User Comments - bill
bill
Posted on: A Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
August 09, 2012, 03:09 PM新的词差不多有意思，要不好像电视剧就是说无聊
Posted on: Why, Oh, Why?
March 17, 2012, 04:14 PM你们是我们的老师就以前凭什么没提到“凭什么”了？ Hey, just kidding :o) Excellent 请问 ...
Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
March 12, 2012, 04:05 PMYou might check out "Qing Wen - Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes."
Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
March 10, 2012, 07:56 PMFrom the "Poems with Pete" series. It's definitely worth reviewing this series. When my wife and I visited China two years ago, we visited an elementary school. I asked a young girl who was about 10 years old about this poem. She immediately recited it. Quite touching ...
清明
清明时节雨纷纷，
qīngmíng shíjié yǔ fēnfēn
路上行人欲断魂。
lùshàng xíngrén yùduànhún
借问酒家何处有？
jiè wèn jiǔjiā héchù yǒu?
牧童遥指杏花村。
mùtóng yáozhǐ xìng huā cūn
Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
March 10, 2012, 07:40 PM厉害！旅行的时候我总是带我的iPad 。。
Posted on: The Secret Cash Stash
February 07, 2012, 09:38 PM我用一样的办法 ...
Posted on: Chinese Empresses
February 06, 2012, 04:05 PMFor those of you who read French, there is an excellent fictional/historical account of the life of 武则天 written by 山飒 （Shānsà). The book is entitled Impératrice (Empress). Below is a brief bio of 山飒. She is a fascinating and brilliant young author:
Shan Sa was born as Yan Ni in Beijing, China, to a scholarly family. She adopted the pseudonym Shan Sa (山飒) from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi. At age 8, she published her first poetry collection, and went on to obtain the first prize in the national poetry contest for children under 12 years, an event that created a public upheaval. After graduating from secondary school in Beijing, she moved to Paris in August 1990 thanks to a grant by the French government. Settling there with her father, a professor at the Sorbonne University, she quickly adopted the French language. In 1994, she finished her studies of philosophy. From 1994 to 1996 she worked as a secretary of painter Balthus. Thereafter she published her first two novels and a collection of poetry, meeting with great critical acclaim including the 1998 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman (Prix Goncourt for first novel) for Porte de la paix céleste. In 2001 she reached the top of her success with the publication of her most famous book so far, The Girl Who Played Go (La Joueuse de Go in French). The book received good feedback from readers and was awarded a number of prizes, including the 2001 Prix Goncourt des Lycéens (Prix Goncourt of the High-school students) and has been translated to 32 languages.
Posted on: Teaching English to the Neighbors
January 09, 2012, 07:57 PMAbout three years ago there was a CPod newbie that was very active in various communities, and she asked for someone to help her with her written English. She's from 深圳, quite brilliant, and was thinking about going to a US University. I volunteered, and it was amazing to see how her skills improved over the next two years, or so.
We divided all of our teaching into two parts. English for her and written Chinese for me. She doesn't speak Mandarin. About one year ago her 妹妹 wanted to improve her written English and my 外孙女 volunteered since they are both 11 years old. They've now become good friends too.
The young woman I taught and continue to teach was married last November. She made a 婚礼视频 to share. I noted it was a 传统婚礼. Here's her response:
Hi Bill,
We call it 周制汉服婚礼. 周 means Zhou Dynasty(1046 B.C - 256 B.C), 汉 means Han Dynasty.汉服是中国最早的传统民族服饰，汉朝以后，服装进行了大变革，因为当时的汉朝不敌胡人，汉服极度不利于行动，汉朝屡战屡败，所以结合了胡服的特点进行改革。我们的是婚礼也是最古老的传统婚礼，和唐、宋、明等朝代的汉族婚礼还是有一些不一样的。我们叫这种衣服“汉服”，因为这是汉族的民族服饰，但是婚礼却不是汉朝的婚礼，是更古老的周朝婚礼。
So, as you see, I also learn a great deal about China from 我的好朋友. If one is open to it, then CPod can in fact create many learning opportunites for each of us. When my wife and I visited China in 2010, I phoned my friend. Our only common spoken language is English. She was nervous but WOW! she spoke and understood so well. For me this was very rewarding.
I'll see if it's OK for me to share the video with you. It was fun to see passerbys take out their phones and film "the parade."
Posted on: A Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
August 10, 2012, 06:25 AMHey Baba!
哈哈 这里我也看中文的电视剧。也有中文的字幕。所以看这些电视剧的时候好像上课。 故事有时候无聊的话我就可以享受看几个美女啊！