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    when I finished to read a article called “If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? I felt it was a very interesting reading and not only the title was very intrigued, but also the author’s points was very interested too. Philip Meyer was born in 1930. In this article Stanley Milgram tries to find out the differences between Germans and us everyday people. He put up some of experiments to find out if we are just as or not at all as cruel as Germans to the Jews. Also, the point of the experiment was to find the level at which you refuse to listen to the experimenter and stop this process of affliction

     As this article told us, Philip K. Dick was a important man who effected a lot to new Hollywood’s movies. He wrote many great science fiction in his life. according this reading, it gave information about how many science fictions he ffinished, for example, In one five-year period, Dick wrote 16 novels, churning out as many as 68 pages a day. A great writer always did amazing work before their novel been publish. I like Dick’s science fiction a lot, I think his created a new and exicited world in his book, and lets us to discocery and enjoy the process. I like high technogical stuff, such as electronic music, Apple company’s products, and robots. They all bring new feeling and new stimulate to people. Base on natural environment, folk cultures, and traditions, it is always being updated, enriched, replaces and rebuilds old stuffs. Just like Dick’s science fictions, bring a new world to us on today.

This is a good article to learn and know more about Philip K. Dick who wrote many great Sci-Fi. Get though from the reading, it gave Dick very highly rated. Like it said, “Of all American writers, none have got the genre-hack-to-hidden-genius treatment quite so fully as Philip K. Dick”. I agree with that, although I was not read a lots of American writers book, however, when I finished read famous Sci-fi, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I felt myself totally turned into the future world; I can image how Androids looks like and how great or function they are. Meanwhile, after read this novel, I was too impatient to wait to watch the movie which basic on this Dick’s Sci-fi. In the movie, many things came be real, not just images. I really like the main character; he is a real pursuer of justice. Although he already retired in that time, when he got the assignment, he turned to a tough man again, to kill the super tough enemy: Roy Batty, Zhora, Leon, and Pris. And these human cloning are really hard to deal with. But finally, Rick Deckard killed them with a female clone named Rachael. Meanwhile, the end of this movie also showed some point such Androids may also have emotion, just like a normal human. It makes people rethinking about ours future life or the fate of the world.

    Unfortunately, Dick was died in 1982, like the end of this article said “The vision of an unending struggle between a humanity longing for a fuller love it always senses but can’t quite see, and a deranged cult of violence eternally presenting itself as necessary and real—this thought today does not seem exactly crazy. The empire never ends.” It will never end. Dick’s brings much effect in the world.

   When I am reading ”The Formal Elements of Fiction” I felt I was reviewed and rethink many tips about how to write a fiction. When I was in middle or high school, we learned and read many fiction. Personally, I more like Sci-fiction because it have many interesting and excited plots, characters, and setting. One of my favorite science fiction is called Crash by J.G. Ballard. In the beginning of the novel, the main character got a car accident, as crash. However, after this accident his attitude was not unhappy, on the other hand, he was starting find fun or interesting on get crash. Because he find the accident is not seen as shocking, but as the liberation of new sexual possibilities that have yet to be explored. Just like a couple have sex in a car that was involved in this car accident. In additional, he felt more excited and better than normal  vaginal sex. According to this article, ”In the same way that a painter uses shape, color, perspective, and other aspects of visual art to create a painting, a fiction writer uses character, setting, plot, point of view, theme, and various kinds of symbolism and language to create artistic effect in fiction.” I totally agree with this point, in a good fiction, the writer use magic sentence to set up or creative a story. When people read, always can imagination of many plot. This is the attractive of fiction.  

This is a very interesting story. It’s talking about the writer when her family first moved to North Carolina, they lived in a rented house, and they were offen moved to another house, so writer could not get many friends around her living place. She thought she just living short period in each place, so it’s hard to have a lot of chance or enthusiasm to meet or make new friends. As writer said “short journey would hardly merit tears, or even goodbyes, for that matter.” Then weiter wanted to looking other building’s window find some interesting and excited thing from others house. However,  for the most part her neighbors just like sat in their living rooms, watching telvision.

    She found the only place that seemed truly different was owned by a man named, Mr Tomkey, who did not believe in telvision. It lets me think about myself, when I was very young, in my family, most people like to watching TV after work or dinner, my classmate like that too, but I am not very interesting in watch telvision, more like to stay alone. 

    In this story, Mr Tomkey showed a different and very interesting actions or behavior with his family, such as “During the meal, Mr. Tomkey would occasionally pound the table and point at his children with a fork, but the moment he finished everyone would start laughing.” Living without bored TV maybe is a more interesting life style.

    As we known, different countries have their different cultures. For instance, in China, some people think kill a dog for a meal is not a big thing, because some people think it will good for their health. However, in the United States, many American love dogs, they think dag as a important role or can be good friend to them. From this thing, we can see in diiferent space, different contry, existed a lot of different cultures. In this reading, writer gave a good example to explain how different cultures have different moral codes. Such as he Callatians customarily ate the bodies of their dead fathers, this is a amazing and so surprised example for me when I know it. Many people today as the Greeks practiced cremation and regarded the funeral pyre as the natural and fitting way to dispose of the dead, not to eat somebody’s dead body. Except that, I think many people living in a same world, although we came from different country, we still need to respect others culture roles. We could not use different eyesight to argue or disagree others. What we do, is to respect everyone, firstly, to listen and try to understand the differents, then try to exchange different points.

    This is my first time hear about this history event. Complex feeling in my heart right now. Personally, I am a pacifist. I really don’t want to see any war happend in this world. I remember when I was 12 years old, I saw a vedio on MTV channel which a song named Civil War by Guns N’ Roses. Also, this is one of my favorite song until today. In the lyrics, I still remember some part: ” Look at your young men fighting, Look at your women crying, Look at your young men dying, The way they’ve always done before. ” Today, most people bornd a peaceful time. Not too much wars around us, we cannot know how much it distoried people who faced wars feeling. We are lucky guys. From this reading, I can image many people dead in this trouble. For instance, these are in mind now…”Mr. Samuel Gray, killed on the spot by a ball entering his head; Crispus Attucks, a mulatto, killed on the spot, two balls entering his breast; Mr. James Caldwell, killed on the spot, by two balls entering his back…and so on. I hope we can still living in a peaceful, beautiful world. People need to rethink all wars happend before, draw a lesson from the war (The most horrible thing in the world).

    This is kind of a very interesting lecture. When I finished read I begin to rethink about many human behavior and should we take responsible fo what we do? Sure. From my point of view, anyone live in this world has responsible for what he did or she did. Human beings have free will, But, human beings can freely choose their actions, and so are subject to moral evaluation. So this point will be a contradiction point. We are free, but also we be controled in this universe. Different society has diiferent rules. As a normal person, we should responsible for what we did.

    I really like a sentence from this reading is that “Human character is shaped by an individual’s genes and environment. he told the judge, “Intelligent people now know that every human being is the product of the ecdless heredity back of him and the infinite environment around him.” ” Yes, heredity is a big role of everyone, effect ours life.

    I felt very inteseted on Carl Sagan’s The Cosmis Calendar. I am a big fan of sci-fi. Also I love knowledge about universe. As Ann Druyan and Steven Soter said: “The Cosmic Calendar is a useful tool for getting a sense of the grand story of the universe as revealed by science.” I felt so surprised of on this Calendar, the scientist collected a lots of detail dates of big event happened in the universe. Such as first flowering plants; Africa separates from South America; First sharks; first flying insects, ferns, and plants with roots…and so on.

    On today, We are still explore the universe and to trace the ancient continuity of cosmic evolution. What a wonderful and fantastic universe. I believe it has a lot of unknow story wait for us to discover.