User Comments - JasonSch

Posted on: 拥抱艾滋病人

To be clear, 绝症 means both incurable disease and terminal illness.

(现代汉语词典's definition is as follows: "指现在无法治好的疾病". The Contemporary Standard's is also along these lines)

Posted on: Western Zodiac

Here the 跟 indicates that the 一见钟情 was mutual, so a direct translation (I fell in love...) leaves that out. :)

Posted on: Can't Get to Sleep

The line was:

那你就数数吧。肯定能睡觉

Just count off some numbers then. You'll definitely be able to sleep.

Posted on: Christmas Dinner

In general, beef is cooked in these ways: well-done, medium-well, medium, medium-rare and rare. So, yep, medium-well is right in between well-done and medium.

In Chinese, a number system is used. 10 being well-done. Completely cooked through and likely a little burned. A normal rare is somewhere around 3-4, so medium-well is just about a 7-8.

Posted on: Fire in the Hallway!

Yeah, we'll get this one changed. I originally understood this statement as two sentences.

老板不太满意这个报告. 让我重新写一个.

And the context as the speaker offering to rewrite the report for the original writer. In this context, the 让我 can be understood this way in both English and Chinese. (especially if there were a 吧 at the end) But, the comma makes all the difference! Sorry for any confusion.

Posted on: Drunk Driving

Exactly right. The definition of 最近 is as follows:

"距说话前或后不久的时间"

Posted on: Moving In Together

Hi, calicartel.

照应 has two meanings. One 'to take care of', similar to the word 照顾 or 照料. The other, is to correspond, or coordinate. (配合，呼应)

The 照 part of the word is the 'taking care' and the 应 implies a mutual action. Hence, the 'each other'. You could also say, 互相照顾, to mean the same thing.

The 'coordinate' meaning of 照应 is used to refer to facts or details. (like in a document for example) So, in this context, he's referring to them being able to take care of each other. I just checked out the nciku page, and it has a few more examples of 照应, using both meanings.

The 'ex-classmates' thing is intentional. 同学 can be used to refer to a classmate you've had at any time in your life. In this context though, the speaker has already graduated and started working, so I wanted to used 'ex-classmates' to avoid any confusion.

Posted on: Computer Problems and Tech Support

No problem!

Posted on: Computer Problems and Tech Support

Baba, I was wondering the same thing about a restaurant. Can it be 乱七八糟? I asked a native speaker though and got a, '我们一般不用这个词去形容吃饭的地方'.

Posted on: Computer Problems and Tech Support

Glad you brought this one up. It's a good sentence for the expansions in that it gives another, different use of 乱七八糟. I don't have a definitive answer as to why it's used this way, but in reference to a bar, it means that the place is questionable. Specifically, the environment, the things that go on there, or the kinds of people that patronize it.