Carson's World

Memory of CESL

2009-02-27T22:55:00.000-08:00

Anna#6
I have been in CESL for a year, and the moment that I can remember clearly is when I pay the tuition in the beginning of a new term. Because it reminds me two things—the high expense and my parents, I doubt if the cost is worth. First, I totally spend about 30,000 dollars during the time that I stay in the U.S. The expense is enough for me to open a small company in my hometown, and the question is what I did in last year. Compare with all my classmates in China, some of them have already had their own business; some at least have worked half a year. What about me? I still stay in a language school although I am 24 years old. When I pay the tuition every time, I cannot help imaging what people who as old as me are doing. I ever doubt if I use the money to open my own career, I may have the ability to set up a family now. I am considered as a loser by myself sometimes since everything I did is not enough for my parents to be proud of me. That is the second thing what I concern about. I do not know if I am the son who shows filial obedience to the parents because I choose to study here instead of staying with my parents and taking care of them in their left lives. They may not need how well I can take care of them. Nevertheless, they only hope that I can take good care of myself. Taking good care of myself contains a lot of definitions, including my study, my health, my emotion. In CESL, I did none of them well while I spent a lot of money. So far, I have tried my best to graduate from CESL as soon as possible because I do not expect to enjoy CESL life anymore. I have found my target in my life instead of wasting time. Therefore, I will renew my confidence to face all kinds of challenges that will appear in the future. Hopefully, I can reach my destination of my life, a holler coaster life, and CESL is just a small slope of it.

It Makes Me Nervous

2009-02-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

Anna#5
What can make me nervous? Indeed, that is the tofel test which is coming. The tofel test of this term is very important to me, because it decides whether or not I can go to SIUC. The pressure comes from my parents who are disappointed about what I did last year. They notice me that this is my last opportunity to go to SIUC, or they will transfer me to another school which requires lower quality than SIUC. There are two reasons that I prefer to study in SIUC. First, in Carbondale, I have many friends who give me courage to make me strong when I encounter some troubles. For example, there was ever a negative event which my father was injured by accident, and the situation was not so optimistic that my father might not recover well as before. I thought that I, as a son, could not do anything for my father, and I was even not beside him when he was in a big trouble. I lost all my energy to do something else, but kept upset. At that time, all my friends who knew what happened to me accompanied me and encourage me all the time. Gradually, I feel better because those words which my friends encouraged me make me so brave that I start to understand I should be tough. Next, restarting my American life is still rocky although I have already known how to live in a strange place. Carbondale, as a college town, exists peacefully and simply, and I like the environment and the safety of it. I rarely can stay and study in a town without any anxiety and the fresh air makes me energetic. I cannot ensure that the place where my parents let me go will be as good as here. Therefore, I must be qualified by tofel test this time if I do not want to leave Carbondale. That is the reason why the tofel test can make me nervous although I do practice three times a week during this term. Anyway, I will try my best even if I would fail in the test. Hopefully, I will pass it, and graduate from CESL because I want to finish my bachelor’s degree in SIUC.

My Girl

2009-02-16T18:38:00.000-08:00

Anna#4
The girl who I want to marry should possess a high quality. However, high quality requires high education degree, well communication ability, and ideal inner beauty. First, education measures how the people are educated, and whether or not she has her own thought. This is very important to me because I hope that she can show me a clear direction when I am in the trouble. In the future, we may encounter some situations which are so complex that I hardly deal with by my know ledges. Nevertheless, they may be easily solved only if we cooperate together. Moreover, I believe that keeping in touch well with people cannot stay without good communication. That means when people have difficulties in communication, misunderstanding will exist all the time. The relationship with many misunderstandings will not positively keep going in a long time. For example, two people who have different cultures may have difficulties to communicate with each other well, but cultural gap can be avoid if both of them are good at communication. Finally, inner beauty is also the main part of the personality what I require as it is more important and more difficult to be formed. Contrasting between inner and outer beauty, I prefer inner beauty since I experienced a lot of situations that people use outer beauty to disorder other people’s thoughts. That is called cheating if they want to take something for granted, and it is difficult to see people who have charming appearances clearly. In the other hand, inner beauty is the key that can show me how nice the person will be although it requires a long time for me to find out. Chinese people, like me, rarely demand the appearance so much if they want to have a mutual, stable, and serious relationship. On valentines’ day, people who really love each other need something can express the love rather than receiving a high price present. Although any gift cannot avoid a cost, it needs more value than the money. As a result, I will be the most fortunate man in the world if there is a girl who has both outer beauty and a high quality can stay with me, and now, I am.

Misunderstandings

2009-02-09T01:37:00.001-08:00

Ana#3
I ever had a misunderstanding with my girl friend because we are from different parts of China. My mother language is Mandarin and hers is Cantonese while the ascents between those two languages are totally different. Therefore, we cannot understand each other well when we communicate with each other even in standard Chinese. Once, she wanted to help me wash my clothes, and I usually put dirty clothes and clean clothes separately in the luggage and basket. She wondered where those dirty clothes are, and I told her in the box. Box in Mandarin generally means the luggage, but she could not understand it completely. As the result, she washed the clothes which are clean in the basket because box in Cantonese means basket. Both of us felt so embarrassed while watched the clothes that she washed without any words. Several seconds later, we laughed together, and I said that the event will be a good story which described a cultural difficulty of a couple. Nevertheless, this is not the end of the story. When I was trying to explain that box in Mandarin means the luggage, she still looked confused. Gradually, I found that she even could not distinguish the differences in box, luggage, and basket. That really drove me craze because I did not know how to tell her the differences in three things. The harder I wanted to explain, the harder she could understand, and the more I tried to explain, the more she could not understand. Finally, I was enforced to search some pictures on the internet to ensure she could understand the differences in those three categories, like a presentation. After she completely made everything clear, she laughed to me sweetly, and I sat in the seat with a serious exhaustion. That can be one of the greatest misunderstandings in the world because it happens between two Chinese people who use the same language. Unfortunately, there were more and more jokes happened in our later lives, and now, I realized that there will be more in the future. Nevertheless, our relationship surprisingly goes better and better day by day with more and more misunderstandings. Those misunderstandings have become our happy elements which perchance stay with us forever.

Real Chinese Food

2009-02-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

Ana#2
In the U.S., there are many Chinese restaurants that Americans would like to go frequently, but the real Chinese food rarely appears here. The real Chinese food can be evaluated by five categories which are the color, the smelling, the tasting, the meaning, and the shape. Furthermore, dishes which are from different parts of China have different styles. Generally, dishes in China are separated into eight dish systems. They are named by Lu, Chuan, Su, Yue, Min, Zhe, Xiang, Hui as the names of provinces which dishes come from. There are several other dish systems and all these systems formed 24 kinds of techniques of making food. In here, the most famous dish which is known as its spicy is Chuan dish. Nevertheless, even in this dish, a big amount of sweet is still cannot be under controlled. Most Chinese food in the U.S. cannot prevent sweaty, so people in America are difficult to have a real Chinese dish. Liao dish, which is from my hometown, is what I want Americans to know. Because Liao dish, which also has a long history, contains strong tasting, complex shape, wonderful colors, attractive smelling, and majority meanings. The major ways to cook Liao dish are burning, stewing, depending, slide, wire drawing, making with sauce, and so on. One of the most common dishes in my hometown is stew chicken with mushroom. This dish is fit for people to eat in the winter because it includes higher energy. In addition, it has medical foundation which not only can prevent people from catching a cold, but also can improve the circulation of blood. It is made of chicken and mushroom with some Chinese seasonings which Americans or other international people may not know. At last, the formation of Chinese food systems is influenced by different locations which proved different resources of making food. In the north, there is full of pigs, cows and coats, so people like to cook pork, beef, and mutton. In the south and some areas where are near the sea, people often cook seafood. Also, some areas where adopt all kinds of diet culture formed special diet characters of their own. One of my dreams is to open a real Chinese restaurant in the U.S. because the real Chinese food should be famous as its original flavor.

Influence

2009-01-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

Anna#1
As many ordinary people, I am also influenced by other people, like my parents, teachers, and friends. Gradually, they make me become a person who considers love is the most important in the world. For example, when I decided to study abroad, my parents supported me both financially and emotionally. They only encouraged me to study hard without any words that I should pay the money back to them even though they knew the money that they earned was not so easy to come. That is only one of thousands of things that can make me understand how love really exists in the world. Therefore, I value that nothing can compare with love, and do not focus on how much love other people can give you before you devote your love as possible as you can. Since there are many things that I encountered have proved that opinion, I believe the value, which I stated. For example, one of my friends and I went to net bar where supplies people in China to surf on the Internet when we were in the collage. We saw a guy who knew my friend sat on the seat everyday without doing anything, and according to a short conversation with him. We knew that he was too poor to do anything as there was nobody could believe him. Nevertheless my friend decided to help him without doubting and expecting reward. At last, because my friend told him the phenomenon that we would set up a music band on campus, the poor guy bought a guitar which was cost 1,200 dollars to my friend when he became wealthy. There are always full of many kinds of things that can make you shocking in your life, and you will make a big difference by those events.

Shopping Online

2008-12-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Final Practice
Shopping online has become one of the most convenient medias that is accepted more and more widely. Especially young groups that they cannot live without the Internet have more likelihood to buy something online. In Ball’s (2008) article, he writes that online shopping is very convenient, because not only is it easy to find out the merchandise that you want to buy, but also you can compare with prices that can make you satisfied. Also, you do not necessarily go out when you want to buy them, but there are some people who prefer traditional shopping that is without any risk (Ball, 2008). Despite the fact, Internet, which is one of the greatest inventions, has many advantages, but nothing can be perfect:

“Credit-card companies lose about $1 billion a year to credit-card fraud, while merchants lose about $10 billion annually, according to CardWeb, a credit-card information site (Mulrean, 2008, para. 8).

We cannot predict how many problems exist in this high-tech method that many people like to use when they want to go shopping, because the higher technology you use, the more complicated methods criminals will use to get profits illegally. In Nicholls’ article in the “Evening Standard”, he writes the following:

Abagnale – a former master forger who became an anti- fraud consultant-to the FBI for 31 years and on whom the film “Catch Me If You Can”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was based – says the Shell incident forms part of a major new technology driven crime wave. “Technology has made what I did very simple. Crime is getting easier, faster and harder to detect,” he adds (Nicholls, 2006, para. 5).

In fact, people are only aware of online shopping problems if those problems that cause people to lose money cannot be fixed. So far, we can buy something on the Internet safely, since many companies have plans to protect customers’ profits from events that can cause the loss of their money. You, as consumers, should pay more attention when you are shopping online. If you encounter some cases where someone else uses your card to charge something, you can act as soon as you can.

First, safety is the biggest concern during the time that people are going shopping online. When you go shopping online, one thing that may cause you to be upset is the security that can protect you from losing money. In truth, online shopping has no risk only if you can remember the precaution, and significant information of customers can be secretly kept away from criminals’ intercepting or skimming, because of the consumer protection system (Ball, 2008). Therefore, our deals can operate without any conscious mood, and we can enjoy the benefits that come from technology only if you choose those companies whose trustworthiness is documented by many consumers.

Second, we have to recognize that we must be smart as the same as those criminals who want to use high technology to get money from other people, because any great deal cannot be easy to get unless it is tricky. They can steal money from the Internet, and we also can concentrate more on the deal. That means if we can know how to use online shopping safely, shopping online, as the greatest invention, will make you enjoyable:

Yes, your credit card information can be stolen. Yes, it’s possible for this to escalate into a case of identity theft. But, online shopping is the best invention since… well, since shopping, and you just can’t pass it up. I’m here to tell you that yes, you can shop the Internet safely, if you use your head (Epinions.com, 2008, para. 2).

Therefore, we can learn, how to cope with those thieves although we never encounter stealing. Also, we should learn that, because nobody would like to lose money with any way of shopping.

Finally, online shopping can give us a good way that can make up your loss if you encounter some unknown charge. With the online account, you can see what merchandise has been charged in your account rapidly, and once you have found that someone else is using your card number, you can know it in one or two days, then, you can reduce your damage (Epinions.com, 2008). So people can use the Internet because there is a trend that people will make the security of Internet safer and safer.

In conclusion, online shopping can give us many benefits by which we can save time, can get great deals more easily, and so forth, so we do not necessarily have to reject it. We can safely go shopping online, because people are trying to make more and more strategies to fix those problems that can cause people to lose money. People can safely buy something on the Internet only if they can be more careful. Online account access can be a good technology to reduce the loss when people lose their money by some illegal behaviors.

Reference

Epinions.com. (2008, October 20). Five tips for safe online shopping. Retrieved on May 5, 2008, from http://www.epinions.com/finc-review-2A3E-12E6A23-39F00E0A-prod1
Ball, G. (2008, April 15). Is using a credit-card for online purchases safe? Education Redefined. Retrieve on May 5, 2008, from http://www.bsu.edu/security/article/0,1384,86674-5031-
Mulrean, J. (2008, March 12). Protect Yourself. MSN Money. Retrieved on May 5, 2008, from http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Finddealsonline/P36487.asp
Nicholls, T. (2006, May 10). Chip and pin fraud set to rise. Evening Standard. Retrieved on May 5, 2008, from http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?id=408939&in_page_id=7

Whales Should Be Saved By Us

2008-12-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

We humans should have responsibilities to help whales survive, because whales, which are the biggest animals in the sea, are suffering from many problems that are caused by us. First, climate changing that is caused by environmental problems causes sea ice to melt and forces sea animals to adapt to new environments. “While many species have been able to adapt to new conditions simply by moving their ranges further towards the poles, the study warns that this option is not available to other animals, such as polar bears and seals whose habitat is disappearing rapidly with the melting of Arctic sea ice” (Hirsch, 2008, para. 10). According to Hirsch (2005), global warming affects many animals’ living and health conditions, as they cannot adapt to a fast climate change. Second, whales died more and more because of humans' hunting. "Native groups living on the Russian and Alaskan coasts of the Bering and Beaufort seas can kill up to 140 Eastern North Pacific grey whales and 67 bowhead whales each year, with up to 15 of the bowhead quota able to be carried over each year" (Grose, 2008, para. 15). In addition, "About 400 whales die every year at the hands of Inuit and other northern hemisphere indigenous people under quotas granted by the International Whaling Commission. The largest annual quota is for 200 minke whales to be harvested on the West Greenland coast, where a limit of 19 fin whales and two bowhead whales are also allowed to be taken" (Grose, 2008, para. 13). Although the amount of whales that can be legally killed in one year has been limited, the population of whales still has decreased so fast that they cannot prevent extinction. In Grose’ article (2008), the author states that it is difficult for whales to survive if both humans’ hunting and environmental problems affect whales together. Therefore, it is the time for people to save the whales, or we humans will not encounter them swimming in the sea anymore.

People should help whales survive in the modern world, because whales, as a species of sea animals, are less and less likely to be found in the sea, and humans, which are one of the biggest reasons whales face extinction, have responsibilities to rescue them. Therefore we should protect them in three ways if we expect whales can be saved successfully. First, people should solve environmental problems to save whales. Second, people should stop unlimitedly hunting whales. Finally, humans should use technology to protect whales in a scientific way.

First, environmental problems can affect many other problems that threaten the living environment of whales. In Hirsch’s article, “Animals 'hit by global warming'” (2005, para. 10), the author writes, “Even subtle changes in sea temperature can have dramatic impacts on wildlife with rapid depletion of the tiny plankton organisms which form the base of the food web in the oceans”. Therefore, we should reduce industrial pollutants that can produce carbon dioxide. Also, decreasing the sea pollution is another significant way to make the sea comfortable for whales to live or they still will die without food, since not only do whales die because of chemical substances, but also harmful matters will influence fish, as their food. In Avasthi's (2008) article "Tainted whales must stink or swim", the author writes about following:

Their first hunch was that the smell was caused by industrial pollutants such as heavy metals, organochlorines and polyaromatic hydrocarbons accumulating in the whales' bodies. The analysis, however, suggested otherwise. While the tissue samples were packed with more than 100 volatile organic compounds, there was no significant difference between the concentration of artificial pollutants in stinky whales and non-stinky ones (para. 6).

As a result, world wide pollution that can awfully affect environment cannot exist without humans’ activities, and the destruction of environment that the main factor is caused by all kinds of pollutants has been indicated as one of the most dangerous situation to the ecosystem. Therefore, if humans continue challenging the power of nature, not only will whales suffer the consequence of extinction, but also we humans will.

Second, hunters are one of the most serious threats that lead to reducing the amount of whales, so limited hunting is the best way to gain a balance between people’s demand and whales’ demand. Despite that fact, governments are expected to be organizations that are the most likely to give the most help to whales globally, because they are the laws’ controllers. If people will not dare to go against the law, limited hunting can save the whales. So far, there are many countries that have become members of IWC (International Whaling Commission), and they are protecting whales while they also arouse countries that still hunt whales unlimitedly to save the whales. In the article "Help save the Whale, Britain urges more Nations" (M2PressWIRE, 2008, para. 11), the author states, "Last year Japan, Iceland and Norway all announced an increase in the number of whales they intended to kill. Most worryingly, Iceland simply brushed aside the moratorium and resumed commercial whaling, taking 'endangered' fin whales as well as mink whales. Iceland's action has been strongly condemned internationally, with 25 countries plus the European Commission - together representing over one billion people - issuing a formal protest (demarche)." Moreover, education is a factor that can influence people to protect the environment, because people improve their qualities only by the education. It will be more likely to reduce risks that humans kill whales directly or indirectly if people know why and how we should protect whales.

Third, with the high-speed development of technology, humans can save whales with more advanced methods. In Lubick's (2003) article "When Whales Ruled the Earth", the author writes the following:

Marine conservation biologists and geneticists Joe Roman of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Steve Palumbi of Stanford University in California used databases of a small section of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to reconstruct population histories for humpback, minke, and finn whales mostly in the North Atlantic. The team estimated how quickly whale mtDNA had mutated over millions of years and measured the genetic diversity within each species. Given those numbers, they could calculate how many breeding females would have been necessary to accumulate the genetic variability observed in the mtDNA samples (mtDNA is inherited via eggs, not sperm). Based on the relative fraction of a whale population that consists of breeding females, they could then estimate the total population (para. 3).

In the past, for those whale, which were so sick that the population became less and less, we could do nothing, although we did not want to, or we did not realize that we should. But now, we can use our technology to engage them to increase the amount exponentially by DNA analysing the mtDNA. Moreover, not only the mtDNA technology is the best recovery strategy, but also family trees, which is known as biological gene pool can help the population of whales grow up:

Family tree analyses also showed that successful pregnancies occur only between whales with sufficiently different genetic profiles. Inbreeding and genetic similarity in animals (including humans) often result in unsuccessful fertilization and in high rates of spontaneous abortion. The study suggests that the low level of genetic variation in the small North Atlantic right whale population may partly explain its low reproduction rate, said Moira Brown and Rosalind Rolland at NEAq (Lonny, 2005, para. 7).

According to biological technology, whales, which are facing extinction because of humans' negative behaviors, can be saved step by step, since we have certainly reflected our activities that deeply hurt them.

Some people push the situation that can be related to conserving whales in a extreme way, because they may be likely to hear some stories that whales may kill people from the movie or from some other people. Actually, whales, as our most wealthy resource, have existed longer than humans, and we hardly can find the evidence to prove that whales have the most likelihood to hurt humans. "Killer whales, as a species of whales with a cranky character, live in the ocean, and they like to eat the fat of the mysticeti, but they can become famous stars in the aquaria after practice" (Song, 2008, para. 5). The author has been to an aquarium that is located in Hong Kong, and the killer whale, which is good at having performances, always can give people a wonderful impression (Song, 2008). Therefore, whales, as our friends, are very friendly to us instead of killing us. On the other hand, if whales feel so hungry that they have no food to eat, the story that whales kill people may truly exist as a fact. Nevertheless the reason causing whales to attack people is probably influenced by humans. "In both episodes with Tillikum, the whale wasn't necessary trying to hurt the unintended victims, but his very size and behavior makes him a danger to people, even if the whale were just 'playing' with the people. Simply put, these are wild animals. Taming them is only an illusion; their natural behaviors will always pose a threat to the people foolish enough to interact with them" (“Sea World Attack Reaffirms Whale of a Truth”, 2004, para. 11). This is because most whales are very huge, and there is a big likelihood to touch people without any purpose. Nevertheless, people use their narrow perspective to cope with this issue; whales, which appear as horrible killers in our world, have to be scared because of the misunderstanding between them and humans. There is no a whale which can stay away from the sadness, or will live under threats of humans all its life. The world is fair, and if any species want to break any balance of the nature, the outcome is that they will get hurt themselves in the end.

In conclusion, whales can be saved only if we humans, who have forced whales to approach extinction, should both recognize and adjust our faults that directly or indirectly kill whales by environmental problems, and unlimited hunting. Environmental problems can be reduced by coping with industrial pollutants, sea pollution, and whales' diseases that are caused by the above two factors. Also, governments should stop the situation in which unlimited hunting leads to reducing the amount of whales rapidly, and carry out the law to ban people from hurting whales in any area. Furthermore, people should use our advanced technologies to protect whales from extinction instead of using technologies to kill them. Humans, as one of main whale killers, should try our best to help whales recover during the period that is the most difficult for them to survive in the modern world.

References

Avasthi, A. (2008, May 10). Tainted whales must stink or swim. New Scientist, 198(2655), 41-43. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Grose, S. (2008, February 5). Hunters just one peril in whales' struggle to survive. Canberra Times. Retrieved on October 21, 2008, from
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/hunters-just-one-peril-in-whales-struggle-to-survive/135611.aspx

Hirsch, T. (2005, October 5). Animals 'hit by global warming'. BBC NEWS. Retrieved October, 15, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4313726.stm

Lubick, N. (2003, July 25). When Whales Ruled the Earth. Science Now. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

M2PressWIRE (2007, January 31). Help save the Whale, Britain urges more Nations. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Sea World Attack Reaffirms Whale of a Truth: Captive Orcas Can Be Dangerous. (2004, July 28). The Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved November 20, 2008, from http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/marine_mammals_news/sea_world_attack_reaffirms_whale_of_a_truth_captive_orcas_can_be_dangerous.html?log-event=sp2f-view-item&nid=45010277

Song, C. (2008, October 28). Whales—Our Friends. Blogger. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://carson0202.blogspot.com/2008/11/whalesour-friends.html

Lippsett, L. (2005, December). Diving into the right whale gene pool. Oceanus, 44(3), 18-19. Retrieved on December 3, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Difference In Food

2008-11-20T14:30:00.001-08:00

FE#7
In China, there are four main systems in food cooking that are from different parts of China. Because different people who come from different parts of China have different constructions of their diet, the result is that leads to having four mainly different flavors that are called by the names of four provinces in China. Two flavors belong to middle or northern China, and the other two are from the south. In the north of China, people usually like to cook some food with high energy, because the weather in that area is very cold, and people need energy to cope with the weather, especially in winter. On the other hand, in the south, people like to eat something bland as the weather is always much hotter than in the north. Therefore, people need bland food to ask the energy in their body to release rapidly. Finally, one of the most obvious differences between Chinese food and American food is the amount of sugar. In America, people rarely can encounter some food without sugar, or they always make food sweet. There must be a bigger amount of sugar that is put in an American dish than a Chinese dish. For example, whenever I go to an American restaurant, I rarely can avoid sweet food, including soup, drink, sandwiches, and so forth. That is the main reason why American food is more likely to make people obese than Chinese food.

My Golden Watch

2008-11-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Anna#6
I have a golden watch that my mom gives it to me before I go abroad. The brand of the watch is CASEO G-SHOCK that color is golden. When I see it, it will remind me several words that my mom often tells me; such as “Remember to do everything effectively, and do not become a better you than last second because the time that is in your life is too limited for you to waste.” So far, I almost have been in the U.S. for one year, and I have faced some difficulties that I have never encountered in native China. Nevertheless I survive from all kinds of problems since the watch reminds me most of memories that I stay with my mom. For example, I separated with my girl friend when I arrived in the U.S. because she told me that she had a baby that was not mine. At that time, I felt that the world was full of the darkness and hopelessness. I had insomnia during the night until I saw the watch that always could show me the way. And then I remembered one of my mom’s words—Do not waste of your life on a bad story that only cost you several minutes in hearing. As the result, I started to reflect what my life on earth should be instead of struggling with the emotional issue. Later I realized that I was in the U.S., as a country that concentrates in freedom. Therefore, I finally picked up my personality again. Now, even though I cannot see my mom in here, my mom and I still miss each other while we contact with phone. Obviously, the watch becomes only one thing that makes me feel that my mom is standing near me. Whatever will happen in the future, whenever I will face to some big music, not only am I brave to keep going, but also my mom will encourage me all the time. In addition, the watch will accompany me all the time because nothing can sway my mind that nothing can compare with this golden watch, which my mom gives to me. My watch may be not the precious because the emotion between my mother and I is the most significant wealth for me.

My Favorite Food

2008-11-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

FE#6
One of my favorite dishes is called “chicken with potatoes”, because that is the best dish that I do. Also, there are many people who feel the chicken meal tastes good because of its flavor. There are 5 steps in cooking “chicken with potatoes”. First, heat the water with a pot until the water comes to the boil, and put the chicken legs with green onion, pepper, ginger, and daliao into the boiling water. Second, put chicken legs into a container after 20 minutes boiling, and do not throw away the chicken soup while preparing both green onion and ginger that are cut into small pieces. Third, put some oil and sugar in a pan, and fried chicken legs and potatoes with a non-stop flipping when sugar melts completely. Finally, if chicken legs’ color starts to become golden, put some sauce, chicken soup, and green onion and ginger that you prepared in the pan. After potatoes melt into the soup, the dish is done. Probably, it tastes good because there is not only one flavor in the dish, but also the potato and all kinds of seasonings mixed together. But there is a disadvantage with this dish since there is not so much nutrition in it. Therefore, the real food I need is something that tastes good while it is very healthy for me. Nevertheless, that kind of food rarely appears in my life, because I always consider that the dish without meat cannot be a good dish, and the dishes with meat are always unhealthy if I eat them every day.

Stay Alone

2008-11-11T00:44:00.000-08:00

Anna#5
Some people like to spend time by themselves sometimes because they must encounter some events that they feel confused. Otherwise, people rarely like to stay alone unless their characters are very introverted. In China, it is common to see that girls like to stay alone rather than boys while both of them want to think about something. That is one thing I cannot understand, but I predict the reason is that girls' thoughts are more sensitive than boys'. For me, most of time I rarely stay by myself except working because I do not need silence until I need to concentrate on work. In my opinion, nothing can compare spend time with people that love you, or you love. In addition, staying alone is not a cultural matter as it is more about individual habit. For example, some people are very afraid of staying alone, and they usually stay with friends whenever they feel happy or not. Nevertheless, some people prefer staying alone when they cope with something.It depends on exponential factors instead of international boundaries. One of my Chinese friends likes to stay alone, and when I ask her why she likes that, she tells me that she is afraid of making friends. Because she cannot make sure that the friends she makes are good friends, she has to choose to stay alone. Respect the fact that, I start to understand why some people often live in their own world, one of the biggest reasons is that they are afraid to be hurt. Of course, nothing is absolute so we are not supposed to judge a forest by a tree. People who want to spend time by themselves have all kinds of factors that cause them stay alone. Also, I can image that people can feel more freedom when they enjoy private world. Anyway, staying alone is not a strange behavior, but I prefer staying with guys who have good relationships with me. Further more, one of reasons why I can feel happy is that people who often stay around me can feel happy. Therefore, people will be not willing to stay alone if they can have a friend like me.

American Election

2008-11-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

FE#5
November 5, 2008 was one of the most significant days in American history, because Barack Obama became the president of the United States. The difference of elections between China and America is that there is a group of people to vote for the chairmen instead of every citizen. Therefore, Americans have more rights in this case than Chinese, and the candidates can have many speeches for the election. Obama, the first African American president, is a sign that the status between African Americans and whites are really at the same height now. Also, every African American is encouraged by this event, and they even sat on the ground of the campus to celebrate in the greatest moment. They screamed, cried, and danced for Obama, the hero in their hearts since the racial discrimination had totally disappeared from the world, from now on. Obama is their hero, because not only did he become the president of the U.S. as an African American, but also he could suffer from the pain that his grandmother passed away in front of the day he would win. Moreover, one thing interesting to me is that I was confused why he was not so happy when he won the campaign. He tried his best to become the president, so he could be happy to the degree that he cannot help screaming. Nevertheless he just smiled a little bit, in that moment that he won.

My Dreams

2008-11-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

Anna#4
When I was a child, I ever wanted to become an astronaut. Nevertheless I did a surgery because there was a disease in my appendix. Therefore I had to give my dream up during that period. When I grew up a little bit more, music interested me and as a dream, I wanted to become a guitar player or a drummer. I bought a guitar when I was in senior high, and I played it all the day even in the school. Later, I encountered a guitar player that can play guitar so fast that was difficult to see his fingers so I decided to become a drummer. As I could play drum set, our music band was founded when I entered into university. At that time, we as members of our rock bend had the same dream that could be known as super stars even outside campus. With more and more performances that we rocked, we became more and more famous in that town as a young bend. I told my mother that I wanted to be professional, but she pointed at me and said that if I did that, I could not go back home anymore. I understood that it was very difficult to find a stable job as a music player so I did not argue with her. I just still did what I felt it was right until one day I encountered a girl, and I sold out my drum set for her. The event made my dream completely collapsed. I ever had many dreams, but no one could become true. Nevertheless, I am not afraid that I have dreams because I believe that my life will not make any sense unless there is a dream exists in my life. So far, I have an extra dream that I can finish my MBA, and whatever it can become true or not, I will keep going all my life until I die. As a man, I cannot live in the world without a dream; otherwise, it is called waste of my life.

Outside looking in: Economy - News

2008-11-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

Outside looking in: Economy - News

Whales—Our Friends

2008-11-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

S/R#2
In Miller's article "Deeper mysteries; Andy Miller enjoys an encounter with the idea of the whale" (2008), the author states that whales are so beautiful and valuable that they are supposed to be saved. Philip Hoare, a writer who has written in several different fields, wrote a book that was called "The Whale." He shows how the whale can live well with humans. Before underwater photographs, whales were mysterious animals to humans, and the names of whales changed from monster to today's different types of whales. Also, there are some things that whales can do beyond humans. Nevertheless, humans have always kept hunting whales until now. Moreover, the whale as one of the most special species should be described with a specific characteristic. Lastly, besides saving whales, people also can do many other things, because there are still some kinds of whales that are unknown by humans.

The author’s opinion is correct, because the whale as one of the oldest species has well lived with humans for a long time. Nevertheless, humans always force them to go to extinction. Humans should realize that it is time for us to save whales because the history of whale, which is longer than that of humans, is supposed to be respected; we can encounter whales more and more rarely; whales are humans’ friends.

First, people should respect whales because we humans even do not have such long history as whales’. As far as I know, the ancestor of the whale is also an animal that lived near the sea with four feet. Usually, they ate meat such as fish or bugs, and they were attracted by some food that is in the sea step and step. Finally, they went back to the sea again, and adapted to life in the sea. The first whale appeared 3,600,000 years ago, so the history of whales is longer than that of humans. Also, whales have a big amount of organs that can function in the same as humans’. For example, they have and feed babies like humans, they use their lungs to breathe, and the institutes of their brains are the same as humans. Therefore, humans and whales should respect each other, as we are the same species. Even people should have more respect for whales, since they have lived longer than humans.

Second, the whale is the biggest animal that rarely can be found all over the world. People could not see whales until underwater technology was invented. But development of technology almost destroyed whale’s lives. Globally, there are many countries that have forbid hunting whales, but still some organizations that pretend to use all kinds of excuses keep killing whales with economic purposes. More and more whales will become humans’ food, living goods, and so forth so we will have more and more rarely possibilities to encounter whales in the sea. Now, we have to focus more on the whales and the fact that their number is reducing, as whales have become one of the most significant sources of wealth for humans.

Third, the whale as our friends started to live with us humans 3,000,000 years ago, and there might be some legends that whales killed people in the past, but people have no evidence to prove this message. Actually, whales always see humans as their friends instead of killing us. For example, killer whales, as a species of whales with a cranky character, live in the ocean, and they like to eat the fat of the mysticeti, but they can become famous stars in the aquaria after practice. I have been to an aquarium in Hong Kong, and there is a killer whale that is famous for its performance that people cannot forget. Whenever people see the face of that killer whale, they can never help laughing at its adorable face and humorous actions. Consequently, if people do not stop killing whales instead of knowing them better, the whale that often has performances in the aquarium will be the last one in the world.

In conclusion, whales as our humans’ best friends are supposed to be saved, because they are so wealthy for us that there are few animals what people can live with such a long history. We rarely see whales, which are the biggest animals alive in the world. It is very difficult to find such huge animals that can make us happy like whales.

Reference

Miller A. (2008, October 4). Deeper mysteries; Andy Miller enjoys an encounter with the idea of the whale. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on October 29, 2008, from LexisNexis.

Wii Sport Game

2008-11-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

FE#4
My favorite sport is Ping Pong, because not only can it exercise my body, but also it can make my reaction faster. When I arrived in the U.S., I had no opportunity to play Ping Pong until one of my friends invited me to play Ping Pong with a Wii. The Wii, as one of the greatest inventions, has become more and more famous in recent years. Especially, Wii Sports Games give more benefits than doing sports outside, because you play TV games while you gain the aim of practice. The difference between Wii and real Ping Pong is that there is a controller instead of the paddle. In the beginning of the game, you have to choose a 3D cartoon character as a player, and then, choose a place that you want to play at. During the game, you have to move here and there the same as when you play real Ping Pong with someone, but you do not necessarily put the Ping Pong table in your home. Also, you can gather your power to have a more powerful attack when you find a good opportunity to beat your opponent. At a result, whatever you win or lose the game, the cartoon character will always make you smile, because they are so adorable that you cannot help laughing. Finally, after you play the Wii, your mood will be more excited; your body will have a more effective practice than when you play Ping Pong in the real world. Therefore, I prefer playing the Wii, and I will buy one on “ThanksGiving Day”.

Chinese Ghost Festival

2008-11-03T14:03:00.001-08:00

Anna #3
In China, people will have an activity that shows respect to people who died on July 14th of Chinese calendar. Instead of Halloween, people usually do traditional action on that day because they hope that their relatives can bless them every year. You can see that there will be many people burn paper money on the side of the street. Before they burn the paper money, they will draw two circles. One is for the people who are their relatives, and another one is for spirits that manage the hell. After that, people will put a small amount of the paper money in the circle that is for managers, and then, put others in the other one. While burn them up together, people will say something to managers since they hope they can give those money to their dead relatives. Then, they say some words that they want to tell to their relatives, such as the condition of this year, and the impact of next year. After of all, they cannot look back until they go back home. Because they are afraid that those spirits will not satisfy the money that people give them, they just go straight instead of walking around. Also, some of them are afraid that they will be hurt or threaten by ghosts. Anyway, they always go back home as soon as possible when they finish their activities. In the U.S., people have a totally different way to have a celebration during the Halloween. They dress up in extreme ways, and make other people as more scare as better. Although I do not know where the Halloween comes from, I would like to enjoy it. Because I can see many people with different styles, I feel that they are very fanny, such as I saw a guy that wore like a Mario or a cowboy. As a result, the difference between American Halloween and Chinese Ghost Festival is Halloween makes people so happy that can be likely to become crazy; Chinese Ghost Festival makes people sad as they often miss their dead relatives.

Language Learning

2008-10-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

FE#3
For learning a foreign language, there are many things that we should focus on such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. I would like to tell you that speaking is the best way to learn a foreign language, because speaking can make you feel that the language that you are learning is useful; it can make you more confident in learning a foreign language; it can improve your other skills in that language. First, there are a lot of people that cannot use speaking skill as well as their writing skill in the world, because most of them have the same purpose in learning a foreign language— pass the exam. Nevertheless, when they find that there is a big problem in communication, they start to focus on expressing, as they cannot say that they know a language but they do not know how to speak. It does not make any sense. Next, if you can speak a foreign language as well as a native speaker, everyone around you will see you as an idol. That really encourages you to make more progress on the language that you are learning, because people always have an ideal that everybody can see you as a hero, and confidence is a way that can help you walk to the success in language study. Finally, speaking is very helpful to your other skills in language learning since when you say something to other people in that language, you have to be able to recall the vocabulary you will use in your conversation. The more frequently you use words in your talking, the better you will remember them. So when a vocabulary word that has often made you stressed out appears in a reading, it cannot be your difficulty anymore, then, you can read it faster than before. For me, speaking is the most useful method in English study because of the above three reasons.

Not For Whales, But For Us

2008-10-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

S/R#1
In Grose’s article “Hunters just one peril in whales’ struggle to survive,” (2008) the author states the fact that it is difficult for whales to survive for two reasons: human hunting and natural factors. Hunters who are from different countries have different attitudes about whale hunting. Whales as one of the most wise and the most beautiful of sea animals not only live in the shadow of hunting by humans, but also there are many other natural reasons that they are in danger of extinction. If human factors and natural factors affect whales together, whales will soon be extinct.

The author’s statement is correct, because whales not only suffer from hunting by people of different nationalities, but also environmental problems and diseases. Therefore, people should prevent if the extinction of whales by more limited lawful hunting, setting up protected areas for whales, and decreasing the sea pollution.

First of all, people should realize the fact that whales are facing extinction, and one of the biggest reasons that is difficult for them to survive is humans’ non-stop hunting. Lawful hunting is one of the best ways to gain a balance between people’s demand and whales’ demand. In respect to that fact, governments should be expected to be the organization that is the most likely to give the most help to whales, because they are laws’ controllers. If people will not dare to go against the law, limit hunting can save the whales. Nevertheless, the law that limits to 400 the whales that can be hunted per year is still not enough to slow down the extinction of whales; The government should further limit lawful hunting.

Next, making protected areas is also good methods to protect whales, because it is not allowed to kill whales in these areas, and in another hand, scientists can use some technology to breed whales more and more for increasing their amount. Although whales in protected areas will lose part of their freedom, there will be more benefits waiting for them. To those whales that are very weak, scientists can have some strategies to make them stronger. For example, they can follow those whales and tag them, so people can easily take good care of weak whales. Also, scientists can use a gene project to breed whales such as they can use the technology for people that cannot have babies to increase the rate of pregnant.

Finally, sea pollution has become more and more serious in the modern world; that is another main reason why sea animals have to suffer the consequences of our overuse of plastic bags and they are very likely to die by drinking some chemical water. So if people cannot realize how dangerous the pollution is that affects the animals, humans will pay a higher cost as the consequence of animals' death. Not only should scientists do the research for the conservation of animals, but also everyone should be expected to do some things that can avoid animals’ dying because of pollution, such as not throwing garbage into the sea, not draining some chemical substance into the sea, and so forth.

In conclusion, whales really need people's help because people can do many things that can protect some sea species from the extinction, and also people should do them. Humans are supposed to atone for mistakes they make, so they should help whales as a kind of sea animals facing extinction, by further limiting lawful hunting, setting up protected areas for whales, and decreasing sea pollution. That is not for whales, but that is for us.

Reference

Grose, S. (2008, February 5). Hunters just one peril in whales' struggle to survive. Canberra Times. Retrieved on October 21, 2008, from http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/hunters-just-one-peril-in-whales-struggle-to-survive/135611.aspx

Online Dating

2008-10-27T00:23:00.001-07:00

Anna#2
Before I had a girlfriend, I had ever tried to have a date with a girl on line. In the beginning, we added each other because both of us wanted to make friends on the Internet, and we began to talk something in common, like hobby, the hottest topic at that time, and so forth. When we met each other at second time, we became so excited because we gave each other a good impression. We began to talk about secret things that existed in our hearts, there was a passion between us, and we could know it from the eyes of each other. Later we started to hangout because we considered that we knew each other enough. She was so beautiful that I had never seen, and I even did not know what I should talk to her. During the time, I lost myself since I encountered the most charming princess I had never seen. She looked at me all the time without any words, and she gave one of her hands to me five minutes later. I did not know how childish I was at that time since nothing I knew about her at all except her uselessly beautiful appearance. After the first meeting of each other, we never encountered on line anymore, so I did not believe anyone that I never knew from that time. That drove me crazy because she cost me a lot of money on the first dating, and the consequence was that I threw good money after bad. It was a lesson that the god gave me, so I could remember it all the time. In addition, about five years later I told the story to my parents while they laughed at me. They did not realize that their child could do such a stupid thing as I was very clever in their hearts. I apologized to them, and tried to explain that I did not do a bad thing, I just did a wrong thing. Surprisingly, they did not blame me, but they described me in a word: The over-shrewd is easily cheated. That also drove me crazy when I heard because I had realized that I was not supposed to be so clever anymore. Anyway, I have found my true love now, and all of bad memories have gone. Except my work, one thing I am very concern is how to keep going my true love although we have a very good time at present. There is nobody knows what is going to happen in the future, but I have to figure out a way that I can have a good life. The way is called hard-working.

St. Louis Trip

2008-10-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Anna#1
During the days that we have a short break, my several friends stayed in St. Louis two days. Generally speaking, everybody knows that St. Louis is much more developed than Carbondale. Not only the infrastructure, but also there are more interesting places for people to go. For this time as the 5th time that I had been there, but there were still some places that I had never been, such as the hilton hotel which is one of the most famous hotels in the world. Also, we could not miss the delicious food--hot pot. Hot pot which has thousands years of history in China has different types. The main difference is that the soup is divided into seafood, spicy, chicken, and pork soup. In cold winter, if you and your friends go to have hot pot, the weather will be not cold anymore. Moreover, in hot summer, if several people sit around the hot pot, I promise the atmosphere will be too hot to be controlled. So, I will have another trip in St. Louis again in winter because I want to have a warm winter in the U.S..

Iron City

2008-10-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

Fe#2
I went to Chicago 5 months ago, and I felt that it was one of the most developed and amazing cities I have ever been to. I would like to recommend it to you because it is the place that you never can forget if you would be there. First, the subway is one of the most attractive sights in Chicago since it is situated above the whole city. And compared with the car, subway is more convenient for people to go because it is always full of cars on the road. Second, shops there are the most popular cultural factors in Chicago. It abounds all kinds of merchandise that you want, so people are usually crazy for shopping, especially if there is a brand that is said to be on sale. Finally, although Chicago is famous for its iron infrastructure, there are still some wonderful views around Lake Michigan. If you stand in a place that is far away from the downtown, also you can see both Lake Michigan and Sears Tower. At this moment, you will feel that you are a part of a picture or movie. So Chicago is a place that you must go if you would come to the U.S., and I promise that you will never forget how amazing Chicago is.

Save The Environment, Save The World

2008-10-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

S/R Practice
In Hirsch's article "Animals 'hit by global warming'" (2005), the author states that global warming affects many animals' living patterns. By an association's report, there is a big effect that can cause animals to change their migration routes if global warming continues. Some animals are unlikely to adapt to the climate changing, so scientists are trying to figure out a way that can help animals cope with global warming. Nevertheless the climate becomes warmer so fast that many species have died because they are unable to deal with changes. So a report shows that scientists are supposed to find more methods to help animals avoid being killed by the new climate.

Absolutely, the author’s opinion is correct in the article. Global warming affects many animals by changing their habitats and living scopes. Although scientists have found some approaches to help them adapt to the environmental changes, there are still some species that died during the period. In author’s article, he points out that if animals keep staying in the environment that can harmfully affect them, there will be nowhere that they can be alive. So people should use more alternative ways to help animals to avoid dying, such as population control, new technologies, and education.

First, during the last century, people destroyed the environment more and more since the population of the world has gone up more and more rapidly. Because of rise in population, the demand for material has been exponentially enlarged. Trees cutting, air pollution, exponential world population growth and so forth make the environment worse and worse, and everything that negatively affects the climate is influenced by humans. That means the larger the population is, the more serious the environmental condition will be. So all governments should have a plan that can effectively control the population. For example, the Chinese government carried out a law that citizens are only allowed to have one child in each family. Although China is still a country that has the most people in the world, and there are 1.4 million people more than last century, it has started to decelerate. The population of China would be almost equal to the total population of other countries in the world without that plan. In addition, so far, the environment of China has become better and better because of the population control plan.

Next, the old technology is one of the biggest reasons the whole earth has gotten warmer than ever. For a long time people have done a great deal with harmful gas in an inappropriate way, and not only have people suffered from hundreds of diseases that have been caused by air pollution, but also animals have died by climate changes that are caused by global warming. Therefore, people should realize that new technology that can prevent the development of global warming, such as heating by solar-energy instead of firewood, getting electricity by wind energy instead of some methods that can cause air pollution, and so forth. All of the above are the ways that have been used by people in their normal lives, but during the time that global environment is getting worse, it is the time for scientists to figure out more advanced technology to cope with the situation that may be likely to be more serious in the future. Species can avoid extinction from the earth; So can humans, especially if people are able to invent more new technologies that can replace those which can cause global warming.

Finally, education is a factor that can influence people to protect the environment, because people improve their qualities only by the education. And people's qualities keep them decide how to cope with those environmental problems that can be directly or indirectly related to their lives. For example, there are many workers who are from the countryside of China, and some of them rarely have been educated so much in school. The money becomes the most significant issue for them, so they expect to be rich, rather than focusing on whether they are not supposed to expectorate here or there. Consequently, whether environmental problems can be solved depends on people's realizing how important the environment is. And the only way that can make people clear about that is education.

In conclusion, people should use more methods to help animals prevent dying, because climate changes are more rapid because of global warming. That is a big project for people all over the world, since people can solve this situation by population control, using of new technologies, and education. Therefore, if people can deal with the environmental problems together, animals will be saved soon, and so will we humans.

Reference

Hirsch, T. (2005, October 5). Animals 'hit by global warming'. BBC NEWS. Retrieved October, 15, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4313726.stm

Traveling By Car

2008-10-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

FE#1
When I arrived in the U.S., I had a dream that I could travel through all over the U.S. by car. Because we may encounter some unanticipated event during our trip, for example, the car is broken in the desert, you eat something that causes you to be sick or you meet someone that you never can forget, and so on, it will be an adventure if you have a trip by car. There must be many things that you may have no opportunity to see ever again. The most attractive place for you stands right there waiting for you. So because of the car, we can stay in the most amazing place for us in order to enjoy the happiness that a trip gives us. First, different people have different purposes in traveling; I prefer traveling by car because my purpose of traveling is to go anyplace that can be a target or without thinking. I will be shocked if I can find an amazing place that I have never been. I also can have this feeling if you travel by car. Second, I have to cope with some terrible situations when I travel by car, because there are some problems that may happen during my trip. For example, my car cannot work anymore on the road although I do everything I possibly can. That is easy to be solved since the case happens on the road at least. Trying to imagine if that happens in some places that you have never been, like a forest; It will be a special experience for your life as an adventure. As a result, you will have wonderful memories through the trip if you travel some places by driving.

Chinese Tea

2008-09-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

With 5,000 years history, tea was ever one of the most popular drinks for Chinese people until now. Generally, Chinese tea is divided into two types. One is red tea and the other one is green tea. According to the science, the red tea can help people accelerate their blood circulation. After drinking red tea, people often feel energetic and difficult to sleep if the tea is good enough. The green tea can help people reduce the stress. After drinking green tea, people will feel the world fresher and everything is so peaceful. And it is helpful to cure the cancer definitely because the stimulus in the green tea can pure the blood. In addition, there are many ways to make tea in China. One of the most traditional ways is that the waiter uses a big bottle with a long tube to make tea for the customers. When they put the hot tea into the bowls of the customers with a special gesture which they put the tube behind their necks, one amazing thing will happen. You will find there is no water on the table, even a little, but your bowl is full of the tea. It is called “Kong Fu Tea” which is famous all over China. I really love green tea, and this is the only drink for me except water in China because this is a good habit for everyone. Chinese people often drink it as it can help people be cool physically. But I cannot understand why I still drink it in the winter instead of any other drink. One thing is very interesting to me, when I got to the U.S., it is really difficult to find the green tea that can remind my life in China.

The Movies

2008-09-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

The movies are the one of the most popular things in people's hearts all over the world. There are several famous movie industry in China. Normally, one director leads one factory and the more famous the director is, the larger the industry will be. For example, Zhang Yi Mou is one of the most popular directors in China. There are many films that people love so much are produced by him, even the ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijing. So you can image that how a large movie industry he has. In addition, some old Chinese people only like Chinese movie since their eyes or reactions are too old to follow the words that appear the under side of the movie. Most Chinese people focus on the story in the movie instead of the nationality, especially for young people. My favorite movie is “The Momentum”. It is about a person who lost his memory in a crime, and also seeking the murderer that not only made him only have 10 minutes memory, but also killed his wife. For this, he tattooed all that murderer’s characteristics over his body. Once he finds out someone whom has one of those characteristics, he will follow and investigate that person. He is proposed to keep looking for next one after he figures out that the person whom he is focusing on is not the real murderer. At last, someone showed him some pictures that could prove the murderer had been already killed by him before the movie began. The end of this movie really surprised me a lot. The characters in this movie also showed their professional acting. Chinese people like this kind of stories that can make them amazed such as “The Momentum”.

My Favorite Music

2008-09-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

There are many types of music, but one of my favorites is the rock music. Generally, there are three kinds of rock music what is the most popular in the world, soft, general, and hard. I prefer soft and hard although it is a kind of extreme choice. Guns and Roses as one of the most famous music band, which was in 80s’, is my favorite. Because the style of this band created many songs that can cause people cry like “Don’t cry”, some girls are very crazy for this song when they feel sad. The beats of rock music are more likely to encourage people, to give people more energy when they face a big music. And it also helps you cope with stress because according to listen to the rock music, people can reduce some negative stimulus that in their brains. This is a better way than exercise in coping with stress. There is another reason why I love rock music, I was a drummer in a music band of China when I was in the collage. I only played drums two years, but the rock songs that we practiced and had a show in those local bars gave me so many wonderful memories that I cannot forget forever. If it is possible, I will keep loving in the rock music which is a kind of the soul of the human.

My Favorit food

2008-09-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

My favorite food is Chinese food. China is famous for the cuisine because many of them have extra value in nutrition, and it is very good for us to prevent the obesity such as the cuisine people often cook in their normal lives. For example, Chinese people usually cook eggs and the pork with some sauce, it’s called “muxu meat”. First, they put some green onions, which are cut into pieces, in the hot oil, and you also put some pepper in it if you want. Then, put eggs in the wok before onions’ colors become black. Next, we use the same way to cook the pork, but with some soy sauce. Finally, put eggs which we cooked just now in the wok and fry around several minutes, then, plus some salt and chicken flavor in it. In China, this cuisine has been a kind of high energy food already, so you can image that’s the reason why Chinese food is not easy to cause obesity. Although there are some meat in the food that Chinese people cook frequently, few people can get disease which is like obesity. That is also the reason why my favorite food is Chinese food.

My first reaction when I arrived the U.S.

2008-08-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone~I'm Carson who is from China. The first place when I get to the U.S. is Chicaggo where is famous for railway, hotdog, and shopping street, and one thing made me amazing was the sears tower which is the highest building in the windy city although I did not enter in it...In addition, the weather in winter here is not as cold as the weather in my hometown such as a fall. Gatsby's is the first bar which I had been in carbondale. In the fact that it is not so awesome that I do not often go there when I want to have a drink.

Welcome to Carson's world

2008-04-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Come on everyone~open your eyes.I'm sure you will be hot here~