Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Animal Farm

Mr. Frederick is the leader of Germany as he represents Hitler and his actions throughout the book. Germany is smaller than England, and is better governed. Hitler is obviously tough and shrewd.  
Mr. Pilkington- the owner of Foxwood is the leader of England and the United States.England and the United States are the head of the ally force and are enemies with Germany. The United States and England to Russia could be large, neglected, and old fashioned as they clung to their capitalist ideals and not much was going on. They were probably overpopulated and developed. Leaders of England and the United States obviously would appear more friendly and easy-going, marking a sharp contrast between Germany and them. 
= Both Germany and the United States and England were looking for ways to turn Russia’s uprising into their advantages. Yet the countries were on opposing sides of the war, and that prevented them from collaborating forces. 
= It turned out that Russia seemed to first betray Russia and then turned to it for help when Germany attacked in the biggest militarist operation - Operation Barbarossa against Russia. It was the same in the novel when Germany at first traded with Foxwood, claiming they are the good guys. They also claimed the Pilkington was evil, but later came to trade with them instead. 

American History Quickwrite

There are a couple of events with historical significance that are also quite important to myself as well. The first event happened on September 21 when the most famous Earthquake ever sounded Taiwan first stroke. I was nothing but a little infant at that time, and could vaguely recall mother nature going left and right. My parents had to scurry out of our apartment and stream down the stairs. In the middest of the chaos, we left our beloved pet- Jelly behind. It wasn't until we got to the car when my youthful self suddenly discovered that Jelly was not with us. I screamed for my family to go back but my parents refused, seeing how grave the situation can be. We returned to the apartment three days later to find Jelly alive, which was a bliss. I learned the value of life and friends throughout this experience . Another memorable event of mine that had historical significance was the Great Recession around 2008~2009 : an economical depression that struck many jobless. Our family wad affected as my mother's income was reduced due to the fact that too many went bankrupted during that period. Our aunt got into a huge debt and the family had to buy her out of it. Our family then experienced a short recession afterwards, and my brother was unable to attend a special competition in Finland since our family couldn't exactly afford an extra plane ticket. Up until present day, I could still hear the sound of my brother's soft weeping in my ears whenever our family was to board an airplane.  I swear to myself that I will never be trivial with money. The last event that has personal as well as historical importance to me was when the people gathered to protest against Chen-Shua-Bein's presidency. My father's family was spilt down into two when discussing about this event:  my grandparents supported the president while their sons does not. This resulted in many fights that nearly tore the family apart. There was once when my grandfather got so angry he slammed his bowl onto the ground and stormed out the door. It took us four hours to find him  the wandering by the train station and take him back home. Those four hours were probably the most painful hours of my life. I couldn't stop myself from worrying. I hated waiting, and that was exactly what I had to do at that time. I learned from this dilemma that family is the upmost important force above all others, including political affairs.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Report Card

Alyssa’s performance in English class is mediocre. Her test scores are unexceptional, always ranging in the lower nineties. Although she pays careful attention to the details in each story, she doesn't pay enough attention to the big ideas behind each story. She did horribly at the beginning of year in terms of vocabulary testing. Fortunately, her scores have begun to rise. She should find a time to go over key grammar areas with her teacher and try to limit her grammatical errors by herself. Alyssa sometimes slacks off and doesn’t accomplish the things she hoped to. She could also participate more actively and try to ask her questions in class. Alyssa also has a tendency to make grammatical and spelling errors in her assignments, and she should make improvements. One good thing about Alyssa’s performance in English is her improved vocabulary. She still needs to work on grammar and spelling.

Favorite Food Quickwrite( How to eat a Guava Quickwrite)

My absolute favorite food is the wonderful strawberry whose production is most abundant during the bitter coldness of winter and early spring. The red strawberry always provides my palates a sensational drive. The sweetness of the berry will fill my mouth with elastic joy as my tongue gently traced the softness of the meat . I deeply inhale in the scent of the strawberry, which to me, smelled a little like nature and grass. I also fumble a strawberry or two in my fingers, grazing their soft texture with extreme delicacy. I often associate strawberries with one Christmas my family and I had in the United States. The snow has turned the world into a winter wonderland, and frost has collected among the tree branches and glistened under the sun. It was an early Christmas morning and I was beyond exited to head down to the dinning room t collect the christmas presents my relatives promised to give me. I found out soon after that I had been a bit early and none of the presents were really prepared for yet. The meals were, however, ready on the table. I remembered getting a normal berry and propped it into my mouth, only to be driven into a joy of ectacy. Sweet sensations exploded on the tip of my tongue and expended downwards and eventually pervaded and took over my mouth. My parents later pronounced to me tenderly that the fruit I just had was called a " Straw-Bear- eeie" and that we can only eat the fruit during the bitterest cold of winter and early spring. The fact that it was so scare increased my love for the fruit even more. My memories with associations to strawberries also extends throughout my fifteen years of life. The places that I remember what I connect with my favorite food are the following: The cool air of the strawberry farm as we go for the annual picking. The sharpness of the strawberry branches, and the vivid crimson color of the fruit, 2) the dinning room in my house where the yellow light shined down gayly. Each and every year I would sit in the exact same spot and inhale the  natural sense of the fruit before I swallow it whole, and 3) the mountain where we went for a picnic every year during the early springs. We always brings strawberries, and I like to eat them lying on the soft, green grass of mother earth as the scent of the strawberry and the scent of nature became whole.