User Comments - user28880

Posted on: Buying a Plasma TV

Didn't mean to leave comment twice. There doesn't seem to be a way to delete my comment.

Posted on: 户籍制度

This is a test to see if my avatar will work.  It has been a few months, glad to be back.  It worked.

Posted on: 十月怀胎

You really shouldn't be so dogmatic in your belief that Advanced students shouldn't need the English translation.  Since I don't have a teacher, I have learned how to read Hongloumeng with the English version to help me.  I like knowing how something might be said in English.  I disagree with not putting the English in the PDF version.  What is the harm?

Posted on: Harry Potter

Henning and guolanusa,

This is user28880.  What the heck are you talking about? Guess what?

guolanusa says

Thank you, Henning -

I should've been able to guess!

:)

Posted on: Harry Potter

They will bury me with my Besta 9500.

Posted on: Harry Potter

One of the book series I used when I started increasing my reading power was "10,000 weishenme."  This children's book provides useful vocabulary such as how cavaties are formed on teeth, why the sky is blue etc...  There are lots of scientific processes explained on a child's level.  The readings are short and extremely useful.

And Henning, sorry I haven't gotten round to changing my user name.

Has anyone ever seen Star Trek novels in Chinese?  I found some Asimov but not Star Trek.  Is there an online Chinese book store?  There seems to be no lack of Chinese text books, but I want to read science fiction novels. There aren't any Chinese bookstores in Oklahoma.  I'm waiting for the day when you can buy any book in any language you want on line.

Nurdle, try reading the 4th book with the English version nearby.  I highlight the words I don't know and look them up in the English version.  It is helpful for me in remembering the vocabulary when I remember the context as well.  I also have a very good electronic dictionary that I can write characters I don't know on the screen.  It's called Besta 9500. I picked it up in Hong Kong last summer.  You can save the vocabulary you want to learn and test yourself.  These electronic flash cards are a wonderful sleep aid when you wake up in the middle of the night with your mind racing.

Posted on: Harry Potter

Another good thing about Harry Potter is each novel becomes increasingly more difficult.  As Harry grows up, so do the novels.  As adults we don't get the benefit of being educated in the target language, so we have to go back and pick up the children's books and progress forward.  One must also know what a newt or a hippogriff 鹰头马身有翼兽is in Chinese.  There aren't any useless vocabulary words.

Posted on: Harry Potter

我刚刚把中文版的第四部看完。我学到了很多很有用词语。英文版的我读到了第六部。第七部在等着我，可我得先把中文版的读完才能开始看第七部。我认为最可惜的是中国人都以为哈利波特只是给小孩看的。我听说在教育方面中国人最缺的是想像力。想像力不是从每棵树能摘下来的。西方国家最聪明的科技学者还爱看星际旅行(Star Trek)什么的。比如：STEPHEN HAWKINGS, BILL GATES, STEPHEN KRASHEN 等等。手机，电脑，都先在星际旅行出现的。正言归传哈利波特不只是为了小孩看的。

Stephen Krashen, one of the big dogs of second language acquisition theorists, recommends reading for pleasure to increase one's second language ability.  As he said that, at a lecture I attended, he pulled a Star Trek novel out of his pocket to show us what he reads to improve his German.  从此他成了我的偶像.  Because of that workshop, I have read four Harry Potter novels and a few other fiction novels in Chinese.  My reading ability has improved leaps and bounds.  More importantly, I have enjoyed the process.

Posted on: 跳莎莎舞

An ugly illiterate man who can dance really well can have the most beautiful smart women fighting over him.  I've seen it happen.  Women are desperate for men who can dance.  A man who can dance will always have a woman. 

My late grandmother's boyfriend always had a woman.  He got married after my grandmother died (my grandmother refused to ever marry again).  He went on an Alaskan cruise with his new wife and danced from one ball room to the next at the age of 85.  He died of a brain tumor soon after, but he was only ill the last month of his life. 

Dancing can also keep you active and happy later in life, and when a spouse dies it can help get you back into life.

My grandmother went out regularly to dance at the senior citizens dance hall after her husband died.  She soon met a tall handsome man whom she lived with and went dancing with for 16 years until he came home one day from a dance, sat in a chair, and passed away-never spent one day in the hospital.  My grandma kept to her regular schedule after that and kept dancing.  Soon a short cutie with a bow tie took a liking to her.  They were together for 12 or 13 years until grandma died.  I remember her boyfriend once saying that the last years of his life had been the best with my grandmother.   My grandmother and her cutie boyfriend went dancing 4-5 nights a week.  My grandmother kept dancing until the last couple of months of her life. 

Get up and dance!

Posted on: 跳莎莎舞

How do you say "West Coast Swing" in Chinese?  That's my favorite dance.