正式下雪了

一覺起來
窗外赫然轉成一幅銀白畫面
好漂亮


決定一早去辦公室唸書
順便欣賞一下雪景
星期天一早
路上一片空寂
只有雪和我

哇哈哈~球拍終於到啦

就在感恩節從芝加哥玩回來的晚上

終於看到我的大郵包放在餐桌上了

也就是說我的羽球拍在過了快三個月後

總算是推翻貨船沉沒在太平洋或是被海盜劫走的可能

平安地從台灣送達熱切期待的我的手上

球套是我從國中用到現在的Kawasaki
球拍YY Carbonate 20 MS是阿太幫我準備的
禮拜六試了一下
殺球的威力連自已都嚇了一跳
哈哈
愈來愈期待下一次打球了

關於印度人的英文

我必需修正之前對印度人英文腔調的評語

說他們英文發音不好是不正確的

因為昨晚看了一部英國片Summer Scar

發現自已聽的非常吃力

原來真正英國人的英文和美國的英文竟然有這麼大的差異

相對地，哈利波特裡的英國腔巳經很美式了

畢竟還是Hollywood電影

即使如此

電影裡的對話

仍有一種似曾相似的感覺

赫然發現

這根本是印度朋友的英文麻

我恍然大悟

其實以這個角度來看印度人的英文

他們的英文根本是相當的標準

當然

並沒有那一種英文的腔調是「正確的」或「標準的」

任何腔調的英文都要想辦去聽懂

然後想辦法讓自已的英文讓所有人聽懂

就這樣

毛帽、羽毛衣、卡布其諾

在Kranert Art Center附近轉角的一家咖啡店買了一杯卡布其諾

然後就沿著Goodwin Ave. 往材料中心走去

走著走著就飄起了雪花

雪花隨風無序的紛飛

握著咖啡的手指也

沒有手套的冰麻起來

一暫間

很有一種在國外生活的感覺

很奇怪

來美國快半年了

出國的感覺始終不強烈

就好像只是換了一個地方住而巳

但是今天

毛帽、羽毛衣、卡布其諾

很有感覺

Pardon 變少了

剛來美國時，最常講的一句話就是 Pardon me。

最近突然發現，這個字出現的頻率巳經大大的減少了。

在美國，我講英文的對像，主要可分成三種人：

1、老美

2、印度人

3、母語阿拉伯語的人

這三種人中，沒有一個的英文是容易聽的懂的。

或許很奇怪，老美的英文應該很清楚啊?

但其實當他們講的很「標準」時，字跟字之間很含糊、很連續。

腔調也是平平的。

印度人的英文是異常的流利

他們不但可以講的很快，而且用字也很精準

但他們的怪異英文腔調也是非常有名的

的確也是如此

我覺得印度人蠻好相處的

有次聊天得知在印度有超過一半的人口是吃素的

這讓我很訝異

阿拉伯半島到北非都是講阿拉伯話的

之前我還以為埃圾是講埃圾話

果然交朋友還是可以長知識的

他們的英文可以感覺得出來沒有印度人那麼流利

但腔調一點也沒輸

另外

我覺得阿拉伯人也很好相處

相對的

老美基本上不太好相處

有時候會碰到一些不太理人的

不過

對話中比較會開玩笑的

也是老美

最後講一下亞州人

我們學校

中國人很多

韓國人很多

台灣人不少

日本人超極少

基本上，亞州人的英文我是聽的很懂

可能是因為大家都是用一樣的不精準的英文吧

但是

和中國人當然是講中文

而目前我沒有韓國人朋友

所以也頗少使用東亞式英文。

Plan of background construction for research

Since my recent research subject is already decided, a plan to build up a solid background focusing on my research is important.

Generally speaking, my research area is in solid physics. However solid physics is a very broad discipline. I think I should focus more on crystal and defect structure. About the transport of defect, I need to study the diffusions in materials.

To analyze the thin film, we use TEM and X-ray. Although I don't like experiment, I definitely have to be familiar with them. 

So far, all the topics mentioned above can be reviewed through the textbook of physical metallurgy.

So, let's do it.

下雨

不用打傘的小雨

讓我很悠哉的從 EE quad 散步回家

吸著濕潤的空氣

在稍涼的夜裡

有點像是回到台灣原始的杉木森林

感覺相當的舒服

Letter part 2

Unfortunately, ARC turned my explanation down and still charged me for the broken racket even though I wrote such a convincing letter. The replying letter is as followed.

Wei-Ying,

I have examined the racquet that you turned in severely broken. Our staff
specifically examines equipment when checked in and when checked out. Based
on the severity of the damage there is no way that I can wave the charge
from your account. It is very obvious that this racquet was damaged by
something other than just waving it in the air.

All of our equipment is highly used. My suggestion is that if you feel that
the racquet was damaged when you received it you should have notified the
staff before leaving Member Services and exchanged it for another one. We
can only go by the proof we have of the damaged racquet.

The charge will remain on your account. If you do not feel comfortable with
the rental equipment that we have my suggestion is that you purchase your
own equipment to use in the facilities.

Sincerely,
Kristina Pettigrew

I decided to try again. This is my response and I hope it could work.

Miss Pettigrew,

I am writing this letter because I believe I used the racket very appropriately. But I am afraid that I have no way to prove how it just broke in the air since I have no video tape to record it. However if there is indeed some surveillance camera on duty in the badminton court, it could prove what I said was totally true.

I will not bother you to find the video tape (if there is one). I just hope you could understand that what happen to me is really physically possible. When a material has a crack on the surface, there will be a phenomenon called stress concentration. The crack will not cause the fracture immediately because it need some time to propagate. But the crack will propagate faster as it's getting deeper. When the crack become deep enough, it will break even under normal stress like 'waving in the air' because of stress concentration. By the way, since I am more or less professional in badminton, when I said 'waving', it's obviously not slight waving but with some speed and strength.

No matter how, I think you are right about that I should exchange the racket in the first place. I just want to make it clear that I didn't make up some story in order to avoid the charge. I guess I will accept my unluckiness although I believe I should be waived from that.

Best,

Wei-Ying

A letter to the manager of ARC

( I went playing badminton tonight and peculiarly the racket borrowed from ARC went broken. I was told that I would be charged for this. So, I wrote this letter to the manager. The points is so strong that if I were the manager, I would be convinced.)

Miss Pettigrew,

My name is Wei-Ying Chen. I went to ARC on Wednesday night and borrowed a badminton racket.
The badminton was broken when I was using it.
I was told that I will be charged.

I think that's not my fault.
First of all, I used the racket appropriately. I did not do anything brutal like knocking the ground. All I did is regular waving the racket in air to catch the ball. It's during the motion I waved it in air when it suddenly broke and twisted. Although even I can hardly imagine, it did happen.

Secondly, there was already a deep crack at the bottom of the ring before I borrowed it and I believe it is the reason to its failure. I have noticed that for a long time because I borrow rackets every saturday afternoon. I borrowed this kind of defected rackets several times and they never went broken this way. So, I didn't expect it to break this time, either.

Maybe I should return this defected racket and borrow a new one immediately in service center in the first place. But I think ARC is also responsible not to lend students this kind of 99%-already-broken rackets. It's really not fair to the last 1%-to-break user.

The above is my explanation and I hope you could understand.

Best,

Wei-Ying