Is iPhone still popular?

In Yuan Ren’s article titled “Why My Chinese Dad Switched From an iPhone to Huawei, she talks about how iPhone is losing its markets in China and the development of China’s domestic phone brands. Ren talks about how the iPhone was the most popular phone brand in China and everyone wants Apple products to be in the trend. However, as technology developing in China, China’s domestic phone brands are better, cheaper and more suitable. She compares the functions of iPhones with Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo and indicates that the domestic phone brands have an important local feature – the dual SIM card system and they are cheaper and bigger. Ren demonstrates her point that China’s domestic phone brands are getting better than iPhones and taking over the Chinese market or maybe even the world market.

Ren’s purpose in writing this article is to show the development and changing of the Chinese phone market and indicate that China’s domestic brand is taking over the place of Apple products. Ren states that her dad has switched from iPhone to Huawei as many upper-middle-class Chinese, but “the iPhone hasn’t lost all of its lusters” because of the popular, rich symbolic meaning behind Apple products. In order to indicate her point that the iPhone is not the best phone anymore, she compares Chinese phone brands with iPhones in different ways. First, she talks about the huge price difference between the first Chinese brand and Apple. Xiaomi offered “as low as 699 yuan (under $150) and useful features; on the other side, the cheapest iPhone “less than 2000 yuan, then under $350”, the newer version of iPhone would be more expensive. Readers can see the price difference clearly through the numbers and would wonder why they buy the expensive iPhone instead of the phones that have almost the same features and funcitons. Second, she compares the size of the Xiaomi Mi Note to iPhones. Xiaomi Note is “one of the big-screen models, or “phablets,” that have long been popular in CHina and East Asia, where many prefer the bigger screens”. When Apple sees the decreasing of selling iPhones in China, it “released its Plus serise in late 2014 with larger handsets”. Apple made new changes to their phones in order to adapt the new trend in the society; however, this feature existed a long time before their change. Lastly, she compares the SIM card system. Most of the China’s domestic phone brands have the dual SIM card system because “one card for streaming and downloading at cheaper rates, the other one for making calls, or foreign SIM card”. However, Apple refused to change. With the development in society, many people need more than one phone, one for work and one for personal use. Readers would love the dual SIM card function and would see the defect in iPhones. By using all these comparisons, people would easily agree that China’s domestic phone brands are better choices.

I agree with Ren’s idea that China’s domestic phone brands are getting better and taking over the phone markets. I use an iPhone right now, however, I bought iPhone because it was the most popular phones around and all my friends have iPhones. However, I started to look into Huawei because of the positive comments from my friends and other people. The new Huawei has an amazing camera which the new iPhones still do not have. Huawei has better quality, details and can zoom into places are really far away and still have high quality. My friend showed me the pictures she took on her Huawei phone and I took the same one at the same place with my iPhone, the one was taken by Huawei was more colorful, clear, and detailed. Moreover, Huawei is cheaper than Apple with the better functions.

Do we still need to own a car?

 

In Swisher’s New York Times article titled “Owning a Car Will Soon Be as Quaint as Owning a Horse”, Kara Swisher talks about how the development of technology influences people’s ideas on owning vehicles. There are common car-sharing like Uber and Lyft and also new innovations like Scooters, Vertical-take-off-and-landing vehicles. Swisher states that “private car ownership declined globally last year, and it is a trend that I believe is going to accelerate faster than people think”. She also describes people’s bonds with their cars, ‘they present so many major life moments (prom!) and individual tropes (freedom!) that it is difficult to imagine giving them up”. She also talks about the reasons why people don’t need to have their own vehicles. Car-sharing services are easier and cheaper than owning a vehicle and also helps with carbon-free life.

Kara Swisher’s purpose in writing this article is to point out the development of new innovations and other transportations are taking over the need of owning vehicles. Swisher states that she would support the idea of advocating car-sharing services and other transportations than owning vehicles. However, she worries about what would change in her life when she really doesn’t have her own car. Swisher uses personal anecdotes and comparisons to state her point that people have special bonds with their cars but people generally adapt to new things really quick. When she talks about people’s bonds with their cars, Swisher mentions that she has named her cars since she first started driving, “Cecil the Honda Civic, Jeanette the mighty blue Volkswagen Bug, Roger the Volkswagen Rabbit…Why wouldn’t I name them, since they were an integral part of my life from my teens to my single days to motherhood?” By telling the story of she naming her cars, Swisher shows the special connection that she has with her cars when her car accompanies her and points out that owning vehicles are important sometimes. She also talks about that she “live near a major metropolitian area, where the alternatives – cars and then carpools and then bikes and now scooters – are myriad”. When there are more public transportation options, it makes people’s life easier without driving on their own. She goes on talking about people change their minds easily and adopt new ideas, technologies fast by using examples. She mentions that “people moved from physical maps to map apps, from snail mail to email, from prime time TV to watching on demand”. Even though people may have special connections with their cars, people tend to adopt new ideas that are better for them. By using personal anecdotes and examples, Swisher accomplishes her point that people like to adopt new ideas, technologies that would make their lives easier and more efficient which can be accomplished by not owning a car, even though they have connections with their vehicles.

I agree with Swisher’s idea that owning a car is not as necessary as before. Car-sharing, public transportations, and new innovations are replacing the place of personal vehicles. In China, subways, buses, car-sharing, bike-sharing, railroads, and taxies are common public transportations. More than half of the populations choose public transportations instead of driving themselves because of the heavy traffic. People think it’s way easier to get on the public transportations even though they own personal vehicles. Public transportations are faster, easier and cheaper. The price of gasoline is expensive in China, therefore, many people save their money from driving. And also, parking is another big issue in China. Many places do not have enough parking spots. When people drive there but can’t find a parking spot, they get frustrated and may decide to go home instead. However, by taking public transportations, people don’t need to worry about where to park. Therefore, I agree that owning a car is unnecessary when there are so many other options of public transportations that would save your time, money and energy.

College Scandal Reveals about us

In his article titled “What college cheating scandal says about us”, Shan Wu of CNN talks about the recent college scandal and states his opinion opposed the scandals. “Yale, Stanford, Wake Forest, UCLA, USC, the University of Texas and Georgetown have released statements, largely presenting themselves as victims of the allege criminal schemes, and in some cases announcing internal investigations”. All these well-known college names are involved in the scandal, which shows the severity of this issue. After the reveal on the recent scandal, Wu points out that this issue is universal, not limited to certain group of people, since “wealthy and successful Americans – lawyers like Gordon Caplan, co-chair of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Hollywood actors like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman” are also committed involving in the scandals. Wu believes that the scandal reveals the increasing stress of students from parents, peers, and colleges, which is pushing students to commit wrongdoings to reach their parents’ expectations. He mentions how unfair this is to other students that actually work hard and athletes genuinely spending hours of training.  And as a society, the scandals and bribery are reflecting a competitive and corrupt social environment.

Shan Wu wrote this article in order to reveal the severity of the scandals and bribery and inform parents about the pressure that students have and the problems of giving too much pressure and hoping their kids to have a better future. Wu shows his opinion towards the scandal issue by appealing to pathos. He compares the students “who strive and thrive in the face of their genuine need for accommodations” to the ones that use money and reputations to get into famous schools and points out the unfairness of this situation. Most readers are not as wealthy as the celebrities that are involved, therefore, it would arouse their complaints about the people that got their degrees by bribery and therefore agree with the author’s point that bribery should be considered more seriously to prevent it happening this much and also consider the reasons of what is causing it. The author also talks about student-athletes, “who carry full academic loads in addition to spending hours after school and on weekends training and competing”. All these effort and time they spent are not being treated well by the colleges because some other people are using the money to pay off the time and effort. This appeals to the audience who are doing sports, they know how hard is to keep up their grades and do well in sports. Moreover, he points out problems of stress under this scandal issue. Parents are pushing too hard on their children and may cause them to think about an easier way to meet their parents’ expectations. This would make some parents think about themselves and may consider communicating with their children.

I agree with Wu’s opinion that the scandal issue is unfair to most people are genuinely working hard for it and also students are experiencing too much pressure from different aspects of their lives. Every parent wants their children to be successful and have a bright future, so they push their kids to take as many AP classes as possible in order to impress colleges and also participate in all kinds of activities to make their resume look perfect. However, they miss their communication with their children. The students may suffer from all the work he/she has and still need to go to sports or other events, this may lead to depression and lack of sleep which would cause more problems. Some students may consider cheating on the tests or copying other people’s homework in order to make their parents happy. This would lead to an even worse situation like bribery.  I’ve been struggling this semester because I’m involved in softball team and all my AP classes are on the same day. AP tests are coming up and I haven’t had any time to study for my SAT test. It’s getting overwhelming and I’m always tired which is not good for me to concentrate in class. I really want to meet my parents’ expectations of me because I’ve always tried to do it. I would try to be better at time management and maybe it would help.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/opinions/what-college-cheating-scandal-says-about-us-shan-wu/index.html

Our Wall

Charles Bowden’s purpose of writing Our Wall is to discuss the purpose of walls are to keep populations from fleeing and keep other people out and point out the issues of the wall along the United States-Mexico border. Bowden, as a journalist, interviewed many different people from both Mexico and the United States for opinions on the wall and show his opposition against the wall. He states the weaknesses of walls, which is that they only work temporarily because people will figure out a way to get over it or go under it. However, Bowden also points out the argument for the other side and states the good points of it. At last Bowden illustrates a better solution for the immigrants which is providing more jobs in Mexico since most of the Mexicans come to the United States to find jobs.

Bowden proves his point through all the interviews he did. These interviews are real and specific which appeal to ethos. It is hard for people to believe in a stranger’s idea especially knowing the author is not involved in the situation related to the border wall. However, by using real-life examples from different people on both sides of the border wall, readers can trust the author and believe his ideas. “Emanuel Catillo Erúnez, 23”, “Salvador Rivera, a solid man in his early 30”, “Jesús Gastelum Ramírez lives next door to the wall”, “Dan Duley, 50, operates heavy equipment and is a native of the Naco area”. Bowden introduces these people detailedly and describes their stories related to the border wall. These specific examples support the reliability of Bowden’s words and help Bowden to convince the audience that walls are not a good way to deal with the issues and they usually don’t work very well, so the walls should be taken down.

I do agree with Bowden’s point that walls are not helpful for society and they don’t work as well as people thought they would; instead, the walls may create more problems. As Rodolfo Santos Esquer talks about,  “It is horrible. It is ugly. You feel more racism now. It is a racist wall. If people get close to the wall, the Border Patrol calls the Mexican police and they go and question people”. Not everyone tries to do some illegal things when they get to the wall. Many innocent people are being treated unequally. As Bowden says, “few would have come if there wasn’t a job waiting for them”. The real solution for the problem should be providing more opportunities for Mexican in Mexico and help them to develop. They are just trying to live a better life. Many immigrants from different countries came to the United States and built up this society to a multicultural place, helped to spread different cultures and connect the world. The U.S. would be totally different if the English, French, Spanish, other Europeans did not come to the New World to explore.

 

Women’s Brains

Stephen Gould’s main idea in this essay is to demonstrate that the misunderstanding of women are intelligently inferior to men and points out the invalid information in Paul Broca’s work. Paul Broca’s work states that women are intelligently inferior to men because of craniometry, the measurement of the skull. Gould list different references from different people to prove that Broca’s statement from his work is wrong, women are not intelligently inferior to men, they are the same.

Gould uses specific numbers, data to prove his point that Broca’s work is not accurate. Gould first demonstrates Broca’s point that “for 292 male brains, he calculated an average weight of 1325 grams; 140 female brains averaged, 1144 grams for a difference of 181 grams, or 14 percent of the male weight”.  And then Gould talks about how this “difference of 181 grams” is corrected under the influences of height and age, which reduces “181 grams by more than a third, to 113 grams”. Finally, Gould mentions the impact of body build and muscular mass on the size of the skulls and uses more numbers   “the corrected 113-gram difference is surely too large; the true figure is probably close to zero” and demonstrates that women are not inferior, and they may be better than men. These specific numbers make his argument more reliable. It would be hard for the readers to picture what it actually looks like if the numbers are not there. The numbers help the readers to realize how Gould’s arguments on height, weight, body build etc. that actually have impacts on skull size.

I do agree with Gould’s point that women are not intelligently inferior to men. There are many intelligent women in society and they all contributed to this world in different aspects. I believe that women and men are equally intelligent. For example, in my calculus class, there are two top students that always get the highest scores. They are both females. There are boys in my class also but their scores are not as high. If Broca’s statement is true, the top students in my class should be boys, instead of girls.

About Men Essay Analysis

Gretel Ehrlich wrote this essay to illustrate the wrong stereotype that people have for cowboys and try to dissolve the wrong stereotype by telling her own experiences living in Wyoming and interacting with cowboys. Her main idea is that cowboys are not who the movies usually depict them, tough, lonely individualist; instead, they are “convivial, quirky and softhearted” and are selfless and have compassion.
Ehrlich uses personal stories which appeal to ethos. When she talks about how a cowboy loves his job and how hard the job is, she uses specific examples and imagery to back up her point that being a cowboy is not an easy job and they have passions on their work. She uses a real-life example of her friend trying to save the horse from drowning, “dove under water and cut her legs loose with a knife, then swam her to shore, his arm around her neck lifeguard-style”. She depicts the situation vividly and shows how her friend saves the horse through the image she creates. By using a real-life example, it backs up Ehrlich’s point that cowboys do love their jobs even though they need to work “ten to fifteen hours a day and the pay is $30″ and it also shows their courage is “selfless, a form of compassion”. It makes her argument more reliable because the story truly happened. This example helps to prove the point that cowboys are not rigid and don’t have emotions as the media depicts; instead, they treat animals like their families and risk their lives to save it. And also, even though their jobs are hard and they make little money for it, they still love their jobs.
I do agree with Ehrlich’s point that we have many wrong stereotypes for different groups of people even though we are not even familiar with them. Many people are influenced by the media and form a false stereotype of certain groups of people. For example, people asked me if I know kungfu since I’m Chinese because they have seen many movies of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Therefore, people formed a wrong stereotype of Chinese under the influences of media. I believe that we need to get to know people on our own, not through media or other people, because it may not always be true like Ehrlich illustrates in her essay about the wrong stereotype of cowboys.

Does Technology Have Negative Effects?

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.comTeens are spending more time consuming media, on mobile devicesElectronic devices may keep teen from sleeping

The Journey Begins

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