User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: 新能源

Changye 优酷网 used to be very very slow for me, but seems to have gotten faster recently. It's still slow to load, but once uploaded I can see the videos no problem. As you know, 土豆网 is always "sorry that they can't serve the region I'm in".

Posted on: 新能源

As tjmaz brings up--however it's the other way around isn't it, the the English is the original (and I wouldn't say the Chinese is the translation of the English; it's the Chinese copy)--Impossible is Nothing is the tagline Adidas has been using in their ads for some years now.

David: "In today's dialogue we find a certain ad slogan don't we Jiaojie."

Jiaojie: "Yes, this is an ad slogan we've been seeing a lot on TV these days."

David: "The English is Impossible is Nothing isn't it."

Jiaojie: "Right, and the Chinese is ”一切皆有可能”... etc.

Companies like Adidas and Nike always have these big build-up campaigns before the World Cup and such major sporting events. I'm not in China and haven't seen anything firsthand but would guess that's what Jiaojie means.

Here's one from 2006 (build-up to the previous World Cup) I think.

Impossible is Nothing is ad copy; it's not the same as "anything is possible" or "all things are possible". The copywriters wanted to use "Impossible". I think you could even say they "topicalized" Impossible in this case. Adidas has also done a series of inspirational ads with star athletes telling their own stories of overcoming the odds.

But in any case CPod isn't saying here that 一切皆有可能 is "impossible is nothing"; they give us "anything is possible" in the Vocab section.

Posted on: Progress Tracking and Grammar Guide

Mm well your national team gets respect (our girls are good, they're actually fun to watch. the guys--I was like wow, they saw a point in making the long journey to South Africa); surely that counts more than a population of armchair coaches and amateur critics (I know, me too).

Hey why not let on that you like soccer? I'm sorry though, if I made you feel a need to explain. I came under the impression this wasn't a subject that really interested you (and wasn't critical if so. just because many people around the world are crazy about it, everybody doesn't have to be), but anyhow shouldn't have gone and been a smartass and linked that to your being American.

Posted on: New Year's Wishes

I'm also hearing a slight variation there. Sounds to me like "你疯了吗，你呀！" There hasn't been a response on this; could someone confirm or correct please? 谢谢

Sometimes, as in this lesson, the audio for the Expansion sentences is very faint and hard to hear. The speed is fine.

Posted on: Progress Tracking and Grammar Guide

Oh I completely forgot about Socceroos. Sorry if I've hurt your feelings Bodawei (churlish--? I don't think so ...).

Anyone else then, we're still leaving out?

* They could make it more interesting for us by allowing our players to use their hands too. *

Posted on: Progress Tracking and Grammar Guide

chinesecatherine, I think many of us hope it's something we can change by continuing to give feedback on it (some people may call us complainers for that).

I want very much to mark as Studied from the lesson page when I am done studying it. And by not allowing me to any more, CPod wastes my time every time I just want to do this, making me search my backlog for it yet again (as I had to do to get into it ... because I'm studying the lessons on my terms. and the dashboard is simply incapable of reflecting what I happen to be doing now).

I wish CPod would explain the reasons they've made this (a simple thing, isn't it?) so difficult for us users.

Posted on: Progress Tracking and Grammar Guide

haha, made me laugh how Catherine says we're all very excited about the World Cup then trails off with this what, every four years ... event. （＾－＾）
This is why when we had to get tickets to the 1994 finals (Brazil - Italy) in Pasadena on a couple days notice they were readily available, not bad seats either, for a reasonable price (if you think $450 apiece is reasonable. I thought it was, I wasn't paying for them.). It was way harder to secure accommodation around LA during that time (until the teams eliminated began leaving ... we were competing with the Argentinian squad and supporters for hotel rooms) but otherwise it was so mellow! Understandable though. The US is already saturated with professional sports leagues and stars and probably can't sustain more than limited interest in (men's) soccer. By the way it's called soccer by the Americans and the Japanese. The rest of the world calls it football.

Looking forward to the Grammar Guide. I believe you guys when you say a lot of work has been going into it!

Posted on: Insecticide

哟，哥斯拉当妈妈吗，没想到！

Posted on: Insecticide

Thanks Changye. Now please tell me where in China that grotesque moth is because I will never go near the area.

And please ask your wife about Gayla kites. I guess you'd outgrown kites by then, studying hard and watching anime. But every Japanese of our generation remembers. Those things were icons of that period like dakko-chan dolls and hula hoops the decade before.

Posted on: Insecticide

Entertaining, Tal, as always. Sounds like it all happened only yesterday too ...

But 哎呦 this is all I'm able to find for scuttler!

A suggestion, if ever in the mood to pick Bukowski's brain, is to get your hands on some pulp (from a real bookstore on the street. and it occurs to me now that one would also appreciate him much more after having spent some time in the US). Nothing against Kindle! but to me it's all about the paperbacks, with Bukowski. Call me obvious but I liked Post Office. Hollywood was "noir". I guess we fans have this romantic notion of his life, as chronicled through all his writings, as his best poem.