ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

It is hard reading all the articles glorifying a mother’s love because I have never been a good daughter.  I always wonder why I become empty-minded as soon as the topic turns to my love ones.  I don’t know what to write about my mom.  I don’t know what to write about my love ones because emotions always get in the way.  I find it extremely difficult to find words that best describe my feelings for them. 

Anyway, I remembered that someone once asked me to write a poem that started with the alphabet of LOVE on each line.  I thought that maybe I can follow that rule and write a poem about my mom.  So here it goes.

Let the secret be told - – A poem written by Elisa English on 5/05/10  (Just for fun)

When is a secret not a secret?

To tell or not to tell – A poem written by Elisa English on 5/04/10  (An afterthought about morality) 

To tell or not to tell, I wonder

So much at stake to founder

Elisa English's review, written on 4/30/10

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

What has become of this world?  Now we are punishing people for being good Samaritans?  Two Sprint workers were fired last week for chasing down a shoplifter who stole items from an Apple store in Denver's Cherry Creek Mall.  They were approached by the Mall’s security guard, out of breath and distraught, to help him capture the shoplifter.  These two Sprint workers would never realize that the outcome of being good Samaritans is getting fired.  Where is the morality here?  So we are now punishing people for doing a good deed.  The company’s rationale is the safety of the employees.  But the real reason was to rid off any liability that the company may face in the event that a lawsuit is brought by injured employees and shoplifters.  In Texas, a shoplifter is suing Wal-Mart for his injury inflicted by its workers during the pursuit.  There were other cases where the shoplifters or their families were suing Wal-Mart for the death and injury from the pursuit by its workers.  These may be extreme cases that pushed the retail companies to incorporate in their employee handbooks the rules of pursuing shoplifters and its consequences.  Still I feel somehow distraught at where this is leading to and how the world will turn out, more indifferent people, more cold-heartedness.

So, are we supposed to watch someone bleeding to death when we went by a murder scene, pretending nothing has happened?  Are we supposed to watch a rape carrying on and walk away quickly without notifying the police or giving a helping hand within our ability or at least scaring the rapists away?  Are we supposed to breed the crimes for doing nothing?       

Finally, the baby coral cat shark has hatched.  I was starting to get worried that there might be complication and that it might die since there used to be two eggs and one died a few days after arriving at the school.  The kids would be heartbreaking if that was the case.  I am glad that my worry is unnecessary.    

Without the program in our son’s classroom, I would never know what a coral cat shark or a horseshoe crab is.  It is a learning experience not only for my son but also for me.  I am learning alongside my son as well.  Though, I did not physically see how the baby coral cat shark chewed its way out of its eggshell, the excitement of waiting a new life to come to this world is inexpressible.  The anticipation of a new life is pure ecstasy.  This is such a great experience for the kids.  We were notified on Saturday morning that the baby shark had hatched.  My son was so anxious to go to school this morning and was really thrilled to see the newborn baby coral shark.

This is what I learned about the usage of “Pardon”.  I learnt both British and American English though I might have forgotten a lot of the British English I learnt.

I used the word “pardon” a lot when I was young.  Maybe I did have a hearing problem back then.  I usually said “pardon” whenever I had trouble hearing clearly or understanding what the other person was saying.  

Tabloid

A tabloid is a small newspaper with stories often exaggerated.

I have finally managed to find time to write about this.  I am sorry for the delay of this article.  This is my reflection on an incident that occurred at another forum a month ago.    

It is a sad phenomenon that humility is hardly valued and found in current society, either in the East or in the West.  Even when you do see humility, it is often faked humility that you see.  How can it be true modesty when camouflaged with meretricious sincerity?    

1.  Spontaneous response

臨場反應

Spontaneity = The quality or state of being spontaneous