IETLS practice 20140714 Universities should accept equal numbers of male and female students in every subject. To what extent do you agree or disagree? With the progress of gender equality, some hold the view that in every subject of the universities, equal numbers of male and female students should be accepted. From my own perspective, I do not quite agree with this point of view. It is not only unrealistic to require a university to accept same numbers of students from both sexes in every subject, but also not reasonable to do so. Despite the moral rule that all human beings are equal, men and women are born with physical and mental differences. They may not share the same interest in a particular subject statistically, thus, there would be a great chance that far more boys apply for one specific major in a university while fewer girls prefer it. Furthermore, universities should enroll students based on their qualification and potential for the subject without other considerations including the gender, which could benefit the students as well as the universities. It is unfair to reject the more qualified students to the university because of the gender quota, and only those students who fit the field best would be most likely to make academic achievements and to enjoy the process to achieve them. Admittedly, it can make some sense to demand equal numbers of male and female students in every subject. Under a policy like this, girls could be inspired to pursue their academic career freely because there would be much more chances for them, while universities would find no method to discriminate female students. Moreover, it could lead to further gender equality in the professional life, which may contribute to a more enlightened society. To conclude, although it is based on sheer good intention to appeal to universities to accept equal numbers of students of both genders in every subject, it is hard to practice and may create a new kind of unfairness. I would suggest that universities offer same chances to both male and female students at the application stage, but accept the best qualified ones regardless of their gender.

In what language does the knowledge, information and thoughts stored in mind I was born and raised in Shanghai, and am still living there now. Before I was sent to the kindergarten at 3, I’m quite sure that my parents only spoke Shanghai dialect with each other and to me at home. After that, until the time I finished high school, I used to use Mandarin in school but Shanghai dialect out of it. During the college period, I lived in the campus and communicated with professors and schoolmates in Mandarin almost all the time. But later in my workplace, which is kind of a local one, although most of the time we use Mandarin (like 80% of the time), sometimes we have to use Shanghai dialect even in a business meeting, talking about very professional topics. At those times I find myself hardly can express some abstract and formal and professional words in Shanghai dialect, which is not so surprising because those were taught in Mandarin back the school days. But then I find that when I am thinking freely, my thoughts are in Mandarin rather than Shanghai dialect….. Say once I traveled abroad, in all English environment, I don’t quite remember in what language I was thinking at that time, but I coped with it alright, I understood what people were saying, and I didn’t need to think for a long time before I could respond, Surprisingly, when I came back from the trip and I thought back, all the guide books I’ve read, all the words I’ve listened to and said all suddenly turned into Mandarin. So…everything turns into Mandarin….maybe I should use Shanghai dialect more often and type with its input method if there is any. And I wonder, if using a second language frequently enough, can one think in this language? In that case, would a person forget how to think in bad condition? (This question is out of this…one day I met with two of my English-speaking friends, I was so hungry that I found I could hardly understand what they were talking….but after having a pizza, I joined them alright….)

Cuando vean que no llega el avión a la hora anunciada, se irá cada uno a sus asuntos. the context is that the plane IS delayed, but not for very long yet. is this sentence right? why not use "lleque" here?

the Karla Trilogy I think I'm crazy to start with the Karla Trilogy. Not the first time reading an novel in English actually....I've done "the Pillars of the Earth"...then I had the knowledge of the Camino, and longed for Spain....and traveled in Andalucia and gained the enthusiasm to learn Spanish... But the Karla Trilogy by John Lee Carré, prompted my aspire to learn English....(flushed of shame...)...well..I think I´m not so bad that I can read it with the help of the dictionary...It just assured me that, one can feel as well as much through the lines written in the language no so familiar with....well maybe not quite the same as natives of similar culture background. The language there is quite hard to understand with so many slangs and jargons..even the nautical terms!! I ran into a comment on line by an English-speaking reader once, the guy said the writer chose his words so delibrately that almost made him feel like reading a translated novel. I don't know if it's very true but my main reason of reading the English version is that I can't stand the translated Chinese version....imaging....translated from a translated fiction...LOL.. and...my reason of finding any version of book at the first place is the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy(2011). I couldn't tell one character from another, let alone understand the story....and I find some of the characters so adorable after reading the trilogy, but not the anti-hero hero Smiley. The anxious, inward, restless, and sharp, intelligent chubby little man, not adorable at all. Maybe that's just the interesting point. Strangely, I like the Honourable Schoolboy best, the only one hasn't been presented on the screen. It's said on wiki that BBC considered it too expensive to shoot in South East Asia or make the scenery look like it.....The novel is very ambitious to me and quite exotic in a strange way. I've seen some films by 吴宇森 about HK of that period of time. Something of the novel just reminds me of them. Maybe someday I can figure out something about why.....

are there any kongfu fictions translated into english?

I'm wondering....

la diferencia entre pasar,ocurrir y producir ¿Qué le pasó?= ¿Qué ocurrió? = ¿Qué se produjo? ??

aprendo español después de volver de España, me apetece aprender español más...porque antes de viaje,siempre aprendí un día y descansé una semana....no pude hablar un poco con los españoles...los pareció que contesté en íngles cuando contesté en español.... hago una español clase en un fin de cada semana hasta la media de junio...pienso que aprendo bien....

what's the difference of "racial" and "ethnic"? what's the difference of "racial" and "ethnic"? Is that there's something about culture by using "ethnic"?

what's the meaning of "shade of the record"? the sentence is "He also won gold Friday in the 800-meter freestyle just a shade of the record." does it say he almost broke the record?