Journal #16: Confucius Quote

Chinese culture in general and Confucianism in details has a great influence to Vietnamese culture. Therefore, Confucius' principles have become the foundation of Vietnam's ethics and customs. Of all his well-known words, my favorite quote is "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

This quote reminds me of the story of the Rabbit and the Turtle I was told a long time ago, as well as myself. Since I came to America, what makes me worried the most is my speaking skill. I've been here for more than five months yet I cannot communicate with native speakers confidently. I always compared myself with others and realized everybody is making progress while I'm still stay the same. This really made me concerned and self-doubting. I doubted myself if I will be able to catch up with my classmates in college in the future. This irritating state lasted until I read this quote, then I relate it to the fairy tale I was told during childhood. I'm like the turtle, making very slow progress. But little by little, step by step, the turtle will finish his route. It will take me a long time, but as long as I do my best, I believe I'll be able to speak English fluently and not freezing every time communicating with Americans.

Journal #15: Analyzing an argument

Ehrlich, A. (2010, April 14). Shades of green: green dog food. Daily Titan. Retrieved April 20, 2010 from http://www.dailytitan.com/2010/04/14/shades-of-green-green-dog-food/

In this article, Erhlich states the reason why we should feed our dogs with “greener” dog food (par.3). It’s also a claim of cause and the idea that we should let our pets eat greener pet food is a claim of cause and also a claim of policy. In paragraph 11, she lists some features of green pet food which is a claim of value. The statistics she uses in the article (claim of cause) is appealing to both reason and emotion. To reach the conclusion, she uses a statistics of dogs dying from acute renal failure. In my opinion, this is a strong argument article because the writer uses different approaches to make the article appealing to the readers. She uses a lot of statistics and evidence that make her argument a lot stronger than those of the opposite viewers.

#14: Anticipating parent's objection

Dear Mom and Dad,

Up to now it's been 5 months since I left Vietnam. It seems like time goes by really fast here. For the past months, I made you worried a lot because everything here is completely strange to me, from the culture, life style to the people. I know that in Vietnam, I just needed to concentrate on studying, and left the rest to you. I admit that I'm not an active and outgoing person and it took me a long time to get used to the way of life here, but please believe in me.

Since I came here, I have experienced many things, both good and bad. I also learned a lot, sometimes it's bitter but it's all good for me now and then. I started to do things on my own and forgot the habit of relying on you. I'm already an adult and I'm responsible for what I say and do.

After all, everything works smoothly now. I know what I will study, I settle myself without asking for monthly allowance, I find life is enjoyable here if I do my best. I promise that I won't make you disappointed. Please take care of yourself. Hopefully, I'll see you during summer.

Quynh

#13: Summarize/Paraphrase Practise

What we experienced lately is not a joke. According to DiMassa (2010), we have observed more and more earthquakes this year, as of 70 were reported until April (par. 2). However, these unfortunate events are unable to be explained completely, due to its fluctuating frequency (par. 3). It is predicted that more and more earthquake will happen. DiMassa mentions that more than 1000 aftershocks were reported, of which 12 is higher than 5.0 (par. 8). She also points out some major earthquakes including the Mexicali, the Landers,the Whittier Narrows, and the Northridge earthquake - which caused the most serious damage (par. 10). It is believed that since the beginning of the last decade, earthquake frequency has been pretty random (par. 11). Although scientists state that more destructive earthquake will not happen, what happened recently in Haiti and Chile make people concerned about the threat (par. 17). For this year, it is claimed that a large quake will result in several "seismic activity" (par. 22). Let's hope that no serious earthquake will happen within the end of this year.

Link: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/12/local/la-me-quake13-2010apr13


DiMassa, Cara. (2010, April 12). More moving and shaking, but why? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 14 , 2010, from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/12/local/la-me-quake13-2010apr13