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20180709 A Tough Student
I kept myself busy again this summer by taking up extra classes from a cram school. The centre is full of privileged students whose parents dump thousands of yuan for their summer course.Kids from wealthy backgrounds are usually of two types: one is just like those from an ordinary family whereas the other is more proactive and have less fear of (or perhaps less respect for) their teachers. They can treat you as their friend (which normal students wouldn't do) or show open/blatant signs of discontent and carry a dismissive air about them right in front of your face. And this is what I encountered today.
One particular student has high hopes for his upcoming test. He has his mind set on getting into the University of Cambridge and I'm the tutor in charge of his writing class. Whilst other students usually follow my instructions, he always offers a somewhat differing perspective. This is fine as I also don’t think we should adopt a herd mentality. But the problem is that he is always too insistent on his own opinions and has little space in his mind to consider the views of others. So eventually, he became the toughest student to deal with in all my classes.
Today, he showed his plain disappointment in me for not advancing his writing skills after four hours of classes. In those classes, I was teaching how to organize an essay regarding its structure, introduction and so on. But obviously this wasn't what he was expecting to be taught. He said he wanted to learn "useful” sentences that could help him immediately compose an article that would impress the examiners. I replied that this was impossible; writing impressive sentences* takes time. He then made a sour face which evidently let me know that he felt his tuition was wasted on me.
I felt upset the whole evening after returning home. I wasn't afraid that he would certainly give me a low rating on my performance. This is just a part time job for me and I have already grown so tired of the workload from all my classes weighing heavily on me. I was depressed because I felt my efforts were underappreciated. What is the point of spending three hours a day taking the train in one of the most crowded subways in China just come to help someone who thinks so little of you, and probably may not want you to be there at all?
*You can probably easily write an impressive sentence but it may not be appropriate if not used within the right context. Hence writing impressive essays is very difficult to master. :P
Good work. Sometimes you're cramming too much content in a single sentence.
I'm probably a little too late to give you advice on how to deal with stubborn personalities but I'm sure a part of you already knew a good way to go about it. :)
0 votedSeptember 13, 20181Pt. 2
4. Clearly there are two distinct notions of the how beauty should be defined in this discussion - one side favouring only physical characteristics should be included within the term whilst the other incorporates the concept of 'inner beauty'. While the majority of people would agree that a statement such as 'He's/She's beautiful' largely refers to someone's physical attractiveness, there is an increasing awareness of the concept of inner beauty and outer beauty in contemporary society. This leads to a not insignificant proportion of people that incorporate the value of inner beauty affecting how they perceive and use the term 'beauty' (including some of those in this discussion). Consequently, in modern day usage of the word I think it has become just as acceptable to factor in both inner and outer beauty to judge a person's overall 'beauty'. That is to say, there are multiple usages of the word in order to have changed with the times.
5. I would like to speculate that the incorporation of inner beauty within the notion of beauty is much less commonly heard or applied but nevertheless exists. This may be because to claim someone has inner beauty means to develop a significant familiarity with a person to establish harder to verify inner traits. When an old couple tell each other or when you tell your long time partner/best friend 'You're beautiful', I'd like to think that they're putting greater emphasis on inner qualities and it is not necessary to add 'in my eyes only' otherwise I suspect your relationship is not that likely to last the test of time. :P0 votedJune 23, 20180Pt 1.
Although this is an old thread, I'd still like to post something.
I enjoyed reading about SHL's comment as it was thought provoking and a rather interesting perspective. However, there are a few things I'd like to note.
1. An individual's perception of beauty and a community standard of beauty are two different notions.
2. You can consider beauty as being subject to an individual's interpretation of sensory information it receives (provides the perceptual experience of pleasure) or a general consensus of beauty standards formed by a community. Objectivity, by definition, is free from bias from an individual's perception. So in reference to an individual's view on beauty, this cannot be regarded as inherently objective.
3. With respect to the beauty standards of a community, I would restate it the other way round and say beauty is progressively less subjective nearer to extremes of a spectrum and more subjective closer to the middle of the spectrum. This implies that the community is more likely to reach consensus (or at least a greater majority of agreement) on what is not beautiful on the extremes rather than who is the most beautiful person within the community or what would the most beautiful person would look like and how would they act like exactly. The standards of beauty would change depending on how you define the community e.g. Asians, Indians, the entire world, babies, old people, females, blind people etc.0 votedJune 23, 20180Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for the series recommendation. I did find it enjoyable even though I couldn't understand a lot of it (since I'm learning Mandarin and mainly read simplified).
As practical and logical a person as I am, I do think mediums exist but would be extremely rare to find a real one and it's probably not good to mix business between the living and the dead.
0 votedJanuary 29, 20180- People remember the most famous English quotes in history because of the meaning and impact of those English words used in at particular time, in a particular place and in a particular order. It can be very basic sentences such as 'I have a dream.' but filled with such a tone of certainty, determination and vision within a particular context that it could spark a globally impactful chain of events.
I don't think the vast majority of English native speakers go around discussing the topic 'the beauty of the English language' but the English language may become their benchmark to ascertain 'that language/his accent/the way he pronounces this word/the way he said it sounds funny or weird'. People also often quote from books, songs, movies, playwriters, famous people from their native language.
I feel the fact that you can most eloquently express yourself in your native language conveying ideas, values, emotions in a style that you identify uniquely as your own is most valuable and pertains to the concept of beauty. Again, whether native speakers are truly self aware and appreciative of this fact I wouldn't dare to claim is an issue particularly related to the fact that you are an English native speaker or not.
Sidenote: Personally I love how people have different accents speaking in English and how people can attach different meanings to the same word.0 votedJanuary 5, 20180 - I don't think a lot of people think about their feelings towards their native language until they encounter another language. Possibly like how people don't notice they're breathing fresh air but become acutely aware when experiencing a lack of it. They probably become much more aware when they try to learn a different language and wonder why other languages don't seem as easy to pick up nor seem as versatile as English.
When I think about the beauty of English, I admire how it's an adaptive tool that changes form with the ages. A language that borrows/absorbs/tweaks bits and pieces of other languages into its own. It then gets manipulated by a person into a particular style that suits the individual. I'm biased towards functionality, so for me the beauty lies in its usefulness rather than a passion to deconstruct the language for all its nuances.
As a native speaker and being forced to study 'English' at schools, it was a pain. English poetry may not be the cup of tea of a lot of native speakers and for the most part I didn't like a lot of poetry styles either but the beauty of English isn't limited to its use in poetry. Appreciation for the language by a lot of native speakers with respect to musicality is unquestionable given that the most viewed Youtube videos have generally been English music videos. But for me, this also doesn't convey the true beauty of the language.0 votedJanuary 5, 20180 Report on satisfaction about the employee working conditions/employee job satisfaction （Thank you so much )
Report on satisfaction about the Employee Job Satisfaction
Terms of Reference:
Mr. John Smith (Line Manager) has asked me to write this report to on summarise staff opinions and suggesting possible improvements about regarding/concerning working conditions.
Proceedings Methodology:
A sample of staff were individually asked for their opinions about on/regarding their working conditions.
Findings:
Staff were satisfied with some company initiatives working conditions such as our the company setting up an appraisal scheme. This scheme provides a wonderful opportunity for them to (both) focus on (particular aspects of) their jobs and make plans to develop their unused potential.
But they also mentioned the following problems/issues:
Firstly, staff need strongly desire for more flexible working hours to help them balance the demands of their work demands leisure and private personal commitments.
Secondly, some office areas have poor network connectivity*. Some areas are so bad that employees are unable to communicate smoothly with their clients.
Thirdly, there is too little paid leave. In my opinion, if we can appropriately increase the amount of paid leave, we can attract more job applicants, which makes recruitment easier.
Conclusion & Recommendations:
In general, most staff were happy to put forward their suggestions. If we make the following improvements, we would be able to achieve greater productivity**.
1. Grant staff with good performance flexible work hours.
2. Fix the office area network.
3. An appropriate increase in annual paid leave.
Thank you!0 votedApril 25, 20172Translation 3
It's reported that about 12 billion packages will be delivered by Chinese courier services this year. This may make China become the biggest courier market in the world.* Most of the packages contain goods that were ordered online. China has given several million of retailers the opportunity to sell their goods at very competitive prices. On November 11 alone, Chinese customers have bought 9 billion dollars worth of goods on the country's largest domestic/local shopping platform. There are many special shopping days in China like this.** Therefore, it's no wonder the expansion/development of the courier industry in China has occurred to such an extent.****I think the Chinese sentence better translates to: 'This will possibly allow China to surpass the US as the world's largest express delivery market.'
**You might need to mention 11月11日 is a special sales day in China first.
***Alternatively you can say, 'Therefore, this (rapid) development of the courier industry in China has come to no surprise.'
Good work. Thanks for the correction.
0 votedFebruary 2, 20171
