My summer vacation

   Generally, this summer is as usual as before, because I enjoyed most of the time in my hometown. However, this summer is quite different from others, because I enjoyed it as a chance to challenge myself from body and spirit.

    To make my life busy and do something I haven¡¯t experienced is my choice in this long vacation, so I joined in the fitness club learning yoga, belly dance, and setting-up exercise. Moreover, I undertook housework including cleaning and cooking which are also big jobs for me. Because every day I should do all of these, my life became full and fast-moving.

    My yoga class began 12:00am every day, so I should prepare the launch earlier. Every morning, I got up early and washed vegetables. I am a person who cares cleanness a little bit more; I spent lots of time on washing. Then I cooked, usually with four dishes, for example, fried bean curd with vegetables, beef with fragrant cumin seeds, fried pork shreds with beans, and Chinese mushrooms with Chinese leaves. After a busy cooking, I had to arrive at the club in hurry, because of my yoga class. Finished the class, I was back home about half past two. Then I prepared the dinner promptly, because 5:00pm I had a class of belly dance. I was so busy that it seems no time for me to seat comfortably until finished the last class of setting-up exercise about 9:00pm.

    At the beginning, I was so excited about my new busy life. I enjoyed all the classes in fitness club and housework. However, after a week, I felt a little tired, especially during the belly dance class in which some actions were difficult for me and I exercised quite a lot. When my mother saw my situation, she suggested that she could do the housework, but I rejected. The reason was that I want to challenge myself, especially not giving up if I have made a reasonable plan and decided to do. I wanted to let my parents could have more time to take a rest while I was at home, and this was the other reason for me to carry on doing housework. Luckily, I held my rich life till the last day. I am so happy that I challenged myself successfully.

    In this summer vacation, I not only did so much healthy physical exercise, but also experienced how to encourage myself to overcome the difficulties and finish my goal. This summer is meaningful to me, because I think I have challenged myself and conquered myself.

: 05 Oct 2008 23:22 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Poor score

  This morning, I got my translation mark. This is the worsest mark till now for me. 

  I thought that it would be a good result, because I have tried to find appropriate expressions to translate the Chinese words. However, how frustrated the result is!

  I looked though my paper carefully, lots of blanks which seems quite good in my mind missed the mark. I asked Miss Zhou, but her answer still made me feel confused. For example, I gave the answer of a blank " French", but she said the correct answer must be " French people". There are many other expressions which we can't have the same evaluation to judge what is correct. Because of the limitation of the time, I can't tell her my thinking. And in fact,  I am not confident to let her accept my way of thinking.

 Why? Maybe the point is this is a subject named translation. That means when a person read a passage, he can have a feeling and retell it by his way in another language. One word in source language may have some different expressions in target language in my opinion. However, it seems impossible to be shown in our translation text, in that there is only one correct answer.

 I admit that I can't translate a passage evey well now because I am not good enough to understand different languages through different cultures. That is why I am studying here to improve myself. But I still wonder, even if  I acquired the knowledge very well, is it sure that I can have the same answer with the correct answer that a teacher gives?

Is this way of examing ability appropriate?  Is this style of learning necessary to be improved?

I can not have an answer, like the answer in our translation text.  I don't know how to make myself confident, and the only thing what I can do is keep trying to be better.

: 14 Jan 2008 12:57 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Panorama One click from danger

Jeremy Vine investigates how the children can be kept safe on the internet. There is an example to show how dangerous for children to put their private information on the nets and talk to strangers on the internet. The bad situation happened to two girls who knew the ¡®my space¡¯ through their classmates in school. When they met the character who they talked on the internet, they were scared because of his age and behavior. Then the policemen arrested this paedophile, finding out thousands of pornographic pictures in his house. This investigation tells us how paedophiles are using the internet as a tool to make contact with teenagers and prompts parents to pay attention to their children when they are on the internet.

: 13 Jan 2008 23:52 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My difficult essay

   This is harder one for me than other two essays I have handled earlier. I think the reason is that it was marked by two subjects, which means I should be careful about the content that I talk about and the language that I use. These two aspects are not easy.

   Firstly, I want to talk about the content which made me exhausted. I can understand that it is necessary to give examples explaining important points, but I didn¡¯t know that I should show the evidence of the example and the explanation. This resulted in my limited time in which I must finish finding the evidence and writing, because I just did drifting reading. Therefore, I know how to write an analytical essay after I have written this one. If I could go back to write this essay, I think I would read lots of aspects related to the topic and get more useful information.

   Secondly, I want to talk about the language. The aim about language of this essay is written in academic language. Although I have learned how to write academic essay in China and in advanced language class, it can not be used skillfully for me. I am quite satisfied with my knowledge that I have learned from the advanced language class, but I need time to digest it and use it skillfully. After writing this essay, I learned that I should take more exercises about writing academic essay. Next time, I will prepare more time to check my academic language.

   In conclusion, this essay gives a bad feeling to me. At least, I am not satisfied with the process of writing this essay. From this experience, I have learned that I need read more chapters related to the essay topic, get more useful information, take more exercises about academic writing and check the language of my essay after I have finished my writing.

: 20 Dec 2007 22:00 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Learning English by reading

: 18 Oct 2007 22:02 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Impression of Britain

There are lots of fresh things when I arrived in Britain. Everything is new to me. Some of them are quite different from China, so that leaves me a strong impression. It is so good that I can still remember the wonderful feeling I arrived here the first days. This good impression comes from the environment what British people live in and the daily life what British people enjoy.

Britain is a very beautiful country. When my flight was landing on this land, I have got her natural beauty. The small houses which people live in are so lovely and they stand in a row orderly. When I got off the plane, the first impression was the sky. I can¡¯t believe how blue it is! The air is so fresh and the view is so clear. I find that most of roads are tiny and not straight with attractive scenery on both sides. There are lots of places covered by the country color. This is a good feeling to me because it let me feel so green and quiet. The weather is more fantastical than I thought. It can still rain in sunny day! The British weather really impressed me a lot.

The daily life in Britain is also new to me and that has surprised me the most. People here begin to work at 9 o¡¯clock, but finish the work nearly about 4 o¡¯clock. This can be shown mostly in tiny stores and shops. In fact, I like this way of life because is seems that I can have more time to share with my family and myself. But now in China, getting this comfortable way of life is quite difficult. British people not only hard work for their dreams, but also enjoy the happiness of their life. That¡¯s a good way of life in my mind.

When I first saw this land, I found that I can¡¯t help loving it. Her beautiful scenery, good living environment, lovely weather and comfortable way of life all impressed me a lot. This wonderful impression will be kept in my mind forever and that interests me to find more beauty of Britain.

: 05 Oct 2007 10:29 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Dairy 10.4

I can't believe that I have been here for about 9 days.  How time flies!

In fact, I still in a low mood and don't have a good feeling. It is not business with this beautiful country, but all the cause is my poor English. I can't express my ideas so clear like before to others, and this feeling is so bad. Sometimes, I even feel that I am lost! Lost in the strange streets, lost in the different districts, and the worst is that I lost in my mind! I have lots of ideas and topics that I want to share with others, just because of my language problems, sinking down in my brain.

The lucky thing is that I have very kind teachers here. They make me recognize that I am still alive! I have got lots of important information from them, and the most important is that they helped me get my confidence back. How warm in this cold weather! I also have seeked the help from my tutor. She is so tender that I want to tell all my troubles to her. In fact, I did, and she encouraged me to face this new situation bravely. That is a good idea, and I am having a try.

Yesterday, I met all my roommates at first time. They are all British! I am so sorry that I can't remember all the names now, but I won't forget their sweet smile and kindness forever.

Today, the weather is very good. No rain, no cloud. The sun is shining in the sky and I think it means a good hint. It looks like telling me that I can have a shiny day, I can have a high mood and I can get over all the troubles. Yes, I can. I am trying.

At this moment, I remember what Tilly said, that this is a journey in our own lives. How mystical it is! We are truly on our own ways. It is not clever to stand at the same place. I should take a new challenge to get new fresh "air" and to visit new "places". It is not easy, but it is very necessary.

Good! I feel better now. I have got what I should do next.

: 04 Oct 2007 23:29 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem