Hello, Tim!
This week, I’m not sure if it is obligatory to write this as a school assignment, but I am doing it, as usual, nonetheless.
The weather this week has still been the kind of rollercoaster climbing-and-diving we are all used to.
Contents of the Week
-My Surroundings at the Moment
-The IELTS Results with which I’m not Sure if I’m Satisfied
-Another Trip to another Court
-Finishing Animal Farm and though still Perturbed, Moving on
-Assignment or not, Midterm Next Week
My Surroundings at the Moment
It is currently 13:35, the moment when I started with this paragraph.
Soft violin and piano music was ringing in the distant, with a rich aroma of the machine-grinded coffee beans, and I was looking out at the window where a miniature park can be found.
The abundance of lighting is amazing, and while there are no plugs provided, I can only focus on what I am supposed to do, for I have accidentally left my power bank/ portable charger at home (Not quite sure which one is more politically correct)
Here I am, back in EP Books, the reading space I came a month ago with my mom. Last time, I brought my laptop for the reading report, and today, being unable to forget the soothing effect this kind of elegant and affordable place offers, I practically pleaded at Mom for another trip over.
The Midterm is (well-expectedly) right around the corner, but she wasn’t quite convinced that I can focus in a place like that. Unlike mine, her last experience here was not pleasant. She thought that there were way too many people going in about, and she couldn’t hold any pose she felt comfortable here either because this is basically a public space. Still, she contented me to come, only if I promise to be diligent.
I was!
I forgot to bring my portable charger, and I have an unfortunate 16% of battery remaining on my cell phone. I had no choice but to put it aside and simply keep on working.
I like the atmosphere in this space of books. There are people doing some bookshelf-browsing, some also working on projects on their laptops or taking notes from their books; I like to seemingly slow pace of this place, and I have always believed that escaping monotony (i.e. the place where you study) helps a ton with your focus.
 |
| Enjoying the park view with a cup of slushie |
 |
| My cup of coffee |
 |
| Writing the letter in such a nice weather |
 |
| I entered the reading space ten minutes after it opened; one of the firsts |
According to my plan, I will have to stay here and work/study until 19:15, which is still more or less than five hours remaining.
 |
| At around three in the afternoon, I was surprise that there was a short live paino performance |
 |
| During breaktime, I found a book about beautiful libraries around the world. |
 |
| This was the inside of the library I visited when I was in England |
 |
| I hate myself for not finding a way to get inside |
 |
| WHAT??? IT HAS A READING ROOM ????? |
 |
| WHY WAS I SO STUPID TO MISS THIS PART OF THE TRIP??? |
 |
| Switched to a lower desk. It was six thirty or something already |
 |
| Oops I sort of messed up with this photo. I will come again, hopefully soon! |
Good luck to me and my almost dying cellphone, my textbooks, and my books. Let’s move on to the next section.
The IELTS Results with which I’m not Sure if I’m Satisfied
The results of IELTS results were released on Friday, around noon, when we were given an introduction of the Shilin Court (more stories later)
I got a text from the officials of the association, I was quite filled with dread when I opened the message, and quietly started reading.
7.5 out of 9 full points.
According to my former English cram school teacher, this is almost equivalent to an English-majoring university graduate in Taiwan, and I should be happy!
I know that was surely something to be proud of, but I have always known that I was looking for something way beyond than that. I hoped to get more than 8 or even 8.5, though it really was quite unrealistic, in retrospect.
My mood didn’t know how to react, either, when I saw the separate scores.
Oh, I think I would have to first briefly explain how the scores work in IELTS tests.
As most of the English proficiency exams do, they separate the test into four fields, four bands: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each part you are graded with a score of 1 to 9, and for the general score you tally up the four results and you divide it by four (getting the average) and there is your final score.
My band scores are:
8.5 for Listening
7.5 for Reading
7.0 for Speaking
and
6.0 for Writing.
Honestly, I was quite happy that I got almost a full point on my listening, but the writing was so tragic that I had no idea what to feel.
I did say that when I was writing the test, I was quite satisfied with what I had written down. At the moment, I genuinely was confused. Confused with why I could still attain such a low score with all the writing practicing I had made so far (all the time on writing my blogs, for example)
The only reason, I speculate, was the context. I gave my doubts to Summer, she confirmed it.
The problem was, which side I stood on.
In the Test, we are asked to write an article on which we think is more important, the appearance of a building, or the practical functions.
I thought this is a part where we can truly express what we believe in, so I stated that I, for one, believe that both are equally important, for the fact that this is truly what I believe. I gave examples, I planned my outline, and I was satisfied with what I wrote. One thing I have always failed to consider is that there is no such a choice as “I believe that both are important”, You can on step on two boats at the same time, or you will end up like I did. This explanation cleared my doubts, but still, I felt like it is a pity that I did not manage to muster an 8-point-score.
It is such an expensive examination that I think I would be at least another year before I go for a second try.
Another Trip to another Court
If you check out this letter, you would read that we went to a court almost next to our school in the previous semester, and you would also read that though we were told that we could, we didn’t have time to watch a real trial. To complete (or to compensate for) our unaccomplished court experience, our civics teacher (we just love her so much) arranged another trip to ANOTHER court (within fifteen minutes of driving distance) that guaranteed a live court trial of criminals!
We spent the whole morning in the court, listening to the introduction of the court itself, and there are two special activities I wanted to note down.
The first was a simulation of a court’s process of trial, where students could experience how it feels like to be in the seats of judges, prosecutors, the accused, and lawyers.
I figured that I had forgotten to take pictures just now. It was such a pity. It was a somber place, where decisions are made by the judges, it the rooms wooden light brown, the orange soft lights and the silvery adornments of the shape of a pair of balances, and the shape of the wooden hammer which a judge holds hung in the center of the room, a symbol that stands for justice, the court, and the judges.
 |
| The Shilin lcoal court |
We went to the court with another class, making us more than fifty groups. For the live trials, we were broken down into three groups and were brought into three different ongoing trials.
Allison, Jack, Patrick, William, Aubrey, Otto and I were brought into a smaller courtroom where a trial with two accused was in the process. The two people on trial were accused of dragging a person into their car and assaulting him. The accuser was not present, which was a pity, for the accused were denying the fact that they had dragged him into their car. The harm was done by them, that was true, but it was only that they were in a fight stemming from a matter of debt and both sides were hurt.
We didn’t have time to watch the whole trial like Theodore Boone did (a court-loving and attorney-aspiring character in the novel series of Kid Lawyer by John Grisham), but still, we could feel the reverence of the whole environment. No one was fidgeting or whatsoever.
According to the host of this event, people are too scared of the whole system and the judges. However, said her, the dread was not needed; the court was a place where justice and equality can be brought out and discussed, it was not a place where people go to before they enter the jail or being given the death penalty. Through the tour we had on Friday, I see that we all are more or less familiar with the seemingly cold and distant place.
Finishing Animal Farm and though still Perturbed, Moving on
Gulping Down the climax and the disconcerting end of the last three chapters of Animal Farm, I have no idea how to comment on this.
Sure this was some reflection and mocking of a certain historical event, and in the back of the book, “the historical event” refers to “the failure of Soviet totalitarianism” and also that this novel is “a witty satirical allegory”. I quite understand what the events in the books mean, for example, the pigs surreptitiously altering the usage of words on their Seven Commandments of Animalism, trying to wriggle themselves with some technicality and menacing the wellbeing of other animals by the guarding vicious dogs they keep.
It was surely a dark and thoughts inspiring novel. I was hard to really imagine that people used to be (or even still are) brainwashed by whatever they are told. “Leader Napoleon is always right.” a recurring sentence could be seen repeatedly in the book, and it was sad because what he said had never once been justifiable!
Their thoughts were easily controlled, and their wills were strictly restrained. I am glad that I don’t have to live like those animals or the people who once lived resembling the animals.
It was surely a book I would have trouble formulating my thoughts into paragraphs when we have to write a book report on (it would be another assignment, but it will be for later), but I think the report can wait.
Next book was something I had read the translated version four long years ago, and the original version was bought second-handedly in early 2017 (As a matter of fact, I keep track on all the books I have ever read, and all the books I ever bought. I can also tell you the book I was referring to was bought on the 19th of January at a price of 130 NTD, but it would be too unnecessary.)
The Tiger Saga by Colleen Houck is a four-book series of fantasy romance. It is mostly about Indian mythology, and a romantic adventure revolved the normal high school graduate Kesley Hayes and an Indian prince 300 years old Dhiren. Dhiren is a cursed prince and was turned into a tiger. Their goal is to find a way to break the curse and on their way, romance was practically crackling and lighting up a gigantic bonfire that can warm up twenty people or so. Oh, and there is also Dhiren’s brother Kishan, who was as well turned into a tiger all those years ago. (I still fail at plot explaining, I see)
 |
| Beautiful cover makes a book even memorable |
It was a lovable cute romance with some exciting adventures, and most of all, a lot of the Indian cultures were included in the books. I recalled my memory from four years ago, and I believe that reading it once again in English would make it even better because I found that the author used some elegant wording when writing the book; the fact that this book never loses its focus on Indian mythology makes it even better.
Assignment or not, Midterm Next Week
I still have yet checked whether the writing of this letter is obligatory or not, but either way, I am concluding the letter in this particular section, and I would have to keep on reviewing and preparing for the midterm.
Sincerely,
Hugo
No comments:
Post a Comment