Undergraduate / I hate keeping a diary. I record what I actually go through, rather than empty talk. [3]

Prompt: Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are. Thanks for editing!

I hate keeping a diary.

My teacher in elementary school underscored the benefits of keeping a diary over and over. She pointed out that through keeping a diary we could learn the lesson of life, so we must write down our insightful reflection in it. Thus one of our daily homework was to write a diary with a minimum of 300 words.

I believed all of my classmates have the same schedule as mine, but, even now, I cannot figure out why they would definitely find old lady waiting for help to cross the road, or pick up a coin and handed it in the police, on their way home every day. However, I didn't have experience so exciting, and I never write about thoughts, highly praised by my teacher, on helping an old lady or giving back the money I found. On the contrary, I always brought a notebook, on which I recorded an advertisement in the street or copied the shape of a leaf. Unfortunately my teacher didn't appreciate my honesty, and thus my final evaluation was always not that engaging.

How can I learn different life truth every day? I record what I actually go through, rather than empty talk. Inspiration does, now and then, come from keeping a diary, but the purpose of doing so is not to gain something. Putting too much attention on utility distorts the original meaning of logging. I record things merely because I want to write them. Similarly I study for knowledge not for good grades; I live for life not for money or fame.

Undergraduate / "Observe the Global Warming " - An intellectual experience. Dartmouth supplement [3]

Any criticism is welcome. Thank you!

Observe the Global Warming

My geography teacher was talking about sea level rise, serious indeed, caused by Greenhouse Effect. To me, however, it was just some numbers and terminologies. My life in an inland city wouldn't be affected; moreover, my travel to Maldives wouldn't be affected.

I could hardly see any difference of the sea when the ferry took me from Maldives' airport to Male, the capital, except the sun, at that moment, was sinking in the margin of sea. I had never faced to the sun so directly; when I was in China, sun, a shy girl, always held a vest, consisted of particular matter, to shelter her face. While right here, having discarded previous camouflage, she showed her pure beauty.

Like the sun here, local people were also pure-hearted. Since I had failed to find a map on the internet and no bulletin at the ferry told me the way, I was lost. Suddenly a man stopped his motor beside me and asked what my problem was.

"Do you know where is the Skai Lodge?" I asked.

He pointed the way for me and then went away.

When I got the next crossroad I saw him again, obviously waiting for me.

"Turn left, then you can see your hotel," he said, "Are you from China?"

"Thank you. Yes, I am Chinese." I raised my alarm; my instinct told me he may have other intention.

"I love China. When I drive along the street or go to market you can see me. Here is my number. You can use the phone in hotel to call me."

Was I in a dream? I had never met a warm-hearted man like him, perhaps nor in the future. Living in a vast country, I felt the distance between people's heart was vast, too. I became more self-centered and careless about the things not directly related to me. I was used to ignoring the troubled people on the streets, not to mention the people on other corners of the earth. ISIS and Scotland's vote seemed to be in a different world from me, until that moment, when I stood on the land where some scholars predicted would be submerged within 50 years.

Looking into the clear water, the flowing jade, I could hardly imagine it devouring the islands. Ironically, the ocean that brought this country tourist and thus wealth would, before long, destroy it.

I never noticed the global warming so close, so close that it pushed the learning about it in school away. Only the shadows of local people remained; they taught me how to play carrom(Indian pool), invited me to play street football and chatted with me about their fishing life.

I must take action to prevent the global warming, or else those shadows are destined to be swept away. To others, the inundation of Maldives merely means the lost of a vacationland; but to me, it means the vanishment of flesh-and-blood residents and their beloved homeland.

Undergraduate / My classmate Chen with language barrier, due to the brain damage, caused by car accident [5]

Any criticism is welcome! Many thanks.

Prompt：DESCRIBE THE WORLD YOU COME FROM-FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR FAMILY, COMMUNITY OR SCHOOL-TELL US HOW YOUR WORLD HAS SHAPED YOUR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS.

On TV screen, Zhao Benshan, a famous Chinese comedian, was making a parody of man on crutches. My families laughed, but I didn't think that was funny.

It reminded me of my classmate Chen, who had language barrier due to the brain damage in a car accident. He could only hear things with a hearing aid device connected to the back of his head, and he couldn't speak clearly. His deskmate, Wang, seemed quite enjoy provoking him. His favorite move was to pull over the device and stick to his own head, imitating Chen's mumble so loud that the whole class can laugh at him. Farce like that happened a lot. My classmates quite enjoyed it; they laugh happily, especially when Chen got furious.

I couldn't stand it and talked to Wang. I persuaded Wang not to jeer at Chen, but what if Chen steps out of the class to the society? He would get even more jeer. In China, there are more than 85 million disabled people, which make up 6 percent of whole population. Despite that high proportion, disabled people don't have enough respect and care. For instance, blind ways are always designed with many defects; a fire hydrant or bus stop may block the way. Walking along the road, I see people don't take care of blind ways. Some drivers park their car on them while snack bars put the desks and tables on them. I've interviewed several blind people and none of them said they had used blind ways. Government has invested a lot of money on building up those facilities. However, it seems more like a matter of appearance than actual helping.

Moreover, special education is underdeveloped in China. In some ways, Chen is fortunate because he can study in a high school. To those who are completely deaf, they can only go to special education school, where the education quality is much lower. Therefore, they cannot find a job and make money, leading to deeper privation of their already unfortunate life. A vicious circle is formed.

One night Chen was chatting with me in dormitory. He told me his favorite thing is travelling. Shanghai, Tibet and Hongkong were marked with his footprint. His dream was to be a writer who would write down the experience of travelling around the world. When he talked about this, his eyes emitted light that I've never seen before. That light, consisted of passion and aspiration, broke the fog of hardship in life and hit the innermost part of my mind, spurring me to jump on the way of exploring new therapy and auxiliary appliance to help Chen, and more disable teenagers to live a normal life, gain respect and pursue their dreams.