佳作
姓  名 陳均昇 學  校 國立台中第一高級中學 年  級 一年二十三班

得獎感言

英文感言:I think studying English isn’t difficult to anyone.You shouldn’t be afraid of it,and you should be the best friend of it.Love English,never say “NO”.I get the habit of reading the maganize and listening to English song.Try to find some graceful sentences,learn them,and remember in your mind.Sing to your friends,and you will gain more knowledge of English. I think the habit is quite helpful of improving my language skills.I’m grateful to my English teacher.She teaches us a lot of knowledge about the culture and the teachnique of writing.I’m glad to join this activity.I will study hard,and be better than before.

中文感言: 讀英文不是件很困難的事,不要把它當的困難重重,而是將它作為興趣。我平時有讀英文雜誌的習慣,並藉由老師補充的許多英文用字,加深加廣。課餘時間讀讀英文小說,比較它與我們的翻譯小說之差異,最後多多欣賞英文電影,聆聽英文歌曲,在平時就將其融入生活,在每次哼唱間,這一句句優美的句子就成為了我們的知識。很高興能參與這項活動,並留下不錯成績!我將繼續努力!

 

 

Money ball

When I first heard of the title “Money ball,” I thought it was only a book talking about baseball. But this is not true. The book contains useful concepts of statistics and economics, and it teaches us that money is not omnipotent, and that a small amount of money can generate great value. I came to realize that “Money ball” isn’t any ordinary book, it’s an extraordinary story about hard work, faith and the power of an analytical mind.

This story is about gaining a reversal victory. Billy Beane had been appraised a baseball genius, and everyone believed he could be a rising star, but now he was over the hill. Peter Brand was a Harvard University graduate who put his trust a in numerals when looking for excellent players. This partnership didn’t look like a winning combination. But they revered the fate of a baseball team which had been losing all the time and could only afford one-third of the wages that the New York Yankees gave its players. Out of blue, the loser team began to win one game after another. Everyone asked, “How could they do it?” It turned out that you don’t need to hire the best players or give them the highest wages to win the MLB games. It turns out that players could yield good results without having a good reputation.

I am a committed baseball fan, and this book offers me a special perspective to look at baseball games. I am surprised to learn about a revolution in baseball using principles of bond trading, and concepts of investment. For a long time, the team described in this book, the Oakland Athletics, had one of the lowest budgets in the MLB. And they hired players that were willing to accept low wages. In other scouts’ eyes, those players were just jack-of-all-trades and master of none. But under Billy Beane and Peter Brand’s instruction, the Athletics won so many games that they almost beat the New York Yankees, which was seen as the evil empire in the MLB.

Billy Beane, the manager of the Oakland Athletics, changed the traditional method of evaluating and drafting new players,with the help of Peter Brand, who saw the MLB from the perspective of business transactions.Together, they began to pursue players that did not have heroic data. They didn’t care about stature or velocity; instead, they placed importance on the statistic calculations of all the players’ data. In the beginning, they had been a laughingstock. But today, the style of baseball team management is in fashion, and the statistic practice has become standard. Many teams have used this strategy to win a world championship.

What fascinates me most is the story about Scott Hatteberg. Scott Hatteberg was an over-the-hill catcher who attracted interest from no team. But Billy Beane was not an average manager; he had an unusual way to look at players. He used Scott Hatteberg to be his first-base man. He didn’t want Hatteberg to perform defensive duty; he simply wanted Hatteberg to deplete the physical strength of the opponent pitchers. This way, Billy Beane paid the cheapest wage, but got a monster that was good for his purpose.

Most importantly, this book changes my attitude toward life. In modern times, people seem to judge a person by how much money he or she possesses. They seem to believe that with money, the world is yours. After all, money talks. In fact, this is not true.The book “Money Ball” tells me that you can be a winner even if you have no money. The key is to know how to develop a unique vision, and you will have a bright future. We control our own fate, and we can turn the tables and begin to win victory now!