If I read 40 pages per day for the next 4 months will I see an improvement in my vocabulary?
You sure will! But if you really want to improve your vocabulary, read so-called English Literature some of the time. This, in the broad sense, includes American Literature at the very least. I don’t want to run through a list of all the English-speaking countries (including India, which has a genuine literature in English), but they would all be on it. The reason I suggest this is because of a basic principle in foreign-language teaching which applies to us native speakers too: the most improvement comes from giving a student what he or she already knows plus alpha (alpha being what the student doesn’t know; it should be a fraction of the book read). When I read my first 19th-century novel on my own, as (in public school terms) a first-year high school student, my vocabulary shot up. It was “Jane Eyre,” and though I was a guy, I came to just love it. But I needed to use a dictionary at first. By the end of the novel, I didn’t need the dictionary. So all reading of decent writing is good for your vocabulary, but something fine and a little challenging (with the plus-alpha factor) is best.
What are the most important stories from myth or folklore to understand to be culturally literate in China?
The basic Pangu creation myth and other early myths (the archer Houyi who shot down nine of the 10 original suns, Chang'e the moon goddess, Nüwa and Shennong, to whom various inventions like agriculture, sericulture, weaving etc. are attributed)The stories of the ancient sage emperors (Huangdi, Yao, Shun)Basic outlines of the fall of Shang and the sage kings of Zhou, which form so much of the fundamental mythology of the Confucian worldviewMajor philosophies of the Spring & Autumn period/Warring States period (Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism; less importantly, Mohism, the School of Logic). Must have read Zhuang Zi, the Daodejing, the Analects, the Mencius.Tin-Yang cosmology and Five Phases (五行，wuxing) theory Some major historical figures from the Spring & Autumn and Warring States periodSun Zi's Art of War and the Thirty-Six StratagemsThe core legends around the First Emperor of QinThe stories of the war to succeed Qin (between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, who would found Han)Basic tenets of Buddhism (Mahayana)China's Four Great Novels: Journey to the West, Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin; Dream of the Red Chamber)—this is perhaps the most importantThe Sui-Tang Yanyi (Romance of Sui and Tang)Major poems by the great Tang poets (Li Bai, Du Fu, Li Shangyin, etc.)The story of Yang Guifei (Precious Consort Yang) in the court of Tang Minghuang; the An Lushan rebellionThe story of Yue Fei (Song dynasty general who led resistance against the Jurchen (Nüzhen) invadersBasic stories of dynastic founding (for Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Ming, Qing)Major "barbarian" nomad empires and their key figures (the Xiongnu, the Celestial Turks, the Tanguts, Uyghurs, the Khitan, the Jurchen, the Mongols, the Manchus)
Help on "From Resistance to Civil Government" by Thoreau 5 points!?
Disclaimer: it's difficult to make broad argumentative claims with only an excerpt. Take all of this analysis with a grain of salt. It seems to me that the central issue here is that of bureaucracy. Laws written on paper must be enforced by people, and while people may be civil, once they draw lines based on enforcing a law, they become decidedly uncivil. For the tax payer, the only face he has for the government (the same institution that demands his wealth for its own purposes -- regardless of his consent to this or agreement with its use) is that of the tax-gatherer. In short, the question is can a person set aside the responsibilities of the "job" to think about the person on the other end. To be honest, it doesn't seem that Thoreau's tone portrays the tax-payer in a bad light--rather the other way around. When two neighbors set aside their roles as neighbors to adopt the roles of "tax-payer" and "tax-gatherer" the latter seems to view the former as the "maniac" and "disturber of the peace." By having the tax-gatherer cast the tax-payer in a poor light, it shows Thoreau's sympathies to be with the tax-payer--who is jilted by people who should have been on his side as a neighbor. Try to read this passage in its full context on the page and from the perspective of literary analysis. What does it mean to have a civil government? What is an "uncivil" one? What is resistance? Civil or uncivil resistance? Is resistance to government a "civil" act? Good luck, TKO 12
What does Thoreau's quote mean: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them."
This comes from the first chapter Economy in Walden. Basically, what he says is that men are not enjoying their lives. They do not have any time to look inwards and are constantly living with anxiety and self-doubts. This is because they are always working all the time like machines without any leisure in order to meet their needs. He says meeting basic necessaries of life is sufficient and easy to achieve. It is the greed to want more luxurious and unnecessary things in life is what is causing all the anxiety and leading to quite desperation. He affirms that from his “two years of experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble” to meet basic necessaries of life. For example, he built his home with $28 while his townsmen were spending around $800 to build a house, which according to him would take atleast 15 years to repay.Update: The quote in Economy has only the first part. The part that says "and go to the grave with the song still in them" is probably in some other chapter or essay, which I might not have read. However, with this sentence being added, it sounds more inspirational as his main message is follow your inner light and that is how you should get your living. Even in economy, last part of the chapter touches this subject.
Can I have a look at your handwriting?
The only times I ever put effort into my handwriting are exams, and my notes (mainly History) because I can't study otherwise. I change my handwriting a lot, so I have about five different variations.These were my History notes from about four months back:And my History notes from last week:I write in cursive sometimes.I used to write in cursive during my exams, but not this kind of cursive because this took me a really long time to write. It was this kind:It actually takes me a shorter time to write like this than my first two styles, but as you can see it's sort of illegible. I didn't get penalised during the exam, though.