Despite my declaration that I should wake up at 7am every morning since the first day of the month, I still failed to do so after one half of that month is soon to elapse. Since doing a practice test has become a part of my uneasy schedule, I had to haste to complete each section, which means I don't usually have time to think thoroughly of every problem. I fancy that I'll be surely very nervous on the D-day, I should condense the time I spend in a relatively comfortable circumstance to simulate what's supposed to happen 16 days later in a hitherto foreign and tropical country Singapore.
To attend this test previously unknown to me 6 months ago, I'm entitled to the pleasure of taking the first flight, getting the first passport, and leaving the radius of 50 kilometer around my home alone. But with all other pragmatic concern, it's unlikely that I will truly enjoy the trip, with one day flying above in the sky worrying about possible plane crash and Islamic terrorist, another three before and during the test, prepping and fretting so that the quantum field could change to give myself an edge.
Although I admit I'm indeed distraught that any lapse prevents me from scoring a desirable result, I'm not all that unconfident. I understand that the biggest problem for me now isn't the comprehension of passage, or the grasp of subtle pedantic grammar, but carelessness in Maths, and total lack of premeditation of writing. I enjoy the writing without a set time limit and a set topic range, but I'm not adept at arguing for 500 words a question whose answer might appear evident, within 25 minutes. I do have some reservoir of knowledge that should be of help in the essay, but all of them are barely organized, some of them are even unwittingly erroneous. So I think it pertinent to make a list of those examples on this fairly accessible personal online space.
#Bill Gates
Microsoft is the company that dominates the personal computer market with its operating system, and its founder, Bill Gates was once the richest man in the world. But the start of Bill's career didn't not earn people's understanding, because it seemed a foolish choice to leave Harvard, presumably the most prestigious college in the world, to pursue a profession without a promising future. Although there's no way he could assure the validity of what he was doing, he persisted with no regard to the initial problem that stemmed from lack of experience. But as he gained experience through those trials and errors, he successfully convinced IBM to use his operating system against Apple, and got a happy voyage ever since.
#Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is the legend of not only the Silicon Valley, but also of the populist culture for his innovation and deviation from the mainstream perception. He is the one to push the concept of personal computer to the acceptance of public. With the success of Macintosh computer in the 1980s, he was instantly established as one of the youngest millionaire. He went through trouble and eventually was dismissed from the company he started due to the infight of different apartments within the Apple. But after his departure, he did not become a cynical upper crust, but instead started the Pixar studio, which later became the most successful animation producer in the world. After he returned to Apple, his keen sense of style did not diminish - the debut of iPhone, the first smartphone to fully implement the possibilities of touch screen, the debut of iPad, the first commercialized tablet in the world all add flair to his miraculous life. Now nearly two years after his passing, the Apple Company is still under his influence, meticulously adhere to the concept and spirit of Steve Jobs.
#Steward Brand
Talking about the originator of everything we enjoy today, the internet, personal computer, online community, there's a name that shouldn't be forgotten - Stewart Brand, the editor of the famous countercultural publication the Whole Earth Catalog, which influence a whole generation of technology pioneers. The famous aphorism: Information wants to be free comes from him, the phrase personal computer is coined by him. He is also one of the most enduring figures in the technology field. He is one of the representatives of the 1960s counterculture, and with the publication of his most recent work Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, he continues to influence the people today.
#iOS versus Android OS
When Steve Jobs introduced iPhone in 2007, the embedded operating system became well-known amongst smartphone users, but that reason that it is still dominant today is different. With the competition from other smartphone producers, who almost immediately revealed their own devices modeled after the iPhone, the survival of iOS operating system depends on innovation. One of its most formidable challenger, the Android OS, tried its best to absorb the advantages of the iOS, thus forcing the latter to keeping moving forward. For these two large companies, the clash might not be a pleasant thing, but to us consumers, and to the social development as a whole, certainly it's a driving force.
#Wan Hu
Ming Dynasty is the last feudalistic empire ruled by Chinese Han people, during this period, gun powder was widely used for military and celebratory purposes. One of the most noticeable event occurred in that dynasty at circa 17 century AC is an official called Wan Hu attempt to become the first human to fly. He purchased 47 biggest rockets available at his time, and a giant kite that could be used to land safely. But when he summoned his servants to light up the rockets, one of them unexpectedly exploded, thus Wan Hu lost his life, and the attempt failed. But the meaning it brings goes beyond the success of failure of an experiment, his dream of flying and the courage to be the first to attempt to do so are what's essential to his endeavor, his experiment failed, but the spirit of exploration behind him lived on. Then 300 hundreds later, Wright Brother succeeded in building the first airplane, and continued his unfinished laughter.
#Cold War
After the horror of the Second World War, there's supposed to be the beginning of peace. But the advent of Cold War shattered most people's unuttered appeal. The world was put at the verge of collapse multiple times. But the technological advancement it spurred cannot be neglected. Due to the Mutual Assured Destruction, neither participant would be able to apply or diffused the nuclear weapons, so their competition extends to other areas. Soviet Union put the first human into space, The United States put the first human on the moon. In dealing with potential threat from the USSR, the US Department of Defense mandated the construction of ARPANET, the prototypical network communication mechanism then became the Internet we're using today. And after the war, various military technology became accessible for private use, the world witness the rate of development unprecedented in the history.
#Cultural Revolution
The single greatest tragedy in human history, with more than 50 million people died of unnatural cause. It is the pinnacle of irrationality, which destroyed almost entirely the traditional Chinese culture. More than 2 million intellectuals left by the Kuomintang Government were fundamentally eradicated. The central planning, political radicalism, personal idolatry, and abuse of human dignity were at the center of that period. But the Opening-up denotes an era, though still conservative, is economically progressive. With the boom of living standards and personal income, China ranks the second in Gross Domestic Production.
#Chris Gardner
As the archetype of the film The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner had an uncommon life. When he abandoned his plan of entering a medical profession, he didn't not realize that a series of trouble was ensuing. With the introduction of Bob Bridges, he began his training in the financial world. But as he was a top trainee at Dean Witter Reynolds, he suffered homelessness with his son Christopher Gardner Jr. They slept in his office after hours, at flophouses, motels, parks, airports, even locked bathroom at a bart station. But he didn't give up his dream, and then became the most successful salesman in the world.
P: Exhausted, but I think I've got enough material compiled today.
