For Better or Worse, Vol. II

A top student's final essay on the topic of China's development: For Better or Worse... (See Vol. I for a full description.)

For better or worse

Time and tide wait for no man. Everyday I wake up from bed; nothing seems to have changed around me. In fact, everything is changing without my awareness. With the days go by, I am growing up. And then, with the days go by, I am to be aging. With the days go by, my hometown is growing rapidly and so is my motherland, China.

Walk down the lane of my neighborhood, everything has changed a lot. The original school has been modernized. It is well equipped and the playground became more beautiful. The old ancestral has been rebuilt into a new monument a year ago. My neighborhood became more beautiful than it was before.

On the other hand, the people changed too, which I do not think it to be better. To them, everyone is dangerous except their family. If they meet a stranger who just wants to ask the way, they will just answer they don't know because they think the strangers are cheaters. What would you feel if you were treated as a cheater when you just want to know the way? In the past, the adults used to talk with the neighbors when their children were playing after supper in the summer outside of the house. After the neighbors changed into some new ones in recent years, the happy sight no longer exists. Everyone is protecting himself or herself from danger because crime commitment is on a high level. Suspicion is everywhere even at the corner of the road. The whole society is one that is full of suspicion and scarce.

The phenomenon is not only in my own village, but reflects the whole country! With the development of economic nowadays, our country is becoming richer and stronger. Convenient transportation takes people to where they want. Modern equipment makes life easier. Beautiful parks are built to provide people relax places. At the same time, modern homes are equipping whatever they could do in case that burglars break in. People are always paying attention to the people around them, in the eyes full of suspicion and hidden scarce.

Everything is changing, for better or for worse. I don't know what will happen in the future. Perhaps ten years later, the whole society would be modernized highly. The transportation would be more convenient. The cities would become more beautiful. More beautiful parks would be build for relaxing under the protection of the government. But would the safety of society, there would not be so many suspicions among people. Why are there so many crimes? Maybe it due to the unequal of poverty! If everyone were rich, who would like to be a burglar? If everyone is rich is rich, would would be afraid of each other? Unless everyone of the country is rich, there would be no burglarproof bars on the balcony. The houses of we Chinese would not be like bird's cages. If in ten years time, we can change the situation now, the society would be one full of kindness.

As a citizen of China, I have the responsibility to make contribution to the society. But what can I do? It's not a problem I can solve by myself, but depends on the hardworking of the whole nation. I would love to devote myself to the whole nation.

When would the day that everyone treats each other sincerely without suspicion come? I don't know! Who ever knows?

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和平。paul.

For Better or Worse, Vol. I

For my English Writing course, I gave my sophomore students a composition consisting of 3 parts:

A) Talk about the changes in your hometown during the past 10 years. New buildings have been built and the face of your hometown has changed, what about the views of the people? How have they changed? Are these changes for better or for worse?

B) Imagine your hometown 10 years from now. What has changed? Will these changes be for better or worse? Why?

C) Today's students are tomorrow's leaders. What CAN you do to make sure the changes are for better, rather than for worse? WILL you?

Here is a top essay from my one of my writing students. I'll post more later, without my comments or corrections to let them speak for themselves.

To See and Feel the Change - My View to the Development of China

In past 50 years, China has performed great achievement. Especially in the last two decades of reform and opening, its economy has developed as fast as other foriegn countries. The Chinese government system devotes its finance and energy to coping with the natural disasters, problems to modernization, urbanization, communication, transportation, education and science technology and makes tremendous success. To everyone's joy, the standard of people's life is improved and qualified. We can deeply see and feel this change day by day as things in china are moving at a speec it may be proud of. However, at the beginning of the new China's initiating, people still lived a hard life and how to deal with the domestic finance was the main difficulty. Take my parents for instance, they had to do the hard labor work to maintain the big families when they were teenagers. Because of the severe political situation in our country, most of the people, including my parents, lost the chance to recieve the futher education and were forced to work in some demote countryside. Their fates were totoally altered and accordingly they were assign to work in the factories. They have been worked for almost thirty years but they work hard to support not only my education but aslo the family. In spite of this, we lived together in harmony and happily. Compared to htme, I am very fortunate because I, with more and more young people, can fulfill the "college dreams" to recieve the higher education owing to the current education transform wich attributes to the our countries' development.

In my pinion, the development of my hometown is influenced by the economic progress of our country which is made by every Chinese. My hometown Panyu District, Guangzhou, centers on the tertiary industry and plays an important role in economic growth. Since the tertiary industry is the fundamental economic resource in local place, I think our hometown will keep on developming this major industry. Nevertheless, there is not to say everthing is perfect.

With the development of our country, the moral value is collapsed; the corruption of the government leaders is serious; the poverty-stricken areas are still poor and thus the children there cannot attend the school; the population is still increased while the birth control policy has been constituted for many years; the resolution to the pollution is far from easy at the cost of development

I believe it can be done, and I think the government is trying to solve these problems. For a developing country, these won't be corrected a day or a night but I see the future of my hometown and our country optimistically. Meanwhile, I hope that one day I can master English and other knowledge accomlishedly to present China to the Western world and let them know more about our country to show my sincere love and respect to her.

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(Sorry if these posts are long, but I think it best to preserve their inte-gritty.)

Interesting Translation...

To Kevin:

Today, while I was in a coffee shop chatting with some Chinese friends, one asked me, "When will you return to America next?" My answer, in the direct English translation is below:

I to go I 's hometown bright year 5 month because I 's best friend to give he 's girlfriend finger ring. I to go hometown, because, he 's girlfriend finger ring to give, after, she is not girlfriend.... But wife.... I very like to see this thing. That place is I 's friend 's special and to me interest - not right - I think and also special. Friend s is friend s. To see friend 's girlfriend to be Mrs. I 's friend. This place is special.

(Note, there are a few key words that I don't know in Chinese, so I tried my best to use what I know.)

爱。paul.