I REALLY need help from native English speaker Hi all. I'm trying my best to improve my English and really need your kind help to correct my notebook entry at <a href="http://www.italki.com/notebook/entry/81886.htm">http://www.italki.com/notebook/entry/81886.htm</a>. Thanks.

A video to help you know Chinese “咆哮体” You must have known 咆哮体 which is very popular on the internet in China. Here is video in which some English complain in 咆哮体. I think you may have a better understanding of how it works after watching it. Have fun~

<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjU5NDU1MTI4.html">http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjU5NDU1MTI4.html</a>

Self-encouragement Today I talked with a friend met on italki, but only to find my oral English goes backward. For a year since I got back from America, I only occasionally talk with a few friends calling from America in English. My writing, reading and listening stay relatively strong thanks to formal education and half a year of exposure to native English environment, but I cant not manage to speak freely as before. I have to push myself to work hard and make the best of myself. Yes! I can make it!

Chinese Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 Dragon Boat Festival is observed to commemorate Qu Yuan, a scholar and minister of state of Chu during the Warring States Period, on the fifth day of the fifth month of Chinese lunar calendar.Qu is commonly believed to wade into a river to commit suicide as a demonstration of his protest against corruption of the era and his patriotism. People rowed in the river to look for his corpse, but no trace was found. To prevent his body from being eaten by fish, people threw rice balls into the river. Nowadays people hold boat rowing competitions and eat 粽子 to commemorate Qu. We make 粽子 by wrapping glutinous rice with bamboo leaves. You can find 粽子 with red dates and peanuts, or meat and egg yolk which is more commonly seen in south China. The day was thought evil in ancient China, so today people still keep some customs to prevent diseases and evils. These customs include wearing 5 colored strings and perfumed bags and hanging Chinese mugwort and drinking. Today people often think more of national holiday when Dragon Boat Festival is mentioned. This year my best friend will come over from Beijing to visit me, and we are going to egil olsen's concert. I can't wait to listen to his songs and eat 粽子 reserved from a popular store.

Why are many westerners into extreme sports? Planking has just killed an Australian guy and proved to go too far. Are people in your country into extreme sports?

《我们结婚吧》Marry Me Hi all~ I just came across an interesting video about proposing to women of different horoscopes. Share with you guys~
<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIxMTQ5MDI4.html">http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIxMTQ5MDI4.html
I</a>‘m a Libra woman. I think the Libra part is true that we think much of logic and that we are actually more tender inside. What's your horoscope and what do you think of the video?

Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate very much and have it almost everyday. What is the native chocolate you like most in your country?

暗水蓝月Scarlett's observation about adopted children: May 14, 2011 据《英文虎报》报道，自上世纪90年代起，约有12万名中国儿童被全球17个国家中9万多个家庭收养，其中有大约7万人到了美国的新家庭。许多孩子当时已经记事。 According to a report from the Standard, about 120 thousand Chinese children have been adopted by more than 90 thousand families in 17 countries since the 1990s. Of these children, about 70 thousand went to their new home in the USA. Many could remember things then. 两年前，我初次见到被美国夫妇收养的中国儿童。大多数情况下他们会这样告诉孩子：“她和你一样来自中国，说你好啊。”和美国土生土长的孩子不同，这些被收养的中国孩子很少热情的冲我笑，或者和我玩耍。我不知道他们是真的不记得自己的中文名字了，还是不想提起。看着这些孩子的眼睛，我的心里好像打翻了五味瓶。一方面我为他们难过，因为他们忘记了自己是谁，也不记得那个承载着父母期望和祝福的名字。另一方面我为他们高兴，因为还有另一对父母同生父母一样疼爱他们，而且我想这么小的孩子长大后应该都不会记得曾经有另一个名字吧。 Two years ago it was my first time to see Chinese children adopted by American couples. Most time the parents would tell their child like “she is from China where you are from. Say hi~.” Different from America born children, they never gave me a big smile or played with me. I don’t know if they really could not remember their names or just did not want to memorize. Looking into their eyes, I felt like bottles of condiment spilled over in my heart. On the one hand, I felt sorry for them, because they forgot who they were and the Chinese name which probably carries a lot of expectations and wished from birth parents. On the other hand, I felt happy for them, because they had another pair of parents who loved them just as their birth parents would do; and children at their age will probably forget they used to have another name when growing up. 在收养孩子的问题上，中美观念相差甚远。中国父母会竭力保守秘密，不愿让孩子知道自己的身世。主要原因在于其一，不想让孩子因为被领养的身世觉得自己是个异类; 其二，恐怕孩子产生抵制心理，不接受养父母。美国人的做法则令我吃惊。他们会在孩子面前毫不掩饰的提及领养的事实。也希望找到孩子的生父母，以便以后患病可以从基因着手治疗。 Chinese and Americans differ a lot in their attitude to child adoption. Chinese parents will try their best to keep it as a secret mainly because of two reasons. First, they don’t want to make the child feel like an exception because of his/ her birth. Second, they are afraid that the child has emotional resistance and does not accept them. What American parents do is a real shock to me. They told about the adoption of the child in front of him/her; they also hope to find the birth parents, in case the child becomes sick and cannot be cured because of lack of genetic records. 希望被收养的儿童能够像多数普通儿童那样的长大。 I hope adopted children can grow up just as most ordinary children do.