05/06

I have learned a lot from this class. The novels are very special and fresh for me. They are different from novels I read before. I was forced to read a few short English articles in high school. They were almost single stories with one or two characters. I feel my reading ability was remarkably improved by reading this semester. Other students in class were really nice and friendly to me, especially my partner Kristin who rewrote Tiger’s bride together with me.

The ELIC novel was really hard for me. The story is long and complicated. I felt it difficult to grab the main idea. Finally I found someone else to help me read it. Also the essay requirement is quite different from ENG 111 class. I did not really know how to analyze the evidence from the novel. After rewrote the first novel I got some experiment. I tried to ask myself how and why question during writing and argue with myself. Then I felt somewhat easy to continue.

I think the PowerBook is kind of easier than ELIC. I like the love stories in this book, especially the View As Icon chapter. The girl and the boy both ended in death but happiness, like fairy tales. That story reminds me of the story of Romeo and Juliet and Abelard and Heloise. But I didn’t choose that story for my second essay because I am not good at analysis of love story and don’t know where to start. At last I chose the story about the dangerous exploits of two friends.

The Bloody Chamber is my favorite among the three books. I love fairy tales very much. I read Roman fairy tales, Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Andersen’s Fairy Tales since I was very young. But they were already translated into Chinese. It was a lot of fun to read those adaptations. Among those adapted version, I like the Werewolf most because I felt this story included more creative imaginations than other stories. And instead of relaxed and joyful plot in the original fairy tale, this story was kind of scary and nervous. And I like that feeling. Again, although I like this story most, I chose to rewrite Tiger’s bride because I think that was easier for me. I don’t think I can rewrite the Little Red Hat story better than the Werewolf.

Actually I don’t really like Tiger’s bride. After I read this story, I felt the behaviors of both the girl and the beast in this story were strange. The reason why they get-together was not clear. So when Kristin and I rewrote this story we decided to make it more realistic. We let the girl personify the worship of money and end up with poverty. We let the beast be wealthy and captive to her beauty. But we still give the beast a happy ending because of his good heart.

I did a presentation of Tiger’s bride in class. This is my second presentation. Last semester I did group presentation in ENG 111 class. So this was the first presentation all presented on my own. I was afraid I could not take 15 minutes and I prepared some irrelevant questions. The reason why I chose this story to present at the beginning of the semester was that I thought it would be a story about a pair of tigers or a wonderful couple. I thought tiger represents good-looking. So after I read this story I understood tiger was the beast and I thought that was interesting and decided to put it into my presentation. But I was not sure whether they would like my questions so I brought some small gifts.  

Through the whole semester, I felt my reading ability was improved but writing ability is still weak. Thanks to my ENG class, my reading speed was raised, and I can feel that when I read the second novel and read textbooks for other class. But my writing ability still needs to develop. For example, I am writing a reflection now and I feel it not easy to reach 700 letters, and I always have grammar mistakes.

At last, thank you so much for helping me with my essay and presentation. I really had a great ENG class this semester.

 

 

 

0402 PB essay questions

1. which part of this essay should be longer,  how the risks operate the substory or the relationshiop with other substory?

2. I found it hard to argue why the risk is important to the novel as a whole, for there are so many stories in the novel.

0305 The PowerBook

My question:  Why does she want to start with a tulip?

ELIC image

When Oskar was cleaning, and he found an envelope with a small key in it. He was interested in where the key came from. He tried the key in all of the locks in the apartment, but it did not match any locks in the apartment. He pretended to be sick, so that he can stay in the apartment. After his mother went to work, he went to the locksmith’s store. The locksmith told him that was a key for a lockbox or a safe. He also said that the key could be twenty or thirty years old. Oskar tried to find what company made this key.

images in book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I am very interested in the images in this novel. When I read page forty-four, I did not really understand the dialogue between the Oskar and the woman. The images after that page well explained what they were talking about and why he felt it was strange to write the word black in red pen. And this is important to the following text. So I think those images are very necessary in the text.

What I am interested in is that : Do Americans like to write their names when they test a pen? Then woman makes Oskar look at the paper filled with first names and family names and colors’ name. People who buy pens from her write those names on the paper to test pens. In my country, people seldom write their names on the test paper. Some one will recognize them from their names. Although it doesn’t matter whether others know where they buy pens, they still feel kind of upset.

Why Americans and Chinese are different at this point? I guess that because American names are not as many as Chinese. People cannot recognize others just by their names. Almost in my each class there are two or more students with the same first name. 

Setting

The story happens a year after his dad passed away on the fifth floor of an apartment in New York City. He found a key in the apartment in which he lived. And the key starts the whole story. He tries to find out what this key used for.  

Border and Gap

Border: 1. Why does the novel start the way it does?The author rambles for several pages at the beginning of the novel. He seems to try to write a journal. He just talks about what he is thinking at the moment. Some seem to have no relation with the whole story. In these pages, he tells readers who he is and his relationship with his father. He starts with a question which can draw attention from readers.

2. Why he use French in the novel? I think it doesn’t matter if he writes in English.

3. Page nine, I do not understand the massage and where the massage comes from.

Gap:

1. Page five, “Succotash my Balzac, dipshiitake.” These words are very strange.

2. Page 16-17. The author does not divide the writing into paragraphs. I guess it is because he is too upset to talk.

3. Page 19-27. He writes only one sentence on each page. I think he wants to show his grief.

The conditions under which I can do my best active reading

First, I need a quiet environment. This is the most important. I feel it really hard for me to read or study in noisy surroundings,particularly when I read a foreign article. I cannot concentrate my energies when some one is talking loudly around me.

Second, I can understand better if I clear up my mind before reading. I will miss some points if I am considering other things when I read. If I still cannot concentrate on my reading, I will read it out loud.

Third, I always like to underline some key words or take some notes in margins. This helps to remember what I am reading. 

Finally, rereading is helpful to get more information and understanding. At this moment, I also find underlining and notes are useful. And I will use dictionary at the second or third time reading to remove the gaps. Sometimes I do not understand somewhere at first, but after second reading I will get it.

Review for three public blog

1. http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-sleep-less-and-stay-healthy/

In this post, the author wrote about how to sleepless and stay healthy. He pointed that not only the sleeping time, but also the sleeping quality are very important. He gave some suggestions to sleep well. For instance, do not eat before sleep, do not keep light on during sleep; keep the air clean, and so on. This way, sleeping time can be reduced and we will save a lot of time to work.

2. http://freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/8-essential-strategies-to-saying-no/

The title is “Essential Strategies to Saying ‘No’”. I also believe that it is important to get the ability to refuse others and not make them angry. The author gave many ways to refuse other. For instance, try to not refuse their requests firmly and then find some reasons to explain your unavailability.

3. http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/triple-your-personal-productivity.htm

The author suggested some ways to raise personal productivity.Firstly, make a detailed schedule.Secondly, analyze your results of carrying out your plan.Thirdly, calculate your efficiency ratio.Fourthly, force an increase in efficiency.Finally, gradually increase your working time.

                                                                        

After Reading Eiger Dreams

       In this story, the author describes three people’s adventure of climbing Eiger. They fight with the frozen temperature, winds with the speed of 170 kilometers per hour, and the steep mountain.

       Once I could not understand why some people were always game for adventure, such as mountaineering, channel across -swiming, wire -walking between two cliffs. I thought that they were taking their lives in their hands.  Later I learned an old saying” If you are not a fish, how can you know the joy of a fish?”. For those adventurers, adventure is the most joyful and meaningful. In the story, the author and his two companions get depressed when they have to go down and excited when they decide continue climbing.  

      My questions: There are several places that I do not understand. 1)Page 3 last paragraph:”One of the differences between us was that Marc wanted very badly to climb the Eiger, while I wanted very badly only to have climbed the Eiger.” 2)Page 13 second paragraph the first line about the phrase”wimped out” and “out of condition” .3) The same paragraph, why Marc was about to burst into tears? Is he too excited, or repentant?