http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/25/olympics.bobsled.driver.quits/index.html
Vocabulary:
1. Macho: Macho behavior emphasizes a man’s physical strength, lack of sensitive feelings, and other qualities considered to be typical of men.
2. Split: A serious disagreement that divides a organization or group of people in to smaller groups.
3. Steer: To guide someone’s behavior or the way a situation develops without anyone noticing it.
Questions:
1.Do you guys like Olympics? Why or why not?
2. How do you think about those athletes in Olympics?
I went to American family last Saturday night, I talked with the host of the American family. They are a old couple. We talked about the differences of education system between China and America. They told me they teach their children by themselves, they didn’t go to school still high school. They said a lot of American students are study at home. However, almost Chinese students are go to school to study, and they have to work very hard. In America, students have much more time to release their nature, to play with their friends, but in China, students must pay more attention to study. In China, every family need to pay for their children, but in America, government afford all fees from elementary to high school. I think maybe both of the education systems have their own advantages because the situation is different.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/17/haiti.students/index.html
Vocabulary:
1. Aspiration: A strong desire to have or achieve something.
2. Tatters: Clothing or pieces of cloth that are old and torn.
3. Inconsolable: So sad that it is impossible for anyone to comfort you.
Questions:
1. How do you feel if your child buried in rubble?
2. What things happened will let you worry about your future?
I talked with my Math classmate during the break time on Monday, and our topic is about the public transportation in Richmond. I told her many international students think the public transportation system in Richmond is not so developed, if you don’t have a car, there are lot of places you cannot get to. There is just bus, no subway in Richmond, sometime people need to wait for bus for a long time. She told me that Richmond is a small city even though it is the capital city of Virginia, and almost every family have a car, so maybe the public transportation is just service for the students and a small part of local people who don’t have a car. Due to this is not a big city, and the population is small in here, so the government might think people don’t need subway because they have cars. I think the public transportation system is developed or not in the United States is depends on how large is the city and the number of population.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/11/france.quality.life/index.html
Vocabulary:
1. Maternity: The money that a woman is given by a employer or government when she has a baby.
2. Infrastructure: The basic systems and structures that a country or organization needs in order to work properly, for example transport, communications, and banking systems.
3. Bureaucracy: A complicated official system which is annoying or confusing because it has a lot of rules, processes and so on.
Questions:
1. If you can immigrate to one country, will you chose France to immigrate? Why?
2. What do you think about France?
3. How do you think about the health care systems in different countries?
This week I talked with my classmate of UNIV 102 before the class started. We talked about the different kinds of foods we like and we dislike. I told her I really like Sushi right now, and I do know how to do it. I told her I’m very picking, when she knew what I eat and what I never eat, she felt supervising, she said”How can you so picking!” I told her in this weekend is Chinese Spring Festival, when she heard this, she told me she really want to try the Chinese dumpling because she think the traditional Chinese dumpling is very different from the dumpling we can buy it in supermarket. Thus, I decided to bring some dumpling to her, she is happy. I always thought that American just like their own food, but my classmate shows me that they also want to try other foods.
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On Thursday afternoon, I met my math classmate in Oliver Hall and we talk about math. First, we started talk about how do we think about math. I told her I really don’t like math since I was in middle school because I’m not good at it. However, she was confuse because she told me that she heard that Chinese are very good at math, why I said I’m not good at math. Then I explained to her. On the contrary, she really like math, and she think the MATH 141 is very easy. From this conversation I know that American think Chinese people are good at math, but actually there also have many Chinese are not good at math. I think the reason why they think Chinese are good at it is because we already learned the main knowledge in middle school, so when we are in United States, we can figure out the math questions quickly.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/04/pandas/index.html
Vocabulary:
1. Christen: To invent a name for someone or something because it describe them well.
2. Repatriate: To send someone back to their own country.
3. Replenish: To fill something again or put new supplies into something.
Questions:
1. How do you think about panda?
2. If pandas are extinction, will you feel sad? Why?