User Comments - John
John
Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds
June 9, 2010 at 9:28 AM你就知道很有意思的说法！ hehe
Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds
June 9, 2010 at 9:26 AMWe actually have been doing it for a while... Not every lesson, of course, but there are other examples in the archives.
Posted on: Love Tangle 8: The Good Husband
June 8, 2010 at 2:31 AMGlad you enjoyed it. It's definitely a part of the authentic China experience.
Posted on: Insecticide
June 7, 2010 at 8:13 AMNo problem!
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
June 7, 2010 at 8:13 AMCalling on the phone is somewhat intrusive. It sends an implicit message: "I want to talk to you now, so you should drop everything you're doing and talk to me."
Twitter, like email (and these comments), is asynchronous, and thus less intrusive. The other side replies when they have time to do so. It can also be very close to realtime, depending on how often you check replies and respond. But that's entirely up to the users.
Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an
June 7, 2010 at 6:17 AMThey're also afraid that breaking in will destroy priceless artifacts. Just the air from outside entering the chamber could do immediate irreversible damage.
Don't worry, though, there's a Jackie Chan movie that reveals all the secrets... :P
Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an
June 7, 2010 at 6:15 AMI also went to the "Qin Shi Huang Museum of Torture" (I don't remember the actual name). He was famous for being so ruthless in his methods, and this whole museum was devoted to explaining his cruel means of punishment. The displays were life-size depictions of the various types of torture being carried out (by mannequins). Very gruesome.
Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an
June 7, 2010 at 3:10 AMHere are two stories for you:
1. Who actually discovered the Terracotta Warriors
2. Curse of the Terracotta Army: How those who discovered relic suffered ruined lives
There are a few details between the two stories that are not consistent. Anyway... enjoy!
Posted on: Insecticide
June 3, 2010 at 5:44 AMAh yes, boric acid... That's the white powder we mentioned in the podcast that I couldn't remember the name for at the time.
Posted on: Gone Fishing
June 10, 2010 at 2:51 AMdunderklumpen,
A 渔网 (yúwǎng) is a fishing net, but it's normally the huge kind thrown from a fishing boat, not the kind you hold in your hand. Note that the character is 渔 and not 鱼, because it refers to the action of "fishing" rather than just "fish." It's also possible to write 鱼网 (yúwǎng), though.
Jiaojie called this kind of net a 捞鱼的拍子 (lāoyú de pāizi), literally, "a racket for catching fish," which can be abbreviated to 鱼拍 (yúpāi).
It's interesting to me that the Chinese seem to consider the shape of this object more important than the function, opting to call it a 拍子 rather than a 网. But then language often doesn't make much sense; it's not exactly a conscious decision by society. :)