S5 Andy Yang
My favorite Book – “The Million Pounds Bank Note”
What is your favourite Book? Maybe I can give you some suggestions. I am writing a
book review to promote my favourite Book.
My favourite book is “The Million Pounds Bank Note”. It was written by Mark Twain.
It is very famous and popular. I learned a great deal from this book.
This book describes a poor person who lived in London. His name is Henry Adams.
Luckily, he met two billionaires and had a chance to get a million pounds. One part of
this book is about waiters. When Henry dressed like a poor person, the waiters refused
him to enter a restaurant. Later, the waiters became very polite when they knew that
Henry had a million pounds.
It is a great book because everyone can understand the book easily. This book is both
educational and insightful. This book is worth reading. On the other hand, in the body
of this book, there are many difficult words. It may be a difficult problem for you. The
book title” The million pounds Bank-note” is very successful, because it can attract a
wide readership and add some colours to words. Although there are few photos in the
book and the book cover, the photos help me know more about Henry and his story.
The theme of this book is about people’s attitude when they have a lot of money.
The message of this book is that money is not a panacea. I think it is the right value
for our society. Also, I think it can help us to learn how to treat money when you have
a lot of money. It has taught me some life experience. It is good for teenagers to read.
Lastly, I hope you can find some favourite books for yourself. I strongly recommend
this book to all of you. It is worth reading.
S5 Brandon Lam
Do you want know more about “The Royal Stuarts?” If you do, I
recommend this book to all of you. This book is called the “Royal Stuarts”,
published by PIMLICO. The writer is Allan Massive.
“The Royal Stuarts” ruled for over 300 years in Scotland and for a century as the
Royal family of Britain and Ireland. This book takes us into the lives of figures like
Mary Queen of Scots, Charles and Bomie Prince Charlie, uncovering a family of
strong affections and fierce rivalries, the brave and capable, the weak and foolish.
The book is related to the current Royal family from England. Anything royal
must be conferred by the Queen of England herself. The word “Royal” is only
conferred to people or organizations that are loyal and have sworn allegiance to the
Monarch of England and can only be conferred upon commonwealth related people or
organizations.
This book is very interesting, because this book can make me know more about
the Royal Stuarts. I will recommend this book to all of my friends. If you want to
know more about the Royal Stuarts, this book can really help you. Also this book can
get my attention because the book cover is so colorful, and there are some photos
about the Queen in this book. They are beautiful.
I really like this book. I hope everyone can read this book.
S5 Carman Ng
A Book Review
My favourite book is "World In View--China". It was written by Philip Steele
and published by Macmillan. It is a book to give information to children, teens and
adults.
This book introduces Chinese people, languages, place, arts, culture, beliefs and
traditions. Apart from this, this book also introduces about China's history such as the
Cultural Revolution and The Second World War.
I think this book is not easy to understand as there are a great deal of difficult
words such as ‘provinces’ and ‘autonomous regions’. I had not heard these words
before I read this book. It gives me some motivation to check out the difficult words
from dictionary. Also, the writer is objective. The writer does not add any personal
opinions in this book.
It is not untrue that our vision would be widened through reading this book.
Also, it is an effective way for us to improve our word bank and study the topic of
modern China and of liberal studies as well. After that, this book consists of a great
deal of photos for the sake of attracting people to read it.
Lastly, I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in China's
history. I think this book would encourage you to learn English. So, read this book
now!
S5 David Yeung
The name of the book: Basketball Techniques
Author: Brian Coleman and Peter Ray
Publishers: A&C Black
Genre: Sports
Summary:
This book provides expert guidance to the learning, improvement and
perfection of essential basketball skills and techniques. It is relevant to players at all
levels of the game, taking in basic principles, such as safe passing methods and also
detailing more complex concepts: team offence and defence, the ‘dunk’ and the
‘passing game’. Chapters include information on: playing positions, passing, control,
shooting, attack and defence, fast breaks and fitness. They are the basic techniques
and the skills covered in this book form the sound basis for every successful
basketball team.
Comments:
This book is suitable for everyone to read. I am saying that for a number of
reasons. First, in recent years, more and more people have gained pleasure from
playing, coaching or watching basketball. Thus, I believe that enjoyment for the game
can come from a greater understanding of the sport and have focused their attention
on an appreciation of its techniques and tactics. Moreover, thousands of Hong Kong
people have become obese. People, who are obese, can learn more about the
knowledge of basketball. Hence, it will motivate them to do more exercise in order to
lose weight.
In addition, the book is very easy to understand because the author used simple
vocabulary and sentence patterns were not difficult. Also, some photos are attached to
help readers to understand.
Furthermore, the description in this book is quite true and detailed. For example,
on page 26, “a signal may be executed with one hand, the fingers being extended and
spread to give a large target”. Also, there was an impressive statement on page 80 “the
starting floor formation is a 2-1-2 formation with two guards, two forwards and one
pivot. From the basic formation the attacking team moves to create an overload
triangle in one corner”. What an amazing pattern attack!
The book is insightful and educational. So, I introduce the book to all of you and
hope you can develop some good basketball techniques.
S5 Yan Kwong
My Favorite Book
I have never known that there are twenty-five Chinese festivals in
Hong Kong until I read the book “Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong” which
is my favorite one written by Ip Ching Chong. It is a type of light literature
published by Greenhill Publication Company. The production is marvelous!
In Hong Kong, a society where the East meets the West, there are eight public
holidays on traditional Chinese festivals, including Chinese New Year, the Ching
Ming Festival, the Buddha Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn
Festival and the Chung Yang Festival. In the past, Hong Kong was made up of small
fishing and farming villages. The fishermen and the farmers held the ‘Da Jiu’
religious activities periodically. These together with the birthdays of the gods like Tin
Hau, Tam Kung and Hung Shing, have made Hong Kong filled with colorful Chinese
festivities.
The topic may not sound appealing to all. However, from another point of view,
most of the festive activities can be regarded as interesting and special folk customs.
Take The Bun Festival as an example. It is one of local festivals. This is a festival
through which the inhabitants of Cheung Chau hope to eliminate disasters by
worshipping the deities. Annually, it attracts lots of tourists to the island. In recent
years, it even has continuously come up on the news media around the world. It really
brings colour to the other people lives.
“Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong” is a well-planned book. First of all, it
introduces twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac in a vivid way. As it says that the
rooster is quite a dreamer, and also a great believer in himself. What riveting words!
After that, there are nine chapters of different kinds of Chinese festivals and a
timetable of the Chinese festivals. At the end of the book, the author also gives out the
stem-branch system of Chinese years and Twenty Four Solar Terms to readers. Such
information seems sophisticated. It truly brings the wisdom of forefathers into full
play. As well as it raises the alarm of cultural heritage and cultural exchange.
The idea of the book is impressive. For example, the author said, “Pinwheel will
turn away bad luck and bring good fortune.” It is thought-provoking as this traditional
thinking having penetrated into our belief.
Regarding the co-ordination of the writing and the photographs, the shooting of
the pictures in this book witness the precious moments. Through the pictures in
documentary style and the succinct descriptions, I can indeed have a better
understanding of the Chinese festivals and customs in Hong Kong.
Overall, I will give this book a five minus. I highly recommend to you, your
family and friends to read this wonderful book.
S5 Kuang Jiexia
Title: Life Without Limits
Author: Nick Vujicic
Publisher: Doubleday
Number of pages: 238
“Life Without Limits’’ is an inspiring book written by an extraordinary man. It is
an autobiography of Nick Vujicic. Born without arms or legs, Nick Vujicic overcame
his disability to live not just independently but a rich, fulfilling life, becoming a model
for anyone seeking true happiness. Now, he is an internationally successful
motivational speaker. His central message is that the most important goal for anyone
is to find their life's purpose despite whatever difficulties or seemingly impossible
odds stand in their way.
Nick tells the story of his physical disabilities and the emotional battle he
endured trying to deal with them as a child, a teen, and a young adult. If you imagine
you do not have arms or legs, what can you do? You may feel everything is
impossible. But Nick is a good example for you. He knows that he was different or
that many challenges awaited him, but he does not give up and he found the
confidence to build a rewarding and productive life without limits. He learned to surf,
skateboard, dive and more. Moreover, he graduated in a double- major at Griffith
University with a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Planning and Accounting in
2003 at the age of 21. Nick, by his actions tells people: If you try, anything is
possible.
I find this book attractive in two ways. To begin with, the message that it
conveys is extremely positive. After reading the book, I realize the value of
perseverance. No matter how bad the situation is, we shouldn’t give up. As long as we
believe in ourselves and persevere, miracles do happen! The most impressive
statement is this: “You may not control what happens to you, but you can control how
you respond.’’ This story is the most touching story that I’ve ever read. At first, Nick’s
mum could not accept her son. The book mentioned that ‘’My mum just couldn’t bear
what she was seeing: her child without limbs. “Take him away.” She said. “I don’t
want to touch him or see him.’’ It was impossible to hold back tears.
The book also shows the photos of Nick’s childhood and current situation. Nick
laughs very confidently in each photo. This book is worth reading.
S5 Michelle Tang
Book review on ‘The Facebook Effect’
The author of the book ‘The Facebook Effect’ is David Kirkpatrick. The
book is published by the Virgin Books. It is a biography, which is about the
life of Mark Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the popular social networking website
Facebook, is a bright 26-year-old boy. Before Facebook, he had started a few similar
sites. Usually, he would be working on several sites at the same time. However, he
started to focus on one particular plan, and then Facebook became a huge success. It
started to gained people’s attention within a very short time. Inside this book, it
revealed how Mark went on the path to success and how he has become a billionaire
now.
On the book cover, is a photo of Mark Zuckerberg in a simple deep blue T-shirt,
standing in front of the New York’s night view, looking confident. It simply represents
his life : Though he is a young man, he has already become a successful and famous
person while the others are still hoping to find a better job.
The book is written in unsophisticated English. So, it is very suitable for anyone
who is interested in the life story of Mark Zuckerberg. Just like Facebook, once you
start, you cannot stop. The writer has written the definite account of Facebook’s
breathless rice to power. It is a well-reported book of the first six years of one of the
most important companies on earth. He doesn’t coddle his subject, yet he presents
Mark Zuckerberg’s point of view much more comprehensibly than we have seen it
before. The author lets you get inside Mark Zuckerberg’ s head as if you were reading
his diary.
Some may think that biography is usually long and boring, but this is not what
happened in the book. The book writer wrote the book in a rather engrossing way.
‘Joe Green says Zuckerberg also approached him to be a business partner, but when
Professor Green heard about it, he got ‘kind of pissed’, so Joe declined. Later, he took
to calling it, always with a pained laugh, his ‘billion-dollar mistake.’ From this, it is
clear that the writer often writes in a humorous way.
After reading the book, I found out that many people may think that the post-80’s
are unrealistic, and call us ‘Dream Chasers’. You will find out that if you focus on one
idea, we can make it happen. And perhaps, you might become another billionaire!
I would recommend this book to everyone. This book is insightful and definitely
can catch your attention.
S5 Rofle
Book Name: Lori’s Song
Author: Lori Foroozandeh
“Lori’s Song” is a memoir that reads like an adventure story. I learned a great
deal from the book. Although the facts the author describes seem unbelievable, we
must get to understand the author’s personality and identify with her in the events.
Lori trusted a man and followed him to his home country, Iran. There it was that
all her troubles began. Foreign to the eastern culture that oppressed women, Lori had
a hard time adjusting there. However, she soon managed to run a successful business
and gain the respect of the local people. Her husband though became abusive and
when she finally was about to return to America, a most terrible thing happened to her:
she was arrested and held captive in an Iranian camp where she was brutally tortured.
But Lori survived, flew back to USA and was finally able to tell people about her
horrific experience in Iran.
This book is a good book to read. It can cater to all adventure and travel lovers,
memoir readers and culture researchers. The story is full of cultural elements that are
very interesting since the western people do not really know much about Iran and its
people. It may also help those who are addicted to drugs since the author herself was
an addict and her troubles are closely related to this fact. The story is easy to read, it is
gripping and can be read in one sitting. I mostly enjoyed the book due to the fact that
it gave an outlook of the Iranian culture from the inside rather than from a general
point of view.
S5 Ryan Ng
Book Review
INSTANT PHYSICS Albert Einstein is my favorite book that I have ever
read. Tony Rothman who is an associate at Harvard College Observatory and
teaches Physics and Astronomy at Bennington College, is the Author of this book.
The genre of this book is biography. It tells us what Einstein did in Physics.
Albert Einstein (14 March 1879- 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical
physicist who discovered the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in
physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern
physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics for his services to theoretical
physics, and especially for his discovery of the photoelectric effect. Near the
beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer
enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the
electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity.
He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to
gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he
published a paper on the general theory of relativity.
There are three points why I like this book.
First of all, this book has an excellent writing style. Although I am not good at
English, I can understand all the words in the book. In addition, this book includes a
lot of physical nouns which are very appropriate for me to read because I am studying
Physics. I think this book can enhance my knowledge in Physics and also improve my
exam result.
Secondly, the description of this book is very vivid. For example, the sentence”
Einstein thought that the hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax.” It is
very interesting. Furthermore, this book uses a wide range of adjectives. Therefore, I
can understand the life of Einstein in a funny and energetic way.
Last but not least, there is one impressive statement after I read the
book.”Imagination is more important than knowledge.” said Einstein. I am ashamed
after read the statement because I have only done my homework by copying from the
textbook since I was in high school. I forgot my imagination because of the open
public exam. When I was young, I used to think something special such as “why can
cars move faster than humans?” or “why can we see a rainbow after the rain?” I hope
I can find my imagination again after reading this statement. This book is worth
reading!
S5 Lai Ka Sing
Book review
What is your favorite book? Maybe I can give you some suggestions. I
am writing a book review to promote my favorite book.
The name of the book is ‘Idioms in action through pictures’ by Rosalind
Fergusson. The book is published by the Commercial Press Company. It is a great
book because the book attracts a wide readership. It is thought-provoking. Many
readers, I believe, will think hard and learn from this book.
The book is about idioms. There are many practical idioms. Another thing is
that every idiom has a story to tell you about how to use the idioms. It is easy for
people to be exposed to English idioms and writing skills. To students, it is useful. To
adults, it is a great tool. For example, one of the idioms is ‘kick yourself’. To begin
with, I didn’t understand what it means. In spite of this, I know that the meaning is
‘regret’ in the book. In addition to this, there is Chinese to explain the difficult idioms.
It will enable readers to learn English better and improve their writing. Therefore, it
can turn out to be a nice book.
I think that the book teaches idioms to people and broadens readers’ horizons.
In my opinion, the book is extremely useful. The book is interesting and educational.
We can learn a lot from the book. I don’t think that this book is very funny. The book
needs more improvement for its insufficiency. The obvious disadvantage is that not all
idioms are included. There are around ninety. I suggest that the author can increase
the number of idioms. Furthermore, I think that some stories are confusing. I fear that
some children may not understand the stories. If the writer can explain the story in a
more detailed way, it will be better. All in all, it is a readable book.
This English book is my favorite kind of book. I strongly recommend this book
to all people. Reading this book is quite beneficial to you. I expect that you can gain a
lot from it.
S5 Tony Fok
Book name: The Universe
Author: TIMELIFE
Genre: Non-fiction
Summary:
“The universe” is a book talking about the mysterious and unexpected Space
which humans cannot understand totally. The writing style of this book is awesome! It
is a book which tells us true statements and real principles. The writer has used a great
deal of remarkable and beautiful adjectives with funny descriptions to introduce
different kinds of information and diagrams. As the knowledge from the book is not
easy to understand, the writer has tried to avoid using too many specific words so that
I can recognize the concepts of some physics formulas. It is a piece of cake for me to
finish this book.
The information and words in the book are vivid. For example, the description of
the solar system is prominent and eminent which inspired my interest to read.
Furthermore, the summary of the book is amazing and entertaining and I love this
book very much.
In addition, the book cover is colorful and attractive with a close shot of planet
Jupiter and an artificial satellite. The photos and pictures are almost realistic. They are
very sophisticated. With much of great benefits, I would like to introduce this book to
my friends for alternative supplementary reading.
S5 Vicky Leung
Book Title: When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Pub. Date: August 2004
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
How often have we found ourselves asking these questions "Why do the
righteous suffer, when evil doers get away with murder?", "Why does this tragedy
have to happen to me? I didn't do anything bad to deserve it." Most of us, whether
religious or not, have a tendency to believe that the good will triumph or be rewarded
and evil will be vanquished.
In the first few chapters of the book, the author goes through many of the
arguments that most people have gone over sometime in their lives. He also presents
traditional religious doctrines so as to explain why the God behaves in the way he
does. He then points out one by one of the inadequacy arguments.
I think the author is like a God who lets the nature takes its course. When
something goes wrong, he stands by to offer us help but he would not change the laws
of nature to create miracles. Instead, we must learn to work within the bounds of the
laws of nature that he has put down. In a way, this is very similar to the view that the
universe itself is the God.
Although this is a great book, he never addresses the question of the existence of
God. The writer is a Rabbi. For him, there is no question about the existence of the
God. In this book, he merely goes out to explore what God does. He is trying to tell us
about his role in the universe and in our lives.It inspires me in several different ways.
It lets me re-examine the power and role of God. However, for people of all
religions, they might have had strong doubts about their own faiths because they
cannot reconcile the concept of a benevolent god with what is happening around us.
This is a great book for reconfirming their faith.
I strongly recommend this book to all people. This book will speak because it
touches profoundly. It will help you understand the painful vicissitudes of this life and
enable you to stand up to them creatively.
S5 Blair Szeto
A book review on Life Without Limits
The name of the book is ‘Life Without Limits’ which was written by
Nicholas James Vujicic and published by Doubleday Religion International
Edition. It is an autobiography.
‘Life Without Limits’ is my favorite book because it is an inspiring book written
by an extraordinary man—Nick Vujicic. He is an outstanding person, though he was
born without arms or legs. He overcomes his disability to live. I have realized that a
setback or problem is not a big deal in our life. I really appreciate the way Nick
overcoming his disability.
Apart from this, in this book, he shares how his faith in God has been his central
source of strength and explains that he found his own sense of purpose—inspiring
others to make their lives and the world better. Through this book, he wants to spread
one message to readers that life has no limits and wish that all people can live
wonderfully.
It is worth reading the book. To suit all of age readers, the writer has used simple
sentences and vocabulary. Sometimes, he uses inspiring sentences to spread his faith
to others and you must be attracted.
Under no circumstances does he give up his faith. Why can he do this? The
reason is that he has a positive and optimistic attitude all the time. As he has no arms
and limbs, his parents always worry about his future. Fortunately, he can fully utilize
his little left foot. For this reason, he cites that there is nothing wrong with looking
ahead and planning for the future. But we must know that your worst fears could just
as easily prove to be your best surprise.
I highly recommend this book to all of you. You can have a thought-provoking
about your faith and you can truly feel what Nick went through. It is, thus, a good
book that is worth reading over and over again.
S5 Ngai Sin Ting, Charlene
Book Name: Food Science
Author: Jeanne Miller
Publisher: Lerner Publications Company
I want to recommend a book to all of you. The book is called ”Food Science”
which is an interesting and exciting book. Do you know that a machine called
MSNose can help a candy company make new flavors? Do you know that chocolate
and fish eggs go together like crackers and cheese? Do you know that in Japan,
ducklings do the farming while their owners reap the rewards? By reading the book
“Food Science”, you can know more about this world. Our world is full of people
looking for new ways to make healthy, tasty and convenient packaged foods.
First of all, I want to ask you a question. Do you agree that your nose is even
more important than your mouth when you are eating? Most of you may answer
“No!” In fact, the answer is ”Yes!” If you don’t trust me, you can try this: while
plugging your nose, put a fruit-flavored candy-maybe a sour lemon jelly bean-in your
mouth. Chew the candy until you can taste its sweetness. Unplug your nose. How
does the candy’s flavor change? Without your nose, you might mistake a sour lemon
jelly bean for a green tomato bean!
Some teens love to eat or drink candy bars, soft drinks, or potato chips. They are
all junk food. These junk foods are not good for our health. They are unhealthy. Junk
food is everywhere. It is cheap. It is easy to eat much of it. When we fill up on empty
foods like candy and chips, we are not hungry for healthy foods. Undernourished
bodies are weaker and more likely to get sick. Manufacturers are looking for ways to
give us healthier forms of the sweet, salty and fatty taste we like. Can foods that
contain no sugar, salt, or fat taste as if they do? That’s what food scientists are trying
to find it out. I hope the scientists can make healthy food successfully. It can be good
for our health. One company is seeking a different way to sweeten foods. It is not
looking for a sugar substitute. It is looking for a chemical that makes sugar seem
sweeter.
Food science can change our future. Also, it can change the world! Do you want
to know more about our future eating style? Let’s read “Food Science” together!
S5 Au Wai Shun
Book review about “Food Rules”
“Food Rules” is a book about eating. Its author is Michael Pollan. He is
the author of five previous books, including “In Defense of Food”, a number
one New York Times bestseller. Both books won the James Beard Award.
Food Rules left me with the impression that eating doesn’t have to be so
complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice,
“Food Rules” brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food.
“Food Rules” distills this body of wisdom into sixty-four simple rules for eating
healthily and happily. The rules are framed in terms of culture rather than science,
though in many cases science has confirmed what culture has long known.
The focus of this book is very different. It is much less about theory, history, and
science than it is about our daily lives and practice. Michael Pollan designed to help
us eat real food in moderation and, by doing so, substantially get off the diet. The
rules are phrased in everyday language.
The sixty-four rules here are each accompanied by a paragraph or two of
explanation, except for a few that are self-explanatory. There is no need to learn or
memorize them all, because many will take me to the same place. For example, rule
number 11 (“Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot
pronounce”) is both designed to keep more or less the same highly processed food
like products out of people’s cart.
“Food Rules” is highly recommended for those who want to eat healthily or
know more about food.
S5 Katrina Ho
Book Review
Title: Princess Diana
Author: Cherry Gilchrist
Publish: Pearson Education Ltd
Number of pages: 43
Genre: Biography
The book “Princess Diana” is written by Cherry Gilchrist. It is a biography.
Diana Spencer was the beautiful English princess who changed the picture of the
Royal Family. She did become the Queen of Britain, but to the people of Britain. She
Become a “Queen of Heart”. Sadly, her fairly-tale marriage went wrong, and she
learnt to live and work alone. But she was still so popular that reporters and
photographers followed her everywhere. They were following her car when it crashed
in Pairs in August 1997. The accident killed Diana and her new boyfriend, Dodi.
Diana’s life was over, but her story is not. The way that she lived and died will
change many things. Her life showed a new road for the Royal Family to take. She
showed them a way to be nearer to the British People and to help with real problems
in the modern world. When she died, we all realized that life can be very short. Every
one of us has to do our best with the time that we have.
After reading this book, I feel she must have been a good person. She had very
sincere eyes and smile. I love this book because this book told us Diana’s goodness
and gentle personality. I also know she has done a lot of charity work. She is a caring
person and that is why I love her.
I think that being famous may not be good. Many people desire to have fame
but is it a true blessing? I want to live an ordinary life. A happy marriage is what a
woman really wants. Happy marriage makes a woman shine. On the other hand, a
miserable marriage can destroy a woman’s life. I also learn that I should try my best
to help those who are in need.
S5 Kelvin Lo
Name of the book: Wealth of Nations
Author: Adam Smith
Publisher: Oxford
Summary:
‘Wealth of Nations’ is a book written by the ‘Father of economics’ – Adam
Smith during 1800s. The book literally tells you how to bring wealth and prosperity to
nations by practicing several economic concepts such as ‘division of labor’ and
‘division of stock’.
The book is further divided into five sections. Each section consists of many
sub-sections. Inside each section, Smith wrote an introduction in order to give you a
glimpse of economic principle he is going to introduce. There are almost five hundred
pages in the book. Despite of the numerous number of pages, I separate the content
into two major parts, which was ‘the usage of factor of productions’ and ‘the role of
government or sovereign’. With regard to first sub-section,’ the usage of factor of
production. In economics, factors of production are labor, land, capital and
entrepreneur. Smith suggests several ways to fully utilize the above factors and rise a
nation’s productivity which in turn can bring more wealth to nation.
Next, Smith suggests that the government or sovereign should not intervene the
market, but allow the market mechanism to adjust the price, quantity demand and
supply. In addition, Smith claims that the government should help production by
political force. In order to make his ideas more easy to comprehend, Smith uses lots
of examples to help illustrate his theory.
Comments and Opinions
This book is a masterpiece concerning economics. For students like me, it is no
doubt that some of his economic concepts are quite hard to understand. In spite of the
lack of knowledge, my confuse can be eased by examples given by Smith. As you
know, the knowledge of economics hasn’t been well-developed till the last two
centuries. Therefore, Smith wrote this book actually for people who do not posses
much economic knowledge. That’s why he adopted a simple writing style which
people can easily understand.
Concerning Smith’s standpoint towards productions and markets, he is right.
Living in Hong Kong, where the ‘free market policy’ is adopted, I have experienced
the goodness and blessing brought by our economy as are most people in Hong Kong.
It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, yet it is universally acknowledged that
Hong Kong’s infrastructure and social welfare is good. All these kinds of
development required huge amount of money and resources, and in fact the resources
are actually brought by the wealth created by such a free market policy.
History can prove many things, and also it acts as evidence why capitalism,
which Smith exclaimed, is more suitable for countries to adopt. We can see the rise
and fall of German’s Nazism, which ‘fascism’ adopted and the breakdown of the
Soviet Union, where Socialism was adopted. We also experience a more
capitalism-socialism. We can see the power of capitalism in China which has the
highest in the world.
Many nations and people can benefit from the prosperity brought by capitalism,
and the economic theories proposed by Smith. Some, on the contrary, think that there
is a conflict between ‘prosperity’ and ‘fairness’. The example they claim is that the
more prosperous the place is the greatest the gap between the rich and the poor. In
Hong Kong, a phenomenon we can use is that the overheating of real estate market,
and thus poor people in society cannot manage themselves to buy a flat.
Taking all these claims into consideration, I agree with Smith that capitalism
can bring us prosperity. However, I think the government should take action to halt
the unhealthy economic phenomenon such as market overheating. For instance, I
understand the government dares not to take aggressive action to intervene home price
because she is afraid that 1997 trendy- home prices suddenly dropped after Chief
Executive Tung proposed that 85,000 public estates would be built. Yet, in view of the
unordinary high home price, the government should take her role to protect pour right
to buy a flat.
As a whole, I think the government should adopt a ‘free market policy’, but
meanwhile, she should emphasize sustainable development if we want to become
wealthy then. Smith at his age would not mention that because there wasn’t a
pollution problem. In the modern world, if a nation wants to be wealthy, she needs to
concern her sustainability of economic development and more wealth can be brought
in long term.
S5 Tang Nga Sin , Mandy
My Favorite Book
“Ocean Science” written by Jennifer Hoffman shows just how incredibly，
surprisingly，unbelievably cool ocean is. The book is published by Smithsonian. It is
one of the “Science 101” series. “Ocean Science” is a sort of Natural Science book
that will appeal to people who like an inside look at ocean.
The book combines photos and essays to explore the immense ocean with the
readers. From water's edge to deep-sea habitats，vast regions that cover nearly
three-quarters of our planet were all introduced in this book.
It contains numerous essays on different fields of the ocean such as the history of
oceans and the miraculous molecule. An opening chapter gives us a brief concept of
how humans know little about the ocean.
“Ocean Science” is perfect as a scholastic reference, because it is well-written
and thoughtful. Take the last chapter as an example. It points out that “Not all
endangered species can be saved，but with effective conservation plans and adequate
enforcement，many can.” With this encouragement，individuals and governments
should do their part to protect this vast ocean.
Nevertheless, perhaps this book is designed for people who are infatuated with
ocean science research. Hence, the author uses lots of difficult words. Fortunately, the
book is clearly sectioned，topics are usually confined to individual pages and a lot of
colored pictures and diagrams greatly aid a reader's understanding.
Unlike other science books about ocean, this book has less description about life
in the deep, and more on new technologies in ocean science research. When talking
about this, the description is both sophisticated and vivid. So, it can increase young
reader's interest.
Ocean Science is a wonderful topic. With our continual advances，we are able to
understand and better coexist with life forms surrounding us on this planet. All these
accumulated knowledge can easily be at your fingertips with “Science 101: Ocean
Science”.
S5 Windy Mang
My favorite book “Cells”
Title: Cells
Type of the book: Biography
This book talks about the structure and function of different types of cells and of
research into developing technology such as cloning and the use of stem cells.
In this book, there are lots of pictures about the cells and the real cells shown
from the microscope. Owing to these pictures, I can easily imagine what the cells look
like and the name of cells, such as skin epithelial cells, red blood cells, guard cells of
the leaf.
After I have read this book, I have a better understanding of the structure of cells.
In addition, the growth of people continues to rely on cell division. This book can let
me know more about how the cell splits.
Besides in this book, these are some professional biological terms. These words
are highlighted. Readers wouldn’t need to check the dictionary all the time. They just
need to turn to the last page. Then they will find the meaning of the professional
terms.
The book is both insightful and educational. I strongly recommend this book to
all people who love biology and what to know more about human beings.