User Comments - aert
aert
Posted on: World Records
December 11, 2007 at 9:37 AMHi, Changye Being not very interested in sports I don't know who the soaring liu2 xiang2 is but I do admit that sports are a good way for players and public to blow off steam. Better to do so by kicking balls than by throwing bombs. But the introduction to this lesson is somewhat disparaging about eating contests. Now it is true that truth is stranger than fiction But fiction can be very much funnier than truth and there is a world champion eater in Damon Runyon's story "A Piece of Pie" in his bundle "Take it Easy". My copy is dated 1945 But I still read myself to sleep with it sometimes and recommended Runyon to many friends. One of his bundles has an introduction by Walter Winchell which ends by sayning "Go get a copy, and then thank Walter", if you do, don't thank me for that would only embarrass me but if you get it you won't regret it.
Posted on: Using ChinesePod
December 10, 2007 at 10:12 AMda4 jia1 hao ! I have a question about zai4 yi1 qi3 "(to be) together". Can this be used in a sentence like zui4 zhong4yao4 de shi4 zai4 yi1qi3 "the most important thing is to be together". The focus of my question is the force of zai4 in this case, I know you can say bu4 zai4 "he isn't there" eg. when you ask to speak to someone on the telephone.
Posted on: Hold the MSG
December 10, 2007 at 9:34 AMHi, Changye and Henning You two are really goldmines of information. I knew of MSG from a Lonely Planet Mandarin phrase book (qing3 bu4 yao4 fang4 wei4 jing4) and thought it was a mysterious substance to be avoided).Then I read it was originally made from kelp, which means it is at least something organic and natural. Then I read it is the same as maggi, which I have been ingesting all my life, and still use it when I screw up my courage and peel a lot of potatoes to make one of the Dutch varieties of hodgepodge which will last me a whole week. I feel like the man in Moliere's play who discovered to his surprise that he had been speaking prose all his life.
Posted on: Turbulence
December 9, 2007 at 3:02 PMHi, Changye I don't read science fiction with one exception, viz. Stanislaw Lem. In case you don't know him, here follows one reference (but anything he has written is very much worth while): "The Futurological Congress" ISBN 0-15-634040-2. He wrote in Polish but was very well translated into English.
Posted on: Turbulence
December 8, 2007 at 6:36 PMHi Changye For the last 35 years I have been flying to Vancouver every summer. It used to take 15 hours, now only 9 (direct KLM flight). I always have a book to read which makes me forget that I am on a plane. For years my favorite English author Kingsley Amis would produce a new novel (he himself had a "thing" about flying and never did), I would buy it and carefully refrain from reading it until we had taken off, for it must last the trip (I cannot sleep sitting up). Once in the '70's or 80's the Air Canada flight back was delayed for 1 hour, and then for another hour, until they gave us vouchers for dinner and told us to come back at 11.30PM, at which time they gave us hotel vouchers telling us to be back at 5:30AM. Even so it was over an hour before we left, and once in the air the captain gave his usual welcoming talk, whch went something like this: "....lcom.....oar....kyou....ying....ana..." causing some apprehension among some of the passengers. We got to Amsterdam alright (loud applause when we were back on the ground) in the mddle of the night. Some other means of communication must have failed, for we crowded before closed doors for some 20 min. until they opened. Memories, memories, I have too many of them by now.
Posted on: Turbulence
December 8, 2007 at 5:05 PMHi Chinesepod I was going to stop, but cannot help expressing my admiration and gratitude for two successive exceptionally satisfying lessons. The first very ingeniously combined a contest with a lot of information on Chinese cooking styles, the second gives talk ranging from fastening your seat belt to last wills, and it left time for reading other people's comments. Thanks for all your good work!
Posted on: 取消五一黄金周
December 5, 2007 at 5:48 PMHi, Changye and Henning Not for nothing the world has been called a "valley of tears", yet people remain optimistic, as shown by such sayings as "England will always muddle through" (the Russians have a similar one). The Chinese have muddled through longer than anybody else. And anyway, it is better to quarrel about vacations than about power, oil, territory, etc.
Posted on: 取消五一黄金周
December 5, 2007 at 11:49 AMHi Changye, Jennyzhu, Connie and Henry123 The Nov. 24th nr. of The Economist (p. 66, European edition) has an article "China's public holidays - Golden weeks or silver days?" It says that an internet poll gave 88% in favor of the rise of 1 in the total of holidays and 62% in favor of the scattered holidays. The online voters numbered 1.3 million. Also planned are 5 - 15 extra days (depending on seniority) to be taken up at the individual worker's choice. When I read this I thought 1.3m was but a tiny sample, and represented only people with access to the internet. Also, that many workers that moved to the more developed regions from afar would not be able to go home and return in one day. But I liked the idea of giving more prominence to the traditional Chinese holidays. The score at Chinesepod is 3 - 1 against (if I read everything correctly). It leaves me confused. I still have to tackle the newspaper article.
Posted on: 取消五一黄金周
December 5, 2007 at 6:15 AMHi Ngochuy They are Labor Day (May 1st) and the National Day (Oct. 1st). These represent "golden weeks" away from the job.
Posted on: World Records
December 11, 2007 at 6:59 PMHi, Auntie68 When I wrote to Changye this morning I still used the numerals for the tones. Since my computer guru was here this afternoon, I can do better (here I make the sign of the cross, a salaam to the half moon, a mental bow with folded hands to Buddha, here goes): ā á ǎ à and even ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ, which failed the previous time (and even the others only worked in Word and nowhere else). Thanks again for showing us, or rather him the initial direction. He is more used to spreadsheets than to pinyin fonts, but finally came up with a system even I can use. I promised to let you know, and you don't even have to take my word for it, for you have visible proof. More power to you!