“Computer English Course” (hereinafter CEC) mentioned in the previous section was cooperated by Qianghua Zhang and me in 1998 and it was officially published in May of 1999. After its use of four years, it was revised and was published for the second version in 2003. In 2000 I finished writing “Financial English Course” (hereinafter FEC) independently and was released in Dec. of 2001, overcoming considerable difficulties. In 2002, I cooperated with Mr. Zhang again and “Electronic Business English Course” (hereinafter EBEC) came into being in Sept. of 2003. These three professional English courses helped me accumulate the writing experience, form the unique module of the professional English course, ensure to be characteristic of professional English and get rid of the influence of the basic English course.
After the retirement I had a lot of free time and the three professional English courses should be revised one after another, which made me very happy. The revision of the three long-term items didn’t need applying for and they should be done so every four or five years until I was not able to do it, which let me have a stable job after the retirement. I prefer doing it rather than acting as an old supervisor employed by the college or having some classes every week as I did before. I could work at home and didn’t need to wear leather shoes, curing the boring beriberi. I didn’t need to shout loudly in the classroom and my faucitis disappeared, which had caused ulcers to occur in the mouth or on the tongue frequently, hurting like being cut with a needle or knife. Nobody enslaved me and I did not do anything annoying young teachers, which was done by old supervisors. We could go abroad living with our sons at any time needed and went travelling in the appropriate season. I believed it to be superior to that done by the most retired teachers.
Just after the retirement I began to revise the FEC and its second version was brought into existence in Oct. 2005. The life of the second version lasted four years and a new editor in charge got touch with me and asked me to prepare the third version. When we entered 2008, the subprime crisis broke out in the USA and a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices appeared in the stock market of the whole world, the financial crisis causing the world economy to move into the global recession, which provided a lot of material for me to reedit the FEC because the major western media were discussing the crisis and appeared a lot of articles written by the present famous economists. I used the skill of browsing and searching, practiced the high-speed reading technique and quickly collected the material and cut them according to my need. I decided to modify the second version by a large margin. In the preface, I wrote: The financial tsunami forced the people to think of all the problems of all the layers of the economy, plus the rapid development of the computer and web technology, providing us with a lot of resources. Obeying the principle of advancing with the time and looking forward to the future, we decided to update the course by a large margin. The whole course remains the original style and is made up of three sections. Section One is centered around the business administration, including the latest management concept, the quality of managers, the management laws, the goal of the financial management, the marketing and the internet marketing basics. The second section is focused on the financial crisis, including economics, macro-economic analysis, stocks and bonds, stock market crash, deflation vs inflation and the rethinking of John Maynard Keynes. The subject of Section Three is the world trade and the passages include the international economic organizations, globalization, a brief history of the international system of payments, cashless payment, foreign currency exchange services and etc.
To make the course more systematic, an exercise on a short passage is added, explaining the term or the event appearing in the main passage. A revision unit is designed and attached to each section, providing a lot of exercises on the terms appearing in the relative units and helping the students remember them by practicing them in the different contexts. In addition, there are a certain number of passages, testing and improving the professional reading ability. I inserted all the financial materials I have collected into a file and formed a big document so that I can find an appropriate sentence with a special term by searching the big document, ensuring all the sentences are professional.
All in all, when I prepared for the third version of a professional English course, I was at ease because all I wanted to do was in my mind. The subject of the materials I wanted to collect was more concrete, the notes to the passage were written more concise, a few words hitting the target, exercises on the main text, terms and short passage were designed more reasonably, and the quantity of exercises in the revision unit was large and they varied in a lot of forms. The Chinese saying “it takes 10 years to sharpen a sword.” indicates kun fu is the most important in obtaining a success. That the third version of the professional English course came into being was a symbol that my fuzzy mind had turned into a clear one and a green writer had become a veteran author.
In 2007 and 2008, I finished the revision of CEC (the third version) and EBEC (the second version). I was a layman of the two fields and had to be dependent on Mr. Zhang. However, I could also find proper materials on the web specializing in the two subjects for him to decide. Mr. Zhang was very busy in office and I took over the whole job of the edition. I worked hard to translate some materials I was not familiar with and sent him for correction.
The work of the revision of the three courses might be one after another and then I still had a lot of free time, which I spent writing my memory and seeking new subjects. If I could find one or two other subjects also as long-term items I could do them one version after another, which would be ideal for me. I would explore continuously until the aim was reached. I believed that I had the ability because it was like a tree having a long root with the nutrition coming from the deep land.
The following is what Mengzi said, warning against those who obtained an empty fame and honor, “Spring water is streaming day and night, filling the bottomland and then flowing in the sea. This is because the water has a source. If there is no source, just like the rainstorm in July and August, also filling in all the channels and raceways, but it dries up very quickly. Therefore, fame is beyond what you have done, the gentleman should be shameful.” Mengzi’s word hit the malpractice of the time I’m living in. The assessment of the professional title needed materials of the scientific research. A lot of people did not have any research and had not any material, some of whom thought of ways to counterfeit, such as copying others’, asking somebody else to write, asking friends to attend the exam instead of him or herself, his or her name being attached somebody else’s article or even spending money buying the essay, as if he or she was a learning person. As long as a title was put on the head, such “research” work stopped completely. In his or her heart, he or she was unwilling to do some learning but felt an outwear was necessary. Fame coming and salaries raised, he or she was satisfied. Could such a peacockery last long? Absolutely not. Just like water without source, drying out instantly was inevitable. One who is really a man of learning should be like a pond of half mu described by Xi Zhu, an ancient Confucian scholar of Song Dynasty, which has flowing water, alive and exuberant.
A square pond of half mu is reflecting like a mirror;
The sunlight and cloud shadow are lingering about;
Why the pond is so clean and clear?
The flowing water is coming from the spring source.
Nov. 1 of 2011 in Chicago
Proofreading on April 13 of 2012 in Chicago
Second proofreading on Dec 30 2018 in Fenghuayuan
Uploading on Aug 8 of 2023 in Xuzhou
