Sunset Run

Last Sunday, several friends and I went to East Park to participate in Sunset Run which was a pre-run of the coming Singapore Passion Run in late May. We intended to leave Eton Hall at half past two in the afternoon. However, the dark clouds descended and it began to pour cats and dogs. After a short discussion, we decided that we must go because it seemed that the rain would not last long. Before we got the bus stop, we were all wet, but no one show any sign of giving up.

It was often mentioned by others that Singapore had a good transportation system. However, it still took up more than one hour to get to East Park. The air conditioning in the bus made all of us frozen since we had already been wet. Our “fire to run” almost went out. Fortunately, it had stopped raining and we were in time to be registered. We were going to run five kilometers!!!

Since I had been exercising every Sunday morning after I came to Singapore, I did not find the race quite challenging. I ran with Yiping for the first four kilometers. I dared not run fast because I found the rate of Yiping’s breath was quite high and his breath was rather shallow. After we past the sign of 4 kilometers, I asked if he wanted to gained a little speed and he said he would rather keep the present speed. So I speeded up and overtook several people. I got completely wet again, not because of rain but sweat. However, to accomplish such a distance in a real race really made me feel well-being.

I was really looking forward to the Singapore passion run. It will be 10 kilometers, doubling the sunset run. It is another challenge. What’s more, it kept be exercising regularly.

Horror Films are not My Cup of Tea

I am always happy in the hope of happiness. I will definitely say no if you invited me to see a horror films. If unfortunately I was dragged to the cinema, I would probably deliberately concentrate on pop corns and shield my eyes with the seat back in front of me, constantly hoping that I could shut my ears as well. However, many of my friends are happy in the hope of fear—they are addicted to horror films!!

As a matter of fact, I am not that frightened when I shoot a glance or two at the screen. Instead, what worries me is some kind of ripple effects, which may affect my mind virtually every now and then. Say, for example, when I was taking a shower in Eton Hall, there suddenly came a power cut and all lights went off. I would not at all feel scared since I had noting terrifying to think of, not until last week a “famous” Japanese film ultimately occupied my empty mind.

Last week, excited and nervous, several of my roommates clustered around a computer to see the enduringly popular film called The Ring(Wu Ye Xiong Ling). Holding each other’s hand firmly, they screeched, whispered, sighed, gave a sudden look at the back and kept changing posture as if they could never sit still. All these so strongly aroused my interest and curiosity that I finally stood up and joined them. The film was really a horror film!!!!! (Although I knew people were around me and most of the time I saw the film through my fingers and skipped quite a lot classic horrifying pictures by asking them “Is it over”)

Consequently, I begin to doubt whether my choice for single room is wise. What if I think of the film on a thunder booming night...? What if my cell phone rings at midnight…? What if I wake up from a nightmare and simply want to go to the toilet…? Nevertheless, scientifically speaking, watching horror films can relieve stress by stimulating our brain to secret certain hormone.

With or without so-called benefits, I will never allow myself to “drink others’ cup of tea”!!

Feelings

I’ve always think that I’m kind of a person who knows how to control my own feelings. The sharp and crank mood has left me for a long time. I know how to precious life, I know how to look positive and behave active. I know all the rules about being a peaceful, harmless and happy bird. But, yes, there’s always a “but”, I cannot stand any more. I don’t want to complain all the time here, but, this is a blog, for us to pour feelings, so, forgive me, being a kicker this time.

The first thing annoys me is a thing that happens to almost everyone, in this very summer. The power of homesick is strong, but dream and reality is opposite. I can do nothing but wish everyone’s dream will came true at last.

What’s upset me next is my research report. The deadline is next week, though I have, like six days to go, it’s no need to rush. However, I can’t help worrying whether I can do it well or not. I hope my first research report can be, at least, good. What is more, Progress Test Ⅱwill be held on Friday morning. Many people say it’s not a big deal, but for me, I’ve studied almost five months in CELC, if I didn’t do it well, I’ll blame myself for being lazy and stupid.

The third thing, maybe I shouldn’t mention here, is the variety show. I feel very sorry for not getting the part I want, maybe because I’m not capable. Anyway, I strongly hope our class will perform excellent on that day. By the way, I feel very sorry for not watch our class’s basketball and badminton games. It not that I don’t care, it’s I dare not to see. I’m afraid our class will lose. So I just pay attention to the game secretly. I know, I should face it rather than escape, well, forgive my cowardice this time. And I want to thank for those who tried their best in the games. Thank you, guys and princesses~J

Ok, I have to say this is not like an article at all. It’s just my feelings today; perhaps you can read it as my diary.

Never run again

Last Sunday, I participated in the activity “Meal @ Home”. Although it was about toys in different countries and generations, I had a good time. However, when I got back to Eton Hell, I had a different story.
Actually, it was because I forgot to sign out. As a result, when I came back from the toys museum, I realized that there was trouble in front of me: the guard was sitting in the corridor, waiting for the students who came back after the curfew. When he saw us coming back, he asked us to sign in. I did not know what to do. The guard seemed to know that I did not sign out. Then he asked me to stay there.
Of course, I did not waiting for the bad thing to happen. I started to think about what I can do. Then I chose the most stupid choice. I decided to run quickly behind the Eton Hell. However, my speed was absolutely much slower than the speed of light. The minute I started to run, I got caught by the guard. What was worse, he followed me into my room. At that time, I really knew a famous Chinese saying “The monk may ran away, but the temple cannot run away with him”.
He led me to the desk and constantly told me that I should not run. Then he asked me to write my name down to keep a record. I asked him what the punishment would be. He said that it depended on the auntie. It was no use to ask more questions, so I just went back to my room.
However, this was not the end of the story. Uncle knew what happened. He came to my room and asked me to go with him to explain to the guard what had happened. After what seemed to be a century, I was freed finally. It was a terrible experience.
From this experience, I know that I should never run again. Sometimes, it is unwise to run however fast you are. In addition, I want to say that Uncle is very kind and warm-hearted. I want to thank him for what he has done for me. Whoever has some trouble, Uncle will come to his or her aid.

Why do you miss home so much?

Sometimes I am really confused that why there are so many people who always mention their roots, and always say that how they love their hometown and how they wish that they could return there immediately. When it comes to me, 19-year-old as I am, I have not realized that how much my hometown means to me. In my opinion, I just lived there for 18 years.

I was born in Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province. It is an historical city, which is more than 2,000 years old. However, you could not see many historical relics due to a disaster caused by the Japanese army during the 1940s. Before I was 12, it still seemed to be an undeveloped city. From then on, big changes happened on account of China’s joining into the World Trade Organization. Modern buildings have mushroomed in the city, and the expansion of it has become faster and faster.

Today Changsha has become very famous for its recreation and entertainment industry, which deeply reflects the spirit of Changsha people nowadays, which, I take leave to doubt, is not a suitable symbol for a historical and cultural city, and which, in my point of view, will make a person become lazy and less ambitious. Under this kind of circumstance, I think it is extremely difficult for a person to calm down and do some thinking.

Living in this city, I was always dreaming of leaving for a place where there are a lot of challenges which can make me vigorous and excited. Now I am able to go out and find a place more suitable for fulfilling my dreams.

I do not regret what I have done and I will not miss my roots very much, just as a saying goes,“ Since you have chosen to go far away, you just have to care about your way.”

Choosing Majors

We just went through a very important phase of university life: choosing the major. Why I say it is crucial is because once the major has been decided it becomes one of your life-long label. I believe a lot of us had a strenuous days in major choosing duration.
Before I came to Singapore, I am very sure that I will choose engineering as my faculty. But after I came here, when I was scrutinizing all the choice available, there was not seem to be any one that is attractive to me. This situation happened again when I see the majors provided by science and computing. I was in dilemma even feeling very vague about which faculty I will enroll to. I did not know any background or details of any major. All I had in mind were some vague conception for every major.
I call this “ lack of prevision”. I think it is because we were really in short of the basic knowledge of every major. It seems impossible for us to acknowledge every aspect, inclusive of what to learn, how to learn, career perspective and so on, of every major. Because of this unclearness, of course, we can not easily make up our minds.
Apart from the shallow reason of uncertainty, I think the educational system in China is more likely to be blamed. At grade two in high school, we are divided into two streams for academic direction, one is sciences and the other one is arts. This is the essential reason why we are prevented from all the knowledge as preparation for the future choice. We only know one specific area of knowledge, either science or arts. So when choosing majors in university, we are not ready to make a wise and accurate decision.
This is not something we can change. After all, all the Chinese students are going through like this. My suggestion is that we really need to think twice before we make the decision for our future.

Ms Leo’s Suggestion on My English Study

Several days ago, I sent Ms Leo an email to ask some questions about English learning without knowing where my courage comes from. And on the following Wednesday, she talked with me about confusion I had and gave me some unbelievable suggestion. To be honest, I became even more confused after her talk with me.
In general, her suggestion can be categorised in two aspects. One is to keep constant writing and practising in reading comprehension. The other one is to keep constant reading on classical English literature such as Shakespeare and maybe Socrates is OK. But I have to say these are too difficult for me. Because you can’t suggest one person to read original English even when he could not understand contemporary English completely. That is a very simple principle just like you cannot teach a infant to run when he could not walk. However, unfortunately, tutors in other groups have already introduce some useful book about writing and reading comprehension to their students. They are just about A level or O level. Maybe some tutor want to argue with me that you can do it yourself. Nevertheless, what I want impress is that we trust your experience in English teaching. If you say so, I can draw a conclusion that I can study English in China even better in Singapore. So this is the very time for tutors to supervise and show their abilities. I do not mean any offence to tutors and it is just what I think in my mind. Sometimes our abilities are overestimated and what we need to know is that we should be realistic. There is a old saying in China that miles of road started from the very beginning.
Bridging course will end in less than two months, and maybe there is no space to improve. There is still four years for English improvement. But maybe we can find out some executable ways for us to sharpen our English in the rest of English study.

Can we go home after bridging course?

Recently, many students in ETON HALL have booked air tickets for going home after bridging course. On the other hand, MOE said there will not be vocation in summer. I really do not know what are MOE officers thinking about. Because after bridging course, there are nearly two weeks left before our university life get started. It is said by our seniors that after English course ends, we only have economic lessons and maths lessons every other day. So it seems that time arrangement is not scientific. It is completely possible that we finish the maths and economic lesson in a shorter time because we learned much of what is taught now in China. After all, seven months is still a long period for part of us, who never go out for study especially abroad before and our will to go home is really strong now.
As the time passes, our bridging course is coming to its end. To be frank, I am really happy about that. Learning a language is not such simple task and requires efforts and talent. So we still have four years to improve our English. So the end of bridging course is not the end of English study and it may become a new start of your English improvement. Most of us do not have enough vocabulary to understand the passage and we still have to think in Chinese then to translate. It is really hard for us and a little painful sometimes. Nevertheless, I think I have nothing to worry about because I believe that I will finally master English.
Maybe the paragraph above is not related to going home, but it is the obstacle we have to face and handle. The way before going home seems not that long now. The friends in China, I miss you so much!

The Phone Call

Since I came to Singapore, most of the calls I made to China are to my parents. Seldom have I got in touch with my friends in China. Seeing many people talking with their friends in China through phones for hours on the corridor every night, I just cannot understand. Why do they have so much to talk about?
I accept that I am not a person who is good at social intercourse. I seldom take the initiative of saying “hello” to friends when I am on QQ, even though there are friends I want to talk to. When meeting with someone I am acquainted, usually I prefer to pass by with my head crouched rather than greeting him/her. Also making calls to friends in China seems quite embarrassed to me. I used to tell myself that they had already formed their new intercourse circles, they might already forget you and they did not care whether you give them a call regularly or not. It seems all these reasons that prevent me from calling them only indicate that I am afraid of receiving cold receptions.
However one day in April which has been nearly 4 months since I came here, I was just on the spur of the moment to make a phone call to one of my friend. I searched out my phone book which had been neglected in a corner for quite a while, found her number and dialed. I could feel my fast heartbeats and nervousness while waiting for the line to be connected. After a long time waiting I heard the familiar voice. I told her who I was and then unexpected, I heard her exciting and surprising screams. “I nearly missed your phone. It was such a strange number that I intended not to answer it. Why didn’t you give me a call earlier? We miss you so much and we sometimes joked that you had disappeared from the earth…” Hearing the familiar voice, listening to her talking about her current live and telling her how I am going on just made me feel so warm and moving.
Hanging up the phone, I realized that they are all there. They never forget me and they are waiting for me to contact them for they don’t have my phone number and address. It is me who is afraid of being estranged and it is still me who will really make myself being estranged if I don’t take initiative.

Protest in Thailand

The protest which last three weeks was abandoned this Wednesday. The ousted Prime Minister Tasksin's supporters, the so-called " Red shirts" ended the siege of Prime Minister Abhisit's offices. The demonstrators in the rest of Bangkok scattered about since the troops on Monday used tear gas and automatic-weapon fire to clear the protester. Finally the protest was defused without major bloodshed. Seemingly PM Abhisit won the public-relations war and the ousted PM Tasksin had the worst day of all his life because his own chance to return Thailand was heavily weakened by the the end of the rampage of his supporters. After all, Thailand was greeted by a period of peace.


That severe protest has done significant damage to the already-weak economy and the image of Thailand in the world. As for economy, GDP of Thailand fell annualized, season-adjusted 2-3.5per cent. More seriously, the economy was expected to shrink 17 per cent from the previous quarter. The tourism of Thailand was anticipated to be heavily weakened due to lasting political chaos since last year. On November last year two main international airports in Bangkok had been closed for four days. Tourists could not either step out of the airports or get on any airplane. Some of them even faced the chance of being killed for the present government's "yellow shirt" supporter rushed into the airpoints with guns and bullets. This time the traffic in Bangkok was jammed by the "red shirts". Numorous of visitors complained about an horrible journey to Thailand.

Worsestill, the Asian meeting was forced to be cancelled because the leader of China, Japan and Korea had no chance to go out of the hotels. The vital meeting aimed at resolving the worst global slump in decades and had been put back for three months because of the political chaos at that time.It was tragedy that an important chance to grapple with the economic downturn could not fufill its expectation. Thailand government was accordingly blammed and even some countries claimmed that Thailand should not have host the Asian meeting.
In my opinion, no matter who win the public-relations war, all people in Thailand end up losers. As long as Thailand remains politically unstable, the chance for Thailanders is slim to win the battle with the global recession. Both Tasksin and Abhisit should stop hostile and work hand-in-hand to help their mother country out of the terrible economic slump. Negotiation is a preoccupancy for them.

Death

Today, another officer whose name is Feng Xiang hanged himself. As far as I know, he is the third person who committed suicide after the havoc in Beichuang.
The first one is a woman called Luo Guiqiong. She was 59 years old. She broke her bones in the earthquake. That was very painful. On 23rd, October, 2008, she jumped to her death. She said that she could no longer bear the pain. She also told her friend that it was a waste of money and time to let her stay in the hospital. She left her partner who loved her deeply and chose the way to death.
The second one is a man called Dong Yufei. He was an officer in Beichuang. When the earth happened, he got seriously injured. He became silent since he saw his son’s corpse. However, he kept working for the government. One of his colleague said that he did not have his lunch until it was three or four o’clock. He was too tired and miserable to live on. As a result, he ended his life.
The third one is Feng Xiang. He was also an officer in Beichuang, with his son buried under the remains. He hanged himself at two o’clock a.m. In his will he said that if I died, I could go to heaven and accompany you, my son. If I died, my ashes could be with you and I would never leave again, my son. It was really a tragedy.
Sadness can overwhelm all of us. Nonetheless, live on whatever happens. Death can just help you escape from reality. People who care about you will get hurt.
http://blog.qq.com/qzone/719161691/1240160006.htm
This is the URL for the will of Feng Xiang.

Pancakes

This afternoon, I went to Tampines to get my package which was brought to me by a student who studied in Temasek Polytechnic and came from the same city with me. The package was small and contained two pairs of trousers and some pancakes original from Shandong Province.

This kind of pancake is quite different from the common ones. It’s unique in Shandong Province of China. It’s made of corn paste. It’s flat like newspaper and as thin as paper when it is heated on the special pan as large as a tire of a car. After the paste get solid, we take it off from the pan and fold it three time to shape the round the pancake into a rectangle. It is the common food in Shandong. Especially in the countryside, people eat more pancakes than noodles and steamed bread, and they seldom eat rice. We usually roll pancakes to wrap dishes like vegetable and meat. However, the most famous manner of eating pancakes is to use pancakes to wrap raw spring onions with sweet fermented flour paste.

Although pancakes are very cheap in China, I did think the pack of pancakes were pretty valuable. When I got back to Eton Hall, I could not wait to tell my friends from Shandong that I got a pack of pancakes! They were excited more than I expected them to be. We ate the pancakes without spring onions, without sweet fermented flour paste. In fact, there is no much taste. However, we savord the process as if we were eating the most delicious food in the world. I could see the gleam in their eyes. Yes, it is what we used to eat back in Shandong. I felt I was at home. I think this is what we call culture identity.
I still have some pancakes. If you’d like to have a try, please let me know.

Who Betrayed the Little Hedgehog?

In the forest lived a little hedgehog. The fox always attempted to make him his food, regarding him a great delicacy. The hedgehog, however, was covered with dense, erectile spines, rolling into a spine ball for protection when the fox approached. The fox was completely baffled.

One day, the duck, the little hedgehog’s best friend, said, “I admire your “suit of armor” very much. Even the fox have no idea what to do with it. It is really miraculous!” The hedgehog was so proud of his “armor” that he rejoined, “To be honest, there is some detect in my “miraculous armor”. When I roll into a ball, there is a small hole on my stomach. If someone blows into it, I will feel unbearable itch and spread myself.” The duck was surprised after hearing that, thinking that the hedgehog should have such a secret. “This is my fatal secret, and I have only told you, my best friend.” said the hedgehog, “You should never tell others, or I will be in great danger.” The duck swore an oath not to reveal the secret, and the hedgehog confided in her.

Before long, when the duck chatted with her friend, the rabbit, she could not help telling her this secret. After telling her, the duck felt a bit uneasy, thinking that she had betrayed her best friend. However, the rabbit said, “The fox is my enemy, not my friend, then how come I will tell him this secret? Come on, don’t blame yourself any more, I promise that I will never tell others.” In this way, the duck put her mind at ease.

Nevertheless, the rabbit was seized by the fox one day. At the moment she was about to be eaten by him, she suddenly thought about the hedgehog’s secret. So she said to the fox, “If you release me, I will tell you a beneficial secret about the hedgehog.” Then the fox released the rabbit, provided that she told him the secret.

Of course, the hedgehog was eaten by the fox finally. Before he died, he desperately shouted, “Why you nasty duck betray me!”

Let’s reflect on this story. Who is the betrayer on earth? Is it the duck, or the rabbit? In my opinion, it is plain that neither of them is the betrayer. It is the hedgehog himself who betray him first. If you, yourself, even cannot keep your secret solidly, let alone other people.

Some reflections about today’s lesson

We were asked to be the judge in a scenario, which put me in a dilemma. A druggist in town discovered a kind of drug which could save a woman suffering a lethal disease. However, the price he charged was far beyond what the husband could afford. Having failed in negotiating with the druggist, the husband was left no choice but broke in the drug store to steal the drug for his wife.

I felt torn by conflicting emotions when I was forced to judge this man’s behavior. From the perspective of human, it would be just like slapping the face of the god of mercy if I pick on a desperate husband trying his best to save his wife even with risk of being arrested. However, letting this kind of behavior alone would also be seen as trampling on our modern civilization which is built upon laws.

Taking an inappropriate example, cornered dogs bite even if they are good ones. Most people will show sympathy for people in that situation, but it does not necessarily mean that they will agree on their behavior. Laws are ruthless rules that people agree on. Once violated, you pay for it. It is its strict implementation that keeps the order of the society. We must show our constant respect for rules because criminals will always find an excuse if specials are accepted.

In the greedy druggist’s shoes, it is understandable that he wants to make profits from his discovery which could have cost blood, sweat and tears. Nevertheless, I should blame the legislators that they actually forgot to make a law supervising pricing. If only there were any law prohibiting overpricing, the tragedy could have been avoided. If only the druggist did a little kindness to the man to accept installment, the tragedy could also have been avoided.

Anyway, this is just the world we live in, where things do not do ideally, where nobleness and evil mingle, where life goes on and on nonstop.

Chinese Room

Chinese room is a thought experiment used to show that a symbol processing machine can never be labelled as an intelligent machine or a machine with a “mind”. There is a very famous hypothesis called Turing’s “polite convention”, “If a machine acts as intelligently as a human being, then it is as intelligent as a human being”. Is it true? You will see.

Before we start the experiment, we must think about a question – If a machine can answer questions in Chinese as fluently and naturally as a native speaker, does it necessarily mean that the machine can understand Chinese?

Let’s assume that there is a machine which can only understand English locked in an isolated room. In that room, there is a thorough and complete manual of how to answer questions in Chinese written in English. There are also necessary stationery like paper and pen in that room.

A Chinese native speaker writes questions in Chinese on a piece of paper and sends the piece of paper into the room through a slot. Then the machine answers the question by looking up the answer in the English manual, writes the answer on another piece of paper and sends it back. From the result, the native speaker finds that the answer is completely right and natural. The native speaker may assert that the machine can understand Chinese very well.

However, is it true? Actually, our assumption is that the machine can only understand and knows nothing about Chinese. But it just seems unreal for the native speaker because he gets right and natural answers from that room. There must be someone who understands Chinese. Then who is this mysterious guy?

If you are interested in it, you may try to figure it out yourself.

Blood on the river
Recently, I am reading a book called blood on the river, a novel written by Elisa Carbone. The novel based on a true story how English colonies established a colony called James Town in 1607 in Virginia, how they met a lot of problems, and how they lived together with local Indians. I have to say that the author really have a gift in telling stories and describing details. All what was happening in the story are vivid beyond my eyes when I am reading. What is more, the main character, a page of a brave and knowledgeable leader, whose name is Samuel, is of much attraction to me. His voice entered my head with the first line. Through his eyes, I got what happened in the New World.
As the story shows, the colonies in James Town had a fight with local immediately they landed in the New World. However, the natives pretended to be friendly to them and spied them secretly until they managed an attack one day. Thanks to Caption Smith, the master of Samuel, who know the native language and managed to communicate with natives, they from a relationship with some of the natives, though very fragile. When winter came, Caption Smith and some other people were sent to another place to found another colony, where a native tribe lived near. That is relay very lucky to them because many men in James Town died of unexpected starvation, while they received favor from natives. Meanwhile, they form a good relationship with the tribe nearby.
However, things began to change when some new colonies came the second year. They are so proud and they considered natives to be savages. They even killed two natives. Caption Smith went back to England later. And more men came who knew little about natives. They are savages, they are all. Then, you know what happened later, many natives were killed and their land was taken over by colonies.
It is really a good novel with a good story, which deserves to read. And you can watch the movie saying the same thing called THE NEW WOTLD to get a visual experience.

The facilities for disabled people in Singapore

Last Friday I missed the bus which was directly from LT31 in NUS to Eton Hall. So there was no choice for me but to take another bus. I needed to reach the bus station first. If you have had such experience like me, you must know that I had to cross a overpass. The overpass is a little bit strange. It does not have steps like other overpasses. Two slightly-oblique slopes take the place of steps which make it a long way to go. As I was annoyed by such a long way, a person who sat in a wheelchair came down. I got to understand the design of the overpass. It is for disabled people.

In fact, such public infrastructures can be seen almost everywhere in Singapore. As for pavements, where there are steps, there is usually a slightly-oblique slope beside it. In terms of elevators, you can notice that the buttons are low enough for those disabled people to reach. Another example is washroom. Normally there are special washrooms for disabled ones. There are handrails beside the lavatory. It is convenient for them to use.

However, you seldom see these facilities in cities in China. The fact is that there are around 82,000,000 disabled people in China, but you can not even meet one of them in streets. As my own opinion, it is partly related to the lack of basic facilities for disabled people. Although there are special side walk for blind people in some cities of China, in my observation, many of the ways are taken up by bicycles or other things. Even in Beijing, they do not realize the lack of infrastructures for disabled people until they are going to open the 2008 Paralympic Games.

The planners of cities in China should learn from Singapore. There is a long way to go for the infrastructures in China.

 

End of the road for international torch relays

The Singapore Youth Olympic Games, which will be hosted here in August 2010, will have the honour of being the last Olympic event to feature an international torch relay. Several days ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to end the international torch relays for the future Olympic Games. The torch relay will only be held inside the host country. But an exception has been made for the Singapore Youth Olympic Games because it is the first Youth Olympic Games in the world and the International Olympic Committee wants to make it influential among the youth all around the world. This is exactly the debut of the IOC’s new initiative to engage the world’s youth.
You may ask why the IOC cancelled the international torch relays. The reason is obvious. As is known to us, the Olympic Games are always connected to politics, economic development and diplomatic issues, which are barely related to sports and athletics. The international torch relay is regarded as a platform for the politicians to show the power of their countries and political attitudes towards other countries. It is also a stage where the protesters to show their dissatisfaction with the governments and denounce the countries they are opposed to. Last year’s international torch relay for the Beijing Olympic Games was interrupted for many times during the flame’s trip in Europe. This picture shows a torch-bearer squeezed his way through the protesters in London. The IOC wants to purify the Olympic Games and separates it from politics, competitions between countries and so on. They have no choice but to cancel the international torch relays.
For the Singapore Youth Olympic Games torch relay, the flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of Olympic Games. Then it will go on a trip to five cities in five continents, including Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The flame’s voyage will culminate in a round-the –island relay in Singapore. After that it will go to the Floating Platform in Marina Bay, light the Games cauldron and mark the start of the world’s first Youth Olympic Games.
People are excited about that a six-stop voyage of the torch will precede the inaugural ceremony for the Games in August next year, but it’s pity that the international torch relays have been cancelled for other Olympic Games in the future. I think we all hope that the IOC could change its mind and resume it. Before that, we have a long way to go to get rid of the political influences on Olympics and make it “clear”.

Addiction to Xiaonei

Recently, we are doing the research about the addiction to the computer. I gradually find that most of SM3 students including me are addicted to Xiaonei, which is a website like facebook. Students can leave messages to friends, write journals, make new friends or keep in touch with old friends, send images and do other things as well after they log in Xiaonei. I observe that when students connect with the internet, the first thing they will do is to log in Xiaonei to check the messages and so on.

There are different opinions of whether it is good to overuse Xiaonei. Someone says that it is a waste of time to spend much time on Xiaonei. It is really true that many people spend several hours on Xiaonei. Sometimes they may have nothing to do with Xiaonei, but just look at the website.

On the contrary, someone says they can benefit from Xiaonei. When they use Xiaonei, they can find some friends who were out of connection with them before. At the same time, they can know the recent developments and life of their friends by reading their journals and watch their photos. It is convenient for students to keep in touch with friends and make new friends.

In my opinion, if we can use Xiaonei appropriately, it is to be a perfect stage, in which we can make new friends, connect with old friends and also present ourselves. However, once you spend all your spare time on Xiaonei, it will affect your life and studying. So, we should learn to manage our time and be self-discipline. Addiction to Xiaonei is just a kind of wasting time.

My Good Friday and Easter Day

Last weekend was quite special for me. It was Good Friday and Easter day. Though I am not a Christian, I participated in a sermon in Friday evening and a church service in Sunday morning. The two activities left totally different impressions on me.

I and several friends are invited by a local friend to go to Expo to listen to a sermon given by Doctor Stephen Tong. Actually I got quite irritated and angry after the sermon. I do think any religion should be tender. However, some of the comments the Doctor gave to us were just too extreme and biased. He said: “Democratic is very dangerous, how can you let the fate of the whole nation go to numerous fools’ hands.” Did he mean that all the believers are stupid? Did he mean that we should go back to kaiserism or something like that? He also cursed the future of China and America, criticized the socialism and capitalism. He blamed other religions and many Christian Church and clergy as if he was the only man who is right in the world. How can a person be so aggressive? Is it the only way to prove you are right that you should tell others they are wrong? I don’t think so.

After the awful experience, I had no intention to go for the service in Sunday morning. However, I convinced myself it must be another situation.

The service was mostly proceeding in singing. Actually, I have been to several services in Singapore. The way they do the service was quite different from the one I watched in movies. It was not that solemn. In my imagination, it is not right to laugh in any religious rite. Nonetheless, all the preachers made jokes, and even themselves laughed now and then. I’d like to say this is the biggest cultural shock I have had in Singapore. To my surprise, I was invited to convert to Christian. I said I had little knowledge in God, so I could not let him led my life. They said it was OK, but they told me even I didn’t know much about God, I could still let God lead my life and show me the direction. “Everyone is sinner, you know.” I just could not accept. However, they did not push me and make me do that which I think was more like what a religion should be. They sent me a Bible. Whatever the intention is, I’d like to read it.

It is amazing that environment and education could make such a big difference in human being’s thinking manners.

Some random feelings

The change
Realize it or not, we’ve already spent around five months in Singapore, from being an outlier to feel quite familiar here; from having a lot of plans in mind to face difficult realities; from walking alone to have somebody behind… I believe, everyone changed, not only in feelings, but also in behaviors and thoughts. It’s not a math problem to judge the changes are right or wrong, it just happened. Maybe just like Ms. Jenny said, after five or six years, we’ll feel home when in Singapore, at least, it will become our second home. After some time, we’ll get used to walk through zebra line without seeing left to right; we’ll get used to drive on right; we’ll get used to put things on bench and leave; we’ll get used to the green world; we’ll get used to Singapore. Changes will take step by step and influence us, in the near future.

The Hall
We came from distinct provinces of China and have different backgrounds and culture; it is fate, which links us together as SM3 students in Eton Hall. No matter how bad impressions we had at first time, I’m quite sure that many, even most of us has special feelings for it currently. It’s our home not just hostel in such a place far away from China. Maybe some of us think aunties are strict with us while uncle is funny, actually, they’re all care about us, sometimes you just need to smile at them and everything will be ok. What’s more, someone complains the noise roommates made at night, I faced that as well. However, you can think about the advantages of being together, the chatting, the jokes and happy time we spend. After we went to NUS, we have at most two persons in one room, maybe only till then can we find out how valuable and busy we were. There’re just not more than three months to go, so appreciate the time now, the leisure time in Eton Hall.

The Homesick
I’m very homesick now, I miss the food, the shopping malls, and most important, my families in Chongqing. I believe you are in my situation, too. We’re so eager to go back home that if there’s any chance we would like to buy a ticket home immediately. But have you ever come up that when you’re in China after two of more weeks, you’ll miss here as well? You’ll compare Singapore and your hometown subliminally, finding shortcomings there and advantages here. Just like what I mentioned above, the concept of “home” became blurry. Homesick, homesick, which one is my home?

End
Time flies, people change. I’d like to share some of my feelings at this moment. No matter whether I’ll change my mind or not, no matter which school we’ll finally accepted, please value your time in bridging course and your friends. Time never comes back, what you have now is most precious.

The Meaning of "opp"

At the beginning of this article, I want to tell you a funny experience my SM3 friends had.

A few days after arriving Singapore, some friends of mine wanted to take a taxi back to Eton hall instead of taking a bus as usual. Since Eton hall is not a well-known place, they decided to tell the driver the name of the bus stop we usually get off which is quite near Eton hall. The bus stop is named “opp Gillman hts Condo”, but they can just remember the first word, “opp”. Apparently, they didn’t know what the meaning of “opp” is. So, after they got on the taxi, they told the taxi driver to send them to “opp” without hesitation. The driver was totally confused, because “opp” can be found everywhere. The driver told them that “opp” is short for the word “opposite”, and they felt so embarrassed.

Of course, this is a joke about language. However, behind this joke, we may find a fact that our vocabulary is not so balanced. Maybe, we can remember some so called difficult or long words occurred in the textbooks. We, including the teachers, are crazy about fancy words because they can help us out in the examinations. But when it comes to everyday life vocabulary, I didn’t know the words even three years old English-speaking children know, such as “seesaw”, “flip-flops”. Don’t even mention the informal expressions used frequently in the English-speaking world. These are not allowed to appear in the text books, but they do appear in our daily life.

So this is a paradox in English education. Maybe in English teaching, the content should be more relevant to our life. I think language, basically is just a tool to communicate. It should be used in our life eventually. For me, it is really a pity that having learnt English for so many years, we still don’t know the meaning of “opp”.

Conquering Stereotypes

On finishing watching the movie Freedom Writer, I immediately recall the story. Honestly, I had some doubts about it. For instance, how did those students find hope after talking with those who survived the Holocaust during the World War II? Since I have never had the similar experience before, I could not relate them to myself, and I did not know their feelings, but I do appreciate what Erin has done to her students.

By and large, this is a very successful movie. All the plots were elaborated. It was adapted from a true story which happened in the late 1980s after the Los Angeles riots. It vividly revealed the uproar among those teenagers, who were Black, Latino, and Asian, and who had to fight “a war of street” that began long before they were born. Under such a circumstance, Ms. Erin Gruwell, who planned to devote herself to education, was badly challenged by her students at the very first time. From the conversation she had with the students at beginning, we could readily find that her students hated her, for she was a white woman who the students thought did not understand them at all. Nonetheless, Erin still made all her efforts to get close to her students, and to get through their stereotypes toward her. Finally, she won the students’ respect, and helped them fight for their destinies. What a success!

In my point of view, I think what this movie can bring to me is that almost everyone in the world may have stereotypes from others, just like Erin and her students. Eluding can not be a solution, you have to confront them, and what you should do is to try your best to correct those stereotypes. To reiterate, I think this movie is worth watching.

Reflection on Patriotism

Patriotism is part of my school education ever since kindergarten. Every Monday, we would display our national flag and sing the national anthem. But most of the time, it was only an abstract concept. Now I am in Singapore, I have experienced real patriotic feelings in my heart more often than in my homeland. When my friends and I hear a foreigner talking about China negatively, we will argue with him unanimously and emotionally to uphold our government’s policy even if sometimes we can’t justify ourselves. I am sometimes confused: Why, back in China, when Chinese people criticize China in the same way, it won’t feel that evocative?

On Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, patriotism is defined as love and devotion to one’s nation. The definition varies according to the development of human civilization, geographical differences, cultural or political contexts. However, the question is how does patriotism, as a virtue, come into being?

In prehistoric times, there was no concept of patriotism yet. People belonging to different tribes fought against each other for the ownership of limited resources such as a well to sustain their living. The fiercest warrior is rewarded with more food and adored by the whole tribe. Obviously, without a loyal fight for one’s tribe, the whole group would starve to death. Unable to survive as an individual, people gave up domestic dispute temperately and sought cooperation within the tribe to clear up the outside threat together. Then there was a need for a spirit that can unite the whole group in times of emergency. Hence people were encouraged by their ruler to regard defending the interest of their own group as a self-evident virtue demonstrated with selflessness. Nevertheless, it is actually resulted from the instinct of self-protection and self-concern.

Nations without this spirit are more likely to fail in their wars with others or be destroyed by domestic up-rise to reallocate the natural resources and social wealth. During the process of civilization development this idea was gradually promoted into a broader concept that not only entails the defence of the territory, but also the preserving of the unique culture and tradition which are essential for the domestic stability. This gave rise to humanity and beneficence in patriotism. As time passed by, the idea was passed on from generation to generation and eventually evolved into part of the virtue education for the offspring.

In that sense, patriotism is a weapon when crisis occurs. The crisis can either come from conflicts caused by limited wealth and resources or from natural disasters that overwhelm people as a group of human-beings who are fighting against ruthless nature.

My hometown, Sichuan province was hit by a 8.0 magnitude earthquake last year. During that time I could personally feel a nationwide surge in patriotism. People demonstrated in public places in support of the government. In Chengdu, the queues of volunteers donating blood even blocked the traffic. The unprecedented unity and a sense of charity rekindled the community spirit which was dying down since the reformation and modernization policy.

In the face of overwhelming natural disasters, human-beings realize that they are still fragile creatures who are at the mercy of the nature. People of the region affected can’t count on other nations to relate to their grievance or expect unlimited assistance. The only means to survive as an individual is to first survive as a group. That is why we can always observe a surge in patriotism when disaster occurs.

Though most people regard patriotism as a holy virtue and grudge associating it with selfishness. In my opinion, patriotism is originated from self-concern and is the highest form of self-affirmation. By upholding the interest of the nation as a whole, we are making others identify the value of our nation. If a nation’s value is highly respected, as one of its citizens, the individual’s value will also be acknowledged and respected. If a nation can’t keep itself afloat, there is no guarantee for private property or personal safety.

Yet in a relatively stable domestic environment we lack the awareness of a potential threat and the sense of emergency which can evoke self-protection and self-affirmation, hence less demonstrations of patriotism. That is why I feel less patriotic when I was in China. Patriotism is in fact a kind of love and devotion that we select subconsciously to demonstrate under fatal circumstances. Though the origin of patriotism is selfish to some extent, it results in the well-being of the whole region and a promotion of the community spirit.

Enjoy the present

When I was skimming xiaonei (the facebook for Chinese students), I read a survey among my high school friends. In the survey they were asked if you had had a chance to spend a year in senior 3 again with the same classmates and teachers, were you willing to do so? More than 70% of my friends said yes. At first sight I was quite surprised, because almost everyone regarded senior 3 as a nightmare when we were experiencing it. Then I asked myself what I would choose. Thinking of piles of reference books, endless homework, frequent examinations, lack of sleep, so limited exercise time and so on, I hesitated for a long time, however, I still chose I would like to.
When we were in senior 3, all we could feel were press and tension. Complains about these made us ignore lots of meaningful and wonderful things in our live and study. The thought that once we enter university we will be totally free and relaxing urged us to be more fed up with our high school live and envision wonderful university lives. Now we are really in universities. Looking back at our senior 3 live, we begin to fix more attention on the wonderful memories which had been ignored before, especially when compared with our university live.
It is true that we gain more freedom and relaxation when in university. We don’t have to stay in the same classroom and the same seat from 7am to 10 pm every day. Teachers won’t urge us to finish our homework and do as many exercises as possible. No teacher will come to class in a sudden to catch students chatting and punish them. There are not tests every week. No ranks will be posted…… However, when we enjoy the freedom and relaxation, we lose something as well. In senior 3, about 70 students studied in the same classroom for such a long time that we were quite familiar with every classmate. During breaks we had mutual topics and many people would join. We had many responsible teachers who were willing to sacrifice their own time to help us make progress. We could find many interesting elements in even trivial things and laughed for a long time. We had the satisfaction of accomplishing a good test paper. All these little happiness and concern help build our live so colorful. What a pity that we did not realize them before.
These days when my friends and I feel bored and are not satisfied with our current live, we talk about our beautiful memories in senior school. Nevertheless, I can’t always live in the past and fill myself with nostalgia. I have already felt regret that we just complained and did not treasure good times in high school. Now in university there are things that don’t appear as expected, but I have to change my attitude and appreciate good things I can enjoy as an undergraduate. Only by doing so, will I enjoy my university live and not regret.

A Good model

Is it possible for a girl who stands as short as 1.55m to reach the destiny as the best Ping-pang player all through the world? Is it possible for a girl who could even not jot down all the 26 English characters at first to attain an economic PhD of Cambridge University? Ms Deng Yaping will tell you the answer is true.

Born short, Ms Deng Yaping who was fond of Ping-pang was rejected by any sports school. She could not take the usual path to realizing her dream of becoming a prestigious player. As a result, her father became the supervisor of her and made detailed and challenging training plan for her. To her father’s relief, Deng Yaping spared no effort to improve herself and always did more than he ordered her. There is a will, there is a win. As young as 10-year old, Deng Yaping who were an amateur beaten a couple of professional players and won the championship. The following was another gold medal three years later and what was the icing on the cake was the acceptance from the national Ping-pang team. Deng Yaping always worked much harder than her peers as well as the request of the national team. It was revealed that every day Deng Yaping hit the Ping-pang ball at least 10,000 times. Efforts paid off. Step by step, she obtained numerous gold medals and was on her road to success. Finally she struggled her way to the highest level of two batches of Olympic Games. Deng Yaping ranked No.1 in the world for amazing 8 years. No wonder so many competent players said it was a grief to play Ping-pang in the age of Deng Yaping.

As a saying is going, success is a journey instead of a destination. Her legend was not coming to an end. She was admitted by the English department of Qinghua University immediately after the termination of her sports life. At first, she had no idea what the tutors were saying and could only keep track of whatever she was able to recognize. Despite the enormous difficulty, she determined to go down the road. In order to sharpen her English, she set aside 14 hours in everyday life to learn English and kept repeating whatever she heard from the tapes and broadcast. After one year in Qinghua University and three months in the center for English learning of Cambridge University, she was amazingly able to talk free with Chairman Samaranch (International Olympic Committee) in English. She even managed to make speeches in front of the International Olympic Committee when Beijing was striving for the chance of hosting Olympic Games.

Last year she served as the vice dean of Olympic village in times of Beijing Olympic Games. Subsequently she took over two positions of two separate subordinate committee of International Olympic Committee. Her future also deserves being looked forward to. Deng Yaping always challenges the difficult things and even what seems impossible when she is at a crossroads. I am deeply impressed by the legendary story of Deng Yaping and her courage to pursuit what she wants no matter what lies on the road. Actually I felt discouraged and it was hardly possible to achieve a high level of English in the past. And since now I will change my tune because I have Deng Yaping as my model. It is time to take steps towards doing something challenging and different.
Let’s go head!

Cherry blossom in Wuhan University

Cherry blossom in my home university—Wuhan University has blossomed out for several days. Like the past decades hundreds of thousands of people come to visit. My friends in Wuhan University told me that looking down from the class windows, all they saw were snow-white flowers and people’s heads.
These cherry blossom trees have a long history. When Japanese troops occupied Wuhan, they settled down at Wuhan University and built a sanatorium there. In order to alleviate soldiers’ homesick, they brought seeds of cherry blossom to Wuhan and planted around their abodes. Those are only a small portion of trees that visitors can see today. After the war, we Chinese planted more in order to build up our relationship with Japan as well as remind us of the history.
However, nowadays how many people still remember the reasons of planting these trees? Most people come only to see the beautiful scenery. It is reported that a mother and her daughter even dressed up in kimono and took photos under cherry blossom trees. Students and visitors were so furious with them that they drove them away. Maybe they just thought it was fun doing so and the photos would be very beautiful. However will they still do so if they have at least the slightest memory of what Japanese had down to Chinese in the past? Even administrators in the school may forget the history—it is not free to pay a visit. Everyone except for students and teachers in Wuhan University coming to see the scenery has to pay 10 Yuan. So the school has totally changed it into a means of earning money. If it really wants us to think of the history and ponder over our relationship with Japan, it should no longer charge any fees. Furthermore, display boards can be made to tell visitors about how these trees were planted, Japanese cultures, the history of the war between China and Japan, how is our relation today and so on. It will be much more meaningful than just enjoying the beautiful flowers.

Reflection on our project

    To  tell  the  truth, we  have  never  done  a  project  before  when  we  were  in  China.  So  when  hearing  that  we  are  going  to  submit  a  research  report  at  the  end  of  Phase  2, I  felt  unconfident  about  it.

    During  the  recess  week, we (Daniel, XINGXING, JUZHENG  and  me)  visited  Ms  Leo  in  her  house.  She  gave  us  some  instructions  and  supervision  on  our  project.  The  most  important  is  that  she  let  each  of  us  choose  one  role  from  group  leader, researcher, surveyor  and  editor.  Thus  we  four  are  responsible  for  different  aspects  of  our  project, which  will  make  it  more  efficient.  Especially  after  I  read  the  guidelines  for  students  carefully  on  project  work, the  previous  anxiety  disappeared.  As  long  as  we  conducted  our  research  according  to  the  strategies, principles  and  guide  the  material  recommend, there  should  be  no  problem, I  thought  at  that  time.

    Only  when  we  started  did  we  know  that  it  was  not  so  easy.  During  the  process  of  deciding  which  topic  we  are  going  to  work  on, there  were  different  points  of  view.  Group  leader (Daniel) thought  that  we  should  do  something  interesting, which  could  attract  the  audience  and  readers.  While  I  held  the  view  that  we  had  better  do  something  practical.  If  we  apply  the  results  of  our  project  into  our  daily  life, it  may  help  improve  something.  After  our  discussion, we  concluded  that  our  points  of  view  were  not  contradictory.  We  brainstormed  five  ideas.  Then  we  needed  to  choose  one  from  the  five  topics.  It  was  difficult  to  make  a  choice.  Each  topic  had  its  strengths  and  weaknesses.  We  referred  to  the  strategies  and  principles  for  choosing  topics.  Finally  we  came  to  the  topic “the  attitude  of  Singaporeans  towards  the  Chinese  products”.  Later  on, we  found  that  our  topic  was  too  general.  We  had  to  narrow  it.  Again  we  came  to  the  crossroads.  If  we  narrow  our  topic  improperly, it  will  make  our  project  unbalanced.  But  our  topic  was  actually  big.  We  decided  to  narrow  from  Singaporeans  to  NUS  students.  It  is  better  and  more  practical   for  us  to  conduct  our  survey.

    Well, you  see  that  we  spent  two  days  on  deciding  our  topic.  Then  we  need  background  information.  That  is  my  work.  I  have  to  look  through  as  much  information  as  possible  in  order  to  obtain  enough  useful  information.  As  for  web  pages, I  have  looked  through  at  least  100  pages.  Although  it  is  a  tough  job, when  I  share  the  information  I  selected  with  them, I  felt  happy  and  satisfied.  Every  time  I  know  that  we  are  nearer  to  our  final  report, I  have  a  feeling  of  accomplishment.  During  our  teamwork, I  see  there  are  so  many  ideas  from  my  fellows  for  one  question, which  make  my  mind  more  open.  The  other  three  guys  are  also  very  cooperative.  I  believe  that  we  can  do  a  good  job  at  last.

    There  is  one  old  Chinese  saying  that  nothing  will  block  you  as  long  as  you  are  eager  to  achieve  something.  That  is  it.

  

About the ban on American dramas in China
On 1st, April, 2009, the National Broadcast& TV General Bureau announced that it would put a ban on the American dramas on the Internet. It means that since that day, there will not be any American dramas for mainland China any more. This causes a great shock among the netizens. Some of them even say that it is a present given by our country by the April Fools’ Day.
This makes me think about the condition of foreign TV shows in China. On one hand, it is right to prohibit Chinese watching the dramas online, because we do not have the copyright. Some famous American dramas, such as “Prison Break”, are translated into Chinese by some unknown people. After the translations, they upload the dramas to some websites like youku and youtube. Such behaviors are great violations of laws about intellectual property. In terms of laws, China is right to ban the dramas, which also shows respect for the American companies.
On the other hand, I am more or less suspicious to think that the decree is just a protection for the Chinese dramas. It is universally known that the National Broadcast& TV General Bureau has declared that the TV stations are only allowed to broadcast the homemade cartoons. This action is said to protect the domestic cartoons. I have another question. Is it necessary to do so? Actually, I do not think the cartoons made in China, which are too childish or meaningless, are good enough to educate children. In terms of the American dramas, is the decree issued intended to protect the Chinese TV series which are becoming more and more boring? If so, the decree is going to make the life dull.
In my opinion, the decree will not stop civilians to watch the TV series. Although the problem of copyright exists, it is still a good idea to watch the American dramas. Otherwise, the life in China will be more boring, which we cannot bear.

Trip To The Zoo

Even before I came to Singapore for study, I had heard the big name for Singapore Zoo. It was said that Singapore Zoo is one of the best zoos in this world and that was part of the reason I have been long for Singapore Zoo. When I had the chance to see Singapore Zoo in person in the recess week, I had to admit that what others said was true enough.
It was a damp and hot day, but consecutive heat waves did not decrease our excitement of the zoo we were going to visit. Wu Wen, Liao Ruiqian, Zhong Jun, Ma Ruifeng , our mentor Ms Jenny and I took a long journey all the way to the northern part of Singapore which is the location where Singapore Zoo stands.
Once we arrived finally, there was a animal show waiting for us. We rushed to the Shaw Foundation Center to watch the animal show. After that , we went to see the sea lion show which was quite funny. At last, it was the elephant show as the ending of all the morning feast for all the tourists. I was fascinated by the performance of those cute animals. It was the first time for me to see such a animal play like this.
After having lunch at KFC, we spent the whole afternoon lingering in the zoo. No wonder it is named one of the best with a mock rainforest layout of a zoo. When you are shuttling in the zoo, you will catch the feeling as you are really exploiting in a rainforest. Even though, to ensure safety, there are fences between you and the animal , the fences and barriers are so well-hidden that it makes an illustration that in such a short distance are you approaching to wild animals. That was why we all could not expedite our feet, only hoping we could have infinite time to spare at each animal stall. And for me, how I wish I could run this zoo. Well, that is far beyond reality.
At dust, with the rest gleams of the sun emitting, we reluctantly got out the gate of the Singapore Zoo. For memorizing this fantastic trip in the zoo, we took a picture using the gate of Singapore Zoo as the background. What a nice zoo! Next time when my friend comes to Singapore, I will definitely take them to visit Singapore Zoo.