For Whom the Bell Tolls: confusing points

As our teacher told me, this is a tricky book to handle, but I didn't find it too hard to read. So far, I have finished around 80 pages of this book, and i found some tricky points of my book.

First, the biggest confusing point is that why the people in the cave always mentioned the train? Was it a action that have done by the enemies who wanted to capture all the troops who were trapped by them, or some thing else?

Second, how did those people meet each other(not including Robert Jordan who is the main character), and how could them gather enough people to blow up the bridge?

Third, where did the wife of Palbo come from, or what was her experience?

I mainly can under understand over 80% of the book, but these questions that I have show that i still need to improve my English reading skill.

"Ernest Hemingway" as My Oral Presentation Topic

      I choose "Ernest Hemingway" as my topic, because I am reading his book called "For Whom the Bell Tolls". 

      In addition, I also have done reading his another book called "Old Man and Sea". I found out that he is a fascinating author with lots of classical books, and i am trying to figure out how could he write such good books. 

      Therefore, this research will give me the back ground of him and help to understand the novel more efficiently and logically.

Link:

http://www.britannica.com.ez.sccd.ctc.edu:2048/EBchecked/topic/260825/Ernest-Hemingway

Publish Post

United Nations to appoint space ambassador to act as first contact for aliens visiting Earth

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315336/United-Nations-appoint-space-ambassador-act-contact-aliens-visiting-Earth.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Summary: 

      Indeed, the more planets human find, the more likely human will connect to aliens directly or vicariously, and the astrophysicists will be the first group of human that connect to those aliens. In contrast, if once the aliens come to earth, they will probably turn the earth to their colony, as what American did to native Indians after them found the American continent. Therefore, it might be dangerous to human, if the connect between human and alien is established.

Personal perspectives:

      Aliens once were pretty fascinating to me, due to the curiosity of  their appearance and the way that how they will act. However, my opinion has been changed since I saw the movie which told a story of an invasion that would be done by those aliens. This article announced the same opinion as I have. The outer space is unknown, and human is interested about it. Thus, we try to connect to them. On the other hand, the result of the connection is ambiguous, which means that will probably cause a severe consequence, such as a war, or lead to a positive result.
     I think we should try to discover them first, after all, human is curious about it. However, we'd better not try to connect with them, unless we have a super strong confidence about the weapons that we have. Therefore, even curiosity is the main power to push us forward, we still need to consider our security first.

vocabulary:

1. mechanism: the atomic process that occurs during a chemical reaction

2. coordination: the skillful and effective interaction of movements

3. encounter: a minor short-term fight

For Whom the Bell Tolls----Character Diary

      I, the main character in this book, who was sent by his commander and met lots new people in the back-line of the war, is going to write a diary.

      Up until now, I am kind of exhausted, because of the heavy duty. I was sent by my commander to bombard the bridge. That will be a hard task for me. However, some nice people who shared their story seems to be helpful and nice. The old man is called Anselmo, and the guerrilla is called Polu, they will help me to find enough comrades and finish the task, which helps me to become less stressed, but I should still make the main decision among all the people. 

      Later we detected the situation of the bridge, and found out sentries were not in a super high tension. At that moment, we found out that it is highly possible to devastate the bridge and cut of the route of enemies' reinforcement. I should be confident enough to finish this task perfectly!

How To Get Started With iPhoto '11 With These Essential Tips and Tricks

http://www.maclife.com/article/features/how_get_started_iphoto_11_these_essential_tips_and_tricks

Summary: 

     This article is generally telling us the tips for using "Iphoto" in MAC. It  tips for arranging the following areas: events, faces, albums, places, Face book etc. It also mentioned that "Iphoto" is a really helpful tool to deal with the printing and e-mail sending.

Self perspectives: 

     It seems like "Iphoto" is a pretty convenient tool to deal with the photo manipulation. However, for me, I think not only "Iphoto" but also many other tools can be used to deal with it, like some software that is produced by Microsoft. As technology is developing, these kinds of tool are becoming more and more common and useful for us.

Vocabulary:

1. Backup:  a copy of a file or directory on a separate storage device

2. Premium: having or reflecting superior quality or value

3. External: outward features

For Whom the Bell Tolls

That is a tricky book including complex scenarios and odd words... 

Here are three facts:

1. The story was took place at the back-line(back of the front) of the war in Spain.

2. The main characters in the 1st chapter are Anselmo(an old man), Robert Jordan(a young man) and Pablo(was a guerrilla). And I think Anselmo and Pablo were Spanish, because it was mentioned somewhere in the 1st chapter indirectly.

3. Robert Jordan was sent to bombard the bridge through
which the enemies bring the reinforcement.

New fish species found deep below ocean surface

Link: 
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/15/new-fish-species-found-deep-below-ocean-surface/?hpt=C2

Summary:

      Scientists found out new species in the Pacific Ocean. One of them is called snailfish, and they also find cusk-eels and crustaceans living in the South America. They live in the place which the sun cannot shine though and is surrounded by high water pressure. The research has been done by the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab, the University of Tokyo's Ocean Research Institution and New Zealand's National Institution of Water and Atmospheric research. 

      The finding of the new species promote a re-evaluation of diversity and abundance of life in extreme depth.

Personal Idea:

      It is really surprised  that new species keep being found in our world, because what from what we know right, there are more than a million kinds of lives. Sometimes, look at the little tiny species that are exist in the world, I would be super fascinated, because the world is so wonderful, and full of mysteries. Even, I do hate some of them, because they are looked so disgusting. Anyway, we need to be reverent to the nature, and we need to protect the diversity of species. However, Human has done lots of things that devastate their habitat, and more species are gong to leave us forever.

      So, let's start to protect them, in order to keep the ecosystem balanced.  It is pretty common to perform this habit by ourselves. Don't waste water; don't throw the trash everywhere; don't use disposable materials, etc. 

      Therefore, let's protect the nature, let's create an accord place in which the human beings and other lives and live peacefully!

Vocabulary:

      1. Penetrate: pass into or through

      2. Scavenger: someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

      3. Crustacean: a kind of animal with hard crust

Reading Notes of "The Pearl" 2nd

      I actually finished "The Pearl" last Saturday. As I mentioned before, this novel does have a positive ending, not the tragic ending that I dislike.

      After they find the pearl in the sea, all the neighbors came and gather towards them. Also, the doctor came to them and cured their child. All the things they want to do is to flatter this couple. Kino announced his own dream about his son and the future life with Juana. However, those nice dreams didn't become true. The dealer couldn't receive the big pearl, because it is too big to be valued. At that moment, the couple was shocked and dismal, and Kino accidentally kill a person who wanted to grasp the pearl. They were in a super bad situation, and they need to avoid the whole group of people who wanted the pearl. Therefore, they went to the north city, and get rid of these people. Finally Kino throw the pearl away into the sea, and they return to their village peacefully.

      Kino is a person who doesn't want to avoid the truth, who does confront all the difficulties that he had to face. I admire this kind of people, because as a human, we cannot just escape, instead of facing the problems, otherwise, we cannot achieve anything in our lives. Sometimes, people need to deal with the problems, in order to reach the goal in our lives. I am trying to be this kind of person, and be scrupulous with all things I have to face. All the successful celebrities must have done lots of efforts in their jobs, and people will definitely get the positive result, if we try to deal with the problems.

       As a whole, being scrupulous is one of the qualities that we need to beat all the problems, just like Kino's success.

Obama notes private sector job growth, rips GOP

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/08/obama.economy/index.html

By Alan Silverleib

Main ideas:

      Obama gave positive estimation on the Labor Department's report. He said American people should cooperate together to fight against the economy crisis, and it is going to take a long time to get out of the depression. However, Democrats' biggest rival - Republicans opposed Obama's decision, and pointed out that adding tax cuts on the wealthier people would not help economy.

Personal perspectives:

      In my opinion, every single party stands for its own reason, so do the two parties in U.S. I am not going to judge whether their decision will be correct not, since I haven't got enough knowledge in economy and politics. Among the American people, their opinions tend to Democrats, because Republicans has done lots of things that disappointed American people. However, I think the authentic judge is the history, because history can reveal whether the economy is growing or not. 

      I am actually standing in a moderate position. Human needs to develop their own path to seek the good method of helping the economy growing, and we need cooperate together. I hope American people can figure out a way to deal with the recession.

Vocabulary:

1. Depression:a long-term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low levels of trade and investment

2. Democrat: a member of the Democratic Party

3. Republican: relating to or belonging to the Republican Party

4. rally: conference

Reading Notes of "The Pearl"

      A week before, I started reading a novel called "The Pearl". The beginning was taken place at a poor and shabby house. A couple lived in there. The men is called Kino, and his wife is called Juana. They had a baby whose name was Coyotito. It was a sunny morning, and the couple just got up. While Juana was making breakfast, the evil scorpion came. The scorpion stung their baby, and they were in a really big shock. Since the toxic substance, they needed to console a doctor. However, they don't have enough money...

      This story concentrates on the poor, who engaged in the "Pearl" issue. At the very beginning of the story, the novel describes in circumstance, including the name of city (Gulf), and their shabby house etc. I actually never experience the life in a shabby house, but I did see the sea, that was a gorgeous experience. Also, the author described Juana's appearance, which was tense and shock, this creates a horrible atmosphere. I think the event took place in summer, since the couple didn't dress up very thick.
      I hope this novel will have a positive ending.

(CNN)-Nintendo 3DS: Is it 3-D gaming's savior?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/10/01/nintendo.3ds.steinberg/index.html
By Scott Steinberg

 

Main ideas:

      Nintendo just announced that 3DS would come out on Japanese market with multiple new figures. Unlike other 3D electronic products, 3ND doesn't require cumbersome stereoscopic glasses to create 3D vision. Also, popular games will be available on this, and costumers don't have to pay for hardware upgrading stuff. More technique devices will be added on it, including a digital camera and WI-FI. All of these new figures showed that 3DS has already become one of the biggest competitors against other electronic products from different companies.

Personal perspectives:

       I do like electronic products, that is the main reason why I picked this. However, personally I prefer the electronic products with high visual qualities, especially the products from SONY. 

       If a company wants to win the "battle" in the market, they need to dominate themselves by putting much effort into the research of brand new products. They also need to public and spread the advantages of products, in order to win the major market.

      Nintendo did lots of efforts on the things that I mentioned above. They have won the trust and good reputation among the most American customers.

      However, for the students like us, these electronic products can just give us recreations. We'd better not spend too much time on these things, otherwise, we will be buried into a tiny world, which is not good for our future life.

      That is the point that I want to point out.


Vocabulary:
      1. Debut: the act of beginning something new.
      2. Gadget: small mechanical stuff
      3. Stereoscopic: a adjective to describe three-dimensional feelings
      4. Bandwagon: a popular trend that attracts growing support
      5. Versatility: the ability to own many skills

Self Introduction

      Hi! This is Bert Zhu. My original name is Chengjie Zhu, which is so hard for American people to pronounce. I'm a Chinese guy. I am living in a core family, which contains my dad, mum and me~!

      My home town is Nanjing, and I was studying at a private high school. My favorite subjects are Physics and Geography(maybe~), and I hate ancient Chinese classes, which is so difficult to read. Therefore, I chose myself as a science major. I have taken English for almost nine years, includes exchange student program that I engaged in last year in Nebraska. That gives me a really good basic language speaking skill and the main habits that Americans have. Therefore, I can over here for further study, and I consider US as the most developed country in the world! I really want to achieve the best version of myself, and want to be in the higher level of life, when I am older.

       Actually, I seldom evaluate myself, but being objective, I have heard that I am a really kind, melancholy, not confident, hard-working, handsome~~~and independent person. Since I am really near to eighteen years old, I still conceive myself as a little boy, because I still have lots of things to learn, to experience, to comprehend. I wish I could be that kind of person who is mature, sophisticated.

      I am interested in being a dentist or any kinds of engineer in Physics area. Though out the whole process of having a occupation, I will use English not only in daily conversation and writing, but also in more profound technique region.

    
      Since we are coming there to learn English, listening and reading news will be in the regular part of our lives. Personally, I really don't like listening to news that much, but more study, I would pick recreational news, personal news. Sometimes, I will also listen to the political one, that will help me to build up my vocabulary faster. For getting these news, I prefer CNN NEWS, it also contains some videos the that website.

      I'm an easy-going person, and I really welcome some nice people to make friends with me~~!