User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Talking about Talking in Chinese

刺 ci4 (thorn)

制 zhi4 (manufacture)

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

I'm going to half disagree with you Barbs, but not strongly, you are on the right track. :-) I feel strongly qualified to comment because I have been buying a lot of flowers lately. You will recall that we have a drought in Yunnan - in the past six months the price of a bunch of flowers has rocketed from 2 RMB to 5 RMB! And if you buy two bunches they will sell them for 4 RMB. I have been buying up to support the farmers - we have more bunches than vases - the poor buggers are struggling. For the record I use 一把, 两把 。。 等等。

The main distinction is between one stem, and a bunch.

一枝 yi zhi and 一朵 yi duo (one stem)

一束 yi shu and 一把 yi ba (one bunch) - I would say that the former is more formal, but that is just a feeling I have.

I have never heard of the other words.

Posted on: Describing Fear

I made the following post a couple of weeks back in 'I Heard it on the Street'; it has just become topical!

When driving along a busy road at night, suddenly someone riding a scooter veers across right in front of you, as though without a care in the world, .. the driver of the car yells 啊呀，太恐怖了！tài kǒngbù le (Wow, scary...!)  No blowing of horns, no abuse, no social comment, just ... wow, scary!! 

Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: He's Not Stupid

购物 is a formal word for shopping - eg. 购物中心 (shopping centre). You don't use it in normal conversation unless referring to a shopping centre etc.

Posted on: Sending a Fax

Hmm, I am no match for your grammar books; I am ashamed to say I do not even have a grammar book. I have been thinking about buying one though.

Ok, for some verbs, such as 过，the directional complements are 过来 and 过去. But these complements do not work for all verbs and I think 发 is such a verb. Agreed 发出 is not a perfect opposite for 发来 - but 发出 can be used to convey the idea of disseminating something (such as faxes from a fax machine I would think). The other meaning for 发出 is as you say associated with expelling something like a smell. :)

Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: He's Not Stupid

去买东西 ..

Posted on: Sending a Fax

The fax is travelling from a remote point to the speaker (or to the person who is receiving the fax who we may assume is standing next to the speaker) - hence 来 is correct.

Has A received the fax B sent? (Both A and B are remote to the speaker).

他[B]发来的传真她[A]收到了吗？I think - hopefully someone will step in if there is a better way of expressing this.

Posted on: Sending a Fax

In case you don't hear from ChinesePod I will throw in my bit. 来 here is a complement of direction (all of the Nciku examples demonstrate the point - something moving from a remote position to the speaker.) I am just agreeing with Zhenlijiang. In a similar vein you have 发出 (a complement of direction working in the opposite direction) but I cannot think of any other complements of direction for the verb 发。 Anyone else?

Posted on: Discussing Contract Renewal

Hi idesofmarch

Your question reminds me of American films where a characters says that they prefer job A to job B because they 'offer dental'. This only makes sense in a country without fringe benefits tax - unless there is a tax benefit, why would anyone want their employer to provide 'health benefits'? It makes more sense to take the money and choose yourself what kind of health cover you want (or none), doesn't it? 'Health benefits' seems to be a strange artefact in the land of free enterprise - actually I suppose no one uses that expression since the taxpayer bailed out companies like General Motors - it is strange in a country that places such high value on individual choice. In China, where most people work below the income tax threshold, there would be no personal advantage in receiving 'health benefits.' Only an (American) economist would raise the possibility of there being some net social benefit in making it compulsory - I would say that a social benefit is unlikely because Chinese people in general are so risk averse (they tend to self-insure, without Government coercion.}

Posted on: Talking about Talking in Chinese

不用谢！