Plants are part of our earth and also important to humans. This is because plants produce oxygen everyday. Furthermore, there are many plants that have special meaning or uses in different countries. In my country, China, the three most important plants are tea, Jigucao and peach.
One of the most important plants for export in my country, China, is tea. Most tea grows in Asia, especially, China, India, and Vietnam. In some people’s minds, tea always looks like leaves; however, there are also some flowers that can be used as tea, such as the chrysanthemum. Tea is an important plant in my country because it helps my country to earn more income. Every year many countries including America, England, and Canada buy tea from China. This improves our economy. In addition, there are two more reasons that tea is important to my country. The first one is its history. In ancient China, many people started to drink tea when they had breakfast. As a result, tea was part of their breakfast everyday. Now, we have many choices for breakfast, but there are still many Chinese who consider tea as part of their breakfast. The second reason is tea can be used as medicine. Some kinds of tea, such as black tea, can help people who have hypertension. Actually, tea isn’t medicine, but it can help people to protect themselves against some terrible diseases. It is a health drink for human. Consequently, tea is important to my country, and also good for human health.
Another important plan in China is Jigucao. Its scientific name is Abrus Cantoniensis. In some counties, they call it Chinese prayer bead grass. It is a climbing plant and it can grow up to 1-2 meters high. Jigucao grows in woodland or bushes. It is a traditional Chinese medicine. In China, there are many families who have some traditional Chinese medicine in their house. If someone in the family gets sick and it isn’t terrible, they take care of that person at home and give them traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese started to use traditional Chinese medicine many years ago and Jigucao is a common traditional Chinese medicine in China. Its history in China and its effects are important to my country.
Last but not least, the peach is also an important plant in China. The peach grows in warm weather. It grows in many places in China. The peach has two cultural meanings in China. Peach flowers symbolize love, and the fruit symbolizes long life. In ancient China, every Chinese New Year people buy peach flowers for their house. They think flowers help people to catch love in the following year. Therefore, the peach flower means love in Chinese people’s minds. Even today, every Chinese still buys peach flowers for every Chinese New Year. Furthermore, the fruit symbolizes long life. In ancient China, there were many stories about peaches, and how they made people have a long life. For example, in ancient China, there was a story about a monkey. The monkey ate the god’s fruit, peach. The peach made it have a long life. As we can see, the peach is an important plant in China because it is special to all Chinese.
In conclusion, Tea, Jigucao and peaches are important in China. It’s because their history, effects and special meanings are part of Chinese history and they effect Chinese people from ancient time and still happening now. Every Chinese knows them, and understands why they are important to my country.
Fred Mo
Fed 24th 2012
Class 3A
Final Drift
My sweetness
Everyone has a terrible time or terrible things happen in his or her life but there is also a person who will stay with you when you are in a bad mood. They will do anything to make you happy, maybe their smile can make you feel sweet. They are your sweetness. I have a girlfriend name Bethany and she is my sweetness.
“Sweetness is a desire that starts on the tongue with the sense of taste, but it doesn’t end there.” This quote comes from a book called The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. This quote says that sweetness isn’t just a taste from your tongue; it can also be felt in your heart, and smelled in your nose. When I saw the word “sweetness”, it reminded me of my grandfather. When I was a child, my grandfather gave me candy when I was crying. Consequently, I stopped crying. The only reason I knew why I stopped crying was the candy tasted sweet. As I grow up, my thinking has become more and more mature. Now, I understand why I stopped crying when I got candy from my grandfather. The reason I stopped crying is my grandfather’s consolation, not only the candy. That is what I knew before I started thinking about this essay, and now I have a new thinking about sweetness. A person can be your sweetness, that person can be your family member or your friends. But there are some reasons or some things that happen to make you feel he or she is your sweetness. The reason why Bethany is my sweetness is she made me feel sweet when I heard some bad news from my dad.
In February, my parents went back to China because they knew my grandmother had a terrible disease. I love my grandmother. When I heard about my grandmother, I felt sad because I have been in America for 5 years and I have not had any time to go back and visit her. Everyone will go through illness and death. I understand that but I can’t stop feeling sad. At the same time, Bethany was there with me. She smiled and said it would be fine. She said the same thing that I thought but the feeling was different. And this isn’t the only reason she is my sweetness. Every time when I meet her, she always smiles at me. In that moment my sadness and tiredness are all gone. She is the sun always shining in my dark place. She is my sweetness who gives me a smile when my heart is crying.
“Don’t worry. Be happy” is a song by musician Bobby McFerrin. Don’t be upset when you are in a dark time. Keep smiling because there will be a sweetness beside you. He or she will shine in your dark place.
Class 3A
Fred Mo
5/11/2012
Draft #4
In our community, people get pressure from family, work, and school. Therefore, different people have different way to reduce their pressure. Many people use drugs to decrease their pressure. Marijuana is one drug that was legal in the past. However, marijuana is illegal now. As a result, there are groups of people think that marijuana should be legal, and some people who said that marijuana should not.
Marijuana was legal in the early 20th century. Smoking marijuana was very common. You could buy it or plant it. Some people thought it was cool when they were smoking marijuana. But the bad thing is marijuana is harmful. The chemical in marijuana called THC will destroy our brain cells. In addition, marijuana is addictive. For that reason, some people thought it was a stupid thing to smoke marijuana.
Now marijuana is an illegal drug. The “Drug war” has begun. The good point is it makes many people think marijuana is a harmful drug. However, there is a big problem affecting the US government because the government uses billions dollars to supervise marijuana-only related prisoners each year. According to "The Economic Effects of Legalizing Marijuana", in 2008, Texas State spent $46.1 million in prisons to supervise marijuana-only related prisoners. In addition, there is story from "Time" called "Incarceration Nation" that shows in 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons compared to only $5.7 billion on the state colleges and UC system. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21prisons. The state pays $8,667 dollars for a college student but a prisoner is paid 45,006 per year by the state. That is a big difference between a college student and a prisoner.
Before marijuana was illegal, the society didn’t have as many problems as now. Therefore, there are still many people who think marijuana should be legal. One reason that people say marijuana should be legal that it is good for the economy. If marijuana is legal, there will be a new industry. It will help the people who are jobless. In addition, it can give a chance to some poor people. There are so many underworlds’ people who sell drugs and become rich. That means selling marijuana can help someone to change their life. Therefore, the government can save their money to help other poor people. However, many health people think marijuana will cause many diseases. That group of people think marijuana should be illegal.
Should marijuana be legal or not? This issue has been debated for many years. But this issue still exists. There are many problems because marijuana is illegal. Therefore, some people have pointed at many reasons that marijuana should be legal. The fighting between there two groups is continuing.