The Hairy Mammoth

AECP A1 assignment #3-Summary and Quotation

ps. I put it & "Snowy Owl" here because I love them and hope I did a good job in summary! Ha!

The hairy mammoths are the biggest elephants in the Earth’s history, but they all were extinct ten thousand years ago. The average hairy mammoth was 12 feet tall, and its weight could reach 13,225 to 15,450 pounds. The scientists discovered them in the Arctic area, such as “Siberia, northern Europe, northern Eurasia, and North America” (Wildlife Fact File, 1991, p. 4) and found there are many similarities between them and the modern elephants. By studying the modern elephants and the fossils of mammoths they have found, scientists can rebuild the amazing creatures now.

The hairy mammoths were vegetarians; therefore, they had big flat teeth to chew the plant that had a lot of fibers. They lived in one of the severest cold areas in the world, so they had to eat a large amount of food to maintain their fatty body and had hair to keep them warm. The Wildlife Fact File (1991) stated, “Their fat, which was especially thick around the shoulders, was used as an emergency store of food” (p. 3). Although they were the biggest animals at that time, they still had some predators, such as humans, Saber-toothed tigers, and wolves. Humans hunted the mammoths with spears and axes for food and clothing. The scientists guessed that only humans and wolf groups could hurt the adult mammoths because they hunted the mammoths in groups or with tools; on the other hand, the Saber-toothed tigers would prey only on the young mammoths.

The female mammoths could be pregnant after they were ten to twelve years old; furthermore, it took twenty-two months to gestate and just have a newborn from a conception. They liked to live together; thus, the pregnant and young mammoths could get good protection from other adults, and their lifespan could be up to sixty years.

*Reference

Wildlife Fact File. (1991). Hairy Mammoth. (Card 4, Group7: Prehistoric & Extinct Animals), 1-4.

The Grand Canyon

My AECP A1 assignment #1--Describe a Place(2nd draft)

During this winter break, I went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon with my friends. This was my second time there, and I still enjoyed the scene very much. First, we went to the desert view. There is a tower that is the highest place of the south rim and was built by the Native Americans. The first floor is a shop where they sell all kinds of regular souvenirs with the Grand Canyon logo, such as mugs, T-shirts, postcards, etc., but they also display some handicrafts that were made by the Native Americans. For example, they weave a kind of special blanket with colored twine. They make rocks and minerals of different colors into sand and use the sand for painting symbols on rocks or walls that are called rock art. After I went up to the tower, the walls of the tower were painted with all kinds of symbols. Each symbol has a specific meaning, such as the sun, the moon, rain, and all kinds of animals. When I arrived at the highest floor, the fourth floor, I saw the beautiful valley of the Colorado River. Because of the continent uplifting, the river water had the potential to erode the ground and made the sharp and deep valley of the Grand Canyon. The deepest location from the rim to the river could be over one mile deep. Most of the upper formations of the Grand Canyon are limestone, and their color is red-brown because of the large amount of iron. After that, we went to the Bright Angel, which is also an amazing place. When I was on the rim, I saw some small houses in the valley, and they all were covered with bright-white snow. A man told us that it takes about 8 hours to arrive at the houses. We tried to take a walk along the trail, but the trail was covered with snow. Although it was the first time I could touch snow and I felt extremely excited, it was too cold for me to walk on the icy trail for a long time. After about 30 minutes, I gave up and went to the nearest shop and bought some useful books about the Grand Canyon. When we left there, we saw the beautiful sunset. The sunlight made the walls of the canyon reflect red, orange, rose, and some amazing warm colors. It was a wonderful trip for me, and I want to go there again.

My Silly Journals 4

[Living in Another Country]
I lived in China for two months and live in the U.S. now. I didn’t have any special feeling about living in another country, although I have to spend some time to know the culture of them at the beginning. I like to try the different life style, so I came here and try to get close to the American life. I think the most interesting things are the ways people celebrate holidays in the U.S. and the special social behavior in China. Last month, I went to the downtown Tempe with my friend on the Halloween, we were so surprised about people’s dressing. It was our first time to join the real Halloween “party”, and I really like it for people’s rich imagination. During my first trip to China in 2000, I was so surprised about their behavior in the public especially in scenic spots. No matter what places, there were more than hundred and hundred people around you. When you want to take a picture, you have to keep saying: “excuse me” or you will see some people you don’t know in the picture. When you want to buy something to eat, you have to keep going in the line and tell the waiter what you want loudly or you will have nothing to eat, because the waiter and the people who beyond you will ignore you. I very enjoy living in another country because I can experience different cultures!


[My Favorite Season]
My favorite season is autumn. Someone may say: “autumn makes people sad because of the falling leaves.” I like autumn for the cool temperature. When I came to Tempe this August, it was so hot and the shining sunshine even made me couldn’t open my eyes. During the summer time here, I always stayed inside the buildings. I went to school in the early morning, and went back my apartment in the evening. I also don’t like the summer in Taiwan for its hot and humid weather. Now, it is autumn in Tempe. After class, sometimes I like to take a walk or ride bicycle from ASU to the Salt River and take some pictures for my friends, because they always ask me to introduce Tempe to them but I didn’t want to go outside in summer. I really enjoy the cool weather now, and finally I can go outside and take some beautiful photographs to introduce my friends how beautiful Tempe is.


[Hot News]
Most of the narcotics are illegal in Taiwan, but recently, there are several famous people who have become suspects for taking in the narcotics such as hemp, cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA, etc. Before that, some of them just finished the imprisonments, but they still keep taking drugs. They are TV stars, singers, or sport stars, and they also have a lot of young people as fans. It’s a big problem to Taiwan’s society, because it’s not only a crime but also affects other people especially the adolescents.

情感這東西

為了寫一篇有關周歲前民俗慶典的作業，找到一個詳細記載台灣風土民情的網頁，細細看了一回，又更覺禮節繁瑣。也不是有時候，而是很深刻的知道自己能夠承受的情感深度在哪裡。很久沒有頭疼了，因為那段曾經已經離我似乎很遠，會想起來的週期也漸漸拉長。

人生也不過三個階段，出生、延續生命及死亡，也許會少掉中間那一項。對我而言，死亡後生者的哀痛似乎比迎接一個新生命的喜悅來的深刻，我幾乎不記得迎接新生命的喜悅，有的幾乎都是逝者已矣的感覺，不過也因為這樣，更珍惜今後的陽光。

有出生就有死亡，而死亡後是什麼？沒有人知道，知道的魂都不知道漂蕩在哪個時空裡。習俗帶著期待與希望迎接生命，卻用敬畏來送走未知的魂，讓我有些錯愕。

生命無法永恆，永恆的是精神。

The Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan

[My I2 Writing-2]  This is an exercise about a descriptive paragraph. Describe a national or traditional holiday in your country.

At the Mid-Autumn Festival, we eat many delicious foods. This festival is on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month to memorize the goddess of the moon, and it’s also one of the three most important religious holidays in the Chinese societies. We hold wonderful barbecue parties and eat moon cakes and pomelos. Families like to get together and have a barbecue party. We prepare meat slices, all kinds of vegetables such as green pepper, golden pumpkin, and eggplant, and beverages. We arrange the party in front of the house, on the rooftop, or in the park in the afternoon and wait for the others who live far away from home to come back. We start the party around 6:00 p.m., and it’s an important time to show who can light up the wood coal first. After lighting up the fire, everyone leaps at the toaster because we all like to barbecue. We have the juicy meat and the colorful vegetables for dinner. Then we eat the moon cake and the pomelo and watch the moon. The moon cake is a kind of pastry, and it looks like a mini cake. The brown exterior of the moon cake is made of oil, flour, and sugar, and the interior of it is the sweet and fruity legume stuffing. The pomelo is a kind of fruit that looks like a big orange, but its peel is olive green. We like to cut off the peel of pomelo and put it on children’s heads to wish them health. I like this holiday very much, but I couldn’t come home this year. My family still celebrated the festival, and my dear sister emailed me the photographs of their barbecue party. I really wanted to join them at that moment.

My First Time to Leave My Hometown to College

[My I2 Writing-1]  This is a narrative paragraph which describes a story by time order. It's also an unforgettable story in my life because it makes me recall my dear mother.

I will never forget my first time to leave my hometown to college. Before I became a college student, I had never left my hometown — Kaohsiung, the biggest city in southern Taiwan — for eighteen years, so I decided to choose a school which is far from there to meet the new world. On that day, I left my home with my mother and elder sister May. We took a train at midnight and arrived at dawn in Taoyuan where is three hundred kilometers away from Kaohsiung. I remember a typhoon was attacking Taiwan that day, so just a few people were on the streets. We took a taxi from the railway station to my school. About an hour later, we arrived at my dormitory, and I met one of my roommates Lee. My mother and May went to a shop in campus and bought some things for me. They helped me to set up my bed and desk; then, we went to a restaurant and ate some noodles for lunch. We didn’t talk too much, and they went back home in the afternoon. I could tell that my mother worried about me pretty much, but she never told me that and just wanted me to call home sometimes. I had three roommates, and we always talked about the new life in college, hobbies, classes, and our hometowns and families. I met many new friends and joined a lot of activities held by my department. I really loved the new life in college, but sometimes I still felt lonely because I missed my family, friends, and my dog in my hometown.

Tim

不知如何講述這幾天的心情，我是真的很喜歡 TIM，一種欣賞的心情。佩瑩說這是精神外遇，也許！對我來說，總可以理性地把愛跟欣賞分清楚，這算不算是一種壓抑？我永遠都記得在系圖小杜傳來的那張紙條。從認識他的第一刻，我就知道他是我喜歡的那種男生--陽光男孩，不管遭遇多少挫折與現實，他總是可以很樂觀地面對，臉上總是帶著笑容。在我所經歷的世界裡，很少看到這樣的男生，我選擇保留這個美好的回憶。:-)
到了ASU，第一次見到 TIM ，是在講述美國簽證相關規定的 Orientation，只覺得他是個嚴肅傢伙，還是掌握生殺大權的 Student Adviser，很難親近的樣子。很慶幸他是我的文法老師，這是他唯一在AECP上的課，我卻幸運地當上他的學生，也讓我有機會認識這個大男生。上星期五，在開往Grand Canyon的路上，他坐我旁邊，一路上這位文學碩士竟然跟我講了很多 Arizona的環境跟生態、電影、小說、冒險故事跟他親愛的老婆。我們帶了一樣的水壺(佩瑩的)跟穿一樣的背心，我在Bright Angel幫他拿了兩次咖啡，我們兩個在回程的路上各自啃著自己的小說。有時候，你總是會對這種很神奇的巧合感到興奮。一樣的，我喜歡上了 TIM的笑容。
我當然最愛我家的帥哥，尤其現在離他很遠，沒有爭吵的機會。:p 雖然他很機車，從不懂逗我開心，但我最喜歡我們兩個神奇的故事跟同樣的生日數字。經歷過時間考驗的總是真實。