Personality and Character

　　I: Do you think you are introverted or extroverted?

　　C: I think I'm introverted (extroverted). / I'm quite outgoing, I think. I enjoy mixing and doing things with others. / I'm quite outspoken (frank, candid). I enjoy calling a spade a spade and hate talking in a roundabout way. So I'd call myself outgoing. / I wouldn't call myself introverted though sometimes I'm reserved and enjoy staying all by myself, often and often I like sharing activities with others.

　　I: Would you describe yourself as more i outward-looking or more inward-looking?

　　C: I like being around .people and doing things with people, so outward-looking, I guess. / Well, I'm not very outward-looking, so I'm afraid you'd have to'sayi'm a fairly reserved person. / I'm not really sure maybe partly both. In class, I was always active, but around my friends I'm prettyquiet.

　　I: Are you more of a follower or a leader?

　　C: I don't agree with someone else's opinion if I think he's wrong, but when I understand his thinking and see he has some good ideas, then I'm very happy to go along with him. / I don't try to go ahead of people and lead them. I'd rather cooperate with everybody else, and get the job done by working together.

　　I: What kind of personality do you think you have?

　　C: I'm easy to approach and friendly to everyone. / I'm inclined to think independently. / Frankly, I have a inquiring mind. / I think I'm a cooperative worker. / Well, I approach things very enthusiastically. I don't like to leave something half-done. I can't concentrate something else until the first thing is finished. / I believe I'm imaginative and creative. / I feel that I'm initiative and aggressive. / To dome justice I'm always conscientious and responsible in doing things. / To tell you the truth. I'm an honest and reliable (dependable) man.

　　I: What are your weak points (faults, weaknesses) and strong points (strengths)?

　　C: People say that I tend to do a thankless business. I can take on jobs that bother other people and work at them slowly until they get done. I enjoy that sort of thing that's a good point, I suppose. But the reverse of that is I tend to be withdrawn. I need to go out and be with other people more, so I'm working on that. / Sometimes I lack patience in what I am doing. However, I'm very careful with my work. / As a young girl, I'm a bit shy around people. That's my weakness. But I'm patient both with people and my work. / Well, I'm afraid I'm a poor talker, and that isn't very good, so I've been learning how to speak in public. I suppose a strong point is that I like developing new things and ideas.

　　I: What do you think is the most important thing for you to behappy?

　　C: For me, this would be having good relationship with my family members. My family has always been very closeknit and we still spend a lot of time together. We all depend on one another for spiritual support and without that I would be much less happy than I am. / In my opinion, having a good wife is the most important thing for one's happiness. As the old saying goes: a good wife makes a happy husband. / I maintain that the most important thing is having good friends. A person can't live all by himself, I think. It takes a lot of people working and cooperating together. A friend in need is a friend indeed. So the more really close friends I have, the better.

　　I: Do you have any people you'd call really close friends?

　　C: Yes, I'd call several of my former classmates really close friends. We often get together and talk with each other. Whenever I meet with difficulties they're always ready to lend me a hand. / Yes, but they've all moved to distant places, and we rarely have the chance to meat. Still, we keep in contact through letters and phone calls, so our friendship remains as close as ever.

　　I: Would you say you have a lot of friends, or just a few?

　　C: Not so many, but not really a few, either, I suppose.There are about seven people that I see quite a bit of now. They're all my good friends. .

　　I: Can you name one person you respect very much?

　　C: I respect the late Premier Zhou Eixlai very much. He devoted his whole life to serving the people by working hard and living simply. / My philosophy professor in the university. She had so much humor and vitality and I was deeply impressed with her tactfulness. She could make a person see the contradictions in his thinking without making him feel foolish. I learned a lot from watching the way she applied herself to her teaching, and how she led studentsto see things. / Our monitor. He studies well and is capable of organization. Besides, he is quite amicable to everyone.

　　I: What attitude do you take towards life?

　　C: Time is money and efficiency is life. That is the motto I

　　live by in my life. Whatever I do, I always seize the hour and attach importance to efficiency. / Time and tide wait for no man. So we mustn't put off till tomorrow what can be done today. I've found out that time and money get away very easily you think you are in possession of them, and they're gone! Putting things off just makes it worse later, so even if it's hard at the time, I try to get things done that day and not to let them go.

　　I: What basic principles do you apply to your life?

　　C: Working hard and being frugal are both virtues. I strive to practise these two virtues ifi mylilte. / Itry to keep to a regular schedule every day. When I don't, my body isn't in good shape, and neither is my mind, so I've been. sticking to regular schedule for more than ten years.