Love is more important than money

Arguments for
- When one is sick
- To a family, love is more important
- Helping people needs love in the first place

Arguments against
- When poor people needs money to do things
When poor people needs money to do things, giving them money is more important.

- Living needs money in the first place

- Buying bread needs money.
Love cannot buy bread but money can.

Women should quit their job after getting married

Arguments for
- They should take care of the family.
Women are good at taking care of the family.

- Their husband can work instead of them.

- They should take care of their children.
Children can receive better care from their mother.

Arguments against
- Every adult should work.
- They should earn more money to buy house etc.
- They cannot quit the job suddenly; if they are the boss because the shop will close when they quit.

Television is important to our studies

Arguments for
- We can learn from the news like TVB news
Studies include learning about the world.  So we should watch TV for news programmes.

- We can learn from education shows like Etv
Television can provide education, like the Etv programmes.

- We can learn from news programmes like News Magazine
We can learn about hot social issues for our liberal studies (通識科), like News Magazine.

Arguments against
- Some programmes have negative information.

- Some programmes are nonsense.
Television is a time waster, especially if we watch nonsense programmes.

- TV is irrelevant to our studies.
TV is irrelevant to our studies because we can do great at school without watching TV.

Composition Exam

That evening, Macy and her loving Grandmother finished enjoying the books at the library and strolled to a nearby restaurant ready to dine.

The restaurant was big with two storeys. They found a comfortable table and settled down. Off they ordered a Japanese hotpot while starving badly.

Patiently, they waited for the food and Grandma talked with Macy about her school life.  Just then, a waiter holding a tray if needles tripped over by a handkerchief and spilled the hot food all over Grandma from head to toe.

“Help!” Grandma yelled with her throat in great pain. Macy immediately called the ambulance yet Grandma’s heart beats were dangerously slow.  Not long after, Grandma was driven to the St Stephen’s Hospital.

We hope that Macy’s Grandma will be okay!

Moon

Moon is a pleasant, joyous and friendly fellow. I hope I’ll able to be as cheerful as Moon when facing knots. Thence, every day will be definitely a convivial one.

這是我在中文課作的文章~。

《狂風暴雨下的一天》

      今早，當我睜開眼睛，就望向鬧鐘，原來已是早上九時了。我心想：今天不用上學嗎？我急忙去問媽媽，才知道正是懸掛八號颱風訊號！

      我十分興奮，不是因為不用上學，而是因為這些年已經很久沒有風暴。我好奇地走到窗旁，眺望遠處的香港島，可是，大雨和遠景已融成一體。突然，我察覺到高鐵地盤與平日有點不同。原來，大雨淹沒了地盤。

      ｢啪！」旁邊的吊臂忽然被強風吹斷，一分為二，餘下的部分在高空搖搖欲墜，看着令人膽顫心驚。大廈的棚架也不例外，它們被風吹得東歪西側，就連竹枝也彎曲了。

      我的目光轉移到較近的行車天橋。看到整條行車線已被雨水淹沒了，變成一條長長的河流。天橋上除了少量私家車，再沒有其他公共交通公具行走，它們真像一架架小艇在河上航行。

      一直在天橋旁的籃球場冒着大雨打籃球的青少年也抵擋不住狂風暴雨的威力，被迫離開。看着看着，我開始感到有點納悶。

      這樣，我就過了一個特別的早上。

12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness cum Children and Youth Summit Dubai International Conventions and Exhibitions Centre (Part 2)

13 July 2012, Friday

The next day after a quick breakfast, we set off for Ski Dubai at the Emirates Mall. On our way, the coach drove past the Sheik Zayed Palace for us to steal a peek at it on the coach because taking photos in front of the palace was forbidden. One interesting thing was that there were a number of peacocks roaming outside the palace. They were Sheik’s pets presented by India because peacock was his favourite animal.

Soon we were at the door of the Emirates Mall. We headed straight to Ski Dubai, the world’s largest indoor ski resort. Having changed into the skiing clothing and the helmet, I hurried to the entrance which was a glinting ice cave. I touched the brilliant cold ice and smiled. Then I ran to the skiing ground and immediately felt excited at the sight of the manmade snow.

I climbed around the wooden playground and had fun doing the swift toboggan ride on a snaky sliding track.  Also, there were single and duet rings in the sloping ring ride.  The single one would spin speedily when it slid and the duet one’s track was slightly steeper and wave- shaped.  Later on, Dad pulled Adrian and I on the sledge and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.  How interesting!  I also did a bit of snow fight.  Snow was a novel thing to me and I was delighted when leaving the fun place contentedly.

After lunching at the mall and shopping cupcakes for breakfast in an enormous supermarket, Dad and I had a funny experience.  We went into a room which we were mistaken that it was the gents.  It was actually a praying room for Muslims.  While we were curious why people were required to take off their shoes in the gents, we didn’t think it a very good idea and didn’t follow the rule.  Very soon the cleaning person cued us to take off the shoes which made us realise that it was a praying room!

Afterwards, there were some photo stops: a mosque, then Burj Al Arab -- the world’s only seven-star and tallest yacht-shaped hotel, and a small-scale mall which sold Arabic carpets and souvenirs. Then, we rode the monorail running on a high bridge to shot some photos of the amazing and beautiful Palm Island and the giant Atlantis Hotel.  Next, we paid a visit to the Dubai Museum.  The exhibits in the museum were so-so.  But the highlight of the day was to follow.

A short coach ride took us to a pier by the Dubai creek. This was where we rode the famous Dubai water taxi to the spice and gold souks on the opposite bank.  The water taxi was a long wooden boat with two long benches for sitting passengers on both sides.  Interestingly, the helmsman sat in an opening in the middle of the benches.  The ride was smooth and the old district scenery along the creek was refreshing.  Disembarked from the taxi, we visited a spice shop before heading to the gold souk.

The most memorable things were that I saw the world’s biggest gold ring stuffed with diamonds and gems which was not for sale, and I wore an Arabic head wrap in a garment shop.  When I was back to Hong Kong, Mum said that I looked like an Arab in the head wrap but I didn’t think so.  At the end of the day, we found ourselves having bought some chocolate-encased dates and a purple carpet with Arabic elephant patterns and shiny bits on it.  It was an eye-opening day!

14-18 July 2012, Saturday to Wednesday

When the sun arose on the Saturday morning, the learning part of our trip began.  It was the opening of the conference and the summit.  After listening to some speakers in the hall and taking refreshments in the other room, our group marched to the Modesh amusement world under the organiser’s arrangement only to find that the rides charged money and most looked boring.  So we stayed around the free video game stations but we only managed to play a few rounds. I even had no chance to play at all.  The reason was that a Korean boy jumped the line, played the video game and refused to leave.  Finally he hit Jameson in the stomach and the rest is our hidden secret.

An hour later, a fleet of coaches took all the students to start the learning journey.  For the following five days, I had lessons in a spacious college campus and stayed with three classmates in a hotel separated from our parents.  I saw a lot of novel things and learned some new knowledge.  I will recount the best part below.

The second day, after breakfast and the morning drawing class, we set off by a coach for some visit. The visit was not just for the drawing class but almost half of the summit participants.  So off we went in a fleet of 4 to 5 coaches.  I thought that it was quite a scene.

However, the first destination was a bit of a disappointment because it was the Dubai Museum.  The reason was not that the museum was boring but that I already visited it with my Hong Kong group.  My Hong Kong classmates and I felt satisfied though for there was a chance to take photos of animal pictures and specimens in the museum for making our presentation to be given later.

After that the fleet of coaches headed to the Dubai Mall. Boredom was the first thing jumped to mind because my Hong Kong group had also visited it before. But I was proven wrong later. The summit teachers led us to the world famous aquarium inside the mall. It was really exciting to watch the fish, especially the sharks, while walking through the tunnel going beneath the big blue fish bowl. It was quite an experience!

The sun set and rose and a new day came. We had the usual drawing class in the morning. I noticed a big thing going on once stepped inside the classroom building. There was a canvas in a long strap lying on the floor. Students were busying painting it. I wondered what it was and didn’t know the answer until in the afternoon when some reporters came. It was for painting the world’s longest banner to make a Guinness World’s Record.

Another big thing of the day was my dad’s visit. I met him when my Hong Kong classmates and I walked into the school hall after the drawing class. We went there for a police dog’s show, which was not really good. Maybe it was because I didn’t understand what was going on. The good about the show was we had additional rest time to relax a bit before the coach drove us back to the hotel. I also made use of the time to show dad around the campus. It was a special day because of dad’s visit.

Time flied and it was finally the last day of the trip. We went to school as usual but there were no classes. We were allowed to do our own drawings and mingle with one another. There was a closing cum prize presentation ceremony at noon where I was given a big surprise when I was announced the second runner-up for my works in the drawing class. My winning works included a drawing of a peaceful scenery done with melted crayons and the other of Dubai’s modern cityscape on a piece of old newspaper.

Leaving the campus, we headed back to the hotel where the parents stayed. After we arrived at the hotel, all the people were fussy packing up the luggage because the 4-wheel drives were waiting for us to whisk us to the desert for some fun. This was the first time my dad and I saw a real desert. It took the fleet of 4-wheel drives almost an hour to reach the hot desert. Once I got off the car, I roamed around the orange sandy land, kicking and throwing the sand. But the most exciting thing came later.  It was the sand surfing in the car.  Our 4-wheel drive speeded crazily across the sand dunes, bumping up and down and making the ladies in the car scream. However, I thought it was great fun and even better than a roller-coaster ride. The day ended with a barbecue meal in a tent site in the middle of the desert.

It was a very worthy trip and I had learnt a lot during the trip. My mind was full of fond memories when waiting for the flight back home even though I was really exhausted for the departure was at around 3 in the morning. I can’t wait for the next summit!

Merry Christmas!

Growing with the Cinnamon Tree

I just finished my piece for the school 45th anniversary writing competition!

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Have you ever seen an array of trees besides the school gate? When I go to school, I love to see the trees, especially the cinnamon tree. It was very small in the beginning, as told by my parents who witnessed the building of the school and the planting of the trees.

When I was in primary one, I was small too, not knowing much around me and going about everything self-centred. Once, I had a tasty lunch at school. Guess what? I was supposed to eat the lunch prepared by Mum, but my brother and I followed some classmates to the canteen and ate a free lunch. I remembered that we had two drumsticks and a cups of pudding. When I went home, I told Mum about the yummy lunch!

There was another laughable thing in primary one. One day in recess, I was joyless because I had two big cupcakes which would take me most of the recess to finish. Just then, my friend passed by and I gave him the bigger one. That was because there were almonds on the smaller one. He took the bigger one and I was happy again!

Promoted to grades three and four, I grew up a bit and was less self-centred. It was at that time when I became aware of the cinnamon tree. It was tall and upright, providing shades with other trees to cool us down once we entered into the campus.

I started to join different extra-curricular activities since my body and mind power became stronger. At grade three, I hiked in the ten kilometres long Little Trailwalker bushwalk held for our principal Mr Cheung who would be retiring soon then. At that time, I also joined the school string orchestra, the Olympic Maths class and the after-class athletics lesson.

But then, in teachers’ eyes, we were still small kids. Maybe for this reason, they gave us many rewards to encourage us. For example, my kind Chinese teacher Miss Wong gave us stickers if we performed well during lesson. She gave me a special sticker which was a pack of red and yellow shrimp chips.

There were two memorable events took place in primary four. The good one was that my brother and I joined the Yip Can Cook Class. We both liked cooking. In the first term, we could only join the easy paper cutting class which was rather boring. After that term, we joined our favourite inter-class activity, Yip Can Cook which we longed to join. Mr Yip taught us how to cook easy and yummy food in English. I recall that he once taught us how to cook curry fish balls and meatballs and spaghetti in the canteen.

However, the bad one was that I got my glasses for the first time. Those months, I could not see clearly when having lessons at school, especially the words projected on the screen by the projector. My glasses had a pair of shiny silver frames made of metal that almost shaped like rectangles. Its plastic sides were dark blue. I chose it by myself and my favourite colours are blue and silver. I felt quite dizzy when wearing the glasses on the first day. But I could see the cinnamon tree more clearly.

Primary five was a very exciting year. First, my brother and I were no longer in the same class because my brother, who is hard of hearing, could manage himself in primary five. Second, my school had renewed the facilities. At the assembly on the first day of school, Principal Ms Ho said, “Good morning! Have you students noticed there are air-cons in the covered playground!? There are also some plastic curtains and blue soft lining. most exciting is that the library has transformed into a ‘space station'! Have your first school day great!’

Probably because we had grown bigger, our class teacher Miss Wong treated us like bigger boys and girls too and she liked to joke with us. Sometimes she called some students in a funny way like Little Car and King of Leaving the Seat. Certainly, I had happy moments in primary five.

Now I am a primary six student. I am much bigger and taller. It is like the cinnamon tree which grows bigger day by day. I will leave the school soon but the cinnamon tree will still stay in the school to provide shades for students for many, many years.