Reading Log

Reading Log on “Street Sweeping Show”
Cheiny Gong
October 10, 2006

When I finished reading the story for the first time, actually I could not get the author's true intention of writing the story in such a seemingly casual way. Everything is arranged in an orderly and smooth way with almost no ups and downs.

However, at a second thought, I came to understand the true meaning buried deep inside the words and sentences of the story which the author has to imply in it instead of speaking out openly. Considering the social and cultural background of that age, anything related to liberal and bourgeois elements was cracked down on. The author expresses his dissatisfaction about the situation in his works secretly.

If I have to choose one word which can best describe the plot of the story, it is definitely the last word of the topic, which is "show". How can a street-sweeping activity become a show? What does this show reveal? There is no doubt that the leading actor of the show is the mayor whose image is displayed mostly in the secretary's eyes.

From the selection of the representatives of the sweeping activity to the formularization of the mayor and dignitaries' way of sweeping, I have a strong feeling that it is just a deliberate show with no actual meaning and significance. This is just a miniature portray of the political situation of that time in China.

It is so ironical that the leaders of the government placed so much emphasis on the stereotype when they propagandized the idea of democracy and freedom. From my point of view, that is what the author wants us readers to reflect on. Although he does not say it directly, I can feel his resentment about the deeds of the leaders of the government.

Timed-Writing

Timed-Writing Two
Cheiny Gong
November 30, 2006

1. What do you think makes a good teacher?

As a student for quite a long time, I have met with a lot of teachers during my life and study. So the question that what makes a good teacher is natural to think about.

In my opinion, a good teacher should firstly be a friend to us students. Teacher's duty includes not only delivering knowledge to us, but also learning about what we think and want. Whenever we are caught in trouble, a good teacher should timely give us suggestion and help like our friends. He or she should be willing to listen to our voice and communicate with us. In return, the harmonious relationship between students and teachers will promote students' study as well.

Secondly, a good teacher should be strict with students. That doesn't mean a teacher should punish his student severely, which does no help to both the teacher and the student. Actually, it means that a teacher should supervise his student is his study. For instance, a teacher should remind his students to finish their homework in time and try every possible means to collect information and news which will be of great use to his students.

Last but not least, a good teacher should be hardworking and diligent. A good teacher should give first priority to his duty of preparing the contents of the class. It is unimaginable if a teacher enters a classroom with his mind empty. How could it be possible for him to give a good class? Besides, a good teacher should not look over anything within his scope of duty.

The requirements above are basic conditions for a good teacher.

2. My description of one of my favorite teachers

I’d like to talk about my English teacher when I’m in senior high school. In fact, she meets all my requirements for a good teacher.

First of all, she is quite an easy going teacher. One time or another, she seems like our elder sister instead of our teacher. The reason is not only that she is quite young, but also she shares a lot of our ideas. She spends most of her time with us, listening to us, learning about us and helping us. In my memory, we shared a lot of laughter and tear. She makes my senior high school life exciting and unforgettable.

In addition, she always place high expectation on us. As long as we make a small step forward, she tells us to be sober and modest. At the same time, she encourages us to be diligent so that we will acquire more achievements. With her as our guidance, we’ll never get lost on our way towards maturity.

I should also mention that she is really a hardworking teacher. As our class teacher, she cares about everything concerning us. As our English teacher, she has never stopped thinking how to promote our level of English. It is the happiest thing for her to see our advance.

This is my favorite teacher.

Draft Three on "Village"

Draft Three on "Village"
Cheiny Gong
December 22, 2006

A Hero in Gunfire

War is a cruel and ruthless process filled with endless killing and breeding. For this reason or another, a group of people or a country launches war on another group of people or country just for its own interests, regardless of amounts of deaths and wounds that war may bring about. As is known to all, the only duty of a soldier as he is trained to believe is to follow orders without hesitation.

Nevertheless, the soldier named Rico portrayed in Estela Portillo Trambley's short story "Village" erases in my mind the impression that soldier can do nothing but obeying blindly and killing painlessly. Rico is not a common soldier but a true man with humanity and conscience. Aimed at preserving the stillness of the peaceful village and the good memory of his home the village aroused inside his heart, he fires at his sergeant Keever just to stop Keever's proclamation of the action to destroy the village. Although his deed is unbelievable and despised by his peers, he still feels free inside when he learns the safety of the whole village. At that moment, all that he has done is rewarded; and also at that moment, Rico tells the whole world that he is a true hero.

According to the dictionary, "hero" refers to "a person remembered or admired for bravery or goodness". In light of this definition, the criteria for a hero mainly consist of bravery and goodness as well as his influence on generations of people. As a man with humanity, contemplation, bravery and selflessness, Rico is undoubtedly a hero whose good deed will be remembered by village people and mankind forever.

Rico is a hero because he has strong humanity and sympathy. In many conditions, even a kind and merciful person may have to force him to be ruthless during war. However, Rico's ample love and mercy is not a bit cooled down by the cruelty of war. Due to his deep and extensive affection for human life, the peaceful village with familiar stillness touches Rico’s chord beyond the logic of war and enemy. Moreover, as the harmonious and beautiful scene of a village woman with her baby catches his eye, Rico’s heart and mind is filled with sentiment and sense of happiness. Every human life in the village begins to matter a lot to him "not only with the mind but with the heart"(178). How could Rico place so much love on a village that is even potentially dangerous? We have to admit that his ample sympathy is especially rare during war time. That's where he is unique.

Rico's love and sympathy for the village reaches its climax at Sergeant Keever's announcement of destroying the village. At that moment, there emerges in his heart the impulse to keep the village intact from the guns and fires of war. He behaves uncommon compared with his peers. He considers "it was crazy [and]....Keever had to tell him why. There had to be a reason."(178) From then on, what controls his heart and deed is his affection and sympathy for the village. He cherishes the stillness of the village and wishes to give the innocent village people an opportunity to enjoy the right to live on.

Rico is a hero because he never stops reflections on himself. War deprives not a bit of Rico's ability to reflect on the nature of war and the meaning of a man with conscience. Rico knows what he wants is neither killing nor being killed .When he is standing on the bluff at that dawn pondering, he touches his heart so close that he can strongly feel his rejection to war and killing. "Rico [has] been transformed into a soldier, but he [knows] he [is] no soldier"(177), because he will never be ready to kill. In his heart, there exists a scales, human life weighs much heavier than his own reputation and expectations. Nothing can lead his determination to carry on his belief to waver.

Rico still owns the capability of discerning right from wrong. Although his mind is filled with warnings from his processors that seemingly harmless people and village can become horrible enemies, he can still differentiate truth and gloss with a sincere and pure heart. The huts "clustered in an intimacy that he knew well [and] the same scent from the earth, the same warmth from the sun" (178) as his home Valverde just flow over his mind like a stream. Something subtle unconsciously takes root in his soft heart. He has no more suspects that the huts are hootches and the village people are potential enemies. His instinct and intuition almost make him certain that there exists no possibility of danger in the village.

Rico is a hero because he has guts hard for common people to exceed. As soon as the notice of destroying the village from headquarters is announced, he goes up to his Sergeant Keever to defend the village's innocence and discuss with him the possibility of cancelling the action. Owing to the risk of offending his superior, it requires a lot of courage for Rico to speak out his ideas. What's more, although he is rejected for the first time, he tried to persuade Keever to help the village people evacuate at a second try, still in vain. At a last resort, he has to fire at Keever's arm to stop him from signaling the action of destroying the village.

A common soldier can't even think of such a mad idea which means defying his superior and betraying his army, let alone doing it openly. Nonetheless, Rico does astonish us. The weight and burden on his shoulder intensify his guts because he feels “a certain reluctance to do anything but follow orders.”(179) Now that he is clear what he will do not only matters a lot to him, but also means the difference between life and death to so much innocent and lovely village people, he has to be brave and persistent in confrontation with obstacle. Rico may also have conflict and contradiction, fear and depression sometime, but great guts exceed anything else in his mind.

Rico is a hero because he has outstanding virtue of selflessness. Thanks to Rico's selflessness, even though the aftermath of betraying his army at the cost of firing at Keever is imaginable, he still carries out what he regards right. Just out of the same reason, he doesn't have a bit of regret after arrestment. Instead, when he learns the safety of the whole village, the only feeling he has is "free inside"(182). To Rico, what matters a lot to other soldiers such as reputation is no more that a fantasy, a fantasy easy to break. In his mind, "[metals] weren't worth a nickle"(180). Reputation and fame won't stay with anyone forever, but a man with firm belief is hard to be forgotten by the society.

Rico cares less about himself than about the whole human being. If a person only cares about his own fame and reputation, even if he succeeds one day, he won't be a true hero. His attention will only be focused on his own benefits and interests. In contrast, what Rico places most stress on is the entire human life. In his mind, there is no wide gap between different ethnics and races." Rico remembered only the week before, returning from their usual patrol; the men from the company had stopped at the stream, mingling with the children, old men, and women of the village."(179)This kind of life with simple happiness is what Rico desires.

Everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses, so what really matters is the way he behaves in confrontation with the once-in-a-life-time choice. That’s the reason why someone matches up to a hero but others not. The Vietnam War offers Rico an opportunity to be great and Rico entitles himself a hero out of a common soldier through his own efforts. He touches us readers' chord with his qualities of great guts and abundant love. Whatever he may be accused or however he may be referred to, Rico deserves our respect and admiration forever for the sake of hope he brings to the hearts of everyone with humanity.

Draft Two on "Village"

Draft Two on "Village"
Cheiny Gong
November 28, 2006

As for people who love and cherish peace, war is a cruel and ruthless process filled with endless killing and breeding. For this reason or another, a group of people or a country launches war on another group of people or country just for its own interests, regardless of amounts of deaths and wounds that war may bring about. As is known to all, the only duty of a soldier as he is trained to believe is to follow orders without hesitation.

Nevertheless, the soldier named Rico portrayed in Estela Portillo Trambley's short story "Village" erases in my mind the impression that soldier can do nothing but obeying blindly and killing painlessly. Rico is not a common soldier but a true man with humanity and conscience. Aimed at preserving the stillness of the peaceful village and the good memory of his home the village aroused inside his heart, he fires at his sergeant Keever just to stop Keever's proclamation of the action to destroy the village. Although his deed is unbelievable and despised by his peers, he still feels free inside when he learns the safety of the whole village. At that moment, all that he has done is rewarded; And also at that moment, never am I more confirmed that Rico is a true hero.

Rico is a hero because he has strong humanity and sympathy.

In many conditions, even a kind and merciful person may have to force himself to be ruthless during war. However, Rico's ample love and mercy is not a bit cooled down by the cruelty of war. Due to his deep and extensive affection for human life, when he is "looking down at the peaceful village with its small rice field, its scattered huts, something ... beyond the logic of war and enemy ...[strikes] deep in his guts"(177). Moreover, as he sees the harmonious and beautiful scene of "the [village] woman with the child on her shoulder"(178),his heart and mind is filled with sentiment and sense of happiness. Every human life in the village begins to matter a lot to him "not only with the mind but with the heart"(178).How could Rico place so much love on a village that is even potentially dangerous? We have to admit that his ample sympathy is especially rare during war time. That's where he is unique.

Rico's love and sympathy for the village reaches its climax at Sergeant Keever's announcement of destroying the village. At that moment, there emerges in his heart the impulse to keep the village intact from the guns and fires of war. He behaves uncommon compared with his peers. He considers "it was crazy [and]....Keever had to tell him why. There had to be a reason."(178) From then on, what controls his heart and deed is his affection and sympathy for the village. He cherishes the stillness of the village and wishes to give the innocent village people an opportunity to enjoy the right to live on.

Rico is a hero because he never stops reflections on himself.

War deprives not a bit of Rico's ability to reflect on the nature of war and the meaning of being a man with conscience. Rico knows what he wants is neither killing nor being killed .When he stands on the bluff at that dawn contemplating alone, he touches his heart so close that he can strongly feel his rejection to war and killing. "Rico [has] been transformed into a soldier, but he [knows] he [is] no soldier"(177), because he will never be ready to kill. In his heart, there exists a scales, human life weighs much heavier than his own reputation and expectations. Nothing can waver his determination to carry on his belief.

Rico still owns the capability of discerning right from wrong. Although his mind is filled with warnings from his processors that seemingly undangerous people and village can become horrible enemies, he can still differentiate truth and gloss with a sincere and pure heart. When he sees the huts "clustered in an intimacy that he knew well"(177),the feeling that "the village of Mai Cao was no different that Valverde, the barrio where he had grown up"(177) occurred to him. In addition, the village has "the same scent from the earth, the same warmth from the sun"(178) with his home Valverde. He has no more suspect that the huts are hootches and the village people are potential enemies. His instinct and intuition almost make him certain that there exists no possibility of danger in the village.

Rico is a hero because he has guts hard for common people to exceed.

As soon as the notice of destroying the village from headquarters is announced, he goes up to his Sergeant Keever to defend the village's innocence and discuss with him the possibility of cancelling the action. "He [catches] up with Keever, blurting out,' Why? I mean--why must we destroy it? .... There's people... '"(179) Owing to the risk of offending his superior, it requires a lot of courage for Rico to speak out his ideas. What's more, although he is rejected for the first time, he tried to persuade Keever to help the village people evacuate at a second try, still in vein. At a last resort, he has to fire at Keever's arm to stop him from signaling the action of destroying the village.

A common soldier can't even think of such a mad idea which means defying his superior and betraying his army, let alone doing it openly. Nonetheless, Rico does astonish us. The weight and burden on his shoulder intensify his guts because "He [has] to do something ... to stop it, .... [with] a certain reluctance to do anything but follow orders."(179) Now that he is clear what he will do not only matters a lot to him, but also means the difference between life and death to so much innocent and lovely village people, he has to be brave and persistent in confrontation with obstacle. Rico may also has had conflict and contradiction , fear and depression sometime, but great guts exceed anything else in his mind.

Rico is a hero because he has outstanding virtue of selflessness.

Thanks to Rico's selflessness, even though the aftermath of betraying his army at the cost of firing at Keever is imaginable, he still carries out what he regards right. Just out of the same reason, he doesn't have a bit of regret after arrestment. Instead, when he learns the safety of the whole village, the only feeling he has is "free inside"(182). To Rico, what matters a lot to other soldiers such as reputation is no more that a fantasy, a fantasy easy to break. In his mind, "[metals] weren't worth a nickle"(180). Reputation and fame won't stay with anyone forever, but a man with firm belief is hard to be forgotten by the society.

Rico cares less about himself than about the whole human being. If a person only cares about his own fame and reputation, even if he succeed one day, he won't be a true hero. His attention will only be focused on his own benefits and interests. In contrast, what Rico places most stress on is the entire human life. In his mind, there is no wide gap between different ethnics and races." Rico remembered only the week before, returning from their usual patrol, the men from the company had stopped at the stream, mingling with the children, old men, and women of the village."(179) This kind of life with simple happiness is what Rico desires.

According to the dictionary, "hero" refers to "a person remembered or admired for bravery or goodness". In light of this definition, the criterion for a hero mainly consists of bravery and goodness as well as his influence on generations of people. As a man with humanity, contemplation, bravery and selflessness, Rico is undoubtedly a hero whose good deed will be remembered by village people and mankind forever.

Trambley herself is a Mexican-American, as a result of which we can feel her own love and pride for her country and home through Rico's feelings and behavior. Rico is partly a substitute for the author so he is bestowed with Trambley's deep love and affection for human, who's the image of true hero in Trambley's eyes. That's why Rico can touch us readers' chord that Mexican-Americans are never lack of guts. Trambley shows us a hero of Mexican-American with the qualities of great guts and abundant love. Trambley is proud of Rico, proud of Mexican-Americans, and proud of her beautiful memory of village.

Trial Draft on "Village"

Trial Draft
Cheiny Gong
November 7, 2006

As for people who love and cherish peace, war is a cruel and ruthless process filled with endless killing and breeding. For this reason or another, a group of people or a country launches war on another group of people or country just for its own interests, regardless of amounts of deaths and wounds the war may bring about. As is known to all, the only duty of a soldier as he is trained to believe is to follow orders without hesitation.

Nevertheless, the soldier named Rico portrayed in Estela Portillo Trambley's short story "Village" erased in my mind the impression that soldier could do nothing but obeying blindly and killing painlessly. Rico is not a common soldier but a true man with humanity and conscience. Aimed at preserving the stillness of the peaceful village and the good memory of his home the village aroused inside his heart, he fired at his sergeant Keever just to stop Keever's proclamation of the action to destroy the village. Although his deed is unbelievable and despised by his peers, he still feels free inside when he learns the safety of the whole village. At that moment, all that he had done was rewarded; And also at that moment, never was I more confirmed that Rico is a true hero.

What does the word "hero" actually mean? According to the dictionary, "hero" refers to "a person remembered or admired for bravery or goodness". In light of this definition, the criterion for a hero mainly consists of bravery and goodness as well as his influence on generations of people. As a man with good virtues of humanity, sympathy, patriotism, faith and bravery, Rico is undoubtedly a hero whose good deed will be remembered by village people and mankind forever.

In the first part of the story, the author Trambley spends a lot of time and energy depicting Rico's deepening of affection for the village.

When looking down at the village on the bluff, Rico suddenly feels "the kind of stillness that makes a man part of his world--river, clearing, sun, wind". This is the first time the village reminds him of his home in Valverde. What's more, the familiar stillness of the village to Rico arouses inside him the strong feeling of homesick. It is at that moment that the village becomes closer to him. Nonetheless, he "remembered the combat Bible--kill or be killed" as well.

The second time the village strikes him deep is revealed via the sentence "But now, looking down at the peaceful village with its small rice field, its scattered huts, something had struck deep, something beyond the logic of war and enemy, something deep in his guts". The peaceful scenes of village seem to make him forget the existence of war and the cautions he has been given were being challenged by his intuition. The more he reflect on the nature of war and killing, the more conflict he has over the issue of how to be a soldier, the more affection he has for the village which brings him calm.

Eventually, the village catches his heart and mind tightly. When he saw the huts "clustered in an intimacy that he knew well", the feeling that "the village of Mai Cao was no different that Valverde, the barrio where he had grown up" occurred to him. He has no more suspect that the huts were hootches and the village people were potential enemies. The village has "the same scent from the earth, the same warmth from the sun" with his home Valverde. At that time, every human life in the village began to matter a lot to him "not only with the mind but with the heart". His instinct and intuition almost make him certain that there exists no possibility of danger in the village.

What does Trambley want to illustrate by describing so much of Rico's affection for the village?

First of all, Trambley delivers a message to us readers that Rico is a person with strong and loyal faith in his own country and home. The strike of the village on him can only be explained by his strong and deep spirit of patriotism, the kind of affection which he transferred to the village. Trambley herself is a Mexican-American, as a result of which we can feel her own love and pride for his country and home through Rico's feelings and behavior. Rico is partly a substitute for the author so he is bestowed with Trambley's deep love. It is natural that Rico is a positive character with abundant patriotism, which is the indispensable qualification for a true hero.

In addition, war doesn't deprive Rico of his ability to reflect on the nature of war out of its apparence. Neither killing nor being killed is what Rico wants. When he stood on the bluff at that dawn contemplating alone, he touched his heart so close that he could strongly feel his rejection to war and killing. Rico still owns the capability of discerning right from wrong. Although his mind is filled with warnings from his processors that seemingly undangerous people and village can become horrible enemies, he can still differentiate truth and gloss with a sincere and pure heart. A cool mind is necessary to a true hero.

Third, Rico's ample love and mercy is not a bit cooled down by the cruelty of war. Deep and extensive affection for human life makes Rico an outstanding man. As he saw the harmonious and beautiful scene of a village woman with a baby, his heart and mind was filled with sentiment and sense of happiness. At that moment, there emerges in his heart the impulse to keep the village intact from the guns and fires of war. To his great relief, the village was safe temporarily. How could Rico place so much love on a village that is new to him? His ample sympathy is especially rare during war time. That's where he is unique.

The second part is the focus of the plots of the story "village", where the author mainly sets forth Rico's brave deed of saving the whole village on his own.

Rico's love and sympathy for the village reached it climax at sergeant Keever's announcement of destroying the village. He behaved uncommon compared with his peers. What he thought of is :"No! It was crazy. Why?" "Keever had to tell him why. There had to be a reason." From then on, what controls his heart and deed is his affection and sympathy for the village. He cherished the stillness of the village and wished to give the innocent village people an opportunity to enjoy the right to live on." He had to do something, something to stop it, but he didn't know what. And with all these feelings, a certain reluctance to do anything but follow orders." At that moment, he can feel the weight and burden on his shoulder. What he will do not only matters a lot to him, but also means the difference between life and death to so much innocent and lovely people. How on earth did Rico behave?

First, Rico behaved quite brave and persistent in confrontation with the obstacle before him and never gives up hope. He went up to his sergeant Keever to defend the village's innocence and discuss with him the possibility of canceling the action as soon as the notice from headquarters is announced." He caught up with Keever, blurting out," Why? I mean--why must we destroy it?" "There's people...""At the risk of offending his superior, he spoke out what he thought was right, and this requires a lot of courage. Although he was rejected and disgusted by Keever for the first time, Rico tried to persuade Keever to help the village people evacuate as the last beam of hope to save their lives. But what he obtained from Keever was still disappointment and depression. At a last resort, he had to fire at Keever's arm to stop him from signaling the action of destroying the village. A common soldier can't even think of such a mad idea which means defying his superior and betraying his army, let alone doing it openly. Rico also has conflict and contradiction, fear and depression sometime, but in his mind, great guts exceed anything else.

Second, Rico has strong belief in what he thinks to be right. The aftermath of betraying his army at the cost of firing at Keever is imaginable, however, what astonishes us readers most is the fact that he doesn't have a bit of regret. Instead, when he learned the safety of the whole village, the only feeling he had is "free inside". To Rico, what matters a lot to other soldiers such as reputation is no more that a fantasy, a fantasy easy to break." He remembered old Toque, the wino, who had tried to pawn his metals to buy a bottle. No way, man. They weren't worth a nickle." Reputation and fame won't stay with you forever, but a man with firm belief is hard to be forgotten by the society. Rico is such a man as didn't care about the other people's attitude towards him. In his heart, there exists a scales, human life weighs much heavier than his own reputation and expectations. Nothing can waver his determination to carry on his belief. Now that this is the virtue too rare to be owned by a common people, we have to admit that Rico is really a unique person who never follows others' traits.

Last but not least, Rico cares less about himself than about the whole human being. If a person only cares about his own fame and reputation, even if he succeeded one day, he won't be a true hero. His attention will only be focused on his own benefits and interests. In contrast, what Rico places most stress on is the entire human life. In his mind, there is no wide gap between different ethnics and races." Rico remembered only the week before, returning from their usual patrol, the men from the company had stopped at the stream, mingling with the children, old men, and women of the village." This kind of life with simple happiness is what Rico desires. As a result, even if he won't achieve any benefit, he still tried his best to save the village. What matters to him is human life.

Up till now, how can we deny the fact that Rico is a true hero? We can see how Rico adhered to his belief of saving the village which touches his chord and how he becomes a hero. With the same origin of Mexican-American as the character of "Village"--Rico, we can strongly feel that Trambley fills her deep love for her country in Rico, who's the image of true hero in Trambley's eyes. Mexican-Americans are never lack of guts. Meanwhile, Trambley shows us a hero of Mexican-American with the qualities of great guts and abundant love. Trambley is proud of Rico, proud of Mexican-Americans, and proud of her beautiful memory of village.

Cover Letter

Cover Letter
Cheiny Gong
December 22, 2006

Dear Portfolio Reader:

It is my great honor that you spare time to read my selected works for my portfolio. The portfolio covers a wide range of writing styles and reflects my overall ability in academic writing. I tried hard to adjust my pieces of writing to be formal, so I look upon them as my first attempts in formal writing.

“Portfolio Introduction” is the first article submitted to my portfolio which serves as the bridge between you and me. You can know more background information about me via this article so as to obtain a better understanding of my writing and my ideas.

In the introduction, I try my best to write in a clear and concise way. I strive to avoid any unnecessary words and sentences which have nothing to do with your better understanding of my pieces of writing. I mention my education background, my formal writing experiences and my feelings about the Academic Writing class in it. I think it will help you shape an overall impression of my writing and I.

Now that the introduction was written relatively earlier than other pieces of works, it mainly reflects the writing ability I have acquired through so many years’ study of English. It is the symbol of my characteristic writing style and writing skill formed before.

In comparison, the essay symbolizes my achievements in the Academic Writing class on the whole. Without systematic planning and step-by-step efforts, you couldn’t have had the opportunity to read an essay with certain depth and meaning instead of fragments and mess. It is the fruit brought about by the combination of reading, writing and thinking.

A good thesis is the primary element for a successful essay so we placed great emphasis on it. In order to ensure our smoothness while composing the essay, we couldn’t begin our trial draft until our thesis statements got the instructor’s approval. This requirement laid a solid foundation for the birth of a good essay.

When it was time to compose my trial draft, what I have at that moment was only a thesis and I almost had no idea what to begin with. Luckily, we were provided with several useful methods for developing our ideas relating to the thesis. So when I wrote my trial draft, my only intention is to write all that I can think of down. I tried my best to interpret the story as much as I can and ensure that everything I wrote can be supported by the evidence in the story. The richness of my trial draft attributes to this strategy while the lengthiness of it is also due to the exercise of this strategy. The content of my trial draft is relatively good, but the disorder of structure still can’t be veiled. To tell the truth, my trial draft has ample room for improvement even including spelling mistakes.

With the help of the instructor and my peer review group, the problems which existed in my trial draft were put forward clearly. The suggestion really helped me a lot and you can see that I made quite a lot of revisions in my draft two from structure to organization of points. This time my chief objective is to make my essay clearer in structure and to make it easier for you to understand my view. I come up with four supporting points to prove my thesis that Rico is a hero. I cite and quote a lot to prove each supporting point so that each part is generally equal in importance and length. This version is definitely better than the former one and I acquired some useful skills in the process of revision. However, there still exist some big problems. For example, the relation between the conclusion part and the body part is not close enough.

Draft three is the final draft, so I used some special strategies for editing such as proofreading. Apart from the revision in content, structure and organization, I placed great attention on grammar, vocabulary and other details. I incorporated my quotations better into my essay and deleted some useless quotations which only make my essay lengthy. Moreover, I changed my conclusion part totally so that it matches better with the body part. With these changes, my essay is shorter but stronger and concise. In draft three, the strengths of the trial draft and draft two were preserved while the weaknesses which exist in the former two drafts were revised and improved. So my thesis is better proved with concise words and clear structure. If you compare these three drafts, the changes are apparent and the improvements as well.

The moment you read “Timed-Writing Two”, you may be wondering why I submit this article as the achievement of my practice of timed-writing because it is neither stunning in vocabulary nor in structure. The reasons below may well explain the true intention of my choosing “Timed-Writing Two” among the three timed-writings I have finished in class to be submitted to the portfolio.

First of all, it seems improper for me to submit “Timed-Writing One” because it is finished at the starting stage of the “Academic Writing” course. As a piece of immature works of formal writing, the main purpose of composing it is to let us be familiar with the formal writing style and test our writing ability. Moreover, it has too much to do with my essay in content so that it may disturb you from understanding me and my writing in an all-round way.

In addition, I don’t submit “Timed-Writing Three” to avoid it from being evaluated twice. Although it satisfies me most in content, vocabulary and structure, it can’t surpass “Timed-Writing Two” in the capability of enabling you to get closer to me because the latter is mainly about my former life and study which contributes to reveal my ideas.

When it comes to “Timed-Writing Two”, I am proud enough to assert that it reflects my ability of not only argumentation but also narration. As to the first question of the criteria for a good teacher, my writing method is mainly argumentation. I give three criteria which matter most to me, that is, friendly, strict and diligent. The above three seemingly irrelevant factors consist of the standard of a good teacher organically which should be given equal emphasis on. As to the second requirement of describing my favorite teacher, I match the criteria and my description of my favorite teacher well despite the fatal verb tense error, as a result of which my criteria is proved by the vivid example of my favorite teacher. So when you read it, it is impossible for you to look over my efforts in doing so.

Deep meaning buried in vivid description is the best feature of the short story “Street Sweeping Show”. Even though in Chinese, Feng Jicai’s works is hard to understand due to his special way of expression of emotions. The feelings he wants to convey is always too subtle and his exercise of abundant vivid description always distracts readers from the author’s true intention.

Although this kind of feature formed in typical social and cultural background is hard for readers to follow, my knowledge of the social background of China at that typical social period contributes a lot to my understanding of the story. That is the reason I choose the reading log on this article to be evaluated.

What I write in the reading log is exactly what I feel the moment I read the story. Actually, I put a lot of my personal understanding of the political status of China at that typical social period into my reading log. That is not directly stated in the story, but is definitely what the author wants us to see and feel. I just speak out what he doesn’t dare to speak out owing to the social background he was in the moment he wrote the story. I hope my reading log on “Street Sweeping Show” will accomplish its dual purpose: First, more attention can be focused on Chinese literature, especially modern literature. Second, it can help intrigue the whole world to know more about China, no matter its present or past.

Fortunately, the variety of writing styles in my portfolio enables me to make good use of my writing skill. What is more, I am also aware of my weaknesses in writing in the process of training. I will concentrate on the building of vocabulary and the varying of structure from now on to lift my writing ability to a new level.

Sincerely yours,
Cheiny
December 22, 2006

Portfolio Introduction

Portfolio Introduction
Cheiny Gong
October 22, 2006

Hello, welcome to my writing portfolio!

I would love to introduce myself first. My English name is Cheiny and I am from Shanghai, China. I major in mathematics and I am a junior now. I love my campus life in Fudan University and I will enjoy my rest time here.

When I was at high school, my class was a special one which emphasized the teaching of Chinese and English, for the sake of which I have received a lot of writing training in my native language. I had to write a lot of articles per week. However, virtually I have not written anything formal, but casual ones for entertainment. In my native language Chinese, I have taken time to write some short stories, although I am not satisfied with those immature works.

When it comes to English writing, I have to admit that I lack some systematic and effective training. As a result, my level of English writing still lags behind that of native speakers. From my point of view, my English writing consists of two necessary stages: writing in Chinese in my mind and then translating Chinese into English. This problem troubles me a lot and I am always seeking ways to improve my English writing, especially academic writing.

So when I caught sight of the course named Academic Writing taught by a foreign teacher, I almost made up my mind at once to take this opportunity to practice my English writing.

As my touch with this class deepens, my experience about writing is also accumulating. Through this class, I begin to reflect on the others' English writing for the first time. And I also try to understand the authors' feelings and emotions by means of their words. I am surprised to find that words can reveal so much inner emotions without sound. The practice of free writing in this class improves me a lot in my ability to express my idea smoothly.

I can strongly feel that in writing we should care less on the complexity of our sentence structure while more on the richness of ideas. We should impose what we feel on the readers, which is what a good writer should try to do.