July 29

This week, I think I have a little improvement in my reading and listening. I did some text and know how toefl test work. I think the listening part is a little hard for me. But it's good. I like the speaking part though I'm not good at it. Sometimes, I can't understand the meaning of the question, it's bad.I need to remeber more vocab.

Television, newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people especially public figures and celebrities.

Shiyang Song

Television, newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people especially public figures and celebrities.

I think that television, newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention to the personal lives of some famous people. They pay so much attention to the bad affairs of stars and politicians.

When you go to a newsstand, you see the pictures in the newspapers and magazines at first. What do you see? I see most newspapers and magazines post some famous people on the front page news. Then, what do they say? Most of time, it will say that a star likes another star, a star is going to divorce. When you turn on the TV, there is more news about famous people than the news about the other countries and world or TV shows. Therefore, I think people pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people.

I think famous people should have their own lives. They may work as stars and show themselves on the TV, but besides working, they are ordinary people like us. They also have a right to their own secrets. They also need to relax. They will make mistakes. They will also be angry. They will laugh and cry. They are human. I don’t agree that people use their personal lives as a theme.

I also think that media need to let people know what is happening in the world. It’s the way what will the government do next. Then, people could decide if the government is right or not. It’s a way for people to be a part of the country and give their own opinions about the government. It’s a way for them to know what their life will be in the future. But now, it seems different. They can’t give us any useful information. It becomes entertainment. I think it’s worrisome. It’s not why we need the media.

Therefore, I think that media should not pay so much attention to the personal lives of famous people but rather the important things that happen in the world. I think that is what most people need.

"When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success." Do you agree or disagree with the quotation above?

Shiyang Song

"When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success." Do you agree or disagree with the quotation above?

Luck is necessary. If you don’t have a chance, you will not succeed

Luck is not enough to be successful. You need to grab the chance.

I don’t agree that ‘ Luck has nothing to do with success.’ I think hard work and luck are both necessary to be successful.

All famous people are lucky. For example, if the apple didn’t fall on Newton’s head, he would never think about why the apple always fell down. Then, he would not be able to find out why. He could be a great scientist.

 Therefore, luck is also necessary for success. If a person doesn’t work hard, it’s hard for him or her to succeed, but if a person isn’t lucky, he or she would never be successful. Luck gives you a chance to be successful. For instance, if a person is born in a poor family and he could not go school, he couldn’t study. If he didn’t know enough knowledge about something, he would not be a great personage in this field in a peace times.

Therefore, luck is important to be success. But it only gives you a chance to be successful. If you don’t work hard to take advantage of an opportunity, you also would not be able to be success. Opportunities are only for the prepared minds. If you aren’t careful with everything you do, your chances will diminish. Let’s think about Newton again. Of course, he was lucky to be hit by an apple, but he was not the only one who has ever been hit by an apple. The difference between them is that Newton saw this as an opportunity, where as people would think about that how unlucky they were.

So I think luck is necessary. When people succeed, it is because of hard work and luck.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this new influence on your community.

Shiyang Song

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this new influence on your community.

I will oppose the company to build the large factory, because I think that a big factory has more disadvantages than advantages. I think factories should be built in the industrial neighborhoods.

I think noise is the most important reason for me oppose to building the factory. I don’t know how American factories work, but in China, factories sometimes work in the afternoon. When I come back home after a day’s study, I’m very tired, I don’t want to hear a lot of noise. I need to do my homework and review, a lot of noise also will affect me. For example, a subway was built in front of my house three years ago. It was very noisy. Sometimes, they worked when I wanted to sleep, so I couldn’t sleep. Sometimes, it also ran on weekends. I couldn’t stay home and study. Luckily, a month later, they didn’t work when people were home. I was happy about it. From that incident on, I hate building buildings near my house. There are also many machines in a factory, so when it runs, it would also affect my daily life. Sometimes, factories run at night, because electricity is cheaper at night. I couldn’t image what would happen to me if the factory ran at night, I think I would be sleepless.

Another reason that I wouldn’t want a factory built near my house is because of pollution. There will be more dirt on the road. Maybe, if I open the window in the morning, I would need to clean everything when I come back. The air would be dirty, too. It would make me feel bad. It would be hotter than other area in the city.

I can’t deny that there would be some benefit if there was a big factory near my house. I think the traffic would be better, because I don’t think every worker in the factory could drive to work. I’m not happy about the traffic near my house. It’s not convenient. A big factory might improve it. The community will be more prosperous. There might be more restaurants near my house for workers for lunch. Then, I hope there will be more shops. This would be good.

Although it would make my community more prosperous, I think the disadvantages are more important. Thus, I wouldn’t want a factory near my community. I think it’s a bad idea to build factories near residential neighborhoods. I have never heard of it.

Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books?

Shiyang Song

Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books?

I think knowledge gained from books is more important. If knowledge from experience is more important, why would we need to study knowledge from books?

First, most knowledge from books is right before college. This part of knowledge is certain to be right, it’s base knowledge. Of course, there is some wrong knowledge, but we could only know it’s wrong after we have enough knowledge. The way to get the knowledge is study from books. For this reason, we should study more knowledge from books.

The knowledge in books is easy for us to study, because it is chosen by knowledgeable people, When someone found it as a regular knowledge and proved it, it was very hard. For example, nowadays, we know that the earth is an ellipse and moves around the sun, but in the past times, people didn’t think so. They thought that the earth was the centre of the the universe. They thought the earth was square. They burned people who thought the earth was round and people who thought the earth wasn’t the centre of the space. Then, after a long time, they finally could believe that what the earth like, after many worthy people’s death. But we know it, we will never think about the earth is square nor the earth is the centre of the universe. So, why don’t we think so? Why we know it? It is because we have studied it from some books. The knowledge from books is the experience that our forebears found. So, it’s not essential for us to find it from experience. If we find all the knowledge, which someone has found before from experience, we won’t have time to find new knowledge. So, human will not advance.

It doesn’t mean that knowledge from experience is not important, but I think knowledge from books is more important for us. If you go college, and know more, you can discover new knowledge for people to study, but knowledge from books is the base. Thus, knowledge gained from books is more important than knowledge from experience for us.

Parents are the best teachers

Shiyang Song

Parents are the best teachers

I think that parents are the best teachers for their children. A teacher may teach a student for three or four years, but parents teach their children for their entire lives.

First, before a baby has gone to school, parents are the only teachers they have. They teach their children to walk, talk, eat and drink. They help babies to know the world. They teach their children to be brave, to not line, to help them. After parents’ teaching allow babies to become human rather than animals. They can study; they can think; they become a part of the society.

After kids go school, parents also need to teach them, because kids spend more time with their parents than their teachers and friends. So, parents will influence children’s custom more than any other people. If parents always drink liquor, their kids will drink earlier than other kids. If parents read books, their children will also like it. So, parents are the best teachers for children, because they influence their character, and their character will influence their life.

A teacher only teaches students knowledge, where as a parent teaches their children how to live in the world.

When children grow up to work, they won’t have a real teacher, but they will be more confused, because life will be total different from the life they had. They may not feel comfortable in this world. At this time, parents are the only people they can ask for the answers. They can teach them, help them, as they have always done. Then, they can become adults and have their own children and teach them like their parents did.

Therefore, I think parents are the best teachers for children. They should be responsible for their children. Children should listen to their parents because parents always think about them and most times, parents are right until children learn to be responsible for themselves. The lesson for parents is “ Don’t stop teaching your children”, they will need your guidance until you die.

If you could change one important thing about your country, what would you change?

Shiyang Song

If you could change one important thing about your country, what would you change?

If I could change one important thing about China, I would change the education system, because it has many flaws.

First, in China, every student has to work hard to earn a good grades. So, teachers give us a lot of homework to do, this means students don’t have any other time to do anything they that we are interested in. If they have free time, we would not study, they would only want to play, because they have to study so much every day. For example, my friends in China now are very busy. Here is a schedule for the summer vacation of one of my friends in China. She gets up at 6a.m. and arrives at school at 8 a.m. to study until 1 p.m. She will have lunch on the bus as she heads to another school for her Math class. She will finish her studies after 10 p.m. I don’t think hard work is a bad thing someone likes to study these things, but actually, every student in China has to do this. This is because students want to go to a good high school or a good college.

In different areas of China, schools are different. In big cities, education is better than the small cities. All students what to go to a good school: with good teachers, good classes and good colleagues. So the next thing I want to do is to make the education resources equal across all areas in China.

Another thing I would change is to allow students to choose classes which suit them. All students have the same classes in the same grade. Some students are much better than the class, and some students don’t understand what teachers are saying. So I think Chinese schools should provide more levels in every subject for students. This way, students could take a class appropriate for his or her level.

Finally, I think Chinese students should have more chances to work outside of school. Chinese students can’t work until they are 18 years old. I think work is also a good way to learn. So, I would let them work at a younger age.

I think most Chinese students want to change the education system as much as I do. Perhaps someone will pay attention to these flaws and change them in the future.

  

Shiyang Song

If you could change one important thing about your country, what would you change?

If I could change one important thing about China, I would change the education system, because it has many flaws.

First, in China, every student has to work hard to earn a good grades. So, teachers give us a lot of homework to do, this means students don’t have any other time to do anything they that we are interested in. If they have free time, we would not study, they would only want to play, because they have to study so much every day. For example, my friends in China now are very busy. Here is a schedule for the summer vacation of one of my friends in China. She gets up at 6a.m. and arrives at school at 8 a.m. to study until 1 p.m. She will have lunch on the bus as she heads to another school for her Math class. She will finish her studies after 10 p.m. I don’t think hard work is a bad thing someone likes to study these things, but actually, every student in China has to do this. This is because students want to go to a good high school or a good college.

In different areas of China, schools are different. In big cities, education is better than the small cities. All students what to go to a good school: with good teachers, good classes and good colleagues. So the next thing I want to do is to make the education resources equal across all areas in China.

Another thing I would change is to allow students to choose classes which suit them. All students have the same classes in the same grade. Some students are much better than the class, and some students don’t understand what teachers are saying. So I think Chinese schools should provide more levels in every subject for students. This way, students could take a class appropriate for his or her level.

Finally, I think Chinese students should have more chances to work outside of school. Chinese students can’t work until they are 18 years old. I think work is also a good way to learn. So, I would let them work at a younger age.

I think most Chinese students want to change the education system as much as I do. Perhaps someone will pay attention to these flaws and change them in the future.

  

Shiyang Song

Do you agree or disagree with students should take out student loans to avoid working while studying?

I think that students should take out student loans to avoid working while studying because student loans are good things for students. You will feel happier with the loans in the college, and it’s good for your future.

First, you will be independence if you take out student loans. You don’t need to get money from your parents, so, you will become a real adult. So you will know the life of adults. You will learn how to make a life in the world of adults. You need to think about how much money you have. You will need to have a plan on what you are able to spend. You will know how hard life is and you will not waste money if you don’t earn enough money. You will know how strenuous it has been for your parents to bring you up. You will grow up more quickly.

You will have more time to study. You won’t need to work for money, so you could do something which is more significant to get some important experiences. It will help you to work well in the future. For example, you could join a club. Then, you would know more things, and you could possibly get a chance to meet and make friends. You would also study harder if you have the student loans, because you will have a big loan to pay in the future, so, you will need to study more  than other students under this pressure.

If you don’t take out a loan, you don’t have enough money or you need to get money from your parents. I think it’s bad to get money from parents when you are over 18 years old. So you need to find a job. I don’t think you can find a good job in a short time. But, a bad job might cause you to not work as hard on finish your college work to be able to get a better job. So, the best way is to take out student loans.

For these reasons, I think students should take out student loans to avoid working while studying.

The third week

I think I got better in writing and grammer. Reading is the hardest part for me, because of the vocab. I felt good about listening and speaking, and I want to countinue it. I think I also need to do the real toefl text next week to make sure where I am.

Shiyang Song

A Great City

Shanghai is a good city to visit. There are about 18 million people that live in Shanghai. There are many famous kinds of Chinese foods there that you will be able to eat. You can also find many different kinds of buildings from different countries and different cultures. It’s also a good place for shopping. It is a representative city in China. You can experience the real China there.

Likes and Dislikes

I like playing on the computer best. I also enjoy my classes at school. I prefer Math and Science more than other subjects. I dislike English, because my mother asked me to have very difficult English class when I was very small. I hate remembering things. I always forget what I have remembered quickly. I used to like eating very much when I was in China, but now, I don’t, because I think Chinese food is more delicious than the foods in America.

Chinese

First at all, there are more than 1 billion Chinese. So, China is a very crowded country. The Chinese think a lot about eating. In different cities, there are different kinds of food to eat. There are also many different kinds of languages in China. The Chinese can’t understand what people in other cities are saying if they use dialects. The Chinese work hard because life in China is not so easy. In China, most people travel by bicycle though they have cars. That is because there are always traffic jams in every city.

* Yesterday evening Jack __got__ (get) home ___at__ (preposition) half past five.
* He immediately __made___ (make) himself a cup of _____ (preposition) coffee and __sat down___ (sit down) to read a book.
* He _read____ (read) the book __at___ (preposition) half past seven.
* Then he __made___ (make) dinner and _got ready____ (get ready) to go out with his friends.
* When his friends _arrived____ (arrive) they _decided____ (decide) to go out to see a film.
* He __stayed out___ (stay out) until midnight with his friends.
* Finally he _fell____ (fall) asleep __at___ (preposition) about one o'clock.


Yesterday evening  I got  home at  two  o'clock. I immediately made dinner for myself. After lunch,  I (or we) sat down to play on the computer. Then I (or we) had dinner with my parents at about seven o’clock. I (or we) studied for a while.  Later I (or we) took a shower. I (or we) finally went bed at 11 o’clock.

Tell how to discipline an unruly child

Shiyang Song

Tell how to discipline an unruly child

I think there are many ways to discipline an unruly child. You could, for example be very stern to make him feel afraid of you so that he will obey you or you could also be very gentle in order to encourage him to become a good child. Actually I think the best way to discipline a child is to use both methods: to be stern first and then to be gentle. Why do I say that?

First, unruly children are very sly. If you are too soft at first, they will think you will never be stern with them. They will be more unruly. That’s why we need to be strict with them at first. This will make them know that they aren’t the center of the universe. People don’t always have to be so kind to them. So, if the unruly child wants other people to treat them well, then they have to be a kind person to other people first. Little babies don’t know anything when they are first born. Adults should teach him what to do and how to do everything. If you always think they are only little babies, and that they don’t know anything, then they will have good principles when they grow up. But you don’t teach them. So how can he know it? I think most unruly children are unruly because of their parents’ mistakes of not teach in their children well.

 After the unruly child knows I will not give in to him, I will be then gentle. I will explain what is my understanding of being gentle is first. In my opinion, to be gentle to unruly children is not to do everything they like, but to be a person who is often consistent with reason. Then, the child will know what is right and what is wrong. As I say, I will be a reasonable person often, because there are times that children must obey adults even if they don’t do anything wrong. That’s why children need guidance from their guardians. Guardians should teach children the truth, but sometimes, they are the rule for children, because they need to be responsible for their children. That’s the way to be kind to an unruly child. I also think this will help a child grows up from being a baby. He will know how to get along with other people, and then he will not be an unruly child.

This is what I think to discipline an unruly child. Actually, I haven’t ever taken care of a child before, but I think the person that disciplines him will influence him deeply. It may determine what kind of person the child will be in the future.

My opinions about the use of cell phones in the classroom or in school.

Shiyang Song

My  opinions about the use of cell phones in the classroom or in school.

I don’t think we need to use cell phones in school. First, it’s not necessary. On my cell phone, I have most of the phone numbers of my friends’ at my school. If you want to find your friends, most of them are in school, and you can just go to find them. The rest of the phone numbers of mine are from my family. I think I don’t need to talk to them during the school day, I can talk to them in my home. If you really need to use cell phone, you can use it outside of the school during your free times.

Also, why do students want to use cell phones? In my opnion, students are used to using their cell phones to play games but don’t use them to call someone. I don’t think it’s bad to play games on you cell phone, but it’s bad to play them in the school. School is a place for study, not a place to play. You can play games after school if you want. For example, I used to talk to my friends online on my cell phone in class with my classmates when I was in grade 9. I didn’t listen my teachers in class. Then my grades went down. Then I knew that I couldn’t use the cell phone while I was having a class. So I tried to listen carefully in the class, but I found that I didn’t understand what teachers were saying! Luckily, I studied hard and did a good job finally, that is because I spent more time studying. So if you work hard in class, you will have more time to play. Why not study hard in school, and then you can play at home.

Finally, it will influence other students to study. For example, if a person next to you is using a cell phone in the class, will you use it, too? Almost everyone will. So, don’t use it even if others use it. You also can’t use it at Brookline High School when you have free time. Although you have free time, other students will not necessarily have free time. If you talk loudly, they will also divert their attention. If you don’t want to be harmful to other students’ studies, you will not use it.

Therefore, I think we shouldn’t use cell phones in school. It could damage your school grades if you are wasting your minute using your cell phone instead of using your time wisely.

A time when I were treated unfairly.

Shiyang Song

A time when I were treated unfairly.

When I was 10 years old, I used to like beautiful things. Once I saw a beautiful picture puzzle. I had never seen it before. I thought I really like it very much. So I asked my mother to buy it. But my mother said that I didn’t even know what it was, and she would not buy it for me.

I was sad. I told her I would know what it was if she bought it for me. Mum said I was too small to play with it, I would run it very quickly. I promised my mother that I would be careful, I would not ruin it. I was big enough to play it. But mum didn’t listen to my promise. She said firmly that it would influence my score, so she would not buy it to me. And it was also too expensive for me to have it. I tried telling her that I would study harder and earn really good grades. But it didn’t work. I was feeling very dejected, but I knew mum would not change her mind. I looked at it again to set one more glance and left unhappily.

 It was not a big thing and I forgot it an hour later. One month later, I went to visit my Aunt’s family with my mother. To my surprise, I saw my mum buy my younger cousin a picture puzzle. I was very angry, because my cousin was younger than me and his grades were worse than mine. That picture puzzle was bigger than the one that it was I liked and more expensive. Why did my mother buy it for him? I didn’t understand. I was very angry. I asked my mother angrily and didn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t even eat lunch, but mother didn’t talk to me.

In the afternoon, we went home. Finally, I asked her why she purchased him a picture puzzle but didn’t allow me to buy it even if I did a better job on my studies. She just told me that was because he was not her child. I didn’t understand. I whined that if she only bought it for the kids who wasn’t her own child, I would like to not be her child. Mum heard it. She was so angry that she hit me. I cried, I thought it was not fair!

Now, I know why mother did it. She didn’t want to spoil me. But I still think it was unfair. I think that all children should be treated equally.

A famous area in my home country

Shiyang Song

A famous area in my home country

I come from Shanghai, China. Huang Mountain is a famous area in my home country. It is famous because of four things: the rocks and the pines, the variety of clouds, and the natural springs.

The rocks there are very different because of the rain, wind and sunshine. They look like sculptures. For example, one rock looks like an old man with a peach in one of his hands. It actually looks like a deity of Chinese mythology. He uses another hand to point the way to the mountaintop. So we called it ‘deity point the route’. There are also other rocks like this. The Chinese made beautiful stories for them. It’s really fun to see these rocks and listen to the stories.

The pine trees are also very famous. Huang Mountain is a rocky mountain, so these pines grow in the rocks. Some of them grow on the side of an embankment without any other plants. Some of them have lived for hundreds of years. Some also have amazing sculptures. You gasp in admiration: What strong living specimens they are.

The clouds there are very beautiful. People always climb to the top of the mountain early to see the sunrise. First, the clouds under the mountaintop become orange and then red. Then, you will see the red sun appear from the clouds. It likes the sun is rising from the seabed. The clouds look like what you see from an airplane, but they are moving and thicker. It really looks like the sea.

People like to go to the springs in the winter. It often snows in the water. It’s cold, but warm in the springs. You can see the snow landscape while you are soaking in the springs. You will not feel cold. It’s very relaxing.

Huang Mountain is also very steep. Every year, some people die there because it is difficult to climb. There are also many unusual varieties of animals and plants there. These make it very famous in China. Thousands of people visit Huang Mountain every day in China. It’s really a wonderful place.

What would you do if someone accused you of a crime you didn't commit?

Shiyang Song

What would you do if someone accused you of a crime you didn't commit?

It would be bad if someone accused me of a crime I didn’t commit. If it happened, first, I would tell them I didn’t do it. Your attitude is very important, because if you didn’t say anything, you would be less credible. Once, my wallet disappeared. I was very worried about it. The only person who could steal it was my best friend. I didn’t believe she stole it, but I asked her, and she didn’t say anything. So I suspected maybe she did something. Finally, I found it, and I knew she was innocent. If I couldn’t find it, maybe, I would think she stole it forever.
Second, I would find a person who could be fair on this case, because I and the person who argued with me couldn’t think about the case fair. If I said I was right, and you said you were right, how could we knew who was right? So, we would find a judge or an impartial person.
Finally, I would tell everything I knew to them. The more information that police know, the earlier you would be found innocent. For example, my cousin had a pen which was very expensive. One of her classmate’s pens which was the same as hers disappeared. It was not a surprise that she would be suspected. She told her teacher that pen was hers, and that she got it from her aunt. She also showed them the receipt. There, the mistake was solved.
If I was accused of a crime, I would not worry. I would need to be calm. I would help to find the truth.

What would you do if you got lost in an unfamiliar city ?

Shiyang Song

What would you do if you got lost in an unfamiliar city
?
If I got lost in an unfamiliar city, I would not be worried. The first thing I would do is to be calm. I would think about what I could do to solve this problem but not get worried. Second, I would call my friends who came with me or knew the city well. A phone call from me would reassure them that I was okay. It would also be the fastest way to find them. I would tell them what happened to me and also tell them some landmarks I had seen. Hopefully they would knew where I was and find me at once with this information.
Then, I would stay and wait for my friends come, because I had told them where I was. If I went away from this spot, they wouldn’t be able to find me then. For example, when I was very small, like 6 or 7 years old, I went to the supermarket with my mother. I saw a beautiful doll and I really liked it. I looked at it for a long time. I was mesmerized. When I came back to reality, I couldn’t find my mum! I was very afraid, and went to find her. There were so many people there that I couldn’t find her. Then my mum found me. She told me later that she had told me to stay and she would be back soon, but I didn’t hear her. Luckily, I didn’t move. By standing there, my mum could find me by her memory. So didn’t move if you got lost, because your friends would find you where you got lost.
If I traveled by myself, I would ask other people first where I was as well as how to get to where I want to go. Then, I wou

What would you do if your car got a flat tire on the freeway?

Shiyang Song

What would you do if your car got a flat tire on the freeway?
 If my car got a flat tire on the freeway, first, I would stop the car on the breakdown lane. It’s dangerous to stop the car on the road. Often, this would probably result in a car accident. I am imagining, if another car was traveling fast, and couldn’t stop, it would strike you car. If there were some cars behind it, they also would not be able to stop. It would be terrible. Then, I would turn on the hazard lights so that the other cars would know that my car was broken down. It would reduce accidents, and allow people to see what was happening.
 Second, I would call a car service such as AAA to come and repair my car. I don’t know much about car, so it would be better to not try to repair the car by myself. Sometimes, my parents have tried to repair their car without a professional, but most of the time they made it worse.So I would wait until professionals came and not do anything that could make it worse.
 Finally, I would wait for the car service to come. If I had made an appointment, I would call the people that I was planning to them I wouldn’t arrive on time. I wouldn’t make people wait for me without any explanation.
If my car got a flat tire on the freeway, I wouldn’t worry. I would do my best to change my plan and solve it.