The meaning of life

One day, I talked with our befriender about religion. She asked me what your meaning of life is. I thought for a while and said just having fun. She said is it superficial and shallow. Now, I want to say something to for myself.

First of all, if we live a suffering life rather than a happy life, we must regret when we are about to die. It is the happy life that we can really enjoy. In addition, people may say as a person, we must have some ambitions and some goals to follow, such as a large sum of money or high authority. Personally, I can hardly agree with it. Although there is no doubt we need some money to guarantee our life, we do not need to put too much burden on ourselves. Perhaps being satisfied is better for us. Besides, different people have different definition about joy. Just like kongzi, he liked to try his best to help the country become better, help the people live better life, while laozi preferred to ride a cattle in the countryside freely and enjoy the peaceful life. All of us should go after the ideal life we want instead of being influenced or bounded by others, just like Juexin in home, brave enough to pursue what he wanted.

However, having fun does not mean you can not care about others at all or even do harm to others. Think about it, if you hurt others, will you still be happy? Will you feel guilty about it? Furthermore, having fun does not mean you can do anything you want regardless of results like gambling. You may have fun at that moment when you gamble, but it is not permanent. When we choose what to do to have fun, we must think about what we can get and what it will cost so that we can make a more sensible choice.

In conclusion, having fun is my view to life. No matter what your view is, I hope all of you can achieve it.   

Chinese education in foreigners’ eyes

Background:

Pisa test is the Programme for International Student Assessment. This test is used to measure children’s skills in reading, calculating and science. It has become the leading international standard.

  Yesterday, I read an article on BBC News. The title is “China: the world’s cleverest country?” I found it interesting and want to talk about it today.

In the article, the person who is responsible for Pisa test said that, China’s results are remarkable. The findings indicate that China has an education system that is overtaking many Western countries.

There has been intense interest in China’s economic and political development. this provides the most significant insight into how it is teaching the next generation. An American said, on a recent trip to a poor province in China, he saw that schools were often the most impressive buildings while in the West, it is more likely to be a shopping centre. He said that you get an image of a society that is investing in its future, rather than in current consumption.

There were also major cultural differences when teenagers were asked about why people succeeded at school. North Americans tell you typically it is all luck. They will say ‘I’m born talented in mathematics, or I’m born less talented so I’ll study something else. In Europe, it’s about social heritage. They will say ’My father was a plumber so I’m going to be a plumber’. In China, more than nine out of 10 children tell you: ‘It depends on the effort I invest and I can succeed if I study hard.’ They take on responsibility. They can overcome obstacles and say ‘I’m the owner of my own success’, rather than blaming it on the system.”

  I think the writer has some misunderstanding in Chinese education to some degree. The actual situation may be not so terrific as they explain. Maybe the reason of the intense interest in economics and political development is the money worship, but not the government’s insight into how it is teaching the next generation. Maybe the reason of children’s investing effort is that they become numb forced by the education system, but not they take on responsibility and be the owner of their own success.

  We all know that China has a lot of problems in copying, fake, creativity, education, and so on. And for a more than one billion people country, we cannot make an immediate change if we want to solve these problems. But we should not feel ashamed. We should not lose confidence. As long as we keep working on solving these problems even though we know China is not perfect, can we make it a better and really feel proud of it.

Teamwork

     Long time ago, there were two poor men who suffered a lot from starvation. A kind old man decided to help them. He offered them two things: a basket of fish and a fishing rod, each of which was chosen by one of the poor men. The two poor men got what they wanted with great joy and went on their different roads. The man who got the basket of fish finished the fish immediately without knowing the taste of them. He soon became hungry again and died before long time. The other poor man who got the fishing rod also died because of starvation before he managed to reach the seaside. Another time and another two poor men got the same help from the old man. They did not separate from each other and decided to find the sea together. They shared the basket of fish and finally reached their destination. Then they started their fishing life with the fishing rod.

    This is a story about team work. Teamwork is an efficient way to finish the tasks. Working as a team and helping each other can let people make full use of the strong points and make up the weak points. These two points are equally important. The power of a team not only depends on its members’ strong points but also on its members’ weak points.

    There is a principle in management: If a wooden bucket is made of several wooden boards whose length is not equal to each other’s, the maximum volume of it will depend on the shortest board. Though the other boards are very long, the water will flow out through the shortest board.

    This is the same situation of a team. Thus, learning to help each other is an important thing to lift the power of a team.

    Once upon a time, a little boy wanted to shift a washing machine to get the paper under it. No matter how hard he tried, the machine did not even move a centimeter. He told his father that he had tried his best and used all his power to shift it but the father told him that he had not. He told his son that you had not come to ask for my help and I also was a kind of power of you.

    Asking for help also is very important in a team. Not all the time others will offer you help initiatively. Asking for help is an efficient way to make up the weak points of a team. Next time you meet some problem in the teamwork, do not be shy, just say it out and that will help your team a lot.

Treasure Your Love

Yesterday we talked about poetry in class. The tutor introduced us several famous poems, which reminded me of a poem I read before. The name of the poem is Down by the Sally Gardens that was written by William Butler Yeats. This poem describes a young man felt regretful to lose his lover because of being youth and foolish.

I think most people will miss their first love. It may be not only because it happened when people are still in a naive age, but also since it did not have an ending. People always want things they do not have, so the loss of their first love makes feel uncomfortable. In the other hand, most first love breaks down because people are still young and cannot understand others well. Therefore, they may quarrel about tiny things and have to break up at last. When they look back at an older age, they may realize that they will still get on well if they consider the problem from the other side, which makes them regretful. Just like the poem says, “But I was young and foolish, and now I am full of tears”.

There is another sentence, “She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree”, that makes me think a lot. Because of youth, some people pay too much attention to the love that it has influenced their daily life. In addition, they may mind little things when they are with another. It may give the other person high pressure and make him feel tired. So please take love easy, and give the other one some private space.

In conclusion, when you are in love, please trust and be kind to each other, then you will not lose your true love. At last, I want to share this poem with you, and I also suggest you find the song whose lyric is this poem.

Down By the Sally Gardens

By William Butler Yeats

                           Down by the sally gardens my love and I did meet                          

She passed the sally gardens with little snow-white feet

She did me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree

But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree

In a filed by the river my love and I did stand

And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snows-white hand

She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs

But I was young and foolish, and now I am full of tears

Memory
These days, I have saw a lot of states posted on 'renren',  a chat tool famous in China. These are all about the feelings and experiences in grade three in senior high school. It reminds me a lot about my own experiences. As I can not get back home to celebrate the one-year commemoration with my classmates, I want to write about something in my blog and share with you.
At first, I want to introduce  a little bit about my senior high school. It is a elite school with 100 years history. It ranks top one for several times in jiangsu province on the ranking list of college entrance examination. So I am really proud of it.
Then, I want to talk about the life in school. Grade three is extremely a tough period of life. We have to face the huge pressure from the entrance exam. We study hard and help each other selflessly, so, we gradually get rid of ranking the last. Also, our life is not rarely focused on Studying, we always tantalise and chase each other after class. When it comes to saturday, we sometimes slip out to play football when we know teachers do not have time to monitor us.
 Some of my classmates are crazy about make nicknames to others, so, almost all of us have at least one nicknames. Actually, i am a typical victim as I have many nicknames like 'Cui Niu ' 'pi pi'(arse in English ) ' maths genius' . Cui Niu is the
Most wildly used. And I want to talk about 'pi pi'. I do not know the origin of this name but what is interesting is that the person who give me the name also name another three persons and she makes four of us form a team called 'pi gu gang men' and force us to put these names in use.
i really value this period of time. so i choose to share with you. 

I write this blog for all of you~

    Inspired by mengnan, I also want to write something about our group. I still remember that the first time I saw every one’s name on the list, I felt disappointed because the only person I knew was yunsheng. But I told myself: never mind, I should treasure it as a chance to make more friends. At that time, wangzi was the person I wanted to know about most, because she is beautiful ~ later, our dear monitor became the person I wanted to rely on. Time flies, and I want to say that I really enjoyed the six-month time being with all of you. I believe you also feel the same as me. During class, we exchange opinions and dreams; After class we share our stories, feelings and comfort each other. In this unfamiliar country, we become brothers and sisters. We share the same love to our country and the same feeling of missing our families. Without you, I don’t know whether I can enjoy my life here. Sometimes, watching cars passing by during night, I feel that I don’t belong to this city, but thankfully, group 3 becomes the home to all of us. There are many people I want to say thank you to.

 yunsheng : thank you for borrowing me the Tshirt when I got wet~

wangzi thank you for accompanying me to carry out my crazy ideas especially going to sentosa at night~ 

 tianya :thank you for taking fantastic pictures of me~

anti-xiaoxuan group( kaiwen, shuwei, tianhang) : though you three always bully me, I know we are friends. I know you are the people I can turn to when I need help, aren’t you?~

shuman: thank you for giving me the courage to like the person I like~

jiadong: thank you for paying so much effort on our research project~

monitor: as I once said, you keep me from being alone. I enjoy your company. You know me a lot and can even read my feelings. Having you as my friend is such a gift to me.

    I know that we have to be realistic that friends cannot be together forever, but I hope when we enter NUS, we will still greet each other whenever we meet. My dear friends, I wish you all the best!! You know I love you !! Please do not forget me !!

Writing poems for myself

Writing poems for myself

“明天的明天的晴天/你我的你我的流年/时光的时光的缱绻/午后的午夜的散漫”

I always feel like writing something on a piece of paper anytime I’d like to. The Chinese fragment above was written when I was waiting for a lecture to start. The game of playing with Chinese rhythm is truly fascinating to me as what is to be completed can be totally neat both in sound and in appearance once successfully done. To tell the truth, I do appreciate the Chinese language and I do personally hold the belief that Chinese is tremendously feasible for poems. It can be so charming in itself. It is not an enjoyable thing to translate a Chinese poem to an English one, but I have tried.

“The sunny day of the day after tomorrow

 The flowing time we relish together

 Nothing hurries as the light shines cozily

 Lie in the couch from the serene afternoon to deep in night”

You can always have fun with what you enjoy even if you do not do well. If you savor what you like for yourself, who cares what you are doing except yourself.

I love a poem written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats called When you are old. Actually, however, what impressed me a lot at the beginning was the Chinese translation version by a Chinese author Feibai, which is incredibly beautiful for me. When I eventually manage to find the original one, I was a little disappointed. The meaning was of course more impressive and charming than the translation, but I do not appreciate the rhyme that much.

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep

And nodding by the fire, take down this book

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars

Again, I do think the raising up and down of tones are much more distinct in Chinese that in English, for it is conspicuous that Mandarin has four separate tones for every character while English do not. Maybe the Chinese in poems can be considered more musical.

In the end, I think the most typical modern poems of Chinese are in various pop songs. Some of them are considerably well done in terms of lyrics while others are just acceptable when the tones are changed into a song. I write for fun, just the same as I listen to music to enjoy myself. Hope you can find the way you get pleasure from yourself despite of what others think about your job.