What should we learn from Zhang Liang

Background Information:
Zhang Liang was a distinguished statesman of the early Western Han period. He was the descendant of a noble family of State of Han during the Warring States Period — his father, grandfather and great-grandfather (a total of five generations) were all royal officials of the state of Han. He later joined Liu Bang in 208 BC to rebel against the rule of Qin and helped him establish the Han Dynasty, after which he soon retired and became a practitioner of Taoism. Zhang Liang was considered one of the Three Pillars of Liu Bang's victories, along with the Han Xin, the grand-general of Han forces and Xiao He, the first Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. Zhang is regarded as one of the two greatest strategists in Chinese history (the other is Jiang Ziya who helped Ji Fa to establish Western Zhou in 1044 BC), and the legends regarding how he received his strategies(as what I said as my oral report last Wednesday), as well as his later employment of Taoist disciplines, added mysterious and supernatural elements to later views of him.
——mostly cited from Wiki
So, after my oral report in Wednesday, I started to think about what we should learn from Zhang Liang.

Firstly, we should be humble and tolerant. As a noble people, he could condescend himself to pick up the shoes for an unknown old man and endure the insult of putting on shoes for the old man. He was able to control his feeling. To achieve a long-term goal, you should care too much of the small interference. As what the old man thought, it was an essential character for a man who was to succeed. Now, since we are oversea students with poor English, how can anyone be conceited?

Secondly, we should not be jealous and keep in mind what your highest priority is. For Zhang Liang, the good of the state was the most important. He was not jealous of Emperor Liu's other strategists, Li Yiji, Chen Ping, and Lou Jing; rather, he evaluated their strategies in an even-handed manner, supported them when their strategies were correct, and was not afraid to oppose them when their strategies were not. In this way, we should learn from others and accept others’ right suggestions instead of just envying others’ good performances.

Thirdly, we should not be immersed in seeking money and power. When the state was established, he rejected the big land that was given to him and asked for the place of Liu, where he met Liu Bang first. When the state was united and stable, Zhang Liang just left the government, and thus, he succeeded in protecting himself. To give up the money and power was difficult, but it was the way to enjoy your life. Zhang Liang was the only one of the Three Pillars who survived the political intrigue and conflict in early West Han. I think it was because the money and power could always make one lose his senses and do silly things which risked his life. After all, a man is not living only for money and power.

Trees

On the school bus, most of us look outside the window. I do not know what they are looking at. For me, I watch trees^^

I watch their beautiful leaves, branches, barks, rings and their roots. I watch dappled shafts of light which struggled through the tree canopy. I watch them standing or swaying in the wind, or sometimes receding fast from my view, however, what the trees are always doing is growing. Whenever I try to listen to their gradual, steady and cautious growth, I am taught to look at the world through patient eyes. This is my perfect beginning of every new day.

In retrospect, I seemed to have such fascination and emotional attachment to trees since young. There were a stunted date tree, a small fig tree and a massive walnut tree in the yard where I lived and spent all my kindergarten time. Blackbirds always came to search for a safe place to rest the night away when the yard was growing dim. It was also the time I had to go back home after giving the last glance of this everlasting scene. The scene was the epitome of my nostalgic memory which was filled with adventures--secretly climbing the tree, getting stuck up there, dyeing my skirt with the green peel of the walnuts and showing off my collection of the finest fallen leaves. Additionally, I was inclined to dream to have a "house" outside my real house, and a tree house was of course my most imaginary ideal one~~

Now, in this lovely Garden City, I am brought to a higher level of awareness and greater appreciation of the plants, especially, trees, around us. It is simply because that they are so flourishing and totally different from the trees in China. They are not flowers, but, believe or not, they are blooming every single second(and they are really like magnified broccoli!!!). Meanwhile, I know they are communicating with each other, tangling and dancing. Moreover, the most appealing scene is that they drink water like cattle when there is a sudden pouring rain...

I love trees.

Stop where we are, take a deep breath and slowly take a good look at the greenery around. We may be amazed. Our "tree-time" may persist in our fast-paced life...

Children are influenced by the economic crisis

The economic crisis has not only influenced adults, but also influenced the children.

A 13-year-old boy called Xu Mingjie didn’t know what the economic crisis is, but he knew that many other people like his father were also in the trouble of unemployment. He observed that he had used the mobile phone for two years whose functions were only making calls and sending messages.

His family was living a poor life in a leasehold house. The life was up tighter due to the unemployment of Xu’s father. They just lived on the few revenues of part-time jobs. Xu said he could get 4 dollars as his pocket money, but now he could only get 3 dollars. He could also realize the trouble of the economy from the dinner. Now they ate meat only once a week and had less rice.

Sometimes he wanted to do some part-time jobs for the fast food restaurant to earn some money, but he couldn’t be admitted because of the under aged. So, what he could do is just trying his best to study well to get the scholarship.

We can infer that young generation may not define the economic crisis professionally, but they can also feel the difficulty of their family. They may get the pressure that parents have to work harder to pay for their tuition. If they can’t study well, they will disappoint their parents. So what I want to say is that we can’t ignore the students who don’t study well and can’t get the scholarship to go to school. Everyone has the right to study instead of dropping out of school. Financial crisis should not affect the children and make people ignore the emotion of teenagers. In my opinion, governments and welfare organizations should make effort to deal with these problems and make children be far away from the influences of economic crisis.

Shopping Without A Shopping List

Are you still going shopping in supermarkets with your shopping list just like a middle-aged housewife? Are you concerned about degeneration of memory even though you are still in your early twenties? Do not worry; I will show you a simple technique to memorize as many as 30 to 40 items and their sequence within a short period of time — less than 5 minutes.

This marvelous technique created by the ancient Greeks is called number tags. The idea is to link each number to a memorable image with a vaguely similar shape to the number. For example, you can conjure up a picture of a gull flying in the blue sky when you come across the number 3. To make it clearer, I will show you my own images. These images are original, and you may come up with your own images.
After you have created your own number tags set, you can apply them to remember things. Now, let’s assume the tenth item on your shopping list is a bag of potato. Then form a picture in your mind that a soldier is cutting potatoes into pieces. The concept behind this is to combine number-related images into a little scenario — the more absurd and surreal, the better. Another tip I would like to share with you is that you should stick to a set of images constantly. If you vary them, it is likely that you will confuse yourself.

Aha, you must have mastered the magic power of number tags. Why not have a try then? Try to remember the following shopping list with the technique of number tags.

26 Feb
1.potatoes
2.cheese
3.orange
4.a loaf of bread
5.coffee
6.buns
7.shampoo
8.hanger
9.tooth brush
10.battery

One hundred percent correct? Amazing? Here are more.
If you are supposed to handle more items at one time, you can apply the technique of alphabet tags. The concept behind is virtually the same. To show you an example, please check my alphabet tags set.
Now, you have become the master of memory. What are you waiting for? Just go shopping without a shopping list!

Modern Tools of Communication

Nowadays people are more and more connected due to the dramatically rapid development of various kinds of communication tools. In my point of view, all of these communication implements can be categorized in three fields, papertool, teletool and cybertool, which are based on different departments or companies that relate to certain means of communication.

Papertool is a sort of communication tool which is under the management of department such as post office. The forms are usually letters and postcards, which are composed of paper. It is beyond that the papertool has the longest history, compared with other instruments, and since the civilization of human beings emerged, this kind of implement has been prevalent. However, in the contemporary society, papertool is not as widely used as it was on account of the conception of sustainable development, which proposes to save resources like trees or something that are the raw materials of papers. But in some essential business occasions, people still prefer to use it.

In the middle of the 20th century, the teletool came into being. It includes devices like telephones, mobile phones. People are able to contact each other through them with the help of telecom companies. The prevalence of this tool has soared up tremendously since the end of the 21st century. No matter where you go today, you can assert that there must be telephones which you can use to keep in touch with others.

Since the inception of the Internet, the world has changed a great deal. As one of the results, another kind of communication tools appears, that is, the cybertool. Cybertools, judging from the word, have something to do with computers. Today there are more and more people having preferences to use something like e-mails, facebook and MSN, all of which are developed by hi-tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and so on. It is said that one day the cybertool will replace the teletool as the most popular communication tool because of its costing less than other tools.

It is no doubt that nowadays we have more and more ways to communicate, and maybe sometimes we are confused by so many selections. When it comes to me, from my perspective, I think that no matter what kinds of tools you choose, the only thing you should care about is just that you can keep contact with your parents and your friends and thus you will feel much better. That is quite enough!

Find Simple Happiness In Life

As we move plunge full on into the bridging course, things are getting heated up. Files of readings and the barrage of new words are burying us under while we struggle to get on top of them. We have endless assignments to complete and materials to preview and review. However it is necessary for us to find simple pleasure in order to keep us motivated as well as enjoy our life to the fullest.

Non-curricular activity is a good way to seek for pleasure in life. There is a wide range of non-curricular activities to choose from. Options include outdoor activities, visits to sites, city and cultural tours, and eating and shopping sprees. For instance, I ate out with my six friends studying in NTU on Feb14. Having chaffy dish together provided us a chance to talk a lot freely. Since the last time we met on Chinese New Year, we had the luxury of an evening together for the first time. We shared our happiness and sorrow in a thrill. All of us had a good time as the pictures indicate.

Apart from non- curricular activities, we can manage to find simple happiness by immersion in the world around us. Maybe our happiness stem from a lovely bird, a fabulous flower or even the smile on others’ face. On the contrary, as we blind us in the midst of hustle and bustle, we are missing the simple pleasure in life. What we should do is open our eyes to a wide world instead of solely burying ourselves in assignments.

Overall, partaking of non-curricular and immersion in the surrounding world are just some of the ways you can find simple happiness. They give you a new start in every morning. Slow down, put your life on hold and do not end up missing the joys of life passing you by every day.

Brave Heart

    When  the  film  Brave  Heart  was  screened, I  was  attracted  by  the  beautiful  scene  at  the  first  sight.  The  mountains, forests  and  villages  in  Scotland  impressed  me  a  lot.  With  the  background  music  played  by  bagpipe, I  believe  most  people  who  finish  watching  the  movie  will  be  moved  by  Wallace.  I  myself  am  sympathetic  towards  him.  At  the  same  time, I  have  been  motivated  by  his  experience. 

    At  the  beginning, Wallace  just  wanted  to  live  as  a  farmer.  Although  his  father  and  brother  were  killed  by  Edward  1  when  he  was  very  young, he  did  not  mean  to  involve  himself  into  the  vengeance.  He  married  his  childhood  friend  Murron.  Days  later, a  group  of  English  soldiers  attempted  to  rape  Murron.  Wallace  attacked  the  soldiers, trying  to  save  her.  However, the  village  sheriff  cut  her  throat, which  made  Wallace  angry.  He  killed  the sheriff, using  the  same  lethal  weapon  which  killed  Murron.  At  this  time, Wallace  had  no  choice  but  to  revolt  against  England's  cruel  laws.

    Thousands  of  Scottish  volunteered  to  joined  his  militia.  He  was  a  talented  general.  They  succeeded  through  a  series  of  battles.  The  Scottish  nobility  Bruce  desired  to  become  the  lord  of  Scotland.  He  pretended  to  unit  with  Wallace  as  his  father  told  him  to.  But  later  he  began  to  appreciate  Wallace's  bravery.  Edward  1  sent  his  son's  wife  princess  Isabelle  to  meet  with  Wallace  for  cease-fire.  The  negotiation  failed  because  of  Edward's  dishonesty.  After  returning  to  England, Isabelle  found  that  the  meeting  was  just  a  conspiracy.  It  aimed  at  Edward's  sparing  more  time  for  Irish  and  French  armies  to  surround  Wallace.  The  princess  sent  her  maid  to  take  the  message  to  Wallace.  Without  enough  time  to  prepare, Wallace  tried  his  best  to  fight  off  the  united  army.  During  the  battle, he  found  that  Bruce  betrayed  him.  He  was  so  shocked  and  sad.

    Isabelle  and  Wallace  fell  in  love  with  each  other.  Later  Edward  raised  that  they  should  have  a  another  meeting.  Although  Wallace  knew  it  was  a  snare, he  decided  to  go  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Old  Bruce  caught  Wallace  and  handed  him  over  to  England.  Bruce  felt  guilty  for  his  father's  behavior, disowning  him  forever.

    Wallace  was  tortured, being  hanged, racked, and  disemboweled.  Before  he  died, he  used  up  all  his  strength, crying  "Freedom!". 

    At  the  point  of  Edward's  death, Isabelle  told  him  that  the  baby  she  was   paginated  with  was  Wallace's.  The  child  was  going  to  become  the  new  king  of  England.  At  the  same  time, Bruce  charged  the  stunned  English  lines  and  won  their  freedom.

    Although  there  is  criticism  of  the  film's  plot, for  it  is  different  from  the  history, lots  of  people  like  it.  The  whole  movie  is  full  of  romance.  For  a  story  of  hero  and  beauty, I  suppose  the  most  attractive  is  the  spirit.  When  pursuing  our  dream, we  are  likely  to  be  hurt, betrayed  and  so  on.  Should  we  give  up?  The  film  gives  the  answer.  Thanks  to  people's  dedicating  their  time  and  even  lives  to  the  world, we  lead  a  better  life.  Do  not  care  the  result.  Do  not  mind  what  others  think  and  do  to  us.  Be  brave, without  pity.

Jiu Jie

There is a well-liked word in Chinese among us students--jiu jie. The original usage of the word is to describe that the string is in tangle. However, now jiu jie simply means that you are rather confused by the situation and are in great perplexity. (It can be used as a verb or an adjective.) Just to let you know how to use it, here is an example: I am jiujieing my blog because it is very jiu jie.

Actually, I was quite jiu jie this Friday night. It was my first time to be a little late for coming back Eton Hall. The gate was locked. What went from bad to worse was that my friend had already helped me sign in, which was also not allowed. Therefore, if I asked our security guards to open the gate for me, he would surely let me sign in on the notebook and could find out somebody had done it for me.

As I was jiujieing outside the gate, one of the two guards who was an accommodating lady, came to me. She secretly opened the gate and even comforted me by whispering "Do not wait in the dark. Just come in. Nobody is going to blame you..." I was so happy and grateful. However, more was to come. The other guard suddenly appeared when I was on my first step going upstairs. He asked me to sign in first. !!!!!!!!!! What could I do ? The only thing I could do was to lie to him that I forgot to sign out, otherwise my friend would be "incriminated". Unexpectedly, the excuse provoked his sudden anger.

"Come! Let's go to aunty's office!" he said.

Helplessly, going to aunty's office indicated that copying the handbook(as punishment) was just around the corner. At this time, one of my friends who happened to be on the scene began to intercede with the guard for me. No fruit. I waited outside aunty's office with inexplicable anxiety. A few minutes later, the guard came out of the office and told me aunty was too busy.!!!!!!!!!! How lucky~~~ However, he never gave it up and took out another notebook to put my name down. (Believe or not, my friend who tried to help me out was also unfairly registered.) I could not figure out why the next day it was so hard for me to look the guard square in the eye.

I always respected people who stick to the principle, but when it came to something closely related to my own profit, I tended to be slightly jiu jie. The guard was rigorous and stern. On the other hand, he was responsible and conscientious, his duty done.

This was not the only thing that jiu jies me. My feelings are always in conflict with each other and different thoughts keep flashing through my mind:
No.1which major on earth should I choose? The one I am good at is the one I dislike and the one I like is the most challenging one.
No.2I exercise by walking back everyday, but I am afraid that my skin will be tanned after weeks. Maybe I can run with Junfei, Yingzi and Liusi after sunset, but then I will eat too much and too late after sports and cannot concentrate on my study.
No.3Is it the time I must plan my future career like many other ambitious girls or I can just do things at will since they are already destined? If I should have a blueprint of my future, then which major...

I hope that I can settle down all these jiu jie problems soon.

People like me are never drained of emotion, and the current trend towards expressing our emotion is leading to a highly amused and vivid level. You see, jiu jie is the most exact word to describe my recent life, and the hottest word as well.

National Vertical Marathon

Have you ever been to Republic Plaza situated at Raffles Place? Can you imagine climbing to the top of it through the stairway? We had made it in a race called National Vertical Marathon.
The time is 8 February, Sunday. According to the office of NVM, more than 1300 people were up at that day, to take part in the challenge climbing 60 floors up the Republic Plaza. Among them there were five excited Chinese face. That is us, five as a team. Frankly speaking, none of us had ever climbing a building so tall. Seeing so many people much stronger than us, we were a bit nervous before the race in the holding area.
To my experience, the race was really a challenge of physical strength and also the will. During the first 10 floors, I run as the head of our team. However, I got tired very fast and slowed down after the 10th floor. After the15th floor, I began panting and I used my arms to push me up. When I saw a sign of the 25th floor, I felt my lag was so heavy and was just moving automatically. Through, I was still continuing with 2 steps at a time, as it was the easiest way for me to climb faster. On the 40th floor or so, I had a view of the whole stairway through the gap in the middle. I looked down, nothing but handrails; I looked up, nothing but handrails. The stairway seemed to be endless. I felt to be caught by a ghost and was struggling to get out of his control. There was nothing in my mind but the desire to complete the race. I did not know how I got the 57th floor. All I know is that when the number came to my eyes, I was so encouraged that I run to the finishing-line. It was the end of the stairway! I made it!
Then my friends appeared one by one excitedly. We shared our experience at the top of the building and after a short rest, we went down.
We got a mystic package after the race. There were many a things in it, among them there was a blue T-shirt which bring a huge amazement to us later on Valentine.
Are you eager to know what happened to us then?
Go to the blog of Yuan Ye (group 8, the title is “Infinite Embarrassment, Infinite Pride”) and Tian Gengxin (group 5, the title is “go out, challenge, and have fun!”) for a further reading!
I’m sure you will be shocked by our bravery and good luck!

Story of Hero

Wu Wenbin was born in Hainan province in October, 1982. In 2002, he joined the army and was assigned to the ‘iron force” named after a Chinese general Yeting. In July 2005 he was admitted to the Information Engineering College of PLA. He back to his former company in 2007 to complete his exercitation and was to graduate in July 2008. After that, he could become an officer of PLA.
However, on 12th of May, his company received urgent command to go to Sichuan, where the big earthquake happened. Considering his identity as an army student, the company commander wanted to leave him back, but he refused persistently.。After they arrived at the disaster area, they combed three huge mountains to transfer the public to safe places and distributed water and food. During the time of searching the wrecking helicopter, he rolled down the steep mountain three times. Fortunately, he was hooked by the trees every time.

On 14th of June, the company was ordered to unload the boards for mobile houses. Wu wenbin and his company unloaded 14 trucks of boards, 50 ton in total. On 17th, after a day work of building houses, they unloaded another 8 trucks of boards in heavy rain. Then, when his company was resting, he went to help other companies. At nine o’clock, he collapsed and was sent to hospital. However, he died because of bleeding in lungs. When his body was cremated, over 20 000 people went to see him off spontaneously。



On 28th, Yang Weihua, who married Wu Wenbin at the beginning of 2008, wore undefiled wedding dress and had a picture taken with a photo of Wu Wenbin. It was a promise between them that when Wu Wenbin came back from Sichuan, they would take a new series of wedding pictures.

I saw the story of Wu Wenbin when I was watching the Touching China Award of 2008. From the beginning to the end, tears kept falling down from my cheeks. It is always heart-breaking to see such a noble life pass away. It recalls me an article written by Weiwei, a Chinese reporter. In the article, he said that the PLA soldiers were the loveliest!

Complaints of Three Ghosts (A story I heard before)

Once upon a time, there was three ghosts complaining about their miserable fate all day along. One day, they came cross God luckily and appealed to God for chances to go to heaven by reason that they looked on their death as death by false charges. As God found it difficult to satisfy all of them owing to the increasing of population in heaven, he said"You know, my sons, because of the lack of vacant room, only one of you can live with me in the heaven. This chance will give to the one whose death should the most not have happened . Understand?"

Immediately, the first ghost who was a cleaner before said" I worked early and late to supporting my whole family. But that day, I was just cleaning the glass of a skyscraper, which require me to work high above the ground, when I suddenly slipped and fell down from the 30th story. During the falling, I scratched by instinct hoping to get hold of something. Fortunately, I managed to grasp the railing of a balcony of the 13th story. Who would have thought that it was at the moment I start to climb over the railing that somebody pulled open my fingers. This time, I knew I was really done for. Maybe I was not destined to die because a tent held me to save me again.""What a lucky dog you were! But why are you still here?"asked God in a puzzle,"A fridge dropping from the sky finished me, God! Now you know how unfair it was to me."

God felt sorry about him very much when the second ghost began to say "I was a officer having a beautiful wife, but she was a little wanton while I suffered from heart attack for long time. One day, I left my pills at home and went back to fetch it. To my surprise, when I stepped into my house, I found her with clothing disheveled. Obviously, there must have been something wrong. Having searched the house several times, I finally found a person holding the railing of my balcony. Angry, I rushed to him and pulled open his fingers in no time. But you know God, he was saved by a large tent. I was wrathful to death so that I threw my fridge to him because I thought it was big enough to finish him. In the end, he was killed. At that time I remember, surexcitation unexpectedly triggered my heart attack and finished me. Don't you think the death was absolutely ridiculous?"

At this time, the third ghost could not keep from pushing the second ghost and said,"I was just a unemployed citizen having no crime record. One day, I went to my female friend's house to visit. To my astonishment, her husband went back angrily suddenly. I hided myself in the big fridge so as to avoid misunderstanding. But it was hard to believe that his husband threw the fridge out of the balcony. Eventually, I gave up my life together with the fridge confusedly.

Crossing The Street

Coming into a new country means seeing a different culture and experience a new type of life. Having been here for nearly 2 months, I have seen diversity of so called cultural shocks. Among all of what I have seen, the one left the most impressive image in my mind is crossing the street.
In China, crossing the street may be the most risky movement in traffic, since the rate of being hit by the car when crossing the street is ironically high. Sometimes, innumerous cars keeps passing by when you are s standing on the zebra lines; sometimes, some drivers speeds up at the cross so that they will not have to wait for the red light regardless of the yellow light is on; sometimes, some drivers even neglect the red light and the people who is crossing. That are the reasons why when we are crossing the street in China, we must look around and around to make sure again and again that there is no coming cars and no potential dangers before we set foot on the crossing lines.
However, when it comes to Singapore, things are totally different. Pedestrians here are highly-regarded by the drivers compared with people in China. When you are crossing the street here and when the green light for pedestrians is on, you do not need to worry about anything. Without doubt, you can walk directly cross the street with head held high. You dare to cross the street even without turning your head to see whether there is a car rushing to you or not.
Take the following as a pragmatic example. One day, after class, I started my jogging exercise along the road. There was a gate of an underground car park few meters ahead of me. I slowed down my pace instinctly when approaching that gate. When I came across that gate, I stopped, stretching my head out to see is there a car going out or not, just like what I normally did in China. Coincidently, a Benz is coming out at that gate at the same time. But surprisingly, the Benz stopped. I was so surprised because this could never happen in China. A luxurious Benz could never give way to an ordinary pedestrian. I was puzzled, standing there and wondering if it was because he was answering his phone that he had stopped. I swayed my hand to show that you go first, please. Out of expectation again, the man in the car did the same body gesture to me to show that I go first! How come! I paused for a moment, wondering nothing in my head, suddenly shocked. The man did the same body gesture again for I did not move, but this time, with a warm smile on his face. Not hesitating for a second, I quickly ran in front of the car. Felling so warm and appreciate, I turned back after I passed that car, erecting my big thumb to that man to show my endless thankfulness. And that man waved his hand again for a good-bye.
I think why crossing the street in Singapore is a enjoyable matter is that no matter the drivers or the pedestrians, they all obey to the traffic norms. Since everyone conduct in a proper way, how would there be some thorny issues? No doubt my roommates always jokingly said that when going back to China, we may not adjust ourselves to crossing the street in China.

Because of the Internet

In the contemporary society, the Internet is playing a more and more pivotal role in our life. To a certain extent, it is next to impossible for a normal person to live without using the Internet. It is significantly convenient for us to find whatever we want through this state-of-the-art product. However, as it becomes so vital a part of human’s life, the Internet has caused a lot of controversy concerning the issue how to regulate the rules of using the Internet to hinder those with immoral motivations from abusing it. Such topics seem inevitable to be discussed over again and again.

The conveniences that the Internet has brought us are readily discernible in a multitude of fields. First and foremost, for people from all kinds of vocations, the Internet can provide as much quick and useful information as possible, such as for example thinking of a person who wants to find some business partner in a certain business, what he has to do is to log on the Internet, then use the searching engine to find that sort of information, and finally make a decision. Besides, we can have ourselves posted on the current affairs, so that we could avoid of being out of date. Moreover, due to the Internet, people are no longer restricted by where they are. This can be evident by a paradigm, in some remote areas, the education level was extremely low, which, as a matter of fact, was the main reason that students there could not keep up with those from the urban areas. However, with the help of the Internet, that students from the rural areas receiving an advanced education is not a dream any more. Educational resources from many prestigious schools have been sent there through the Internet, so that students there can share these resources with people in developed region. Undoubtedly, the use of the Internet has endowed us with a lot of remarkable advantages.

Nevertheless, the adverse impact of abusing of the Internet can not be easily ignored. Nowadays people have dedicated more and more attentions to the human rights, among which personal privacy is particularly concerned. However, there are people who are proficient in computers using the Internet to infringe others’ privacy, and then spread the information on a website, only to attract more people to visit their websites so that there are more patronages on them, which, shows no respects for the victims, and which, in my point of view, should be fiercely condemned. More broadly, protections of the Intellectual Property are confronting an unprecedentedly serious threat because of this hi-tech product.

Since the inception of the Internet, the world has changed greatly. Significantly important is the use of the Internet in modern society which has benefited us a great deal. And only if we use this fabulous tool correctly, can the world become peaceful, beautiful and wonderful, for you, for me, and for everybody to live in.

Lomo

I want to introduce a new word to you, “lomo”. Maybe you can’t even find the word in a dictionary, but when you google it online, you may find that it’s popular among the young.

In 1991, two Viennese art students bought an old used camera named L-CA when traveled in Prague. They used it to take photographs in Prague. To their surprise, the photographs came out to be amazingly colorful and have a very special style related to Soviet which was so fresh to them. Then, this strange camera became more and more popular in Europe and spread to the USA, Japan and Korea and everywhere in the world.

In fact, this kind of camera was produced by a Russian factory named Leningradskoje Opitiko Mechanitscheskoje Objedinenie, and lomo for short. Today lomo stands for Let Our lives be Magic and Open in its advertisements. Later on, they developed new kind of lomo cameras apart from LC-A. Here’s a list of some hot lomo cameras.

LC-A+, based on the LC-A, is much cheaper than antique LC-A. The price is about S$400.

Holga, having shadows around the picture, is pretty much like LC-A. The price is about S$60.

Fisheye2, characterizing by its wide ankle lens, brings you a world in fish’s eyes! The price is about S$100.

3 Lens, having 3 lens according to the name, looks like a toy, but it’s not! The price is about S$20.

One thing you should pay attention to is that they’re all film cameras which means you can’t see the pictures you shoot until the photos come out. However, it makes lomo special. It’s always exciting when the 36 photos come out together, and they’re the mirror of your life, your memories.

I have a fisheye2 and a 3 Lens. And one of my friends has a holga which had been lent to me once. Here’re some photographs.

The Passer-by

Think, thinker. What can make you ponder?

Outside, inside. Which is the truth?
Sweet, bitter. Who is lying?

We went to see the Chinese drama The passer-by yesterday. It’s an unforgettable one, a peaceful one, a one that makes you think. It may not have exciting scenes that you will cry and laugh loud, actually, it was a drama contains thoughts.

A girl, named Lin Wei who is from a rural place, went to the big city to seek her friend Dai alone. She met five students with different characters. However, she is so unique that she seems against the grain among them. What’s more, suspicions and conflicts appeared since she moved in. At the same time, a murder with broken body seems have some relevance with Lin, everyone have to face their hearts….

The plots are a little complicated about their relationship, their dreams, whether Lin is innocent or not and what kind of persons they really are. You have to pay full attention to the performance. In addition, tones and light used on the stage are very special, accurately and impressive. When a person is knocking at the door, sound of the door open and closed will be added. As for the light in the scene “Alone”, we can see the actor and actress’s faces but not their expression clearly, it created a very…you know, a weird and amazing atmosphere. Here is what I want to say:

Everyday, we walk along our journal of life in a hurry,
through different people, lots of enticements;
We are trying to protect us in this adult world,
but we lost ourselves;
Is there, ever appeared a person, so special that make you stop your rushed footstep,
look back, and think;
And can you,
hear your heart?

The drama ends. Our life continues….

About Adolf Hitler

When you mention this name before the Jews, what you will see is just hatred. Hitler and Nazis killed millions of Jews in the World War Ⅱ. Nazis were too cruel to be described. They killed Jews with poisonous chemical gas and burnt their corpses with stoves.
As I knew, he was irritable, changeable, suspicious and narrow-minded. I am always wondering why he could be so inhuman. He was much more dangerous than anyone could ever be. I am always wondering how an innocent boy became such a terrible man. I am always wondering what Hitler lived for.
When he was a teenager, he craved for being a painter. But his father, who wanted him to be a governor, objected. Hitler could not fight with his father, so his just learned what he liked. After his father died, he finally had a chance to go to Vienna to study arts. However, he was not admitted to the school. He did not learn arts there and read lots of books there. The books included almost every aspects of the world. Books about wars and racism left a deep impression on him. He studied all the books which are against the Jews.
“When I left Vienna, I had become a person who was totally against the Jews.” He wrote in his biography. During the five years in Vienna, his life was miserable. And he told others that he lived in poverty and misfortune. Many people were prejudiced against him. This might gave him the evil motivation to be famous and powerful. His psychology was distorted..
When he joined the Worker’s Party, the party was just a small non-governmental organization. It had little influence on the Germany politics. But when Hitler came, the party began to grow amazingly quickly. When he joined the Worker’s Party, there were only 55 members. Thirteen years later, there were more than one million of them. (The party was dismissed in 1924. If it had not been this, I thought Hitler would have done better.) He was so eloquent that it was hard to resist his alluring lecture. It was said that he could persuade a person to believe in him just in several minutes. Although his political opinions were extremely and he was a totally crazy person in my eyes, I admire his communication skills.
Above are just some thoughts I have about him. I do not mean to promote Nazism. I just want to express my feelings about him.

When others lose, will you win?
Last week, our professor spoke this title out in front of all SM3 students. At this word, I feel shocked and until then did I realize that I had been misled so far away.
Since primary school years, I have been taught that there was just one winner. Only the one who get the highest marks is the winner. And I have seen that there is just one champion in each sports game (if there is more than one, it must be a team match). So I made a conclusion that in a certain match one wins or loses and cooperation only happens when necessary. So it is very reasonable to make further conclusion that when others lose, I will have a high chance to win.
Then I thought over this sentence, and came to know where I was wrong. In some cases there is just one winner, where the competitors are on contrary side. While in most conditions, things would not go that way. Google never employ just one talent, and we need more cooperation than competition.
So, there is no need to be excellent in all aspects, and do not need to win over everybody. Whom I need to beat is just myself.

A SMALL STORY

Let me tell you a small story. Once upon a time, a little bird and an eagle lived happily on the east coast of Pacific Ocean. Day after day, they got bored. The oldest tree in the forest told them that the scenery on the west coast was very fascinating, so they wanted to see what the scenery was like. It said that this journey was pretty long and tough, during which they needed to eat many times, recess many times, and sleep many times. But they had made up their mind, and in no time they began to prepare.
The eagle thought, “I’m stronger than that silly bird, and I’m sure I’ll be the first one to get there. But because of the tough journey, I had better to prepare well.” He prepared a large pack, which include one big bottle of water for drinking, a small boat for recess, a comfortable sleeping bag for sleeping, and much food for eating. At last, in case he got sick and became too weak to fly, he even prepared a bag of medicine. Then he was very satisfied with these things. He thought, I have prepared so well that I can no doubt to get there first. He packed up the large pack and started off.
However, not very long after his beginning, he felt very tired about the pack. Before long, he got exhausted and couldn’t fly any longer. He had no choice but flying back to the east coast. Feeling very disappointed and frustrated, he didn’t know what to do.
All the little bird’s preparation was just a small branch. She carried it in the mouth and set out. When she was tired, she dropped the small branch into the sea and stood on it to relax. When she was sleepy, she stood on it and had a nap. When she was hungry, she stood on it to catch some fish for food. Finally, she reached the west coast half a month later. She enjoyed the exotic scenery excitedly, while the poor eagle cried on the east coast.
It is with the small branch, not with the big pack, that the little bird reached her destination.

My Love

Valentine’s Day has passed by. Many lovers were hand in hand strolling on the road. They were both enjoying the happiness of being together. I think some of us who come from China may have a girlfriend of boyfriend in China. We can not get together to celebrate our own festival.

Actually I had had a girlfriend before I came to Singapore. I asked her many times if we could still be together since I had to go to Singapore. The response was no. I have imagined that she probably say that. I have no right to blame her, for it is really long time I can not accompany her when she needs help or comfort. The most important thing to lovers is that one can be with the other whenever he or she needs help. But it is impossible for me to do that. I have to say it’s really a pity that I can’t be her boyfriend.

Now we also keep connect with each other. I know that it is difficult to forget each other completely at least to me, because we have given each other the happy memory in the past. Many people have persuaded me that we could not have result. I have to stay in Singapore for 6 years. Nobody knows what will happen during this period of time. Distance and time may decrease our love. I clearly know that it is possible to be that. But we can’t control our emotion especially when you fall in love with a person deeply.

I am a student of science. But I am sometimes be controlled by my emotion. I don’t know if it is an advantage or disadvantage. But one thing can be sure that I am not a person without emotion. Now I have to accept the reality that we can not get together. I hope from the bottom of my heart that she can find a boy who can give her blessedness. God bless her.

If I rest, I rust

Before I came here, I used to study English in the New Oriental English School, which focuses on directing those who want to participate in TOEFL or GRE, and that kind of things. My vocabulary teacher told us his motto, " If I rest, I rust." He deemed that it would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest taint of sloth. Even the industrious might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust, and ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.


Those who would reache the heights reached and maitained by the great must keep their abilities polished by continuous use, so that they may open the doors of knowledge, the gates that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, every department of human endeavor.

Deligency keeps bright the key that opens the treasure of achievement. If, Isaac Newton had just sat under the tree, only to have a rest, he would not notice the apple falling down and might not unveil the mystery of the laws of gravity. Had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside, instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.

Labor conquers all, but not inconstant, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.

The Regained Smile

The boy stood in the garden of the hostel, checking everything in his sight. Everything seemed strange and alien to him. He was a little anxious about living there for the next 10 years. A smiling face caught his attention. It was of an angelic girl behind the tree. He watched her, chuckling. He comforted himself that at least there was one lovely thing in this place. As the boy went back to his room, he received a SMS from the girl. Recalling the charming smile, he felt his heart was melting like chocolate.

The boy tried his best to make the girl’s birthday celebration party memorable. He walked to the park with the girl with their hands joined. He was intoxicated by the fragrance given out by her hair. They chatted while sitting on the bench in the park. The boy peeped at the girl’s smiling face, chuckling. At the Valentine’s Day, they walked out as usual. The boy bought the girl a big ice-cream of the girl’s favorite flavor. With the girl in the boy’s arm, they walked to the common place they used to go.

As they sat on the bench starting to chat, the girl vanished. The boy was so anxious that he felt as if his heart was burning. He called everyone he knew and asked about the girl. The answer was there was no such girl at all. One of his best friends told him, “You held a birthday party for nobody, and you went out for a walking every Saturday by yourself.” The boy was totally confused, and he could not believe every word came into his ear. With his hand trembling, he took out his handphone. The SMS was still there.

The boy could not help letting out a smile and tears. He rushed to every place he went with the girl. He went to the fence, the tennis pitch of European children, the foot bridge, the park, and the benches underneath the library. Though he could feel the aura of the girl left there, nowhere could he find the girl. The boy was plunged into despair. He was so exhausted that he didn’t even have the energy to cry. Staggering back to his room like a drunk, the boy failed to manage any expression on his face. He felt that he had already been dead of grief.

Upon entering his room, the boy sensed something wrong with his badminton racket. He felt the girl was just in the racket. The boy buried the racket in his arms. A tear drop fell on the racket. Since then, the boy went everywhere with his racket. He formed a habit to sit on the bench with her and tell every minutia of his life to her. They appreciated the beautiful scenes of sunsets. The boy was addicted to playing badminton because he could feel the girl most strongly when he played badminton. He prepared a towel to wipe her after the enjoyable time of playing badminton with her. The boy could still feel the angelic smile on her face.

Let us make our contributions to saving water

One evening last week one anty came upstairs. When she saw a girl keep a tap running at its maxima while wiping soap on her hands, Anty reprimanded her: “Don’t keep tap running like this. You are wasting water.” “No, I am not. I also used water this way when I was at home!” “Don’t you know all the water you use here is bought by money and every drop of water is precious……” When Anty was criticizing that girl, I felt a little ashamed as well, for sometimes I also keep the tap running until I finish washing my hands. Though I already know our world is in need of water, Anty’s words remind me about saving water again.
Maybe we have never thought seriously that one day water on earth will run out, never feared that there will be no drinkable water, never imagined that water will be so expensive that we may even unable to afford it, because every time we turn on the lap, clean water run out immediately.
However we are really facing a tough situation of water supplement. Statistics show that 12 billion people in the world are under deep pressure of lacking water, 80 countries are short of water, 20 billion people are not guaranteed with drinkable water. The situation is deteriorating. It is forecasted that by the year 2025, the number of people in need of water will reach 30 billion. One forecaster even said that in the next 5 years, water will be conveyed all over the world as patrol! You see how precious water is, how essential it is for us to cherish water resources and how important it is to protect water from being polluted.
Just pay attention to many details in life then we will know there are many things we can do to save water. Don not keep taps running while we are using abluent and detergent when we wash clothes and plates. Don not contain water bottles so full that we can not drink them up…… Though what an individual do is minute, add everyone’s effort together and it will make a big difference.

The Human Fish----Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is one of the greatest Olympians of all time. He’s such a headline maker that just five months after the Beijing Olympic Games, he shocked everyone with such a piece of explosive news. In this blog, I want to share with you something about this excellent athlete.
Phelps became a superstar after his historic eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games. Several days ago, a British tabloid, News of the Wold, published a photograph of him smoking a marijuana pipe, or cannabis. And Phelps did not challenge the legitimacy of this photo. This issue caused a lot of criticisms and controversies. Some think that we should forgive this young man and some others think that we shouldn’t regard him as the youth’s idol any more. Besides this, he also risked being punished by his superior councils of having dope. Fortunately, Phelps narrowly escaped. Athletes face suspension only if they test positive in the dope test at a competition and cannabis is not considered as a banned substance during out-of-competition testing. The photograph of him smoking marijuana was taken last November, a quiet time in the swimming calendar. But according to American Swimming, he is still facing a three months’ suspension, that is, he can’t participate any competitions in the following three months. You know Phelps is so famous and influential that he has to respond properly and responsibly to what he did. A perfect idol is not allowed to make such mistakes that can hurt the fans’ feelings. So this decision exactly saved him from the mud he was stuck in.
It is also said that Phelps now is considering absenting himself from the 2012 London Olympic Games. You can bet your bottom dollar that his mum, his coach, his benefactors and his die-hard fans will not let that happen. So we do not need to worry about it. Phelps has already issued an sincere apology to the public.
“I engaged in a behaviour which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgement.” he said.
“I am 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool. I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have came to expect from me. For this, I am sorry.”
“I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”
This is the second time that he has been compelled to do so. In 2004, a few months removed from winning six gold medals and two silvers at the Athens Olympics, Phelps, then only 19 years old, pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge. Now Phelps is suffering a lot. He has lost an endorsement with a big company. He has to repair his once good public image which was flecked with bad influences by himself. Just as a newspaper article said, he is “swimming against the tide of infamy.”
To err is human. After all, he is only 23 years old. To some extent, he is still a big boy. We are all looking forward to his new achievements in the swimming pool, not in the scandals on tabloids.
If you want to share with me something about Phelps, please make comments on my blog. It’s my honour. Thank you! In next blog I will write something about the French writer Victor Hugo and his famous novel LES MISERABLES. Hope you enjoy it!

Map is a work of art

Since I was young, there have been two maps hanging on the wall of my bedroom. One was the map of China and the other was the map of the world. They were my favorite, because for a small child like me, the outside world was curious and the maps were the only tool for me to explore the world. So, I gained a general idea of what the earth was and the complex physiognomy of China before I went to the primary school.


When I went to secondary, the computer and the internet became common in China, and I was attracted by the software named “google earth” produced by the Google Company. It featured a digital earth which consist the pictures taken by the satellite and the plane. The pictures covered every part of the earth and they were so clear that I could identify elephants on the grassland in Africa and cars on the streets in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, there might be some beautiful pictures uploaded by locals previously and I could see them after clicking on certain button. It was also feasible to search the place by means of longitude and latitude. In that way, my horizon was broaden again.

On 19th of December, 2008, I came to Singapore. As soon as I landed here, I was thinking of buying a useful map. After a few days, I found one in the shop which located under the central library of NUS. It cost me 6 S$ which might equal to 30 yuan in China, however, it was really worthwhile. The map divides Singapore into more than 20 parts and each page covers one part. It is pretty particular because the scales range from 1:1500 to 1:7500. Every park, every supermarket, every path and every bus stop are labeled on the map. As far as I am concerned, it is more a work of art than a map. Whenever I goes out, I take it with me. There was a time when a friend of mime borrowed it, and then I tried my best to avoid getting out of my dwelling.

A well protracted map contains more information than a 10 inches thick book. It is a marvelous invention of mankind. It is a work of art.

My favorite athlete

    My  favorite  athlete  is  ZHANG  NING  who  plays  badminton  very  well.  In  the  2008  Beijing  Olympic  games,   she  beat  her  teammate  XIE  XINGFANG  who  ranked  No.1  in  the  world  to  be  the  champion  again  after  the  2004  Athens  Olympic  games.  When  she  won  the  final, she  was  so  excited  that  she  fell  on  her  knees  to  celebrate  the  great  moment.  People  who  watched  this  match  were  all  moved  by  this  33-year  old  athlete.  It  was  actually  tough  for  her  to  defeat  the  formidable  opponent. 

    ZHANG  NING  was  born  in  Jinzhou, Liaoning  province  on  19^th  May 1975.  When  ZHANG  NING  was  about  ten  years  old, her  father  bought  her  a  pair  of  badminton  rackets  which  were  made  of  wood.  Upon  holding  the  racket, little  ZHANG  NING  fell  in  love  with  the  sport.  Then  the  story  between  she  and  badminton  began.  When  competing  in  one  of  the  matches  organized  by  her  school, she  met  with  the  coach  of  the  Jinzhou  city  sports  school.  Her  concentration  and  tenacity  towards  badminton  deep  impressed  the  coach  who   later  changed  her  life.  Then  ZHANG  NING  started  to  receive  professional  training  under  the  guidance  of  the  coach  DU  ZHIXIN.  However,  after  one  vacation’s  training, ZHANG  NING  had  to  give  up.  Because  she  needed  to  look  after  her  younger  brother  with  her  mother  being  ill.  During  this  time,  she  persevered  with  exercise  every  day.  After  her  brother  could  took  care  of  himself, she  went  back  to  the  sports  school.

     Just  after  her  returning  for  less  than  two  months, there  was  a  competition  for  her  age.  ZHANG  NING  won  the  fourth  prize  as  an  amateur  player. The  first  third  ones  were  all  professionals.  So  it  was  uneasy  for  her  to  achieve  that. Before  long  she  was  chosen  as  an  athlete  in  her  province’s  team, where  she  could  receive  more  professional training .  At  that  time,  she  was  only  12  years  old.  She  had  made  great  progress  since  she  was  admitted  to  the  province  team.  She  was  soon  chosen  by  the  national  team, starting  her  career  there.

     She  has  represented  China  for  international  games  since  1994.   She  was  as  famous  as  YE  ZHAOYING  at  that  time.  She  was  outstanding  at  a  young  age.  However, when  she   competed  with  ZHANG  HAILI    from  Indonesia  at  the  third  game,  she  lost  it  with  being  in  a  bad  condition.  That  had  a  great  influence  on   her.  She  suffered  from  insomnia. At  the  same  time,  she  was  suspicious  of  herself.  The  confident  smile  on  her  face  disappeared.  The  failure  affected  her  in  the  following  9  years.  In  the  nine  years, YE  ZHAOYING  succeeded, and  GONG  ZHICHAO  took  strides  towards  victory, while  ZHANG  NING  did  not  show  up.

    In  2003, she  stood  out, never  throwing  herself  into  dumbness.  She  became  the  world  champion.  A  year  later,  she  met  with  ZHANG  HAILI  again.  This  time, she  walked  out  from  the  past  shadow  and  won, which  made  herself  sit  in  the  throne  of  No.1  in  the  world. She  was  always  in  a  fantastic  condition, which  made  her  a  lot  of  champion  titles.  However,  she  has  suffered  a  lot  from  her  injuries  since  2006.  That  almost  ruined  her  at  one  time.  She  insisted  on  her  goals, never  gave  up.  Just  100  days  before  the  Beijing  Olympic  games  opened， there  were  still  severe  problems  with  her  knees.  But  she  coped  with  that, appearing  at  the  course.

    So  we  can  learn  a  lot  of  things  from  ZHANG  NING.  When  facing  with  doubt  and  criticism，what  should  we  do?  It  is  no  use  complaining  or  depressing.  What  you  need  to  do  is  to  arrange  your  own  life  in  another   point of  view.  Maybe  it  will  take  a  little  long  time  for  you  to  succeed, as  long  as  you  try  and  are  patient. Then  the  outcome  is  that  you  have  a  feeling  of  accomplishment.  You  make  your  own  life  fulfilled.  Just  as  the  flowers  turn  into  fruits  to  prove  their  self-value, you  can, too.