Blog 9: When We Meet Aliens for the First Time

Blog 9: When We Meet Aliens for the First Time

Curiosity is the nature of human being. Columbus finding the new land is an exact case. When the technology develops into a new level, human cannot satisfy with the cognition of earth. The exploration of universe is a consequent trend. The complex feeling of curious and fear cannot stop the temptation of unknown space and the possibility of the existence of alien life. Movie is a way to spread the imagination of aliens.

I have watched the District 9 these days. The movie is set in a situation in which an alien space ship comes to the earth. The space ship stays in the sky of Johannesburg. It is convinced that that space ship is for mining and because of lack of energy and the wrong guide, it fell to the earth. The phenomenons on the ship almost die out and the survivors are most unwise labor. After human cannot bare the curious, they try to connect the aliens actively after the waiting of three months without any action of alien. It is absolutely out of imagination that the aliens are like refugees and stay in a really unhealthy status. District 9, the refugee camp, has finally been build up under the space ship.

Endless non-reward help and the disturbance of aliens make people there cannot stand them. The most important part is the discrimination of alien that the alien gain in vain. There must be a reason why aliens can stay here. That is benefits. A big company MNU wants to gain the weapon technology from aliens.

Aliens in the imagination of human ether from movies or novels are magical and with high-level civilization and high tech. But it is thoroughly not the same in the movie. The figure of alien in the movie is completely a socially inferior. In this situation, abomination, aversion and disdain spread among people. Thanks to the “human right advocates”, these prawn-like aliens will not go through the same disaster like Indian.

Scientist Hawking once has predicted what aliens will be like and said human should not explore the universe blindly. Only if the aliens who we find are with high level of intelligent, they may treat human as slaves. However, nobody knows when the best time to get contact with extraterrestrial life is.

Same as dreaming of flying, human are “lonely” now and are eager to find partners. At the same time, we had better to improve ourselves first. No one knows what the universe is like and whether there is alien. What will happen when we know the whole universe and what will us curious about?

Like many extraterrestrial theme films, District 9 is just an imagination. Without stars in it and take the form of interview and reports, District 9 achieves great success. If you are interest in it, it deserves to be seen.

Blog 9：Some Reflections of Give Programme

Recently, I always hear my friends complaining about the Service Programme and I feel quite sorry for them. They have gathered such a lot of money, but because of many reasons, they could not go to those institutions to help the children, and they could only donate the money to them.

As for me, I took part in the Give Programme. As it has just ended last week, I’d like to talk about some reflections of it. Unlike some classmates who have the opportunity to teach the students something about Chinese or Chinese Culture, my teammates and I were only expected to help the teachers in a Secondary School to correct the Chinese compositions of the students. Although it may not seem to be as meaningful as being a teacher, I still learned a lot from it.

When I was correcting the students’ Chinese compositions, I found that it was not an easy job for me at all! The students made some grammar mistakes and they could not write the Chinese characters correctly, either. Sometimes it is obvious that they just composed their works in English and then translated it into Chinese. Thus, it could be difficult for me to understand their writings sometimes. This reminds me of our own English essays. I am quite sure that when our tutors are correcting our essays, they share the same feeling as well. In some occasions, the sentence structures are wrong, while in other cases, it just doesn’t sound natural to a native reader.

We have been told by our tutors many times that we could not express ourselves in a native way and we all know that this is because that we share different culture backgrounds and different language backgrounds. However, from my experience of correcting the Chinese compositions of some Singaporean students, I have better understandings of this issue and I consider it a big barrier that we have to overcome as quickly as possible.

As we are going to study in NUS, we will have to write a lot of essays in our university studies. Therefore, I sincerely suggest that we all look into this problem and try our best to avoid making such mistakes from now on.

Blog 10 My last blog

    This is the last blog that I should write in the bridging course, and it may be the last one in my whole life.

    I have wrote nine blog so far, and all of them took me quite a long time to think, analyze and type. To be honest, I like think, speak rather than write. However, through the blogs I have done, I found that sometimes write your thoughts down is indeed the better choice.

While writing, we need to 1. Write enough words(This means we must search or come up with more ideas.) 2. Use complete and brief sentences(Put our opinions in order and combine similar arguments.) 3. Express strong opinions(This helps us to choose proper ideas and requires us to think twice before write.) 4. Find our whether or not are we interested in the topics we choose(I was always changing topic while writing blogs.)

In conclusion, the experience of writing blogs did teach me something about the importance of writing. However, as I mentioned before, I still do not like writing-- no matter what kind. Maybe because I am too lazy to hold a pen or type. A wise man should develop the habit of reading and writing, and I am struggling on the way to it. 

As I am not good enough in writing, I want to share with you some of my reading experience and suggestions. If you can hardly agree with me, please argue with me. 

1. Internet novels may seem interesting and exciting, but reading them is actually a waste of time(I know because I tried......)

2. History stories are quite useful for writing essays in China, and they will also lead you to the life principle which is suitable for you.

3. Philosophy books are usually boring(except for the very famous one: <<Sophie's World>> ), but they are good for forming a critical mind, the ability of asking good questions and the courage to imagine.

4. The kind of books that I like best is called Wu Xia, and my favourite writer is Gu Long. His words are really beautiful, and the plots will always hold your breath. My suggestion is : Try it only if you have plenty of free time.

Now, let's come to the Q&A part.

Any questions?

blog 9: Visit a grave to cherish the memory of the dead

I just want to say-death is not a pathetic thing.
 Every year on the day before the New Year’s Day, my father, my uncles and I would visit some graves of elders in family. Some graves are far away from my home. Hence, we need to get up early so that we can not miss our breakfast. By the way, we should visit all the graves before breakfast. It is a rule which everyone knows and obeys.
 I cannot remember which year it was. It was rather cold then. Every year at that time the temperature is rather low. All of us were in feather dresses and gloves. After about fifteen minutes’ ride, we arrived at our destination. Our eyebrows and hair were covered with white frost. Those graves located on a barrow which swelled outwards from the surface. It was because the soil of the other part of this land had been taken away to play the role of some house’s foundation. Beside the graves was a river. It was frozen then. I tried to slide on it, but my father called me back soon. I surely didn’t have enough fun there. Well, now, I dare not do that anymore. I have watched the first episode of The Ten Commandments in which a little boy drowned in a frozen river. Some jujube trees surrounded the graves, which was convenient for us to hang our firecrackers.
 We set off our firework, burned some paper made to resemble money and burned as an offering to the dead and kowtowed to the graves one by one. After all, we were going to leave. Right then, a fat man appeared in front of us. He had fur clothing and glasses on, with a basket of firework and ghost money in his hand. Apparently, he had the same aim as us. But he was so well-dressed that I doubted whether he was there enjoying some kind of scenes. Of course he was not enjoying. Who would wander alone among some no-leaves trees, stepping on bloody hard earth and dead wood and leaves with the bloody low temperature under zero? In addition, he did look a little fidget.
 Now, he asked. I cannot remember every word of his question. It was probably about the graves which belonged to some typical family. He said that they had been there the year before. Well, now, he found himself not able to find them.
 “Do you know what happened to them?”
 “No!” we were quite sure about it, “we don’t know anything about it.”
 To be honest, we felt quite delighted on our way back. We were all the time talking about that fat guy, who had lost his root.

Blog 9

Blog 9 My reflection on bridging course With the time flying, our bridging course is going to its end. When I was reviewing the words in my vocabulary book, thousands of fragments of memory were flashing in my mind. Then, I realize that I have spent more six months here. I remember that six months ago, everything is fresh. At that time, we were all unfamiliar with each other. I could not find where to eat my lunch. I dare not eat foods in the class. Also, I expected that I will get a big improvement in English. I planned to study English very hard. I intended to spare no efforts. However, that is not I have done during the last six months. I have spent a lot of time playing computer games, watching movies and hanging with friends. During that time, for many times, I had found that problem, I had thought of various ways to change. I have made up my minds many times to study and do not play games. However, I did not keep any of those plans up. Not long after I began each of my plans, during the past six months, I would quit. There were many reasons for me to explain why I had quitted, but I do not want to, because the result is that I did not form any habits during the six months. I have not insisted doing one thing which makes me upset. So, now, I get a belief: in the rest of my life, once I have decided to do one thing, I will try my best to achieve it on matter how hard it is. Maybe, during the process, I will think it is inefficient, and I may think I can make a better plan to follow, but I will not quit it. I will keep it up. I am glad I get this feeling. I consider this one of the best lessons that I have learnt in CELC. Look, just now, I have made another resolution. I really hope I can keep it up.

Blog9: Dream

In this blog, I want to talk something about dreams. What is the dream? You can say “I dream a dream”. You can say “I have a dream”. You also can say “I have achieved a dream”. In different situations, “dream” represents different symbols, but there is one thing in common. That is, dream is the hope. This hope maybe is small. Just like eat a delicious meal. This hope maybe is splendid. Just like the ambition to change this world. No matter what the dream is, it is our own decision. I think every dream has its reason to exist. Why? It is because every dream could have significant meaning for certain persons. Even though the dream is merely to drink a cup of water, perhaps it is a tiny thing for you, but it could be the only and invaluable dream for an adventurer who gets lost in a desert.

What are my dreams in the university? I think they are quite simple. First of all, I want to keep a healthy body. In my opinion, regardless of staying in any circumstance, we should give the first priority to “health”. There is Chinese proverb saying, ”health is the prerequisite for doing anything (身体是革命的本钱) ”. Without health, even though we have countless money, I do not think we could lead a happy life. I love playing tennis. I will stick to this hobby. After all, playing it is not only wholesome, but could help me to get CCA. We only have one time to live. From the time our mothers tolerated an immeasurable pain to give us life, we should know that we are not only living for ourselves, but for the people who love and worry about us. Thus, to some degree, we carry a responsibility to take good care of ourselves. Second, I want to get a good result in my study. I do not agree with someone’s idea that study is suffering and useless compared with “communicational ability”; instead, I think it is the study that gives avenge people an equal opportunity to fulfill their self-worth and help them to live better. I know in the world, some people, like Bill Gates and Ma Yun, have enough aptitude in a certain area, so the tertiary experience may only postpone their time to succeed. Nevertheless, I do not think I am a person like them. Therefore, I really cherish this opportunity. Third, I want to cultivate my social skills. In the contemporary society, we need to cooperate with others and become a competent teammate. This age is no longer the time when our life could be changed by a single person. On the contrary, nowadays, the advancement of technology should be based on collaboration and optimal distribution of the labor resource. I could remember in my Chinese university, a senior once told me that “if you only study well in the university, you are not a winner.” Every moment what he said fleshed through my mind, I cannot help but to reflect my life, encouraging myself to become a well-rounded person. Last but not least, I want to have romantic love. In the past 18 years, I did not dare to touch it and bravely pursue it. Now, I will no longer cover my emotion. From my perspective, without love, a person’s university experience is not intact. Maybe this comment is too absolute, because in many cases, love is a kind of destiny(缘分). Of course, I will not force myself to get love for the sake of drawing away loneliness or using it as a symbol of becoming mature. I am very serious and prudent about love. I hope this love could become my one but the only one love in my lifetime. Love could give us excessive happiness, but it could also badly hurt us. No matter what the result is, when I graduate from university, at least, I could say that there “is” or “was” a girl that let me want to do anything for her.

After reading the above paragraph, you may think jiangze’ s dreams are quite commonplace. This is me. I do not want to have sensations. What I want to have is just leading a peaceful life with the people who I love deeply.

“There is no perfection only life”. (Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being) Cherish what we ever had. Enjoy what we already have. Pursue what we want to have. Forget what we cannot have. This is the life, filling with unpredictable changes but happiness and love never leave us away!   

blogger 9: Initial D----Jay's show

     Last weekend, I watched a famous film called Initial D, which tells a story about car racing and the development of a genius car racer. In fact, as a fan of Jay Chow, it was a pity for me to not see the film entirely before, although I have listened to the theme song. The name of the film may sound strange at first. The Initial D refers to the word Drift, which means a kind of driving technique---passing the turning without the revolving of the back wheels. This can help racers drive at a fast speed, even at turnings without lowering speed.
      When it refers to "car racing", people tend to think of the charm and excitement as well as danger. The main character in the film is a school student who helped his father send tofu early in the morning in his adorable car---AE86. Somehow like Jay, the character was a shy and humble boy. He never boasted how great he could drive although his talent was excellent, and even when he faced the girl he loved, he was too nervous to say a word. He led an ordinary life before he digged out his potential, and he was often beaten by his drunk father who was also once a promising car racer but he gave up his career and started selling tofu.
      The fisrt time Jay drove  his car sending tofu was when he was only a secondary student. He had to drive across a mountain which had a lot of sharp turnings. Gradually, he could master one of the hardest driving technique---Drift and spent less time finishing his task. When some part-time car racers came and  competed with him, he won by his outstanding driving talent. However, his fame spelt some professional racers who had much better cars. Jay was so anxious as he could not catch up with them that he drove his car breaking down. His strict father taught him that the most important thing for a racer is never to mind competing with others but yourself. If you want to win, the first and the last one the beat is yourself. This may sound contradict but it quite true, as if one always focus on winning other, he may be distracted by the results.
      After enlighted by his father and learning some professional knowledge, Jay managed to win those arrogent all-time racers. However, he found that his girlfriend was not perfact and even committed something that was not so graceful, he was so frustrated. Maybe this is the true feeling of youth, full of happiness and sadness, excitement and disappointment.
       When watching the film, I could still see the unmature big boy--Jay, who now is a 33-year-old super star. Recently, in the film---Green Hornet, Jay showed his talent in music and performing to Americans. Likely, in Initial D, I want to taste the authentic feeling of youth---challenging the extreme of myself.