Log #7

             Last two weeks, I went to Central Europe for a trip with my roommates’ family. This was my first time to travel aboard away from Asia and this was the first time that I traveled alone for a day. Months ago, Barbara, my roommate, invited me to her best friend’s wedding on May 6^th. She mostly arranged everything for me during the two weeks, including the accommodation, the traditional cuisine and the tourist attractions. I really appreciate her invitation and everything she did for me. This was such an interesting trip for me that we had a great time together.

                On the first day, I arrived Vienna, the capital city of Austria, and I was so lucky that there was a free walking tour to the main square in the city guided in English. First stop was a market right in front of the hostel; I bought fresh food, pickled vegetable, cookies and beer. In the afternoon, it was so nice to take a walk around the city to see the historical architectures from the 18^th century. Then we visited the Opera House where I enjoyed an amazing Opera by Mozart- Le Nozze di Figaro (the marriage of Figaro).

                Next day, Barbara came to join me and then we had a wonderful tea and desserts at the café in the main train station. In addition to visiting her friends in Czech Republic, we also took a stroll at some famous splendid churches. After going to an underground spot, we headed to the University of Science and Technology to meet her old classmates. He showed me around the campus as well as the lecture rooms that I might consider to study there.

                During the weekend, we participated in one of her best friends’ wedding. It was a traditional Christian marriage that they followed the process for the couple being together forever on the church. I also experienced the after-party and the lovely banquet that people ate and danced for the whole night. There were some gentlemen who could speak English had a chat with me and invited me to dance with me. According to Barbara, most of her friends were so curious about me and they all wanted to know more about Taiwan and the religion.

                What’s more, we also took a SPA, went shopping, had an Asian food and even drank a cup of bubble tea during our trip. I had to say that the dishes there was so huge that I was always so full after each meal. The last stop of our journey was the chandelier cave. Afterward, Barbara and her mother drove me back to the airport. I am grateful for having a chance like this to not only experience the different cultures but also enjoy this wonderful experience in the middle of Europe. 

Concept Map

Log #6

Last week, I worked at the Taipei International Convention Center for assisting a four-day conference. It’s a working group meeting about the transportation belongs to the economies of APEC. My job is to cooperate with the chair for minor meeting on certain field and to operate the Power Point if the economy need to do a presentation. At the first day, I was assigned to help the “Side Meeting on Women in Transportation.” I was so nervous that I was shivering while talking to the chair. Thanks to my partner who is clever and patient. Things go smoothly as the first experience. There were an Opening Plenary and a Closing Plenary on 4/25 and 4/28 perspectively, and my job is to standby in the meeting room. In the end of the conference, the staff had to arrange the room for the next meetings. Everything on the table had to be organized in one line. We spent the whole night to settle all the stuff like glasses, bottles of water, candies and name cards. We had to make sure they are all clean and the numbers are correct.

        Next two days, expert group and sub-group meeting went on from 8 o’clock to 5 o’clock. During that time, I got a chance to observe how an International conference was held. There was an agenda to follow and each of them get well prepared. Each time they had a discussion or after a presentation, the chair had to summarize and gave comment. Sometimes, if they didn’t arrange a meeting, they would discuss with certain economy on a private room. During that period, we were free and we could take a rest. Luckily, the hotel prepared some snakes for the coffee break and we could bring the rest of the sweets home after the work.

Last day in the afternoon, we went to have a Technical Tour according to four aspects, including land, aviation, maritime and intelligent transportation. I accompanied them to see the Electronic Toll Collection System at Freeway Bureau. It’s such an amazing experience that we had a good time to observe how the machine operate and how humanity deal with the big data. Finally, by joining this event, I not only met some new friends but also learned the attitude of service. We, as staff in an International occasion, we created a good image of Taiwan. We all made an effort and did a good job. 

Log #5

On April 7^th, my friends and I go to the NTU toastmasters club to take a look at their speeches. It’s located at the seventh floor on the second Student Center in NTU. When registering, I got an agenda and a revolution paper in English. I didn’t know that NTU has the club actually and I was interested in the club schedule including Theme Meeting and Table Topics. The topic is Freshman Cup 2 on that day so I suppose the speakers are all new here in the club. In the room, there were around thirty people and few of them were foreigners.

I would like to divide the thought into five parts, including what I have learned from the judges, speakers and this event. First, I believed the judges were all seniors and one of them were the president of the club. They spoke English really well and the comment on each speech is concrete and inspiring. For example, no matter how the speech is good or not, they would say thank you for doing their best and then give advice. They always encouraged them, complimented them, and congratulated them. The atmosphere they created were so lovely and comfortable even though we all knew that the speakers were so nervous and anxious. That reflects the campus environment in NTU which I like it so much.

Second, what I have learned from the speakers is the importance of eye contact, confidence and smiling. Some of the speakers had their own style of giving a speech, for example, one was elegant one was attractive and one was humorous. I enjoyed each of speech because most of them had an interesting story to share. One Japanese girl even described herself as a product to show everybody who she was. I was surprised to see how good they were in English as non-native speakers and no one majored in English like I did. I like a motto from the speech that says,” Do not hesitate to pursue your dream because there is nothing to lose. Follow your heart.” I am confused and afraid of breaking out of my comfort zone so I must ask myself what I really want to pursue my dream.

          I sincerely believe it’s a good place to develop the skills of giving English speeches on the stage. The skills I have learned from the event are in the following two points. One, catch the audience attention and make them enjoy the speech. In addition to be humorous, remember to make connection to the audience. Sometimes sharing a small thing but does not distract people from the main idea. The other, pause in the right place and pronounce clearly. An Indonesian was shy and had a strong accent that I had a hard time understanding his talk. On the other hand, speakers should speak loudly; using the microphone correctly is also important.

Log #3

Microloan

The article is basically talking about the growth of one company which help the poor to make the living better. At the beginning, there is the introduction of the founder about how he started the business and how the business works. It's very inspiring to hear that he actually didn't have a happy childhood and he had a tough time when he grew up. 

This company assists the poor to make profit by attracting the tourists to experience the handmade working. They can use the money by simply hiring a translator to help the worker, who can not speak English but have certain skills, to operate the website and arrange the tourism. Since the statistics have guarantee the success of this kind of operation, I trust this system.

It’s very important to be master of certain field and some tradition handicraft and skills are worth reserving. In this group of people, they work hard to make a living but they don’t know how to make a fortune or they don’t have to make a fortune. However, they needs just a little money and assistance, they can overturn their living. I can always trust the poor because I have to give them the chance to try and most of them would appreciate the help.

Reference:http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/it-changed-my-life-labour-of-love-putting-the-poor-to-work 

Further reading about this issue is an example from other countries in Asia. For example, Vietnam, immigrants often stay at the fishing village owing to get more job opportunities.  However, most of them are poor and they can only make the most basic living. The Red Cross organization start to involve in and look for fund to assist them improve the situation. The most importantly, they should learn the skills instead of always relaying on others' support. 

Log #4

Urbanization Problem in Singapore

The article is about the urbanization problems we face nowadays. According to the local News in Singapore, there is a organization called Urban Redevelopment Authority which makes the urban plan in terms of fitting the environment when more and more people rushing into the cities. It's quite an important topic to discuss since it influences our daily life a lot. It says climate change is the main problem that it's hard to deal with. So far, the solution should be the public transportation structure, like MRT system, bus route and so on. 

I would like to share this article with you because it is talking about the problems in Singapore as a small country like Taiwan is. The density of population in Singapore is too high so they need to solve the living condition especially in urban places. Taiwan definitely has the same problem in Taipei. As the technology and science grows, the urbanization problems becomes more serious. Not only the buildings are built higher to provide more and more people immigrating from other cities but the natural resources are consumed and delivered to the urban. I believe most of us should think of how to solve this issue together. For example, we shouldn't waste the ingredient and we should keep in mind that there is only one earth in the world.

Reference:http://www.eco-business.com/news/singapore-urban-planners-tackle-challenges-future-city-planning/

Log #2

I am going to share a novel with you, “The Girl On The Train.” I once watched few minutes of the movie. My friend who had not only read the novel but also watched the movie told me that the book is more attractive than the movie to her. So I bought it at the bookstore and decided to spend my winter break browsing through this famous masterpiece. After reading it, I think it’s quite a good story talking about a murder event in the perspectives of two woman, Rachel and Anna, who are related to the victim- Megan. At the beginning, Rachel mentioned that she took the same train everyday, staring out the window to see her previous house where she noticed the family life she used to belong. It’s her ex-husband’s family whose name is Scott. A News reported a missing woman named Megan, Scott’s wife, who was found buried underground in the forest few weeks later. So, the investigation began.

I feel so nervous but confused about the mystery and I often took mistakes about who is whose wife owing to some of them divorced and get married with another one. When reading, I picked the pieces of each clue to guess whom the murderer is. I like the way the author ended each paragraph that I would like to keep reading to know what’s going on next from the perspectives of another woman. Among the plots, one of the important points is that Rachel had a hard time memorizing the scene so the whole event finally turned out to be clear when she realized the it’s the wrong person on the car who is Megan instead of Anna. Till the end of the novel, I see a tragedy and how a marriage would be like if the man is so cruel and unstable. I am not sure what love is and how could I choose the right person to be my soul mate; however, marriage worth managing and accompany. I would see this book as a mirror for me to think of the future life. I recommend it and I think I would move on to read another one during my free time.

Weekly Sharing

The First Prize of 2016 Humorous Speech Contest, video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0veJi2R0I

Last class, teacher asked us. What did you during the holiday? We all know that Rebecca gave us an assignment for winter vacation so I decided to check it out online what exactly a toastmaster is. And here is something I want to share with you. I watched the video of 2016 Humorous Speech Contest. Now I am going to show you a two minutes of the third prize video first, hope you enjoy it.

Why I pick speeches about humor is because I would never notice that competition can be so interesting when speakers are so dramatic. Among the video, I really like the way the speakers tell stories and make few space to make the audience realize the purpose of the speech and think about the topic. For the first prize video, I was impressed by his words, “Stop dreaming. Start doing.” He mentioned that his life is tough when he was young and he has to do a lot of work when the captain kept saying the break is over. In the end, he said, everyone has a dream but stop dreaming, start doing. That’s so right that people often have many ideas to make life better but those who succeed are the ones did it. For the second prize video, from his story, he realized who he really was and he started to love himself after he gave up what he had. So I start to change the perspectives toward my life. I hope you guys can also check it out more on the toastmaster website to inspire yourself. Thank you.

Log #1

I have been thinking that my life is so smooth that i am so in my comfort zone. Recently, i have been looking for some reports about Donald Trump. It has been a while since he was selected to be the President in the U.S. All decisions he makes really means a lot toward the world no matter it's about economy, military or finance. I can imagine how it will influence my life even though I would like to say that American stuff is none of my business. On the other hand, i saw a video which is a TV show called "Shark Tank" few days ago during another class. It's about the company founders presenting few minutes to the investors for money donation. The donators are so mean and speak cruelly. I believe this is probably how the society would be look like when i get a job in the future. And I FEEL AFRAID.
I start to think of myself, "What am i doing now?" Everyday I take courses, meet some friends, do the homework. What makes me change the perspectives toward life is reading books; what makes me notice the International events is reading newspaper; what makes me acquire the extra knowledge is watching videos. But i never go outside of my comfort zone to take a look at this real world. When the News reports, i just know it but not experience it. Each time i saw how Donald Trumps is as a president and any video about the reality, i would think about the purpose of life. I believe there are a number of people want to be overseas but they don't make action. I will say i don't have the gut to give it a try so far. i still stay in the area that makes me feel safe. That's the two materials make me think of this kind of issue. And here is the link of the TV show- "Shark Tank".

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank

Log #10

The Book Thief 

Reading Log (page 411 to page 554)

        A parade of the Jew is going on in front of the German on the street of the town. Hans can’s bear it anymore so he rushes into the crowd of Jewish to help an elderly which the event makes Max leave. For the first time, I see how the Jew was treated badly by the Nazi Party. If I were there, I would feel helpless and furious about the condition because I know the Nazi Party is doing something wrong but I can not do anything for the Jew. On the other hand, Liesel is searching for Max. Upon the moment they see each other as well as the scene when Liesel is not afraid of being punished in order to catch up Max to talk to him, I almost cry. Their connection between each other is so strong and they memorize the great time underground of the house. “There were twigs of hair, just like Liesel thought, and the swampy eyes stepped across, shoulder to shoulder over the other Jews. When that reached her, they pleaded. His beard stroked down his face and his mouth shivered as he said the word, the name, the girl. Liesel,”

From the death collector’s perspectives, people commit suicide in that period of time because life is so hard. I realize the pain destroy a person when Michael hung himself because of the nightmare about the war and death of his brother. Later on in a sudden bomb, everyone in the town died except for Liesel when she is writing her stories underground. Life becomes nothing and Liesel loses everything she cherished. In the end of the story, after few years in the end of the war, Liesel and Max meet each other again to live a happy life together.

This book is a masterpiece for me. I like the way the author illustrate the stories which connect closely on the perspective of the death collector as well as the characters play the important role in each part. I don’t like the ending but I start to think of each choice I make would influence my life greatly. I get to know more about the hard condition under the Nazi Party and I see the humanity of people.

Log #9

The Book Thief 

Reading Log (page 267 to page 410)

        I get to know the life of being a member in the Nazi Party for teenagers. Rudy is like a soldier but still in a young age. He is brave and he likes to win. I like the description of Rudy in the book, “Strings of mud clench his face. His tie is a pendulum, long dead in its clock. His lemon, lamplit hair is dishevelled and he wears a sad, absurd smile.” It’s how he looks and it appears of his personality to help Tom and the friendship between Rudy and Liesel.

Max makes another book. One illustration points out the horror of Nazi Party: Above a piles of dead bodies like a mountain, Hitler said “Isn’t it a lovely day.” I still wonder, how hate would make a group of people kill another group of people. Even nowadays, the terrorists happened. In my opinion, any reason to kill someone is not acceptable. I am touched by her behavior in order to share the outside world to the Jewish when Liesel brings snow to the basement for Max. The Liesel’s family keep by his side when Max is without consciousness on the edge of dying. Their relationship is so closed that they treat him like a family member and they care about him.   

        Under a shelter, Liesel does a good job; she reads a book for everybody. I cannot imagine life under the shelter to wait for being killed or being alive. With a book, Liesel feels relieved but other kids and babies are afraid. When Liesel reads the book, everyone keeps quiet to listen carefully. They love the story and they past the time with satisfaction. I believe the power of book. As for me, I like to read books quietly when I have free time. 

Log #8

The Book Thief

Reading Log (page 129 to page 266)

        As the economy condition gets worse, the left guest to do the laundry is the owner of this town. For the first time, Liesel is invited into the reading room in the house and she was amazed by the great number of books on the self. The wife of the owner allowed Liesel to read them each time she comes to collect the clothes. Liesel is such a lucky girl that she enjoyed reading them with the company of the woman. On the other hand, Rudy and Liesel find a way not to be hungry: joining the group of teenagers stealing fruits. It’s not good to steal things but in the worst condition of war, it’s the only way to be alive. In addition, it still happened nowadays- a group of teenagers steal, smoke, fight.

        There is a story about the past of Hans. I feel touched when Hans and Rosa agree to accept the Jewish friend in the risk of being discovered. Staying in the basement, Max experiences an inhuman life that I can not imagine. His condition makes me think of the meaning of life. If I were Max, I would rather choose to die. Without any entertainment and anything to do, I would lose my way of being a human not to mention Max has no chance to be outside. Thanks to Liesel, the only connection of the world is the newspaper brought from Liesel and the description of the weather, sky as well as the stories of Liesel’s daily life. When Liesel’s birthday comes, Max made a book for her. I like the writing and the illustration on it talking about the feeling of him and the change he makes after he meets Liesel. Liesel, as a child, shows her kindness, childish and innocent to support Max and to share everything with him.

        If I were Hans, I would accept to help Max hide from the Nazi Party. On the one hand, I didn’t agree with the movement of Hitler and I hated him to kill so many innocent people. On the other hand, it was nothing to do with the friendship, the humanity led me to assist those who in need. 

Log #7

The Book Thief      

Reading Log  (page 1 to page 128)

The story begins with the introduction of a death collector. In the background of World War Two, there are lots of death bodies for him to collect and suddenly, a girl catches his eyes. On the view of a death collector, he writes this book to tell a story of a book thief- Liesel.

        Enjoying the stories and the meaning of words, she was attracted by the books. Her first time to steal is on her brother’s funeral and the book is called “The Gravedigger Handbook”. And the second time, the book is under the fire. She doesn’t care about the hot but is crazy with holding the book. I am impressed by one of her stories. Once her teacher asked each student in the class to read the paragraph but skipped Liesel because she knew Liesel couldn’t read. However, Liesel finished it by reading the content of The Gravedigger Handbook instead of the assigned book. Everyone laughed at her but I think she is brave enough. Rudy, her neighbor, is her best friend. I like the story when Rudy run across the grass painted-black to disguise as the Olympic running winner. People think his behavior was so silly but I admire his way to celebrate the black winner’s glory. At that period of time, except for the Jew, the black people also were not respected. For Rudy, he doesn’t care about the racist and the public perspectives, he honored the man in his way. Hans, Liesel’s father, was a kind man who taught Liesel to read and write. On the Christmas, the family bought Liesel two books even though they encountered a hard time to live. I really like the way Liesel and Hans interact and the family relationship reminds me of the connection between my father and I.

        In this section, I understand the passion of reading for Liesel and I can’t wait to see what’s going on next. I am willing to know more stories happened in the period of the World War Two about what Hitler did to the Jew at the time.

Log #6

                       From chapter 25 to 31, the end of the book, i feel so sad but surprised about the plot. After the result comes out, Jem was depressed and annoyed about it.  Mr. Tom is definitely sent to the jail and people in the town are as usual. However, Atticus was threstened to be killed by Mr. Ewell and Mr. Ewell even does something unrespectful to Atticus. One day, when Jem and Scout are on their way to school to perform a drama at night, Mr. Ewell hurts Jem and tries to kill the kids. Suddenly, Mr. Arthur appears and rescues them. It gives me a shot because i suudenly realize how the author connects the whole story together in the end of the book.  The endding is Scout lying on her father’s leg and falls asleep when listening to her father tell a story.

                             I finally understand why this book is called “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Mockingbird is a kind of birds that mock other birds’ chirping. It’s saying that they are too innocent to kill them just like the black man, Tom Robison. He is innocent in this trial but he is sentenced to jail only becaue of his skin color. It’s a very strong racial discrimination that they cannot receive education, they don’t have proper job, thay cannot stay with white people, they don’t have the same human right as white people. Finally, he is shot when he is trying to escape from the jail. It’s also inderestimate that Mr. Ewell doesn’t give it away even though he won the case.

                              After few months, i finally finish this book. I feel relaxed when the plot is just like the Chinese one but i also feel anxious in the process of understanding the vocabularies as well as realizing some conversations. It’s always depressing when i can’t remember the detail and i have no idea when to trnslate the sentences into Chinese. Anyway, i am about ot stary another book and i hope i will make process toward English novels reading.

Log #5

                       From chapter 16 to chapter 24, the whole description is the process of the trial on the court. At the beginning, Mr. Heck Tate sitting in the witness chair is asked some questions on the court about the secene when the event happened that day. According to him, Mr. Ewell, the prosecutor as well as the victim’s father, took him to his house to check his daughter’s injury. At that time, Mayella, the victim, had bruises on her face and was banged up on the left side. Mr. Tate didn’t see how it happened but he came to make  sure the crime scene as the second witness of this event.   

                             Next, Mr. Robert Ewell is asked to tell the court about the event as the first witessness.  Acoording to him, he heard his daughter scream on his way to home and then he saw a black figure running out of his house which he indicates the person is Tom Robinson. After he saw his daughter who was injuried by Tom Robinson based on his saying, but he didn’t take her to the hopital with no reason.

                                 And then, it’s Mayella Ewell’s tuern to speak to the court to explain the whole process of the event. When she asked Mr. Robison to help her, suddenly he got her around the neck, chunk her on the floor, taking advantage of her and hitting her againand again. However, when the defendant’s lawyer, Atticus, asked Mayella some questions about the detail, she keeps silent with no reason

                                 It’s time for the defendant to descibe how the whole event happened. According to him, he needs to pass by the victim’s house everyday on his way to his workplace. Sometimes, Mayella would stop him for help, so he has been helped her for many times since last year. One day, Mayella asked him to go into the house for fixing something inside and suddenly, she reached up to Tom and kissed him on the cheek. Things happened so quickly that he saw Mr. Ewell on the window so he ran away as fast as he can in the fear of being spot by Mr. Ewell.

                                 It’s such a sin for a white woamn kisses a black man at tht time. I believe Mr. Robison was the only one who says the truth on the court. However, the result is that he is guilty.  It’s not fair at all for such a case. When Atticus asked Mr. Tate, Mr. Ewell and Mayella, it’s obvoius that they don’t reply it complete and not firmly. It refers to the society that the racial discrimination of black people.

The LGPT Pride Parade

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/10/30/2003658204

Hey, guys. Here is the link of my sharing on Oct, 31st. I hope my sharing has inspired you to get to know more about LGPT issues. I sincerely invite you to join the parade for pursuing the rights for them next year. Thank you for your attention.

LOG #4

                         At the beginning of page 153 to 207, it says, JEM WAS TWELVE, in the capital letter. It is interesting to tell that Jem was in teenage so he became to be independent and he would be more like an adult. So his sister had no choice to accept the condition that he wouldn't play with her or talked with her like before anymore. And then there was an interesting story between the neighbor and the kids. The neighbor was a mean and ill woman who scolded the people passing by her house. However, one day, Jem was mad at her for saying bad words toward his father so he said something rude and destroyed the flowers in her garden. After that, his father asked him to apologize to the neighbor and helped the woman in her house for a month as a punishment. At first, the woman asked Jem to read a book for her for thirty minutes but Jem refused to come into her house. The description of the ill elderly's face is vivid and it was worse because of the disease. Each time he read the book, she often fell asleep and woke up when the alarm struck. As time went by, the condition is getting better because the kids were getting used to the worse condition in her house even though the women passed away in the end.
                           There is one more little story. Two kids once went to the church for black people with their nanny. It was totally different from the one for white people. At first, one of the black participants felt angry about the nanny carrying white kids into the church for black people, but she was scolded by other black people for not friendly welcome others. And then the kids find out that there was no books to read to sing the songs for God, instead, there was a men guiding all the participants to sing. In the contrast, people in the church for white people, each of them would get a book and sing the sings together. Afterwards, the kids get along well with other black people and they find them really friendly. It was rare to see such a harmony between black and white people especially in that period of time.
                            I feel cheerful but depressed. On the one hand, since the kids were grown up in an open-minded family and their father educated them well, so they didn't see black people in the cover of colored eyes. In the other hand, they had to go through the disagreement toward other people in the town. I really can't understand the mindset why people consider certain kinds of people don't have the rights to be themselves. Everyone is equal in the worldwide and every one should respect others who are different from them. I think this book wants to convey the thinking of caring about the things happened in the surroundings. How about you? Do you agree with the policy to protect black people is reasonable? People shouldn't be afraid of standing up and speaking up.

LOG #3

                     From page 99 to 149, the case i mentioned is still not clear. The girl only heard some bad words from her classmates like nigger-lovers which consider inappropriate to defend black people for rights in such a traditional society. The character felt so angry about the mean words toward her father even though she didn't understand it exactly. Once, the cousin called her father a nigger-lover again and she was so angry that she spoke rude language to him. Without a  chance to explain, she was scolded by her beloved uncle. She felt so depressed to encounter such the pain but no one understand her. On the other hand, the beloved uncle also felt upset about the girl's behavior and he think himself not knowing a child so well. 

                      To clarify the mistake, there is a conversation between her father and the uncle that i like. It says, "she had her owns views about things, a lot different from mine. I  told you that if you hadn't lost your head i 'd have made you do read to her. I wanted you to see what real courage is , instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand." This reminds my teenage hood when i was in a adolescent. I still remember i often locked the door after a fight with my mom, leaving her sadness and worrisome.  I felt no body in the world understand me except for my friends. At that time, i lose the direction toward life and i always think negatively. For example, i insisted to go to overseas college but knowing that we have no money to afford the tuition. Of course, my mom didn't accept my request but i felt that she didn't support my dream to come true. When i looked back to my immature behavior, i believe i could still realize studying abroad if i were brave enough to leave the comfort zone. i always ask for my parent's financial support and i don't want to take the responsibility on my own. Even in such an age, 19 years-old, i feel ashamed that I choose to stay in Taiwan and refuse to grow up. 

                         It occurs to me that if i was born not in Taiwan, what life would be different? i love my family but i just wonder is it the society that makes me shy and so afraid of facing the difficulties. Anyway, i feel surprised to be inspired by this book and i am looking forward to the following plot.

Log #2

              From Chapter 5-9 (Page 55-98), the author basically describes three stories from the eyes of a girl. It's interesting to read those stories because the kids' imaginations are so cool. Also, I like to read how their father and other adults react to their behavior.
              First of all, three of the child characters make up a drama of the mystery of the neighbor's son and they even try to deliver a letter by a fish pole to ask him out and play with them. And then, snow falls in the town for the first time, the kids definitely make a funny snowman. At night, a fire suddenly burn the neighbor house.The scenery is written vividly. Finally, another weird thing happened, kids find the tree next to their house have different stuff hide inside every day as if gifts for them; however, the tree was stuck by cement few days later.
               In the following chapter, it seems that the kid's father is facing difficulty dealing with a serious case. Having  more than two hundred pages to read, i am curious how the story continues.

Log #1

It's a book about a trial on a black man's harassment. My sister read this book few years ago and she said she likes it. I choose this book because i felt it worth of reading twice after i read the Chinese version. Also, I find it interesting when i read the English version that the description is similar.
From the perspective of a girl, she sees the world in different aspect from adults. What's more, it shows the unequal between countryside and modern life. From the front pages of 54, i read how the girl's teacher tell her not to learn much from the outside but from the book and how the teacher punishes the character when she is doing the right thing. I start to think of what the author is trying to say. However, the author also describes the happiness and imaginative of children when they play on the yard in summer. On the other hand, there is a strange house not far away from them and there is a strange story from the house as well. According to the book, a man is locked in the house since he was sent to the jail and then never go outside again.
The mystery is still unknown but i am curious that why the book is called "To Kill A Mockingbird". I may figure out after i finish it.