No Fear of Failing (FE8)

I think the most difficult parts in the EAP2 level are the presentations and writing. Before I became an EAP2 Student, I worried about I will fail the class, because I never had a chance to practice my speaking and writing in Taiwan. Moreover, I cannot speak a complete sentence before I came to America. You can imagine how stressed I felt.

However, I realized that it is not as hard as I thought. On the one side, by keeping practice, I can easily express my idea or emotion gradually. I tried to memorize every mistake I made, and corrected it by the Internet or dictionary when I came back to my room. In addition, I tried to remembered every new word I never heard before, and asked my teacher its meaning and how to use it.

On another side, thinking in English is a good strategy for learning English. First, you have to try to think about anything you are doing now in English, from when you wake up to when you go to sleep. Then, try to use English to describe your feeling or your expressions to others. The first time, you might just have a little vocabulary to use. Don't be defeated; use the dictionary to find the word you doesn’t know, and keep it in mind. Finally, you will find that you can speak English fluently, because you have already rehearsed the conversation in your mind again and again.

I am so glad I have the chance to study abroad and to improve my language ability. After this, I realized one thing that I can do anything well only I want to try with no fear of failing.

Not only Why People should Save Polar Bears but How

Abstract

The topic of this paper is the situation and solution for polar bears. It mentions that polar bears may become extinct in a few decades. There are four solutions to save polar bear from extinction. First, people should cut the emission of greenhouse gases and find a new kind of energy to replace oil or coal, which produces a mass of carbon dioxide when it’s burning. Next, people should ban hunting polar bears in order to keep their amount balanced. Third, it might be an efficient way to help polar bears migrate to the north part of their now current habitat or to Antarctica. Finally, ecotourism can evoke people to become aware of the importance of ecological balance.

Two Diet Cultures (FE7)

Chinese food and American food are very distinct. We believe that Chinese have abounded in diet culture and we are proud of with that. In Taiwan, we have hundreds of ways to cook food, such as steaming, coiling, frying and roasting.

Unlike American, we have rice as the essential part in our daily diet. Besides, we also prepare three to four dishes to match rice, such as frying vegetable, green pepper beef, tomato egg, etc. After finishing a meal Taiwanese like to drink a bowl of soup. People who come from Guangdong value the importance of soup. They would cook the soup with chicken or fish for almost 6-8 hours, because they believe that can extract the essence.

When I came to America, I was not used to American food. On the one side, Americans do not eat lots vegetables in their meal. They love to eat fresh vegetables with salad, but in my hometown, we think that it is unhealthy if you eat uncooked food. On another side, in my impression, American food is too greasy. They love to eat cheese, ham and creamy sauce, which has been considered as high fat food and may cause some heart disease and obesity.

However, all the impressions I have are based on the food provided by my dining hall and student center. And someone told me that it is not truly American food. Next time, if I have chance, I want to try the really and traditional American food. Maybe I will change my first impression with it.

A Moment to Remember (FE6)

A Moment to Remember is my favorite movie. It is a Korean movie that was released in 2005. The hero and heroine are a newly wedded couple and just enjoy their marriage life. However, the heroine got Alzheimer's disease, which has been considered a genetic disease. Gradually, she forgot everything, even her husband.

Because she doesn’t want to be a burden for her husband, the heroine asked her family to send her to a nursing home and to be hidden in secret from the hero. However, her husband crazily tried to find her. Finally, the hero found her in the nursing home. But, she was completely forget him and tried to introduce herself to him. It is a sad movie with no end of happiness, although the heroine remembered the hero at the last moment.

The movie has touched my heart. If someday, my lover forgot who I was, what would I do? What can I do? Or, maybe I am the person who lost everything. In my life, there are some people surrounding me. They are my lovers who also love me. I don’t want to lose memory of them.

After watching the movie, I realized that the most important thing is not earning more and more money or getting a good renown. The most important thing is every moment with my family and friends. Because my grandfather was suffering with Alzheimer's disease, maybe one day I will forget everything just like the heroine. But I only do what I want to do at least and no regret.

Travel in Japan (FE5)

I dreamed of traveling in different countries since I was a college student. This year, I joined a group that traveled to Bali, which is one of the islands that belong to Indonesia. I had a bad experience with the trip because the travel guide tried to sell something to us, and complained too much about their government. Since then, I decided that I do not want to join any more guided tours.

Today, individual travel is a popular choice. People can book the flight tickets and reserve a hotel easily by the Internet. If I have a vacation, Japan is the best choice, especially for individual travel. One reason is that I can orient the direction easily because the public signs in Japan are usually written down in Chinese characters.

Another reason is that I don’t need to worry about the traffic problem because the transportation in Japan is very convenient. In Tokyo, the capital of Japan, the subway station connects each scenic spot and the train schedule is very frequent. I can spend the whole day taking the train to anywhere and without following the tour schedule.

Besides, I love the Orient culture. In the past, Japan has gone to mainland China to learn their music, customs, language and art. Japanese kept the most of the Chinese culture and made a different style gradually. Fortunately, they are trying to keep reserving the soul of the culture.

I believe that you cannot wait until the next vacation. Japan is a perfect option.

Before The Wedding (FE4)

In Taiwan, the style of the wedding has leaned towards the Occident traditional wedding form, but with some difference. For example, if one couple is getting married, it is very meaningful for two families to become one family. Before the wedding, the man and his parents will go to the woman’s house and ask her parents to allow their marriage. After getting their approval, they start to prepare their wedding.

There is one thing different from Occident, which is that our parents are involved with our marriage details. People have to discuss each wedding detail with our parents; most of the time, parents take charge of each trivial part. However, sometime, the couple might be broken because their parents have opposite opinions.

There is another thing different from Occident, which is that people usually spend a lot of money and time to take pictures for memories. Couples go to a wedding studio and wear the beautiful bridal veil to take more than 100 pieces pictures. In their wedding, the album will be put on the table in order to share with everyone.

One interesting custom is that people who join their wedding party should give the couple money to bless their marriage. On the one hand, everyone has the responsibility to share the cost of the wedding breakfast.

Compared to the Occident traditional wedding, I think the Orient wedding has a significant value for two families. Each tradition that we should follow leads the couple to prepare to be one.

A New Communication Way Among Youths (FE3)

It is doubtless that today younger people are influenced by computers, and that computers have become one necessary part in their lives. Youths meet people and seek information through the Internet. Moreover, they love to share their lives and characters with their friend in a virtual world. According to all these reasons, youths develop a way to communicate easily and quickly, in secret, and hide the side from their parents or family.

The one reason is that teenagers have their own individuality and sometime their thinking is hard to accept by adults. Therefore, spending time with the same generation is the only way to seek the identification for adolescences. However, some people claim that young students are confused with the new language and correction. In my point of view, it is hard to define how serious the problem is.

Another reason is for saving time. The meaning of communication is letting people who talk with you understand what you want to express. For example, when some people chat with their friends on MSN which is communication software that connects people who are in different places by the Internet, they use “U” as “you” or “coz” as “because”. In the present day, time is money. Definitely, using specific and short words instead of long one is a very helpful tip for saving time to do other things or chatting more.

In conclusion, the new communication way is accompanied with the advancement of the Internet. People can find one private place they can focus on without disturbance. The new language may be one part of my life in the future.

Environment (FE2)

Taiwan is my home country and I have spent almost my whole life in this island. When I was a young child, I remember it was very cold and rained a lot during the winter. Besides, we always called the rainy spell in early summer the plum rains.

However, it has changed forever and unexpectedly. People never need to wear heavy clothes in order to defend themselves from the cold. Moreover, the blooming of flower was out of order in that we have an early antheses. All of these symptoms showed us that global warming changed the weather.

Although most people do not think it is a serious problem, warmer weather can damage the agriculture and make farmers lack in their harvest then lose their jobs. All of these not only affect a particular group but all the humans.

In conclusion, people have to face this problem and find out solutions such as seeking new natural energy instead of oil that decreases the emission of carbon dioxide. Although I prefer the warm weather, I would like to see my country just like before.

Technology (FE1)

The progresses of technology has changed our life style and improved our life quality. In my opinion, the using of computer is an important part in our daily lives. For example, the innovation of computers and the internet allows people to get new and useful information immediately. Today, students can grasp the content of textbook by the internet and need no papers.

In additional, from flight tickets to hotel reservations, from clothes to shoes, we can order anything we want by the internet. Moreover, people can make new friends who are from other counties in an easy way. Compared to the people who lived in the Middle Age, modern life is like a miracle from God.

However, there are some problems that accompany with the life improvement. For example, people are used to getting anything from the internet such as news, music and movies even relationships. The consequence of relying on the computers makes people rather spend their time with the computer than with families and friends. Moreover, it makes people separate from the real world. Although technology is an essential tool for all people, however, it is hard to say whether it is good for humans or not.