Dr. Redford B. Williams, who is a psychologist, has found that people angry and cynical are five times more likely to die under than people calm and trusting. Many researchers used to believe that there are a “Type A” people, who are under stress, working too hard, and always in a hurry. Besides, Dr. Meyer Friedman and Dr. Ray Rosenman, the cardiologists in San Francisco, identified that Type A people are twice as likely to suffer heart disease as relaxed men, who are labeled “Type B” people. Williams based his theory on several studies to lawyers. He found that those who received high scores on hostility traits were five times as likely to die before 50 as classmates who were not hostile. Although the personality traits, such as paranoia and social avoidance, are not related to early death directly, they still cause some emotions strong predictors of premature death. Furthermore, it seems that hostile and nonhostile people have different nervous systems and vessel structures. And these features are related to their characters and the reactions to things. Finally, “I think we should forget the Type A assumption because there’s no evidence that the Type A personality is likely to die young, but there’s a lots of evidences that people hostile and angry do.” stated Williams.

     I think this article is very interesting. Dr. Williams considers that the negative emotions, such as cynicism or anger, affect human body. In other words, he thinks that human emotions are related to their physical bodies. In fact, I have heard some kind of this concept in the past. For instance, if you always keep a cheerful mood, you will become young and not to be old soon. And I also believe this theory. Although I don’t have any evidence or theory to support my thinking, I still believe that keeping a cheerful mood can make me not only become young but also healthy. On the other hand, I think the negative emotions indeed damage our health as well. After all, it is not good to be cynical and angry. Therefore, no matter this theory is true or not, we should always be happy and try to avoid generating negative emotions.

    

The shaka sign is a common greeting gesture. Its gesture is to consist of extending the thumb and pinky finger when keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted. And it is said that the shaka sign is derived from Kalili Hamana of Laie. He lost the three middle fingers of his right hand while working at the Kahuku Sugar Mill. Afterward, his unique gesture turned into the shaka.

Because of the University of shaka, it has a plenty of different meanings in the world. For instance, in Hawaii, Hawaiian locals use the shaka for various meanings, like "all right", "cool", "smooth", etc. But in China, the shaka is the sign for number six. By the way, it is similar to American Sign Language letter "Y", where a fist is also made with only the thumb and pinky extended. Due to the shaka sign is not only  simple but also common, it has a plenty of meanings in different fields or countries.

Picture's source: Wiki

      

      On December 8, 2006, Nintendo released the latest video game console in UK. Till March 2007, some video game stores in UK still had a shortage of consoles, which also happened in USA. This famous console is Wii. Maybe you want to ask what makes Wii become so popular and interesting.

       From 2001, as the Nintendo GameCube was first released, Nintendo had the concept involved focusing on a new form of player interaction. They want to innovate the play of the consoles and make a breakthrough in it. Two years later, engineers and designers were brought together to develop the concept further. By 2005, the controller interface had taken form. And in September, Satoru Iwata, the fourth president and CEO of Nintendo, displayed the controller named Wii Remote, whose shape is identical to  "i" in the console's name, "Wii".
 
         

      Wii creates a new type of video game that requires the players' motion. It provides a chance for players to experiment with a certain type of sport or competition without a formal field, which means you can enjoy an exciting tennis match in your living room! In other words, the bigest difference between Wii and other Video consoles is its interactive playing.Besdies, the Wii-Remote does not send signals through wire, but wireless. It is suitable for everyone people in every age. The name “Wii” also refers to “we”, which means it’s acceptable and will be interesting for a group of people consisting of different types. People are fond of this new type of game console a lot due to the entertaining way of play and the convenience. It only spends sixty weeks selling over 20 million Wii, faster than GBA 175 weeks, NDS 180 weeks, and PS2 195 weeks.

 

      The future of this creative video game console is considered brilliant and various. The birth of Wii is regarded to be the NO.7 hot news in the ranking in 2007. It’s assumed that Wii games will be combined with feet motion in the upcoming year. Not only just using your hand but also your feet together when you are taking adventures in the TV monitor.

      Finally, we can say that Wii changes our behavior and way of playing TV console. Does TV only make children turn into couch potatoes? Definitely not! With this innovative console, video games are elevated into next level. They're not only "sports of fingers" anymore. Thanks to Wii, people are having a whole new era of recreation.

 

When it comes to Microsoft, many people always think of the operation system Windows and its founder Bill Gates. But what do you think of when it comes to Apple computer, an outstanding computer brand in the world? I believe that you can think of the operation system Mac and its founder Steve Jobs. We can say that he affects the whole computer’s development because of his creativity.

     We can say that Steve Jobs’ career life is dramatic. In 1976, Steve and another Steve (Steve Wozniak) established the Apple Inc together. And sooner they made the first personal computer Apple I. Afterward, Apple Inc became famous and its business also became strong. At that time, Steve thought that he needed a understanding person to manage the company. So he found a person called John Sculley and asked him to be the Apple’s CEO. But unfortunately, Sculley got the opportunity to control the whole company and relieved Steve of his duties in Apple. And then Steve established the new company- NeXT computer. However, it could be successful as Apple computer. In 1986, Steve spent US$10 million buying the Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from George Lucas, who is an American famous film director. After 10 years, this company became well-known. Finally, Steve returned to Apple because Apple bought NeXT in 1996.

 

                           To be continue….

     In this international world, we can say it is not easy for leader to govern a country. In order to be a successful leader and govern his country efficiently, the leader must have some unique characteristics or powerful skills. And I think of three characteristics, which are perfect discretion, leadership, and moral personality, an ideal leader should own. With these characters, I believe that the leader can govern his country successfully and lead his people to live better.

     The first characteristic I consider that the ideal leader should have is a perfect discretion. I think as a leader, he has to make decision in many times. So he must have a perfect discretion to decide to whether he should do or not. This is very important for a leader because every decision he makes related to our country. At once he makes a wrong decision or goes a wrong way, which would bring a very serious impact to his country. Therefore, the leader should have a very perfect discretion.

     The second characteristic is leadership. I think it is also very important for a leader because he leads a whole country. In other words, he is on behalf of his country. If he has no leadership and look like common or powerless, it will make a bad impression for other country. Besides, a good leadership can make his people feel safe. They may consider that their leader can do everything perfect and bravely leads them to success. So a good leadership can make the leader become more powerful and steady.

     The last characteristic and also most important one I think is moral personality. As what I say former, the leader is on behalf of his country, so his behavior and moral must be very outstanding. If the leader has a very good moral personality, his people will trust him and obey him with their willing. On the contrary, if he has unmoral personality and performs badly, such as scandal and corruption, it will not only make people feel angry, but also affect all the society. As a result of this reason, I think the moral personality is most important characteristic the ideal leader should have.

     In order to become an outstanding leader, the leader should have many characteristics. Because he has to deal with a lot of works and deal with many businesses. And these three characteristics, perfect discretion, leadership, and moral personality, are the necessary to the ideal leader. Apart from the characteristics I mention, he must have other ones. If the leader can have more and more perfect characteristics, those characteristics will help him to become successful and perform well. Therefore, the more excellent characteristics the leader has, the more successful he will be.

*1.      How was…?

2.      What! No meat?

3.      Top holiday spots.

4.      Shopping for clothes.

5.      Come rain or shine.

6.      Mobile madness.

7.      Come fly with me. A day in the life of...

8.      Moving home.

9.      Miaow!

10.  ESL Podcast 351 – Asking for a First Date

11.  The cat story.

12.  Love songs.

*13.  An apple a day ...

14.  Shop less, live more.

*15.  Arghhhh!!

16.  Lights, camera, action!

17.  Jingle bells.

How was…

 

When we want to ask someone about his or her things, such as vacation or weekend, we usually use “How was…” to ask our question. For example, you can ask Nia “How was your trip on summer vacation?” when you want to know her trips. Besides, the following-up question is very important as well. When you like to ask other or get deep information, you can ask the following-up question.

Health

 

     In this podcast, the host asks doctor some questions and superstition. For example, the host asks is it true that an apple a day, keeps a doctor away? And the doctor says that indeed apple can make human body become healthy because of its nutrition, fiber, etc. Apart from solving the questions, doctor also breaks some superstition or misunderstandings. In the end, the host asks doctor how does he maintain health? And the doctor says not only focus on what you eat but also do some exercise.

 

Phobias

 

     This podcast is talk about the fear and phobias. The host interviews Patrick and asks him does he have any phobia? And Patrick says though he doesn’t like the cockroach and spiders, he thinks that is not phobia. Besides, they also talk about something terrible, such as snake, the dark, and dogs. Particularly, Patrick says that the dog can feel the fear and nerves from people. In case of people make them feel like that, maybe they may bite you. As long as you are not afraid of them, the dogs may not bite you.

 

I think the condition that human pollute our global environment is more and more serious. And these destroyed injuries and pollution will make our earth go toward the end in the short time. We produce a lot of things or inventions to let our lives become more convenient. But it seems that we may be destroyed by what we produce. We, human beings, are smart and excellent than other species on the earth. So it is reasonable that we want to become better than other species. Therefore, we start to change the methods we use, our life style we have, and the environment we live. However, when we produce new things, we also produce the pollution. In our original thought, we just want to live better and keep our civilization forever. Unfortunately, we make a big obstacle in front of our way. In other words, the pollution we make with new things may kill us. How tragic it is. And other species are the biggest sufferers. They follow the natural rule to live and don’t make anything bad for earth. But they suffer these injuries with us. They are innocent! And I think the human being is guilty. And now we must face and suffer these pollutions we make.

Finally, we can do some compensation and try to reduce pollution in spite of that we have made a lot of destroy. As long as we want to do something good for earth, we still can make the environment recover. Though we make a lot of faults for everything, including environment, creatures, and all the earth, we merely want to have one wish- we want to live.

*
Here are the reports I read:

Intel Announces New Chip for Small Computers

Yahoo Seeks Way to Block Microsoft

Silicon Valley Turns Its Face to the Sun

          Nowadays, more and more companies are competing with each other. In this competitive society, we all know that to establish a company and make it become successful is not an easy job. So we must have something special or unique in your business if you want to stand out and make a lot of money in competition. And I think Google is a very good example. I reckon maybe you are curious or confused that what leads to success in Google.

 

We can say Google’s success is established on many Internet users. The reason why Google gets success is the ways it earns money. Unlike universal companies and businesses, Google earns money from their customers instead of the user. They offer free service to everyone on Internet. For instance, Google provides free methods and software, such as Gmail and Google Earth, so that they can attract more and more users’ attention. By providing free services and methods, Google becomes famous step by step, and more and more people use their services or surf their websites. Once Google becomes so famous and popular, some companies also notice them. At the same time, Google let these companies and businesses post their advertisement. As a result of its high reputation and surfings, these companies and businesses believe that the advertises they post on Google can be seen and noticed by many people. Finally, Google earns money and becomes powerful. I think it is a very smart and unique way for Google to make money. Because users usually don’t want to pay money for services or software they use. So it is difficult to get money for these users. But businesses and companies have the ability to afford this cost, and they are willing to pay it, too. As a result, Google can make money easier than others. Besides, Internet users also can make money from Google as long as they help Google to give publicity to these advertisements. So Internet users help Google to be successful indeed.

 To sum up, we can say Google's success come from its popularity. Many people use their services and notice them. Apart from keeping on offering their free services, Google bought the notable video website Youtube to add their popularity. Only obtaining more and more users' supports and uses, Google can succeed. And now, there are thousands of people using Google's services. So it's obvious that Google is  very successful, and its promise is very brilliant as well.

                                                                                                        

 

     As a NTHU and FLL student, keeping a nice condition and positive attitude are very important. Only spending more and more time and study harder, we can surpass others and finally become a skillful person. So I think I can't hang out all day long during my winter vacation. I must treasure my vacation and do some meaningful things, including maintaining my English.

 

      I reckon the best way to maintain my English is to keep contact with English every day. In other words, I have to study English every day. At first, I borrowed some English magazines from library. With these magazines, I could spend a few time reading articles and memorizing vocabulary and phrase. And then I reviewed some vocabulary I have copied from Harry Potter. Many of these words are so rare and difficult that I seldom think of or use them. By reviewing these words, I hope I can use these words on my essay or conversation in the future. Besides, I also did the 97 College Entrance Examination English exam. After finishing this exam, I checked the answer and found that I merely miss two questions by accident. I’m happy because last time I have missed eleven. Though this exam is easy than before. I still reckon I have made progress.

 

     Finally, I wish I can make a better perform at the new semester. Because some of my subjects are poor in last semester, I hope I can make them better next time. In order to accomplish this aim, I plan to schedule and increase my studying time. I also expect I can achieve my goal. After all, the phrase said “Well begun is half done.” And I have already had a well beginning.

                                                                                                                                               5 February 2008

Dear Adam:                                   

 

At first, I must say sorry to you because I lose the pen you lend to me. Yesterday, I forgot to bring my pencil box to school. So you lend your gold pen to me generously. But unfortunately, I found it disappeared after going home. I looked for gold pen again and again, and I felt so worried and depressed. All of sudden, I reminded that I have studied my English at library before I went home. Maybe I left the gold pen at library. Therefore, I rushed out my home and headed for library right away, hoping to see the gold pen left on the seat I have ever sat. To my disappointment, the pen was disappeared. Though I went to the serve counter to ask whether someone send this pen to counter or not, the server’s response is no.

 

Adam, I am so sorry. I don’t know how to compensate you. I know that pen is important to you because that is your birthday present your mother gives. Besides, your mother bought the gold pen from America so that I can’t buy it in Taiwan. I think the only way to solve this problem is pay money to you. Because I really can’t think of any possible way to compensate you. I hope you can accept my apology with my true heart. I write this letter with tears so I wish you can accept my sincere apology . Finally, I still beg your pardon and hope you can forgive me.

 

                                                                                                                                      Your best friend  George