The Seven-Year Itch - (3) - Final Version

 

Content:4.5

Organization:4.5

Grammar/Sentence Structure:3.0

Diction/Spelling:3.0

Example/Form:2.0

Total Score:17.0

 
  The term seven- year itch that comes from a famous movie called “The Seven Year Itch” in that the main actor, Tom faced the difficulties in his marriage that he was >by being attracted by the >his beautiful neighbor and imagined that he had an affair. After the movie became famous, also, the term seven- year itch became well-known. The seven- year itch means that when people have been married for about seven years, they start to feel that the marriage is plain and boring, so they may want a passionate relationship, new sexual experience, and even have an affair. There are different opinions of the seven- year itch - some people consider that the itch is normal and even have >ing an affair is normal, too. On the contrary, some people cannot accept the itch and needless to say >not mention to have an affair.

  In tradition, the Asia >Asians and most people in the country which belong to Catholicism or Christianity believe that a marriage should at least maintain a whole life to keep its sanctity.

  However, people have become more open-minded in today’s society. Lots of factors-such as financial stress, argument and affairs-might lead people to their divorce. Each of us is a free individual, but sometimes we are bound by the marriage; besides a large amount of alimony must be paid when we finally get our divorce done. For those reasons, I am strongly against an everlasting marriage since most people are like the character Tom Ewell in the movie “The seven-year itch” We all have a difficult time staying in clam.

  Take my birthing place Taiwan for an example. According to a statistics given out by Ministry of the Interior, the country that owns >has the highest divorce rate in Asia and happens to be the top 4 around >of the world in 2013 is Taiwan. In Taiwan, the divorce rate this year has reached a new high to 47 percents. As an average, one would be divorced in each of the two couples, and one would be divorced every ten minutes. A British research showed that a marriage goes stale after 10 years and 11 months in England. The survey said that after a decade of marriage the romance has often died and partners have become fed up with their daily routines. 10-year marriage is much longer than the marriage in other countries, even longer than the marriage in Taiwan. Most of the people around >in the world gradually lose the energy to complete their marriage.

  In Germany, a politician Gabriele Pauli told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto. She wanted marriage to expire after seven years. "The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years." After the seven-year mark, options for dissolution or renewal should be available to couples, she noted. This suggestion is fairly suitable for Taiwan which has the highest rate of divorce in Asia. Needless to say that the property and the child’s custody of a couple should be well arranged before they get marry >ied. Our government must also execute some policies that back up citizens in order to create an ideal society.

  As mentioned above, the divorce rate has become higher in Taiwan in recent years, and the viewpoint of the German politician toward a marriage, the two supports indicate that people can get divorced to make their life happy when there are problems which are difficult to be solved between husband and wife. Also, everyone is supposed to have the seven- year itch because of the unhappy and plain marriage. In order to make people live happily, when a marriage faces its problems and difficulties that never be overcome, people should be brave to get away from it, and not try to maintain the surface of peace. In addition, do not be shamed to get divorced because it is normal in modern world.

The Contrast Between Chinese And German - (3) - Final Version

Content:4.0

Organization:4.0

Grammar/Sentence Structure:3.0

Diction/Spelling:3.0

Example/Form:2.0

Total Score:16.0

  Since I began to learn German, I have gradually realized the vastly difference between Chinese and German in many dimensions through myself and German teacher’s sayings. I am going to discuss the three discrepancies which are the most obvious and related to college students.

  Eating is the most consequential >material thing that supports human being to live. In Chinese, there are countless kinds of dishes, such as fried spring rolls, dumplings, pork chop with sweet and sour sauce, fried rice and fried noodles, etc., just like numerous and dense stars in the murky night. Likewise, there are also various ways to cook, for example, poach, pan-fry, stir-fry, steam, stew, braise…and so on. Different ways of cooking create a variety of Chinese delicacies. By contrast, in Germany there are not as many dishes as in Chinese. German’s staple diets are salads, potatoes, and wheaten food, such as bread and noodles. A basket of bread, a dish of meat with mashed potato or French fries, a bowl of soup and a glass of drink are the most abundant meal in a day, and normally it is at dinner. More often than not, Germans only eat a sausage with bread as their lunch. Except lunch or dinner, Germans have cold food at >for the rest of meals; unlike above >Germans, Chinese are used to having hot food at each meal. Appearance is the most crucial and immediate factor to judge a human at first. In Chinese, beyond half of the students pay much attention on >to dressing, hair style, and make-up. Therefore, each student has their own fashion style. In the past few years, the trend of fashion was influenced by Japan and Korea. Obviously, no matter boys or girls in Taiwan, they all follow the foreign steps of fashion. However, in German, most of the students are not that concerned about dressing. A T-shirt, jeans, and a normal pair of sport shoes are fairly common on a German student. It does not mean that German student do not care about “fashion”. At the same time, we can also discover an interesting phenomenon - German adolescents do not like to have fringe, no matter full fringe or side fringe, because they think having fringe is too childish and immature. They would rather just have a simple hair style in order to look even riper >more mature and wiser than cut a fringe so as to look much younger and cuter. It is far from Chinese teenagers’ general notions. When Chinese mention the most popular amusements, the first activities that come to their minds are indoor distractions >attraction, such like shopping, going karaoke, hanging out with friends, going to watch movie, tasting diverse kinds of dainties together…Although more and more people gradually love to go outing, mass of people would still like to stay indoor instead. Nevertheless, German people are fond of going to the beach, woods or riverside to enjoy the scene of nature. Outdoor pastimes – playing soccer, rowing a boat, driving a bike and lying on the grass to enjoy the genial sunshine are their usual recreations in their leisure time. On the other hand, people in Germany also enjoy being alone. They call those people who stays alone “ein Einzelgänger”. On opposite >the contrary, Chinese people are always used >using to do everything together.

  Those national habitual behaviors of these two nations have their own values of existence. There are no “better” or “worse” nations. When we face the dissimilarities, we should esteem >respect and tolerate them. Through continuing interaction, we can absorb their advantages and get out >rid of our shortcomings by make our country, our society and the whole citizens scale the heights and arrive at the state of bliss.

The Seven-Year Itch

   The term seven- year itch that comes from a famous movie called “The Seven Year Itch” that the main actor, Tom faced the difficulties in his marriage that he was attracted by the beautiful neighbor and imagined that he had an affair. After the movie became famous, also, the term seven- year itch became well-known. The seven- year itch means that when people married about seven years, they start to feel that the marriage is plain and boring, so they may want a passionate relationship, new sexual experience, and even have an affair. There are different opinions of the seven- year itch - some people consider that the itch is normal and even have an affair is normal, too. On the contrary, some people cannot accept the itch and needless to say to have an affair.

  In tradition, the Asia and most people in the country which belong to Catholicism or Christianity believe that a marriage should at least maintain a whole life to keep its sanctity.

  However, people have become more open-minded in today’s society. Lots of factors-such as financial stress, argument and affairs-might lead people to their divorce. Each of us is a free individual, but sometimes we are bound by the marriage, besides a large amount of alimony must be paid when we finally get our divorce done. For those reasons, I am strongly against an everlasting marriage since most people are like the character Tom Ewell in the movie “The seven-year itch” We all have a difficult time staying in clam.

  Take my birthing place Taiwan for an example. According to a statistics given out by Ministry of the Interior, the country that owns the highest divorce rate in Asia and happens to be the top 4 around the world in 2013 is Taiwan. In Taiwan, the divorce rate this year has reached a new high to 47 percents. As an average, one would be divorced in each of the two couples, and one would be divorced every ten minutes. A British research showed that a marriage goes stale after 10 years and 11 months in England. The survey said that after a decade of marriage the romance has often died and partners have become fed up with their daily routine. 10-year marriage is much longer than the marriage in other countries, even longer than the marriage in Taiwan. Most of the people around the world gradually lose the energy to complete their marriage.

  In Germany, a politician Gabriele Pauli told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto. She wanted marriage to expire after seven years. "The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years." After the seven-year mark, options for dissolution or renewal should be available to couples, she noted. This suggestion is fairly suitable for Taiwan which has the highest rate of divorce in Asia. Needless to say that the property and the child’s custody of a couple should be well arranged before they get marry. Our government must also execute some policies that back up citizens in order to create an ideal society.

  As mentioned above, the divorce rate has become higher in Taiwan in recent years, and the viewpoint of the German politician toward a marriage, the two supports indicate that people can get divorced to make their life happy when there are problems which difficult to be solved between husband and wife. Also, everyone is supposed to have the seven- year itch because of the unhappy and plain marriage. In order to make people live happily, when a marriage faces its problems and difficulties that never be overcome, people should be brave to get away from it, and not try to maintain the surface of peace. In addition, do not be shame to get divorced because it is normal in modern world.

The Definition of First Love

   Some people believe that fist love means that someone must be in the first relationship with his/her lovers; on the contrary, other people believe that it means someone has a crush on his/her lover at the first time in his/her life, and no matter whether the lover loves him/her or not. According to the Urban Dictionary, the words “first love” means “you fall in love with the first person you ever had truly feelings for. It does not matter if it happened when you were six, or sixty-six. It also does not matter if he or she loved you back. All those matters are that at one point in time, he or she was the first person you ever loved and wanted to be with.”
   Take my college friend Alice for an example; she was also my classmate in senior high school. She fell in love with a cold boy in the next class when she was a freshman in senior high school. She always went to his classroom chatting with someone in order to have a glance at him, joined the same math coaching school with the boy for the sake of being in the narrow classroom with him and simultaneously studying, almost every day after school stayed at the playground to watch him basketball training. All her conversations with me were about “the boy”, such as, “What does the boy wear today?”, “How many times do I see him today?”, and “Why was he late for school this morning?” Her mood was up and down with the boy’s each action and saying; therefore, her whole life was occupied with the boy. She dreamed of being with him one day; for that, she could really do everything for him then. Nevertheless, he gave her a cold shoulder all the time. At the beginning, she hid her affection secretly, but before the graduation ceremony she plucked up her huge courage to confess her feelings to him. Little did her know that he regarded her as an invisible person and even said something extremely cruel to my pitiful and faithful friend just because of her homely and unattractive appearance. Needless to say, she broke down and wept at first, and then she turned into rage. Nowadays the deep, miserable, and sorrowful recollections have gradually faded from her memories, and I do not hear her talking anything about “the boy” anymore. Although she was once hurt by the heartless boy mercilessly, maybe she still loves him up to now; because she sometimes yet searches the information about the boy.
   The first love is you are in love with one person that you will never forget, and he/she will leave in the bottom of your heart forever. At the moment you do not care about what you will lose in this cannot-regret relationship. Your first love will be the one who will be the hardest to get over, the one that can still make you smile even when you have the worst day ever, and the one who after hurting you, and you will still love them back. Your first love never leaves from your mind.

Recipe – Green papaya salad (Som Tam or Som Tum) (2) - Final Version

Content:4.0
Organization:4.0

Grammar/Sentence Structure:3.0

Diction/Spelling:3.0

Example/Form:2.0

Total Score:16.0
 

INTRODUCTION

    Green papaya salad is the most popular dish in Thailand according to my Thai aunt’s sayings. It is a Northeastern food that is eaten with sticky rice and other Northeastern dishes such as laab, beef salad and bamboo shoot salad. In the meanwhile, you can also take it for dessert even not in meal. People of all ages and sexes accept it. The two most popular types of green papaya salad are dried shrimp and salted crab. Green papaya salad with dried shrimp and peanuts is called som tum thai. The green papaya salad with salted crab is called som tum pbooh. The majority of the ingredients are the same. My mother usually makes it with dried shrimp cause >because of the special smell of dried shrimp.

THE PREPARATION

    There are many ingredients that need to be prepared, including five cherry tomatoes, one tablespoon cut dried shrimps, two chili peppers, one and one half tablespoons of fish sauce, one clove garlic, a green papaya without shredded, one tablespoon lime juice, one and one >a half tablespoons of sugar, and two tablespoons of peanuts. This recipe is for two servings. The preparation will take you nearly ten minutes, but the preparation including the whole steps only needs about twenty minutes.

THE STEPS

    There are some steps that we can follow to do the dish. If you can buy a pre-shredded papaya, that is great because you can omit this step. First, you need to use a sharp knife to peel the green papaya, and slice it in half and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Then you cut the papaya lengthwise to make long strips or use the largest grater you have, grate the papaya, or you can use a potato peeler to make thin and ribbon-like strips. When you finish it, place it in a bowl. Second, you add a clove of garlic in another bowl, and pound with the pestle a few times to mash them; it will increase the dish’s taste. Third, you add chili peppers and crush them just enough to release the hotness, unless you want your salad really hot. Then, you add a part of the shredded green papaya, it will help to mix the garlic and chilies; and pound some more. However, you cannot pound the papaya too hard to make it soaked, it should be crunchy instead. Next, you add the sugar and add fish sauce; then pound some more again to mix the sugar and the sauce with other ingredients. For a vegetarian, you can omit the dried shrimps and use soy sauce instead of fish sauce. At the same time, you have to make sure everything in the bowl is well mixed; if not, pound some more to make it mix well. Soon, you add the half cherry tomatoes, and pound a few times to get the juice out of the tomatoes and let the juice mix with other ingredients. Now you add the lime juice and the chopped dried shrimps, and you need to make sure the shrimps are well mixed with the sauce. However, some people use tamarind in place of lime. At last step, you add the rest of the shredded green papaya and the peanuts. However, if you prefer not to have the peanuts without, then it can be omitted. This dish is an individual dish that you will find out your unique taste. Finally, you need to pound all the ingredients at least >at last to make sure that they are well mixed while mixing with a spoon. There is a key point that you must remember is that you cannot pound the papaya too hard to make it soggy, because it should be crunchy. When you finish all the steps, you can dish this green papaya salad into a plate. Then it is the delicious green papaya salad.

THE REFLECTION

    Although the whole processes are simple and does not take so much time, the preparation for the ingredients is troublesome and time-consuming. Every time my mother makes this dish, she always needs many family members help her to cut the green papayas into ribbon-like strips. The affection for each family member unconsciously is warmed up and the relationship between each other are >is getting closer in a comfortable and pleasant family atmosphere. Take a mouthful of green papaya salad in a hot summer; the sour, sweet but a bit spicy taste will totally refresh you and make you feel just like in Thailand.

The Contrast Between Chinese And German - (2)

  Since I began to learn German, I have gradually realized the vastly difference between Chinese and German in many dimensions through myself and German teacher’s sayings. I am going to discuss the three discrepancies which are the most obvious and related to college students.

  Eating is the most consequential thing that supports human being to live. In Chinese, there are countless kinds of dishes, such as fried spring rolls, dumplings, pork chop with sweet and sour sauce, fried rice and fried noodles…etc., just like numerous and dense stars in the murky night. Likewise, there are also various ways to cook, for example, poach, pan-fry, stir-fry, steam, stew, braise…and so on. Different ways of cooking create variety of Chinese delicacies. By contrast, in Germany there are not as many dishes as in Chinese. German’s staple diets are salads, potatoes, and wheaten food, such as bread and noodles. A basket of bread, a dish of meat with mashed potato or French fries, a bowl of soup and a glass of drink are the most abundant meal in a day, and normally it is at dinner. More often than not, Germans only eat a sausage with bread as their lunch. Except lunch or dinner, Germans have cold food at the rest meals; unlike above, Chinese are used to have hot food at each meal. Appearance is the most crucial and immediate factor to judge a human at first. In Chinese, beyond half of the students pay much attention on dressing, hair style, and make-up. Therefore, each student has their own fashion style. In the past few years, the trend of fashion was influenced by Japan and Korea. Obviously, no matter boys or girls in Taiwan, they all follow the foreign steps of fashion. However, in German, most of the students are not that concerned about dressing. A T-shirt, jeans, and a normal pair of sport shoes are fairly common on a German student. It does not mean that German student do not care about “fashion”. At the same time, we can also discover an interesting phenomenon - German adolescents do not like to have fringe, no matter full fringe or side fringe, because they think having fringe is too childish and immature. They would rather just have a simple hair style in order to look even riper and wiser than cut a fringe so as to look much younger and cuter. It is far from Chinese teenagers’ general notions. When Chinese mention the most popular amusements, the first activities that come to their minds are indoor distractions, such like shopping, going karaoke, hanging out with friends, going to watch movie, tasting diverse kinds of dainties together…Although more and more people gradually love to go outing, mass of people would still like to stay indoor instead. Nevertheless, German people are fond of going to the beach, woods or riverside to enjoy the scene of nature. Outdoor pastimes – playing soccer, rowing a boat, driving a bike and lying on the grass to enjoy the genial sunshine are their usual recreations in their leisure time. On the other hand, people in Germany also enjoy being alone. They call those people who stays alone “ein Einzelgänger”. On opposite, Chinese people are always used to do everything together.

  Those national habitual behaviors of these two nations have their own value of existence. There are no “better” or “worse” nation. When we face the dissimilarities, we should esteem and tolerate them. Through continuing interaction, we can absorb their advantages and get out of our shortcomings. Make our country, our society and the whole citizens scale the heights and arrive at the state of bliss.

The Contrast Between Chinese And German

  Since I began to learn German, I have gradually realized the vastly difference between Chinese and German in many dimension through myself and German teacher’s sayings. I am going to discuss the three things which are the most obvious and related to college students.

  Eating is the most important thing that supports human being to live. In Chinese, there are countless kinds of dishes, such as fried spring rolls, dumplings, pork chop with sweet and sour sauce, fried rice and fried noodles…etc, just like numerous and dense stars in the dark night. Likewise, there are also various ways to cook, for example, poach, pan-fry, stir-fry, steam, stew, braise…and so on. Different ways of cooking create variety of Chinese delicacies. By contrast, in Germany there are not as many dishes as in Chinese. German’s staple diets are salads, potatoes, and wheaten food, such as bread, noodles. A basket of bread, a dish of meat with mashed potato or French fries, a bowl of soup and a glass of drink are the most abundant meal in a day, and normally it is at dinner. More often than not, Germans only eat a sausage with bread as their lunch. Except lunch or dinner, Germans have cold food at the rest meals; unlike above, Chinese are used to have hot food at each meal. Appearance is the most crucial factor to judge a human at first. In Chinese, almost half of the students pay much attention on dressing, hair style, and make-up. Therefore, each student has their own fashion style. In the past few years, the trend of fashion is influenced by Japan and Korea. Obviously, no matter boys or girls in Taiwan, they all follow the foreign steps of fashion. However, in German, most of the students are not that concerned about dressing. A T-shirt, jeans, and a normal pair of sport shoes are fairly common on a German student. It does not mean that German student do not care about “fashion”. At the same time, we can also discover an interesting phenomenon - German adolescents do not like to have fringe, no matter full fringe or side fringe, because they think having fringe is too childish and unstaid. They would rather just have a simple hair style in order to look more mature and wiser than cut a fringe so as to look much younger and cuter. It is far from Chinese teenagers’ general notion. When Chinese mention the commonest amusement, most of the activities that come to their minds are indoor, such like shopping, going karaoke, hanging out with friends, going to watch movie, eating together…Although more and more people gradually love to go outing, mass of people still would like to stay indoor instead. Chinese people are always used to do everything together. Nevertheless, German people are fond of going to the beach, woods or riverside to enjoy the scene of nature. Outdoor pastimes – playing soccer, rowing a boat, driving a bike or lying on the grass to enjoy the genial sunshine are their usual recreations in their leisure time. People in Germany also enjoy being alone. They call those people who always stay alone “Einzelgänger”.

  Those national habitual behaviors of these two nations have their own value of existence. There are no “better” or “worse” nation. When we face the dissimilarity, we should esteem and tolerate it. Through continuing interaction, we can absorb their advantages and get out of our shortcomings. Make our country, our society and whole citizens scale the heights.