As you prepare to sit around the holiday table with relatives and close friends, Ashley Zhou, specialist in relationships, has some conversational advice for you . . . .
–by Ashley Zhou
“We always take good care of our appearance, our clothing, and makeup. We look into the mirror several times a day, but we don’t listen to our own voices when we are talking.” — Kevin Tsai
This is an excerpt from a famous Chinese book, The Art Of Talking by Chinese writer and TV host, Kevin Tsai. I think of this book when I hear my peers talk, chat, or argue about different topics. We really don’t care much about the way we talk to others. No one will actually tape his own voice and play it back at the end of the day. I once listened to my voice when I was doing a interview, and I felt really uncomfortable about my voice. I didn’t think the voice sounded like me. However, we can think in a different way: If we constantly listen to ourselves or pay attention to our voice volume and tone when we are talking, we will become better talkers.
When we are talking, we all want to be the dominator in the conversation. We always want to talk about ourselves. To be a good friend, however, we need to listen carefully to others. Try to avoid saying “I” in the conversation, instead, use “you” or “he.” Also, if you don’t want to be too blunt in front of newly made friends, then you should avoid those sensitive or potentially dangerous topics, such as age, relationships, politics, religion, etc. Some people have secrets that they don’t want to reveal, and others might have strong opinions about a certain issue that might cause arguments.
People want to hear compliments the most. We need to intentionally compliment our friends and make them feel special. Being a good friend doesn’t mean being honest or blunt. It means to place yourself in your friend’s shoes. Be empathetic. When we are asking someone for a favor, it is the same thing. We could use a little trick to achieve whatever we want. For example, when you want someone to cover for you at work, you may want to say, “Could you help me this time and I will substitute for you next month?”
Talking is an art, and it needs us to be studied and explored and practiced. A person who knows how to talk will be much more attractive than someone who knows how to dress.
–Edited by Gaven Li
Boys get painted eggs, chocolate, and candies from girls. Men get painted eggs and shots of alcohol. I did not have a chance to “enjoy” this tradition much growing up. I live in the capital city where this tradition isn’t as widespread. Most of my family lives in smaller towns or villages which gave me the opportunity to experience this yearly torture four times.
Don’t get me wrong; some biographies are good. However, some biographies like Kim Kardashian’s Selfish, which contains nothing but her selfies, should be burned. Mostly, a biography exists because it can inspire people. However, Celebrity Biographies often offer very little under the cover. Do we really need selfies of Kim Kardashian? Remember, in our hypothetical situation, we are in a severe winter snowstorm, and we need to warm ourselves to fend off freezing. Those Celebrity Biographies are usually heavy (in weight), usually more than three hundred pages. Just one burning copy could keep us warm for hours.
I know many people believe in the zodiac and fortune telling. However, think about it seriously. We are now in a huge huge crisis that involves the existence of human beings in a snowstorm. At this moment, all kinds of zodiac and fortune-telling things would not work anymore. The only thing that we need to focus on, at this moment, is survival. If you’re about to freeze to death, do you really need your fortune told?
The reasons were mostly concentrated on the fact that Twilight is a poorly written book. According to one respondent, “Twilight promotes abusive relationships and is just bad literature in general.” The second most popular choice involves encyclopedias and dictionaries. The reasons are, “They have the most paper, so they have the most fuel”; “They are very big and fairly replaceable.” Surprisingly, the third most popular choice for burning for warmth and survival is the Bible. The reasons include more are available “in the future” and “the Bible is thick and burnable.” And, one of Henry’s personal favorite responses is “Burn Mein Kampf.”
e incredibly successful. The Red Sox went without a victory from 1918 to 2004. To many Bostonians, this curse was no joke as the die-hard fans lived their entire lives passionately detesting the Yankees. The curse was the spark that ignited the greatest rivalry in sports between the Yankees and Red Sox. As a child, many things were engrained into my brain, but one of the most vivid lessons was the absolutely necessary hatred of the New York Yankees. To this day, despite the curse’s ending, I loathe the Yankees, other New York sports teams, and often the city itself.
y household. We were all devastated! We had come so close to victory but were denied victory by our greatest enemy.
