This summer vocation I went to Beijing with my father. Today I will share my experience with you.

I visited many historical and scenic sites which all gave me a deep impression. First I went to the Great Wall. It is really a wonder. I couldn’t imagine how people builded it on the high mountains in the old days without the help of machine. In China, there is an old saying “if you haven’t been to the Great Wall , you aren’t a man.” So I climbed the Great Wall to find something special. When I reached the highest peak, the Great Wall was like a dragon under my eyes. The structure of the Great Wall was simple and the appearance was ordinary. However, pieces of huge stones builded a guard against enemy for all Chinese. All labouring people builded a guard for their country and citizens.

Then I visited a building with special structure and beautiful appearance . That is Gugong(the Forbidden City or the Palace Museum).Gugong was the place where emperors dealed with political affairs and lived. The palaces for political affairs were very magnificent. We could find the wisdom in the palaces. Beneath the floor, there was warm gas flowing to warm the palaces in winter. At the same time, there was a huge crock to hold ice to cool the palaces in summer. Absolutely, the place for emperors to rest was very beautiful. There was a rockery ,different kinds of flowers and trees. It was really a good place to rest after a day’s hard work. The overall arrangement was very reasonable. To keep the most important place safe, there was a moat around the whole palace. Also the wall of the palace was very high. The rooms in Gugong were builded according to Wuxing.

Certainly, other than these historical sites, Beijing has modern elements, like Wang Fujing and Xi Dan shopping center, China’s National Grand Theater.

Even though the travel only lasted for 10 days I enjoyed it very much.

Most dog owners feel that their dogs are their best friends .Almost everyone likes dogs because they try hard to please their owners. One of my favorite stories is about a dog who wanted his owner to please him.

One of my friends has a German shepherd named Jack. These dogs are often very intelligent. Every Sunday afternoon, my friend takes Jack for a walk in the park. Jack like these long walks very much.

One Sunday afternoon , a young man come to visit my friend. He stayed a long time, and he talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk, but the visitor did not leave. Jack became very worried about his walk in the park.He walked around the room several times,and then sat down directly in front of the visitor and looked at him.But the visitor paid no attention.He continued talking.Finally,Jack could not stand it any longer.He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later.He sat down again in front of the visitor,but this time he held the man’s hat in his mouth.

German shepherds aren’t the only intelligent dogs.Another intelligent dog is seeing eye dog.This is a special dog which helps blind people walk along the streets and do many other things.We call these dogs seeing eye dogs because they are the eyes of blind people and they help them to see.Seeing eye dogs generally go to special schools for several years to learn to help blind people.Dogs and human beings accompany each other and live in a harmonious life.

So it is still true that a dog is the most useful and faithful animal in the world,but the reasons why people keep a dog have changed.In the old days people used to train dogs to protect themselves against attacks by other beasts.And later they came to realize that a dog was not only useful for protection but willing to obey his master.For example,when people used dogs for hunting,the dogs would not eat what was caught without permission.But now people in the city need not to protect themselves against attacks of animals.Why do they keep dogs ,then?Some people keep dogs to protect themselves from robbery.But the most important reason is for companionship.For a child,a dog is his best friend when he has no friends to play with.For a young couple,a dog is their child when they have no children.For an old couple,a dog is also their child when their real children have grown up.

Here I want to say dogs can be our best friend,accompany each other and give our companionship.

Wishing to encourage her young son’s progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to Paderewski concert. After were seated, the mother found a friend in the audience and went to greet her.

Thinking that this was a good opportunity to discover wonders of the concert hall..The little boy rised and went through a door marked “No admittance”. When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin.The mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains was opened and the lights focused on the piano on the stage.Horriblely,the mother found her boy sitting on the seat before the piano innocently playing‘‘Twinkle twinkle little star”.

At the moment,the great piano master made his entrance quickly moved to the piano,and whispering in the boy‘s ear“Don’t quit,keep playing”.

Then Paderewski reached down with his left hand to help the boy with the bass part and quickly began to play the obbligato with his right hand.This old master and the young child changed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.The audience was shocked by the beautiful sound.

What I have got form the story is that: this is the way of life.It is hardly to know what we will accomplish in the future.Sometimes we try our best, but the results aren’t exately greatful. But when we trust in the hands of great power,our life can be truly beautiful.

So next time, when you start to pursue success, you can hear a voice whispering in you ear: Don’t quit, keep playing.

Alastair Clark Styling a Flower
Originally uploaded by clarkalastair

This is what happens when I’ve had a few and my girlfriend gets hold of a camera. Featuring my rather fetching thick undertop for when its cold, and the flowers I bought her in an effort to reduce the potential aggravation of having had a few. In the words of a comment from one of my Chinese students “OMG …. Cute”

Lead Fitness Gym Sign
Originally uploaded by clarkalastair

So I’ve started going to the gym again. I’m actually being brave enough to use the muscle training machines in an effort to get stronger. But there are a few differences I’ve noticed between this gym and Bally Fitness. Chief among them (and the root of most others) is the price, Lead Fitness is significantly cheaper.

The running machines look more modern, have in-built TVs and are touch screens, but are actually not as good running machines as the older generation in Bally. This means that I can’t change my mind about what my goal will be half way though my workout (time, calories or distance). This means if you use the quick start function, you’re restricted to seeing 15 minute goal cycles.

A similarly bad lack of function is not having a stepped cool down period. It seems that it lasts 2 minutes no matter whether you’ve been running 30 seconds or 30 minutes. The amount you run in this period isn’t included in the total distance indicator, not does it count down how long you have left to run.

Apart from this, one of the features which attracted me to them was the inbuilt TV. But because the inbuilt TVs don’t have digital tuners, the gym provides tuner boxes to plug into the conveniently placed AV input channels. This completely bypasses the usefulness of the touchscreen TV interface, and means I have to unplug the tuner box when I want to plug in my PSP (when I’ve bought the requisite cable).

Also lacking is a little shelf to hold my PSP/íPod for watching videos, which is all important when doing a 45 minute cardio exercise. Another point of frustration is that the heart rate monitor doesn’t work on any of the running machines I’ve tried so far.

The changing rooms aren’t nearly as nice, and the showers don’t have shower curtains, not that it bothers me so much as you have to change in communal rooms, but feel that shower curtains aren’t exactly hard to erect and people wouldn’t feel so voyeuristic. I’ve noticed (and find a little unusual) that some Chinese men at this gym are shy when they shower, so they use swimming trunks. Finally, alas, there is no sit down toilet.

I wonder if this is a common Chinese fathering technique? The other day I saw a maybe 9 or 10 year old child go into the shower with his father. His dutiful father turned the shower on for him, tested the water to make sure it was the right temperature, and started helping the kid clean himself.

October 1st this year will be the 60th birthday of our country. People’s Republic of China is young, but Chinese culture has a long history. Maybe it is Confucianism that is the most part of this culture.

Confucius, with the style name Zhongni, was born 551BC, in Qufu, the state of Lu, which is now in the south of Shandong Province. As the founder of Confucianism, Confucius is a great thinker, a philosopher, and an educationalist.

Lun Yu, or Analects of Confucius, records the words and deeds of Confucius as well as his disciples. The book was compiled by the disciples and their disciples after their Master’s death. It covers a wide scope of subjects, ranging from politics, philosophy, literature and art to education and moral cultivation. It is indispensable material for the study of the Master’s thought.

As an educationalist, his idea for education is really great. He broke the situation where only the noble can study. He sowed the seeds of wisdom to the land wherever they were yearned for. His principle for education is that knowledge goes after virtue.

His strategy for teaching is very practical. He would not instruct his students until they had really tried but failed to understand. After he had given an instance, he asked for inferences. He taught according to the endowment and the character of the student. “When reviewing what one has learnt, he can get new ideas, then he can teach.” This is a famous sentence, from which we can learn that Confucius also regarded creation as an important part of learning.

It’s a long story to tell how Confucius was a great man, but he was really a great man. His thought affects not only education, but also many other fields. Someone even runs his business according to Analects of Confucius. As a great man, Confucius left us a classical book. As a classical book, Confucius Said left us boundless enlightment and priceless treasure.

Today,I am going to introduce a famous fairy tale book named secret garden. In this book, there is a manor inside which exists a secret,deserted garden whoes gate has been locked up for ten years. A little girl called herself Mary,with the original words ,who has a little thin face and a little thin body,thin light hair and a sour expression, dug the key out from the earth by chance and finally found the hidden gate with the help of the robin. It was said that her father held a position in India under the English Government and was busy and her mother was a great beauty who cared only to go to parties . After her parents died,this lonely girl was sent to live with her uncle and came to the very manor and discovered the secret garden. Our little princess almost fell in love with the garden at first sight. From then on ,the most ugly and disagreeable-looking girl, toghter with Dicken ,son of a maid, worked hard to keep it alive and turn it into a paradise.

As for Mary,her discoveries would never stopped until she found her cousin, Colin, who was tyrannical and hysterical,and helped him to strive to gain his health and happiness as well as she herself. At the end of the book,Mr.Craven returned to the garden and Mr.Craven, Mary and Colin were reunited happily in the beautiful garden.

When I read this book , I found myself growing up with the three little children inside the beautiful garden. I was interested in evertyhing and deeply moved by the improvement they had made all by themselves. Secretly but gradually,they had built a beautiful garden inside my heart.

When I was a child, my parents asked me which instrument would you like to play, I have no idea but just answered piano. So I began to play the piano when I was 4 years old.

In my memory, the piano is too heavy that it is hard for the workers to carry it into my home which is on the fourth floor, and its black and white keyboard is so special that I would like to touch it. So from then on, I had to play the piano every day, and practised the piece of music which my professor left for me as homework. At the end of the week, I should go to school let my professor check my work. It could be boring when you just practise the same piece of music once and once again. My mother always company with me, every Saturday or Sunday we went to school to attend the class, no matter how terrible the weather will be, hot summer day or chilly winter day. We just went through thick –and –thin. Maybe I was too young to understand the difficulties my mother went through, but the love she gave me will always in my mind and will last long.

My mother had a note book or maybe a diary book, she wrote down my weak points in practice and wrote down every detail in daily life. What she did when she asked me to practise and I said no, and what she thought when the professor said I made a progress.

When I grow up, I read the memory in my mother’s mind, tears full in my eyes. The love my mother gave to me, I will never payback.

Now, the piano in my room has a long history of 16 years, but now I just could remember a few pieces of music I used to play. When I was in middle school and high school I even not touch the piano, but now I still have the memory of those days I used my heart on the piano. When I sit in front of the piano, I just thought of my mother’s face and her expectation on me. I hope I never let her down.

Maybe I am not a good player or as good as others, but I am the happiest and I can see the happy smile on my parents’ face. I think they are the best parents in the world. They give me the best education. I love them forever and I will try my best and promise I can do better and never let them down.

It`s a romantic but complex movie. People in it have all kinds of relationship: couples, lovers, friends and so on. .It also implys some problems we have in our real life .For example, when there`s some conflicts, which will you choose, loyalty to your marriage or to follow your heart?

There are 3 kinds of people in the movie. Pure and simple as Vicky`s fiance; honest as Christina, Juan Antonio and Maria Elena; dishonest as Judy and Vicky.

Vicky`s fiancée loves Vicky from his deep heart. He trust her, protect her, think for her, loyal to her. He lives a happy life.

Christina wants to live a free, peaceful life. She`s loyal to her heart. So she doesn`t refuse Antonio and goes to Oviedo with him. She joins his life without hesitation, and doesn`t care what other people think. When she realizes she`s lost her interest in this life, she says goodbye to Antonio and Maria who love her very much immediately.

Antonio loves Maria, so he can’t refuse her when she`s too upset to live. He also knows there`s something they couldn`t deal with ,so he divorced with her though they are so match.

Maria loves Antonio and Christina both. She feels happy for them, admires Christina`s talent and Antonio`s potential, without jealousity.

Vicky is attracted by Antonio, but she pretend to be cold and doesn`t admit it. She can`t help to meet Antonio in private before she leaves Barcelona ,but she lies to her husband she`s going to have lunch with her teacher.

Things goes a little out of control, but we can`t tell whether it`s right for whom. Actually, I think Vicky and Christina are the same person. They represents two sides of one person. Christina is the spiritual one, Vicky is the practical one. Remember at the beginning of the movie, it says they share almost the same opinion on a lot of things except love. Because love is the most uncertain thing of life. Everyone has his own imagination about it and may never be satisfied with the present. That`s why they get confused and lost.

It`s meaningless to judge which is better, to be honest to your heart of to follow the social rules. I think the movie shows me that life can be totally different if you view it in different ways. But each of them can bring a lot of fun.The point is ,you should try to enjoy the fun, not complain or hesitate.

I’m very interested in swimming, and also, I’m good at it. I learnt it when I was nine years old. Everytime when I go to swim, I can’t help remembering the process that how I learnt it. It’s an definitely unforgettable experience.

It was a sunny day, and also the second time I got to the swimming-pool. I was still very nervous, but not afraid. After all, I was just a nine years old girl at that time, and I wanted to challenge all the things. Then I sat alone at the edge of the pool far away from my friends and coach, and lost myself in the fun with water, didn’t know that an awful palm was coming toward me. Sunddenly,I was pushed into the water. At that time, I still didn’t realize what had happened, I even forgot to struggle. After a few seconds, I just realized my dangerous situation. Instead of struggling, I moved my arms slightly like what my coach had taught me. Then, I was surprised that I actually swam out of the water. Just like this, I was able to swim. And the guy who pushed me regarded me as his friend because of our same clothes. He felt very guilt, and asked me constantly if there was something wrong with me. In fact, I should say thanks to him, but for his push, I was afraid that it would take me several weeks to learn how to swim.

Really, life is full of unexpectations, maybe sometimes they are a little dangerous or sorrow, but calm down, face it, and handle it, and you will harvest a lot from them.