Essay

The Ant and the grasshopper

            The story “The Ant and the Grasshopper” by W. Somerset Maugham writes about two main characters, George and Tom, play same roles as the ant and grasshopper in Aesop fable. George works as hard as the ant, and Tom enjoys his life that is similar to the grasshopper. The ant stores food in the summer. Because the grasshopper sings the whole summer, he begs the ant for food on the winter. The story has a different ending from the fable. George earns some money from his hard working, and he is old. Tom plays all the times. Because of his charming appearance, he has a lot of money from a rich woman. I agree with Maugham.
            One point of Maugham is people need an entertainment in their lives to relax and allow them to have fun. Since every person has his own destiny, he will have an opportunity to have money in the world. Like some people, they go to casino for amusing, and they may win some money. I know that some Chinese men who work very hard to make some money. They are the chefs in the restaurant and work at least twelve hours a day in the kitchen. When they walk out the kitchen, they do not know any news about this society that makes them difficult to enter the outside world. Then, they will be afraid to communicate with others. They fool themselves by the work.

            Spending most time in the work is not a good idea for the life. Too much work is a heavy burden of bearing on people. We have to combine the work and play together to have a wonderful life. We need to make money to support our lives. On the other hand, we should know how to spend money to bring fun to our lives. There are a lot of amusements throughout the world. That means we have plenty of choice to relax our bodies and mind. Some of them are good for our health such as golf.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

In the fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper" and the story "The Ant and the Grasshopper", George works as hard as the ant, and Tom enjoys his life that is similar to the grasshopper. The ant collects food in the summer. Because the grasshopper sings whole summer, he begs the ant for food in the winter. The story has a different ending from the fable. George is old and earns some money, but Tom is charming and has a lot of money.

I agree with Maugham. People need an entertainment in their lives which can relax them and allow to have fun. Also. every person has his own opportunity to have money in the world.Like some people, they go to the casino for amusing, and they may win some money in there. I know some Chinese men who spend their most time which is half-day in the kitchen. When they walk out, they are nervous because they do not know any news and they are difficult to enter into the outside world. They are only for the lower salary  without their own lives.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

I think the message in Maugham's story is the same as the message in the Aesop fable of the ant and the grasshopper. In Maugham's story,George has same qualities like the ant in the fable, and Tom is most like grasshopper. George works hard as the ant. George was in his office every morning at nine-thirty and never left it till six. And the ant was storing up food for the winter in the summer days. on the other hand, Tom wants to enjoy his life like the grasshopper. Tom had a little money and he spent two happy years in the various capitals of Europe. Similarly, the grasshopper sang whole summer to have fun.

I am the ant

I prefer to be the ant. The ant works all the summer to save the food for the winter. I am a lazy person. I know that I am better to study hard to get out from ESL. When I tries to learn more, there are many distractions to change my mind. The experience of failure lets me realize that  perseverance is hard for me. I want to have the ant's spirit in studying.

The Friendship Bond

The idea of friendship is alive and well. In my opinion, the internal qualities are more important than the external conditions by making a friend. I think a large number of people have same belief like me. If most people have similar themes in friendship, friendship will never be dead. According to the article, when we asked our readers to tell us what qualities they believe to be important in a friend, they valued, above all, loyalty and the ability to keep confidences, warmth, affection, and supportiveness were also high on the list, while external characteristics such as age, income, and occupation, were not. This example confirms my thought that the friendship is living.

Conflict

Yesterday, I sat on the subway, and a man started to play music. Then, a little girl lifted a small basket up to each person and asked for money. The train reached the 74^th Street. A beautiful woman stand up and said to the man, “This is illegal.” She turned to the girl “She is under the age.” The man stared at the woman straightly, “So what.” I saw the woman’s face became angry, and she picked up her phone and told to him, “Do you need me to call a police?”  The door opened, they walked out and argued. I had not seen the ending because the train was out of station. Other people began to discuss this event.

This kind of conflict often happens in this area. I do not really know what will be on the next. I think the woman has to call the police. And then, the police will use his power to educate this man. The individual speaking is weak to influence others.

Sunday in the Park

Opinion and Interpretation:

The author uses this article which an argument is among two families to expresses two curial ideas to us. First, the parents are responsible on children’s education. Second, a fighting cannot be a solution between the arguments. Joe’s father needs to stop Joe’s impolite action and tells him what right thing to do is. If the parents encourage their children do hurt other kids, their children will be violent and think it is correct in the society. Parents have to discipline their children to be nice to others. A fighting will bring worse things to people. It never gives a good thing to people who involve in a battle. People need to avoid starting a fighting.

Summary:

The story "Sunday in the Park" by Bel Kaufman tells us an event happens in the park between two families. Morton and his wife sit on the bench, and their son, Larry, plays in the sandbox. Joe, another boy, throws the sands at Larry. Morton's wife tells his not to do it, but Joe's father says that Joe can do everything he wants to do. Although Morton tries to communicate with Joe's father, he does not want. They stand up and star at each other, and there has a fighting spark between them. Then, Morton brings his family out of the park. Larry starts crying. Morton and his wife think it is the best way to stop a battle.