experiencing the course

Soon we will end our course for a while and have a short break. After this week, we can have a really great rest to blow off some steam. Apparently this course is so different from any course we have in China, so how was it as we have experienced it for nearly three months?
Firstly of all, I should say that the oral report is really good. Since we don't have too many chances to use English in daily life as Chinese is widely used in Singapore, this kind of learning method forced us to speak out. What's more, we also practise how to speak n front of people, which needs quite a lot of courage. Take myself for example, I seldom speak in public before. However, after all those oral reports, I at least overcome the nerve.
In China, we learnt English mostly on the purpose to read instead of using. As a result, we didn't pay much attention on the spoken English and focused too much on grammar. On the contrast, here in Singapore, we learn English to use it not only in daily life but also in lectures. Meanwhile, speaking to the public is an important skill for us too. For these two reasons, oral report does a lot of good to us.
Second, the essays are also a big challenge to us. In fact, I've never written a article more than 150 words in China before. But the essays we wrote in this course are required to be less than 500 words, which is a sharp contrast. Maybe it was a little bit difficult at the beginning, but as we practised and practised, words limit is no longer a problem and some of us can even write more than 500. The essays we wrote also help us think more critically when we learn to structure English. As we can write longer and longer essays, our abilities to use English improve too.
There are other means used to help us to learn English too. All the course has provide to us benefit us a lot. The blog, the silent reading in the morning and the story books are all focused on to improve our English in different aspects. However, I have to say that the course is also a little stressful too. With so many homework and no noon-break , I really should rest myself in the coming recess.

Recover soon, my friend

This Friday night when I was on my way to Eton Hall, I received a phone call which said that a friend of mine who was having bridging course in NTU was ill in hospital. I was so shocked after hearing this. So I decided to see him that night.

He and I came from the same university in China. All my roommates who were also from my former university also wanted to see him. I was told that he was in Alexandra Hospital which was quite near Eton Hall. So without having supper, we quickly headed towards the hospital after alighting the bus.

Finally we got to his room and found him pale in bed, with oxygen pipe on nose. His classmates from Labrador had already come and were around him. When he saw us, he smiled and put up a finger to greet us as he used to do. “What’s up?” we asked concerned. Then he explained in a weak voice. We were told that there was something wrong with his lung. Last day he found he couldn’t breathe well, so he went to the hospital. After examining, the doctor told him the membrane of his lung was pierced, so air could go into his lung easily, then there was no pressure difference between in and out of his lung which leaded to his difficulty breath. Today was only the observation time, if there was something unusual happened during this time, an operation was inevitable. What was worse, if he was made sure he had a pneumothorax, he would say goodbye to basketball which was his favorite.

After hearing this, all of us were upset and encouraged him to overcome the disease and hoped he would recover soon. He was very optimistic, talking to us with a smiling face and sometimes used his finger to make fun as if the one who was ill wasn’t him, but us. At last we decided to come to see him frequently as our hostel was near the hospital.

Recover soon, mu friend!

My Attitude Towards Love

We are all barely 20 and in the prime of our life. We have already reached the age of puberty. Lad and lass are more concerned about the hunk and babe. Some of you may be troubled by love to different degree. Some are eager to find a beloved. Someone wants to be single. Although I have no girlfriend now, my understandings of love also worth using for reference.
Love is a kind of friendship. But it is stronger than friendship. When a girl and a boy fall in love with each other, they will miss each other all the time. Friendship can not top that. Some people failed in their love fair before or has some hideous experiences about love. They will become negative. They do not want to marry and just think that they can live happily with their good friends. From my personal opinion, it is important for us to find a loving relationship with someone because a loved one is so important. Especially when you are not doing or feeling so well, friends are well, but friends are not going to be here on a night when you cannot sleep or coughing. Someone has to sit up all night with you, comfort you. They are your beloved.
The poor kids today, either they are too selfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into marriage and then six months later they get divorced. They do not who they are themselves. So how can they now who they are marrying. Convenient marriage is not good. You have to make your decision after thinking deeply.

Miss My Mentor(YSN)

When I first saw you, I thought you were just in your forties. So you know how surprised I was when I knew that you were already over 70 years old. There is a famous saying that “The beauty of a woman increases with the candles on her birthday cake.” You conquered our hearts with your unique charm.
You are humorous. When I close my eyes every Thursday night, your impressive words as well as actions will appear vividly in my mind. Your facial expressions are so cute that I can’t help laughing.
I got to like you even the first time I met you. Because I knew the person who step in the classroom that morning would be my mentor. During the weeks, I feel I like you more and more. You’re so kind that you brought us dried meat and confectioneries. You’re so attractive that you made up original stories and gave us inspiration. You’re so sophisticated that you informed us so much from cuisine to history. You make us feel comfortable. It seems that you are our friend or relative more than a tutor.
To be frank, I was yearning for our tour long time ago. I thought it would be definitely interesting to go out with such a lively person as you. So, you know, I have been waiting for it for a long time. Sometimes you didn’t show up on Thursdays. Sometimes you coughed now and then as you were talking with us. Are you still busy now? Are you still in good health? Are you missing us? Are you…?
I do miss you. Maybe I’m not so active or participative in your classes, but I really enjoy them. I hope you are fine and wish you a nice weekend.

Weblife in Eton

Well, although most of us have always felt angry towards net in Eton, I never have such kind of feelings. The signal in my room is relatively good. So the internet is seldom jammed, which let me surf smoothly. I feel rather satisfied with the web until today.

I have typed my blog since Thursday and when I finished it, it was already Sunday afternoon. It was about my comments of the movie the Joy Luck Club we watched on Thursday afternoon. I was proud with the blog because in my view, it was relatively good and show my own opinion. Happily I saved my draft in the Micro soft office word and paste it on the publish web page, thinking what kind of comment it would receive. But as soon as I clicked the button “publish”, the page suddenly jumped into the hint “ Navigation Blocked”, and the internet required me to log in again using the account we were given in Eton. I was shocked, but not knowing what happened, I input my name and the password, then clicked the button submit in tenseness. A dialog window suddenly jumped out on the screen, warning me I have already logged in so another account is needed. How come! I tried several times but turned out to be in vain. The stubborn system simply was reluctant to let me submit.

After I repeated connecting and disconnecting the wireless web for several times, the laptop eventually displayed the page to me. But then I got so frustrated that I almost can’t help throwing the laptop down out of the window! The whole blog, which cost me around 3 days, was completely gone! I really got driven mad this time.

Today I came across the tragedy… But maybe it can help me to raise enough RP to overcome the trouble in the future~

Mornitors Everywhere

I always wonder why class monitors are called monitors anyway. Literally, that is a position teachers use to monitor the whole class. In primary school, whenever anyone makes any mistake, the monitor just inform on the teacher ruthlessly. Strangely enough, none of us feel uncomfortable when young. Maybe we’ve been made accustomed to monitors since childhood.

When we grow older, the function of class monitors changes dramatically. However, we are still far from getting rid of being watched but under control of electronic monitors. They appear everywhere, such as on the street, in the shop, bank, office, even classroom. Many of us feel not easy and violated, which I totally understand. No one has the right to know my personal life. But when it comes to monitoring, it’s not the same circumstance at all. Let’s face it, who in front of the screen will be interested in your righteous behavior? They’re professional. Even if they’re not, after watching so many records, they only search for suspicious people. Actually, you’ll only be looked at, but not seen. In that case, how should it affect you?

It should be admitted that monitors are part of our lives. I don’t really think there is any need for us to be uncomfortable about them. Maybe it’s an inappropriate metaphor, but the way monitors intrudes privacy is just like mobile phones intrudes leisure. Without alarm or invitation, they come into our lives. No compromise.

But how can we complain about that? Monitors are necessary just like mobile phones. We have to confess it is us who made them necessary. Human beings need disciplines out of nature. For instance, when I ask myself, “Will you obey the rule not to deal with personal emails at work when there is no monitor”, I’m sorry to say my answer is an absolute no. It’s not unreasonable that we don’t trust rashly. Though we may not like monitors, they help the world function normally and more efficiently.

However, when it comes to personal life, it’s totally a different story. Like in the movie The Trueman Show, the narrator lived monitored unknowingly. It was so horrible when he found that people all around him were actually actors and lying to him. I haven’t watched the movie, but sheer the idea quite shocked me.

Conclusively, the wide use of monitors has both advantages and disadvantages. But we all have to accept their existence and live an undisturbed, undistracted life. Monitors are not supposed to affect us, but to benefit us, because benefiting the world is benefiting us own.

The conflict (4)

Since came to Singapore, more and more I feel that there is a big misunderstanding between China and America. The conflict between the two countries also becomes fiercer. I think there are three reasons for this phenomenon: culture, information and system.
First, China and American have different cultures, which have a strong influence on people’s thoughts. And most conflicts are caused by the different thoughts. The right thing in a country can be illogical or even totally wrong in another country. So, a misreading appears and if the misreading is big enough, people begin to be hostile to the people in that country. And then, the misreading widens the gulf between the two sides and finally causes the conflict, or the war. America is a strong religious country, where about 65% people attach importance to religion. It is said that nearly half of American go to church every weekend. But China is a country where most people are free thinkers. They think the religion is not very important and just can’t understand American. Even though the differences of cultures don’t lead China and America into a war, they still cause some misunderstandings in some places.
Second, the opacity of information between two countries also has effects on the relationship. The world is much smaller than it used to be because of the process from science and technology and people can search the information on the Internet, but the information couldn’t always be transparent, and sometimes it even mislead us, especially that from official medium. When I was in China, all I got from the TV were the bright side but the most controversial issues were simplified, or even ignored. The same things also happen in America. In China, the information about the war between China and Vietnam is difficult to find. In America, the things about the war are a little different from the fact. Sometimes, the official medium makes some mistakes “carelessly”. As far as I know, the pictures of the reports about XiZang issue were unreal. The “careless” mistakes made the misunderstanding more serious.
The last reason is the system. As we all know, America is capitalist country but China is a communistic country, the conflict between them are not only the fight of country’s abilities but also the fight of systems. It is hard to say which one is better, but I think we can live together harmoniously, instead of treating others as enemies.
As there is such a big misunderstanding between the two countries, I think it is our duty to learn English well and deal with the problem. I really hope that all the people live like friends.