Eric's Beijing Diary

Got an email the other day from one of my freshman students in Langfang:

"Dear Mr. Eric, Last week I told you there would be a chorus contest of our department on the night of May 30th. Maybe I was so confident with my class and said my class was bound to be the champion. Fate seemed to trick us, we were the tail ender unexpectedly finally. Although we made full preparations beforehand, but it appeared useless when we were told that we were going to perform first two hours before the contest. I think I will always remember the moment we stood at the stage. Somehow, I felt nervous, and so did many classmates in my class. Suddenly, I found I had no courage to see the audiences, nor did I sing. Although I warned myself just to sing regardless of others constantly, I was still unable to control my minds. I was unable to imagine how the time had passed, after the performance, some audiences said we were shivering ceaselessly. How regretful that we lost the champion. But, who should be to blame? Whether or not, we had to accept the result and expected to do well next time. Mr. Eric, this week we learn a passage depicting the Bermuda Triangle Phenomenon in our English classes. The Bermuda Triangle is described as a terrible place where planes and ships crossing are always disappearing without sake, even without an oil stain left. Stranger yet are the numerous ghost ships that have been found floating crewless within the triangle. Is it true? I have referred to many books and find an interesting phenomenon. Nearly all the examples cited by these books are before 1960s.Besides, I haven't heard of any report that someone is missing in that zone since 1990s. Why? So I suspect the authenticity of the phenomenon. One of the classmates in our class also supported me and made a fascinating assumption. He thought it was a mean of making mystery adopted by Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico to promote their tourism. He said that the main income of the three places came from tourism and without tourism, they had few ways to live, so we could not exclude the possibility that they exaggerate the fact deliberately. It sounds interesting, but lacks evidence. Mr. Eric, Is his explanation reasonable? If not, what is the truth? You must learn more than us since you lived in America for a long time. Mr. Eric, I don't know if you like sports. People in my dormitory are crazy about NBA, but most of us dislike Lakers, only one, who is the steady supporter of Lakers, always bet with us whether Lakers will lose or win when we watching the live broadcast of NBA games. Especially the fifth game between Lakers and Spurs. There was only 4 seconds left and Spurs still fell behind by one point, at this time, Duncan shot the ball, his body almost losing balance, but the ball flew into the basket directly as if by magic. Only 0.4 seconds left for Lakers. Could Lakers win? I am sure nearly everyone would stand in the side of Spurs at that moment, for 0.4 seconds were too tiny to be paid attention to. But that Lakes steady supporter still insisted Lakers would win and bet with us losers must buy an ice cream for winners. We agreed. When we expected players jumped to cheer their victory, a miracle happens. Fisher threw the ball with all his strength before the game was over. Watching the ball fell into the basket, five of us fell into despair as well while one burst into laughter. Lakers won the game and so did he. That day he enjoyed five ice creams that we promised. To him, it was a fantastic experience, but to me, it was a contrary one. How I wish Duncan had slowed a bit to shot the ball so that Lakers had had no chance to throw the last ball. That's all. See you next time."