My Doggie

She sat on the sliding cushion,

The dear, wee woman of four;

Her feet, in their shiny slippers,

Hung dangling over the floor.

She meant to be good; she had promised,

And so with her big, brown eyes,

She stared at the meetinghouse windows

And counted the crawling flies.

She looked far up at the preacher,

But she thought of the honeybees

Droning away at the blossoms

That whitened the cherry trees.

She thought of a broken basket,

Where curled in a dusky heap,

Four sleek, round puppies, with fringy ears.

Lay snuggled and fast asleep.

Such soft, warm bodies to cuddle,

Such queer little hearts to beat,

Such swift round tongues to kiss,

Such sprawling, cushiony feet;

She could feel in her clasping fingers

The touch of the satiny skin,

And a cold, wet nose exploring

The dimples under her chin.

Then a sudden ripple of laughter

Ran over the parted lips

So quick that she could not catch it

With her rosy finger-tips.

The people whispered “Bless the child,”

As each one waked from a nap,

But the dear, wee woman hid her face

For shame in her mother’s lap.

ANONYMOUS.

Jay Chou Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi piano cha qu

读书 责任还是兴趣 （我的自由论坛讲稿）

今天自由论坛的题目是“读书 责任还是兴趣？”。我认为读书是兴趣。兴趣，可以最大限度的发挥人的主观能动性，而且符合当今社会追求自由平等个性的以人为本宗旨，是忠于理想忠于信仰的体现。

爱因斯坦有句名言：“兴趣是最好的老师。”古人亦云：“知之者不如好之者，好知者不如乐之者。”兴趣对学习有着神奇的内驱动作用，能变无效为有效，化低效为高效。兴趣是最好的老师，只有做自己有兴趣的事才能保持激情，发挥最大的潜力。很多时候迫于现实选择了一些自己不喜欢的事，结果不能坚持下去，一切又要从头开始。

让我们来看一个例子。那就是名副其实的NBA球星，姚明。在姚明小时候，姚明的父母并没有刻意鼓励他把篮球当作自己将来的事业，更没有把打篮球视为他的责任，他们只是让姚明做自己喜欢，感兴趣的事情。他们希望小姚明和普通的孩子一样读书、上大学、找工作，然后找到自己的生活方式。但姚明最终还是选择了篮球。后来他发现自己真的非常热爱篮球。

在读书学习上，姚明的父母从来不逼迫姚明，而是以启发施展为主，重视培养他的兴趣。这种方式让姚明享受到了学习的乐趣。长大之后，每当有人问起他的童年，他都会说：“我是玩过来的，没人逼迫我学习。”其实，他所谓的玩就是读自己喜欢的书，研究所有自己好奇的东西。由于乐在其中，就好像在玩一样。

兴趣是指个体以特定的事物、活动及人为对象，所产生的积极的和带有倾向性、选择性的态度和情绪。每个人都会对他感兴趣的事物给予优先注意和积极地探索，并表现出心驰神往。例如，姚明对篮球产生了强烈的兴趣，所以才会关注篮球，才会为篮球倾注热情、付出努力；例如有的人对美术感兴趣，他就会对各种油画、美展、摄影都会认真观赏、评点，对好的作品进行收藏、模仿。一个人对跳舞感兴趣，他就会主动地、积极寻找机会去参加，而且在跳舞时感到愉悦和放松，表现出积极而自觉自愿。

同样的，如果有个人，他对读书有兴趣，才肯去读，肯去做，就像刚才所说的，能保持激情，发挥出最大的潜力。打个比方说，化学课。对于一名学生来说，对化学感兴趣，就可能激励他积累各种化学知识，研究各种化学现象，为将来研究和从事化学方面的工作打基础，做准备。这就是一个很好的例子。从以上这几个例子中，我们可以知道，兴趣已成为了一种推动力，它可以使人集中精力去获得知识，并创造性地完成当前的活动。

最后，对活动的创造性态度的促进作用。兴趣会促使人深入钻研、创造性的工作和学习。就中学生来说，对一门课程感兴趣，会促使他刻苦钻研，并且进行创造性的思维，不仅会使他的学习成绩大大提高，而且会大大地改善学习方法，提高学习效率。

所以，人的兴趣不仅是在学习、活动中发生和发展起来的，而且又是认识和从事活动的巨大动力。姚明因对篮球的兴趣而成为伟大的球星，我们也一样能因为兴趣而成就自己的未来。

读书是向内的，不是向外的，是一种内心的过程，跟自己的生命经验有关。读书一旦变成与生命无关了，与心理趋向无关了，就作假了。所以我觉得读书这个东西不可以倡导，而是每个人内心的兴趣所致。

说了这么多，我可以做出一个结论。就是因为我们对读书有兴趣，才会去读。许许多多的例子都表明，兴趣对我们起了一种推动的作用去读书。

谢谢！

Why is it important to set goals?

Having a goal enables you to focus your energies on devising ways to achieve it. When someone makes a decision and begins focusing on achieving a specific goal (and even better in a specific period of time), the powerful subconscious mind goes to work and begins playing with ideas and developing strategies of various ways to bring about the successful completion of the goal.

When you set yourself a goal both your conscious and subconscious start working on it and begin to develop an action plan. You will find you begin asking yourself questions about what needs to be done to enable you to reach your goal. You may find yourselves coming up with amazing ideas and solutions to problems or obstacles that have been in the way of achieving your goal. Solutions and ideas that you are surprised you ever thought of may start popping into your mind.

Our subconscious is an extremely powerful tool. The more often you remind yourself of your goal, the more your mind will work on ways for you to achieve it. Some people find answers come to them when they are asleep and dreaming.

Have you ever noticed that there is no correlation between being wealthy and having a high IQ or a university degree? If there were, every doctor and university graduate would be wealthy, and as statistics show, most of them end up in the same situation as 95% of the population.

The main thing that the majority of independently wealthy people have in common is that they have set goals for themselves and achieved them. They invest time in reading and learning about wealth creation and are happy to learn from other people’s mistakes and experiences, as well as their own. They set goals, and realise that they will be far better able to achieve them if they familiarise themselves with the ways in which other people acted and the things that others have done to succeed. Wealthy people create wealth by carefully utilising the income that they have available to them to their best advantage. They know that working harder and longer hours is not the way to achieve financial freedom, instead they have to utilise what they have, and make it grow.

Setting Goals.

When you begin to work out your goals you need to make them as specific as possible. A vague idea or generalization like “I want to buy investment properties and become wealthy” is not enough. You need to be much more detailed. “I want to own my first investment property within six months. I will save for the legal and bank fees, and borrow 100% of the value of the property. I will find an extremely well priced, three bedroom brick veneer house that is close to schools and shopping centres. It will be either brand new or less than ten years old. It will be structurally sound, and require a minimal amount of maintenance. I will find a good agent to manage it, who has a lot of experience and will find me a good tenant.”

This is a specific goal, and you could add a lot more to it. Because your goal is specific your mind immediately begins to ask questions such as “How much money will I need for the fees and charges? How much does that relate to if I break it down on a weekly basis? Will I have to look at my current expenses to see where I need to cut back so as to make up the difference for the amount I need to save?” Specific goals help you to create specific, realistic action plans and as the old saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

You will find that if you write down your goals on a piece of paper, and put it in a prominent position, so that you will read it often, your subconscious as well as your conscious mind will start asking questions and coming up with answers, and you will find that you have already begun to take the necessary steps to achieving your goal. It is helpful to have a series of goals, ranging from daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, ten yearly and thirty to forty yearly. You can always refine and change your goals as time goes on and situations change.

You may find that it is easier to start at the 40-year mark, and then work backwards. Try to work out what steps would be needed to achieve your 40-year goal, and spread them out over the different time spans, to what you would need to achieve to end up with the final result.

Try to make your goals realistic and achievable. Do not set a goal that is too hard. Set lots of small, easily achievable goals and work step by step to achieve your road to success. Stay positive. Believe in yourself and your abilities to succeed, even if other people patronise you or try to put you off, or tell you there is no point.

Setting and achieving goals help you to create a stronger character. It is always helpful to remember that our brain cannot entertain both positive and negative thoughts at the same time. If you stay positive you will dispel negative thought patterns. Even if you come across little obstacles that get in the way of your goals, don’t give up. Focus on finding a solution, rather than focusing on the problem – utilise a positive response. Focusing on finding solutions enables you to put your brain to work, to find ways around things. If you just see an obstacle as a problem and just accept that life has dealt you a blow, and let it stop you in your tracks, then you will never learn and grow. Remember that children learn to walk by falling over. Focus on the long-term achievements that you want to fulfill, and it will be easier to overcome your problems.

The Twilight Saga Eclipse

Overview

MOVIEmeter:
Up 100% in popularity this week.
Director: David Slade
Writers (WGA): Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay) Stephenie Meyer (novel)
Release Date: 8 July 2010 (Malaysia)
Genre: Drama Fantasy Romance

Tagline: It all begins ... With a choice
Plot:
As a string of mysterious killings grips Seattle, Bella, whose high school graduation is fast approaching, is forced to choose between her love for vampire Edward and her friendship with werewolf Jacob.

Plot Summary for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life. Written by Summit Entertainment

Isabella Swan was a normal teenage girl, in a normal world. Until she met Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Since then she has been up against a Sadistic Vampire, The Volturi and an angry werewolf, Paul. But what lies ahead is something only Edward's 'brother', Jasper Hale, can help the Cullens with. A Newborn Vampire Army created by a Revenge ridden Victoria for what Edward did to her mate, James. 'Mate for Mate' as Victoria sees it. But what she doesn't know is the Cullens have a secret on their side. With Graduation coming fast, Bella gets more and more worried about becoming immortal and the fight. But the real question is: Who will she choose? Written by Jemma From England

Bella and Edward have been reunited, but their forbidden relationship is threatened to be torn apart again with an evil vampire still seeking her revenge. And Bella is forced to choose between her true love for Edward or her friendship with Jacob Black as the struggles between vampires and werewolves continues. But there is still another choice for Bella to make, mortality or immortality? Written by Mel from the United Kingdom.

After the vote about her becoming immortal, Bella realizes graduation isn't too far away and starts to panic. But she has bigger problems arising, her feelings for Jacob, his feelings for her and Victoria. The vampire who is trying to take revenge on her for Edward killing her James. Written by Leslie Cullen