The Experience Of Being Cheated

The fire of anger was burning brightly in my heart. Although in the air conditioning, I felt my face turned red and hot. The only thing in my mind then was to find the old woman and give her some punishment.

It was a summer vacation, some of my friends and I participated in a trip to Shanghai. We had  arranged to stroll in a shopping mall in that afternoon. Everything went smoothly. I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and looked around casually. Suddenly, a woman came towards me. It was obvious that her eyes were filled with desire. By instinct, I stopped and looked her up and down.

I thought she might be over 60 years old according to the grizzled hair, but there were only few wrinkles on her forehead. And her blue clothes were really neat and clean. Generally speaking, her temperament showed she wasn't a beggar. Therefore, I didn't keep away from her but wanted to know what was wrong.

As expected, she asked me for help. She said she was lost and hoped for some money to buy food.I decided to refuse in the beginning since I had heard a lot about cheaters. But I couldn't help trusting her. I was in a dilemma.

I turned around to turn to my friends for advice but found they had left me alone already. There were only two people in the hall at that moment.Not knowing how to face this old woman, I was frozen there and crossed my arms to hide my timidity. Looking down silently, I pretended to begin thinking but my head was totally blank. Sweet wet my back and so I felt kind of cold. Sometimes time didn't fly but crawled.

It was her words that broke the deadlock.“Why are you thinking so long like a girl?", she said. The strong embarrassment drove me to make the decision that I should help her. I always hoped that old people could receive help when they were in need. So I decided to buy food for her instead of giving her money. So I entered a bakery nearby and bought some delicious bread.

After I gave it to her, she seemed a little disappointed and disappeared soon. I felt much more comfortable because I finally got rid of the struggling in my heart. But five minutes later, my friend returned. He told me the old woman was a cheater because he witnessed her throwing the bread into a trash can.

My lungs were burning immediately.The feeling of being cheated was terrible.Anger and even fury immersed me.But in front of my friend, I tried to be calm and pretended to not care about it at all. But when he left I began to look for the tracks of the old woman. As an emotional teenager, I hated that my kindness was for nothing.

I went into all the shops on the first floor aggressively but left quickly. I never found the old woman. Eventually I had to leave for the hotel with others. But this experience really broke my heart. Forever more I would be more careful and calm when facing cheaters.

Life Is Hard

Life is really hard and sometimes I have to do something I dislike.Just as this time, I was asked to finish a task for my friend.

Sitting before a computer, I found the website he had told me about easily.The brightness of my face was changing all the time because of the switch of webpages. I forced myself to read the boring instructions about registering and I followed the directions like a stupid puppet. Gradually the black letters on the screen began dancing.I seemed to be seeing a pile of swans flying in the pure white sky.

Suddenly,the glinting screen pulled my mind back.The dragons in my imagination disappeared at once. Staring at the new message,I breathed a sigh of relief. After one-hour of effort, I succeeded in being a member of the club. Thus, only the last step, which was to print the voucher,was all that was between me and my sleep. Excited and determined, I clicked the button to "print".Then I lounged in the armchair to wait.One minute later, I remembered that I needed to turn on the printer first, so I pulled myself up and wander to the printer.

The printer began running and the noise appeared as expected. However, the paper material didn't be printed from the machine.What's the matter? I was confused. Soon the machine gave me the answer,the ink box was empty. I believed I was almost mad at that moment. Because I had promised to give it to him tomorrow morning.This paper would be very helpful for his shopping in outlets. I didn't have time to do it somewhere else.And it's impossible for me to get a new ink box at that time.I was really depressed and went back to the armchair, thinking the hardship of life. What's more, since I had paid the bill for printing, the feeling of losing money was biting into my heart. I wasn't mean but hated this hapless thing.

When I almost accepted this fact, an idea hit on me. I jumped and rushed to the printer,separated the empty ink box off the printer.Without thinking over, I held it with two hands and shook it as heavily as possible.Then I put it back with the hope of printing voucher.Fortunately,my behavior was so useful that the printer worked normally.The residual ink was inspired to accomplish such a little task.The voucher touched kind of hot, which was what I had pursued for the whole night!

Finally the task was accomplished as the plan and I could go to bed with relief. Sometimes life is not so hard.

He Is Back

The middle-aged man with a bowler hat slowed down and finally stopped before the stone bridge.There were dozens of buildings situated on the other bank of this river.He couldn't help staring at a four-story house among them and didn't let it leave his sight.It was his home.

Memories flooded in.He was born and grew up in this house.He had a happy childhood here with his parents.However, his mother died when he was still young.His stepmother had become the hostess of this building and since then he had been began treated as a servant.He was forced to move to the basement and got only a hard brown bread to feed himself. Gradually he became taciturn and felt very lonely. His newborn brother became the favorite of his father. He believed he wouldn't belong to this family any more.The desire for his mother and the hatred for his stepmother rooted in his heart deeply.Therefore, he escaped from the house in the morning of his 12th birthday.

As a homeless man,he made a living wandering from place to place. He earned some money and began to wear suits instead of rags.One day,he heard in a letter that his father was dying.So he took the train leading to the small town whose name he had never forgotten.

Standing before the bridge quietly,he seemed to see a white rose burst into bloom beside him,which stood for remembrance.It was that building that used to his home.His mother liked to lean on the handrail next to the street lamp，holding him in a hug.Suddenly,the scene of good memories was broken. The sky turned blood red,reminding him of the sufferings.Strange fog blocked his sight.He once thought about revenge but now he had no idea.He only wanted to see some old things, and his dying father.

My Bedroom

I am not a picky man over my living environment but my bedroom is the place where I feel most comfortable.I really love it.

My bedroom is large. I have lived in it for several years and so I am familiar with every corner of it. It's my own space.

Generally speaking,my bedroom is decorated in a classical way.Almost all pieces of furniture  are made of wood. They are unpainted to keep the original exquisite patterns.These patterns are irregular but not a mess. I enjoy the natural atmosphere formed in this way.

The bedroom is facing the east. Every morning, the first thread of sunlight slips in through windows and heavy cloth curtains, waking me up silently.When I pull the curtains to the corners, the shine floods in and  brightens the room immediately because the windows are ceiling windows. Everything is warm and turns light-colored. I am fond of lying on the bed like a puppy dog, looking at the pure blue sky outside the windows. 

The dark red wooden bed is located in the middle of the room. It is a most outstanding one. It is a big double bed. My parents put a soft Simmons on it so that I can enjoy the nights. As it belongs to a boy,there are not any dolls on the bed except two cotton white pillows and a thick quilt. Maybe they are not fragrant, but they contain the smell of sunlight. 

I have a small table for studying near the ceiling windows.Although the sunlight is lovely, I can't bear it because it is too hot.Usually I draw the curtains in the daytime to be in a cooler environment.

There is an observation deck in the opposite side of the room.The deck is made of yellow marble and feels cold to touch. I like to overlook the distant scenery,sitting on it, from the 20th floor.

Finally, my bedroom is the most quiet place in the house.It hides itself in the community, far away from the streets, which is rather rare in a modern city. I am always infatuated in its peace. Here I can avoid being disturbed by the noisy traffic or the annoying birds. It is isolated from the other parts of the world and I can own some space to think on my own.

The End Of My Soccer Career

Belatedly,the harsh whistle ended the soccer game and my suffering.I took off the jersey,from which sweat dropped off constantly. The jersey seemed being crying for the doomed result.Thinking back to the unfairness, I was buried by disappointment and anger and then threw it to the ground vigorously. "Goodbye", I said, loudly and firmly.This game was totally a nightmare for me.

Nobody knows I might have been a professional soccer player. In fact, I was one of the most gifted children in a soccer club at that time. Sometimes I imagined I could be a superstar like Raul one day. However, that horrible game destroyed everything in a blistering afternoon.















In the summer of 2006,there was a soccer game for children in primary schools.As a little soccer fan,I organized a team with some friends excitedly.We trained a lot and were eager for the trophy. Everything went smoothly until we entered the semi-finals.



When standing in the competition field, we suddenly found all of our opponents were much higher than us. What happened? It's a game for children in primary schools.But apparently they weren't. In fact, one of my teammates recognized some of them were from middle schools.In other words, they disobeyed the rule!

Anger burst from the bottom of our hearts sharply because they tarnished the holy sports. Naturally,we surrounded the referee as quickly as possible and turned for his help. However,this middle-aged man with a big beard showed no interest in our appeal.He was rather impatient and so he shouted at us with a dirty look,"Go back,go back,continue the game". Because we didn't have a coach and our parents weren't here, we children had to accept this situation.Until this moment I still believed we might have the chance to win.

The reality confirmed I was too naive.Again and again, we were knocked down.They were so fierce that we couldn't control the ball for more than 10 seconds.We couldn't even breathe smoothly under their pressure. Gradually,my team was forced to stay in our own half-field,just like a stupid tortoise. In the beginning, I still dared to abut those big boys and strive against them. While the pain stopped me soon.They were much stronger than I. I could not even raise my hands and lift my legs. The sweat was transforming into steam, which encircled my whole body. Sometimes I almost felt myself running in the clouds.But what I did made no sense. They dominated the game and had a goal soon.




Seeing their celebration,I stopped the fight.As for my teammates, they gave up much earlier.The exhaustion and desperation spread among us and some didn't run any more. Eventually, we lost. And our trust were hurt severely because we were defeated in such an illegal way.




After the game, those big boys went away, happy and arrogant. As captain,I rejected the comfort from others, frozen in the field. Before long everybody was gone except me.Sitting on the lawn, I was lost in thinking.It was the first time I began to hate soccer.As a child, I really regarded everything in the world was fair and the soccer game was clean.But the reality made me so helpless and confusing.

With the time going by, the sunlight turned mild. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and then stood up,dragged my heavy body to the exit step by step. Only the jersey was lying on the ground,quietly. It's tough for me to decide to leave soccer and never be back.

This match is the end of my soccer career.At times I also thought my decision may be too careless.But my heart was so broken that I wouldn't devote myself to soccer as before. My love for soccer has been locked away for a long time.

Go To Yale Alone

The trip to Yale is really an adventure for me. Although now I am living in Calhoun comfortably and safely, coming here alone is a rather tough experience and impressed me a lot.


It seemed easy for me to decide to go to Yale alone rather than with classmates. But after I got off from the plane at the JFK airport, I felt a little afraid as people around me were almost all foreigners. And the language I heard was English instead of Chinese, my mother tongue. For one second I believed I was lost in New York, a place far away from my hometown.


To be honest, I had put English aside for several months before I came to the USA. And unfortunately, I did not make a plan over how to get to New Haven. As a alone visitor, I dare not trust anyone here, although they look friendly and warm-hearted.


But I must survive and continue my way to Yale. Thus I asked a passer-by where to find the hotel. Thanks to his help I could get to a place where I can catch the shuttle employed by a hotel smoothly.

And the kind receptionist helped me find the shuttle to New Haven finally.

 

Only when I met my classmates could I feel much better. The process of registing was quite efficient. And many people in Yale are very glad to do me a favor. So I think the dangerous but challenging adventure ended.

All in all, I think I was lucky to come here safely. And the most useful tool in this adventure is English. After all, one person can’t do anything in the USA if he doesn’t know English because he can't communicate with others, which may be the most important thing in human society. I really recognize the power of language through this journey, and I will enjoy the life of learning English in Yale University.