Eighteen, Elective Courses
Although math and science can be dry and English class can be a chore, there are some courses that are like seasonings, making the tense academic life not always so dull.
Due to the formulation and implementation of the Military Service Act, the military training implemented by college students is actually trained as a reserve. Therefore, in addition to the first month of military training when entering university, it is also required to take a year of military theory courses. In other words, once the war starts, the country can directly supplement these trained college students as reserve officers, or even directly supplement them to the front-line troops with heavy casualties.
The military instructor who taught us military theory had lectured to us during our military training. He was a scholarly type of soldier, tall and thin, wearing glasses, and if he weren't in uniform, you wouldn't think he looked like a soldier at all.
Lu Jiao Guan particularly enjoys discussing "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and Clausewitz's "On War" during his classes. He also frequently cites famous examples from the history of warfare, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign. For instance, when lecturing on the Falklands War, he spoke at length about the historical context, causes of the war, Argentina's pre-war preparations and surprise attack, Britain's response measures, and the military, political, and diplomatic confrontations between the two sides, covering six lessons in total. This largest local war since World War II, which occurred eight years ago, has indeed attracted attention and research from various quarters. Lu Jiao Guan clearly put a lot of effort into studying the Falklands War. He is very familiar with many events and data; when introducing the final landing battle of the British army, he can even quickly draw simple military topographic maps on the blackboard.
Most boys like to attend military theory classes, but girls fall asleep. Lin Fanghua is an exception. She thinks that a high-level military researcher explains the history of war in a way that is easy to understand, and it's not much different from listening to Yuan Kuocheng or Shan Tianfang tell stories. So every time Lin Fanghua sits in the front row, she listens very happily. Even the English words that need to be memorized for other classes are not used to distract her at this time.
When the instructor finally finished the lesson on the Falklands War, he left a thinking question after class: to ask everyone to write down their thoughts on this war. The other girls were scribbling a few paragraphs of comments and whatnot in their books, but Lin Fanghua spent an entire evening's self-study time writing thousands of words of commentary. She also commented on the gains and losses of both sides in the war, but later mainly connected it to China and made a long speech. As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, China's military strength, especially its naval and air power, is far from sufficient to defend China's coastline. China's territorial waters, such as many islands in the South China Sea, have been secretly occupied and developed into oil fields by other countries, but only diplomatic protests have been made, and it is impossible to strongly defend the sovereignty of remote islands like Britain. The fundamental reason is still the lack of strong military strength and national power as a backing. Development is indeed China's top priority, and only when China becomes strong and has the ability can it achieve "winning without fighting" and thoroughly resolve territorial disputes over sovereignty. Just as the great man predicted, there will not be a world war in the international community for decades to come, but local wars will never cease. The army cannot put down its arms and stop advancing because of economic development. The undefeated army has a trend of complacency, but it is unaware that its weapon technology, strategy, and tactics have already fallen behind several major powers, and the gap in naval and air power is even greater. In the future, China should continue to take the road of downsizing and streamlining its military, and in terms of national defense scientific research, it should still adhere to independence and self-reliance, and not simply purchase foreign weapons. It should also send more excellent talents abroad for study and exchange, and grasp the latest developments and dynamics of international military affairs in a timely manner... In short, the whole text is full of a sense of worry and concern.
When the instructor saw this assignment, he was quite surprised, and when he knew it was written by a girl, he was even more amazed. When he communicated with Teacher Guo Mei about the situation, he also learned about Lin Fanghua's background, and he couldn't help but feel relieved. With her family background, she cared so much about national defense construction, which was not surprising at all.
The military class also introduced some simple content about military geography, which sounds a bit headache-inducing. The instructor arranged a simulated map-reading and reconnaissance exercise. It was to hide some intelligence throughout the campus, then have students form teams, use the coordinates provided by the instructor to find designated locations, and at those locations, find new clues, and so on, until they found several pieces of intelligence, which were finally combined into complete intelligence. Of course, the difficulty level of the exercise was very low, with the target locations usually marked with clear red circles, even if you didn't know how to read maps, you could still find them by wandering around the campus for half a day. Classmates treated it as a game, running around the campus shouting and laughing, quickly finding the intelligence with ease, returning to the classroom to report to the instructor, and considering the task complete.
In short, attending military theory classes was a pleasure for Lin Fanghua, equivalent to entertainment and rest.
Physical education is the same, it can exercise the body, enhance physical fitness to cope with heavy learning tasks, and make people feel relaxed and happy. This has been proven in medicine, when people exercise, the level of endorphins in the body increases, making people happy and increasing their sense of well-being.
However, the university requires a pass in physical education. Anyway, practicing one item and taking another, it's not difficult for Lin Fanghua to get through every day with exercise. However, although she runs every morning, she is far from passing the 100-meter test compared to Guo Ling, who rarely exercises, which makes her very depressed.
Later, I asked my brother Lin Zhengyu, who teaches physical education, and only then did I know that there are two types of muscles in the human body. One is white muscle, which has strong explosive power but poor endurance, and the other is red muscle, which has weak explosive power but can endure hard work for a long time. The proportion of red and white muscles in the human body is determined at birth, so sprinters cannot be good at long-distance running at the same time. Lin Zhengyu himself is a person with agile movements and strong explosive power, and as his sister, I naturally have a similar muscle type. Guo Ling's physique was indeed a bit like that of Wang Junxia, the "Oriental Deer" who later became famous, with long legs and a slender body, no wonder she could run 100 meters very easily. Since people have different talents, there is nothing more to say about it.
Next, the physical education class will test the volleyball project again, which is not a standard but needs to be included in the final grade. It's easy to pass, one can serve the ball over the net 6 times, and two can continuously use their arms to volley 20 times.
Don't look at Brother Lin Zhengyu being the school's volleyball team captain, but his sister Lin Fanghua doesn't like volleyball one bit. For some reason, Lin Fanghua's forearms seem to be especially afraid of pain. So when she first came into contact with volleyball, after blocking the ball twice, she was scared off by the severe pain in her arms and the subcutaneous bleeding points, and from then on refused to play volleyball again. In addition, she almost never participates in other sports, at most watching matches under the influence of her father and brother, just being a "fake fan".
This time, because of the exam, she had to take out some time to practice. Serving was okay, she could barely use her fist to poke the volleyball over the net, but receiving serves was completely hopeless. Her arms were always stiff, and after a couple of bumps, the ball would fly away in an instant. Originally not fond of volleyball, she grew even more disgusted with it. But for the sake of passing, she had no choice but to ask her brother to come to the university sports stadium in the afternoon to give her technical guidance.
After all, professionals are different. When Lin Zhengyu demonstrated to her, the toss was too standard. The ball was completely under his control, and the height of the bounce and the position of the fall were always accurate to the millimeter. And his relaxed appearance seemed to say: as long as he wanted, the ball could jump endlessly on his arm without going anywhere else. He did this for nearly 100 times, still without any flaws. Even people around the playground who were exercising couldn't help but cast admiring glances over.
Under the patient guidance of her brother, Lin Fanghua gradually understood some techniques: when receiving the ball, both forearms were not directly rushing towards the ball, but instead retracted a little, retreated a little, and "received" the ball before holding it up, so as not to "hit" the ball flying. After several practices, Lin Fanghua was also able to continuously bounce two or three dozen balls. However, even though she paid attention to her strength, subcutaneous hemorrhages still appeared on the skin of her arms.
Lin Fanghua also wanted to be a surgeon in the future, so she was more nervous about her arms and had a psychological reluctance to get injured. Since she could already pass, she stopped practicing.
In the end, she still couldn't like volleyball. As a volleyball setter, Lin Zhengyu was puzzled, how could his own sister not have any sports cells at all?
