My Special Belonging

If there's no chance of returning to my house, my top three choices to carry around me will be my stuffed elephant, USB with all my files and pictures with friends, and down jacket. I will bring my stuffed elephant because it has accompanied me through difficulties since I was 2-year-old. My beloved stuffed elephant has a deep, steadfast friendship with me since it always listens to my vexations and shares secrets with me. I always pretend that I bear my baby stuffed elephant. I coil the blanket around me and pretend that I am pregnant. My stuffed elephant sleeps with me and protects me from monsters every single night and wishes me a good dream. I love to put my head down and inhale the lemon smell of its hair. I can't leave without my stuffed elephant because it represents not only my childhood but also my entire life. My second choice is my purple USB with all my files and pictures with friends since USB is convenient and tiny. I can reprint or safe my files in the USB and all the files represent the efforts on finishing assignments or writing diary. Pictures with friends represent the memories we once had and will accompany me through the rest of my life. The pictures record the special moments in my life and the obstacles my friends and I have surmounted. I will treasure the pictures forever and remember all the hearty laughters and teardrops I have undergone. The USB can ensure me to safe all the efforts and beautiful memories. My last choice is my pink, warm down jacket which has protected me through all the chilly winters. I love my down jacket because it can become a soft pillow or blanket which accompany through dreary nights. My down jacket is fluffy, warm, and beautiful. It preserves the heat in my body and protects my internal organs. However, it's a hard choice if I can only bring one special belonging with me. I guess that I will bring my USB because it's the most practical way. 

Theme to Your Favorite Song

Take these Wings
I found a sparrow lying on the ground,
Her life I knew would soon be at the end.
I knelt before her as she made a sound,
And listen as she said, My friend~Take these wings, and learn to fly,
To the highest mountain in the sky,
Take these eyes, and learn to sing,
All the things so dear to me,Take this song, and learn to sing,
fill your voice with all the joys of spring,
Take this heart, and set it free,


I found another sparrow lying on the ground,
A tiny bird whose life had just begun,
I picked him and held him in my hand,
I smiled at him and said, my son~

Take these wings, and learn to fly,
Take this song, and learn to sing,
Fill your voice with all the joys of spring,
Take this heart, and set it free.Let it fly, beyond the sea.
To the highest mountain in the sky,
Take these eyes, and learn to sing,
All the things so dear to me,
Let it fly, beyond the sea.

The theme is that life is full of hopes and wonderful. I realize the theme because the lyrics describe how a person expects the beautiful life of a sparrow, and wishes that it won't give up. The subject is life. Life is unpredictable so people might have despair. We have to overcome the difficulties when the going gets tough since there are beautiful things in life that we haven't undergone. Helen Keller:" The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart." Life is the best and most beautiful thing in the world. Life is hard to describe because people have to experience by themselves. It is full of hopes because miracles will happen and life will find its own way. It is wonderful because we have a chance to catch every beauty by our heart, such as a song and joy of spring. Though the sparrow is hurt, it will heal eventually and experience the miracles in life by wings. The person expects the sparrow to experience the beauty if life. Beyond the sea, the sparrow will find another wonderland.

Folk Sopgs about Revolution

Irish Rebel song - Michael Collins


This is an Irish revolutionary song composed by Michael Collins, who was an Irish revolutionary leader. The song has a fast militaristic rhythm which indicates a vivacious but serious tone. The first part of the song states the cruelty of wars, in which people die in the pool of blood. Although people aren't willing to join the war, they have to venture their lives by supporting Free States or Republican. The second part describes a heroic man who outfights the foes. Irish feels that they are the prisoners of England and they are eager to embrace freedom. For the sake of next generations and future of Ireland, the Irish soldiers have to fight and win the victory. Britain released the Irish prisoners before Christmas for a brief time. Since the Irish has clever disguise and make great efforts on independence, England decides to sign a truce. Mick Collins, great Irish leader, brings victory for Ireland and eludes the English troops. Unfortunately, he was eventually killed by the English. Irish will pay homage and honor mighty leader Mick Collins forever. However, Irish will find a new military leader in order to bestir more patriots and arouse the determination of independence. Irish doesn't want to rule by England, because it is an independent country with own government. Ireland will born a gallant, courageous hero in future and he will lead to the golden age of Ireland.

Duty or Friendship

I personally think that my friend is more important than my duty. Betraying my friend is worse than betraying my duty, because friendship cracks when friend doesn't believe in me anymore, though my friend might pretend nothing happens. Friendship is fragile as glass, though we can always repair it when the glass crashes, the crack is indelible. However, duty is also significant. Duty is the task that I am responsible to accomplish. I can't just leave duty behind because I am lackadaisical. People believe me so they appoint the tasks to me. Therefore, I'll try my best to maintain both friendship and duty. If I am forced to make a choice between betraying friend or duty, I'll select duty because it represents practicality while I am more sensitive. I will make up my duty after apologizing my mistakes, in which I still have chances to rectify my error. However, there is almost 0 percent to fix the crack between friendship because the betrayal will always leave a lump in friendship and engulf it gradually. Hence, I believe that betraying friendship is worse than betraying duty.

Under Pressure

The qualities that enable people to perform well when facing heart-pounding fear or stress are courage, hatred, and death. When the stakes are high, people will arouse epinephrine which provides strength to overcome the difficulties. Courage gives people the power to confront the fear. Hatred ignites the determination of fighting against the fear, because it has overwhelmed the fear. Death is always the true unknown in people's heart, which is the motivation of courage. When people are afraid of death, they will arouse the courage and stand up for own lives. In Crescendo, when the protagonist Nora is almost trapped and "sacrificed" by Rixon due to the fallen-angel-turn-to-human scheme, she is facing death and thus encourages herself confront the malignant enemy, Rixon. "A honey tongue, a heart of gall" is definitely referring to Rixon. Rixon is an evil guy who betrays his best buddy, Patch, and kills Nora's father while casts the blame on Patch. He wishes that Nora breaks off with Patch entirely, and thus Patch can no longer protects Nora as her guardian angle. Therefore, Rixon has a chance to murder Nora and gets his precious human body, instead of being a homeless fallen-angle. However, the hatred in Nora's heart which arouses by the truth of her father's death doesn't allow Nora to stand still and wait for death. She does EVERYTHING which she finds a beam of hope. Since she is scared of death and doesn't want to die, she endeavors to live and eventually doesn't afraid of death when she faces the bullets. She find herself calm when facing death. Her courage is worth for us to learn from. Anyhow, breaking with Patch is definitely not a good choice because it's he who saves Nora last.

Vengeance

The experiences that lead someone to revenge are overwhelming insults which haunt in people's hearts. The insults usually overheat people in a violent way because they are unbearable. If someone insults another with derogatory comments, he or she might pile up the malice and eventually seek to revenge. The vengeance twists another's mind hardly until another suffocates so much that the determination of vengeance kindles in heart. An obsession with vengeance can lead to tragedy because the malice will explode when people can't load the pressure, in order to seek a solution, they might be insane and extremely obsessed with killing. There was once a poor woman who has hurt violently by her husband for 40 years, in order to make her life better, she decided to kill her husband secretly. She has pondered awhile because it was hard to cut off the relationship. She found out that the only solution was murder. Therefore, although she might regret the decision, her self-conscious supported her to MURDER her husband. Though she was eventually arrested by the police and imprisoned in the jail, she could own her freedom again when she embraced the sunshine outside the jail.

The Grass is always greener on the other side

All of us, at some point in our lives, we have felt that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, which means we have envied other peoples' lives. We believe that having what someone else has will make us happy, until we experience the unexpected negative results of envy. Jot down your feeling about envy. Have you ever seen or felt its negative effects?

Envy is a poisonous vine, snagging and sprawling, which will eventually wrap people hardly to stifle. I'm not a saint; I'm merely an imperfect humankind created by Eve and Adam. I have to admit that I do envy people, but not their lives. I have a healthy body, perfect family, and parents who love me so much that they always accompany and encourage me through difficulties. Compare to skinny African children, I have nothing to complain. However, I once envied my brother. When I learned piano in 4th grade, my brother learned it in 2nd grade and bragged that he would become more skillful than I do eventually. When I was studying hardly, he was always playing his computer games cheerfully. When I was worrying about my grades, he always spent leisure for favorite cartoons. When I transferred to PAS, I worried about my poor vocabularies and reading ability, he didn't have to concern about his staying-same grades because he had two more years than I do. It was unfair for me as an elder sister. I imagined that what will happen if my mom gave birth to my brother first? I hate my jealousy  occupies in my mind and distracts me from homework. I can't really study when I am emotional. Therefore, I ponder for awhile and get a great conclusion. Although I envy my brother, I realize that he envies me, too. He is satisfied to be a younger brother because he can be willful and parents will draw attention on him (that's what I do when I was young) However, he detests people to compare my grades to those of his, especially my father. Once a person asked my brother: "Why does your sister get good grades but you are.....opposite, still stays in ESL?" It was a stupid question. This question definitely hurt my brother's heart and self-confidence. It's so ironic when people are jealous of people in same direction. However, whenever I envy my brother, I learn to comfort myself that I am learning while he's wasting time. I comfort myself that I will practice playing the piano harder so he won't surpass me. I learn to control my jealousy because it will wrap myself in a stuffy frame and stifle me. I learn to satisfy and appreciate things that I own. In conclusion, I realize that envy is a two-way vine. When you feel "the grass is always greener on the other side", you don't appreciate what you own until you lost it. Therefore, don't worry about the grass so much, because you may find  beautiful blossoms smiling on your side. 

Helen On Eighty-Sixth Street

It's true that we all have dreams and hopes, yet some come true, some don't. There was a vigorous, optimistic girl who had large chocolate-brown eyes that glitter under the sunshine. Her hair was pitch-black, straight, and scented like those shampoo advertisements when models swung their beautiful hair. Unlike most of the Asians with dark skins, her skin was pale, as the icy-cold snowflakes in winter, falling down miserably and pitifully, impressed people so much that was unforgettable. We met by chances like patches of drifting duckweed. We didn't have best-friend-gossip friendship, just normal and not essential. We won't care about each other's lives as primary, because we were merely normal friends that only had team-spirit relationship. However, life changed 180 degrees. We were distributed in the same class again as upperclassmen. Since we didn't comprehend other unfamiliar students, we stayed together and chatted with happy-go-lucky thoughts. Soon, we became best friends. We shared our dreams together: She dreamt to become the top dancer in the world while I dreamt to become a skillful pianist who accompanied when she was dancing. We hid our dreams into a time capsule which was buried near the largest blooming phoenix tree in the school. I truly hoped and believed that our dreams would come true, since we were practicing diligently. Anyhow, I found out that the thought was just too childish after a significant change which promoted me to stop playing the piano--TRANSFER. It wasn't I who transferred; it was she who transferred. Because she was admitting into a excellent dancing school in America, she was about to go abroad. I was so disappointed and deplorable that I couldn't sleep for whole night. I couldn't accept the cruel truth so I tricked myself that it was a dream with nightmare. I only had to knead my face with the fingers and I could wake up, but it was useless. I was still awake in the nightmare. Therefore, I suddenly enlightened and decided to make a great present for her as the souvenir in Taiwan. I weaved a teddy bear around the bottle, clipped a card with a heart as the teddy bear was embracing the heart. I believed that she would still remember me whenever she saw the cute teddy bear was smiling warmly at her, as I was accompanying her through difficulties. I knew, though the dream that we would perform together didn't come true, we would accompany each other in our hearts even the distances were far away.

Thank you, M'am Quickwrite

I do believe that "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is true. People do indeed get going when facing difficult circumstances because they have the spirits that push them forward-- courage. Maya Angelou said: "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently." Courage is the motivation of hope. Hope promotes people to embrace a brighter world. We need courage to create a wonder which will help us to overcome difficulties. Courage arouses the interior power of humans that we have never believed in. The power evokes and firms our confidence that we can succeed to face the difficulties optimistically. Since we do believe in our supernatural power, we are confident that we can overcome the bottleneck. Therefore, we can discover that these people become so tough and strong in spirit due to their courage. Courage push people to do heroic deeds because they believe in themselves that they have the strength to face danger and pain. People turn out to be good because they have the courage to face their defects, instead of eluding them. They know that the way to improve is to reflect themselves and start a revolution, which encourages changes and improvements. Others go so wrong because they don't have the courage to admit their mistakes; they neglect defects intentionally, in order to pretend that they're perfect. Since they are neither courageous nor confident, they are afraid of changes. The changes are unknown, so they may have a terrible result. However, everything needs attempt, if we don't have the courage to face the failure, we can't even touch the edge of success. When we face the sunshine, the shadow falls behind us. Therefore, people need to have courage to face the difficulties, in order to embrace the warmth of sunshine.

A Christmas Memory Quickwrite

"A Christmas Memory" is a story about two unlikely friends. The story reveals something about the nature of friendship and the enduring power of love--even when, to the rest of the world, the friendship seems odd, and the love is not noticed at all. What do friends give each other? Think about your oldest friendship--why do some friendships last while others don't?

I truly love the friendship in A Christmas Memory because Buddy and his best friend's friendship is simple and sincere. The friendship is neither based on wealth nor profits, it's simply sharing and caring. Buddy and his 60-year-old best friend earn money in order to make fruitcakes and give them to whoever they met once or twice, basically, they give fruitcakes to strangers. They both enjoy the process which deepen their friendship every year; yet life is cruel. It's difficult to maintain the friendship perpetual due to the health. Friends give each other warmth, encouragement, and support whenever friends encounter difficulties. Friendship is subtle and hard to explain, since friends just form naturally. When the feeling is right, we can understand that we will become friends. Though I think destiny is held in my hands, but I do believe that destiny implicates my friends. Acquaint with friends, like patches of drifting duckweed, is met by chances. Some friendships last forever, firm and steadfast; yet some friendships are ephemeral, gradually weaken when time pasts. When the friendship undergoes difficulties, challenges, and passing time, the friendship will found into a keen edge which slices every obstacle in front of you. The difference is complicated, but I know that I have friendships which will last eternally. Some friends forget you after they graduate, because they have another group of new friends, and the friendship between you two is past. Some friends still remember you though you both are far apart because they treasure the friendship truthfully and they will think of you in leisure time. My kindergarten partner is my oldest friendship. She is an optimistic, sunshine-like girl who is pretty talkative. Though the distance between us is far and remote, due to technology and Internet, we chat on Facebook and yahoo messenger. We can understand the recent condition of us and encourage and learn from each other on the way to future.The word "friend" is more meaningful than its exterior to me. It means that a buddy who accompanies me that I can vent my grievance, pour out my woes, and share my happiness.  The most important is that I can tell everything to my friends. I don't have to disguise myself under a mask, because they understand me so much that we know each other's emotional feelings. Friends are buddies who understand you and who we can share secrets and cry on their shoulders.

Constructed Response

On a separate sheet of paper, retell the important events of "The Most Dangerous Game" in the order in which the story shows them. Include events that are important to the plot. Leave out details that are not important to the plot.


On a moonless Caribbean night, Sanger Rainsford, a courageous and experienced hunter, was sailing for the Rio and hoped to hunt jaguars. He didn't sympathize the huntees while his partner, Whitney, thought the huntees felt fear when death arrived. Rainsford then heard a gunshot. In order to get a greater elevation, he jumped on the rail, yet the pipe was knocked out from his mouth by a rope. Unfortunately, he fell off the ship and swam toward Ship-Trapped Island because that was where the gunshots from. While he was swimming, he heard 2 pistol shots and a high-pitched, desperate scream. When he finally landed, he found an empty cartridge, followed the hunting boots, and sighted the lights. The first person he met was Ivan, who was deaf and unfriendly. Then he met general Zaroff, who explained that both Ivan and him were Russian warriors, the Cossaks; therefore, they were a little savage. The general thought that hunting was simply bored so he hunted humans. General Zaroff then intimidated Rainsford to join the game, or not Ivan would kill him. If the general couldn't find Rainsford for 3 days, then Rainsford won the game; but the general might bring a pack of hounds during the 3-day survival. On the first night, Rainsford made complicated and confusing footprints to mistaken the general and hid in the tree. Though the general found him, he saved Rainsford's life for another day's sport and smiled evilly. Then Rainsford set up a Malay man-catcher and wounded Zaroff's arm slightly. On the second day, the general brought one of his best hound to smell of Rainsford, yet Rainsford built a Burmese tiger pit and pierced the hound deadly. Therefore, Rainsford's great ability encouraged the general to bring the whole pack of his hounds on the last day. In response, Rainsford set a native trick by hanging the knife on a sapling. Instead of the general, Rainsford killed Ivan accidentally; yet he was still in danger. Rainsford was forced to jump down the cliff in order to escape from the general. At night, general Zaroff was about to sleep, yet Rainsford surprised him by hiding behind the curtains and swimming back to the chateau. Since Rainsford felt that Zaroff was still dangerous, he decided to have a final fight with the general. The winner would sleep in the excellent bed, while the loser would become the dinner of the hungry hounds. Survived in the jungles with difficulties, Rainsford decided Zaroff would never sleep in the comfortable bed. Of course, Rainsford won the battle and killed general Zaroff. Not only to win the game, but also to understand the feelings of huntees, Rainsford is now a real winner who knows to treasure lives.

Villain-Voldemort

Voldemort is a legendary antagonist in Harry Potter series. He is the archenemy to Harry Potter and most wizards or witches don't even have the audacity to speak him name out loud; instead they refer to him as "You-Know-Who". He is well-known for his cruelty and atrocity, basically, he never sympathizes the weak and the poverty. He disdains and scorns the non-pure blood wizards, known as the Muggles, therefore, he's willing to annihilate those wizards. Voldemort has a close yet dangerous relationship toward the protagonist, Harry Potter. He tried to kill Harry when he was a baby, but for mysterious reason he couldn't kill Harry, and the curse was even rebound to Voldemort himself.  Voldemort's ambition is to become all-powerful and immortal, therefore, he makes seven horcruxes in order to scatter his powerful magical skills. He won't be slew unless the seven horcruxes were destroyed. Voldemort fascinates the readers because he's such evil and atrocious that I've never expected before. He can slay his father and grandparents only because he disparages their blood- they are Muggles. He despises people who aren't pure-blooded wizards so much that he can murder his family without any compassion. He aspires to be the most powerful wizard in the world and called himself "Lord Voldemort". He's definitely has racial discrimination and lacks humanism and sympathy. Ultimately, Voldemort is truly a successful character because his personality portrays the dark and evil characteristic lively.