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Erratic iPad
The other day when I arrived home I found that my iPad2’s battery died. As usual, I connected it to the charger and did not find anything abnormal. The next day after I got up, I attempted to use my iPad to read some news. To my great surprise, it was still charging and I could not even start it up. Anybody who has ever used an Apple gadget knows that it only takes a few minutes for an iOS device to start up automatically after being charged. Given that my iPad had been charged for a whole night and could not boot up, there had to be something wrong with it. I tried pressing the Home button and the Wake/Sleep button simultaneously for a few seconds, but it did not work out. Then I searched online, trying to find out whether someone had had the same experience as mine. Indeed some people had had similar problems and posted their problems on some forums to look for help. Unfortunately no satisfactory answer had been offered. Dismayed, I contacted the online retailer from whom I bought this device. Unexpectedly he said such a thing was impossible. Why would I lie to him? Anyway, I gave up on him.
Then I found the Apple tech support number and called it. Seemed this was my last hope. After hearing the description I gave to him, the technician told me to do those things I had already done. Hence nothing exciting happened. Finally he asked how was the weather like in my place and what was the indoor temperature. I was like “What? What does the temperature have anything to do with the malfunction of a renowned digital device?” Anyhow I told him that the indoor temperature was around five degree centigrade (41 degree Fahrenheit). He replied that the ideal condition for an iPad to be charged was between 10 and 30 degree centigrade (50 - 86 degree Fahrenheit), so it was possible that my iPad’s problem had been caused by the low temperature. On hearing this, I thought this was like a big joke. Five degree is a daily normal temperature here in winter. How can a prevailing gadget be unable to work under normal condition? I have an iPhone1, the oldest version of iPhone. I have been using it for nearly four years and it is still functioning pretty well except for imprecise battery percentage display. The phone has fallen down accidentally for innumerable times and I even dropped it into the water once. Therefore, it was not reasonable for me to hope that higher temperatures would bring my iPad’s life back.
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Is this sentence idiomatic ?
他活了大半辈子：He has finished/completed the most part of his lifespan (or life?).
I've searched on google, but it seems nobody have ever used such an expression,thus making me wonder whether the sentence is idiomatic. If not, what is the proper way to express the meaning?
Answers would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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a horrible accident I experienced (3rd part)
To my great surprise again, the first taxi passing by refused to stop. The second taxi pulled up, but he warned me not to soil his seats. What cold-blooded those people were! If I had been a normal person that time, I would have kicked his ass. Anyway I got to the hospital and had my body checked out. My left collarbone and the first rib in my left side were broken. Luckily besides a huge scar on my left cheek, there was not trauma caused in my brain. But my head went totally out of normal shape, which made me look like a monster for a couple of days. Later the driver told me that the original driver had drunk a lot of alcohol the previous evening and asked him to replace him for one day. The driver who knocked me down was not good at driving at all. When the truck hit me, instead of stepping on the brake, he stepped on the gas!
I lied in the hospital for a month and it took me half a year to fully recover. The accident did not cause eternal injury to my body except a little swell on my collarbone and I joined the military half a year after the accident. Miraculously the huge scar on my left cheek gradually disappeared. You can see from my picture that there is nothing left on my face.
Chinese people always say: “One who survives a great disaster is destined to good fortune for ever after.” But nearly nine years have passed since the accident. And what is more, I have gone through great disasters twice and the car accident was the second one. Sadly I still have not found my fortune. About the first disaster I experienced, I may tell you guys later in another notebook entry.
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A horrible accident I experienced (2nd part)
At that time I was still conscious, so I heard a lot of laborers on the construction site crying something like “A kid was knocked down by the truck!” “He must be dead.” etc. Then they rushed here and tried to lift the truck to get me out. Since there were a lot of people, the truck was easily lifted up. But to my great surprise, the truck abruptly fell down. May be it was because they were nervous, or they lost their balance. I totally have no idea. The fall made me give a loud cry, so they knew that I was still alive. They tried one more time, and thank goodness they didn’t drop the truck again.
After I was pulled out, I sat on the ground breathing heavily. My face was filled with blood and wet cement and I could not open my left eye. I was completely overwhelmed. I did not know what to say, what to do. The driver also lost his mind and did not know what he was supposed to. Those laborers urged him to take me to the hospital immediately. The driver was so out of his mind that he did not know how to take me to the hospital. The laborers reminded him that he should hail a taxi. So he dragged me with him, hurrying to hail a taxi.
To be continued...
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A horrible accident I experienced (1st part)
The accident occurred when I was a senior in high school. One day I rode home on the sidewalk after school. After a few minutes’ riding, I saw a truck about 20 meters ahead moving in my direction. The truck, which was used to transport stone, had huge wheels. The truck did not raise my curiosity because there was a construction site about 10 meters away from the sidewalk and the sidewalk was wide enough for a truck to travel on. As we both moved slowly and there was quite a long distance between us, I did not pay attention to the truck. But when I was only a few meters away from the truck, I suddenly found that it showed no sign of slowing down or changing direction. Before I changed my direction to avoid the truck, I was knocked down by it. Even at that moment I still thought it would stop right away. Unexpectedly the truck kept moving forward, and soon I was under the truck. One of those huge wheels was pressing on the right back side of my head and my left cheek was facing the ground. The truck was still moving and made my body move with it. Fortunately the wheel did not run over my head. It just made my head rubbing on the ground. Not until the truck hit the fence did it stop.
To be continued...
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How to post a long story on italki ?
I have a story to share with you but it is a little bit long. And only entries shorter than 2500 characters are allowed to post here. So what am I supposed to do?
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How is modesty valued by western people?
Modesty has been a virtue for thousands of years in China. Modest people are generally respected by others. I am wondering whether it is the same in western culture.
Many books told me that western people don't put much value on modesty. From those books' perspective, modest poeple stand little chance of success: A person has to be aggresive in the work place, otherwise he won't get a chance to exhibit his talent. Paradoxically, I also learnt that some succesful individuals in western countries lead simple, low-key lives. And of the foreign guys I know about, they all like modest people because those with such a characteristic usually have good personalities.
So I am a little bit confused. Personally, I regard modesty as a moral trait and respect those prominent but modest people, though sometimes I can't help brag about meself.
I'd like to hear your opinions!
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Is it possible to work in one company for one's entire life
In the fast-changing world many people lacking the sense of security desire to lead a stable life. Unfortunately their expectation to work at the same company or employer for their entire lives is merely a fantasy which cannot be realized.
No company lasts forever. Some people may argue that some companies have existed for hundreds of years. However, we all experienced the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, a company which was started more than a hundred years ago and had been playing an important role in US financial market ever since. It is impossible for the economy of a country to flourish forever. In most cases, the economy of a country encounters a recession every few years. As the world is highly globalized, the recession in one country generally causes a chain reaction, leading to other economies’ recession. Every time the world undergoes a depression, numerous companies including some time-honored ones have to face collapse, as is happening right now. Therefore, no company is adequately confident to ensure its shareholders and employees of its eternity.
Companies also need reinforcements to stay competitive. If a company did not update its workforce, it would become fossilized and be eliminated by the fierce competition. To retain competitiveness and avoid elimination, the company strives to recruit high-calibre graduates and even pays headhunters for the service of hunting excellent job applicants each year. Keeping old staff and hiring new employees simultaneously is not cost-efficient, so the company has to layoff a certain number of workers every once in a while to stay slim. Some people may hold the opinion that the company would keep those employees who contribute a lot to the company. But downsizing is a complex issue which involves many factors, including position overlap, internal political struggle etc. Sometimes even the most talented people lose their jobs. For instance, Steve Jobs once got fired from the company he founded.
Surviving in the world full of change entails people to change themselves correspondingly. It is simply unrealistic for people to expect to work at the same company perpetually. Instead of hoping to find an everlasting job, one should concentrate on self-improvement. An outstanding person is not afraid of losing the job, because it is not difficult for him to find another one.
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Easy or difficult classes, which will you choose in college ?
Many students tend to choose easy courses in college because this choice enables them to have more spare time and get high grades easily. As far as I am concerned, I would rather opt for the most difficult and challenging classes even though I cannot get top grades in them.
We are living in an increasingly competitive world the population of which has exceeded 7 billion. Ever since the beginning of our lives, we have to compete for almost everything. Obtaining the access to the college is not an easy task. Given that we have fulfilled that arduous task, we should not indulge ourselves in comfort. It’s true that colleges provide a haven for students to get detached from the reality. However, life is much tougher outside the college and everyone has to leave the ivory tower. To survive in this highly competitive world, one has to equip himself with the techniques necessary for future advancement. To acquire those techniques before entering the job market, one has to push himself hard, i.e. , challenge himself.
Choosing easy classes may lead to high scores, but the student may have the illusion that success is not difficult to achieve and tend to be readily satisfied. In contrast, students who choose the most difficult classes have to work much harder to earn comparable scores, and in reality it is nothing else than the process of constantly pursuing brilliance that makes a person distinguished. Only when a person leaves his comfort zone can he make considerable progress. In other words, challenges are the best tool to fully fulfill one’s potential. We all witness that most of the successful individuals embrace challenges and set strict demands on themselves.
Furthermore, conquering challenging classes is best able to afford the student the sense of achievement. A person may not be excited about an easy job he has finished, but performing a daunting task can be uplifting and build up the person’s self-confidence.
Finally, I would like to conclude my writing with a line in the renowned India movie “Three Idiots” : Follow excellence and success will chase you.
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Which is more important for a person to be successful, knowledge or creativity ?
The saying “Knowledge is power” has affected generations who believe that the only way to achieve success is to possess rich knowledge. Is there something more important than knowledge for a person to succeed? Clearly the answer is positive and the thing is creativity.
In this information era where there are numerous sources of information it is not difficult for a person to acquire knowledge. Countries have built all levels of institutions for their citizens to acquire expertise catering for their demands. Education has become a basic social welfare everybody could access to. Therefore, if a person is knowledgeable, he is respectable, but he is not unique. On the contrary, to be creative is much harder because creativity entails more complex factors to build. We can always easily identify those people who think different, who view things out of the box, and who create, not copy things. The creativity makes them unique and in general it is uniqueness that makes a person successful.
Creative geniuses are the driving force to push the humanity forward. Looking backwards, we could take Albert Einstein for example. Einstein’s theories were entirely innovative in his time, and thereby revolutionizing physics. As for himself, Einstein has been regarded as one of the most successful scientists in human’s history. We also have those creative role models today. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, transformed the music industry, the computer industry, and the animation industry all because of his unparalleled creativity. He dropped out of college when he was a freshman, so we could safely say that he was less knowledgeable than those industrious professors who had explored the knowledge for many years. But Steve Jobs is more successful than most people all over the world.
We have another excellent example to prove that creativity is more important. Mark Zuckerburg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, who became a billionaire in his early 20s, is also a dropout. At present he is still less than 30, far from being knowledgeable compared to those professors who taught him in Harvard. His creative thoughts about online social networking, however, made him the youngest billionaire in this planet.
Therefore, for the reasons and examples mentioned above, it is obvious that creativity is far more important than knowledge in terms of success.
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