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Reading Journal By Siwen Bian 6031006287This journal is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor English reading and writing 1 course of Liberal Arts in English Program, Mae FahLuang University First semester 2018

Be grateful to lifeOnce President Roosevelt's house was broken into andlots of things were stolen. Hearing this, one of Roosevelt'sfriends wrote to him and advised him not to take it to hisheart so much.President Roosevelt wrote back immediately, saying,\"Dear friend, thank you for your letter to comfort me. I'mall right now. I think I should thank God. This is becauseof the following three reasons: firstly, the thief only stolethings from me but did not hurt me at all; secondly, thethief has stolen some of my things instead of all mythings; thirdly, most luckily for me, it was the man ratherthan me who became a thief…\"It was quite unlucky for anyone to be stolen from.However, President Roosevelt had such three reasons tobe so grateful. This story tells us how we can learn to begrateful in our life.Being grateful is an important philosophy of life and agreat wisdom. It is impossible for anyone to be lucky andsuccessful all the time so long as he lives in the world.Smile and so will it when you cry to it. If you are gratefulto life, it will bring you shining sunlight. Page 2 of 7

We should learn how to face failure or misfortune bravelyand generously and to try to deal with it. If so, should wecomplain about our life and become frustrated anddisappointed ever since then or should we be grateful forour life, rise again ourselves after a fall?If you always complain about everything, you may ownnothing in the end. When we are successful, we cansurely have many reasons for being grateful, but we haveonly one excuse to show ungratefulness if we fail.I think we should even be grateful to life whenever we areunsuccessful or unlucky. Only by doing this can we findour weakness and shortcomings when we fail. We canalso get relief and warmth when we are unlucky. This canhelp us find our courage to overcome the difficulties wemay face, and receive great impetus to move on. Weshould treat our frustration and misfortune in our life inthe other way just as President Roosevelt did. We shouldbe grateful all the time and keep having a healthy attitudeto our life forever, keep having perfect characters andenterprising spirit. Being grateful is not only a kind ofcomfort, not an escape from life and nor thinking of Page 3 of 7

winning in spirit like Ah Q. Being grateful is a way to singfor our life which comes just from our love and hope.When we put a small piece of alum into muddy water, wecan see the alum can soon make the water clear. If eachof us has an attitude of being grateful, we'll be able to getrid of impulse, upset, dissatisfaction and misfortune.Being grateful can bring us a better and more beautifullife.John Williams Week 2 Title: Be grateful to life (620) Author: John Williams Source: http://m.enread.com/?mid=3&aid=103670 Summary The aim of the text is to tell us the importance of being grateful to life. Once when President Roosevelt’s properties were stolen by a thief, he thanked the god instead of crying out a complaint. When we are lucky, we’ll probably be grateful. But it’s never possible for a man to be lucky all the time. If you are always grateful to life, (no matter when you are lucky or not,) it will bring you a brighter mood, help you find your shortcomings, and impel you to move on. In contrast, if you always complain about everything, you may own nothing in the end. Page 4 of 7

Being grateful can bring us a better and more beautiful life. All aboveare the reasons why we should be grateful to life. My reaction/reflection: This chapter is not very difficult for me. I have read a lot of articlesabout how to build a good character before. And there are not thatmany unfamiliar words to me. But there are a few complex sentencesthat I cannot understand easily, for example, “Smile and so will itwhen you cry to it”. This sentence is in the middle of the fourthparagraph of this article. I don’t know what the writer means bysaying that. I think he says some local proverbs whose backgroundI’m not familiar with. But I may guess the meaning through thecontext. It probably means “Keep a good mood when the misfortunehappens to you.” I totally agree to this idea—“We should be grateful to life”.Actually before I came to our university, one of the significantproverbs that my father told to me was exactly “to be grateful to life”.When you are in some predicaments, it’s important to stand out ofthe trouble and look at things in a grateful way. This can help usdevelop healthy attitudes, perfect characters and enterprising spiritsto our life. For me, I could say that I’m doing this all the time. I feel soproud that when people talk about me, they call me the young ladyalways opening her mouth with a “thanks”. I would like to say thanksto anybody. If somebody helps me, I would appreciate him or herfrom the bottom of my heart. If they refuse to help me, I would thankthem as well. Remember that there is no responsibility for anybody tohelp you. People prefer making friends with those who have agrateful attitude. So don’t hesitate, let’s be grateful to life!New words learned: (At least five new words that you have learned) Page 5 of 7

New Words Definitions1. Frustration (n.) the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals2. Comfort (v.) We should treat our frustration and misfortune in our life in the other way just as President Roosevelt did.3. Grateful (adj.) give moral or emotional strength to4. Wisdom (n.) Dear friend, thank you for your letter to comfort me.5. Shortcoming feeling or showing gratitude (n.) This story tells us how we can learn to be grateful in our life. the quality of being prudent and sensible Being grateful is an important philosophy of life and a great wisdom. a failing or deficiency Only by doing this can we find our weakness and shortcomings when we fail. Page 6 of 7

Rubric for Independent Reading Journal (10%) Articles 123 4 51. Summary(4 %)2. Reflection(3%)3. VocabularyLearned(3%) Scores Total scores _______ ÷ 5 = _____ marksCriteria for the above categories1. Rubric for Article SummaryCategory 5-4 3 2 1-0Summarizing Provides a very Provides a clear Provides a clear but Provides a somewhatthe content thorough and clear and concise shallow summary of muddled, unclear and and concise summary of the the article; may be rambling summary of summary of the article context and excessively brief or the article. article context and content. may include some content. extraneous information.Identifying Student recalls Student recalls Student is not able to Student cannot locateDetails several details for details for most locate most of the details with accuracy. each main point. main point. details of the main point. Is characterized by theParaphrasing Is characterized by Is characterized substantial copying of paraphrasing of the by paraphrasing Is characterized by indiscriminately main idea and of the main idea the substantial selected phrases or significant details and significant copying of key sentences. details phrases and minimal paraphrasingSpelling & There are few or no There are some There are serious Serious errors inGrammar errors in usage, errors in usage, errors in usage, mechanics, usage, grammar, grammar, grammar, grammar, or spelling punctuation, punctuation, punctuation, sentence that make the sentence fragments, sentence fragments, or summary difficult to or spelling. fragments, or spelling. understand. spelling.Total ________/20 ÷ 5= 4 %2. Reflection on the Articles (3%)Students who have completely and clearly responded to the guided questions stated in the reading journalform will get 3 marks.3. Vocabulary Learned (3%) ≥ 70% correct = 2 marks 1 ≤ 70% = 1 mark All correct = 3 marks Page 7 of 7