Richard Zhiyun Peng

I believe that there are two types of people who get high scores in English exams: 1) have high intelligence. 2) spend time several times more than others on English learning so that their English levels outperform the level that the English exam requires. If, in a particular circumstance, these two sorts of people compete with each other in an English exam within a limited time period (e.g. two weeks), then the first type of people will win with ease, and the second type of people will be beat miserably. Presumably, the first type of people accounts for 20% of all people. Some of the second sort of people, after the continuous frustrating wars of exams, finds that there is no way to outcome the other type of people, thus begin to believe that Intelligence indicates the scores of exams and those people with high intelligence are born winners. Fortunately, I don't have the hypothesis of "within a limited time" now (at least during this time...

I believe the most beautiful and elegant answer to this question is from Churchill. "On a peaceful afternoon, I sit at my desk on which there are only a pen and scores of white papers; I write. And this is the most beautiful thing in this world [1]." And, to be pragmatic, there are many advantages by writing a blog. To write is to think better [3, 6]. Exhibit oneself Practice writing skills [2] Other reasons in these three articles from Weipeng Liu [3] Write down one's beliefs and values [4]. Build the value hierarchy. After one has read many books, he wants to write. The inspiration is from [5], a blog of an art professor. It is easier to share with friends about articles, books, movies, and thoughts, like what she does [5]. In our blood, we want to receive the acceptance, agreement from others. And we want to be corrected by others [13]. Just like the academia, when a researcher finds a great principle, he wants to share with h...

Life English is the most pragmatic kind of English when one wants to associate with foreigner friends. There are some books that have explored this research area [4] [8] [7]. However, the books [4] [8] [6] lack the real world experience with foreigners; there are some ways and expressions that these books recommend to use but the real Americans will not use these expressions, even cannot understand some of expressions from these books [7]. The book [7] satisfactorily addressed this problem by using the first hand experiences, sentences, real conversations and even the real stories. Thus, Kunlin’s book [7] has strong readability (to be specific, it is intriguing) and practicability. However, the book [7] is written primarily in Chinese, so it is inconvenient for not-Chinese-native-speakers to read, to learn and to enjoy. Besides, some categories and organizations are not that comprehensive enough, which leads to occasional failures for looking up a specific expression. These two reasons...

After reading the book of American daily English notes written by Linkun Yang[1], I think I should add my English notes to enlarge this good book. The reason why I write it is simple: 1) I have a similar English note-taking system, but I concede that his note-taking system is more intriguing, so I want to combine these two systems, to make it more intriguing and pragmatic. 2) I assume that this book will encourage people to learn English and use them into day-to-day life, like the way I benefit from this magic book. What are the functions and meaning of this book to its readers? (1) use the real world examples to encourage readers to notice, note down and use these life English. (2) study the culture of the US and find interests in this culture via these real world examples. What is my plan to write this book (or to be specific, the hub of notes) ? 1a. I try to write some literature review, to build my work under the previous great contributors' work. 2b. write it during a ...

In the book Decision Quality , one will be trained to have three decision making system; one of them is the quick decision. Actually, when we do the decision—big decision like choosing a school and small decision like where to eat—we rank them in our minds. So, put the philosophy to the general area, and you will find a fantastic world. For me, I have a dozen of ranking electric tables (MS Excel): 1) The beloved beliefs and values, 2) private book list for belief, value, efficiency and 3) leisure activities etc. The scores and ranks will be updated according to more information and the passing of time. Suddenly, life becomes clear and concise. And this philosophy is consonant with the last article: to complete the most important 0.1% of the to-do list items are really good enough to have a good achievement.

I once told my younger sister my learning system, and the basic five doctrines of my methodology. But unfortunately, she found out that the method is no use. In the book of Think of Time as a Friend , a student asked Xiaolai Li, “Does this method work? Really work?” He replies yes, but the student is still doubted about this method. Li advises that you just use it for a period of time, and it will be batter than doing nothing. I agree with it. And this issue will be discussed at my next article. But this conversition raises another question. Learn what? How to learn? I have some different opinions comparing to Li’s. For example, Li talked about the experience about his learning at “Children’s Palace” as an elementary student, but finally used it at the age of 35 when he was writing a vocabulary book. One has a target. So, what the person chooses to do (include what to learn) should be hooked up with his target. The smart person can differentiate the important things from the others...