Yesterday when Annie (詹麗馨老師) told me about the story of Paulo Coelho, the author of the international best-seller The Alchemist, mentioned in the book The Element, I was speechless. Then today I sped up my reading of the book. Finally in Chapter 6 I read the story. Again, I was overwhelmed. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Reading Notes’ Category
Holding on to the Dream
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010Because I Love It–A Thought-provoking Excerpt from The Element
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
The following is an excerpt from the book The Element. It’s thought-provoking and inspiring. (more…)
Finding Role Models in Books: 洪蘭：書讀得少 心中沒典範
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=223366
洪蘭：書讀得少 心中沒典範
【聯合報╱記者陳智華／高雄報導】2009/11/25 (more…)
The Reader, plus Language Learning
Saturday, August 29th, 2009I finished The Reader this morning. Touched by how Hanna, illiterate before going to prison, finally learned to read and write in prison, I was amazed at her strong will. Of course, the protagonist Mike’s keeping sending Hanna tapes of his reading contributed too. (more…)
A Powerful Sentence from TIME
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009The latest issue of TIME features the world’s 100 most influential people. None from Taiwan is on the list. Well, I’m not quite sure about the criteria.
Today I mentioned in class a sentence I read this morning before leaving home: (more…)
Problems Found in Writing
Sunday, March 8th, 2009I read an article in last Friday’s UDN about the writing performance on the GEPT for Intermediate Level. According to the research done by NTU, the examinees didn’t have problems writing complete sentences; one of their problems lay in paragraph writing. Some examinees lacked the idea of unity; they put irrelevant sentences in a paragraph. For example, in a composition about exotic food, the raters saw sentences like “Taiwan’s food is also good. You can give it a try when you’ve got a chance.” (more…)
“Changes of Heart”
Saturday, February 7th, 2009“Changes of Heart” is an article in the latest issue of Reader’s Digest (Feb. 2009). It is about an institute which helps troubled teens rectify their behavior by having them train unwanted dogs. When the two meet, “the healing begins for both.”
This seems a very effective way. The dogs are a mirror for the juvenile delinquents. In the process of training the dogs, the teens justify their own behavior.
Master Sheng-yan
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Master Sheng-yan (聖嚴法師), a spiritual leader in Taiwan, passed away at 4 o’clock this afternoon. He was the founder of Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山), one of the most influential Chinese Buddhist organizations. (more…)
When You’re Feeling Down–a Passage from The Secret
Saturday, November 15th, 2008
Last night before I went to sleep, I re-opened The Secret and read it. Here is a passage from the book that might help lift you up when you are feeling down. (more…)
Quotes from TIME on the virtue of thrift
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
Quotes from the essay by Nancy Gibbs, “Real Patriots Don’t Spend,” in the current issue of Time (October 13, 2008):
“‘Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse.’”
~ from Nero’s adviser Seneca