RJ7 E組 林家綾

I read another book recently, it's name is "Mystery Girl." There are three stories in the book and this book is for teenagers.

The first story is "Mystery Girl", written by Joanna Strange. This is a interesting story. Phil was a member of a rock band. The story happened when their performance was about to begin. Phil met a beautiful girl and wanted to talk to her. But he didn't know how to start the conversation so he hesitated for a long time. During the time, his mates looked for him every where. When he was ready to say hi to the girl, his mates found him and told him that he was late. They soon ran to the place where they perform and start their band. At the same time, the mystery girl was watching the band. She saw the boy who tried to talk to her and decided to talked to him again because she wanted to know his friend, Lee.

The second story is "Ghosts Fire", written by Robin Waterfield. This is a strange story. Elaine often saw a little girl screaming and fire in her room. But all her family said that she imagined it. No one saw the little girl except Elaine. She was very confused and wrote a letter to the builders of her house and asked what buildings were there before her house. The builders said there was a school for children who have no parents and there was a fire several years ago. The little girl was died in the fire. After Elaine knew it, she never saw the little girl anymore.

The last story is "Luke's Trainers", written by Chris Rice. Luke was poor boy. He wanted the beautiful trainers in the shop but he had no money. He did work for people every weekend to earned money. Five months later, he had enough money to buy the trainers. He put on his new trainers and the box with his old shoes was under his arm. When he was on his way home, he met a boy, who liked hitting people and took things from them, Andrew. He asked Luke to give him the box. Luke threw the box to the river and hit Andrew in the back when he tried get the box. Andrew fell into the river. After that, Andrew became very ill and didn't hit people.

RJ6 E組 林家綾

Adeline found a good job after back to homeland. But her father made her work in women's medicine and Adeline could not refuse him. A few months later, she got an opportunity to work in the U.S. so she left her hometown again. Soon after she sailed to the U.S., she met Byron and they got marry after six weeks. But two weeks after their wedding, Adeline began to find that her husband was not so good as she thought. Finally, they divorced. Byron got the house and Adeline solitarily kept their son, Roger. Afterwards, her friend introduced her to a Chinese-American university teacher, Bob. He is the right person for Adeline. They were soon married and their daughter, Ann, was born two years later.

Adeline's father was suffering from Alzheimer and was weaker and weaker. Before he died, his wife got all of his property and hid his real will. She let her stepchildren thought their father didn't leave anything for them. After he died, his wife got ill. At her last gasp, few people visited her to say last goodbye to her. She had no true friends. Her will let Adeline feel sad, she didn't leave a penny for her. But Adeline finally find her father's will, he did leave a part of his property for her. What Adeline cared about was not money but her parents loved her or not. She believed her father loved her after all. And the reason her stepmother hated her so much was that Adeline's big sister wrote letters to their stepmother to tell her some tales about Adeline continuously.

During the time Adeline worked in America, her grandaunt and aunt suffered from the bad treatment from government. Many years passed, when Adeline's dearest aunt was dying, she asked Adeline to write down the story of their family. Her aunt was not angry about the difficult she had suffered. Love never left her. As the author said: " Life had come full circle. Falling leaves return to their roots."

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I have already finished this book. It's really a impressive story.

RJ5 E組 林家綾

Since Adeline was sent to Tianjin, nobody had visited her at all. She tried to write letters to her family but received no word because her father forbad her hearing from

Anyone. Even her big sister, who married and lived in Tianjin, never asked about her during the time she was at school there. When she escaped to Taiwan with her husband(because the Communists had taken Tianjin), they left Adeline behind without contacting. One day, her stepmother's sister Aunt Reine appeared in the entrance to her school and took her out of school without asking anyone. At Aunt Reine's home(the Schilling family), she got the same treatment to other children. Afterwards, the Schilling family took Adeline left Tianjin and joined the Yen family in Hong Kong.

After the Schilling family left for Geneva, where Aunt's husband had a new job, Adeline was ordered to pack her things and taken to away by her stepmother. She sent her to a school which took boarders and orphans. As a boarder in the school, Adeline didn't received any attention from home. Even she became ill seriously and was sent to hospital, there was no one visited her at all. Her classmates knew that she fell on dead ears. But her exceptional level on learning helped her classmates solve some problems. Since then, no one cared about she is a unloved girl.

Adeline's grandfather was lonely in Hong Kong. He had no friends and was not taken good care of by his son and daughter-in-law. His own daughter worked in Tianjin so that she couldn't keep company with him, and his grandson was rude to him. he looked old and sad in the sunset of his day.

After Grandfather's funeral, Adeline was asked to find herself a job. Her dream of attending university in England, like her brothers, was not accepted by her stepmother. But her father found that she entered a play-writing competition and won the first prize. He allowed Adeline to go to university but ordered her to study medicine rather than literature, which Adeline really wanted to major in. Adeline quickly agreed. She was willing to do anything her father advised if she could go to England.

Lydia (Adeline's big sister) and her husband could not find suitable employment in Taiwan so they returned to Tianjin. A few months after their return, Lydia's husband was taken away to prison because his father had been a well-known political figure in the Kuomintong. When he was freed after six months, they decided to move unto one of Father's house in Tianjin. But their stepmother refused because her aunt lived in the house. When she told their father to male them out and ha tried to do this, Lydia attacked back. She warned her father that they had found out that he was guilty of certain illegal money exchanges. If he made them move out, they would tell what they knew. They demanded and got some money. they stayed in Father's house but he never forgave them.

After Adeline and her brothers left for England, their half brother, Franklin, became more important child in the house. One day, Franklin was sent to hospital because he caught a very dangerous disease which affected the brain. He had probably caught it from eating unwashed fruit. When he was in hospital, his father visited him everyday. His mother almost lived in his hospital room. Slowly, Franklin appeared to improve. His mother thought her son appeared a little better and her social life shouldn't stop because Franklin illness. When she went to a dance, the doctor called her and told her that Franklin had suddenly become worse and was dead. She was never the same after her son's death. She didn't turn to her husband, or to her daughter, for emotional support. She had shown little love before, but even that died with her son.

Edgar, one of Adeline's brothers, was the least physically attractive child in the Yen family. When he was a child, he showed his unhappiness by bullying his youngest sister (Adeline). Edgar didn't like it when their father was proud of Adeline's success. They entered the same college and had to take some class together since Edgar failed his exam. Eventually, Edgar began to hated Adeline and told the other students that he didn't know her.

Adeline made some friends with small group of Chinese students. But there was much racial prejudice in England. The English students hated to be close to Chinese people, especially female students. Some were insulting and rude. Her life in England was difficult.

Adeline fell in a secret love with Karl, one of her university professors. She loved Karl very much but the relationship had failed finally. Soon afterwards, Adeline left England for Hong Kong, eleven years after she sailed to England.

To be continued...

RJ4 E組 林家綾

The book I read latest is "Falling Leaves". It was written by Adeline Yen Mah and published by Penguin Readers at level intermediate (1700 words).

This book is the life story of Adeline Yen Mah, who was born in China at a time of great change trouble (early 20century).

Adeline's grandaunt showed her independence by refusing to have her feet bound when she was only three years old. When she reached school age, the family was richer, she was sent to a fashionable and expensive American school, the first child in the Yen family who was taught by foreigners. Several years later, Adeline's grandaunt opened her own bank, all the employees were women, and she didn't marry.

Adeline's grandparents entered an arranged marriage when they're very young. After getting marry, Grandfather supported his family by hiring out boats on the Huangpu River. He was careful with money and by the age of 40, he was quite a rich man.

Adeline's father did well at school, especially in English. At the age of 18, he chose not to go to university and was employed as an office boy in his father's company. When he was 19 years old, he started his own business. The company made money from everything it did. He began to be know in the business world as the "magic boy" who had the power of "changing iron into gold."

Four children were born in four years after Adeline's parents got marry. But her mother died after giving birth to her, and her family thought that she had brought bad luck. Her father's remarriage changed the life of the Yen family, especially after her grandmother's funeral.

In the period of World War 2, because Japanese's invasion, they had to leave Tianjin for Shanghai. Since then, Adeline suffered terribly over the years, emotionally and physically, from her father and stepmother's treatment of her. Her brothers and sister and she received no pocket money and had no clothes except their school uniforms. They also had to walk to and from school daily only if they showed their obedience to their stepmother. All members of the whole family had to listen to stepmother, inclusive of their grandfather and aunt. Adeline's disobeying worsened her relationship with stepmother very much. Life was very different for their half brother and sister. A private teacher looked after them. They had lots of lovely new clothes and toys. They ate meals separately in their room, and ordered whatever they wanted.

Adeline's big sister, Lydia, was forced to marry a man she never met when she was 17. Her stepmother kept the best wedding presents.

After Japanese lost the World War 2 and left China, a war began within the country, between the Kuomintang and the Communists. The Communists was against business people and people with property. The economic situation for people like the Yen was looking very bad. Adeline's father and stepmother decided to move to Hong Kong with her half brother and sister. Her grandfather would like to follow them but her aunt decided to stay in Shanghai. She didn't want to live with stepmother's daily criticism. Adeline's three teenage brothers were left in their Shanghai school, and then sent to university in England. About Adeline, she would be taken away from her family and sent to school in Tianjin and not allowed to send or receive any letters.

I haven't finish this book yet.

RJ3 E組 林家綾

After Silas's gold was stolen, Dunstan did not appear in the village anymore, but no one cared about it. In the other hand, Godfrey didn't love his drinking wife anymore, and he wanted to marry Nancy.

On the New Year's Eve, most villagers enjoyed the party that the Squire held in a luxurious house. When Godfrey danced with Nancy at the party, his wife, Molly, was walking with slow, uncertain steps along the snow-covered road to the village where Godfrey lived. She was carrying her sleeping child in her arms. Molly wanted to appear in front of all his family and guests at the big house and let everyone know they're married. There was a freezing wind, Molly felt so tired and sleepy when she was very near the village. She lay down on the snow. the child fell out of its mother's arms on the soft snow, it noticed a bright light on the white ground. The child stood up and followed the light to the door of Silas Marner's cottage. After a few minutes, the little toddled into the cottage and fell asleep by the bright fire. After Silas found the child in his cottage, the child woke up and cried 'Mummy'. A few steps away the door, Silas found a young woman's body half-covered with snow. He held the child and ran to the house where the Squire was taking place a party to look for the doctor. As Godfrey heard the news, he followed the doctor and Silas to see the woman, and confirmed she was dead. Godfrey felt relax because there's no one knew his secret so that he could marry Nancy and certainly inherit his father's property. Silas adopted the child, he gave it a name, Eppie, and regarded it is the treasure god sent him.

After sixteen years, Eppie had grown up and become a pretty girl. Silas was not lonely anymore and had a happy life with Eppie by his side. One day, the works drained water from the old quarry and found Dunstan's body and Silas's lost gold lay on the bottom. The news shocked Godfrey, and he decided to confess all the facts to his wife, Nancy. Beyond his expectations, Nancy agreed to adopt his daughter, Eppie, rather than anger him. But Eppie refused to leave Silas and live with her real father. She didn't want to be a rich lady at all.

In the end, Godfrey and Nancy gave up adopting Eppie. After Eppie got married with a working man, she and her husband and her father happily lived together.

RJ2 E組 林家綾

I choose a book which is "Silas Marner". This book was written by George Eliot and published by Oxford university press. And it is a novel with 1400 headwords.

The story took place in a quiet, simple village of England in the early nineteenth century. In this village, life followed an unchanging pattern.

Silas Marner is a sad, lonely man. Because his miserable past, he didn't trust God and had no family, no friend except the bright gold coins that he earned for his weaving and kept hidden under the floorboards. He work hard everyday even on Sunday, when he should be in church. Every night he took the gold out and counted them again and again. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living. Every villagers suspected that he was a friend of devil.

Squire's two sons whose name were Godfrey and Dunstan shared a secret. Godfrey was the person who was going to inherit all of Squire's property, but he had a secret marriage with a lowly woman(Molly) rather than the gentle lady(Nancy) that his father wanted him to marry. Dunstan knew this situation and threatened to tell Squire if his brother didn't give him money and it could make Squire disinherit Godfrey. Therefore, Godfrey had no choice but to let Dunstan sell his favorite horse. Unfortunately, the horse died by accident in the halfway and Dunstan did not fell miserable at all. On his way home, he passed Silas's cottage and Silas was not home. Dunstan entered the cottage and found the gold hidden under the floorboards. He was glad and took the gold away.

When Silas Marner returned his cottage and wanted to count his gold, he found them disappeared. It almost drove him to crazy. After that, he usually moaned to himself as he sat weaving.

But this disaster had one good result. Little by little, Silas's neighbors understood his past and realized it was wrong to be suspicious of him. They tried to be friendly to the poor, simple, harmless man, who needed their help. But Silas still make himself lonely.

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I don't finish this book yet.

My Reading Journals 1 E組 林家綾

Book title: White Fang

Author: Jack London

Retold by Brigit Viney

Series Editor: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter

Summary:

White Fang's father and brothers and sisters died when he was a cub. They killed by a wildcat. After that, White Fang and his mother fought with and killed the wild animal.

     One day he met some Indians and they took him and his mother to their camp. In this new life, he learns the way of men and of other dogs. The dogs hated him, so he hated them. He learned to fight and to kill. He learned only about hate. Nobody gave him love, so he did not learn about that. The worst of all, his mother didn't remember him after she had new cubs.

     He fought with and killed killed other animals constantly until he met Weedon Scott —the man who saved him from a dangerous situation. Scott took him to the southland and taught him many things. He loved White Fang and made people loved him, too. The dog did not fight and kill anymore; furthermore, he had his cubs with a she-dog.

     In the end of the story, White Fang fought with a stranger who broke-in Scott's house and they fell to the floor together. After the doctor worked for a long time on him, he was still dead.

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