“Leaner Profile: Daowang Lin”
Daowang Lin is from China and he has been here for five years. He graduated from high school in New York City. He has studied English for five years and he told me spelling and writing are difficult for him. He prefers studying with classmates, but he dislikes writing in group work. In this semester, his goal is to pass the CATW test. All in all, it was nice to meet him. He is a nice guy.
News
Three days ago, there was an unforeseen occurrence in a NY train. An SUV and a train collided in deadly N.Y. rail crash. Ellen Brody, who was driving the SUV, stopped on the tracks and five people aboard the train were killed. The train sounded its horn appropriately and the flashing lights and gates and the crossing functioned properly and an emergency brake was applied, but it was too late. The accident happened on February, 3, 2015 in Valhalla, New York.
Why are Children Becoming Obese
According to the article “Why are Children Becoming Obese?” by David Kraft, they are several reasons for the childhood obesity. The author explains that children are eating too much junk food and snacks, not exercising enough, and not sleeping enough can affect their weight. Kraft points out that Biology can also influence children’s weight, but other people think some childhood obesity comes from their overweight parent’s bad behavior. They can be poor role model for their children.
Childhood Obesity
Do you know children are facing obesity in modern life? Do you know how many children face obesity in Puerto Rico of the United States? Do you realize that children have got fat in the past few years? Indeed, some children are suffering obesity right now. Childhood obesity is when some children are getting fat or overweight. They have obesity problem because they are eating too much junk food, drinking sugary soda, not exercising enough, getting too much or not enough sleep, and they have poor models of parents. Childhood obesity is a serious problem because obese children have a greater risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, social and psychological problems and so on. Certainly, the government and the parents who have children suffering from obesity care about this problem. This essay will describe proposed solution to the problem of Childhood obesity. Finally, this essay will propose the best solution and explain its benefits.
There is one solution from “Local Government Seek to Reduce Obesity in Kids”. The Puerto Rico lawmakers have presented a controversial law, which fines the parents if they do not achieve the diet and exercise plan for their obese child to lose weight. Obese child would be checked every four weeks; but if the child does not lose weight after six months, the parents will be fined $500; if obese child does not show significant weight loss after another six months, the parents will be fined $800.
Moreover, another solution to help obese children lose weight is stopping those drinking sugary drinks. According to the New York Times, the former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who presented a law to bans the sale of large sodas for public health. Although the law did not pass, Bloomberg thought large sodas are cheaper than the same ounces of two small sodas, so the people will buy the cheaper one of the same ounces sodas. That is one of the reasons why the people are getting fat. On the other hand, according to the article “Local Governments Seek to Reduce Obesity in Kids”, some cities in California were present a law of taxes sugary drinks. Most interesting thing is the law was passing in the city of Berkeley, but the similar law of taxes sugary drinks was rejected for San Francisco. According to internet research, people who drink a can of soda every day, his weight will increase ten percent after one year. Thus, children should stop drinking sugary drinks.
In fact, supporting parents to help their children lose weight is more effective than penalizing them. The government had better teach parents how to help their children in an appropriate way, such as: eat healthy food, appropriate exercise, and sleep enough. Especially, the parents have to realize how serious the obesity is, and they should help their obese children to create a healthy behavior. According to some research on the internet, I found that successful people usually have their own healthy lifestyle. They think working out every day and eating healthy food are the most important to maintain their body health. Then, they can have more energy in their work. Healthy behavior can provide advantages in their work and life, so the successful people support that people should care about their health since they were children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “obesity rates have more than doubled in children and quadrupled in teens during the past thirty years.” People are richer than in the past few decades, so their children are going to get fat. Childhood obesity is already became a serious problem now. Parents should prevent this problem from becoming more dangerous for the children’s future.
Happiness (Summary/Connection/Response Essay)
What do you think are the reasons that cause people’s happiness? How do you think people’s achieve happiness? Recently, I watched a film named Happy which talks about happiness. The film was directed by Roko Belic who interviewed researchers from 14 different countries in order to get an idea of what makes people happy. The film Happy cites research that claims “happiness” is 50% genetic, 10% circumstances, and 40% “intentional activity”. Genetic means something that comes from parents. Circumstances means some situations that come from outside. Finally, “intentional activity” means something you choose to do what make you feel happy. This essay will define which areas cause people’s happiness. Finally, this essay will introduce what is going to be the key for my happiness in the next decades.
I think Susan Spencer-Wendel, the author of Until I Say Goodbye, will disagree with the claim. This book is about the author who was diagnosed with ALS which makes muscle weakness. She gives up the cure and decides to live with joy because ALS does not have cure at this time. In circumstances, she was adopted by Theodora “Tee” Spencer. Because Tee was Greek, she wanted Susan as well to be a Greek child. Tee yelled at Susan when Tee was peeved about something. But in “intentional activity”, Susan chose to write the book to tell her three children what kind of person she was; she chose to marry John who still loved her when she got ALS; she chose to plant memories for her youngest son Wesley; she chose to find her biologic parents; and she chose to travel with her best friend Nancy. These things make her feel happy because she wants to do them. “Do not cry because it is over; Smile because it happened” said Susan Spencer-Wendel. Although she was diagnosed with ALS, she still chose to live with joy in remaining years. Thus, I think the reasons that cause author’s happiness are circumstances and “intentional activity”.
Actually, I agree with Susan Spencer-Wendel that circumstances and “intentional activity” cause people’s happiness. In addition, I think “intentional activity” is the main reason in happiness cause. I have a friend named Jason who emigrated from China. He has lived in New York for five years. His parents live in China, and they have several restaurants. Jason told me before he went to New York, he worked for his parents; but he did not like that work. His parents believed that making money is the most important in their life, but Jason disagreed. Every day he had to work in the restaurant after he left school, and he needed work there until eleven o’clock. He did not even have time to date his girlfriend and join his friends. Finally, he broke up with his girlfriend. After that, he came to New York, and he tried to live alone because he wanted to be free. Now, he told me that he felt happier than before, and he is pleased with his choice. Although Jason was unhappy in his circumstance, he made his own choice in “intentional activity”. Furthermore, his happiness was affected by “intentional activity”. So I think that “intentional activity” is the main cause people’s happiness.
Although we do not have a choice about genetics and circumstances, we can choose things that we want to do in “intentional activity”. Looking at my future, I think graduating from college as soon as possible and finding a job that I like will be the keys to my happiness in the next five years. These two things can influence my happiness because I have several goals for my future, and they are two of them. If I achieve these goals, I will be happy. The harder I study, the sooner I will graduate. Certainly, I will have more choices on my job if I graduated sooner. So, the most important thing to work towards these goals is I have to study harder and harder. I believe that these goals can make my parents happy, and making them happy will make me happy. Another reason is that hard study can make me happy because I enjoy this process and this is the best way to be successful. All in all, I think “intentional activity” is the main reason in happiness cause. We cannot control external factors, but we can control our choices.
“Aubrey’s Birthday”
This chapter talks about how the author Susan wants to plan her son Aubrey’ birth date, but it does not work because an accident happened. Susan and her husband John discuss their second kid’ name and they argue about the child’s name. Finally, Susan decided to use her cousin’s first name Aubrey because she admires her cousin Aubrey Motz who is dead. Aubrey is different from Aubrey Motz because Aubrey Motz was not a complainer. Aubrey has an old soul which means clever according to his teacher. One day, Susan went to pick Aubrey up from school, but she slipped in the bathroom. Aubrey helped Susan get up. After that, she wrote emails to Aubrey and her younger son Wesley’s teacher to explain that she stumbled and slurred because she had a disease. Finally, Susan’s sister Stephanie bought a Smurf cake for Aubrey and Susan gave Aubrey a used iPhone for his birthday gift.
“Funeral”
This chapter talks about the author Susan’s plans for her funeral. Susan states that her parents are Baptist, but she is not. She wants a rabbi, an imam, a Buddhist monk, and a Catholic priest to explain their belief about what happens after death at her funeral. Susan invited First Baptist Church’s pastor Jimmy Scroggins, and her father communicated with pastor Scroggins even though he was appalled and disagreed with Susan. At the end of this chapter, Susan is preparing her funeral with Gwen Berry who is a colleague of a multimedia journalist. She asked her son Aubrey to come to her funeral. Finally, she decides to donate her body to science which she believes in.
Friendship
Do you know what causes a friendship to break apart? Do you want to know why you cannot go deeper with a friend? In many cases, there are three main reasons that always cause a friendship to break apart: loyalty, finances and interests. These three causes can keep your friendship forever and also can cut your friendship off. This essay will describe how these three causes break up a friendship and this essay also will explain why these three causes break up a friendship.
One factor that is important in friendship is loyalty. If someone betrays you, this action is going to hurt this relationship between you and your friend. For instance, imagine if you tell your best friend a secret, and she promises you that she will keep the secret. Then, after a few days, you heard your secret was talked by other people. How would you feel? You are going to be really angry, and you will think that you have been betrayed. So this friendship is going to be hurt, and even break up. So, loyalty in friendship is really important. Having a relationship between two people should be based on loyalty especially in a friendship. If one person is often betrayed by another person, they cannot be friends. Because the person feels insecure, they cannot create this relationship to friendship.
Another factor is financial. Finance is hard to define in friendship, but recently I heard my friend Jason broke up with his best friend Jack. The reason is that his friend Jack borrowed thirty thousand dollar from Jason last year. Jack promised that he would return the money after six months, and Jack invested the money to open a restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not make money the whole year, and Jack decided to file for bankruptcy. Therefore, he also could not return money to Jason. He avoided contacting Jason many times when Jason invited him to have dinner. last month, Jason’s father was diagnosed with cancer, so he needed money to treat his father. He had been in contact with Jack a couple of times, but Jack did not respond. He was really angry and he cut their friendship off. Now he is going to sue Jack in court. Although it seems unfortunate, it is a true thing that happens around us. Actually, financial problems in a friendship are serious things, so we need to seriously deal with it.
The last factor is interest. When friends do not have common interests, the friendship always breaks apart. For two people to go from acquaintance to friend, they need some conversation or reaction, and to find their common interest. If they do not have common interest, their relationship will not develop. So people become friends with others based on their common interest. Two people cannot be friends if they do not have common hobbies and common conversation topics; they will soon end this friendship. So, if you want to keep your friendship with other people, you have to communicate with them and have some reaction with them. Otherwise, you are going to cut your friendship off if you do not do anything to this relationship.
In fact, people always choose friends who have common interests with them. On the basis of common interest, they will choose who is loyal to them. Of course, this friendship is also based on not having a financial conflict. In my opinion, I think all of these three causes are important. none of them can be lacking. So, if you have friends who have common interests as you, please do not borrow money from your friend and never betray them; unless you want to break this friendship apart.
Midterm Reflection Essay
We are now half way through the semester. In this first half semester, I learned a lot about reading, writing and grammar. We also studied three books named: Ten steps, Write to Be Read and Top 20. Our professor Kelly helped us reviewed our grammar skills such as nouns, article, pronouns and possessive adjectives, verb tense review, problems with verb tenses, subject verb agreement, word forms and modals. In this reflection essay, I will describe what I have learned so far this semester and what I would like to improve in the second half of the semester.
This semester our class participated in the QCC Campus Common Read. What is Common Read? It means any student in QCC can get the book if they want to read and join some events about the Common Read. In this semester, we read a book called Until I Say Goodbye; it states the author Susan who got ALS when she was forty- four years old. It also described she live with joy, and enjoys her life with her family and friends without treatment because ALS does not have any cure. We also joined some events about Until I Say Goodbye; these events had a same theme called “empathy”. It means understanding and entering into author’s feelings. I remember an event that we attended is a movie called Pay It Forward, It states a young boy try to make the world better after his teacher gives him an inspiration. It offered some examples to provide how it works even though the process was really difficult. Unfortunately, the young boy was died by his classmates.
On the other hand, my reading skill improves a lot because of the Common Read. We analyzed some sentences and summarized some chapter of the book Until I Say Goodbye. Although I improved my reading skill a lot, I still need study hard in reading. I do not think I can pass the ACT test if I am not continuing improve my reading skill. It is really important for me. Actually, our professor Kelly already taught us some basic skill of reading such as dictionary use and vocabulary in context. And we also studied main ideas chapter by ourselves in Spring Break. Something going next of the second of the semester will be hard for us, so I have to pay attention on it.
Finally, I want to say that the second half of the semester is very important for me. This is my last semester for me, so I pass the test or not will depends on this second half of the semester. Something I need to do in class is listen carefully of what professor say, and something I should to do outside of class is do some practice of reading. I have a plan of this second half of the semester. First of all, reading skill is the most important for me, so I need to study vocabulary and practice reading. Second I need improve my writing skill, so I have to practice my writing and editing which means check grammar. Finally, I have to focus on writing time and reading speed. All in all, I hope professor can teach us more writing skills in the next second half of the semester.
Why Do People Work?
Why do you work? What do you work for? We all know that people work for money, but what other motivations do people work for? In fact, I did some research about why people work. I found out that people also work for several reasons, such as personal development, success and happiness. This essay will explain why these three factors make people work.
First of all, people work because they want to develop their personal qualities which mean people want to increase their experience. They work because they want to learn from the work, and they try to improve themselves in the work. Work provides lots of opportunity to workers. Workers can learn how to communicate with other people, how to work in groups, how to find their position in the group, how to exercise their patience and so on. For example, if a person finds a job with lots of experience, he is easy to get the job than others. If the person has good qualities to others, he can keep the job longer. Some people want to improve their personal qualities or skills in the work, they need to work first, and then they can get some opportunities to develop their personal qualities and skills.
The second factor is success. Success is hard to define because different people have different opinions about success of work. My opinion is most people want to be successful because they are ambitious people. They want to get a high position in their communities, and they also want other people look up at them. Success can make them feel satisfaction, so the ambitious people want to be successful. But my mother does not agree with me, she thinks that she wants to be successful because she wants to show others that she can do it. She wants to approve that she can be as successful as others. Some people think that females need work at home and take care of the children, but my mother does not think so. She wants to be a successful woman and she wants others know that woman also can as success as the things that man can do.
Finally, some people think that they do work because work makes them feel happy. I wrote an essay before about happiness. A very interesting thing that people thought are work can make them happy. Some people thought that they felt bored when they stay at home. They wanted to work and they want to meet with people. They felt happy when they were accepted by others; they felt satisfy when they finished a final project; they also felt successful when they promoted to a high position in the work. Similarly, other people thought if they worked which they like; they had more motivation on it. People who loved painting, they could paint three days without sleep; people who liked writing, they could write a whole night when they had inspiration.
In fact, people work for many reasons, but these three factors that I think people work for expect money. Money is important for our motivation in the work, but we also need other motivation for our work such as these three factors.
CATW#1
According to the article “Aerobic Activity”, aerobic activity can affect children’s fitness, I.Q and high score in their test. The article mentions that twenty minutes of walking will raise children’s score than playing video games. It also described how aerobic activity can affect children’s fitness, and better fitness with high I.Q. this article explains that there is no evidence that exercise affects children’s I.Q scores. Finally this article points out that running improved test scores, but playing video games did not. I strongly agree with the author’s opinion, but I also think that doing aerobic activity like running is more helpful than playing video games to relax before you take a test.
Actually, I think doing aerobic exercise like running is really helpful for study. If you do not like doing aerobic exercise, you should not play games. Playing video games cannot relax you before you study. Every night when I feel tired after studying, I play badminton. Badminton is really good for aerobic activity. So after I end the game of badminton, I feel energetic. I can continue studying until I finish my work. On the other hand, if I play video games, I feel more tired than before I studied. So, for a period of time, I cannot finish my work because I play video games and it makes me tired. Doing aerobic activity is better than playing games, and it is helpful for my study. Therefore, students or children should choose the correct way like doing aerobic activity to relax before studying.
(UNFINISHED)
CATW#2
Do you know how hard to find a job after students graduate? Do you have families, relatives or friends who are facing this problem? Do you worry about them? According to the article “Helping College Graduates finds” by Jean Fitz, students and accountants both want students to get a job after they graduate. The author explains that the state’s students have no idea about the major that they want to choose and there is no guarantee that they will get jobs or they will get the jobs which they like after they graduate. Fitz also mentions that the state’s accountants think the government wastes money paying for financial aid for students, and the state’s accountants also suggest that the students repay financial aid for the classes they do not pass. The government thinks the students who get financial aid to graduate can be taxpaying citizens. Finally, the author points out a solution to the problem: A new system can determines student’s capabilities and help them find jobs in their communities. I think this is a good idea, and I also think that it is hard to find jobs in developing countries.
I recently did some research on the internet. It is hard for students to find jobs in my country because my country has huge population. Students cannot find jobs after they graduate. Surprisingly, students have a higher chance to find a job in Canada than in China. Canada provides lots of opportunities for students to get a job; but in China, students need to work harder and harder to get a job, even as an accountant. Finding a job is hard in the most countries like China which are still developing.
Before I moved to the U.S, I graduated from high school in my country. I wanted to found a job to support my family, but I could not find a job. A high school diploma is not accepted by most companies. Since I could not find any job with my high school diploma, I decided to find a job in my community. Finally, I found a job in a restaurant. The restaurant’s chef makes me wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. It was really hard for me because I was sixteen years old at that time. After one year, I decided to move to another country where I could get a nice job. I feel freedom right now, but how about other students who could not leave their developing country? I think that the government should solve the problem of the students cannot get a job after they graduate.
In fact, most countries face the problem of the students who cannot get jobs. If the system works for the state, I think it can also be a solution in the world. In the future, students should not worry about being able to find jobs after they graduate.
CATW#3
Do you know what quality of life is? What do you think about materialism and spirit? According to the article “What is Quality of Life?” by Francisco Orozco, it is wrong that we judge people’s qualities of life on their material goods. The author explains that we can judge people’s qualities of life on two sides: material side and spiritual side. Orozco describes that the people live in the town that he stayed in before lived happily. The author also points out that materialism can provide better social and medical services, but they live with poor spirit even though they are wealthy. I agree with the authors opinion, and I also think the people who live in spiritual side are more important than people who live in material side.
My mother is an owner of a restaurant. She does not think that she have time to stay with her family and take a vacation. Her restaurant is always busy. My mother has to stay in the restaurant to keep it running. Since she found she has a terrible stomach illness, she realized that she needs to take care of her health. Now she has a restaurant manager to help her run the restaurant. She always tells me “Money is important, but the body is more important.” Now, she is taking a vocation in another country because she wants to enjoy her life. Material goods like money are good, but spirit is more important than that. If you do not have a healthy body, the money you made is nothing.
I recently did some research, and I found that most people who live in the urban areas think material goods are more important than spirit, but most countryside people think they feel happy, even if they not wealthy. For example, a person who lives in a city has more mental problems. They feel frustrated and nervous. In contrast, a person who lives in the countryside, has less mental problems than the person who live in the countryside have less stress about their work, family and so on. So, that material is the reason why they live with happiness and less mental problems than the people who live in a city. Actually, the people who live in the countryside unconsciously focus on the spiritual side, and the people who live in the city consciously focus on the material side.
In conclusion, I always believe that people live in spiritual side are happier than people who value the material side. Spirit can provide your mental and psychological treatment. It is more important than how many houses you have, how cool your cars, and how rich you are. All in all, if you can live in spiritual side, you will have a higher quality of life.
Daowang Lin is from China and he has been here for five years. He graduated from high school in New York City. He has studied English for five years and he told me spelling and writing are difficult for him. He prefers studying with classmates, but he dislikes writing in group work. In this semester, his goal is to pass the CATW test. All in all, it was nice to meet him. He is a nice guy.
News
Three days ago, there was an unforeseen occurrence in a NY train. An SUV and a train collided in deadly N.Y. rail crash. Ellen Brody, who was driving the SUV, stopped on the tracks and five people aboard the train were killed. The train sounded its horn appropriately and the flashing lights and gates and the crossing functioned properly and an emergency brake was applied, but it was too late. The accident happened on February, 3, 2015 in Valhalla, New York.
Why are Children Becoming Obese
According to the article “Why are Children Becoming Obese?” by David Kraft, they are several reasons for the childhood obesity. The author explains that children are eating too much junk food and snacks, not exercising enough, and not sleeping enough can affect their weight. Kraft points out that Biology can also influence children’s weight, but other people think some childhood obesity comes from their overweight parent’s bad behavior. They can be poor role model for their children.
Childhood Obesity
Do you know children are facing obesity in modern life? Do you know how many children face obesity in Puerto Rico of the United States? Do you realize that children have got fat in the past few years? Indeed, some children are suffering obesity right now. Childhood obesity is when some children are getting fat or overweight. They have obesity problem because they are eating too much junk food, drinking sugary soda, not exercising enough, getting too much or not enough sleep, and they have poor models of parents. Childhood obesity is a serious problem because obese children have a greater risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, social and psychological problems and so on. Certainly, the government and the parents who have children suffering from obesity care about this problem. This essay will describe proposed solution to the problem of Childhood obesity. Finally, this essay will propose the best solution and explain its benefits.
There is one solution from “Local Government Seek to Reduce Obesity in Kids”. The Puerto Rico lawmakers have presented a controversial law, which fines the parents if they do not achieve the diet and exercise plan for their obese child to lose weight. Obese child would be checked every four weeks; but if the child does not lose weight after six months, the parents will be fined $500; if obese child does not show significant weight loss after another six months, the parents will be fined $800.
Moreover, another solution to help obese children lose weight is stopping those drinking sugary drinks. According to the New York Times, the former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who presented a law to bans the sale of large sodas for public health. Although the law did not pass, Bloomberg thought large sodas are cheaper than the same ounces of two small sodas, so the people will buy the cheaper one of the same ounces sodas. That is one of the reasons why the people are getting fat. On the other hand, according to the article “Local Governments Seek to Reduce Obesity in Kids”, some cities in California were present a law of taxes sugary drinks. Most interesting thing is the law was passing in the city of Berkeley, but the similar law of taxes sugary drinks was rejected for San Francisco. According to internet research, people who drink a can of soda every day, his weight will increase ten percent after one year. Thus, children should stop drinking sugary drinks.
In fact, supporting parents to help their children lose weight is more effective than penalizing them. The government had better teach parents how to help their children in an appropriate way, such as: eat healthy food, appropriate exercise, and sleep enough. Especially, the parents have to realize how serious the obesity is, and they should help their obese children to create a healthy behavior. According to some research on the internet, I found that successful people usually have their own healthy lifestyle. They think working out every day and eating healthy food are the most important to maintain their body health. Then, they can have more energy in their work. Healthy behavior can provide advantages in their work and life, so the successful people support that people should care about their health since they were children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “obesity rates have more than doubled in children and quadrupled in teens during the past thirty years.” People are richer than in the past few decades, so their children are going to get fat. Childhood obesity is already became a serious problem now. Parents should prevent this problem from becoming more dangerous for the children’s future.
Happiness (Summary/Connection/Response Essay)
What do you think are the reasons that cause people’s happiness? How do you think people’s achieve happiness? Recently, I watched a film named Happy which talks about happiness. The film was directed by Roko Belic who interviewed researchers from 14 different countries in order to get an idea of what makes people happy. The film Happy cites research that claims “happiness” is 50% genetic, 10% circumstances, and 40% “intentional activity”. Genetic means something that comes from parents. Circumstances means some situations that come from outside. Finally, “intentional activity” means something you choose to do what make you feel happy. This essay will define which areas cause people’s happiness. Finally, this essay will introduce what is going to be the key for my happiness in the next decades.
I think Susan Spencer-Wendel, the author of Until I Say Goodbye, will disagree with the claim. This book is about the author who was diagnosed with ALS which makes muscle weakness. She gives up the cure and decides to live with joy because ALS does not have cure at this time. In circumstances, she was adopted by Theodora “Tee” Spencer. Because Tee was Greek, she wanted Susan as well to be a Greek child. Tee yelled at Susan when Tee was peeved about something. But in “intentional activity”, Susan chose to write the book to tell her three children what kind of person she was; she chose to marry John who still loved her when she got ALS; she chose to plant memories for her youngest son Wesley; she chose to find her biologic parents; and she chose to travel with her best friend Nancy. These things make her feel happy because she wants to do them. “Do not cry because it is over; Smile because it happened” said Susan Spencer-Wendel. Although she was diagnosed with ALS, she still chose to live with joy in remaining years. Thus, I think the reasons that cause author’s happiness are circumstances and “intentional activity”.
Actually, I agree with Susan Spencer-Wendel that circumstances and “intentional activity” cause people’s happiness. In addition, I think “intentional activity” is the main reason in happiness cause. I have a friend named Jason who emigrated from China. He has lived in New York for five years. His parents live in China, and they have several restaurants. Jason told me before he went to New York, he worked for his parents; but he did not like that work. His parents believed that making money is the most important in their life, but Jason disagreed. Every day he had to work in the restaurant after he left school, and he needed work there until eleven o’clock. He did not even have time to date his girlfriend and join his friends. Finally, he broke up with his girlfriend. After that, he came to New York, and he tried to live alone because he wanted to be free. Now, he told me that he felt happier than before, and he is pleased with his choice. Although Jason was unhappy in his circumstance, he made his own choice in “intentional activity”. Furthermore, his happiness was affected by “intentional activity”. So I think that “intentional activity” is the main cause people’s happiness.
Although we do not have a choice about genetics and circumstances, we can choose things that we want to do in “intentional activity”. Looking at my future, I think graduating from college as soon as possible and finding a job that I like will be the keys to my happiness in the next five years. These two things can influence my happiness because I have several goals for my future, and they are two of them. If I achieve these goals, I will be happy. The harder I study, the sooner I will graduate. Certainly, I will have more choices on my job if I graduated sooner. So, the most important thing to work towards these goals is I have to study harder and harder. I believe that these goals can make my parents happy, and making them happy will make me happy. Another reason is that hard study can make me happy because I enjoy this process and this is the best way to be successful. All in all, I think “intentional activity” is the main reason in happiness cause. We cannot control external factors, but we can control our choices.
“Aubrey’s Birthday”
This chapter talks about how the author Susan wants to plan her son Aubrey’ birth date, but it does not work because an accident happened. Susan and her husband John discuss their second kid’ name and they argue about the child’s name. Finally, Susan decided to use her cousin’s first name Aubrey because she admires her cousin Aubrey Motz who is dead. Aubrey is different from Aubrey Motz because Aubrey Motz was not a complainer. Aubrey has an old soul which means clever according to his teacher. One day, Susan went to pick Aubrey up from school, but she slipped in the bathroom. Aubrey helped Susan get up. After that, she wrote emails to Aubrey and her younger son Wesley’s teacher to explain that she stumbled and slurred because she had a disease. Finally, Susan’s sister Stephanie bought a Smurf cake for Aubrey and Susan gave Aubrey a used iPhone for his birthday gift.
“Funeral”
This chapter talks about the author Susan’s plans for her funeral. Susan states that her parents are Baptist, but she is not. She wants a rabbi, an imam, a Buddhist monk, and a Catholic priest to explain their belief about what happens after death at her funeral. Susan invited First Baptist Church’s pastor Jimmy Scroggins, and her father communicated with pastor Scroggins even though he was appalled and disagreed with Susan. At the end of this chapter, Susan is preparing her funeral with Gwen Berry who is a colleague of a multimedia journalist. She asked her son Aubrey to come to her funeral. Finally, she decides to donate her body to science which she believes in.
Friendship
Do you know what causes a friendship to break apart? Do you want to know why you cannot go deeper with a friend? In many cases, there are three main reasons that always cause a friendship to break apart: loyalty, finances and interests. These three causes can keep your friendship forever and also can cut your friendship off. This essay will describe how these three causes break up a friendship and this essay also will explain why these three causes break up a friendship.
One factor that is important in friendship is loyalty. If someone betrays you, this action is going to hurt this relationship between you and your friend. For instance, imagine if you tell your best friend a secret, and she promises you that she will keep the secret. Then, after a few days, you heard your secret was talked by other people. How would you feel? You are going to be really angry, and you will think that you have been betrayed. So this friendship is going to be hurt, and even break up. So, loyalty in friendship is really important. Having a relationship between two people should be based on loyalty especially in a friendship. If one person is often betrayed by another person, they cannot be friends. Because the person feels insecure, they cannot create this relationship to friendship.
Another factor is financial. Finance is hard to define in friendship, but recently I heard my friend Jason broke up with his best friend Jack. The reason is that his friend Jack borrowed thirty thousand dollar from Jason last year. Jack promised that he would return the money after six months, and Jack invested the money to open a restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not make money the whole year, and Jack decided to file for bankruptcy. Therefore, he also could not return money to Jason. He avoided contacting Jason many times when Jason invited him to have dinner. last month, Jason’s father was diagnosed with cancer, so he needed money to treat his father. He had been in contact with Jack a couple of times, but Jack did not respond. He was really angry and he cut their friendship off. Now he is going to sue Jack in court. Although it seems unfortunate, it is a true thing that happens around us. Actually, financial problems in a friendship are serious things, so we need to seriously deal with it.
The last factor is interest. When friends do not have common interests, the friendship always breaks apart. For two people to go from acquaintance to friend, they need some conversation or reaction, and to find their common interest. If they do not have common interest, their relationship will not develop. So people become friends with others based on their common interest. Two people cannot be friends if they do not have common hobbies and common conversation topics; they will soon end this friendship. So, if you want to keep your friendship with other people, you have to communicate with them and have some reaction with them. Otherwise, you are going to cut your friendship off if you do not do anything to this relationship.
In fact, people always choose friends who have common interests with them. On the basis of common interest, they will choose who is loyal to them. Of course, this friendship is also based on not having a financial conflict. In my opinion, I think all of these three causes are important. none of them can be lacking. So, if you have friends who have common interests as you, please do not borrow money from your friend and never betray them; unless you want to break this friendship apart.
Midterm Reflection Essay
We are now half way through the semester. In this first half semester, I learned a lot about reading, writing and grammar. We also studied three books named: Ten steps, Write to Be Read and Top 20. Our professor Kelly helped us reviewed our grammar skills such as nouns, article, pronouns and possessive adjectives, verb tense review, problems with verb tenses, subject verb agreement, word forms and modals. In this reflection essay, I will describe what I have learned so far this semester and what I would like to improve in the second half of the semester.
This semester our class participated in the QCC Campus Common Read. What is Common Read? It means any student in QCC can get the book if they want to read and join some events about the Common Read. In this semester, we read a book called Until I Say Goodbye; it states the author Susan who got ALS when she was forty- four years old. It also described she live with joy, and enjoys her life with her family and friends without treatment because ALS does not have any cure. We also joined some events about Until I Say Goodbye; these events had a same theme called “empathy”. It means understanding and entering into author’s feelings. I remember an event that we attended is a movie called Pay It Forward, It states a young boy try to make the world better after his teacher gives him an inspiration. It offered some examples to provide how it works even though the process was really difficult. Unfortunately, the young boy was died by his classmates.
On the other hand, my reading skill improves a lot because of the Common Read. We analyzed some sentences and summarized some chapter of the book Until I Say Goodbye. Although I improved my reading skill a lot, I still need study hard in reading. I do not think I can pass the ACT test if I am not continuing improve my reading skill. It is really important for me. Actually, our professor Kelly already taught us some basic skill of reading such as dictionary use and vocabulary in context. And we also studied main ideas chapter by ourselves in Spring Break. Something going next of the second of the semester will be hard for us, so I have to pay attention on it.
Finally, I want to say that the second half of the semester is very important for me. This is my last semester for me, so I pass the test or not will depends on this second half of the semester. Something I need to do in class is listen carefully of what professor say, and something I should to do outside of class is do some practice of reading. I have a plan of this second half of the semester. First of all, reading skill is the most important for me, so I need to study vocabulary and practice reading. Second I need improve my writing skill, so I have to practice my writing and editing which means check grammar. Finally, I have to focus on writing time and reading speed. All in all, I hope professor can teach us more writing skills in the next second half of the semester.
Why Do People Work?
Why do you work? What do you work for? We all know that people work for money, but what other motivations do people work for? In fact, I did some research about why people work. I found out that people also work for several reasons, such as personal development, success and happiness. This essay will explain why these three factors make people work.
First of all, people work because they want to develop their personal qualities which mean people want to increase their experience. They work because they want to learn from the work, and they try to improve themselves in the work. Work provides lots of opportunity to workers. Workers can learn how to communicate with other people, how to work in groups, how to find their position in the group, how to exercise their patience and so on. For example, if a person finds a job with lots of experience, he is easy to get the job than others. If the person has good qualities to others, he can keep the job longer. Some people want to improve their personal qualities or skills in the work, they need to work first, and then they can get some opportunities to develop their personal qualities and skills.
The second factor is success. Success is hard to define because different people have different opinions about success of work. My opinion is most people want to be successful because they are ambitious people. They want to get a high position in their communities, and they also want other people look up at them. Success can make them feel satisfaction, so the ambitious people want to be successful. But my mother does not agree with me, she thinks that she wants to be successful because she wants to show others that she can do it. She wants to approve that she can be as successful as others. Some people think that females need work at home and take care of the children, but my mother does not think so. She wants to be a successful woman and she wants others know that woman also can as success as the things that man can do.
Finally, some people think that they do work because work makes them feel happy. I wrote an essay before about happiness. A very interesting thing that people thought are work can make them happy. Some people thought that they felt bored when they stay at home. They wanted to work and they want to meet with people. They felt happy when they were accepted by others; they felt satisfy when they finished a final project; they also felt successful when they promoted to a high position in the work. Similarly, other people thought if they worked which they like; they had more motivation on it. People who loved painting, they could paint three days without sleep; people who liked writing, they could write a whole night when they had inspiration.
In fact, people work for many reasons, but these three factors that I think people work for expect money. Money is important for our motivation in the work, but we also need other motivation for our work such as these three factors.
CATW#1
According to the article “Aerobic Activity”, aerobic activity can affect children’s fitness, I.Q and high score in their test. The article mentions that twenty minutes of walking will raise children’s score than playing video games. It also described how aerobic activity can affect children’s fitness, and better fitness with high I.Q. this article explains that there is no evidence that exercise affects children’s I.Q scores. Finally this article points out that running improved test scores, but playing video games did not. I strongly agree with the author’s opinion, but I also think that doing aerobic activity like running is more helpful than playing video games to relax before you take a test.
Actually, I think doing aerobic exercise like running is really helpful for study. If you do not like doing aerobic exercise, you should not play games. Playing video games cannot relax you before you study. Every night when I feel tired after studying, I play badminton. Badminton is really good for aerobic activity. So after I end the game of badminton, I feel energetic. I can continue studying until I finish my work. On the other hand, if I play video games, I feel more tired than before I studied. So, for a period of time, I cannot finish my work because I play video games and it makes me tired. Doing aerobic activity is better than playing games, and it is helpful for my study. Therefore, students or children should choose the correct way like doing aerobic activity to relax before studying.
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CATW#2
Do you know how hard to find a job after students graduate? Do you have families, relatives or friends who are facing this problem? Do you worry about them? According to the article “Helping College Graduates finds” by Jean Fitz, students and accountants both want students to get a job after they graduate. The author explains that the state’s students have no idea about the major that they want to choose and there is no guarantee that they will get jobs or they will get the jobs which they like after they graduate. Fitz also mentions that the state’s accountants think the government wastes money paying for financial aid for students, and the state’s accountants also suggest that the students repay financial aid for the classes they do not pass. The government thinks the students who get financial aid to graduate can be taxpaying citizens. Finally, the author points out a solution to the problem: A new system can determines student’s capabilities and help them find jobs in their communities. I think this is a good idea, and I also think that it is hard to find jobs in developing countries.
I recently did some research on the internet. It is hard for students to find jobs in my country because my country has huge population. Students cannot find jobs after they graduate. Surprisingly, students have a higher chance to find a job in Canada than in China. Canada provides lots of opportunities for students to get a job; but in China, students need to work harder and harder to get a job, even as an accountant. Finding a job is hard in the most countries like China which are still developing.
Before I moved to the U.S, I graduated from high school in my country. I wanted to found a job to support my family, but I could not find a job. A high school diploma is not accepted by most companies. Since I could not find any job with my high school diploma, I decided to find a job in my community. Finally, I found a job in a restaurant. The restaurant’s chef makes me wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. It was really hard for me because I was sixteen years old at that time. After one year, I decided to move to another country where I could get a nice job. I feel freedom right now, but how about other students who could not leave their developing country? I think that the government should solve the problem of the students cannot get a job after they graduate.
In fact, most countries face the problem of the students who cannot get jobs. If the system works for the state, I think it can also be a solution in the world. In the future, students should not worry about being able to find jobs after they graduate.
CATW#3
Do you know what quality of life is? What do you think about materialism and spirit? According to the article “What is Quality of Life?” by Francisco Orozco, it is wrong that we judge people’s qualities of life on their material goods. The author explains that we can judge people’s qualities of life on two sides: material side and spiritual side. Orozco describes that the people live in the town that he stayed in before lived happily. The author also points out that materialism can provide better social and medical services, but they live with poor spirit even though they are wealthy. I agree with the authors opinion, and I also think the people who live in spiritual side are more important than people who live in material side.
My mother is an owner of a restaurant. She does not think that she have time to stay with her family and take a vacation. Her restaurant is always busy. My mother has to stay in the restaurant to keep it running. Since she found she has a terrible stomach illness, she realized that she needs to take care of her health. Now she has a restaurant manager to help her run the restaurant. She always tells me “Money is important, but the body is more important.” Now, she is taking a vocation in another country because she wants to enjoy her life. Material goods like money are good, but spirit is more important than that. If you do not have a healthy body, the money you made is nothing.
I recently did some research, and I found that most people who live in the urban areas think material goods are more important than spirit, but most countryside people think they feel happy, even if they not wealthy. For example, a person who lives in a city has more mental problems. They feel frustrated and nervous. In contrast, a person who lives in the countryside, has less mental problems than the person who live in the countryside have less stress about their work, family and so on. So, that material is the reason why they live with happiness and less mental problems than the people who live in a city. Actually, the people who live in the countryside unconsciously focus on the spiritual side, and the people who live in the city consciously focus on the material side.
In conclusion, I always believe that people live in spiritual side are happier than people who value the material side. Spirit can provide your mental and psychological treatment. It is more important than how many houses you have, how cool your cars, and how rich you are. All in all, if you can live in spiritual side, you will have a higher quality of life.