Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb. 3, 2015
Draft #2
“Learner Profile: Abdullah”
Abdullah is one of the nice classmates in our class. He graduated from her high school in Jordan. He hasn't graduated
college, but he wants to go to college.
He was born in the United States, and then he moved to Jordan with his family.Six months ago, he came back to New York.
He said that he started to study English when he was a child,but he still feels English is not easy. For him, speaking is easy
for him, however vocabulary and writing are difficult. He would like to work with classmates. He thinks reading in English is not
bad and he likes to read in his first language.
In this semester, he wishes to improve his writing ,reading and speaking .
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb. 3, 2015
Draft #2
“Learner Profile: Abdullah”
Abdullah is one of the nice classmates in our class. He graduated from her high school in Jordan. He hasn't graduated
college, but he wants to go to college.
He was born in the United States, and then he moved to Jordan with his family.Six months ago, he came back to New York.
He said that he started to study English when he was a child,but he still feels English is not easy. For him, speaking is easy
for him, however vocabulary and writing are difficult. He would like to work with classmates. He thinks reading in English is not
bad and he likes to read in his first language.
In this semester, he wishes to improve his writing ,reading and speaking .
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb.6.2015
Draft #3
“What to Do During The Holiday”
QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNIQUE. December 2014
In this article, the author gave people some ideas about how to celebrate holidays in
New York City. First of all, many people choose shopping, so the author introduced several
holiday markets and their features. Also he gave some important hints for shopping. Then
he said that there were many popular shows,such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular that
you can enjoy. After that, some outdoor activities, such as ice-skating, going to the zoo and participating
in a Santa Con, are good choices. Moreover, the holiday celebrations were excellent things that people
should not miss with family. Last but not least, there were many voluntary activities which could make
more people happy in holiday.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb.6.2015
Draft #3
“What to Do During The Holiday”
QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNIQUE. December 2014
In this article, the author gave people some ideas about how to celebrate holidays in
New York City. First of all, many people choose shopping, so the author introduced several
holiday markets and their features. Also he gave some important hints for shopping. Then
he said that there were many popular shows,such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular that
you can enjoy. After that, some outdoor activities, such as ice-skating, going to the zoo and participating
in a Santa Con, are good choices. Moreover, the holiday celebrations were excellent things that people
should not miss with family. Last but not least, there were many voluntary activities which could make
more people happy in holiday.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb.6.2015
Draft #4
Summarize Article
In this article "Why are Children Becoming Obese?" the author David Kraft says that childhood obesity has
become a serious problem in recent years, and he explains several reasons. First of all, the unhealthy eating habits
make children develop weight problem.Also,many children don't have enough exercise everyday, and makes them
doubly unhealthy. In addition, the poor role modeling which parents do affect children's lifestyle. Last but not least,
lack of sleep is an important reason to explain why children are becoming obese.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Feb.6.2015
Draft #4
Summarize Article
In this article "Why are Children Becoming Obese?" the author David Kraft says that childhood obesity has
become a serious problem in recent years, and he explains several reasons. First of all, the unhealthy eating habits
make children develop weight problem.Also,many children don't have enough exercise everyday, and makes them
doubly unhealthy. In addition, the poor role modeling which parents do affect children's lifestyle. Last but not least,
lack of sleep is an important reason to explain why children are becoming obese.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Mar.6 2015
Draft #2
Childhood Obesity
Have you ever noticed how many obese children you have met in daily life? Do you know that childhood obesity has become one of the most common and serious problems for children all around the world? Childhood obesity is when children become over weight that is caused by unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise and poor role modeling of parents. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s average obesity rate is about 18 percent during the past 30 years. The CDC also pointed out children who are obese have a higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, many other diseases and social and psychological problems. Therefore, many governments and people try to reduce childhood obesity. This essay will describe proposed solutions to the problem of childhood obesity. Finally, this essay will propose the best solution and explain its benefits.
First of all, the Puerto Rican senator Gilberto Rodriguez has been considering a controversial law that would penalize the parents of obese children. This law included that the obese children would be identified and given a diet and exercise plan. If the child doesn’t lose weight after six months, the parents can be fined $500. If after another six months, the child still shows no significant weight loss, the fines increase to $800. However, many people oppose the law in Puerto Rico. Ted Kyle, chairman of the Obesity Action Coalition, said that most people who are obese are at an economic disadvantage and they are already suffering because of obesity. The research by Nikhil Dhurandhar, who chairs the department of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, has shown obesity can be caused by multifarious factors, such as the environment in a mother’s womb and chemicals in the environment. Rebecca Puhl, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, has a similar idea. She thinks childhood obesity is a very complex issue, so it is very unfair and inappropriate to fine parents. Puhl also said that policies that support parents are more helpful than those policies that punish them.
Secondly, according to Calvin, the solution to reduce childhood obesity is helping children to create healthy behaviors. He said that eating healthy food, doing exercise, sleeping enough and not drinking carbonated drinks are good habits for children, and Ashley has the same ideas with him. In addition, according to Zhong Lin, school, parents and children should work together to prevent childhood obesity. He thought school should encourage a healthy diet, and parents should always communicate with children to help them solve the problem.
I believe that the Physical Education in school is then best way to prevent childhood obesity. In practice, after school many children only want to watch TV or play computer games, therefore, the Physical Education in school has become more important. According to an article from the website Sparkpe, the American Heart Association recommends that children should have at least one hour of physical activity per day, and schools can easily provide this important time. Student will have enough time to do exercises, and teacher can teach students how important a healthy lifestyle is. And through the teamwork in PE classes, children can build self-esteem and make new friends to solve psychological problems. In addition to class, schools should also have some sports clubs after school. These classes can help students find interests that they may choose as further career. When I was a child, I joined the volleyball team in my school. We practiced every day after school. Sometimes we had a match with another school. I think through the teamwork with my teammates, I have become more optimistic and easier to make friends with other people. In fact, due to the benefits of after school exercises, I know I was much taller and healthier than most my classmates who didn’t join the sport club. Although in each country, there are many different Physical Education contents, but their goals are the same to help children stay healthy and prevent obesity. Due to the serious problem of childhood obesity, people should try to find more effective solutions.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
Mar.6 2015
Draft #2
Childhood Obesity
Have you ever noticed how many obese children you have met in daily life? Do you know that childhood obesity has become one of the most common and serious problems for children all around the world? Childhood obesity is when children become over weight that is caused by unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise and poor role modeling of parents. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s average obesity rate is about 18 percent during the past 30 years. The CDC also pointed out children who are obese have a higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, many other diseases and social and psychological problems. Therefore, many governments and people try to reduce childhood obesity. This essay will describe proposed solutions to the problem of childhood obesity. Finally, this essay will propose the best solution and explain its benefits.
First of all, the Puerto Rican senator Gilberto Rodriguez has been considering a controversial law that would penalize the parents of obese children. This law included that the obese children would be identified and given a diet and exercise plan. If the child doesn’t lose weight after six months, the parents can be fined $500. If after another six months, the child still shows no significant weight loss, the fines increase to $800. However, many people oppose the law in Puerto Rico. Ted Kyle, chairman of the Obesity Action Coalition, said that most people who are obese are at an economic disadvantage and they are already suffering because of obesity. The research by Nikhil Dhurandhar, who chairs the department of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, has shown obesity can be caused by multifarious factors, such as the environment in a mother’s womb and chemicals in the environment. Rebecca Puhl, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, has a similar idea. She thinks childhood obesity is a very complex issue, so it is very unfair and inappropriate to fine parents. Puhl also said that policies that support parents are more helpful than those policies that punish them.
Secondly, according to Calvin, the solution to reduce childhood obesity is helping children to create healthy behaviors. He said that eating healthy food, doing exercise, sleeping enough and not drinking carbonated drinks are good habits for children, and Ashley has the same ideas with him. In addition, according to Zhong Lin, school, parents and children should work together to prevent childhood obesity. He thought school should encourage a healthy diet, and parents should always communicate with children to help them solve the problem.
I believe that the Physical Education in school is then best way to prevent childhood obesity. In practice, after school many children only want to watch TV or play computer games, therefore, the Physical Education in school has become more important. According to an article from the website Sparkpe, the American Heart Association recommends that children should have at least one hour of physical activity per day, and schools can easily provide this important time. Student will have enough time to do exercises, and teacher can teach students how important a healthy lifestyle is. And through the teamwork in PE classes, children can build self-esteem and make new friends to solve psychological problems. In addition to class, schools should also have some sports clubs after school. These classes can help students find interests that they may choose as further career. When I was a child, I joined the volleyball team in my school. We practiced every day after school. Sometimes we had a match with another school. I think through the teamwork with my teammates, I have become more optimistic and easier to make friends with other people. In fact, due to the benefits of after school exercises, I know I was much taller and healthier than most my classmates who didn’t join the sport club. Although in each country, there are many different Physical Education contents, but their goals are the same to help children stay healthy and prevent obesity. Due to the serious problem of childhood obesity, people should try to find more effective solutions.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
March 18, 2015
Draft #3
Happiness
How do you define happiness? When do you feel happy? There are many different answers from different people. In recently years, people have become richer and have achieved a higher quality of life, but they still want to be happy. Psychologists pointed out that happiness can help people achieve their goals, have better relationships, make more money and get better jobs. Many of them try to find what really makes people happy. This essay will describe what makes people happy and connect with the film Happy and book Until I Say Goodbye. Finally, this essay will talk about my personal opinion about the key of my happiness and look to my future.
I watched a film Happy which was co-produced and directed by Roko Belic. This documentary film discusses human happiness through interviews with people from 14 countries. Those interviewees included a rickshaw driver in Kolkata, a woman who was run over by a car, a Cajun fisherman and more; they are a variety of ages and have diverse living conditions. They may not be rich, but all of them feel happy. In addition, Roko Belic interviewed a number of top psychologists around the world. They thought “happiness” is 50% genetic, 10% circumstances and 40% “intentional activity”. Genetic means heredity or some genes from family can cause happiness. Circumstances mean environments that people live or something we can’t change. Finally, intentional activity means the personal choices, a movement that we want to do to make us happy.
However, Susan Spencer Wendel may disagree with this claim, she wrote a book, Until I Say Goodbye, after she got ALS. She knew that she would soon die because of the disease, therefore she wanted to use this book to record her final wonderful year and make her children remember who she was, and teach the way to live after tragedy. This book talked about her family, friends, some trips and memories in her life. According to her book, genetics are not the main reason cause her happiness. Because she was adopted, although she had connected with her biological mother, she still didn’t know many things about her biological parents. In addition, her adoptive parents, their family are circumstances that she can’t change really affect her a lot. They made her become a successful person, and gave her the chance to have happy life. Moreover, the most significant reason to make her happy is intentional activity. For instance, she had chosen to marry John, so she had such a happy family. She also decided to find her biological mother then she felt satisfied. Traveling with family and her friend Nancy enriches Susan’s live. The reasons that made Susan happy are really different from the film’s claim.
In my opinion, I have some different ideas from the claim. My parents are optimistic and genial. I think some of my character comes from them. But I believe that circumstances are more important than 10% for my happiness. I have a large and harmonious family, we live together and assume our respective responsibilities in the family. Every day we share our humorous experiences, therefore, our dinner is always accompanied by laughter. The most important is that our parents always tell me and my cousins to love and help each other. Surely my family has a great effect to me. In addition, I am in favor of the idea that happiness is 40% “intentional activity”. For instance, I love reading; I think it is a very positive habit to broaden my perceptions. I realize that I am happier than the majority of people around the world and really should treasure my life by reading. It is certain that choosing to come to the United States is a correct “intentional activity” for me. I will have totally different experiences than my friends in China. Having chances to experience differences is also part of my happiness.
It is hard to image what will happen in the future, but I actually have some conceptions about the key of my happiness. As the short term goals, I intend to enter community college then spend one or two years and transfer to a four-year college. In general terms, college life is a momentous and cheerful experience for most people; it is also the same to me. For instance, I am able to study the major that I am interested in and try numerous activities I may not do again; having new experiences always makes me happy. In addition, some long term goals are essential. I want to find a high-paying job and travel all around the world. I think a high-paying job can offer enough money for my basic life and even higher level of life; also it will support me to achieve traveling all around the world without a lot of troubles which are caused by money. People always need to have an adventurous spirit; I believe it is a specific part of happiness. Although I may face other problems during traveling, meeting various people and things is the happiest part of this goal. This is my opinion about happiness.
Everybody has diverse definitions of happiness. If you feel unhappy, you may need to compare with some other people, and ask yourself “Do I really feel unhappy?” When you realize what you really want, you can separate it into some small goals then make yourself happy step by step.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
March 18, 2015
Draft #3
Happiness
How do you define happiness? When do you feel happy? There are many different answers from different people. In recently years, people have become richer and have achieved a higher quality of life, but they still want to be happy. Psychologists pointed out that happiness can help people achieve their goals, have better relationships, make more money and get better jobs. Many of them try to find what really makes people happy. This essay will describe what makes people happy and connect with the film Happy and book Until I Say Goodbye. Finally, this essay will talk about my personal opinion about the key of my happiness and look to my future.
I watched a film Happy which was co-produced and directed by Roko Belic. This documentary film discusses human happiness through interviews with people from 14 countries. Those interviewees included a rickshaw driver in Kolkata, a woman who was run over by a car, a Cajun fisherman and more; they are a variety of ages and have diverse living conditions. They may not be rich, but all of them feel happy. In addition, Roko Belic interviewed a number of top psychologists around the world. They thought “happiness” is 50% genetic, 10% circumstances and 40% “intentional activity”. Genetic means heredity or some genes from family can cause happiness. Circumstances mean environments that people live or something we can’t change. Finally, intentional activity means the personal choices, a movement that we want to do to make us happy.
However, Susan Spencer Wendel may disagree with this claim, she wrote a book, Until I Say Goodbye, after she got ALS. She knew that she would soon die because of the disease, therefore she wanted to use this book to record her final wonderful year and make her children remember who she was, and teach the way to live after tragedy. This book talked about her family, friends, some trips and memories in her life. According to her book, genetics are not the main reason cause her happiness. Because she was adopted, although she had connected with her biological mother, she still didn’t know many things about her biological parents. In addition, her adoptive parents, their family are circumstances that she can’t change really affect her a lot. They made her become a successful person, and gave her the chance to have happy life. Moreover, the most significant reason to make her happy is intentional activity. For instance, she had chosen to marry John, so she had such a happy family. She also decided to find her biological mother then she felt satisfied. Traveling with family and her friend Nancy enriches Susan’s live. The reasons that made Susan happy are really different from the film’s claim.
In my opinion, I have some different ideas from the claim. My parents are optimistic and genial. I think some of my character comes from them. But I believe that circumstances are more important than 10% for my happiness. I have a large and harmonious family, we live together and assume our respective responsibilities in the family. Every day we share our humorous experiences, therefore, our dinner is always accompanied by laughter. The most important is that our parents always tell me and my cousins to love and help each other. Surely my family has a great effect to me. In addition, I am in favor of the idea that happiness is 40% “intentional activity”. For instance, I love reading; I think it is a very positive habit to broaden my perceptions. I realize that I am happier than the majority of people around the world and really should treasure my life by reading. It is certain that choosing to come to the United States is a correct “intentional activity” for me. I will have totally different experiences than my friends in China. Having chances to experience differences is also part of my happiness.
It is hard to image what will happen in the future, but I actually have some conceptions about the key of my happiness. As the short term goals, I intend to enter community college then spend one or two years and transfer to a four-year college. In general terms, college life is a momentous and cheerful experience for most people; it is also the same to me. For instance, I am able to study the major that I am interested in and try numerous activities I may not do again; having new experiences always makes me happy. In addition, some long term goals are essential. I want to find a high-paying job and travel all around the world. I think a high-paying job can offer enough money for my basic life and even higher level of life; also it will support me to achieve traveling all around the world without a lot of troubles which are caused by money. People always need to have an adventurous spirit; I believe it is a specific part of happiness. Although I may face other problems during traveling, meeting various people and things is the happiest part of this goal. This is my opinion about happiness.
Everybody has diverse definitions of happiness. If you feel unhappy, you may need to compare with some other people, and ask yourself “Do I really feel unhappy?” When you realize what you really want, you can separate it into some small goals then make yourself happy step by step.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
March 23, 2015
Draft #2
Until I Say Goodbye
Summary: Aubrey’s Birthday
In this chapter “Aubrey’s Birthday”, the author talked about her second child Aubrey’s eleventh-year-old birthday and some memories about him. First of all, Susan recalled the day Aubrey was born. She asked the doctor to delay her due date to wait on the C-section due to she wanted June 21, the summer solstice. However, her plan was broken, the child was born early. Then Susan tried to persuade her husband John to name this child Aubrey, because she wanted to commemorate her favorite cousin Aubrey, who was clever, humorous and kind but died of AIDS in 1999. Moreover, the author thought Aubrey is the one she worries for the most because he has an old soul. One time, she went to pick Aubrey up from school but slipped and fell; Aubrey helped her to get up. Finally, Susan mentioned the Aubrey’s eleventh-year-old birthday in 2012. The family numbers hold a party and prepared cake and presents for him. Even though Susan just gave him a used iPhone, Aubrey still felt happy, and Susan felt closed to him.
Mr. Kelly
March 23, 2015
Draft #2
Until I Say Goodbye
Summary: Aubrey’s Birthday
In this chapter “Aubrey’s Birthday”, the author talked about her second child Aubrey’s eleventh-year-old birthday and some memories about him. First of all, Susan recalled the day Aubrey was born. She asked the doctor to delay her due date to wait on the C-section due to she wanted June 21, the summer solstice. However, her plan was broken, the child was born early. Then Susan tried to persuade her husband John to name this child Aubrey, because she wanted to commemorate her favorite cousin Aubrey, who was clever, humorous and kind but died of AIDS in 1999. Moreover, the author thought Aubrey is the one she worries for the most because he has an old soul. One time, she went to pick Aubrey up from school but slipped and fell; Aubrey helped her to get up. Finally, Susan mentioned the Aubrey’s eleventh-year-old birthday in 2012. The family numbers hold a party and prepared cake and presents for him. Even though Susan just gave him a used iPhone, Aubrey still felt happy, and Susan felt closed to him.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
March 24, 2015
Draft #2
Until I Say Goodbye
Summary: Helping Hands
In this chapter “Helping Hands”, the author talked about after she got ALS, she received many helps from her family. First of all, Susan though her dog Gracie can feel the bad things that happened to Susan, and Gracie always accompany and comforted her, even though once Gracie put her paw on her throat for a bitter lick but let Susan couldn’t breathe and push off, finally, Aubrey helped her to get away. Gracie still helped her, for instance, once Gracie remind her daughter and husband to help her get out of bed to go to bathroom in the middle of night. In addition, Susan mentioned her husband John, who is a responsible and considerate man, is optimistic face Susan’s disease. He took off her clothing, brushed her teeth and took care of all her daily life. Susan thought John has help, believe her, and he feels her pain as much as she does. Moreover, her children let her reduce the feeling of pain. Last but not least, she said that ALS is destructive, it brings her pain and makes her have to take a pill to control her furious emotion, but she can complete it because her mind is healthy. She can feel the weight for a moment when she watched a butterfly flutter and then it’s gone. She though that kind of sadness let her realizes that she is lively.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
March 24, 2015
Draft #2
Until I Say Goodbye
Summary: Helping Hands
In this chapter “Helping Hands”, the author talked about after she got ALS, she received many helps from her family. First of all, Susan though her dog Gracie can feel the bad things that happened to Susan, and Gracie always accompany and comforted her, even though once Gracie put her paw on her throat for a bitter lick but let Susan couldn’t breathe and push off, finally, Aubrey helped her to get away. Gracie still helped her, for instance, once Gracie remind her daughter and husband to help her get out of bed to go to bathroom in the middle of night. In addition, Susan mentioned her husband John, who is a responsible and considerate man, is optimistic face Susan’s disease. He took off her clothing, brushed her teeth and took care of all her daily life. Susan thought John has help, believe her, and he feels her pain as much as she does. Moreover, her children let her reduce the feeling of pain. Last but not least, she said that ALS is destructive, it brings her pain and makes her have to take a pill to control her furious emotion, but she can complete it because her mind is healthy. She can feel the weight for a moment when she watched a butterfly flutter and then it’s gone. She though that kind of sadness let her realizes that she is lively.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 1, 2015
Draft #4
“Helen helped me edit”
Academic Paraphrase
I agree with the idea that birth order affects the only child. According to the article “How Your Birth Order Influences Your Life Adjustment”, the author Forer said “The only child never has any reason to change this perception of his role and he tends to carry into adulthood a strong feeling of being a child in relation to other people.” In the family which only has one child, parents usually pay all their attention to the child, and want to do everything for the child. The only child develops a lack of responsibility and ability to deal with problems. Even when he grows up, he will still think he can do many things as a child and has someone to help him. In addition, Forer thought the only child tends to think “I am most secure when there are parents around me, but when they are not there, I have no one to turn to for help. So I’d better learn to take care of myself as much as possible.” For most only children, overdependent on parents is a common appearance, and when they grow up, they find that they have to learn to depend on themselves to face more and more problems. In my personal experience, I’m the only child in my family, and I really depend on my parents. When we lived in China, they would do almost all important things for me and tried to satisfy my needs, so I only needed to pay attention to studying. However, after we moved to American, I realized that I have to be independent, because my parents are not good at English so they need my help to do a lot of things. Therefore, I have to learn to be an adult as soon as possible, but it’s not easy for me.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 1, 2015
Draft #4
“Helen helped me edit”
Academic Paraphrase
I agree with the idea that birth order affects the only child. According to the article “How Your Birth Order Influences Your Life Adjustment”, the author Forer said “The only child never has any reason to change this perception of his role and he tends to carry into adulthood a strong feeling of being a child in relation to other people.” In the family which only has one child, parents usually pay all their attention to the child, and want to do everything for the child. The only child develops a lack of responsibility and ability to deal with problems. Even when he grows up, he will still think he can do many things as a child and has someone to help him. In addition, Forer thought the only child tends to think “I am most secure when there are parents around me, but when they are not there, I have no one to turn to for help. So I’d better learn to take care of myself as much as possible.” For most only children, overdependent on parents is a common appearance, and when they grow up, they find that they have to learn to depend on themselves to face more and more problems. In my personal experience, I’m the only child in my family, and I really depend on my parents. When we lived in China, they would do almost all important things for me and tried to satisfy my needs, so I only needed to pay attention to studying. However, after we moved to American, I realized that I have to be independent, because my parents are not good at English so they need my help to do a lot of things. Therefore, I have to learn to be an adult as soon as possible, but it’s not easy for me.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 13, 2015
Draft #2
Academic Paragraph
There are many marriages face problems and end in divorce. In recent years, divorces have become common issues all over the world. Almost people think the divorce because love has failed. I consider there are two main reasons of this failure. On the one hand, many couples feel inappropriate after get married. Before married, the couples have strong feeling of fall in love with each other, therefore they ignore a lot of other things, notable for those who only get along with a very short period and decide to marry. When they live together, different family environments, education levels and so on let numerous problems emerge. For instance, in the article The Lion’s Hair, the woman asked for a divorce since they fought a lot and had many contradictions although they loved each other. On the other hand, the argument between the wife and the mother-in-law is also the main cause especially in China. Most of the Chinese families only have one child, so the parents would like to give the child all they have. After married, the husband’s mother always worried about that the daughter-in-law can’t take care of her son and her position will be replaced in her son’s mind. Meanwhile, the wife think the mother-in-law intervene too much in their marriage life. However, the husband can’t balance the concerns between his wife and mother, accumulate over a long period, these small contradictions develop into the reason of divorce. It is necessary of those couple to pay more attention to learn how to maintain the love and marriage.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 13, 2015
Draft #2
Academic Paragraph
There are many marriages face problems and end in divorce. In recent years, divorces have become common issues all over the world. Almost people think the divorce because love has failed. I consider there are two main reasons of this failure. On the one hand, many couples feel inappropriate after get married. Before married, the couples have strong feeling of fall in love with each other, therefore they ignore a lot of other things, notable for those who only get along with a very short period and decide to marry. When they live together, different family environments, education levels and so on let numerous problems emerge. For instance, in the article The Lion’s Hair, the woman asked for a divorce since they fought a lot and had many contradictions although they loved each other. On the other hand, the argument between the wife and the mother-in-law is also the main cause especially in China. Most of the Chinese families only have one child, so the parents would like to give the child all they have. After married, the husband’s mother always worried about that the daughter-in-law can’t take care of her son and her position will be replaced in her son’s mind. Meanwhile, the wife think the mother-in-law intervene too much in their marriage life. However, the husband can’t balance the concerns between his wife and mother, accumulate over a long period, these small contradictions develop into the reason of divorce. It is necessary of those couple to pay more attention to learn how to maintain the love and marriage.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 15, 2015
Draft #2
Midterm Reflection Essay
This is my first semester in the CLIP program, and as time goes by that I am now halfway through the semester. I’m really fortunate to choose this program. In the first half of the semester, I gained a lot of harvest. In this reflection essay, I will describe what I have accomplished until this semester, and what I want to improve in the next half of the semester.
This semester our class participated in the QCC Campus Common Read. According to the QCC website, “The Common Read is Common Intellectual Experience that promotes integrative learning across the curriculum.” Schools would like to use this event to increase students’ social and academic engagement out of classroom, and the theme for the Common Read is “Until I Say Goodbye: My Year of Living with Joy, by Susan Spencer-Wendel with Bret Witter.” We read the book Until I Say Goodbye by Susan Spencer Wendel who had gotten ALS. She wanted to record her final wonderful year and make her three children remember who she was, and teach them the way to live after tragedy, therefore Susan wrote this book to talk about her family, friends, and also some trips and memories in her life. Not only read the book, we also attended many events, such as we watched the movie Pay It Forward, listened a lecture about empathy ,and another one about “Empathy goes on Trial’. Moreover, we joined the presentation “Genes and Disease –How Do Genes Affect My Health?” For me, the most impressive event is the lecture by Dr.Anthony Monahan presents: “Leaving Yourself Behind: Attaining Higher –Level Empathy and Understanding”. In this event, we learned the levels of empathy and the differences among them, and this lecture helped me deeply to understand the empathy.
In addition to participating in the Common Read, we also had many exercises in class this semester. For instance, we studied the grammar and reading and writing skills, moreover we were separated into many reading groups to exchange diverse perspectives about the book and improve the speaking. I think my reading skill has developed a lot this semester, because reading had been the most difficult part that I worried much, but now I can gradually understand the main idea and deeply have empathy with author. Speaking is the one of the skill which I need to improve more, as we all know, communication is important for everyone.
The second half of the semester, I would like to have more practices about reading and writing to pass the CATW, and having some activities outside the class with my classmates will be a good idea. I will work hard in class and try to remember few words every day to develop vocabulary. After this semester, I am going to join the fall semester to study for the CATW test.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
April 15, 2015
Draft #2
Midterm Reflection Essay
This is my first semester in the CLIP program, and as time goes by that I am now halfway through the semester. I’m really fortunate to choose this program. In the first half of the semester, I gained a lot of harvest. In this reflection essay, I will describe what I have accomplished until this semester, and what I want to improve in the next half of the semester.
This semester our class participated in the QCC Campus Common Read. According to the QCC website, “The Common Read is Common Intellectual Experience that promotes integrative learning across the curriculum.” Schools would like to use this event to increase students’ social and academic engagement out of classroom, and the theme for the Common Read is “Until I Say Goodbye: My Year of Living with Joy, by Susan Spencer-Wendel with Bret Witter.” We read the book Until I Say Goodbye by Susan Spencer Wendel who had gotten ALS. She wanted to record her final wonderful year and make her three children remember who she was, and teach them the way to live after tragedy, therefore Susan wrote this book to talk about her family, friends, and also some trips and memories in her life. Not only read the book, we also attended many events, such as we watched the movie Pay It Forward, listened a lecture about empathy ,and another one about “Empathy goes on Trial’. Moreover, we joined the presentation “Genes and Disease –How Do Genes Affect My Health?” For me, the most impressive event is the lecture by Dr.Anthony Monahan presents: “Leaving Yourself Behind: Attaining Higher –Level Empathy and Understanding”. In this event, we learned the levels of empathy and the differences among them, and this lecture helped me deeply to understand the empathy.
In addition to participating in the Common Read, we also had many exercises in class this semester. For instance, we studied the grammar and reading and writing skills, moreover we were separated into many reading groups to exchange diverse perspectives about the book and improve the speaking. I think my reading skill has developed a lot this semester, because reading had been the most difficult part that I worried much, but now I can gradually understand the main idea and deeply have empathy with author. Speaking is the one of the skill which I need to improve more, as we all know, communication is important for everyone.
The second half of the semester, I would like to have more practices about reading and writing to pass the CATW, and having some activities outside the class with my classmates will be a good idea. I will work hard in class and try to remember few words every day to develop vocabulary. After this semester, I am going to join the fall semester to study for the CATW test.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 6, 2015
Draft #3
Friendship
As we all know, kinship, marriage relation and friendship are three crucial relationships for humans. A person probably has several relatives and may divorce then find another spouse, but friends can be the large proportion of his or her life. You may have many friends, but a really true and close friend is infrequent. Unlike kinship and marriage, friendship is not defined or regulated by law. Therefore, friendship is flimsy and easy to be broken sometimes. This essay will describe a number of causes of ending a friendship, and show some examples about these causes. Finally, it will talk about my idea of friendship.
For one thing, a friendship is broken when a person feels betrayed by a friend. In the essay “The Friendship Bond” by Mary Brown Parlee, the author describes a survey from Psychology Today which showed that betrayal is the most important reason to end a friendship for almost 40,000 respondents, and I am the one of those people. For instance, I heard a piece of news from TV. A Hong Kong actress reportedly split with another actress who had been a close friend to her for a long time, because she had intervened in her and her boyfriend’s relationship, and that is not an uncommon situation. In our daily life, there are two most common conditions of betrayal. The first one is after we share secrets with a friend, but rapidly you find that this friend let others know the secrets. Another condition is when the friend creates a gossip about you.
In addition, Parlee mentioned that a friend having very different views on issues can cut off a friendship. It is easy to make a new friend if you meet someone and find that you have some similar ideas or interests. However, when the friendship grows, and you gradually understand this person deeper and deeper, you may realize that having some similarities is not enough to preserve a friendship. It needs incessant exchange to maintain. The more different views you have, the harder communications there are. I had made a friend with a girl Zhang when we were children, and we spent a lot of time with each other everyday. Later, we graduated from primary school and went to different junior high schools. While sometimes I got together with her, I found that we had more and more disparate views in the same things due to the different environments where we lived and studied. At last, we ceased communication. It was the first time I felt I had lost a friend.
Finally, a person who lacks support from a friend in need is the last reason that friendship break apart. People always said that “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” A friend who helps you and supports you when you really need is an essential way to verify a true friend for most people. My friend Lee had known a girl since they were freshman in high school and they lived together at least one year. Lee wanted to teach children in very remote and poor places after she graduated from college, but her parents thought she should immediately go to work because there were too many competitors who had graduated from university, therefore it was hard to find a satisfying job in China. She felt frustrated, and decided to share her idea with that friend. She thought her friend would understand her, however, that girl thought it was a very stupid idea, and this seriously harmed Lee, and then their friendship broke apart.
To sum up, friendship is breakable due to betrayal, different views and lack of support. In my opinion, although some friends may bring terrible effects to you, and even influence your whole life, and you have to break this kind of friendship, most of your friendships are beneficial. Consequently, if you decide to make a friend with someone, you should work carefully to maintain this valuable relationship.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 6, 2015
Draft #3
Friendship
As we all know, kinship, marriage relation and friendship are three crucial relationships for humans. A person probably has several relatives and may divorce then find another spouse, but friends can be the large proportion of his or her life. You may have many friends, but a really true and close friend is infrequent. Unlike kinship and marriage, friendship is not defined or regulated by law. Therefore, friendship is flimsy and easy to be broken sometimes. This essay will describe a number of causes of ending a friendship, and show some examples about these causes. Finally, it will talk about my idea of friendship.
For one thing, a friendship is broken when a person feels betrayed by a friend. In the essay “The Friendship Bond” by Mary Brown Parlee, the author describes a survey from Psychology Today which showed that betrayal is the most important reason to end a friendship for almost 40,000 respondents, and I am the one of those people. For instance, I heard a piece of news from TV. A Hong Kong actress reportedly split with another actress who had been a close friend to her for a long time, because she had intervened in her and her boyfriend’s relationship, and that is not an uncommon situation. In our daily life, there are two most common conditions of betrayal. The first one is after we share secrets with a friend, but rapidly you find that this friend let others know the secrets. Another condition is when the friend creates a gossip about you.
In addition, Parlee mentioned that a friend having very different views on issues can cut off a friendship. It is easy to make a new friend if you meet someone and find that you have some similar ideas or interests. However, when the friendship grows, and you gradually understand this person deeper and deeper, you may realize that having some similarities is not enough to preserve a friendship. It needs incessant exchange to maintain. The more different views you have, the harder communications there are. I had made a friend with a girl Zhang when we were children, and we spent a lot of time with each other everyday. Later, we graduated from primary school and went to different junior high schools. While sometimes I got together with her, I found that we had more and more disparate views in the same things due to the different environments where we lived and studied. At last, we ceased communication. It was the first time I felt I had lost a friend.
Finally, a person who lacks support from a friend in need is the last reason that friendship break apart. People always said that “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” A friend who helps you and supports you when you really need is an essential way to verify a true friend for most people. My friend Lee had known a girl since they were freshman in high school and they lived together at least one year. Lee wanted to teach children in very remote and poor places after she graduated from college, but her parents thought she should immediately go to work because there were too many competitors who had graduated from university, therefore it was hard to find a satisfying job in China. She felt frustrated, and decided to share her idea with that friend. She thought her friend would understand her, however, that girl thought it was a very stupid idea, and this seriously harmed Lee, and then their friendship broke apart.
To sum up, friendship is breakable due to betrayal, different views and lack of support. In my opinion, although some friends may bring terrible effects to you, and even influence your whole life, and you have to break this kind of friendship, most of your friendships are beneficial. Consequently, if you decide to make a friend with someone, you should work carefully to maintain this valuable relationship.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 8, 2015
CAT-W #1
A professor of kinesiology at the university Charles Hillman says that the aerobic activity has many positive impacts based on a lot of the recent studies. A Swedish study showed that more than a million 18-year-old boys that jointed the army have higher I.Q. scores. Although there is not a correlation that shows that exercise can cause a higher I.Q, many researchers agree that aerobic exercises can stimulate the brain growth. Moreover, 20 minutes of walking experiment provides evidence that aerobic activity is better for young people than just staying or playing video games.
I agree with those professors’ ideas that young people should have more aerobic exercises. This essay will describe the reasons why aerobic activities are beneficial for young people, and shoe some examples. First of all, aerobic exercises can help young people keep healthy. As we all know, a healthy body is an essential element for everyone. Without health, you will realize that there are many things you want to do, but are unable to achieve. In addition, as the quality of life growth, the goal to approach health constantly deepens. For instance, childhood obesity has become a serious problem all over the world in recent year. Notably those young people who are overweight have higher risk to get disease, high blood pressure, and other illnesses. One useful way to reduce childhood obesity is the healthy diet, and another crucial method that many countries suggest is include more exercise, especially aerobic exercises is one effective exercises to control the weight.
Moreover, more aerobic exercises can help young people stay away from some bad activities. After school, many students have their own activities, such as shopping, watching movies, and most boys would like to play the computer games at home. However, some of them speed too much time in it, and it influences their studies. Unfortunately, a part of those games have some violent or unhealthy contents that will affect their psychological health. If they spend more time in aerobic activities, not only to keep healthy, but also can communicate with a lot of people to improve the social ability.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 8, 2015
CAT-W #1
A professor of kinesiology at the university Charles Hillman says that the aerobic activity has many positive impacts based on a lot of the recent studies. A Swedish study showed that more than a million 18-year-old boys that jointed the army have higher I.Q. scores. Although there is not a correlation that shows that exercise can cause a higher I.Q, many researchers agree that aerobic exercises can stimulate the brain growth. Moreover, 20 minutes of walking experiment provides evidence that aerobic activity is better for young people than just staying or playing video games.
I agree with those professors’ ideas that young people should have more aerobic exercises. This essay will describe the reasons why aerobic activities are beneficial for young people, and shoe some examples. First of all, aerobic exercises can help young people keep healthy. As we all know, a healthy body is an essential element for everyone. Without health, you will realize that there are many things you want to do, but are unable to achieve. In addition, as the quality of life growth, the goal to approach health constantly deepens. For instance, childhood obesity has become a serious problem all over the world in recent year. Notably those young people who are overweight have higher risk to get disease, high blood pressure, and other illnesses. One useful way to reduce childhood obesity is the healthy diet, and another crucial method that many countries suggest is include more exercise, especially aerobic exercises is one effective exercises to control the weight.
Moreover, more aerobic exercises can help young people stay away from some bad activities. After school, many students have their own activities, such as shopping, watching movies, and most boys would like to play the computer games at home. However, some of them speed too much time in it, and it influences their studies. Unfortunately, a part of those games have some violent or unhealthy contents that will affect their psychological health. If they spend more time in aerobic activities, not only to keep healthy, but also can communicate with a lot of people to improve the social ability.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 23, 2015
CAT-W #2
According to the article “Helping College Graduates Find Jobs” by Jean Fitz, in recent years, the scientific changes to college education in Wisconsin and they solve the complaints from the students and accountants who both hope the college students can get a good job after graduate in this state. Many students are confused about what kind of job they should choose, therefore, they want to get some prices of advice to decide what they should study in college. In addition, the state’s accountants hope those graduated students who had gotten financial aid would become taxpaying citizens. The governments and some community colleges built a new system to solve this problem. They not only determine the students’ abilities but also determine which kind of work will be useful in the future. Then they will match the students and work. The author pointed out that the government will only give financial aid to students who study whatever they choose and assuredly match to majors. I think this article matches my situation now. This essay is going describe my personal suggestions about how to choose a major to study in college.
First of all, I think before going to college, students should try to get more information for society. For instance, they should know what kinds of work are popular now, and which kind of workers are lacking now. There are many ways to help them get this information, such as the internet, newspaper, and asking someone. This information can help them list several jobs, and then according to their score and ability to choose a good major. In many countries, before students graduate from high school, their teacher will give them a lot of information about different schools, and they will have one-on-one talking with each student to answer their questions and give them some suggestions about what they should choose. If you cannot decide at once, teachers will have a second or third conference with parents and talk to many others teacher who taught you and understand you to help your decision. I agree that this is a useful way to help students.
Another suggestion is that students’ choices should rely on what they are interested in and they should insist their choice. If you can’t decide what you are interested in, then you should do what you are good at. My friend Lee was interested in volleyball when she was a child. Therefore, she told her parents she wanted to come to our school, because our school has a best students’ volleyball team around the city. She worked very hard and successfully joined the school volleyball team. She said she wanted to be a professional volleyball player in the future. Although you should listen to other people’s advice, it is still your personal choice. In China, because children always depend on their parents, it is common that major they study in college is what their parents want them to choose rather than their own opinion. I read a news story in Chinese newspaper. Jim is an intelligent student in his city because he graduated high school when he was 14-year-old, and he would enter a famous university. One year after he studied at the college, he decided to drop out because the business major was his parents chose for him, but he felt boring and could not focus on studying. Therefore, `insisting the personal choice is very important for students.
In my opinion, choosing the certain major has very crucial effect for us, it may influence one’s whole life. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention and think carefully about this decision.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 23, 2015
CAT-W #2
According to the article “Helping College Graduates Find Jobs” by Jean Fitz, in recent years, the scientific changes to college education in Wisconsin and they solve the complaints from the students and accountants who both hope the college students can get a good job after graduate in this state. Many students are confused about what kind of job they should choose, therefore, they want to get some prices of advice to decide what they should study in college. In addition, the state’s accountants hope those graduated students who had gotten financial aid would become taxpaying citizens. The governments and some community colleges built a new system to solve this problem. They not only determine the students’ abilities but also determine which kind of work will be useful in the future. Then they will match the students and work. The author pointed out that the government will only give financial aid to students who study whatever they choose and assuredly match to majors. I think this article matches my situation now. This essay is going describe my personal suggestions about how to choose a major to study in college.
First of all, I think before going to college, students should try to get more information for society. For instance, they should know what kinds of work are popular now, and which kind of workers are lacking now. There are many ways to help them get this information, such as the internet, newspaper, and asking someone. This information can help them list several jobs, and then according to their score and ability to choose a good major. In many countries, before students graduate from high school, their teacher will give them a lot of information about different schools, and they will have one-on-one talking with each student to answer their questions and give them some suggestions about what they should choose. If you cannot decide at once, teachers will have a second or third conference with parents and talk to many others teacher who taught you and understand you to help your decision. I agree that this is a useful way to help students.
Another suggestion is that students’ choices should rely on what they are interested in and they should insist their choice. If you can’t decide what you are interested in, then you should do what you are good at. My friend Lee was interested in volleyball when she was a child. Therefore, she told her parents she wanted to come to our school, because our school has a best students’ volleyball team around the city. She worked very hard and successfully joined the school volleyball team. She said she wanted to be a professional volleyball player in the future. Although you should listen to other people’s advice, it is still your personal choice. In China, because children always depend on their parents, it is common that major they study in college is what their parents want them to choose rather than their own opinion. I read a news story in Chinese newspaper. Jim is an intelligent student in his city because he graduated high school when he was 14-year-old, and he would enter a famous university. One year after he studied at the college, he decided to drop out because the business major was his parents chose for him, but he felt boring and could not focus on studying. Therefore, `insisting the personal choice is very important for students.
In my opinion, choosing the certain major has very crucial effect for us, it may influence one’s whole life. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention and think carefully about this decision.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 31, 2015
CAT-W #3
What do you think is important for quality of life? Based on different cultures, family environments and educational level, everyone has his or her own idea. According to the article “What is Quality of Life?” by Francisco Orozco, it is wrong to use wealth to value the quality of life. People should pay more attention to the spiritual side of life. Orozco thinks that quality of life on spiritual side means the good relationship with family and friends, and learning art and traditions. Moreover, people should think about helping others and feeling satisfied about money that they need. His personal experience when he lived in a town in Southern Mexico taught him that stable society is more crucial. Orozco mentions that lower living standard countries may have some disadvantages, and new technologies in higher standard of living countries make people live comfortably. However, he points out that a higher standard of living also brings negative effects such as more crimes and the weak relationship withothers. This poor spiritual quality of life makes people feel stressed and depressed. I strongly agree that the spiritual side of life is more important than wealth to values the quality of life. This essay is going to discuss some aspects of the spiritual side of life.
First of all, I think the most crucial part of the spiritual side is relationship with family and friends. A person may live without much money but he or she can’t live without family and friends. They will support you and encourage you, and when you are depressed or in trouble, they will help you. For many people, maintaining or developing this relationship makes them feel satisfied. For instance, I live in a big family. When we moved to America, I realized how important this relationship is. We rent a house and live together, we always have many family events, and our life is full of laughter. Consequently, sometimes we still have quarrels. Each time when we had a conflict, I could feel that is was little stressed because everyone became quite. Moreover, it even had a little bit of an effect on my studies. I think the relationship between family and friends will influence a person a lot. We should always remember to have some spare time talk to them or just spend time with them.
Knowledge is another part of spiritual side of life. In my country, we always say that: “Knowledge is wealth.” It means that knowledge is one kind of intangible wealth, no one can take it away from you, but you can increase it, and it can brings a lot of things to people. Knowledge is a way to help people create material wealth, and it also can make people feel satisfied in spiritual side. Studying is always a happy thing in life. I usually saw many older people in libraries, and they spent a lot of time there. They told me that it was important to study no matter how old you are because there were many things we could learn. Reading made them feel not alone, and gave them a chance to communicate with others. They are happy when they get knowledge.
In my opinion, material and spiritual wealth are both crucial to develop the quality of life, but the spiritual side has more specific meaning for people’s life, and there are many ways to improve this side that we can try. Therefore, we should give ourselves more time fulfill our spiritual world.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
May 31, 2015
CAT-W #3
What do you think is important for quality of life? Based on different cultures, family environments and educational level, everyone has his or her own idea. According to the article “What is Quality of Life?” by Francisco Orozco, it is wrong to use wealth to value the quality of life. People should pay more attention to the spiritual side of life. Orozco thinks that quality of life on spiritual side means the good relationship with family and friends, and learning art and traditions. Moreover, people should think about helping others and feeling satisfied about money that they need. His personal experience when he lived in a town in Southern Mexico taught him that stable society is more crucial. Orozco mentions that lower living standard countries may have some disadvantages, and new technologies in higher standard of living countries make people live comfortably. However, he points out that a higher standard of living also brings negative effects such as more crimes and the weak relationship withothers. This poor spiritual quality of life makes people feel stressed and depressed. I strongly agree that the spiritual side of life is more important than wealth to values the quality of life. This essay is going to discuss some aspects of the spiritual side of life.
First of all, I think the most crucial part of the spiritual side is relationship with family and friends. A person may live without much money but he or she can’t live without family and friends. They will support you and encourage you, and when you are depressed or in trouble, they will help you. For many people, maintaining or developing this relationship makes them feel satisfied. For instance, I live in a big family. When we moved to America, I realized how important this relationship is. We rent a house and live together, we always have many family events, and our life is full of laughter. Consequently, sometimes we still have quarrels. Each time when we had a conflict, I could feel that is was little stressed because everyone became quite. Moreover, it even had a little bit of an effect on my studies. I think the relationship between family and friends will influence a person a lot. We should always remember to have some spare time talk to them or just spend time with them.
Knowledge is another part of spiritual side of life. In my country, we always say that: “Knowledge is wealth.” It means that knowledge is one kind of intangible wealth, no one can take it away from you, but you can increase it, and it can brings a lot of things to people. Knowledge is a way to help people create material wealth, and it also can make people feel satisfied in spiritual side. Studying is always a happy thing in life. I usually saw many older people in libraries, and they spent a lot of time there. They told me that it was important to study no matter how old you are because there were many things we could learn. Reading made them feel not alone, and gave them a chance to communicate with others. They are happy when they get knowledge.
In my opinion, material and spiritual wealth are both crucial to develop the quality of life, but the spiritual side has more specific meaning for people’s life, and there are many ways to improve this side that we can try. Therefore, we should give ourselves more time fulfill our spiritual world.
Mo Zhou
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
June 2, 2015
Why Do People Work
Historically, the progress of the society is always inseparable from the people’s work. In addition, more and more new careers have appeared constantly, therefore, many more people work. As the world develops, because the requirements of work become higher, many people have to face the unemployment problem, and the competition for work grows intense. Nevertheless, people’s desire for having work is still strong, and the reasons why do people work are diversified. This essay will explain several reasons why people work and then show an interview about my teacher. Finally, it will present my personal ideas.
One essential reason for people to work is that work is a way to exist. With the economic development, and the price of living supplies also increase. Consequently, the essential life for poor people and labors becomes more difficult, and they have to work harder and harder to maintain their daily life. According to a report in Chinese newspaper which talks about cleaners, they usually wake up at 4:00 a.m., and work at least 11 hours a day, but their base salary is only about $322 for a month in a big city. This is obviously not enough; therefore, they can only rent a very small house with terrible environment. Moreover, they have to use that money for their children’s education. Even though the government supports the education from elementary school to high school that can help parents save money, the cost of college is a burden for those cleaners. Unfortunately, if they get ill, they will face an awful circumstance. For those labors, the significance for hard work is finding the way to exist in the city.
In addition, in the article “Work and Labor” by Lgor Shchegolev, the author thinks that people work because they feel dissatisfied about their current situation, and they want to improve the level of life. We always hear that “No man is content.” Once you have some things, it is easy to tend to want more and more. This idea usually happens to the middle class people. This kind of people generally is not poor and must work very hard to preserve their elementary life, however, they think this type of life is not enough, and they have the opportunity to live better. Therefore, they still work as those labors, and it always happen all around the world. But there is a little different that parents work hard for their children or the people want their parents can live better. For instance, my hometown is a second-tier city in China, and my family is one of the middle class families. I was unlike my richer classmates who could buy everything they want and always go outside, but also not similar to others who need to apply for financial aid. My parents still all work very hard and want to give me a better environment. Moreover, they hope to prepare money to go to celebrated university and even buy a new house for me.
Finally, some people believe that work can provide happiness and contentment. I agree with a perspective from an article “Why People Work?” by Leonard R. Sayles, “work provides the more intangible, but more crucial, psychological well-being that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.” Sayles said that not only psychologists but other behavioral scientists accept the positive impact to the individual’s happiness and sense of personal achievement. A lot of psychologists have observed work’s therapeutic effect in mental health clinics. Many patients felt depressed or frustrated, and their self-confidence decreased. However, when they were employed, most of those intense symptoms disappeared. Therefore, many mental health problems of institutions think about offering their patients “work” as a special treatment. Another representative situation is that after many older people retire, they always ask “What do I do with myself?” even though there may be no financial cares. They regularly get psychosomatic illnesses while they don’t have work to do, and must divert by themselves. The article also mentioned that “It has been observed that unemployment, quite aside from exerting financial pressures, brings enormous psychological malaise and that many individuals deteriorate rapidly when jobless.” This is certain that work has a very crucial meaning to enrich people’s spiritual world.
I interviewed my elementary school teacher Mrs. Wang, who had been a teacher over 40 years, for her idea respect to work on Wednesday last week. She especially agreed with these three reasons that I described before. Moreover, she mentioned that work is a way to improve people’s skills. Mrs. Wang told me that when she started this job, it was assured that her intention was for money, because teaching is a secure career, and teachers’ salary was paid by the government. As a result, they didn’t need to worry about money in that period. As the time grows, she found that teacher was not only a job for her, but there were many happiness and touch during working. She was satisfied when the students who were taught by her send a message to her or visit her after they graduated. Moreover, Mrs. Wang pointed out that she learned optimism and got a lot of energy for those children. In addition, when she was a teacher, she always need to learn new things because with the development of times, their knowledge and teaching methods should progress and matched society. Finally, she suggested that some people should understand that if they only work for money, their life may be boring and they will be effortless tired of work. The crucial thing is acquiring pleasure from work.
In my opinion, it is crucial that everyone has his or her own way to live, and work is a significant part of life. Although a large numbers of people are still have to work for exist, if they are observant, there is certainly that they can to find some enjoyments in working. I believe that this discovery will give a new meaning to their work.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
June 2, 2015
Why Do People Work
Historically, the progress of the society is always inseparable from the people’s work. In addition, more and more new careers have appeared constantly, therefore, many more people work. As the world develops, because the requirements of work become higher, many people have to face the unemployment problem, and the competition for work grows intense. Nevertheless, people’s desire for having work is still strong, and the reasons why do people work are diversified. This essay will explain several reasons why people work and then show an interview about my teacher. Finally, it will present my personal ideas.
One essential reason for people to work is that work is a way to exist. With the economic development, and the price of living supplies also increase. Consequently, the essential life for poor people and labors becomes more difficult, and they have to work harder and harder to maintain their daily life. According to a report in Chinese newspaper which talks about cleaners, they usually wake up at 4:00 a.m., and work at least 11 hours a day, but their base salary is only about $322 for a month in a big city. This is obviously not enough; therefore, they can only rent a very small house with terrible environment. Moreover, they have to use that money for their children’s education. Even though the government supports the education from elementary school to high school that can help parents save money, the cost of college is a burden for those cleaners. Unfortunately, if they get ill, they will face an awful circumstance. For those labors, the significance for hard work is finding the way to exist in the city.
In addition, in the article “Work and Labor” by Lgor Shchegolev, the author thinks that people work because they feel dissatisfied about their current situation, and they want to improve the level of life. We always hear that “No man is content.” Once you have some things, it is easy to tend to want more and more. This idea usually happens to the middle class people. This kind of people generally is not poor and must work very hard to preserve their elementary life, however, they think this type of life is not enough, and they have the opportunity to live better. Therefore, they still work as those labors, and it always happen all around the world. But there is a little different that parents work hard for their children or the people want their parents can live better. For instance, my hometown is a second-tier city in China, and my family is one of the middle class families. I was unlike my richer classmates who could buy everything they want and always go outside, but also not similar to others who need to apply for financial aid. My parents still all work very hard and want to give me a better environment. Moreover, they hope to prepare money to go to celebrated university and even buy a new house for me.
Finally, some people believe that work can provide happiness and contentment. I agree with a perspective from an article “Why People Work?” by Leonard R. Sayles, “work provides the more intangible, but more crucial, psychological well-being that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.” Sayles said that not only psychologists but other behavioral scientists accept the positive impact to the individual’s happiness and sense of personal achievement. A lot of psychologists have observed work’s therapeutic effect in mental health clinics. Many patients felt depressed or frustrated, and their self-confidence decreased. However, when they were employed, most of those intense symptoms disappeared. Therefore, many mental health problems of institutions think about offering their patients “work” as a special treatment. Another representative situation is that after many older people retire, they always ask “What do I do with myself?” even though there may be no financial cares. They regularly get psychosomatic illnesses while they don’t have work to do, and must divert by themselves. The article also mentioned that “It has been observed that unemployment, quite aside from exerting financial pressures, brings enormous psychological malaise and that many individuals deteriorate rapidly when jobless.” This is certain that work has a very crucial meaning to enrich people’s spiritual world.
I interviewed my elementary school teacher Mrs. Wang, who had been a teacher over 40 years, for her idea respect to work on Wednesday last week. She especially agreed with these three reasons that I described before. Moreover, she mentioned that work is a way to improve people’s skills. Mrs. Wang told me that when she started this job, it was assured that her intention was for money, because teaching is a secure career, and teachers’ salary was paid by the government. As a result, they didn’t need to worry about money in that period. As the time grows, she found that teacher was not only a job for her, but there were many happiness and touch during working. She was satisfied when the students who were taught by her send a message to her or visit her after they graduated. Moreover, Mrs. Wang pointed out that she learned optimism and got a lot of energy for those children. In addition, when she was a teacher, she always need to learn new things because with the development of times, their knowledge and teaching methods should progress and matched society. Finally, she suggested that some people should understand that if they only work for money, their life may be boring and they will be effortless tired of work. The crucial thing is acquiring pleasure from work.
In my opinion, it is crucial that everyone has his or her own way to live, and work is a significant part of life. Although a large numbers of people are still have to work for exist, if they are observant, there is certainly that they can to find some enjoyments in working. I believe that this discovery will give a new meaning to their work.