Welcome, paul! (Sean also need to read it)

hey, paul,
welcome to come here and study with us. I am so glad that you, who has a good english, can join our group. I think you can't only improve our english ability a lot but also make our board more colorful and fascinating. I have change your position into a administrator, so you can also design our board into an attractive one.

About this board, we, two people, just begin for a while. Originally, i hope there are not too many people here cause' it is a group's board, not a club's board. Also, my club's members' seldemly post something in our bbs board, not very committed to it, so i would like to find some people are more committed to write sth on this board. Besides, at first, it was my personal board, so i would like to find someone i trusted. To be honest, i don't wanna this board full of a lot of people, it will make this board messy, sooooooo i would like about four or five people discussing here. It is my opinion and it is just a beginning, later i will ask more people to join if it will be more better. And you also can invite your friend to join our board.

Take some time to read sth you like here, and don't force yourself to read all, it is tooo much for you. We don't have any clear plan in our group, so we just post some interesting things here, and for me, i have a reading plan, so i will post my feeling about the book when i had finished resding it. My next main post is about pride and prejudice, a love novel. So waiting for that. But i will post sth easy and interesting here. You can just post sth you like here or plan for it, depend on you, just be at home. Later maybe we can set goals and plan for them.

Ok, let's move and start our english learning journey and enjoy it!

Do me a favor

delete all those extra copies of articles. The internet seemed to lag and I pressed post too many times resulting in too many published articles.
Thx.

Greetings

Greetings Frankie and Sean ...
It's great to be up here
But I haven't familiar myself with the surroundings yet
There seems to be a lot of nice articles on the board
I will try to read all of them when I have time ^^
I'm still in exam so have to study !!!
Good luck you guys ...
Btw. How come there are only 3 of us up here?
Where are the rest of the English club members?

Say NO to United Nations' abolishment of Traditional Chinese in 2008

My friend send this message to me, and I would like to share it with you here. Think about it and tell me what you think of this article.

Web-site: http://www.gopetition.com/
March 24, 2006
The Chinese language has many dialects spoken yet Mandarin has always been the official language. In Mandarin, there are two present types of writings: Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese has been the official form of writing for thousands of years. And from it, the Simplified form was born. In recent decades, China’s effort in trying to make Chinese easier for both her youth and foreigners resulted in this push of Simplified Chinese. However, at the same time, Traditional Chinese is still studied and widely recognized.
The purpose of Simplified Chinese was meant for an easier reading (with less characters) and less pen-strokes in writing characters. It is the attempt of making Chinese more phonetic rather than having many words pronounced the same.

The two forms of Chinese have always co-existed peacefully for many years. The importance of Traditional Chinese lies in the fact that each character represents a very specific meaning. This is of extreme importance because it allows the reader to understand a written word even without the word being in context.

Simplified Chinese, although convenient, fails to incorporate meaning into its characters. Many words of same phonetic sounds are replaced by a single character that possesses the same sound but lacks in meaning. The major downfall of Simplified Chinese is that it lacks meaning. Currently, historical texts are in Traditional Chinese, (simply because one can read and understand based on the author’s choice of words) however, if Traditional Chinese is to be replaced by Simplified Chinese, one would not be able to understand these texts/writings because words have lost their meanings, they simply represent a way of pronouncing the texts. As time progresses, this would result in the loss of history and culture.

UN's action to "unify" the Chinese characters and recognize ONLY Simplified Chinese will have devastating impact upon the Chinese language, culture, history. Internationally, Traditional Chinese would be forgotten and neglected, it would only be a matter of time before Traditional Chinese becomes the next “Latin”. (the dead language) Along with this loss of language, would be a culture and history lost forever.

Although Simplified Chinese is an easier way to learn Chinese, but it should not be the only form of Chinese written language. It should be a convenience, not an absolute. By allowing it to become the “official” writing, the Chinese language would be in regression.

------------------

Example of Simplified VS Traditional (provided by a fellow supporter)
The word Noodle in Chinese
Traditional: 麵 = 麥 + 面 (wheat + surface)
Simplified: 面 (surface/face/noodle)
*meaning in brackets

The Traditional form has two parts which helps to identify it as noodles. Simplified character only provides the pronouciation so the reader would be unable to determine the meaning without it's context.

-------------------

The above has been confirmed that the UN never used both Chinese forms. IN FACT, Traditional Chinese does not even exist in the UN anymore (except prior to early 1970's).
In truth, I am uncertain what will become of this petition. After all, it is a few decades late. Although, what saddens me, is the fact that Traditional Chinese has already lost its ground.
People signed this petition to fight against Traditional Chinese being abolished. YET, now that we know it's a fact, why should we not fight harder.
Some have claimed this to be a hoax. Others have supported and sent emails. I personally thank everyone of you who took time to come here regardless of your positions.

Memoirs of A Geisha 2

Share one more picture with you. I had finished reading it and writing my feeling here, hope you will like it. There are still a lot of good things i don't write down, such as geisha, this colorful career, what exactly they are doing or how about their luxurious kimono and fancy hairstyle and cute face cosmetics. I think you may be very curious about those parts, I will write those to you if i have time. But what i think importance is about the plot, so i share my feeling about that with you below. There are fewer and fewer geishas now in Japan, when refering to geisha, i think of our chinese opera(京劇或歌仔戲) is going to be extinct. So do the geisha in Japan. Maybe it is a old-fashion culture creation, which will passed away as the time goes by.

Memoirs of A Geisha

The homepage is:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/memoirsofageisha/international/

My feeling about this Novel

I love this novel so much after i had finished reading it. I had read her painful childhood, her arduous training, her persuit of true love, her geisha's life, her life's struggles and challenges, her good friend, Pumpkin, her sister, Memaha, her rival, hatsumomo, etc. Beisides, this novel is very inspiring, though sayuri met a lot of difficulties, she always could overcome them. And i was very curious about what a geisha's life looked like, so i read it faster and enjoyably. Sayuri is a very lucky and brave lady in this story, and my focus is on her life's challenges, not on a geisha herself.

The struggling love story
This picture is the main character, sayuri, and her true lover, chairman. They finally got together through a-long-time struggling. Sayuri, the main character, had the deep impression on her true lover, chairman, when she met him for the first time, and so did the chairman. But sayuri never knew that until chairman finally told her. One day, sayuri felt very depressed and wept beside the wall. Suddenly a man with a kind voice came to comfort her, and sayuri started to fall in love with him and hoped to meet him again in the future. Sayuri determined to become a geisha since she met chairman cause' she thought she might have a chance to meet him again. Sayuri always kept a hope, one day chairman would accept her love and they could live together forever. Originally, the chairmain also loved sayuri but daren't express it to sayuri cause' he owe Nobu, one of his close friend, a lot of debt. Therefore, the chairman wanted Nobu to get sayuri, and he kept hiding his love for sayuri for a long time. But finally the chairman had the courage to express his love for sayuri so they can live together. It is a very dramatic ending. I really lost my patient when i read this love story, "sayuri, why don't you just tell him that you love him?" I talked to myself.

A turning point
It was very inspiring story, and i was so glad that sayuri started a optimistic mind and was determined to become a geisha. Also, i found the same thing in Robinson Crusoe, looked at things in the bright side. And that was what i told you before, life is always dissatisfactory, so learn to cherish what you have and stop comparing and complaining. And this change may take some time.

Hastumomo (a wicked geisha)
She was only finacial supporter in their living place when sayuri was little, and she hated sayuri very much at the beginning and also till the end. As a result, sayuri's life there started a struggling path and very stressful. I am not sure why this beautiful geisha are so cruel, maybe there is something nobody knows but Hastumomo. You can see how sayuri suffered through the whole story. Hastumomo tried all kinds of ways to hurt her and destroy her image in order to let her leave their living place, but finally she was brave to stand up and defeated her.

In this story there are a lot of metaphors due to sayuri's great imagination. I take one for example:
Considering how cruelly Hatsumomohad treated me over the years, and how very much I hated her, I'm sure I ought to have been elated at the plan(which tried to destroy her party). But somehow conspiring to make Hatsumomo suffer wasn't the pleasure I might have imagined. I couldn't help remembering one morning as a child, when I was swimming in the pond near our tipsy house and suddenly felt a terrible burning in my shoulder. A wasp had stung me and was struggling to free itself from my skin. I was too busy screaming to think of what to do, but one of the boys pulled the wasp off and held it by the wings upon a rock, where we all gathered to decide exactly how to murder it. I was in a great pain because of the wasp, and certainly felt no kindness toward it. But it gave me a terrible sensation of weakness in my chest to know that this tiny struggleing creature could do nothing to save itself from the death that was only moment away. I felt the sort of pity toward Hatsumomo.

What do you think? I think sayuri is very kind and also very wise, the offender always suffers from his offence to others, and actually we don't need to take revenge on him.

Geisha
"The training of an apprentice geisha is an arduous path. However, this humble person is filled with admiration for those who are able to recast their suffering and become great artists. Some years ago while visiting Gion, it was my honor to view the spring dance(which performed by geishas) and attend a party afterward at a teahouse(Geisha is a entertainer there), and the experience has left the deepest impression. It gives me some measure of satisfaction to know that a safe place in this world has been found for you,,..." It is a letter from Mr. Tanaka, who made sayuri become a geisha. Sayuri was very sad and depressed at the beginning but the situation finally changed. She didn't choose the life of a geisha but rather than had been carried by the current. Isn't it like our life?

English Learning resources

推薦優良的英語學習網站：


1. Chosen
http://www.kids4truth.com/chosen/DEFAULT.HTM

2. 2000 英語傳教士
http://www.ep66.idv.tw/BD5.htm

3.我在學英文
http://iamlearningenglish.blogspot.com/

4.ECT 台灣英語網
http://www.english.com.tw/

5.Starfall
http://www.starfall.com/

6.ASK the English teacher
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/english/

7.Moses site backgrou music
http://www.timessquarechurch.org/music/

8.LiveABC 互動英語教學網
http://www.liveabc.com/index.asp

9.Englishclub
http://www.englishclub.com/

10.中正大學語言中心
http://cculc.ccu.edu.tw/

11.中正大學線上學習測驗平台
http://140.123.47.247/index.asp

12.English as 2nd Language Blog（ESL教學相關資訊分享） http://esl.about.com/b/a/008740.htm

13.An English as a second language blog--ESL blog（ESL教學的新聞、觀點與相關連結）
http://www.esl-blog.com/

14.English Notes and Observations（英語用法與觀察） http://www.blogontheweb.com/eprofe/

15.宜蘭縣國小英語領域BLOG（英語教學資訊分享。宜蘭縣國教輔導團英語領域輔導員蔡立婷老師製作） http://140.111.66.31/blog/index.php?blogId=28
宜蘭縣國教輔導團BLOG：http://140.111.66.31/blog/ （含各教學領域資訊）

16.EFL Teachers in ESSG（一位英文系老師與系上老師分享英語教育網路資訊） http://blog.ntjcpa.edu.tw/efl_teachers_essg/




Vocabulary

17.Cambridge Dictionary Online
http://dictionary.cambridge.org

18.Encartra World English Dictionary
http://www.dictionary.msn.com

19.Collins Cobuild Concordance ND Collocations Sampler http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/form.html


網路字典
20.Merriam-Webster OnLine
http://www.m-w.coom/dictionary.htm

21.WordCentral.Com
http://www.wordcentral.com

22.Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com

23.Acronym Finder
http://www.acronymfinder.com

學習指南
24.Keys to Better Vocabulary http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/elsc/material/Vocabulary/Kvocab.htm

25.English Page-Vocabulary Exercise http://www.englishpage.com/vocabulary/vocabulary.html

26.Vocabulary Skills at English-Zone.Com
http://english-zone.com/vocab/index.html

Grammar

27.Guide to Grammar &Writing
http://cc.commnet.edu/grammer/

28.Grammar Safari
http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/web.pages/grammarsafari.html

29.Grammar Handbook at the Writers’ Workshop http://www.english.uius.edu/cws/wworkshop/index.htm

30.OWL Online Writing Lab-Grammar,Pronunciation,and Spelling http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html#grammar

線上測驗
31.Better-English Grammar
http://www.better-english.com/grammar.htm

32.EL.Easton-English-Grammar-Quizzes
http://eleaston.com/grammarqz.html

Writing

33.Writing Handouts and Resources
http://www.uwec.edu/academic/curric/jerzdg/orr/handouts/index.html

34.Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
http://www.powa.org

35.Principles of Composition http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/composition.htm

36.WritingDEN(Digital Education Network) http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/index.htm

37.The Write Place Catalogue
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/catalogue.html

38. University of Richmond Writer’s Web http://writing.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html#gen

39.Interesting Things for ESL Students
http://www.manythings.org/

40.Writing Styles
提供一個可下載的互動學習程式、利用該程式，學習者能進行一連串英語文法的測試，以評估自己的英語水平，有助日後寫作之用: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/write/we/


寫作交流網站
41.International E-mail Classroom Connections
http://www.iecc.org

42.International Writing Exchange
http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/Project/IW




LEARNING FOR FUN
43.英文作文練習比賽遊戲:
http://cqchess.hkflash.com/quiz.asp?qid=eng

44.一些教英文生字和寫作技巧的網址盡在這網址: http://www.laichack.edu.hk/~lcm-lsl/subject/eng.htm

45.英文心得:
http://www.rthk.org.hk/elearning/yangtl/studyroom_topic3_p1.htm