Middle School Hot Topic Essay Material Library

Author: Tang Yiming / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features:
1. A Cruel Method In Tolstoy's works, there is a story about a woman who, to take revenge on a man who had deeply hurt her, kidnapped his infant. She gave the child to a wizard and demanded that the wizard use a cruel method to inflict revenge upon the child. Soon, the wizard informed the woman that a cruel method had been used and asked her to go to a designated place to see. The woman, if she had not gone, would have been fine, but upon seeing, she flew into a rage—the child had actually been adopted by a local millionaire! She immediately rushed to question the wizard. The wizard told her not to hurry and to wait and see. The subsequent outcome even made the fierce woman think that such revenge was too extreme. It turned out that the child grew up in luxury, lacking a strong physique, tenacious will, and the spirit of hard work. When the family suddenly fell into poverty and faced the heavy blow of hardship, the child became weak and incompetent, declining day by day, becoming humble and vile, feeling as if life was not worth living. After struggling in vain for a period of time, the child finally took his own life in a fit of madness.
2. Apologize for Your Compliment A friend went to a Nordic country as a visiting scholar and, on the weekend, visited the home of a local professor. Upon entering, he saw the professor's five-year-old daughter. With golden hair and beautiful eyes as clear and pure as a pool of blue water, he was utterly stunned. After accepting the Chinese gift the friend had brought, the little girl smiled gratefully in a childish voice. The friend couldn’t help but compliment her, saying, "You’re so beautiful, you’re truly adorable!" The professor didn’t say anything at the time, but after the daughter left, her expression turned serious: "You hurt my daughter. You need to apologize to her." The friend was shocked: "I spoke kindly and complimented her, where did the word 'hurt' come into play?" The professor shook her head: "You complimented her because she was beautiful, but beauty is not her achievement—it depends on the genetic inheritance from me and her father. It has nothing to do with her personally. But since she is still very young, she doesn’t understand. Your compliment will make her think it’s her ability. Moreover, if she believes that her natural beauty is something to be proud of, she will look down on children who are average or even ugly, which creates a misconception for her..." "Actually, you can praise her smile and her politeness—those are the results of her own effort. So," the professor shrugged, "please apologize for your earlier compliment."
What happened next? I couldn’t help but ask the friend. "After that, I formally apologized to the professor’s little daughter and praised her smile and politeness." the friend said. "From then on, whenever I see a beautiful child, I tell myself to restrain from complimenting their appearance. From the perspective of their growth, this kind of thing should be treated with indifference. Children are not porcelain to be admired or feathers to be touched. Their hearts are like soft, transparent soaps—every inappropriate compliment leaves a mark." (By Bi Shushu)
3. The Secret of Jewish Success According to historical records, since the Nobel Prize was first awarded in 1901 until 1973, a total of 411 awards were given, of which 65 went to Jews, accounting for 15.8% of the recipients. The total population of Jews worldwide is approximately 16 million, which is less than 0.3% of the world’s total population of 6 billion! Such a high winning ratio is unattainable for other ethnic groups in the world. What factors have contributed to the remarkable achievements of Jews in science, philosophy, literature, economics, and the arts? The book Jews, published by Sanqin Publishing House, provides answers to this question.
First, let’s start with the history of the Jews. Around 1900 BCE, the ancestors of the Jews, the Hebrews, left the region between the two rivers and settled in Palestine, where they lived for over a thousand years. Until 135 CE, when they were expelled from Palestine by the Romans, they began a long exile of over 1,800 years. During their long period of dispersion, the Jews placed great emphasis on learning for their faith and survival, always viewing the education of their children as a sacred and supreme mission. They understood that without cultural knowledge, it would be difficult to stand firm in a foreign land. Statistics show that in any corner of the world where Jews live, their educational attainment is always the highest. In the early days of Israel’s founding, despite severe economic difficulties, the proportion of education spending in GDP exceeded 6%, surpassing the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France at the time. At the same time, the government passed the Compulsory Education Law, stipulating that all adolescents under the age of 16 must receive compulsory education. The result of this policy was the cultivation of a large number of talents in all fields, laying a solid foundation for the young nation to create miracles. P4-6