LARK

It is a common scene in a kindergarten playground that children are singing, dancing or playing merrily. They are enjoying a good time. They are as happy as a lark – a lark often sings merrily while it is in flight.

Early to bed, early to rise – we all know this is a good habit. Rise with lark, do some exercise in the pure morning air, and you will begin a new day feeling fresh and energetic.

“If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.” This is a playful reply to some wild scheme. Suppose someone speaks of a plan of setting up ten more universities in Hong Kong in a few years, you can say this proverb as a comment or reply.

Being with You (The review and reflections of the film NO PUEDO VIVIR SIN TI)

What’s the strongest love in the world?

Is it the love between the boy and his toys?

Is it the love between the cat and the fish or the love between young couples?

No, they are not; however, it’s between the father and daughter.

The film, NO PUEDO VIVIR SIN TI, briefly tells a story about a father who is a fisherman without the legal certification, raising a daughter on his own.

During the film, the father and his daughter lived in a deserted ship. And, by doing unstable job pointed by his boss and catching some crabs from the sea, they could still make living by themselves, and lived happily because they were together.

Once they were together, they were not going to be separated easily whatever happened in their lives. They would try to find ways out or stand out fighting for it in order to protect their love, which could be seen in the movie.

In the beginning of the movie, they were happy even though they were not rich. Even if the police came to inform the father that his daughter had to apply for a resident permit as soon as possible or she would be taken away. Yet, they didn’t give in. Especially when the father asked his daughter to live with her mom who was married to another guy, she put his father away, meaning reluctantly to hear that saying and leave him.

Then, they went forward to Taipei and blindly searched for help. Moreover, they went and back for two times only to deal with the problem that is so complicated for a lack-of-knowledge fisherman. But, they never felt tired; instead, they enjoy the scenery on the road and cherish the time being together.

Eventually, his daughter was taken away because of a dangerous behavior that is the father went up to bridge and swore to jump down with his girl in order to let everybody know their difficult situation. After two years, the father was out from the jail while his daughter had been in school. However, he still wanted to find where his daughter was. Finally, he found her and knew that she was a good student, but just didn’t interact with other students. In the view of this, the daughter might try to give a hint of his father that she was waiting for him, resulting in the ending reunion.

After seeing this film, I think it is a great film. It’s sweet and touching. Also I think it is successful for reasons. First of all, the director shot the film into black and white, which makes the whole story more real to the original one. Also, I was so into the movies with the help of the soft music and its simple film language. I could even feel the heavy atmosphere emitting from the movie. Finally, what his father did may not be understood by others. How strong the love is between them may not be able to measure. Yet, in my point of view, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it doesn’t matter at all. In this indifferent world, they are together, and that would be enough. In the film, Even though they hardly got any help from others, and this isolated society forced them to do dangerous thing to make people face their issue, their love is so simple but strong that will glow in the end as they were reunion again. In the end, no matter what the director meant to show that there are still some people keeping humanity in their hearts or just try to let us feel sorry for them, I hold a firm belief that without any words, I feel that they had each other again once they looked into each others’ eyes.

DAMP

It is damp and wet in Hong Kong in late spring and early summer. Damp air can damage our radios or TV sets. If your house is very damp, the damp will even damped the walls and cause them to stain badly.

Bad news may dampen your spirits. A sad story can put a damper on your happy feelings. Bad weather will damp down your keenness on outdoor activities.

RIVER

The most important river in the United States is the Mississippi River. The river that flows through London is the River Thames.

Heavy rainfall makes a river rise; continuous dry weather makes a river sink.

We go boating on a river, and go swimming in a river. Ships and boats sail up and down a river.

How do you know a friend is a devoted friend? A devoted friend will never sell you down the river.

Studying Abroad

To my understanding, the reason that they would like to study abroad is to start a new life because they could learn new things, make new friends, and would be independent.

First of all, most of the students study abroad for learning new things. In a foreign country, they may learn a lot of things, such as the culture, the custom and even the language there. They would surely see and experience many different and special things which would broaden their horizons when they go abroad.

Second, students going abroad are for making new friends from a foreign country. When studying abroad, they may want to make friends with local people to get familiar with their daily habits. If they stay in their own countries, they probably would not know those different people of different thinking around the world. Besides, getting to know someone form a different country would really make your life abundant.

Least but not last, students that go abroad for further studying are trained to be independent. In the foreign country, without their parents aside, they are definitely going to make living by themselves, such as washing their own clothes, cooking themselves, weighting the balance of their household, and so on.

In conclusion, to start a new life, students would choose to study abroad, would learn many things about the foreign, would make friends with local students and would be more independent comparing to going to their own countries’ university. In the view of this, I believe that they will benefit a lot as they study in foreign countries in their lives time ever after.

CRAB

Certain kinds of crabs are very tasty seafood. Do you know how many pairs of legs a crab has? Five pairs, or rather, four pairs and a pair of large front claws.

The crab walks or runs sideways, hence the saying, “You cannot make a crab walk straight.” This saying tells us not to do what cannot be done. For example, don’t try to force a boy to learn ballet if he is not cut out for it: you cannot make a crab walk straight.

What is “crabbed hand”? It refers to hand writing that is small and difficult to read. If your composition is written in a crabbed hand, other people will find it illegible.

BEE

In spring and summer, when flowers are in bloom, bees are especially busy – busy gathering nectar from flowers to make money.

People are sometimes as busy as a bee. On a day when you have a lot of cleaning and washing to do, you are as busy as a bee, aren’t you?

What’s “a bee in one’s bonnet?” It’s an idiom, meaning “a strange, fixed idea.” If a boy has a bee in his bonnet about becoming another Superman, that will be a big problem. Then it will be necessary for his parents and his friends to talk him into giving up the idea.

Ice

Ice is the solid form of water. On hot summer days you certainly enjoy iced drinks and ice-cream.

In winter time many people like to skate on frozen lakes. Everybody knows it is dangerous to skate on thin ice. So it is easy to see why the idiom “to skate on thin ice” means “to be in a risky situation”. You’ll be skating on thin ice if you take an examination without preparation.

“Break the ice” is another idiom. On a social occasion there must be somebody to break the ice at the beginning and start a conversation.

PEACOCK

A peacock is a large bird. Its long tail has bright green and gold feathers with spots like eyes on them. When a peacock raises its tail and fans out the feathers, it is indeed a wonderful sight.

A peacock likes to walk about proudly. So, if a person is very proud, we can say he is as proud as a peacock. Such a person is unpleasant. A person who plays the peacock is even more unpleasant. What kinds of people often play the peacock? Vain people do.

WOLF

To cry “Wolf” is to give a false alarm. It comes from the fable of the shepherd boy who often called “Wolf” merely to make fun of the neighbors. When at last the wolf came, no one would believe him. So never give a false alarm, a false fire alarm, for example. Otherwise no one will come to your rescue when you are really in danger.

“Wolf” can stand for “hunger”. You can say “he has a wolf in his stomach” instead of “he is very hungry”. One who eats quickly and greedily is said to wolf his food or to eat wolfishly. “To keep the wolf from the door” is to keep out hunger. It is said that so many people in the world still find it hard to keep the wolf from the door.

BAT

The expression “as blind as a bat” comes from the belief that bats are blind. In fact, bats can see about as well as humans in daylight. It is at night that they cannot see with their eyes. But then, they can “see” with the help of sound waves. They use sound waves so well that can catch flying insects at night.

It goes without saying that “as blind as a bat” means having very poor eyesight. “That man is as blind as a bat. How can he do reading?” The idiom can be a figure of speech: “The manager is as blind as a bat ---all those obvious drawbacks have escaped him.” Here the idiom refers not to the manager’s eyesight, but to his poor judgment.

BUTTERFLY

You must notice that a butterfly has four broad, often brightly coloured wings. You may often see butterflies fluttering from flower to flower. But you have never seen them fly at night, have you? They fly only in the daytime.

The butterfly, or the butterfly stroke, is one of the five basic strokes in swimming. It is not easy to learn, but it is smooth and graceful if performed correctly. Can you do it?

When may a person get butterflies in his stomach? It may be before a job interview if he is applying for a job; it may be before a major operation if he is a patient.

CHESTNUT

Chestnuts, or chestnut trees, bear nuts that are also called chestnuts. It is not very easy to get the nuts because they grow inside a large prickly shell.

“To pull somebody’s chestnuts out of the fire” is also to take a risk to help somebody in a difficulty. “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” When it is necessary, you will pull your friend’s chestnuts out of the fire, surely.

Suppose a friend of yours tells you a story or joke which you have heard many times already. You will probably cut him short, saying: “No more of that old chestnut.”

栗所結出堅果也叫做栗子。堅果很不容易取出，因為它長在多刺的厚殼內。

「替某人火中取栗」就是為幫助處於困境的人冒風險。「患難見真情」。必要的時候，你肯定也會為自己的朋友火中取栗的。

假設你的一個朋友跟你講述你早已多次聽過的故事或笑話，你很可能會打斷他，同時會說：「別再說這種陳舊的故事(或笑話了)。」

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.

My New Year’s Resolution

At the last day of the year, everybody celebrates and counts down. Everyone, with great joy and excitement, wishes to turn a new leaf off with their new year’s resolutions, and I am no exception, too. This year, my New Year’s resolutions would be gaining weights, passing every course I take.

First of all, gaining weights is the top priorities I should achieve. As a student, it is true that study is important. However, if my health is bad, I will be lack of energy to carry on. And, as a college student, I high 165 centimeters, but I only weigh around 50 pounds, which is really thin and weak. So, I’ve set an objective that I should weigh at least 65 pounds at the end of 2010. Then, to reach the goal, the first step I should take is to eat more. Since I am always busy with my works, I usually skip many meals which are basic for normal people in a day. Thus, the nutrition would be not enough to support me; so, in the New Year, I should pay more attention to that. The other thing I could do is exercise. It is said that exercising indeed help strengthening my body. Besides, the weights I get would be muscles but not fat. Hence, in addition to PE class, I also have to spend two hours exercising once a week.

The other resolution I ought to do in the New Year is to pass every course I take no matter this semester or the next semester. Being a sophomore student, courses are getting tough and I’ve also taken education courses, which mean that I am going to be very busy. I am afraid that I might fail any of them. So, I think I should manage my time well to get passed. Therefore, I should spend at least two hours on each subject on the premise that I have 27 credits in the next semester and a lot of unpredictable reports to deal with, and I also need to take notes well in the classes which will be useful for me to review.

To conclude, the coming of the New Year also means the changing of the new life. To make my changes succeed, a plan is essential. As the saying goes, “Plan your year in spring, you day at dawn”. With specific and precise plans mentioned above, I believe that I would reach my own expectations.