Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Writing

As a student in China, we were required to do very beautiful writing. What's that meaning? It is that we should use very beautiful words and some examples that others don’t know. We should put an essay into many paragraphs and every paragraph should have its own meaning of existing. In the beginning, we need a very good and attractive start. For example, we should use parataxis or put an idiom in every sentence. In addition, the good words are very important. Maybe, if you have many good words in an essay but the grammar is not good enough, teacher would give you a good score. During most time, we don’t need to do research because the examples and good words should be remembered by our heads. However, if the essay is very long and we need to spend long time to finish it, we could do research like finding books in library or searching internet.
In fact, writing tasks in the United States are very different from writing tasks in China. Of course, we paraphrase or summarize examples in China. In China, an essay with too long examples is a bad one. Therefore, we need to paraphrase and summarize examples with beautiful sentences. In the United States, it’s also important. We should use the skills because we should put the useful information in our paper. In America, we must adhere to styles such as MPA or APA when we are composing our papers because we could not copy others. It means stealing and hurting others. However, in China, we could not copy the whole essay. In contrast, if we write some sources, we could not write the address because the teachers would know it is from other place and that is enough.
Indeed, there are many differences between Chinese and American writing. However, we should understand and identify with it because different countries have different cultures.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

One Week's Dead

Please look at this picture. Why are there so many people in the picture? What is it about? They are dead Americans in Vietnam in only one week. In the picture, we can see the young man and the old man. We can see many vital smiling faces and serious faces. However, now we lose them. We won't see them again. They leave the world just because of a war!
I hate wars and I believe many people hate wars, too. However, we are not able to prevent it. Wars let people lose their important close relatives. Wars let people lose their property. Even wars let people lose the lives of them. I hate wars because wars make deaths and destruction. I hate wars because wars make tear and sadness. However, wars may happy in any time and any place. It's so sad to see a war starting just like we see the people in the picture lose their lives. It's like a knife to sting the heart. I can feel the pain.
Look at the picture and think of the reason of a war. Is it obligatory? Will we get more than we lose? Is there anything more important than people's lives? Obviously, the answer is "NO"! There is no excuse for a war. Every reason they give is maladroit excuse. I am not only sad, but also angry. I am angry with myself. Why haven't I thought of this problem? Why haven't I cared about it? I admit that the realizing of me have too little help, but at least I should. At least, I could write an essay for them. At least, I could think of dead people in a war. At least…
Look at this picture and I feel sad. I could not imagine the sadness of their close relatives. I could not imagine the whole loss of a war. Therefore, please look at the picture and think of this problem cannily.
URL:
http://www.life.com/Life/lifebooks/100photos/gallery/9.html