December 2011 Issue

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Editor's Note

CONTENT

Staff

Editor's Note:

Cover Story

THERE IS A WONDERLAND T

here is a wonderland in every high school student's heart, a place we are willing to fight for, even at the price of sacrificing the most beautiful time of our lives studying.

There is a world which we regard as paradise, a place we are dream of going to.

The place is named “college”.

For thousands of time, we depict our perfect college life in our dreams. We dream of choosing the classes we want, we dream of abandoning all the subjects we hate, we dream of meeting different interesting people in a small cafe on a sunny afternoon. We also dream of going travelling with friends in the holiday, standing on the top of the mountain and welcoming a whole new day. Further more, we dream of doing part-time jobs and for the first time, buy our parents a gift with our own money.

However, is it the true picture of college life? Or it is all just a dream?

Cover story this time brings you a big, delicious meal of college life. Here, you will see several college students showing you the true college life, you will find some people who have graduated for a few years telling you what college life mean for them and how to cherish the precious four years, and you will brighten your eyes with the introduction of some awesome classes and schools. If you still have doubts about what to do now, don’t worry, Visionary honorably invites experienced teacher Greg to give you some good advice of how to choose your dream school.

Besides the cover story about college, Essay and Culture also bring you a lot to taste.

Have you ever thought of riding a motorbike and feeling the speed? Ray Man shows you his thoughts and hopes about this topic in Essay. Do you always want to go to France but never get chances (or money) to do so? Well here comes your time, because Culture this time will tell you the icons of France. Hope you have a good trip!

Actually, what is a wonderland anyway? For high school students, it is college. But for people who have jobs, what does wonderland mean to them? Is it a place one can never work but can have a lot of money, do as many things as possible to enjoy oneself? Then why could we find so many people who already have money for the rest of their life but still work day and night? Maybe the truth of a wonderland is to fight for what we dream of, to live the kind of life we think is meaningful. For a lot of times, wonderland is only a beautiful morning when you say hi to your friends in the classroom, or it is just a thought before you go to bed: “I have lived another wonderful day!” So, why don’t we begin to find our wonderland now? Everyone can live the kind of college life they dream of, as long as you begin to work very hard, and change yourself from today.

Reading till here, if you are willing to live in your wonderland, start from taking one hour reading Visionary! Make yourself a hot cup of tea, traveling with the words, letting the sun shine on the paper……everything is as beautiful as you imagine.

In Greg’s essay, there is a sentence: “It’s not the destination, but the journey that matters.”

It is never too late to live in your wonderland.

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6 College choice 10 The introduction of the best business school Top Four The Most fantastic Courses in 16 American Universities 20 An Interview with Zhang Weihao

Editor-in-chief: Waiting Zhong

A senior in the University of Chicago

Informational interview My college my country A place of freewill How I Went To My College

Advisors: Maggie Bi Cindy Wu Leo Chou Brian Zheng

Editor Rowena Ouyang Langsi Lin Leo Wo Bright Ren Eingma Li Jackson Hong Arthur Yuan Louis He Harris Wang

22 24 26 27

Essay 30

Give me the right to ride a bike How hard can that be

34 36

Seize your own happiness A few thoughts about the media

Design Editor

Culture

Vannessa Van

Icons of France

Chony Lu Sidonia Fang Molly Zheng Bickey Deng Joanna Chen

Interesting Quiz Are You Grateful?

36

42

Market Department Christina Xu Tanya Li Jack Chen Denise Zheng Anny Huang Susan Chen Vera Yu Nina Shao Buzzy Huang

REVIEW 44 Movie Review:The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Katy Perry 46

My Story My Louis, my sunshine 3 December 2011

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Cover Story

Cover Story

College Choice

COVER STORY Life In College

The Introduction of the Best Business School Top Four the Most Fantastic Courses in American Universities Informational Interview An Interview with Zhang Weihao A senior in the University of Chicago

My College My Country A Place of Freewill How I Went To My College

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Gregory Robbins

College Choice

Y

ou only get one go ‘round in life to get it right, after that, it is only history. Martin Heidegger wrote about the various possibilities that life holds for a person on the day she/he is born. Each of us is born with infinite endings to our life – infinite diversity in infinite combination. Every choice we make reduces our choices by a factor of “X.” I say by a factor of “X” because every decision we make and path on which we walk has a causeeffect relationship to who we become. The factor is relative to the moment in time and the significance of the act. Each pebble cast into the pond of our life causes ripples in our personal universe. One of the greatest choices you will ever make is that of which college or university you will attend when you graduate. This selection will reduce the potential of men or women you might become in this life considerably. As you choose, allow me to offer a little perspective:

1.

There is no such thing as a “best” college or

university. Rankings are one of the most subjective criteria one can examine since there are no quantifiable data on which the ranking is based. Ranking is not like a sporting event where a clear winner and loser are delineated through an objective measure. The ranking of a school is based on purely subjective criterion and has no basis in reality or fact. It is a beauty contest and as we Americans are fond of saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The best college or university is the one that meets your educational and cultural needs and your career aspirations.

2.

It’s not the college you get into, but the college

that gets into you that matters. It is an absurd and patent untruth to believe that one college or university offers greater opportunity than the other fully accredited schools in America. Great corporations look at graduates during “Job Fairs” all across the country and look for the best students from a school, not students from the “best” schools. Companies look for the best students from all schools. A graduate from The University of Nebraska with a 3.85 GPA has a better chance at a better job than a graduate from an “Ivy” with a 3.5 GPA.

Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one. – Martin Heidegger Greg is one of the most experienced teachers in our school. He has already helped a lot of students go to their dream school. Now, let’s hear his advice for high school students.

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3.

Find your fit and you will find the place where

learning and growth will occur. By fit, I mean the school that offers the best education in the field that you want to major. Look for schools that have solid reputations in your career choice; are located in a region of the USA in which you believe you can live for four years; and have the campus culture you desire. Then you will be happy and better able to produce in class.

4.

An American axiom goes, “The first diploma is not as important as the final one.” If your goal is an undergraduate degree and nothing more, then the selection of the university for your Bachelor degree carries with it great gravitas. However, if you intend to pursue a graduate degree, e.g., MBA, MS or Ph.D., it is the name of the school on your final degree that matters.

Knowing this, there is an important consideration for you: most universities admit a small percentage of their own graduates into graduate school to avoid academic inbreeding. As an international student, your chances of admission are almost zero. An international student that graduates from MIT, UPenn, Yale, etc., has almost no chance for admission into their respective graduate schools. If these schools are the target destination for your final degree, you would be better off to go somewhere else first. Remember, each campus on a university is a separate entity and admission into one is NOT admission into the others. This is why you will not take graduate courses while pursuing your undergraduate degree; you were not admitted to the separate educational body known as the graduate school. Harvard and Harvard Graduate schools (School of Law, School of Philosophy, School of Medicine, etc.) are all completely separate organizations with unique admission requirements.

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College Choice

College Choice

Despite what you may think or have heard, most Americans could not tell you much about Ivy League schools; they simply do not care and have no desire to go to them. William Deresiewicz in his study for the American Scholar says many things, three of which are: 1. There is a level of “Ivy Retardation” that causes employers to look to schools outside the Ivy League for employees. 2. An elite or Ivy education also inculcates a false sense of hope that the perfect job awaits graduate – it does not, you still have to compete with graduates from all over America that may actually be more intelligent than you are. 3. The aptitude of diversity that Fortune 500 companies seek is generally not found in an Ivy graduate due to the homogenous culture of the campus.

In the end, most Americans simply could care less about Ivy League or the top schools. They want to attend a university that will equip them for life beyond college and are loyal to the institutions their families have attended.

We have a saying in America and it speaks to what you think you know about looking for a college, “You should only believe half of what you see, and none of which you hear.” I would add that you should believe very little of what you read on the Internet. Had Peggy and I believed the things we read as we researched China, we might not be here. Do your work, go to primary sources with regard to universities and find the places that will help you become what you want to be in life. Don’t settle for a school because of its ranking. Go somewhere that you will be challenged intellectually, emotionally, socially and philosophically; after all Shakespeare wrote, “‘Tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” – Hamlet, Act I, Scene ii So, when choosing a school you must ask yourself a question, “For whom do I plan to work when I graduate?”

If the answer is a Chinese based company that has no level of vertical integration or horizontal ties; you may want to try to go to a top tier school since what you learn is probably less important than where you learned it.

However, if you plan to work for any company that is incorporated outside of China and for whom policy and procedure based on laws that govern their hiring process, go to a school that will educate you and place you upon graduation. What you learn is always more important

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than where you learn in; after all, more Ivy League graduates per capita are jobless then the rest of the conferences and leagues.

Martin Heidegger wrote, “Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can't be changed but, it can be challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.” My silent hope for each of you is that you become the best you, you can be and enjoy the process of becoming who you are. I have never lived vicariously through other people; so guys, go where your heart leads you and I will be proud no matter where it is. My dad, the past President of Furman used to say this to his students, “It’s not the destination, but the journey that matters.”

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Cover Story

Cover Story

The Introduction of the

Best

Business Schools Do you want to become an elite who expert in economic or management? Take a look at the most excellent business schools through the America.

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Harvard Business School Stanford Graduate School of Business

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IF THE 20TH CENTURY WAS THE AMERICAN CENTURY FOR BUSINESS, THE 21ST IS DECIDEDLY A GLOBAL CENTURY, AND THIS MUST BE THE PLACE WHERE THE WORLD’S BEST THINKING ABOUT BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE TAKES PLACE ——Dean Nitin Nohria

The Wharton School is the first business school in the US. When Joseph Wharton founded the school in 1881, he created the concept of business education. Today, Wharton owns the most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world.

The most distinctive style of the Wharton is Innovative Learning. Forty percent of student’s coursework will be outside of Wharton at Penn, and over 30 percent of the students graduate with more than one undergraduate degree from Penn.

From real-world business projects to international ventures, students in Penn learn beyond the classroom The specialized program at Wharton focuses on a broad range of business or finance-related subjects.

Though students graduate with a B.S. in Economics, Wharton's curriculum is very different from that of a typical economics major. Wharton emphasizes teaching students the skills they need to obtain and let them succeed in many careers as opposed to general economic theory.

Undergraduates are given a generally liberal arts education to complement their business concentration.

Potential concentrations include Actuarial Science, Business and Public Policy, Environmental Policy & Management, Finance, Health Care Management and Policy, Insurance and Risk Management, Management, Marketing, Operations and Information Management, Real Estate, Statistics, and Transportation.

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

They are the words from the dean of the Harvard Business School. They are true for the depression of the credit which happened in American and involved all the countries in the global economic system including China. Have you heard about the Secretary of State Hilary commented that China will become the most starveling Country in 20 years recently? It's hard to identify whether it's true or not. However, the truism is that China undertakes a lack of clairvoyant and far-sighted talents who are excellent in finance as the rapid development. Don't think about what the country can do for us, but what we can do for the country. If you are an aspiring person and want to make some effort in finance, keep reading because I will introduce some best business school in the world for you

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Cover Story

Cover Story

At Wharton, the premier business school of the world, you will gain the knowledge and experience which can help you become a leader in redefining business and make a positive impact on the world.

As a student, you will explore today’s challenging economic and social issues, go beyond business with liberal arts study, and create an education that fits you – all while being a part of a vibrant and diverse community.

“Over 50% of Wharton's typical undergraduate class of 500 students go into investment banking with the majority employed at a bulge bracket firm earning a typical base salary of $70,000, a typical signing bonus of $10,000, and a year-end bonus for first year analysts as high as $100,00. The next most common industry after investment banking is consulting, with firms like McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company and many other firms hiring approximately 30% of the students.

A number of students also enter the buy-side with offers from top hedge funds such as Citadel LLC or private equity firms such as Silver Lake Partners or Blackstone Group. A number of students, particularly those in the M&T Program, enter the technology industry with offers from places such as Google and Microsoft.”------ Data from Wikipedia.

Wherever you want to go in life, a Wharton education will empower you at every step of the way. This is the school that I am dreaming and laboring for.

Tips Do you know these?

With 86,000 alumni in 145 countries, Wharton has an extensive global alumni network.

Penn Traditions: Hey Day------Students celebrate juniors "moving up" to seniors at this tradition established in 1916.

There are 345 clubs at Penn and Wharton spread to all walks of life

Harvard Business School “For more than a century, our faculty have drawn on their passion for teaching, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and the insights gained from their research to educate generations of leaders who have shaped the practice of business in every industry and in every country around the world.”

——the prologue of the HBS's website.

Founded in 1908, HBS was originally located in Harvard Yard. The present campus, with its stately Georgian buildings following the gentle curve on the Boston side of the Charles River, was dedicated in June of 1927.

HBS offers immersion programs to supplement in-class room academic experience. These programs are designed to integrate educational objectives with other elements that the student-led treks offer. Through this experience, students are "immersed" in academic, cultural, and organization fieldwork around the world. The program spans an intensive five to twelve-day period during January.

The first term in HBS will be extremely hard. The professor will provide analysis of 3~4 projects and each of them will take you at least 3 hours. Addition to the out-class investigative group activities, you have to study for 13~18 hours.

That is how much time the American students have to spend. As for we international students, it will be even holy damn harder. However, the second term is not the same at all. Every class will be elective for you except one required lesson(all the classes you have in the first term are all required lesson...). As a result, you can enjoy much more leisure and growth of confidence.

As a word, HBS is also regarded as one of the best business schools through the world.

A Wharton student's words: We have such greaat opportunities here and participate in such valuable expericences——if I don’t take that and actually make a positive impact on the world, I haven’t done my duty as a citizen.

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Cover CoverStory Story

Stanford Graduate School of Business “Our curriculum is designed to transform students — expanding their ideas, knowledge, and capabilities and preparing them to think, act, and even dream differently than when they arrived.”------ Forewords from the website of the school

Cover Story

I think not so much the school will help you that the school need you have them. Outstanding schools always require outstanding students. The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the most selective business school in the world. It has maintained the highest ratio of "applicants to available seats" of any business school in the U.S. for the last decade. It also had the lowest acceptance rates (typically <10%) of any major business school in the world. For the Class of 2012 which entered in 2010, 6.8% of applicants were offered admission.

Despite the low rates, ten thousands students carve and send their application GSB every year; the large amount of students for application shows how extraordinary the school is.

The school claimed that they will help students reach heights which they may not have imagined when they arrived after finished these things in three areas:

Critical Analytical Thinking

— the ability to construct and recognize solid logical arguments, their underlying assumptions, and their limitations.

Personal Leadership

— a deep self-awareness of their own strengths, weaknesses, and even identity, coupled with an understanding of myriad influence styles and how best to use them.

Innovative Thinking

— the ability to think creatively and to develop new solutions to old problems

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Cover Story

Cover Story

Americans always pay equal attention to the desire to play video games and the need to get better academic education. They have struggled for this situation for a long time. However, as the fad of pop culture developed rapidly, this kind of dilemma can be solved in American universities and no longer troubles students.

Nowadays, you may find that in most American high schools, there are many fantastic courses that sound incredible to Chinese students. For example, even the aquatic weaving becomes a very interesting skill for students to master.

At University of Florida, You Can Get an A in StarCraft (In University of Florida) If you are a new guy who enters the Honor School of University of Florida for the first time, you may be amazed by your schedule because it indicates that you shall have a class called ‘21st Century Skills in StarCraft’. That means this famous video game, the StarCraft, has already invaded the daily study in University of Florida.

Top Four: The Most fantastic Courses in American Universities

Everyone can agree that, according to this course’s official definition, it is important for professionals to be highly proficient in such skills as critical reading, problem solving, resource management and adaptive decision making.

‘In Florida this semester, they have determined that one of the effective ways to obtain those abilities is to play the StarCraft.”

‘A student who gets normal education and achieves the real MBA degree in practical commercial world can understand that playing the StarCraft can help him know better about the rules and frames of the world outside the university,’ cited from the comment of the MIT, ’the combination of this game and the MBA courses is another creative practical experience for every student who take it.’

Nerteberlin, the creator of this method, reiterated that playing this game was just complement for traditional education ways instead of replacing them. He expected that this new course would be welcomed warmly. However, only the students in the Honor School can enjoy this fantastic course to get normative data judging the effect of this method.

Any chance to play real-time strategy games is fine with us, though we have to question whether the talent which one displays for in-game resource management properly translates to an offline experience

Even playing game is a course in some western schools! Unbelievable to us, but that’s assuredly true.

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Cover Story

Cover Story strategies used in the game with their students. The students can also record the process of the game to

Guitar Heroes: Music, Video Games and the Nature of Human Cognition (In New York University.)

Once you pass New York University as a pedestrian, you may be fascinated by the graceful or billowing musical sounds. Then you look into the university, and you can find some students playing a video game called Guitar Heroes. You shouldn’t be surprised because playing Guitar Heroes is a basic task for students every day.

This head-grabbing class of 2009 sounded like the most awesome use of tuition dollars ever.

‘Guitar Heroes is a good tool for teaching, ‘psychology professor Gary Marcus said, ‘and I myself is interested in learning it’ Indeed, the game Guitar Heroes involves pop music, especially heavy metal bands’ singles. As you play it, it’s sure that you will be familiar with the basic principles of music and video games’ usage. Also, the game requires players to be

cognitive to every happen in the storyline to win the game, so, in this way, players’ cognition will improve.

However, not everyone welcomes this game as the students do in the New York University. Parents are in an uproar. “I just wrote a big check here, ”one complained, “I am not paying for my son to study video games.” “Apparently, you are, Dad.” No one can guarantee the influence of Guitar Heroes on the students, but the producer of the game must keep a smile for a very long time when he hears about this news.

improve the level. If they can pass the final exam on this subject, they will win scholar marks.

In University of California at Berkeley, if you don’t play StarCraft, you are out.

The Cape and the Cowl: The Literary, Television and Film History of Batman (In Rice University) Are you a fan of the Batman? If so, you should go to the Rice University.

While not as hand-do as the previous entries, underaduates in Rice’ 2009 student-led Batman class did work hard to study’ the necessity of the Joker.’ as well as ‘the viability of the Bat-Family’, Before the class is over, students should understand that the Batman is not a madman with a bestial heart inside

and a human mask outside. Also, he does not give too much affliction on his victims in the impulse of the ominous attitude to the anarchists. This intention of education makes this course boring, because everyone who has watched < Batman: Year One> knows that he is just trying to keep peace in the streets of Gotham in place of the corrupt police department!

Game Theory: Applications to StarCraft (In the University of California at Berkeley) Students in University of California at Berkeley sometimes argue not for academic problems. They probably argue about the result in a just finished game of StarCraft.

The objective of 2009, students-led Berkeley course was to teach students to better enjoy the‘art of competitive StarCraft. ‘Its syllabus included Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Korean StarCraft celebrity Lim Yo-hwan’s autobiography, Crazy as Me, as well as 90-minute lectures. How about the rest leisure time? Sitting at a computer and Visionary 18

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playing StarCraft for hours on end.

But there is a “however” before you can enjoy playing StarCraft.

Not every student is able to take the course’ Applications to StarCraft’. Only those who have already passed the exam of calculus own the qualification to choose this course as their second class. That means, even if you are just playing video games, you ought to use calculus to think of a way to defeat your adversaries.

The teacher will hold a meeting discussing the 19 December 2011

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Cover Story

Arthur: First of all, would you please depict the Chicago University and what do you think of it?

Zhang: The University of Chicago… well, it’s a place that enables you to experience and appreciate the true joy of studying, albeit via a way in which you’re forced to study a lot.

(A: Arthur, Z: Zhang) A : Why did you choose the Chicago University and why the Chicago chose you? There must be some unique features that the Chicago attracted you and you attracted the Chicago. What are they?

An Interview with Zhang Weihao A senior in University of Chicago Zhang Weihao graduated from the Shenzhen middle school in 2009 and entered the University of Chicago. I made friends with him by chance and we still keep in touch now.

If you told me to depict him with three adjectives, I would like to pick friendly, cordial and extraordinary. He is a really outgoing boy and enjoys the livelihood in Chicago a lot. Do you want to get the straight information about the most excellent American university and its campus life? Keep reading. Here is my interview with Zhang:

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Z : Whoever asked this question should get a job at the admission office, because this is exactly the core of every application essay of every college in America. Let us put away the US News ranking, the number of Nobel Prize laureates, and etc, because these don’t really have anything to do with me personally.

My favorite thing about the U of C is its academic atmosphere (the interesting thing is I’ve never been an “academic type of person”).

You may want to say that the word atmosphere is too abstract. So let’s make it simple: although the course load at UChicago is truly heavy (The media describes U of C as “where fun comes to death”), I can still wake up in the morning and feel passionate with the courses I’m taking that day.

No one is born to be a study lover, neither are the students here. But we still, however, enjoy what we study every day. When I’m on a train or on a bus, I always take out a book to read (the book is not an assignment, and I’m not the only one that does this). Not only the students here do so, the staff who work at the cafeteria also read books when they’re having a break from work!

Yes there’re few Chinese students that choose political science as their major. I think there’re several reasons: 1. every parents would want their kid to choose majors like economy, finance and other “business-related majors” because that would be more helpful for finding jobs (well that is really debatable in the United States) 2. Most people grew up in China have no idea what political science is. They often consider political science major the same as politics major in Chinese universities. Well that is not true. 3. People just don’t wanna choose a very reading & paper-intensive major, especially for international students.

A : Which associations in the university have attended? How are they going?

Z : If you’re referring to RSO – Registered Student Organization, I’m attending the Chicago Society. CS is an organization which hosts all kinds of events like faculty dinner, panel discussion and celebrity speeches.

Last year CS even managed to invite the secretary general of NATO to come and gave a speech.

A : How long did it take for you to get used to the life in the USA? Have you been accustomed to the USA completely so far?

Z : I got used to life here pretty fast, I would say. It’s a great country and most of the people I’ve met here are open and friendly. As for your second question, I wouldn’t say completely because I just can’t fall in love with American food. :D A : Do you enjoy American food and the food served in school cafeteria? Don't tell me that you have potatoes every day.

A : Why did you chose Policy as your major? That's distinctive among the most Chinese students aboard, isn't it?

Z : Finally this question. Like I’ve said above, I don’t really enjoy the food here. I would still say “eat in China”.

Z:

A:

It’s political science actually.

Cover Story

are pleased to and enjoy most?

Z : Hobby? I’ve got lots of hobbies.

Swimming, tennis, die cast model collecting…I really don’t have that much time for hobbies here, but I do make the time for sports every week and I enjoy that. Sport is a very good way to release one’s pressure.

A: How many lessons do you have? What are they? Would you please describe them simply?

Z : Normally students take three or four courses each quarter. I’m only taking three this quarter: one biology course and two political science courses. Biology course covers a wide range of knowledge, from evolution to DNA. It is a relatively easy course. The two political science courses are about bureaucracy and big wars in ancient, medieval and early modern western world.

A : How are your friends there?

Have you got intimate ones?

Z : Yes I do. Everybody does, to some extent. But college students are relatively independent.

A : Would you please describe your special lifestyle that suit your hard studies to us?

Z : There is no specific lifestyle to suit the study here. The life here itself is a lifestyle, an academic one: life of the mind.

A : Which field do you want to devote to after graduating?

Z : It’s not that easy to tell from now since I’m not really into finance or investment banking like a lot of people do. Sometimes things just take time to manifest themselves.

A : Thank you ^ ^and wish you have a nicer life there.

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Cover Story

By Cao Yu

The first thing I would suggest students in high school to do is to practice your English speaking, not for that stupid rigid exhausting TOEFL, but public speaking, negotiating and daily talking skills.

W Informanational Interview Yu Cao is Visionary’s previous chief editor.

He is now studying in University of Toronto, ON, Canada. Let us see what he feels after being a university student for three months and his advice to high school students.

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hen I was asked to write something about my life in Toronto so far, boundless thoughts jumped into my mind; it has been two months since I arrived here, and I enjoyed a lot from the diversity and vibrancy of this great city. Also I understand the phenomenon that prevents many Chinese students from excelling in this Canadian society. What I mean by excel is not a perfect GPA, which means nothing but the fact that you are so damn hard-working and not stupid of course. In fact, what determines your future development is your communication skills and flexibility to adapt to Canadian culture.

The most important thing that I have learned to do is to try to open yourself to as many kinds of people as possible, talk with them, learn something from your conversation, and exchange information based on your relationships with them. Don’t ever look down on someone! Even though I don’t socialize with the Chinese here, I don’t mean they are bad. They are just deviated from my expectation of my friends and they choose different living moral as I do. So be humble, and be expressive.

Communication skills is one of the most important things in your future career, no matter what you do, communication plays an indispensable role in defining your image to other people, and your vision of the world. So the first thing I would suggest students in high school to do is to practice your English speaking, not for that stupid rigid exhausting TOEFL, but public speaking, negotiating and daily talking skills. I spent most of my time trying to create opportunity to talk with people, and I nicknamed it “coffee interview”. It’s not a traditionally understood interview, but an information interview. I talked with seniors, who will be selecting members for their organizations next year; I talked with people currently working in big four, people just got into big four, and people who dropped out from big four.

So it’s more than important to have a very diverse but clear list of people that you would love to talk to. While talking with them, try to create a comfortable and sincere ambience, and NEVER just talk about job! This might not be what people are willing to talk about throughout the conversation. Usually, people want to know more about you as a person, your hobby, your aspiration, and your experience. Then, take this chance to ask questions, why do you choose this job? How do you like your current

job? And what do you do in daily work? What exactly is accounting? What do you want to do in several years?

Just keep asking some questions that bring you two into a warm and interesting conversation. You can tell some stories about yourself, because people all love hearing stories.

When I first started to reach out to different people, I met a guy from investment banking industry. I would say that I was lucky to have chosen him as my first try. His name was Dawoon, and he was the guy that would treat you like his old friend even though you are just a naïve ignorant fist year. The conversation was very nice, and the successful first try encouraged me to keep looking for other people to have coffee with me. To be honest, more than half of the people I didn’t had coffee with them.

Sometimes it’s because we are both in a hurry and there we are not in the mood for a cup of coffee, sometimes it’s because we think having coffee is just a tacit cause for a talk.

One of the people that I talked to told me, this kind of conversation is called informational interview.

To save your time, this is the definition of interpretation of informational interview online: a meeting in which a job seeker asks for career and industry advice rather than employment. But don’t take it too granted when you are applying it into your schoolwork and your early stage of institutional life. At school, the people that you are mainly associating with are senior students, not industry professionals. But essentially, you can still conduct informational interview with them.

Many of us had already started to do some similar activities in our high school, but we may not know that we are exchanging information with each other. When you talk with your friend, both of you are undergoing certain amount of informational exchange, and much of the information is extremely helpful to you since someone with similar background and social circle as you provide it.

University is a place where people make different choices, and thus choose their own different lives. Take your time, talk with different people, and make the most out of your expensive education.

23 December 2011

2011/12/21 11:42:37

Cover Story

By Li Peng

which I treasure as my golden days.

My College, My Country Li Peng is from Shenzhen University.

To him, time in college is the best time of his life. If you want to know the true meaning of college life, if you want to know how he decides his life, please look at the following passage.

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wo years ago, I graduated from Shenzhen University with a postgraduate degree with a major of Chinese. With majoring in English language of my bachelor degree, I changed it into Chinese when I decided to pursue my master degree, which, in the eyes of my fellows and classmates, is not a wise choice because Chinese can’t promise a bright career future but English, on the contrary, is so popular that there is no difficulty to get a well-paid job after graduation. I pondered this idea seriously for a while, but it really didn’t cost me much time. I stick on my original choice and passed the

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entry examination of postgraduate of Shenzhen University in 2006.

Another 3-year study began in a different place in the south of China which made me realized my dream of upgrading my scholar level to a higher one. The dream is not big but it really meant a lot to me. During the time of studying, I did encounter such a question more than once that: “the major of your postgraduate is unpopular in the job market, do you worry about your job hunting after graduation?” I did, but this worry is not the priority of my concern, what I think about is I have another 3 years to study, to read my favorite books

and to study what I like. My idea is that study is not for a job, it should be regarded as a process one can enjoy himself. If you hold such an idea that job determines the school life, no fun will be existing in your study. And, the truth is no major can promise you a good job. So why not put it down and to enjoy your school time as possible as you can?

But misunderstand what I say “enjoy your school time”. The real meaning I convey to you here is to appreciate the beauty of knowledge and to taste the interesting of study. That is why I can always keep a happy mood during my studying at university,

Nowadays, more and more students lose confidence in their college education when they see the high unemployed rate. “Graduation means unemployed” is something you can often hear from them. The lost faith in what they are studying results in loose attitude towards their education. That’s why they end up without getting know how to choose their majors and why they are not competitive in the job market. The worse is, when they fail in job hunting, they will think the idea about education is useless is right. What I want to share with them is there is no useless knowledge. I really believe that being good enough in the field you are studying will promise you a good life.

Those who saw the movie named Three Idiots must remember the catchphrase from the protagonist: ”Pursue excellence, success will follow you.”

That is the right attitude one should have towards his study. No matter what happens, no matter how low the unemployed rate, the rich knowledge and much know-how will enable you to be more competitive than others, hard studying and more reading will not let the precious time slide away from your fingers. Besides, there are many other reasons about low unemployed rate; it is not fair to blame our country’s educational system only. One meaningful saying is “if you cannot change the world, change yourself.” Most of us are incapable of manipulating the outside surroundings, but to control ourselves is not something difficult to do. With those ideas, I spent my college life happily and did learn a lot of things.

such an idea that the books contain not only the secular knowledge but also the great thoughts of many great thinkers? What an exciting thing it is to open one book and have a dialogue with a master! That is one of reasons why I love school so much. Because of it, after graduating from college, I set up the goal of furthering my study at a better university. I am still young and have time to pursue what I want. When I become old one day, I will not let myself feel regret for not following my dream. With this idea in mind, I didn’t stop even I failed twice.

My college is my country: a place is small have a job or a very good one but peaceful, quiet and To should not be the only purpose f u l l o f m a s t e r s a n d of school study. Life style can be diverse and colorful. Imagine all k n o w l e d g e t h a t h a s the students set their eyes only jobs, what will they think of been tested by human’s on education if the job market is not prosperous? What damage our history. society will get from such an idea?

Reading is my favorite thing, and school is the place that can offer a lot of time and other convenient conditions for such an activity. When I get into the society working day and night to earn daily bread, I can not read much and read with a peaceful mind. Someone will argue that reading can not bring fortune. Maybe. However, in my opinion, it can bring many more valuable things. Reading broadens your views, reading makes you think deeply and can provide you opportunities of conversing with great thinkers in the history. When you sit in the school’s library and look at the rows of book shelves, do you have

How many people are willing to bury their heads to enjoy the pure pleasure of knowledge learning? When I exchanged ideas with my classmates at school, what I often said was to fulfill obligations of being a student. Don’t let the depressing situation discourage us and take it as an excuse of not studying hard. Wasting time is not a responsible action and we are only young once. To get more knowledge is always a right thing to do. An old Chinese saying goes like: “It is when you are using what you have learned from books that you wish you had read more”. That is a truth, especially when you are under such a situation.

My college is my country: a place is small but peaceful, quiet and full of masters and knowledge that has been tested by human’s history. Knowledge not only is a sort of power but also can make one person young, because it activates your brain with all kinds of information of the world so as to empower you to fight against your bodily aging. In this sense, school as a venue for knowledge’s exchange, creation and preservation can be said a Nevernever land, while the one who loves this place and wants to stay here forever is just Peter Pan.

25 December 2011

2011/12/21 11:42:37

BY Hu Yongqi

By Mondo

A Place of Free Will How is the life in the famous Peking University? Do the students have a lot of freedom? Are the rules very strict? Well, this passage can give you the answer.

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here was a place I would like to stay for just one topics, such as “Occupy Wall Street”, with professors more day when I had to leave. In that place, I at University of Hawaii at Manoa during my one-year complained too much freedom meant too much training program. burden, prior to my employment with China Daily, Three years after graduation, I felt the freewill spirit a national English-language newspaper in Beijing. has been rooted in me. I could feel another benefit of Following departure from there, I realized how the freewill spirit, which is to develop a judgment before freewill spirit helped me. I kept telling myself to be a making any decision. Because of the freewill, I had time good employee, a good friend and a good neighbor to and opportunity to find out what was right or wrong. honor that place. And that is Peking University where I Meanwhile, I had to think clearly about the risks or the spent the most precious four years of my life from 2005 benefits. to 2009.

It is really important for a journalist to make his or her I was enrolled into the English Department at Peking own ideas with a target to be objective. When I discussed University in 2005. Not only did the university endow with professors of the School of Communication at the me a bachelor degree, but also it gave me much space to University of Hawaii on media ethics, they strongly develop the best way for me. agreed with the importance to have an Different from American counterparts, most There was a place I would independent judgment about anything universities on the Chinese mainland still journalist was going to report on. like to stay for just one the control academic schedules of students.

Otherwise, the reports could very easily I was surprised to hear many of my non- more day when I had to be lopsided. Back to Peking University, leave.

Peking-University friends complaining they my professors often said a Peking had to stringently follow schedules set by University students can be average professors. At Peking University, that is not people, but cannot be mediocre in a problem at all. thoughts.

Since 1919, Peking University has been prominent During four years at the university, we did not have sowith the freewill spirit. It has not intervened students’ called instructors who controls students out of class. Most academic schedules and their personal life from the students at Peking University were finding their way out, outset. Professors believe students should have their in research, internship or employment. And peer pressure opinions on what to do and have the right to choose, also made me to dig out my way. So I participated in lots instead of being chosen. In choosing, they also believe, of social activities, including educational training for students will know they have to be responsible for every rural kids. Universities are no less than study. By taking single choice, good or bad. When students step out of the part in those programs, I started to realize how life was campus, that is the way the society is running. By giving tough for people. students free choices, the university has actually prepared In the spirit of freewill, I could understand the importance them with a mature psyche before being employed. of goals and hardworking. In junior year, I decided to At Peking University, many courses are available for all find a job on graduation. Then, I found several internship majors to develop their personal interests and broaden the posts in major media and companies in other industry horizon of knowledge. English majors at other Chinese to get myself better prepared. However, these industries universities have to learn a third language, a prerequisite were strange to me and I tried my utmost to learn. One to get the degree. But, we did not have to. We could time, I worked overtime until 12 am for a newspaper in either choose a third language, or have a second degree, doing a story. Then, the internship experience helped me depending on students. Professors of the English joining China Daily. And now I am enjoying this job.

Department encouraged students to learn new subjects.

However, our professors also said people could not enjoy To take myself as an example, I was extremely interested absolute freedom. The world is ruled by rules, and we in international relations, the gaming between nations. So have to comply with them. That told us to think about the I chose a second degree in that major. I learnt a lot from ongoing rules and others around me like colleagues and the international-relation courses, religion, world powers, friends, which are also precious in my life. Therefore, for cultural diversity, so on and so forth. Thanks to those me, freedom and rules could coexist to make a better self. courses, I could interchange ideas on some interesting Visionary 26

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How I went to my College Mondo is a very special teacher in our school. Here he talks about his experience of how he went to college. Maybe, you shocked by the content, but his way of writing is still worth studying a lot.

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nce upon a time, a long time ago, I decided to go to college. My parents didn’t care, my culture didn’t care, in fact, I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to work anymore!

As I sat at the pizza parlor, doing something close to nothing, I saw a news report that claimed that college graduates make several hundred thousand dollars more than non-graduates. Well, I had made my last pizza. Well not exactly, I had to wait a couple of months, but you get the idea!

I had to take my S.A.T. test again, because the colleges I applied for were very concerned about my C’s, D’s, and F’s. Yes, I had F’s, but I must point out that I earned them proudly. I cut classes that interfered with my social calendar. For example, my 1st period class started at 7:30.

Sorry can’t do it, I was just waking up. My 8th period class didn’t allow me to walk my girlfriend home, so I didn’t go to it. Now, now do not judge me, I had other priorities like sleep and girlfriends!

Well my girlfriend(s) and sleep caught up to me. I had been out of school for a year and now had to retake the S.A.T. again. No problem, I would study! I proceeded to do like all of you. I looked for a good SAT book. Well there were over 30 of them! Did I buy any of them?

NOPE! I had copies made in the library! Hah! Take that Barron’s and Gruber’s!

Wouldn’t you know it, the day before the test there’s a HUGE party going on! What should I do? Well by now you should guess what I did, of course I went to this party! Shame on those of you that thought I stayed home, studied, and got a good nights rest! Hah!

I will spare you the details of the party, but I would hate to have this story edited, so use your imaginations! Lots of American teenagers and no adults! Woo hoo!

I and the other students, that had to take the test, promised to leave early. Yeah, right. Several of us woke up in the apartment or in our cars outside. We had 20 minutes to get the test site and we just made it. I then proceeded to take the test.

Except for the math, I did very well! No kidding, 2 of the colleges I applied to were so pleased at my score I was allowed entry into their law programs!

What is the morale of this story? Nothing except I had faith in myself and my abilities. Could I have gotten scholarships and attended a top 20 college? Yes, but then I would not have had fun or lived my life according to the way I wanted to. I still graduated and went on the get my Master’s. I just didn’t do it according to anyone’s schedule. I did it when I wanted.

Epilogue Here's the morale of this story. American students need a little Chinese in them. We take too much for granted and do not, for the most part, take things seriously.

Until it's too late. Like I did. Chinese students need a little American in them. Getting a bad grade sometimes happens. Living is more important, than cramming and studying non-stop because you feel that cultural/ educational death is chasing you down. As your people say chi. As mine say equilibrium. Balance. I hope you find it. I certainly didn't. I could've used a Chinese friend back in the day. Now, for me, it's too late...

27 December 2011

2011/12/21 11:42:37

Essay

Essay

Essay Give Me the Right to Ride a Bike A Few Thoughts on Media Seize Your Own Happiness

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Essay

by Ray Man

Give me right to ride a bike how hard can it be?

How many boys have dreamed carrying his beloved girl on a cool bike and hit the town?

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n my birthday of sixteen, I suddenly realized that I was allowed to hold a driving license – although according to the law in China only moped under 50cc is allowed, it would be a driving license whatsoever, for that tiny little black leather license could be my certificate of adulthood. On that day I surfed the Internet to seek for any information for me to drive a moped in Shenzhen and received millions of results in Google which said that the government had already banned me from riding any ‘mechanical propelled motorcycle’ in urban area or in rural area of the city back in 2003.

Oh, no.

That means the adolescent Ray can never hold a license in Shenzhen Visionary 30

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with the note of ‘Permitted to ride a two-wheel motorcycle’, while the destiny of my future driving license was doomed when I was 8. And the door of enjoyment in riding a bike in my hometown was shut with a piece of bloody boring disgusting pathetic government ‘Announcement to Residents of Prohibiting Motorcycle in Shenzhen’ in dry and plain language. I felt more than disappointed in the result Google told me. As a cyclist, I am delight on traveling with riding two-wheel transportations, which give me the feeling of freeing my mind and going with the wind when the speed slash the air near my ear. But every time I ride farther than 20km, when I am tired like dead fish, I feel desperate for motorcycle, a scooter, a roadbike, or a cruiser, whatever. I just need something that can diminish my

feeling of painful legs and achy arms.

How could the news be worse that I cannot drive even a 50cc moped around the city even after I reached the legal age?

I don’t understand why the government banned my right to ride a motorcycle in the city.

The Bureau of Transportation and the Police once claimed the bikes ‘supported the crimes of robbing near the sidewalks, and were great threats to not only the traffic but also the public safety’, but that was totally nonsense. No bike will drive itself to the sidewalk and rip the handbag of any lady by the mind of cylinder, nor will it cut the line without signal decide by its throttle or crash to the ground in its clutches’ thinking.

How imaginative one should be if he said the quoted saying above?

Everyone with common sense is able to judge that the threat to public safety does not come to the bikes, but from their users instead. Banning the motorcycles would not make any sense on improving safety level of the society, for the robbers, the thieves, and the mad drivers were not jailed or prosecuted. Most of them, still active in the society, choose to use private cars instead, or they just use motorcycles illegally – they hadn’t ever used bikes properly or legally before, had they? – and continue threatening our harmonious society. Look, if I were the cops, I would rather made an act of sending the line-cutters, mad drivers, and on-board robbers all to jail with a sentence of 5 years. Without any powerful method to intimidate the criminals, they will not just easily stop because of the hardship of choosing transportation.

Half-witted government actmakers not only ignore the common sense, but also forget the emotional feelings brought by those little two wheel machines. How many boys have dreamed of carrying his beloved girl on a cool bike and hit the town? I did. I still remember when I first saw the film Roman Holiday when I was in junior-high school, the romantic scene of Audrey Hepburn riding a

Vespa scooter around Rome with Gregory Peck without any actual destination, which was the reason why Vespa and scooters soon became popular all over the world. Imagine the scene you rides with a beautiful gal on a little scooter, follows by a lovely mechanical noise of engine like a million bees’ squeezing under the seat, travel on the paths of green stones between a series of grey buildings. Light of the sky that leaks from the chink between old Tong Laus shines upon you, just your lover and your beloved little motorbike, like The Beach Boys’ Little Honda in 1964 sang: First gear, it’s all right Second gear, I lean right Third gear, hang on tight Faster is all right It's not a big motorcycle Just a groovy little motorbike It's more fun that a barrel of monkeys That two wheel bike We'll ride on out of the town To any place I know you like What the lyric presents really is what I said above. Motorcycles sometimes are not seen just as transportation.

In particular emotional settings, somehow, they mean more than that.

Even in the other cities of China, like Shanghai, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, or

Kaohsiung, the governments had never planned to pass a law of banning people from driving this kind of cheap, agile, and easy-mending transportation. No, because they know the bottom of the society has to survive with this proper reliable transportation. Even if the oil price reaches the sky nowadays, most of the basic-level workers are still able to afford the 3 liter of gasoline per hundred kilometers’ rate of spending.

Basically, people everywhere over the world can enjoy the happiness of twisting the throttle and then fly forward, only except Shenzhen and other twisted-minded cities in China.

No, my dear party, in order to build the harmonious society, we need some government act-makers with more intelligence. They have to know there are something called ‘responsibility to keep the robbers out of innocents’, ‘good ways to help road users to obey the rules’, and the most important, ‘the great feeling of carrying a lover on a bike in adolescence’. They should know what the society’s structure is: not just build by the top rich, but also the blue-collar workers, the base of the society. See, repeal the silly law of banning motorcycle, and give me right to ride it – how hard can it be?

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tranquility in our mind, we must have reached the realm of happiness. “Lev Tolstoy also supported:” Happiness is to live for other people.”

Seize your own happiness The days that make us happy make us wise a line by England’s Poet Laureate, John Masfield

Happiness is the process that you decide to make yourself happy; Happiness is a feeling which occurs after you assist the weak; Happiness is the moment when you share your happiness with your friends; Happiness is just the attitude you live and the way you choose to live; Happiness exists everywhere.

When you stretch out your hand, you can touch and seize it; So happiness is easy to attain; it all depends on you.

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aria Sharapova, a celebrated tennis player and the richest female athlete in the world, was born in a poor little town in the Soviet Union (now it is in Belarus) in 1987. Her hometown was seriously influenced and polluted by the extraordinarily tremendous nuclear accident at The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Unfortunately, some relatives died because of the nuclear radiation. So Maria lived underneath the shadow of Chernobyl when she was even a young girl, and felt uneasy every day. Mr. Sharapov, Maria’s father, took her to America and sent her into a tennis school in order to let her forget the past. Maria was awfully reluctant, but she had to obey. In America, Maria and her dad only had two meals (sometimes even one) per day because of their poverty, but Maria had to bear 9 hours’ training every day!

She starved, starved and starved. Maria insisted on training every day. She enjoyed herself very much although she was so tired. When she felt confused and perplexed, she wouldn’t feel sad or didn’t know what to do. Tennis was her dream and her motive power; she really wanted to try hard to realize her dream. She lived a simple life, and she felt on the top of the world and extremely happy because of tennis. That was enough, wasn’t it? Being an optimist and seizing her happiness every day, Maria never gave up and considered every day as a new day, and then she succeeded. She won her first Grand Slam Title in Wimbledon when she was only 17 years old! Maria is a kind person. Today, her most happiness comes from donating money to the charity to help children who are seriously sick or do not have enough money to pay for the schooling.

Lev Tolstoy said: “Great delight of helping others is the only reliable happiness in life.”

Charlie, a good friend of mine, has his own understanding of happiness. He was born in a small town in China. When he transferred to my class, he was just like a muddy dog that had just been bedraggled. He often got high scores in the class, but most of our classmates looked down upon on him because his parents were both peasants. He was always bullied by his classmates during that period. He was disappointed at first, and he always sobbed even cried when he was alone. I tired to come close him in order to console him, but my effort was useless. Due to the hard situation, He was extremely bored. He said to me: “Louis, my best friend, I am so sad and anguished these days. I don’t know what I should do now.

How could I be happy like others? I really wanna ……” I patted on his shoulder and encouraged him: “They do not respect you and they are completely faulty.

Observe things carefully, let even happened tiny things be in your own mind, and then just enjoy them! ”From then on, Charlie became optimistic gradually. When someone came to Charlie with strange expression in his or her eyes, he only smiled and said friendly:” What can I do for you?” In addition, Charlie always smiled when he met others. He said: “I have already got a principle. When you smile, you give others happiness, and then you will be the happiest person in the world!” After class, he went back to his utterly destitute house. He helped his family cook dinner, make coffee and sweep the floor. Before he went to sleep, he always held a book in his hands, reading earnestly and appreciating the emotion which the author brought to him. At last he fell asleep with satisfaction.

That was his life. Though it was simple, but he could control his mood, feelings and even spirit. He enjoyed everything he did. Yes, he did. He seized happiness successfully by making himself optimistic and tranquil while being able to communicate easily and share his happiness with others.

As long as you have a reasonable thing to do, you will be particularly happy. Albert Einstein. My mom, the most beautiful lady in the world, has bestowed me a lot. One afternoon, a drop of faint sunshine went in our house, sprinkling on my mother’s black hair. The house was full of warmth. My mother said to me:” You are my happiness, and every reasonable thing I do for you is my happiness.”

For me, my mother left her job to concentrate on looking after me carefully; for me, my mother removed our home beside Shenzhen Middle School. Last month, she went to the hospital to have a physical examination. As a result, she had an anxiety disorder. I was self-condemned but my mother just said with her cheek pallor: “To do things for you is worthy. I am happy.” Mom treasures me a lot, and she thinks I am really valuable because I will leave China three years later. In her point of view, everything with benefits is worth doing for me. I am my mother’s simple happiness, I feel extraordinarily proud.

Happiness is everywhere in our daily life. There are a number of opportunities for you to seize happiness. From now on, live in a happy attitude; help others when they are in trouble; share your happiness with your friends! Go and get your happiness!

Happiness is always worth of treasuring. Everyone has his own happiness,including you and me. Let’s seize our happiness together, chasing after the bright sun, running into the brilliant future.

Qiong Yao, a well-known writer in China said: “As long as there are peace and Visionary 32

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Essay

by Juliana Zhou

M

A Few Thoughts on

the Media

Have you ever met with this kind of topic of essay: “What do you think of the so much information in the society?” or “Do we benefit from having the Internet?” This essay is a good one of this kind. When you read, you can not only focus on the thoughts, but also on how the writer writes them, and try to use it as your own.

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edia is the pathway us human invented to deliver information to allow individuals stay in tune with others. It probably have existed since the beginning of the history of the human race, started off in raw and rather inefficient forms (for example, messengers on horse backs), and as technology advances through time, media developed rapidly and eventually became something that is quite crucial to us human beings.

Everyday, every hour, every minute and every single second, tons of information is flushing our mind via the numerous media. The guy who gave a speech at my college made an impressive quote:“Still think you are establishing your values at school? Too bad, kid.

The media is building your standards.” The media has influence over every single bit, from our moral standards to our preference of vacation spot next summer. It definitely had given great conveniences, but the effects that follows with the conveniences is in fact quite controversial.

To be just, we must first take a glance at the advantages the media has provided us with. It certainly did a good job on shortening the distance between people. A hundred years ago, there was no way to watch an important event happening on the other side of the globe. Such achievements not just satisfied our inherited curiosity, but allowed us with a much broader and generous vision as well.

We must also give thanks to the media for providing us a wide variety of entertainments. Hundreds and thousands of new movies, books, magazines, television shows (the list goes on forever) are issued out every year. If one could own just half a percent of all the entertaining materials on this earth, one would never have time to be bored.

On the contrary, media do have its unfavorable influence on people as well. Public attention is one of the crucial factors that keep a media group alive. However, in order to attain attentions, the strategies taken are not always

beneficial for the public. For example, celebrity lives are never reported as they were. Newspapers tend to follow the basic rule about the taste of the public: it must be smashing, and it must be bad. In order to follow this guideline, the presses are always more focused on the negative, and as a consequence exaggerated tragedies and scandals are delivered to the public. It might seem like a win-win situation in the short term: the public gain entertainment from these slightly (or in some extreme cases, largely) disguised pieces of stories, and the media gains its attention and cash. But in the long term, the public’s curiosity can never be satisfied, and what is worse is that they tend to get bored of same types of stories very quickly, so as a response to that, the media always had to dig in deeper into the immoralities of the contemporary celebrities and personages. This situation will lead to a vicious circle, as the press came up with more and more wild stories, the boundaries of the public moral standard descends accordingly. Such changes of moral standard is more obvious on children and teenagers than that on adults, so we can argue that modern media do have some responsibilities on family conflicts as well.

The media also promotes values and beliefs which are beneficial for certain businesses, but might mislead the public. To be specific, sex is one of the things that are probably the most commonly used subject that the media utilize to help businesses sell their products.

Advertisements make you believe that you can only attain better sexual influence or achievements if you purchase a certain product or something. This does not seem very harmful on the surface, but if you look in deeper, they are actually converting your sex drive into materialistic desires.

Generally speaking, the media is a good tool to enrich and bring convenience to our lives. But we must learn to filter the information given, and take the positive bits to suit our own standards, instead of drifting along with whatever the media has provided you with.

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CULTURE Icons of France France has been a cultural centre of the world for many centuries. Known for its alluring art, architecture, music, language, cuisine, and of course fashion, its rich and diverse culture dates back thousands of years. Now letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enjoy the charm of French culture and look at some of its popular cultural icons.

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Culture

Culture

The Eiffel Tower You can’t possibly go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. Even if you don’t visit this world- famous structure, you will see its top from all over Paris. The tower rises over 300 meters; when it was completed at the end of the 19th century it was twice as high as the Washington Monument, at the time the tallest structure in the world.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the World’s Fair in 1889, held in celebration of the centennial of the French Revolution in 1789.

The man behind the Eiffel Tower was Gustave Eiffel1) and the structure took more than two years to complete.

When built, there were protests from contemporary artists who feared the construction would be the advent of structures without “individuality”, and many who feared that this huge “object” would not fit into the architecture of Paris. The tower was only meant to last for the duration of the Fair, but it obviously still stands today.

Today, there is no such aversion2) anymore among Parisians, and one could not imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower. In fact, it has become the most recognizable symbol of the City of Light.

Champs Elysees The Champs Elysees forms the backbone of Paris’s cultural and commercial hub. The long, straight stretch of road is a wide boulevard3), flanked4) with trees, shops, boutiques5) and restaurants. The 3km-long street originated in the 17th century, with the first records indicating it was first formed in 1616. Queen consort6) of France, Italian-born Marie de Medici, ordered an avenue of trees to adorn7) the newly stretched boundaries of the Palais des Tuileries8)’ gardens. From these origins of being a mere boundary, the Champs Elysees soon grew to be an important throughway in Paris. By the end of the 18th century, it had gained a reputation as a fashionable avenue, a reputation it still holds to this day.

The term “Champs Elysees” derives from the Greek mythological story of the Elysian Fields9) where the blessed go after death. With rows of trees and decorated sidewalks, which become illuminated at night, the Champs Elysees has often been referred to as the most beautiful avenue in the world.

The Champs Elysees is also an important area to stage public events in France. There are numerous ceremonies and celebrations in which the French customarily flock to the famous boulevard. The annual Bastille Day10) celebrations are held on the grand avenue each year. French citizens, along with the President of the Republic, gather to celebrate the day in which French partisans11) stormed the famous Bastille prison, the event that triggered the French Revolution.

This large procession, which includes a review of the French troops by the President, takes place each year on July 14th.

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The Béret The simple black French béret has been a popular image and symbol of France for a long time. While many believe it originated among the Basques12), it in fact, likely came from Béarn, a region in Southwest France.

The classical French béret is a brimless, loosefitting, round flat cap made from the finest wool and dyed in either black or navy blue, with a short tab13) on top. Modern French hat designers have slightly modified the classical style, using wool felt14) or acrylic15) and have developed a wide assortment of bright fashionable colours to suit all tastes.

Throughout the early part of the 1900s the béret was very widely worn in France by shepherds, farmers, school boys, painters, and

of course French artists.

The French military béret originated from the wide and floppy16) headdress worn by the Chasseurs alpins (light mountain infantry17)) from its founding in the early 1880s. A tightfitting version was subsequently adopted by French armoured troops towards the end of World War I. During the Second World War the béret became a symbol of French Patriotism.

Today the beret is closely associated with the military, police and special forces units throughout the world. Yet its endearing quality and style makes it still very much a French icon.

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Culture

Culture

The French baguette The French baguette is synonymous with French culture and cuisine all over the world.

This French bread is the most prominent symbol of daily Parisian life. The bread is made from lean dough without the inclusion of preservatives23). In fact, it is against French law to use preservatives in bread. So the baguette is made every morning in bakeries across France.

It is characterized by its long length, its crisp, delicious crust and the slit cuts on top, that are actually made to enable the proper expansion of gases, which in turn are responsible for the crumb24), or the soft inside of the bread.

A freshly baked baguette is simply too mouth-

watering to resist and it is not unusual to see many people sitting on a park bench in Paris in the morning enjoying a fresh baguette with jelly.

The present day baguette is considered to be the descendant of a type of bread from Austria which was appropriately called pain viennois, or Venetian bread, since it was made in Vienna.

Pain viennois was made in deck or steam ovens in Vienna, and were only brought to Paris in the mid nineteenth century. The first French baguette was baked in the same type of oven and there has been no looking back25) for the bagnette since then.

Perfume It was in the 17th century when French alchemists and idealists began to conjure up18) French perfume. Since then, with each century that passes, French perfume gains more and more of a reputation for being classic, universal and timeless. No one makes perfume like the French do. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in their blood. French perfume is the fragrance of artists, dreamers, philosophers, and wanderers. It seems to come naturally to the French to admire things of great beauty or mystery, and then to recreate them in a new and shimmering light.

The heart of the French perfume industry lies in Grasse, a small city on the French Riviera.

Grasse is also considered the capital of the perfume world at large19). It creates some of the most beloved fragrances the world over.

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French perfume masters say the most fundamental ingredient in their fragrances is civet20). This musk from a cat-like animal of the same name is considered by many to be the fragrance of the heart of France. It is a pungent symbol of pride for the country. Two other essential foundations for French perfume are lavender21) and jasmine22).

French perfume is the fragrance of romantics.

It is often given as a gift between lovers, accompanied by roses. Good examples of French perfumes are Chanel Number 5, Lancome, Coty, Shalimar, and Cartier. They are above reprove. No other perfumes in the world compare to these special fragrances from France.

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Interesting Quiz

Interesting Quiz

Interesting Quiz

Are You Grateful?

When you get helps from others, do you thank them face to face, or keep silence and regret afterward? Maybe it is because you are truly thankful for everything your family and friend did for you, but not good at expressing.

1. Grandma knitted you a sweater by hand, but it's puke green and super itchy.

When you see her at your family's New Year's brunch, you

3. You got lots of awesome gifts from your whole family at your huge 13th birthday party. And when exactly did you pop your thank-you notes in the mail?

2. Your BFF gave up her date with her new friend to tutor you for a major Spanish test. How will you make it up to her?

4. Snow day! And—ugh—it's your turn to shovel the driveway. But when you bundle up and head outside, you see your neighbor doing the job for you. What do you say to him?

A. Put it on. It may be ugly and uncomfortable, but Grandma made it for you with love.

B. Say a quick "thank you" with a sweet smile, then ask her to pass the orange juice.

C. Um, you don't do anything. You don't want to lie to the lady, so why acknowledge it at all?

A. By rushing to her new friend's locker first thing tomorrow and telling her about how wonderful she is.

B. By making those double-fudge brownies she's always longing for.

C. By mentioning in passing that you'll return the favor one day, even though tutoring is so not your thing.

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A. The morning after the party, of course.

B. Within two weeks. You got a little busy 'cause school was starting up.

C. Thank-you notes? What thank-you notes?

A. "Oh my god, that is so nice!" Then run inside and make him a huge cup of hot cocoa.

B. "Thanks, but you really didn't have to do that. I'll dig out your driveway during the next storm. Deal?"

C. "Hey, you've got the wrong driveway, buddy!" Then force a laugh as you point out some spots that he missed.

5. Dad's finally painting your room. But he gets only one wall done before going to handle a work crisis. He says he'll finish next week. Till then, you'll be stuck with the wack walls. Your feelings?

A. You totally understand—and just finish up the job yourself. It was nice of him to even offer in the first place.

B. You appreciate his effort—and wait patiently until he's ready to break out the brush again.

C. You're definitely disappointed—and let your dad know it every chance you get.

6. Your BFF has supported you from the sidelines for every single one of your games. Now it's her turn to shine in show choir... which just so happens to be on the same night as your basketball game. What to do?

A. Skip the game. She has been there for you for everything, so you can't dissatisfy her on her grand debut.

B. Explain to her that you'll be there in spirit, but you really can't miss this game. Then rush to her house as soon as you're back and have her give you a note-by-note recapitulation10) of the performance.

C. Shoot her a quick text wishing her luck, then lace up your sneaks. There will always be another choir, right?

7. While you're at school one day, your mom takes it upon herself to completely clean your bedroom. What's your reaction?

A. You give her a hug and let her know how much it means to you, even though you're actually a little unhappy she spent the day going through your stuff.

B. You tell her that it looks great, but that next time you'll gladly clean your room by yourself.

C. You can't quite hide how annoyed you are.

Not only did she invade your privacy, but now you're never going to be able to find anything she put away. Ugh!

Results Mostly As: You are over thankful.

You are very thankful for others’ helps and willing to do something as return. This is good, of course. However, be careful not to be over thankful. Actually, expressing your thanks too much may cause other thoughts (For example, to be regarded as sham). We suggest you ignoring all the beautiful words when you express your thanks. Most of the time, one simple but sincere “thank you” is enough to show your heart. Remember, don’t be too polite!

Mostly Bs: You are moderately thankful.

You are very good at expressing your thanks according to different situations. You not only can show your thanks in a good way, but also know some seem-to-be-boring politeness (Such as sending thankful emails) is not our-of-date. What this expression shows others is “How much you mean to me, and I want you to know.” The best

is, when you are expressing your thanks, you mean it from your heart. So, stick on the way you express your thanks now, and accept the same kind of thanks from others when they give them to you.

Mostly Cs: You are not very thankful.

Maybe you need to change the way you show your thanks! Of course, we are not talking about how to act surprise when others help you, we are talking about how you can express your thanks to others once in a while. If not, your attitude may be regarded as ungrateful or indifferent, and may hurt others’ feelings. Therefore, try to express your thanks on some small things, for instance, when your sister clean your room for you, remember to give her a “Thank you”. In any occasion, as long as you feel the warmth and love from others, please say sincerely: “Thank you.”

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By Leo Wooa

REVIEW Katy Perry Who nearly breaks the record kept by the king of pop? Who uses her graceful voice to create a much more beautiful music world? Who advocates the rights of lesbians and gays by songs? Kate Perry, a girl full of legend, is the one. Now let’s know more about her.

A

bout three months ago, there was a grand music awards ceremony held in Los Angeles. It was 2011 Video Music Awards which is as famous as Grammy Awards and Billboard Music Awards. This year, a female singer won seven nominations, and at last, she won three of them, including the year best video. She beat Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Adele in this term. Her name is Katy Perry.

In 2008, she published her first album One of These Boys.

This album was really a great hit! I Kissed a Girl, the first single, reached No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the first week. It is extremely hard for a singer who just came into music world to attain. A few weeks later, this single finally came to No.1, and remained the honor for seven weeks.

After I Kissed a Girl, there were also some other hot singles in this album, like Hot N’ Cold and U R So Gay. Despite the success of Katy, her parents were not pleased with her. The simple reason was that they could not accept Katy’s thoughts, which you could easily find in her songs.

For example, I Kissed a Girl was written to those girls who were lesbian. And U R So Gay was sent to gays who were often despised in the society . In Katy’s eyes, they are also humans. They also have the right to choose their lovers. So, you can see, Katy Perry have something in common with her opponent, Lady GaGa, who is also a

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supporter to gays and lesbians.

After she issued five singles in her first album, Katy was out of people’s eyes. In a whole-year time, she did not have many news. Instead, another new name, which could be found in countless newspaper’s headlines and fashion magazine’s covers, was well known by millions people around the world. Yes, it is Lady GaGa, exactly! After Just Dance and Poker Face came out, and occupied the No.1 of Billboard Hot 100, many rpeople thought it outstanding, female singer may surpass Katy Perry forever. But they were wrong. At that time, Katy were preparing her second album Teenage Dream.

On May, 29th, 2010, there was a new single came into Billboard Hot 100, and reached No.2. It was California Girls, the first single of Teenage Dream. One week later, it came to No.1, and become the second No.1 single on Billboard of Katy Perry. Following the first single, Teenage Dream (the single), Firework, E.T. and Last Friday Night came to people one by one. In 69-week time, you could always found Katy’s song in Top 10 in Billboard Hot 100. That was really amazing! On the other hand, this album included five No.1 singles. This made Teenage Dream become as great as Michael’s album, Bad. Katy Perry proved her strength to the world again, without

saying anything, just because of the wonderful grades and unbelievable records. Even singers like Mariah Carey and Madonna might not be able to make such a great success in the music world. But, these miracles had not ended yet. In the latest ranking of Billboard Hot 100, the sixth single of this great album have already reached No.10. A lot of fans of Katy were very excited right now. They said they were looking forward to seeing this single occupied No.1 someday. If this wish comes true, Katy Perry’s name will be written into the history of pop music and be remembered by music lovers forever. It means that she will break Michael Jackson’s record of becoming the first singer who created six No.1 singles in just one album.

But, I must say that, Katy still has a long way to go.

Nowadays, in American music world, there are many excellent singers, especially the female, such as Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Adele, and Beyonce.

Katy must pay much more efforts. Then she may be more likely to grow stronger and stronger in her business. Also she must spend more time and attention to her next album so that it will not make people disappointed.

As a matter of fact, my idol is Lady GaGa. But still, I love Katy Perry a lot. I hope Katy can make greater surprises and melodious songs to us.

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Movie Review

Movie Review

Movie Review:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse "Eclipse, a name remembered by every fan of the series of “The Twilight Saga“.How important can the virginity be to a person? What are the stories behind this fascinating movie? Let’s take a review of it!"

T

he price of surrendering your virginity is so high in “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” that even Edward Cullen, the proposed tool of surrender, balks at it. Like him, you will become one of the undead. This is a price that Bella Swan, the virtuous heroine, must be willing to pay. Apparently when you marry a vampire, even such a well-behaved one as Edward, he cannot help biting you.

This romantic dilemma is developed in “Eclipse,” the third installment in this inexhaustible series, by adding a complication that has been building ever since the first.

Jacob Black, the shape-shifting werewolf, is also in love with Bella (Kristen Stewart). Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and his tribe are hot-blooded and never wear shirts, inspiring little coos and ripples of delight in the movie audience.

Here is a fantasy to out-steam any romance novel: A sweet girl is forced to choose between two improbably tall, dark and handsome men who brood and smolder and yearn for her.

Nothing is perfect. There is a problem. The flame-tressed vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) has been active in Seattle as well as initiated new vampires. Victoria

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wants to destroy Bella in revenge for the murder of her boyfriend James. Edward and Jacob both swore to protect the girl they loved, and their fellow vampires and werewolves were prepared to fight against the death in this cause. This was true buddy love.

The movie contains violence and death, but not really very much. For most of its languorous running time, it shows conversations between Bella and Edward or other characters. This will play better if any of them is a clever conversationalist, but their ideas are limited to simplistic renderings of their desires. To be sure, there is a valedictory address, reminding us that these kids have skipped school for three movies now. And Edward has a noble speech in which he tells Bella he doesn’t want to have sex with her until after they’re married. This is selfdenial indeed for a 109-year-old vampire, whose actions add a piquant flavor to the category “confirmed bachelor.”

Of Taylor Lautner’s musculature, and particularly his abs, much has been written. Yes, he has a great build, but I remind you that an abdominal six-pack must be five seconds’ work for a shape-shifter. More impressive is the ability of both Edward and Jacob to regard Bella

with penetrating gazes from dull eyes. If my eyebrows were like Edward’s, the barber trims them and never even asks me first.

There is a problem with the special effects.

Many of the mountain ranges, which disappear into the far distance as increasingly pale peaks, look suspiciously like landscapes painted by that guy on TV who shows you how to paint stuff like that. The mountain forests and lakes are so ancient. We should see Lewis and Clark just arriving. And the werewolves are inexplicable. They look snarly enough, have vicious fangs and are larger than healthy ponies, but when they fall upon Newbies, they never quite seem to get the job done. One werewolf is nearly squeezed to death, and another hears “he has broken bones on one whole side.”

Luckily, repairing the damage is only a night’s work for Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli).

Of Dr. Taylor Lautner’s The problem with the effects is that the wolves musculature, and particularly don’t seem to have physical weight or presence. abs,up much beeninwritten.

Muchhis leads to ahas scene a tent on a mountaintop in the midst of a howling blizzard, when Bella’s teeth start chattering. Obviously it is a job for the hot-blooded Jacob and not the cold-blooded Edward, and as Jacob embraces and warms her, he and Edward has a cloying cringe fest in which Edward admits that if Jacob were not a werewolf, he would probably like him, and then Jacob admits that if Edward were not a vampire — well, no, no, he couldn’t.

Come on, big guy. The two of you are making eye contact. Edward’s been a confirmed bachelor for 109 years. Get in the brokeback spirit.

The audience always watch this film with rapt attention. They obviously have a deep understanding of the story and I didn’t think someone who is not intimately familiar with the earlier installments can make head or tails of the opening scenes. The “Twilight” movies are chaste eroticism to fuel adolescent dreams, and are really about Bella being attracted and titillated and aroused and tempted up to the … very … brink! … of surrender, and then, well, no, no, she shouldn’t.

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My Story

My Story My Louis, My sunshine Names, as many people consider, are full of significances. Every name has its special meaning. Every name has its anecdote. What the connotation inside characters of your name? Let’s go through an experience of an ordinary boy and feel the hope put on your name.

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By Louis He

E

very name has its source, including mine.

My mother told me, when it was Feb, 29. 1996, the day I was born, a drop of sunshine went through the sparkling window.

The sunshine was just like a bunch of golden flowers which gave warmth and luminosity to others.

Born with a special birthday (once every four years) and a drop of brilliant sunshine coming into the room, I was fortunate. So my mother regarded me as a special boy, a valuable gift the goodness gave her. She began thinking about my name as soon as the doctor put me out of her body.

She mused in the bed; she mused all the night; she mused at noon; she mused in the afternoon.

All of a sudden, she remembered the beautiful sunshine in the room. She looked up the word “sunshine” in the dictionary extraordinarily quickly. Three minutes later, she said a word in a low but clear voice: “Louis!” Her face was full of happiness…

Louis is a popular name in France, many kings were named Louis. As Louis was a popular name used by the most of aristocracy in France, so Louis was even used as a gold coin, during the period of France’s revolution (between 1640 and 1793).

It was also the name of some kings of Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria and some other

European countries. From 1800-1920, Louis was popular in USA. It was even the top 5 names in America. Since 1930s, the amount of people who used Louis as their name has been decreasing.

I swear that you have heard of a celebrated brand ----- LV. And LV is short for Louis Vuitton. It is popular and welcomed all over the world. A great of number of women like taking a Louis Vuitton handbag to go shopping or go to a ceremonious party. So you can see Louis represents grace, regal and kindness.

In the history, Louis came from an ancient myth.

Louis was the son of sun. In that period of time, the devil exploited the human-beings cruelly. He made the world in darkness. When Louis heard about this, he made up his mind to help humanbeings, help the world. He always fought against the devil. After a long time, the hard triumph came to Louis. People appreciated Louis because of his bravery. The French regarded the name as a symbol of bravery. And Louis means that the person is cute , brave and aggressive. I want to be a man like that.

Louis, this name is a motive power of mine, and it encourages me to keep going all the time . I would like to be brave. The son of the sun, I will keep going.

Now, a drop of sunshine is going through the window. I feel warm and happy.

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