Are you good at interpreting body language?

feedbacks on three entries

*Amy's explore your creativity in LECO-> I love this topic very much since it reminds me my happy childhood. Besides, I think it's good that Amy introuduce the history of LECO. It's really interesting!

*Debby's my experience of countryside in Meinung -> I think Debby really did a good job. Her language is pretty good. Debby uses various vocabulary which made this article very entralling to read. Besides, the whole article is well organized.

*Sophia's about fastfood-> It's good to use some statistics to support her ideas. She also makes a list about the guy she talks about in her article. It's really clear and easy for a reader to read.

comments on three journal entries

Roya's ---> i would like to see the cloud gate's performance! i thought it would be hard to understand, but after your description, it arouses my interest!
Ruby's--->i saw that movie last weekend. the movie reminded me of my grandmother's death and it made me cried out loud~ hahaha
jossie---> i love 小野 's books too! they are interesting. indeed, being a teacher is not just about earning money but also a work that needs some spirit of devoting oneself!

Journal Entry 3-Confusion

Something happened in the Department of FLL these days. You would already know these vital events if you’re a part of this department. I don’t want to inquire into the responsibility or blemishes in the whole process because they are not the priority we should consider. No matter what the conclusion is, we should take part in it. The problems we faces are the MOE review, the lack of mentor, the voted curriculum reform and so forth.

My opinion is that the lack of mentors is the main issue we have to solve. If mentors in FLL are enough and balanced, We could have enough and well elective and required classes, pass the MOE review, and need not to cut any curriculum which is just because of the lack of mentor rather than the necessary adaptation for student’s needs. But where can we find the qualified literary professor who is willing to stay in the department, which is famous for its linguistics? Though this question is go beyond my ability, I strongly suggest that we should reconstruct our reputation, make the department in a clear position, tell other professors the resolves we have to improve our department, have a complete plan to the whole courses, and make it clear that what kind of professor we really want! I wonder why the same department in other department won’t encounter these questions. I wonder we could seek the help from the university if we can’t solve them by ourselves. We must make the school known the difficulties we encounter. To cut the curriculum is the last thing we have to consider. If unfortunately, the curriculum is cut, this decision must not to be a long term decision. We should restore them at once if we find the suitable professor.

In the past, I think myself as an only student. However, I think these issues are quite serious even us should aware of them! After the discussion with some professors and almost a hundred students in last Wednesday, I think I will be more concern about the affairs in this department. If we don’t care these things, who cares?

Journal Entry 2-Slumdog Millionaire(with no bomb inside)

Before the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, released in Taiwan, I’ve heard of lots of discussion and reputation about it. It was these motivations urged me to see the movie.
The leading character, Jamal Malik, who attended a TV program called “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The questions in the program were difficult even the well-educated people like lawyers and doctors couldn’t answer all questions correctly. However, Jamal did. He has won 10000000 rupees and has made it to the final question, for 20000000 rupees. How could a person who comes from Juhu slums did it? Did he cheat? This suspicion made Jamal were exacted confession by means of torture by police. But he insisted his innocence and told the police thathe learned the answers from the past experience of his life. And the flashbacks started….
After seeing this movie, I regretted to eat snacks in the theater because of some disgusting scenes. The poverty, violence, conflicts between Muslim and Hinduism and so forth are presented in this film. The controversy of the film arose as well as its fame. For me, I just want to see the movie in my own perspective. The series unbelievable events happened in Jamal’s childhood isn’t unfamiliar to me, who learned them from the text books. However, the visual scenes impressed me more than text books despite I haven’t ever gone through in person.
This kind of film which contains lots of unbearable things usually not my style though it did convey something meaningful to us. Why could this movie get favors of the audiences? My opinion is that the situation of the spectators who waited for Jamal’s success in front of the television just like the position of us who anticipate the miracle occurs from financial crisis in the near future.

A short summary of blogging in this class 4-27

Dear all,

We're forming a little writing community now. I enjoy some of the photos you included and definitely have learned a lot from your writing. "Creativity" is here!!! I will try to listen to the music here later. I have tried to read as much as I can. Next time you will post two entries by May 29. You can do so when you are free between now and then. Iris will provie at least 2 useful articles to share with you, if you wish to read and respond to them. Still, if you enjoy writing without an assigned topic, it is fine.

Spring Riot

This Saturday I went to see a dance performance of Cloud Gate 2, Spring Riot(春鬥). It is the first time for me to see their performance and I really enjoyed it. The repertoire included five different dances of five different choreographers. Every of them has specific features and expresses a variety of feeling. The following is some description of these performance.

The third performance, 望春風, is one of the most impressive dance among the those dances. In this performance, there was only one dancer, a girl with curl blond hair in a white skirt. In my opinion, she started to dance like a silly girl longing for love by slowly moving and swaying her body. Then, she sped up her movement and danced around the stage with some sudden jump. Finally, she slowed down bit by bit in spiral till the end. Those movements were accompanied by the piano melody adapted from classic Taiwan song and that created a special effect. I perceive a interesting combination of the West and the East and I come up with a new imagination of 望春風, a doll-like women idling herself up and down and coming dormant in the end.

All in all, the performance, Spring Riot of Cloud Gate, was wonderful and it brought me some creativity. Thus, I hope I have a chance to see another show of them soon.

PS. Chinese introduction from News on the website of Cloud Gate :

「2009春鬥」精采豐富的演出內容，含括五個不同世代，年齡差距將近四十歲的編舞家的作品。除了有鄭宗龍深度剖析內心世界的力作《牆》、更有年僅二十五歲的年輕編舞家黃翊，以流暢動作打造身體創新美學的《流魚》，此外，舞壇老將們也紛紛展現堅強實力，包括古名伸最受矚目的經典力作《緘默之島》、永遠的舞蹈謬思羅曼菲浪漫美麗的《愛情》選粹，以及藝術總監林懷民以東區美少女印象，特別為雲門２創團團員楊淩凱編作的獨舞新作《望春風》。

First Impressions of Tsing Hua

I visited Tsing Hua in August of 1989 the first time, as I already obtained a job here and came to register. Although a lot of Taiwanese commented that Tsing Hua has a beautiful campus after they knew I worked there, I like my own school more where I went for graduate study in the USA (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, http://www.uiuc.edu). Although lots of people told me Tsing Hua has a beautiful campus, I really think it just fine compared with two American universities I had studied (another school is Iowa State U, http://www.iastate.edu). Over the years, I increasingly like the campus at Tsing Hua. In Chinese; Tsing means water and Hua means flower/woods. It is pretty with lakes and trees. With a school of humanities and social sciences, people here seem to know how to better the campus by adding this and that--definitely some of them were not as successful.

People in this campus are generally hard-working--day and night as well as weekdays and weekends. They are thus more productive. The campus is full of energy and dynamics: events, conferences, speeches, movies, performance, etc. When we work and live with outstanding scholars here, we tend to be motivated or stimulated by their behaviors, working styles, and their achievements. We want to be like them in the future. We can find role models at Tsing Hua in various academic disciplines.

As I know more about the campus, building, talents, people (role models), and achievements, I like this school and the location (Hsinchu) better as I stay here longer. I hope I can contribute to the campus and the school as well. [reposted from 2007/9/27]

Making Decisions for Oneself

Life is a process for us to make decisions. If we can be responsible, usually we live more happily. I came from a middle-class family with my father working as a primary school teacher supporting a 5-member household. He came from Mainland China so the financial situation was bad for quite a long period of time. He always wanted to become a public school teacher like himself because that is an "iron bowl" with the government supporting the family.
Well, I think I am a good elder daughter at home with 2 younger brothers to take care of. I was successfully admitted to Taichung teachers' college and Girls' Senior High after my junior high education. My parents told me to get into the teachers' college to become a primary school teacher--at that time students studying there do not even need to pay the tuition. I asked my teacher for advice and made a decision the first time in my life--I chose to go to a normal senior high in order to get into a college. My father then gave his second advice: then you should study in the Normal University.
In the second time, I obeyed his order getting into Taiwan Normal University, leaving home the first time. I actually could get into Taiwan University. That 4-year experiences living in Taipei form my independent personalities. Then, I went back to Taichung, my hometown, to teach in a junior high for 2 years. I felt being there suffocating my personalities. I then told my father I wanted to go abroad for an MA degree—I already passed the entrance exam of the master program at Normal University. My father was puzzled, not understanding why I chose to give up the iron bowl. Since he is one who encourages more learning opportunities, he let me go. Yet I have to support myself financially. I did have my saving from the 2-year job experiences.
My first step of graduate education was at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa). It was an English teaching program, like one of the master’s program offered at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at Tsing Hua University. My advisor, although at an assistant professor’s rank, was at the same age as my mother. She indeed treated me like my American mother, serving as my role model in my academic career. I learned from her about how to treat students, how to prepare to teach graduate courses, and how to conduct research in applied linguistics. The wonderful experiences at Iowa State encouraged me to pursue a doctoral degree. I love studying in USA. Although this time my father was against the proposal: why did a girl need to study this much? Anyway I insisted on my own decision. This round I actually ran out of my own savings and I did not get any financial support in the first semester from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the school of my doctoral program. I served in the student cafeteria, earning US$3.25 per hour (8 hours a week) to subsidize a small portion of the living expense. Luckily I found research assistantship the second semester, ending my most miserable period of the graduate student’s life in US. I was also quite lucky to immediately find a job in May, 1989 from Tsing Hua while defending my doctoral thesis on July 3 in the same year.
I took 186 credits when I was a college student including 28 education hours. For some time, I did not feel being benefitted much from most of those coursework. In 2003, when I was the Chair of our department, I even bolded to say I want to make our own department better than the one in Normal University. Now, I think I am more humble and understand better I did obtain insights from courses I took, not so much the knowledge itself, but the time and the interaction with classmates and professors. It is a valuable period of one’s life. I went to Taiwan U and the Chinese department of Normal U to audit their evening classes. Those were all very much enjoyable.
On the past Saturday, April 25, our alumni came back to the department. Most of them mentioned great resources Tsing Hua provides benefitted them the most. Yes, when Tsing Hua dared to establish a college of humanities, they invite diversity into our community. What we can contribute is not so much the papers the humanities professors can publish (we do fulfill their expectations), but a humanistic perspective. What is it? It is an insight of understanding humans better and in a deeper way. The science experts at Tsing Hua also give their rationality to us. Actually it happens the two American schools I went to, Iowa State U and U of Illinois, are famous for their science and engineering achievements.
So you make decisions for your life. I did not grow up from a very resourceful family but I am contented with the life and the lifestyle I have now. [One of our alumni said so on Saturday—she is at her 30.] I hope you can say so. There are various kinds of opportunities in the coming 3 years as long as you are prepared.

My Mom and Me

re-posted from an entry 2007/11/8

When it comes to the person I admire, the image of my mother comes to my mind. Formation of my character has been from her influence and that of my father, who passed away in 1998. She brought her three children for baptization to Buddha when they were born, as herself is a devoted Buddhist. Her wisdom and compassion make her my role model.

Although she suffers from long-term illness, she has been quite positive. When I was a college student in Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, she was sent for a surgery on one leg. [to be developed] Her wisdom toward life, her own illness, and inner strength have supported her strong will to live positively.



With firm belief about Buddhism and her own perseverance, my mother has been an excellent wife, taking care of her three children and my father every well. Although my father is a loyal husband, most of her love was left home in mainland China with his first wife. Sometimes my father could become furious as he had felt guilty of leaving home in China without preparation and could not return to take care of his own parents for his life. When we were young, the financial situation at home was not good, which could make my father restless or even angry with trivial things. Those negativities are what my mom has to face and bear, but she has been kind without compaints about my father, performing a wife's duties well.

I became a vegetarian due to my friend's advice in 1991, with long-reaching influence from my mother as well. Since being 25 years old, my mom has stayed as a vegetarian. She has cooked meals with meat for the children and the husband without regret or complaint, keeping very skinny share for her own.

Partly due to her personalities and her religious devotion, she has been one with ration, wisdom, passion, and compassion. She actually has a stronger character than I have and she does get mad sometimes in daily life, but her outlook of life is rational. [to be developed] My stable personality comes from her behaviors and her influence.

With blood and bone, I owe my mom, but even more, I owe my spiritual life to her.

Explore Your Creativities in LEGO

I believe that almost everyone had some experiences about playing LEGO in your childhood. For me, these small plastic building blocks attracted me very much and I was always enjoy building my own houses and cars for hours when I was a little kid. How could these small plastic bricks have such powerful magic? The reason is that you can always create new stuff by placing these building blocks in the different ways. Many people are even obsessed with playing LECO all over the world. The picture above my article is an example that you can make whatever ideal buildings you want.

LEGO was originated from a company which made wood toys. In 1932, after the first Financial Meltdown, the founder Ole Kirk Christiansen decided to save his bussiness. As the result, he turned the wood toys into wood building blocks and the begining model had came out. After World War Ⅱ, the technique of shaping plastic had progressed and Ole Kirk Christiansen's son reformed these wood bricks to platic bricks. Plastic can be more colorful and endure fire that made LEGO become popular in the world.

Playing LEGO can inspire people's creativities and imagination. There are a lot of exhibitions which held frequently to show the magnificent works of LEGO, and there's no ending of creativities of new bricks works. You can build anything and also make awsome works by yourself.

[journal] Camp of Blue Sky

Last weekend, April 18 and 19, is the important days to all the members to Blue Sky. We had a camp, which the subject is happiness in this time. I am one of the members who deal with food this time(生活股). Although the dates of camp are in the time when we have mid-term exams, everyone of Blue Sky still tries (s)he best to makes the camp more wonderful and brings not only happiness but also touching to those junior high students who attend to our camp. Those junior high students are coming from poor families, and single-parent families. Compared to us, most of them have little recourse to get what they want and learn what they like. Maybe we can’t change their life. However, what we can bring to them is the happy memory of these two days. One of features of Blue Sky is that we try to make those junior high students to find out what kind of people they are through some games to establish their confidences in themselves.
I remember that there is a special girl in our team. She has obstacles to express what she wants and the way to deal with people. At first, she was really quite in our team. However, she becomes more energetic after a while. During the tow days, she tries to do something which may annoy people in order to catch our attention to her. Sometimes, she refuses to join the game. Sometimes, she said that how boring the game we designed. Although she might be a trouble-maker in our team, she is the one who express her emotion directly. However, in the end of the camp, she cried a lot and said that she did not want to go.
The reason why I live Blue Sky so much is that Blue Sky always brings not only happiness but also touching to us. I learn a lot from this club. In the end of the camp, the principle of the junior high school said that giving is always better than receiving. He also said that may be we cannot really understand what it means but we will in someday. I think that I understand a little. I found that the smiles of people we help are always so charming and make me full of energy to do things.

[Journal] My first night in Blue Sky

April 9,2009
This day is the day that our club, Blue Sky, held a activity called” my first night in Blue Sky.” This activity is held for all members of Blue Sky, especially for freshmen, to have a show to everybody. Alex, Charlie, a girl of other department, and I decided to have a play together. The play what we play is musical play. We combined much pop music into it. Such as, incidental music from High School Musical, All the thing she said ,which is sang by t.A.T.u….and so on. The main topic of our play is told about a guy and a girl, and they had a fight when the guy decides to proposal the girl. Thus, they break up. However, they still can’t forget each other. In the end, both of them make up their mind to get together again. In order to make the play funny, the play is full of obscene jokes and exaggerating action to make audience laugh. We succeed, and everyone who watched our play laughs loudly. Although it is tired to prepare the show, I think it is a good memory to members of Blue Sky. We had a royal time in that night.

The lecture delivered by shou-yei(小野.)

On last Monday, I attended a lecture offered by shou-yei(小野.), one of the writer I admire. The lecture was so profound that touched the bottom of my heart and even inspired my passion of education.

He shared his story in teenage to us. When he was in junior high school, one of his teachers discovered his talent in writing, and gave him some books telling him that he might become a great writer in the future. He appreciated this teacher very much who encouraged him to choose what he wanted to be in his heart. Compare to the teacher, his father is the typical man who had a high expectation on the child, hoping that he will find a job and make a fortune, but unconsciously put too much pressure on him. The contradiction of the concept between his father and teacher made him become very confused. Therefore, when he became a father after many years, he learned to give his children a space where they can express themselves freely, a kind of patient waiting for them to discover themselves. I think what the children need is a kind of respect.

He also talked about his fist year but also the last year of teaching experience in junior high school. His students were composed of the teenagers from the family living in poverty. To encourage them to study hard, he donated the books he stored to build a library in the class room, providing extra courses during holiday on the green hill. He said to us that what he did was only the way he thought that is right and benefit to students. After many years, he met one of his students, who is now a professor. The students was so appreciate to shou-yei(小野) that even today, he could recite the song Shou-yei had taught them. I think being a teacher is not a career that can make a fortune, but the spiritual wealth it earns is priceless when you help or participate in the process of somebody’s life.

If I Were an English Teacher

These days, I am busy at applying the program of education. Actually, I do aspire to teach English in senior high school in my near future. It is my ambition and goal; it is a career I am eager to purse. As a teacher, I will advocate some kinds of reforms; I will improve learning techniques. And, the following is how I plan to teach.

First of all, I will make my class interesting; I will teach with enthusiasm, and my lessons will be exciting and fun. I hope my class will be full of class drills which are active. Class activities will be interactive. I will keep every student “on his toes.” We will give speeches, have debates and do presentations; we will perform skits, discuss movie and learn song; we will have field trips and welcome guest visitors, as well.

Second, I will use practical materials. I will ignore boring “English book” and only up-to-date texts will be used. Conversation referring to the listening and speaking skills will be a priority and the daily American vernacular will be focused on. Then, Grammar and composition referring to reading and writing skills will be secondary. I believe that learning of some magnificent idioms, slang and popular expressions will also be important.

Third, my daily routine will be recitation. “Repetition creates fluency.” My focus will be on reciting some outstanding speech, prose, drama and, poetry. Everyone in my class will have to speak English loudly and only English will be spoken. I hope my students will be able to speak out as well as native speakers.

Last be not lease, I will instill them loves of English. I will inspire a passion for the language. I will encourage my students to be fascinated by English for their whole life.

Jazz Music Festival

Have you ever heard of Jazz Music Festival? If you live in Taichung, you must be familiar with that. Here, I make a brief introduction to you. Jazz Music Festival has held several years, but I tttended this activity first time in 2008.

Jazz Music Festival is one of the distinguished feature of artistic festival in Taichung. It not merely broadens people's field of view but also prospers the economy in Taichung. The special activity takes place in 經國園道 every autumn. Listening to beautiful rhythm and feeling tender breeze are the greatest things to enjoy the autumn. Not only can you appreciate foreign performer playing musical instrument but you can taste a lot of exotic cuisine when you stop by the interesting festival. With music, you can try to wave your body, enjoying such a great atmosphere.

Jazz Music Festival is combined with government along with some enterprises' help and cooperation. It deepens our artistic ability and even intenfies the tourism industry in Taichung. This meaningful activity obtain a good deal of support and it also earn lots of people's acclaim.

Next time, if you have opportunity to come upon Jazz Music Festival, do not miss it. I promise that you must have a unforgettable experience to listen to those beautiful music!

My favorite song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF19PTj4mwg

I'm Gonna Be Around - Michael Learns To RockPoster

It's been so long since we took the time
to share words from deep inside us
We're in our own world spinning our wheels
but you know how I feel

Well since the first time I took your hand
my love for you has just been growing
You always seem to understand
You know how I am

Chorus:
I'm gonna love you til the end
I'm gonna be your very true friend
I wanna share your ups and downs
I'm gonna be around

When you're alone and I'm away
don't be sad don't be afraid
I'm gonna turn my thoughts to you
like I always do

Chorus:
I'm gonna love you til the end
I'm gonna be your very true friend...

Catch you when you fall
Hold you when you're down
Sharing every moment
I wanna show you all I do
I believe I've found a miracle in you

Chorus:
I'm gonna love you til the end
I'm gonna be your very true friend...

Departures---touching your heart deeply

The movie "Dapartures" is a touching and sensitive journey into the deep heart and astonishingly look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage.

After the symphony orchestra was disbanded,Daigo Kobayashi faces the fact that not everyone who has passion can become an extraordinary musician or a top artist.With his wife's support,he gives up hos premiere career, decides moving back to his homeland and searchs for another job.

By accident,he joins the line of bussiness which is the ceremonial "encoffination" of corpses prior to cremation.In desperate straits,Daigo overcomes his trepidation and begins to travel around with Sasaki.Sasaki is comically matter-of-fact but firm in his directives and the contentation that they are providing an important service to their community.Some cases are markedly traditional,featuring beatific family members in time-honored transition.Others highlight family dramas fraught with inevitable collisions,eased into unexpected conclusion.True to Sasaki's expectations,Daigo developes a deep respect for life in all its variations,and a profound empathy for people trying to make peace with the finality of death.

Through many contradictories and fights,the story discloses the vulnerability of human nature.It's a story of love,of discovery,of revelation and of the transcending human spirit,"Departues" will arouse many feelings and in the mind long after viewing it.

Losing what you love is such a great pain that difficult to endure.By seeing the process of the solemn ceremonies for the death can make you not only feel the truest emotions about human but also remind you to cherish things around you.Once they pass away,it's no use to say regretfulness.

Two Shocking News [3]

These days Taiwan has many bad news, some of them are really shocking. Take the little poor baby for example. She was thrown into the pot with boiled water in it simply because her father was fighting over something with his girlfriend and then he was infuriated. The tragedy happened in this incredible way. The baby was 90% burnt and she cried out loud. Reading this news made me feel that impulse is really a terrible thing. It can make people lose their control and do regretful actions.

As to another incredible news was that an entertainer called 大炳 was caught taking drugs on the spot. Moreover, this was not the first time that he got caught. In Feb. 2007, he had been caught in a motel for one time. Now the scandal was happened again on the same scene. In 2007, he said he took the drugs merely because he wanted to lose weight. He also promised that he would never do it again and begged for forgiveness from the public. After that scandal, he did some efforts indeed to save his reputation. He also took part in the international activity about rejecting drugs. But now it seems really ironical. Even his family wants to leave him.

Nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes, but you have to learn a lesson from your mistakes. In my opinion, a person is a real loser if he/she made the same mistakes. No one will forgive him/her.

In this journal I would like to introduce one touching movie named “Marley & Me” which is adapted from the bestselling true story about “the world’s worst dog”. Marley, a Labrador retriever, is the main character in the movie. In addition to the energetic dog, the cast in this movie is very strong. The leading actor is Owen Wilson who is famous for the movie “You, Me and Dupree” and the leading actress is Jennifer Aniston who became popular overnight because of the TV series “Friends”. (Actually Jennifer Aniston is the main reason that attracted me to see this movie. To me, she is not only beautiful but also a model of modern woman. : D )
The movie begins on John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) Grogans’ wedding night. It was a terribly cold and snowy night in Michigan, and the newlyweds decided to move from chilling Michigan to sunny Florida and start their new lives there. The couple got jobs as journalist at competing newspaper company. They buy a new house and planned to start their lives as a “family”. However, John confesses to his friend who is named Sebastin that he is not ready to be a father yet.
Sebastin suggests the couple start with a dog. The Grogans follow Sebastian’s advice. They become the owner of cute Marley, who quickly grows from 12-pound to 98-pound. Marley flunks out of the training school, chews up the sofa, knocks over garbage cans, eats pillows and slippers and even drinks toilet water. Though he causes a lot of troubles to the Grogans, Marley keeps the couple accompany with each other through all the ups and downs of life. They finally realize that “the world’s worst dog” is the best one to them.

Because of my allergy to dog fur, I never keep a dog as a pet. At the beginning, I thought that the movie was far from me and I would not have special feelings about since I never keep a dog and I am scared of big dogs. However, this movie moved me a lot due to the touching reverse in the end and how the Grogans live in harmony with the naughty dog, Marley.

[Journal 3] Fong-Chu Cup

There was a competition this weekend named Fong-Chu Cup (瘋竹盃). Its main sponsor was the Mechanical Engineering Department of Chiao-Tung University. And this exciting sport competition inclued many kinds of ball competitions, such as volleyball, baseball, basketball, soccer and so on. This cup was held for the university in Hsinchu, and there were many universities and departments attending this competition.

Now I want to share with you about the competition of volleyball. We (FFL of Tsing-Hua)competed with two teams from Shinchu University of Education. After watching seniors playing against our rivals, I learned that happy atmosphere and momentum are the important key to win the games. When players were playing on the court, the shouting and cheering of the cheerteam near the court indeed had a good effect on rising players' morale. And being united could also ceated great sense of playing.

After two days' competition, we finally won the fourth place!! That is just the wondreful example of the saying: practicing makes perfect. We practiced playing volleyball twice a week and 3 or 4 hours for each time. Getting this good result is an encouragement to all of us that if we practiced hard, everything is possible!

The Pianist

This movie was inspired by a true story.

Wladyslaw Szpilman was a talented Jewish pianist. In 1939, when he was playing the piano in a radio studio, German troops occupied Poland and the capital, Warsaw was invaded. Later on, the Szpilmans were force to live in an area for Jewish people. In this area, Jewish people were not only monitored but also insulted now and then by German soldiers.
The holocaust was so terrible. Wladyslaw successfully took a risk running outside and live in a small flat.

He went out on the nights and stayed in the flat several months. One day, a commissioned officer accidentally found him. He was shock and bushed. Because he had concealed himself for a long time, he became sick.

The commissioned officer knew that Wladyslaw was a pianist before. After noticing his highest level of piano skill, the commissioned officer decided not to kill Wladyslaw but to help him.
After the war was over, Wladyslaw was still playing the same symphony on the radio studio. But, the commissioned officer died on the war prisoner camp in Russia. Wladyslaw Szpilman had played more than 2500 symphonies and won prizes of the world many times after the World War II. He died on 6.7.2000.

In the war, food is the most important thing. Music means nothing. Music cannot inspire people in the world which the truth is been twisted. But, the beauty of music is the only tool of communication between people. It saves his life and becomes the reason for him to stay alive after the war.

One More Day

One more day, can you change your mistakes in the past?
If your life is going to over, do you want one more day?

Charlie was a professional baseball player. But, he could not play baseball anymore on account of injuries. After that, he became perverse and disagreeable. He abandoned himself to despair and was inflicted to alcoholism. His wife and daughter then left him. When he found that he wasn’t invited to his daughter’s wedding. He fell apart. He decided to commit a suicide.
He met his mother again in a mysterious condition. He came to his hometown and spent a whole day with his mother. This day was normal. But, this day was different, too. Because that his mother revealed the secret.
Why his father left them when he was a little child? This question had remained a scar in his mind for several years. He was blank. The answer appeared and covered the sky like clouds. In some place between this life and next life, He understood his mother again and found out what his mother had sacrificed for him.
Charlie tried hard to remember the tender from his mother on that day and repaired his life which he thought was broken to pieces. Charlie revived again.
‘’Home’’ only needs to be understood, accepted, and then love.

When you grow older, you may think yourself mature enough and cannot stand your mother nagging all the time. You start to argue with your mother. Your mother still loves you though.
But, until one day, when you finally want to get along with your mother, there maybe is no chance.
The writer makes the readers believe that the one makes mistakes deserve to be forgiven, especially forgive their selves. This book will help you review relationships with your family. If you have a family, please cherish them carefully. If you have ever lost and suffered, don’t give up, time will tell.

Orz Boyz

Slow down, and let the courage of childhood catch up with you.

Orz Boyz talks about two mischievous boys who always lie to their classmates, teachers and family. As a result, they have the nick names, Liar No.1 and Liar No.2. In order to get into the imaginary “Unusual Dimension Space”(異次元), where children don't need to do homework and most importantly, children can grow up becoming adults, Liar No.1 and No.2 make troubles all the time. In addition, they believe that as long as they play the water slide one hundred times, they can walk into the entrance to the Unusual Dimension Space.

In fact, the Unusual Dimension Space symbolizes the aspiration of children for adult's world while saying good-bye to the childhood means the cost children have to pay and lose something. When watching this movie, the innocence of these two boys who try hard to achieve the dream makes me laugh. Their abundant imagination is really make us feel “Orz.”

However, this movie still has something serious to tell us. Liar No.1 and No.2 come from incomplete family; No.1's father has mental disorder and No.2 is raised by his grandmother. They are always regarded as abandoned children who no one loves. Moreover, No.2's uncle throws his daughter to his mother and goes away, which talks about the value of our society. In the childhood of these children, their parents don't participate in at all.

In the movie, Liar No.2 has asked the girl who loses her mother why she wears a smile all the time even though she just goes through the pain of her mother's death. She says her mother had told her that “as long as you remember to smile, you won't be afraid.” As a matter of fact, I think Liar No.1 and No.2 maybe want to grow up as soon as possible, but they must have struggled in their mind. During the process of growing up, they have to lose something, such as no more Unusual Dimension, no more innocence and even no more dreams.


Do you still remember your childhood and have the dream like the one in your childhood? Do you also eager to become an adult when you were a child. Orz Boyz is really a good movie that makes us to think about something. Try it, if you have not seen it yet. : )

If I Had Only 24 Hours to Live

I would like to ask myself a tough question these days since I am the coming assistant of "Exploration of Career" course in NTHU College—what would I do if I had only 24 hours to live? It is an interesting and thought-provoking question. Of course, I would be a little sad to learn I had only 24 hours left. But, I would also be grateful for knowing this, because I could end my life in a good way.
First on my list would be saying good-bye. I believe farewells are important and we should not be afraid to past away. I would say so long to my good friends; say adios to my dear teachers and bid my relatives adieu. I would be sure to tell them all how much they mean to me; I would stress how much please I have had with them. Then, I would wave good-bye and wish them all the best.
Next, I would visit some of my favorite places. I would say good-bye to the beautiful world, too. I would enjoy it splendor one last time. In the morning, I would climb a mountain, enjoying the sunrise. In the afternoon, I would swim in a crystal-clear river. In the evening, I would lie on the beach as the sun sank below the horizon. Additionally, I would also visit some meaningful places near my home. I would go back to the neighborhood where I grew up.
Last of all, spending most of the time with my family is a top priority. They are the most significant people in my life. Therefore, I would want to be surrounded by them when I go. We could go out and see some sights together; we could enjoy the last meal together as well. But most of all, I would like just to be with them at home. I would tell each one of them how essential they are! I would thank every one of them, telling them how much I love them. And I would stay with them until my time was up.
Certainly, I would like to live more than another 24 hours. Thinking about this question has not been easy. In fact, it has been quite saddening. However, by considering it I have learned a lot. It can remind me of precious things in life, letting me cherish these thing as if there were no tomorrow. I have realized who the special people are in my life; I now know what matters most to me in this world.

My Experience of Countryside in Meinung

I went to Meinung to experience the rural life with NTHU College during my spring break. To be honest, the motivation of joining this camp is not clear at all for me. Maybe I just want to find the feeling of friendliness like my hometown, Wuchi.

Ride a bicycle wandering the whole Meinung Town and try to discover anything interesting or surprising. Not about looking around all the scenic spots only, but trying to experience the beauty of Meinung with heart by yourself. From the famous specialty, paper umbrella to traditional Hakka buildings, I can see the combination of art and culture and especially the Hakka cultural transmission.

Our most important learning lesson in Meinung is experiencing the rural work on the farmland. I was assigned to the field of chili, planted by Mr. Chiou. In the beginning, Mr. Chiou was so shy to chat with us and just showed us how to pick chili. Then, our team started to pick chili silently as well with a bucket, walking through the whole farmland. As a result, we’ve done the work quickly and also solved the work we had to do the next day. At this moment, Mr. Chiou said he would take us to go to karaoke in his house the next day, but this proposal was declined by our teacher.(ˊ︿ˋ)

The next day, Mr. Chiou took us to his friend’s house and helped them pick the mulberries. At the first sight, we all thought we could finish the work as soon as yesterday because there was only “one” mulberry tree. However, the number of the mulberries was too big to pick them all in a short time. Later, we also helped the picking work in the chili field again. This time, we started to talk to Mr. Chiou naturally and realize some facts about his rural work from the conversation.

It’s hard to find that farmers’ helplessness unless we begin to walk into their life by ourselves. Although Mr. Chiou told us his worry about these plants, which influence his life tremendously, we can still find his optimistic attitude toward life. I’m glad I have the chance to experience the rural work with these farmers and learn a lot from them. In addition, I indeed like the slow pace of Meinung, not the slow of time, but the feeling of relax in heart. Let’s walk into the countryside together to experience the slow dance of rural towns.

Linguistics or Literature?

Now is April and after two months, we'll finish the first year in the university. As an FLL student, we have to choose what we want to major, lingistics or literature. After the midterms of the two area, I foun that it's a difficult decision to me. Why is it so difficult? The main reason is that I'm not really into FLL.
To me, linguistics is a subject that I have to memorize a lot. I should have good logical thinking and good ability of memorize lots of difinitions. Although I don't really like to remember those things, I still can try hard to memorize. Besides, literature is a subject that I have to read a lot and think more. I should have many ideas about a text. It's so difficult to me! I envy many classmates that they can have lots of different ideas after reading a text. When I wrote my midterm paper, I spent much time thinking what I should write, however; I still wrote a few. I think that I should consider more and find what I fit in.
By the way, we got an e-mail from FLL office. It talks about the lack of teachers. It's not a good phenomenon to a department. I hope FLL can find more teachers in the future.

10 promises to my dog

Ten promises to the dog:

1. Please give me a little time to let me understand your request.
2. "Trust me!" It is important for me.
3. You must remember that no matter how you treat me, I'll never forget.
4. When you blame me for my false, lazy, or stubborn, please think if something bothers me, whether I don't acquire my food I deserve, maybe I have not run under the sun for a long time, or my heart is already too weak and too old.
5. Please talk to me once in a while. Although I can not realize what you talk about, I can understand it is you voice accompanies me.
6. When you punish me, please remember that I have the sharp teeth can snap your bone. I just choose not to bite you.
7. When I am old, please take care of me well. Because you also will be old.
8. Dont' angry at me too long and please don't lock me in the cage in order to punish me. You have your work, your entertainment, and your friends, but you is the only one I own.
9. Before you take me home, remember my life is just about ten to fifteen years. Your desertion will be the worst pain for me.
10. When I need to go through the hardest things, please don't say" I can not tolerate to see him painful." or" Let me absent!" I want you to know everything can become easier to accept as long as you accompany me.

When I saw these promises, my mind went down and down. Ten promises to the dog is not hard to do, but there are many people in the world can not accomplish such a little thing. They buy it, just because it is cute. But they do not consider the responsibility of life. When they tire of taking care of them, the one thing they do is to abandon them just like the garbage to be throw out. Every time I see the cute stray dog, I feel sorrow and angry--how can their host desert them?

In Taiwan, there are many cute dogs be abandon and euthanasia at the end. Few people want to adopt a stray dog, but so many want to pay a lot of money to buying a dog. This fact always make me feel sad.

If everyone can think of dogs as their family member, there will not have stray dog on the street. If everyone can take the responsibility of dogs for granted, we will not see any stray dogs at every corner.

I hope one day the world will not have astray dogs, and all dogs have good hosts and happy life.

After Sweet Rain, There is Sunny Day

Sweet Rain, it is a novel written by a Japanese writer, Kotaro Isaka. Kotaro Isaka is a young star of recent Japanese writers, who is knowledgeable in many aspects, such as science, art, history and music. In his novels, readers can usually see his sharp and impressive perception on human beings. The amazing characters and original plots created in his novel are his feature. Plots may be a consecutive arson events happens in a city which always accompanied with mysterious words daubed on the wall, or a story between three professional killers. The characters can be a scarecrow who has the ability to talk, or a god of death, such as Chiba in Sweet Rain.

People's image of god of death is like a skeleton in black cape with a big scaring sickle. But this image doesn't fit to Chiba. In Sweet Rain, god of death is a jod, they work under an organization. When they get the message sent by the department of imformation, it is time for them to work. The content of work is to observe an assigned human for seven days, on the eighth day the god of death will decide whether his target shall die or not. In order to make the observation work easier to do, the department of imformation will tell the god of death how their outlooking is like this time. It is helpful when they need to approach their targets.

Chiba is one of the god of death, the one among them who is enthusiastic at music. He considers music as the greatest invention of human. The love of music makes him different from his colleague. However, there is a special thing always comes with him. That is, he has never seen a sunny day. When he is on his work, it is always raining. As a god of death who has a totally different thinking logic than human, he doesn't care much about that.

In the novel, there are seven people in his investigation. (In the movie which adapts from the novel, he meets three people). We see the variety of human lives. Every person has their own life story and living philosophy. Through the eyes of Chiba, whose thought will not be affected by emotion, we can observe humanity transparently.

Since I am only a 19 year old student, I don't think I have the qualification to talk about the true meaning of human life. But I did get some thoughts after watching this movie and then reading the novel last year, that was -no matter what difficulty you encounter in your life, face it! Every person's life story is fascinating. If you don't keep going, you will never know which way your own story will go to and how will it develope. In the end, Chiba sees a beautiful sunny day scene beside the sea. It seems saying to us: after sweet rain, there is sunny day!

Crazy April!

Almost all of the mid-term exams occur in April. In addition to these horrible mid-term exams I have to do some presentation in April as well. It’s quite troubling to prepare both mid-term exams and presentations at the same time. All of our classmates study so hard in order to survive in this crazy April.

Every time I check my schedule book which is filled with marks of exams, quizzes, and presentations, my heart sinks. I had mid-term exam of Introduction to Linguistic on Monday. Though I’m interested in Introduction to Linguistic, it still annoyed me a lot to memorize abundant definitions. Besides, there were some parts left for us to study on our own because of our lack of time in class. I almost spent all of my weekend on it. Then, here came the extremely awful Tuesday. I was asked to give a prepared speech in Listening and Speaking class and after that I had a three hours mid-term exam of Introduction to Western Literature. I was totally exhausted on Tuesday. To my great disappointment, that was not the end of mid-term exams. I still have to strive for the coming quizzes, mid-terms, and presentations in the following weeks.

All that I want now is to pass all the exams and keep a general level in my presentations! For fear of landing myself into troubles again, I have make up mind to prepare the final exams which fall on June from May.

A song that I really need at this moment [2]

I tried to embed the video, but the HTML was not accepted. Therefore I put the address here.

http://mymedia.yam.com/m/2481054

This band is called McFly and this is my favorite song, "I'll be OK". Everytime when I am really upset and down I will listen to this song repeatedly. It could always cheer me up when I was a 12th grade student. Even now I am still listening.

These days, or maybe this semester, everything has changed. Everything that I liked I loved has changed a lot. I thought I could handle them well. At least in last semester I did. But now, I have lost a lot that I thought was all in my grasp. The story is too long and it is also not appropriate to talk about it here. I just want to yell and cry and let go every terrible thing.

I tried to talk to my friends, but things just cannot be OK if I don't open my mind. Things are so complicated that even I want to solve them is impossible. I know I have to overcome them by myself. No one could help me, so I listen to this song to make me feel OK and try to find some encouragement from it. I hope I'll be OK soon.

Lyrics

When everything is going wrong
And things are just a little strange
It's been so long now
You've forgotten how to smile.
And overhead the skies are clear
But it still seems to rain on you,
And your only friends all have
Better things to do.

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

Now things are only getting worse
And you need someone to take the blame
When your lover's gone
There's no-one to share the pain
Your sleeping with the TV on
And your lying in an empty bed
All the alcohol in the world
Could never help me to forget

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Just try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day,
Oh just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone

Just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Won't you tell yourself, I.....

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day

Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK

Departures

Please close your eyes slightly, and let me accompany you in the last period of life.

Departures talk about the job that is to make up the dead people in order to let these people can become beautiful at the end of life. The actor, 大悟, get this job by accident. At the beginning, he is not willing to do this job and he also afraid to do it. After he himself see the ritual again and again, he gradually know the significant meaning of this job and how important role he is.

It is a good movie that let us to know this job and realize it. It also touch me when I see people cry to their dearest friends, daughters, mothers, and fathers. The most touching scene I felt is that the son use the towel to wash his mother's face, because it recalled my memory.

It also let us to think about death. I remeber one role says " Death maybe is a door that death is not terminate of life, on the other hand, death is to go next station." Despite the fact that death probably is a terrible thing to confront, we will take it easier if we take the different kind of aspect that the role tell us.

I love this movie.

As Elections Near, Tightrope Awaits in India

Not knowing what to write, I read an article in NYtimes and came up with some ideas about it. The subject of this article " As Elections Near, Tightrope Awaits in India" is the discussion about the situation related to the upcoming elections in India. I chose this one because I am interested in international news and curious about India, one of the most potential countries in 21st. The following are the summary of what I read and what I think.

In this article, the author describes many different parties' policy of the worldwide economic crisis while few of them try hard to make India as a more open economy. Their goal are the same "to keep India prospering" but their method are different. Some say they will spend on infrastructure and social welfare. Others focus on the stock market. However, no matter who to be the next leader, he will face a hard situation just as other countries' government. Interestingly, the economic crisis is not felt in across rural India, as it is in India’s globalized cities, and this is where most of the votes are.

After reading this article, I think that the elections in India has some similarities in comparison to Taiwan; for example, in an intensely competitive political environment, every party promises benefits. Nevertheless, “ to say is one thing; to do is another,” whether the government can live up to their goals is a big doubt. Besides, this article gives me another impression about India. An image of prospering democracy India rather than poor chaos India. This inspires me that the world is changing so quickly that Taiwan will be overrun if we don’t progress. Therefore, as a Taiwanese, I am supposed to always encourage myself to become better and better.

Abercrombie Boy

two are both my classmates from Italy^^ very ''Abercrombie boy''

Yesterday, I was looking through some of my pictures when i went to Boston last summer vacation.''Abercrombie Boy'' suddenly came to my mind while i was looking this picture. It is a term that was created by me and some of my friends when we traveled to Boston. Abercrombie boy refered to guys that have perfect muscles with attractive out-looking. The reason why we have this term is that there is a chain clothes shops named '' Abercrombir and Fitch'', which always have ''Abercrombie Boys'' being the clerks. Also, they hired ''Abercrombie Boys'' on weekends to stand at the front gate with their tops off to attract customer. oooooooh~ it was such a pleasant just seeing them! One of those Abercrombie boys' job is asking girls that linger their eyes on them to take picture with them. They will put their hand on girls' waist and tenderly hug them while taking the picture. I eyes were dazzling when i took pictures with them! But it was a heart-broken pity that i have that picture lost while i accidentally deleted it! i felt sooo bad for my foolishness. There got one thing that conforts me is that many of my classmates, who has the same figure like''Abercrombie Boy'', came from Italy and South America are still in my picture gallery. Everytime when i saw those pictures, my heart butterflies~~

ooh~I miss them!!! I want to see Abercrombie boys whitout their tops on street Again!!!haha

My Happy Trip to Hualien

During the spring break, I went to Hualien for three days with my friend in the church. This is a trip for me to relax and withdraw from the tense schoolwork temporarily.

It took about three to four hours from HsinChu to Hualien. On the way to Hualien, we kill the time by singing songs or hymns together and playing guitar. When going through the Shuhua highway, we all amazed by the spectacular view of the cost. The steep cliff along the blue seashore makes up the picturesque scenery.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. The fist day we went to Taorko National Park and took a walk in the path of Yanzihkou (燕子口) and Jiucyudong tunnel（九曲洞）. These part are the most magnificent part of the national park. At Yanzihkou, the rock cliff of Liwu River gorge seemed to touch the heaven while the torrent runs swiftly. There is also an interesting place where if you throw out a piece of paper in the air, the paper will soaring up to the sky instead of falling down to the ground. The secret to it is the rear terrain that produce a special air current which makes the paper “flying” in the sky.

The second day we went river tracing. I should have joined this exciting activity, but because of the small wound in my leg, I had no choice but to give up. Therefore, I stay at the bank of the pool watching the blue and deep pool and the sunshine reflected by surface of water, listening to the sounds of the wind passing through the leaves. I was fascinated by the peaceful and quite atmosphere around me, and felt my body relaxed in the nature.

After returning to home, thanks to the short trip to Hualien, I found myself had the power to go to work again. I think going on a journey and seeing different view is really a good way to enliven our life.

[Journal 2] Making awosome things by yourself

There is a stall just outside the 水木 book store that selling many kinds of Teddy bears and rabbits this week. Lovely Teddy bears have attracted passerby' s eyes that almost everyone would stop and take a look of them. But the thing that different from other stalls is that you can make your own Teddy bears or rabbits by your hands, and it's cheaper than the finished products if you only buy the ingredients. I am interested in doing little hand-made things by myself, so that it's impossible for me to lose such a great opportunity. I bought a big rabbit and two small Teddy bears, then my friend and I were just sitting on the chairs near to the vendor and learn how to make bears from the vendor. At such a period of crazy mid-term, doing somethings different from English really makes me feel relax and joyful. When we were sitting there, we saw many people buy the ingredients and , the most surprising to me, they almost were male! When I saw this interesting thing I felt nothing but a little strange and confused. But my friend told me that she was moved by this phenomenon for the reason that they were supposed to make hand-made Teddy bears to his girlfriend. We also met a few classmates there and had a good afternoon. I wish this stall will come again soon, and I will miss the vendor because they were passion of teaching us to sew proficiently.

Articles in Common Wealth

I read the Common Wealth 418(天下雜誌) this afternoon. I found that there were some articles connecting with our essay, successful business. These articles talked about the ability of doing market research. When a company pays more attention to the market research, it can understand what clients need and adjust the direction of its business. Take Accer and Asus for example. Asus is the first company that produce small notebooks, EeePC, and Accer is its competitor. Accer was good at market research, however; Asus is not. Therefore, Accer became the first place of selling notebooks.
Another article was about the general manager of Google in Taiwan. He pointed that users in Taiwan should not limit themselves to ".tw" website. I think he is right. I usually search infomation in traditional Chinese because I'm lazy to read English ones. After reading it, I noticed that if I want to be a person with a global perspective, I should try to look more information. It will take lots of time for me to be used to read all English information but I know it is good for me and I should give a try.

Let's twitter!!

What is Twitter? Twitter is a free service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has gained more and more users worldwide. And Twitter seems to be a link between stars and their fans, for example, President Obama has a team to help him write Twitter notes to his followers; Britney Spears has an assistant to help update content for Twitter. Recently, I found and followed my favorite NBA player-- Allen Iverson! I can not wait to see his new Twitter notes! What's more, Twitter even saved a man from Egypt who used his mobile phone to twitter the message to his followers. It seems that we can find more things to do with the help of Twitter.

The Night That I Have To Rush Home

It was PM9:45 at last tuesday. i phoned my mother asked her whether she needs my attendence in my grandmaother's 頭七. She then said '' of course! you have to come back! And you have better come back right now!''
If this conversation happened two weeks ago, i would definitely have a quarral with my mother. Yet, after my grandmother's death, i tried to be my best not to let my parents worry about things other than the funeral, and try hard to distract them from feeling sad all over the time. Then, at 9:47 packed my bag immediatly in order to catch up the High speed Railroad at 10:40. Even when i recall the situation happened at that day, i can still feel the urgent sence of feeling chasing after me.
I helled a Taxi alone on the front gate of the school. At the moment i sat down, i smelled the smell of beer. Although i am a little bit concern about it, i still ignored it in order to keep on time. Yet, the moment that the Taxi drive, the only thing i did is praying, hoping that this potentailly drunken driver may drive me safely to the station on time, and also wont do anything terrible to a single young woman that need to rush home in such late night.
On the way to the station, the driver kept singing out loud with the music coming from the radio and at the same time asking me questions that i dont want to answer, i was so scared but i pretented to be in extreme calm. The only thing that i think about at that time is hoping that the driver may not taking me to somewhere else. After fifteen minutes, i saw the station, i was so relieved at that moment. The exact moment when i step out that Taxi, i swear to myself that i will never do such a dangerous thing ever after.
i am so glad i am still here, typing my homework in front of my desk.

A creative architecture in Yilan [revised]

Huang sheng-yuan, an architect has lived in Yilan for eleven years. He has designed many architectures whose style are very different from the local buildings. In 2007, he constructed a building with abnormal shape which is now used as a government institution. He tried to bring an image of "mountain" into this building and create a sense of movement through twisted pillars and large floors. He also made use of different materials in this building so that it showed various features properly itself. What's interesting of it is that he directly made the stair handrail out of the steel bars. Though this truly achieved the specially effect he wanted, it also brought some problems to maintain. As the past works he designed, this building doesn't have walls around it. Mr. Huang made it friendly blend with surroundings. Walking into the building you will not feel bored because there are many interesting and creative designs in it.

Although this building has brought about controversy between local residents, it is still a special creation. Sometimes a designer being too modern will cause some criticism, but people's opinions and thoughts will change as time goes by. Maybe after decades this kind of modern buildings will be in fashion.

Silent dancing in the field---CHIA CHIA

I am the kind of person who like baseball, love baseball, and cannot eat, sleep or have the fun of living when there is no baseball. But I am not going to explain what makes me become a crazy fan. In this entry, I want to introduce a baseball player in Taiwan who is outstanding both on field and, more being respected, his humble mind.

Unlike Chien-Ming Wang, who is now a well-known sport star not only in Taiwan but also in the States, this man doesn't seem to have that kind of luck to show his skill and the quality of star to the world. He is Cheng-Min Peng, nicknamed CHIA CHIA. Of course, he does have the good capability for being a player, which all the baseball star should have. But what makes him so unique and respectful is his humble and smooth disposition. If you had once watched a baseball game, you should have notice that it is quite usual when a batter hit a homerun, he will do some motion and pose or sometimes shout out loud to celebrate for himself during his running to the homebase. Since hitting a homerun is of some difficulty and has the worth of celebrating, it is acceptable and common. However, when you watch CHIA CHIA's baserunning after he hits a homerun, you will never see him do any special pose, and you even can't notice any change of emotion on his face. He always lows his head and runs seriously toward the homebase. What makes him do this is that he considers those celebrating poses are humiliations to the pitcher, so he just does his right thing. After game finish, when all the players, audiences and staff left, he will bow to the baseball field, to show respect to the God of baseball.

At last, he is still a human who may have emotion sometimes. He had once hit the transformer on the wall in player restroom out of anger in August, 2005, which occured by his discontent from his performence that night. The result of that event was a fracture at his right hand, which caused him away from field for almost a year. It was since that terrible event he grew maturer and maturer psychologically. Although it was a stain in his career, it made him know the importance of tranquility and shape what a popular baseball star he is today.

New York Times

Choose one of the following to read for the mid-term exam on April 22.

1. Ghosts haunt ancient banking center.
2. Drug trade revives Peru's rebel war
3. Creatures who leap off the big
4. For 'dreamgirls,' fans adn financing

Watch out for this website for every Tuesday new articles (April 7 & 14)
http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/itempage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=381&f_SUB_ID=3731

Marley & Me

In recent years, here are a number of films which acted by animals, especially by puppies. Some best-sold movie such as Quill, Lassie and so on which touch lots of people's hearts.

If you feel bored, I recommend you a popular film called,"Marley and Me". It's an adaption of a best seller with the same name. It depicts the relationship between an awfully cute dog and his owners. They shared many years accompanying with each other. Not only can Marley plea them but also he can heal the owners' pain with his sensitive heart. Seeing"Mayley and Me", I cannot help laughing out loud; however, at the end of the movie, I was moved by their deep emomtions, bursting into tears . The most impressive scene to me is that he "successfully" enrage his trainer, the one who is very experienced. Although Marley may be considered to be a troublemaker, he still entertain and comfort people by his kindheart. Watching the film is an easy way to make me happy, relaxed and even let me have more courage facing with difficulity in reality.

The film reminds me of cherishing what I have as well as living in the present. Marley and Me makes people realize the tinest but is also the simplest happiness in life. No wonder there are a lot of acclaims of its delicate description. Marley may be an extremely awful dog when he break the rules of our so-called normal life; however his innpcency, trust in humans entirely touch me from the bottom of my heart.