[ Journals ] The Story of Storks

　　The story that babies are brought into the home by the stork may have started in northwestern Europe, where the stork is a commonplace sight and is well respected. The stork has white feathers, black wind quills, and a red beak and legs. It stalks fish and other small water creatures in meadows and marshes. Sometimes it is seen in high places such as steeples or chimneys, standing on one leg.
　　The stork has often been regarded as a sign of good luck. Whenever a pair of storks built a nest on a housetop, the Romans regarded it as a sign of good fortune given by Venus, the goddess of love. The stork was also regarded as a good-luck bird in Germany and the Netherlands. These superstitions persist today. In some places, wheels are put on the tops of houses to give storks nesting places.
Centuries ago, there was already a belief that the stork flew over a house where a birth was about to take place, bringing good luck to the family. The story of storks delivering babies probably arose from this superstition and from many fathers’ and mothers’ difficulty in explaining to their other children where the new baby came from. It is quite understandable that parents should use the symbol of good luck and guardian of the home to help explain the arrival of a new member of the family.

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I. Summarise

　　The story talks about the origin of the superstition that babies are brought into the home by the stork. Because the stolk has often regarded as a sign of good luck in northwestern Europe, where the stolk is a commonplace sight and is well respected, there was a blief that when the stolk flew over a house where a birth was about to take place, may bring good luck to the family. The story of stolks delivering babies probably arose from this superstition. And when many parents have difficulty in explaining to their children where the new baby from, they can tell this story as an explanation.


II. Vocabulary words and phrases

i. new words/phrases
quill noun 鳥羽
stalk verb 靜悄悄捕吃...
steeple noun 尖塔
chimney noun 煙囪
gaurdian noun 守護神

ii. useful / phrases
regard A as B 將A視為B
supersition noun 迷信
arise from... 起因於...
understandable adj. 可理解的


III. The reason I chose this article

　　After finished reading this article, I think this explaination may be better than Chinese parents' explaintion. Because since we were little, whenever we ask father or mother where we came from, the answer always be "Picked up on the road side," or "Someone put a baby in front of my house." These make our children feel sad about I might be the needless child, doesn't it?

[ Journals ] 1 The Mad Emperor

　　Recently a group of historians from all over the world announced its list of the ten greatest tyrants of all time. The unanimous choice for number-one tyrant was Nero, the third-century Roman emperor.
　　The deranged ruler may have picked up many of his sadistic tendencies from his immediate ancestor. His widowed mother, Agrippina, was the sister of Caligula, the gleeful and insane ruler who tortured and murdered hundreds of Romans. Agrippina married the emperor Claudius. She convinced him to disinherit his natural son, Brittannicus, and make Nero his successor. She then severed Claudius poison mushrooms before he could change his mind.
　　Nero’s tyranny was most brutally expressed in his treatment of his own family. Upon ascending the throne at the age of 16, he committed his first recorded murder. He gave his rival, Brittannicus, a fatal potion to drink during a meal. The other guests were alarmed at the youth’s death spasms, but Nero called it “an epileptic fit” and calmly went back to eating.
　　The Nero dealt with his mother. After she started meddling in governmental matters, he sent her out for a sail on a sabotaged boat. When she survived her ordeal, Nero had her executed.
　　Nero’s marriage also reflected his bloodthirsty personality. His first marriage, to his 13-year-old stepsister, ended when he had her banished and then murdered. He killed his second wife when she scolded him for coming home late. He obtained his third and final wife by having her husband eliminated.

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I. Summarize

　　This article is talking about the tyrant, Nero, and his tyranny. Nero, the third century Roman emperor, may have picked up of his immediate ancestor. His mother’s brother, Caligula, was the gleeful and insane ruler who tortured and murdered hundreds of Romans. And his mother poisoned Nero’s stepfather after she make sure Nero would be the successor. And Nero was sadistic to treat his family. For example, he killed his stepbrother when he was 16; killed his first and second wife just cause something made him unhappy. And he also killed his mother, who made him to be the successor of his stepfather.


II. Vocabulary words and phrases

i. new words/phrases
tyrant
1. in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it
2. any person who exercises power in a cruel way
unanimous
1. acting together as a single undiversified whole
2. in complete agreement
deranged
- driven insane
immediate ancestor
insane
1. afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement
2. very foolish
tendency
1. a general direction in which something tends to move
2. a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect
gleeful
- full of high-spirited delight
successor
1. a person who follows next in order
2. a thing or person that immediately replaces something or someone
ordeal
1. a severe or trying experience
2. a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control
eliminate
1. do away with
2. kill in large numbers
3. terminate, end, or take out

ii. useful words/phrases
fatal
1. bringing death
2. having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
pick up…
- to acquire by study or experience
convince somebody to Verb
- to bring (as by argument) to belief, consent, or a course of action
scold somebody for something


III. The reason I chose this article

　　I chose this article because the name “Nero.” My favorite rock music drummer’s name is Nero, too. After I read this article, I was wondering whether he now this mad emperor or not. I think maybe he knew it! Because rock’n’roll drummers always look crazy when they play drums. And this article was from one of my extra reading materials that teacher gave me before the CUEE. So, this is my second time to read this article and find out it is still interested me.