Oct. 6 一些不錯的reminder

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, “I love you,” you mean it.
5. When you say, “I am sorry,” look in the person’s eye.
6. Be engaged at least six month before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “why do you want to know?”
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R’s: Respect for yourself; Respect for others; and Responsible for all your actions.
18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when you pick up the phone. The caller will hear you it in your voice.
21. Spent some time alone.

Oct 26. things to put in mind before starting an English studying plan

While often being ask how I practiced English, I decided to organize my past experience in learning and studying English as a review to response these questions. Basically, there are a few parts in learning a language, which are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing; each of these sections would need different or even specialized methods to gradually improve our language fluency from what we can already comprehend. In the following paragraph, I will explain in detail how I intend to study English in order to become a fluent speaker and be able to reach my goal in leaning English.

First of all, ask yourself what is the motive or intention of learning English. It is important for everyone to reflect why we want to study English; answer such as: “everyone else is studying English” is definitely not a reasonable answer. As a matter of fact, if we don’t have a strong intension or goal to target to, as a result, we may easily abandon what we had planned to do, because we simply cannot remember why we are doing so or working hard for. In other words, be sure to ask yourself what our purpose is, to illustrate: is it for preparing some examinations, are you trying to improve speaking and listening skill so that one day you can be able to speak fluently with a foreigner, or are you just trying to enhance your reading ability to be able to read some advanced essay paper. In a word, be sure you know what your notion is in learning English, because it will greatly influence your attitude toward studying it.

Second of all, studying habit plays a major role in the efficiency of our study. Since no one knows better than us about our studying habit, we must be honest of ourselves in mapping out or scheduling our studying plan. On one hand, some people study more efficiently when they have some pressure threatening them that they could spare no effort in anything else, such as a fixed examination date; on the other hand, some people prefer to follow their own pace in planning out their studying scheme, and be able to leisurely make their way toward their goal.

In addition, provide yourself with what you enjoy the most, and then you might be able to get a feel that learning is not such a bad experience but rather a happy one. In my own perspective, it is quite silly to attend some class learning colloquial English. Spoken English is live English! The best way to learn colloquial English is either to go abroad or watch a movie and listen to what they speak of. This is definitely better than repeating sente

Oct 15. notes from: Sex & the City

Alphabetically? 直說嗎? 按照步驟/時間順序娓娓道來嗎?

When things come too easy, it was suspected. Did it have to get complicated before we believe it for real? We were raised to believe the course of true love never run smoothly, there always has to be some obstacles in act two before you can live happily ever after in act three. But what happens when obstacles aren’t there? Do we need drama to make a relationship work?

There aren’t anymore rules anymore. Choices are endless & apparently thing ….
But is it possible that we got so spoil by choices that we are unable to make one. That a part of us knew once we choice something, one man, one great apartment or one amazing job, another option goes away. Are we a generation of women who can’t just choice one from column A. Do we have too much to handle or was Samantha right? Can we have it all?


You are cheating on me again? (!! 準備坦白…)
Because I smell something here! (不會吧? Mr. big?)
Are you smoking again? (ㄜ…原來你是指這個…)Ya…(承認)
Are you planning to quit?
(很認真/誠懇的點頭.旁白:真的!不論是抽煙或是對Mr. big的感情都是,要完完全全的戒掉!!)

Oct. 3 志工的分享

這是一位志工所分享的話...

I sleep and dreamed that life was a joy.
I woke and saw that life was but services.
I served and understood that service was the joy.


--英語志工社 老師提供

Oct.1 藝術是稍息，不是立正

藝術是稍息，不是立正

舞蹈藝術的欣賞入門 林懷民 口述 / 樊雯 整理
關於舞蹈藝術的欣賞入門，我想說的是，第一：藝術是稍息，不是立正；第二：舞蹈拙於敘事而長於抒情，那甚至是像「詩」一般的抒情，而不是小說或散文。

舞蹈，是一個跳舞的人本能的作為，是從人的身體引發出來的藝術，觀眾得到的，就是那發乎本能的能量，我們要首先從純然的感官上面去感覺這件事情，只要能夠有感覺，那就是懂了。即使到達最高級的觀舞境界，仍然脫離不了這一層不可言喻的，從視覺上、聽覺上、動感上去得到的絕然感應或感動。

讓自己很素樸地去面對表演的舞台，在劇院中做個「快樂大眾」，這是好觀眾的第一步。在台灣，教育一向著重文字思考，結果我們大家一看到新鮮事物先要急著問：「這代表什麼意義？」如果用這樣的習慣來看舞，一面看跳舞，還要一面看圖說話，忙著拼湊故事情節，挖掘象徵隱喻，會很辛苦。那些電視機陪伴著長大的新新人類，因為玩電動，玩電腦，看著MTV成長，閱讀圖像的能力甚至於強過文字，在劇場裡就不會有這麼多的包袱，反而可以訴諸本能的感官，享受舞蹈藝術帶來的樂趣。

放鬆心情，打開心胸，讓舞蹈對你說話，再來才是要如何能「懂」的問題，我願意稱呼這類想「懂」的觀眾為「美食家」。要做為一個觀賞舞蹈的饕客，不二法門就是多看。想一想，就連文字那樣可以慢慢閱讀的東西，我們都必須反覆閱讀、背誦，才能懂得字裡行間的意義，更不用說舞蹈這麼一個瞬間即逝的藝術，一般人要怎麼一望而盡呢？特別是舞蹈往往有多人同時演出，看到了這個就看不到那個；看一次，可能得到一個單一的感覺，卻絕對掌握不到全貌，為了能掌握得更多，就只有不斷地反覆地多看。

講個例子，有許多年輕的朋友常說他們看不懂京劇。可是以前在台北國軍文藝活動中心，常聚集著很多老先生，年紀很大，大部分從軍中退役，受的教育只有小學程度，但可從來沒有聽過他們說看不懂京劇。他們永遠在應該叫好的時候叫好，偶而還偷閒到活動中心外頭抽根煙，只在好段子上演的時候才進場，沒有字幕輔助，一樣懂得欣賞。為什麼？不過是長期耳濡目染，看到熟透罷了。

然而仍有些有心的觀眾，想更上一層樓，想修持自己成為舞蹈「評論家」，那就必須：第一、把基本知識建立起來；第二、訓練自己眼睛可以掌握得更多而且更快。一個「評論家」要同時在感官與知識上擁有非常淵博的涉獵，而且這樣的涉獵不單單只是在舞蹈方面，而是關乎整個藝術，所有的人文素養。我知道國外有些舞評家看完一場，覺得自己掌握得還不夠，就再看一場，才敢落筆。

正因為評論是這樣一件工程浩大的修練，所以我認為沒準備好，又想兼做「評論家」的觀眾往往容易成為最不健康的觀眾。在觀舞的過程中，這樣的觀眾會有很多的心理掙扎，腦海中不斷地做著各種辨解和評斷的工作。他在對舞蹈本身消化還不夠的時候，就急著想把東西全部拆解分析，很辛苦。如果觀眾抱持這種心態觀舞，在本身沒有足夠基礎的情況下，他的觀舞經驗就會充滿了緊張．如果舞作不是順著他的理解來走，不是順著他所崇拜的主義來進行，他就會還遇到很大的挫折。

劇場應該是一個讓人稍息的地方，在劇場中體驗一個現實生活中沒有經歷過的經驗，會讓人感到快樂，所以你若是想當一個好觀眾，我的建議是：「珍惜那個經驗。」

面對每一個令你感動的經驗。不是去面對學問或是知識。看到自己喜歡的作品。就再去看一次，常常去看，你就會「知道」。我自己是這麼做的；大部分的時候不太看節目單，看演出的時候不覺得要去拼命，放鬆地讓演出左右我的呼吸與肌肉狀態，在神奇的地方起雞皮疙瘩，偶爾打個盹也不以為意。往往看到一個讓我感覺很好的演出之後，我總慢慢離開劇院，走到沒有人的角落，讓觀賞的感覺沉澱下來；不急著與朋友討論，也不太去思考，更不急著聲嘶力竭地喊叫計程車，生怕感覺因此而粉碎、蒸發掉。因為「資料」保存完好的緣故，等過了一兩天，或是兩三年，那個美好的經驗自然會在反芻過後跑出來。

把看舞當成生活中的一個寄託，就像有些人愛唱卡拉OK，有些人愛上酒廊，有些人愛讀書，有些人愛為一首交響樂做十五種CD比較，讓舞蹈成為生活中快樂與趣味的泉源，然後因為樂趣引發你想去懂得更多，而去讀書，去聽演講，去跟人討論，廣泛接觸，那都是非常好的。這種事要讓它順其自然，如果馬上要知道意義、要懂、要成為「評論家」，就已經離開單純的觀舞這個事情了。

我們的祖母幾時抱怨過聽不懂歌仔戲？歌仔戲就活在她們的生活裡。親近藝術，讓它活在你的生活裡，用心去感覺、親近它，如此而已。

節錄轉載自藝類雜誌一九九八年六月號

Oct. 1 The college years are the best time in a person’s life

“The college years are the best time in a person’s life.” Do you agree or disagree?

Most of us may be familiar with hearing this:” oh, college were the best time of my life!”. Speaking only for myself, I cannot be sure whether they were right or wrong since I am now experiencing my college school life right now. But looking back though the past of my life, there sure were no life so full of chances as well as choices that I am able to make decision for myself. Thus, I would say, college years are the best years in my twenty years of life time. In the following paragraph, I will tell you more about why I have enjoyed it so much so far.

First of all, it is to be in college that most students get to choose what they wish to study. As a matter of fact, it is only when we are studying those which we are interested in makes us feel the happiness in studying. For instance, after I get the chance to approach Economics, I soon fell in love with it, and gain much happiness figuring out what Keynes theory is about. Moreover, there is no need to be force to study those subjects that I had no interest in. The simple happiness in digging into the subjects is definitely great!

Secondly, participating in clubs and meeting people who share the same interest make my college life even more splendid. To illustrate, joining the choir gives me the chance to sing with those who also likes to sing, and moreover enjoying the time when harmony surrounded us. In addition, by share the same interest, I get to attend many choir performances with my club members and share feelings with them after the performance was over. From my personal experience in joining the choir, I got myself quite a few intimate friends.

Thirdly, it is in college that for most Taiwaness students are allowed to have boyfriend or girlfriend by their parents. As a matter of fact, what could be more romantic comparing to falling in love? I believe this is why many people cherish the college years’ memory of their life since it is the time when their heart was ever being touched.

Gathering up interesting subjects, wonderful club friends and a romantic love in my present life right now has definitely made these years the high time of my life. I believe there will not be any year similar to my college life which I am enjoying right now.