Kylin Zhang

I have heard a simile. There is a kind of people like the black cats, who just remedy their wound in the dark, don’t want anyone to see it. I don’t know why, but this simile makes me thinking of you, Kylin Zhang.

I used to talk to my friend about you, I told her everything about you was tugged at my heartstrings, makes my heart ache. But my friend laughed, and said that how this formidable man can makes your heart ache? We can only look up to him.

Kylin Zhang, see, she cannot understand you.

In her mind, you are powerful, perfect, just likes the sovereign descends the world. You can face to thousands of enemies without batting an eyelid. But she cannot see, the blood on your body after the fight; she cannot see, the vulneva under your clothes; she cannot see, you remedy your wound in the dark silently.

But I know. I know, no matter how painful you are, you will still stay calm and collected, and let the blood dye your blue shirt into red.

Kylin Zhang, I know your responsibility and your mission, but I still wish you happiness.

Ps: Kylin Zhang is a character from the novel, The Graver Robbers’ Chronicles.

Children's Competitions

 In recent year, the competitions are more and more common in every part of society. People hold different opinions and always have conflicts about whether children should have competitions.

Competition makes the best people survive in the society. It is the same with children. In my opinion, children who always have competition will always have more motivation in their study and life. Competitions will develop the children’s potential talent and make them gain more experience. Some people may think that the unhealthy competitions will lead children to bad habits and bad characteristics. But I think most of the children’s competitions are healthy and these competitions will mound children’s positive attitude of winning and losing. They will also behave good children’s popularity which will make them perform more about themselves. And the children who perform well in healthy competitions will also perform well when they step on the real stage of society.

That’s why I think that competition is essential because it is about survival ability. While have competitions, cooperation can also take place. Competitions are important in children’s lives.

Diminishing Marginal Utility

In recent years, economy is developing in a very fast speed. People get richer and richer. But the truth is gaining money doesn’t mean gaining happiness. More and more people feel that they are not as happy as they feel to be. Some of the economic theories can explain this situation.

As economy develops, citizen’s income increases which means they can buy more goods than before because can be willing for and be able to. When people’s income is not high enough, they are not able to buy many goods. For instance, a person may only but one bottle of cola when he was poor, but the utility he got from this bottle of cola is very high. If his income rises, he may but 10 bottles of cola, but the utilities he gets from the 2^nd bottle, the 3^rd bottle and the 10^th bottle are not the same as the first one. The phenomenon is called diminishing marginal utility. Utility is the satisfaction people get from doing something. Marginal utility is the addition utility derived from the consumption of one more unit of a particular good. Diminishing marginal utility means that the marginal utility gained from the consumption of a product tend to fall as consumption increases.

So, as economy develops, people’s income rises. The ability of consumption by consumers increases. People but more products and more mount of products which will cause diminishing marginal utility. That can explain the reason why people have less happiness than before.

Work or Study？

With the increasing number of college students, more and more students get confused in their gap year. Some people think that it is helpful to work or travel while others believe study should always be the first place at nay periods of time, students should stay at home to prepare for their university study.

There are several points that I agree with the opinion which students should work and travel. After four year’s hard work it is important for students to relax their tense nerve. While students are working, they can gain working experience which will be really helpful to future employments. The work can let the students to meet different types of people in the society and help them to learn different skills. Among these skills, the most important one is social skill, this may help you to widen your social circle and prepare yourselves to future works. During the working process, students will get their own salary which is a milestone in their life to show the first time they are financially independent. For traveling, it can mound their taste and let them to get to know different culture which will widen their horizon. It’s meaningful for both physical and psychological aspects.

On the other hand, the gap year can be helpless as well. After a long period of time not study, the students will forget much academic knowledge and there will be a loss of motivation, some students will even be weary of studying.

In conclusion, there is a huge value to work and travel in the gap year but not for the whole holiday. Students should also study while having fun. 

Something about love

There is a scene in a story I have read before that I can always remember. That is a love story, in the book, the boy carries his girlfriend on the back and walks in the dark. The girl asks the guy if he is tired and here is the boy’s answer: “if the whole world is on your back, don’t you think it is heavy?” I never have a boyfriend before, so maybe I cannot understand what the true love is, but I was greatly touched by the utterance of the boy in the book. To the world you may be one person, but sometimes to one person you maybe the whole world.  

Every girl likes to dream for a sweet experience about love, including me. But what is the true love? I don't think love is something like when you get  together you can say forever to each other but when you break up you can forget the other in 10 seconds. That's not the true love to me. To me, true love is what my consin told me:" if I have 5 different lifes, I want to live in different houses, eat different foods, go to different job, but love the same person." 

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 years old orphan from the slums of Mumbai. He participated in India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions.

At the first I watched this movie, I was getting really surprised. Most of the production team was British people, but the film was making in a real “Indian way”. And the way the director chose to narrate was really unique but awesome. The film has three threads, the first is Jamal was been tortured in the police office, the second thread is Jamal participated in India’s TV show, and the third thread is Jamal’s life before he was eighteen. The director uses unique technique make these three threads grow at the same time. The ten questions been asked in the second thread lead to the third thread and show the audience Jamal’s bitter past.

The movie uses Jamal’s angle of view shows the audience the violence, the emotions, the realms of a third world country, and the beauty of love regardless of any situation was nicely presented on the movie. It also showed how lives were like the slams of India has - the children, the women, and the heartless adults. The nicest thing that I like about the movie is the light after dark part. The movie told us something good is possible happen when you don’t lose hope. The movie brings the audience into the actual daily realities of life in India and it depicts how people can chase love and in the course of it something good could happen and life without hope will change.

The Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is considered as the most important day for Chinese people. It is on the first day of the lunar year. It is also the day of reunion among family members. On that day, people clean their house and get ready  many kinds of food. All family members get together on New Year'Eve to have a really big meal. At the same time，we will also watch the Spring Festival Gala. At about 12 o'clock，some families like to set off the firecrackers. The whole sky is lighted brightly. People always eat dumplings on New Year's Eve. Following days people will visit  each other.

    I like the Spring Festival a lot because I can have delicious food and wear new clothes， the most important thing is I can get some money from my parents. This money we call it "red packet", it is given to children for good luck . This is the tradition for Chinese New Year.

    A new year is a new start. Just as the old saying:"Well began is the half of the success." I think I need work harder than I did before, and prepared for a good college!

Something About Religion

Since I came to America, there is one thing always interested me, which is religion. Different than America, in China there is a lot of people who dose not really have a religion, but here in America, almost more than 70% of people are Christian. There might be a lot of reasons caused this huge difference of religion between these two countries. I always try to find out the reasons, so today I will talk about my point of view of this question.

America is a really young country, it just 400 years since British people colonize here. In that time, Christianity is already developed in Europe countries, so this religion was actually in this country since the country just set up. I think most likely people in America who are the Christian choose to believe this religion is because of the environment. When the people all around you believe in the same religion, this may make you to try to know something from the religion or just be a part of that like other people do. That is why lots of people in America are Christian, this religion was in here be around people since everything starts in this country.

Looking back to China, China is an old country that has more than 2000 years history. There is not even a word for religion in that time. But I think ancient people is already has an opinion about God. In Chinese history, I think in people's mind, god is the emperor. We say the emperor is son of the dragon, which means he is the most powerful one and we should listen to him. The earliest religion that develop in China I think is Ru. Ru is the religion that set up by Confucius. Thousands years ago, almost everybody in China believes in Ru because the emperor said Ru is good, we should believe that. But this is just a way that emperor can control people's mind easily not let all different kinds of religion develop by itself. After the Revolution of 1911, the thought of Chinese people changed. They try to threw all the things that is from the old tradition (including the religion). So since that time all kinds of religion come to China, Chinese people start to think about whether they will believe in this religion or not. But still a lot of people choose not believe in a religion any more.

Time Travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the need for the traveler to experience the intervening period (at least not at the normal rate).  You may not know or never think about what is time travel, but some of you may know a movie which is Kate and Leopold. This movie is a story about two strangers meet in New York city but the time for the man differs 100 years from the woman. Two differences concept of value have a conflict because the 100 years. Today in here I do not want to try to explain time travel in a specific scientific way, what I want to talk about is just a dream from a girl.

When I was a little girl, I always dream if I live in a fairy tale, I will be a pretty princess wait for my prince and have a romantic love story. This dream was faded away when I getting older. Since now I still have some similar dreams like that, but now I'm start to dreaming about if I can have a time travel. What I will do if I have a time machine? I think I will come up with a lot of different answers. In the most simple way I will just tell you I want to go to the 10 years after now because I want to see my job, my friends even my husband in the future. I may also answer you I want to go to 2 years before now because I want re-spend my ninth grade life, I won't not study everyday like I used do, then my life may totally changed just because one year's hard-working.

But what I most want to do if I have a time machine I think will go back to Chinese history time to start a new life. There are too many things interest me in the history time. I want to go back to Qin dynasty see how emperor Qin built his mausoleum which is Terracotta Army; I want to go back to Han dynasty see how the ancients arouse the war, and the military tactics show from the war; I want to go back to Tang dynasty see how the literati write all different kinds of amazing poems; I even want to go back to Yuan dynasty see how Genghis Khan leads his army seize more and more cities. Also I want go back to the history year tell people the knowledge and technology we use now to help my country get stronger.

I always dreaming of a wonderful time travel. Now, what do you think?

Schindler's List

Oskar Schindler is a German industrialist and casual womaniser, who is using cheap Jewish labour in Poland in the hope of making his millions from war profiteering. He's also a Nazi. His business runs into trouble however when the Nazis begin to implement the Holocaust, and his cheap labour is rounded up and deported to a labour camp under the baleful eye of Amon Goeth. Schindler bribes Goeth at first to release the Jews to him, because he needs the cheap labour and he's fast approaching bankruptcy without them, particularly his pin-sharp accountant Itzhak Stern. But something else is stirring inside Schindler, a feeling that he should be doing more. Something not designed solely for profit. Something human.

In this movie, there is a scene that excite people's mind. In the crowd of black and white, there is a little girl who wear a red coat was walking in the throng, without any purpose. This is a monochrome movie, with a black and white background, the red coat was been more conspicuous in the frame. I think red is the color of life, brilliance but fragile. Live in the war times, lives have no safeguard, people might be dead the next second, but in this situation, it makes lives been more precious. Just like what the mother said in the movie, "An hour of life is still life."

Another scene that always stay in my head is the night Schindler makes that list. An oil lamp, a typewriter and two men. In a slient night, we can hear the Jewish names were said from a clear and firm voice, one by one, more and more names were been typed on the list. “This list is an absolute good. the list……is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.” Everytime when a name said from his mouth, that means a life was been saved.

I like this movie not just because the moving story but also the score and editing, those things all make the movie great.

Global Warming

       “What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know it's what we know for sure that just ain't so” a logical statement said by Mark Twain. As a matter of fact, this quote had exact portrayed my awareness towards the affects that Global Warming is affecting on our mother earth.

       According to the definition of Global Warming itself, we usually state it as an increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. Nevertheless, it’s the phenomenon that we can feel and probably visible to us. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, this mountain was actually covered by full of snows and ices. However, in recent years, the snows and ices were rapidly melted and only left with one last sliver from the larger glacier. According to what former vice president, Al Gore has presented on both temperature and Carbon Dioxide concentrations, the truth is that the temperature and CO₂ are pretty stable before the year of 1990 but both of them increase rapidly started from the year of 1990. In fact, the scientists have also discovered a polar bear dead in the Arctic Pole due to the tiredness of swimming for a long period of time and couldn’t find an ice cube to relax on. Besides those deep concepts, we can actually feel that the increasing of the earth temperatures in each year. People are starting to notice that the summers are getting hotter and hotter and it’s the foretaste of Global Warming.

       “Humanity already possesses the fundamental scientific, technical, and industrial know-how to solve the carbon and climate problems...” this is the excerpt from Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow. However, as an individual and especially a student, I will make cautions on when each time I will use the paper, we have to save papers and need to recycle them for reproduce. Decrease the amount of times on driving cars and prefer to take the buses and this will save gasoline and help the community to make less amount of CO₂. Nowadays, people would like to use disposable stuffs but I don’t prefer it. In fact, they are not realizing that environmental contamination is also considered as one of the causes to the Global Warming.

The rise of temperatures on the earth is witnessing by both of natures and human beings. Global warming has become a well-known topic but most people are too busy with their daily basic and chose to ignore the nature damages which are happened every day and everywhere in their life. We need go into action and try as hard as we can to prevent the global warming.

Music

Quote: “Hughes said that jazz and blues expressed the wide range of black America’s experience, from grief and sadness to hope and determination.”

       Langston Hughes was one of the many famous poets during the 1920s. Hughes once said “jazz and blues expressed the wide range of black America’s experience, from grief and sadness to hope and determination.” From my understanding the history I agree with what Hughes said. The quote Hughes’ point of view that in the 1920s jazz and blues really played an important role in black Americans’ lives, since they related to African Americans’ grief or sadness and sometimes there was some hope and determination too. The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes and Laundry Worker’s Choir by Vivian Morris, are both works of literature that support this idea of jazz and blues.

       According to Hughes’ voice, the poem The Weary Blues depicted the circumstance by using the mournful words and tones in terms of grief and sadness. Within the poem,the conflict between man and the society was shown. It’s really hard for African Americans to be "real" Americans in the America back that point in time. Black Americans were discriminated against by all the whites in the society. Furthermore, in this poem, the author depicted a musician who played his blues with all his heart and slowly changed his mood and became to sad.

       In another work of literature named Laundry Worker’s Choir, Vivian Morris showed the effects on how does the music played an important role in people’s lives during the 1920s. In the story of Laundry Worker’s Choir, it was told by the first person point of view throughout the entire story. The story teller had seem ladies working in the clothes factory, and these ladies were really tired, but they never tried to slack off at any point in time. Once he saw the music played an important role in their lives when they sang their hymn together. Although some people didn’t sing aloud, they were still humming together with the rhythm. The workers used music to kill time, so they could as if feel the time moving faster to get off the duty earlier.

      In terms of music, most of the people had fallen in love with jazz and blues during the 1920s. At that point in time, most of the people seem to be addicted to the jazz and blues, people at that point in time thought that the music were every single thing in their lives. From grief and sadness to hope and determination because they felt the power of music.

Future

       The word “future” seems interesting to most people in the world. All of us are really interested about what will happen in our future, because some good or bad things could happen. Also, maybe sometimes even certain amazing things could happed that we never thought about before, such as my mom could win the lottery the next day. Yet, anyway, life is a lottery, no one is aware of what might happen the next second. In addition to what I mentioned above, I also have a thought that deals with how a person can succeed in life, which is that fate isn’t the whole part for a person's success. Although it is still important for a person to wait for his chance, I think the most important part is to work as hard as possible from the beginning when he or she is a child in school. Because a person’s identity will show how that person’s future might be and it is hard to change a person’s identity by just saying but not doing. 

       The college life is hard, even though I haven’t started it yet, but that’s what all my friends and teachers have told me. Thus, their words sometimes really make me a little bit nervous about how I am going to finish my college, even so, this is the life, we have to move on. Although I don’t know what school I’m going to choose, I still can imagine that I am going to sit in the classroom and deal with complicated problems and something that might drive me crazy, like to write an essay with five required paragraphs. Furthermore, my imagination of the college life also includes the big campus where I walk around and of course I meet lots of friends. I’m trying really hard to starting thinking about how I will look in college, and those images show me getting lost in the campus, I don’t know where the bookstore is and can't find my classroom. But anyway, I think it is the same thing for any one of us when we get to visit a new place. After I conquer those obstacles and I finally graduate from the university, this is how the life looks, after you win, you got your present.

       My job in the future will be a branch manager, even though it might not be my job as the time passes and I lose my interest in the business area. But still I hope that I can work in a big company and have a nice job. I’m still dreaming about my future in a fantastic way, which is that I might become the best office employee in the world, and I earn a lot of money, every company wants me to come and work for them. Even though I knew that those dreams might not become facts, I’m still believing that if I keep working in my best quality, I believe that one day that I will succeed.

       Everyone's future has unlimited possibilities. What should we do now is work hard and plan for our future.