Article: You May Scoff
Summary:
Overeating and under-exercising are the main reasons for us to gain weight. But evidence shows that other factors also contribute to our obesity. In this article, it suggests six ways for us to escape from getting fat.
Article: Kidnapped
Summary: In 2011, Kevin and his mother Gerfa returned to Philippine from the United States where they now living in. They were kidnapped during bad time by local terrorist organization, Abu Sayyaf. The kidnapper ask $100 million for ransom from Kevin’s father Heiko who was a maintenance man in US. Heiko was panicked and got help from FBI. During the kidnapping, Kevin and his mother was sick due to fatigues and foods. They march constantly to change the site. One day, Gerfa was informed to leave, the kidnapper said part of the ransom had been paid. After release from the kidnapper, Gerfa refuse to leave Philippine. She want her son to be released too. Kevin had been a hostage almost five months since he was kidnapped, one day there were only one guard, and he made a good use of chance to escape from those theorists. He did it, and was back to reunite with his family. They celebrate Christmas and never forget this dangerous experience.
Reflection: This one is really thrilling, it remind me that accident can be happened in any place and any time. We have to be clever in making decision when we under a dangerous situation. And I also thought about how I would do if I were Kevin. I would make the same decision as him too. Because there were half chance that he maybe killed during the kidnap, so why not bet that another chance to run to the free world. I am so glad that in the end it was a happy ending. I believed that Kevin and his mom will never forget this terrifying experience.
Vocabulary
Article: In the driver’s seat
Summary: Manal al-Sharif a female from Saudi Arabia recalled her childhood. When she was young, she was taught that “women are the seductive fruit to men”, in Saudi extremists women are “awra”, which means a sinful thing. During that time, women cannot be called by name, no sports activities allowed, no driving, what’s more, they even did not have photo on their ID card, except for the passport. Manal al-Sharif felt things should not worked in this way after she got an access to internet. She began to realize how small the box she was living in the past was. She was confused about which side was right because she was deeply affected by the extremism she was taught in her past 20 year’s life. One day, after work she couldn’t find a ride home and was almost got kidnapped. Then she decide to start a campaign calling on women to come out and drive in Saudi Arabia. She was arrested for nine days but many people was inspired by her. Although the social openness for women is still not much, but Manal al-Sharif believes that if keeping try hard, eventually flowers will open.
Reflection: Now, I feel it is lucky to live in Taiwan. Although we also learned traditional Confucius’s theory like South Korea, Japan, and China. But in comparison, female in Taiwan have more right than those countries. For example, though highly developed in South Korea and Japan, female in these countries still in a inferior place. There is still a very obvious patriarchy society. Many foreigners admire Taiwanese male for their tenderness and willingness on doing house chore with wife. Beside, most people in China, especially males still believe that women should listen to them, it is women’s duty to cook, do the chore. Taiwan is only a small country but I am really glad and proud to live here, because everybody was treated the same no matter what gender you are.
Vocabulary
Article: Japan’s Tsunami—One mother’s grief
Summary: On March 11, 2011 Naomi did her daily chore like usual, she was busy and did not take a careful look of her eldest daughter, Koharu, who were going to school then. Not for long, the terrible earthquake happened, Naomi’s family was all safe under the earthquake, and she thought Koharu should be OK in school. But the second day when she drove to the school she figured out it was all ruined. All the students were died. She was desperate but she decide that she had to find the body. After five month Koharu still couldn’t find her daughter’s body. Then one day she got a message from police. They found a decomposed torso. Although heard to believe, but Koharu recognized it, it was her daughter. Finally she can gave her a funeral and let her die in peace. After this catastrophe, Koharu still go to sort out the disaster site. In this way to help those who suffered as her daughter.
Reflection: 311 Tsunami in Fukushima is the most catastrophic accident I heard so far. I still remember this tragedy vividly. Two and a half years ago I was a freshman in TKU, I lived in dorm. In the afternoon, school broadcasted a unusual announcement, it was something like “student should stay at high land or go back home as soon as possible” besides, the class in the afternoon were all cancelled. Then, from the news, I finally realized something big happened. The terrific earthquake happed in Japan. And this earthquake may also cause tsunami to affect Taiwan. I am from Hualien, earthquake happen everyday, so I am used to it. But this is really hard to believe. So many people died, many people went out and thus separate from family forever. The power of natural disaster is really unimaginable. We never know what will happen in next second. Although in the article, it did not mention about the explosion of Fukushima nuclear plant, I still feel sad about it. According to the official information many Japanese did not died of earthquake but the nuclear meltdown, thousands of local people were under the risk of getting cancer. I thought the Japanese have the duty to the all the responsibilities of this calamity. The only things I felt glad is that it showed Taiwanese’s kindness to the world. Although Taiwan is only a little country, many ignore our voice due to political reason, but our benevolence did not diminish, we donate 10billion to Japan. I hope those who suffered in this catastrophe can have the courage to stand up again. People should not challenge with nature.
Vocabulary
Article: GERM-PROOF YOUR KITCHEN
--how to prevent foodborne illness from spoiling your fun
Summary: Anne and her husband feel ill after eating the beetroot. Later, they figured out it was food poisoning. Sometimes food poisoning are difficult to track, every step can be a poisoning point. The hygiene of kitchen is an important part, it can turn an original clean food into a poisoning food. Wash our hand before dealing with cuisine is a must do process. Beside use different instrument (knife bowl) to make food. Wash our knives and utensils between using them on different dishes. Without paying attention our utensils we may recontaminate our food. Moreover the temperature during cooking is also an important step. In the end, Anne said she will be careful about the food process, she do not want to get ill again.
Reflection: This article is more about the importance of food process. But it remind me of the recent food safety in Taiwan. Taiwan have been famous for it’s delicious snack, many foreigner come to Taiwan in order to taste a bite. But more and more scandal of Taiwan’s food safety appear. I really shame of those unconscionable company, they not only lie to the customer but also insult the reputation of Taiwan. Sometimes when I stay home alone, I will cook casually, without paying much attention about using different utensils, now I realize the danger of the cooking process, I will try not to be so lazy. After all, I do not want to diarrhoea by this kind of carelessness.
Vocabulary
Article: How not to get hacked
Summary:
Everything we do that requires the internet is at risk of being hacked. Facebook, e-mail, online shopping etc are included. In the article, the author introduced five way to prevent us from being hacked.
Article: The mess at the top of the world
Summary:
In the beginning, when the author was climbing the Mt.Everest, he figured out something was wrong compared to several years ago. During the trudge, instead of sawing the beauty of snow mountain, he and his company Panuru saw many garages, most of them were oxygen can, climbing equipments, and also corpses. In 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to reach the summit of the world and only 6 people reached the top, but in 2012 more than 500 mobbed the summit. Some businessman even treats this as a business. The importance of reaching the summit of Mt.Everest has been changed now.
Reflections:
This is really a sad story to me, as the technology improved daily, people did not stop to look back how serious our mother land “Earth” has become. Under the materialism, a lot of people are money supremacist; they only care about how to keep making more money. Just as in the story, more people go to climbMt. Everest for their vanity, and hurt the mountain deeply. I just watched a famous movie yesterday, “Beyond Beauty” (看見台灣). Before I watched it, I thought it was a documentary to describe how beautiful Taiwan is, but beside the beauty, the director also showed how ghastly this land became, I was really shocked, I was shamed of ourselves to treat this beautiful land in such a cruel way. This is a good movie to remind us what we have done. Maybe we can not do much to change the environment, but there are still some easy way to contribute, for example, turn off the light when we don’t need it, do recycle correctly, control the temperature of air-conditioner, the most important, do not buy the thing that was produced in a polluted process.
Article Title: Game or Lame?
Summary:
This article is about two sports fans discuss the disadvantages and advantages of Basketball.
First person (cons): He thought baseball is not a sport, instead baseball is the filibuster of the athletic word. He said that baseball is so physically undemanding, the most rigorous activity baseball do is the slow jog. He compare baseball with football, and said that it is nearly impossible to get injured inside the field, while football player usually get hurt.
Second person (pros): He believes that baseball is the greatest sport and national pastime in the US. He said that USA is an ambling nation, baseball is timeless, there are no timepieces in baseball rule. Baseball is also a deliberate which need the player to think carefully, many strategies involved in. He think that football is a violent game.
Article Title: Should You Be a Human Guinea Pig?
http://www.readersdigest.com.au/should-you-be-human-guinea-pig
Summary: Every medicine, vaccination or injection we received, need human test before it is allowed to appear in medical use. There are three case of medical volunteer. One is motivated by the chance of free medical treatment. Another is to earn some money by merely lying around. The other is special, they just want to help medical science. There are four phases of Clinical trials. First, to see if it is save or not, and know the highest dose they can use. Second, to see if the volunteer have the condition the drug developed to treat. Third, test the drug on several thousand people. Final stage, collects safety information. Usually, under strict government regulations, a drug test takes seven to fifteen years for experiment.
Reflections: Actually I was in a paradox condition after reading this article. First, it mentions about that some people go for the clinical test for the money. I do not agree with this, I think the government should forbid it. It’s a realistic world, money is important, but we should not jeopardize our life. There are many unexpectancies. But on the other side, if there are no human tests, how can we know if the new medicine is effective. So in my opinion, I prefer the truly volunteer who did it for no reason. And also the patient who are under a bad condition, he/she may not be able to live without new medical breakthrough.
Vocabulary:
Article Title: Love Rat
Summary: The couple (Alexandra and Colin) found a weak baby rat in an alleyway and decided to take it home. They named it “Mr T”, they took care of it very carefully to prevent it from dying. The couple decided to let it go when it recover, but Mr T began to make itself at home. The couple doubted if this was suitable for a wild rat to live with them, but “Mr T” was too cute to let go. They built it a house and feed it with nice meal, their life became more colorful with “Mr T’s” company, they got a parenthood feeling. One day they realized “Mr T” may not stayed with them for a long time because normally a captive rat will die by age of three. When “Mr T” turned two, its rapid paced slowed to a jog, every step become slowly. Then, “Mr T” developed a tumor and also had a spinal problem. Not for long, “Mr T” died in Colin’s hands. A few year later the couple became parents and named their son “Louis T” to remember those happy day with “Mr T”.
Reflection: When I read this, I recalled my first dog who stayed with my family for 15 years. She appeared in my home since I was 2 years old. She died when I was 18. I can understand the feeling the author had. Luby (my dog) was like a little sister to me, she was so cute and considerate, when I felt down or unhappy she would noticed, and came to my side, cuddle with me. She gave me an unforgettable memory. In the first 3 months after she died, I really felt lonely. Sometimes I will think about the meaning of family member. I believe that it does not have to be a human, as long as we can find comfort in that living being, it can be defined as “family member”.
Vocabulary
Article Title: Serendipity
Summary:
In the first, the article says that many great inventions or discoveries are serendipities, such as “gravity”(Newton sat under an apple tree). Sometimes serendipity came in a moment of frustration. For example, Fleming contaminated his experiment so he discovered “penicillin”. People meet serendipity in daily lives, people who can accept serendipity with open heart are tend to encounter serendipitous things. Serendipity can set people free and creative. Many scientific discoveries depend on serendipity. Also, serendipitous discoveries happened when people are out of their usual environments.
Reflection:
I really like this article, Serendipity is both weird and awesome, you never know what will happen in next second. When I was reading this article, I felt that some inventor were so lucky, I wish that I could also invented something during a fail experiment, haha. It is good to go out of our usual environment and go to a new place sometimes, a new environment may motivate our imagination. So, I decide not to stay in dorm too much, if I have free time I will go out to enjoy new things. Maybe serendipity will come to me, and I can invent or figure out an interesting idea.
Hello! I'm Joanne. In this blog there are things I want to do in this semester, which is sharing some methods of improving my English skills. I am going to read two or three stories from "Reader's Digest" per week. I will write some reflections down, and also phrases, words which I don't know from the stories. If the stories I read get a web version, I will also put it in my blog in case you are interested.
Schedule
I will read at least two articles a week from "Reader's Digest". I will write my reflections and maybe some important ideas from the article. After reading I will check the words and phrases I do not understand and also put it in the blog.
Reasons
