"The Lady Or The Tiger?" by Frank Stockton - My version of its ending

"The Lady Or The Tiger?" by Frank Stockton is a very unique short story. Why do I say so? Unlike most stories, "The Lady Or The Tiger" does not have a definite ending, hence, it is up to the reader to imagine an actual ending to the story. When I first came across this story, I found it very captivating, especially the climax. You can read this story by clicking here: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml

My version of the ending:
As soon as the door was opened, a loud growl pierced the silence and a paw shot out from the gloom. The young man let out a cry of shock and backed away from the door like a spring. The die was cast. His fate was sealed. He had chosen the way to his impending doom. All he could do now was to hold his own against the menacing creature. He did not expect the princess, the woman he so dearly loved, to betray his trust! Why? Why must she skill him? Mixed emotions of anguish and sorrow welled up in him. He felt as if his heart was being torn apart, piece by piece. However, he had an even greater problem to deal with.

The tiger began emerging slowly from the open door, its fur bathed in the warm sunlight, its claws sharp as razors, ready to rip apart the insides of its waiting prey. The young man recoiled in fear, as this was the most savage beast he had ever seen. He broke out into a cold sweat, constantly keeping his eyes locked on the beast before him. He could choose to fight the beast, or meet his maker. He preferred to die fighting.

As the tiger prowled around him, ready to pounce on him any moment, he readied himself to a fighting stance, wondering how his bare fists could match the beast's claws. How he wished this nightmare would end!

The princess could not bear to watch. The man whom she loved most, all the sweet memories of their moments together, would be gone in a minute. Had she done the right thing? Would her sweetheart understand? She tried to reassure herself by thinking that if she can never marry her lover, no one else would. Absolutely no one.

As the audience waited in bated breath, the tiger let out a menacing roar and pounced at the man. A handful from the audience winced, half expecting to see a gruesome mess of blood and flesh. From out of the blue, the tiger seemed to pause in mid-air and drop to the ground. The audience began to murmur among themselves. The murmuring inevitably turned into shrieks. What had happened? The king and the princess were at a loss for words! Such an incident had not happened in the entire history of this kingdom. The young man was both shocked, and relieved. Had this miracle not appeared, his life would be ended painfully. Taking no chances, he walked towards the tiger with immense caution. To his immense relief, it was dead. However, the cause of its death puzzled him. An arrow had pierced its throat. Blood stained its magnificent fur coat.

Everyone in the arena shifted their gaze towards the direction that the arrow had came from. Nobody could believe what they saw. Even the wise men were stumped. A tall, muscular man stood on a tall tower, wielding a longbow in one hand. It was apparent that he was a brilliant archer. Not even the country's finest marksmen could kill a moving tiger from such a great height!

The young man was baffled. Why had this incredible marksman saved his life? Still, he had to express his gratitude to his benefactor somehow.

Meanwhile, the king was furious, steam was literally coming out of his ears. He threw his crown on the ground and stomped on it like a child throwing a tantrum. "Kill that intruder at once! Do whatever it takes..." he muttered to his soldiers, constantly glaring at the figure on the tower. This nonsense had to end. How could this unknown archer have the audacity to ruin this event! He swore that he would not hesitate to torture the intruder with whatever he could think of.

Before the king's soldiers could arrest the man and the archer, a winged beast flew from above. While everyone in the arena froze in horror, the archer jumped on it and whistled. The winged creature was enormous, resembling an eagle, its wings spanning a third of the whole arena. No one expected something like this to happen. It was as if the world had turned upside down! As the creature flew towards the young man below, the archer beckoned him to hop on. The young man did not hesitate as this was his only hope of escape. After that amazing rescue, the winged creature flew far, far away.

The king let out a cry of anguish and pounded his fists madly on the table. He had only one word in his mind. It was none other than revenge...

"Who are you? Why did you save me?" the man asked, a myriad of questions occupied his mind. The archer pondered for a moment, before turning to him and removing his mask. As the archer replaced his mask with a green hood, the truth slowly came to light. "Can you guess now?" he smiled. The young man could hardly contain his excitement! He could find no way to express his emotions. The one who robbed the rich, and gave to the poor. The one who preserved justice, and fought evil. How could he not realise it? A legend was right before him. The young man replied in admiration,"Robin Hood..."

~The End - Hope you enjoyed it!~

Can A Country Preserve Its Culture Nowadays When Subject Continually To Outside Influences?

The world we now know has changed drastically compared to what it was like a century ago. Due to a rapid progress in technology, the world has shrunk. In the past, countries were wrapped up in themselves, determined to preserve their own cultures. However, nowadays, it is difficult for any culture not to be influenced due to the presence of television, air travel, the internet and the radio. Wherever we go, we are subject continually to outside influences, especially in Singapore, a multiracial country. Can a country still preserve its culture nowadays when subject continually to outside influences?

There is no way to keep the radio out of a country. It has been regarded as a common appliance in our daily lives. In a dynamic and modern society like Singapore, almost every household has a television. However, there are still some means of controlling which satellite transmissions the antennae can receive from. In Singapore, it is illegal to receive satellite transmissions from disallowed foreign satellites. Rather than to keep out foreign influences, the government does this to protect our local television companies. If everyone can gain access to other foreign channels, our local entertainment sector will cease to exist! However, in Malaysia, we can still access a generous number of dialect programmes.

There are advantages of being open to outside influences. We can learn from other countries and not be confined only to our culture. This helps to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the diverse races and cultures around us, which is essential for a multiracial country like Singapore. In order to fully understand and embrace people of other races, we must interact with them. Another advantage is that countries which are not so developed can progress faster. Two examples are Japan and South Korea. Since the time that they have opened to western cultures, they have modernised rapidly and become economic giants in Asia. In spite of the invasion of foreign cultures, Japan and South Korea still preserve their traditional cultures. As English is a globally-used language, students from China, South Korea or Taiwan travel to countries such as the United States or Singapore to learn English. Why choose Singapore? The reason is that Singapore has a good education system, so foreign students can learn much faster here compared to studying in their own countries.

Unfortunately, the ability to preserve culture does not exist in all countries. Many of our local teenagers have absorbed the drugs and permissiveness of the west. It is indeed deplorable that people in countries like Japan and South Korea are so deep in their own cultures, while Singaporeans are overwhelmed by something foreign. Have you noticed that most Chinese teenagers in Singapore do not wear red during Chinese New Year? Many local teenagers do not respect their own cultures and traditions, so much so that the cultures that our ancestors have kept for generations may be forgotten.

Cultures do not keep alive by themselves. The government must take a stand, especially in Singapore. The optimum result will be to let western culture co-exist with our own. I believe that with determined government attitude and support from the people, our culture can be preserved.

IT Home Learning - Intrapersonal (c)

Diary entry of Jem

Dear Diary,

Have you ever wondered why things were the way they were, why life can be so unfair? Today, I witnessed the most terrible thing that can ever happen. Poor Tom Robinson was convicted even though Atticus had evidence to prove his innocence! This can't be right. You know it too, right? How could they send him to jail just because he is a Negro? I can't help being mad, I really can't believe it. I always thought that court-houses are places where justice is served, where everyone is equal. Tom Robinson was innocent, I'm sure everyone knew that! How could the adults lie? Maycomb is such an unfair place! As soon as I'm grown up, I will become a lawyer and make sure that everyone is treated equally! I will make sure that the coloured folks will never be discriminated again.

Even now I am still angry at the jury. Shouldn't the jury system be abolished? I mean, it's just so unfair! The idea of an innocent man getting convicted by many white men because of his skin colour makes me sick! I wonder how Tom Robinson is doing in jail. I heard that jail is a very scary place where people suffer and are beaten up! When I asked Atticus why they couldn't change the jury, he told me that it was incredibly hard. He also told me that there was nothing more sickening to him than a low-grade white man taking advantage of a Negro's ignorance. Can't we do anything at all to stop this injustice? As citizens of Maycomb, shouldn't we all work together and not hate each other? To me, it is ridiculous to judge a person by the colour of his skin. I'm sure Scout thinks this way too.

After seeing what the white folks have done to Tom Robinson, I finally understand why people despise each other even though folks are just folks. I finally understand why Boo Radley shuts himself in his house all the time. It's because he wants to stay inside.

IT Home Learning - Musical (b)

Poem on the Tom Robinson trial
The court-house of Maycomb was a battlefield
Of discrimination and justice,
Majority against the minority to see who would yield.

Raping a white was a serious crime
Of which poor Tom Robinson did not commit,
But he was still forced to serve his time.
In the end the battle was over
Negroes can never have their rights,
So the mockingbird went to meet its maker.
Only the white jury had the power to make the choice
No matter what the evidence was...

Tom Robinson was guilty.

Multiple Intelligence Test - About My Learning Profile

The Multiple Intelligence test is designed to find out a person's learning profile based on his scores in eight different areas: kinaesthetic, linguistic, logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, visual/spatial and naturalistic. Based on the Multiple Intelligence test, I am more of a musical and intrapersonal person.

In my opinion, the Multiple Intelligence test is not always accurate about someone's personality, as it only focuses on more general areas. However, it can give a general view of a person's learning style and profile. The Multiple Intelligence test can be very useful in the future as it allows teachers to understand the way students learn and facilitate their learning better.

Just one test is not sufficient to deduce a person's learning profile for his entire lifetime. As human beings, our mindset and characteristics may change as we progress on in life. As a result, the Multiple Intelligence test caters to different age groups and is not just taken once. What about the questions in the Multiple Intelligence test? Well, after taking the test, I find that some of them can be subjective or vague. However, questions are just words that cannot change themselves. Therefore, this does not mean that the Multiple Intelligence test is unreliable. The Multiple Intelligence test is used worldwide, not only in Singapore. As different people of different nationalities in different situations are asked the same questions, they will naturally have differing opinions about how the questions are phrased.

The eight areas in the Multiple Intelligence test can tell us a lot about a person, as they encompass not only our characteristics, but also our relationship with the surroundings. Although using scores to determine a person's learning profile may seem inaccurate as numbers cannot fully describe a person, it is only used as an efficient way to compare a person's learning profile with another person's. If words are used to describe a person in the Multiple Intelligence test, that beats the purpose of having eight different areas as it is not feasible to gauge how good one is at a certain area based on a simple description.

The Multiple Intelligence test should not be used by students as a limit to their abilities. For example, if you are a linguistic and logical person, you may think that you will not excel in the other different areas. I think that this is not true. As students, we should strive to learn and improve. It is natural for someone to have a low score in one of the areas, as we are not perfect. The Multiple Intelligence test is more suited for teachers to understand how their students learn.

I find that it is interesting to learn more about my personality through the Multiple Intelligence test, and I believe that it will prove to be a very useful test in the future.

Does Communication Technology Restrict Liberty Or Enhance It?

In our modern and dynamic society, we rely on technology in many areas of our lives. Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile phone. Technology has advanced so rapidly that pagers are now practically useless, having being replaced by phones with a large variety of functions. Communication technology liberates us in a way as it allows us to keep in touch. It also opens up the world and is not limited by geographical boundaries. However, technology is not as simple as we think it to be. It can be used to spy on us or force us to act in a certain way. Authorities can track law-breakers, no matter how far away they are. Where are our human rights and liberty? In my opinion, communication technology restricts liberty, whether we want it to or not.

Communication technology was invented for a reason, of course. It allows us to have greater liberty in a way. Cashpoint machines are so convenient that it just takes less than a minute to withdraw your money. Furthermore, this saves you the amount of time wasted on finding a bank. The telephone and internet gives us a lot of freedom. You can search for whatever you want on the internet just by the click of a mouse.

Unfortunately, there is a disadvantage to communication technology. It seems to trap us inside a pattern of thinking that limits our abilities. Modern video cameras have become more insidious. Spy cameras can be installed even in the smallest spaces and capture details of our lives, even those that we do not want to reveal. Many people have abused technology for their own selfish desires, not sparing a thought about the privacy of others. If we cannot even have privacy in our own rooms, what freedom do we have?

Communication technology restricts us and forces us to think in certain ways. The biggest criminal will be the Microsoft software that we often use. As Microsoft is founded by an American, only American English is accepted as correct in the software. Furthermore, its functions are limited. Certain things cannot be done in the way we want it to. Templates, paragraphing, images and designs are all limited. In my opinion, we are not the actual "masters" of the software, instead of using it to suit us, we must change ourselves to suit it!

Communication technology almost certainly reduces us to mere numbers. How would you feel if you are only referred to as an identification number? Each time we add the contact numbers of people into our mobile phones, we only call them by remembering their numbers. Dating programmes also reduce people to numbers for identification purposes. I will certainly prefer to be known by name.

Even when you are on holiday, communication technology affects you. Generally, your holiday experience is reduced to a series of forced poses, often with your back to the scenery. How often have you let go of all your worries and admire the breathtaking scenery of a place without your parents nagging at you to smile at the camera? Most people feel that it is important to capture pictures of their holidays in cameras, not knowing that it restricts the way they enjoy their holidays.

Mobile phones are mainly for allowing people to get in touch all the time. Our parents give us mobile phones to find out every minutiae of our lives. We have entered into an age where technology is restricting our liberty, and there is no escape.

Can Science And Religion Ever Co-Exist? Feel free to comment!

Religion and science need not be divorced even though they have many major differences. There has been a strong argument for their co-existence, which I believe is possible to achieve. However, it is not easy for science and religion to co-exist due to the key differences between the two disciplines.

In its most ideal form, science is mainly about discovering the truth about man, life and the universe through objectively observing phenomenon from the world. Science and religion have different perspectives, drawing similar conclusions but starting from different points. For example, Einstein's Theory of Relativity proves that everything is impermanent and uncertain. This hypothesis in science is diametrically opposed to the belief that God is almightly, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. The Hindus also believe in Shiva's timeless dance where all is anicca, which means that everything does not stay the same forever.

In fact, there is no contradiction in religion and science. It is a religious duty to honour God's gift of reason, and science is about reasoning. Do you know that today's scientific terms such as alkali and algorithm were created by Islamic scientists? Early scientific research and education were mostly done by religious people. Scientists like Mendel, Robert Boyle and Galileo Galilei are examples of such people. Mendel was famous for the study of genetics and he was actually a priest. Robert Boyle, a talented scientist, was a clergyman. Furthermore, Galileo Galilei, one of the most well-known scientists of all time, was persecuted by the church for his research. There are also modern examples of scientists that are religious, such as Francis Collins, who was the Head of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Science and religion are being artificially divided, due to significant political and cultural changes. In the Middle Ages, the increasingly political Catholic Church and the ultraorthodox Sunni Muslim rulers persecuted anyone of their religion found to be doing scientific research. This caused an increase in anti-religious feelings, leading to more extremists and unorthodox practitioners. Many scientists even gave up their religion. Today, most fundamentalist Baptist churches in America's Bible Belt are most stridently against birth control, genetic engineering and stem-cell research. They only rely on the power of God to help them.

Religion and science have conflicting methods of acquiring knowledge. Science is solely dependent on logic and reason to discover the truth. All of the hypotheses need to be proven. In religion, faith is necessary. Buddhists believe that the world is an illusion, and that there is deception everywhere. Science is interested in physical, tangible and material solutions. However, religion is far more interested in eternity, things which are spiritual, intangible and immaterial.

In the first place, science and religion are not meant to conflict. They are divorced because of human pettiness and misunderstanding. In my opinion, both disciplines have to work together for humanity's sake. What do you think? Can science and religion co-exist?

Lotteries, a tax on the poor

Gambling has been the cause of many family and marital problems. It is easy to get into gambling, but extremely difficult to get out of it. As a student, I do not think that gambling is good for a person's future. The idea of getting rich overnight is what tempts people to gamble. However, what are the odds of winning? Lotteries are a form of gambling. In Singapore, there are many different forms of lottery, such as 4-digits. The reason why so many people buy lotteries is because they are easily accessible and cheap. In the long term, gamblers usually end up incurring a huge debt. Each time someone loses money in gambling, he or she will want to win the money back. Even when gamblers are on the process of recovering from gambling addiction, it is the notion of "one last try" that can let them get hooked again. My father often reminds me,"It is best to stay out of gambling as once you get addicted, your future is ruined." Some people gamble as they are desperate to earn money in a short time, while others gamble for the thrill. Whatever the cause, they will still be addicted. Gambling does not only harm the gambler, it affects his or her family too. Young children may be influenced when the adults in a family gamble. The family will experience financial problems when a gambler in the family loses a lot of money. Nowadays, in this modern society, there is also online gambling. What this means that it not only removes the geographical barrier for people to gamble, it allows people to gamble whenever they want. I think that online gambling should be banned. Many children use the Internet, what will happen if they get addicted to gambling online? It is difficult, or impossible, to place restrictions to prevent children from gambling online as anyone can use the Internet. If online gambling is not banned, it will only place more stress on parents to ensure that their children do not get the wrong influence. My father thinks that although lotteries in Singapore give out prize money to those who strike lottery, they actually earn more through the money placed on bets. This is indeed true. If a thousand people each bet five dollars, it will be five thousand dollars gained by the lotteries! Furthermore, many adults gamble in Singapore, and the number will continue to rise. In the Youtube video "Gambling addiction", an ex-gambling addict reveals that "a compulsive gambler will do whatever it takes to gamble". I think that this is a serious problem. This may lead to more robberies and crimes as gamblers are in desperate need of money. In conclusion, gambling is a habit that not only affects one psychologically, but also tears apart relationships.

Robert Frost, one of my favourite poets

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. He moved to New England at the age of eleven and became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1892, and later at Harvard, though he never earned a formal degree. Frost drifted through a string of occupations after leaving school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor of the Lawrence Sentinel. His first professional poem, "My Butterfly," was published on November 8, 1894, in the New York newspaper The Independent. In 1895, Frost married Elinor Miriam White, who became a major inspiration in his poetry until her death in 1938. The couple moved to England in 1912, after their New Hampshire farm failed, and it was abroad that Frost met and was influenced by such contemporary British poets as Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves. While in England, Frost also established a friendship with the poet Ezra Pound, who helped to promote and publish his work.

Robert Frost is my favourite poet as he had many experiences in life when he changed jobs many times. He also had the help of other contemporary poets. In a 1970 review of The Poetry of Robert Frost, the poet Daniel Hoffman describes Frost's early work as "the Puritan ethic turned astonishingly lyrical and enabled to say out loud the sources of its own delight in the world." Robert Frost expresses his feelings in some of the poems he wrote. The way he writes makes it seem as if we are not reading the poem, but the poem is telling about itself. He also repeats some words to make it some more dramatic. The flow of his poems are also very consistent. There is also a very good use of personifications in his poems. Three of my most favourite poems by him are The Road Not Taken, Bond and Free and Going for Water. Some of his poems actually tell a story on their own, with dialogues that rhyme. In my opinion, he does not limit his boundaries when it comes to writing poems, he has wrote many different types of poems in different ways. Furthermore, many of the words used in his poems are simple and easy to understand, but when stringed together, they form a more complex poem.

Bibliography: http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192

All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
In this poem, figurative language is used in the forms of metaphors, similes and hyperboles. In the first part, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances," means that the poet is comparing the world to a stage, including everyone's different roles and responsibilities. It is a metaphor as a stage is used to describe the world, and everyone plays a part in it. In a stage, there are exits and entrances, everyone also enters and exits the world. The phrase "Turning again towards childish treble" is also a metaphor. The meaning of treble in this context is a high-pitched sound. In music, it is used to represent more high-pitched notes that instruments can play. The poet tells us that the once big man whose voice was deep had grown old and his voices were beginning to sound like pipes, which were more high-pitched. In the next line, "whistles in his sound" is a metaphor which tells us clearly that the old man was not in good health anymore. The phrase "Even in the cannon's mouth" is a hyperbole as it emphasizes on the soldier's desire to seek a good reputation, even in the face of death. A hyperbole is an exaggeration of the truth. The line "And shining morning face, creeping like snail" has a simile which is creeping like snail. This shows the reluctance of the schoolboy when going to school in the morning. In the next line, there is also a simile "Sighing like furnace", which compares the lover's sigh to the loud sound of a furnace. We can tell that he is deeply grieved. The phrase "bearded like the pard" is a simile as it gives us the impression that the soldier is bearded. The similes in this poem have the word "like" in them.
I like this poem written by William Shakespeare as it has a very good structure and the whole poem is like an act. How is it so? At the start, he uses a stage to represent the world, and they are actually similar in many ways. The act begins when a "player enters the stage" as an infant. The poem slowly begins to build up as the infant grows up. In a way, this poem also gives us a hint of the lives of people at that time. When the schoolboy grows up, he falls in love but apparently gets rejected, which explains his sorrow. He then becomes a soldier with a big beard. After that, he becomes a justice, he is well-fed as he has a fair round belly. His beard is also cut. When he grows old, the poet gives us a good description of his appearance. Finally, the act is over when the old man dies. That is his "exit" from the stage. This poem is unique as it includes the lives of people of different ages.