Blog Assignment 7

In the essay Radical But Right, the author Sarah Wells claims that people should stop killing and eating animals because they deserve the right to live free from cruel treatments. In order to support this point, the author made two counterarguments. The first one is that animals are not as stupid and inept as a lot of people think. Actually they have intelligence, compassion and gorgeous characteristics. The second one is that animals have the ability to feel the physical pain, which many people have ignored. The author used a lot of examples in scientific experiments to show the intelligence and good features of the animals and to demonstrate that they can feel the pain the same way as humans do. He also gave evidence of the importance of the animals' ability to feel pain by quoting the ethical claims of other people. Also, the author described the poor living condition of the animals, which arose the sympathy of the readers. I think the essay is persuasive, since it gives out both the logical and the emotional reason of why we should not kill and eat the animals, and provides a great many evidences to support the idea. In addition, it compares animials with human beings, which increases the sympathy of the readers.

Blog Assignment 6

The essay I read is A Way With Words, or Away With Words: Effect of Texting and IMing on Language by Timothy Barranco. One of the quotations used in the essay is "Variations within English - or any language - are normal, learned phenomena that exist as regional and social dialects" (Taylor 84) in the first paragraph of the last page. The author uses a direct quote from Dr. Orlando Taylor to strongly emphasize that texting language is merely a variation of English, which is no more than normal. And it supports the main idea that using texting language is appropriate.
The paraphrase I found is in the second paragraph of the last page, which says "Some scholars have noted that the popularity of txt can recall poetic examples of non-standard spelling (Shortis)." The author uses the parapharse because it is a new point of the topic and can be supported by details and examples. It refers to the literary figures such as E.E. Cummings, Willian Faulkner, Charles Dickens and Shakespeare who use numerous altered language in literature. Also, it states the benefit of using texting language by arguing that it can induce the poetic potential. And it makes a strong point of supporting the use of texting language.

Blog Assignment 5

In most of the circumstances, the history we know are written by the winners. However, the winners, which later becomes authorities, usually write the history with their prejudice and consider the benefits of them or their groups first. This situation was extremely notable in ancient China when the empires took charge of everything. For instance, the empire thought that they lived in the center of the world and regarded the people living far away as barbarians. However, it is now proved that where they used to live was not the center of the world. Neither was those people living far away from them barbarians.
The history can be totally different if the losers are writing it. However, everyone has prejudice while looking at this world, and no one can be perfectly subjective. The losers would also stand for their own benefit and have a different bias. Actually, I would rather read the history from the winner's side, since I insist that for most of the time, there is a reason why winners are winners. Therefore, the view of the winners will probably be more close to the fact. Nevertheless, I would like to access the history through the view of both the winners and the losers to get a better understanding.

Blog Assignment 4

In the essay, the Chinese student, Liu is encountering a serious problem that every international student may have, which is the culture shock. As is said in the passage, he made a lot of efforts to fit in his school and the American society, but failed. And his solution was to transfer to another college and live with people from China. It would be certainly easier for him to stay with his own people. However, there would be a lot more difficulties to get to know other Americans and learn more about American culture. Since he had only two years to stay in the US, it would be meaningless if he only get more Chinese friends during this experience. Nevertheless, he can still make it up by trying to reach out to the Americans who are friends with his Chinese friends. Also, a different school might lead him to more friendly people who do not care about his age (since he said that his age was a problem while building friendships). Moreover, as he said, he could have a deep relationship with an American so that he would be able to have connection with the US even after he leaves.
Actually, last year I had the same problem as he did. Since I was here as an exchange student, I had to live with a host family and there was a lot of problems going on, both cultural related and nonrelated. And I also chose to move to another place and live with my relatives. I might not know the US culture as well as I was supposed to be in that way. However, since I was in a public high school, all the people I met were Americans, and I could still learn some of the culture.

Nonverbal Expressions - Blog Assignment 3

The nonverbal expressions are of vital improtance in our life though it does not make any sound. It can be interpreted differently by different people, especially when they have different culture. However, most of the facial expressions and gestures we use in China and the US are similiar. We nod to show the agreement and shake our heads to show disagreement, which might be opposite in some countries. Personally, I can pretty much understand those nonverbal expressions made by the Americans. Moreover, I make up my own gestures and they seem to work pretty well.
Nevertheless, there are still some minor differences between China and the US. We Chinese usually do not show the quotation marks with our fingers bending as the way the Americans do. And there are to gestures that I heard of but have never seen or used before. One of them is to raise the thumb on the road, which means that a lift is needed. And the other one is to cross the fingers and roll the thumbs to show that you are bored. Also, I usually do the gesture which seems to mean victory in the US, and for me, it only shows that I am happy. In addition, I usually put my fingers towards my face in that gesture, while one of my best friends, who is also Chinese, usually put her fingers beside her face.
There is also one difference that is not as obvious as the ones I mentioned before. The nonverbal expression for the Chinese might be more implicit and delicate, especially when dealing with the superior officers. As to the Americans, the expression is usually easy to read.

First Impression - Blog Assignment 2

Sometimes I ask my friends what they thought about me when we first met, and most them see me as a quiet, gentle and wordless person. One of them even believed that I would never talk to her unless she talked to me first. There was even once that my friend took me to her friends who did not know me and ask about their first impression on me. She put what people used to say about me together and asked her friends like this: do you think she (pointing to me) is a person who is really silent, calm and gentle, just like a kitty? And more than ninety percent of her friends agreed with her. What's more, some of them even told us that was precisely how I looked like. However, there was only one person said that it was totally not me. That person had seen me several times before, and probably had already known me somehow. I am a quiet person when I start to know new people. In that case, I would like to listen to people rather than talk to them. However, when they get to know me a little bit more, or when there are some of my friends around, I would turn out to be one of the most chatty people in the group. I can be rather active and energetic as long as I want to, which would be most of the time. One of my classmates was even wondering if I really had a cold since I was so lively and talkative during the day. However, calmness is still part of me that might not show up when I am with my friends.

Different "Languages" - Blog Assignment 1 Part 2

Well, in my situation, I only speak Chinese with my parents when I was in China. When we are trying to be formal, the way we speak and write is pretty much the same. Usually we use fancy words and pay more attention to grammar when it becomes formal. But surely tere are a lot of difference when we talk. I started to chat online when I was in primary school, so I know a lot of "online language" in Chinese, which would be some words and usages that my parents sometimes never even get to know if not from me. However, my mom loves learning them from me. She thinks that she can more or less get in touch with "my world" in that way. I was an exchange student in the US last year. And when I got back home last summer, it was so amazing that I heard so many words and sentences from my mom's mouth that I used to say a lot.

Also, sometimes I feel it really hard to translate the sentences I used to say in Chinese into English. When I first came here, I always wanted to say those sentences but did not know how, which really depressed me some how. After some time, I just decided not to translate them, and try to say something else in English. But I was so surprised when I knew that Olly, who is also a Chinese studying in the US now, brought his habit of using Chinese into English. He told me that he said "you are very two", which is directly translated from Chinese and means that you are so stupid in a kidding way. And what surprised me more was that his American friends also say that with him. He was actually speaking English in his own way and it affected his friends, while I was only trying to get used to the expression way of the native speakers. I never thought the problem in that way. But it might open another window for me to use English more freely. But I am surely not using it in formal situations.