Book title：The Island of Blue Dolphins



World Population Growth, Disappearing Polar Ice-Caps and The Garbage Project

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級: 高中部二年忠班

姓名: 許峻堂

Summary of the reading:

　　I read three articles in the book Cause & Effect. The first one was “World Population Growth.” It’s about the problems we face when the population increases. The second one is “Disappearing Polar Ice-Caps,” which is about the cause of global warming. If the ice of North Pole and South Pole all melt, what will the world be like? The third one was “The Garbage Project.” It’s a topic about the landfills and garbage we make.

Reflection on the reading:

If someone asks me why I chose these three articles, my answer will be “Earth is our home. Things on Earth are what we really need to think and talk about.” I’ve learned so many things from this book.

We all know that natural resources on Earth are limited, meaning we should not waste them. In “World Population Growth,” scientists predicted there will be 9.1 billion people on Earth in 2050. The stress from so many people will force us to take more from our planet. Here comes the problem --- over-used resources. For instance, water, humans and animals on Earth need water. We even need water for crops. However, more than 97% of it on Earth is salt water, which is poisonous to both people and crops. Some countries will have water shortages and over- cultivation problems. At present, desalinization is not a good solution. The amount of farmland damaged by overcultivation is bigger than the area of the United States.

Because of global warming, the sea level keeps rising. Some parts of land will submerge into the ocean. The ice is white, which can reflect the heat from the sun; however, the melting ice is dark, so it can absorb the heat. It makes a vicious circle. Though it’s good for commercial shipping, it’s bad for some animals living in the polar region. With less ice, polar bears starve and are forced to swim further. As a result, they often drown. I think it’s stupid to those who only care about money. Global warming brings a huge change in our climate. If there are only a few people living on Earth, who will need commercial shipping?

Garbage can also be a serious problem even when it is buried. Plastic bags, batteries, and other forms of garbage cannot biodegrade easily. Some of them even contain poisonous chemicals which might pollute the groundwater. An interesting study shows that garbage in landfills biodegrades very slowly. Even in cities where it rains a lot, researchers found newspapers from 1948, forty-year-old hot dogs, and lettuce from 1970. A health official once said, “We’re in deep trouble here. We have much rubbish. Our landfills are closing, and we can’t open new ones because people don’t want them. If we don’t do something about our garbage, we’re going to be buried in it.” The statement was written in 1889.

I learned from these stories that we have to make a big change! Life is miserable, isn’t it? But it’s not a time to pray to God. I do not believe that The End of The World is in 2012. My faith is “Heaven helps those who help themselves!” There are so many things we can do to make the world more beautiful. For example, we can recycle milk cartons, bottles, and other things. To reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, we can ride bicycles instead of riding scooters or take the MRT instead of driving a car. Rome was not built in one day, but if we start now, the world will be very thankful for our help.

The Old Man and the Sea

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級:高中部二年勤班

姓名:莊晉

Summary of the Reading

This story is about an old man named Santiago who fought with a giant marlin for days with only one skiff. Santiago is an old man that used to be a great fisherman and had caught several big fish before. But now, he hasn’t caught a single fish for eighty-four days. On the eighty-fifth day, he decided to sail out, trying to get some fish for a living with his gaff and harpoon. After hours of following the birds, Santiago hooked a fish but the fish was so big that even he had to pull it with all his strength. It was still deep under the sea. Hours passed and the giant fish still didn’t give up. They fought for three whole days before the old man had finally won the victory, and captured the giant fish.

Sadly, on his way back to Terrance, several sharks showed up. The smell of the fish blood led them to Santiago. He was too tired to protect his prey because of days of water shortage and loss of his strength. Thus, the sharks ate all of the fish meat and let the old man sail home with nothing but fish bones. When he returned, those fishermen who used to laugh at him were stunned by the size of the fish body. Even if there was no bit of meat, it was still the biggest fish they had ever seen. However, the old man just went back to his battered little house and had a sweet dream.

Reflection on the Reading

I think what inspired me the most about the whole story was the diligence of the old fisherman, Santiago. No matter how other people made fun of him and how unlucky he was, he still went out fishing every day with his skiff. Even though he hadn’t captured a single fish for eighty-four days, he still wouldn’t give up. That, I think, is the most important thing we should learn from him.

Another thing that amazed me so much is the habit he had while fishing. He often talked to the fish he was trying to capture as if they were friends. And sometimes he even sang with it or talked to himself in order to release the loneliness in his heart. It might sound a little bit crazy, but I think it’s a great way to solve loneliness when we are alone, and making friends with all kinds of fish is also an interesting thing. This was an interesting story worth reading. The author used lots of attractive words that make me want to keep reading it. I have a great desire to know what’s next about the story

The Island of Blue Dolphins

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級：高中部二年勤班

姓名：曾淳琪

Summary of the Reading

As the Island of Blue Dolphins opens, Karana and her brother, Ramo, see a ship approaching their land. The Aleuts went aboard the ship and said they would like to hunt the otters on the island of the Blue Dolphins. The same thing happened long before and the foreigners had given the villagers a bad impression. After the Aleuts hunted the otters, they broke their promise with the natives and snuck away without giving them half of the otters. The battle started between the Aleuts and the villagers when the villagers found the Aleuts packing their nets. The Aleuts left and the chief died. The new chief found the white men’s ship one day. All of the villagers went on the left of the ship except Ramo and Karana. From then on, they relied on each other and supported themselves.

Karana didn’t live alone until Ramo was attacked by the wild dogs. Karana made arrows and weapons to avenge her younger brother. She shot the arrow at the leader of the wild dogs, but she couldn’t stand watching the dog dying in front of her. She healed the dog and let him accompany her. The Aleut came to the island again one season. Karana was scared first, but she made a friend with the Aleut girl, having a joyful time. Since the villagers had left the island, there was no ship which could take her to leave the island. She stayed on the Island of Blue Dolphins for a long time until another white men’s ship took her away.

Reflection on the Reading

Karana, who is the main character in the story, lived on the island alone for eighteen years. When she was twelve, she saw her only brother, Ramo, killed by wild dogs. She was heartbroken. Thus, she decided to take revenge for Ramo. Though she suffered, she still forgave the wild dogs, especially the leader of the dogs that she shot once. If I were her, I wouldn’t forgive the killer. I wouldn’t even take it back to my home and heal it because I wouldn’t be sure if it would attack me again and because I wouldn’t be able to forgive what it had done to my brother. Still, I admire Karana for her forgiveness. The spirit of forgiveness is the most valuable thing in the world. With forgiveness, we won’t have negative feelings all the time. We won’t keep lots of miserable memories in mind. Maybe you can release your negative feeling or energy by forgiving the person who once hurt you or offended you. It is difficult for us to forgive everything and it even takes time and courage but we can try to reduce the pressure in our mind.

There were some misunderstandings between my mom and I once. I had a doll. The doll was a birthday present that my aunt gave me. I used to sleep with it. I asked my mom if she saw my doll. “Oh, I donated it to the orphanage,” Mom said. I was so angry that I shouted, “It was my favorite doll! The one I used to keep with me when I stayed home!” I couldn’t understand why my mom thought my doll was dirty enough to give away. I couldn’t forgive my mom for a week. During the week I felt uncomfortable when I saw her. I seldom talked with her until I forgave her for what she had done. Maybe she forgot that I shouted at her. I decided to put the misunderstanding behind me and chose to keep good relations between us. I chose to forget about the bad memory and learned to look at things from a different perspective. I did find myself happier by not keeping bad things in my mind. I think that is exactly what happened to Karana in the end.

King Solomon’s Mines

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級:高中部二年勤班

姓名:何思模

Summary of the Reading

This is an adventure story, which began with three men – a captain named Good, his friend Sir Henry, and the man who wrote down Solomon’s story, Quatermain. After they realized that Quatermain got a real treasure map, they made up a group and tried to find the treasure. They first went through the desert and then climbed up a mountain. Right after the long tough journey, they found a tribe who knew about the treasure. When they found the cave which had a lot of diamonds, they were so glad and thought that they would be the richest men in the world. Unfortunately, the witch in the tribe they had met before led them into danger. They were stranded in the cave with very limited food, but thanks to their intelligence, they were able to escape.

Reflection on the Reading

I have seen many stories like this before, but I love this one the most. I thought the story was just like our lives. We meet not only obstacles but also many interesting things. For example, the desert in the story is just like the assignment at school because we can’t see the end of it. The shining diamond is like our desires. The cave which has concealed the diamond can be regarded as the school which offers a lot of knowledge to be explored. In the story I can also see greed and many bad things in humans, but I also see strong friendships between the people who trust each other, which is not easy and thus, very precious.

Disappearing Polar Ice-Caps, Rainforests and The Garbage Project

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級: 二年忠班

姓名: 陳佩湘

Summary of the Reading

I’ve read three articles, which are Disappearing Polar Ice-Caps, Rainforests and The Garbage Project.

The first article is about the melting ice in the Northwest and Northeast Passages. Though it is very exciting news for shipping companies; for polar bears, it isn’t because ice not only provides them with a place to rest, but a place to hunt for walruses. Some low-lying island communities even could disappear under the water because the sea levels have risen. With these bad things happening, we notice the climate has changed.

The second article is about rainforests. It is about how these rainforests look and why the creatures in them are so important. Due to increased population, humans have destroyed much of the rainforest.

The third article is about the Garbage Project. The researchers have investigated all kinds of garbage in the landfills, and they have come to the conclusion that the world will be buried by garbage if something is not done.

All the articles are about environmental problems. If we keep destroying the environment, we cannot live in a better environment or lead a better life.

Reflection on the Reading

I think that the most important thing for human beings is not how advanced the technology is. Though it provides us with lots of conveniences, more problems also arise with it.

In the 21st century, technology such as air conditioners, cars, and the Internet, have made life more convenient for all of us. But as technology becomes more common, our environment becomes worse and worse. Because humans are greedy, they start to build lots of factories to make these high-tech products, which could make the environment bad, too.

It really doesn’t matter if people want to lead convenient lives with useful technology, but if we don’t have comfortable lives with good surroundings, people become weak and die one after another. Then how could technology work without people happily using it? No matter what kind of progressive technology we have, we cannot live out our lives peacefully in a bad environment.

Fortunately, some people have noticed the environmental problems, such as climate change and global warming. Some researchers also started to look for the way to protect nature, for instance, solar batteries and hybrid cars. As students, although we can’t invent environmental tech, we can do some daily things everyday to help. We can ride a bicycle or take public transit instead of riding a motorcycle and driving a car. In summer, we can use electrical fans instead of air conditioners. We can reduce and recycle garbage. There are lots of ways to protect and improve the environment. If we can respect and keep doing something for it, we can lead more comfortable lives. With more environmental technology, life will be better than before!

LiYuchun Loved for Being Herself

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級:高中部二年忠班

姓名:余欣怡

Summary of the Reading

Li Yuchun, a Chinese pop singer, won the championship in a singing contest called “The Super Girl” in 2005 when she was 21 years old. Now, she’s not only an entertainer but also a philanthropist and a national icon.

Because of her appearance, some conventional Chinese aesthetic standards have been broken. Although there are a lot of rumors around her, she refuses to give up her career of music.

Reflection on the Reading

Li Yuchun is my favorite singer of all because she is so special. Her androgynous appearance attracts a lot of people; she has done innumerable charity actions. Her fans even established a foundation which uses her name “Corn” as the foundation’s name for her.

She has created a lot of good results on the disc market in China, as well as her immovable status in the entertainment circle of Asia. So far, she has established her own studio, planning to stride forward towards the goal of becoming an omnibearing entertainer.

What Li Yuchun possesses is attitude, originality and a proud androgyny that defies Chinese norms. Her disregard for the rule book made a lot of people weak in the knees. I have learnt from her that we shouldn’t follow conventional doctrines blindly. Instead, everyone should have new, innovative thoughts. As some lines of a movie said, “Most the best people are crazy,” because they always have a lot of crazy new ideas. If we don’t have new ideas, we won’t reach our goals.

She has influenced her fans. A person left a message on a website; she typed “Corns, we should master physics!” Someone asked her, “Why?” She replied, “Because Li Yuchun is good at Physics. She got excellent marks on her college entrance exam in physics. We should model ourselves after her.”

At the end of a concert in 2010, she cried. Everyone who attended the concert cried, too. I have seen this on video and I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw tears rolling down Li Yuchun’s cheeks.

She once said, “The classic belongs to those who understand it only.” In my eyes, she is our classics. Although someone around me does not like her, I will keep following her. Also, I will keep following our slogan: “Corns protect and cherish Li Yuchun forever.”

The Garbage Project, World Population Growth, and Rainforests

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級：高中部二年勤班

姓名：蔡正剛

Summary of the Reading

I read three articles this winter vacation. The first one is “The Garbage Project.” The garbage project started at the University of Arizona in 1973. To finish this project, the archaeology students had to travel to landfills, the place where cities buried their garbage. What the students learned from the garbage was that the garbage in landfills biodegraded very slowly. They also discovered that ordinary houses were full of hazardous waste. The most problematic hazardous waste in the house was batteries.

We know batteries consist of chemical materials and some metal. If we throw them into landfills, the poison inside them moves through rain water and other liquids to the bottom of the landfill where it can pollute the natural water underground. Clearly, our garbage problem is not new, but as the world population continues to grow, it will become a bigger and bigger problem.

The second article I read was “World Population Growth.” The world population started to rise rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, the world population grows by seventy-six million people every year. Unfortunately, we do not have enough natural resources to support these people because they are limited. In the future, the Earth may be able to support nine billion people, but how about our standard of living?

The last one I read was“Rainforests.” There are many trees on the Earth. They are in all of the places we live. Most of them are in tropical rainforests, like the Amazon region of South America. Tropical rainforests are the closest areas to the equator, so the average temperature and humidity are also the highest in the world. Rainforests serve as a comfortable place to tropical animals. Unfortunately, humans are still destroying tropical rainforests. Many scientists believe that the decreasing size of rainforests will affect the climate on the Earth, making it uncomfortable or even dangerous to life .Protecting our rainforests is the first thing we must do, or we will destroy our earth by ourselves.

Reflection on the Reading

We live in the twenty-first century now. The internet is quickly becoming the main source of information in the world today since almost everything we want to know can be found online. Besides the internet, technology is also progressing. Today, the world population grows by sixty-five billion people. Because of so many people, we produce a lot of garbage everyday. To solve this problem, I think the best way is to recycle. For example, Toronto initiated the first recycling program in North America in 1982. By doing this, they reduced the amount of garbage going into its landfill by twenty-five percent. If our garbage decreases, the air pollution will decrease, too. I believe we will have a healthier, cleaner and better Earth than before.

Sunshine, oxygen and water are very important for humans in the world. Oxygen, which accounts for twenty-one percent of the air, is essential to humans. Most of this gas is produced by all trees in tropical rainforests. Trees can proceed photosynthesis and turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. Today, many people still cut down plenty of trees everyday, which also contributes to the ever-rising carbon dioxide and average temperature. The best way to prevent this consequence is to do more recycling, use reprocessed paper, and save energy. By doing so, we may escape the fate of destroying ourselves. With rapid population growth and limited energy resources, we need to take more active measures to solve the problem and leave a better earth to our descendants.

Pride and Prejudice

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級：高中部二年忠班

姓名：鍾家玲

Summary of the Reading

Elizabeth’s mother wants her daughters to marry rich men. When the mother hears that their new neighbor, Mr. Bingley, is wealthy, she quickly brings all her daughters to participate in the dance held by Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth’s sister and Mr. Blingley have feelings at the ball, and Elizabeth also meets a friend of Mr. Bingley’s, the arrogant Mr. Darcy. Because of her prejudice, she ignores the good Mr. Darcy. She misunderstands Mr. Darcy until his sister Li Diya elopes with the officer Mr. Wei Han who threatens Elizabeth’s family to give him considerable dowry charges. He promises to run away with Li Diya and that brings disgrace to the family but Mr. Darcy gave Han Wei the money he desired and finally Elizabeth accepted his love with a happy ending.

Reflection on the Reading

This book is about human personalities and attitudes toward other people. When people consider themselves slightly better than others, they will always put themselves in a high-ranking position, and have prejudice against others. They tend to have opposite opinions about what others have done. Therefore, it’s hard for both sides to have real communication. As a result, this caused the biggest barrier between human beings. Attitude is very important. We make our first impression on others by our attitudes. Once the feeling is established, it’s difficult to break. If we are fooled by the illusion of one’s surface, it’s difficult to understand a person. People always jump to conclusions because of the way something looks, but they neglect its cultivation. All you need is sincerity to get along with others, so that they will feel your friendliness and want to get along with you. As for those who you do not know, you don’t have to please them on purpose or keep them at a distance. I think you just need to retain your basic manners.

How to Invest Your Money

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級: 高中部二年忠班

姓名: 廖上寬

Summary of the reading

This article is about how to invest your money. There are many ways to invest. For example, you put cash in a bank account or buy property, goods, or shares within the stock market. The idea is to invest at a low price and then sell or benefit from later increases. There are also risks in investing. For example, selling exotic items can earn a healthy profit. You must check the market to determine if it is going in the direction of a boom or burst. This way you can make a profit rather than lose your money. Holland is a good example of this point. In the 16th century, tulips were imported to Holland from Turkey. These flowers became popular and soon became a symbol of status. So the price of tulips started to rise. As prices rose, more and more people became involved in this kind of trade. Then suddenly in 1637, the price of tulips began to fall. Why? Tulip prices became much higher than what they were really worth. Many Dutch traders were ruined. It is a good lesson from which we can learn. When prices rise like a bubble, they eventually burst and people lose their money. Remember each time we increase prices for things just to make a profit the bubble could burst with no one buying at that price. It seems that investing is very risky. However, by realizing the possibility of a bubble you can keep your money safer.

Reflection on the reading

When I finished reading this article, I realized investing isn’t an easy job. It isn’t just a matter of buying at a low price and then selling when the price gets higher. You have to check the financial market. There are two basic types of financial markets: boom and bust. A boom market is when price goes up and you can make profit. When the market rises over 20%, it’s called a bull market. This is when the market shows its confidence. A large number of shares traded and an increase in the number of companies entering the stock market show that the market is confident. However a bust is just the opposite of a boom market. If the markets fall by more than 20%, we can call it a bear market. This shows that the market is lack of confidence. When people enter a bear market, they are waiting for the bulls to start driving the prices up again. It’s kind of risky, isn’t it? There are several kinds of investments. But even in one type of investment like stocks we should not put all of our eggs into one basket. We need to realize our risks. Personally, I have invested my money in cash investments and mutual funds. This article taught me a lot about investing and markets.

The World at Your Fingertips, Emoticon and Using the Internet

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級: 高中部 二年忠班

姓名: 鍾侑軒

Summary of the Reading

I read three articles: “The World at Your Fingertips”, ”Emoticon”, and “Using the Internet.” In this high-tech generation, everyone pursues better and more advanced things. The BlackBerry, a device first introduced in 1999, has been improving ever since. With this little piece of technology, you can take a picture, browse the Internet , find your location, listen to music, etc. That is what the first article is about.

The second article is about using computers to send e-mail and online chat instead of face-to-face communication. Nowadays, we can also express our emotions in e-mail or online chats. It is developed with characters like periods, colons, semicolons, numbers and other symbols. For example, If you want to type “This makes me happy,” you can type a colon, a hyphen and a right parenthesis symbolizing a happy face.

The last article is about the Internet. The internet has revolutionized public access to knowledge, as information about almost any topic can now easily be found. If you are looking for a certain thing in a search engine, a list of resources for that topic will come up in seconds.

Reflection on the Reading

These articles are connected with each other. In my opinion, all these have contributed to the development of high technology. The BlackBerry allows those in the business world to stay connected with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. We can use e-mail, text messages and so on. Nowadays, lots of communication software is developed online, like Msn, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, etc. They allow us to chat with anyone very easily. Thus, cyberspeak was born and called “Martian language.” Furthermore, emoticons make dialogues more fun. “Martian language” and emoticons are not only used on the Internet but also in text messages. That’s why I said they are connected with each other. Using the Internet is universal. We can get a lot of resources from the Internet. I can solve my confusion at any time with just a click. The Internet is powerful, and brings people all over the world together. To sum up, the improvement in technology provides a more convenient life, and thus creates a new generation.

The Garbage Project, Earthquakes and Photovoltaic Cells: Energy Source of the Future

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級:高中部二年勤班

姓名:沈毓麟

Summary of the reading

The articles that I chose are all about our environment: “The Garbage Project,” “Earthquakes,” and “Photovoltaic Cells: Energy Source of the Future.”

The first article is about garbage. Researchers dug into it and hoped to learn important things about contemporary society and how garbage damaged our environment. For example, in a landfill you could find newspapers from 1948, forty-year-old hot dogs, and lettuce from 1970, which shows us that the problem of the increasing amount of the garbage will be bigger and bigger if the world’s population continues to grow.

The next one “Earthquakes,” is about earthquakes, as its title indicates. It is about the epicenter, vibrations, and seismic waves. Tsunamis and volcanoes are two of the worst natural disasters caused by earthquakes. So how can we predict earthquakes? That is a question which requires more research. In the article, people think “Seismology” can solve this problem. If that is true, then 20000 human lives can be saved each year.

The final part is “Photovoltaic Cells: Energy Source of the Future.” What are photovoltaic cells? They are a kind of plastic which can transform sun energy into electricity. They are inexhaustible and free to use. They can also replace fossil fuels. How can we treat Earth better? The answers are in the articles.

Reflection on the reading

”The Garbage Project,” ”Earthquakes”, and “Photovoltaic Cells: Energy Source of the Future” are all about the environment and technology. People use technology to do more things and then want more, but we really don’t know how it hurts mother nature.

In the article, “The Garbage Project”, what we find is that whatever people do or eat creates garbage. Try to imagine how much food we eat, how many leftovers we throw away, how much energy we waste on producing these foods and how much garbage it creates This is manmade damage.

Besides this manmade damage, there are also natural disasters. “Earthquakes” are one of the most serious natural disasters in the world, because they can cause a chain reaction resulting in tsunamis and volcanoes which take many lives.

By reading these articles, we can have a better picture of the world we live in. The earth is sick! Manmade pollution is taking many lives away. To prevent the earth from dying, people invented “Photovoltaic Cells” to collect more energy. This attitude is just like mending a sheepfold. I don’t think it is easy to do. If we can prevent it first, the earth can live a longer and healthier life.

Burke and Wills: Across Australia

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級：高中部二年勤班

姓名：傅學鈺

Summary of the Reading

The article I read was “Burke and Wills : Across Australia.” The first paragraph is about the huge country of Australia. In some years, it rains a lot while in others it rains only eight centimeters. As a result, Australia’s climate is changeable and formidable. In the 1850s, people began thinking more about the interior. In 1860, Robert O’Hara Burke, John Wills and eleven other men started an expedition across the continent. However, their expedition was not as successful as they had thought. They didn’t have enough food, the men became hungry and sick, and one of them even died. To make matters worse, the men who went with Burke fought with him and wouldn’t follow orders. Although they finally achieved their goal, both Burke and Wills died. Only one person survived.

Reflection on the Reading

I learned some important lessons from the great expedition across Australia. There were several reasons behind the failure: Burke’s inexperience led to bad decisions, some people refused to follow orders, and they did not get along with each other. However, it was the first expedition across Australia and Burke and Wills are still known as heroes. Although this story didn’t have a perfect ending and almost everyone died, their spirits were and still are worth learning about. They didn’t dread the difficulty and marched forward courageously. As soon as we bump into difficultly and want to give up, we should follow their spirits and believe that we can do the best ourselves. Besides, they also provided a good lesson---team spirit is more important than anything else. No matter what our personal opinions are, we should respect the team’s decision and forbid any individual dispute. In school, a class is a team. No team can obtain honor with disputes. Unity is very important. No one should forget it.

Languages and Language Diversity

指導老師: 詹斐懿

班級:高中部二年忠班

姓名:湯婕

Summary of the Reading

Language is a system of sounds, gestures, or characters used to communicate ideas and feelings. We can separate it into two parts: written language and spoken language. The Austronesian family contains at least 500 languages. On the other hand, the Basque language is the only member of its language family.

Languages in different areas are very different, and can be divided into closely related branches. For example, Germanic languages, which are a branch of the Indo-European language family, share many similar words.

Languages are always changing and evolving. People invent new words for their languages, borrow words from others, and change the meanings of words as needed.

Today, fifty percent of the world’s population speaks one of the top fifteen languages. The most common one is mandarin Chinese, which has more than one billion speakers. English may be the international language, but it has more second-language speakers than native speakers.

Some experts believe that half of the world’s languages could disappear in a hundred years if we don’t do anything. We should not let this happen.

Reflection on the reading

In my opinion, languages are not only a tool for future careers but also something that can enable people to get together and communicate with each other; in other words, even people of different races and skin colors will feel closer together if we learn each other’s languages. I have many friends from all over the world, and we communicate in English. I can also understand greetings and easy conversations in many languages, such as French, Turkish, and even Arabic. When I use simple greeting to people, I always see smiles on their faces, which shows me how wonderful language is.

Some people say Chinese is one of the hardest languages in the world, and English is the most common one nowadays. I don’t think English is very easy to learn but it is easier than Chinese for sure. I’m a native Chinese speaker and I have used it my entire life. I am proud of learning Chinese as my first language, but I am sure it is not an easy language to learn.

Currently there is a predominance of Germanic languages, such as English. There are many similarities between German, Dutch, and English, so sometimes it is easier for Germanic language speakers to learn other languages.

In the future, more languages in the world will disappear because they only have a few speakers. However, languages represent the great knowledge and long evolution of human history; therefore, we shouldn’t let them disappear.

Julie&Julia

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二忠

姓名：葉鉌怡

Summary of the Reading

The story is about two women, Julie and Julia, pursuing their dreams. Julie was an office worker. After reading Julia’s cookbook, she started to design 524 courses based on the Julia’s cookbook within 365 days and she wrote her reflection on her cooking experience posted on the blog. At first, her family and friends didn’t support her but she didn’t give up. Eventually, she succeeded in completing 524 courses within 365 days and achieved her dream.

The other leading character was Julia. Different from Julie, Juia was a brave and optimistic woman. She was American but later moved to France. Her passion for food made her learn how to cook. In the end, she realized her dream which was to write her own cookbook.

Reflection on the Reading

This is my favorite book because I admire the perseverance Julie and Julia have showed when facing difficulties. In the past,I was belonged to “strawberry generation”. Whenever I had trouble, I gave up easily. After reading this book, I learn to confront the obstacles. This book has changed my attitude in life. Success is belonged to those who pesevere to the end.

Fire on the mountain

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二忠

姓名：汪盛婷

Summary of the Reading

“How to make the balance between nature and human?” is an important issue requiring everyone to think.In the article, the example of the wildlife in New Mexico was used to emphasize the importance of keeping the balance between nature and human beings. The wildfire always burns thousands of acres of forest and makes families homeless. To prevent the horrible wildlife, the government planned a routine to control burn in one of New Mexico’s forests. The Cerro Grande wildfire was the most serious disaster in New Mexico. The locals saw the The Cerro Grande wildfire as a “wake-up call” and came up with methods to protect landscape, such as planting fire- resistant vegetation and available outdoor water supply.

Reflection on the Reading

Is it important to keep the balance between nature and human beings? My answer is YES! Mother Nature offers everything we need. It is impossible for human beings to control nature. But nature can have a great power over human beings. We shoud take action to protect our Mother Nature.

Taiwan’s Giant-Killer

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二勤

姓名：馮文伯

Summary of the Reading

Yen-Hsun Lu, born in 1983, is known as a professional tennis player. Who ever thought this young man could defeat Andy Murray, ranked number six at that time? The answer was “no one”. Lu was an underdog when starting to get into the professional tennis ball world. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he performed well and began to attract the tennis world’s attention. Last summer the most splendid tournament for Lu was to defeat Andy Roddick, three-time Wimbledon finalist and 2003 U.S.Open champion. Then he boosted his ranking to 42nd and became the first Taiwanese player to get into the fifth round at Wimbledon. Everyone wondered where this kid came from.

Reflection on the Reading

Yen-Hsun Lu is an athlete I like most. When I was 11, the Davis Cup tournament was held in my community, Sunny Hill. No one knew who he was until he defeated the Japanese contestant. After the tournament, many people ran to him, including me and asked him to sign the tennis ball. Lu was so humble, thanking for those who attended the game and gave him the support. From then on, Lu became my idol and triggered my interest in tennis. I started to learn to play tennis. Every Sunday morning, I go to the tennis court and practice playing tennis. Even though playing tennis is difficult for me but I quite enjoy it because it is my favorite sport. Whenever I feel frustrated, “Yen-Hsun Lu” would come to my mind and remind me of never giving up. Lu’s attitude is worth modeling. I hope everyone can support Lu, including the Taiwan government.

A lazy farmer

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二禮

姓名：紀雅

Summary of the Reading

The main story was about a lazy farmer. He didn’t like to work, but loved to eat. He kept daydreaming about becoming a billionaire. One day, a chance he thought had come. He passed by a whole field of ripe corns, and there was no guard and owner nearby. He stole it. While he was stealing, he kept daydreaming. He dreamed that he wold sell the corns, and bought a pair of chicken. He thought he would sell the chicken family to buy others. And in the end, he would own a land of fruit trees. He was so happy that he forgot he was stealing and laughed loudly. And of course, the owner of the corns came. Since then, he had never come back to the village.

Reflection on the Reading

“No pain no gain ”. We must work hard to get what we want instead of daydreaming about it. It is good to have a dream. But we must set a goal and do something to realize our dream. For example, I want to get in the top senior high school. My top priority is to study and study. I not only focus on the current academic peformance but also review what I have learned before. By doing so, I am getting closer and closer to my dream.

Tara’s magic

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二義

姓名：王亭文

Summary of the Reading

Tara was caught by a wizard. The bad wizard was very weak because his leg was broken. Tara’s friend wanted to save her. On their way home for help, they met a nice wizard who was once the bad wizard’s teacher. The nice wizard caught the bad wizard. One day, the bad wizard wanted to escape but didn’t succeed. The nice wizard was very angry and broke his leg. On that night, the bad wizard stole the nice wizard staff and he became powerful but evil,too. Tara stole the staff and she made the bad wizard on fire. But she regretted to hurt him, so she decided to heal his leg. Finally, the staff was broken.

Reflection on the Reading

Tara was a very brave girl. She fought the bad wizard and forgave him. Tara set a good example for us. Everyone will make mistakes. We must learn to forgive others.

Forgiveness is a great virtue. Whenever I did something wrong, my parents would forgive me and give me a chance to repair it. Then I would learn the lesson and grow up from it.

The telephone: Past, Present and Future

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二賢

姓名：吳紹謙

Summary of the Reading

This essay is about technology in our world. It has progressed quickly. For example, we used labor power to deliver information in the past, but since telephone appeared, we can talk with anyone within a few seconds. Now it is a high-tech society. We all benefit from the high-tech.

Reflection on the Reading

Because of the high-tech, our society is fast-paced. The machine would save us a lot of time and energy. It is convenient for us. But it also brings us some bad effect. We rely on the machine and the computer too much. Therefore, we rarely use our brain and our body. Then our body would become weaker and weaker.

Sporting heroes

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二賢

姓名：鍾羽揚

Summary of the Reading

The story is about a cycling player in America. His name was Lance Armstrong. He was one of the youngest ever riders to win the UCI Road World Championships. He also had the great performance in the most grand cycling race of all, the Tour de France. When his cycling life is getting better and better, he got the serious cancer unfortunately. But he wasn’t pessimistic about his healthy condition. He used his money and fame to help more people who get the caner.

Reflection on the Reading

I learned the lesson from the story that realizing your dream is important but helping people in need is more important. Even if I am not the richest man in the world, but I will donate money to help others. Moreover, focusing on what you want to do can get thing done easily and quickly.

The story also remined me of my favorite sporting hero Michael Jorden. He was short and ordinary when he was a teenager. But he practiced harder than any other school teammates and never gave up. His perseverance helped him become the greatest basketball player in NBA. The natural gift is unchangeable but efforts you make can create the bright future for yourself.

The Gift

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二義

姓名：劉世文

Summary of the Reading

Alosius was a busy officer. He worked all day and came home very late. He didn’t always have enough time. He had to do two different things or go to different places at the same time. Thus, he didn’t have time to join his father’s birthday party. He always forgot he had the appointment with his daughter.

On Christmas’ Eve, he got a sepcial gift. Then he could easily do two different things or go to different places at the same time. He realized he had lost something important. He wanted to make up what he had done wrong. He intended to have dinner with his beautiful wife, get together with his family, and do a lot of things with his family. But he forgot once he had the gift, he had to die.

Reflection on the Reading

I spent a great amount of time doing many things. I rarely stopped to think what time is meant for. Time is like a high speed rail which only moves forward without moving backward. Family members are the most important in the world. Whenever family is always with us, we will feel warm. Whenever family is with us, we will feel loved. If we have the quality time to get together with families, we are the happiest ones in the world.

The Fox And the Stork

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二仁

姓名：陳語昕

Summary of the Reading

One day a selfish fox invited a stork to dinner at his house in a hollow tree. The fox served the hot soup in shallow bowls and he licked up all his soup very quickly. However, the stork couldn’t drink any of it as the bowl was too shallow for her long beak. She was still hungry.

The next day, when the fox arrived at the stork’s house, the delicious soup was served in tall jugs. The stork drank the soup easily but the fox couldn’t reach outside the tall jug. This time it was his turn to get hungry.

Reflection on the Reading

I don’t like the fox because he is selfish. I like the stork because she is smart to do something to the bad guy. This story teaches me about doing good things with a sincere heart. When I interact with others, I have to put myself into the place of others and care about others. Then I can get along well with others easily. Don’t be a selfish person. A selfish art can backfire on you. Keep your sincere heart and do good things.

The last leaf

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二禮

姓名：陳奕璇

Summary of the Reading

Joanna is a poor artist. One day, she got a pneumonia. Sue is her roommate. She tried to encourage Joanna to fight the pneumonia. But Joanna’s will to live is too weak. She was counting the leaves every day, and counting backwards. Sue was worried about Joanna and she went downstairs to see Behrman. Behrman also worried and scared. There were only two leaves left now. On the morning of the next day, Sue rolled up the shade. Sue and Joanna were surprised there was still one leaf on the ivy. Joanna got confidence to fight pneumonia. Finally, she beat the disease. As Joanna and Sue received the news of Behrman’s death, they knew why Behrman contracted an acute pneumonia. When the last fell on that night, Behrman braved the storm to paint a leaf on the wall.

Reflection on the Reading

I am an optimistic person. No matter when we get into trouble, don’t be afraid to confront it. If you encounter the frustration or obstacle, don’t give up easily. Have faith in yourself – you can do it. Don’t be like Joanna. If you are pessimistic, you will not succeed. Positive thoughts attract positive forces. Everyone should have a positive attitude when facing an obstacle in life.

Amelia’s Road

指導老師：徐瑞鎂

班級：二義

姓名：丁昊平

Summary of the Reading

This books tells about a farmer’s daughter, Amelia. They live in a labor camp and move from one place to another frequently. During the short period of time, Amelia studied at an elementary school in the local area and transferred to another school when the next season approached. She wished to have a place which was belonged to her. In addition, she wished her father not to be a farmer.

Reflection on the Reading

She was such a strange girl at first. She hated all kinds of the roads and she even cried out when her father took out a map. After she found the “accidental road”, she stopped complaining whenever her father showed her the map. Amelia wished to have a life where she didn’t have to move from one place to another place, feeling like an orphan. Because her father was a farmer, her family had to move around at the season when fruit was ready to harvest.

After reading this book, I think I am very lucky to live a stable life without moving around. Everyone should appreciate what they have and make his/her life more valuable.

A Lion Called Christian

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一勤

學生：黃子方

Summary of the Reading

This book is about a lion called Christian and his two owners, Anthony (Ace) Bourke and John Rendell. One day, when they visited London, they went to a very special department store named Harrods. It sold all things for all ages of people. There was even a zoo in this place. Ace and John wanted to check it out if there was something special for them to buy in Harrods; therefore, they went to the zoo. To their surprise, they saw little lions there! They decided to have an adventure – that is, keep a lion at home. They bought one of the lions and named it Christian. As they kept the lion, different kinds of problems they did not think about in advance came up. For example, there was no place for Christian to exercise, his food was very expensive, and he destroyed much of the house. Nevertheless, the most troublesome problem was how to handle Christian when he grows up. Both Ace and John knew that they could not keep it at home for all his life. Thus, they had to find a place for Christian’s permanent home. After making great efforts, they finally let Christian move to his new home—Koran. He became a successful lion which returned to nature.

The Reflection on the reading

I think Christian is very smart and does not attack others easily. Before reading this book, I thought lions were dangerous and horrible. But now, it turns out that I am wrong. He liked to play with others, and when he was in Ace and John’s shop, he was always a good mascot. Children liked to play with him, and customers bought things because of him. Christian usually stood at the door and waited for children to invite him to play with them. The most interesting thing is that he could even take pictures with a lot of children without attacking them.

On the other hand, owners must take responsibility for their pets. Just like the two main characters in this story, they never thought keeping a lion was so troublesome. In the beginning, they thought having a lion as a pet would be cool. After keeping it, they found out that they were totally wrong. Then, they finally made their mind to help Christian back to nature. Those who keep pets should take responsibility for them. If everybody were doing so, we would have so many stray pets.

This is a real story. It tells us how well people can live with animals, even though the animal is a lion. When Christian met his former owners again, he hugged them. This is the very touching part in this story. Because of it, the short film also became quite popular. I hope there will be more events like this in the world.

Heidi

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生：朱容德

Summary of the Reading

  At the age of five, an orphan named Heidi was taken to live with her grandfather in the Alps. At first, her grandfather did not like her at all, but soon he was touched by her optimism. Heidi lived happily with her grandfather and her new friend, Peter. However, one day Heidi was taken away by Aunt Detie to a rich family in Frankfurt. Although Clara, the daughter of the Sesemann family, was very nice to Heidi, she missed her home and life on the mountain a lot. Because of this, Mr. Sesemann decided to take Heidi back. The next summer, Clara stood and walked without her wheelchair. Everyone was happy about it, as they had witnessed the miracle of the Alps.

Reflection on the reading

I love Heidi the most because she is a very lovely and optimistic character. She doesn’t let her parents’ deaths discourage her. When she was sent to the Sesemann family, she showed her true feeling of missing her home. The story showed that she was an ordinary girl. However, with determination and a positive attitude, she was able to make miracles happen. This makes the readers feel that there is always hope, no matter how bad things get.

Heidi also helped a lot of people close to her. First, she melted her grandfather’s icy heart with her innocence and enthusiasm. Next, when Clara was scared about not using her wheelchair, Heidi encouraged her to stand and walk by herself. She let Clara know that she could believe in herself and conquer the difficulty she faced. Finally, she helped Peter’s grandmother by describing how happy the Alps made her feel.

The story revolved around Heidi’s lovely and optimistic attitude and also gave readers a lot of hope. Heidi’s pureness and bravery not only brought people joy but taught them about never giving up, no matter how bad things got. After reading the story Heidi, I completely understood the meanings of the eastern saying “surroundings will change with your mind”. Since we do not have the power to change our surroundings, the only thing we can do to make ourselves feel better is to change our minds. Don’t drop your teeth; they are very difficult to catch. Just calm down and try again.

King Solomon’s Mines

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一勤

學生：陳昇

Summary of the Reading

In the beginning of the story, Allan Quatermain, an English adventurer was approached by the English nobleman Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good. They told him Sir Henry’s brother was missing and was last seen traveling north into the unexplored interior towards King Solomon’s Mines. Allan had a mysterious map to lead to the mines, but he never took it seriously. However, he agreed to lead an expedition in return for a share of the treasure. They traveled to the edge of a desert and were attacked by a wounded elephant that killed one of their servants. They continued on foot across the desert, almost dying of thirst before they found an oasis. Then, they reached a mountain range called Suliman Berg. They climbed up a peak and entered a cave where they found the frozen corpse of Jose Silverstra, who drew the map in his own blood. That night, a second servant died from the cold.

They crossed the mountains into a raised valley known as Kukuanaland. The inhabitants had a well-organized army and society. Captain Good’s nervousness made the Kukaunas recoil in fear and they were about to kill them, but Allan and his group disguised themselves as white men from the stars. Therefore, they were brought before King Twala, who ruled over his people with violence. He came to power by murdering his brother, the previous king and sending his brother’s wife and infant son, Ignosi, out into the desert to die.

What’s worse, the new king had an evil advisor, Gagool. She had already sensed that Ignosi, the rightful king of the Kukuanas, would be back. Thus, a rebellion broke out and the Englishmen gained support for Ignosi by taking advantage of their foreknowledge of an eclipse to claim that they would black out the moon as a proof of Ignosi’s claim. In a duel, Sir Henry lopped off Twala’s head and the Englishmen also captured Gagool, who was forced to lead them to King Solomon’s Mines. She showed them a treasure room which was filled with gold, diamonds and ivory. Then she sneaked out while they were admiring the treasure and triggered a secret mechanism that closed the mine’s vast stone door. After a few days sealed in the dark chamber, they found an escape route, and got out with enough pockets full of diamonds to make them rich.

Reflection on the book

My favorite character in this book is Sir Henry Curtus because he is brave and strong. In the duel, he defeated King Twala and captured Twala’s witch Gagool and eventually got the diamonds he wanted. This story taught me to never give up when I encounter an obstacle. The best way to solve the problem is face the problem.

Psycho

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生：莊翊

Summary of the Reading

Psycho is a screenplay written by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The story starts with a woman named Marion Crane, who stole $40,000 from one of her clients in order to marry her lover, Same Loomis. After taking the money, she fled in her car toward Sam’s home in California. But due to a heavy rain, she was forced to spend the night at the Bates Motel. The owner Norman Bates told Marion that he had few customers because of a new highway nearby and also mentioned that he lived with his mother. Marion resolved to return to Phoenix and return the money, before she undressed to take a shower. Suddenly, an anonymous figure entered the bathroom and stabbed Marion to death. Norman assumed that his mother had committed the murder; therefore, he wrapped the corpse in the shower curtain, including all her possessions and put them in the trunk of her car and sank it in a swamp.

Shortly afterward, Sam was contacted by Marion’s’ sister, Lila and a private detective Milton Arbogast, who had been hired by Marion’s employer to find Marion and get the money back. Arbogast traced Marion to the motel and questioned Norman, who lied to him that Marion had left several weeks ago. When Abrogast tried to talk to Norman’s mother, he was killed in Norman’s house. Without Arbogast’s update, Lila and Sam contacted the local police and decided to search the motel themselves for Marion and Arbogast. They checked in the motel and searched Marion’s cabin and found a scrap of paper with “$40,000” written on it. Sam distracted Norman and Lila sneaked into the house to search for Norman’s mother. After Norman knocked Sam unconscious, he rushed to the house. Lila saw him and hid in the cellar where she discovered the semi-preserved mummified corpse of Mrs. Bates. Luckily, Sam arrived in time to subdue Bates and save Lila.

Reflection on the Reading

In this book, the main character, Norman, was suffering from multiple personality disorder. He was shy and lived with his mother and had a job. Everything was quite normal. So why did he have so many personalities? After the death of Norman’s father, the pair lived as if they were the only two people in the world. When Norman found that his mother had a lover, he was so jealous and felt abandoned and then he killed both of them. In order to erase his guilt, he managed to bring his mother back to life by acting, dressing and talking like her.

This is a sad story. Everyone will face some difficulties in their lives. When we deal with these difficulties or make some important decisions, we still have to care about the feelings of our family. The Bates might have had a happy ending even though they lost Mr. Bate. Mrs. Bate and Norman could have had their own families. Norman was not a cruel guy at fist. Nevertheless, without noticing Norman’s nervousness and worries, a lot of people died a violent death. Had he cared more about the people around him, he would have had a better life.

The call of the wild

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生：黃艾瑄

Summary of the Reading

This story is about a dog, Buck who was sold by an evil man, Manuel, for a couple of bucks. The man who bought Buck lived in a very cold place—the north of Canada. Buck had never been in such a cold place before; therefore, he had to get used to it as soon as possible. At first, Buck had to learn many things and the lessons were very difficult for him. However, he got accustomed to the difficulties quickly. If he could not pick them up, he would die. Buck knew that and he did not want to die. He managed to survive in the end.

Reflection on the Reading

In Buck’s life there was danger, death and pain until he met John Thornton, the most wonderful person in his life. Thornton was very kind to Buck, and he once saved Buck’s life.

Buck loved Thornton very much. After all the hardness in the past, Buck finally met someone he cherished and who treated him as family. Buck wanted to stay with Thornton forever. However, when Buck found out that Thornton was killed by the strangers, he felt awful at first, but then he became very angry. Worst of all, he did not know how to deal with the massive sorrow he felt.

Buck thought the only thing he could do for Thornton was get “revenge.” In the end, Buck knew that he could never love anyone else. Although the warmth of love is great, losing it is heartbreaking. So he ran away from the people, stayed with wolves that he met in the forest, and then he finally felt peaceful.

After finishing this story, I felt peaceful as well. I am glad for Buck when he met Thornton. He was a person who let Buck know about what the true love is. Although Thornton died, he still lived in Buck’s deep heart. The story of Buck does not end there, and it will never end because people will still talk about Buck, a strong dog who lived with the wolves.

The Invisible Man

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生：李俊傑

Reflection on the Reading

This is an exciting story. The plot was exhilarating and fast paced. It influenced me a lot. I was so impressed by the power of Jack’s invisibility.

By taking some drugs, Jack Griffin made himself invisible. It seemed to be cool, but there were several side effects he needed to bear. We can not ignore any drawback when we are pursuing advanced technology. First of all, he still has to live with people and deal with the feelings of being scared when they see him. To deal with the scary feeling of one person is one thing; however, to deal with the scary feeling from a crowd people is another thing. Second, everyone needs to eat for living. The invisible man is no exception. He could go to the restaurant invisibly but he could not eat things invisibly. People would see the food was broken into pieces and then being swallowed into a stomach. If people know all these drawbacks of being an invisible man, do people still think that it is a good idea?

There is one thing that I want to hold up here. As we know about seeing, the sense of seeing only works when the light was stopped at our eyes. If a man’s body is invisible like glass, the light will just go through him without stopping. The invisible man’s eyes are definitely invisible, so the light is not going to being stopped and nothing will be sent to the man’s brain. Guess what? The invisible man is a blind person!

The Old Man and The Sea

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一勤

學生：葉思妤

Summary of the Reading

The old man and the sea is the story about a battle between an old, experienced fisherman and a giant marlin. It started by explaining that the fisherman named Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching any fish at all. What’s worse, his apprentice, Manolin had been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and had been ordered to fish with more successful fisherman. However, the boy still visited Santiago each night. Santiago told Manolin that on the next day, he would venture far out into the Gulf to fish to end his unlucky streak.

Therefore, on the eighty-fifth day, Santiago set out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf. He set his lines and waited. By noon of the first day, a giant marlin, took his bait. Unable to pull in the giant marlin, Santiago let the fish pull his skiff. For two days and two nights, the old man was also wounded by the struggle and he was in pain. He still expressed his appreciation to the dignity of his opponent and referred to him as a brother. On the third, the fish began to reveal his tiredness. Santiago was completely worn out as well. He pulled the giant fish to his side and stabbed the marlin with a harpoon, ending the long battle.

Santiago strapped the marline to the side of his skiff and headed home. While he continued his journey back to his home, sharks were attracted to the trail of blood left by the marline in the water. First, it was a great mako shark. Santiago killed it with his harpoon but lost the weapon in the process. He made a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help expel other sharks. In total, five sharks were slain and many others were driven away. But the sharks kept coming and they ate so much of the marlin that all that was left was a skeleton. Finally, Santiago reached the shore and struggled his way to his hut. Once home, he hit the hay and fell asleep.

The next day, a group of fishermen and tourists were attracted by the boat where the fish’s skeleton was still attached. One of the fishermen measured it be to 18 feet from nose to tail. Although he is old, he still has a heart of a lion on an African beach.

Reflection on the reading

I have read this book several times. I like the book very much, especially, the part of the old man fighting with the giant fish and the sharks. In the real world, no one will care that you are in a bad situation or if you are ready to take care of yourself. Even after he lost his harpoon, he still had to struggle with the sharks. In the end, even though he lost the marlin, he received a lot of glory for catching such a huge fish. I admired his never-given-up attitude from the bottom of my heart. I hope I can follow his example and never give up.

The Prince and the Pauper

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一勤

學生：關正揚

Summary of the Reading

A long time ago, two boys were born on the same day. One was born in royalty, but the other was born in poverty. One day, they met each other at the gate. Due to the prince’s compassion, he decided to let the pauper in and had a talk with him.

They were identical in appearance and were curious about each other’s lives. Each boy had strong misconceptions of what the other boy’s life was like. Both of them wanted to figure out the differences between their real and assumed roles in life. Therefore, they decided to exchange their clothes. However, the prince did not know how dangerous and miserable the life outside his beautiful palace was. Prince Edward lived poorly in London because he insisted on proclaiming his identity as the true Prince of Wales. Meanwhile, in spite of Tom’s denial of his identity, the King insisted that he was the true prince.

Eventually, Prince Edward ran into Tom’s family and a gang of thieves. By the chance of living with ordinary people, he knew England’s unfair and barbaric justice system. After the death of the Henry VIII, Edward interrupted Tom’s coronation and the boys explained how they switched their clothes and Edward was crowned King of England.

Reflection on the Reading

This book was written by a well-known author, Mark Twain. Most of this book is a realistic portrayal of life in sixteenth century England. The people at that time lived in a miserable and unjust world. I really enjoyed the way Mark Twain wanted us to think about this poverty and injustice. It is hard for us to imagine how difficult life was for Prince Edward. Even though we are bombarded by schoolwork, we still have to thank the parents and teachers who care and teach us so sincerely. That is why I have learned to be content with what I already have and think about what I want before I try to go out and get it.

Frankenstein

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生 : 鍾家玉

Summary of the Reading

Victor Frankenstein was interested in science after he saw a flash of lightning strike a tree near his house when he was young. He started to do many experiments about making a person. Therefore, Frankenstein frequently visited the hospitals and cemeteries to help him in his study of the human body. In this way, he began to understand death so that he could find the answers to questions like “How does life begin?” and “Is it possible to put life into dead people?” Therefore, he created a creature. However, the creature was so ugly. It was totally different from the one he wanted to create so he abandoned it. Because of his ugly appearance, the poor creature was tortured by people. Thus, his hatred for Frankenstein was triggered by this and he wanted to get revenge on him. First, he killed his brother and then his wife. He wanted Frankenstein to suffer the same miserable fate as him. Frankenstein was so furious that he made up his mind to catch the monster and kill him by himself. However, at the end of the story, Frankenstein did not kill the monster by himself; instead, he died at last.

Reflection on the Reading

Though Victor Frankenstein was clever, he misused God’s power to create a human being. He should not have taken dead people’s limbs and put them together to form a man. After creating a monster, he abandoned him and left him alone to face the world. Although the monster’s body was big and strong, he was had the mind of baby and did not understand the consequences of his actions. Everything was new for him. That was why he took a girl’s life. He was not evil; he simply did not understand his actions.

When a person does something wrong, it can bring not only disaster for him or her, but disaster for his or her entire family. When we decide to do something, we had better think twice about what it is we are doing.

A Christmas Carol

指導老師：陳玟君

班級：高一忠

學生：朱怡靜

Summary of the Reading

A long time ago, a man named Scrooge was a selfish, indifferent, relentless and penny-pinching businessman. On Christmas Eve, his former partner, Jacob Marley, came in the form of a spirit. He came in the middle of the night to give Scrooge a warning. He told him that He needed to change his attitude toward his money and people or he would have the same fate as him. He was going to be taken by three spirits to show him the past, the present and the future of his life. Luckily, he picked the right choice and led a happy life.

Reflection on the Reading

From this story, I can understand if a person wants to lead a happy life, he or she must have a kind heart. Even though Scrooge had plenty of money, he still could not have a wonderful life.

When Scrooge was a child, he did not get enough love, care and friendship from his parents and friends. However, even in this heartbroken situation, he still had a chance to have a happy life. There was a girl who once loved him so much, but her heart was broken by his greed for money. In other words, sometimes we lost the most precious thing because we were taken by our greed for fame or fortune.

Then, the Present Spirit and the Future Spirit showed him the way his employer treated him and his miserable future life. He eventually understood that money can not buy everything. If he did not want have the same fate as Marley, he still had a good chance to amend it. We know that everyone can achieve salvation as soon as he or she gives up evil. Once we have a more positive attitude to face our misfortune, we surely will have more courage to overcome it. Not every drawback is one hundred percent bad for us; sometimes, we can have a huge advantage because of it. Looking at everything on its bright side is my philosophy and being kind and generous to others are my mottos.

Kwan: an elephant

指導老師: 陳玟君

班級: 二年賢班

姓名: 顧芝安

Summary of the Reading:

Kwan is a female elephant. She begged for food on the streets of Bangkok ten years ago, but she is lucky now. Kwan is living in an elephant breeding farm and there are several people taking care of her and other elephants. She has her regular life with her friends and enjoys being with visitors from all over the world. Besides, by visiting these elephants, people get to know more about them and what threats they are facing. In fact, we are living in the same village. Any animals on this planet are part of our family. I hope that we can live together happily.

Reflection on the Reading:

Before I read this article about the elephants in Thailand, I had no idea about domestic elephants or wild elephants and how they survived in this big city and the field. It is hard for me to imagine an elephant as a beggar on the streets. How can their feet stand the heat of the blacktop in summer? They are supposed to live in a jungle. It is sad that some people only think about themselves without considering the rights of animals. Luckily, there are still some who notice their suffering and take immediate action to help them by setting up farms for them and introducing them to people. This gives people a clearer picture of how they live and what they eat. Next time, I hope that I have a chance to go to Thailand and interact with these elephants. I think I will have more fun by playing with them, instead of just watching them outside the fences at the zoo.

Computer Crime

指導老師: 陳玟君

班級: 二年賢班

姓名: 劉欣儒

Summary of the reading

Banks lose a lot of money every year because of computer crimes. One type of thief stops the computers from taking any money if they have paid with checks. Another kind of thief has the computers pay his bills by using others’ deposit accounts. Still another kind of thief breaks through bank security and steals ten cents from each depositor’s account and little by little transfers the money into his or her account. Worst of all, banks typically do not find out for a long time.

Refection on the reading

Computers can help people but they can also hurt people. Living in the 21st century, a lot of people use computers to solve their problems or work more efficiently. For example, we do not need to go to the bank to transfer money. Instead, we can sit at home and transfer money by using our own computers. They save us a lot time and effort; however, because of these business transactions, it is easy for thieves to steal our money.

Although it is impossible for us to protect our computer from all crime, there are still things we can do to protect ourselves. First, lock your computer with a password and never show it to others. Second, never save your personal information and confidential data in your computer because computer hackers can steal these easily. Third, put this confidential data in a safe place.

The Future of Reading

班級: 二年禮班

姓名: 林佑興

指導老師: 陳玟君

Reflection on the reading

Technology is changing the way we read. In the past, people used paper and vellum to write and print. Nowadays, people use electronic reading devices. It is a good thing that people will not cut down so many trees so quickly. However, electronic devices use a lot of electricity and producing electricity causes a lot of carbon dioxide.

Digital technology evolves and proliferates. They become more and more convenient and useful. Some can talk to readers and quiz them on the grasp of the material. They can also be social. Because they are social, some people with bad intentions damage them with viruses and other tools. Many of these viruses are contagious.

Some people worry that new technologies will strip the world of traditional reading materials. Reading with new technology promotes partial attention, but reading the traditional way helps people develop longer attention spans and better linguistic skills. The traditional way of reading also makes traditional readers perform better than online readers. This worries me as well, because it may cause hard language syntax to disappear.

Besides, people who use computers very often are much more likely to be near-sighted. How to deal with each side’s drawbacks is the key. I hope that we can find a way to keep trees and the ability to read at the same time.

White Fang

指導老師: 晏其方

班 級: 一年義班

姓 名: 陳庭萱

Summary of the Reading

This book is about a wolf named White Fang. His dad was a wolf, but his mom was a dog. This gives him a dog’s loyalty and wolf’s ferocity. White Fang’s life was always full of fighting. When he was a just wolf cub, he saved his mom by fighting with a big mountain cat; therefore, he knows a lot about fighting.

When he was young, he became the king of fighting in the wild. He had fought with all the animals. Unfortunately, he was caught by a bad man one day. The bad man knew White Fang well. For example, he knew that White Fang hated those whom he fought and those who beat him with a rod. This bad man used this to make him angry, and then made White Fang fight other dogs and wolves. Because White Fang always won, the bad man made a fortune off of him. But one time, White Fang lost and almost died. Fortunately, a white man named Scott saved him. Scott became his loving master. He knew that White Fang could act just like a dog, so he gave White Fang his love and taught him many things about being a dog. Finally, White Fang became the smartest and the bravest ‘dog’ in the world.

Reflection on the Reading

Life is always hard and dangerous for both human beings and animals. However, human beings are civilized and smart. No matter how strong or feral the animals are physically, they cannot compete with human beings mentally. In the end, they still need to listen to people. This is a story about how a feral wolf becomes a tame dog. I think being a feral wolf or a tame dog depends on how its master treats him. After all, we human beings have more power. We can catch the animals with weapons. But if we want them to be our loyal friends, love and patience will always be the golden rules.

The Real McCoy ( Other Ghost Stories

指導老師: 晏其方

班 級: 一年義班

姓 名: 葉采陽

Summary of the Reading

There are many stories in this book. One of my favorite stories is Strange Messages. It’s about a girl named Anna who wants to be an astronaut, but her mom and dad want her to be a doctor. One night, Anna woke up suddenly. She saw her computer was on. There was a message on it. It said “Follow your dream.” With the message there was a picture. It was a photo of a young woman. The next day, While Anna was watching TV. She saw a picture of some astronauts. One of them was the young woman shown on Anna’s computer. Anna asked her dad who that woman was. Her dad said she was an astronaut who died in space ten years ago. This event inspired Anna. She decided to follow her dream. The next day she told her parents about the event and her dream. Of course, she told them her decision as well. In the end, her parents supported her decision and said, “Of course you must follow your dream”. Anna never forgot the strange message from space. She believed that the woman from the picture must come to encourage her somehow.

Reflection on the Reading

This is a great story. Everybody has a dream. Just like the girl in the story, she wants to be an astronaut. It’s wonderful! Girls can be astronauts, too. It’s her ambition to go into space some day. I think having an ambition is always good. The only thing is how you can realize your dream. Having a dream is something, but realizing it is another. I believe determination and persistence are the most important keys to success.

Superman

指導老師: 晏其方

班 級: 一年智班

姓 名: 温苡晴

Summary of the Reading

His name is Clark Kent.. He can run very fast, and no one can catch him. He jumps over tall buildings and lifts a car easily. Also, he can fly to outer space. He was born on Krypton. He came to the earth when he was still a baby. After he finished high school, he worked for a newspaper. He always wears a suit and glasses when he works at the office. He loves the earth and people around him. He always does his best to help them and stop bad guys from doing bad things.

Reflection on the Reading

I like Superman very much because he has a sense of justice. He always does his best to help people in need and stop bad guys from destroying the earth. Besides, he is so nice and polite when he is an officer. But once he changes his clothes into a black overcoat and a bodysuit with a big “S” on it, he becomes so cool. No wonder he has so many fans and we are all under his spell.

The Wonderful Wizard of OZ

指導老師: 晏其方

班 級: 一年智班

姓 名: 劉孟頛

Summary of the Reading

Dorothy and her dog were brought into an unknown and faraway country by a terrible cyclone. In this unknown country, no one knew how to help her back home except the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy didn’t give up and tried her best to find the Emerald City of Oz. During the journey, she met a lion without courage, a scare crow without a brain, and a tin man without a heart. The only way to help them was to find the Wizard of Oz. Therefore, she asked them to accompany her to the Emerald City to find Oz and experienced the wonderful adventure. At last, she found the Wizard of Oz and her way home.

Reflection on the Reading

After reading this book, I realized people will work hard to fulfill their dreams and goals. Besides, I learned that optimism is important. We should always look at things on the bright side no matter what kind of difficult situation we meet.

Emil and the Detectives

指導老師：李以英

班 級：一年德班

姓 名：張家旎

Summery of the Reading

Emil Fisher was a little boy. One day, he took a train to visit his grandmother. Emil had some money with him and was very careful with it. Unfortunately, a thief stole it. With the help of his friends, Emile hunted the thief down until he found him and got the money back. .

Reflection on the Reading

In my eyes, Emil was brave for two reasons. First, he went to his grandmother’s house by himself. To me, the trip was very dangerous. I also believe he was brave because he followed the thief and made every effort to get his money back.

I think this book is meaningful and fun to read. It tells us that we can overcome any difficulty if we stay calm. Moreover, it is very interesting. If you read this book, you will not close the book until you finish it. The story is so exciting that you won’t be able to wait to see what happens next.

Book Title: Sense and Sensibility

指導老師：李以英

班 級：一年賢班

姓 名：曾淳琳

Summery of the Reading:

This book is about the love stories of Mrs. Dashwood’s daughters. Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters left Norland, their hometown, to move to a small house in another part of the country. They had very little money then and had to live simply. Marianne, the middle daughter, met a handsome young man before long. Everybody thought they would marry. Marianne’s older sister, Elinor, fell in love with another quiet, sensible young man, too. Both their lovers left for London, though.

Reflection on the Reading

Actually, I heard this story and saw the movie before. I remember when I was a little girl, I saw the movie, which was so touching that I cried. How strange! There are few movies which can make me cry. Why did this movie do it? I think it was because I enjoyed it so much.

I love this story very much for several reasons. First, it is emotional. You will never find a book like this: full of sadness, happiness, anger, fear, and so on. Second, the girls, in this story, are very crazy when they are in love. They fall in love very deeply, and they feel sad and excited. Finally, their love stories are not always happy from the beginning to the end. When their lovers break their hearts, they cry with anger.

I had a strong belief after I read this book that the girls would find their true lovers and everything would turn out wonderfully. I believed if I went on the right way and found my charming prince, I would be happy, and my dreams would come true.

Book Title:Emil and the Detectives

指導老師：李以英

班 級：一年德班

姓 名：陳怡臻

Summery of the Reading

Emil Fisher traveled alone to his grandmother’s house and had to deliver money to her. Unfortunately, it was stolen on the way. There were many different kinds of people on the train. Emil Fisher had to find the person who stole his money and try to get it back.

Reflection on the Reading

After I finished reading the book Emil and the Detectives, I learned three things. First, I thought Emil was a brave boy. He was brave because he could travel to his grandmother’s house and deliver money on his own. In my eyes, that was very difficult. Second, the book is a good read. The story is very interesting as well as exciting. If you read the book, you will feel as interested as I did. I think children love to read this book, and adults will enjoy it, too. This book will continue to be popular with readers.

Rubik’s Cube

指導老師：鍾治宇

班 級：二年德班

姓 名：宋柏儒

Summery of the Reading

This article is about the history of Rubik’s cube.It was invented by a Holland professor, Erno Rubik, in 1974. At first, He did this to help his students understand complex 3-D concepts, but this classroom model was quickly become a popular toy around the world. Now you can find many information that shows ways to solve the cube online.There are also many cube contests held nowadays. Erik Akkersdijk, a young man who holds the current world record, can finish in just 7.08 seconds. What an amazing record !

Reflection on the Reading

After I read this article, I was surprised that a small invention can influence many people in this world. I am not nery interested in playing Rubik’s Cube because it is too hard for me.I think that only smart people can play it. But now more and more people around me play this magic cube. Some classes even hold a contest for it. Now I also get one from the bookstore and try to solve the cube all by myself. I hope one day I can be very good at playing it.

Hold My Hand

指導老師：鍾治宇

班 級：二年德班

姓 名：游琛

Summery of the Reading

Hold My Hand is a song performed by American singers Michael Jackson and Akon. While Michael heard the song first, he soon loved it very much, and wanted to contribute to it.This song's theme is about friendship and togetherness.There are many happy and sad things happening in the world every day. If we can rely on each other, problems can all be solved at last. Many lyrics in this song are very pretty and meaningful, and they really touch my heart.

Reflection on the Reading

Michael Jackson is a very successful singer in the world. Many people love his voice. Hold My Hand is one of his best songs recently. After listening to it, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. We face many difficulties in our lives, and sometimes we may feel very depressed and hopeless. At this time, if someone can “hold our hand” and give us a favor, a tragedy may be avoided. From these pretty lyrics, we can understand that friendness can make our lives become better and better.

Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp

指導老師：陳頌明

班級：三年義班

姓名：吳昱徵

Summary of the Reading:

The story is about a boy called Aladdin who lives in a city in Arabia. He is poor and often hungry, but one day he finds an old lamp. When he rubs the lamp, smoke comes out of it, and comes a magical genie. With the genie’s help, Aladdin is soon rich and able to marry the beautiful princess, Jasmine. Aladdin’s uncle, who is a magician from Morocco, steals the magic lamp and leads the princess away. Fortunately, with another genie’s help, Aladdin gets into his uncle’s house and retakes the lamp. Finally, Aladdin kills the swindler and rescues the princess from the palace. Aladdin and the princess live happily in their palace for many years.

Reflection on the Reading:

I read the story of Aladdin in another Chinese book many years ago. It’s interesting and thought-provoking. I like this story, but I don’t like the result because I can’t believe what it teaches me. Is it wrong to pay diligently for success? The majority of people can’t get any help from a genie after all.

I am a lazy boy. But there is no genie to help me with my homework. In order to succeed, I have to study diligently and try to do my best day and night. My father told me to do it one step at a time. “Rome was not built in a day. There’s no free lunch. You must strive for your life and work for what you want.” No pain; no gain.” That’s what I want to say after reading this interesting story.

Credit

指導老師：陳頌明

班級：一年禮班

姓名：黃怡嘉

Summary of the Reading:

The story is about a young man who goes to a country in Europe. People are buying tickets there and the inspectors rarely check their tickets. The man is greedy and doesn’t often buy tickets. He has been arrested three times, but he never goes to jail. Later, he looks for a job, but no employer is willing to hire him. He is very angry and argues with an employer who is reluctant to hire him. The boss says your qualifications are very good. We want to hire you, but we found out that you were arrested three times for not paying for you train tickets. This is not a little thing. This is your credit. You do not respect the rules, so we can’t hire you. Strictly speaking, we are unable to find a company to hire you in any of the European countries.

Reflection on the Reading:

I think this article is very interesting. I like it very much. Most importantly, it tells us the importance of credit even for small things. Train tickets can affect a person’s credit. Gradually, they can make it a rule to be honest. If we lose the trust of others, we can’t have a foothold in society, so credit is a man’s second life. We should do our best to pay attention to credit.

Global Warming

指導老師：陳頌明

班級：三年義班

姓名：陳韻萱

Summary of the Reading:

The earth is becoming warmer and warmer. Scientists disagree about the causes of global warming. Some think it is part of a natural cycle. Others say that humans are to be blamed. Due to the growth of population and the development of transportation and industry, we use oil more and more. Inevitably, carbon dioxide increases along with it. It will change the earth’s climate.

Reflection on the Reading:

This article taught me that global warming is a scary thing that we really need to notice. We can see a lot of disasters happening now, and they always hurt us. The Earth is changing. I think that everyone will believe it, but there are few people who really want to save the planet. Maybe we should do something to save our Earth and ourselves. We can ride a bicycle, a bus, or a train instead of driving a car. We can eat more vegetables instead of eating more meat. If we really do it, we will make less carbon dioxide. Our Earth will be better, and our life will be better, too.

We can do a lot of things for Earth if we want to. So, Let’s save the Earth together!

Turandot

指導老師：陳頌明

班級：三年義班

姓名：曾博鴻

Summary of the Reading:

This love story is about an old prince and a beautiful princess. Turandot is an emperor’s daughter. Some say that her heart is made of stone because a foreign king ravished and murdered her ancestors years ago. To honor her memory, she has vowed not to allow any man to touch her. The old prince, Calaf, who is the prince of Tartary, was forced to escape from his country after a terrible war. He loves the princess and wants to marry her, but he must solve three difficult riddles first. Finally, he solves the three riddles and gets married with his beloved princess.

Reflection on the Reading:

I like Calaf very much because his life has been full of adventures. I want to be a man like him, who is brave and full of confidence. But I would never get married to a woman with an ice heart like the princess. After reading this book, I learned many things from it. Having an ice heart isn’t a terrible problem, but we should warm it in order to help people get along with others. So, if we are passionate, we will lead a happy life forever.

The Enormous Turnip

指導老師：陳頌明

班級：一年德班

姓名：周秉慶

Summary of the Reading:

The story is about a farmer who plants some turnips. One of them grows to an enormous size very quickly. One day the farmer wants to pull up the enormous turnip for dinner, but he isn’t strong enough. He calls his wife to help, but they fail. Then they call their sons to help, but they can’t pull it up, either. More and more people join in. Finally, they pull up the enormous turnip for dinner.

Reflection on the Reading:

The story is talking about team spirit and sharing. From the reading, we learn that team spirit is very important. Sometimes we can’t do something difficult by ourselves, but we can do it with the help of others. This is teamwork. By helping each other, we not only do a good job together but share the joy of success. For this reason, we should help others so we can join in their success.

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