Composition II: A Good Restaurant

When I walked out of that restaurant, I know I would never go into it again. Even though that was a nice place for having a meal, I didn’t want to go there anymore. Nice food, nice decorations, nice surroundings, but bad service. An absent-minded waiter spilled all over my jeans the water, or, which I was supposed to drink, and he just said “I’m so sorry” in a reluctant tone. The most detestable thing was that he even asked for service charge. What a ridiculous restaurant!

A high-quality restaurant should have these four elements: delicious food, clean and comfortable surroundings, delicate ornaments, and the most important one, good service. Good service and courteous waiters depend on that how much time and care the manager devotes. Not everyone knows how to be a good waiter/waitress, so if the manager wants his servants to serve well, he must have spent a lot of time on training and communicating with his or her personnel.

I love the restaurant with good service at most even if other three aspects I have mentioned before are not good enough. A friend told me: “As long as the food is delicious, the quality of service does not matter.” I strongly disapproved of him, so I gave him an example. I said, “One day you go to a store to buy a helmet, and the manager says: ‘No matter you buy it or not, it’s none of my business.’ Then what do you think?” He replied, “I will go out immediately and curse him.” “That’s right.” I answered, “it’s like you’re in a restaurant, and the waiter tells you that whether you eat or not, it’s none of his business.” After hearing my example, he thought for a while and agreed with me.

There is another example, and it’s my experience. Last semester, I went to an expensive restaurant with my senior. She told me that lots of people recommended that restaurant on the Internet, so I had high expectations for it. At the beginning, everything was good. Music, arrangement of the furniture, plants outside the restaurant, and light were all very nice, but everything changed when the waitress came. She gave us the menu and went away without saying a word. When we wanted to order, we didn’t know where she was. After I yelled, “I am ready to order!” I just saw she came slowly. She said, “What do you want to eat?” in an indifferent tone, and with no expression on her face. I felt a little angry about that, but I didn’t say anything. When she placed my dish on the table, she still had no expression. Of course, the food was delicious, the surroundings was clean and comfortable, the ornaments were delicate, but the terrible service ruined everything. The bad service made me so furious and I swore that I would never return to it again.

Good service is very significant to me, and it is an essential qualification when I judge whether a restaurant is good or not. A restaurant with ordinary food but good service prompts me to go again and again. On the contrary, a restaurant with delicious food but bad service causes me to avoid. I believe good service will attract more and more customers to the restaurant, and it’s the most basic and important element of an excellent restaurant.

Composition I: Why Not Be Traditional?

In 2008, the hottest rumor was that Untied Nation decided to “abolish” traditional Chinese and took simplified Chinese characters as its official language. This unverified news still stirs in the Chinese-speaking people’s minds. I am strongly opposed to the plan, because of three reasons: origin, calligraphy and passing down of classics.

Traditional Chinese characters have been used for more than 1700 years. There are six principles for creating Chinese characters, so if traditional Chinese was simplified, words would be hard to connect with the reasons they were created. For example, “east” in traditional Chinese means the sun in the wood, but once it is simplified, it’s difficult to associate the meaning with the origin. “Lush” in traditional Chinese characters is a complex word, but in simplified Chinese, it is transformed into another word in traditional Chinese. It’s not just violating the origin, but also making users perplexed.

Calligraphy is an eternal and irreplaceable treasure for Chinese. No matter when calligraphy is written, it is in traditional Chinese form. Calligraphy is an art of symmetry. If some big words are simplified in asymmetrical shapes, it will make us hard to present the aesthetic value of Chinese characters in calligraphy. For instance, “broadness” in traditional Chinese is full of vigor and symmetrical, but after the simplification, it turns to be a weak word in form and has ugly shape in calligraphy. “Fly” in traditional Chinese is also a big word, but it becomes so unfit in calligraphy as a result of the simplification.

Classics are important in every culture. For example, in the Bible as well as the analects of Confucius, we can find norms of behavior, moral principles and ethical paragons in those two classics. Chinese classics are all written in traditional Chinese, so if Chinese is simplified, how could people who use simplified Chinese understand the classics? For the children, classics are the best teaching material. They can learn the norms, beliefs and norms that members of whole society share. If children are educated in simplified Chinese, they will not understand those important values and may meet some frustrations in the society.

There’s an advantage that people who use simplified Chinese claim. That is, it’s much easier for people to write. But in my point of view, the rate of computer use is much higher than before, and I don’t need to “write.” The only thing I have to do is “type.” Thanks to the development of computer, the only advantage of simplified Chinese disappears.

Knowing the traditional Chinese means that someone has ability to know the origins of characters, to write calligraphy and to read the classics. There are so many advantages, so why not be traditional?

6/12 Journal

Suddenly, I find I have a lot of texts unread. What should I do? Conquer it step by step..this is only thing I can do. Management, Journalistic English, Foe, Oral Presentation, Linguistic, Deutch, English Literature..oh my goodness. Whatever, that's see what's going on.

GEPT is the worst! I can't believe that the evil institution is so brazen! I need to pay NT$ 2000 for an asshole test! Damn it!

Ronald, a friend from Boston, has arrived. I look forward to see him! Hope everything can be done before he come to Taichung.

6/5 Journal

I'm worry about my research paper. It must be a tough work. I don't know how to do it now. I need to breathe..more oxygen..I feel chocked.

Bad mood is really a terrible thing. You don't know when it comes, why it comes, how it comes and what it causes to you. I really don't like that. I hate you, bad mood. FOAD!

A lot of exams gather in the week before final week. It makes me anxious, because so much texts are waiting for me to read them. I'm scared that what if I am flunked? No, I won't. Never.

Being annoyed..I need music.

Every Time I Close My Eyes by Babyface