Friday, 19 August 2011

"Come!" "Come!"

I have been thinking what I'm going to write on today blog, and I think...why don't I write an amusing thing in this time. So I think about the topic that I'm interested in and hope it could be interesting to you guys.

Everyone must know the word "echo", but not everyone knows the origin of this word. According to OAD, echo is "the reflecting of sound off a wall or inside a confined space so that a noise appears to be repeated; a sound that reflect back in this way". However, it's not just a vocabulary; in fact, it's the name of nymph in Greek methology.

The story begin with Zeus, the greatest divinity who wielded the awful thunderbolt, loved visiting the earth to consort with beautiful nymphs. Echo was excepted, she was an beautiful nymphs as well, but her voice was much more beautiful than her appearance, so Zeus preferred listening to Echo's attractive voice and did nothing with her. However, Hera, the queen of the immortal world who was Zeus's wife, came to the earth to find out her husband's love affairs. She came to the mountain where gorgeous nymphs lived, by the time she entered, Echo was singing, suddenly she was attracted by Echo'voice. Then Zeus could escape from his angry wife. Hera was so furious and turned against Echo. "The goddess condemned her never to use her tongue again except what was said to her." (p.114), according to Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Hence, Echo always said the last word but no power to speak first, and this is the origin of "echo" which usually can be found in canyons.

So that's the abridgement of Echo story, I hope everyone would enjoy this story. If you have similar stories, please feel free to share, it would be great! Anyway, if anyone wonders about my topic, I will have an answer next Friday. ;))

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References

Hamilton E. (2011, January). Mythology. New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group.

(2011). echo. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Retrieved August, 19, 2011 from http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/echo

11 comments:

  1. How can I delete the one??? I don't know why there are two copies here???
    -*-

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tang,
    There are actually four different versions of this post. Two had been published, and two were saved as drafts, so that they did not show.

    I've just saved the other one as a draft, so although it's still on record, it doesn't appear.

    I often start writing things and don't finish them, or don't want to publish them immediately, so I save them as drafts until I want to reopen and publish them for the world to see.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the Greek gods - they are so human,
    unlike the impossible gods of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is very interesting story, I enjoy it. Also, this is good definition paragraph!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Peter,
    Thank you for your advice.
    I like the story of Greek gods too! Their names are a bit hard to remember, but the story is really attractive!
    By the way, you say that impossible gods of Christianity... So I would like to ask you one thing... In my Listening and Speaking class, we have discussed about catholic faith...I really have no idea, I know nothing about this religion... What are your views on it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. P'Dew,
    I'm glad that you like this story. ^U^
    Please keep in touch, because I will publish part two on next Friday. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tang, to reply to your questions at August 21, 2011 12:43 AM, another strong point in favour of the Olympian family group is that they are logically possible - such gods could actually exist, but when we climb Mount Olympus, we see that they do not. I think that the Judaic, Christian and Islamic type of god is logically impossible - their sets of beliefs about their gods are contradictory, so at least one of those beliefs must therefore be false: those gods could not possibly exist as they are normally described. (But if you think I'm wrong, please argue.)

    I know Catholicism well, having been brought up as a Catholic. When I was a child, my family went to mass every SUnday, I went through all the usual Roman Catholic rites of passage, and I attended private Catholic schools where I got an excellent education before going on to university.

    The various Catholic churches are the original forms of Christianity (this includes the Orthodox churches of Greece and Egypt), in contrast to the much later Protestant versions of Christianity. In Australia, most people used to be Catholic, but the belief is dying out. My 80 year old mother remains a strong believer, my father become less so as he got older, and none of my three brothers and four sisters take it seriously any more or expect their children to, although they all continue to send their children to the same religious schools that our parents sent us to. I think that my family is probably pretty normal - the old rituals remain and serve important psychological and social functions as Hartmann and Blass write in "The Anthropological View of Religion" (2007, p. 23 - 25), but actual belief or faith in the ideas of god, heaven and so on is no longer important for most people. And many no longer think that religion is a reliable moral guide, however much they still value some of the rites.

    References
    Hartmann, P. & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 3 Reading and Writing, (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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  8. I'm just back from lunch, and I notice that today's Nation has a short report on some comments by the Pope made during his current visit to Spain. I decided to write a comment because the Pope's comments on abortion and euthanasia are relevant to a couple of the argumentative essays ("Pope Stresses", 2011). But even as leader of one billion Christians (the very large Roman Catholic group), I don't think the Pope has much influence these days. The Spanish government, and teh Spanish people, will not change their minds because the Pope does not approve.

    Should the Spanish government and people listen to the Pope? Does the Pope have strong supporting reasons for his ideas?

    References
    Pope stresses value of human life on visit to Spain. (2011, August 21)The Nation. Retrieved August 21, 2011 from http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Pope-stresses-value-of-human-life-on-visit-to-Spai-30163296.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. This story is really interesting. I am looking forward to the next one.

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  10. To answer Peter's question above, I don't think the Spanish government, and the Spanish people should listen to the Pope. Government policies should consider the influence of the religion but should not be led by only one type of religion.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's very interesting story. When I was young, I like to read about the Greek gods, but now I don't know why I forget everything. :)

    From the Peter's question, I think the Spanish government and the Spanish people should listen to the Pope and bring it to consider by voting or brainstorm again.

    ReplyDelete

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