This is the final blog entry of my WRA class. What I want to say first is that time passed really quickly! I can remember clearly the first meet in our class, but now it's already the end of the semester. I am so happy to meet Franny and all my classmates in the first semester of my college. You all taught me a lot both in study and life, also bring me tons of happiness.
I am now getting on well with my overseas study, thanks to you guys. Today I want to mainly talk about my experience being bilingual. I am a native speaker of Mandarin and I started to learn English since 10 years old. Even though I have learned English for so many years, I am not a professional speaker of English now, just because I didn't speak a lot in English when I was in China. All my Chinese friends and teachers thought that my English was good enough to handle the study here. But actually it's not the case. After I came to United States, I found my English can't be worse. I don't know how to order food in English, I know it's rude to point at the food and say I want that, but I have to. Sometimes when I was in trouble, I would shout out Chinese involuntarily. Recording pen has become a necessity of my life, since I can't catch all the materials covered by the professors, I have to record the lectures and review them again after class.
There are also some advantages to be bilingual. My Chinese name is Tong Chai, and my English name is Cherry. I gave myself an English name because it will be easier for local people to remember me. Some of my friends are taking Chinese class in MSU, and sometimes they pretty struggle in the class work. It will make me so happy to help them with Chinese. I feel so lucky to be bilingual. That means I can communicate and survive in two totally different countries, which makes me so excited. I like knowing people and sharing ideas with them. Do you have accomplishments you are proud of? I do. When I help the Chinese people who cannot speak English here, I told myself that it was not a waste of time learning another language.
Being bilingual is a challenge, as well as a chance. It is a challenge that makes us face more difficulties and problems to use different language in a new environment. It is also a chance that provides us a broader horizon to acknowledge the world and realize the self-value.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Response to Introduction: Writing and Recording Knowledge
After reading Elizabeth Hill Boone's article, I learn a lot about the revolution of literacy. This makes me think about myself. I am good at listening, not only in the test, but also in daily life; not only in Chinese, but also in English. And I often set it as one of my skills. As Elizabeth said in the article, listening, speaking, reading and writing are from the same literacy, I prefer to call them "language literacy". While listening is the first step to acknowledge a language, if you cannot understand the text or what people said, you probably cannot do anything related to that language.
The listening what I am talking about is not something about whether you have a strong enough listening ability to hear others' voice, but a skill which you can understand, interpret and create even to communicate with others. That's lead us back to the definition of the literacy. I like to understand others feeling and what they are thinking and talking. Sometimes I really consider that listening is one of the best ways to get on well with friends.
Great thoughts and ideas are not all from talking, but absolutely from listening. When you understand something, maybe you do not have to say something or even write something about that, you can think by yourself in heart and then let others listen to your thoughts.
That is what I think about this article, we cannot put the different parts of the language apart, because they are indeed a whole, what we should do is to use them appropriately and help us to better survive in the world.
The listening what I am talking about is not something about whether you have a strong enough listening ability to hear others' voice, but a skill which you can understand, interpret and create even to communicate with others. That's lead us back to the definition of the literacy. I like to understand others feeling and what they are thinking and talking. Sometimes I really consider that listening is one of the best ways to get on well with friends.
Great thoughts and ideas are not all from talking, but absolutely from listening. When you understand something, maybe you do not have to say something or even write something about that, you can think by yourself in heart and then let others listen to your thoughts.
That is what I think about this article, we cannot put the different parts of the language apart, because they are indeed a whole, what we should do is to use them appropriately and help us to better survive in the world.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Literacy & Technology
I have just finished reading Dennis Baron's From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology. It is pretty a long text, so I just scanned the main paragraphs of each part. I do like the way author persuade the audience as well as those lovable pictures.
Let me talk about how the technology shape the literacy first. When human being stepped into the modern society, technology has been showing its unchangable position to us. People even the upper class used the quill pen and ink to write something down in 17th century, but now, we are using computers and the Internet to keep record of our writing materials. You do not even need to print your staff out, just by posting them on the Internet, people throughout the world will see them immediately. Technology makes literacy become more straightforward and convenient. It also formed some new kinds of literacy, such as blogging. We can record our thoughts as soon as they came out and we do not have to worry about whether the paper will go moldy or be destroyed by someone else, because they are completely stored in the drives of your computer or even the Internet.
While on the other hand, literacy is playing an important role in the improvement of the technology. People are getting smarter and they learn to synthesis different literacy and turn them into a better way that is called new technology. In this way, more and more technology come out to interpret or help to express the literacy. Meanwhile, literacy is also a part of the motivations in this process.
In all, literacy and technology are synergistic--they are working together to enrich each other and make the human world more vivid and colorful.
Let me talk about how the technology shape the literacy first. When human being stepped into the modern society, technology has been showing its unchangable position to us. People even the upper class used the quill pen and ink to write something down in 17th century, but now, we are using computers and the Internet to keep record of our writing materials. You do not even need to print your staff out, just by posting them on the Internet, people throughout the world will see them immediately. Technology makes literacy become more straightforward and convenient. It also formed some new kinds of literacy, such as blogging. We can record our thoughts as soon as they came out and we do not have to worry about whether the paper will go moldy or be destroyed by someone else, because they are completely stored in the drives of your computer or even the Internet.
While on the other hand, literacy is playing an important role in the improvement of the technology. People are getting smarter and they learn to synthesis different literacy and turn them into a better way that is called new technology. In this way, more and more technology come out to interpret or help to express the literacy. Meanwhile, literacy is also a part of the motivations in this process.
In all, literacy and technology are synergistic--they are working together to enrich each other and make the human world more vivid and colorful.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
If I Am an Audience...
If I am an audience, I would like someone convince me with some visual medias. Because I am a person who is sensitive to something visible such like images and videos, some shows will make me pretty excited. Music is also a good way to show me some ideas, it will make me feel enjoyable and comfortable.
If I am an audience, I would also hope that there are some brief relevant words about the images or videos. I hate to read tons of pages and just get a little information. I am an active person. When some small children were reading the fairy tales in kingdergarten I was actually looking at the magazines which had lots of pictures, though I could not understand them completely at that age. Gradually grown up, I still do not like reading that much, but have interest in the visual media. Because I am very into the music, I enjoy the MVs a lot. What's more, I can even sit in front of the television and watch the ads non-stop for a couple hours. I love to watch those ads and find the meaning of them.
If I am an audience, I will look forward to receiving some fresh ideas, colorful expressions. The most expected one would be a documentary music video about me. Good!
If I am an audience, I would also hope that there are some brief relevant words about the images or videos. I hate to read tons of pages and just get a little information. I am an active person. When some small children were reading the fairy tales in kingdergarten I was actually looking at the magazines which had lots of pictures, though I could not understand them completely at that age. Gradually grown up, I still do not like reading that much, but have interest in the visual media. Because I am very into the music, I enjoy the MVs a lot. What's more, I can even sit in front of the television and watch the ads non-stop for a couple hours. I love to watch those ads and find the meaning of them.
If I am an audience, I will look forward to receiving some fresh ideas, colorful expressions. The most expected one would be a documentary music video about me. Good!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Literacy in My Life -- Shopping
How could shopping be a literacy? Shopping is woman's nature. When you face tons of the pretty clothes, shoes, bags, what else can make you move out of your way? None for me. I love shopping, though sometimes it is only window-shopping.
When mentioned the word "shopping", people always think of the luxury and mammonish. But shopping is far more than those. Shopping is an art, how to get value-for-money goods, is always a question which is worth considering. I was the person who was in charge of the financial work of my class in high school. What I need to do is to buy all kinds of staff for the class and get sponsorship for the activities. When our class planned to hold some events, such like get-togethers or class meetings, our group would go to the market to search for some decorations for them. At this time skills are particularly important, we should first find some suitable good- quality goods, then give an acceptable price in mind, by bargaining with the vendor,finally bought the things in a proper price. What to say when bargain with the vendors, what actions should be taken to make the vendors decrease the price, are both questions which need thinking about.
Shopping is a basic life skill, more than just an entertainment. And sometimes when you buy something adorable will make you feel better. Window-shopping is also a good way to relax and talk with friends, because women will speak a lot during shopping.
To be a good shopper is not only a pleasant thing, but also a necessary ability in life. Shopping does bring me a lot of happiness and realistic benefits.
When mentioned the word "shopping", people always think of the luxury and mammonish. But shopping is far more than those. Shopping is an art, how to get value-for-money goods, is always a question which is worth considering. I was the person who was in charge of the financial work of my class in high school. What I need to do is to buy all kinds of staff for the class and get sponsorship for the activities. When our class planned to hold some events, such like get-togethers or class meetings, our group would go to the market to search for some decorations for them. At this time skills are particularly important, we should first find some suitable good- quality goods, then give an acceptable price in mind, by bargaining with the vendor,finally bought the things in a proper price. What to say when bargain with the vendors, what actions should be taken to make the vendors decrease the price, are both questions which need thinking about.
Shopping is a basic life skill, more than just an entertainment. And sometimes when you buy something adorable will make you feel better. Window-shopping is also a good way to relax and talk with friends, because women will speak a lot during shopping.
To be a good shopper is not only a pleasant thing, but also a necessary ability in life. Shopping does bring me a lot of happiness and realistic benefits.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Literacy in My Life -- Music
I have a love for music. I started to learn to play different kinds of instruments from a young age, so that I have a special feeling in music. I remember that I was used to being selected to performance in the activities of school and class because of my talent. And also for this reason, I became admired by a lot of people which were in the same age as me at that time. Through these experiences, my ability and courage were both developed.
Having a band in high school is really a cool thing, and I did it! At the very first time, we were only a few children who love music and instruments, we did not have any experience of making a band, what we only had was passion, lots of passion. We shared our ideas of the songs. We communicated with the tones and lyrics happily though we were not very familier with each other before. I felt like that music lives without borders.
Here in US, I also met some friends who were fond of music. One of them is Kay, he is a Korean boy who has been here for about three years. He has professional microphone and stereo in his dorm. He often makes the song by himself, he downloads the music from the Internet and writes the lyrics then records them. The songs he made are really wonderful and pretty professional. I appreciate his talent so much, our band used to try to write some lyrics by ourselves but we did not do it very well, what Kay did really makes me excited and light my mind of keeping on music.
Music is a thing that can inspire me and give me a lot of power. I use music to make friends and communicate with people. I cannot live without music, because it is a real fantastic literacy I have.
Having a band in high school is really a cool thing, and I did it! At the very first time, we were only a few children who love music and instruments, we did not have any experience of making a band, what we only had was passion, lots of passion. We shared our ideas of the songs. We communicated with the tones and lyrics happily though we were not very familier with each other before. I felt like that music lives without borders.
Here in US, I also met some friends who were fond of music. One of them is Kay, he is a Korean boy who has been here for about three years. He has professional microphone and stereo in his dorm. He often makes the song by himself, he downloads the music from the Internet and writes the lyrics then records them. The songs he made are really wonderful and pretty professional. I appreciate his talent so much, our band used to try to write some lyrics by ourselves but we did not do it very well, what Kay did really makes me excited and light my mind of keeping on music.
Music is a thing that can inspire me and give me a lot of power. I use music to make friends and communicate with people. I cannot live without music, because it is a real fantastic literacy I have.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Literacy in My Life -- Sports
Sports is life. I am into sports, although not very good at, but have been involved in many sports since young. My father taught me to play table tennis in primary school, because it is China's national sport, as long as one is a Chinese, for better or worse, he or she is able to play a little while. Table tennis is the first sports I learned, althought I was not very good at it. But because of table tennis, I made the first group of friends in my life. Everyday after the school, we would join together in the backyard to play table tennis, although we were all very poor in it, but we had a lot of fun in it.
Later I fell in love with Frisbee, this was also affected by my father who was very "trendy". He bought a Frisbee home, since then we would play the Frisbee together in the yard every weekend. And that scene has become an unforgettable childhood memory in my mind. After I came to the United States, every time I see somebody playing Frisbee, it always makes me think of the scene which father and I were playing Frisbee so happily. At the moment, I feel like that the stream of warm is flowing in my heart.
When I was in high school, because of the heavy work load, the opportunity to exercise became less gradually, and the whole people seem lacking vitality. Once during the enrollment of our school's sports meeting, the monitor appointed me to take part in the of long-distance projects--1,500 meters. I thought he was crazy, even the 200 meters would make me dying at that time. So I refused him immediately, "are you kidding me ?" I said to him. The following day I received a letter from the monitor, he said that I was a strong girl, he did not believe that I cannot overcome it, he said if I kept looking for an excuse to comfort myself, I would certainly be a failure. I got a lot of inspiration from his letter, then I decided to take part in the game. I went to playground to practice everyday after class, from where I could even not be able to finish the whole run to where I could easily cover the 1500 meters, only the people who experienced it will know how hard it was to do that. During the game time, I did not get a good ranking, but what made me be proud of myself is that I completed the game, which I used to think that I would never do.
Sport is not only good to my body and sprite, it also brings me friendship, and a strong will. As there is life, there is sports.
Later I fell in love with Frisbee, this was also affected by my father who was very "trendy". He bought a Frisbee home, since then we would play the Frisbee together in the yard every weekend. And that scene has become an unforgettable childhood memory in my mind. After I came to the United States, every time I see somebody playing Frisbee, it always makes me think of the scene which father and I were playing Frisbee so happily. At the moment, I feel like that the stream of warm is flowing in my heart.
When I was in high school, because of the heavy work load, the opportunity to exercise became less gradually, and the whole people seem lacking vitality. Once during the enrollment of our school's sports meeting, the monitor appointed me to take part in the of long-distance projects--1,500 meters. I thought he was crazy, even the 200 meters would make me dying at that time. So I refused him immediately, "are you kidding me ?" I said to him. The following day I received a letter from the monitor, he said that I was a strong girl, he did not believe that I cannot overcome it, he said if I kept looking for an excuse to comfort myself, I would certainly be a failure. I got a lot of inspiration from his letter, then I decided to take part in the game. I went to playground to practice everyday after class, from where I could even not be able to finish the whole run to where I could easily cover the 1500 meters, only the people who experienced it will know how hard it was to do that. During the game time, I did not get a good ranking, but what made me be proud of myself is that I completed the game, which I used to think that I would never do.
Sport is not only good to my body and sprite, it also brings me friendship, and a strong will. As there is life, there is sports.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Literacy in My Life -- Programming Language
What I wrote yesterday makes me think of another kind of language which people use to communicate with regardless of the languages they speak. That is programming language. Since the advent of computer, people have created a lot of kinds of computer language to manipulate the computer to better serve humanity. Computers, after all, are machines, so people can only use specific language to operate them, such language is common all over the world. In any place of the world, these languages can be identified by the computers there.
I am learning Dreamweaver and NVU in CSE class this semester. Programming language now formed a lot of sound systems, such as C Language and so on, but Microsoft's contribution to the operation of language is immense, Window linguistic invention greatly simplifies the operation of the programming. However, some complex work such as websites design, still needs to use specialized programming languages to achieve.
I did a lot of programming thing in my class. We built our own website and fullfill the content of ourselves. We have to recite some basic marks and signs for designing. When you check the programming words of any webpage on the Internet, you can see that the complexity of web pages which have lots of features are from these basic components of language.
This is kind of technical skill is necessary for us. I will keep on learning well of it and someday apply it to somewhere useful for me.
I am learning Dreamweaver and NVU in CSE class this semester. Programming language now formed a lot of sound systems, such as C Language and so on, but Microsoft's contribution to the operation of language is immense, Window linguistic invention greatly simplifies the operation of the programming. However, some complex work such as websites design, still needs to use specialized programming languages to achieve.
I did a lot of programming thing in my class. We built our own website and fullfill the content of ourselves. We have to recite some basic marks and signs for designing. When you check the programming words of any webpage on the Internet, you can see that the complexity of web pages which have lots of features are from these basic components of language.
This is kind of technical skill is necessary for us. I will keep on learning well of it and someday apply it to somewhere useful for me.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Literacy in My Life -- Mathematics Language
We cannot live without literacies, because they are the tools for people to communicate with each other. There are also numbers of languages in the world. Some people speak their own languge in the particular area. Therefore, people from different parts of the world cannot understand the other language which spoken by others. However, there is a language that the people all around the world can understand, interpret and communicate with others, that is the mathematics language.
I am taking math class now, and what makes it different from other classes for me is I can easily follow what the teacher is teachering, even though it is taught in my second language. Most signs and formulas are the same in math, we learned them in our high schools no matter where we are from and no matter what language we are speaking.
I am always considering the Arabic numerals are the greatest invention in human's history.
Not only in maths, but also Physics and Chemistry. The whole world is using the same equations and formulas. We can make each other understood without using another mediate language.
With these language literacies, our scientific work becomes less tough. We use them to make charts and tables to show others some circumstances without misunderstanding. Think about it, that is really an amazing thing, isn't it?
I am taking math class now, and what makes it different from other classes for me is I can easily follow what the teacher is teachering, even though it is taught in my second language. Most signs and formulas are the same in math, we learned them in our high schools no matter where we are from and no matter what language we are speaking.
I am always considering the Arabic numerals are the greatest invention in human's history.
Not only in maths, but also Physics and Chemistry. The whole world is using the same equations and formulas. We can make each other understood without using another mediate language.
With these language literacies, our scientific work becomes less tough. We use them to make charts and tables to show others some circumstances without misunderstanding. Think about it, that is really an amazing thing, isn't it?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Some Thoughts about Literacy
Literacy is so abstract word that none of us can define it accurately. As Sylvia Scribner mentioned in "Literacy In Three Metaphors", "Each of these efforts has identified important parameters of literacy, but none has yet won consensual agreement." It is hard indeed to give a absolute definition of this word, Sylvia told us something about the word by analysing it in three different ways.
Literacy has neither a static nor a universal essence, but it is a "many-meaninged thing". For individuals, literacy is a kind of skills they should obtain to grasp, explain and express. Just like a adaptation, we should use this skill to account the goals and settings of people's activities with written language. In my opinion, the literacy which we gained from our life is basic skill for us to survive in this world, you have to think and talk to make others know your feelings and ideas. That is the realistic significance for individuals.
There is also a relationship between literacy and group or community advancement. That is what the author talked about in "Literacy as Power". Community mobilized the members to use the literacy in order to take part in the social movements. In this way, all the community members will be connected together and achieve more goals for the unity.
Many kinds of literacies are used by people everyday. The author gave us a lot of opinions about the different literacies in the third part of the article. Even some rude words is a kind of literacy, but what we pursue should be the ones that are intelligent and polite also effective.
Literacy is a very important thing in our life. We should learn it and how to use it to help us live better in the society which is full of misunderstanding and controversy
Literacy has neither a static nor a universal essence, but it is a "many-meaninged thing". For individuals, literacy is a kind of skills they should obtain to grasp, explain and express. Just like a adaptation, we should use this skill to account the goals and settings of people's activities with written language. In my opinion, the literacy which we gained from our life is basic skill for us to survive in this world, you have to think and talk to make others know your feelings and ideas. That is the realistic significance for individuals.
There is also a relationship between literacy and group or community advancement. That is what the author talked about in "Literacy as Power". Community mobilized the members to use the literacy in order to take part in the social movements. In this way, all the community members will be connected together and achieve more goals for the unity.
Many kinds of literacies are used by people everyday. The author gave us a lot of opinions about the different literacies in the third part of the article. Even some rude words is a kind of literacy, but what we pursue should be the ones that are intelligent and polite also effective.
Literacy is a very important thing in our life. We should learn it and how to use it to help us live better in the society which is full of misunderstanding and controversy
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Response of the Assignment #2 -- What Do You Left When You're Gone?
Above is a music video of the song "When I'm gone" by Eminem.
Because of too much emphasis on the reputation, Eminem neglected of his wife and daughter, even repeatedly deceived them. His daughter followed him all the way from home and his wife tried to suicide, Eminem flied back, the plane he took crashed on the way back. But later Eminem found that it was only a dream and his wife and daughter were still alive. Until then, he found that how much his family meant to him.
It is a moving MV. The little girl who appeared in the video is Slim's daughter Hailie. Silm was busy working all day just as he sang in the song, "Daddy’s writin’a song, this song ain’t gon’ write itself", and his wife was addicted to drugs at that time, so little Hailie became lonely and depressed. In the video, Hailie was asking for their love but was ignored by them. Actually, we can know that Slim loves his daughter pretty much by watching this video.
What impressed me most were the expressions in Hailie's beautiful eyes. She was so helpless that she tried to do something bad to attract Slim's attention. I also saw the ordinary paternal love from Slim who was thought to be punk and unruly by the public.
The lyric "when I’m gone, just carry on don’t mourn" is what Slim said to his daughter times and times to comfort her when he was away from her. Actually, it is just a kind of self-comfort, Hailie would not feel better by hearing this. At the end of the video, Slim was with his family and he finally found that being together, giving Hailie one underdog and watching her swinging by herself are the things that will bring the happiness to the family.
People often focus on the daily affairs dealing with the living but forget what we want to cherish. Slim was gone with his little daughter left, what do you left when you are gone?
Do you forget your children's birthdays because of the abustle work? Do you alienate your best friend because you are busy dating? Do you lose your temper to your parents because you are stuck in your study? Do you regret not to share the limit time with the people you love after you lost them forever? Those most important things in our life gradually go away from us when we are looking for the excuses. Not so much that they are far away from us, better to say that we abandoned them.
Slim has woken up before he lose all, is that also a reminder for us that we should take some actions to perfect our lives? Think about it, there should be many important things in one's life, but do not left someone you love when you're gone, they must be your power and sharer of the happiness.
Response of the Assignment #2 -- Louder than Anything You Can Say
Here is the article which I am going to analyse:
Louder Than Anything You Can Say
I teach economics at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed.
The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful. His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: "Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," I said. "I choose to be cheerful."
"Let me give you an example," I continued, addressing all sixty students in the class. In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live.
One day a few weeks ago I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't turn over. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.
As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class.
The secretary in the Provost's office asked me what has happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.
"Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?" She was puzzled. "What do you mean?" "I live 17 miles from here." I replied. "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn't. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient fashion."
"The secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class." So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn't the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student's observation that I was cheerful.
Deepak Chopra has quoted an Indian wise man as saying, "Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." I suppose it must be so.
This is a short story about attitude. In my school times, my teachers always say that, "Attitude is everything", this sentence is from the then Chinese national soccer team coach Bora Milutinovic who first led the Chinese soccer team to enter the World Cup finals. Milu instilled this core thought to all team members, stressing the importance of attitude, which just happens to coincide with the author's thought of this article. Indeed, we may not have the right to choose what kind of things will happen, but we can choose to go with the attitude of how to face them.
In the article, the author described a small matter in his life, just like what we have written in "A Day in my life", an extraordinary sense which comes from the ordinary life. When the author found that the young students he taught were always bothered by various "troubles" in their lives and not happy, he gave the class a vivid lesson by telling a real experience in his life: facing the anchor of his car halfway to school, the author did not complained about his bad luck, but was grateful that the car did not break down far away from the school so that he did not delay the normal job. The author used real dialogues, as well as first-person narrative, making readers feel more about the author's positive and optimistic attitude towards life, especially the obstacles in life.
People all have their own positions in society, they struggle to pursue their dreams, but sometimes what they pursue may not meet the material requirements.They have to do it for some practical reasons though it may be something that they do not want to do. We must work hard, study hard for a foothold in society, we are constantly on the run, it is easy to get tired of the it and become querulous. Reality is not that cruel and frightening as it said. If we face everthing with a roseate attitude, life will show the most brilliant side to us.
The author used concise language to express the central idea of the article cogently, the title of this article is Louder Than Anything You Can Say, the author wrote the source of the title at the end of the article, so readers can have a better understanding of the further main idea based on the impression they got from the former part of the article. The mode--emphasis on narrative - refining on the core which the author applied in this article often appears in such kind of educational articles. We should not only understand the importance of the attitude which the author wanted to reveal to us in the article, but also learn something about this mode of writing in order to apply it into our writing.
Louder than anything you can say, be louder and louder.
Response of the Assignment #2 -- Picture World Made By Leica M
Here is a classic picture taken by Leica M camera:
On February 1968, a plain-clothes police captain - Lou, shot at a suspected member of Communist Party of Vietnam without court permission on the street in Saigon.
On February 1968, a plain-clothes police captain - Lou, shot at a suspected member of Communist Party of Vietnam without court permission on the street in Saigon.
The "CPV shot" pictures which were taken by the well-known Associated Press correspondent Edith Adams have become the most famous news photos in the history of contemporary photography, they covered all the 1970 world press photo awards. This picture was an represention of those kind of reports which made people to think about why the United States got involved in the Vietnam War and Southeast Asia Affairs. It also changed the attitude of the American people of the Vietnam War and led to a nationwide anti-war movement in the United States.
The background hue and graphics of this picture are both gloomy, which should be due to the characteristics of the Leica M camere. Because of the portability, durability and excellent lens quality of Leica M machine, the journalists and photographers all over the world use it to shoot a lot of valuable lens. As a witness of the times, Leica M camera recorded human sufferings, also lay its immortal status in the history of photography by these valuable historical photos.
One of the most famous and popular pictures in the world should be the portrait photo of the Cuban revolution hero Guevara.
The following is the original image:
In the picture, Guevara was wearing a beret, his eyes were intently watching from afar; At that time, Guevara was taking part in anti-American rallies, in memory of the victims of the Cuban crew. As a symbol of freedom and ideals, this Guevara's portrait is popular for a long time in the East and the West, it was widely printed on posters, T-shirts and souvenirs.
Photography is a traditional way to record. Since the camera was invented, people have used it widely in all kinds of events. Among all the cameras, Leica M plays an significant role in the history, it was first used as military photographic equipment. We know from the two pictures above that Leica M has its own quality of pictures, it reflects the scenes as a kind of historical and serious issues,compared to other types of photographs. The camera actually saved the moments which show the war, turmoil, poverty, revolution and polarization in the 1980s.
By seeing these old photos, reading the story behind the photos, we finally realize that photos of the history and the history of human, are both so precious.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Day in My Life
Woke by an alarm clock, I got up at 8:10 while my roommate was still sleeping deeply. It is indeed a challenge for me to get up so early everyday. With my eyes half closed, I put on my clothes and brushed my teeth. Suddenly noticed that it was already 8:40, I rushed out to the cafeteria for my breakfast, sometimes this was the only meal for the whole day. A 15-minute breakfast was already perfect for me. It was bitterly cold today, fortunately, I arrived at my classroom before I was froze in the snowy wind. Having classes made me feel happy and dependable. The discussions held in WRA course made me high and the math problems also made me excited.
Lunch, sometimes becomes impossible for me, because I need to sleep for a while in order to support myself for the rest of the day. After 40 minutes' sleep, I struggled from my bed and went to class again. Facing the screen in the lab, I couldn't describe how sleepy I was. But I had to force myself to concentrate on it, because as a foreigner once I didn't catch up with the class, I would perhaps never catch on it again. It seemed so long before the end of this class. I walked back to my dorm, opened my computer, replied my mother's message, checked the homework for today and began to do it. Luckily, there was not much work to deal with, I watched TV series online after finished doing my homework. That was the most joyful time I had for the day, some juice, some chips and the series I loved.
Time turned to 9:00, it's time to prepare for my work in the cafeteria. I would be working at dish room for 4 hours until 1:30 in the morning. Does it hear weird? It does! A little talk with my workmates, just looked at the clock and waited for the mid-night. Sometimes there are not enough people, I have to handle all the things by myself. Every time when I finish my work at cafe, I feel exhausted and dying. Finding that my roommate had already fallen asleep, I quietly closed the door and went bed quickly. With all the things done, I felt so happy at this moment. Even though tomorrow would also be a busy day, after all, tomorrow is another day.
That's a day in my life, maybe Monday, thanks for watching.
Lunch, sometimes becomes impossible for me, because I need to sleep for a while in order to support myself for the rest of the day. After 40 minutes' sleep, I struggled from my bed and went to class again. Facing the screen in the lab, I couldn't describe how sleepy I was. But I had to force myself to concentrate on it, because as a foreigner once I didn't catch up with the class, I would perhaps never catch on it again. It seemed so long before the end of this class. I walked back to my dorm, opened my computer, replied my mother's message, checked the homework for today and began to do it. Luckily, there was not much work to deal with, I watched TV series online after finished doing my homework. That was the most joyful time I had for the day, some juice, some chips and the series I loved.
Time turned to 9:00, it's time to prepare for my work in the cafeteria. I would be working at dish room for 4 hours until 1:30 in the morning. Does it hear weird? It does! A little talk with my workmates, just looked at the clock and waited for the mid-night. Sometimes there are not enough people, I have to handle all the things by myself. Every time when I finish my work at cafe, I feel exhausted and dying. Finding that my roommate had already fallen asleep, I quietly closed the door and went bed quickly. With all the things done, I felt so happy at this moment. Even though tomorrow would also be a busy day, after all, tomorrow is another day.
That's a day in my life, maybe Monday, thanks for watching.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A photo to make us stronger
This photo was taken by an English photographer and first published on The Daily Telegraph after the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.
In the picture, a middle-age man sat on a motor bike and a woman lay on his back. Actually, the woman had died for couple days in the earthquake. The man was her husband, named Jiafang Wu. As Wu described, when the earthquake came, he was working outside while his wife was at home, he ran back home the first time after the earthquake and found their house had already been ruined. He strongly insisted his wife was in the ruin and began to dig, having been working a whole day, Wu finally found his wife, but sadly, already dead. He felt a deep pain inside and decided to bury his wife himself. He digged out his wife's favourite clothes and headwear and put them on for her. Because the transportation was cut down and no one yet to help, he tied his wife to his back and rode to the burial ground. During their way there, this photo was taken by a photographer on the road.
We all see the full-filled love in this picture. The deceased have to, towards the heaven, where there will be no more disasters, there will be no more tears, but for those who survived the disaster in the compatriots, alive to become a challenge, let them in an instant disaster separated from the experience of live and death, once the husband and wife had loved each other for 20 years, but now they had to be apart. The horrible disaster not only led to the flesh wounds but also the detructions of their souls. We can ever build their home more beautiful, but for us, the most important is how to bind up their soul-deep scars.
Pay our respect to the deaths, is more than recalling, but a way to make us stronger!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
25 Random things about me
1.I will feel like vomiting when I smell the scents of onions, gingers and Chinese toon tree.
2.I set up a band in high school with my friends and performed throughout the campus.
3.I started to learn electronic piano when I was 4 years old and continued it for 7 years.
4.I'm very much into spicy food and hate sweet food except for chocolate and ice-cream.
5.I enjoy extreme sports and all kinds of roller coasters.
6.I love bungee jumping and once jumped from a 62-meter-high mountain.
7.I eat a lot, even some boys can't eat as much as I do.
8.I don't have brothers or sisters,but I really want to have one or two.
9.I can drink a lot even though it's illegal in United States.
10.I collect all kinds of letter papers and stickers, also some stationeries.
11.I cut down some weird pictures on books or newspaper and put them into another magazine.
12.I once got Temporo-mandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome and couldn't chew for 2 weeks.
13.I fought with my friends in the snow and was buried by her.
14.I was once afraid of water and learned to swim at age of 12.
15.I like window-shopping.
16.I'm fond of rings and bracelets cos I have two beautiful hands.
17.I prefer washing to cooking.
18.I really want to learn Japanese.
19.Florence and Tokyo are the places I'd like to go most.
20.I hate science fiction films and those kinda fake things.
21.I have a big interest in the ancient Chinese emperor's life in Tsing Dynasty.
22.I'm addicted to hip-hop music.
23.Noodles with soybean paste, Beijing Roast Ducks are my favorite food.
24.I hope I can be skinny someday.
25.I'm quick-tempered and I need to be patience for everything.
2.I set up a band in high school with my friends and performed throughout the campus.
3.I started to learn electronic piano when I was 4 years old and continued it for 7 years.
4.I'm very much into spicy food and hate sweet food except for chocolate and ice-cream.
5.I enjoy extreme sports and all kinds of roller coasters.
6.I love bungee jumping and once jumped from a 62-meter-high mountain.
7.I eat a lot, even some boys can't eat as much as I do.
8.I don't have brothers or sisters,but I really want to have one or two.
9.I can drink a lot even though it's illegal in United States.
10.I collect all kinds of letter papers and stickers, also some stationeries.
11.I cut down some weird pictures on books or newspaper and put them into another magazine.
12.I once got Temporo-mandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome and couldn't chew for 2 weeks.
13.I fought with my friends in the snow and was buried by her.
14.I was once afraid of water and learned to swim at age of 12.
15.I like window-shopping.
16.I'm fond of rings and bracelets cos I have two beautiful hands.
17.I prefer washing to cooking.
18.I really want to learn Japanese.
19.Florence and Tokyo are the places I'd like to go most.
20.I hate science fiction films and those kinda fake things.
21.I have a big interest in the ancient Chinese emperor's life in Tsing Dynasty.
22.I'm addicted to hip-hop music.
23.Noodles with soybean paste, Beijing Roast Ducks are my favorite food.
24.I hope I can be skinny someday.
25.I'm quick-tempered and I need to be patience for everything.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Analysis of Stan
This is a song .sung by Eminem. It was made from a true story of a Eminem's fan.
The man in the video is called Stan, he was a allegiance fan of Slim and he found himself can't help falling love with Slim. However, his girlfriend had already had a baby for him. Stan felt so spellbound and conflictive. So he decided to write a letter to Slim and pour out all his sorrow and suffering. Dramaticly, his letter was left on the road to Slim, Stan thought that maybe Slim didn't care about him or even laugh at him. With more pressure on his mind, Stan wrote again to Slim, trying to explain himself and get some help from Slim. Unfortunately, the letter was missed again. After a long time waiting, Stan finally lost all the hope and wanted to end his life for relieving. But he thought he couldn't face his girlfriend and the unborn baby, so he chose to end their two's lives, too. In the end, Stan squezzed his girlfriend in the car and drove to the seashore, on the way there, he recorded the last words for Slim to unburden his love to Slim.
It's a sad story. We all don't want to see this miserable ending. When a person faces lots of pressure and difficulties, just like at the heritage of the video, Stan couldn't sleep at night and worried about the cruel reality, he needed someone to support him. But the letters toyed him and the whole world refused him, he had no choice but death.
As an audience, we read the emotions of the video by extending the details in it and the scenes set by the director. Considering the necessity of ideological criticism, can those people who are really in trouble receive the help from the others, even in the area such as United States? I deeply remember Robert's last sentence in the text, he said," We must start with our most beloved icons, not hte ones we profess allegiance to, but those that really have the power to move and shake us. The song "Stan" is really one like that. The first time I watched it, I was moved or even shocked by the story. I felt really sorry for Stan and his family, also for the world we live in. By watching this video, let us think about the lack of emotions between us and evoke the love of every social members.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
We shall overcome
----My Slogan
It's the best of time, world becomes peaceful, people's lives become better.
It's the worse of time, a horrible disaster hit us.
On 12 May, 2009, a 8.1-level earthquake shaked over a beautiful tourism place--Sichuan, China. Just several seconds, many cities were ruined, even some were gone. Thousands of people--children, youths, elders, died of it. Two mountains got closer, the city between them and people lived there would never come out again. Millions of people lost their homes, they're lacking of food, water, medicine and love.
However, I think we shall overcome, as everyone from chairman and little baby is for the whole nation. We shall overcome, as so much help comes from those warm-hearted people in the world. We shall overcome, as the strong spirit of human is still night there. Such disaster will only strengthen us, we shall overcome!
It's the best of time, world becomes peaceful, people's lives become better.
It's the worse of time, a horrible disaster hit us.
On 12 May, 2009, a 8.1-level earthquake shaked over a beautiful tourism place--Sichuan, China. Just several seconds, many cities were ruined, even some were gone. Thousands of people--children, youths, elders, died of it. Two mountains got closer, the city between them and people lived there would never come out again. Millions of people lost their homes, they're lacking of food, water, medicine and love.
However, I think we shall overcome, as everyone from chairman and little baby is for the whole nation. We shall overcome, as so much help comes from those warm-hearted people in the world. We shall overcome, as the strong spirit of human is still night there. Such disaster will only strengthen us, we shall overcome!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
“I have a dream”
“I have a dream…” what famous and familiar sentence it is. Since the moment Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke with a passionate strenuousness at Lincoln Memorial, Washington in 1963, this speech is bound to become the landmark of liberal and radical movements of Negroes.
The great speech stirred thousands people’s hearts. I think the most important reason is his abundant diction. His sentences were long and well structured, interwoven with parallel words and phrases. At the beginning of almost every paragraph, he started with the sentence “I have a dream…” which made the speech a whole. MLKJ also spoke in the first person, which strengthened the power of the words. In the lecture, he mentioned many states and feathers of those states, to make his speech more believable. He used simile to express his complex emotions. Such a vivid and active speech absolutely depended on its content, plenty of short true story appeared in this lecture, even if they are concise and short, they influenced the tone of the entire speech indeed. Some beautiful and peaceful scenes draw by MLKJ in the speech, for example, the paragraph “I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” had a strong quarter as well.
By studying this famous speech, we really can learn some vital writing skills to make our articles logical and persuasive.
Link to "I have a dream" http://www.cycnet.com/englishcorner/speech/dream.htm
The great speech stirred thousands people’s hearts. I think the most important reason is his abundant diction. His sentences were long and well structured, interwoven with parallel words and phrases. At the beginning of almost every paragraph, he started with the sentence “I have a dream…” which made the speech a whole. MLKJ also spoke in the first person, which strengthened the power of the words. In the lecture, he mentioned many states and feathers of those states, to make his speech more believable. He used simile to express his complex emotions. Such a vivid and active speech absolutely depended on its content, plenty of short true story appeared in this lecture, even if they are concise and short, they influenced the tone of the entire speech indeed. Some beautiful and peaceful scenes draw by MLKJ in the speech, for example, the paragraph “I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” had a strong quarter as well.
By studying this famous speech, we really can learn some vital writing skills to make our articles logical and persuasive.
Link to "I have a dream" http://www.cycnet.com/englishcorner/speech/dream.htm
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Something about Mother Tongue.
The writer is an Asian American and her family is an immigration family from China. Both of these two points push me close to the writer and the article. Impressed deeply by Amy’s vivid words and expressions, I’m thinking this interesting topic about mother tongue. I always complain about my English writing because it’s too hard for me to write down my true feeling in English. No matter how many times I tried, it failed to do so. And I even don’t know why. But the writer gave me some ideas about that, “ a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers. The language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child.” Even though I’m not a child of immigrant family, I could say maybe I’m the immigrant family member cuz I left China when I was 19. The articles I wrote as if all reveal that: I’m not a native speaker.
Many people around the world, especially Chinese people, often ask this question, why there are so many talented Chinese writers through the refulgent Chinese literature history, but no one ever has won a Nobel Prize? I think this is also a broad sociological question which is hard to answer. In my opinion, that’s mainly because the translation problem. Chinese is a language which is so complex that rare people could translate it into other languages. The Chinese author’s emotion was perfused on every words. The tiny changes of the order or rhyme will lead to the big different in meanings. Mother Tongue is the happy symbol of the writer between her and her mother. But I hope this kind of “tongue” could disappear, for further communication between the people throughout the world.
Many people around the world, especially Chinese people, often ask this question, why there are so many talented Chinese writers through the refulgent Chinese literature history, but no one ever has won a Nobel Prize? I think this is also a broad sociological question which is hard to answer. In my opinion, that’s mainly because the translation problem. Chinese is a language which is so complex that rare people could translate it into other languages. The Chinese author’s emotion was perfused on every words. The tiny changes of the order or rhyme will lead to the big different in meanings. Mother Tongue is the happy symbol of the writer between her and her mother. But I hope this kind of “tongue” could disappear, for further communication between the people throughout the world.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Capacity Inventory.
Ten different categories of skills and ten different skills of Office:
1. Office
Typing
Operating Photoshop Software
Word Processing
Filing Alphabetically/Numerically
Shorthand or Speedwriting
Dealing with machinery problems
Entering Information into Computer
Using office software (Word,Powepoint,Excel..)
Writing all kinds of letters
Knowing some foreign languages
2.Repair
3.Food
4.Art
5.Sports
6.Operating Equipment
7.Supervision
8.Instruments
9.Communication
10.Entertainments
1. Office
Typing
Operating Photoshop Software
Word Processing
Filing Alphabetically/Numerically
Shorthand or Speedwriting
Dealing with machinery problems
Entering Information into Computer
Using office software (Word,Powepoint,Excel..)
Writing all kinds of letters
Knowing some foreign languages
2.Repair
3.Food
4.Art
5.Sports
6.Operating Equipment
7.Supervision
8.Instruments
9.Communication
10.Entertainments
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The relationship between language and how you perceive the world.
Where was the language from? Ancient people found it difficult to express themselves just by dancing and drawing, so language appeared. With the language, human beings could directly share their feelings with others and solve many problems in daily life. As time goes by, language gradually became a tool to know and expand the world, using language really helps to acknowledge some data and makes it easier to perceive others’ emotion even the whole world..
Well, as mankind get familiar with the world they live, more words are created for the new usages of the world, in this way, language is developed. In addition, when there are some new phenomena, human will think out some new words to describe them. This kind of change also let human beings get more hapiness from the language, because they will be better understood and communicate without toughs. So language get improved by human’s perceive of the world.
I think language and how human perceive the world are interactive. They promotes each other by time, creation and development of the world and lives in the world.
Well, as mankind get familiar with the world they live, more words are created for the new usages of the world, in this way, language is developed. In addition, when there are some new phenomena, human will think out some new words to describe them. This kind of change also let human beings get more hapiness from the language, because they will be better understood and communicate without toughs. So language get improved by human’s perceive of the world.
I think language and how human perceive the world are interactive. They promotes each other by time, creation and development of the world and lives in the world.
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