With the improvement of people’s living
standards, many people can afford a holiday by leaving their living place and
visiting those tourist attractions. But people choose different way so
travelling according to their own interests. Some people like travelling with
others, while others prefer travelling alone.

Many people like joining package tour, because
during the trip they don’t have to worry about finding the hotel to live in,
the place for meals, as well as the transportation. The guide will take care of
everything. Compared with package tour, travelling alone, will leave someone a
lot of inconvenience, such as getting accommodation for the night, buy the
return tickets. No need to waste the golden time to find the place for a new
city or country. It is freer for worry, but there are many disadvantages as
well, such as some of tours guides will take you to the factories or stores and
force you to buy certain produces you are unwilling to do it. Some of tour
groups get up early to catch the buses or trains, due to which are cheaper. One
thing I cannot accept the group leader has very bad attitude with some old man
and women guests, He/ She is lost patient to get on the bus or slow walk,
repeat and repeat, due to bad memories for them. Merely hearing and seeing
only.

In spite of these drawbacks, travelling alone
has the advantage that joining the package tour cannot enjoy. You are your
boss. You decide whether you like to climb up a mountain or to be driven up in
cable cars, and where to spend your time to linger a little longer to enjoy
yourself thoroughly. At the ten years ago, Tiger and I went to Europe for two
weeks by ourselves, before we left, we did the schedule carefully, maybe we can
speak well English, that may us more easy if we have the problems, we were
totally enjoy our time, we went to more than ten cities by bus, train or the
plane.

In a word, by travelling alone, people can
enjoy great freedom. In addition, it is much convenient and not to tired than
the package tour. That’s why as our age, not too old yet, I personally prefer travelling
alone.

I’ve learned English with TED for
sometimes. I find that it is not just about English Speaking. It involves stepping
out of your thinking frame to enable you to look at things from a different
aspect—or precisely, the ideas worthy of spreading.

The most frequently mentioned phrase I
heard recently in TED is a phenomenon called “post-traumatic” growth. In
general speaking, the traumatic events in life, if they couldn’t break you, can
result in growth and transformations.

And all of those speakers who mentioned
post-traumatic growth in their speech have not only gone through the worst
times of their lives, but they’d learned to embrace their personal trauma and
hardships during this process.

They’ve finally taught by life to tackle
tough challenges with more determination, more optimism and more creativity.
And by itself alone that is enough to lead them to the great success, both in
career and in life.

Shane Koyczan, who had been abandoned by his parents and bullied throughout his
school time, has grown up to be a success poet who made the world known
animation: To this day;

Jane Mcgonigal once spent three whole months
in bed, tortured by constant, splitting headaches, seriously considering
suicide. In the end, she came up with a computer game to save herself from
suffering, and helped many people just like her.

Regina Hartley, the fourth child of five
raised by a single mother in a rough neighborhood and with a father who had
serious mental disease, managed to become a top HR executive.

I could go on and on.

They all hit the bottom of life, somehow,
they bit the bullet and managed to climb up to the top of the mountains.

I’m not saying traumatic event is not scaring,
and it doesn’t hurt. It certainly does. I’m not saying that it won’t lead to
depression and mentally breakdown. It will.

But things just happened. We have to
think positively. Life is nothing but a balancing act. The less you have it to
do with the pains, the more it will do with the beauty.

Year 2018 could be one of the worst
years in my whole life. And also, in this year I met a better version of
myself.

The willpower actually works like a
muscle. It gets stronger the more you exercise it. And the hardships of life
drive you into the corner and force you to keep trying. It’s like pushing you
into a compulsory military camp where workout has become a daily must.

So don’t be scared, if the downhill of
your life has become bottomless cliff. Take it as a long-distance trek, where
you have the chance to develop the muscle and grit required to become
successful.

We will have a one day Disney trip this weekend for the company's travel.  I don't want to the Disney because it's crowed and strict rules.  But I considered that my son want to go there and signed up for the trip.       I learned that it's not easy to have the trip and a plan is necessary.  Which hot game will be participate in, how to get a snap pass, how to line up,  travel route, and how to get a lunch and dinner, because there was so many people waitting in the line for each game.  I don' t understand why they don't allow us to bring some food and the food in the Disney is so expensive.         The tickets and food are expensive for me ,  so I must take a good preparation for the trip.  I bring a bottle of water and a cup which is allowed, many little package of cookies,  a ham sausage and some small bread.  And I hidden some food in the corner of my bag in order to not be found and confiscated.  That's a terrible feeling that I just like a migrants. I just want to save some money. That's a important reason I don't like to the Disney trip.         I also take a SLR camera, batters, umbrella, chothes and other things in my bag which made my bag heavy. I doubt if I can't arrive most games with a heavy bag and my 6 years old son. But I think the heavy bag is needed for the trip.  I printed map with some hot game , canteen, plays location and schedule.         Now, I am ready. Hope it will be a happy trip.              

Now I am not talking about the fitness private
tutoring, here I am going to tell about student’s tutoring.

Many parents are generally prone to the belief
that private tutoring can help their kids with different subject by raising
their academic scores and improving their learning skills. Children have to
visit their teacher in their spare time, usually at weekends. But in fact,
private tutoring does not always work.

The disadvantages of private tutoring are quite
obvious. First, some private tutors are college students, who have no teaching
experience. They are not qualified for teaching children good learning methods.
The only thing they can do is to help children finish homework. Beside, private
tutoring prevents children from learning actively. They might be less attentive
in the class, because with extra help from private tutor, children don’t worry
about the loss in the class. The most serious disadvantage is that private
tutoring not only lays a heavy burden on the family finance, but also takes up
too much spare time of school children.

Parents are not wrong to put an emphasis on
their children’s education, but sometimes they think little about the
effectiveness of private tutoring. Although good private tutors do help children
with their lessons, too much dependence on private tutoring should be avoided
and controlled.

I did not sent my kid to private tutoring that many,
only when she faced the entrance exam, Chinese subject need to be improved. What
I am trying to say is basic on the kid needs, Study method and study interests are
most important for the students, let them have self – awareness, to be parents
to make a good example for them,

General speaking, private tutoring is not the
way for raising students academic scores.

A bold attempt is half sucess 勇敢的尝试是成功的一半One today is worth two tomorrows 一个今天胜似两个明天Actions speak louder than words 行动比语言更响亮Good company on the road is the shortest cut. 行路有良伴就是捷径Two heads are better than one 三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮Great hopes make great man. 伟大的理想造就伟大的人All things are difficult before they are easy. 凡事先难后易I will greet this day with love in my heart. 我要用全身心的爱来迎接今天Do what you say, say what you do. 做你说过的，说你能做的I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards. 我走得很慢，但我从来不会倒退Dream is what makes you happy, even when you are just trying. 梦想就是一种让你感到坚持就是幸福的东西When you feel like give up, remember when you held on so long in the first place, 每当你想要放弃的时候，就想想是为了什么才一路坚持到现在I a person loses the past, he can’t find the future. 如果一个人丢掉了过去，他就无法找到未来

Today is Qixi, the Chinese Valentine’s Day. Some girls and ladies received flowers, something like the Western way. Some of them went out for a dinner or a movie with their boys. The romance is built on the mutual understanding and a little surprise brings happiness. It is still hot and tomorrow is the Begging of Autumn. But the hot wave does not prevent people’s passion from expressing to beloved ones. This festival has its legenary story. Traditional festivals can remind us of customs and inheritance of history. It is the people’s wealth. Here I wish all got happiness with his or her beloved one.

In life, have you ever made the mind of the pursuit for what you really want?Have you seriously thought about what exactly do you want to be?And then, have you ever made the decision for moving further?And have you made actions to realise what you dream of?These are common questions every one meets while most of us just do not take them seriously. As we are stuck in troubles, mostly we may complain a lot and take little time to think over what the problme is. Many of us struggle to live and know almost nothing about the existence of being in this world.Let’s think about how much time do we still have. In fact, we do waste some time and do not make some moves. Chances do not come out if we do not grab the rope as the access to the potential victory.Let it be. But we should not forget the history, we still need the memory of lessons we were taught before. Time is equal to everyone. We develop to be what we choose to be.Ask yourself that what you really want to do.

I have no idea how many times I have started reading the Thorn Birds. But then every time I stopped reading, not even half way through the book, for various reasons.

The renowned book is written by Colleen Mccullough (1937~2015). According to Wikipedia, “the novel is the best selling book in Australian history, and has sold over 33 million copies worldwide.” The book revolves around the love story between Meggie Cleary, a red haired Australian girl and Ralph de Bricassart, a priest, as well as about the struggle for life of the Cleary family, in early 20th century.

There’re not a lot of English books I had read. The Thorn Birds is definitely one. The moment I started reading I was deeply attracted to it. To give up reading such a lovely classic is a sin, I’d say. Well I did, and the reason for that is that I loved it too much so I had to stop. I know it sounds confusing. Here’s why.

The first time I read it, I found it fascinating, I kept on reading and neglected all those new words that were strange to me in the context. I was so eager to know the development of the story and what happened next that I never bothered to look up the new words in a dictionary. Then after finishing the first chapter, I stopped. I realized that the way I was reading was so wrong. How could I treat this classic in such a rough way? The use of the words, the adjectives, the thoughts… the author must have pondered again and again before finalizing them, and somehow I just searched for the main story line, rather than caring a little about the beautiful descriptions and the exploration into the characters’ inner selves. “No I can’t let such a precious book go waste like that. “ I told myself. So I forced myself to stop the reading, for the 1st time. I was going to re-start to read it again, officially, by understanding each every word the author had written, I decided.

Next, I became fully occupied by my work and other matters in life. When I opened the book again, it was several months later. Good thing that I had the electronic version of the book installed in my cellphone so I could carry it with me and use the fragmentary time (碎片时间) to read whenever I had time. Another benefit of having the book stored in a cellphone is that looking a word up in an electronic dictionary also stored in my cellphone was very a very convenient way to learn. This time, I not only looked each new word up, I also highlighted them in the text. How badly I hoped to comprehend every word in this book.

Unfortunately I became too busy with my work again and had no choice but to put aside the book. Frustrating and tedious work overwhelmed me almost every day. No time and no mood for leisure. and it wasn’t the best time to read it. Didn’t want to spoil the book. So when I open it up again, it was another couple months later. And then I became so upset about myself. Because I found I’ve lost the memory about almost all the words that I had looked up in the dictionary and highlighted in the text. Without hesitation, I started the reading afresh. Yes, from page one, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out a single word. This is the third time I started reading the same book.

So I kept reading. And then 2018 had come to an end. For the first time in my life, I set a few goals for myself to achieve in 2019. One of them is to pick up my translation skills again and hopefully I can find another weekend part-time job as a translator, despite my busy full-time job. Then I had an idea. Why not try translate this book while I read it? So I can enjoy reading the story and at the same time practicing my translation skills. Once decided, I bought a Chinese version of the book online, and used it as a textbook to correct my own translation. I didn’t want to start half way, I started the book all over again, for the fourth time.

God…

This is supposed to be an easy and fun thing to do. Just pick a book, start reading, finish it, and maybe right a reflection (读后感), that’s it. But I’m making this whole thing so complicated…

Right now I’ve restarted for the 4th time, and I’m holding on to it. Hopefully there won’t have to be a 5th time… O well, here comes another item on my To Do List in 2019: finish reading the Thorn Birds.

There seems no end of raining. And almost everyday, it keeps raining, raining and raining. Though it makes me incovenient for the outdoors workout, I sense it fine in the night that I can read quietly. Besides, I can do some push-ups and sit-ups in the bedroom. I call it the creation of circumstances so that I fine another way to continue.We can hardly do anything but complaining the bad weather. Anyway we still have to work and live. The Spring Festival ended and most guys have already gone back to work again. No matter how busy I am, I have made the decision that I need to change. Not only the quality of life but also the pursuit of life, I think I have to step out and move further. We all want to better ourselves.The drowsy sound of raindrops makes me comfortable. I sleep well when it rains in the night. Every time it is.

This is
Saturday, the final day of this week. Whatever it may be also the second last day,
based on our own calculating habit in China.

A question does
not stop running around my brain, which is how to get a score like 7 or 8 of
IELTS. Normally it shall not be difficult for me, as I think I’m a linguistic expert
of the company where I’m working. My job is to handle the communication problems with
foreign customs and local authority such as in africa, such as writing them by mails, telephoning them in case of
emergency, as well as preparing bid document and contract agreement etc. in English
or French.

To pass
IELTS exam, is like a preparation to a “war” or project initiating. Firstly,
the most important thing or the priority is to choose an appropriate strategy.

An exam is
an exam, not such big or meaning like a war or a project, but equally complex
as them. A certain amount of vocabulary for the exam covers generally 6000 core
words with the other about 10 000 ~ 20 000 words of so-called commonsense.

Four different
sections of the exam are listening, reading, writing and speaking. Listening is
the most worrying for me, which needs non-stop practicing of long term, even
though that is what I’m working on. Reading and writing is relatively familiar,
because this is part of my job, although my job just covers a tiny range of
civil engineering. Speaking could be a real challenge, because of nearly no
chance, no circumstance of speaking while living and working in Shanghai.

An
appropriate strategy shall help me do the preparation covering all the above mentioned
for a limited period like one more month. Secondly, that is to practice what i plan as per the strategy chosen. So all of the things after the determination of the strategy is practicing, practicing, practicing for the “war” in order to access into the war relaxingly and leisurely, and to get a score, a satisfying score, the final target .