A Picture Composition This composition was written by my sister who is preparing for her graduate school exam. I just had it revised but not quite satisfied with the revision. Hope you can give me some advice and corrections to make it better. Have no mercy on me! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As is vividly depicted in the cartoon, on the athletic track runs a young boy, rushing to the end. But, instead of enjoying the savor of victory after breasting the tape, he continues to run across the finishing line, entering another competition which starts from the ending. Simple as the cartoon is, the symbolic meaning is very profound. It shows the universally immutable law governing our life, work or even we human beings that if we want to make progress, we must always forge ahead. Just like Nelson Mandela once said, after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. With the globalization and China's integration into the world becoming progressively faster, the competition among? countries and among? individuals are getting increasingly fierce over recent years. No one can stay at the top for a long time without constantly striving for progress; no country can always stay ahead of other countries without uninterruptedly innovating and reforming. ? New scientific discoveries are being made everyday. Knowledge related to our major or study is being updated rapidly. As a college student, if we rest upon our past achievements and be content with the present situation, we will definitely lose our best opportunities for bigger development and excellence. So just let us stay hungry and keep on running to better adapt to the ever-changing world.

A Brief Self-introduction I logged onto italkie the first time when i was a senior almost two years ago, never knowing the power of italkie in helping people learning foreign languages. Last month i received an email from a Chinese beginner in the US, he told me that he happened to notice my mail address and asked whether i'd like to be his language pal. I accepted his invitation and began our mutual learning. It is really fun and we both have made some progress together, exchanging emails and speak on skype once in a week. I have been learning English for almost 6 years and still don't have much confidence in it, esp when i talk to some native speakers, though I am currently working in a company engaged in cultural exchanges. But the talk with my language pal on skype has boosted my confidence a lot and enable me to speak more in English. I am very grateful to the warmhearted people who come to italkie offering their help to foreign language learners and I also want to say thank you to the founders of this great website, you really did and is doing a great job. P.S. I majored in law and minored in English when in college. And I love and am familiar with Chinese culture, history and geography. Anyone interested in China, Chinese or anything else could talk to me, I will be glad to hear from you.