My Survey Experience
Now, we are all on the way of our research project. Our group members discussed our project’s topic, designed the questionnaire, and revised it with the help of our supervisor. Finally, in the print room of the central library, after printing out the very first questionnaires which I had taken part in designing, it was time for us to conduct the survey.
I took my share from our group leader, which were about fifteen copies of questionnaires. We four drew lots to separate in groups of two, and I would cooperate with Arthur to deal with the questionnaires. Then, our survey began. Both Arthur and I felt that it was not appropriate to distribute questionnaires in the library, because we thought that to be disturbed while studying would irritate others. I had done two questionnaires in NUS before, when at both times, I was just sitting in the place under the central library. Thus, the first proper place came to my mind was that one.
At first, I thought that the survey was the easiest part of the whole project, because I, personally, was always glad to give people a hand on such kind of small things. However, the reality proved that it was always easier to be said than to be done. Arthur and I went downstairs, and saw several people there. After a little hesitation, I decided to take my first try. My first target was a lady, sitting on the bench, reading. I approached her and asked politely, “Excuse me, could you spare some time to finish this questionnaire?” To my surprise, her response was, “Sorry, I’m a little busy.” So, my first round failed. The failure experience really made me upset. I became more cautious and less dare to ask questions. Moreover, I found it was really hard to get someone who was not “busy” with something. After ten minutes, I did not distribute out any copy. Compared to me, Arthur’s progress during the same time seemed really fruitful. He got two in hand, and another two were on the way.
Then, we moved on to the arts canteen. There were plenty of potential respondents. Not even one time did Arthur seem to have encountered any problem, while I was refused for as many as four times. It was a shame to me to just stand there, staring at other people, but not knowing what to do, for fear of being refused again. After some time, Arthur returned, with only a few remaining in his hand, and asked me for my share. I felt a sense of being defeated, and asked him for the strategies he used. He told me that there were no particular skills he used in distributing questionnaires except for being up-beaten and thick-skinned. The key was not to be afraid. He also said that according to his observation, I sometimes seemed too discreet when I approached people, and this might give them an impression that I was scared by them. He thought that that was the main reason for my unsmoothed distribution.
I admitted my mistake immediately and did as he said. The effect of his suggestion was amazing. From then on, I was not refused by anyone. Some of the respondents were even willing to share their opinions of our survey with me. After two and a half hours’ hard work, we distributed out all of our questionnaires. I was extremely happy because it was a valuable experience for me, and during the distribution process, I learnt something important that could not be gained in the books.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Little Princess 2 (Yap)
Four years had passed, then came Sara’s eleventh birthday. Miss Minchin, the owner of the seminary, held a ball for Sara and bought some extravagant things for Sara as her father’s desire. All the girls were enjoying themselves when the sad and startling news came.
Captain Crewe died of jungle fever and business troubles combined! His diamond mines business was ruined, his friend run away and he left nothing to Sara!
Everyone was shocked at this bad news. Miss Minchin felt even angry because Captain Crewe died without paying her last bill—and it was a big one. Also, Sara was left a beggar and she was left on Miss Minchin’s hands because she had no relatives. Miss Minchin was irritated that she sent Sara to the attic and ordered her to work as a maid just like Betty. Sara did not cry in front of Miss Minchin because she did not want to be defeated by her. However, this irritated Miss Minchin so much that she treated Sara even worse later.
The attic was rough with squeaking in the walls and behind the shirting boards. Actually there were rats fighting in the wall. The bed was as hard as stone with only a thin quilt. That was really hard for Sara to live in. But every day, she just pretended that the attic was as good as the room which she used to live in. She was ordered to do much more work every day than she could stand in such a young age. What was worse, she was kept being scolded by the rude cook and Miss Minchin. Sometimes she starved because she did something wrong and was punished without dinner. Life was hard for Sara but she still kept pretending to be a little princess. So she could act politely to Miss Minchin’s evil words, to some girls’ ridicule. There were times when Sara was really happy. When Betty came to visit her after a day’s hard work, when Ermengarde and Lottie stole their way to visit her at sleeping time, Sara was really happy because she can talk with her friends who she had no chance to meet during other time.
Sara was a quaint girl but she was really kind-hearted and considerate. One vivid example was that one cold rainy day she was walking on the street, cold and starving. Suddenly she found a fourpenny in the mud. She bought six pieces of bread with the money and gave five of them to a little beggar who was even hungrier than she was. It is hard for us to do so in such situation, and I was really moved by Sara’s kindness.
Maybe Sara’s kindness moved the God and two years later, a great change came to her life. Captain Crewe’s friend found Sara and told her the truth. He left Captain Crewe because he was dying of jungle fever and left India for treatment. Captain Crewe’s fortune had been doubled and it was all left to Sara. So this time, Sara was a true princess and she lived with her father’s friend later.
The story had a happy ending and it is moving. It also teaches me always to be kind to others and to forgive others’ fault. Also, always be tough-minded no matter what obstacles you meet in your life. I think Little Princess is really a wonderful book and I’m sure that you will enjoy reading it.
Captain Crewe died of jungle fever and business troubles combined! His diamond mines business was ruined, his friend run away and he left nothing to Sara!
Everyone was shocked at this bad news. Miss Minchin felt even angry because Captain Crewe died without paying her last bill—and it was a big one. Also, Sara was left a beggar and she was left on Miss Minchin’s hands because she had no relatives. Miss Minchin was irritated that she sent Sara to the attic and ordered her to work as a maid just like Betty. Sara did not cry in front of Miss Minchin because she did not want to be defeated by her. However, this irritated Miss Minchin so much that she treated Sara even worse later.
The attic was rough with squeaking in the walls and behind the shirting boards. Actually there were rats fighting in the wall. The bed was as hard as stone with only a thin quilt. That was really hard for Sara to live in. But every day, she just pretended that the attic was as good as the room which she used to live in. She was ordered to do much more work every day than she could stand in such a young age. What was worse, she was kept being scolded by the rude cook and Miss Minchin. Sometimes she starved because she did something wrong and was punished without dinner. Life was hard for Sara but she still kept pretending to be a little princess. So she could act politely to Miss Minchin’s evil words, to some girls’ ridicule. There were times when Sara was really happy. When Betty came to visit her after a day’s hard work, when Ermengarde and Lottie stole their way to visit her at sleeping time, Sara was really happy because she can talk with her friends who she had no chance to meet during other time.
Sara was a quaint girl but she was really kind-hearted and considerate. One vivid example was that one cold rainy day she was walking on the street, cold and starving. Suddenly she found a fourpenny in the mud. She bought six pieces of bread with the money and gave five of them to a little beggar who was even hungrier than she was. It is hard for us to do so in such situation, and I was really moved by Sara’s kindness.
Maybe Sara’s kindness moved the God and two years later, a great change came to her life. Captain Crewe’s friend found Sara and told her the truth. He left Captain Crewe because he was dying of jungle fever and left India for treatment. Captain Crewe’s fortune had been doubled and it was all left to Sara. So this time, Sara was a true princess and she lived with her father’s friend later.
The story had a happy ending and it is moving. It also teaches me always to be kind to others and to forgive others’ fault. Also, always be tough-minded no matter what obstacles you meet in your life. I think Little Princess is really a wonderful book and I’m sure that you will enjoy reading it.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
a book I have just finished
I could not imagine which book I would finish reading in Singapore. And the answer turned out today. You may have already guessed right. It is HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
a book I have just finished
I could not imagine which book I would finish reading in Singapore. And the answer turned out today. You may have already guessed right. It is HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
a book I have just finished
I could not imagine which book I would finish reading in Singapore. And the answer turned out today. You may have already guessed right. It is HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
It was just a coincidence that I picked up this book. I was reading THE KITE RUNNER a few days ago. That is also a best-seller book for it moves tens of thousands of people. I had to admit that I cried three times before I have finished reading it when I was in China. It describes a love between two brothers. When I borrowed this English edition from Wei Yaxin, I couldn’t help to wait to read it. After I have finished almost half of it, a friend of mine asked if he could read the book. I was glad to share such a great book with him because I had already known the whole story. So I thought I could wait to read the book after him.
With nothing interesting to read, I wandered around the dormitory, asking my friends if there were books they could lend me. One of them gave the HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS to me.
I have read the whole series of HARRY POTTER during my stay in China. (But I still could not finish the fifth book for I thought it was too boring to read) I can still remember clearly when I first saw the book. It was on a school bus. We were going to take a spring outing at that time. And the long trip in a jolty bus was not so interesting. Luckily, a girl who sat beside me brought two books of HARRY POTTER with her. And she was very happy to see that I was interested in it. So I began to read it on the bus. However, one thing had gone wrong was that I could not bear to put it down. After the trip, I asked whether I could borrow it. She said OK for she was reading the first one, and she lent me the second book of the series. It was exactly the one which I have just finished yet.
To be honest, I have finished reading the book in three days. I spent a whole Saturday reading it. Seldom have I found books that can make me laugh when I was reading alone. When I was reading with my friends, I would share with them the interesting parts and I would laugh. But when I was the only one in the dormitory, I would read books silently. But this time, I couldn’t help laughing because of the amusing conversations in it. I had to admit that J.K ROWLING have created a vivid imagination in my mind.
Before I read this book and THE KITE RUNNER, I was reading the book’ AROUND THE WORLD IN EITHTY DAYS’. I gave it up when I had finished three quarters of it. It was a little boring for me to read so I could not find fun in it. Maybe J.K ROWLING has the magic that appeals youngsters to follow her.
I AM STAYING....????
It has been my unswerving will that I am not going back this upcoming summer, and I have already told myself a couple of times that “I am staying” somehow.
Why I am staying, that determinedly? I asked myself. It is because my parents will fly all the way to Singapore to visit me this July.
But why do they two bother to fly here this summer? This is because I am not flying back!!!
I only realized this on 24th this month, such an obvious reason that has been ignored by me for so long a period of time. And that was exactly the moment when I felt obliged to think twice on this.It lived up to its name as we call in Chinese “Jiu Jie”. I felt really confused about such a cause-and-effect issue, or more precisely, an egg-and-chicken dilemma. I took the fact that my parents will come here to visit me for granted and thoroughly ruled out the possibility of my going back. I was so stubborn a girl insisting on my staying here regardless of my friends’ constantly anxious call.
I thought that I was determined enough and there was not even the least possibility that I was persuaded. But I was wrong.
I can tell them all in a firm voice that I am living an agreeable life here in Singapore, but I can not deny my strong willingness to meet my friends once again in my hometown, since I do miss them so much. I could not wait to see them giving a big hug to them and I could not help crying every time when the old times once more go through my mind. I try not to bother myself about the confusing dilemma any more, and the only thing I need to consider is that, the only difference between my going back and my parents’ coming here is whether I am able to meet my friends.
As a result, the fact is, in the afternoon of 24th I even have not started thinking about it, 24 hours later however, the round-trip airline tickets were right in my hands. What a quick and harsh decision I have made!
I know that one week certainly will not suffice, but at least it is such an indication that I still care you all miss you all and spare no efforts to fly back to see you all.
I MISS YOU. ^_^
Zhang Qiong
Why I am staying, that determinedly? I asked myself. It is because my parents will fly all the way to Singapore to visit me this July.
But why do they two bother to fly here this summer? This is because I am not flying back!!!
I only realized this on 24th this month, such an obvious reason that has been ignored by me for so long a period of time. And that was exactly the moment when I felt obliged to think twice on this.It lived up to its name as we call in Chinese “Jiu Jie”. I felt really confused about such a cause-and-effect issue, or more precisely, an egg-and-chicken dilemma. I took the fact that my parents will come here to visit me for granted and thoroughly ruled out the possibility of my going back. I was so stubborn a girl insisting on my staying here regardless of my friends’ constantly anxious call.
I thought that I was determined enough and there was not even the least possibility that I was persuaded. But I was wrong.
I can tell them all in a firm voice that I am living an agreeable life here in Singapore, but I can not deny my strong willingness to meet my friends once again in my hometown, since I do miss them so much. I could not wait to see them giving a big hug to them and I could not help crying every time when the old times once more go through my mind. I try not to bother myself about the confusing dilemma any more, and the only thing I need to consider is that, the only difference between my going back and my parents’ coming here is whether I am able to meet my friends.
As a result, the fact is, in the afternoon of 24th I even have not started thinking about it, 24 hours later however, the round-trip airline tickets were right in my hands. What a quick and harsh decision I have made!
I know that one week certainly will not suffice, but at least it is such an indication that I still care you all miss you all and spare no efforts to fly back to see you all.
I MISS YOU. ^_^
Zhang Qiong
The Response of Se7en
“Around, I will be around.”
There are seven deadly sins in Romanism: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust and envy. The victims of serial murder occurred in this city just were the people who offended those sins. The murder’s strange technique really confused the two detectives who wanted to clear up this case. One was a clam and experienced veteran detective, another was an impulsive and wrathful new detective. In order to find the clue, they went to the library to read the Dante's "Divine Comedy". Finally, they found the murder’s plan and want to prevent him. But at this time, the murder gave himself up to the police. Everyone felt this was the end of the murder, but that experienced detective didn’t think so. Because when the time murder gave him up, the people who offended the fins “wrath” and “envy” still didn’t dead…..
First, some people may feel that the atmosphere of the movie is too depressive and dark. But for me who have already watched saw1-5, that kind of feeling which the movie gave me was not that so deep. Compared with saw, this movie more likely revealed some religious issues. But actually I don’t know much about the religion. In this film, the murder said that he was the ambassador of the god; he must punish those people who offended the fins and he regarded that as his responsibility. In my opinion, the purpose of this film maybe is to tell people appreciate the life or something else.
What’s more, the plot of this movie is also very good, I think. If we use the logic according to the beginning of the movie gave, we may think that the murder just finished his seven cases and then he was caught by the two detectives. But surprisingly, the plot didn’t develop in that way. When only five cases happened, the murder gave himself up to the police. Then, this suddenly attracted the audiences’ curiosities that how the murder will finish his plan. And at the end of the movie, the director also gave the audience a good answer.
At last, the old detective said: “Ernest Hemingway once wrote: “the world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.” I agree with second part.”
......
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Response of the Truman Show
After I watched this movie completely, it had really rocked me to my core. Even I after one week, the shock which it gave me still lingered on. Sometimes, I cannot help asking myself who I am just like what Truman do in the movie.
Actually, I watched this movie three times. At the first time, I only watched for approximately 15 minutes, and then I lost the interest to this movie, because at that time, I just thought the plot was so boring and it just told some trivial things. And I even felt that this movie was even worse than soap operas. But one of my roommates told me it was very classical and persuaded me to keep watching it. At lost, I just decided to sit before the computer patiently to complete this movie. With the developing of the plot, I gradually began to be attracted by this movie. And after I finished it, I cannot help watching it one more time.
I have to say, the plot is so novel. What’s more, another thing which let me appreciate it so much is that it can express something profound and meaningful under this good plot. Almost everyone who finishes watching this movie will feel very shocked.
Can you image after you come down on earth for thirty years, you suddenly found that all the people around you are lying you, even your mother, your wife and your best friends who grow up with you. All these things happened on the leading actor of this movie-----Truman. When he was living a peaceful day before, one day he suddenly found his dead father on the street. Then he felt that always existing someone following him. He wanted to leave this city, but a series of unexpected things just stop his plan. Actually, all these are done by the director; the city which Truman lived is just a big studio which 500 mini video. From the day he was born, all the things he had already done were recorded and broadcasted to the whole world.
Luckily, at the end of this movie, Truman chose to leave the fake world he had already lived for thirty years bravely when he found the truth.
Grave of Fireflies
“On the night of September 21st, 1945, I die.”
This is the first script of the movie grave of fireflies.
A raggedy boy at the age of 14, breathing feebly, lying, at the station, is walking to the terminal of his life.
In a trance, he sees his younger sister who has already passed away and that night in summer when the sky is filled with fireflies...
At that time, he and his sister are very happy. There are so many beautiful things to keep you away from sadness: tin box full of candies, fireflies that are dancing in the sky, brother and sister hand-in-hand running, the bell's giggle of sister...
The air attack begins, in which his mother dies. Facing this, as a brother, all he could do is to conceal mother’s death from his sister. So the brother performs playing with horizontal bar to comfort the sister who is crying for mum, by the sunset the two little children appearing to be thin and weak. Maybe this is the time when the brother tries to shoulder all the sadness, and is determined to give sister "a sunny sky" above the ruins left by the war.
The brother and the sister then turn to their relatives. However, war just makes remote relatives remoter and the lack of food and necessities makes people cooler to each other. More and more cold eyes as well as less and less food in the bowl suggests that they have got to leave. Brother finally decides to move away with his sister to find a house that really belongs to them. But when they leave happily singing songs, he is not aware that war has more sadness in store.
Fireflies dance again while bad things happen to the brother and the sister again and again. Among all the difficulties, hunger and disease bother them most. Brother has to steal things while air attacking in order to get something to eat. Every time he finds a little food in the house people in which has already run away, he is extremely happy.
In the dark, deserted air-raid shelter, the brother catches some fireflies into the mosquito net. Now light, now dim, the fireflies are dancing in the sultry night. The brother embraces tightly the sister who is asleep, afraid that the instant he looses his hands, he would lose his sister. Only 14 years old, he doesn't know that war means losing.
Actually, the sister already knows that her mother has passed away. Young as she is, she knows what death and grave means. Little dead bodies of fireflies drop down from the sister's hands, mix with earth and then become the motes, which reminds the brother of mother's death. Tears falls down from his eyes maybe for mother, maybe for fireflies or just for the weak lives that can't stand even a small strike.
The life of a firefly is short. In the dark sky, they dance beautifully and then fall down quietly... Due to the adverse circumstances, the sister gets eczema, but they can't afford to see a doctor nor can they buy medicine...In the end, the sister, suffering from both starvation and disease, dies miserably at a young age.
The sky at the night when the sister leaves is also filled with thousands of fireflies. She smiles, in the most beautiful scenery trying to seek for the happy life that can only be found in dreams.
Now the fireflies dancing again, the tin box full of candy, the girl with bell's giggle, fireflies dancing in the sky...all of these leave you nothing but sadness and pity.
All the things seem so cruel as if all the wonderful dreams become useless when it comes to the war. In order that he and his sister can survive in the war, the brother is almost exhausted. Nevertheless in the end he loses his sister.
Despair coming with the night while the fire dying out, fireflies dance for the brother. Small shining dots go up and the light in the faraway sky form a warm smile——and that is all the war takes away from him.
Happiness
What is happiness? Different people have different opinions about it. Some may think happiness is to laugh, while others may say that happiness is a sign of good mood. From my point of view, happiness is a feeling that makes you comfortable and pleasure.
There are diverse factors that can lead to happiness. Seen from material angle, delicacy, luxuries, 5-star hostile and so forth can certainly be the source of happiness. No one can deny that he or she won’t feel ecstatic, extremely happy if he or she gets a credit card without upper limit.
Then, if we analyze from a further aspect---spirit, we can also find source of happiness. Every day, when you wake up, you think nothing but singing or writing and afterwards spend a whole day doing what you want, the sense of fulfillment and achievement bring happiness to you. Sometimes, even trivia can make you happy. Helping the old cross the road, carrying schoolbag for your children, cooking, tidying bedrooms, shopping for household are perfect examples. Some of the things listed above seem trivial and bothering, how can they bring happiness? Well, it can be simply explained. No matter how tiny or petty a thing is, as long as you have firm target and try your best to accomplish it, naturally happiness would come unless you don't welcome and avoid it. Take cooking for example. Cooking itself is sometimes complicated and boring, meanwhile you always get cooking fumes, but when you cook for your loved ones, it becomes different. Before you start cooking, you may think of what your loved ones like and visualize how they would react when offered delicious dishes. After that, you begin cooking with a target to make dishes as nice as possible so that you loved ones can enjoy them and dispose of fatigue and bothers after work or study. Happiness starts its journey at that second. When you put the dishes in front of your loved ones, their surprising look, gobbling or a sincere gratitude is the best reward to your effort. Happiness tends to be memorable since you are enjoying something that money can’t afford.
Honestly, I am inclined to the spiritual happiness. Though material enjoyment can bring happiness, that doesn't last long. After a few days, a few hours or even as soon as you get the bill, happiness is gone with regret left. But the spiritual happiness is different to some extent, once you experience that, the memory of that feeling is permanent and transplanted in mind. Even after a long time, you can still relive and review that kind of happiness.
There are diverse factors that can lead to happiness. Seen from material angle, delicacy, luxuries, 5-star hostile and so forth can certainly be the source of happiness. No one can deny that he or she won’t feel ecstatic, extremely happy if he or she gets a credit card without upper limit.
Then, if we analyze from a further aspect---spirit, we can also find source of happiness. Every day, when you wake up, you think nothing but singing or writing and afterwards spend a whole day doing what you want, the sense of fulfillment and achievement bring happiness to you. Sometimes, even trivia can make you happy. Helping the old cross the road, carrying schoolbag for your children, cooking, tidying bedrooms, shopping for household are perfect examples. Some of the things listed above seem trivial and bothering, how can they bring happiness? Well, it can be simply explained. No matter how tiny or petty a thing is, as long as you have firm target and try your best to accomplish it, naturally happiness would come unless you don't welcome and avoid it. Take cooking for example. Cooking itself is sometimes complicated and boring, meanwhile you always get cooking fumes, but when you cook for your loved ones, it becomes different. Before you start cooking, you may think of what your loved ones like and visualize how they would react when offered delicious dishes. After that, you begin cooking with a target to make dishes as nice as possible so that you loved ones can enjoy them and dispose of fatigue and bothers after work or study. Happiness starts its journey at that second. When you put the dishes in front of your loved ones, their surprising look, gobbling or a sincere gratitude is the best reward to your effort. Happiness tends to be memorable since you are enjoying something that money can’t afford.
Honestly, I am inclined to the spiritual happiness. Though material enjoyment can bring happiness, that doesn't last long. After a few days, a few hours or even as soon as you get the bill, happiness is gone with regret left. But the spiritual happiness is different to some extent, once you experience that, the memory of that feeling is permanent and transplanted in mind. Even after a long time, you can still relive and review that kind of happiness.
Little Princess 1 (Yap)
The book Little Princess tells a story of a girl named Sara. She was an erratic girl with green eyes and short black hair. She was good at imaging things and she could always come up with some odd thoughts.
She lived a happy life with her young handsome father Captain Crewe in Indian. Then when she was seven years old, her father sent her to London to study. Her father bought her a doll named Emily to accompany her. She regarded Emily as her best friend and always told Emily about her father, her happiness and sadness. She did this by pretending that Emily can understand her and can move around when she was out. She called away her attention from her loneliness by doing this.
Her father bought her many luxurious things for he had a lot of money and he loved her so much. So, some girls were very jealous of her. However, since she was very kind-hearted and easy going, she made friends with most of them. Ermengarde was a fat girl and she lacked of confidence because she could not learn things very fast. The first day she met Sara, she admired her a lot for she can speak French fluently. Then Sara helped her to learn French and build up her self-confidence and later they became good friends. Another girl named Lottie was younger and she was spoiled by her father since she had no mother. Sara’s mother died when she was very young. So she felt very sorry for Lottie and she offered to be her little mother and look after her. For this reason, they became good friends. Sara loved to make up stories with her fantastic imagination and she would tell them to the students. Then one day, when she was telling a story to the girls, a servant named Betty was so attracted to her story that she forgot her work and listened to the story (which is against the rules). Later, Sara knew that Betty was always ordered to do a lot of work and scolded by the cook. What was worse, sometimes she even had nothing to eat because of punishment. So Sara tried her best to give Betty the chance to listen to her stories and give her some cakes to eat when Betty was hungry. Betty was so moved by Sara and when she heard that Sara want to be her friend, she could not believe her ears. However, Sara was honest and she did not care that Betty was a servant. Then finally, the two became good friends.
Sara lived happily with her good friends. And during the days, she read many books and also made up some fantastic stories. She pretended to be a little princess and acted as a real one. So she can still acted very politely when some bad girls said bad things to her. For her beauty and good manners, she was regarded as a little princess by some girls. However, the happiness was drawn back when a misfortune happened to Sara when she was eleven years old.
(Wait for my next blog to tell you the rest of the story.)
She lived a happy life with her young handsome father Captain Crewe in Indian. Then when she was seven years old, her father sent her to London to study. Her father bought her a doll named Emily to accompany her. She regarded Emily as her best friend and always told Emily about her father, her happiness and sadness. She did this by pretending that Emily can understand her and can move around when she was out. She called away her attention from her loneliness by doing this.
Her father bought her many luxurious things for he had a lot of money and he loved her so much. So, some girls were very jealous of her. However, since she was very kind-hearted and easy going, she made friends with most of them. Ermengarde was a fat girl and she lacked of confidence because she could not learn things very fast. The first day she met Sara, she admired her a lot for she can speak French fluently. Then Sara helped her to learn French and build up her self-confidence and later they became good friends. Another girl named Lottie was younger and she was spoiled by her father since she had no mother. Sara’s mother died when she was very young. So she felt very sorry for Lottie and she offered to be her little mother and look after her. For this reason, they became good friends. Sara loved to make up stories with her fantastic imagination and she would tell them to the students. Then one day, when she was telling a story to the girls, a servant named Betty was so attracted to her story that she forgot her work and listened to the story (which is against the rules). Later, Sara knew that Betty was always ordered to do a lot of work and scolded by the cook. What was worse, sometimes she even had nothing to eat because of punishment. So Sara tried her best to give Betty the chance to listen to her stories and give her some cakes to eat when Betty was hungry. Betty was so moved by Sara and when she heard that Sara want to be her friend, she could not believe her ears. However, Sara was honest and she did not care that Betty was a servant. Then finally, the two became good friends.
Sara lived happily with her good friends. And during the days, she read many books and also made up some fantastic stories. She pretended to be a little princess and acted as a real one. So she can still acted very politely when some bad girls said bad things to her. For her beauty and good manners, she was regarded as a little princess by some girls. However, the happiness was drawn back when a misfortune happened to Sara when she was eleven years old.
(Wait for my next blog to tell you the rest of the story.)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
One for all, all for one(part two)
Thank you for reading my last post about my “family”. In today’s post, I would like to introduce some of my brothers to you.
Look at the picture. There are 9 boys in my “family”. In this post, I would like to introduce my 8 brothers to you. (From left to right) As I said, we ordered ourselves by our birthday.
The first one is me, ranking 8. In this picture it seems that I am very fat. O(╯□╰)O.I think you all know me very well, I don't have to introduce again.
Next to me stands TianChao. He ranks 3. He is the eldest boy of us. He is one member of Group 7. What he impresses me most is his laugh. Every time, when I hear a very loud laugh, I know he is coming. In our recess week, we went to Labrador to have a barbecue. From the beginning to the end, he baked food for us. He loves beautiful girls very much. He is very reliable. If you girls want to make friends with him, please tell me and I will help you.
The one next TianChao is XuZexian. He ranks 13. He is in Group 2. He is quite shy. He is one of my roommates. In our daily lives, he seldom speaks to us. He just sits before his desk and does his own work. Indeed, he works very hard.
Next to XuZexian is XiaoNan, ranking 10. He is in Group 8. He is a play boy.(I am just joking) I admire him very much because no matter who he loves, the girl will love him. It seems quite strange, but it is true. He also plays basketball quite well. He and his team won the first prize in the match which was held by our hostel committee. O(∩_∩)O
That’s all for this post. Thank you, my brothers. I wish each of us can have a beautiful life in Singapore.
Remember our slogan “one for all, all for one”.
Thank you for reading. I hope you can wait for my last post, in which I will introduce my other brothers to you.
Look at the picture. There are 9 boys in my “family”. In this post, I would like to introduce my 8 brothers to you. (From left to right) As I said, we ordered ourselves by our birthday.
The first one is me, ranking 8. In this picture it seems that I am very fat. O(╯□╰)O.I think you all know me very well, I don't have to introduce again.
Next to me stands TianChao. He ranks 3. He is the eldest boy of us. He is one member of Group 7. What he impresses me most is his laugh. Every time, when I hear a very loud laugh, I know he is coming. In our recess week, we went to Labrador to have a barbecue. From the beginning to the end, he baked food for us. He loves beautiful girls very much. He is very reliable. If you girls want to make friends with him, please tell me and I will help you.
The one next TianChao is XuZexian. He ranks 13. He is in Group 2. He is quite shy. He is one of my roommates. In our daily lives, he seldom speaks to us. He just sits before his desk and does his own work. Indeed, he works very hard.
Next to XuZexian is XiaoNan, ranking 10. He is in Group 8. He is a play boy.(I am just joking) I admire him very much because no matter who he loves, the girl will love him. It seems quite strange, but it is true. He also plays basketball quite well. He and his team won the first prize in the match which was held by our hostel committee. O(∩_∩)O
That’s all for this post. Thank you, my brothers. I wish each of us can have a beautiful life in Singapore.
Remember our slogan “one for all, all for one”.
Thank you for reading. I hope you can wait for my last post, in which I will introduce my other brothers to you.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
My GIVE Program(YAP)
My give program
I have been students for thirteen year. In these passed thirteen years, my role at school was just sitting there and listening to the teacher. In my eyes, teachers were so knowledgeable and respected. So, I always daydreaming that one day I became a teacher and the scene I was standing on the platform and giving a lecture to my students. How cool I would be!
Now, I realized my dream by participating in the GIVE program, whose full name is Growth In Volunteer Enterprises. However, it was now that I found it not that easy as I assumed to become a teacher.
My job is to teach the students in a high school something about the Chinese history. For Singaporean students, Chinese history is not a familiar topic although they are all Chinese race. As a result, I have to make my lessons easy and interesting in order to let them understand.
So, I spent quite a long time to prepare for my lessons, from the textbook to the PowerPoint slides. Through the preparation, I fully understood a proverb in China: “ten-minute successful performance on the stage requires ten-year hard work behind the stage.”
Finally, the day on which I am going to give my students lectures was coming. Book in hand, I stepped into the classroom. To be frank, I really felt quite nervous when tens of eyes are looking at me. But soon, I managed to calm myself down and then began my lesson. Fifty minutes is not a long time actually, but these fifty minutes for me is long and challenging especially at the beginning of my lesson. I was supposed to speak slower than usual because Singaporean students may have some difficulties to understand me if I speak too fast. I had to express myself clearly and interact with the students. These are all the essential equalities that a good teacher should have; I just tried my best to do it. Finally, the class was over. From the expressions on the students’ and teachers’ faces, I figure out my class was not that bad.
Reflecting on my class on my way back to the hostel, I felt rather excited because my dream of becoming a teacher came true on that day and I really enjoyed the feeling standing on the platform to teach people.
Although the program costs me some time, but I think it was worthwhile after all. I believe I will be better in the following classes and enjoy more!
I have been students for thirteen year. In these passed thirteen years, my role at school was just sitting there and listening to the teacher. In my eyes, teachers were so knowledgeable and respected. So, I always daydreaming that one day I became a teacher and the scene I was standing on the platform and giving a lecture to my students. How cool I would be!
Now, I realized my dream by participating in the GIVE program, whose full name is Growth In Volunteer Enterprises. However, it was now that I found it not that easy as I assumed to become a teacher.
My job is to teach the students in a high school something about the Chinese history. For Singaporean students, Chinese history is not a familiar topic although they are all Chinese race. As a result, I have to make my lessons easy and interesting in order to let them understand.
So, I spent quite a long time to prepare for my lessons, from the textbook to the PowerPoint slides. Through the preparation, I fully understood a proverb in China: “ten-minute successful performance on the stage requires ten-year hard work behind the stage.”
Finally, the day on which I am going to give my students lectures was coming. Book in hand, I stepped into the classroom. To be frank, I really felt quite nervous when tens of eyes are looking at me. But soon, I managed to calm myself down and then began my lesson. Fifty minutes is not a long time actually, but these fifty minutes for me is long and challenging especially at the beginning of my lesson. I was supposed to speak slower than usual because Singaporean students may have some difficulties to understand me if I speak too fast. I had to express myself clearly and interact with the students. These are all the essential equalities that a good teacher should have; I just tried my best to do it. Finally, the class was over. From the expressions on the students’ and teachers’ faces, I figure out my class was not that bad.
Reflecting on my class on my way back to the hostel, I felt rather excited because my dream of becoming a teacher came true on that day and I really enjoyed the feeling standing on the platform to teach people.
Although the program costs me some time, but I think it was worthwhile after all. I believe I will be better in the following classes and enjoy more!
Monday, April 20, 2009
A boy in the striped pajamas (part.2)
As a movie reflecting the cruelty of Nazi in World War II, A boy in the striped pajamas is absolutely the best and most unique one. John Betjeman once said, Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. Observing the world through a child’s eyes is completely different, it can make us see more clearly the cruelty of the war and the ugliness of people’s heart.
Having just finished watching the movie, I felt extremely sad and heavy. Young Bruno is just an innocent boy whose dream is to become an explorer. At the age of eight, he shows no interest in “history” and naturally has no enmity toward the Jews. The friendship between Bruno and the Jewish boy is innocent, it is a friendship that goes beyond race and feud.
Many people would think this movie is too bitter. These two boys have so innocent a friendship between each other, but at last they turn out to be killed in the camp. This is undoubtedly cruel to the audience, to the kind-hearted mother, and even to the Nazi father. But I think this is the very purpose of the movie---Bruno’s death at such an innocent age is definitely a sharp criticism to the Nazism.
The ones who are crazy about the war are forever the beasts. No matter which side you are for, the victims of the war are always the kind-hearted people.
Having just finished watching the movie, I felt extremely sad and heavy. Young Bruno is just an innocent boy whose dream is to become an explorer. At the age of eight, he shows no interest in “history” and naturally has no enmity toward the Jews. The friendship between Bruno and the Jewish boy is innocent, it is a friendship that goes beyond race and feud.
Many people would think this movie is too bitter. These two boys have so innocent a friendship between each other, but at last they turn out to be killed in the camp. This is undoubtedly cruel to the audience, to the kind-hearted mother, and even to the Nazi father. But I think this is the very purpose of the movie---Bruno’s death at such an innocent age is definitely a sharp criticism to the Nazism.
The ones who are crazy about the war are forever the beasts. No matter which side you are for, the victims of the war are always the kind-hearted people.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Something occur me
Something occur me
The suffering during study is temporary, but it is life long if learning nothing.
Life is not all about study, but if you cannot conquer the very part of life—study, what else can you do?
Study as a dog, play as a gentleman.
The earning is decided by the level of education.
No one can achieve anything without efforts, it comes from crashing self-control and perseverance.
Sleep this moment, continue to dream next moment; study this moment, fulfill the dream next moment.
I went to NUS museum last Sunday. After going through all these paintings and sculptures and all these articles done by modern artists which I can’t define. I learnt something. Art is something which can’t be told thoroughly by words. So is the music. Some if the paintings can’t be explained clearly by anybody even the artist himself. I think sometime life is also about feelings.
What you do must be paid full attention otherwise don’t do it.
If love, don’t give up, otherwise never do that.
One of my roommates eats like a horse. That makes him spend a lot of money everyday, like there is no tomorrow. He never stops reading his novels, but they are not in English.
Another student who is from the same home university in china with me speaks Singlish like a native. He always go with ‘ Singapore boys’, writing something on his ‘ xiaonei’. That makes the boys avoid him like the plague.
A boy in NUS drinks like a fish. Yeah, that makes him like a fish out of water. And surely he becomes a fish that cannot speak anymore.
They all have their own character, do I have some? I don’t know. Better not.
The suffering during study is temporary, but it is life long if learning nothing.
Life is not all about study, but if you cannot conquer the very part of life—study, what else can you do?
Study as a dog, play as a gentleman.
The earning is decided by the level of education.
No one can achieve anything without efforts, it comes from crashing self-control and perseverance.
Sleep this moment, continue to dream next moment; study this moment, fulfill the dream next moment.
I went to NUS museum last Sunday. After going through all these paintings and sculptures and all these articles done by modern artists which I can’t define. I learnt something. Art is something which can’t be told thoroughly by words. So is the music. Some if the paintings can’t be explained clearly by anybody even the artist himself. I think sometime life is also about feelings.
What you do must be paid full attention otherwise don’t do it.
If love, don’t give up, otherwise never do that.
One of my roommates eats like a horse. That makes him spend a lot of money everyday, like there is no tomorrow. He never stops reading his novels, but they are not in English.
Another student who is from the same home university in china with me speaks Singlish like a native. He always go with ‘ Singapore boys’, writing something on his ‘ xiaonei’. That makes the boys avoid him like the plague.
A boy in NUS drinks like a fish. Yeah, that makes him like a fish out of water. And surely he becomes a fish that cannot speak anymore.
They all have their own character, do I have some? I don’t know. Better not.
A boy in the striped pajamas (part.1)
An 8-year-old German boy Bruno lives a wealthy life in Pre-war Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and army Commandant father. Because of the promotion of his father, Bruno and his families move to the countryside where, in fact, his father is assigned to commandeer a prison camp.
The new home is quite boring for little Bruno, except for a small window in his bedroom, through which he finds a “farm”. Despite his parents’ total opposition, Bruno decides to “explore” the forbidden place secretly. To his great joy, Bruno gets to befriend Shmuel---a little boy in the striped pajamas and lives in the “farm”. They play chess, they chat, and they play soccer together over the high electric fence. But Bruno soon finds out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring “farm” is actually a prison camp for Jews.
The strong stench in the air and the heavy smoke far away in the sky let out the secret of the camp. The kind mother is so worried about his kids that finally she decides to take them away from the horrible place. Before leaving, Bruno decides to slip into the camp in pajamas and help Shmuel find his father who has been lost for three days. He starts his last and the most important exploring in his life.
It begins to rain heavily. Bruno and Shmuel, together with a huge crowd of people, were driven into a dark room, which, in fact, is used to execute the Jews. Looking at these horrified people around them, Bruno and Shmuel have no idea what is going to happen next.
The rain is still pouring, the screamings come from the execution room gradually die down, only the bellowing cry of the mother, who finds Bruno’s clothes, lying outside the camp.
The new home is quite boring for little Bruno, except for a small window in his bedroom, through which he finds a “farm”. Despite his parents’ total opposition, Bruno decides to “explore” the forbidden place secretly. To his great joy, Bruno gets to befriend Shmuel---a little boy in the striped pajamas and lives in the “farm”. They play chess, they chat, and they play soccer together over the high electric fence. But Bruno soon finds out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring “farm” is actually a prison camp for Jews.
The strong stench in the air and the heavy smoke far away in the sky let out the secret of the camp. The kind mother is so worried about his kids that finally she decides to take them away from the horrible place. Before leaving, Bruno decides to slip into the camp in pajamas and help Shmuel find his father who has been lost for three days. He starts his last and the most important exploring in his life.
It begins to rain heavily. Bruno and Shmuel, together with a huge crowd of people, were driven into a dark room, which, in fact, is used to execute the Jews. Looking at these horrified people around them, Bruno and Shmuel have no idea what is going to happen next.
The rain is still pouring, the screamings come from the execution room gradually die down, only the bellowing cry of the mother, who finds Bruno’s clothes, lying outside the camp.
Why Should the SM3 Scholarship Need to Raise?
As a beneficiary of SM3 scholarship, I appreciate what the Singapore government has done for me and my classmates. Without their kindly subsidizing, I would not get access to be educated in NUS. However, I have to say that the money is so limited that we have some problems to support our expenditure in Singapore.
First, the prices of daily necessaries in Singapore are not very reasonable. For example, the traffic fare is soaring. When we attend some activities organized by MOE, we have to afford about $50 per month. What’s more, the rules in Eton Hall are somewhat very unreasonable. Students who get up late or forget to give their meal box to kitchen are not available to get meals, although they have already paid for them. What’s more, because of the hot weather, many people have to go to the study room in NUS or pay extra fees to open the air-cons in their rooms, which definitely enhance their costs. According to statistics, we average spend more than 70 percent of our income in eating and drinking, and 20 percent in public transit. Nearly none of us can save up money. In the other word, the index of Engel is beyond 70 per. However, as far as I know, the people who lived in less-developed countries only spend half of their incomes in food.
Second, not raising scholarship is unfair to us. 20 years ago, the 1st sm3 students also get $500 allowances from MOE per month. Although Singapore is a country with low inflation, the rate is still staying at 2 percent per year. 20 years has passed but our money has never gotten raised. Our purchase ability is liner decreasing! So we can also deduce that a theory that the later you come, the less money you get. It is unfair to us because we also need to work for this country for 6 years as same as our seniors.
Third, there is no excuse for us to ask money from our families. Now most of us have become young adults. At this age, we need to assume duty and enjoy rights which the constitution entitled us. So our parents have no responsibility to raise us and give us allowance any more. However, sometimes we still have to ask them for some money. Every time when we get money from our parents, we are obliged to have a sense of guilty because we all know they work very hard but earn very little money in China. What they give us for ‘pocket money’ are even their several month wages, owing to the big income gap between Singapore and china. So almost everyone in Eton hall tends to be very frugal and is trying to save whatever we can save in case that our parents pay for them. But we always find that we lead to an inferior life meanwhile also save nothing.
We can understand the difficulties of MOE. As the sponsor of a large amount of scholars, you may cost not a little bit more money if you raise the money of us. You not only have rights but also have responsibilities to spend the money of taxpayer carefully. But at the same time would you please take us situations into consideration thoroughly? If you are really less capable of it, please reduce our service periods as long as possible. After all, in this way, we may feel we are treated equally and not bothered by money problem when we study.
Thanks for your attention!
First, the prices of daily necessaries in Singapore are not very reasonable. For example, the traffic fare is soaring. When we attend some activities organized by MOE, we have to afford about $50 per month. What’s more, the rules in Eton Hall are somewhat very unreasonable. Students who get up late or forget to give their meal box to kitchen are not available to get meals, although they have already paid for them. What’s more, because of the hot weather, many people have to go to the study room in NUS or pay extra fees to open the air-cons in their rooms, which definitely enhance their costs. According to statistics, we average spend more than 70 percent of our income in eating and drinking, and 20 percent in public transit. Nearly none of us can save up money. In the other word, the index of Engel is beyond 70 per. However, as far as I know, the people who lived in less-developed countries only spend half of their incomes in food.
Second, not raising scholarship is unfair to us. 20 years ago, the 1st sm3 students also get $500 allowances from MOE per month. Although Singapore is a country with low inflation, the rate is still staying at 2 percent per year. 20 years has passed but our money has never gotten raised. Our purchase ability is liner decreasing! So we can also deduce that a theory that the later you come, the less money you get. It is unfair to us because we also need to work for this country for 6 years as same as our seniors.
Third, there is no excuse for us to ask money from our families. Now most of us have become young adults. At this age, we need to assume duty and enjoy rights which the constitution entitled us. So our parents have no responsibility to raise us and give us allowance any more. However, sometimes we still have to ask them for some money. Every time when we get money from our parents, we are obliged to have a sense of guilty because we all know they work very hard but earn very little money in China. What they give us for ‘pocket money’ are even their several month wages, owing to the big income gap between Singapore and china. So almost everyone in Eton hall tends to be very frugal and is trying to save whatever we can save in case that our parents pay for them. But we always find that we lead to an inferior life meanwhile also save nothing.
We can understand the difficulties of MOE. As the sponsor of a large amount of scholars, you may cost not a little bit more money if you raise the money of us. You not only have rights but also have responsibilities to spend the money of taxpayer carefully. But at the same time would you please take us situations into consideration thoroughly? If you are really less capable of it, please reduce our service periods as long as possible. After all, in this way, we may feel we are treated equally and not bothered by money problem when we study.
Thanks for your attention!
religion in my eyes
I ’m not here to make an advertisement about Christianity but to tell you how I think about religion.
Last weekend and this weekend I have been to City Harvest Church. Our friends from the church invited us to join them to watch the Easter drama and an English Service. At first I wanted to go the church to have a view of how westerners celebrate Easter. So I went to the church. The drama showed how Jesus Christ died for our ordinary people and rose after 3days. During the drama, there was an incident unexpected. In one scene the actor who played the role of Jesus carried a big heavy Cross and drugged his legs ahead with the welts on his skin, what’s more, the soldiers of Roman strapped him. He screamed painfully all the way. At that time many Christians cried. What’s more an audience even rushed to the stage and wanted to rescue Jesus with all his face covered by tear. I was so moved at that time.
After that show I was invited to a party. In which a girl from China told us her story about how god has changed her personality traits from arrogance to humble and easygoing. This change has bring her so many friends and happiness that she had never experienced before. Many other people told us their own stories of how God changed them. For example, a manager told us that before he believed in God, he was one of the punks wandering everyday. Then changes happened to him after he believed in God. He began to be more serious and thankful to life. He followed the teaching of God and after years of hardworking he became a manager of a big company.
This sounds incredible. When I was there I thought how and why these amazing things happened. In my opinion, the reason is very simple.
They have faith. They know themselves very much. So they can’t truly believe in themselves. So the choose to believe in God, who they regard as a perfect man. They thought Jesus sacrificed himself to save them. They worship Him and follow everything He told them. The teaching is simplely the ethics in life. Without Jesus’ teaching, they also they should do in that way. But sometimes, they can’t control themselves and don’t believe in themselves that they could do it, so they don’t do in the way they should do. But once they believe in God, they have a strong desire to follow the teaching of God. So the girl believed that God told her to be humble and easygoing, and she did in that way. She believed that she could do it, so she really made it. As to the manager, he also followed the teaching and changed himself. They didn’t believe in themselves that they could change, but they believed that God could help them change themselves.
So I think that religion is to help you build your faith, not on yourself but God. Once you have faith, you can control yourself and behavior in the right way. To some extend, it is good for some people. So those don’t believe in God, you shouldn’t look down on those who believe in God. God to them is what Confucius to us. They all teach us the right way to behavior in life. So even though you don’t believe in God, but why not accept Christian?
Last weekend and this weekend I have been to City Harvest Church. Our friends from the church invited us to join them to watch the Easter drama and an English Service. At first I wanted to go the church to have a view of how westerners celebrate Easter. So I went to the church. The drama showed how Jesus Christ died for our ordinary people and rose after 3days. During the drama, there was an incident unexpected. In one scene the actor who played the role of Jesus carried a big heavy Cross and drugged his legs ahead with the welts on his skin, what’s more, the soldiers of Roman strapped him. He screamed painfully all the way. At that time many Christians cried. What’s more an audience even rushed to the stage and wanted to rescue Jesus with all his face covered by tear. I was so moved at that time.
After that show I was invited to a party. In which a girl from China told us her story about how god has changed her personality traits from arrogance to humble and easygoing. This change has bring her so many friends and happiness that she had never experienced before. Many other people told us their own stories of how God changed them. For example, a manager told us that before he believed in God, he was one of the punks wandering everyday. Then changes happened to him after he believed in God. He began to be more serious and thankful to life. He followed the teaching of God and after years of hardworking he became a manager of a big company.
This sounds incredible. When I was there I thought how and why these amazing things happened. In my opinion, the reason is very simple.
They have faith. They know themselves very much. So they can’t truly believe in themselves. So the choose to believe in God, who they regard as a perfect man. They thought Jesus sacrificed himself to save them. They worship Him and follow everything He told them. The teaching is simplely the ethics in life. Without Jesus’ teaching, they also they should do in that way. But sometimes, they can’t control themselves and don’t believe in themselves that they could do it, so they don’t do in the way they should do. But once they believe in God, they have a strong desire to follow the teaching of God. So the girl believed that God told her to be humble and easygoing, and she did in that way. She believed that she could do it, so she really made it. As to the manager, he also followed the teaching and changed himself. They didn’t believe in themselves that they could change, but they believed that God could help them change themselves.
So I think that religion is to help you build your faith, not on yourself but God. Once you have faith, you can control yourself and behavior in the right way. To some extend, it is good for some people. So those don’t believe in God, you shouldn’t look down on those who believe in God. God to them is what Confucius to us. They all teach us the right way to behavior in life. So even though you don’t believe in God, but why not accept Christian?
An unforgetable experience
After three weeks preparation, we finally finished our questionnaire yesterday night. Then we sent an email to Mrs Lim and decided to distribute the questionnaires in NUS today. In the morning, we got up very early. The first thing we did was check the mailbox and Mrs Lim replied us. She sent us an email and corrected some mistakes in our questionnaire and gave us some suggestions. After some corrections, we set out to NUS campus.
When we got there, we first went to the Central Library to print 50 copies of questionnaires. Then the most challenging part began. Each of us had been given some questionnaires to send out. At first, I thought it was really an easy task. But when I was really going to do this, I found it was really difficult. I even did not dare open my mouth, although I had practised many times before. When I met with the real situation, it was really challenging. After some time of hesitation, I finally made up my mind, when I met a student. I took a deep breath and then went close him. First, I introduced myself, and then asked him whether he could do me a favour to fill a questionnaire. In the mean time, I kept observing his expression. He first seemed to be very confused. After I finished my word, he just nodded and said OK. This was my first questionnaire and I couldn’t believe it was so smooth. Then everything went easy. About one hour later, all our questionnaires were finished.
This is the first time I sent out questionnaires. The experience is really good. I think I will remember it for my whole life.
When we got there, we first went to the Central Library to print 50 copies of questionnaires. Then the most challenging part began. Each of us had been given some questionnaires to send out. At first, I thought it was really an easy task. But when I was really going to do this, I found it was really difficult. I even did not dare open my mouth, although I had practised many times before. When I met with the real situation, it was really challenging. After some time of hesitation, I finally made up my mind, when I met a student. I took a deep breath and then went close him. First, I introduced myself, and then asked him whether he could do me a favour to fill a questionnaire. In the mean time, I kept observing his expression. He first seemed to be very confused. After I finished my word, he just nodded and said OK. This was my first questionnaire and I couldn’t believe it was so smooth. Then everything went easy. About one hour later, all our questionnaires were finished.
This is the first time I sent out questionnaires. The experience is really good. I think I will remember it for my whole life.
The Last King of Scotland
Today, I have seen a film called The Last King of Scotland. The film is adapted according to a real story happened in Uganda.
A medical student called Garrigan in Scotland graduated from school. In order to find something excited in life, he chose to be a volunteer doctor in Uganda. When he got to Uganda, a coup had just taken place there. General Amin’s became the new president of Uganda. By accident, Garrigan got to know General Amin and soon became good friends. General Amin in the public showed that he was so friendly and he fought for his people. But he said one thing while did another thing. He killed all the people that were against him or even he didn’t like. At first, Garrigan was deceived by Amin’s appearance. He tried his best to defend General Amin. But later Amin even wanted to kill Garrigan. At this time, Garrigan finally knew the truth. With many people’s help, he escaped from Uganda. Before long, General Amin was pulled down by his people for his cruelty.
After seeing this film, I am a little sad. Amin also came from a poor family. He should have known the life of poor people. But after he became a president and had strong power, he changed. He became self-fish and unbelieving. To reinforce his position, he killed all the people that violated his will. At last, he even didn’t have a friend. What a tragedy it was! It is also very difficult for such a man to survive long in modern society. So no matter how high your position will be in the future, be humble and considerate. You will achieve more. That is my personal opinion. Thank you.
A medical student called Garrigan in Scotland graduated from school. In order to find something excited in life, he chose to be a volunteer doctor in Uganda. When he got to Uganda, a coup had just taken place there. General Amin’s became the new president of Uganda. By accident, Garrigan got to know General Amin and soon became good friends. General Amin in the public showed that he was so friendly and he fought for his people. But he said one thing while did another thing. He killed all the people that were against him or even he didn’t like. At first, Garrigan was deceived by Amin’s appearance. He tried his best to defend General Amin. But later Amin even wanted to kill Garrigan. At this time, Garrigan finally knew the truth. With many people’s help, he escaped from Uganda. Before long, General Amin was pulled down by his people for his cruelty.
After seeing this film, I am a little sad. Amin also came from a poor family. He should have known the life of poor people. But after he became a president and had strong power, he changed. He became self-fish and unbelieving. To reinforce his position, he killed all the people that violated his will. At last, he even didn’t have a friend. What a tragedy it was! It is also very difficult for such a man to survive long in modern society. So no matter how high your position will be in the future, be humble and considerate. You will achieve more. That is my personal opinion. Thank you.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Worst Thing and the Best Thing in the World
There is no worse thing than despair in the world.
In despair, the whole heart is occupied by darkness and whatever one can sense is dark. Life has seemed to have deserted him even when he is still beloved deeply by his kinship, and his favorite food is not appetizing for him anymore, and coldness surrounds him even when he is in the brightest sunlight, and indifference is his best companion because he believes that all the friends have left him even if they treat him as before. He cannot find the happiness of life, the warmth of kinship and friendship, and the meaning of working. Darkness is the whole of his world.
There is no better thing than hope in the world.
In hope, the whole heart is filled with expectation of future and whatever one can sense is bright. Everything in life, even the worst thing is enjoyable to him, for the good things can give him comforts and encouragement and the bad things can bring him chance to prove that he is at least as good as others, if not better. In the endless darkness, one can light the candle in his heart; and in the fight for future, one can raise the torch of victory even when he is faced with the unprecedented difficulty; and a wisp of sunlight, or moonlight, or starlight, or candlelight can bring him the greatest comfort when he is in deepest darkness. One can perseverate, for only there is hope in his heart. There is nothing but hope that explain it.
Everyone comes to the world for nothing but life. Life is hard for anyone. But life is beautiful out of its hardness. No one can deny that. Since so, why don’t we live with hope in heart?
Hope in heart, happiness glistens as sun, and sorrow hides the darkest corner; walk on through the storm with head up high, and rainbow will see your victory.
In despair, the whole heart is occupied by darkness and whatever one can sense is dark. Life has seemed to have deserted him even when he is still beloved deeply by his kinship, and his favorite food is not appetizing for him anymore, and coldness surrounds him even when he is in the brightest sunlight, and indifference is his best companion because he believes that all the friends have left him even if they treat him as before. He cannot find the happiness of life, the warmth of kinship and friendship, and the meaning of working. Darkness is the whole of his world.
There is no better thing than hope in the world.
In hope, the whole heart is filled with expectation of future and whatever one can sense is bright. Everything in life, even the worst thing is enjoyable to him, for the good things can give him comforts and encouragement and the bad things can bring him chance to prove that he is at least as good as others, if not better. In the endless darkness, one can light the candle in his heart; and in the fight for future, one can raise the torch of victory even when he is faced with the unprecedented difficulty; and a wisp of sunlight, or moonlight, or starlight, or candlelight can bring him the greatest comfort when he is in deepest darkness. One can perseverate, for only there is hope in his heart. There is nothing but hope that explain it.
Everyone comes to the world for nothing but life. Life is hard for anyone. But life is beautiful out of its hardness. No one can deny that. Since so, why don’t we live with hope in heart?
Hope in heart, happiness glistens as sun, and sorrow hides the darkest corner; walk on through the storm with head up high, and rainbow will see your victory.
50 First Love ( Yap)
The movie 50 First Dates tells a fantastic story of true love.
A girl named Lucy had a terrible car accident last October and she suffered a serious head injury. She lost her short-term memory but she still had her long-term memory. So she cannot retain any new information. And she did the same thing every day.
The day when the accident happened was October 13th Sunday. She had the habit of going to a certain restaurant to have breakfast and building a house with her pancake. That day was her father’s birthday. So when she went back home, she would celebrate it with her father and her brother. She would paint on the wall as she like and give the same CD as a present to her father. Then after she went to sleep, her father and brother would get everything to its origin and do the same thing the next day.
However, things changed when a man called Henry came into Lucy’s life. He met her in the restaurant one morning and fell in love with her. And he tried his best to know her. The first day they fell in love with each other and promised to meet the next day. However, the next day, when Henry came to her happily, she could not recognize him and became angry with him. The boss of the restaurant told him about the accident and tried to persuade him to give up. But Henry loved Lucy so much that he tried different ways to meet her and make an acquaintance with her every day. Later Lucy knew the truth and felt heartbroken when she saw her father and brother’s life. She did not want Henry to be the same as them, so she decided to leave Henry and give him the chance to start his new life. Henry accepted her decision though it was very hard. Later, Lucy went to a nursing home and taught painting there. Henry was about to start his voyage when he received a present from Lucy’s father. Then he came to realize that Lucy can remember him and he quit his plan. In Lucy’s studio, there were all paintings about Henry. Lucy told him that she did not know him but she could dream of him every night. Then they decide to stay with each other. They got married and had a daughter but Lucy still cannot have short-term memory. Henry took a record of their life with a video every day and showed it to Lucy every morning then she would not be surprised with her life. And in the end of the movie they went on the voyage with their daughter and lived a happy life.
The movie has a happy ending and I really enjoyed myself watching it. If you have the interest, go and watch it by yourself. I am sure that you can burst out laughing watching it.
A girl named Lucy had a terrible car accident last October and she suffered a serious head injury. She lost her short-term memory but she still had her long-term memory. So she cannot retain any new information. And she did the same thing every day.
The day when the accident happened was October 13th Sunday. She had the habit of going to a certain restaurant to have breakfast and building a house with her pancake. That day was her father’s birthday. So when she went back home, she would celebrate it with her father and her brother. She would paint on the wall as she like and give the same CD as a present to her father. Then after she went to sleep, her father and brother would get everything to its origin and do the same thing the next day.
However, things changed when a man called Henry came into Lucy’s life. He met her in the restaurant one morning and fell in love with her. And he tried his best to know her. The first day they fell in love with each other and promised to meet the next day. However, the next day, when Henry came to her happily, she could not recognize him and became angry with him. The boss of the restaurant told him about the accident and tried to persuade him to give up. But Henry loved Lucy so much that he tried different ways to meet her and make an acquaintance with her every day. Later Lucy knew the truth and felt heartbroken when she saw her father and brother’s life. She did not want Henry to be the same as them, so she decided to leave Henry and give him the chance to start his new life. Henry accepted her decision though it was very hard. Later, Lucy went to a nursing home and taught painting there. Henry was about to start his voyage when he received a present from Lucy’s father. Then he came to realize that Lucy can remember him and he quit his plan. In Lucy’s studio, there were all paintings about Henry. Lucy told him that she did not know him but she could dream of him every night. Then they decide to stay with each other. They got married and had a daughter but Lucy still cannot have short-term memory. Henry took a record of their life with a video every day and showed it to Lucy every morning then she would not be surprised with her life. And in the end of the movie they went on the voyage with their daughter and lived a happy life.
The movie has a happy ending and I really enjoyed myself watching it. If you have the interest, go and watch it by yourself. I am sure that you can burst out laughing watching it.
Impromptu,Important,Impossible
In Phase 2, our oral report has been changed into oral presentation .Different from prepared presentation, this time we students need to do impromptu speech. When I got the news, I was shocked and nervous. Honestly, I am that kind of person who can talk a lot in leisure time but becomes speechless when it comes to speak in public.
Dear me! How can I perform well in front of my classmates? What if I get stuck in the middle of my speech? Actually, up to now, I have already done impromptu presentation twice. It shames me to say that both of the two speeches are unsuccessful. The first time, I got the topic “when can a smart person become stupid”. The first thing coming into my mind was “love”, so I talked about a smart person could become stupid when he or she fell in love with someone. I was full of confidence when I start. But somehow I got stuck there, 1 second,2……15 seconds . Dead silence made me extremely embarrassed and I was forced to say “that’s all” to end up my presentation. The second time was even worse. The tutor asked me “Do you count blessing everyday”. That wasn’t me at that moment because I misheard and talked about “why I count blessing everyday”. Out of point was what I got that time. I felt so depressed and had a bad feeling that I could never get over that obstacle.
No one can deny the importance of impromptu speech. Especially when we come to work, more impromptu things are waiting there. Impromptu speech is just a tip of the iceberg. Indeed, working efficiently is one thing and we also need to master the impromptu skills so that we can catch more chances and get improved and promoted.
But the point is that it seems impossible for me to step over that gap. I can’t remember how many times I resolved to practice my impromptu speech. But luckily I know that none of them were successful. Most of the time, my brain got blank and word failed me. How can I overcome my problem! Am I doomed to fail every time?
Next Thursday, I will do my oral presentation again. Who knows what will happen? Maybe I would get stuck there or out of point.
Dear me! How can I perform well in front of my classmates? What if I get stuck in the middle of my speech? Actually, up to now, I have already done impromptu presentation twice. It shames me to say that both of the two speeches are unsuccessful. The first time, I got the topic “when can a smart person become stupid”. The first thing coming into my mind was “love”, so I talked about a smart person could become stupid when he or she fell in love with someone. I was full of confidence when I start. But somehow I got stuck there, 1 second,2……15 seconds . Dead silence made me extremely embarrassed and I was forced to say “that’s all” to end up my presentation. The second time was even worse. The tutor asked me “Do you count blessing everyday”. That wasn’t me at that moment because I misheard and talked about “why I count blessing everyday”. Out of point was what I got that time. I felt so depressed and had a bad feeling that I could never get over that obstacle.
No one can deny the importance of impromptu speech. Especially when we come to work, more impromptu things are waiting there. Impromptu speech is just a tip of the iceberg. Indeed, working efficiently is one thing and we also need to master the impromptu skills so that we can catch more chances and get improved and promoted.
But the point is that it seems impossible for me to step over that gap. I can’t remember how many times I resolved to practice my impromptu speech. But luckily I know that none of them were successful. Most of the time, my brain got blank and word failed me. How can I overcome my problem! Am I doomed to fail every time?
Next Thursday, I will do my oral presentation again. Who knows what will happen? Maybe I would get stuck there or out of point.
Friday, April 17, 2009
What We Can Learn from Edison Chen
What We Can Learn from Edison Chen
At first, I have to say that I am not a fan of Edison Chen. I feel very disgusted about his pictures of sex and I deprive his rascal behavior. However, at the same time, we still can learn something from him.
Overall, Edison is a person who cannot be easily defeated. When his pictures of sex were given away and spread around on the internet, he was criticized to be a man of bad moral because what he did would do great harm to the atmosphere of our society and would not be acknowledged by citizens. Under the gigantic pressure, he announced that he had to quit the performing circle of HK immediately and never came back. At that time, most of people just as me even felt pity about him. As for that case, we all thought it was not his fault. We could understand that some people had some idiosyncrasies. After all Edison is just an ordinary people who is like us and has basic desires. That man who pretended to repair his PC but actually gave those pictures out was the real person to blame and be punished. But his promising future was completely ruined by this ‘small’ incident. But now, I find that I am too naïve. Quitting the circle of performing is just an excuse. In the other word, he just played a word games that he just acted in other cities not HK. Even he regarded it as a progressing which could get him access to Hollywood. He also made fames by this dramatically. Facing a great struck which even can destroy him and destined to be a scapegoat, he got free of punishment by a trick rather than stayed paralyzed. When his father got bankruptcy and he owed others near 50 million HK dollars, he never felt frustrated and wanted to suicide. He carried on acting in another movie and withstood the pressure. This definitely proves his great confidence and courage.
Second, Edison is also a man who never feels ashamed. Although he acknowledged his faults of sex pictures, he never felt ashamed on what he did. What’s more, when his father got bankrupt owing to his trouble, he never felt guilty; when he acted a role of hero in the brand new movie ‘sniper’, he never felt he didn’t deserve it. When one of twins (music band) sued him, he still defended for himself and refused to apologize. In summary, although he did a lot things make everybody disgusted, he has never admitted ashamed towards them.
This is actually we can learn from Edison Chen. When we come to Singapore, we have already been confronted a lot of problems and we are also going to come across more in the future. When we meet difficulties, we may feel depressed even inferior. For instance, the result of science examination last week may make most of us disappointed. Some even felt hopeless and even felt that he was not capable of handling of the studies in university and would be driven back by MOE in the future. However, at that time, we need to think about Edison twice. Do not give up so easily and never feel ashamed. Let us move on and it still has long way to go in the next 4 years. Take it easy and everything will get to be better.
At first, I have to say that I am not a fan of Edison Chen. I feel very disgusted about his pictures of sex and I deprive his rascal behavior. However, at the same time, we still can learn something from him.
Overall, Edison is a person who cannot be easily defeated. When his pictures of sex were given away and spread around on the internet, he was criticized to be a man of bad moral because what he did would do great harm to the atmosphere of our society and would not be acknowledged by citizens. Under the gigantic pressure, he announced that he had to quit the performing circle of HK immediately and never came back. At that time, most of people just as me even felt pity about him. As for that case, we all thought it was not his fault. We could understand that some people had some idiosyncrasies. After all Edison is just an ordinary people who is like us and has basic desires. That man who pretended to repair his PC but actually gave those pictures out was the real person to blame and be punished. But his promising future was completely ruined by this ‘small’ incident. But now, I find that I am too naïve. Quitting the circle of performing is just an excuse. In the other word, he just played a word games that he just acted in other cities not HK. Even he regarded it as a progressing which could get him access to Hollywood. He also made fames by this dramatically. Facing a great struck which even can destroy him and destined to be a scapegoat, he got free of punishment by a trick rather than stayed paralyzed. When his father got bankruptcy and he owed others near 50 million HK dollars, he never felt frustrated and wanted to suicide. He carried on acting in another movie and withstood the pressure. This definitely proves his great confidence and courage.
Second, Edison is also a man who never feels ashamed. Although he acknowledged his faults of sex pictures, he never felt ashamed on what he did. What’s more, when his father got bankrupt owing to his trouble, he never felt guilty; when he acted a role of hero in the brand new movie ‘sniper’, he never felt he didn’t deserve it. When one of twins (music band) sued him, he still defended for himself and refused to apologize. In summary, although he did a lot things make everybody disgusted, he has never admitted ashamed towards them.
This is actually we can learn from Edison Chen. When we come to Singapore, we have already been confronted a lot of problems and we are also going to come across more in the future. When we meet difficulties, we may feel depressed even inferior. For instance, the result of science examination last week may make most of us disappointed. Some even felt hopeless and even felt that he was not capable of handling of the studies in university and would be driven back by MOE in the future. However, at that time, we need to think about Edison twice. Do not give up so easily and never feel ashamed. Let us move on and it still has long way to go in the next 4 years. Take it easy and everything will get to be better.
Scarlett O'Hara
-----The heroine of Gone With The Wind
“After all, tomorrow is another day” is a very famous saying from Scarlett O’Hara, who is the heroine of the well-known novel, Gone With The Wind, written by Margeret Mitchell.
Scarlett, as an Irish descendant, is the oldest daughter of a planter who owns a large plantation. When she is young, the only thing in her head is to attract as many beaux as possible to be around her, because she enjoys the feeling of being the most popular belle in the county. She loves a man called Ashley, but unfortunately, he is going to marry his cousin, Melanie. She believes that Ashley loves her, so as a revenge, she marries a man, Charles, whom she doesn’t love at all, to hurt Ashley’s heart.
Soon, the Civil War breaks out and Scarlet’s life is totally changed. She loses almost everything. She has to make money with every effort and Melanie’s help. As Charles’s sister, Melanie always takes her sister-in-law, Scarlett, as someone who saves her life. Melanie loves Scarlett with all her heart, however, Scarlett hates Melanie all the time. Charles is dead in the war, and to get money to save Tara, her home, from being taken away, Scarlett marries Frank, who owns a store and a lumber mill. She is a little rich but she is not satisfied. She runs her own business, which is taken unwomanly and unacceptable by others. Frank is killed because he is to revenge for Scarlett’s being attacked by two scoundrels. Yet, Scarlett soon marry Rhett Butler, despite that everybody disapproves. Rhett is the only one in the world who can see piercingly what Scarlett is thinking and point it out. He is smart, rich and uninhibited, what’s more, he is regarded as the most evil scoundrel in the town. He loves Scarlett at the first sight of her. He knows she loves Ashley and he tries his best to pull Ashley out of her head, but he fails, even though they get married. His heart is eventually broken when their lovely daughter, Bonnie, and Melanie, who he respects most, are both dead. He decides to go away. Scarlett is alone again, as when she is young. She still holds the faith after so many bad things happening, because she strongly believes,”Tomorrow is another day”.
Scarlett is so unique, complicated and different. She is brave, selfish and cruel, simple-minded but proficient in business, independent but fragile. She loves and relies on Melanie and Rhett but she doesn’t know until they are going. She keeps using them and hurting them while they love her so much and are still stand by her side. She doesn’t love Ashley and the one she thinks she loves is just a image in her imagination. However, it is too late when she realises this. She is too brave and determined to care about others’ disapproval, but she can’t bear her beloved Mammy’s scolding words and bursts into tears. She does business with the most unpopular people and makes money from it, which is regarded as a shameand because of that she is isolated by all the respectable people in the town.. Nevertheless, she still gives this “dirty” money to help her “respectable” relatives who live in starvation.
Many People think that Scarlett is bad because of her unwomen behaviours and cruelty. I don’t think so. She is the ideal woman in that situation and should be others’ example. She knows what she needs and pushed with all her strength through the enormous hardship to get it. It should be praised highly of. However, she is too outstanding to be accepted by the populace of that time. Thererfore, she is miserable and desolated. It is a moving tragedy indeed, hence, it is a classic whose scent will last forever.
JiangXiaoning(Arthur)
“After all, tomorrow is another day” is a very famous saying from Scarlett O’Hara, who is the heroine of the well-known novel, Gone With The Wind, written by Margeret Mitchell.
Scarlett, as an Irish descendant, is the oldest daughter of a planter who owns a large plantation. When she is young, the only thing in her head is to attract as many beaux as possible to be around her, because she enjoys the feeling of being the most popular belle in the county. She loves a man called Ashley, but unfortunately, he is going to marry his cousin, Melanie. She believes that Ashley loves her, so as a revenge, she marries a man, Charles, whom she doesn’t love at all, to hurt Ashley’s heart.
Soon, the Civil War breaks out and Scarlet’s life is totally changed. She loses almost everything. She has to make money with every effort and Melanie’s help. As Charles’s sister, Melanie always takes her sister-in-law, Scarlett, as someone who saves her life. Melanie loves Scarlett with all her heart, however, Scarlett hates Melanie all the time. Charles is dead in the war, and to get money to save Tara, her home, from being taken away, Scarlett marries Frank, who owns a store and a lumber mill. She is a little rich but she is not satisfied. She runs her own business, which is taken unwomanly and unacceptable by others. Frank is killed because he is to revenge for Scarlett’s being attacked by two scoundrels. Yet, Scarlett soon marry Rhett Butler, despite that everybody disapproves. Rhett is the only one in the world who can see piercingly what Scarlett is thinking and point it out. He is smart, rich and uninhibited, what’s more, he is regarded as the most evil scoundrel in the town. He loves Scarlett at the first sight of her. He knows she loves Ashley and he tries his best to pull Ashley out of her head, but he fails, even though they get married. His heart is eventually broken when their lovely daughter, Bonnie, and Melanie, who he respects most, are both dead. He decides to go away. Scarlett is alone again, as when she is young. She still holds the faith after so many bad things happening, because she strongly believes,”Tomorrow is another day”.
Scarlett is so unique, complicated and different. She is brave, selfish and cruel, simple-minded but proficient in business, independent but fragile. She loves and relies on Melanie and Rhett but she doesn’t know until they are going. She keeps using them and hurting them while they love her so much and are still stand by her side. She doesn’t love Ashley and the one she thinks she loves is just a image in her imagination. However, it is too late when she realises this. She is too brave and determined to care about others’ disapproval, but she can’t bear her beloved Mammy’s scolding words and bursts into tears. She does business with the most unpopular people and makes money from it, which is regarded as a shameand because of that she is isolated by all the respectable people in the town.. Nevertheless, she still gives this “dirty” money to help her “respectable” relatives who live in starvation.
Many People think that Scarlett is bad because of her unwomen behaviours and cruelty. I don’t think so. She is the ideal woman in that situation and should be others’ example. She knows what she needs and pushed with all her strength through the enormous hardship to get it. It should be praised highly of. However, she is too outstanding to be accepted by the populace of that time. Thererfore, she is miserable and desolated. It is a moving tragedy indeed, hence, it is a classic whose scent will last forever.
JiangXiaoning(Arthur)
You are what you say
Languange is a tool with which we can communicate with people. Meanwhile, I think it is also a label, which means the others can roughly know which class of society you are in or how much education you have received through the way you speak.
In China, we know that people always choose to use Putonghua when they give a speech or talk in a formal occasion. Why? It is because that compared with the dialect, Putonghua is more official. You can convey a message to people that you attach importance to them by using Putonghua.
There is a similar rule in English as well. People who are highly educated always pay much attention to their tongue. In some TV dramas, especially some American TV dramas such as Prison Break, I usually notice the big difference between the ways which people of different background use when they are talking to each other. Few gramma mistakes and coarse words can be found from the language used by such people like Michael who have a good education background, while, we may often hear such vulgar things from rude people who lack the education. In addition, I also saw many such cases in Gone With The Wind. The blacks usually don’t pay much attention to they tongue, for example, Mammy drew herself up with dignity,”Ah is free, Miss Scarlett.” However, their white masters always use good tongue. I think Margaret Mitchell wrote her novel like this on purpose, for she might want to show the difference between the blacks and the whites in this way.
So, as a conclusion, we Chinese students who are studying English now should watch our tongue when we are speaking. I find that we often make some simple mistakes, for instance, the tenses of the verbs we use are wrong sometimes. Such mistakes may be not that important for us but, to some extent, they may make others think little of us. That is really something we don't like to see. So, to win others’ respect, we should speak in a respectable way.
JiangXiaoning
In China, we know that people always choose to use Putonghua when they give a speech or talk in a formal occasion. Why? It is because that compared with the dialect, Putonghua is more official. You can convey a message to people that you attach importance to them by using Putonghua.
There is a similar rule in English as well. People who are highly educated always pay much attention to their tongue. In some TV dramas, especially some American TV dramas such as Prison Break, I usually notice the big difference between the ways which people of different background use when they are talking to each other. Few gramma mistakes and coarse words can be found from the language used by such people like Michael who have a good education background, while, we may often hear such vulgar things from rude people who lack the education. In addition, I also saw many such cases in Gone With The Wind. The blacks usually don’t pay much attention to they tongue, for example, Mammy drew herself up with dignity,”Ah is free, Miss Scarlett.” However, their white masters always use good tongue. I think Margaret Mitchell wrote her novel like this on purpose, for she might want to show the difference between the blacks and the whites in this way.
So, as a conclusion, we Chinese students who are studying English now should watch our tongue when we are speaking. I find that we often make some simple mistakes, for instance, the tenses of the verbs we use are wrong sometimes. Such mistakes may be not that important for us but, to some extent, they may make others think little of us. That is really something we don't like to see. So, to win others’ respect, we should speak in a respectable way.
JiangXiaoning
One for all, all for one(part one)
I came up with the idea to write about this a long time ago. Today I have time to do it. Thank you for all my “family members”! You are the most precious gifts the god has given me.
Our group is the most popular around Eton Hall. Not only because we have the most members, but also for we are the most united. We came from the same university in China------Dalian University of Technology.
It is a difficult task for us to adapt to the life here without our parents and family. But it is lucky that we are not alone. We have friends and classmates. I am very happy that I have come across you, and made friends with you.
Our group is the most popular around Eton Hall. Not only because we have the most members, but also for we are the most united. We came from the same university in China------Dalian University of Technology.
It is a difficult task for us to adapt to the life here without our parents and family. But it is lucky that we are not alone. We have friends and classmates. I am very happy that I have come across you, and made friends with you.
Looking at the picture, you can find there are 15 people. We all came from the same school. Twelve of us came from Liaoning Province. During our leisure time, we chat by speaking “Northeast Dialect”. We are all very openhearted. The time we spend together we treasure very much.
We came here without the company of our parents. But we don’t feel lonely. We have many precious memories: the time we celebrated the Chinese New Year, the time we went barbecue, the time we went to have hot pot… If someone of us has something in trouble, any of us will give him a hand. I always dream that one day in the future, we are still friends and “family members”.
I said just now------“we are a family”! There are 15 members in our “family”------ Nine boys and six girls. We ordered ourselves by our birthdays. In my next blog post, I will introduce my brothers and sisters. I hope that you can wait for it.
Thank you, all my friends! Remember our slogan:”One for all, all for one”!
Science examination (Yap)
Last Saturday we had a science examination and the results came out this Friday.
Those who were always hard-working got a good mark. And those who were lazy during phase one did a bad job. However Professor Tay said that he would talk to those who did not pass the examination and see whether they need help.
I did a bad job especially in my C Programming exam even though I passed it. I felt very unhappy when I got the results. However, when I thought about the reasons, I became angry with myself. When taking the lessons, I felt boring and sometimes I could not understand the teacher. So, I chose not to listen and learn it by myself. But the information in the handout was only part of the knowledge and the information that the teacher taught us during the class was very important. However, I missed the important one and when I was taking the exam, sometimes I could not even understand the question. Another reason is that I became lazy since I came to Singapore. There was not so much pressure here as in Shandong Province. So I felt relaxed and lowered the demand to myself. This was very ridiculous and I got the deserving consequence.
Once I read a story and it told us that today we are living in the house which we built for ourselves yesterday. So I think that I can blame nobody except myself. When in China, I got good marks because I was tough-minded and worked hard and would never give up. But I have changed since I came to Singapore. I became lazy and relaxed. My head-teacher once told us: the most dangerous situation for a nation is not when there are strong nations threatening it but when it is peaceful and the whole nation become relaxed and lack the consciousness of crisis. So is it with individual. When the situation is very difficult and full of pressure, a person can become strong and his motivation can be inspired. So usually in this kind of situation, a person can be his best and achieve a lot. I think this is my problem. My life here is so relaxed and I become lazy and lack the consciousness of crisis. This is why I became very angry with myself.
Life here is different from that in China. I cannot change the situation but I can change myself to adapt to it. Or I will never be successful. So, from now on, I should be myself again and be strict with myself. Time is limited and I should never waste it again. This science examination is very painful for me but I think that it is essential. It let me come to realize the situation that I meet and tell me the truth that no one can achieve anything without diligence.
Those who were always hard-working got a good mark. And those who were lazy during phase one did a bad job. However Professor Tay said that he would talk to those who did not pass the examination and see whether they need help.
I did a bad job especially in my C Programming exam even though I passed it. I felt very unhappy when I got the results. However, when I thought about the reasons, I became angry with myself. When taking the lessons, I felt boring and sometimes I could not understand the teacher. So, I chose not to listen and learn it by myself. But the information in the handout was only part of the knowledge and the information that the teacher taught us during the class was very important. However, I missed the important one and when I was taking the exam, sometimes I could not even understand the question. Another reason is that I became lazy since I came to Singapore. There was not so much pressure here as in Shandong Province. So I felt relaxed and lowered the demand to myself. This was very ridiculous and I got the deserving consequence.
Once I read a story and it told us that today we are living in the house which we built for ourselves yesterday. So I think that I can blame nobody except myself. When in China, I got good marks because I was tough-minded and worked hard and would never give up. But I have changed since I came to Singapore. I became lazy and relaxed. My head-teacher once told us: the most dangerous situation for a nation is not when there are strong nations threatening it but when it is peaceful and the whole nation become relaxed and lack the consciousness of crisis. So is it with individual. When the situation is very difficult and full of pressure, a person can become strong and his motivation can be inspired. So usually in this kind of situation, a person can be his best and achieve a lot. I think this is my problem. My life here is so relaxed and I become lazy and lack the consciousness of crisis. This is why I became very angry with myself.
Life here is different from that in China. I cannot change the situation but I can change myself to adapt to it. Or I will never be successful. So, from now on, I should be myself again and be strict with myself. Time is limited and I should never waste it again. This science examination is very painful for me but I think that it is essential. It let me come to realize the situation that I meet and tell me the truth that no one can achieve anything without diligence.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
NO HOT WATER（yap）
Last Saturday evening, when I was going to take a shower, I found there was no hot water in the bathroom. After checking the four bathrooms near my room, I knew there must be something wrong with our water supply, because none of them had hot water. However, we didn’t take the thing seriously. We thought it may be just a small problem and it would not last long. The next day, things didn’t get well. It turned to be that not only first floor, but also the second and third floors on our side of the building didn’t have any hot water. Two plumbers came at noon. They worked on the broken system for a couple of hours. But it didn’t work. We became worried. My friend went to untie to ask her about that. Unfortunately, she told us the hot water would be not available for at least one week. Then, we know it was just a beginning…
Although Singapore is located on tropical area and everyday is very hot, we had got used to use hot water, can not adapt to the cold one so soon. Moreover, we usually took shower at night before we go to beds. At that time, it was much colder than daytime. So we felt very uncomfortable at first. While I was taking shower, I felt the cold water dropped on me like small needles. Another thing disturbed me was that my habit was a little different from others. At morning, after I get up sometimes I also will take a shower. But maybe my immune system was weaker at morning. As a result I began to cough and had a block nose at the first two days. Luckily, I made a little change and recovered soon. Actually, there was still hot water in those bathrooms which were on the other side of Eton Hall. But if we wanted to go that side, we should cross the long corridor. Imaging you were carrying your towel, shampoo etc. and wearing little, walking through the two big halls on the side of the corridor, maybe everybody studying in the hall would look at you. That could be very embarrassing. So my roommates had to go shower late at night when most of the people were in their rooms especially girls. It was really inconvenient.
However, everything will get better soon. The plumbers and electricians are trying their best to solve the problem as soon as possible. I can see in our bathrooms, new devices and pipes have been installed. They look much useful and reliable than the old ones. I believe we will enjoy our shower again in several days.
Although Singapore is located on tropical area and everyday is very hot, we had got used to use hot water, can not adapt to the cold one so soon. Moreover, we usually took shower at night before we go to beds. At that time, it was much colder than daytime. So we felt very uncomfortable at first. While I was taking shower, I felt the cold water dropped on me like small needles. Another thing disturbed me was that my habit was a little different from others. At morning, after I get up sometimes I also will take a shower. But maybe my immune system was weaker at morning. As a result I began to cough and had a block nose at the first two days. Luckily, I made a little change and recovered soon. Actually, there was still hot water in those bathrooms which were on the other side of Eton Hall. But if we wanted to go that side, we should cross the long corridor. Imaging you were carrying your towel, shampoo etc. and wearing little, walking through the two big halls on the side of the corridor, maybe everybody studying in the hall would look at you. That could be very embarrassing. So my roommates had to go shower late at night when most of the people were in their rooms especially girls. It was really inconvenient.
However, everything will get better soon. The plumbers and electricians are trying their best to solve the problem as soon as possible. I can see in our bathrooms, new devices and pipes have been installed. They look much useful and reliable than the old ones. I believe we will enjoy our shower again in several days.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
To Be Considerate
Today, in the class, we talked about gender roles, and Teacher Maureen put up an interesting question, which is “Suppose you are stranded in a deserted island and you could choose a company with you, will you choose a male or a female?” Each of us got a chance to speak out our own opinion. There were some really good points made by us.
Someone said that he would choose a female, because during the indefinite lonely time, he may need a person who was willing to listen to him and comfort him. Someone said that she would choose a male, because in that almost wild environment, a man tended to be physically stronger and could help her cope with the situation well. However, when it came to Shuwen, he thought for a while, and said that he would choose a man, too, because with a man as a partner, they could work together to escape from the island. That was really a critical thinking, but the thing that astonished me was his following words. He said that, one main reason for not choosing a female was that he did not think that a woman was suitable for that harsh living condition, and that there was a low possibility that she would want to go with him. The whole class fell silent for a few seconds and then burst out a big round of applause for his noble and excellent response.
After class, when I thought about it, it made me fall into reflection. Is it true that sometimes all of us are subconsciously inclined to be so self-centered that we fail to think about others’ feelings? Does our way of thinking and consideration tend to be more focus on our own? Moreover, do we really care what people think in such kind of situation? This reminded me think of another story I had read before.
Once upon the time, King Arthur and his knights were in the journey in the quest of the Holy Grail. When they finally reached the castle where the Grail was, an old gatekeeper of the castle blocked their way. He said that only the person who could answer the question he gave could go inside. There was his question, “What does a woman want most?” They tried many times, but none of them could make the gatekeeper nod. So King Arthur and the knights went to consult a famous witch, who was said to have enormous power and the same amount of wisdom. However, the witch told King Arthur that unless he made one of his knights marry her, she would not tell him the correct answer.
King Arthur was facing a dilemma. The witch was ugly and aged, but without her help, their journey and their long-term efforts would be in vain. Just at this time, Sir Galahad, the most considerate and caring one, stepped forward and announced that he was willing to marry the witch. He asked for King Arthur’s permission, and after consideration, he agreed. Then, King Arthur went to the witch’s again to inform her about the news. The witch told him the answer. She said that the thing a woman wants most was to be given the chance to determine and choose her life. It was correct and Arthur finally got the Grail.
To keep his promise, King Arthur arranged the wedding for the witch and Sir Galahad. However, at the wedding, neither the king nor the other knights attended the celebration. What could be celebrated anyway? They two were alone at the empty hall at night. Then, the witch told Sir Galahad that several years before, she had been cursed by her foe to have such an ugly face and age tens of years. The spell could only be broken by her husband, but he should choose whether he wanted her to return normal in daytime or at night. Sir Galahad thought for a while, but did not choose at all. Instead, he let the witch herself made the decision. He told her that whatever her choice was, he would respect it. Then, just like magic, the old, ugly witch turned into the most beautiful woman Sir Galahad had ever seen. The witch told him that because he gave her the chance to make her life and really consider her feelings, she chose to be beautiful both day and night.
In my opinion, to be considerate is not limited in the certain gender. Everyone will appreciate others’ care and consideration, no matter he or she is the one. When we are asking for something from someone, we are prone to assume that the person we ask will not refuse. If he does disagree, we get frustrated, but how many times we will see through their eyes before we make requirement for others? Do we stand in other people’s shoes and really care about what they may feel of that? I admit that I did not. Sometime, I was even more stricter with others than myself. I retrieved more than I gave. Once I recall that how selfish and inconsiderate I used to be, I feel ashamed. Now since I know my flaw, I try to correct it and make the improvement. Although it may take a long time for me to conquer my weakness in character, I can start from this very point to do things little by little, which I believe will push me forward towards better and better.
Someone said that he would choose a female, because during the indefinite lonely time, he may need a person who was willing to listen to him and comfort him. Someone said that she would choose a male, because in that almost wild environment, a man tended to be physically stronger and could help her cope with the situation well. However, when it came to Shuwen, he thought for a while, and said that he would choose a man, too, because with a man as a partner, they could work together to escape from the island. That was really a critical thinking, but the thing that astonished me was his following words. He said that, one main reason for not choosing a female was that he did not think that a woman was suitable for that harsh living condition, and that there was a low possibility that she would want to go with him. The whole class fell silent for a few seconds and then burst out a big round of applause for his noble and excellent response.
After class, when I thought about it, it made me fall into reflection. Is it true that sometimes all of us are subconsciously inclined to be so self-centered that we fail to think about others’ feelings? Does our way of thinking and consideration tend to be more focus on our own? Moreover, do we really care what people think in such kind of situation? This reminded me think of another story I had read before.
Once upon the time, King Arthur and his knights were in the journey in the quest of the Holy Grail. When they finally reached the castle where the Grail was, an old gatekeeper of the castle blocked their way. He said that only the person who could answer the question he gave could go inside. There was his question, “What does a woman want most?” They tried many times, but none of them could make the gatekeeper nod. So King Arthur and the knights went to consult a famous witch, who was said to have enormous power and the same amount of wisdom. However, the witch told King Arthur that unless he made one of his knights marry her, she would not tell him the correct answer.
King Arthur was facing a dilemma. The witch was ugly and aged, but without her help, their journey and their long-term efforts would be in vain. Just at this time, Sir Galahad, the most considerate and caring one, stepped forward and announced that he was willing to marry the witch. He asked for King Arthur’s permission, and after consideration, he agreed. Then, King Arthur went to the witch’s again to inform her about the news. The witch told him the answer. She said that the thing a woman wants most was to be given the chance to determine and choose her life. It was correct and Arthur finally got the Grail.
To keep his promise, King Arthur arranged the wedding for the witch and Sir Galahad. However, at the wedding, neither the king nor the other knights attended the celebration. What could be celebrated anyway? They two were alone at the empty hall at night. Then, the witch told Sir Galahad that several years before, she had been cursed by her foe to have such an ugly face and age tens of years. The spell could only be broken by her husband, but he should choose whether he wanted her to return normal in daytime or at night. Sir Galahad thought for a while, but did not choose at all. Instead, he let the witch herself made the decision. He told her that whatever her choice was, he would respect it. Then, just like magic, the old, ugly witch turned into the most beautiful woman Sir Galahad had ever seen. The witch told him that because he gave her the chance to make her life and really consider her feelings, she chose to be beautiful both day and night.
In my opinion, to be considerate is not limited in the certain gender. Everyone will appreciate others’ care and consideration, no matter he or she is the one. When we are asking for something from someone, we are prone to assume that the person we ask will not refuse. If he does disagree, we get frustrated, but how many times we will see through their eyes before we make requirement for others? Do we stand in other people’s shoes and really care about what they may feel of that? I admit that I did not. Sometime, I was even more stricter with others than myself. I retrieved more than I gave. Once I recall that how selfish and inconsiderate I used to be, I feel ashamed. Now since I know my flaw, I try to correct it and make the improvement. Although it may take a long time for me to conquer my weakness in character, I can start from this very point to do things little by little, which I believe will push me forward towards better and better.
Break the Deathly Silence Surrounding Death and Life Issue
Thinking of the topic for our project work in Phase 2 was no easy job. A couple of weird ideas were going through our mind. We had not reached an agreement, until fairly recently we pick up the most thought-provoking one after our keeping several late nights and constantly racking our brains.
I am always convinced that, the meaning of living is to figuring out the meaning of life. Why in this world are there people who do not treasure their lives but meantime are afraid of death？Why in this world are there not only those who are approaching their dying days but also those who spare no efforts committing suicide? Why is there a curious paradox that when a close relative passes away, on one hand parents try to instruct their children to face the music and step back to their daily routine whereas on the other hand they deceive their delicate children with white lies on what death really indicates?
Thus, we do hope to break the deathly silence surrounding death and life issue, which is supposed to be brought up openly and unreservedly. Only in this way do we possibly reach the realization that death is just a final step of life itself. It is a natural procedure that every ever existing creature and currently living creature has gone through or will go through.
Every baby born into this world is a blank plate initially. There is not a reason for their coming and there is no sign indicating their inborn awareness of being alive. It is through the subsequent years when one strives for its underlying essence that death is eventually demystified.
We pick up this topic, regardless of all the possible hardships we may have to undergo. Whatever the result will be, the process of the tough enquiry of death itself is remarkable enough.
After all, our quality of life can be eventually promoted by our awareness of death.
Zhang Qiong
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Please edit your posts
Dear students
It is good to see your continued interest in your posts. Your topics are varied and they are based on your personal reflections of your current living and study situation and interesting experiences.
However, it is good that you make every effort to edit your work in the same manner that you edit the first draft of your essays, where you pay attention to language and vocabulary errors as well as content and organisation of your paragraphs. Please do the same for your posts. Such writing practice does help you to become more fluent in your writing.
Keep on trying.
It is good to see your continued interest in your posts. Your topics are varied and they are based on your personal reflections of your current living and study situation and interesting experiences.
However, it is good that you make every effort to edit your work in the same manner that you edit the first draft of your essays, where you pay attention to language and vocabulary errors as well as content and organisation of your paragraphs. Please do the same for your posts. Such writing practice does help you to become more fluent in your writing.
Keep on trying.
After watching Seven Sins
I was watching seven sins nearly all night. I want to summary it in one word: significant. It not only enforced me to reconsider the meaning of my life, but also gave me an opportunity to read myself.
For me, life is just like a drama: at first I performed terrible in national entrance exams, so I had to attend Beihang University unwillingly. In there, I was admitted by student union. I gradually made everything into routine. At the same time, I got the offer to study in NUS, so I was just back home to pack up. When Dec comes, I came to a totally new environment and tried my best to adapt to it. I have learnt and changed a lot since I came to Singapore. I began to think what is going to in my life; why I need to survivor but not commit to suicide; Why I need to attend university but go to work directly; I even shared my thoughts with Gary trying to find the answer. When I was talking with him about all Christmas Eve, he gave me some materials in return. After I went though about it, although I learnt something, I didn’t think that I got answer exactly.
Maybe nonsense was most damn thing for our life. Yesterday I just lead my life in a rather corny way. I papered for the exams for the high marks. When I got high marks, I could get flattered from others. In this way, my pride could be meted. I also wanted to choose a promising field, which enabled me to make a lot of money in the future. I used this way to feed my greedy. What’s more, I always felt upset or anxiety, even for the things not happened or to happen. And I easily got excited easily especially when I eagerly to meet some girl. This is lust. Therefore, I always felt boring and nothing to do although sometimes a great deal of assignments facing to be and I was even lazy to clean up my room and make my bed. This is inert. And I preferred to wear some named-branded clothes and enjoy luxury to meet my vanity. This is truly a vanity. Until today, after I watched seven sins, I found that I was just surrounded by a sense of boring, even nonsense. In other words, I thought I was just surviving rather than living.
We live for what we sake for. When we just seek for money, reputation, or just fulfill the desires. Meaningless, boring, lonely mood would be always twisting our minds. There is no definitely link between alone and lonely. Suppose a man living in an isolated island, if he can do something meaningful, something can make sure him leading a busy life. Maybe he would not feel lonely. By contrast, when a social-climber or fame-hunter lives in herds and acquaintance a lot people, he may also feel lonely. No one is willing to share the inner thinking with him.
Eventually, I come to realize the meaning of life. We live for curiosity, for learning more things about the life, for saving others from the sins. When we read some works of great minds, our spirit would be purified. When we influence others and save them from sins, we become spirit influent; when we live without just seeking money fame pleasure, they come to our live automatically. I cannot help to narrate the story of Jesus. When he took the last dinner in Good Friday, he know one of his believer betrayed him; without being fury, he just choice to sacrifice peacefully. When the 3 days after Roman nail him in the cross, he just resurrected and forgave all the guilty people have, healed all the diseases people suffer. In China, when a ambassador of prince Chu asked Zhuangzhou to be the prime minister of the kingdom, he just smiled and refused him with a short but clever excuse. However, he just lived in slum without any families and led a very tight life. When he agreed, his life would be totally changed. But he knew what he need to do is just exploring the meaning of exist, the philosopher of this world.
Over-active is always inundated with our lives. Every day we are talking about some issues only related daily incidents; every day we are eagerly to read and make some nonsense on the internet. What’s more, we always account for even a little bit of money. However, when we tend to read a book conveying some penetrating insight, hardly we can read though it because we feel it is too boring or we are impatient. We are delighted to watch movies and TV shows, which can accept contents rapidly. This kind of media is always referred to be the fast food of knowledge. Like McDonald’s, maybe it is tasty but bad to our health. We cannot understand the profound meaning of knowledge. So in this way, we may pretend very knowledgeable. But when we talked with others towards an issue deeply, they may find you’re ignorant and superficial.
So when we attend university, we need to think less about the prospects. There is no need considering the money we are going to earn; what kind of job we can get; how beautiful girl we can marry. Money is just the source of sins. Many people are indulged in debauchery just because they are too affluent to misuse it. However, there is no good lacking of money. So we don’t need to consider much about the money we have. I just demand enough money can keep my daily life but not enough for spending like water. What we need to do is just to bury our head into books to explore the principle of nature human logical. So when you graduate, you will certainly become knowledgeable and captive. At that time, you will be needed with a good salary. Or you have your own wisdom to run your business. Everything is like this: when you care less about it, it will come to you automatically.
If someone offers me an opportunity to choose what I love, I would choose to stay happy. Being optimistic is so important that it sometimes can make miracle regardless how terrible of the status quo. These days, when I saw Man VS Wild, when Bell was set in a wild, when he has no food or water to take, when he is frozen to death, when he is confront with grey bear, he just contain a sense of optimistic. This is why he can be back to civilized world. We may come across difficulties and barriers equivalently. We may also face big failure and great sorrow in the rest of life. But so what? What could we do? We cannot stop it before it happen. So why not just take it easy and lead a happier life?
Every day I tried my best to hunting the track of the great minds. And I also want to inspire me from references. I work hard to get rid of all the craving. What I think highly is just the process of living but not the results. As we all know, all of our final result of life are death.
For me, life is just like a drama: at first I performed terrible in national entrance exams, so I had to attend Beihang University unwillingly. In there, I was admitted by student union. I gradually made everything into routine. At the same time, I got the offer to study in NUS, so I was just back home to pack up. When Dec comes, I came to a totally new environment and tried my best to adapt to it. I have learnt and changed a lot since I came to Singapore. I began to think what is going to in my life; why I need to survivor but not commit to suicide; Why I need to attend university but go to work directly; I even shared my thoughts with Gary trying to find the answer. When I was talking with him about all Christmas Eve, he gave me some materials in return. After I went though about it, although I learnt something, I didn’t think that I got answer exactly.
Maybe nonsense was most damn thing for our life. Yesterday I just lead my life in a rather corny way. I papered for the exams for the high marks. When I got high marks, I could get flattered from others. In this way, my pride could be meted. I also wanted to choose a promising field, which enabled me to make a lot of money in the future. I used this way to feed my greedy. What’s more, I always felt upset or anxiety, even for the things not happened or to happen. And I easily got excited easily especially when I eagerly to meet some girl. This is lust. Therefore, I always felt boring and nothing to do although sometimes a great deal of assignments facing to be and I was even lazy to clean up my room and make my bed. This is inert. And I preferred to wear some named-branded clothes and enjoy luxury to meet my vanity. This is truly a vanity. Until today, after I watched seven sins, I found that I was just surrounded by a sense of boring, even nonsense. In other words, I thought I was just surviving rather than living.
We live for what we sake for. When we just seek for money, reputation, or just fulfill the desires. Meaningless, boring, lonely mood would be always twisting our minds. There is no definitely link between alone and lonely. Suppose a man living in an isolated island, if he can do something meaningful, something can make sure him leading a busy life. Maybe he would not feel lonely. By contrast, when a social-climber or fame-hunter lives in herds and acquaintance a lot people, he may also feel lonely. No one is willing to share the inner thinking with him.
Eventually, I come to realize the meaning of life. We live for curiosity, for learning more things about the life, for saving others from the sins. When we read some works of great minds, our spirit would be purified. When we influence others and save them from sins, we become spirit influent; when we live without just seeking money fame pleasure, they come to our live automatically. I cannot help to narrate the story of Jesus. When he took the last dinner in Good Friday, he know one of his believer betrayed him; without being fury, he just choice to sacrifice peacefully. When the 3 days after Roman nail him in the cross, he just resurrected and forgave all the guilty people have, healed all the diseases people suffer. In China, when a ambassador of prince Chu asked Zhuangzhou to be the prime minister of the kingdom, he just smiled and refused him with a short but clever excuse. However, he just lived in slum without any families and led a very tight life. When he agreed, his life would be totally changed. But he knew what he need to do is just exploring the meaning of exist, the philosopher of this world.
Over-active is always inundated with our lives. Every day we are talking about some issues only related daily incidents; every day we are eagerly to read and make some nonsense on the internet. What’s more, we always account for even a little bit of money. However, when we tend to read a book conveying some penetrating insight, hardly we can read though it because we feel it is too boring or we are impatient. We are delighted to watch movies and TV shows, which can accept contents rapidly. This kind of media is always referred to be the fast food of knowledge. Like McDonald’s, maybe it is tasty but bad to our health. We cannot understand the profound meaning of knowledge. So in this way, we may pretend very knowledgeable. But when we talked with others towards an issue deeply, they may find you’re ignorant and superficial.
So when we attend university, we need to think less about the prospects. There is no need considering the money we are going to earn; what kind of job we can get; how beautiful girl we can marry. Money is just the source of sins. Many people are indulged in debauchery just because they are too affluent to misuse it. However, there is no good lacking of money. So we don’t need to consider much about the money we have. I just demand enough money can keep my daily life but not enough for spending like water. What we need to do is just to bury our head into books to explore the principle of nature human logical. So when you graduate, you will certainly become knowledgeable and captive. At that time, you will be needed with a good salary. Or you have your own wisdom to run your business. Everything is like this: when you care less about it, it will come to you automatically.
If someone offers me an opportunity to choose what I love, I would choose to stay happy. Being optimistic is so important that it sometimes can make miracle regardless how terrible of the status quo. These days, when I saw Man VS Wild, when Bell was set in a wild, when he has no food or water to take, when he is frozen to death, when he is confront with grey bear, he just contain a sense of optimistic. This is why he can be back to civilized world. We may come across difficulties and barriers equivalently. We may also face big failure and great sorrow in the rest of life. But so what? What could we do? We cannot stop it before it happen. So why not just take it easy and lead a happier life?
Every day I tried my best to hunting the track of the great minds. And I also want to inspire me from references. I work hard to get rid of all the craving. What I think highly is just the process of living but not the results. As we all know, all of our final result of life are death.
Doudou ( Yap )
Two years ago, my parents brought me a dog as my pet. His name is Doudou which means very cute.
The first time I saw him, I was shocked at his white hair and big black eyes. When I called him, he looked at curiously. Then I stroked his head gently, he felt comfortable and rubbed his head against my hand. Later he became familiar with me and he always followed me here and there to play with me.
One day when Doudou was very young, my aunt took him and her dog to take a vaccine inoculation. My aunt rode a bicycle to the vet with the two dogs in the basket. However, Doudou was very naughty and he jumped out of the basket. It was too fast for my aunt to react, so the wheels rolled over Doudou. Fortunately, Doudou did not die and he run away very fast. My aunt was so afraid that she run after him in order to find him and take him to see the vet. When she found him, he was spiting up blood and his hair became red. However, the vet said that there was nothing serious and he gave Doudou an injection to stop bleeding. Later my mother looked after him carefully and he recovered gradually. Up till now, Doudou is still very healthy and that accident did not leave him any sequela.
Doudou has an interesting habit—sleeping with his chain. When we take him out, we always tie a chain on his neck since he can run about and we are afraid that he can be taken away by strangers. He knows that the chain is his possession. So when he goes to sleep, he always takes it to his doghouse. Once my mother took away the chain and he went out to look for it and took it back again. Then my mother repeated several times, and each time she got the same result. At last, Doudou was irritated and he hummed angrily at my mother. So my mother gave in and Doudou went to sleep with his chain happily.
I have so many interesting experiences with Doudou and he really brought me much pleasure in my life. I have not seen him for a long time and I really missed him. I believe that a dog is the best friend to human beings at least for me.
The first time I saw him, I was shocked at his white hair and big black eyes. When I called him, he looked at curiously. Then I stroked his head gently, he felt comfortable and rubbed his head against my hand. Later he became familiar with me and he always followed me here and there to play with me.
One day when Doudou was very young, my aunt took him and her dog to take a vaccine inoculation. My aunt rode a bicycle to the vet with the two dogs in the basket. However, Doudou was very naughty and he jumped out of the basket. It was too fast for my aunt to react, so the wheels rolled over Doudou. Fortunately, Doudou did not die and he run away very fast. My aunt was so afraid that she run after him in order to find him and take him to see the vet. When she found him, he was spiting up blood and his hair became red. However, the vet said that there was nothing serious and he gave Doudou an injection to stop bleeding. Later my mother looked after him carefully and he recovered gradually. Up till now, Doudou is still very healthy and that accident did not leave him any sequela.
Doudou has an interesting habit—sleeping with his chain. When we take him out, we always tie a chain on his neck since he can run about and we are afraid that he can be taken away by strangers. He knows that the chain is his possession. So when he goes to sleep, he always takes it to his doghouse. Once my mother took away the chain and he went out to look for it and took it back again. Then my mother repeated several times, and each time she got the same result. At last, Doudou was irritated and he hummed angrily at my mother. So my mother gave in and Doudou went to sleep with his chain happily.
I have so many interesting experiences with Doudou and he really brought me much pleasure in my life. I have not seen him for a long time and I really missed him. I believe that a dog is the best friend to human beings at least for me.
My Account
My Account
Before I was in university, I did not have pocket money. If I wanted to buy something, I asked my parents for money. The only thing that troubled me was to figure out a reason to convince my parents that the thing I wanted to buy was worth the money. Although sometimes, I met some difficulty in persuading them, the good thing was I had never met something like “private financial crisis”.
However, on the way to Nanjing University, I was thrust a credit card and a deposit book by my mother. I looked up surprisingly and saw her smiling broadly. “That is a danger signal.” I said in my mind. I sat up straight and adjusted myself to the “alert state”. “Good news or bad news?” asked my mother cheerfully. “Good news.” “You have a credit card. We will deposit money every month to enable you to survive in the university. You can spend it as you like.” I nodded, “Sounds reasonable. And the bad news?” She answered happily, “The bad news is that the card is not like your parents. It does not have the overdraft facility and except the money in the card you are not supposed to ask for extra money from us.” Upon hearing this, I frowned to her. She seemed not to take in my message and continued, ”You are now an adult. It is time for you to take some responsibilities. The money is a start. We hope that you can learn something, apart from the university knowledge.” “What if I use up all the money?” I asked. “Then,” she added, “Why not keep an account? I am sure that will be a good practice for your future career. (I studied accountancy at that time.) Don’t worry. If you can manage well, the money we give you will be more than enough.”
I had thought that keeping an account was quite easy. Every day, sparing a few minutes would do. However, the fact proved that things usually got easier said than done. A few days later, I began to hate the notebook I used as my account. When I opened it, the first few pages were tidy and neat. Then, the handwriting was got more and more difficult to recognize. The latest pages were full of strange marks and figures, like “B 20, S 50” or whatever. I could not figure out anything from it, and I had no idea about how much I spent at all. That weekend, I put great effort to sort them out, which cost the whole afternoon and finally ended up with 100RMB to be seen nowhere. I got irritated and was angry at myself. I refused to talk to everyone that day so as to put the account record in order, but failed. At last, I threw away the notebook and admitted to myself that I did not have the talents for being a qualified accountancy.
I decided to do according to my will and spend only what I needed to spend in order to save money. I was happy to see that without the account, I could still make ends meet. I started to manage the remaining balance in my mind, which worked very well, and I could even treat myself at times.
Before I was in university, I did not have pocket money. If I wanted to buy something, I asked my parents for money. The only thing that troubled me was to figure out a reason to convince my parents that the thing I wanted to buy was worth the money. Although sometimes, I met some difficulty in persuading them, the good thing was I had never met something like “private financial crisis”.
However, on the way to Nanjing University, I was thrust a credit card and a deposit book by my mother. I looked up surprisingly and saw her smiling broadly. “That is a danger signal.” I said in my mind. I sat up straight and adjusted myself to the “alert state”. “Good news or bad news?” asked my mother cheerfully. “Good news.” “You have a credit card. We will deposit money every month to enable you to survive in the university. You can spend it as you like.” I nodded, “Sounds reasonable. And the bad news?” She answered happily, “The bad news is that the card is not like your parents. It does not have the overdraft facility and except the money in the card you are not supposed to ask for extra money from us.” Upon hearing this, I frowned to her. She seemed not to take in my message and continued, ”You are now an adult. It is time for you to take some responsibilities. The money is a start. We hope that you can learn something, apart from the university knowledge.” “What if I use up all the money?” I asked. “Then,” she added, “Why not keep an account? I am sure that will be a good practice for your future career. (I studied accountancy at that time.) Don’t worry. If you can manage well, the money we give you will be more than enough.”
I had thought that keeping an account was quite easy. Every day, sparing a few minutes would do. However, the fact proved that things usually got easier said than done. A few days later, I began to hate the notebook I used as my account. When I opened it, the first few pages were tidy and neat. Then, the handwriting was got more and more difficult to recognize. The latest pages were full of strange marks and figures, like “B 20, S 50” or whatever. I could not figure out anything from it, and I had no idea about how much I spent at all. That weekend, I put great effort to sort them out, which cost the whole afternoon and finally ended up with 100RMB to be seen nowhere. I got irritated and was angry at myself. I refused to talk to everyone that day so as to put the account record in order, but failed. At last, I threw away the notebook and admitted to myself that I did not have the talents for being a qualified accountancy.
I decided to do according to my will and spend only what I needed to spend in order to save money. I was happy to see that without the account, I could still make ends meet. I started to manage the remaining balance in my mind, which worked very well, and I could even treat myself at times.
Bridging Course
About what I should do during this bridging course, which lasts over half a year, different people gave me different opinions. My Seniors who are also from HIT told me that during bridging course I can play as much as I want. They said when I am in NUS, the free time is too limited for me to play. Besides, they said, I don’t need to worry about the QET at all, for even though I fail, the only thing I should do is to attend a English class for one semester and then pass the exam. They also told me that we Chinese students are far better than the local students at Maths and Physics, so I may just pay little attention to the science course. Overall, according to what they said, nothing is necessary except playing in this period of time.
On the contrary, my tutors told me to study hard nevertheless. Mr. Kan, my tutor on Wednesday, said that when he was studying in Britain as a scholar, he did nothing but study because he knew he must do what a scholar should do. Similarly, professor Tay who teaches us C Programming every Friday told us to work hard as well. He used to say if we don’t study hard, we are much likely to be sent back to China( while my Seniors said one might be sent back during bridging course only when he doesn’t want to stay in Singapore any longer, not because of his academic performance).
I thought my Seniors were right at first, however, I am much inclined to agree with my tutors now. Yesterday, we had a Maths exam and a C Programming exam. I did rather bad (although the results are not known yet, I feel I may fail). To much degree, I ascribe this to my laziness and lack of diligence. The time I use to study is no more than thirty percent of that I spent on study in China. Even if the mark is not important, the poor performance, to some extent, also affects my mood and frustrates me. Therefore, from now on, I decide to spend much more time in studying than before, even for the sake of being happy only.
JiangXiaoning
April 12, 2009
On the contrary, my tutors told me to study hard nevertheless. Mr. Kan, my tutor on Wednesday, said that when he was studying in Britain as a scholar, he did nothing but study because he knew he must do what a scholar should do. Similarly, professor Tay who teaches us C Programming every Friday told us to work hard as well. He used to say if we don’t study hard, we are much likely to be sent back to China( while my Seniors said one might be sent back during bridging course only when he doesn’t want to stay in Singapore any longer, not because of his academic performance).
I thought my Seniors were right at first, however, I am much inclined to agree with my tutors now. Yesterday, we had a Maths exam and a C Programming exam. I did rather bad (although the results are not known yet, I feel I may fail). To much degree, I ascribe this to my laziness and lack of diligence. The time I use to study is no more than thirty percent of that I spent on study in China. Even if the mark is not important, the poor performance, to some extent, also affects my mood and frustrates me. Therefore, from now on, I decide to spend much more time in studying than before, even for the sake of being happy only.
JiangXiaoning
April 12, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Private Financial Crisis
“How much money did you use last month?” A roommate asked me.
“$99.5.”I checked my notebook of the account and gave her the exact number.
“How come did you use only $99.5 ! That’s amazing!” She looked at me surprised.” I spent nearly $250…….”
“I did remember you bought some clothes.”
“oh.. but that T-shirt only cost me $40…where did I spend the rest? I can’t remember….”
That night, my roommate put all her effort into retracing where her money was spent, but in vain, she couldn’t pick up any clue
Recently, I have found that most of the students around me encounter private financial crisis. Since we have learned something about “Stress” this week, private Financial Crisis ranks Top One among the all the stressors that causes our anxiety. A raise in our pocket money every month is heated debated these days. But as we all know, it seems impossible to request MOE to give us more pocket money. So how to manage your money is very important.
I am not an expert in managing money. But I still want to share some of my experience about managing money. Here are some tips:
1, Pay in cash instead of credit card.
One of my roommates always pays in credit card. Because of that, she nearly doesn’t know how much money she spends and where she spends all her money. Indeed, paying in credit card is very convenient and fast. But It also makes us feel lost at sea when we want to know more details about our spending. My suggestion is that use cash instead of credit card. So next time, when you want to buy something expensive, if you pay in cash, you may think 3 times before you buy it. After all, that is a large amount of money.
2, Keep accounts every day.
I didn’t fall into the habit of keeping accounts until I came to Singapore. Naturally, I didn’t find out of advantages about it before. “Boring” and “Troublesome” were my understanding of keeping accounts. But when I started to build up my notebook of the accounts, the advantages floated up. What I want to do is not sharing the advantages but telling about the method I use for keeping accounts.
Date :3 Feb 2009
Cash( record of the remaining money in your purse)
$77
$81.8(the previous record)-1.8(lunch)+2(borrow)-5(lend)=77.0
Account Balance(the money in your POSB card)
$898.8
Lend(how much you lend to others)
-$2(to Linda)
Borrow(how much you borrow from others)
+$(from Peter)
After you finish your account, you might as well check the cash in your purse whether the record is correct.
At the end of every month, you just need to use the equation below to get the total of your spending this month:
(Cash1+Account Balance1)-(Cash2+Account Balance2)=result
(“Cash1+Account Balance1” represents the money you have at the beginning of the month;
“Cash2+Account +Balance2”represents the remaining money at the end of the month;
Why do I use the data from “Account Balance”?
Because you may withdraw money from your card so you must use the data of the account balance which increases the “cash “.)
Above is what I want to share with you. Hope you could get something from my blog. It is really very useful. Form a habit needs courage and patience. In addition, you have to devote time. To keep accounts, 1 minute everyday is enough. Sometimes we can use special software to help us. From my point of view, it is not the method you use that counts but the awareness.
“$99.5.”I checked my notebook of the account and gave her the exact number.
“How come did you use only $99.5 ! That’s amazing!” She looked at me surprised.” I spent nearly $250…….”
“I did remember you bought some clothes.”
“oh.. but that T-shirt only cost me $40…where did I spend the rest? I can’t remember….”
That night, my roommate put all her effort into retracing where her money was spent, but in vain, she couldn’t pick up any clue
Recently, I have found that most of the students around me encounter private financial crisis. Since we have learned something about “Stress” this week, private Financial Crisis ranks Top One among the all the stressors that causes our anxiety. A raise in our pocket money every month is heated debated these days. But as we all know, it seems impossible to request MOE to give us more pocket money. So how to manage your money is very important.
I am not an expert in managing money. But I still want to share some of my experience about managing money. Here are some tips:
1, Pay in cash instead of credit card.
One of my roommates always pays in credit card. Because of that, she nearly doesn’t know how much money she spends and where she spends all her money. Indeed, paying in credit card is very convenient and fast. But It also makes us feel lost at sea when we want to know more details about our spending. My suggestion is that use cash instead of credit card. So next time, when you want to buy something expensive, if you pay in cash, you may think 3 times before you buy it. After all, that is a large amount of money.
2, Keep accounts every day.
I didn’t fall into the habit of keeping accounts until I came to Singapore. Naturally, I didn’t find out of advantages about it before. “Boring” and “Troublesome” were my understanding of keeping accounts. But when I started to build up my notebook of the accounts, the advantages floated up. What I want to do is not sharing the advantages but telling about the method I use for keeping accounts.
Date :3 Feb 2009
Cash( record of the remaining money in your purse)
$77
$81.8(the previous record)-1.8(lunch)+2(borrow)-5(lend)=77.0
Account Balance(the money in your POSB card)
$898.8
Lend(how much you lend to others)
-$2(to Linda)
Borrow(how much you borrow from others)
+$(from Peter)
After you finish your account, you might as well check the cash in your purse whether the record is correct.
At the end of every month, you just need to use the equation below to get the total of your spending this month:
(Cash1+Account Balance1)-(Cash2+Account Balance2)=result
(“Cash1+Account Balance1” represents the money you have at the beginning of the month;
“Cash2+Account +Balance2”represents the remaining money at the end of the month;
Why do I use the data from “Account Balance”?
Because you may withdraw money from your card so you must use the data of the account balance which increases the “cash “.)
Above is what I want to share with you. Hope you could get something from my blog. It is really very useful. Form a habit needs courage and patience. In addition, you have to devote time. To keep accounts, 1 minute everyday is enough. Sometimes we can use special software to help us. From my point of view, it is not the method you use that counts but the awareness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)