Reading the Air

Recently, I have read an article about the ability of reading the air in the website of Common Wealth Magazine. According to the article, beginning at 2007, kuuki yome ("read the air") has become the hottest catchphrase in the Japanese new "must-study" subject for businesses, individuals and even politicians. The author says that "reading the Air" does not simply refer to reading people's expressions but the ability which combines the understanding of whole atmosphere and the good communicating and executing of different ideas. Moreover, there are many examples to show the importance of kuuki yome such as the success of Taiwan's biggest convenience store 7-11, and the article also mentions the connection between the ability of kuuki yome and several politicians' different situation.

After reading this article, I not only realized the significance of kuuki yome but also learned some ways to build it up. First, to fully understand the situation, we should confirm who the people are in attendance, including their professional and interpersonal relationships, and your own relationships with them. Second, pay close attention to the overall atmosphere and changes to choose a right time to speak. Third, use suitable and concise language when speaking. Fourth, observe changes in the eyes and expressions of those present.

All in all, to succeed in this constantly changing modern world, we can't just depend on the Internet, remaining cloistered in our own virtual environment and unwilling to go out and communicate with the outside world, which will causes the lack perceptive faculties.

Journal 6 :Summary of the Article on Page 166 in the Writing Textbook

John Smith, an American who can speak Spanish thinks he can communicate with people in Puerto Rico very well. When he came back to New York, he complained that Puerto Rico people are not organized according to his experience in the local department. He argued that the economic isn't well developed there because the local salesman didn't treat customers in the right way, which means customers are served one at a time in the order of their arrival. However, John's experience is simply an example of communication breakdown due to a misunderstanding of the cultural nonverbal cues. That is, John and the Puerto Rico salesman have different concept of time. The North American one is a monochronic concept, which means tasks are completed one at a time while the Puerto Rico culture reflects a polychronic concept of time where communication at several different levels happens at the same time. The communication breakdown mentioned above can be observed anywhere when these two different concepts meet and neither of them is inefficient or irritating. It is merely a different cultural understanding of time in communication.

My Unforgoten Trip to Tain-Ren Rock House

On May 16, I visited Tain-Ren Rock House(天人岩屋) in Nei-Wan(內灣) to join some interesting activities. Tain-Ren Rock House is founded by a priest who makes lots effort to improve environment and education. He holds many activities to make people learn environmental-friendly attitude, cooperation, ethic and love. This time, I participated in two activities: going upstream and watching firefly and I really learned a lot from them.

Going upstream is an exciting activity which includes climbing waterfall, climbing rock, diving and sliding through the stream. To achieve this activity, cooperation and courage is necessary. In fact, when climbing the waterfalls and cliff, it is easy to be flush away since the torrent, the nature power, is so strong that human can hardly compete. Besides, it really needs courage to climb the rock and dive into the water from cliff. However, though these activities are kind of dangerous and hard, we can conquer them with adequate preparation and cooperation. That is, with life jacket, diving suit and friendship we can do this adventure safely and happily. All in all, I not only enjoyed the exciting experience of going upstream but also learned how important and sweet the friend can be.

Besides the going upstream, I watched the glowworms as well. Because the period of the firefly was near the end, there were only a few fireflies in the mountain according to the guide. Nevertheless, for me, there was already "many" fireflies and I was astonished at that amazing scene. Watching that small light flashed around the road, I admired the natural beauty but felt guilty about human’s destruction to the environment and wild lives. According to the guide, glowworms only have a few days to live and as long as they meet more strong light they won't shine anymore, which means that they will die without mating. Therefore, we should be awareness of our behavior and attitude to the nature.

This Saturday, undoubtedly, is an unforgotten memory for me. I experienced some special activities and got many value ideas from them.

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》。

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.

Substantial Saturday

On March 28th, I joined a one-day camp related to global warming and greenhouse effect; besides, I watched a tape Let It Be, which is called 無米樂 in Chinese, in the evening. I really had a copious day though I hadn't studied any textbooks and left many thing unfinished. At the night of that day, my mind was full of speculation on the world, on the society and on the life.

After attending the camp, I learned some new conception about global warming and greenhouse effect. I realized more about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the system related to them. Most of all, I got some significant view about those phenomena of this issue. For example, we can't see climate change as the only reason of those disaster happening around the world and the emission reduction of those so-called environmental-friendly country, such as Japan, is not for ethic but for responsibility of the long historical emission. Moreover, when reading the survey of this issue, we should take every aspect into consideration rather than rush to a sole simple conclusion.

In addition, after watching the tape Let It Be, my heart was full of complex feeling. I appreciated those farmers' attitude toward their hard life; I was angry about the unequal situation of farmers and I bothered with the complicated relationship among farming, industry, and business. Those farmers' situation become worse because Taiwan has joined WTO, which creates lots benefit for business. I think we should care more about farming in Taiwan; we can't just emphasize the industry and business. After all, farming is the primary machine that make Taiwan prosper; moreover, a country can't subsist safely without farming. Last but not lest, farming culture is the basic culture of Taiwan; if we lost it what will we have ?

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, among his 70s. He started his political life because of inheriting his father's position as a privy councilor in 1937. Since his education of Bachelor of Arts and Laws which is related to the liberal arts, Mandela represented political dreams of black people. In order to realize those dreams, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. Following his release from prison, because of the end of apartheid, on 11 February 1990, Mandela supported reconciliation and negotiation, and helped lead the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Four years later, he was elected in a fully representative democratic election in South of Africa. He and F.W.de Klerk, who was the last president of apartheid-era South Africa, known for improving the end of apartheid, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

The First Journal Entry

Editorial Notebook(NYtimes)
Portraying Shakespeare By VERLYN KLINKENBORG Published: March 10, 2009

Not knowing what to read, I browsed through the New York times to find some interesting articles and one word grasped my attention. " Shakespeare", I know he is super famous but, honestly, as a English major student I know little about him. Therefore I chose this article to be the subject of my first journal entry; however, what the article is writing is far beyond my expectation.

This article shows some opinion about a painting of a well-dressed Elizabethan man which was taken from the private collection of an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family, the Cobbes. This painting has drawn so much attention because many people think it is the portrayal of William Shakespear, the significant play-writer with little biographical information. However the author argues that the hunger for the more about Shakespeare's biography is not necessary. He thinks that Shakespear represents the force of the creative mind, but he also embodies the pastness of the past." Every claim to have found some relic of the original Shakespeare, the author says,is just another reminder that his work needs no biography at all."

In my opinion, I really agree with the author's opinion that a great person's achievement won't mean less to us even if we know little about personal information. Moreover, I even think that people's remarkable achievement in some specific area should be rewarded independently. We really don't need to care about what they are. Well, I admit that curiosity is the human nature but I think we shouldn't be so eager to find someone's privacy even if he or she is dead. I consider that it is always more adorable that some mystery remains unknown; after all, reality is usually cruel.