Love Is a Lamplight in Darkness
May 31st, 2010 by Noah
The picture shows that a kerosene lamp is burning brightly, driving darkness and fear away. The darker the place, the brighter the lamplight. The light of the lamp is a great and valuable help to the people in need. It symbolizes love and care for others, especially for the people in difficulties, and the love will help contribute to a better world.
One of the examples for people to show their love is displayed in a recent TV play entitled "He Does Not Want to Leave" describing a story of a university student from the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province. As his family is too poor to support his schooling, the student decides to drop out. However, when all his classmates hear of this, they decide each of them to donate some amount of money to help the poor student. The noble act of the student's classmates not only helps the university establish a Supporting Program for Poor Students but also enables him to accomplish his studies at the university and finally return to serve his hometown after graduation.
Now there are still many poverty-stricken areas in our country, and there are quite a number of people who need all kinds of help. A person can show his or her loving heart at anytime by donating any amount of money or living necessities to a poor person or a family. The little amount of money may mean much for a needy person to support his family and for a poor child to go back to school. No matter how small the help is, it may be like a ray of lamplight giving warmth and light to the helped.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
China's Business Presence in the U. S.
May 28th, 2010 by Noah
China's business with the United States grows, there is an inereasing need for Chinese companies to have a presence1 in the United Slates. In what ways can a Chinese company establish a U. S. presence1'/ The simplest step is to set up a branch office or a U. S. subsidiary staffed by a small number of Chinese nationals. Such an office's activities might be limited to market research, communications, sales and purchasing. Another possibility is to form a joint venture in the U. S. between a Chinese company and a U. S. company, for marketing, manufacturing or other purposes. A third alternative is lo purchase all or a substantial part of the stock or assets of an existing U. S. company.
A presence in the United States serves Chinese1 interests to many ways. It improves communications between the U. S. ant China by facilitating1 the flow of market and other commercial information to and from China. It serves as a vehicle for the distribution of Chinese goods in the U. S. as well as a purchasing agent o U. S. goods arid technology on behalf of the Chinese. In addition if a Chinese company invests in an existing U. S. company. the U. S. company might serve as a source of desirable technology of China, through licensing agreements, exports of equipment, am joint research and development arrangements. The1 U. S. affiliate can serve as a training ground for Chinese personnel lo learn about U. S. management and business practices and the U. S. market, al lowing these individuals to return to China with valuable information. The U. S. affiliate might also supply the Chinese company with parts or raw materials required for a manufacturing process. And not to he forgotten is the hope that the Chinese investment in the U. S. company will prove successful and generate profits and/ or appreciate in value, all in U. S. currency. '' Of course, these are not exhaustive" example of the benefits that could accrue' to the Chinese sick', the possibilities can be as far-reaching as the imaginations of the businessmen who structure the relationships.
It must be pointed out. However, that doing business in the United States is a complex and potentially risky matter especially for foreigners unfamiliar with U. S. markets, business practices and laws. Inevitably China will suffer some losses and reversals' when doing business in the U. S. , especially in the initial stages. But if China is serious about doing business with the U. S. , the eventual benefits of selling up U. S. affiliates far outweigh1' the risks.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Language and History
May 27th, 2010 by Noah
Modern English has a number of expressions that refer to the Dutch in an unflattering way: Dutch courage, Dutch treat, Dutch comfort. There are others; "to be in Dutch with someone" means to be in trouble with that person; "to talk like a Dutch uncle" means to criticize a younger person or subordinate1 in a very Yank way to that person's face; "to use double Dutch" means to speak either in gibberish like a child imitating a foreigner, or in an unknown language—possibly for devious purposes. Yet in modern times there are few nations with a more enduringly postive image among the citizens of English-speaking nations than Holland. Think of the Dutch? Who has anything against tulips and cheese?
Obviously it hasn't always been that way. When the ancestors of today's Englishmen left the European continent for the isle of Britain in the fifth century AD, the Germanic kinsmen they left behind became, a thousand years later2, the Dutch and Flemish peoples. The closest relative of modern English among the other Germanic tongues is Frisian, a minor language spoken in the northern Dutch province of Frisland. It is important to understand that Dutch (or a dialect very like it) was the lingua franca of northern Europe during the Middle Ages. For 300 years the Hanse, a powerful league of wealthy towns in what are now Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, dominated the sea lanes between Novgorod and London, and the language that they used followed their trade.
England was important for the Hanse as a source of wool, which Dutch and Flemish weavers turned into cloth and exported throughout Europe. English and Duleh sailors mingled in the trading centres of the North Sea or served on ships together. A fair number of Dutchmen settled in eastern England, where the Dutch derived surnames Holland, Fleming, Snyder (a tailor or a sheep-shearer), Webster (a weaver) and Cooper (a barrel-maker) an common, indicating the presence of Dutch immigrants or Dutcl" trades.
Independent and defiantly Protestant by the late ]500s. Hollanders emerged as the greatest commercial power of the 17th century, with a far-flung trading empire and ships on every sea. At home they created the first "middle-class" society of educated- articulate' people interested in international business and the new sciences, and more inclined to spend their money on domestic comfort than on public display. Three times they went to war with the English, their archrivals4 for command of the ocean, and gave as good as they got. Ironically, the century ended with Britain ruled by a Dutch monarch, William [f|. who owed his position to his marriage with an English princess. From this century date many of the negative English expressions involving the Dutch.
As a result of this prolonged contact, English absorbed several hundred Dutch words. Many are connected with water, ships and shipping (skipper, deck. dock, yacht, buoy. scow. dam. dike) or with medieval trade (freight, stockfish, hawker, huckster). The 17th century words coffee and tea are not of Dutch origin, but the Dutch passed them on. Several Dutch loanwords concern bloodshed activities (smuggle, freebooter, waylay, flout, quack, ways to move about (skate, sled, sleigh, sledge, wagon, brake) or drinking—medieval and early modern Netherlanders were notorious consumers of booze (a Dutch word). The words gin hops bung, drunkard, sip, slurp, snarl, snack, frolic, babble' and bully all from Dutch, conjuring up a vision of sailors on a drunken spree in a 17th-century seaport. They must not have admired the English.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Feasibility Reports
May 26th, 2010 by Noah
A feasibility report analyzes the available information to determine whether a project is worth doing and what is the chance of success. You should convince your readers that the project should be carried out and a particular plan is the best for doing it successfully.
When writing the report, you may answer such questions as:
Will the proposal work?
If so, what are the costs involved?
How soon can the costs be recovered?
Is the staff sufficient?
Are there any legal or other special requirements?
These questions help your readers consider the feasibility of the proposal from different angles.
Feasibility reports are usually written for the internal use, but they may also be written by professional consultants investigating a problem. The focus in the report is on the decision: "We must stop the proposal, or we should proceed with the project." Your role is not to persuade the readers to accept the decision, but to make them believe the decision is correct. Therefore, you may present your decision at the beginning of the report. You may organize a feasibility report this way:
• Present your decision.
• Describe the background and problem initiating the proposal.
• Discuss the benefits of the proposal.
• Analyze the problems that may result.
• Calculate the costs associated with the proposal.
• Provide the estimated timetable for implementing the proposal.
Here is an example of a feasibility study in memo format. A pharmaceutical company is losing its experienced salespeople. They seek better positions in other companies. So the company hires a consultant to study the problem and then to propose a solution. After the consultant proposes a solution, a manager of the company evaluates the proposal and writes the feasibility report. See Appendix I for a sample feasibility report.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Ecology
May 25th, 2010 by Noah
The comforts and conveniences of modern life hav< brought with them problems thai did not exist in the days of simpler living. Machinery which operates electricity made by burning coal or petroleum is used to process raw materials taken from the earth. ' Gases from the burning fuel'!
They are sent into the air. Wastes from making raw male into finished products are sent both into the air and into the1 water.
As a result of these and of other pollutants some lakes and rivers have become so contaminated' that the fish in them die. Besides the dangers to health from breathing polluted air. the wasti gases have effects on the upper atmosphere, which may endanger: life on earth.
These threats, as well as the depletion5 of natural resource; (such as fuels, forests, and soil) by carelessly wasteful use, have worried scientists and other thoughtful people.
Such persons are also disturbed about the effects of chemical fertilizers and of poisons which farmers use in order to destroy insects and weeds. 4 Above all they are alarmed at the interference with the natural balance of the environment, and its possible con sequences.
As a result, there have been attempts to alert the public t< these dangers and to control pollution, as well as to reduce thi wasting of natural resources. One way of bringing these problem: to the attention of the public is the yearly celebration of Earth Day which began in 1970. There are also articles and books by environ mentalists and organizations interested in ecology, the study of this
interdependence of organisms and the environment.
Federal laws to protect the environment date back to the late nineteenth century, after (he conservationists exerted'' influence to save the forests and other resources from wasteful use and destruction. Later, a.s modern industry developed, it became necessary to check both the harmful emissions from smokestacks and the sewageb being emptied into lakes and rivers. Control of automobile exhaust began in California because of special problems there. In the Los Angeles region, because of the particular weather conditions of that area, the exhaust from motor vehicles tends to create a dangerous accumulation of gases called smog. Since the late 1950s California law lias on forced the use of antipollution devices on cars, trucks and buses. During the 1960s and 1970s the federal government has ruled increasingly stringent control of emission from motor vehicles.
The United States government's Environment Protection Agency is studying various ways of avoiding danger to the population. For example1, its scientists are making investigations to find
but whether water pipes made of certain materials can have chemical effects on the water they transport, which might induce cancer other diseases. By these and other antipollution studies and regilations, it is hoped that the environment can be prevented from
deteriorating' further.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Society can not do without the media because it values the media's ability to "report. "
May 24th, 2010 by Noah
To its bitter disappointment, however, the media are much more ready to report what is "sensational" at the moment than what is significant in the long term, and are therefore doing a service and a disservice as well. Society has been suffering from this misfortune ever since the rise of the media. Now it's time to propose a change.
For that misfortune the public themselves are to blame, because it is the public who prove to be interested first and most in what is sensational. They are interested in fires that broke out last night in the next neighborhood , with ten people burned to death and hundreds scorched. It would be best if the media were able to televise people jumping off the burning building, which can be truly sensational. With the same curiosity the public are at any moment waiting for the media to bring them news about bank robbery and murder. When there is a war fought on the other side of the globe, people on this side get truly excited. They wait before their family TVs half an hour before the regular war programs. They cheer to every explosion of the gun, every crash of the bomber, and every man that gets vividly killed with a bullet!
In the final analysis, however, it is the media that are to blame because, by providing what is sensational, they are making ill use of the human weaknesses: people are more often appealing to the "sense" than using the "mind," and are more likely to follow their instinctive cruelty than their inner generosity and kindness. Considering that the media are operated by the better minds (i. e. , people who have been better educated, with college degrees), some people may have been expecting that they should do better; to help improve the public by providing what is useful and healthful for example.
But, failing these people, the media gladly provide just what is sensational, pretending that by those bloody news and pictures the public can be thoroughly entertained. They refuse to realize that the public, especially the children, get entertained in the short term (i. e. , for the night) and become increasingly inhuman in the long term. And they shut their eyes to the consequence of such entertainment: people's increased interest in crimes and reduced hatred for them, which combine to contribute to increased, long-term social insecurity. And the media appear uglier when we take this into account; they profit from this harm they do to society.
Therefore I support the change advocated in the above: let the media think and do more about what is significant in the long term, and stop "tending" to highlight what is in the short term sensational. For example, when there is to be reported a murder in the street of the next town and a success story of fighting poverty in a remote village, the media should be more interested in and arrive earlier at the latter spot. They should report the latter in great details and can give a short account of the former, along with no vivid pictures. That is the wisest thing to do because, while a vivid report of the former may get thousands of the public excited in the short term (this evening, i. e. ), the latter is a " trend," for it indicates that poverty can be fought effectively by the poor, and provides an example to be followed by millions of the poor in other villages. And it will be an "event" even to the rich, to whom poverty is never a lesser problem.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
From Ugliness to Beauty
May 22nd, 2010 by Noah
Some people often judge a person from his appearance. But they really shouldn't. Take Fang Fang for instance.
Fang Fang is a beautiful and fashionable girl. One day on the street she met a young man who had a pockmarked face. Fang Fang thought this man was very ugly. A few minutes later, another young man wearing a pair of sunglasses and a black jacket stood in her way. With a knife in his hand, he asked Fang Fang to give her handbag to him. Otherwise he would kill her. Fang Fang was so frightened that she cried.
At the critical moment the man who had a pockmarked face appeared. He fought against the man and defeated him.
Fang Fang was saved. She thanked the young man very much and praised him, "You are really handsome! "
Posted in Others | No Comments »
The Tiger
May 21st, 2010 by Noah
The tiger is a very fierce and bloodthirsty animal. It is very much like the wild cat in appearance. The tiger is chiefly found in India and Asia. It is a big and wild animal with enormous strength. Its forelegs can pull down a bullock or drag a buffalo from a quagmire. It has a wide and terrible mouth with many sharp teeth in it. It also possesses two pairs of fierce claws, which are used to catch its favorite preys such as wild hogs and deer.
Measuring from the tiger's nose to the tip of its tail, it is of nine or ten feet long. Its fur is of an orange color striped with black, and thus it is not easily distinguished from the trunks of the trees in which it haunts. Its paws are soft and padded, so that it can move about with little noise. It prowls about in the nighttime because its eyes are extremely well adapted for this. The tiger can also swim very well.
I like the awe-inspiring tiger and often go to the zoo to watch it on weekends.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Women’s manner of Argentina
May 20th, 2010 by Noah
In Argentina, when women meet work associates or friends, they stretch forward so that their right cheek is touching the other person's right cheek and perhaps kiss the air below the other person's right ear. Women do this when meeting men or women; men do this only when meeting women. Not to perform this greeting ritual is to appear cold, unfriendly, and even angry. In Lebanon typically men kiss the right cheek, the left cheek, and perhaps the right cheek again of other men. In Estonia, however, cheek kissing is not approved of. Estonians expect a firm handshake upon meeting and again when taking leave of someone.
The German culture uses the handshake more frequently than does almost any other culture. In fact, this form of touch is the acceptable and expected form of touch in virtually every situation, whether meeting a stranger or greeting a family member. Not following the custom is viewed negatively.
Posted in Others | No Comments »
Nuclear Power Station
May 19th, 2010 by Noah
Throughout our country's history, we have demanded and used more and more energy. Oil is the major source of energy but it can't last forever. We need to develop other forms of energy.
Some countries are building or have built nuclear power stations. Some people think that nuclear power is our hope for the future. Nuclear energy is much more efficient than petro-energy. And we can achieve reduction in the cost of electricity generation from nuclear power.
But other people think it is too dangerous. Accidents are bound to happen, like the accident in the Soviet Union. There is also the problem of what to do with dangerous radioactive waste materials. Where and how should they be stored?
However, we can't close them all down because of these problems. We need to build nuclear power stations, but they should be made 100% safe. Scientists must develop a safe method for storing or destroying radioactive > materials.
Posted in Others | No Comments »