What we read
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
Two quotations
- "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
(Roger Bannister, The Four-Minute Mile, 1955)
- "Everybody is born with an equal chance to become just as unequal as he or she possibly can."
(Anonymous, n.d.)
Discuss these quotations on page 77.
- Explain their meanings in your own words.
- Do you agree or disagree with the quotations? Why?
Write two or three paragraphs to address the questions and the quotations in any order. Remember, it's response writing where we want your ideas written down in sentences as quickly as possible. Think for a minute or two, and then write. Then write your next idea, and the next one. And repeat.
And as always, imagine as you write that your readers have not seen the questions. Because your writing should make sense as an independent piece of work, you might like to copy and paste the quotations into your response.
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
Fisrtly, the quotation refers to seem like no pain, no gain. If you have passion or strong motivation, you will do anything what you want to do or be although you face with a tough situations.
ReplyDeleteAnother quotation, the opportunity will be grabbed by someone who put into an efforts despite of differences of social statuses.
And, answering the question2, I agree with Quotation1 more than Q2 because in the reality, there are difference of social cultural contexts, and other factors are concerned like mental disorder or regulation and customs in your countries like a gender equality. By the way, sometimes although you will try a lot as long as you can, it doesn't mean that you are successful owing to unfair world.
I agree that Bannister makes an important point about motivation and effort, but I think many people who work really hard also fail to achieve their goals, certainly not to win. If there are ten people in a race, only one will normally win, no matter how hard all try.
DeleteAlthough I disagree with Bannister's words, I think they are inspiring, but also wrong. On the other hand, I think that the anonymous one, "Everybody is born with an equal chance to become just as unequal as he or she possibly can," states an interesting idea that is unfortunately also true.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that we are born equal in any way that matters: we have different abilities, different personalities, different emotional states, different family backgrounds and so on, and all of these things make us unequal. But as we grow up, we do become equally persons, that is things that have plans and wishes, things with preferences and dislikes, and most importantly, we become things that are self-aware and able to make decisions about our own lives. This being equally persons is the one thing we do have in common.
I think the unknown writer of the anonymous quotation means that at whatever level we start in society, we can make ourselves and our situation better or worse by the decisions that we freely make. Except that I'm not sure we can actually make free decisions: we can choose, but I don't think we can choose what we choose; that is fully determined by the states of our brain, where decisions are made. So I think the anonymous quotation is interesting, and true because although we can equally make choices, which are equally unfree, that lack of freedom means that however unequal we end up was something that was equally determined for all of us.
The first quotation, I think that means Winning is not easy, most of people who want to win always get painful before. So, don't afraid to do something. Dare to do something better doing nothing. No pain,No gain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first quotation because I think ,painful is the best lesson to make me better and better. Everybody wants to win in something but you can not win all the time.When you lost, you get the lesson that will make you win in the future if you try enough.
I am totally agree with the second quotation because everyone has a chance to improve themselves no matter his or her background was.As the word says"If you born poor that is not your mistake but if you die poor that is your mistake".I think that everyone can be as they want to be if they have enough effort and keep doing no matter what it is.That habit can lead to their Achievement not immediately but definitely.
ReplyDeleteFor the first quotation , I think it means the man who tried and learnt from the pain himself may be successful in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think the second quotation refers to an identity and characteristic of one person. Since we were born , every young baby is the same like they are just a kid and young like the word 'an equal chance' which is not even specific in their sexual (the writer used the word everybody at the beginning but then change it to be he or she), but when we grow up, we have to find ourselves, our self characteristic and identity which means that 'as unequal as he or she can' might mean as different as they can to be themselves.
I disagree with the quotation said that we have equal chance since we born because First of all I think not everyone can do whatever they like because of their family background, their money for example, the person who born with wealth family has more supports like sending to a quality school, buying nutritious food which make him easily succeed in his life while the person who born with poor family has less chance to succeed because of their less supports.
ReplyDeletesecond, for some people who born with disabled physical must haven't got the same chance with normal people. There is a lot exception for the disabled to do things like some jobs don't accept the disabled to work so it's maybe hard for them to succeed so how we born with equailty.
The first quotation means that he or she can pass an obstacle again and again. He or she are the person who will be the successful one. I couldn't agree more this sentence, because I think only we are attempting to do something continually and undiscouragedly and passing many obstacles until to be achievable.
ReplyDeleteThe second quotation means that everyone have equally chance to do something, but the result of each person is not same depend on each ability. I totally agree with this quotation, because I think it's true. Everybody have a chance that can do or make everything you desire, but every desire will not be successful. Only, some desires will be achievable. The achievement relies on your capabilities and endeavors, not only equal chance.
For the first quotation, I totally think it means that the man who can lead himself to face with something new and painful, or obstacles and then, find the solution and step over them is the man who will achieve his goal and his dream. Finally, he is the winner of his own life. For the latter quotation, I actually believe that it means that everyone, for instance you guys, has an equal opportunity to be able to choose whatever you want to become, wherever you want to go and so on.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I prefer to agree with the former quotation rather than the latter. It is because in my point of view, I don't agree with the phrase "Everybody is born with an equal chance". Personally, I strongly guess that everyone was born with an unequal chance. Someone was born in the capital of the country and they would probably have a chance to access new and advanced technology and the internet more than someone who was born in mountain or hill and perhaps has no chance to use both of them. Besides, nowadays, someone was born in the very rich family; therefore, they have a lot of money to buy what they want or even go where they need. Finally, the most important difference between the rich and the poor is that the rich tend to get much better education than the poor and this education would separate them and make them have an unequal opportunity in the future. In contrast, i totally agree with the first quotation because everyone should lead themselves with absolute effort to go through pain, obstacle and everything that obstructs your way to your dream. Sometimes, you make mistakes, just let it go and learn from them. I believe that everyone has enough capability to do anything that they demand.