Issue Practice 11

Issue: No field of study can advance significantly unless outsiders bring their knowledge and experience to that field of study.

In the present era when all kinds of advances are being made with a high speed, it turns out extremely significant for different fields of knowledge communicate with one another, in order to achieve progress of significant. No field of study can advance significantly without outside knowledge and experience.

Firstly, outside knowledge can do a great favor, for it can provide tools of research. This appears rather true when it comes to mathematics. As a basic research tool, mathematics has been playing such a vital role in the world of science, including physics, chemistry, geography and biology and so on and so forth, that no science is supposed to have further progress without the aid of math, since math can equip human with different kinds of way of calculating and researching. We can hardly imagine how Newton could work without math teaching him the way calculating.

Secondly, outside knowledge can supply different ways of thinking, since each field of study possess its own way of thinking and researching. When different ways of thinking and researching gather and communicate with one another, sparks are expected to come into being. Just as we need debate and discussion to provide people with chances to communicate with each other in order to see the whole appearance, not only a face, of a question or an issue, for different individuals have diverse opinions, various knowledge are urged to get across with each other to produce new ideas and outcomes. When anthropologists are striving to make the secret of human beings come into light, knowledge of history, philology, and even chemistry and biology prove to be significant assistants.

In conclusion, no field of study can advance significantly unless outsiders bring their knowledge and experience to that field of study, since not only can outside knowledge provide tools of research and study, but it can supply new ways of thinking and study as well.

(340 words)

Review 7: Marvin Redpost: Class President

The President will be coming here.

The excitement and a little of panic when getting to know that a big potato is coming have been displayed vividly by the great author, by narrating the story of the President’s visit to the class of little kids. Humorous and intelligent President, smart but purified and cute children, this interesting story makes you feel bright and joyful.

Written by Louis Sachar
Illustrated by Amy Wummer
(76 words)

Issue Practice 10

Issue: It is more important to allocate money for immediate, existing social problems than to spend it on long-term research that might help future generations.

Money, considered as an indispensible tool, is playing a role of great significance in our daily life, as well as in the development of our countries and societies. The allocation problem, as a consequence, proves to weigh a great deal in a nation’s development, and also the world’s.

Allocation of money for immediate, existing social problems is of such importance, on the one hand, that everybody of the nation is striving to thrive, as a matter of fact. Without money at hand, the nation would suffer from starving, disease or illness, etc, which in the practice is put on stage in some parts of the world. It is believed that money is necessary anywhere for constructions of national hygiene, education, electricity and so on and so forth. Money prepared for immediate, existing social problems is regarded as the guarantee to the prosperity, safety, stableness of a nation. National daily life is so supported and sustained by money that a national economy is assumed to be one of the most significant issues that should be put forward to the daily agenda

Not only should money be attached great importance to the immediate, existing social problems, on the other hand, it is supposed to be paid attention to long-term research that might help future generations as well, since a nation, say, the world, has kept developing successively .all the way today and is recognized to do so henceforth as well. Just as we spare no efforts to reverse the poor situation of environment hurt by ourselves nowadays in order to leave a more pleasant and better life to our successors, it is our duty, as well as our responsibility to take a notice to the long-term issues of any aspects pertaining to the development of us humankind, including our future generations. Therefore, long-term research that might help future generations cannot be too natural to be financed, which actually is paid a great deal attention to by most countries. In addition, as far as I am concerned, it turns out that everything we are enjoying today is based on the accomplishments of our predecessors, which determines that we are supposed to do researches and creations for our future generations as well.

To, sum up, money allocated for immediate, existing social problems, and that distributed on long-term research that might help future generations, are expected to be concerned about equally by nations and the world.
(429 words)

Issue Practice 9

Issue: It is more important to allocate money for immediate problems than to spend it on long-term problems.

Our everyday life can not continue without money, as everything, either material or spiritual, we need to support our life costs cash, more or less. Therefore, the allocation of our money which we strive to earn for our livelihood turns out of great significance. People, who can not distribute the use of their money wisely, presumably cannot lead an easy and comfortable life.

As far as I am concerned, on the one hand, allocating our money for immediate is considered definitely necessary, since we keep purchasing merchandizes everyday to fulfill our life. No money-allocation for immediate use, hopefully, may lead us to suffer from starvation and coldness, not to speak lack of education, which means an awkward situation with neither material wealth nor spiritual wealth. Beggars can be seen in almost every country. It is not hard for us to imagine what deters most of them from delicious food, decent clothes and comfortable houses with warm fireplaces is the lack of immediate-use money at hand. Distribution of money for immediate problems disables us to enjoy our everyday life.

On the other hand, however, money for long-term uses must be spared and prepared in advance. Cash and checks show their necessity when it comes to an economic crisis and problems of unemployment emerge or other emergencies related to use of money. Get ourselves ready for urgent problems, including get enough wealth, means a respect to and a care for our own life, which can be favorable and benefit ourselves ultimately.

To sum up, it is believed that attaching importance equally to both money for immediate problems and long-term problems weighs much in our daily life, to which we are supposed to find a balance.

(304 words)

Issue Practice 8

Issue: Competition is ultimately more beneficial than detrimental to society.

Our world and our society have kept developing all the time since ancient times, mostly owing to the contributions of competition of all kinds.

On the one hand, competition encourages the impetus of individuals. We can hardly imagine how our society would develop but for competition. Take school education for instance, if there were no distinctions or judgment of well-done and badly-done, students would hold no aggressive consciousness, the consequence of which is almost all the students would not be willing to study. Without commercial competition, corporations would not be apt to invent new technology, improve skills and equipment, nor would they feel like perfect their management.

As a matter of fact, considering this situation, we human beings are always taking measures to reinforce competition, in order to inspire people to produce more material and spiritual wealth and heritages to make our life more convenient and our society advanced. The most representative one is the Nobel Prize, considered the highest award in a great number of fields, on behalf of the highest accomplishment. Scientists, chemists, writers throughout the world strive to chase this prize, which, in the practice, has brought us a society that keeps on going forward.

Competition also enables people to unite together to achieve a goal. Obviously, countries compete with each other. When a state is forced into poverty and weakness, the nations are expected to get united to thrive, with everyone sparing no efforts to find outlets and work hard. Sport competition is also a typical of this. When it comes to a soccer game, the athletes will coordinate with each other without doubt.

On the other hand, however, over competition may hopefully lead to detrimental consequences. We can hardly forget the harm that the over competition of Laissez-faire capitalism brought—the price did not fluctuated automatically according to the law of value, but was controlled by giant capital corporation Trusts. This led to a disorder in the market, the result of which emphasized the necessity of the control of government.

To sum up, in order to make our society develop in balance and smoothly, keep competition in an appropriate range is essential. Whether competition is beneficial or detrimental depends on whether humans are competing appropriately or not.
(385 words)

Memoirs of a Geisha

US director, Chinese and Japanese big stars, narration of stories of Japanese glorious traditional artists—all these alone can entitle the English movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” to be a masterpiece and a splendid success. The moving movie relating life of an elegant Geisha is a 2005 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions, and directed by Rob Marshall. Fascinating top stars such as Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh dedicated fantastic acting and expressed the characters’ internal feelings vividly.

Displaying completely hardships in life, jealousy between women, destruction of World War, love and hatred, persistence and fortitude, beauty of Japanese traditional art Kabuki, Japanese unique culture, etc, this well-produced masterpiece has moved and entertained hundreds of thousands of people, including me.

The little girl with grey eyes, sold by her parents and taken in by the proprietress of a geisha house, determines to become a geisha so that she can one day become a part of the Chairman’s life, after he—who keeps helping her later in her life—buys her an iced sorbet and gives her his handkerchief when she is crying. She turns into Sayuri under another geisha’s tutelage and her astonishingly successful debut entitles her to the most famous geisha in Gion, Kyoto. Despite the hardship she has to endure as a Geisha such as the pains of walking with high shoes and tightly combing of her hair and strict practice, jealousy from other geishas interferes with her life, and World War destroys her and other geishas' peaceful geisha life. After all the sufferings, again back to geisha life, her persistence and intelligence finally lead her into Chairman’s life. However, “To a man, Geisha can only be a half wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet to learn of kindness, after so much unkindness... To understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find that her prayers were answered...can that not be called happiness? After all, these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind.” A little girl’s great efforts and persistence in growing into a charming geisha for love strike my heart, and yet at the same time “being only a half wife” sounds such a misfortune and even makes me feel slightly painful.

“We (Geishas) sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another secret world, a place only of beauty. The very word Geisha means artist and to be a geisha is to be judged as a moving work of art…Agony and beauty for us live side by side. Your feet will suffer, your fingers will bleed. Even sitting and sleeping will be painful.” Sayuri is taught so. This distinguished Kabuki, the Japanese unique art. With fabulous skills that are entertaining, appreciated by the audience, geishas have to suffer from great agony at the same time. This movie led me to get to know Japanese Kabuki, at which I was amazed and astonished.

With marvelous pictures, changeable plots and beautiful music, this piece “Memoirs of a Geisha” strikes its audience. The aesthetic end leaves me with aftertaste…

(539 words)

Review 6： Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher’s House

You were alone in her house?

Proud, nervous, responsible, the little boy gets a job of one week from his dear teacher.  This book is telling one of the plots of a boy’s growth. The changes of his feelings are displayed vividly and interestingly, leaving you with a smile on your face.

Written by Louis Sachar
Illustrated by Barbara Sullivan
(72words)

Review 5： Marvin Redpost：Is he a girl?

The secret difference between girls and boys was —

Marvin kissed his elbow. Casey, a girl in his class, told him a boy would turn into a girl if he did so. Then, Marvin felt very strange, as he felt his voice sounded weird, and he wanted pigtails and started dotting his i’s with little hearts, and he started to feel like knowing the secret difference between girls and boys.

The author is showing us a funny story, in which he is also throwing a problem to us that what the secret between girls and boys is.


Written by Louis Sachar
Illustrated by Barbara Sullivan
(115 words)

My Parcel to China

The Tuesday of this week was a happy day to me, as I sent a parcel back to China to my dear mother and father, with a lot of stuffs filled in it.

Mother's birthday is coming in October, for which I had bought a box of dessert. I hoped that my dear mom's birthday would be full of sweet memories. And another present was for my father, since I didn't send him anything when his birthday this year, for which I felt a little guilty. In addition, two Japanese traditional Birthday Cards would make them happy, I hoped, and so I sent them.

Some of my last semester photos and a CD photo album were also sent together with the presents, as well as two pamphlets in which in which I was in.

I felt very glad to send these things to my dear parents, imagining the surprised figures of them when the parcel arrives.
(157 words)

Issue Practice 7

Issue: We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own; disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning.


With retrospections to growth and progress of everybody in our everyday life, we will discover that learning is indispensable, as it fill wits and thoughts to our life. It can not be denied that we learn a lot from educations in all kinds of schools, while, practically, learning from others is always playing a significant role in out life, on account of its bringing fruitful precious knowledge that we cannot even learn in school. We learn from our parents, brothers and sisters, friends and fellows, as well as opponents and dissenters.

It is obvious that people always tend to learn from people who share similar views, as identical views enable us to hold an appreciation and a sense of commonality to each other, which can bring us and confidence and full communication, from which we can exchange mutual viewpoints and obtain more knowledge and ideas, and broaden our horizons, with joy. At the same time, we can also gain spiritual support and get help when necessary. One of the most representative examples is the case of Marx and Engels, both of whom are renowned economists and philosophers. It is that they shared similar ideas and showed great appreciation to each other that encouraged Engels to supply long-last financial aid to Marx and communicate mutually and actively, the result of which gave birth to Marxism.

However, mere learning from people who share views with us could never manage to enable one get enough, but for the help provided by opponents and dissenters. Different viewpoints and ideas prevent us from living in the narrow world and provide us with new aspects of thinking and broaden our horizons. They also do a favor in discovering our mistakes and wrong behaviors, which, as a matter of fact, supply us with a space of reviewing our own minds and thoughts that are helpful. When ideas come to a collision, there always emerge new way of thinking. That is exactly why discussions and debates came into being—we need to reveal the nature of things, and discussions are just competent.

To sum up, it’s from those who we share views with that we are improved, while those who we contradict views with that we get chances to avoid a dead-end or narrower paths of thoughts.
（410 words）

Issue Practice 6

Issue: The best ideas arise from a passionate interest in commonplace things.

The world and our society have kept going forward and advancing all the time, especially thanks to glorious inventions and discoveries made by wits of great people. However, great thinkers live lives in the time. They live through babyhood, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In this sense, they perfume the same as anybody else of human beings. What distinguish them is their passionate. Either have they smart brains, or unique perspectives, or acute intuitive insight, which enable them to think in distinguished ways from other people or do special explorations and findings.

However, can great thinkers achieve amazing achievements by means of those factors alone? Absolutely not! Wits, perspectives and insights only entitle them to the ability of finding things, and invent ideas. Without the material commonplace things, they would have nothing to base those factors on, not to speak of achieving accomplishments. All kinds of science and literature and others need commonplace things to be basis.

Take the law of gravity for instance, which brought great changes to human kinds and the world. Newton managed to make the discover when observing an apple falling off a tree down to the ground, and wondering why it is falling down straight, neither in a parallel way, nor a curl way, the result of which gave birth to the law of gravity. Provided, there had been no apple, apple trees or any material things, Newton with wit and acute insight would have been impossible to use them, as there would have been nothing enquiring thinking or observing. Science, the motion of which originally is based on commonplace things, can never be called science without any material things.

Literature creating is another exact example. Just as the saying goes (and I paraphrase), “Literature comes from life, and is superior to life.” Writers usually get their inspirations from real life and make use of them to their works. Moreover, great writers are always the ones that can reflect and reveal real and amazing aspects of war, society and human nature and so on and so forth, either ugly or beautiful. This is exactly why they have great power of moving and striking hearts of human beings.

All in all, as every one of us human beings are living in the same world, whoever that is doing explorations or thinking can never do such without commonplace things. Even the best ideas are no exception, which rise from a passionate interest in commonplace things.
（422 words）

Review 4: Marvin Redpost: Why pick on me?

Have you ever picked your nose?

That is the question that poor Marvin Redpost asked to everyone for his class survey, the main character that has been isolated and alienated by others because of the rumor saying him the biggest nose picker in the school, which has been regarded disgusting and unsanitary. Even the teacher had a low opinion of him in his term card. However, when his wise class survey result turned out that everybody has done that, he regained the respect and appreciation of others.

It is obvious that we human beings are always doing things that even ourselves are not sure about. The only reason that we do them is that everybody else is doing them. It seems that we tend to judge things not by our own minds, but by others’.

Moreover, it proved that how vanity we are. We are laughing at people who do certain kind of things. Meanwhile, we are actually doing them, as well, stealthily.

This simple but great book, written by Louis Sachar, exposes the weakness of us human beings.
（187 words）

Issue Practice 5

Issue: It is unfortunate that today’s educators place so much emphasis on finding out what students want to include in the curriculum and then giving it to them. It is the educators’ duty to determine the curriculum and the students’ duty to study what is presented to them.

As one of the most important role played to promote the development of our society, not only has education always been attached a great significance to, but also it has been recognized as the decisive factor of a nation power. Books and materials, the heritages that our predecessors left to us recording their accomplishments and achievements, together with their legacies and sagas, have been utilized by educators, who take the responsibility to pass the heritages, and students, who are expected to receive and accept them, and based on them to create more accomplishments and achievements, which means to make contributions to the development of our society.

The difference in their historic missions has decided that educators and students have to do respectively different things; however, meanwhile, the boundary may not be absolutely divided.

On one hand, it is the educators’ mission to figure out what type of heritages they are going to hand down to their students, which means to find out what students want to include in the curriculum. A good educator may not absolutely be a perfect scholar, but he must know clearly what and how to transmit the necessary knowledge to his dear students. In contrast to this, the students’ mission seems to be passive. They are asked to catch the apples chosen and thrown by people up in the trees and consider how to exactly accept and eat them, and maybe necessarily find out new ways to do with them.

However, on the other hand, the throw-and-catch work is not so simple. The thrower should take the situation into account where the catcher is in, including the condition of the ground that the catcher is standing on and the angle in which he can make it easier for the catcher to work better. Similarly, the catcher should be good at communication with the thrower, telling the thrower the specific place of himself and what kind of apples he prefers. The educators are supposed to listen to the thought of the students, consider the level they are at and prepare them with appropriate curriculum, while the students should actively tell their teachers the way that they expect them to teach, not just try to accept passively what is presented to them.

To sum up, both sides of the educators and the students are supposed to finish their own duty, yet with mutual communication and consideration.
（449 words）

Issue Practice 4

Issue: Our declining environment may bring the people of the world together as no politician, philosopher, or war ever could. Environmental problems are global in scope and respect no nation’s boundaries. Therefore, people are faced with the choice of unity and cooperation on the one hand or disunity and a common tragedy on the other.

As the world has been developing with a high speed ever, our life has become much more convenient and comfortable, compared with that of last two decades. However, such development as there is has been achieved together with the sacrifice of our environment and resources. We have never been faced with the problem of the global warming, which has kept threatening us—the present generation—and our successors— the next generations, .with possibility of sea level elevation, climate alteration and desertification, etc. Some parts of the world, which used to own large mount resources, are confronted with lack in those. Environment problems urge us to take measures to prevent abuses of precious rainforests, discharge of detrimental pollutants and so on.

As far as a majority or all of the countries are concerned, environment problems are issues of cosmopolitanism, as a consequence of which, it is advocated that unity against those matters should be constructed by nations throughout the world. The Kyoto Protocol is a representation. For the purpose of rainforests protection, 183 states signed up and ratified it, aiming to combating global warming, which provided a precedent for environment protection.

However, as a matter of fact, there were a minority of nations that did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, including the largest per capita emitter of carbon dioxide. This demonstrates that we still have a long way to go to get the world united together against environment problems.

We should never wait to choose unity until the whole land all over the world has become dirty, the last wood left, and every drop of water polluted. If we do, it will be too late for us to do anything about our already harmed environment, which means the tragedy named “the end of the human era” will on show, and meanwhile, with no audience to it.

(361 words)

Issue Practice 2

Issue：Both the development of technological tools and the uses to which humanity has put them have created modern civilizations in which loneliness is ever increasing.

Ever since the time of cavemen, the tools of whom changing from wood to bronze, to the contemporary era, technology, the broad meaning of which use of the tools, has been advancing all the time and changing our living in various ways, including narrow the distance between people, by means of progress in communication and transportation, etc, the result of which is speeding the pace of our everyday life and making it more convenient for us to lead a life. Different from our ancestors who had to travel from their home to their friends’ to convey some information, modern people never have to take the trouble thanks to the invention of telephones and cell phones. The 3 hours that it takes today to fly from Beijing to Tokyo would have been considered amazing if the ancient people could got to know the fact, as by the fastest ship at their time, probably, one month or ever more would be cost. Life nowadays is of such a high velocity and convenience that we, modern man ourselves will be surprised by our changes in life brought by advancing technology while witnessing the variations. It can not be denied that technology has been making contributions to the creation of modern civilizations and is with the most incredible speed ever.

However, it is not rare that we see such following cases. Jim needs a bottle of shampoo. Going to the shop? No, that is not of date—Buy it via the internet! Hungry? Just make a phone call to the restaurant and order it. Bored? Surf the internet and play any game you like. It is true, to some extent, that the development of technology tools exerts some side influence on our living, which is some of us get more impersonal and indifferent, as we work and stay lonely with a machine in front of us.

As far as I am concerned, we modern men have to learn how to make a balance between life and technology. Technology, doubtlessly, is always doing a favor to us, supplying us with convenience and high speed. At the same time, as a human being, the human nature requires us to never forget that we are a member of the humans; to know each other and to care about one another is a content that should never be ignored. A good balance between life and technology is a key to make the best of the development and uses of technological tools.
(438 words)

Rewiew: The Fish that Talked

'Thank you,'said the fish. 'Now it's my turn to help you.'

The fish, whose real identity is a powerful god named "Brahma" told a kind boy named Manu about the coming great flood and saved them,in return for his help. This book tells how significant it is to give a hand to others. Just as the saying goes,"Helping others is helping yourself."

Usborne First Reading series
Level Three
The Fish that Talked
Retold by Rosie Dickins
Illustrated by Graham Philpot
(85 words)

Welcome Party for the New Comers in the Dorm

A semester came, with new faces joining in the dorm, who are from the US, Canada, Thailand and Britain, bringing us happy mood.

The Welcome Party for the new was such a fun with a great many people filling the fisrt floor party room of our dorm. We prepared different palatable dishes of tastes from various countries.

Ash, the host od the party, kept throwing humours and laughters.

Everyone of us enjoyed talking with each other, especially with the new comers.

It was really fun.
(94 words)

Issue Practice 3

Issue: The media (books, films, music, television, for example) tend to create rather than reflect the values of a society.

We human beings who live in the modern era in which life can not be life without any media, in that our everyday life is so connected with each other and with the society that it is necessary to know what is happening around ourselves, in our community and in the word, in order to obtain and make use of the information on economy, politics, social problems and sports and so on, probably in order to make a choice of our investment or stocks, or to acquire news about our favorite stars.

It is obvious that the media today tend to have an effect on everybody of us. People always have a fever for what is being advertised. New words and new usages of old words can always be accepted if they show up in any media. Most people believe what fashion is is what is emphasized in fashion magazines and website. It is asked that you should never litter anything about to the environment, as such behavior as there is is said to deserve condemnations on TV. We are usually struck by a moving book as it tells us something useful or teaches us the way of living. As we recognize, the media, at times, is creating the values of our society.

However, we should never ignore the fact that, provided there were no values in our society, we would not have the media tools invented. The values of a society are one of the basic factors that support the existence of the media. Fashion magazines would never come into an existence if ever nobody thought we need fashion. Television programs will not broadcast any news about economics unless some of us are interested in it. Why the casual litter behavior arouses condemnations is that we hold the consciousness of protecting the environment. The media itself, the tools that we use to get to know about the world, at the same time get to know the opinions and thoughts of others, must be reflecting the values of a society.

To sum up, the media is not only creating, but also reflecting the values of a society. Just as the saying goes about literature (and I paraphrase), “Literature comes from life, but is superior to life,” the media come from life, with the human values and, in turn, have an influence on our values and create new values.
(417 words)