MOONLIGHT Vol.3 Issue.2– May 2014
The Student Publication of Canada Chengdu Shishi High School Established in April 19,2013
Marvelous Easter [Reported by Echo 2014/4/26] Our newspaper would like to give you some information about Easter（复活 节. The website Wikipedia says: “Easter, anniversary of the Resurrection of Christ, observed on the first Sunday after a full moon on or after 21 March.”（http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter）. Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus（耶稣). It is also one of the most important Christian festivals. On that day, people always make chocolate eggs. There are two kinds of eggs in the market. Small ones are called fondant（方旦糖）and are a little more than an inch long. A thin layer of chocolate is outside and the inside is full of sweet and soft dough. Colored foil paper is then cut into various shapes. Another kind of egg is “empty eggs”, and are bigger than duck eggs. There is nothing in them. They are just wrapped in a chocolate shell. Just brake the shell and eat the chocolate chips.
When Easter comes, the market usually will make different kinds of chocolate eggs to attract children. These eggs give the enjoyment to people. They represent best wishes from friends, and they are fun for everyone to share. In the past, many Eastern countries would have a grand procession with people dressed in robes holding a cross and barefoot. They dressed as a Christian historical figures and sing carols to celebrating Jesus' resurrec-
Editor’s notE
Are you serious enough ? Every time I check my calendar, I am concerned about my future. After returning from a brief vacation in May, we are going to have two provincial exams in a row. In addition, most of my classmates plan to take their IELTS exam in 2014. To be honest, you have no time to waste if you are getting serious. I have loads of suggestions for classmates. First of all, it is better if you start to learn your IELTS courses as soon as possible – otherwise you have to obtain a high score in English 12, which is a hard curriculum. Most universities require either your IELTS score or your English12 score. For example, when I was in grade 10 my friend Chloe, who is a senior student studying at another Canadian overseas school,
told me that I needed to take the IELTS course as soon as possible, however, I didn’t listen to her. The consequence of this is that I have to improve my English level in a very short time – a hard thing for most language learners. I hope the information that I shared will be helpful for you. Trust your-
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self and then reach your dream!
Tiffany Lee
[2014/4/7 Reported by Echo and Cherry]Last Tuesday, there were students who visited from Denmark. They came to our school and stayed with us for about 3 hours. They arrived at about 11:30am. They took lunch in our cafeteria. I do not know exactly how they felt about it. They then joined a dancing club which
Denmark
was organized by Jeffer (our grade 10 student). They watched his dancing, then danced with him. After a 10 minute break, we started to take a Chinese writing
class. Every Denmark student had two Chinese students to be their translator. I was lucky to be one of the students who was a translator. My student’s name was Tilde. She told me that they also have Chinese class in their school. When I taught her how to write the words in Chinese, she though it was easy to handle. We also had class together with Denmark students. We enjoyed the Chinese writing and Chinese poetry. They were interested in our culture and wanted to learn much about our country. We saw that everyone was serious about writing Chinese words with a Chinese brush. Although it is not perfect, they tried their best and received our teachers’ recognition. After a short break, Chinese teacher Wangjia started a class about a poetry named “Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night (春夜喜雨) of Dufu.” Mrs. Wang gave us an active class. She asked them some questions in English and the students seemed to be thinking very hard. The strongest impression they gave was that their Chinese pronunciation was really all that good. We often needed to teach them again and again, but they still could not remember. “It is difficult to me” one girl said. Of course, Mrs. Wang did not change her thinking because of this reason and she asked us to recite again together. It made the Denmark students feel nervous, but they practiced with us many times. Finally, we sent them to the bus and say goodbye to them. We hope they enjoyed their Chinese trip and learnt many things about our country. We also hope they
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Wonderful Japan
[2014/4/7 reported by Lucy] Nowadays, more and more teenagers love Japanese cartoons and they are staring to know more about Japanese culture. This article will introduce you to more information about Japan. Japan is an island nation. Japan’s name means ‘sunorigin'. That is why the country is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun.” When you hear about Japan, your mind emerges out of Mount Fuji and then into the image of cherry blos-
soms. Maybe you will also imagine Japan’s hot springs. The Japanese bubble hot spring has become very influential in Japan’s cultural factors. There are five famous hot springs in Japan, they are: Arima Onnsenn, Hakone Onsen, Minakami Onsen, Nikko Yumoto Onsen, and Ikaho Onsen. In contemporary Japan, the Japanese usually wear western clothing and Japanese clothing. They mostly wear “wafuku” for some special festivals. Different types of “wafuku” are worn in different occasions, and they also depend on the people’s identity. In particular, women will wear the “uchikake” kimono, which is all white and very long during their wedding day. The “furisode” kimono is worn by a single woman. The “mofuku” kimono is all black and worn to funerals, showing respect for the person who has died. The main sport in Japan is called “sumo.” It is considered Japan’s national sport. Japan also develops Japanese martial arts, such as judo, karate and kendo. Japan is a nation which really likes sports. Korean martial arts were influenced by the Japanese during their occupation from 1910 until the end of World War II. I believe that most people really enjoy Japanese cuisine. When Chinese people talk about Japanese cuisine, they usually think of raw fish or sushi, but in fact, the Japanese do not eat this food every day. A traditional Japanese cuisine is based on Japanese rice or noodles, with miso soup, and other dishes. Most dishes are made from fish, vegetables and tofu. In addition, there is a very famous Japanese confectionery which is called “wagashi.” Typically, “wagashi” is made from plant ingredients such as mocha, red bean paste and rice wine sake. It is usually served with tea. Finally, I want to talk about the “Cherry Blossom Festival.” This festival is a traditional Japanese festi-
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val. Cherry blossom festivals take place all over the country. Most of them are held between March and May. From April 5 and April 12, the Tokyo Tower will light up in pink to celebrate this traditional festival.
Raining Tomb-Sweeping Day
The Tomb-sweeping Day has many features. It contains tears for dead people, and it also contains smiles for traveling. There are various customs in the Tomb-sweeping Day. Firstly, people perform in the swings. It is very popular with children, because it can make you braver. Secondly, people like playing kickball (蹴鞠) which is similar to football. In ancient China, this game was used to train soldiers. The third one is spring outing. On that day, the spring is coming and the green is everywhere. Chinese like traveling in
To[2014/4/7 reported by Vicky]There is a traditional that time and this is known as spring outing. day, various schools have this activity. Fourthly, festival in China called Tomb-sweeping Day (清明 around the Tomb-Sweeping Day, the survival rate of 节). This festival is popular in China, Vietnam, and trees is high because of the spring rain. People like Korea. It is the one of the most important days of sac- planting trees in that time. Some think that Tombrifice (祭祀). In fact, Tomb-sweeping Day was not a sweeping Day can also be called Arbor Day. Fifthly, festival. It was one of the solar terms. The reason why flying a kite. Chinese like flying a kites, day or night. it became a festival was related to another festival In the evening, people will put some colorful lanterns called Cold Food Festival. The Cold Food Festival on their kites. When they fly a kite, the kite will shine was known because it was the necessary feast. Later bright like the stars. In the past, some people cut the on, because these two festivals were close, people strings when their kite flew in the sky. They thought combined the Cold Food Festival with the Tomb- the wind would let the kites fly everywhere and the sweeping Day and they just had the Tomb-sweeping kites might make them lucky. Finally, the visit to the Day. Today, in South Korea, they keep the tradition in grave. People should visit their ancestries, burn paper the Cold Food Festival.
money and also buy some flowers for them.
Make yourself Taller, Today
[Reported by Cherry 2014/4/7] Today, height is becoming a more and more popular question with teenagers, especially boys. Some boys feel shame because they are not as tall as other boys. These boys are often afraid to talk with other people about their height. Taller boys are proud of their height. Height is created in two ways, genes and acquired nutrition（后天的营养. We cannot change our genes, but we can grow taller by eating some healthy food and doing some special exercises. There are a few methods that can help you grow taller. Calcium plays the most important role in height, so we should eat things that contain calcium, such as seafood and milk. You also can jump up every day.
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[Reported by Amy] There will always be a wide variety of famous universities in the world. Today I'm going to introduce the University of Calgary which is situated in the northwest part of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is one of Canada's top seven research universities. Its international tourism education and research center is recognized by the world tourism organization and is the only research center outside Europe. During 40 years of rapid development, the university has become one of the most important research centers in Canada. As for requirement of admission, you need good high school grades at the ‘A level’ and the university entrance exam of TOEFL83 or IELTS7.0. Moreover, you need to graduate from high school with all three above, and have grades at: economics, international relations, law (80% 85%), psychology (76%), liberal arts, education (80%, 82%), business, kinesiology (85% 76%), pharmacology, nursing (85%), engineering (86% more than 70%) on the university entrance exam. The university entrance exam transcript also needs to be in the local education bureau to receive proof of English. Calgary has developed through the oil industry. Social public security is good there. A description of working as a civil servant, as found on The City of Calgary website, reads: “The City of Calgary is a diverse and inclusive workplace, with more than 15,000 staff delivering over 500 lines of business. Working for the City means exceptional benefits, a defined pension plan, work/life balance, learning and development opportunities, and multiple career paths. Our ultimate goal is to exemplify our corporate vision: Working together to create and sustain a vibrant, healthy, safe and caring community.” (http://www.calgary.ca/CS/HR/Pages/Careers/CareerOpportunities.aspx)
Life in Calgary, which is also a famous tourist resort in North America, is suitable
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for everybody. The University of Calgary may be a good choice for some students.
Let Your Tongue Feel the World [Reported by Violet] In recent days, CCTV introduced a show called A Bite of China 2 which introduced various delicious foods with Chinese characteristics. Through multiple profiles, the show about food brings Chinese life, ceremony, ethics and other aspects of Chinese culture to the screen. What is more, it will show the life of ordinary Chinese people and tell the story between people and food, through the food they eat. A Bite of China began shooting in March 2011 and took over 13 months. The target audiences for this documentary are people who really love food. Some audiences who watched the show said: “This documentary made me miss everything about my hometown.” In my opinion, this show is quite successful because it combines our culture and food together. No matter who are you or where you are, you tend to be surprised by this show. Chinese food has inherited our unique culture.
Farewell to My Concubine for his whole life and with his whole heart. In 1929, in Peking, a mother brought her son to a Peking Opera School, his name was Small Bean. After they graduated from opera school, they did performances everywhere and became very famous. Both of them got their own names: Small Stone became Duan Xiao Lou and Small Bean became Chen Die(butterfly) Yi. They went through many significant events in China, for example, the anti-Japanese war, the Chinese [Reported by Emma] Peking opera is considered to be civil war, the great Cultural Revolution, and the Reforms to Open China. \ one of the greatest Chinese national treasures. It is an Farewell to My Concubine is of high artistic merart form that is more than 200 years old. As it says in it. It illustrated the transformation of China’s society Wikipedia “it combines music, vocal performance, and Chinese people’s fate during the last century. The mime, dance, and acrobatics. It was extremely popular actors of the film are Leslie Cheung, Zhang Feng Yi, in Qing dynasty.” Today, most foreigners know this Ge You and Gong Li. I highly suggest people read this kind of performance from films like Farewell to My fiction, or see the movie and feel the Concubine, which was directed by Chen Kaige in deep love of Chen for Duan. 1993. The basic plot of the film is the same as the nov-
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el. The story describes a man who loved another man
[14/03/14 Reported by Vicky] “The King of Opera” is one of the most popular games in the app store. It can be played by more than one player. It can be played in three modes, which are basic, ghost and soprano mode. There is just one mode that gets the spotlight. We try to get the spotlight as long as we can. If you get the spotlight for the longest time, you will be the winner. In the game, each player has just one button. People could not control the direction of the roles. In other words, the direction is random and the character will rotate all the time, then players can choose a proper
To Readers: Thank for reading our newspaper. We will embrace brevity, but won’t
direction to let it
sacrifice readability. If you
rush. If you want to
have any question or excel-
last a long time and
lent creativity, please email us: violet1997@yeah.net.
occupy the spotlight,
Your idea will help us do
you need to push
better in the further.
others
down
the
stage. In addition, the king of opera utilizes 3-d characters. The
four
singers
subvert the traditional singer’s impression from people. The voice of the four characters are different, but all their voices are wonderful. There are some evaluations from players: “My friends and I am keen on this game!” from C. Jones. “I love The King of Opera! This is one of the best party game!” from Liam. I concur with
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these opinions, let’s enjoy it with friends and families.
Moonlight Credits: Editor: Tiffany Writers: Antonio, Amy, Litas, Emma, Lucy, Echo, Cherry and Vicky. Sponsors: Mr. Foreman& Mr. Stokes. Layout designer: Tiffany Publishing period :One Month