User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

Hi darkstar94, if the kid is unappreciative I think he could say "I skipped breakfast this morning so Mom made me bring a bun (for the road)". A less bratty kid could say "I skipped breakfast this morning so Mom gave me a bun (to go)". Both these connote I think images of the mom shoving the bun in the kid's schoolbag, or handing it to him.
He could also say "I skipped breakfast this morning so Mom told me to take a bun (to go)", especially if that is indeed what happened, if she told the kid to take the bread.

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

For this instance, being mom, a child and some bread, I think I would say (say the bread is a bun) "Mom had me take/bring a bun" or even "Mom gave me a bun to take/bring (to school or wherever)".
I think 让 here is more like "told" than "let" or "asked", but depending on the case I think it can be close to "she made me".

Posted on: End of the Year Bonus Surprise

在日本有‘奖金商战'这个说法（冬季的也叫做‘岁末·年末大商战'）。在中国有可能是‘春节商战'，是吗？
每年两次（夏季和冬季），临近发奖金前的几个星期间，各大厂商与零售商这样的大公司一齐加强促销宣传活动。不过这两三年经济这么萧条，大家拿奖金也首先要付款（奖金大概已经被列入偿还计划之中，就是说，奖金时期要偿还一笔比较多的钱）什么的，结果能花的钱很少。

另外，有‘圣诞节商战'、‘奥运商战（有人把奥运会【特别是夏奥会我觉得】看做一个换个视听电器的机会）'、还有正在展开的‘情人节商战（各种各样的顶级巧克力！）'、‘疼爱的孩子上小学商战（爸爸妈妈爷爷奶奶老爷姥姥=六个口袋都是对象）'、‘新职员（开始工作，搬家开始单身生活的人都需要买很多东西）商战'等等。终年有某种商战！

（说到我自己，是个体经营者，原来没有奖金能靠。）

I hope I've managed to say something close to:
In Japan there's what we call the "bonus sales battle" ボーナス商戦 bonus sho-sen (the winter one also known as the year-end sales battle 年末商戦 nen-matsu sho-sen).  In China I guess that would be "Lunar New Year's sales battle"?
So twice a year (summer and winter), in the weeks leading up to bonus time, major manufacturers and retailers all take their sales promotions up a notch. These few years however, with the economy as depressed as it is, people may get their bonuses, but after paying off their loans (bonuses are often already accounted for in payment plans, in other words at bonus time you have to pay a more significant amount than the usual monthly sum) and such, they end up with little money to actually spend.

Other sales battles are the "Christmas", the "Olympics (particularly for the summer games I think, some people see the Olympics as an opportunity to get the latest audio visual equipment)", the currently ongoing "Valentine's Day (high-end chocolates galore!)", the "dear little son/daughter entering elementary school (all six pockets--two pairs of grandparents + parents--are targeted)", the "entering the work force (new recruits starting at their first job, moving into their own place to start their new life have many things to buy) etc etc. There's some sales battle on, all throughout the year!

(As for me, I'm self-employed. No bonus to rely on.)

Posted on: 北京奥运会的筹备

In English too, we use the word "see" not just in the visual sensory meaning. To me, it seems a good translation of 看不出 to say "couldn't see / failed to see (something coming)"; I find that easy to make sense of in English.

Posted on: The White Spectrum of Meaning

Hi qiaojieming, one of the many meanings of 白 is line(s) in a play. So you also have words like 道白 (say one's lines), 独白 (monologue), 开场白 (prologue, introductory remarks), 科白 (an actor's gestures = 科 and lines = 白), 说白 (to speak one's lines, as opposed to 唱).
I can't say I'm at all familiar with 京剧, but a quick look at the descriptions of the roles says for instance that of the 旦 the soprano, female roles, the 正旦 consists mainly of singing and spoken lines, whereas the 花旦 consists mainly of gestures and spoken lines and so forth.
All this is my dictionary btw, not my own knowledge (yet).

Posted on: Designing the New Apartment 2

Baba I think he says 今天我们装修的目的是……

Posted on: Choosing a New Pair of Glasses

‘她看上去天真烂漫，其实精明过人。’——这是我日中词典里的一个例句。你说的让我想到一个日语的词，就是‘計算高い’= calculating。啊我知道，特意去受美女的骗，这是你们的终身无尽的爱好吧，呵呵。Haha I love this topic (the eternal folly of the male species) a bit too much.

反正我也觉得近视的女人（是因为她们就像是凝视你的瞳人儿的， 你很容易误解做梦！） 比耳朵沉的女人（经常跟你大声说‘啊？’‘说什么？’，这是一点的情调都没有哈）有魅力得多！

Posted on: The White Spectrum of Meaning

Don't worry smellyshelly, 美白产品没有什么‘明白’的效果啊！ If they really worked like their manufacturers would have us believe, cosmetic dermatology would cease to be such a lucrative field (in East Asia anyway).

* Question--Is this 美白 a term imported from Japanese? It isn't a "real" word in Japanese either.

Posted on: Taking it all off

Hey this is (already a year!) old, but it did bug me then and still does now. You can't 穿 a bra really can you Jenny? What about a life vest?
What about a large scarf (can be turned into an elegant haltertop, to be worn with or without a jacket), or a stole/wrap?

Posted on: Female takeover of ChinesePod!

What are you talking about--? Learning Mandarin (on, or off, CPod) is such a popular pursuit it's fairly embarrassing, if you are a nerd and have appearances to keep up.