blog assignment 7

In the essay The Publication of Your Personal Profile by Megan Ramirez, it claims that “When users of social networking websites such as Facebook or MySpace put personal information in their profiles, whether intentional or unintentional, they are allowing their private lives to be published which, in turn, gives others the right to scrutinize them”, which indicates that these social networking websites make private not private anymore. She uses following reasons to support her claim: 1) users of social networking websites do not know that their restricted profile can be easily gain access by faking account to get access, 2) users of social networking websites do not realized that the profiles and information put on the website can show their private aspect of their lives, 3) an increasing number of employers decide hire employees based on looking through employees’ private profiles on the websites, 4) users of Facebook or MySpace do not realize that they should be responsible for their private profile. Also, the writer uses a counterargument that using Facebook or MySpace can be entertaining to make her essay more convincible because she thinks although using Facebook or MySpace is funny, we still should realize that we need to be responsible for what we put on the website and protect our private. The writer uses plenty of examples to support her claim also she uses some statistics to make essay more convincible, like “the largest social networking website, MySpace, has approximately 320,000 new users join every day” (Megan 33).
I think this essay is very persuasive because she uses logical reasons to support her claim, and there always are plenty of examples follow each reason, which makes this essay more convincible.

blog assignment 6

In the article, The Horse Racing Industry: Issues and Reforms (Christa Kurman), the author uses plenty of paraphrases and quotations to support her main idea. One example of a paraphrase is “An industry committee lead by Mary Scollay recorded an average of 2.03 horse deaths for every 1,000 starts on dirt track (Dwyre).” This paraphrase uses numbers and statistics to support her idea. It makes the essay more convincible. Using statistics in this essay let readers feel sorry for horses, and decide to support banning the sport of horse racing. An example of a quotation in the essay is: David Zirin, a sportswriter and racing strategist, has this to say about what horse racing has become in recent years: “Perhaps all the people who pounced on Michael Vick for fighting pit bulls should turn their attention to a sport that exudes mint julep gentility, but can be as cruel as any cockfight” (Zirin).Christa uses a quotation of a sportswriter to support her main idea that horse racing industry seems “as cruel as any cockfight” (Zirin) at this time, and it should be improved, at least to treat horse nicely. She uses a quotation of a sportswriter’s perspective to make her essay convincible, and it works well, because I really agree with the author after I read her essay. All the quotations and paraphrases that she uses in the article make me believe what she says and agree with her suggestions. I can see how important quotations and paraphrases are. Their main function is that they support main idea and make essay convincible.

blog assignment 5

Chinese people believe “winner takes all, loser has nothing,” and “history is written by the victors” is widely accepted by Chinese people. Admittedly, official history is believed to work for politics. A contrast is often made between official history, which is written by winners, and unofficial history, which is written by losers. For instance, in Chinese history, every emperor was basically wise and strong since the Song Dynasty’s history, every emperor was described as a symbol of justice, and their enemies were always brutal and evil. Obviously, this official history was faked by victors. In an official history about Song Dynasty, Hui Qin, a minister of Song, is depicted as a quisling. He killed some heroes like Fei Yue, made treaty with Song’s enemy, and enacted a tax law which made people poorer. He was a totally devil in official history. However, in some unofficial history, Hui Qin was not devil anymore, he was a pacifist. He advocated peace life, he thought war could kill thousands of lives and made people homeless, thus, he argued with “hero” Fei Yue who wanted to be famous through wars, and Fei didn’t accept his idea, but the emperor did. Then the emperor killed Fei in order to make a peaceful life for residents in Song Dynasty.
In official history, winners usually deleted some information which was not good for their reputation, but still retained lots of truth. Unofficial history, however, cannot be evidence for academic research, but can support some facts. Therefore, we should have an objective perspective when we read history.

blog assignment #4

Liu is one of Chinese studying in the United States, so am I; therefore I really understand why he wants to live with other Chinese people. We both suffer from culture shock, we both live a stressful life, and we have to cope with many things that we never met before. Life there for an international student who never lives in the United States is monotonous. Culture shock, language problems and totally different environment usually drive international students crazy. One way that may cushion stress is talking to another international student from the same country, because they share the same experience, they feel free when they talk to each other in their native language. These advantages give international students motivation to live together, talk together, even if they may not know each other before. I really appreciate those international students who have lots of American friends, for they have courage to face these obstacles, then get over them. Yes, I have the same experience with Liu, however, the difference is that I still live in the dormitory with Americans, struggle in the new life, yet he does not. I feel happy when I hang out with Chinese student, I feel I am not alone anymore, on the other hand, I try to adapt my new life, try to find topics with my roommate, narrow the gap between I and my roommate. Only in this way, I think I can get over culture shock, although I still struggle in an unacquainted environment.


lectern: (1) a reading desk or support in a church (2) any similar desk or support
sarcasm: mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult
delegation: (1) a person or group chosen to represent another or others (2) all the members of Congress from one state

blog assignment 3

Besides verbal language, nonverbal communication is playing a leading role in people’s life. The way or ways that people express themselves without language are much different, the most effective ways that work on people all over the world are: gestures, eye contact, and body space. Admittedly, they differ from culture to culture. These nonverbal communications require us the knowledge of different cultures. Some actions could prove to be highly embarrassing in one country, but not in another country. For instance, in China, one man is okay to put his arm around another man, this action shows friendship between the two men, but the same action may be considered as impolite or other meaning in other cultures. In the United States, if one man puts his arm around another man, the two men are considered as gays. Another example for gesture is that Chinese people turn down their thumbs to express the direction of something, that is, something is under your shoes. However, Americans use this gesture to show their anger or their disagreement. Also, Chinese people stand closer than Americans while talking to friends. On the other hand, some nonverbal communications are similar between China and the United States. We both turn up thumbs to express our appreciation, and we both shake our hands when we meet strangers.

blog assignment2 op2

As social beings, interpersonal relationship plays an extremely important role in our lives. In China, connotation is advocated when people interact with someone else, that is, people in China are unwilling to show their private selves, especially negative emotions.
On the one hand, strangers usually show their outgoing and optimistic public selves to each other. They try to hide their sorrows as their own secret. For instance, an awkward situation is often met when two strangers become friends: at first, they both leave good impression of each other when they first meet. As they become friends, one may realize that the other one has too many negative emotions and shortcomings which are intolerable. People show too little of private selves in public, and they incline to show their perfect selves to strangers.
On the other hand, talking to friends is quite different. People need to share their sorrows as well as joys to their best friends, in this way, they can cushion their stress or laugh together. Admittedly, friends even strangers can share joys to others, but only best friends can know sorrows of each other.
As I illustrated above, people in China intend to hide their true feelings in public. Someone who is good at hiding their feelings will be considered as a cultivated person.

Response to "Mother Tongue"

I never thought language is so powerful before I read this article. The author's mother was treated badly by others just because of her imperfect English. One of the reason why she always speaks "limit" English I guess is that language changes fast, even faster than we think. It changes from generation to generation. With the developing of Internet and other communication tools, young people try to simplify languages, sometimes we use abbreviations to communicate, like OMG. In China, young people even create new meanings of words. For instance, "thunder" is a noun in Chinese; however, young people sometimes make it act as a verb to express feelings of shock. This can never happen among older generations! That is, if you say ”you thunder me” to your parents, that does not make any sense.
On the other hand, in different situations, people use different ways to say the same thing. Suppose I discuss my course with my advisor and my classmates, I will never use slang while I talk to my advisor. To my classmates, maybe I will say, “This class sucks, I really hate it and I wanna change it.” However, to my advisor, I should show my respect, I may say, “I have trouble in this class, and I really need your help, could you give me some suggestions?” The key is that the more respect we show, the more formal word we use.