VIP Class Notes (Mike)

What is your ideal work-life balance?

“Write about your fav Sci-fi film: Arrival”

Arrival is my favorite movie during those few years. There is several reasons that why I like it so much.Firstly, Arrival is directorate by one of my favorite director Denis Villeneuve. He even made a complete alien language system with his team for Arrival. I believe he’s most talented person in the world, and I love all the movies he made.

Arrival is my favorite movie from the past few years. There are several reasons that why I like it so much.Firstly, Arrival is directed by one of my favorite directors, Denis Villeneuve. He and his team created a brand-new alien language system for Arrival. I believe he’s most talented director in the world, and I love all the movies he made.

In Arrival you can tell he didn’t use any violent or big war scenes, instead, he used really different way to show people how science fiction movie can be calm and powerful. Maybe this is the reason why I feel Arrival is so real. I can through the main female lead’s eyes connect with that fictional world, and relate to my personal experiences.

There aren’t any thrilling big-war scenes in Arrival, instead, he used really an unconventional way to show people how a sci-fi film can be calm/meditative and yet powerful. Maybe this is the reason why Arrival feels so real to me. Through the main protagonist ’s perspective, I can connect with the fictional world and relate to my personal experiences.

Secondly, I really into a concept of the movie: The language can mentally change the way that how you understand the world and how do you think about everything in your life. For me it makes sense because when I started to learn English, I feel I really need to thinking in English which means it’s different with my native language.
Lastly, Arrival is a meaningful movie. It’s make people think. When I watched this movie and walked out of the cinema, I started wondering: what should I do? If I knew the end of my life story and I can’t change it.

Secondly, I am really into the concept of the movie: Language can mentally change how you understand the world and how you think about everything in your life. For me it makes sense because when I started to learn English, I felt I really needed to think in English, which was totally different from how I see the world when using Chinese logic.
Lastly, Arrival is a meaningful movie. It makes people think/reflect. When I watched this movie and walked out of the cinema, I started wondering: what would I do if I knew the end of my life and there is nothing I can do to change it?

Ps. I’m so excited for DUNE part one. Can’t wait to watch Part two.
Ps. I’m so excited about DUNE part one. Can’t wait to watch Part two.

Vocabulary

meditative (adj.) 沉思的
a meditative atmosphere 沉思的气氛
I am in a meditative mood

protagonist 主角，主人公
antagonist 反派，对手

fixed (adj.)
I have a fixed schedule

frequent (adj.)

reminiscent (adj.) 缅怀的，怀旧的 ~ of

retro-: 前缀
retrospect: looking back

convincing (adj.)

virtual: internet
Virtual world
fictional: made up

in person
I usually take my English class  in person.

education level 教育水平/学历

drop out (v) 辍学 – dropout (n)
he is a high school dropout
test-oriented education 应试教育
oriental 东方的

minimalistic (adj.) 极简的

redundant (adj.) 冗余的，多余的

derogatory (adj.) 贬义的
This word has ~ meaning

individualistic 个人主义的
collective/collectivism

sociology (n) 社会学

practical (adj.) 实用的

Every sentence I think in Chinese first
I think every sentence in Chinese then I translate

it’s more worse
It’s worse

Speaking, the time is not enough,

They have never listened to Jay Z

That person has very low social skills
That person can be socially awkward. 社死

about marry age
about the age you are supposed to get married