高中英语阅读 Embracing life with an open heart

Rachel Liang has learned to have a positive life attitude.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC CHINA

LIFE didn't take care of Taiwanese singer and actress Rachel Liang (梁文音) when she lost both her parents at age 12. However, Liang said the experience taught her an important life lesson: she learnt to accept reality rather than bear a grudge (怨恨) when life is unfair.

"Once I used to ask myself why unlucky things only seemed to happen to me, but doing so only filled my heart with pain and resentment (怨恨)," said Liang. "Thinking such thoughts couldn't change the past, and won't do any good for the present."

Liang's life began to take off after she opened her mind to life's possibilities. When she acted in the Taiwan blockbuster Cape No 7 (《海角7号》), she received a lot of attention from the media. Recently, she has also released her debut album Love Poem (《爱的诗篇》).

Liang rose to fame through a series of singing competitions, such as One Million Stars (星光大道), in which she was a runner-up (亚军) in the program's second season.

"I developed my singing talent when I was a member of the chorus group in high school," said Liang, who enrolled as an English major at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (云林科技大学) in Taiwan,

Despite her strong passion for singing, she chose English as her major, because she thought it would be great fun to learn the language. Her English teacher taught her the language in light-hearted ways, such as playing films and songs, or hosting group discussions.

She says her English ability has helped her a lot when she's recorded songs in the studio. "A lot of introductions on how to operate the machines are written in English," she said, "I've always been able to easily learn how to use them."