Understanding

   I’m a person usually with no defined goals, however, the situation changes when on the basketball court. When playing basketball games, I know clearly what my heart wants, which is first performing successfully what Mr. Li expects us to do and second winning the game. I believe these things are not just my wants, rather, the whole team would feel the same way and understand me. But, these are just the things that I hope for to happen. In reality, we always do badly for the first and second periods because we’re not getting used to the places where the games take place, which are new for us. Also, our brains are not warmed up even though our bodies are, so we couldn’t think carefully on courts, thus doing lots of rush actions. Because of our nervousness, uncertainty, unsureness, the opponent teams can always get many points since we’re not fully ready as they are. As for result, we’re always getting way behind the opponent teams in the third period, and I don’t like the feeling of chasing after the other teams because we’re under such great pressure and our physical strength definitely goes down, so we’re playing would only be even worse, not to mention we’re amateurs.

     Today, we have a game against Pen-Shi High School, and I hope that we can learn from past experiences. As soon as we get to the court, everyone needs to be ready to play, and each person’s brain should be able to think clearly. This season, our trainings move to a different direction, which is more of physical training. Mr. Li has devoted so much effort into the team, and we should show the other school what we got to let the coach feel satisfied.

Author’s Due

   I think the quotation above means that let the authors write without the pressure of their due, which is time, so that they can write out things of better quality. An essay written today would definitely be different if it was written 50 or 100 years ago because circumstances, situations, and views on the world have changed. One of the most significant events that happened throughout the human history is the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution replaces manual power with machines, causes emergence of factories, advances urbanization, etc. During the first phases of the Industrial Revolution, the writings would be about the flying economy, the enriching factory owners. As time goes by, the writings would concern more about the negative effects it causes, which are pollution and child labors. People’s value change after such a long time, thus they focus on different aspects of the events.

    Similarly, an essay written today would be different about 50 or 100 years in the future. Nowadays, lots of things that people imagine might all come true in the future, such as having robots to work for us, contacting with aliens, living on other planets, going to schools with only E-books, etc. These aren’t just merely far reaching dreams that humans have. Rather, these are events that might take place in the future. Today, people’s writings might full of guesses and wonders. However, the writings would be declaring what are actually seen, which are the facts, in the future.

Careful Consideration

  In my interpretation, I would explain the quotation as if people think too much, too carefully, then they would be unwilling to change because they’re afraid. Change is sometimes good, but sometimes it’s also bad. Change is good when a better outcome is achieved. I remembered I used to be 65 kilograms, which was too fat, so I decided to change. During summer, I went to the fitness center every day and spent the whole morning there doing as many exercise as I could. After the two months harsh training, I lost 10 kilograms, and I was excited about it. This was a sign of good change because my body gets healthier.  

   However, there are times when change should be avoided. I remembered one time I went shopping that I bought more than I expected. On that day, I was going to buy one pair of shoes only, but I bought three pairs of shoes in the end because I kept changing my mind when seeing all those stylish shoes. I think I should persist on what I want rather than changing mind since my wallet became empty after I got the three new shoes.

   This quotation could be used in revising written work. Every time when people read an essay, they will feel differently, thus there would always be changes need to be done. Nonetheless, I think it’s not really necessary to change every single time. There are things better be left alone so that the essay can still have some sense of originality.

Time and Knowledge

    I think he meant that the writer tells or informs the readers about what he’s trying to say in the shortest time. Also, people gain knowledge from reading books, thus the writer is able to give his reader the most knowledge. I agree with his statement that writer gives readers the most knowledge in the least time. Generally, I don’t think writers follow this advice. One of the exceptions is Harry Potter, in which the writer uses a lot of adjectives for description, thus adding much length to the novels. If these unnecessary information were left out, the novels would be only about twenty pages long rather than hundreds of pages.

     My topic for the causal analysis essay is “what causes global warming,” which is a very broad one. In order not to bore my readers and send them message that I want to say in the shortest time, I should just have the most central ideas. Rather than writing all causes and effects that global warming have, which might compose a wikipedia, I should list out main causes. I don’t want to write a long scientific essay that makes my audience yawn, so I should always think about the quotation when doing the writing. I have to pick what are the most important knowledge I want to let my audience know in the shortest time, which is in just reading my essay.

Holiday Reality

   During the Chinese Lunar New Year break, there were things that I did in reality that were like my plan. Also, there were things that I actually did different from my plan. Before the break started, I planned to go to restaurants in Taipei, go shopping, get red envelopes, play majong, watch TV, go to KTV, and eat and drink a lot. These things were like what I actually did during the one week holiday. I went to several restaurants with my family while we were in Taipei for two days; I bought three new shoes, five new clothes, and a very expensive new pants during the break; I got four red envelopes in total, and among the four, my grandma gave me the largest amount of money, which was six thousand dollars; I played six majong games, which took place in my house, my grandma’s house, and my brother’s friend’s house; I went to sing with my brother and his friend, thus I had lots of chances to get the microphone; I ate so much that I gained two kilograms over the break.

    Things I did that were different from how I expected was playing bowling. Moreover, my family didn’t go outside the country, didn’t visit the Flora Expo, didn’t go to Hualien for attending aboriginal rituals, and I didn’t stay up all night for three days.

Holiday Plans

    Today is the last school day and also the last class before the Chinese Lunar New Year break. This time, the holiday is especially meaningful and important to our family because the whole family of five people could eventually gather together, which we haven’t done so for several years. As for result, I’m hoping to do something special during the one week holiday with my family. I would like to go to Flora Expo since this world-wide famous exposition is in Taipei, Taiwan, which is not far away from us.

   Also, I would like to go to Hualian and participate in aboriginal rituals because I once saw on the TV that these ceremonies were fun, and people even didn’t sleep for whole three days. I want to have this kind of crazy experience, too. In addition, I should learn more about the aboriginal culture, which is part of the Taiwanese society. Although I’ve been to KTV for many times, I’ve never been there with my family. In order to make the break special, I’m hoping to go to KTV with my parents and brothers and sing until I’m out of voice. Another big event would definitely be playing our traditional game-majong. Everyone in my family must know how to play majong, and I hope I can be an expert on it after the lunar new year. These are just my hopes, but if they really did take place in reality, I believe I would be thrilled and cheerful.

A Writer’s Material

   The quotation from John Gardner suggests about the topics that writers choose are the ones writers are interested in. I believe that people wouldn’t write something they’re lacking interest of because that would be a waste of time also meaningless. If writers write about materials that they don’t care at all, the essay wouldn’t be unique since writers fail to put their own ideas and feelings into the work. Thus, I think John Gardner’s quotation is pretty true. In addition, this advice can definitely help me to choose a topic for the next assignment-writing a causal analysis essay.

    I’m not a scientific fan, so I think my essay would combine both scientific and non-scientific approaches. I’m pretty concerned about the environment that humans are living now, so I might write about global warming. Moreover, global warming is a great topic not only because lots of causes contribute to this severe effect, but also global warming causes other natural disasters. In addition, I can reflect my own feeling and I believe I would have a lot to say because I really care about it.

    I can also write about ordinary, simple stuffs, and this can generate from observing people on streets. Why do people want to violate traffic rule? (walking when it’s red light; driving over speed limit; talking on the phone while driving….) Why do people listen to music when they’re doing art work? Why do people buy so many things during on sale time? All these topics can get to the psychology part, which is under scientific category again. No matter how ordinary things that one write, they can always revolve back into science, which is closely connected to our lives.