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ghost_hieu

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Tham gia
4/3/2011
Bài viết
14
Xin chào các bạn,
Trình độ tiếng anh của mình hiện tại đang khá thấp cả về nghe-nói-đọc-viết. Chính vì vậy, mình đang cố gắng nghĩ ra phương pháp học tiếng anh tốt nhất đối với bản thân. Vì vậy, mình chợt nảy ra 1 suy nghĩ, sẽ post các bài báo bằng tiếng anh trên mạng lên diễn đàn để mọi người cùng đọc và thảo luận các hiện tượng ngữ pháp-tự vựng cũng như các câu khó hiểu trong bài báo đó.
Mình sẽ post theo tuần, mỗi tuần 1 bài, mong các bạn ủng hộ để cùng học tiếng anh ngày càng tiến bộ nhé ^^

Hôm nay, mình sẽ post bài đầu tiên: HSBC Admits US Banking Violations

CAPITOL HILL — Global private banking giant HSBC has admitted that lax vigilance made it vulnerable to money laundering by Mexican drug cartels, as well as transactions involving Iran that are banned under U.S. law. HSBC managers pledged to do better in testimony before a Senate investigative committee.

U.S. law seeks to disrupt the cash flow of criminal organizations, from drug traffickers to terrorist groups. But for years, London-based HSBC seemingly turned a blind eye to illegal transactions originating in Mexico and elsewhere that used the bank’s U.S. affiliates as a gateway to America’s financial system. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said HSBC is a prime example of a widespread problem in international banking.

“Some international banks abuse their U.S. access. Some allow affiliates operating in countries with severe money laundering, drug trafficking, or terrorist financing threats to open up U.S. dollar accounts without establishing safeguards at their U.S. affiliate," said Levin. "The end result is that the U.S. affiliate can become a sinkhole of risk for an entire network of bank affiliates and their clients around the world playing fast and loose with U.S. rules. The U.S. bank can end up aiding and abetting transactions that fund terrorists, drug cartels, corrupt dictators, and tax cheats.”

HSBC’s head of compliance, David Bagley, admitted the bank’s mistakes in recent years.

“I recognize that there have been some significant areas of failure. This is something that a bank seeking to conduct business in the United States and globally must acknowledge, learn from, and, most importantly, take steps to avoid in the future,” he said.

Bagley said that many affiliates of HSBC, which operates in 80 nations, were not subject to a centralized oversight process, thereby allowing questionable transactions to proceed undetected. He said the problem has been corrected, and that his office is now in charge of all affiliate compliance operations.

But the damage has been done, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, David Cohen.

“We have seen, for instance, an example where a bank effectively failed to monitor its correspondent banking relationship with high-risk customers, resulting in the processing of $420 billion with 13 high-risk Mexican “casas de cambio” [currency exchange outfits] from 2004 to 2007. We have also seen several cases where foreign banks stripped out the names of Iran or other sanctioned entities in wire transaction messages routed through the United States.”

Levin said HSBC’s contrition is appropriate, and the bank must now follow through on its promises. He said any bank’s failure to ensure compliance with U.S. laws and regulations should result in the loss of its operating charter on U.S. soil.


-> Let's go, chúng ta cùng đọc và tìm hiểu nhé! Bài viết này là một bài trên VOA, đã được dịch ra rồi, mọi người có thể xem ở đó rồi mình cùng thảo luận, đưa ra ý kiến về bài này nhé.
:KSV@03:
 
Cái này nhiều ngôn ngữ chuyên ngành kinh tế ngân hàng quá @@.
Bài này nói về ngân hàng HSBC : việc nhận nguồn vào phi pháp + mắc lỗi + thiệt hại lớn => đã fix phải hok :D
Đọc sơ thấy ý như vậy
:D:D:D:D
 
Mình mới đọc được 1 nửa bài. Đây là một số từ mới mà mình thấy trong phần mình đọc được:

lax vigilance: sự kiểm soát lỏng lẻo
money laundering: hoạt động rửa tiền
drug traffickers: những kẻ buôn lậu ma túy
turned a blind eye to sb/st: nhắm mắt làm ngơ với ai/cái gì
affiliate: chi nhánh
playing fast and loose with U.S. rules:
to aid and abet: (v) tòng phạm, xúi giục
tax cheats: (n) việc trốn thuế

^^
 
Mình cũng học nhiều chuyên ngành = tiếng anh ở RMIT

Cũng phải nhớ từ vựng nhiều, thank bạn nha
 
Đọc tiếp bài này nhé :

some significant areas of = a significant area of: một số lượng đáng kể (mình tự suy luận là = a significant area of -> ko biết có đúng ko nhỉ)
conduct business: hoạt động kinh doanh, vận hành (công ty, tổ chức…)
oversight: sự giám sát, sự giám thị (centralized oversight process: quy trình giám sát tập trung hóa)
thereby = in that way
to be in charge of = to take charge of: có trách nhiệm đối với cái gì


Và đây là những chỗ mà mình ko rõ, các bạn xem giúp mình nhé:

- the U.S. Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence: ông này chức vụ gì đây @@
- We have also seen several cases where foreign banks stripped out the names of Iran or other sanctioned entities in wire transaction messages routed through the United States: mình ko hiểu “stripped out the names of Iran” @@
- Levin said HSBC’s contrition is appropriate, and the bank must now follow through on its promises. He said any bank’s failure to ensure compliance with U.S. laws and regulations should result in the loss of its operating charter on U.S. soil: mình ko hiểu cấu trúc “follow through on its promises” và “result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil” @@
 
the U.S. Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence: ông này chức vụ gì đây @@
Secretary là Bộ Trưởng, Under Secretary là dưới Bộ trưởng vậy là Thứ trưởng đó bạn àh. Vậy ông này là Thứ trưởng Bộ Tài chính Mỹ chuyên trách tình báo Tài chính và khủng bố
We have also seen several cases where foreign banks stripped out the names of Iran or other sanctioned entities in wire transaction messages routed through the United States: mình ko hiểu “stripped out the names of Iran” @@
strip out là lột bỏ/cởi bỏ. Theo tui hiểu ở câu này, các "foreign banks" này thực chất là các ngân hàng của Iran và các nước bị Mỹ cấm vận khác, nhưng bằng cách nào đó đã cởi bỏ/ẩn giấu được thân phận Iran và nước bị cấm vận và thực hiện thành công các giao dịch Ngân hàng với nước Mỹ
mình ko hiểu cấu trúc “follow through on its promises” và “result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil” @@
Thế nghĩa bạn có hiểu ko? thực ra tui cũng hổng hiểu câu hỏi này của bạn, ko hiểu cấu trúc là sao? Tiếng Anh là tiếng mình học mừ, nếu hiểu nghĩa rồi thì nếu thấy hay, mình có thể học thuộc/bắt chước nhưng câu như vậy mừ.
Pleased to hear ý kiến của bạn....
 
cho tớ up với nhé. mình thấy mmấy bài trong english.vietnamnet.vn rất hay. vì thưòng tin tức việt nam là chủ yếu, vừa xem vừa đoán nghĩa cũng hay.
The extraordinary courage of Vietnamese students

VietNamNet Bridge – Disable, poor, unlucky students still try to attend the university entrance exams. The most valuable thing they bring with themselves to the exam rooms is the extraordinary courage.

The story about the “tiny” examinee – Agent Orange victim
Ho Thi Ut Lan caught people’s special attention when she was present at a school to attend the entrance exam to the Da Nang University of Technology. Being an Agent Orange victim, Lan has a modest height of 1.15 meters. However, the tiny student has a very high eagerness for higher education.
Lan said she dreams of passing the exams to be able to follow university education, so as to get more knowledge and find jobs to earn her living.
When asked about the exams, Lan said she is not really satisfied with the math and chemistry exam works, and she is not sure if she can pass the exams. However, she said she would keep optimistic.
“If I fail, I would return home and review lessons again to prepare for the next year’s exams. I want to go to a university,” she said.

Traveling 300 kilometers on bicycle to the exam room
On the morning of July 3, a young man was seen riding on the Highway No. 1A, heading to Hanoi. Feeling tired, he stopped and dropped into a tea shop to ask for a glass of water. After taking a rest, he set off for Hanoi again.
He is Nguyen Van Thuan, a student who registered to attend the entrance exam to the land forces school. As Thuan did not have much money, he decided to ride bicycle to Hanoi.
Departing in Nghe An province at 1 pm, Thuan arrived in Thanh Tri district in Hanoi at 9.30 am of the next morning. As such, Thuan traveled 300 kilometers with just one bottle and glass and some loafs of pure bread. Thuan only has 30,000 dong in his pocket, the sum of money which is just enough to pay for a popular lunch in Hanoi.
Thuan planned everything for his trip to Hanoi: he would have bread for meals, drink boiled water and sleep in front of the school, under the lamp post.
However, Thuan did not fulfill his plan. A policeman, after hearing about Thuan’s conditions, decided to give urgent help to Thuan. He could sleep on a bed in a rental room and had rice for his meals.
Thuan said he is satisfied about the exam works, and he hopes he can pass the exams to fulfill his dream of studying further to be able to become a good citizen in the society.

Accident could not prevent female student from attending exam
Two days before leaving for school to attend the university entrance exams, Huynh Thi Hai Minh in Quang Nam province got a motorbike accident, which cut her hoof tendon. When she was hospitalized, the physicians told her that she needed urgent surgery.
After the surgery, Minh insisted on leaving the hospital to attend the university entrance exam. “Papa, I have to attend the exam, even if die,” she said to her parents.
Minh left the hospital with some pain relief tablets, serious wounds and the determination to attend the exams. And she solved the exam questions with leg in a plaster cast. Right after the exams, she left for the home village.

The student who went to school in a wheelchair
He is Ho Van Lai in Da Nang City, who intended to attend the exam to a university to study information technology. Lai could not walk on his foot, because he became disabled in his childhood from a mine accident.
Being a disabled, Lai never thought of giving up learning. Finishing high school, Lai is determined to follow higher education at universities.
“I have to make every effort to be able to study. I will never be discouraged,” he said.
Source: Dan tri, An ninh thu do
 
mình ko hiểu cấu trúc “follow through on its promises” và “result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil” @@

Thế nghĩa bạn có hiểu ko? thực ra tui cũng hổng hiểu câu hỏi này của bạn, ko hiểu cấu trúc là sao? Tiếng Anh là tiếng mình học mừ, nếu hiểu nghĩa rồi thì nếu thấy hay, mình có thể học thuộc/bắt chước nhưng câu như vậy mừ.
Pleased to hear ý kiến của bạn....

- “follow through on its promises”: mình ko hiểu cách dùng giới từ của nó "follow + through + on + its promises"

-
“result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil”: dịch word by word là "dẫn đến kết quả mất đi bản tuyên ngôn hoạt động của nó trên đất Mỹ'', mình ko hiểu nghĩa câu này lắm @@

Rất cảm ơn kinh nghiệm học tiếng anh của bạn
"nếu hiểu nghĩa rồi thì nếu thấy hay, mình có thể học thuộc/bắt chước những câu như vậy" ^^
 
As far as I know/understand hen
“follow through on its promises”: mình ko hiểu cách dùng giới từ của nó "follow + through + on + its promises"
Ờ, từ on ở đây chắc có nghĩa giống như base/dựa trên/cơ sở đó mà; tụi mình có phrasal verb Follow through nghĩa là làm theo/tuân theo/thực hiện tiếp theo. Như vậy có thể hiểu là ông nội HSBC này bây giờ nên làm theo/tuân theo những gì mà ổng đã hứa/cam kết trước đó i.e. promise trước đó bây giờ follow through theo.
“result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil”: dịch word by word là "dẫn đến kết quả mất đi bản tuyên ngôn hoạt động của nó trên đất Mỹ'', mình ko hiểu nghĩa câu này lắm @@

charter tuy có nghĩa là tuyên ngôn/tuyên bố, nhưng ở đây có nghĩa là tuyên bố do chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ ban bố để thừa nhận 1 số quyền lợi/đặc quyền đối với HSBC, kiểu như giờ ông HSBC sẽ mất đi 1 số quyền lợi trên đất Mỹ vậy đó, hông biết tui hiểu vậy có đúng hông nữa....
P/S: vụ học thuộc là do tui chế/phang đại đó:KSV@04:

 

-
“result in the loss of its operating charter on US soil”: dịch word by word là "dẫn đến kết quả mất đi bản tuyên ngôn hoạt động của nó trên đất Mỹ'', mình ko hiểu nghĩa câu này lắm @@

charter tuy có nghĩa là tuyên ngôn/tuyên bố, nhưng ở đây có nghĩa là tuyên bố do chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ ban bố để thừa nhận 1 số quyền lợi/đặc quyền đối với HSBC, kiểu như giờ ông HSBC sẽ mất đi 1 số quyền lợi trên đất Mỹ vậy đó, hông biết tui hiểu vậy có đúng hông nữa....

Mình cảm thấy hiểu như thế hình như hơi có vấn đề vì "its operating charter" ở đây thì "its" hiểu là bank chứ ko phải chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ, hiểu như bạn thì charter là của chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ mất rồi. Mình có tra lại từ điển từ "charter" thì nó giải nghĩa là "tuyên bố về những quyền lợi nhất định" thì câu này có thể hiểu là "việc ngân hàng thất bại trong việc tuân thủ luật Mỹ dẫn đến việc mất đi quyền lợi hoạt động của nó trên đất Mỹ". Nhưng đọc câu này lên cũng ko thấy xuôi lắm nhỉ @@
Với lại, họ dùng từ "US soil" thấy cũng hơi đặc biệt nhỉ @@
 
Mình cảm thấy hiểu như thế hình như hơi có vấn đề vì "its operating charter" ở đây thì "its" hiểu là bank chứ ko phải chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ, hiểu như bạn thì charter là của chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền Mỹ mất rồi.
Bạn misunderstood ý tui rồi:KSV@15:
Mình có tra lại từ điển từ "charter" thì nó giải nghĩa là "tuyên bố về những quyền lợi nhất định" thì câu này có thể hiểu là "việc ngân hàng thất bại trong việc tuân thủ luật Mỹ dẫn đến việc mất đi quyền lợi hoạt động của nó trên đất Mỹ".
Uhm, ý tui cũng giống giống như vầy nè. hiểu như bạn vầy cũng ổn đó:KSV@06:
Với lại, họ dùng từ "US soil" thấy cũng hơi đặc biệt nhỉ @@
Ờ, đó....học thuộc đi bạn:KSV@11:
FYI, tui mới tra từ điển nè
soil [ U ] literary a country
It was the first time we had set foot on foreign/French/American soil (= gone to a foreign country/France/America) .
đất nước, vùng đất
one's native soil: nơi chôn nhau cắt rốn.

P/S: Bạn học ngành tiếng Anh thương mại hả:KSV@11:, if you don't mind....

 
tớ học kinh tế, nhưng ko học tiếng anh thương mại, thế nên mới phải tìm cách học tiếng anh thế này.
Bi h mình chuyển sang bài thứ 2 của bạn trunghauspkt nhé!
 
Hiệu chỉnh bởi quản lý:
tớ học kinh tế, nhưng ko học tiếng anh thương mại, thế nên mới phải tìm cách học tiếng anh thế này.
Ờ, vậy bạn giỏi hen, ham học hỏi:KSV@11:Thấy vốn hiểu biết của bạn cũng nhiều ha....
Bi h mình chuyển sang bài thứ 2 của bạn trunghauspkt nhé!
Ờ, Hiếu nghiên cứu đi, có gì cho tui học ké với, đọc mấy câu bạn hỏi về bài HSBC tui cũng học thêm được chút chút....
 
Hiệu chỉnh bởi quản lý:
bạn ơi ! post bài lên nữa đi cho anh em học hỏi tí
toppic của bạn mình thấy rất thích
thanks bạn nhiều
 
cho tớ up với nhé. mình thấy mmấy bài trong english.vietnamnet.vn rất hay. vì thưòng tin tức việt nam là chủ yếu, vừa xem vừa đoán nghĩa cũng hay.
The extraordinary courage of Vietnamese students

VietNamNet Bridge – Disable, poor, unlucky students still try to attend the university entrance exams. The most valuable thing they bring with themselves to the exam rooms is the extraordinary courage.

The story about the “tiny” examinee – Agent Orange victim
Ho Thi Ut Lan caught people’s special attention when she was present at a school to attend the entrance exam to the Da Nang University of Technology. Being an Agent Orange victim, Lan has a modest height of 1.15 meters. However, the tiny student has a very high eagerness for higher education.
Lan said she dreams of passing the exams to be able to follow university education, so as to get more knowledge and find jobs to earn her living.
When asked about the exams, Lan said she is not really satisfied with the math and chemistry exam works, and she is not sure if she can pass the exams. However, she said she would keep optimistic.
“If I fail, I would return home and review lessons again to prepare for the next year’s exams. I want to go to a university,” she said.

Traveling 300 kilometers on bicycle to the exam room
On the morning of July 3, a young man was seen riding on the Highway No. 1A, heading to Hanoi. Feeling tired, he stopped and dropped into a tea shop to ask for a glass of water. After taking a rest, he set off for Hanoi again.
He is Nguyen Van Thuan, a student who registered to attend the entrance exam to the land forces school. As Thuan did not have much money, he decided to ride bicycle to Hanoi.
Departing in Nghe An province at 1 pm, Thuan arrived in Thanh Tri district in Hanoi at 9.30 am of the next morning. As such, Thuan traveled 300 kilometers with just one bottle and glass and some loafs of pure bread. Thuan only has 30,000 dong in his pocket, the sum of money which is just enough to pay for a popular lunch in Hanoi.
Thuan planned everything for his trip to Hanoi: he would have bread for meals, drink boiled water and sleep in front of the school, under the lamp post.
However, Thuan did not fulfill his plan. A policeman, after hearing about Thuan’s conditions, decided to give urgent help to Thuan. He could sleep on a bed in a rental room and had rice for his meals.
Thuan said he is satisfied about the exam works, and he hopes he can pass the exams to fulfill his dream of studying further to be able to become a good citizen in the society.

Accident could not prevent female student from attending exam
Two days before leaving for school to attend the university entrance exams, Huynh Thi Hai Minh in Quang Nam province got a motorbike accident, which cut her hoof tendon. When she was hospitalized, the physicians told her that she needed urgent surgery.
After the surgery, Minh insisted on leaving the hospital to attend the university entrance exam. “Papa, I have to attend the exam, even if die,” she said to her parents.
Minh left the hospital with some pain relief tablets, serious wounds and the determination to attend the exams. And she solved the exam questions with leg in a plaster cast. Right after the exams, she left for the home village.

The student who went to school in a wheelchair
He is Ho Van Lai in Da Nang City, who intended to attend the exam to a university to study information technology. Lai could not walk on his foot, because he became disabled in his childhood from a mine accident.
Being a disabled, Lai never thought of giving up learning. Finishing high school, Lai is determined to follow higher education at universities.
“I have to make every effort to be able to study. I will never be discouraged,” he said.
Source: Dan tri, An ninh thu do

Bài này tớ đọc hơi chậm vì dạo này hơi lười :">
Tớ thấy có một số từ mới như sau:

- extraordinary (a) phi thường
- agent orange victim: nạn nhân chất độc màu da cam
- to catch one's attention (v) được sự chú ý của ai đó
- to be seen doing st: được nhìn thấy đang làm gì (a young man was seen riding...)
- to drop into a tea shop: ghé vào quán nước
- to set off (v) bắt đầu hành trình, lên đường
- the land forces school: chỗ này tớ ko biết, ai biết chia sẻ nhé :">
- as such (chứ ko phải such as nhé): (adv) theo nghĩa thông thường, theo đúng nghĩa đen
- lamp post (n) đèn đường
- số ngày + before/after...: bao nhiêu ngày trước khi/sau khi ... (2 days before leaving...)
- hoof tendon: chỗ này cũng ko biết :D
- to insist on doing st (v) khăng khăng, nhất định làm gì
- pain relief tablet: thuốc giảm đau; pain relief: sự giảm đau
- plaster cast (n) khuân bó bột; leg in a plaster cast: chân bị bó bột

Mong mọi người ủng hộ trở lại nhé, tớ thành thật xin lỗi vì sự lười biếng của mình, sorry rất nhiều :(
 
HAHAHA
bạn ghost_hieu đã trở lại
ủng hộ nhiệt tình luôn
mình thấy bạn học t.a rất tốt và mình muốn học hỏi nhưng mà vì biết ít nên k thảo luận được nhiều mà phần lớn chỉ thu nhặt cách hiểu của mn thui
hì hì hì
cố gắng hem bạn!!!!!!
 
Haizz, có vẻ mọi người ko quan tâm rồi :(
Thôi, mình post bài 3 để cùng thảo luận nhé.
Bài này hơi dài nhưng có vẻ hay, mong là được sự quan tâm của các bạn

Life And How To Survive It
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_alva8EXB0vs/SJRZ2MENtqI/AAAAAAAAAxo/P32D3gzVNrs/s1600-h/adrian.jpgToday I have an old friend as my guest contributor. Adrian Tan is a litigation lawyer at one of Singapore's leading law firms. Outside the courtroom, he is known for a variety of funny things, including The Teenage Textbook, which he wrote in the late 1980s. The book became a cult classic among students of that generation and was adapted into a film 10 years later.
Adrian had read my previous post and emailed to tell me that by coincidence, he'd just given a speech along the same theme. Cherian George had invited Adrian to be the guest-of-honour at an NTU convocation ceremony last week, and this is Adrian's speech to the graduating class of 2008:
Life and How to Survive It
I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.
My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.
On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.
Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.
And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.
Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.
The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.
You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.
The good news is that they’re wrong.
The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old.
That is your life expectancy.
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.
Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.
So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.
I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.
After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.
Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.
That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.
What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.
Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.
Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.
The most important is this: do not work.
Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.
Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.
There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.
People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.
Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.
Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.
I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.
So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.
Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.
Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.
I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.
One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.
I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.
Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.
Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.
Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.
You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.
Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.
Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
You’re going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there’s no life expectancy.
 
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