英语角话题

Topics for English Corner Topics for English Corner 1. Pressure As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body. Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing as it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health. The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first sight of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between “flight or fight” and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart diseases have established links with stress. Since we cannot remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it. 2. Cheating on the Campus I walked into the examination room, tired and stressed. I had been up late the night before, preparing for our first arithmetic test of the year. When everyone sat down, test papers were handed out and I began. Less than ten minutes later, our teacher announced he had an errand to run, and told us to keep working until he returned. As soon as he walked out of the door, however, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I continued concentrating on the questions in front of me, but suddenly the room was not so quiet any more. With a sigh I lifted my head, and looked around the room. Now that the teacher had gone, many of the students began sharing answers and discussing the problems together. Although this was far from the first time, once again I was filled with a feeling of disappointment. I tried to continue working, but my mind was now clogged with confusion and disappointment. After all, this was an important exam, and we were seniors in high school. Shouldn't we be trustworthy enough to be left alone in the classroom without the teacher having to worry about us cheating? Cheating The word brings to mind many different connotations, from deception to dishonesty to corruption. I have always been against cheating and have worked hard to earn my grades honestly, seeing what have happened all around me is very difficult to accept. I have never really understood how difficult it can be to resist cheating, until I began to witness my peers doing it on a daily basis. For many, cheating has become just a part of everyday life, and they don't even think twice about doing it. I can't even explain how disappointing it feels to put all my effort into a homework assignment or studying for a test, and then see someone else cheat to get a better grade. To me, the grade one receives should represent not only his intelligence, but also how much effort and hard work he has applied to honestly earn the grade. A few weeks later, when our class ranks were disclosed, I was very excited to rank 2nd in my class. I honestly felt that the amount of work and commitment I had made to my studies throughout high school earned me this place, and I was proud to have come this far. However, I was wondering about those who had cheated to get where they were. Many of them were ranked close to me, and even at the top of the class. I have contemplated many times whether it is right to let all these acts go unreported and to let these students continue to think that cheating is the best solution. Of course the temptation to cheat will always be there, but as a result many of these students will never be able to experience how good it feels to earn a good grade through hard work. Cheating may seem like the easiest solution now, but in the future it will make things much more difficult. These students who become accustomed to cheating on a regular basis will find it may progress far beyond their schoolwork. They will continue to deceive others in all aspects of their lives, from personal to business relationships. I just hope that some day they will be able to realize that cheating and misleading others cannot be kept up forever. Eventually, they will realize for themselves that the only way to success is to work honestly, and to honestly earn what they want. All I can do is to pray and hope that some day, somehow, people will be fair and honest. It's a simple wish, but a sad one that is probably beyond my grasp. As for my first arithmetic test, I ended up getting a 142 on it. As I sat in class that day, I listened to the students around me, who had cheated, bragging about their grades each other. I have now realized that no matter how angry I get, or how much I complain about it, some of these students will continue to cheat, as long as they can get away with it. Although my 142 may not be perfect, I can walk out of the room feeling good about myself, and being proud that I worked to the best of my ability. I feel confident in what I believe is right will help me grow better as a human being, and hopefully it can help me to advance one step further on the long, complicated path of life. 3. Worries about Telephone As is known to all, telephone is one of the most indispensable parts in people's everyday life. However, it has brought a lot of worries as well as quite some trouble to me. As long ago as I was studying in junior high school, my deskmate, who was rather poor at his school work simply regarded me as his private teacher. On average he telephoned me five times a day and asked me many questions concerning different subjects, which made it hard for me to concentrate on my own study. However, thinking that he was in real need of help, I did my best to provide him with satisfying answers, although it always took me plenty of time. Since I entered senior high school, more trouble emerged. Maybe owing to my good study and my appearance which seems always ready to help others, at school, I was invariably surrounded by several puzzled faces and my brain was thus constantly filled with a large number of academic questions. Then at home, on the phone, I was inevitably wanted by my classmates and even my former ones to solve their problems of study, especially before the exams, during which period of time I was almost fully engaged by those regular telephones. And I just couldn't concentrate on my preparations for the exams. However, as time went by, it turned out to be more than Mom could possibly bear. Every night's continual disturbance eventually gave up to the explosion of her annoyance . "You are a student. You aren't their teacher!" she said angrily to me, "They only care about their own study. They've never thought of your heavy burden." "One day, you will see them making great progress while you yourself...." At first, I didn't take it seriously as I thought she didn't understand me. I really didn't want to disappoint my friends. I even reasoned her with all the good that answering telephones would do to the mastery of my own knowledge. But that didn't help at all. What was worse, for the next several months, I had indeed had a hard time putting up with Mom's endless screaming every time after a phone call. The worst was that at last she spoke really loudly when I was answering a phone call. At those moments, I felt really embarrassed because her penetrating remarks could be heard by my classmates. What would they think of her and then me? I understood that Mom was just worried about my school work, but as far as I could see from my academic achievements, I had not been affected by answering the calls. So by then I was still under the impression that it wouldn't do much harm to my study. Therefore I persisted in answering each phone call regardless of Mom's opposition. It was not until I got poor marks during the two consecutive examinations that I came to realize how telephone had affected my study. What was more important, I shouldn't have placed too much concern over other people's attitude towards me. I shouldn't have turned away from the reality that I didn't have enough time and energy to spare. My ambition of becoming a key university student was unlikely to achieve unless I put my whole heart to the arduous and tortuous process of study. Mom was right. Thus, it was necessary for me to do something to make my telephone somewhat silent. How? I had no alternative but to appeal to my classmates. To my great comfort, they all understood me and promised to ask fewer questions on the phone. Sure enough, ever since then, I have been able to go on smoothly with my study every evening, free from the frequent blaring of the phone and the screaming of Mom. Of course, occasional telephone calls still distract me now and then. But I don't have to 'worry' about the ill results of them any more. Above all, I have already got out of the trouble brought about by phone calls and I've come to know that it is absolutely important for a student like me to have a correct and practical attitude towards the relationship with his classmates and the relationship between helping others with their study and making progress himself. 4. My favorite pastime Do you often surf the internet? Do you like traveling? Where have you been? Can you say something about the characteristics of these places? 5. What're your criteria for making friends? 6. How do I go about learning Chinese well? There is actually no need for you to ask someone else that question; you only have to ask yourself the following hypothetical question. 　If a foreigner were to ask you: “How do I go about learning Chinese well? How can I become so fluent that I can mimic the speech and writing of a Chinese?” what would you have said to him? You probably would tell him to read a lot, listen more and practice writing and speaking as much as possible. On top of that, you would tell him that knowing a bit of Chinese tradition, culture, history, myths and legends, folklore, children’s rhymes … will all contribute to his proficiency in the language. 　So, there you have it. You do not need to go around asking other people how you could become proficient in English. You have the answer all along. All you need to do is to apply those same principles you would have given to this foreigner and apply them to your own situation. 　I am not here to endorse or condemn any particular method of learning. One must realize that different people would thrive under different techniques. (However, I do object to certain hypes and misleading promotional methods used by certain schools.) Just remember the old saying :” All roads lead to Rome” 條條大路通羅馬。“ All you need is to keep the principle of : 耳濡目染 持之以恆