Canny Chan

Directions: Here are six questions about your approach to life. Try to answer them as honestly as you can. You may find the results revealing.

l         Are you hard driving and competitive?

l         Are you usually pressed for time?

l         Are you bossy or dominating?

l         Do you have a strong need to excel in most things?

l         Do you eat too quickly?

l         Do you get upset when you have wait for anything?

If you have answer “yes” to most of these questions then I can make

a few predictions about you, base on a recent eight-year study of nearly 2,000 people who live the way that you do.

You probably find that life is full of challenges and you often

need to keep 2 or more projects moving at the same time. The chances are that you have been to college, that you have a management job and that you bring work home at night. You think that you put more effort into your job than many of the people you work with, and you certainly take your work more seriously than most of them. You get irritated easily, and if someone is being long-winded, you help them get to the point. You also have trouble finding the time to get your hair cut.

And there’s one other thing. You are about twice as likely to have a heart attack as someone who takes a more easygoing approach to life.

The mention of heart attacks probably makes you thing that surveys like this only apply to men. After all, men up to middle age in the US and Britain have about 4 times more coronaries than women do. But women suffer too, if they adopt this same hard-driving, competitive, time urgent lifestyle. Working women living this way are twice as likely to develop coronary disease as those who are more relaxed.

You might expect things to be different for housewives, since living at home should cause less hassle than going out to work, and as a group, housewives in this study were more easygoing. But some felt the same time pressures as women with outside jobs; the sense that thongs would get out of control unless they tried all the time to keep on top. Those who felt this suffered three times as much heart disease as those who didn’t, whether they looked after an office or a home. And women with children, who were married to blue-collar workers and were holding down clerical jobs at the same time, had the highest heart disease risk of all.

The beginnings of your hard-driving behavior go right back to childhood. In school you got recognition and perhaps prizes for being quick and bright, for being an achiever, for competing with others and for winning. You probably went on from school to get a series of increasingly better jobs against pretty stiff competition. They were jobs where you had to care about the results, where you constantly had to push things forward and get things done. In your present job you also feel some conflict, either with time or with other people. Some of those you work with don’t seem able to grasp the simplest ideas, and they often put a brake on what you’re trying to achieve. The conflict may not erupt every day. You pride yourself on being able to keep the lid on. But it’s always there, under the surface.

Once again, I saw this film/story again. I do like this story which is written by Jane Austen.

I still remember vividly the first time when I saw this film was 2006. Well I mean the 1995-version which was produced by BBC impressed me deeply. This TV version was divided into 6 episodes. And each one was about 50 minutes. I came across to see this drama on TVB Pearl as I turned on my TV one night. At first, I didn’t know what it was though I saw the name of the story; I didn’t really know the meanings of the words. However, after I have seen the film for about 15 minutes, I got to know the words’ Chinese. But I still haven’t any idea about what the story going to tell.

So, I went to my computer and searched some information. Through the introduction on the internet, at last, I have a general idea about the story and from that moment on, I began to be interested in and love this love story.

You know, there is a law of the TVB Pearl to play the dramas. It usually plays one episode a week. That means I have to spend 6 weeks to see the whole story. Wow! It could be so excruciating. I am fond of the story and I can’t wait that long. So, I decided to download it by the internet and keep it in my computer till today. Well, I did. Then I saw the whole story in only 2 days. I was so happy about that.

I love the characters, the clothes and the scenes which displayed in the drama, and of course, the actors and the actresses, especially Colin Firth who acted as Mr. Darcy. I think he acted really well, he did show Mr. Darcy’s character and personality, which is proud, arrogant and conceit but in fact really kindhearted and nice, vividly to the audiences. What’s more, I have seen the film version which was produced in 2004. To be honest, I don’t appreciate that one for it does not really match the story of the book seriously but the 1995 version.

Though I have seen the whole story on TV, I didn’t feel contented. Then I searched the Chinese-translation version of the book and read it in a day. It was a crazy time. After I have read the Chinese version, I got to know more about the story and its details. Well, that is not contented for me. Then I went on reading its original text which was written in English. It is a big challenge for me though I have read the Chinese one. And that’s why, till today I still haven’t finished my reading of this book. But I think I will keep going and try.

Last Saturday, Xen asked me to help him to find out some reading notes of the English masterpieces. As his English homework, he has to write one. But I don’t have such things. Then he asked me to introduce some English masterpieces and he would search on the internet. So, I introduced some of my books on my shelf. At last, he decided to write the reading-notes about the Pride and Prejudice. Well, I know that he is poor at English and then I helped him to find some articles which talks about the story in English. Let him choose and combine the articles in his one.

Of course, during this process, I did learn more about the story, such as its background, the main idea and the 7 marriages in it. Those articles brought me to another world and helped me to see, to read and to think this story in different angles. Before I read these articles, yes, I did know the plot of the story very well for I have seen the TV version many times. But I know that’s not enough, I should go on studying about the story, especially its background and the written purpose.

I think, maybe in the future, I would try to write an English reading-note about Pride and Prejudice which is not the homework but the real note.

This time, the company establishes an office in Shanghai, recently another one in Guangzhou. They want to open up the market of China and let more Chinese people pay more attention to Egypt. So the company wants to interview some college students in order to get some recruits and enlarges itself. The people they want are some English interpreters which is full-time and part-time. Of course, I would take the part-time one.

I first met a young lady who is just graduated from our college. After I have filled a form about myself, she led me to a table and we both sat down and then began to talk. She read my resume and asked me to introduce myself in English. Then, she asked me some questions such as how I think of my hometown, how much I know about Egypt, and how I think about the visit to Egypt. I told my opinions to her and talked some experiences of me to her. I think we talked so happily and so well.

Then the first applicant came out of the boss’s office, I went into the room. The boss is a tall and strong man who is about 50. He looks so smart and experienced. He asked some questions about the job and let me talk about my opinions on some problems or phenomenon. I talked a lot, and really, I told what I want. I do think that I get a chance to express myself. I really appreciate about it.

These two parts of the interview took me nearly an hour and a half. I think I did get something and learn something from it. At least, at that moment or now, I don’t really care whether they would take me but I am really happy about this experience.

Well, this is my first interview.

    又到開學的日子了。回去住了一個晚上，恰巧今天又開始冷起來了，於是又找到了很好的藉口回家“避難”。說實在的，不知道爲什麽對於宿舍，對於學校總是沒有什麽歸宿感，簡單地說，就是老想回家，一有機會就跑回家。
    昨天下午沒有課，就跑去苗哥那邊上網。5點多的時候就囘宿舍準備去吃飯，就發現宿舍突然閒多了個人。算了，雖然和她並不是很熟，不過也是自己班的。聊了幾句后，發現原來她也是個笨蛋，真的就是個笨蛋，就是很蠢的那種。還好的事，她不是很坏很難搞定的人，而且很怕我，因此應該可以很容易就能把她壓得死死。然後，今天一早起來，又再來了一個人要住進我們的宿舍，是一個說普通話的。不過，也隨便拉，反正只要不要煩到我，不會打攪到我讀書就行了。我現在可是一心想快點把那些考試都攷過了，然後就逃離那個鬼地方。
    前天拿到這個學期的課表，可算是不錯了，星期五只要上一科就能走人，而且是最早的一科，也就是大概10點鈡就能閃人。太好了。星期二也是，就下午有一科要上，也就是說這個學期真的算是清閒了。