Small Wonders

Anderw Marshall, in his article "Small Wonders", provided a extensively discussion about the causation to prodigies. He cited some expert's point of view to argue that sometimes the environment might be a issue to affect children's learning ability, but the functioning of the brain's neural circuitry that appear to differentiate prodigies from their ordinary peers. In American psychologist Michael O'Boyle's research, he discoveried that prodigies tend to have more metabolic activity in the right side of their brains and hightened activity in the frontal lobes. These characteristics make these children manage complex things more easily and able to focus better. Until now, scientists aren't sure that the prodigies are gifted by genetic accident to be mentally more efficient or just are born different. The author also pointed out that there is no inborn talent for any specific ability and the role adopted by parents is vital. Because most prodigies are stimulating by the environment in which their parents create for them. At the end, the author argue that prodigies should not put away childish things simply because they perform as adults. They should be treated as other children and give them more time to enjoy their childhood.

More Senior Citizens, Fewer kids

In this article, the author pointed out that the trend of aging population in Taiwan will become a serious problem if there is no adequate policy or supporting system to deal with. In Taiwan, lower birth rate and long life span lead to a situation that young peolpe should take more responsibility to take care the huge aging population. Also, the government should spend more money on the health care system to support the need for the graying people.

Because the trend toward fewer children and more senior citizens is expected to continue, there are lots stakeholders will be affected by this situation. First, the health care system will shift to take care of the old population in place of take care the young people. Second, the taxpayers will carry a heavy burden if there are no enough young men to support the old people. Third, The army can not recruit enough soldiers to protect our country if there is no young men to hired. Fourth, the education system will suffer a big change if the number of students is keeping decreased. Teachers might lose their jobs and the school might not enroll enough new students. At the last, the entertainment industries will also face a big change. These companies will put their focus on the old people and design something new to satisfy them.

I think if it is a big problem, we should do something to adjust this population trend. The government should take some effective policies to encourge couples to have more children, and prepare well to face the inevitable population trend in several years later. No matter what consequences will we meet, I think well preparation is always the best solution.

The End of Suburbia

In this documentary, the director claimed that oil depletion and energy crisis might make a big change to the suburbia life in america. About 50 years ago, accorging to the cheap oil price and rapidly growth of auto industy and wholesale stores, people in America can afford the expense to live in the suburban area to avoid the terrible city life and can drive to anywhere they want by car. Somwhow, the lifestyle in suburbia reflects some kinds of American Dream. People can live in a spacious house in nice neighborhood , own a large garage and garden, and buy anything they need in the large wholesale store. They used to the lifestyle and never think about whether the environment will change or not. Nowdays, the situation is totally different. The whole world is facing a energy problem and shortage of fossil fuels, and there will not be enough oil to support the extravagant lifestyle.

The director cited some reasons to support his claim. First, the world had been encountered the oil peak situation and inevitable decline of oil energy. In this documentary, it cited lots expert and scientists to support this argument. Second, because American people who live in suburbia rely on cars heavily. If there is no cheap oil to support their transportation need, it will cause a big problem to the life in suburbia. We can tell the issue from the daily life of the suburbia civilian. Peolpe who live in suburbia need drive cars to buy anything they need or to go to work or school. If they can't afford the oil price, they will not be able to live in suburbia any longer.

In this documentary, the director also cited some counter-argument to this issue. Some people might claim there will be other alternative energy to replace the oil energy, like bio fuel. But the director argue that bio fuel will not be able to replace the oil energy. Because people need fertilizer and some chemical peticide to cultivate the corn or other plants to produce the bio-fuel. But the original source to produce the fertilizer and chemical pesticide is the crude oil. So we just use oil energy to produce other energy, and that is why we can't solve the energy problem in this way. Some people claim that hydrogen can produce clean energy by advanced technology, but it still not been successfully implemented yet until now. The energy generation process is too complicated and too expensive. It also can not fully replace the oil energy in a short time. Some people argue that the estimate about the crude oil in the world is not accurate. But the director cited other expert and scientist's opinion to support the argument that the world is really facing a energy crisis and should prepare to face the situation or it might cause a great panic to the economy.

Right now, the director indicated that some people start to build a new lifestyle different to the suburbia. They live in the urban area and walking distance to the downtown. They don't rely on cars heavily and also avoid consuming too much oil energy in daily life. People also start to realize that the energy is limited and learn to save energy and prepare to face this problem. If American don't take any action to deal with this situation, they will be shocked by the suddenly energy crisis which they never think of before.

mixed marriages

Q:Discuss whether you think mixed marriages are good or bad. If you were going to do research on mixed marriages, what factors would you investigate?

Nowdays, we can reach and know lots of people outside our country via the internet or through overseas travel. People are also more open to developing friendship with different culture or with different language. In accordance with the globalization and culture change, we feel more comfortable to have some foreigners as our friends, even to become our spouses.

I think it might not be easy to maintain a mix marriage if they were growing up in quit different societies. In the beginning, The exotic relationship might be novelty to them and make them feel more excited about the relationship. But in the end, especially after they get married, they will encounter lots of problems and culture shock which they had never thought about before. I think there is something good and also somthing bad to the mixed marriage. The good thing is that they will have more broader view about the world and feel more comfortable with the diversity of people. It is not easy for people to tolerate the different cultures and living habits. But people who are in a mixed marriage, will become more tolerant to these issues.
On the contrary, if they don't fit in the mixed marriage quit well, their failure in marriage might cause a big problem to their families and also to the society.

I think there are some issues to which we should give more attention to if we wnat to realize the impacts and causes of the mixed marriages. First, we must investigate what kind of environment will make people have motivation to have a mixed marriage. Like culture, population diversity, society structure, kind of. Second, what is the consequence of the mixed marriage? Will the mixed marriage have any impact on their original families? How will their offspring affect our society. These questions should be addressed if we want to reach a further understanding of the mixed marrage issue. Third, we must understand what factors will help people to have a successful mixed marriage. If we can find out these factors and make some action plans to deal with these problmes that might be encountered in the mixed marriage. Then we can decrease some conflicts and adverse impact from the mixed marriage.

The idea age for children to be introduced to computers

For this generation,computer technology has been indispensable to our life. According to this inevitable trend, we need to teach our children how to manage this technology and make them feel more comfortable with the rapidly changing world. But for the young children, they need more stronger bonds between them and adults. Also, they need more time to play with other children and get more hands-on experience about the real world. Computer technology might assist these young children to learn things more effectively and facilitate the teaching process. But I think the most idea age for child to be introduced to computers is about 12~13. At this age, children can learn something more complicated and they also have some ability to distinguish between good and bad. They can be taught to use computers to help them get more information and explore the world in a very different way. Furthermore, since they have some ability to make judgement, so they can be taught to use the computers more properly. It will prevent our children from being harmed by the detrimentally effects on the improper web content and make sure that children will eventually benefit from the computer technology. At this age, children have alreafy familiar with other information sources like text books, newpapers, TV, journals, etc... If we introduce them to use the computer technology at this moment, I think it will be a great help to them and make them learn things more effectively and efficiently.

Responses to the three questions on p.15

1.The Alliance for Childhood cites "health concerns" as one reason why young students should not have computers in the classroom. What might these health concerns be?
Ans: If children stare at the computer monitors for a long time, it might cause some damage to their eyes. Also, computers might emit some radiation and it might be likely to affect children's health. Besides, if children addict to the computer, it might cause some mental disease and obstruct children's mental development.

2.Read lines 27-30. Why do these parents have a "grudging guilt" about their children?
Ans: These parents might think they should not make their children spend so much time to learn the computer or force them to learn something that parents can make a parade of their performance. For example, parents in Taiwan like to compare their children's preformance with others'. If their children can perform some special skill or talent. Parents will pride thselves on their children's performance. But it also cause these children to spend much of time on the training courses. Eventually, these children don't have much time to play with other children and also lose some opportunities to get more firsthand experience about the real world. I think that is why these parents might have "grudging guilt" about their children.

3.Read lines 38~43. This paragraph states, "Various studies show different effects of computer use in the classroom." According to this paragraph, what factor can determine how useful computers are in the classroom?
Ans: 1. well trained teachers, 2.use computers in elicitation method not primarily for "drill and practice".

Summary of "Beyond Rivalry"

Elizabeth Stark, in her article "Beyond Rivalry," discussed some factors affecting relationship between siblings. She argued that people may drift apart as they become involved in their own social connections, but eventually will have stronger connection with their siblings in their late lives even though they have rivalry relationship with them in the early stage. The author cited other psychologists' study to pointed out that some critical events might bring siblings together or deepen an existing rift. But no matter what kind of rivalry or hostility between siblings, very few of them had completely broken up with their siblings and become more involved with and interested in their siblings as they age. She also cited psychologist Gold's finding to bring out some emotional issues and specific requirements that make people to increase contact with their siblings. By Cicirelli's study, she found out some factors might affect the contact frequencies between siblings and she pointed out that even though siblings can't get together quite often, they seems to evoke positive feelings based on the images or feelings inside. Although siblings seem to have stronger connections with each other as they age, Cicirelli pointed out that rarely do they call for help or offer instrumental support to each other. For this issue, psychologist Gold pointed out that some physical or psychological factors might cause this phenomenon. In conclusion, the author argued that siblings will find unexpected strengths in this relationship in later life.

Summary of "State Lotteries are Needed"

In this article, the author described that states and local commnuities were facing a shortage of funding and lotteries provide essential funs for state programs through voluntary taxation. Buy citing the history events, lotteries have been used for over 500 years and is still an attractive option to legislators. The author also cited the essey "Financing Public goods by Means of Lotteries", written by the economist John Morgan, to support his argument that lottery is a useful and viable financial resource for states. Through the successful lottery program in Georgia, it provided funding sources to education and created job opportunities for the citizens. The author also pointed out that states without lottery program might face a problem that large amount of money flee to the neighboring states which do provide lottery program. Besides, states can also profit from lotteries because of the economic benefits of providing relief to state taxpayers. The author also provide a counter-argument that sometimes lottery might cause adverse effects on those who routinely consume this product. But if effective administration of lottery revenue is achieved, the proceeds can accomplish a great deal of good.

Alter the following sentences

1.Physical attraction is important for marital happiness.
Most people think physical sttraction is important for marital happiness.

2.Economic sanctions are ineffective.
Almost 90% of the economic sanctions are ineffective.

3.Alcohol causes people to become violent.
Alcohol can probably cause people to become violent.

4.Passive smoking causes cancer.
Passive smoking can very likely cause cancer.

5.Recycling is the best solution to the waste disposal problem.
Recycling might be the best solution to the waste dispodal problem.

6.Physical exercise lessens the severity of depression.
Sometimes, physical exercise lessens the severity of depression.

7.Great novels do not make great films.
Great novels do not definitely make great films.

7.Private schools provide better education than do public schools.
There is a good possibility that private schools provide better education that do public shools.

Examples of hedging

1.Our analyses of cases of school violence since 1995 support the hypothesis that social rejection was involved in most cases of lethal school violence.

2.Twelve of the cases involved an ongoing pattern of teasing, bullying, or ostracism, and at least six of the perpetrators had experienced a recent romantic rejection.

3.In only two of the incidents did we find no clear evidence of rejection;
Several of the perpetrators explicitly explained their actions as a response to being mistreated by other students.

4.Of course, a murderer’s stated reason for his behavior may reflect nothing more than a self-serving justification.

5.However, independent evidence from other students and teachers corroborates the presence of rejection in most of the cases.

6.It is also noteworthy that, to our knowledge, few of the perpetrators attributed their violent behavior to other equally plausible causes, such as disinterested parents, a broken home, child abuse, academic failure, or psychological problems.

7.Few individuals navigate their way through adolescence without being teased, bullied, or rejected in some manner, but the vast majority do not exact retribution on their classmates.
Rejection may be frustrating, angering, even maddening [Buckley, unpublished data; Twenge et al., 2001], but it is rarely sufficient to provoke premeditated violence even if the victim feels like killing people.

8.In particular, most of the perpetrators displayed at least one of the other three risk factors (psychological problems, interest in guns or explosives, or fascination with death).
Thus, we speculate that rejection, combined with one or more of these other factors puts an individual at higher risk to perpetrate aggression against peers.

9.First, a variety of psychological problems may be associated with an increased tendency for aggressive behavior.

10.Thus, some instances of school violence may reflect extreme manifestations of an ongoing pattern of antisocial and aggressive behavior.

11.Many of the shooters had been in trouble previously for aggression against their peers, and two had allegedly abused animals.

12.In addition, people who are depressed and perhaps suicidal may behave in desperate ways, feeling that they having nothing to lose by acting aggressively [Marano, 1998].

13.Second, individuals who not only have access to guns but who are fascinated by firearms and explosives may be more likely to act on their aggressive impulses because they are comfortable dealing with instruments of destruction than those who are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with guns and explosives, who do not have the means to perpetrate violence with firearms and bombs.

14.Third, people who are fascinated by themes of death, and whose identity is linked to Gothic, Satanic, and other ‘‘dark’’ lifestyles may find the idea of carnage less revolting than most other people do.

15.It remains unclear whether death-rock music and other aspects of popular culture that glorify death cause otherwise peaceful adolescents to be violent or whether individuals who are already inclined toward aggression are simply more interested in death-related music and activities.

16.Thomas [1995] suggested that the painful feelings of shame that often result from rejection may provoke anger and aggression, much in the same way in which physical pain (such as slamming one’s own hand in a door) can make people angry.

17.Other writers have suggested that aggression may result from a desire to show that one is not a person to be trifled with [Nisbett, 1993] or to maintain self-esteem and buttress one’s positive self-concept after an ego-threatening event [Baumeister et al., 1996].

18.Without discounting other explanations, we believe that the primary motive in most of the school shootings seems to have been retribution, either for an ongoing pattern of ostracism and teasing or for an acute rejection such as a romantic breakup.

19.In fact, many of the cases were characterized by both an ongoing pattern of rejection and a specific rejection experience, suggesting that the recent rejection may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

20.At the same time, however, the evidence suggests that at least some of the perpetrators were seeking respect as well.

21.In particular, the evidence that we obtained about the episodes from press reports may reflect reporters’ implicit theories about the link between rejection and aggression; we may have found evidence of such a relationship because writers in the mass media selectively reported evidence consistent with their implicit theories.

22.We cannot discount this possibility but find it noteworthy than only a few of our sources drew an explicit connection between the rejection that the perpetrators had experienced and their subsequent violent behavior.

23.In most cases, information regarding the perpetrator’s relationships with other students was mentioned only in the context of describing the kind of person he or she was.

24.Only after the Columbine shootings in April of 1999 did many writers begin to explore the role than ostracism or rejection may have played.

25.Although we can document that most of the perpetrators of these school shootings had been subjected to teasing, bullying, or other types of rejection, we do not know for certain whether they experienced an exceptionally high level of mistreatment compared to other children and adolescents.

26.Given that roughly 75% of elementary and middle school students are occasionally bullied at school [Kass, 1999], the perpetrators of the school shootings were by no means unique.

27.Even so, from reading descriptions of their peer relationships, our sense is that most of the shooters had experienced an unusually high amount of bullying or ostracism that was particularly relentless, humiliating, and cruel.

28.Furthermore, when an individual has psychological difficulties, an affinity for guns and explosives, or a fascination with death and gore, such peer mistreatment may evoke a catastrophic reaction.

Clever Behavior of Some Animal

Most animals can not be trained to do some performance but some animals can be. The reason is that some animals are clever enough and can be taught to do these performance by some training process. The key to make the trainging process success is the incentive.

Take a example of dolphins, they are the super star in the sea park. They can perform lots of tricks and make people laugh. But how can the trainer teach these dolphins to do these performance? The reason is obvious, dolphins can learn things and know what the trainer want them to do. The key of the training process is the incentive. Each time dolphins do the right action or obey the instruction given by the trainer, they will get something to eat. During the training process, dolphins learn about that if they follow the instructions, they will get some food as a prize. If there is no incentive to lure them to follow the instructions, dolphins might not learn these tricks quickly and effectively. That is why each time when dolphins do an excellent performance in the sea park, they are fed by the trainer immediately.

Besides dolphins, there are some other animals can be trained to do some performance. Like parrots, seals, dogs, bears, etc... They all can be trained to be a super star if they are given a adequate training and right incentive.

Compulsive Shopping

In my experience, normal shoppers and compulsive shoppers behave quite differently. First, the normal shoppers know what is their budget constraint and they will try to seek goods with cheaper price and better quality. But compulsive shoppers don't have a budget in mind, and they will buy anything they like no matter what the price or the quality is. When normal shopper look for something to buy, the first step is to look at the pricee tag. If the price is too expensive to be afforded, they will look for another substitute. But compulsive shoppers may not take a look at the price tag. All they care about is the "feeling" for this stuff. In the second, normal shoppers only buy what they really need, but compulsive shoppers might buy something they don't really need. Sometimes, compulsive shoppers might buy something just according to the advertisement or persuaded by the salesman. In the contrast, normal shoppers might have a shopping list or some idea in mind before they go shopping.

I have a friend who is addicted to the eBay. Sometimes he will buy somthing he don't really need. He buy things in eBay just because he like the feeling to be a "winner." In the eBay, he like to review some items and can't help to bid something which he don't need but he think it is really a bargain. Each time he buy something he don't need, he will persuade himself that "someone around me might need this stuff." I think the main cause is that he really like to be the winner when he participate in the auction competition. To be the winner is exactly what he want, not the stuff. By this example, I think sometimes compulsive shoppers want to pursuit some specific status (like auction winners) to satisfy his longing. It is just like an endless circle that they can't jump out and stop shopping. The only way to stop them is to shut down eBay I think.

I think Culture affect our shop behavior quite a lot. When people live in a big city, most of them think buying some luxury goods for themselves is appropriate. But people who live in a little town, most of them will think that is a evil thing. The difference between their attitude toward the shopping behavior is due to the different culture between their environment. Culture will affect people to do things like the others living in the same place. Take my father as an example. In his age, people think borrowing money is a shame and should save all the money they earned. So they only buy useful and necessary stuffs for their living. In my age, we use credit card and installment payment frequently. We might buy something which we can not afford, but we think we will earn enough money to pay the bill in the future. The different culture lead to different attitudes toward shopping between the two generation.

In the recent years, advertisement is almost everywhere. They can approach you via internet, email, TV, billboard, etc... These advertisements will brainwash us and persuade us into buy something we don't really need, especially the luxury goods, like expensive clothes, precious diamonds, new cars, electronic products, kind of. They will create lots of fancy slogan and enchanting image to lure you to agree with them and buy their new stuff and become their loyalty customers. That is why so many girls like buy new clothes of GUCCI, COACH, ChANEL etc... Even they already have lots of dressing in their wardrobe. Just like the slogan said "girls always lack something in their wardrobe." But the good thing is, we can get more information from these advertisements. Right now, the advertisement not only give us a brainwash to buy their new stuff, it also give us some information about the product we really want, like price comparison, where to buy, etc... We can buy something really cheaper and higher quality from these information.

I think a compulsive shopper might have some characteristics below. First, they don't have a clear financial plan. They don't consider what if they can afford the thing or not before they buy it. That is why they always feel shock when they get the credit card bill. Second, they can't help buy things which they don't really want. In contrast to the normal shoppers, impulsive shooper don't have a idea about what is necessary or not. Third, they are easily affected by the advertisement and persuaded by the salesman. They might don't know how to avoid giving into the temptation. Fourth, They spend much of their time on shopping and neglect other important things like their family, job, kind of.

The author can cite the sources of these argument to convince the readers. In this article, the author made lots of arguments but there is no specific citation to indicate the sources of these arguments. If the author can cite some other experts to support the arguments. It will make the essay more powerful and solid. Besides, there is no data to support these arguments. In the second paragrapgh, the author said " unfortunately, when shopping becomes an addiction, it can destory lives. It has therefore come under increased scrutiny by scientists in terested in..." If the author can provide some statistic about these scrutiny to support his argument. It will make the essay more stronger and more convincing.

The differences between Academic and nonacademic writing

First of all, acadmeic writing is focus on a specific field or a academic category. But nonacademic writing might be a general issue or someone's idea or someone's thinking. When we refer a article as a academic writing, it should have a unique structure and tone. At the beginning of a academic writing, there would be a research background and research object. Then, there would be a literature review to demonstrate other scholars's contribution and achievement about this topic. Atfer that, the author may come out a new hypothesis or a new proposition. And then, the author will take a methodology to collect data or conduct some academic interview to act as a evidence to support his point and argument. The examining process should be objective and rigid. At the last, the article will lead to a new conclusion and application. Other researchers in the same field will realize the author's idea and research result quickly and precisely by this standard structure.

When we refer a article as a nonacademic writing, there would be no statndard structure and rigid logic in it. It might be a free style and sometimes reflects the author's style and personality. Like a newspaper report or criticism, we can sometimes tell the author by the content structure or the vocabulary he uses in the article. Also, nonacademic writing will not focus on any specific field or topic. It might be a general issue or a life story. It might be a funny story or a heart touching story, but it would not become a theory in any specific academic field.

The tone of a academic writing is also quite different from that of the nonacademic writing. The tone of a academic writing is rigid, objective, and fixed. It would only talk on the facts and gain the result by the evidence it provides. The tone of a nonacademic writing is relax, humor, and free style. Since it might be someone's opinion or idea, so the tone of the writing would be more flexible and reflects the atmosphere that the author want to create in his article.

In conclusion, an academic writing is a rigid, logical, and well-structured article in a specific academic field. It also provide a good point and insight for the further research. A nonacademic writing is just a report or a free style writing. It only tell someone's opinion or idea, and it might not make much contribution to any further academic research. If we want to be a outstanding academic researcher or expert. We should be able to tell the differences between the two different type articles. Then we can write a right article in a right format and right tone.

Introduction

My name is Cheng Chung, Chang. I come from Taipei, Taiwan. I graduated from Chiao Tung University in Tawain, and my major is business administration. Before I came to GWU for my graduate study, I worked for a local bank in Taiwan for four years. My profession is financial analysis and risk management. I hope I can learn something different and explore more about the financial maket and financial products here. In addition to study here, I also hope to take a tour around the United State. It was my dream since I was a high school student. Since there are so many amazing and beautiful cities here, like Boston, Ner York, Chicago, etc... I would like to take time to visit these places and gain more experience about the great country.

I have a brother and a sister. My brother is a computer engineer and my sister is a physican. My father retired last year, and enjoy learning things like internet and computer kind of. My monther is housekeeper and she always care about our career and our future. No wonding she is the first one who encourage me to study abroad this year. Anyway, They all support me to pursuit my graduate study in America. I really appreciate that and I feel lucky to have such a wonderful family during my life.

I like going to the movies, hiking, reading books , and outdoor activities kind of during my free time. I think DC is a good place to study and stay in. I am looking forward to have som new friends and learn somthing new here. After I finish my study here, I think it would be a unforgotten experience during my whole life.