summary~~~

I read an article named “Success at work” in the book “Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life” fro my academic essay. In this article, martin did a research on comparing the optimism level of two candidates in each American presidential election from 1948 to 1984. In addition, he analyzed why the more optimistic candidate won and whether it was because of their pre-exist optimism that help them or it was because they became optimistic to attract more voters during the procedure. This article helps readers find more information on how optimism changes people and help people succeed.

Happy birthday to myslef~~~~

Yeah~~~It is November 3rd now—my 20th birthday!!! It is my first time to have birthday abroad, and I am feeling very happy, moved and exciting!!! At the midnight of November 2nd, many friends sent short messages to me, wishing me happy birthday and happy every day. And, of course, I received many gifts, such as toys, earphones and photos. Hehe , yeah~~~so happy.
Thank you everyone, thank you for your wishes. I will smile every day, happy every day and enjoy every day.
Wuwu~~~but I still feel a bit sad. 20 years has been passed since I was born. 20 years!!! I still remember my 10th birthday. I celebrated it with my parents, my cousins and the other relatives. Time flies!!! I am one year older than yesterday!
Anyway, happy birthday to myself!!!

academic essay~~~

Being an optimist and enjoying a fulfilling life

Tagore (1916) said, ’If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you will also miss the stars’. When facing a loss, some people can recover very soon and look forward, while the others remain in deep sorrow. According to people’s different ways of thinking about life, we can divide them into two types: optimists and pessimists. Optimists are the ones who are always hopeful for the best, believe that the misfortune is temporary setback and have favorable expectations about the future (Edward, n.d.), while the pessimists react oppositely under the same situations. Everyday people work hard to pursue a happy and fulfilling life, and optimism plays an important trait in this pursuit. It can ensure that optimists will probably have good health, more opportunities and better outcomes, and better relationships with others.
Firstly, optimism can help achieve good health physically and mentally. Research shows that optimism is associated with health in a coefficient about 20-30%. When being in the same sick condition, compared with pessimists, optimists probably suffer less from the onset of the illness, can recover sooner, and have fewer relapses (Peterson & Bossio, 2001). According to Taylor et al. (1992), among HIV-seropositive gay men, those who were optimistic were reported to have more impetus to maintain their health through diet and exercise. In addition, optimists are likely to stay positive and resilient to the challenges and changes. They are not likely to cry over the split milk for a long time. Instead, they will probably accept the reality quickly, wipe out their tears, and self-motivate themselves. These reactions probably help them find another way to overcome the obstacles. In short, optimists can have good physical and mental health, which is one of the fundamental conditions of a fulfilling life.
Secondly, when encountering threatening or challenging situations, optimists can probably grasp more chances and get relatively better outcomes than the pessimists. Filled with courage, confidence and hopes for the best, optimists are probably braver and more active in daily life. Thus, they are willing to try new things, improve themselves, test their capabilities and fulfill their curiosity and ambitions. Moreover, they are more likely to make their efforts continuously to solve difficulties. A questionnaire has been done by Martin (2006) on one hundred productive and unproductive sales agents, respectively. It showed that productive sales agents were more optimistic than the unproductive ones. The top ten optimistic sales agents sold ‘88 percent more than the most pessimistic ten’. In addition, agents who were less optimistic were ‘twice as likely to quit as agents who were more optimistic’ (Martin, 2006). With perseverance, optimists have more probabilities to get better results than those who give up halfway. Therefore, optimist can achieve more and better outcomes than the pessimists.
Lastly, people with optimistic attitude may have relatively more adequate social support and a better impression on others. Martin (2006) did a research on comparing the optimism levels of two candidates in each American presidential election from 1948 to 1984. Interestingly, he found that nine out of the ten elections were won by the more optimistic president-to-bes. They presented more vigorous campaigning and gave more hopes to their voters. To reiterate, optimists can have a better social relationships and impressions.
In conclusion, optimists enjoy a happy and fulfilling life with good health, better outcomes and relationships. Become an optimist, observe the world from a different point of view, and one can explore more and enjoy a fulfilling and amazing life.

Reference
Edward C. C (Ed.). Optimism & pessimism : Implications for theory, research, and practice (1st ed., pp.127). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Peterson, C. & Bossio, L. M. (n.d.). Optimism and Physical Well-being. In Edward C. Chang (Ed.). Optimism & pessimism : Implications for theory, research, and practice (1st ed., pp.127). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2006a). Success at work. Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life (pp.99-102). United States: Vintage Books.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2006b). Politics, Religion, and Culture: A New Psychohistory. Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life (pp189). United States: Vintage Books.
Taylor, S. E., Kemeny, M. E., Aspinwall, L. G., Schneider, S.G., Rodriguez, R., & Herbert, M. (1992). Optimism, coping, psychological distress, and high-risk sexual behavior among men at risk for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (pp. 460-473).
Tagore,R. (1916). Stray Birds. London: Macmillan &Co.

a trip to thailand

During the recess week, I took a visit to Thailand with my friends. 11 of us started our journey from 24 Sep. and went back on 28 Sep. It was an amazing trip full of laughter and adventures. We got our visa on arrival, but the condition was that every one of us should have at least 10000 bts with us. How ridicules! We had never heard any other countries make such rules to permit the tourists’ visas. All together we only had about 40000 bts. Therefore, we decided that we gathered all the money and some people showed the money when they applied for the visa. After the one finished, another person took the same money to apply for the visa. However, our ‘cheat’ did not succeed. We could not get our visa, and were ‘trapped’ in Thailand airport for 5 hours, waiting for the local guide to save us. At last, the guide bribed the officer, and we got out of the airport finally. When breathing the fresh air of Bangkok, we were so excited and thanked the guide very much. Since then, our nightmare finished.
When we arrived as Bangkok at 9 o’clock, we took a small explorer around our hotel. The price in Bangkok was relatively low to that of Singapore, for example, a corn was only 10 bts.( equals to S$0.5 and was very delicious!!! :P). There were many small temples along the road, and we could see many people pray sincerely on their knees. When we got back hotel, everyone was very energetic. Therefore, we played mah-jong and card until 2.
During the following days, we took a boat and enjoyed the scenery along the river of the king, watched the show of transsexuals, played very high on the beach of Pattaya and flied over the sea with parachute on. What was more; we watched the show of elephants and crocodiles. The elephants were very cute and smart. They could draw pictures, rode the bicycles and even became a massager. I received a special massage made by the elephant. It hit me very gently with its nose and foot.
It was really an amazing trip. I will remember it forever, the excitement, the laughter and the beautiful scenery of Thailand.

Movie review of ‘Ratatouille’

Everyone can cook, even a rat. It happens in Disney’s new carton movie’ Ratatouille’. Remy is a rat who dreams of being a great chef. He learns how to cook by watching French famous chef Auguste Gustean’s TV cooking program. After getting lost with his family, he goes to Paris alone, and forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, a garbage boy working in Gusteau’s restaurant. Remy stays on Linguini’s head and controlled his actions by pulling his hair. Since then, Linguini cooks amazing meals and rebuilds Gusteau’s rehabitation.
In this movie, Remy is a very unusual rat. He only wants to eat good stuff, and walk on his two feet rather than on four. Moreover, he has a highly developed sense of taste and smell. Therefore, he becomes the poison checker of the whole family. Unlike the other rats, he admires humans, for they can create and cook delicious food. Accidentally, he makes friends with Linguini, a human, and fulfills his own dream by controlling Linguini to cook what he wants. But when he finds his lost family, he has to make a very difficult choice. He wonders whether to follow his dreams of being a fine chef or return to his previous existence as a rat and stay away with humans. Similarly, such kind of question also confuses our human; whether we should believe our fate to live a common life, or try another way of living, change our fate and explore the adventures. The former way of life is very safe, for people do not need to adapt to the unexpected changes; while the latter is full of dangers but excitements. During the process to explore a new life, one can get totally different life experiences and discovers more about the unknown world. However, making such choice, one should have a great courage to following his/her passions even if the entire world was against him/her and overcome the unexpected obstacles or failures, and the perseverance to stick to his/ her dreams. And that is one of the messages the movie conveys to the public.
Even a rat can be a chef, then what else cannot happen? Just as Remy says in the movie: ‘change is nature. And we can make influence. It starts when we decide.’ Follow our own heart, make efforts, and we can achieve our goals.

campare and contrast

Intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence contribute to the development of an undergraduate in different ways. Intellectual intelligence enables an undergraduate to have a good memory and problem-solving abilities. Hence, undergraduates can analyze problems logically, absorb knowledge efficiently, and pursue high academic achievements. In comparison, emotional intelligence has an impact on academic development as well, by affecting intellectual capabilities. Psychological tests show feeling of rejection can dramatically reduce IQ by about 25%. Inversely, it is the quality of self-control that is regarded as necessary to perform well in intellectual performance. However, this competitive society does not need a “studiholic”; it asks for more—an undergraduate with confidence, self-motivation, and capability to communicate and cooperate with others. Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role to meet these standards. With high emotional intelligence, firstly, an undergraduate can study in a good state of mind. When he or she is stuck solving complicated problems, he/she will probably keep calm, be encouraged to go through the previous work, find and correct mistakes and finish the work successfully. Secondly, this student will probably interact well with class and professors, and probably be more likely to remain in education and have more opportunities to learn from others and build up solid friendships. In conclusion, intellectual and emotional intelligence make different contributions to the development of an undergraduate.

problem and solution

Many people find interpersonal relationships the most challenging aspect of their lives. If the interpersonal relationships are unsuitably handled, it will lead to misunderstandings or worse, quarrels and conflicts between people. How can we enhance our interpersonal communication skills? Develop one’s emotional intelligence! Mainly there are two causes of the problem and solutions respectively. One reason is because some people are too shy to interact with people, or they are afraid to be mocked. Therefore, they prefer to stay in their own world, sit in the corner quietly, and listen to others. If one does not communicate with others, how can others know him/her, let alone build up interpersonal relationships and then enhance it? What the person should do is to be more open-minded, step out of their world, and motivate themselves to interact with others in the activities. Another cause of interpersonal misunderstanding is that some people are not good at expressing themselves. Sometimes they cannot make people understand themselves, or they express their ideas in a wrong way or at the wrong time. In this case, a person should develop his/her self-awareness and demonstrating skills, by understanding what the topic they are discussing and what they should or should not say ,and watch and listen to articulate speakers and simulate them. Step by step, one will succeed. In conclusion, developing one’s emotional intelligence will enhance his/her interpersonal relationship.