3 Banned Books

  Fist of all, I would like to talk about one of the most popular books, Twilight Series. As far as I know, lots of teenagers are crazy about it, so do I. However, such a popular book had been banned for a period of time in 2007, but it came back on the shelves soon. The reason why Twilight Series was banned was that there are considerable amount of scenes are violent, involving too many bloody murder, which some people thought it would be harmful for children’s psychological development. What is more, no one in the world ensures whether the vampires exist or not, so Twilight Series are exactly fictional. Just like teenagers can be attracted by several video games. Fictional books and games really brought hidden troubles to children. For instance, in China, in 2008, a junior-high school student died of jumping from a building. Did the boy want to suicide? No, the local polices explained for this reason why this boy jumped from a building is that he was lost between the reality and the illusion, and he thought he had the super powers as the unreal characters that only exist in the books and games. It was such an unbelievable reason, and many people promised that they would never do the same stupid thing. However, I confirmed that boy also had been confident enough before he was obsessed with fictional contents too much.

  Secondly, “Brave New World”, written by Aldous Huxley, was banned in a large      scale, and only in the Coeur D’Alene District, this book was allowed to sell. Speaking of the reasons, some official institutions explained that there were too many sex and drug content in this book, which might cause an increasing criminal rate.

  Moreover, “How to eat fried worms”, written by Thomas Rockwell, was banned in La Paz and Indiana from 1990 to 1999, because it encouraged children to engage in unacceptable behavior in daily life. In addition, profanity and the promotion of gambling also involved in this book.

" Life of Pi", Journal 1

  First of all, one of the most important reasons about my fondness for the movie, “Life of Pi”, is that I am really crazy about animals, and I am having a 4-months-old dog now, in Toronto, even though I have just came here for 5 months. I just can’t help myself loving animals. I was moved by the tiger’s companionship, even though the tiger was not very friendly at the beginning. However, we can’t expect a tiger will be as tame as a dog. I believe that sometimes, animals’ emotional intelligence is much higher than people. Mentioning of what I don’t like about this movie, I have to say I don’t like Pi’s father who is bossy and bad-tempered, and he used very improper way by giving a lamb to the tiger, so that he was able to prove to Pi that the tiger is always dangerous. Whatever, it is really an outstanding movie, which connects to belief, animals and family affection.

Self- Introduction

Hi, everyone, my name is Kitty, and I came from Tianjin, China. Currently, I am studying in Bond International College as a Grade 12 student, and I plan to attend in a university in January ,next year. Mentioning of the reason why I am attending an English class here is that I am really in a hurry for finishing all of the credits that I need to have to apply universities. One more thing, I am a sporting girl who is good at roller-skating, skating, and swimming. In addition, I am very easy-going. I may be somehow shy for the beginning time, but don’t worry, because in the further study period, I will be more and more hospitable. Last, I confirm that we will have happy time, and learn lots of funny stuffs from Sherry!

Censorship

What was your understanding of censorship before the discussion, and how was your idea changed through the in class discussion?

  In fact, censorship is a new word for me, and after I had looked up it in the dictionary, my intuition was that censorship has such a general definition with regard to rules. However, it is really difficult for me to understand what rules are exactly, since I just need to obey school rules and transportation rules every day. Moreover, as a teenage girl, I preferred to consider the entertainment or sports news before. Thus, I have to admit that I even wasn’t able to identify the concept of censorship before, and I have to admit that after researching on the internet, and in-class discussion, I got much more clear ideas about censorship today. First, it will be easier for me to organize all of the thoughts by defining censorship into two major groups that one is social-censorship，which includes state- owned countries and different governmental departments, and the other one is self- censorship, which includes private companies and individuals. Either one type of censor is able to protect us, but in my eyes, censorship is a double-edged sword, which has not only pros, but also cons. For instance, if censorship is overspent, which will block the free flow ideas, which is the point for the development of human-being. Also, some improper censorship may invade people’s privacy. In addition, sometimes, the governments just use censorship as an excuse for hiding what they are actually doing from citizens, but we do have the right to know what happens to our country. In all, it is hard to balance the pros and cons, which weigh more, so just use it judiciously.

Activity 2

  Mentioning of the most important lesson in my life till now, I think the last day when I attended classes in my previous school which is located in China is memorable. I still remember on that day, all of teachers and classmates were informed that I am going to Canada to finish further study, and the atmosphere suddenly became strange in the classroom, which I tried to avoid before by keeping my further plan as a temporary secret, because I really don't know how to say farewell to them. Until now, I still often think of them. Thus, for me, I didn't learn any academic knowledge which will help me to get better marks, but it is still important, because I felt deeply that there are too many people are caring about me, and I should try my best, so that I will not let them down.

  In this course, I will focus on improve my speaking and writing parts since these are my disadvantages. Also, one short article one day is good for widen vocabulary.
  As English is everything's foundation, and all the textbooks are in English. Of course this will help me improve my English, which will also help me to adapt Canadian life well, and my other courses as well indirectly.

Activty 1: Personal Relationship to Literature

  I am Kitty. As I introduced before, I come from China, and my parents are working and living in China now. For me, I still feel curious for Canada, since I just came to here for about 5 months, and I spent almost time in my school and dormitory. Sometimes, I encouraged myself that it’s okay to be afraid in a totally strange environment. However, fortunately, roller skating, my favorite sport helps me to meet many new friends and relieve stresses. One more thing is worth mentioning is that in fact, I miss my family and friends very much, but I think it is really not necessary to recall homesickness whenever obstacles appear in my life, because courage is the one should strive to take the stage and perform for conquering difficulties.
   Mentioning of the first experiences of perceiving the power of written words, I prefer to talk about a novel called, “My sister’s protector”, which was also filmed into a popular movie. In this novel, lots of inner and outer contradictions were involved, especially for the younger sister who was born for saving her elder sister that got serious leukemia. In the view of the younger sister, the family affection is valuable with no doubt, but who is willing be taken advantages with her lifetime for transplanting organs, and offering whatever her elder sister needs to maintain her life? Thus, the written words played an important on expressing skillfully each character’s inner world that the mother’s anxiety, the father’s introspection, the elder sister’s gratefulness, and the younger sister’s hesitation. I have to say I was really moved by this novel, and that is the reason why I persisted in finishing reading it. After I finished reading this attractive and long novel, I got more confidence on English, which encourages me to read more novels in the future