What Comes with Old Age?

What Comes with Age What comes to mind when you think of life? Do you view life with an ever go lucky viewpoint and are you happy and content? Are you an optimist? Or do you think life is a means to and end with nothing to look forward to but depression and sorrow. In Earnest Hemingway’s story â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place† Hemmingway makes the point that when you get older there is nothing but desperation and sorrow to live for. He does this by showcasing the story between a younger and an older waiter working late at night in a well-lit cafe where the only customer in the cafe is a very old deaf man getting drunk by himself.The story illustrates through characterization and verbal irony what it means to deal with the harsh reality that everything we are and everything we do is empty. Hemmingway presents two kinds of characters, those that are unaware of the emptiness of life and those that are familiar with it. He does this by focusing on three main characters thro ughout the short story; an old man, a younger waiter, and an older waiter where each has a subtly different outlook on life. At the beginning of the story we meet the old man who is sitting at a bar drinking a brandy just watching the branches of a tree outside.The old man is lonely and drinks by himself. He drowns his sorrows in alcohol. The old man attempts to commit suicide because he is in despair. He tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with a rope but his niece who takes care of him cuts him down. He is in despair and feels unwanted because he is old. His old age shows physical imperfections on his body such as his hard of hearing. He has no one to go home to, and finds comfort drinking in lit places, then home by himself. He is very lonely because his wife died and he has no one to go home to and talk to about his problems or just to keep him company.The old man is also in a good financial position, but regardless of money, he has no will to keep on living. The old manà ¢â‚¬â„¢s deafness signifies a physical and mental isolation from the rest of the world. The younger waiter only cares about going home to his wife and going to bed so he can go to sleep. He seems to think his time is more valuable than the old mans which is ignorant to think since who’s time is really better than someone else’s? In the story the two waiters mention that the old man is in despair. When asked what the old man was in despair about the young waiter replies â€Å"Nothing,† because â€Å"He has plenty of money. This is a typical ignorant sentiment shared by youth who believe that money somehow provides happiness thus a meaningful life. The younger waiter does not show any sympathy to the old man or try to understand his feelings. The younger waiter is very insensitive and only thinks about himself. His attitude towards older people is very harsh and he never stops to think that one day he to might be old and lonely. The older waiter works at the cafe along with the younger waiter but seems to be more aware of the old deaf man’s feelings.He doesn’t have anyone to go home to at the end of the night and he doesn’t mind working at all hours of the night. The older waiter identifies with the old man because he himself has nowhere to go after work. The older waiter himself cannot find a clean well-lighted place of his own to pass the night. The older waiter is offended by how the young waiter treats the man when he decides to refuse serving the man another drink. This is demonstrated when the older waiter says â€Å"Why didn’t you let him stay and drink? The older waiter has a realistic understanding of the significance of â€Å"nada,† in this world and it actually keeps him up at night. He comes to the realization that life is emptiness, that a man’s life means nothing and that his existence signifies nothing to himself, nothing to others and nothing to the universe. One of the most importa nt topics of this story has to do with loneliness. The older waiter and the old man are very lonely. They both would like to stay at the cafe to escape from reality. Whereas the younger waiter is in a rush to get home because his life and reality isn’t filled with loneliness.He has a wife to go home to and he has youth, confidence and a job. The older waiter is very much like the old man except he has a job. The old man feels like he has nothing to live for other than getting drunk, however, life is not found in a bottle of alcohol. Life is found in experiences and relationship and alcohol hinders these experiences and relationships. This story also talks about other topics including death, futility, and meaninglessness. Hemingway shows these topics throughout most of the words and actions of the older waiter.Life is inherently meaningless and leads inevitably to death, and the older one gets, the clearer these truths become and the less able one is to impose any kind of orde r on one’s existence or maintain any kind of positivity in one’s outlook. In Ernest Hemmingway’s â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted† Place one learns that life seems to get worse with age. Young people seem to be happy and content and think that they themselves will never grow old. The older one gets the closer the realization is that life is not worth living since it is filled with emptiness and despair.

Phonological Development in Children Essay

Phonology is study of the sound system of the language and the rules for their combination. There are about 200 sounds used in languages throughout the world. As we all know, sound is the beginning of language learning. In learning to talk, children must acquire knowledge of the phonological forms of words and phrases of their native language and must learn the articulatory and phonatory movements needed to produce these words and phrases in an adult-like manner. Children learn their phonological system of native language even since as young infant. They first year of an infant’s life which is before they can utter their first word are known as prelinguistic stage. Children do not utter their first word until they are about one year old. At one month, they show categorical perception of speech. A perceptual ability is ability to segment one sentence into individual word units. This ability usually leads to production and thus helps in the development of speech production. Even though children do not produce their first word until they approximately 12 month years old, the ability to produce speech sound start to develop at a much younger age. After the mother giving birth, the young infant will produce undifferentiated birth cry. Within 0 to 6 weeks, the infant can produce reflexive sound which are glottal catch and vowels such as ah, eh, and uh. Plus the infant also can produce some variety non-crying sound. They also produce differentiated cry which that true vocal communication begins. In the range 6 to 16 weeks, infant start to produce cooing sound when they are happy. Moreover, they begin to produce single syllables and blowing bubbles. At 4 month, infant still prefer infant-directed compare to adult-director speech. Plus by 4 month, infant have learned which feature they have to pay attention to at the suprasegmental level such as intonation and stress. At 5 months old, infant prefer to hear their own name to similar sounding word. On the other hand, by 6 month old, they expose more to their native language and start to learn not to pay attention to sound that are not meaningful in their native language. The production of vowel sound in the first 2 month lead to the production of consonants. First back consonants ([g], [k]) are being produce around 2 to 3 months and front consonants ([m], [n], [p]) is being able to produce by infant at about 6 months old. In the range 3 to 6 month, babbling begins influence by their native language. In addition, they babbling show pitch and inflection change. They start to produce double syllables-VCV such as aga. Children are also able to puts lips together and say â€Å"m† and nasal tone is heard. Not only that, they also begin to vocalize their pleasure and displeasure. Infants in this range will stop vocalizing when adults enters and have self-initiated vocal play. They are also cooing, chuckling, gurgling and laughing. At 7 months, they able to segment word from speech that shows a strong-weak stress pattern, which is the most common stress pattern in the English language. The process that allows infant to use prosodic cues in speech input to learn about language structure is known as ‘prosodic bootstrapping’ . While children at 8 months old generally do not understand the meaning of the most single word yet, they still able to understand the meaning of certain phrases they hear a lot. By 9 months old, infant can differentiate native from nonnative language. Children uses [m], [n],[t],[d],[b],[p] and [y] in babbling multiple syllables by 6 to 9 months old. They babbling tunefully or singing tones and uses several of sound combination. They also begin to have inflected vocal play and intonation patterns heard. Infant also copy intonation and speech sound from the adult in their own repertoire. Reduplicative babbling begins for example bababa. From 9 to 12 months, children vocalize during play and also begin to vocalize in front of mirror. They are able to jabber loudly with wide variety of sounds and intonations. Infant combine different vowel and consonant into syllable string in vocal play and at this stage phonetic drift begins. Infant also acquire variegated babbling and combines different syllables in vocal play. At this stage, children normally have not yet begun to speak and thus have no production vocabulary but in the range 10 to 11 months old, children’s comprehension vocabulary size is about 11 to 154 words . During this transitional period from babbling to the utterance of the first word, children also produce â€Å"protowords†. Protowords is invented words that are used consistently to express specific meanings. In the range 1 year old to 1  ½ years old, infants usually use jargon to communicate. We can also hear some repetition of words or echolalia. They are uses most vowels and consonants and some initial consonant. Basically, their utterances unintelligible with exception of a few words. Intelligibility refers to the proportion of the speaker’s output that listeners can easily understand. They commonly leave out final consonant and some initial consonant. By the range of this age, they start to produce word in VC structure such as bo/boat and able to imitates some word accurately. By 14 months old, children usually produce their first word. First word is simple structure and contains the same sounds that were use in late babbling. At 16 months children comprehension vocabulary size ranges from about 92 to 321 words. At this age, children’s production vocabulary size at this age is typically around 50 words. Children’s production becomes more consistent around the a ge of 18 months. Within 1  ½ to 2 years old, children’s words increasing in frequency and jargon almost gone by 2 years old. Commonly, they will ask questions by raising intonation at end of phrase. Plus, children show improvement in intelligibility. Approximately 65% intelligible by 2 years. In addition, word produced with CVC structure such as big appear at this range of age. Intelligibility improve when they at 2 to 2  ½ years old from 65% to 70%. Plus, they may skip over final consonant, reduce consonant blend and substitute one consonant for another. The size of the vocabulary production is about 50 to 550 words. Children also seem to build up their vocabulary faster if the speech they hear is related to their focus of attention more often. At 2  ½ to 3 years old, children still do some substitution and alteration of consonants. They continue to improve their intelligibility to approximately 80%. By this age they can mastered consonants; [p], [m], [n], [w], [h]. Children at 3 to 3  ½ years use final consonants most of time. At this age, Final-Consonant Deletion process, consonant assimilation, diminutization, doubling, prevocalic voicing, reduplication unstressed syllable deletion and velar fronting should be gone. Children become very intelligible in connected speech by age 3  ½ years to 4 years old. They had mastered consonants;[b], [d], [j], [g], [f], [y]. Plus, phonological process continues which are cluster reduction, deplatalization, epenthesis, final devoicing, gliding, stopping and vocalization. In 4 to 4  ½ years, should be few error and substitutions of consonant in children utterances. They become more intelligible especially in connected speech. At the range 4  ½ years to 5 years old, children use most consonant sounds consistently and accurately. Even though, more errors present in difficult blends. At 5 to 6 years old, children mastered consonants such as t, ing, r, l. Follow by 6 to 7 years old, they begin to mastered consonant such as voiceless th, sh, ch, j. Hence, young children have remarkable ability to learn meanings for the words they extract from the speech they are exposed to. Acquisition of the language is strongly relate with environment. The phonological development should be know by parents to detect any phonological disorder on their child.

Disagreements on the Interpretations of the Zhuangzi Essay

Disagreements on the Interpretations of the Zhuangzi - Essay Example These differences can be summed up in presenting two modern analyses and interpretations of some parts of the Zhuangzi, with emphasis on the governing forces that shape and control the universe. For writer Erica Brindley, she interprets the Zhuangzi as the driving force and endless source of power that moves the universe and is above even Heaven itself is the Dao ?, which is â€Å"an upright way†, â€Å"a method†, â€Å"a path†, or â€Å"a truth†.1 The Dao allows the proliferation of diversity, thus any kind of method is considered acceptable as long as it is in line with the truth, making it a cyclical or a circular concept. Meanwhile writer Michael J. Puett interprets Heaven or Tian ? as the apex in the universal hierarchy and governs laws initiating changes and transformations, similar to patriarchy as a social order.2 Because the two authors read and interpreted the Zhuangzi using two different terms with differing ideologies, there are disagreements b etween the two, wherein Brindley’s interpretation of the Zhuangzi shows that the universe has a cyclic nature accessible through transcendence, while Puett’s interpretation states that the universal hierarchy is linear with Heaven at the apex, and man must live in balance with it without having to enter transcendence. Comparisons of the Two Interpretations of the Zhuangzi Brindley’s interpretation of the Zhuangzi gives a greater emphasis on the Dao as the all-encompassing, dynamic, unbounded and limitless driving force that shapes the cosmos and initiates its constant transformations.3 This is due to how she explains some ideas in the Zhuangzi using the Dao as the major influence. For example, she interprets the Dao to be impersonal, thus when a person unites with it, the perception of the self ceases to exist and becomes indistinguishable through emptiness, Wu ?. Thus this person does not act of his own accord anymore, because the self is no more. A passage fro m Zhuangzi mentions the impersonality of the Dao: â€Å"The Way has its reality and its signs but is without action or form. You can hand it down but you cannot receive it; you can get it but you cannot see it (Zhuangzi 6.9).†4 The idea is similar to Descartes’ â€Å"I think, therefore I am†, but instead it becomes I no longer am, and thus my thoughts are not mine.5 This turns thoughts from something personal to something that is not from the person, thus being impersonal. On the other hand, Puett’s interpretations of the Zhuangzi gives more emphasis on Heaven to be the one governing all changes that happen in the universe, and that humans must strive not to work against it, but rather follow its patterns.6 This is because resisting or controlling these changes makes people resentful, and will turn into an endless cycle of dissatisfaction, whereas allowing changes to happen as fate brings one pleasure and peace. This can be further explained using a passa ge from Zhuangzi: â€Å"Such things from time to time may happen to come your way. When they come, you cannot keep them from arriving, but when they depart you cannot stop them from going (Zhuangzi 16.5).†7 By allowing things to happen according to the patterns of Heaven and forgoing all, man can easily live in peace. Another disagreement between Brindley’s and Puett’s interpretations of the Zhuangzi is on how normalcy or humanity is defined. For Brindley, what the universe creates that man does not see normal are the products of how the Dao allows diversity to exist in the cosmos, while for Puett anything that exists in nature, regardless of whether humans consider it normal or not are still the products of the will of Heaven and are thus â€Å"heavenly†. The two texts both mentioned the following passage from Zhua

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean environmental activists use of Essay

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean environmental activists use of Borderless Media - Essay Example to be a thorn in the flesh for the media and the public is how environmental issues are tackled by leaders across the different governments. The Asian journalists tend to think that the media from the West is well equipped with environmental data, which is totally different from the situation that is on the ground in Asia. In Asia difficulties faced by the media ranges from financial, technical and political in the various ventures that are explored. Information on environmental problems and projects is vast in Asia but the only problem is that the information is not freely accessible to the public and the only people who get to access it are the government agencies. The information is not also made available to the journalists neither is it filtered to meet the government interests. The only information that is availed to the public in one way or the other is usually presented in scientific jargon as well as in technical reports aimed at making the environmental information incompre hensible to the media fraternity thus gagging their ability to spread the information throughout the public domain. A good as well as a practical example is indicated by the fact that the appraisal report, the evaluation report and the impact-assessment report of big projects like dams are normally treated by the national government as confidential and the same case applies to international loaning agencies that are funding these projects. There are numerous unfolding difficulties that are faced by the activists and the media fraternity in their efforts to inform the public on issues facing the environment. These however does not deter the Asian environmental activists as well as the Asian group in stepping up their efforts of informing the public on matters that are environmentally sensitive and which affect government decisions (LaMay and Dennis, 1991, p. 219). Chinese environmental activists’ use of Borderless Media Use of Local newspaper According to Redclift, as the year s go by the environmental issues are in one way or the other considered to be non-sensitive issues. This has changed the whole of reporting scenery of these issues as they are reported regularly thereby making them to be obvious. The Chinese local newspaper in particular has been under intense pressure from the government to refrain from critically reporting on issues that pertain to the environment. Bans are imposed with the claim that it is for the national as well as the security interest of the nation. In 2005 Yang, an expert of the media and environment in China indicated that environmental NGOs together with their environmental campaigns have had one of the favorable spells in the Chinese local newspaper since the mid 1990s when they emerged. A close relationship has since emerged from the environmental NGOs and conventional media. The existing relationship has also incorporated various green NGOs that are spearheaded by former professional journalists. The tie between the NGO s and the media is further enhanced by the fact that the environmental NGOs are part and parcel of the source of the news and at the same time, the environmental NGOs rely on the media to apply more pressure on the government (Redclift, 201, p. 389). Use of Internet The internet has played a crucial role in expanding the existing room for the free media over the past decades. The state

Legacy of Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legacy of Wars - Essay Example The treaty of Versailles is one of the factors that took place in 1919 was one of the legendary factors for the continuation of the First World War. This treaty was a meeting to discuss the various ways in which Germany was to pay for the damages it had done during the First World War. The main terms of the treaty were that Germany was the causes of the First World War because it gave Germany harsh conditions and took away its territorial land, making the Germans unhappy about it. They decided to fight back in order to prove they are still a super power, and this came out during the second world war. Wells (2011 P. 82) states that the reality of the situation was that no German state would be able to accept the treaty in the long term. There were various sanctions that were passed by the League of Nations, but they were not effective. The League of Nations could only impose economic sanctions, which were not effective, For instance, the Locarno Conference was a failed peace treaty be tween Germany and France that failed after Germany invaded France the only way to solve the conflicts, therefore, war to engage into a war, hence the continuation of the First World War. Adolf Hitler wanted Germany to dominate the whole world, and did this by tying to bring all the central European countries together. Hitler wanted Germany to grow and implemented this by annexing Poland. ... With these ambitions, Hitler caused problems to various countries making them resolve to war that was similar or more complicated than the First World War. The failure of America and Britain to stop Hitler during the time he was coming up also made the occurrence of the Second World War because Hitler wanted to oppose the sanctions made to the Germans by the other super powers. Orr (2005), states that the war to end all wars would serve as a prologue to the bigger war to come. Most European countries experienced tension when they saw the various actions that Adolf Hitler was doing. They decided to increase more armies and prepare for a war so that they would not have to suffer the consequences similar to what was experienced during the First World War. The best option that was to be adopted was the use of force in order to prevent themselves from the problems that were caused by the Germans, and this led to the continuation of the First World War. Political, economic and technologica l consequences of the Second World War The Second World War had severe consequences on most of the European countries in terms of its politics, the overall economy and advancement in technology. Towards the end, of the war, Germany became divided into four various zones by the victorious powers while they were waiting for a political settlement that was permanent. Japan ended up in ruins following the Second World War, and several military leaders in that country were tried and convicted of causing war crimes. However, the Emperor was allowed to maintain his position, and the entire Japs came into a temporary military rule by United States. England had experience devastating bombings from the Germans thereby making its economy go down; hence, it had to

Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy Research Paper

Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy - Research Paper Example It is in this backdrop that we must study the issue of privacy in the United States today. As the most advanced nation in the world, the urban spaces in the United States are the nerve centers for global commerce and politics. A loss of privacy in the form of loss of confidential information can have far-reaching negative consequences for individuals/corporations/governments involved. In the last two decades, the issue of privacy has taken a new dimension, with the advent of electronic communication. The growth of the Internet has posed new challenges to administrators of privacy and so far these challenges are not properly met. There is plenty of commercial activity that takes place in the Internet, thereby raising the stakes of proper security measures. An FBI report indicates that phishing scams are occurring more frequently on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Orkut. Viruses, decoy messages and hacked personal accounts are employed to acquire private data of a user, which is later abused for various purposes. For example, â€Å"Messages, which generally masquerade as warnings related to service agreements or other notifications, contain malicious code that covertly installs software on victims PCs, letting thieves steal account names and passwords. The thieves then use the accounts to distribute messages to friends of the victim, requesting large sums of money and spreading the malicious code even further†. (Schiller, 2009) In the light of discovering such scams in the world of social networking, the FBI has notified Internet users to strengthen their privacy settings and also take precautionary measures such as â€Å"disabling options such as photo sharing when possible, and carefully scrutinizing links before deciding to click on them, regardless of their apparent source† (Schiller, 2009). Already, in

Nuclear power plant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Nuclear power plant - Essay Example This is due to their devastating effects on the environment and people generally. Radiation exposure can also lead to DNA damage and this can result in dysfunction or cell death. Underground uranium mining is the most dangerous than other underground mining because uranium ore emits radon gas. This has led to miners in uranium ores developing small cell carcinoma a lung cancer. Even the decay product of uranium has been shown to be cancer causing agent which is a serious health problem. Employees in nuclear reactors and the surrounding society can be affected by radioactive radiation which can leak through the piping system or pressurizers. Radioactive substances released to the air or rivers leads to contamination which ends as a cause of cancer. Nuclear power is however clean because it does not involve projection of dust to the environment like in the case of fossil burning. Most power plants are located near a large water body like an ocean or a lake to get enough supply of water for cooling effects to expel heat from the reactor. The use of natural water bodies adversely affects the aquatic life e.g. fish, of the ecosystem under which heat has been released to because this heat can be the cause of anomalies in the sea or cause fluctuations in the river flow rates. This use of water bodies can be avoided through the use of cooling towers in the nuclear reactors which are located beside the reactors to cool the reactor. The civilians living near nuclear reactors should be properly educated to avoid responsible response during disasters. It can be described as healthy since they produce clean energy that does not pollute the environment while it’s used. Accidents in nuclear reactors are very rare but devastating when they happen. The worst nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine was as a result of flowed reactor design and mistakes of the plant operators. It destroyed the reactor killing 30 people within 3 months and

Theories of Power Transfer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theories of Power Transfer - Essay Example Survival is the driving force, thus, states must develop their offensive capabilities to increase their power. As a reflection of this selfishness, and to ensure their own survival, states seek to develop their offensive capabilities, or their military power, so that they can take over the territories of other states to increase their relative power. This means that their power is relative, that is, in relation to the other states (Fozouni, 2008). In the international system, the principal actors are the sovereign states, where the independent influence of international organizations, sub-states or trans-state actors is dismissed. Nationalism is important, while the importance of sub-national groupings or transnational ideological of cultural groupings are diminished. This theory has several key assumptions. Neorealism is based primarily on the assumption that mankind is selfish and competitive. It is not benevolent, rather it is self-centered. Its fundamental assumption is that the international system is chaotic and anarchic. Since the state is the primary actor, there is no higher governing authority to which they bow to. States must muddle through in their relations with each other, with no higher authority that can impose or dictate on any one of them. That is, there is no such thing as a world government. Furthermore, it assumes that sovereign states are the primary actors and not international institutions, non-government organizations, or multinational corporations. According to this theory, every state is a rational actor who will always watch out for its own interest and ensure its security. In the pursuit of its own security, every state will do everything to build up its resources, so that more resources will mean more power for the s tate. Their level of power will determine their relations with other states, and this level of power is in turn determined by its military and economic capabilities. Also, states are inherently aggressive, always seeking to expand its territories. This territorial aggression is only tempered by other states. However, this build-up will trigger an increase in the opposing state's security, which will result in relative gains only (Thies, 2004). In terms of the European Union, this means that the Community itself, is merely a gathering of sovereign states - an international rather than supranational organization. Thus, the decision-making in terms of economic, monetary, political, and security matters is still in the sovereign states. Ultimate authority and power will remain with the member states. Thus, the Community is merely a reflection of the desires of the member states to cede or delegate authority, which they can easily recall or revoke. The primary reason that the Community appears to be integrated is because the member states feel that this will serve their interests best. Neorealists view the Community of the future as a loose integration of the member states who have agreed to surrender or pool their sovereignty. Neoliberalism As a response to neorealism, the neoliberalism was born. Some label this as Thatcherism (United Kingdom), Reaganomics (United States of America), Economic Rationalism (Australia), Rogernomics (New Zealand) or Manmohanomics (India). Neoliberalism describes a movement away from the state control. In its pure form, this theory centers on

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Essay Example Classicism as a movement spans across literature, the arts, and even architecture; it was strongly associated with absolutism and the need for clear divisions of parts. At the time, the buildings and artworks were made in bright colors yet they contrasted each other; overall, classical era production was simple and less complex than previous periods. These ideas mostly came from developments in science and philosophy where it was established that things tend to follow certain rules; in accordance with Newtonian physics, the most stable structures were the highly ordered ones. These influences entered the arena of music when audiences and players began adding structure to their pieces; unlike the previous Baroque period that had layered melodies and harmonies, the classical era had homophonic music where the harmony was inferior to the melody (Hoffer 124). Tonal structures were deeply emphasized at the time owing to the emphasis on chords; sometimes this was done at the expense of melodic smoothness. In addition, the classical era music differed from the Baroque style music owing to its emphasis on instrumental groups other than the string instruments. Participants of the classical era simplified the texture of their music in a manner that allowed listeners to be better able to tell the instrumental details apart. Tones need to be unified through certain rhythms like the minute or opening fanfares in order to get the attention of its listeners. This era also had concerto and sonata forms at a greater level with special emphasis given to their definition as well as the rules surrounding their use. Furthermore, performers did the symphony and concertos for many were eventually replaced by soloist concertos.