User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Buying a House

Hi christine30550

Thanks for sharing an interesting sentence. What an optimistic way of looking at loneliness ;-0

A 穷光蛋 is actually someone who's really poor. It's not related to being single.

Incidentally, 蛋 is used to scold or curse people quite a bit in Chinese:

王八蛋 sonofabitch

混蛋 bastard, good-for-nothing

And when you want to tell someone to SCRAM, you can say 滚蛋 (Roll away, egg!) although that really is quite strong.

Posted on: 日本动漫

Hi aikao,

热烈欢迎您加入我们community！

ChinesePod lessons 的题材那么丰富，那么多，偶尔碰到主持人不太了解的话题十分正常，意料之中的吧 ;-） 谢谢你跟大家说说自己的想法和经验。

Posted on: Pre-Marital Health Testing

Hi bababardwan,

Please check your PMs. But let's take a look at the sentence you mentioned:

提前預防總比到時候出了事強吧

In this case, 强 means "better, stronger." A more idiomatic translation for this phrase would be "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Or as I always like to say "a pound of prevention is worth sixteen pounds of cure" ;-)

You didn't ask, but I'd like to mention that I translated the line 我們談戀愛都七年了 as "We've been together for seven years." Here, the 都 is adding emphasis. Some people may be wondering where "being together" comes in. Although 谈恋爱 can mean "to date," "to court," here the best translation is "to be a couple." Hence the translation.

Posted on: Introducing Shen Yajin (Helen)

Hello all,

Thank you for your warm response to Poems With Pete.

旧的不去新的不來. Nothing lasts forever.

If there is enough interest, I could always do another season.

Anyway, I've been lucky to work with people like John, Matt. I'm also very grateful to the sound team, and to all the CPod teachers and staff who provided readings.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse

Hi xinjiapo2703

If we followed your advice, we'd exceed our monthly mayhem quota! But stay tuned...we haven't seen the last of Lao Wang.

Posted on: Thinking of my Brothers by Moonlight -- 月夜忆舍兄

Hi marygrace,

Thanks for your enthusiasm. Wenlin explains that the original meaning of 移 is "to transplant," which explains the grain radical 禾 on the left.

In modern usage, its meaning is broader-- "to transfer, to shift，to move." So in an 移情 construction, the poet is shifting his own objective perceptions and beliefs onto objective reality. Although the moon is actually equally bright around the world, in the poet's mind, it always shines brighter in his own hometown.

Hi questyn,

Thanks for sharing that information about the Dufu attractions in Chengdu. My big regret about my visit to that city is that at the time, I wasn't really interested in Chinese poetry. Anyway I was with a CITS tour, which makes it hard to do things on your own. Well, there's always next time!

Posted on: Thinking of my Brothers by Moonlight -- 月夜忆舍兄

Hi noelle_t,

Thanks for your warm words. As barto notes, Qu Yuan's works are a little difficult. He is a fascinating character, but I'm afraid we won't be hearing from him this Dragon Boat festival.

Posted on: Buying a House

Hi alexyzye

Many cities in China have a "university town." As real estate tends to be cheaper outside the city center, a group of colleges will often cluster together outside the urban center. Nanjing has a big one, and apparently Songjiang (an area near Shanghai) does too.

I know what you're talking about regarding free markets and mating, but it sounds a little like Social Darwinism to me. In the modern world, it's not ecological but rather social factors that determine who passes on their genes.

There are an awful lot of people in China and elsewhere who are rich and powerful (and get to have lots of sex children) not because of their resourcefulness but because of their connections, ruthlessness, and dumb luck.

If you can pardon an American example, think of our former President, who was memorably described as someone who was "born on third base but thought he hit a triple."

Posted on: Watching the Sun Go Down -- 登乐游原

Hi ewong,

So glad to hear that you got something out of this poem. I agree with your interpretation of the last line, although I believe Li Shangyin was thinking more of the cycles of history-- the sun is going down on a once-glorious empire. It may be dark for a long time, but dawn will come again.

Thank you for explaining about 无垠.

You could say 肚子不适， but it sounds very old fashioned. But in the poem, the poet is feeling mentally unwell- the full phrase is 意不适, which implies that he's feeling emotionally ill at ease.

Posted on: Buying a House

Hi juzi,

A car is definitely a big advantage for a young man here-- not just in the cities, but maybe even more in the countryside. I agree that they are not practical, but having a car gives you lots of face!

周围的邻居，不是开宝马，就是开奔驰，你要是开一日本车你都不好意思跟人家打个招呼！- That classic quote comes from Big Shot's Funeral.

As Jenny suggested, home ownership is not practical (or economically rational) for young urban people making three to eight thousand RMB per month, which is a pretty good range. Many people end up with a huge mortgage and become 房奴, literally "slaves to their house．＂