BBC-Drinking water improves exam grades

Article reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17741653

When I see the topic “Drinking water improves exam grades”, I just feel “wow! It’s amazing.” It will be the dream of every student that we only have to drink water during the exam, and then we can get a better result in exams. Yet, we have to be aware that drinking water does not equal to good scores, which means if we do not prepare for our exam, we will still fail to pass it. Though older students are more likely to bring in water to the examination hall, the younger students (less of them bring water into the examination hall) show a higher percentage of improvement than the older students do. We still do not the reason why the importance of staying hydrated during exams target at younger students in particular. Maybe it is because of that younger students tend to be good at memorizing things.

Dance Trippingly with Death: Lo Man-fei

After watching the clip of Steve Jobs’ lecture in Harvard University (2005), I thought of Lo Man-fei. The topic that connects the two figures is—death. So, who is Lo Man-fei? Have you ever heard of her before? Lo Man-fei was a famous Taiwanese dancer who died in 2006 of lung cancer. When she died, she was only fifty-one years old. It’s a younger age than Steve Jobs’. And when she died, I was an elementary school child, knowing not much about her death.

BBC-Deaths spotlight Taiwan's 'overwork' culture

Article reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16834258

▲Picture from: http://twhijoe.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_4379.html

Working hard is a kind of nationality for countries such as Japan, Korean and Taiwan. Coincidentally, the three countries mentioned above are Asian countries and are really close to each other geographically. But, it doesn’t mean that all the Asian nations have the same nationality. Back to the topic “Taiwan's 'overwork' culture”, I think it is not merely culture, but it is an ingrained habit or life pattern. Through out ordinary people’s life in Taiwan (maybe it is a bit exaggerated), we spend our efforts working harder, harder and harder. And if we would like to work harder, we have to spend more time on working. I personally attribute this condition to the education system in Taiwan—the entrance exams. We are told when we were little child that we have to study hard if we want to get a good job in the future. The way to evaluate whether we study well or not is through the entrance exams (for college, for senior high or even for junior high). When entering the society, our boss will tell us: if you want to earn more money, you have to work hard. Working hard or working overtime becomes a doctrine in our society.

BBC-Afghans lampoon clerics over women ruling

Article reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17296607

It's hard for people from democratic country like us to imagine the life in Afghan. Afghan is now a republic country; however, what its government and its religious council (the Ulema council) are trying to do to the country seems like a throwback to the Taliban era (which is autocracy and caesaropapism). The recommendation that proposed by the Ulema council is a restrictive guidelines for women; woman's right and freedom will no longer exist. People in Afghan divide in two: one party is the youngsters who protest against the new law; the other party is the elders who think the law is in accordance with Islam, their religious belief.

Abortion: the Dismal Tomb of Fetus

Recently, the headline news of a raped ten-year-old Mexico girl gave birth to a boy baby shocked the world and again aroused the debate on abortion. Abortion has long been a controversial issue, especially to women. It is not only a personal decision but also a family’s care or even a society’s concern. Pro-choicers, who support abortion, claim that abortion is the right to choose, which means the mother can decide if she wants to keep the baby in her womb or not. On the other hand, pro-lifers state that abortion is the right to life (anti-abortion). That is, they think that once the embryo implantation happens, growing fetus in the uterus starts to have the right to live as a normal human being. Both the pros and cons parties have their own positions on this issue and provide strong evidences to support their arguments. What on earth is the right thing to do? As for me, I think abortion should be banned, for it not only causes social problems but it also does harm to the mother and baby.

The Shoulder of Steve Jobs

Steve Paul Jobs of Silicon Valley, who passed away on October 5, 2011 as we all know, was the co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. A surge of Apple’s website was caused by people from all over the world to mourn for the falling of a great man. The homepage of Apple’s official website was put on a series of numbers “1955 -2011” , which represents not only the record of Job’s overall lifetime but also the historic record of technical era. Steve Jobs, except for the identity of Apple’s chairman, was also a technological pioneer and a convincing orator. Now, let’s dig into the legendary life of Steve Jobs. 

Anne Frank: The Whole Story

I bought the book, The Diary of a Young Girl.

In order to get the whole outline of the diary and Anne’s daily life, I watch the film about her, Anne Frank: the Whole Story. Before I watch the film, I was always confused by the people in the diary. After watching it, I can clearly recognize them. In my notion, vision is a lot more shocking than words because its impact is direct and immediate. The scene that shocked me most happened at the time when Anne was sent to the concentration camp. Germans gave them nothing to eat and treated them like animals; they stripped off all Jews’ clothes, making them naked, and then tattooed the number on their body. What’s more mortified was women’s hair was all cruelly cut down like weeds. After the mayhem had all done, Jews were sent to obsolete camp.