Daily Homework Could be Harmful Doing appropriate amount of homework can help students consolidate the knowledge they have acquired from the teachers, so most teachers prefer to assign some amount of homework to students from time to time. Some teachers assign homework to students every week, while others give assignments on daily basis. I think assigning homework to students everyday is obviously more than necessary. Daily homework could be harmful to students both physically and mentally.

Can I use abysmal (very deep) to describe a subject like mathematics? Abysmal means very bad or very deep. So Can I use it to describe a subject like mathematics? For example: I have spent 5 years learning mathematics, but I still think my knowledge about it is superficial. Mathematics seems to be abysmal. If not, what is a better alternative? bottomless?

A Big Deal or Big a Deal? "It is not a big deal" is what I learned in school, but in American TV serials "it is not big a deal" appeared many times. So I wonder is the later one grammatically correct? Is it commonly used in daily life?

English Girls are Funny! Today I had a delightful conversation with an English lady who is living in America. I asked her why she wanted to learn Chinese. She said her company had some business here in China, which had been growing rapidly for the last couple of years. So she wanted to move to China and seek more opportunities. And she asked me why I wanted to learn English. I said, as a software engineer, I was destined to work in Silicon Valley. Last year I resigned and since then I devoted all my time to studying English. She said:"Wait! Resigned! How are you going to pay your bills with no job? Did you sell one of your kidneys on the black market?" When I heard this sentence, I couldn't help but laugh! Then she gave me some pieces of advice. I should never take girls to cheep motels. If I found her marked my back with a Sharpie when I took my shirt off, just RUN! What a funny English lady.

Scent of a Woman I heard the name of this movie a long time ago, but I have never tried to watch it before. Its name sounds a bit girly to me, because I am definitely a science-fiction guy who loves movies such as the Matrix, X-Men, and Independence Day. However, today I watched this movie twice in a row. Do you want to know why? First of all, Al Pacino, the main actor in this movie, is very outstanding. He was a retired army ranger, injured and blinded in a war. His lines are concise and full of philosophies. But some times he was speaking so fast that I could not follow him. Thus I had to rewind a bit and listen carefully to him again. Secondly, this movie is not girly at all. It almost has nothing to do with women, though, for several times, Al Pacino did tell the scent of women he came across. This movie is all about the integrity. It tells people that we should never sell anybody out to by our future, and that is the quality what leaders should be made of.

Scent of a Woman I heard the name of this movie a long time ago, but I have never tried to watch it before. Its name sounds a bit girly to me, because I am definitely a science-fiction guy who loves movies such as the Matrix, X-Men, and Independence Day. However, today I watched this movie twice in a row. Do you want to know why? First of all, Al Pacino, the main actor in this movie, is very outstanding. He was a retired army ranger, injured and blinded in a war. His lines are concise and full of philosophies. But some times he was speaking so fast that I could not follow him. Thus I had to rewind a bit and listen carefully to him again. Secondly, this movie is not girly at all. It almost has nothing to do with women, though, for several times, Al Pacino did tell the scent of women he came across. This movie is all about the integrity. It tells people that we should never sell anybody out to by our future, and that is the quality what leaders should be made of.How can I delete this one? I put it in a wrong category.

What is the slate that students need to bring to school The following paragraph is excerpted from The Eclectic Readers by William H. McGuffey. If the bird and the bee, little boy, were too late, Remember, as you play along On your way to school, with pencil and slate, Never stay a moment too long. I know that a slate is a piece of rock that a mason can engrave on. But did students really need to bring heavy slates with them in the past? Did this happen before the paper was invented? I also wonder what kind of pencil it is that can write on a slate.

How are You? When you meet someone, you would probably say, In English, "How are you?" or "What have you been up to?". These expressions always confuse me a lot. First of all, I really don't know how to reply, because my statue quo can not be described in just a few sentences. A couple of years ago, I would probably say "I am just so-so.", which is a typical response in Chinese. However, a British teacher told me that they would never make a response like that. Even if they used the phrase so-so, they would, at the same time, raise and rotate one of their hand, trying to indicate that their feelings were difficult to express. So what would a native English speaker say? Will "I am good." do the job? Second, by asking "How are you?", do my friends really curious about what's happening to me recently? Or it's just a way to start a conversation? And after making my response, do I need to ask my friend "How are you?" again? It seems a little formal and routine to me. Can you answer this question? If you are a native English speaker, how to you say hi to your friend in your ordinary life?

Talking with an Australian Today I met a new Australian friend who wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese and to know more about Chinese culture. We talked in Mandarin and English alternatively for two hours. We were both strict and fastidious to each other, trying to detect and correct the mistakes that the other one made. I, as a native Mandarin speaker, were not good at tense. I occasionally made mistakes like using present tense where I should have used past tense instead. And my friend he had trouble with the four tones in Chinese. In English, a rising, falling or even flat tone doesn't change the meaning of a word. They are related to the same word. However, in Chinese, any single pronunciation has up to four tones. For most cases, each tone will have a corresponding character and meaning. So in Chinese, tones are very important. I think we would discovery more interesting things about a language in our future talks.