing difficulties, the others are always ready and glad to offer their help so that they can get through the obstacles side by side with no one left.
At such a time, they all open their own heart to each other. During the sharing time, they know other fellows’ unknown secret of the past; they get better understanding on each other; they also learn quiet a lot from the peers, both life experience and special knowledge.
With the help of the “meeting”, they are far more united. They make the room no longer simply a place for sleeping but a warm home for the family of the eight brothers. It enriches their study life and will definitely make the memory of bridging course a page of splendor in the whole life for it is so precious but could hardly comes back again!
This is the night talk in room 104, our talk, our room!

AN EXCITING JOURNEY TO MINT MUSEUM

My life in Singapore seems to be more and more regular. Four whole days’ English course from Monday to Thursday and the science course on every Friday cycle from week to week. Occasionally I would go around in Singapore or contact with parents and friends on weekends, which seems all my life in Singapore. However, when I am informed that I have been selected in the MOE program named “meals@ home”, I feel quite fortunate and happy. I imagine that it must be an exciting activity because some of us SM3 students can have the opportunity to make new friends with local families and so it is.
Yesterday, we were arranged a journey to MINT MUSEUM, where our host families awaited us. Before it I looked up the word “mint” in dictionary and found it meant “the herb whose leaves have a clean smell and taste, used to flavor food, drinks and candy”. I felt quite confused because I wondered how could there be a museum for mint, but only after I arrived there did my confusion vanish. MINT actually means “moment of imagination and nostalgia with toys”. And my interest was inspired immediately when I found it was actually a museum of precious toys and rare posters. And after several ice-breaking games and a feast of delicious food, we began our visit of the unique museum.
The guide says that the toys on display are collected from all over the world, and their owner is a wealthy engineer. All his collections are rare and each of them is less than 10 all around the world. Following are some typical and most interesting displays.

@You can never forget this man, Popeye, who becomes strong after eating spinach. Followed are his friends or families.

@I felt shocked when I saw a wall of items of “Tetsuwan Atom”, here is only part of them.
@Here is the picture-story book from China, we can infer that they were made in the mid of last century.
@I have to mention this because I also had a toy frog when I was a child but I threw it away, so sad!

@You must know the Beatles, right? I’m sure you’ll be crazy when you see the collections about the Beatles. Especially after you know that all the collections about the Beatles are worth a BMW car, you cannot control your feeling, right?
@Do you notice some difference in this poster? You see the King Kong stands on the world trade center but not the Empire State Building, it is the point. Because the world trade center was destroyed because of terrorists in 2001, and this poster was made in 1970s, so it becomes extremely precious because it is a record of the Empire State Building.

Hope you can have a visit to mint museum one day, really enjoyable!

Host Family

Last Saturday evening we took part in an interesting host family activity. I really experience the enthusiasm of the locals in Singapore.
It was nearly 5:30 when we arrived at our destination for the driver cannot find the correct way there. On entering the activity room, we saw many families including many local couples were waiting for us there. They were quite enthusiastic on seeing us. Then we began our activities with many small games, such as finding friends and “stone water bird”. Everyone enjoyed their time as all of them found many new friends that time.
It was time for dinner. We students were divided into different groups and had dinner with their own host family. We talked with each other happily, changing our opinions about our own unique culture. I knew that our host families were two big ones. They were close friends. One brought their little girl that day, another only with the hostess as their family members worked in different places overseas. We both introduced ourselves and our hometown. One of the family members was very familiar with Chinese culture because her father was also from China. We also communicated with our current university life. Finally, they invited us to visit their houses next time. We each other changed our hand phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
It was nearly the end of that day’s activity. We together sang some songs, including the nostalgic song: FRIEND. I remembered the past time with my own family members. We said goodbye to each other and went back home.
It was really a memorable day that day. I had a sense of a real family and enjoyed my time.

The brief introduction of the warships in the Qingdao naval display

As we know, there is a grand naval display in Qingdao as a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PLA navy. The display is joined by 25 vessels and 31 naval aircraft of the PLA Navy and 21 vessels from 14 foreign countries.
To let you know more about the warships, I will give you a brief introduction of some foreign warships and some typical new warships of China.
Foreign warships (ranked by arriving time)
Mexico: a sailing training ship called “库奥特莫客” in Chinese, I cannot find its English name. Information: displacement 1662t (full load); length 67.2m; beam 12m; speed 17k; complement 263; armament two 65mm guns.

Pakistan: HMCS PNS Badr (destroyer). Information: Length 117m; beam 12.7m; draft 5.9m; displacement 3600t; speed 30k complement 175.

HMCS PNS Nasr (depot ship)

Brazil: "Garcia de Avila" amphibious landing ship. Information: displacement 8585t; speed 18k; it can carry 343 solders and 16 tanks.

Bangladesh: "Ottoman" frigate. Information: displacement 1960t; length 103.22m; draft 3.05m; complement 200.

France: “Vendémiaire” frigate. Since 2001, it has visited china for many times. Information: displacement 2950t; speed 20k; length 93.5m; beam 14m; draft 4.4m.

Canada: HMCS Protecteur (Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ship). Information: displacement 25676t; speed 21k; length 171.9m;beam 23.2m; draft 10.46m; complement 365.


Australia: HMAS Success (Durance class multi-product replenishment oiler). Information: Displacement 17933t; length 157.2m; beam 21.2m; draft 8.65m; speed19k; complement 220.
HMAS Pirie (ACPB 87), Armidale class patrol boat. Information: displacement 210t, length 56.8m; beam 9.5m; draft 2.7m; speed 25k; complement 21.


Russia: Varyag cruiser
The missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship of Russia's Pacific Fleet, led the fleet of foreign warships participating in the parade to mark the 60th anniversary of China's Navy. Information: displacement 11490t; length 184.6m; beam 20.8m; draft 8.4m; speed 32k; armament 16x P-500 Bazalt (SS-N-12 Sandbox) anti-ship missiles, 8x8 (64) S-300PMU Favorit (SA-N-6 Grumble) long-range surface-to-air missiles, 2x20 (40) OSA-MA (SA-N-4 Gecko) SR SAM, 1x twin AK-130 130mm/L70 dual purpose guns, 6xAK-630 close-in weapons systems possibly replaced by Kashtan (CADS-N-1), 2x RBU-6000 anti-submarine mortars, 10x(2 quin) 533mm torpedo tubes

U.S.A.: Fitzgerald (DDG-62), an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Information: displacement 8885t; length 154m; beam 20m; draft 9.4m; speed 30k.

Thailand: HTMS Taksin frigate. Information: displacement 2980t; length 120m; beam 13m; draft 9.23m; speed 28k; complement 130.

HTMS Bangpakong. Information: displacement 1925t; length 103.2m; beam 10.2m; draft 3m; speed 28k; complement 200.

Singapore: RSS Formidable frigate. Information: displacement 3200t; length 114.8m; beam 16.3m; Draft 6m; speed 27k; complement 85.


India: INS Bombay(destroyer). Information: displacement 6700t; length 163m; beam 17m; Draft 6.5m; speed 34k; complement 360.

INS Ranvir (destroyer).


New Zealand: HMNZS Te Mana (F111), it is one of ten Anzac class frigates and one of two serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Information: displacement 3600t; length 118m; beam 15m; Draft 4m; speed 27k; complement 178.
HMNZS Endeavour (A11), the current fleet oiler for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Information: displacement 12300t; length 138m; beam 18.4m; Draft 7.6m; speed 14k; complement 50.

Korea: Dokdo class amphibious assault ship. Information: displacement 18800t; length 199m; beam 31m; Draft 7m; speed 23k; complement 300.
ROKS Kang Gamchan (DDH 979). Information: displacement 5520t; length 150m; beam 17m; speed 30k; complement 300.

Artificial intelligence

Recently I watched a movie called “AI” and one part of a cartoon called Detective Conan, I came up with something in common from them —the artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence can be divided into two parts, the “artificial” and the “intelligence”, for “artificial”, I think it is easier to be understood, obviously it means that we are able to make what we can make, not what we want to make, it relates to what skills and technology we have already got. Otherwise, a paradox will appear. But for the word “intelligence”, I think it is harder to realize, what is real “intelligent”, can do math problems? Can do house work? Or can do something beyond human’s reach? We cannot have an accurate define, after reading some relating things, I thought a lot, I realized that in the modern time, people are tending to use consciousness, self, mind to explain “intelligence” ,but I don’t think so, if human beings only have these kinds of character, how can we be the last part of the food chain, how can we be the leader of the earth for such a long time, so I think we human beings have many intelligence, some are what we haven’t discovered, some are what we use but not be paid attention to. So, for a long period, to explain what is the real “artificial intelligence” and to build connection between human beings and “artificial intelligence” things will be an important field of scientists.
Nowadays, with the help of computers, maybe I should say that it is computers “asking” people for help to gain some details of artificial intelligence, computers become clever and clever, and “artificial intelligence” is paid more attention in the field of computers and robots. People have already invented machines that can win the best human chess player and neuristor to monitor computer as people, people have achieved a lot of progress in the field.
In the future, in my opinion, people will focus more on how to let machines can do reasoning and problem-solving, that is think like man, make decision like man, think racionally like man and make decision racionally like man, how to let machines analysis information and relate information and daily things together, I am not a future teller, but I think that will be a fashion in the future. And by further studying, I will know more about it and I think I will set foot in this field.
All above are what I think is right, but I am not a professor in any field, so it maybe wrong, but I think, one day, I will do future research in the field of “artificial intelligence” and do something useful to the society!

Writing better essays

Look at how this essay manages to describe complex environmental problems in a clear way in two or three sentences. You must avoid being so excited about the examples you are using that you ramble on about them giving too many details. You need to give only enough detail so that it sounds convincing.

Natural disasters are a sign of nature’s revenge on humanity. Discuss.
Outline
1. Introduction and Thesis statement:
Natural disasters are the revenge of the nature to some extent

Body paragraphs
2.Some catastrophes are new and caused by humans and these are the revenge of nature.
a. Sandstorms caused by desertification.
b. Acid rain caused by pollution.
3. Some natural disasters have existed for millions of years and have little connection with the actions of people.
a. Volcanic eruptions have existed for millions of years.
b. Earthquakes have little connection with the actions of people.
4. Human activities accelerate some natural disasters
a. Deforestation leads to landslides and floods
b. The use of CFC contributes to El Nino

5. Conclusion
It is human activity that aggravates these disasters. We should take responsibility for it and make it right.

Essay
1) A knowledge of geography shows that disasters are natural and some are even essential for the maintenance of the earth’s balance. 2) Natural disasters have existed since the birth of the earth. 3) They were nightmares for human before they acquired sufficient knowledge to cope with them. However, we seem to be facing more and more catastrophes in modern times. Is this the revenge of nature? To some extent, the answer is yes, nature is taking revenge. (Better order 2,3,1 because this goes from general to specific)

Catastrophes that are new and caused by humans are, to a large extent, the revenge of nature. Along with the civilisation of humanity and the development of industry, many new disasters such as sandstorms and acid rain have come about and with disastrous results. Desertification is a process that turns productive lands such as forests and grasslands into unproductive land or deserts. Due to the overgrazing of animals in certain areas that are often near sources of water and the poor management of the land already depleted of vegetation, the desertification process is destructive and irreversible. An example of the consequences of the desertification in Northwest China is the sandstorms in Beijing which covers homes, streets and cars in a brown dust and lead to a host of respiratory problems for people who live there. Acid rain is another natural disaster that is caused by people’s inability to stem pollution. Toxic gases are released by industries everyday and have greatly polluted the earth’s atmosphere. These gases result in acid rain that does great harm to the buildings and carbonate rocks, and leads to the acidification of the rivers, lakes, streams and forests. Hence, sandstorms and acid rain can be seen as nature's revenge on humanity because they are a direct result of mankind’s abuse of natural resources and destructive practices.

Yet, some natural disasters have existed for millions of years and have little connection with the actions of people. Volcanic eruptions have existed for millions of years and it is widely acknowledged that volcanic eruptions created the terrain of the earth. If there had been no volcanic eruptions, some of the most beautiful and scenic places on earth today would no longer exist. For example, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and the Swiss Alps. Earthquakes have little connection with the actions of people. Thousands of earthquakes happen each day and only few of them are harmful. The main cause of earthquakes is the movement of the plates. When they crash into each other the movements inside the earth will accelerate causing some friction but it is often released in harmless ways such as in hot springs and mud pools. Hence, such earth movements occur naturally with or without the interference of humanity and they cannot be seen as nature's revenge on humanity.

Natural disasters are not limited to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, some natural disasters have existed for millions of years but human activities really aggravate catastrophes such as landslides, floods and climatic changes, so that they happen more often and with more drastic results. In recent years, floods have become a major problem in many countries due to increased deforestation. In order, to accelerate the speed of development human beings have began to use natural resources irresponsibly and they have cut down trees for wood and paper products. This depletion of the forests means that the root system of the trees that holds the soil together is gone and topsoil is washed away each time it rains. In addition, the root systems of the trees soak up excess water and with that gone the soil becomes waterlogged and water accumulates resulting in landslides and flooding becoming more and more severe with each passing storm. Another natural disaster that has gotten worse is the El Nino phenomenon. El Nino is an abnormal warming of the surface ocean water of the eastern tropical Pacific caused by global warming. Many believe that El Nino is the result of the excessive carbon emissions and the use of CFC which lead to a thinning of the ozone layer resulting in global warming. A century ago, El Nino happened once per ten years but now the frequency has increased to once ever two years. Scientists believe this phenomenon is the cause of floods, droughts and extreme weather patterns in different parts of the world. It would seem as if nature is running its course and humans are helping it; as such it would be hard to say in no uncertain terms that
nature is taking revenge.

In conclusion, it is human activity that aggravates natural disasters and so it seems as if nature is taking revenge on humans. So, we should take responsibility for our abuse of our environment for the sake of our descendants. We can no longer take our environment for granted but we have to make concerted efforts to address environmental issues sooner rather than later.

NOTES ON HOW TO SELECT EXAMPLES
In essays you are asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details or simply telling the information you know. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Instructors call this sentence a "thesis" or a "claim."
So, if your essay question says to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: "First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some tooth paste. Then, you floss with a waxed string. Finally, gargle with mouthwash." Instead, you could say, "Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association." Or, "From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived." Facts are not thesis statements because they do not make a claim/ argument which you need to support in your essay.
Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn't have to say "argument" anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument, see click link: handout on argument.
3. What kind of evidence do you need?
There are lots of different types of proof or evidence. Here are several common types:
Einstein proof--a famous (or not so famous) smart person agrees with you or says something you can use to back up your point.
Case proof--a case in which your point works or the other person's point does not work to demonstrate your idea. These may come from your experience, hypothetical situations, or from outside sources.
Fact proof--statistics, "objective" information. You will need to lots of information.
For example proof--examples from the subject or text you are studying to back up your focused point. For example, you might use specific examples of scientic theories to the progress of science.
Criteria for judging evidenceNot all evidence, though, is reliable, or of equal value. Statistics, as we know, can lie, research findings can be erroneous, or based on questionable methodology, and opinions can be subject to personal and cultural biases. Even so called facts can be influenced by perception. Before choosing evidence you should, therefore, make sure that you assess its quality. You can do this by asking the following questions:
Is it accurate?
Is it relevant?
Is it representative?
Is it adequate?
Does it contain any biases?
Essays that look for examples
Exemplification essays may contain both brief and comprehensive examples. Brief examples may occur relatively frequently within the essay, with just enough concise details to illustrate clear-cut ideas. It is important that your writing is succinct. Comprehensive examples are used to illustrate complex ideas that can’t be adequately explained using brief examples.
The examples used in your essay must be relevant, that is they must be directly to the point. You shouldn’t necessarily expend lots of ink on a particular example just because you’ve found a lot of information on it. Instead find as many examples as possible and then be choosey about what you include, using the strongest, most representative, examples. If they lead to unexpected conclusions consider altering your essay thesis in light of the new evidence. Make every example work in your favour.
The examples used in your essay must also be representative. Unless you’re specifically discussing exceptions to a rule your examples must reflect the majority (i.e. what’s usually the case, or what is “on average” true). You might, for example, hear a drinker try to deny the risks of heavy drinking because he knew someone who drank every day until he was ninety. This isn’t a valid example since most people couldn’t drink a lot over an extended period without succumbing to some ill effects. The example doesn’t represent what would usually happen to most people. Similarly it wouldn’t be representative to say the summers round your way are wet simply because last year the summer was rainy. If the last several summers before this were sunny then one, or even two, rainy summers are not representative of what usually happens in the longer run.

Some Interesting Essays.

Du Fang's essay has an interesting perspective. Note how the comparisons are structured.
Teaching styles in China and in the West

In China , the class usually fairly large. It is fairly common that sixty students share one teacher. The students sit in rows in a classroom and listen to the teacher. This kind of classroom teaching is an effective and efficient to educate large numbers of students in China. Resources are distributed in a comparatively fair manner because every student has limited access to the teacher. In the West, however, classes are often small. Sometimes students are able to form a circle and discuss issues which is far more interesting and the atmosphere is relaxed.

Both teachers and students play different roles in classrooms in China and the West. In charge of a huge group of students in China , the teacher is not likely to meet all the students’ needs. However, the teacher is the most important person in this setting and the teacher must deliver lectures as clearly as possible so that most students can understand the information. This type of “teacher-centered” classrooms means that the teacher plays an important role and talks the most. How much students learn depends on the quality of the teaching in class. In contrast, in "student-centred" classrooms, students are masters of the class and teachers act as guides. Each single student is responsible for his or her own progress and learnng. Students who are passive and do not engage in discussions will find themselves not learning or progressing much. Open discussions, debates and adverse opinions are encouraged. What’s more, the students often form groups and work together on a given problem or subject. They are supposed to explore issues by themselves and draw their own conclusions. Students are encouraged to learn not only from the teacher but also their peers and other reference material.

The classroom atmosphere is also different as the teacher-student relationship is different. In China, the classroom atmosphere can be a little too serious. Students must obey their teachers in class and rely on themselves outside of class. It is quite common in a classroom in China that students listen carefully to the teacher, take comprehensive notes and think deeply about the information at home. Students become good at taking in digested knowledge from their books and teachers. In this manner they gain a good solid foundation and theoretic basis of more advanced work. In contrast, in the West, students have a closer relationship with their teacher. They may even be allocated a mentor whom the student can consult outside class. Besides, the classroom atmosphere is relaxed. For example, students can sit in any seat they choose. They can freely share their ideas with the whole class. Students are allowed to hold their own opinions and can rationally argue their case in class.

Problems exist in both types of classrooms. Due to their lack of experience of interacting in class, Chinese students find it hard to communicate their opinions and find it hard to cooperate in teams. They are accustomed to working alone and thinking independently. They tend to study what others have already discovered rather than explore every step by themselves and enjoy the process. In the West, “student-centered” teaching requires many teachers and adequent resources such as classrooms and teaching material for group work. The quality of learning is uneven and it is some times dependent on the quality of relationship between teacher-student. Students need to be open-minded enough to allow the teacher guide and challenge them while teachers need to be motivated enough to tailor material for individualised instruction.

These two different kinds of classes fit the specific situations found in different settings. Both of them work well and have advantages and shortcomings. Different types of classes will in their own respective ways contribute to the intellectual development of students.
...................................................................................................................................................................
Zhao Kun's essay is interesting because he uses the stories as evidence to support an argument and without going into unnecessary descriptions. The paragraphs that contrast the movies have a similar structure. He also has an interesting perspective on the topic.

Most people would agree that western philosophy and the eastern philosophy are quite different. This is partly because individuals are valued in western philosophy, while eastern philosophy tends to prioritise community. Is life valuable and meaningful as long as one feels happy? It would seem so in the West so traditionally, young people may leave their parents or even their countries alone to pursue their own happiness. Is individual happiness is valueless compared with the “happiness” and progress of a country? In China, a person is admired in public if one can sacrifice himself or herself for his or her country. The importance of a family and a country far exceeds that of the dreams of an individual. This difference can be clearly seen in the movies produced in English and Chinese.

The importance of the individual is reflected in an American movie named “Saving Private Ryan” by Steven Spielberg. In this movie, an elderly woman had three sons. When the war broke out all of her sons went to join the army, unfortunately, two of them were killed. When the youngest son was captured, a troop of soldiers decided to rescue him at great costs to themselves. It was not even because he was a particularly worthy or good soldier but for the sake of his mother who would be devastated if she lost all three sons. In other words, his life was important only because his mother loved him not because of his own achievements or merit. So, for the sake of an individual's life and for the sake of his mother's happiness the American army allocated many soldiers to save this soldier, a third son, Ryan. Many soldiers' lives were sacrificed to save one soldier’s life-- the individual person is that important.

However, in Chinese movies no matter how miserable a person's life is, as long the individual dedicates his or her life through sacrifice to a greater cause for the sake of the nation, the person will be deemed a hero. In the Chinese movie, “Hero” by Zhang Yimou, a man named Wuming wanted to stab and kill the emperor of a powerful country called Qin. He hated the Qin state because in battle many were killed including his parents. On the way to Qin to take revenge, he met a stranger and he told the stranger his anger and ambition. The stranger persuaded Wuming not to kill the emperor of Qin because although the emperor did not value peace, he was a strong leader. The stranger felt that China need such a leader, otherwise the country would fall into chaos again. Wuming began to take into consideration the needs of his country at large instead of his own personal desire for revenge. When Wuming finally met the emperor, he chose his country over himself and he was killed by the emperor instead. It is this sacrifice of self for the sake of the community that makes him a hero.

It is not a matter of which philosophy is right and which is wrong because they are both reasonable and they both come from different concepts of what is the nature human beings. To be able to see both perspectives, is the beginning of learning to respect, accept and appreciate different philosophical viewpoints as people from diverse backgrounds meet and interact.

Lessons to remember.

Here are some common errors you have been making in your journals, blog entries and essays. You need to make a concerted effort to avoid them. If I see them again in your work I will hit you on the head with a mallet!!!

1) NO contracted forms
don't, won't, shouldn't, can't etc are all used in speech, NOT writing. Use do not, will not, should not and cannot. Some of you are confused over cannot (impossible) and can (modal form) not
Here is a link to help you clear it up. http://www.alexfiles.com/cannot.shtml

2) Avoid the pronouns "you", "we" and "us"
It makes your essay sound subjective and generalised. Instead use terms like an SM3 student, the reader, the viewer, the user or the customer.

3) Do not moralise in essays and give advice.
Make arguments and provide evidence to prove its validity. http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/argument.html
By the way if you are confused over advise/ advice, click this link http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/argument.html
More problem words
http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=209341


4) Try to learn English expressions to replace Chinese ones.
For example. A colourful life (Chinese) an interesting life with varied experiences and exciting possibilities.
See link for tests you can take to see how many translated expressions you use.
http://www.english-test.net/esl/common-errors-in-english-usage.html

5) Punctuation mistakes
Don't use commas to replace fullstops.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm
Make sure you write sentences, not phrases. Each sentence has a verb.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/fragments.htm
Use English punctuation marks
http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/dialogue.shtml

Movie Response to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

What do you think are friends for? If one day your best friends and you begin to estrange from each other because they want or have to be independent and settle into a new life, how would you feel and what would you do ? Personally, I believe in eternity and I hope there can be something to hold my friends and me tight as well as our sisterhood. In the movie the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, there is such a pair of pants that hold the sisterhood of the four heroines.
In the movie, four girls are close friends and share everything together. By some miracles, they found a pants that suits all of them perfectly. They took it on faith that it had come into their lives for a reason. It kept them company through times of love, times of loss and those moments where they feel their life just lift up. However, when it came to times to start a new life, some of them made it easy to fit it in and make new friends, whereas Carmen-one of the four heroines- lost herself without them. Carmen believed that sisterhood could survive anything. They used to believe in the pants to give them magic, but at that time, they have to learn how to become themselves without losing each other. At the end of the story, the pants got lost, but it brought the four of them together again. Maybe it got lost on purpose. Who knows?
What I liked most about the movie is the sisterhood they have shown. It is what I have longed for. It is a advantage to have someone who can trust you and you can trust back. When you are not feeling right, there is somewhere you can go and someone to turn to. It is a great comfort to have such person in your life when the whole society is becoming more and more indifferent to relationships.
It is a wonderful movie. You can have a try if you have time. ☺

My English

The result of the check point came out yesterday. Not so bad though I have put little effort in it because I have already learned it in my home university. Actually the lessons we are learning are somewhat easy. However, it is not for my English. Honestly, I haven’t worked hard on my English since the beginning. That is not because I don’t want to learn English well, but I don’t know how to start to work hard on it. English is not like calculus or C Programming. It cannot be mastered all at once. It needs my continual effort not my instant explosion. I have seen many ways of learning English, from which I find that the same point is that they all need you to memorize. The difference is that some recommend you to memorize in the unit of words, some in sentences and some in articles. Obviously the worst choice is to memorize in the unit of words because knowing the meaning of the words alone is not enough. I should know how to use it. Besides, it is really hard to memorize the words because there are no connections between the words so it’s easy to forget them. The best way is to memorize in the unit of articles. Nevertheless, it’s really hard to find appropriate articles to memorize and there are no suitable time and places to do it. The articles should be neither too easy nor too hard and neither too long nor too short. The content should be interesting and memorable. But there are some. For example, the New Concept English. But I have to print them. I really regret that I did not bring the books here from China. Even if I have printed them, I have no suitable time and places to memorize. I mean I have to make a specially plan to do it. First, I have to get up very early because the best time to memorize is the morning. Second, I have to choose a good place which is quiet so that nobody can disturb me. It seems that the hillside behind Eton Hall is a perfect place. But I am afraid I may disturb the people living on the hill. Since they all speak English, they may laugh at me when I read some stupid sentences in a stupid way again and again. So the question is which is more important, face or future? The answer is apparent. It seems that I have to ignore if they are laughing. Now the plan has been made, execute it next week!

Night Safari

Last night, three of my roommates and me went to the Night Safari. It is quite interesting that I have never heard about that a zoo would open at night.
We went there directly after school. It was really a long journey. It took us almost one and a half hours. Because yesterday was holiday eve, many people went there. Just a few minutes after the Night Safari opened, the show was full. Also because of the limited time, we missed the show. It was really a pity.
It was so dark. We four were all afraid. No one was willing to walk in the front. Well, we came up with a good, but a little bit silly idea. We started to sing loudly and it really made us feel better. Our friends had been there once before us. After they got back, they told us that it was no interesting at all, because the animals were all sleeping. Maybe we were so fortunate or maybe they were so unfortunate, almost all the animals we saw last night were awake. The scariest one was the tiger. We could see it through the window. The tiger seemed so upset last night. He just walked about right in front the window. At that moment, he seemed to be so close to us. Through we knew there was no need worrying about the safety of ourselves, we were really frightened. There were also a lot of animals we had never seen before. What I felt most was that it was really important to learn English well, so that we could understand the words written in the introduction and what the guide said.
Well, I really enjoyed the interesting journey last night. Also, it was really a tiring journey, but it helped me have a good sleep last night. I hope that I can get a chance to go to there once more and next time I will not miss the show.

Review of the USP interview

This morning I came to NUS for my first interview in Singapore. I set up all the plan the day before. Get up at 7:00; take a bath at 7:15; have breakfast at 7:30 and leave for NUS at 8:00. I turned out to arrive at school at 8:30, half an hour earlier.
Instead of going there directly I hided into Central Library. Sitting on the sofa alone, I thought about how I should cope with it. My heart raced fast. USP is a great chance for me. Sometimes I wonder that maybe it is not the courses that attracted me but the prestigious name.
I reminded myself that I came here for a show. I was going to display the best side of me. From that interview I can gain a lot of experience. I even bring the "BEST SPEAKER" and "BEST TABLE TOPIC" award I won to encourage myself.
Time is limited. I looked at my watch: 8:45. I went straight to the changing room and have my cloth changed. I didn't know whether it is out of nervousness, I happened to forget how to tie my tie! it took me another 10 minutes to cope with it. When I arrived at ADM Level 7, it was already 9:10.
I caught sight of DU Fang immediately. Among other well dressed JC graduates, he was in shorts and T-shirt.It is even less formal than what he wears to classes! We sat together and waited for our turns for a while. I tried to smile naturally but failed. My face seemed to be punched a moment before. Every single movement felt strange to me.
When my name was called, I stood up straight, seemingly confident. I steped into the seminar room. Two interviewers already waited there for me. From that moment time speeded up. The questions were not so close to my anticipation. They mostly came into my major, which is the field I knew least. what is most ironic is that I was intended to research into my major when the interview suddenly came in. I tackled with the questions with the limited knowledge I had. Not so successful but not so bad either.
The thing I need to improve most is I need to improve is that I need to be more "aggressive". All the interview was just like a question followed by an answer. No matter how well I answered I could not get hold of the interview. I should take chances to speak up for myself. When the interview was to end, the two interviewers paused for a short moment. If I was experienced enough, I would certainly cut in and show my characters that were not able to be shown before. When I came out of the room, I felt nothing. It's like a glass of water, no taste at all. I knew I was different from every other one. But I failed to show it! All the preparation didn't count.
I think the chance for me to be enrolled this time would be no more than 40%. I don't know how well others performed. I am just not satisfied with my own.
I promise to myself that I will dominant next interview. I say it and I mean it.

It is an unlucky day

It is a very unlucky day. Last Saturday we had a math and c program exam. I knew I did not do well in the c program. This afternoon Mr Tay gave us the result, after I saw my marks, I felt very sad. I only got 48 in cprogram and 86 in math. The average mark is only 67 and he told us if our mark is below 70 which means that we do not pass the exam and he will send me a warning letter. I feel so upset the whole afternoon. I know I did not study very hard these days, but I try my best to learn math and c program. I haven’t learn c program before and know nothing about it. In Doctor Tay’s class he always tries to teach us how to make up a program but I even do not know what the characters mean. I try to understand the program which he gives us. But during the program I found that the content in the text is very strange to me. I haven’t seen most of answers of the question in the note he gave us. I feel so terrible now and want to catch up with others in c program in the next exam. I will do my best to learn it.

The atittude torwards life

I have no confidenc ,so regrete for the past now and do not know how to overcome the bad thought.The depression period comes again. Not only struggling for the pronunciation, but also for the bad result of Maths and C programm. What is worse, I was punished for entereing boy's room. I had to be in reception desk to cope with the phonecalls and I am not allowed to go out. The most disgusting punishment is that they confiscated my guitar although they stress many times that it is a part of punishment.
I also have problem with my friends. For me, I am accustomed to putting in much in my friendship, but the truth not seems like that. Recently, I find that it is not right to get close to your friend, they need their own space. This rule goes against my view. When I admire classmates in NTU since they look like a family.How about ours?They do not even to give a greet when we meet each other.Let alone be a family. I accept it. Because I find that everyone here is so independent, they are the only child in their family, is it an excuse?I do not know.I should be learn to be independent now. I refuse his kindness, I refuse their kindness,they are so good that I do not think that i deserve their kindness.
Go,Go, You are supposed to be mature!I try to be happy, I try to learn everything happens to me.I try to live that kind of life that God want me to .I try to keep smiling to the world.
QiLiang told me:If you smile, the world will smile to you; if you cry, you cry alone! Thank you, I will .
By the way, could you please tell me where is the fault in my pronunciation and how can I improve in it? Thank you very much!

These Days

  Blog time again. Maybe here will not be any topic, I just want to say something about these days, though I wanna say nothing actually. It is 17^th April today. In that Room of central library where we will be if we wanna be online, I am typing now.

  Initially, how I wish I can make a summary about this regular season of NBA, but I can not. Because my views on NBA all star weekends Part A&B&C has aroused wide concern from our tutors… Just several words here to KB, maybe you will not be Mr.MVP for this regular season. But I know you regard the championship the most important, because there will be another MVP forward in June waiting for you! Best wishes to you, the man leads me to this world and gives me a big weakness that I will be gloomy if Lakers lost one game. Just when I was typing the last sentence, the scene that I responded my biggest dream is being an NBA superstar in that most important interview before CEE while others all gave reasonable and decent reply. So KB, you will be a grand slam honor gainer in the basketball world. I believe you will be that one.

  Apart from that, these days are smooth. Alarm rings at 7:10 everyday, then do some washing; go downstairs to get breakfast with my washing stuff, always double snack but no bread. Next is trying to get on the first bus though things are usually not going like that. Having breakfast on the bus then take elevator to the classroom, the final submission before class is to get on the Internet. Actually the silent reading time is my nap time except Mr. Zhu’s lesson. Mr. Zhu said that it was unbelievable to be sleepy and sleeping in the morning, basically I agree with him, but why I have a nap is that I just want to be not sleepy during the class. I think here I should skip directly to the lunch time, because you know, iPod touch has so many perfect functions… last a few weeks I was trying to save money on my lunch, usually one meat and one vegetable at Chinese. Of course I will compensate myself sometimes. After lunch I will also have a nap, to me I think it is very important. But these days the Macbook took the nap time from me. Then the other three hours comes. I think I should still skip the class if that powerful iPod does not need charge. So the class has passed, the happy time comes. I will do the body building or swimming almost everyday, which I think is the most significant thing in the bridging course. Back to Eton Hall, I will try to occupy one of the two big rooms in the washroom after that poor dinner. I like evening, the feeling and the smell. 2K9 and movies are the activities I will never neglect, in addition FRIENDS has replaced the movies these days. And the major and curriculum choosing annoyed me. I feel so sorry that I could not concentrate on my study in the last month, but it is changing now. I promise. Usually at 1:30 I will brush my teeth and go to sleep. But there is always bright where I sleep, because the guy opposite of me is a really really really novel fan. He is the last one to sleep forever.

  So these days are regular and smooth, I attempt to enjoy and full myself in this situation. But since the playoffs is coming, I will have an occupation at this time every year. Moreover, I recognized that one of my senior high schoolmates has been counting the days before we take that plane back to our hometown. The truth is that I find that I can not wait any more and a strong feeling flashes frequently that I want to cook a dinner for my parents. Today is the 91^st. let us count down in order to keep holding on these days.

  At last, I think I should stick on the regular habits here and wait that day. Getting back to study is one thing I’m coping with now, I believe I will succeed. Best wishes to KB and LA again. In the end, please forgive me that I lied to you my parents which made you still believe that I will fly back in December. I just to give you a big surprise, I believe you will like it. Best wishes to you.

  Central library is off, so it ends.

Computer, do not let me down!

Last night was a terrible night. Do you know why? There was something wrong with my computer. A serious problem happened to my computer and many important data and programmes were lost. I did not know how to deal with it because I was not a hacker. This is how it happened:
Last night I was busy writing my essay. Actually, I was very unlucky these days. The essay I was writing was Essay 6, which I had to rewrite because I wrote a wrong topic. I worked really hard and I was about to finish it when the problem occurred. The essay was gone. I was really angry at that time. The computer just stopped and when I restarted it, I found many things were gone, including that essay. Oh, my god, why me? Then I checked my computer until 1 o’clock in the morning. And I still can’t find out the problem. I asked my roommates and they had no idea, too. So I just left it there and went to bed. The next day it was still out of order. So, I rewrote the rewrite essay. This time I store my rewrite essay in the thumb drive and it survived from the disaster happened in my computer. Oh, I was lucky this time.
Because of this, I went to www.google.com and searched for the solution. Fortunately, I found a reliable one and it helped me a lot. Although the problem still exist, it is much better now. From this, I know that how powerful the internet is. When you have some hard problems, you can google it. That is what I have learned from this thing. And now in Eton Hall, I found that computers (games, especially Warcraft and Dota) had become the best friends of some students. I do not think it is good and I think you should control the games instead of letting them control you. I wonder whether my computer’s problem has something to do with the games because I always play games, too. And I decided that I will control my desire to play games and not “destroy” my computer. And I also want to say it to my Dear Mr. Computer:
Do not let me down and let my data disappear again!

My Favourite Song

My favorite song is called “Yellow Maple Leaves”. It was in my senior high school that I first heard about this song. I have been into this song for a long time and I still can not forget about the melody of the song.
The song mainly depicts a picture that a girl sent a yellow maple leaf to a boy who was going to leave for a fight in a war. And the boy promised that when the leaves on the maple trees turn red, he would come back. However, the boy died in the war and he never came back again. At the moment he fell down, he saw the girl still waiting under the maple trees.
The content of the song is a little sad and it is a tragedy end. Some people say that the singer “Xue Zhiqian” has a unique love story. But most people think that he wrote this song for his mother, because he is an orphan and his mother passed away when he was only two years old. So superficially it is a love story, but in fact it contains his miss and affection to his mother.
The music is composed by different kinds of musical instruments. For example, the use of the pipe adds a lot of tragedy effects to this song. The first time I heard this song, I was so moved by it that I decided to sing it at class. But my classmates said that I was so out of tune that I can recompose it. So I practice singing it more often. At last, I succeed. One day we went to the karaoke and of course I sang this song again. My classmates were so surprised that they thought my voice was just like Xue Zhiqian’s
“Yellow Maple Leaves” has accompanied with me for many years. And the melody of this song will never fade from my mind.

Cape No. 7

Cape No. 7 is really a wonderful movie. I appreciate it that the movie has a unique plot which is filled with complicated but romantic scenes.
The main actor is a great singer. His name is Van and in the movie Jia. He is famous for his beautiful song named Fang Sheng in the realistic world. He played a role in a gifted guitar player who looked quite arrogant. He was only a postman as nobody appreciated his talent. However, he had a passion on creating new music works with his faith of music. He was not popular around the field of music until he did the last performance with his partners by the sea, where he and the Japanese lady’s love succeed.
The whole movie was involved in 7 loving letters written by a man many years ago. In the letters he expressed his love to a beautiful Japanese girl who had the same name Youzi with the heroine. When Jia found the woman who was very old then, he realised that how treasured Youzi was to him. He, with great love to her, sang his newest and best song to her and expressed his love to her. The 7 letters not only stood for the writer’s love to his darling girl, but also saw the hero’s deep love to Youzi. The last action was about the old woman reading the 7 letters. It was until then that she knew he loved her for his whole life.
I like the movie for not only its comedy result but also the hero’s perseverance of his career and beloved girl.

the Time to Lose weight

Finally I have successfully booked the airplane tickets to go back home, which really makes me feel that the coming days are full of hope. I have waited this day for such a long time, so that every time I think of the date to go back, a great happiness will surge into my heart immediately. Apart from the attraction of reuniting with my families and friends, another important factor that lures me go back even against the expectation of MOE is the scrumptious food. Even though in Singapore there is also numerous delicious food from different parts of the world, I still miss the food in China. On the other hand, since now I am making concerted effort to lose weight, it is really not a wise choice for me to get an access to all these food.
To tell the truth, losing weight is really a tough work that ordinary people can hardly stand. I have suffered a lot since the first day I determined to lose weight. Generally speaking, the most effective and efficient way to lose weight is to exercise more and eat less. For me, it is not difficult to spare more time to do exercise. However, I can seldom resist the lure of delicious food. And I break the promise to control the appetite now and then. The consequence is that so far there has been no decrease in my weight at all after so many days, which really upsets me. Sometimes I even want to give up the plan and just eat whatever I want. Every weekend, it is a torment for me to knock about in the supermarket. There are so many kinds of snacks presenting in front of me, but I have to reject all of them reluctantly. In fact, at the beginning losing weight for me is a merely long-term goal which I need not reach in such a hurry. However, since I will go back home soon, it is necessary for me to lose weight before the date. I should show a good image to my families and my friends. Meanwhile I can hardly imagine how much I will eat at home, so I have to lose weight in case I become too fat when I come back to Singapore.
However the time is not enough now. I have counted that there is only about 86 days left for me to lose weight. So I have to take some extreme measures to reach the goal now. What I plan to do is to eat only an apple for lunch and eat only fruit for supper. Besides, I will do exercise for one hour every day. I do not know how long I can persist with this plan, but this time I am in the earnest to lose 5 kilogram before going home and I will try my best to implement this plan.
In order to go home with a good image, losing weight is just a piece of cake; I believe I will fulfill the goal soon.

A BRIEF REVIEW OF LIFE IN SINGAPORE

Today is already April 13, 2009; we have been in Singapore for almost 4 months. Maybe it is too early to write a review now, but this time I just want to write a brief conclusion about my new life.
It seems to be centuries ago when we just came in Singapore. And after the various and exciting orientations as well as the initial excitement of having classes, there was such a long period when we felt confused about what to do to kill time. Despite the learning journey to Kampong Glam makes me realize that Singapore is such a place that combines different cultures and is interesting indeed. So after that, when I have plenty of leisure time at weekends and don’t know how to spend it, I will set out to wander around Singapore. Sometimes travel with several friends or sometimes alone. We went to the National Botanical Gardens to enjoy the various plants especially orchids, then we took a bus which seemed to go everywhere in Singapore and finally got off in Chinatown. We settled down in a Chinese restaurant and had a feast of our hometown dishes. What a pleasing lifestyle it is! Also the buffet entertains the whole class during the recess week.
Then phrase 2 comes quietly. We begin to have a great research project to accomplish which requires a 10-week effort. We have never done such things before so all of us feel excited and happy when cooperating to work. Besides, the improvised oral reports add the excitement. And we begin to be busy writing essays, blogs, journals and the final project. One more thing I have to mention is the major selecting. When we face the second time of selecting majors and even our future life, all of us are trapped into confusion again. Anyway it is gone now.
In all, we feel fulfilled now, and there are only several weeks remaining in our bridging course. We appreciate the new life in Singapore so far and we really enjoy it. The exciting college life is awaiting us and I’m sure we can be better.

movie response to Slumdog Millionaire

Movie Response to  Slumdog  Millionaire

     The movie-Slumdog Millionaire is set in a slum in India. It tells a story how our hero- Jamal Malik, a boy born in the slum struggling hard to survive and realize his dream of a happy life.

     It has a very interesting start with a question: Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A: He cheated. B: He’s lucky. C: He’s a genius. D: It is written. You may be confused about the question. Don’t worry. You’ll find out the answer soon.

     The story is told in the order of Jamal’s memory. That is to say, it’s random, converting among three scenes: his childhood, his being inquisited and  the stage of the show-Who wants to be a millionaire. He was asked how he could get the right answer as an uneducated slumdog, he recalled back his life with his fellows running over the tracks and getting rid of hounding by the underworld when answering the questions.  By this way, it describes a boy who would never give up. He and his brother, together with Latica were just like three musketeers. However, his brother –Salim chose the wrong way to protect him. Salim sold Latica to the boss of an underworld for his and his younger brothers’ safety. At the end of the story, Salim realized that he had done wrong and sacrificed himself to rescue Latica. Dramatically, at the same time, Jamal was asked whether he knows the name of the third musketeers in Alexander Duma’s book, “ The Three Musketeers”, apart from Athos and Porthos.  With luck,  Jamal chose the right answer and got 20 million rupee bonus. What’s more important to him was that he found Latica. The movie get a happy ending.

   I was deeply touched by Jamal’s perseverance. It’s really a wonderful movie. If you have time, you may want to enjoy it. J

Since I love the lion king very much, I am going to introduce you the classic music in this Disney’s 32nd animated film. Among them, Hakuna Matata is my favorite song. I do admire their easy way of life, and I think one line may be sort of true in some aspect: when the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world.
Do you want to know the source of the famous phrase “Hakuna matata”? Let me tell you. It is a Swahili phrase that is literally translated as "There are no worries". It is sometimes translated as "no worries", although is more commonly used similarly to the English phrase "no problem".
The song proved enormously popular and was nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards in 1995 and lost only to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", one of three Lion King song nominations (the other was "Circle of Life"), it was later ranked the 98th best song in movie history by the American Film Institute on a list of 100. It was also ranked 99th in the AFI's list of the 100 best American movie songs of all time. The musical score was written by Elton John and the lyrics by Tim Rice.
Here are the music, hope you like them, at least some of them!(all music in the lion king1, 2, 3are included)
Can you feel the love tonight
Hakuna matata
Circle of life
Be prepared
Busa
Chow down
Digga tunnah dance
Endless night
Grasslands chant
Grazing in the grass
He lives in you
Hyenas
I just can’t wait to be king
I want to see the moon
In youpendi
It’s time
Jungle boogie
King of pride rock
Kube
Lala
Lea halalela
Love will find a way
My lullaby
Noyana
One by one
One of us
Rafiki mourn
She believes in you
Simba confronts scar
Song for the children
That’s all I need
The lioness hunt
The good, the bad, and the ugly
The madness of king scar
The morning report
The stampede
This land
Timon’s traveling theme
To die for
Under the stars
Upendi
Warthog rhapsody
We are one

Soft Heavy Music

It has been a myth for long that rock music is all about beating very hard, loud noisy disharmonious jarring sound, which is just partly true. Actually it can as soft as classical music, as fresh as folk, as tranquilizing as soul, or as fierce as what it is. So what is rock music? The answer is no simpler than that of what is love. However, the special part about rock music is that it takes extra efforts to define it while it takes no effort to feel it as it is so real, so straight forward, so frank that nothing is hidden behind. Then why bother to give it a definition? Just feel it!
The meaning of music is more than entertainment. More importantly it’s a way to express your feeling embedded in your heart and rock music is no exception. Moreover, it cover all aspects of human emotions even anger and hatred which other genres of music may find it hard to convey.


The most amazing trait about coldplay’s famous single “yellow” is that every time I listen to it a sense of peace and relaxation is formed in just a few seconds. I’d rather call it kind of magic! Just with some simple while uplifting and inspiring guitar riffs and swishing, you enter a world filled with blinding yet mild warm and tranquilizing yellow start light. In my opinion, the reason why coldplay chose star light was simple, for it’s the only thing that warmer than moonlight while milder than sunshine. “Look at the star, look how they shine for you, and all the thing you do, and it was all yellow.” Exquisitely written lines along with leading singer Chris Martin’s abrasive voice flow through you heart and world is left behind. Close your eyes and “it was all yellow”. The lyrics is rather simple while touching. Highly recommended.
Oh! One thing I should forget to mention is that it is rock music that you’ve just heard. So next time you come across a piece of rock music, just try it before you cover your ears and you might love it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI8I6qcxWyU


yellow-coldplay
look at the stars
look how they shine for you
and everything you do
yeah they were all yellow
I came along
I wrote a song for you
and all the things you do
and it was called
so then I took my turn
oh what a thing to have done
and it was all yellow
your skin
oh yeah your skin and bones
turn into something beautiful
Do you know you know I love you so
you know I love you so
I swam across
I jumped across for you
oh what a thing to do
'cos you were all yellow
I drew a line
I drew a line for you
or what things to do
and it was all yellow
your skin
oh yeah your skin bones
turn into something beautiful
Do you know for you I'd bleed myself dry
for you I'd bleed myself dry
It's true
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars
look how they shine for you
and all the things that you do

Write to two of my friends

There was a piece of true love
that I’ve never known before
The romance started early
But I couldn’t perceive it at all
Love is a beautiful feeling
for children to enjoy more
He once waved to her
who’s the girl he wanna to sacrifice for

They met in an early summer
The sky is bright and clear
He’ll never forget this girl
who has long black hair
Their journey is beautiful
And they respect each other
Every night he can’t sleep
Unless he heard from her
Naïve children as they are
they care about the future
With their rational thinking
they delayed a step further
…

I’ve had lots of experience
None of which is like above
I’ll keep this case
As well as the two of my friends
Thank you for your story
which really moved me into tears…

The Final Examination

  Roy is a professor in UCLA, one of the top universities in America. He lives with his wife, two daughters and his dog named Ellis near the campus in Los Angeles. He was considered to be a science genius when he was in school. After getting his doctorate in Stanford, he came to teach mathematics in UCLA.

  As a responsible and capable professor, he loves mathematic and he loves teaching young people. He always prepares his classes carefully and he holds that every student will enjoy the class. But it seems that things are not going like that…

  As usual, the annual final examination was coming, other teachers had even been talking about how to enjoy the following vocation, but Roy was baffled. He realized that this year he couldn’t raise the exam questions as before.

  Now Roy is teaching the juniors, in retrospect, when his students were rookies, he was so popular that almost each student tried to get a closer seat to him. So the results of rookie final exam were quite good which made him more inspired to put more effort on his teaching. But in the second year, he found that the sophomores presenting class was becoming less and less. It was confusing, he thought maybe the students were busy with their own affairs or other subject. Since they were all adults, it wasn’t suitable to sermonize them. He thought just let the final examination marks teach them a lesson. But to his surprise, the results of each student were still very unbelievably good. What he neglected was that students of UCLA were all so intelligent, those who truanted borrowed others’ notebook to review on their own. Therefore it wasn’t surprising about the result. So it made Roy so baffled that what questions to set. If he organized the exam to raise some similar subjects to the ones he taught in class just like before, no doubt students would get high marks again. Roy spent two days on it, finally a perfect idea came out.

  With the bell ringing, Roy’s students stepped into the classroom to take the final examination, they all looked confident, some of whom Roy even hadn’t seen for a long time. But soon they found there was only one exam paper. It was strange. When they looked at the paper, there were six different photos of six different men, and below them the question was: During that one week when I was weak in bed, which two of them helped me teach you for two lessons?

  Of course, some students failed the exam. Maybe what they neglected is the professor they considered a bit old was a genius, but he still is.

The Four (part 2)

As Wei Zifu became the second empress of Liu Che, it seemed to be calm since she was a meek woman. What was more, Liu Che decided to have Wei Zifu’s only son become the crown prince. However, a poem changed everything.
At that time, the most famous poet Li Yannan, a eunuch, wrote a poem called “Beauty in the north” which described his perfect sister. Liu Che was greatly attracted by the beauty in the poem and made her a concubine, called Mrs. LEE. However, it didn’t last long. Mrs. LEE died soon after she gave birth, which completely broke Liu Che’s heart. Because of the yearning for Mrs. LEE, he appointed Mrs. LEE’s brother a general. Since then, Liu Che hadn’t found a new love for decades.
The most important turning point appeared when Liu Che made his last inspection tour during which he found a girl looked almost the same as Mrs. LEE. He immediately took her back to Changan even though he was already over 60 years old and named the girl “Mrs. Gou Yi” for the scar on her hand. Soon Mrs. Gou Yi gave birth to a boy. In the meantime, the chief governor, Jiang Chong, who wanted to bring down crown prince prosecuted that crown prince is going to revolt and forged many evidence. Liu Che was so angry that he required the army to kill crown prince without a thoroughgoing analysis. Crown prince was killed innocently, in the meantime, his mother, Empress Wei Zifu committed suicide, which made Mrs. Gou Yi empress When Liu Che found out that everything was faked by Jiang Chong, he couldn’t be more regret and became seriously sick. He knew his time was coming, but the only son fit for crown prince was the son of Mrs. Gou Yi, who was only 2 years old. To avoid the young mother of emperor controlled too much power; Liu Che decided to kill Mrs. Gou Yi even though she was only 24 years old and abandoned her corpse into wild.
After Liu Che died, officers found that there was no empress to be buried with Liu Che while they also couldn’t bury Liu Che alone. However, the 3 former empress’s corpses were all impossible to find, so that they decided to appoint Mrs. LEE the empress to have her accompany Liu Che. So Mrs. LEE also became empress though she had been dead for decades.
That’s the story of the four empresses of Emperor Han Wu, Liu Che.

Homosexual and AIDS: discrimination or misunderstanding

What occurs in your mind when you hear the words “homosexual” and “Aids”? There is no doubt that you will frown even before your knowing. The picture you visualize is dirty and disgusting. Someone related to these are always thought to be evil and regarded as a threat to the society. People will stare at these people as if they were monsters. But do we really know what life is like for them?

Last night, I finished watching the movie “Philadelphia”. In it, Tom Hanks plays an outstanding counselor. He loves the law, knows the law and is delegated crucial job in the most prestigious law office in the state. But he is homosexual. And more, he is transmitted with AIDS through an improper sex experience. He was fired. And since then, he started his journey to fight in court for his right.

In our minds, AIDS is always related to drug use, obscene sex and all the dirty things that can not be put on the table. As if it is not the disease but the people who suffer from it that are hateful. However, their reason for getting Aids may be lack of knowledge, unclean medical implement or merely accident. None of them will not feel regret after they got the disease. They confess all through their lives. But what role do we usually play? We stand far at the side, with our arms crossed and hiss with disgust that “we don’t buy it!” what a torment it is for these people. The pain they suffer physically is no compare to the pain they suffer in heart. They feel abandoned by the society and are forced to live in misery in the rest of their lives. In the movie, a patient claimed in court, “We are not guilty. We are not innocent. We are just struggling to survive.”
The law office kept highlighting that it was through his sex experience with another man that he caught AIDS. But is it sinful? Truly, it is antichrist. But it is not against the law, especially the law of the United States of America, a place where equal right is put on a highest place. Law should be blind before sex, color, age, and sexual preference included. There is a beautiful story that explains the origin of homosexual. At the first stage of the world, all the human beings were bonded in two, with some one man one woman, some two women and some two men. The god found it no fun. So he decided to separate them. After that, the two tried desperately to find the other part. In this sense, there is no wrong to have a partner of the same sex at all. It is true that homos will make us feel uncomfortable, but should we set all the blame on them just because they are different?

The climax of the movie came when the young man listened to his favorite opera. The first murmuring gradually gave way to madly exclamation, “I am divine! --- I am god! --- I am love! ---” Tears rushed out from his eyes. He was desperate but hopeful. He was a fighter. With his heart bleeding, he still stands to fight till the end, till the end.

After a long battle, he finally won his case, and he closed his eyes tranquilly. C’est Lavie! What should we do? How should we face them? It is time to think.

A new hair cut

This weekend, I had my hair cut.
I did not know why I chose the style of my new hair cut. It looked like something silly. But at that time I just wanted to cut my hair like this. Maybe that was what we often call impulse. But now I do not feel regretful for my haircut. I think there are many advantage have short hair as follows:
Firstly, it is cool. Not only you feel not too hot in Singapore, but also it looks like the man in Prison Break. So I think every boy or we can say man can have this kind of haircut.(If the girls want to look like this, yes you can!)
Secondly, it can save your money. You can have your hair cut in your dormitory by your roommate. So you need not to go out to pay for extra 10 dollars. At the same time, you can save the shampoo. Because of the short hair, you don’t have to wash your head every day. So you can save your money. Why you don’t do so?
Last but not the least, you can restart and change your style. I say so because there is an old saying in China call “start from the head”. So you can refresh yourself and correct what you have done wrongly.
So I want to say I like my head. I like my new haircut!

Major confusion

Recently we SM3 students faced a serious problem-----to choose major in NUS.
Although I have already decided to choose school of computering to be my major, some of my friends felt confused before they really thought of the major. Even when they clicked the “submit” button, their hands were shaking. The major had a relationship between what you will study for a long time and you future, so they chose it carefully.
In my own opinion, although to know what we like to study is so important, we need not care too much about it. I think if we have the chance to go to NUS in Singapore, we have the ability to do well in our study. Also I can say we can do well in our study. We need not notice much about the environment around us. Just do what we are supposed to do and try our best to achieve our goals. That is the only way you get closer to success.
So ,dear friends. If you have already chosen your major, congratulations, and keep on making progress, you will be a case in point in the future and live in the life style which you dreamt of when you were young. If you are confused about your major, come on. Choose quickly! It is you that study. No matter what you choose, you put all your heart into it, and spare no efforts to do the things. You will make it!
On the way of life, if you can say ”After doing something, I won’t feel regretful”. I dare to say. You really do a good job and you will have a bright future!