BEAR

The teddy bear is one of the most favorite toys with children. Do you have a teddy bear or two in your room, too?

It is bad if you are compared to a bear with a sore head---you are thought to be a bad-tempered person.

“Taking the bear by the tooth” is equivalent to “putting one’s head into lion’s mouth”. Both idioms mean running into danger needlessly. When a boy walks along the back of a high and narrow wall just to show off, he is taking the bear by the tooth.

WHALE

The whale looks like a fish but is a mammal. The blue whale is the world’s largest animal.

“A whale of a …” is an interesting phrase. A whale of a time is a very good time; a whale of a cold is a bad cold; a whale of a story is a wonderful story; a whale of a magician is an excellent magician.

Some companies sometimes make handsome donations of money to charities. They know it will pay to do so. They will sell more and earn more with a good reputation. They throw a sprat to catch a whale.


鯨魚看起來像魚，但它卻是哺乳類動物。藍鯨則是世界上最大的動物。

a whale of a… 是一個有趣的短語。 a whale of a time 是十分愉快的時光; a whale of a cold 是重感冒; a whale of a story 是美妙的故事; a whale of a magician 是出眾的魔術師。

有時候某些公司捐出大筆金錢去做慈善事業。它們知道，這樣做是有收益的。公司聲譽好，銷售量增大，賺得也就更多。他們是施小惠而獲大利。

GOOSE

A foolish or ignorant person can be called a goose because the goose is thought to be a stupid animal.

Some shopkeepers are greedy. They try to make more profit by cheating the customers. This is actually “Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”. For the cheating is sure to be found out sooner or later. Then they will lose all their customers just for a little extra profit.

To cook one’s goose is to ruin one’s plans or chances in life. A promising youth may “cook his own goose” by mixing with bad guys.

Summaries of Script Writing

According to the video " How to write a compelling script", there are six tips the author giving me. Firstly, I need to have a well-formed plot to give previous events built on one another events. Secondly, I should have characters. Every script should have characters that are complex and active. Next, the characters should have dialogues or the script would be dull. Then, I should think about if there is any musical elements that I can use. Finally, I could have some spectacle elements to wow the audience. In short, with the previous-mentioned methods, I believe that I can write a great script.

According to the video "Scriptwriting" by Sean Ashin, I learn some tips to write a screen script by the several experts in the video. First of all, a woman writer encourages that to keep writing is important. No matter what difficulties you face, you should try your best to put new things in your brain and never stop writing. Then, he shows me what I should notice when writing a professional screenplay, such as the dialogues, settings, props, and customs, which are all planning tools. And, I also learn some things about the form of a professional script. In short, by this video, I do understand more about writing a screen play.


After watching the two films, I think there are some differences between them. For one thing, the first video mainly focuses on how to write a script rather than the second one which pays a lot emphasis on the film script. For another, the first one gives me a simple and clear outline of how to write a script; while the second video is made up of several interviews by experts and students, which is more complicated. Third, I feel the first video is easy to understand and it doesn’t make me feel scared of writing a script. However, the second video is more professional and makes me know that it is difficult to write a good screen script. In conclusion, a good script is the soul of a good drama or a good film. To be able to write a good script, beside the tips mentioned above, I should keep writing and thinking rather than just dreaming.

I promise (II)

“Hey! Jack! Are you alright?”

It is Ted, who is Jack’s neighbor and doesn’t get married yet.
“It’s been cold and dark outside!”
“You’d better go into the house otherwise you’ll catch a cold.”
“What are you doing?”
“Oh…..” “It’s been twenty years, right?”
“Since the police found out that your daughter, Mori, died in the house, killed cruelly and bloodily.”
“Well…… She was good girl, honestly.” “And, I couldn’t believe that the judge believed what that jerk says and sentenced him only thirty years.”
“And……”
“You fainted right away in the court.”
“So……”
“Now, it was all in the past, right?”
“By the doctor’s prescription, you would recover soon. I can give you my words.”
“Let go of her, Jack.”
“And, you would be better.”

Speaking over, Ted goes back to his house, leaving the old Jack alone outside. Not paying attention to what Ted said before a few minutes ago, Jack still sits on his chair and the Pop is ready sleepy.

It is dark now. On this special day at night, everyone goes to town to celebrate, making the Memory Road so silent and tranquil. Being absent-minded, Jack slightly smiles to the stars in the sky, thinking how fool he is that he forgets his daughter’s name. Now, Jack misses not only the name of his daughter but the growing of her appearance, the warmness of her hug, the taste of her tears, and the rain they had been caught together. All those pieces of Jack’s memory flash and overlap in his brain, chaotically and constantly, wildly and repeatedly, driving Jack’s mind to crazy. Shouting, pulling his hairs, and crying, Jack’s mind is out of control and he can’t hide his emotion anymore; so, he reveals them all, which is so abruptly that he scares Pop. Being scared, Pop shakes his tail fast and jumps up to Jack’s chest, licking away his tears. Comforted by Pop, Jack calms his emotion and touches Pop softly. In such a bad mood, Jack decides to take a walk in the street. Thus, he makes sure that Pop is chained and his bowl is full of food. He stops the music, gets up from the chair, and believes that he would be alright after the walk. Before going down to the street, Jack looks up to the stars that shins over his face; then, he says with his heart beating strongly, with his tears running heavily, with his face smiling foolishly, with his words speaking affectionately, and with his pistol in the left pocket, “I promise.”

I promise (I)

An old man, named Jack, sits in his garden with the company of his Husky, Pop, facing to the east side, to the Aegean Sea. The sky is blue and clear. And, there are mountains of flowers in the garden which is colorful. He seems to recall something with his hands on the plain, old box on his laps, but everything is so peaceful.


Today is December 24th, Sunday. The weather is fine, with sun shining in the sky. The sky is blue and clear. It is indeed a great day for people to prepare for the tomorrow’s Christmas. All stores are swum by a lot people with joy and excitement, except one person, the one living on the Memory Road, whose house is white but old, simple but pleasant, with the colorful garden in front of the house where he has kept a Husky, called Pop, over ten years and where he usually sits to kill times on every big days rather than celebrate like others do.

Today, as usual, the old man, Jack, takes out a chair, a CD player at the right side, Pop at the other side and a plain, old box with ashes on its cover on his laps, sitting calmly on the chair. He starts to play the music on. It is not the pop music but some kind of classical one with the violin on the main theme. With beginning of the melody, Jack touches Pop’s head, which makes him feel happy and shakes his tail. Then, he opens the box, taking out lots of pictures, which he has no ideas who are they in the pictures beside him or what he had experienced in the past.

It has been twenty years since he could not remember anything from his lifetime. He takes the first picture, which he was in the military uniforms in WWII. He shakes his head and puts it into the box, meaning nothing he could recall. He takes another picture, with a guy and woman in the wedding party and him beside them, which was his best friend, Fred’s wedding. Again, he shakes his head and sighs, putting it into the box, meaningless, too. After viewing some pictures with nothing improvable, he combs Pop’s furs and takes the last picture. It is a girl, about her twenties, in a beautiful dress, a violin on her left hand, right hand fingers in the form of “V”, and a golden medal hanging on her neck. It’s about sun set now. Jack looks at the picture longer than any pictures do. Despite the fact that he can’t remember what her name is May? Mary? Maggie? or Marley? however, deeply in his heart, he knows he loves her. He loves her more than any other things in the whole world and even more than his life. He also remembers what he had promised her when the first time he saw her in the orphanage. He promised her that he would never, ever leave her, even a minute as he was about to take her home. But now, all he wants to do is to remember her name. Seriously looking at the picture, he still can’t get it. He gives it to Pop, trying to have a hint from him; instead, he just looks innocent back at Jack. With a long sigh, he raises his hand up to the sky, stretching himself. Jack is really old. It is not easy for a 68-year-old man to remember all things in his life. Yet, it is so ridiculous to forget his own daughter’s name. In fact, he has forgotten things since he fainted in the court twenty years ago.

The Reflection of Volunteering in an After School during the Winter Break

During this winter break, luckily, I came to this after school, opening my journey of being a volunteer. Generally, I was responsible for children’s English and helped with their schoolwork. This job seemed to be easy for me; however, it was a challenge because they are kids!

And, my first children English class was totally a disaster. The content of the class I chose, according to the concept of the children English education, was to teach them the sentence patterns of how to introduce themselves and how to greet to each other. However, it seemed to be too simple for those kids, especially for those who had been in some famous bilingual language cram schools. Thus, I decided to change my strategy, which is to teach them in thematic ways. We’ve discussed many topics, such as the environment protection, keeping in health, shops and stores and so on. Finally, the situation was more stable than the first time. And, those kids not only learned useful English but also started thinking some issues that are all deeply related to their daily life rather than just took out the vocabulary list and memorized them all.

Then, to help doing their schoolwork was another difficult works. Maybe, because of the Grade 1-9 Curriculums, it made wide varieties of their assignments for winter break, which was a great challenge for both of the children and me. Yet, with a heart of determination, whatever they were reading reflections or children poetries, we worked as one and finished them eventually. For me, it’s a great relief to achieve them; then, for those kids, after finishing, they were so joyful as if they had been in the heaven.

In the end, in the two-weeks volunteering, for chief’s and teachers’ cultivation and instruction, they will become my experiences and strength in the future, forcing me moving forward constantly. For children’s naive, brilliant, and sweet smiles, it is a wonderful therapy for a lonely and cold heart. I recollecting the scenes of being in the class, the clock stroke, breaking my spirit and love, which I had paid in the two weeks; nevertheless, I believe those chippings would be the most beautiful flower petals all over the world.