The concept of ghost has existed in Chinese culture for more than 5000 years. In such a long period of time, people have been not only fascinated but terrified by ghost constantly. Though the notion of ghost has promoted fantastic ghost literature, it dose more harm than good— it has haunted in our mind and left great impact on our society. Furthermore, the concept of ghost even has great damage on environment. Take social impact and damage of environment into consideration, the notion of ghost has no positive influence but harm.

One of the greatest negative social impacts is that the concept of ghost might cause the fear and leave shadow in children’s mind. According the news from China Evening News (2000), lots of parents complain that the so called “mysterious shows” has great damage on children’s heart. In a class of 30 people, about one-third of them admit that they have nightmare or afraid to be alone after watching mysterious shows. Another survey of 830 children conducted by Children Welfare Institution has suggested that about half of them feel horrified, 20 percent of them are afraid of sleeping or going to the bathroom alone, and 20 percent of them have nightmare after watching mysterious shows or horror movies. Therefore, the concept of ghost has more negative influence than positive influence is unquestionable.

In addition to negative social impact, the notion of ghost also harms our environment. The air pollution is especially harmed for we burn countless golden papers every year. About 600 tons of golden papers are burned for one single ghost festival in Tainan. Unfortunately, the pollutant of burning each ton of golden papers equals to the pollutant discharge by 65 thousands vehicles. Besides, these golden papers, according to Consumers’ foundation, contain benzene, methyl benzene and ethylbenzene, which are poisonous to health. Therefore, it’s unreasonable to consume our environment and health only because to worship something we can’t even ensure its existence.

To conclude, the concept of ghost has no positive influence to our society is undeniable. To cherish our living environment and next generation, we should abandon this harmful notion and inhibit any publication related to ghost. By doing that, we reduce the damage that ghost brings to us.

Resource:
Parents Monthly: http://www.mama123.com/e/ef/ef0010/ef00100101.php3
China Evening News:
http://intermargins.net/repression/pervert/body/necrophilia/necrophilia_news/show.htm
Taiwan Chamber of Commerce: http://www.tcoc.com.tw/newslist/023200/23228.asp
大紀元 News: http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/6/3/28/n1269212.htm

After struggling for quite a long time, I decide to write the comparison of “west area” and “east area” of Taipei. Since I live in Taipei for a long time, I’d show my readers how “west area” does differs from “east area”. Besides, most of us tend to think that east area is most flourishing place, where is the most suitable place to live as well, of Taipei; however, I’d like my readers to rethink whether it’s true after reading my comparison (I think it’s more like contrast). To me, west area, where I live in, is relatively homelike than east area when it comes to friendliness. I’ll elaborate my point by three subpoints— the development of these two places, different shopping systems, and different life style. I’ll use some data I collected from the internet and my personal experiences as well to compose this essay. Anyway, I hope this essay may offer my readers some different angle to view west area.
Here are two references I found on the internet, and unfortunately, I can’t find the English version of “the east area of Taipei.”
‧ The summary of “Wanhua”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanhua
Wanhua, the oldest district of Taipei, is called Bangka once in the past. Wanhua has many ancient buildings such as Longshan Temple, which is the first class historical spot, and Red Playhouse, which is the first and also largest theater in Taiwan. The district was one of the most flourishing places in the old time; however, it is decaying. Though Wanhua is not as flourish as it used to be, it still remains some famous tourist spots. Huaxi (Huahsi) Street Tourist Night Marke, for instance, is famous for its sea food. When it comes to shopping, Ximending is the most representative place of Wanhua. Besides, there’s a unique type of people that you can find only in Wanhua—guài shùshu or guài yéyé. At the end of the article, it tells us the origin of Wanhua, which is derived from Japanese,

‧ The summary of “the east area of Taipei”:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E6%9D%B1%E5%8D%80&variant=zh-tw
The “east area” of Taipei refers to the main commercial center. This area is one of the most flourishing parts of Taiwan because of various shopping malls, the Taipei World Trade Center, and also the Taipei 101. Though the east area is fascinated nowadays, it is not always the same. This area used to be a waste during Ching Dynasty and Japanese Occupation. It wasn’t developed until 1960, when 忠孝east road and the MRT started to build up.

Last week I got the result of mock test of TOFEL. Actually, the result was pretty predictable. As an Oriental, I got good grades on grammar and reading tests. On the other hand, I got poor grades on listening and writing tests, especially the latter. The score ranged from 1to 6, 1 referred to high beginning, and 6 referred to advanced. I only got 3, which referred to intermediate, on writing test. Though Fiona, who took the exam with me, said she thought the test lacked credibility, I thought it still revealed the truth at some degree. I should practice writing essay more since I’ not really good at it. Anyway, I started to think why on earth my writing ability was so poor. There were too many reasons too talk about, but I think the most crucial one was lack of practicing. I had never written an essay in English until I was third grader of senior high school. I still remember the first grade I got was “5” (the score ranged from 1 to 20). Anyway, I felt that I progressed only a little bit and that really annoyed me. People always avoid things that they are not good at, so am I. Every time I sit in front of the computer and think about practice writing, I’m just stuck there. Maybe I should attend some weird clubs (if there is one) which will force you to write essay at least three times a week. Or should I go to the cram school? But the problem is that since I can’t do well at schoolwork, how on earth that I can be able to deal with extra jobs. I’ll just stop here or these frustrating stuffs will drive me crazy.

I study in National Taiwan Normal University which locates in Taipei. I’m studying in the third grade of the university which means I will have graduated in 2008. I used to study in Tannin for about 3 years. I had been living with my aunt during that time. Maybe I will go to the States for study several years later. Actually, I haven’t been to any other country in my whole life yet. However, you don’t have to feel sorry for my, because I’ve visited a lot of places here in Taiwan. I had visited Taichung, Chiayi, Kauhsiung, Hualien, Taitung, etc once before. Besides, as I told you, I was studying in Tannin for 3 years when I was in senior high school. I’ve really been to many places, so if you come to Taiwan, you can ask me to be your tour guide.
I have been learning Japanese for about 4 months. I like Japanese culture very much, especially kimono and temple fair. Actually, my parents promise me that they will taking me to Japan in next summer vacation. I would have been visiting Japan for at least two weeks so that I can enjoy my time. Anyway, it’s just my plan. I hope that I can really go to one day.

Well, someone just gave me a comment and then cancel it. I feel a little upset about it. I always wonder that if I make too many grammatical mistakes, I really need someone to tell me. Or maybe that person is afraid of hurting my feeling so he/she cancel his/her comment. Anyway, others' comments really mean a lot to me, no matter positive or negative ones.

I haven't written journal for uqite a long time, so I decided that I must put at least one article after today's class. Well, actually there's nothing to say. the only thought that I get now is-- what a tiring day! We made up a class for English literature at 8 this morning. Since I don't have any class start at 8 this term, it's really really hard for me to get up at about 7. What's worse, we had class during the lunch hours, which were the time that I felt sleepy most. I tried my best to stay awaked, however, I failed in my afternoon class. I took a "secret nap" technically while the teacher lectured her long and boring lesson. After school, I still got something else to do, which was my tutoring job. I tried my best to pretend I was very energetic so that I could get my students' attention. Fortunately, my students cooperated with pretty well. Now I'm at home, and I'm writing my journal. To be honest, I still get one thing to do, which is to go to the movie with Fiona later on. So I'll just stop here. See you~(see who).

Few days ago, my older brother, who is in the army now, went back home for vacation. He doesn’t change a lot except he gets tanned skin. I haven’t seen him for a while, but I can’t tell whether I miss him. But one thing for sure is that I know we’ll have less and less chance to meet each other gradually. I do have a weird feeling toward the fact, but I don’t know what kind of feeling that is. Anyway, that’s not what I want to share but my uncomfortable five days vacation.
Since I was born in Taipei and both sides of my grandparents passed away, I didn’t go back to the so called “hometown”. Foe me, these days just lengthen the time I stay home. Just like every weekend, I went to Japanese class on Saturday and Sunday morning. Except Japanese class, I spent my whole vacation sleeping, reading comic books, eating, and playing computer games. It sounds pretty boring, and that’s true. It seemed like I had lot of time to get alone with my family, however, that caused the problem. Since I stayed home all day long, my mom knew whatever I did. I guess every mom is the same. When they see their kids fool around all day, they start to nag, nag, and nag. That what my mom did. Furthermore, my parents treated my brother extremely good. That made me feel, somehow, I was ignored. I could understand that they just wanted to take good care of my brother because he was very toilsome at army after all. I didn’t know if I was too envious or my parents did treat me unfairly. Anyway, I would just keep this weird feeling in my mind, which means I wouldn’t tell it to my family. No matter what, they are still my family and my brother goes back to the army. So, there’s nothing to worry about.