Zimbabwe 'seeks jail crisis aid

A TV documentary was shot over months recently in South Africa. It reveals a shocking secret that how lots of inmates in Zimbabwe die of hunger and disease. Moreover, this film also showed countless graves in the jails. Because everything was open wide to public, I think maybe the government can not cover up its embarrassment any more. But the new government did not make any comments on the film. They shifted the blame to the previous government. Only the prime minister explained they had urged donors and trading partners to back the government and he said the government had made a significant progress even though it is small within the following six weeks.

The news also describes the atrocious conditions in the jail. As what a prisoner said, the sick and healthy had to sleep side by side in an overcrowded and extremely dirty cell. As what the film showed, the prison stuff had already changed the cells to “hospital wards”.
Worse still, a mortuary had built with the prison’s grounds and you can see many rotted bodies on the ground and there are many maggots moving on the bodies.

According to the film, there are 55 prisons in Zimbabwe. To my astonishment, they only have a capacity to hold 17,000, but over 35,000 lives in these prisons.

I think the prime minister really can not cope with these problems. He can just tell the world this is a good opportunity for the west to invest.

However, even though they appeal to the west to give them help, the countries like UK can impossibly help them, because they can benefit nothing from Zimbabwe. Maybe China can do something because for such a developing country like China, at least the international advocate can help establish a good status. Actually, that is just what China is doing now.

Progress

I think I have changed a lot during my bridging course. Most of the people around me now are new friends who may not notice the change, however, I myself cannot pretend. I used to prefer silence and loneliness -- had my lunch, waited the school bus, slept in the library after lunch and woke up to fearfully look at the darkness outside-- all by myself. I did enjoy it.

However, coming to Singapore, I was pushed to make a change, otherwise, I might feel that I could not match the blazing sunshine and the bright sky here. If I kept donging things by myself in this strange environment, I always found that great stress was put on me, as if I was going to make a big mistake the next minute and had to repeat to say sorry. On the contrary, staying among all my sincere friends made me feel carefree and secure. They are sunny and smart, sometimes they like to act like spoiled children with exaggerating expression. Life is on its way to be simple and happy, which makes me believe that life loves the liver of it.

I wrote a letter to my old friend to tell her that I had changed and was very confused if changes were always good. She said that I used to sit on a hard rock in the deep sea, like a log, and now I got into a large bubble and could float, so I should walk around and sun myself. I think she is right again.

I am still leaning to satisfy, and I have made slow progress. I know I am showing progress, so I feel quite satisfied-- then I progress again.

Thanks, my dear new friends.

If I should see you，after long year.
How should I greet, with tears, with silence.
　　——George Gordon Byron
　　

The Legendary Bridging Course and Group 3

Actually, I had over-finished my blog writing two weeks ago. This week, because of the variety show and post-test, I decided to give up the last blog entry. But after reading Liusi’s blog, I have a strong desire to make a summary, or just write down some feelings about the whole intensive English training course and the relationship we have built up with cooperation and sincerity.
Frankly speaking, I had high expectations about improving my English for this course at the beginning of it. Gradually, it is a pity that I found my progress in English was not as fast as I expected. But soon I also found that I have learnt a lot which I cannot get access to through books, video tapes or, generally speaking, academic studying. I came to know many new friends who have distinctive talents, including Chinese students and Singaporeans. I learnt how to cooperate with partners and how to share your genuine feelings with others. At the beginning of the bridging course, I always tended to keep silent in class and listen carefully to what the tutor is teaching, as what I did in high school. Soon I realised that if one never speak up in class, no one would know what is in his or her mind and others will not be concerned with the person. So I began to try my best to express myself clearly and with a strong stand in class. I felt very satisfied to talk or discuss with everyone in class.
Then I began to know the purpose of this bridging course deeper and deeper gradually. It is called Bridging Course and the subtitle is intensive English course for PRC students. So either officials of MOE of the coordinators in NUS focus their concentration on how to make us assimilate into this new environment as soon as possible. We need to be familiar with people here, the agenda of daily life, the ideology of the whole society and especially, to make ourselves at home. So I think we should still appreciate this bridging course as much as we can, although it failed some of us’s expectation. Through the course, we knew more about Singapore and its people. Once we have mingled quite well with the locals and adapted in to the system here, we can find a lot of opportunities to improve our language. It is a long way to go, but the effect in the long run will be a big surprise for us.
Incidentally, it is really a wonderful experience to have studied in Group 3. We have a lot of talented people here and it is not exaggerated that we are one of the most excellent groups. The legendary group 3 is the stuff of legend in the history of CELC.
Hope to keep in touch with all of you after matriculating in NUS.

Bookworm, me?

On Monday, our dear vice principal Ms. Nora gave me a astonishing comment. She said,"You are a bookworm, rather than a sporty guy". I said:"Do not judge a person by his appearence", whereas she replied,"I am just telling the truth".

How could it be? Why have I made such an impression on her? What is worse, maybe there is not only her who think I am a bookworm! I think it is quite necessary to make a clarification for myself.

According to the Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary, bookworm means the person who devotes all himself to reading. To be honest, I am not that reject to the word. However, what I want to shed light on here is that I do not dedicate myself to reading. My motive of reading is not finding joy or comfort, and why I want to read is somehow out of utilitarianism. In order to make me more competent in the challenging university life, I have to equipe myself with some special knowledge. Due to this reason, I often read some books that some of you think is too difficult. Judging from this, I cannot be a bookworm.

Besides, I often exercise after school, especially playing basketball. As a result, I have a relatively robust body. Thus, it is hard to say that I am a bookworm.

Anyway, what Ms. Nora said at least has proved one thing, that is, I am not that lazy during the bridging course. This is a reward to me, and I do appreciate that she said this!

Sophia and the Story Behind

Sophia is not a girl. Sophia is not a hotel. No, things cannot be that boring, because Sophia is a band. I started to have undying love for the band since December, 2006—in a harsh and bleak winter—when I first touched one of its albums called people are like seasons.

K, my high school soul mate, introduced the band and lent the album to me. The album was kind of love token to him because K bought the CD with his ex-girlfriend. As a matter of fact, I did not think, at that time, students like us were buying CD; instead, what we were doing in the shabby CD shops was more likely to be spending a whole afternoon using our own Walkman to “test” boxes of old CD, most of which came from USA and Europe and only had one copy in the box. We had confidence in our taste for music and could immediately distinguish our own type of music the moment we pressed the play button. Not many students had this kind of access to music and that was partly why we found it so cool. Hundreds of CD walked onto my shelf, as well as K’s. We were willing to exchange our treasures because we were looking forward to each other’s affirmative feedback on the CD and we knew each other even better than ourselves

Back to Sophia, it really killed me. How could it be so perfect, so spotless and so seductive? I loved every single song in people are like seasons. I loved every haunting melody and every word in the lyrics. I even loved the design of the cover and its paper wrap. I listened to Sophia day and night, sometimes under the foolish delusion that the earphone had fused and merged in my ears. K felt proud that I like it as much as he did, and so did I.

At that time, my small room was a big mess with CD here and there. Maybe that was why I lost it. It should have been in my Walkman because there was no need to put it elsewhere since I listened to Sophia all the time. However, what was left for me, was its beautiful, empty wrap. I immediately realized I would never allow myself to tell K that I lost it. He would not be angry at me anyway, but I dared not to take the risk of facing his disappointed eyes and the endless blaming of myself.

I decided to try, sink or swim. And it turned out to be the first time when I got to know how powerful manpower could be. I asked all my friends who seemed to have a small collection of CD if they had ever bought or encountered Sophia’s people are like seasons. They said no. However, I did not expect that several days later my friends’ friends came to me, “Hey, you have many CD? Do you know Sophia’s album? One of my friends’ friends lost hers.” I was even more grateful when I heard the shopkeeper’s confusion about why recently many students asked for an unknown band, called Sophia.

If we kept trying, it was possible that I finally found another and gave it to K, as if nothing had happened. However, I forgot K was also one of those friends, and a rather important and smart one. Definitely, he was asked. Definitely, he was the last one to be fooled in the world.

He called me and said if I really liked it, I could keep it as long as possible. I asked how long the longest was. He said as long as I was fond of it. I said thanks and really meant it.

K was a boy with few words, but the few words he said on the phone conveyed a lot. He did not deliberately pretend, though it sounded so, yet, successfully let me know that he knew what was going on. No embarrassment. No tension. No blame and no lie. He just naturally released me.

Indeed, people are like seasons, changing all the way to die. However, I am bent on listening to CD and will carry on regardless of all the advanced approaches to listen to music (mp3? mp4? mp5?), hoping that I could be taken a trip down memory lane when we could easily forgive and happily sing along.

forever

Group 3 forever
Wait until the 200th blog appears.
Finally, bridging course is to an end. I have been eager to go to university since I came to Singapore. After all, my high school classmates all became my seniors.
6 hours a day, 4 days a week, we spend five months in CELC. The room is too narrow and the light is so dim; together we learnt with our tutors. Sometimes it shined and sometimes it shit, whatever, we should wait in a lousy queue (if there was) for lousy buses. Learning to debate, learning to play jokes on others, learning to give nickname, we spent our Mondays; studying literature, words, grammar and etiquette, we went through Tuesdays; “do you follow what I am trying to say?” “What is your point?” accompanied us and taught us critically thinking in Wednesday mornings; that afternoon was devoted to word puzzles and talk and writing; so many newspapers and fresh things were in Thursdays. Every teacher has special character and so does every student.
It was a pity that our class have never got together to do something meaningful. However, variety Show is a good opportunity; A visit to Ms Lun’s can also be a relief.
Exited about future and feeling pity for our separating, we will spend the next few days. Good luck, everyone.

Bitterest Christmas Day

“Have you decided, Steve?”
“Yes, indeed. I love Houston. I would like to play for it.”
“Actually, Vancouver is not bad, isn’t it?”
“Come on, you want me to be a popsicle.”

On August 27th, 1999, Steve Francis, who was No.2 pick rookie, refused to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies which has chosen him already. Eventually, he was traded to Houston which he had been yearning for day and night.

This boy, wearing a cap with Houston Rocket badge, promised proudly, “I will bring this city glories and prides. Francis did all his best to carry out his promise. He fought for Houston Rockets for 5 seasons, with 7226 points, 2295 rebounds and 2381 assists in total. Moreover, he was the second Houston Rockets player that had been selected to play in NBA All-star Game. Most importantly, In 2002 NBA rookies draft, he helped Houston pick Yao Ming, who was No. 1 pick that year. In fact, that was not a good thing for himself.

Yao should thank God for sending himself a “Big Brother”. Steve is a guy who is loyal to friends and has overall interest on mind all the time. However, supposing you are the big brother and leader of the team without controversy, then a seven feet six inches big guy with a heavy oriental accent came to your team and everybody told you, “Hey, buddy, we all understand what you have contributed to our team. You are really something but for now we must run our team based on the interest of that big guy, so you need to make change for him.” What are you going to do?

That is what Francis did: On the court, he changed his style, passing the ball to the inside as more times as possible to perform “Inside-out” tactic which he was good at. After the match, he accompanied Yao to do shopping, taught him English and invited Yao to parties and camps. When Stoudamire dunked over Yao’s head, roaring to Yao’s face, it was Steve, exploding with anger, who jabbed Stoudamire’s throat with his elbow. “He is my brother! Nobody can bully him. Try it if you dare.” Steve said, vehemently.

Four years later, That Chinese young boy who was protected by Steve before had become the best centre in NBA and the playmaker of Houston Rockets. However, Steve himself had been traded to different teams, warming the bench and being lowly paid.

On the Christmas Eve, Rockets officially declared that 31-year-old Steve Francis would be transferred to Grizzlies for the draft rights of 2011. As for this trade, Francis declared, “I will obey the choice of Rockets unconditionally. Actually, I am surprised that I have to go back to Grizzlies in the end.” Rockets fans criticized the team manager for his acerbity. Yao also expressed that it was sad news. For better or worse, nothing can be changed already. At the reunited evening for every family, a hero fighting for this city before made his way to Memphis.

“I am a real Houstonese for the past, the present and the future.”Steve Francis said.

Imperfect Things are Better

Once upon a time, a king had seven pretty daughters. These seven princesses all had long, beautiful hair. Thus, the king gave each of them one hundred diamond hairpins.
One morning, when the oldest princess waked up, she combed her beautiful hair as usual. Suddenly, she found one of her diamond hairpins was lost. She could not find it anywhere, so she stealingly went to the second oldest princess’ room and stole one of hers.
The second princess found she lost one diamond hairpin, and then she stole one of the third princess’. After that the third princess also took one from her sisters. Then accordingly the forth princess stole her sister’s. The fifth princess took her sister’s diamond hairpin, too. And the sixth princess had to steal the youngest princess’. Therefore, the youngest only have ninety-nine hairpins.
The next day, the handsome prince from neighbor country came and told the king, “Yesterday my naughty lark picked back a diamond hairpin. I think it must be one of your daughters’. I am linked with her by ties of fate, and I will marry her. Which princess lost her princess?” After hearing that, the princess all wanted to say, “It is me, it is me.” But obviously there were one hundred hairpins on their hair. Only the youngest princess came out and said, “I have lost a hairpin.” This was the end of the story. They got married and lived happily with each other.
One hundred diamond hairpins is like a perfect life; if there are only ninety-nine diamond hairpins, it is a imperfect life. Why should we pursue perfection by all kind of kind of means? I think there will be some defects in our lives, which is unavoidable. We should face it calmly. In addition, because of these defects, our imperfect lives will be better.

When we all put on Suit

Last Wednesday, we all put on our suits for the oral presentation in order to look professional and neat. Ms Leo said that our junior should give up wearing suits, but some of us think it is fine to do so. I think it is an interesting and controversial topic to talk about.

Actually, there are several reasons why we wear suits. First of all, we want to seize any opportunities to wear suits. In fact, our seniors advised us to buy suits before coming to Singapore. However, when we have arrived Singapore, there are few chances to wear suits. It must be a waste of money if we do not wear suits for the presentation. In my opinion, it is the most important reason. In addition, in this boring English course, we need some stimulant. It is interesting to see how do our friends look in suits, and we do not want to be the only one in casual clothes. Last but not least, some teachers’ advise. For example, Ms Lim told us we should not wear jeans in the presentation. However, I do not have non-jeans pants except the formal pant, so I had to wear suits.

Although suits helped us to look formal, it also makes us feel uncomfortable. It seems that we must do the presentation perfectly for the sake of the suits. Therefore, we felt more nervous than before.

I think the origin of the issue is the seniors. They should not suggest that strongly. Maybe they can suggest us to buy non-jeans instead of the whole suit. If we encounter an occasion requiring suits later, we can just buy the coat in Singapore.

In a conclusion, when we become seniors, we should suggest our juniors to bring necessary things. Things like suits should not be highly recommended.

Our Sloth

Let us look at what most of us may have experienced before:
"Today I have several things to do."
"OK, start with this one."
"I will do it later, break for now."
"Watching TV, surfing the net, chatting..."
"Those assignments can be done tomorrow because I still have time."

Obviously, we gave in to our laziness. In fact, everyone has his own dream. Nevertheless, some of them will go through with their tasks as long as they have set up their mind on the goal whereas some always live in their plan. Unfortunately, for those “well-planned” people, their plan is just a schedule stuck to the wall which is daily changed.

There is a story about boiling frogs: Put a frog into a pot filled with water, and then simmer the frog for a while. The frog was sensitive to tiny changes in temperature. However, he might think it is unnecessary to jump out of the pot at once as a result of his laziness. Eventually, he lost his consciousness and was put on the dining table. If we forgive ourselves without principle, one day our passion for life will die out in indulging ourselves.

Someone said being lazy is a kind of instinct. The instinct is something related to natural tendency. To a certain extent, there exists difference between instinct and laziness. In the dictionary, lazy means having the tendency not to change one’s life and working habit, which is not natural. Why do people not want to change? To fulfill the insatiability is the motivation. Actually, for most people, as long as they can dress warmly and eat their fill, they can always find something to satisfy themselves. Apart from that, before one decides to change, he or she will always make a risk assessment. Nevertheless, under most circumstances, they will subconsciously pay extra attention to the advantages of the change or even overstate the risk. That is why few people choose to take the risk instead of living the same life.

From a medico psychologist’s perspective, laziness is detrimental to mental and physical health. It will weaken people’s adaptation to the environment, leading to premature senility.

In fact, our sloth is a result of helplessness. Because we cannot or do not want to change our lives, we decide to escape from reality. Most importantly, we cannot afford the lapse of time. It is impossible for someone to strive for something if he cannot manage to take charge of himself. Also, our sloth suggests us to gain more rewards with less cost. That is why we extremely lack in initiative. As our laziness is too powerful, lots of things will not be done until we have no other choice.

We cannot forget our sloth, which is our archenemy. We should not trust “sloth”, because tomorrow does not equal to hope. Every day we have “tomorrow”, but we do not have “present”. However, our hope is based on every “present”.

How to overcome our laziness? Take actions! Remind ourselves every now and then. Yes! Take steps now. It is not enough to just set up our mind. Moreover, we need to warn ourselves that if we cannot overcome our laziness, nothing can be done.

Our life is limited, there is no second for each of us to squander. We should live every day as if tomorrow we would end our life. Cherish the moment!

Staying Up Late

Staying Up Late

Through our research, I found that I am not the only one who likes to stay up late in the night. And this adverse habit is specially common among boys. I like to stay up late, nevertheless I do not know why I like to do this.
When I was in China, I always tried to stay up late. However, my parents did not give me the free pass for that. They were worried that staying up late too often may causing procrastination of body booming. As a rebellious teenager then, I always locked my room door and secretly watched movie or played computer game till two or three o’clock in the morning.
Now, I finally get out of the tentacle of my parents', which means I do not have to be bothered by their nags. In the first few months of coming to Singapore, I excitedly stayed up late for every day, or even stay u the whole night. I felt like I finally fulfilled my dream of living without supervision. Out of my expectation, after experiencing staying up late by person, I do not really want to do that any more.
It was a normal staying up for a whole night, playing computer games. The next day, I felt just ok in the morning , nothing abnormal. When it came to the afternoon, something weird happened. I was sitting at my desk and completing my homework. Suddenly, a gale of dizzy hit me, I felt numb in the head for a while. I recovered soon after this. The painful feeling did not end yet. Following the dizzy, sour feeling rapidly creped my whole body like a snake was sliding all over my place and squeezing tightly and tightly. So frightened I was that I went to bed for I do not think I could hold any more seconds. I felt much better after a restorative nap. Rethinking what had happened to me, I started to wonder it was the consequence of accumulative staying up late. I swear to myself I will not stay up that late again.
The genuine detrimental experience alert me for how terrible it is to stay up late. I will never stay up that late, because I know that it does nothing good but damage. Please get rid of living habits and live healthily.

Cloud? Cloud!

(Last time, I said I’d continue writing something about New Moon. However, I’ve decided to abort the plan. Most of the time, a sequel is not comparable with the original one since the interest and curiosity of the audience has been completely sucked by the original one. So, I must find something new to write about.)

You think I would write the fuzzy intangible agglomeration up in the sky? No way. What I am really going to write about is the down-to-earth technology of cloud computing. Before I came here, my father told me that IBM was negotiating a large contract with our local government to land a “cloud factory” in my hometown, the very first of its kind in China. At about the same time, a new service named document was provided by the new giant Google. It allows people to edit their documents, spreadsheets and slides online. Since then I could see an inevitable trend that all software and even platforms will be provided in the form of “cloud” in the future.

Actually, cloud is a new way of thinking in computing. The concept incorporates infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) as well as other recent technology trends that have the common theme of reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users. Cloud computing services usually provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. The “cloud factory” mentioned above is a typical example of IaaS. The factory is actually a centre fully equipped with advanced computers to perform grid computing, which allows astronomical data to be analyzed and pocessed within several hours. Google’s new service is a SaaS as it functions just like the software Office provided by Microsoft.

The greatest advantages of cloud computing could be seen in the cost cut and stability. As all the services will be provided online, the capital expenditure will be hugely cut down as the consumption will be based on utility. It means there will be no upfront cost and consumers will only pay for what they have used or the time they have used. Cloud computing largely simulates the displacement of electricity generators by electricity grids early in 20th century. Moreover, the data for common users would be much safer as they are stored on servers instead of PCs, whose stability are really doubtable.

Personally, I am really looking forward to the upcoming service Gdrive of Google, which the beta has already been released. Gdrive will install a virtual drive on your PC and all the documents put in it would be uploaded to Google’s servers. Then you do not need to worry about your data since they are stored on Google’s server. It would be a huge relief for people like me who have experienced breaking-down of the operating system( which equals to the loss of all data in my computer). Though some people are concerned about the privacy problem, I believe it would be solved soon.

Oh! Come on, Gdrive.

Ideal life style

Ideal life style
Since I came to Singapore, I got to have a clear idea about the so called liberty and democracy. Of course, I am not intended to talk about politics here. What I want to say is where people’s desire lay when living in a democratic and liberal country.
Many people would consider making money as the most important thing that we need to do. According to many economists, this kind of desire can help form a sound system and adjust itself to changes and make progress, thus our economy can develop. However, I think the development of economy is just the methods while not the destination though I agree with Marx that the society tends to become more productive. To put my point of view clear, that is to say, Marx means we all hope a better life which is based on the development of economy, then we try to make a lot of money which, on the whole, will improve the economy, and thus benefit our life; noticing that making money is just a method and being happy is the destination, what if making money itself is not so happy. Analyzing this matter as a whole, we can also say that development of economy’s benefiting our life is not sufficient to conclude that we must have it to be happy. It is necessary but not sufficient.
Then, what is the ideal life style? I mean when people do not have to worry about where to get money. It is a difficult question. Or maybe, when we reached this point, life will be totally nonsense. That is about human telos, which reminds me of EVA. If we really reach the utopia, I think there must be a lot of philosophers.
However, let us focus on the present. We still need to run for money, and we often forget what is most important. For me, I do not want to have much money. I just want to find a girl who is willing to be isolated with others and to be with me. We work while travel around the world. Then find a quiet place to bring up our children. Learn as much as possible, in the whole life. Think of difficult problems, in many areas.
It is too vague and too far to be true. Maybe I myself do not like it when it comes to reality.

learning to swim

Learning to swim
A few weeks ago, I went to East Coast Park, where there is a big swimming pool. I did not know how to swim at all. I had learnt swimming in China, but never once could I get the idea of how to swim. However, when I saw the pool, I just cannot help wanting to jump into it.
When I really jumped into the pool, I found that the water was sea water and it smelt terrible when mixed with disinfectant. As it was sea water, I wanted to test whether I would float in it or not. Then I found that I floated! I told my friends that when I was in China, I never floated, and I thought it was because of the higher density of sea water that I could float here. They laughed at me and said that it was not a big deal if we compared the density of sea water and pure water. Then I thought maybe I gained fat here.
I found breaststroke the easiest to learn, or rather, easiest for me to keep floating. I had always thought that the force that pushed me forward should come from my pushing away water, and the harder I pushed, the further I would go. However, it did not work. I found myself struggle and stay at the same place all the time. “Why?” I began wondering. Luckily, some little girls who were also learning to swim helped me. I watched them and found that it was when the close their legs that they went forward fastest. I felt embarrassed as I had learnt physics for so many years, and I did not understand where the force came from. Then I tried the way these little girls used, and found myself move forward a few meters! I was so happy and swam all around the pool. After I cooled down, I decided to cover the whole distance without stop. When I reach the middle of the pool, I choked. I dared not give out breath under water and the time my head being above the water was too limited to complete an entire process of breathing. So, when I came to the middle there was no air in my lung. It was time to go, though I do not want to leave.
What a pity I left my learning half-done. However, it was a lot of fun. Besides, there was BBQ waiting for me.

The end

My first blog begins with the American series “Prison Break”, so I also want to write my opinions of “Prison Break” in the last blog.

After 4 years, Prison Break has ended up with the 22nd episode of the fourth season. It is really a pity that Michel died at last due to the disease after they told the truth to the world with the help of the United Nations and broke the company. In my opinion, it is not necessary to make Michel die. Audiences will be more satisfied if there is a happy ending. If I were the director, I will make Michel work for the United Nations since he is so brilliant. He can make the world better and better. Every year, all the friends of Michel can get together to have a party because they have shared weal and woe for 4 years. I think this is my ideal and perfect ending.

General was sentenced to die. It is so ironic that the scene that the general sat in the electric chair is similar to the scene that Lincoln sat there. We can know that guilty people will get the punishment sooner or later.

I still remember the first time I watched Prison Break. I was deeply attracted by the wisdom of Michel and the relationship between the two brothers, Michel and Lincoln. So I keep on watching Prison Break until it is the end and become the fan of Michel. I adore Michel’s knowledge, reaction in danger and bravery. Nobody can control him except himself. That’s the reason why he can always win the battles. However, actually, the last season is not as good as the first three seasons. Perhaps the director has no idea how to develop. As a result, the plots are not quite relevant to each part. Generally speaking, Prison Break is the most successful series I have ever seen, and it has made a big influence all over the world at least in China.

I will always be the loyal fan of Prison Break, and I am also looking forward to the movie of Prison Break showing in July.

A Tiring Journey

Last Sunday, I went to Spottiswoode Park Road to see one of my relatives, who was going back to China. I wanted to give her a package to take back home.
The beginning was very bad, for I did not know where to get off the bus. She did not know, either. She told me to ask the bus driver for help. I did what she told me. Looking at the address, the bus driver thought for a while. Then he told me to get off the bus at the People’s Park station. After a while, the minute I saw the People’s Park station, I knew everything went wrong. I got off the bus in the China Town.
I had no choices but phone my relative. She was also surprised that I was in China Town. She asked me to stay at the station and she would come and take me to her home. However, I told her that I would come by myself.
This time I got the bus right and the bus driver also told me the right station to get off. However, he told me the wrong direction. After getting off the bus, I run for a long time, but I still could not find her home. I had to call her again. Then she came and took me to her home.
This journey afflicted me a lot. I regretted travelling in the afternoon. I was almost dehydrated. However, I was also thinking about who to believe. Both of the two drivers gave me the wrong guide. I tried to find how to get there on the Internet, but no good results came out of these efforts. When you could not find the answer or solve a problem, would you believe what the others told you?

Dota

Dota

Dota is one stream of play in the game Warcraft. Thinking over how contemptuous I was about dota, now, I have already converted myself in this universally-popular trend, being one dotaer. At the beginning of playing dota, it may because I did not have other things to do. Nevertheless, once I start the trip to be more exposed of dota, eventually I find the essential spirit of dota.
First of all, the team spirit of dota is a factor contributing to dota' success. As a hero in dota, you cannot simply carry a team' success only on yourself. Teamwork and tactics are the essence of dota. No matter how undefeatable you are, you still need all your team members and their magic skills so that you will not get trapped. When you are trapped, you need your teammates' help much badly. You will know how stupid it is to neglected your teammates.
Second thing that make dota success is that there are so many characters that you can choose play. As a common sense, you easily get bored for looking at the same character for a long time. In dota, this kind of problem never bothers you. There are more than ninety characters in the game for you to choose and not tot mention for each character he or she has four different skills. You will always find yourself fresh in the dota game.
Last but not the least, the spree of killing and conquer you taste in the dota game is unforgettable. Why war is a thing restricted only for men? I think it is because the bloodshed battlefield is naturally bonded with masculinity. We boys always want to experience excitement. That is why we are fascinated by the killing in the games. That is also why sparing every effort to be the winner in the dota game and conquer the other team driving us to haunt the dota game again and again.
I think I am going to play dota with all of my friends to enjoy the best of the game. As long as you discover the core attracting you, you will start to know the dota game is irresistible.

Metaphors

Metaphors
I was always been tired of Chinese when I was in China and since metaphor was taught in Chinese classes, I did not like it either. I felt it boring when one said that someone’s face was like an apple or something like that.
I did not change my prejudice on metaphor until I attended a class which taught writing skills. The teacher there seemed to appreciate metaphor as the best criteria to judge whether a person is bright or not. He did gave examples to explain this criteria, that is, Qian Zhongshu could give a metaphor as “partly truth” while we cannot, so we are less bright than Qian. He could not stop since he mentioned Qian, and continued giving all the good metaphors in Wei Cheng. Because of this, I determined to read this book, however, before I finished reading, my friend take away the book and never gave back. He then said that metaphor is important as it tried to find similarities in different things, which, in science, was called creativity. Recognizing the similarities of different things and being aware that similarities could be equal to the same qualities under certain circumstance is the most important abilities required in science. I think he was right to a certain extent.
Then he stopped teaching Chinese and began to philosophize how to improve our creativity. A few methods for inference:
1. Make five metaphors every day. Of course, avoid “face like an apple” or such kind.
2. Make stories and try to complicate the plot.
3. Make combination of certain words which came to mind without thinking.
Actually, I have never tried any of the methods; after all, it was Gao 3 when he delivered this lesson. Maybe it is useful, and making stories in mind can be a cure of the dullness of long journey. So, what is this essay like? (like , because it has 314 words if I do not write this sentence.)

Ignite possibilities

Ignite possibilities
Recently, NIF（ National Ignition Facility） has built up a facility which will be used to ignite nuclear material. The experiment was said to use 192 beam of laser to focus on a device as big as a pepper bottle. After a series of reaction, laser becomes strong and exact enough to start and sustain a so-called self-sustaining fusion reaction, which is like what happens in the sun or the H-bomb. As is predicted, the temperature created will be as high as 100,000,000 , and the device will act as a men-made sun to provide energy.
I am interested in it, and also the progress, which need many different kinds of crystal to change the laser. There are also a number of technical problems such as making all the beams focus on one point, and deciding the type of laser needed during each procedure. This part is even more difficult than the main procedure. Then I feel that I know nothing about advanced technology and never could one operate a facility like NIF alone. However, I have been stimulated to know the whole procedure of this issue, from what the different kinds of crystal is used for to which kind of material can be a holder of nuclear material.
Come back to the main idea which this news wants to convey, igniting possibilities, and I really see it. I once heard of that if all the people in the world live a life as cosy as Americans, we need 7 earths! That is amazing, and I think the population in the world is really too large. As the global economy is growing rapidly and people’s lives are becoming better and also population keeps growing, we are doing more and more harm to the earth. The earth is in danger, however, the development of science and technology predicts possibilities, possibilities to sustain the life of human beings.
The next step….. We will step!

Thefts

Life in Eton Hell is not as peaceful as before. Two thefts happened in one month’s time. The first one happened in my room, 108. The second one happened in Room 106.
Several weeks ago, in my room, Xuan Xiaodong’s wallet was stolen. Before the wallets appeared, all of us thought that the wallet was lost. In our eyes, it was just an accident. However, when Cheng Jianpeng was combing his hair, he suddenly found that the wallet was right under his pillow. This triggered a heated discussion. We began to state our opinions about who stole the wallet. After the debate, we reached an agreement. It was someone among us who stole the wallet. Although the wallet was found, 150 dollars were missing. At last, Xiaodong decided not to report to the police. He thought this could ruin a person’s life.
However, in Room 106, a Dell black notebook was stolen this Tuesday. This was quite strange because Xuezhe (But he was sleeping) had been in the room. There were three laptops which could be seen on the desks in the room. It is said that the Dell was the best. On Tuesday evening, Room 106 spared no efforts to find the laptop. Alas, miracle did not happen. They broadcast, “Anyone who finds the Dell, please return it to the reception desk.” Still, nothing happened. At last, they reported to the police. This time, there will be a hard time for the thief (or thieves).
I am wondering who had done the thefts. Many of us think that the thefts are done by someone in the same room. If this was true, there would absolutely be a sensation. And the thief could be deported. However, should we give a chance to him? From my point of view, he shall be punished by law. Sometimes, condoning does not work but indulges crime. It is time to punish the thieves.

NBA Playoffs

NBA Playoffs

In every May and June, NBA Playoffs must be a heat topic in sports cycle. Now, it is the time for the top basketball shows of this year. Every fan in this world will not resist the temptation of enjoying dozens of amazing games. For our Chinese fans, the star we concern most must be Yao Ming, the 7-feet center in the team Houston Rockets. They are playing in Western Semi Conference versus Los Angeles Lakers leaded by Kobe Bryant, another marvelous Basketball star.
Yao was accused of being insufficient of stubbornness because the way he plays basketball. He is a tall guy, but his most aggressive weapon on the court is jump shot, which makes other underestimate his power. In this serial, he really shows how tough he can be.
In the game 1 of this series, in the fourth quarter, the score is running very close. Neither side of this game can loose even for a second. Kobe was dribbling, hoping to penetrating into the paint. But suddenly, Yao stood in his way, trying to block the way of Kobe's. This was when the tragedy happened. Kobe accidentally bump into Yao in the knee. It so painful that immediately Yao crouched down with two hands holding his knee. We can see how miserable it was by judging from the facial expression of Yao's. After a few minutes, doctors were coming to escort him out of the court for medical check-up. But however, out of expectation, Yao refused. He insisted he should stay in the court and continue fighting with his teammate. At that moments, even the audiences in Staples Center of Los Angeles were deeply touched. They all stood up to give a big applause for this big guy's braveness. They should know that Yao is jeopardizing his knee for the victory of the game. I believe at that moment, fans from all over the world who were watching that game would applause for Yao. At last, with the inspiration from Yao, Houston Rockets beat Los Angeles.
Yao really shows us he can be a tough guy. Even though he behaved unshapely on the court sometimes ( that is because of the ways of playing makes him looks tender, but that does not mean he is really not tough on the court), he is a tough man from inside of him. After all, the strongest part is heart, where all the strength coming from. I admire Yao Ming for that. And good luck for his games.

Knowing about emotional malaise

At the beginning of the bridging course in February, I was reading the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I was ashamed to admit that I have not finished it yet. Nevertheless, I truly learned some knowledge for our mental well-being which we Chinese students used to neglect in the past. Look at the following statements and check if you have experience some of them:
●Withdrawal or social problems: preferring to be alone; being secretive, sulking a lot, lacking energy, feeling unhappy, being overly dependent;
●Anxious and depressed: being lonely, having many fears and worries, needing to be protected, feeling unloved, feeling nervous or sad and depressed
●Attention or thinking problems: unable to pay attention or sit still, daydreaming, acting without thinking, being too nervous to concentrate, doing poorly on school work, unable to get mind off thoughts.
●Delinquent or aggressive: hanging around kids who get into trouble, lying and cheating, arguing a lot, being mean to other people, demanding attention, destroying other people’s things, disobeying at home and at school, being stubborn and moody, talking too much, teasing a lot, having a not temper.
I felt sorry after reading some chapters which include self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy and reveal the answer to the question what it means to be smart? The reason why I felt sorry is that though this book was published in 1996, Chinese teenagers have never being exposed to this kind of idea about emotional intelligence. Unlike many western students, back in China in high school ,I personally had no access to these classic psychological books. Our teachers had never introduced these books to us, though Daniel Goleman is already a household name for the westerners.
We are only encouraged to study hard and pursue academic success. However, nowadays, it is impossible to stay highly motivated unless you can distinguish your feelings well and can identify the signals of emotional malaise. Only in this way can we adjust to the modern society and cope with the stress.

Knowing about emotional malaise

At the beginning of the bridging course in February, I was reading the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I was ashamed to admit that I have not finished it yet. Nevertheless, I truly learned some knowledge for our mental well-being which we Chinese students used to neglect in the past. Look at the following statements and check if you have experience some of them:
●Withdrawal or social problems: preferring to be alone; being secretive, sulking a lot, lacking energy, feeling unhappy, being overly dependent;
●Anxious and depressed: being lonely, having many fears and worries, needing to be protected, feeling unloved, feeling nervous or sad and depressed
●Attention or thinking problems: unable to pay attention or sit still, daydreaming, acting without thinking, being too nervous to concentrate, doing poorly on school work, unable to get mind off thoughts.
●Delinquent or aggressive: hanging around kids who get into trouble, lying and cheating, arguing a lot, being mean to other people, demanding attention, destroying other people’s things, disobeying at home and at school, being stubborn and moody, talking too much, teasing a lot, having a not temper.
I felt sorry after reading some chapters which include self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy and reveal the answer to the question what it means to be smart? The reason why I felt sorry is that though this book was published in 1996, Chinese teenagers have never being exposed to this kind of idea about emotional intelligence. Unlike many western students, back in China in high school ,I personally had no access to these classic psychological books. Our teachers had never introduced these books to us, though Daniel Goleman is already a household name for the westerners.
We are only encouraged to study hard and pursue academic success. However, nowadays, it is impossible to stay highly motivated unless you can distinguish your feelings well and can identify the signals of emotional malaise. Only in this way can we adjust to the modern society and cope with the stress.

Knowing about emotional malaise

At the beginning of the bridging course in February, I was reading the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I was ashamed to admit that I have not finished it yet. Nevertheless, I truly learned some knowledge for our mental well-being which we Chinese students used to neglect in the past. Look at the following statements and check if you have experience some of them:
●Withdrawal or social problems: preferring to be alone; being secretive, sulking a lot, lacking energy, feeling unhappy, being overly dependent;
●Anxious and depressed: being lonely, having many fears and worries, needing to be protected, feeling unloved, feeling nervous or sad and depressed
●Attention or thinking problems: unable to pay attention or sit still, daydreaming, acting without thinking, being too nervous to concentrate, doing poorly on school work, unable to get mind off thoughts.
●Delinquent or aggressive: hanging around kids who get into trouble, lying and cheating, arguing a lot, being mean to other people, demanding attention, destroying other people’s things, disobeying at home and at school, being stubborn and moody, talking too much, teasing a lot, having a not temper.
I felt sorry after reading some chapters which include self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy and reveal the answer to the question what it means to be smart? The reason why I felt sorry is that though this book was published in 1996, Chinese teenagers have never being exposed to this kind of idea about emotional intelligence. Unlike many western students, back in China in high school ,I personally had no access to these classic psychological books. Our teachers had never introduced these books to us, though Daniel Goleman is already a household name for the westerners.
We are only encouraged to study hard and pursue academic success. However, nowadays, it is impossible to stay highly motivated unless you can distinguish your feelings well and can identify the signals of emotional malaise. Only in this way can we adjust to the modern society and cope with the stress.

Receiving a parcel

April 27
Yesterday, when I was watching the first episode of desperate housewife, my cell-phone rang. It was about 11pm. picking up the phone, I was wondering who would phone so late in the evening. My first guess was my mother. However, the screen showed the name of Auntie Lily, the toughest housemistress of Eton Hall. What on earth could she want from me? I nervously recall if I had done anything violating the holy Eton Hall ground rules. The memory of my coping the whole boarders’ handbook for forgetting to sign out was still fresh. “Wei?” I realize how foolish I was as soon as I said this Chinese word. I should have said. “Hello” “Are you Wang Liusi? Which room are you in?” It took me quite a few seconds to respond for my mind was blanked by the fear of being sent back to China“Yes, I am living in room 320.”Answering in broken sentence, I held my breath and waited for her scorn.
“Go downstairs and collect your parcel”
My parcel? Suddenly I recollected that a friend of mine had promised to send me a toy two weeks ago. But I had never expected it would come so soon. My mind was now filled with joyfulness. I ran down the stairs without realizing what I was doing. It is a delight that beyond words. It is a feeling of struck by the happiness of receiving a letter, a gift from the beloved one by post. It seemed to take a year for me to reach the chairman’s office. Lily was standing by the desk, “ There is your parcel.” She said,pointing to the cornet of the room. Where? I mean Which? It was the first time I received a parcel from China in Singapore and I had no idea the size of it. I moved to the back of the door. There was a large box. Catching a glimpse of the surface, I felt a surge in adrenalin. There I saw clearly, my name on the form. I was surprised by the size of the parcel. I could not wait to open it in my dormitory and run upstairs in such a haste that I almost stumbled myself. When I finally opened it, I found a huge, brown, lovely bear wrapped in a pink transparent paper. Words could not describe my surprise and happiness!

My Hometown

When talking about my hometown, Yichang, many people may wonder “Where is it?” However when we say the Three Gorges Dam, almost everyone knows it. Actually Yichang is where the dam lies.
The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydropower project and most notorious dam. It not only reveals natural scenery, but also the technology of modern civilization. This 185-meter high dam spans the Yangtze River, aiming to preventing floods and electric. Viewing from the dam, you will see limpid river water flowing eastwards. It nearly links with the blue sky. Mountains on river banks undulate pleasantly. Islands are scattered all along the river like stars in the sky. It is really a feast for your eyes.
Despite the world-famous dam, there are many other tourist spots for you to enjoy. Interspersed with many rivers and mountains, Yichang provide you an excellent chance to get close to nature and interact with it. Among those rivers and hills, the most famous ones are the Yangze River and the Mingfeng Mountain.
“Mingfeng” in Chinese means “singing phoenix”. The mountain got its name from a huge stone on the top of the mountain which looks exactly like a phoenix singing. It is famous not only for the beautiful scenery but also as a holy place for Taoists. Every year especially on the second day of Chinese New Year, many people would come to climb the mountain with sincere hearts and worship immortals at the top of the mountain. Since the mountain is not very high, trekking to the top is not very strenuous. Breathing fresh air, listening birds singing and enjoying green plants can really release you from the modern world of stress and anxiety.
As a city with more than a thousand years history, Yichang also owns a lot of heritage, for example, the battlefield of the Three Kingdoms and the temple of Wang Zhaojun who was one of the most beautiful women in ancient China.
The places I mentioned above are just parts of where you can visit. More interesting places are waiting for you to explore.

Everything depends on interests

I was so glad to watch the famous movie Rain Man in our class last week. From the performers to the plot, it is beyond the doubt that this movie has impressed so many people.

This movie was played by two attractive men, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The story started with a quarreling between Charlie (Tom Cruise) and his father’s lawyer about the legacy which he wanted to inherit. However, Charlie’s father gave all his possession as much as 3 million to a sanitarium. Thus, Charlie decided to go there and find the reason. To his surprise, he found his brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) there, who was mentally disabled, and of whom Charlie had no impressions at all. In order to get half of his father’s asset and pay off the debt, Charlie determined to take Raymond back to Los Angeles. On the way back, Charlie gradually found that Raymond was his best friend when he was very young, and he called Raymond Rain Man at that time, because of the similar pronunciations. With their affection gradually came back, Charlie finally made up his mind to give up the inheritance and sent his brother back. Raymond, who was a little bit afraid of Charlie at the very beginning, became familiar with Charlie and trusted him.

This is a funny story. However, I have some feelings which were not so positive. That is, everything depends on interests, even affections. There is a situation that Charlie found Raymond’s unbelievably strong ability to memorize, and thus he brought Raymond to Las Vegas to seek their fortune. Fortunately, they won a lot of money so that Charlie could pay off all his debt in time. From then on, they became more intimate.

Just imagine that what if Raymond did not have this kind of ability? No matter how intimate they were when they were very young, Raymond was still a burden to Charlie. We human beings are always practical, and it is not very possible for us to get very close to a person if there is no interest, even the person is your brother. You may say I am too apathetic. However, it is the truth.

All in all, this movie is worth watching, and I hope that you will enjoy it.

Reflection on our project

I always feel happy during the process of doing our project, although my classmates regard four members of our group, as “poor things” for our supervisor is stricter than theirs. Actually, it is her high expectation that motivates us to try our best. Although we know we are not full-time researchers and cannot do so rigorous project as professional researchers, we are struggling, anyway. Compared to other groups, we have devoted more endeavors to doing it. One example is that our questionnaire was revised at least five times before we distributed them to respondents, although we think it can be improved if we had been given more time.

Cooperation is the most important thing I have learned from our team. I am the researcher of our project and have to do much reading in a short time. Thanks to Juzheng’s help of finding books and supplying useful information, I can finish my task. In editing stage of the project, I help our editor do some graphs for he is not very good at it. I find it important for a team to have equitable distribution of task and then make changes to adjust to new problems turning up, both of which contribute to an efficient team.

Besides that, the sense of belonging also makes me very happy. I notice when discussing, the four of us have changed our frequently used words such as “you should…” to “Maybe we can do like this. Do you have any other ideas?”, which is a sign of that we have learned to respect others’ thought. We can better understand something from different angles. Actually, there are not extremely right or wrong points. We become more patient and are willing to listen to others’ opinion, which is a very good quality for young people.

Last but not least, it is Ms Leo’s high expectation that let me feel we are respected as 19 year-old adults. Many SM3 students told me as their tutors’ saying this project was only a rehearsal of ours following projects as undergraduate students so take it easy. However, Ms Leo told us to try our best once we have decided to do something. As for the background and purpose, I have rewritten twice, and now I am still trying to make it more brief, interesting and persuasive.

I really have learned something I have never learned in China from this project, that is rigorous and scientific attitude and method, from which we will benefit much in the future. It is good for us to accept such thought as early as possible so that we can apply it to our study, which is very useful for critical and creative thinking.

My Watch

When I found my watch was missing last last Thursday, I felt a pain in my heart. It is not a matter of money but a loss of friend that has accompanied me for 4 years. Maybe I have fetishism. I have tried hard to find it, asking aunties about it, checking my drawer and wardrobe again and again. However, it has not come back. Actually such thing has happened to me three times, but every time I was fortunate enough to find it finally. This time I do not know whether I have the same fortune.

This time I can enjoy a leisured life without checking the time frequently although it is really inconvenient without a watch and I do not have a habit of taking mobile phone with me. I have had a habit of checking what I have done every day at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. before. If I have not finished what I have planned to do, I will be nervous and guilty about wasting time. Now without my watch, the emotional burden disappears. I have felt more relaxed because my watch is missing.

At the same time, I learn to manage my time more scientifically. I am pushed to keep a record of my consumption of time on every daily activity so that my life will not be a mess. I know exactly how much time do I need to wash my face, clean teeth, have breakfast, take a bath and so on. I have to calculate time so that I can “survive” without my watch.

After 8 days of doing so, I have developed a “special” ability of speculating time, which means that I nearly know how much time left or I need when I do something without having to check the time. One example is we had an exam this Friday. I did not take a watch with me. The time allowed was one hour and twenty minutes. When I finished, the chief examiner told us that there were five minutes left, which indicates I distributed the time well. Of course not every time my speculation is exact. However, the magic feeling I have about time makes me really surprised.

My attitude towards time has changed slowly and surely because my watch’s loss. I used to regard time, as my enemy for it was always not enough for me to use. But after I lost my watch, I decide to become its friend. Now I can even feel it passing. I learn to rearrange my schedule to make it more scientific. Thus I do not have to worry about the insufficiency of my time.

So sometimes bad things can turn into good things as long as you treat them with positive attitude and then take action to improve them.

English movie with Chinese subtitle?

As we doing our research project, I notice that many SM3 students like watching movies when they are free. Then I flash back thinking what I was doing in the free time, only finding that I spent much time watching movies as well. For almost every time, I watched the English movie with the Chinese subtitle, and I notice it was the same with my roommates and some other friends.
If we think over the phenomena, When we watching English movies with Chinese subtitle, it may help to practice our listening, but sometimes we may focus fully on the subtitle to know more clearly what is going on in the movie. In this scene, we are practising Chinese instead of English. Take me for example, when I was watching save private recently, I just involved in the story, getting information from the subtitle, taking in the sound from left ear and then let it out through right ear. The movie is really enjoyable, but little had left in my brain in terms of language pitifully.
I never thought watching a Chinese movie with an English subtitle until I watched a movie component occasionally one day in the bus. However, I found perhaps it would do us a favour for English studying.
When we are watching Chinese movie with English subtitle, we can have some attention on the subtitle, as it is so easy for us to get what is going on in the movie. Then, perhaps we can get some ideas about how to translate daily thoughts form Chinese to English. As time going on, they may do us a favour in forming English thoughts.
How about English movie without any subtitle? I had a try yesterday, finding that I could get the general story except some unimportant details, partly because the voice is quite clear in the movie. Actually, this kind of movies is the closest to the daily communication, as no subtitle is there when we are talking to someone. To me, I think English movie without subtitle is more helpful to our English than English movie with Chinese subtitle and Chinese movie with English subtitle.
Of course, the most helpful movies are the English ones with English subtitle, as we can both hear and see what is going on in the story.
So, just watch some Chinese movies with English subtitle to see if it is helpful to your English, and if it is hard to get English movies with English subtitle, just watch the ones without subtitle. I hope CELC can provide some interesting or latest English movies with English subtitle for our juniors to borrow.

English movie with Chinese subtitle?

As we doing our research project, I notice that many SM3 students like watching movies when they are free. Then I flash back thinking what I was doing in the free time, only finding that I spent much time watching movies as well. For almost every time, I watched the English movie with the Chinese subtitle, and I notice it was the same with my roommates and some other friends.
If we think over the phenomena, When we watching English movies with Chinese subtitle, it may help to practice our listening, but sometimes we may focus fully on the subtitle to know more clearly what is going on in the movie. In this scene, we are practising Chinese instead of English. Take me for example, when I was watching save private recently, I just involved in the story, getting information from the subtitle, taking in the sound from left ear and then let it out through right ear. The movie is really enjoyable, but little had left in my brain in terms of language pitifully.
I never thought watching a Chinese movie with an English subtitle until I watched a movie component occasionally one day in the bus. However, I found perhaps it would do us a favour for English studying.
When we are watching Chinese movie with English subtitle, we can have some attention on the subtitle, as it is so easy for us to get what is going on in the movie. Then, perhaps we can get some ideas about how to translate daily thoughts form Chinese to English. As time going on, they may do us a favour in forming English thoughts.
How about English movie without any subtitle? I had a try yesterday, finding that I could get the general story except some unimportant details, partly because the voice is quite clear in the movie. Actually, this kind of movies is the closest to the daily communication, as no subtitle is there when we are talking to someone. To me, I think English movie without subtitle is more helpful to our English than English movie with Chinese subtitle and Chinese movie with English subtitle.
Of course, the most helpful movies are the English ones with English subtitle, as we can both hear and see what is going on in the story.
So, just watch some Chinese movies with English subtitle to see if it is helpful to your English, and if it is hard to get English movies with English subtitle, just watch the ones without subtitle. I hope CELC can provide some interesting or latest English movies with English subtitle for our juniors to borrow.

Why Get Married?

Since our last week’s topic is family and marriage, I would like to share my point of view on marriage. And the most significant question is “Why should we get married?” As for me, there are only four rational reasons to get married.

1. To have babies. Only marriage can legalize giving birth to a baby. As a result, according to law in China, I have to get married before a baby’s coming. However, if I do not want a baby then or I migrate to a country where you needn’t get married to get a baby, I do not have to get married.

2. To get benefits from policies. As is known to all, the government or corporations always give benefits to married couples, such as reducing the tax, privileges when distributing houses. However, if I have enough money, and do not care about the tiny benefits, I do not have to get married.

3. To get the girl’s money. If I get married to a wealthy girl, I might get a sum of money when we divorce just because we were husband and wife before. This may be the quickest way to make money. However, this is so immoral to me and it is hard to find such a wealthy girl to get married. And what if I have more money than her? I will be her target. Therefore, I do not have to get married.

4. To have a wedding. Wedding is almost every girl’s dream, and it is also a way to make money (by receiving red bags) in China. If either of the couple’s parents is somebody in the town, this couple can even earn an apartment just by holding a wedding. This reason sounds delicious. However, I am not a sociable person, and I hate meeting a number of strangers, so I can give up the red bags.

Oops, I do not have to get married.

We are a happy family---mingle with Singaporean students

This Saturday I was invited to participate in a BBQ meeting held in Riverlife Church by a Singaporean friend. His name is Alan. We came to know each other one month ago when Ms Jenny took us to visit the Riverlife Church. After that Alan always kept in touch with me through SMS or Facebook. He is a really kind-hearted guy and is enthusiastic to make friends with students from China. He is also an NUS student. If you want to know him, you can just ask me and I will invite you as his friend on Facebook. He is very easygoing and if you have some questions about Singapore and its people or your own life in Singapore, you can just go and ask him without any hesitation.
After I got there, I found that they had already begun to prepare the BBQ food. Then a lot of Singaporean students came towards me, consisting undergraduates in NUS and those who are going to NUS together with us in August. They showed kind hospitality and introduced themselves enthusiastically. After that we began to play some interesting games and enjoy the BBQ at the same time. Almost everyone of them talked with me and asked something about China and my life in Singapore. When I just stood in front of them and made a brief report about myself during the game time, everyone was listening with great concentration and cheered for me now and then. But in terms of oral reports in our class, we often get silence, ignoring or even booing. I was deeply impressed by their kindness and hospitality. Frankly speaking, however, I was struck by a sense of regret at that time. I really felt it a pity that we didn’t show the same excitement and kindness to them before. Every time they invited us to join their activity, we just accept them without showing any gratitude or excitement. And we never invited them to join our entertainments. It seems that we tend to stay in the group of students from China and enjoy ourselves on our own. And we always take Singapore friends’ kindness and hospitality for granted.
In my opinion, we should show enough excitement and willingness to mingle with Singapore friends. Most of them are of the same race as us and we almost share the same ancestors. It is very easy to get along with them and find the same interests. I met a Singaporean girl at the BBQ meeting and actually she is my senior because she is studying Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering or NUS. She told me that she had come across a lot of SM2 or SM3 students in Chemical Engineering. But she said that it is really a big pity that all of them are willing to stay within their own group and seldom spend time together with Singaporean students. Students from China occupy a large portion in Engineering and they always want to stay together with their homecountry friends. But I think that we should get more familiar between each other with Singapore students and that is the initial purpose of us coming to Singapore. We come here not only for different education, but also to know more about this country and its people. And if we don’t mingle with its people, how can we assimilate ourselves into the society here and lead a better life in the near future?
Singapore friends really showed us genuine friendliness and we should do the same in return. Although they are hosts and we are guests, only through mutual friendliness can we make a harmonious atmosphere and build a happy family. We should be well-behaved guests. Please go out and make friends with Singaporean students and you will soon find that the friendship with locals can make your life in Singapore much more extraordinary.

New Moon

Last Sunday, I spent the whole day lying on my precarious bunk bed reading New Moon, the second installment of the tetralogy. I was so absorbed in the book that I forgot the concept of time. Thanks to my dear bed, I had to lie still there like a statue for almost 12 hours to avoid making any unpleasant noise. If I were a vampire, I would definitely bite my bed to death! In case someone may wonder what happened to Bella and Edward after twilight, I would like to give a very brief account of the story.

After Edward saved Bella from the evil vampire James, Bella did not convert and continued her happy life with a vampire around for quite some time. As I have expected, it was not a full stop but a comma. On Bella’s birthday, Bella cut her finger accidentally. And the irresistible scent of her blood drove Jasper, namely Edward’s brother and the newest vampire in the Cullens, into frenzy. Bella’s arm was badly hurt in this accident and that was just a start of her next few gloomy months.

The Cullens decided to move out of the Forks and left Bella alone, because Edward thought it was the best way to drive away the danger to Bella. Edward’s curt words and unexpected departure left Bella in despair. Bella felt there was a hole in her chest and her soul was already taken away by Edward. It seemed that the raw edge would never heal and she felt a real wrench whenever she thought about Edward. In the next four months, she protected herself by living in a state of complete emptiness. She became withdrawn and buried herself in the boring calculus textbook. Bella was nothing but a lifeless walking body. （this part is really fantastic! It describes the lifelessness so thoroughly that I even lost interest of living for several hours. However, I decided to continue my life anyway because I had not finished the whole story then! Lol!）

To be continued.......

My feelings

The bridging course will end in 3 more weeks. We have been in Singapore for half a year. During these 6 months I have learnt a lot of things and have some feelings.

First, I have adapted to the life in Singapore including the weather, food, people and so on. Comparing with the feeling that I have when I came to Singapore, I am not that exciting, that happy. The happiness and excitement can make me forget homesick and loneliness temporarily.
However, I have studied lived in Singapore for half a year. I live the same life every day. I think I am a little tired of this kind of life. So, I always hoped that I can study in NUS instead of only studying English every day. I will try my best to calm down and study hard during the next 3 weeks.

Secondly, actually, I am not good at English and a bit tired of English. I think the main reason is that my high school English teacher was boring and made lose interest in English. As a result, I am not as good as the others at present. I realized this problem and have some pressure. I force myself to study English harder on writings, vocabulary and readings. In my opinion, I have made some progress, but not enough. Of course, I have to stick on, because I have to be used to using English.

Thirdly, we are not with our parents, so we should be self-reliant and learn to take care of ourselves. I observe some students cannot take care of themselves well, because they don’t have good habits nor have no idea about how to keep healthy. Now, we must learn all these things so that we can live a good life in Singapore for about 10 years.
I hope that all the students can choose their favourite major and graduate smoothly. Best wishes to all the SM3 students.

Good Friends

In one of the article we have learnt from “A Community of Readers”, the author said that: “for women, as for girls, intimacy is the fabric of relationships, and talk is the thread from which it is woven. Little girls create and maintain friendships by exchanging secrets…” It seems that it is a viewpoint accepted by most of my female friends. Though knowing the fact, I still cannot build my intimate friendship by sharing secrets.
In my opinion, telling secrets to a friend is just a way of making the friend believe that you trust him/her deeply. Having such a friend is of course pretty good. However intimate friends are not just persons who we share secrets with, they should be the ones who can listen to our complains about mundane things that happened in our life, who can help us release our stresses of studying, who can comfort us when we feel frustrated and who can count on when we are in need of help. So it is not only in telling secrets, but also in many trivial things we do and the ways we do them that show our trust in our friends and let our friends feel our friendliness and concern.
I used to fear that my notion as distinctive from friends around me may make me hard to find very close and intimate friends. I am friendly and sincere to my friends. I give them a hand when they are in trouble. We help each other in studies. However when we are free and sit together, we do not have much to talk about. The silence between us makes me feel that friendships are so flimsy that I will easily lose them if the silence goes on. However I later found out though my friends were in favor of sharing secrets, they still understood and accepted my way of making friends. So they try to contact with me in the way I do. In fact, many things they do really make me feel how concerned and considerate they are. I remember when I sprained my ankle; one of my friends went a long way to see me and bought dinner for me. I remember when I failed in exams; my friends would stay with me and comfort me. I never forget when I took a nap after lunch in the classroom, my friend who sat beside me would try to avoid any noise, even the minute sound that was caused when writing on papers. I never forget my friend who seldom calls me, called me from China to wish me a happy birthday.
Though no secrets being shared, those tiny but moving things still build our friendships firm. I think I will go on lasting my friendships like this, creating things that can strength the friendships and enjoying colorful memories they will bring me.

My Mother

My Mother

Like all mothers in the world, my mother loves me very much. Her behavior has influenced me deeply. Many of my good habits are given by her. Thanks to her concern and her education, I become a moral, optimistic, and discerning girl.

I heard from my father that my mother doted me when I was a little child. When I was too young to speak, she went to shops with me, and bought everything I showed interest in.

As I was growing older, she seemed to become a bit “harsher”. When I was in Junior High School, I was too lazy to get up early. Thus, although my mother got up earlier to cook breakfast for me, I often did not eat. Having been told many times the harm that not eating breakfast would bring about, I still did not want to get up early to eat. Then, my mother, who was angry, made a decision that she did not allow me to go to school if I did not have breakfast. I just sat there and thought she was not serious. However, she really did not allow me to go to school! Being afraid of being scolded by teacher, I had to have my breakfast. Since then, I dare not escape breakfast any longer, no matter how busy I am. I should thank my mother because it was she who “forced” me to develop this healthy habit.

There is another thing which moved me deeply. When I was in Senior High School, I did not want to bother to bring my raincoat. One day, it was raining heavily after school, and I was stuck. My father would work late that day and my mother was having a fever because of catching a cold. I thought that I had to be soaked through. To my surprise and delight, my mother should come to our school to bring a raincoat to me. I will never forget her familiar tiny figure from distance in the rain.

My mother always cares me, no matter where I am, and what I am doing. I still remember her tears when I left her and came to Singapore. Evert time I thought about this, my eyes are also full of tears. What I want to say is that I also love my mother, very very deeply, and I will not let her down.

The end? The end.

No matter you realize it or not, our English course is coming to the end. I guess most of us will jump joyfully for that. Months of learning English only did frustrate us a lot. We can see our enthusiasm declines from the beginning to now. However, during our long-term “boring” course, a strong friendship was built among us. Through days of chatting, days of suffering bunches of assignments, days of joking and killing games in class, days of cooperating in research report and variety show…we experienced happy and sorrow in the past five months, we linked together because most of us left home for such a long time. It is so lucky that we have each other.


Maybe some of you guys haven’t notice this because you are bored to death, but I believe that only after we go to NUS, have only two people in one room and a big lecture theater full of unacquainted locals, then we will realize how friends values. We will miss the leisure time in CELC (though it has exams occasionally); miss the happy time we spent together; miss the noon nap with noise around; miss our tutor Ms. Nora, the funniest teacher who totally changed our opinions about Muslins; Ms. Jenny, a kind-hearted lady who is earnest to our assignments and our feelings; Ms. Leo, the most critical thinking teacher, we learned a lot from her even sometimes feel quite speechless; Ms. Sonali, an Indian lady who has a warm smile and Mr. Ng, hehe, very interesting man. I’m sure we will miss them very much.


All in all, value the only 3 weeks we have, remembering more and let this period of memory exists in our heart, as long as we miss Group 3, SM3 17th.

Good, or evil?

Confucius, the greatest philosopher in ancient China, once said: “Man's nature at birth is good” and “To render good for evil”. It is not to come singly but in pairs that the Bible also tells: “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also”. The two greatest persons told us to be good, to forgive and not to be evil. From years of my traditional education, I believe humanity is good as well. People make mistakes sometimes, whereas, they are kind-hearted inside. However, what I see from a movie, A Clockwork Orange, humanity is totally evil.


This movie is a bittersweet ironic tale. A rascal, Alex, together with his droogs, wanders around, doing orgies of random, opportunistic violence everyday until he is arrested for the crime of murder. In the prison, he becomes the subject of a classical conditioning technique designed to make him “a clockwork orange”, someone who is incapable of doing harm unto anyone in order to reduce his prison term. After he is released, the infirm he once bullied torture him in revenge. He cannot stand the misery and come to suicide as a result….


This is a movie including countless vicious violence and rape which astonished me a lot. No one is innocent. No matter the gratuitous, psychopathic violence Alex did at the anterior of the movie, or the so-called karma effects later, these are all belong to evil. It seems that devil exists inside everyone, once the Pandora’s box is opened, nothing is limited.
I am wondering: Are we born good or evil? What is good, and what is evil? Is it true that everyone is evil? Or good and evil are integrative?


Let us look back to the movie. Alex’s self-indulgence outrage and ferocities is pure evil for he considers his behaviors as entertainments, just like many rascals today. What is more, Dr. Branom, an assistant of the Ludovico treatment, does the inhumanity therapeutic while she thinks she is “for Alex’s own good”. She is the second kind of evil who cannot identify whether her action is good or bad, worse, regards perpetrations as sacraments. Like an apothecary who gives wrong medicine to patients accidentally or like the USA, which offers its people over-the-top welfare. On surface, the government takes good care of its people, actually, the policy led to deregulation which contributed to the financial crisis.


Furthermore, the most horrifying evil is hypocrisy. The minister does extremely cruel conditioning on Alex and takes advantages of him for political motives with tricky words which make him look good. I cannot help but think of George W· Bush’s maladroit and cunning excuse to attack Iraq. “Weapon of Mass Destruction”, what is that? Is that his business? Of course not. Infinite profit of oil is more attracting and believable.


Finally, I think I was convinced of the concept that “Humanity can be evil”. Sometimes good and evil are even integrative. Despite what you have done is intentionally or not, evil thoughts hide inside everyone. Be careful, everyone can be a devil, everyone can be the next victim.