User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Earlier and Later than Expected: 才and 就
August 17, 2009 at 5:59 AMHi monica5
你可以说“这正好是我想对老公说的话”。想不到你真的有老公！
Posted on: What's Your Job?
August 16, 2009 at 8:33 AMHi orangina
I happened to find the word "poesy" in the largest online English dictionary in Japan. And...... I misspelled it, hehe! (I've just corrected it, thanks for pointing that out!) I've never seen the word so far, and maybe I will never see it for the rest of my life.
Posted on: What's Your Job?
August 16, 2009 at 7:51 AMHi caralos
That's right. You should say "CP, 你们做得很好！" (You guys are doing very well). Very roughly speaking, 做 is used for words that mean "making/doing something concrete/mundane", such as 做饭 (cook)，做桌子 (make a table)，订做 (order made). And 作 is for making/doing something abstract, like 作诗 (poesy)，作曲 (music composition)，and 作业 (homework). 做 is more conversational than 作, and 作 is often seen in written words and chengyu. For that matter, the character 做 has a far shorter history than 作.
Posted on: Juiced!
August 16, 2009 at 5:04 AMHi yingxiong
In the case of 一起, it's "yi4 qi3", but not "yi1 qi3". The tone of "一" (yi1) doesn't change only when the character is used ....
(1) in a number, like 1998年
(2) in an ordinal number, like 一月，一号，第一名
(3) as the last character in a word, like 统一，万一，同一
Posted on: Earlier and Later than Expected: 才and 就
August 16, 2009 at 4:30 AMHi victor_n
P/S. The second "电话" in (2) in my previous posting might be superfluous.
（2） 我等他的电话等了一上午，他下午一点才打来。
In the case you are not qualified to participate in a contest, you can say "我不能参加这个比赛", for example.
Posted on: Rock, Scissors, Cloth
August 16, 2009 at 3:35 AMHi li4wei3
Here is a more detailed explanation on the origin of 猜拳 in Wikipedia (traditional Chinese), which advocate the theory of "from China to Europe/America via Japan". Sorry, only Chinese.
“石头、剪子、布”的起源有三种说法，有中国起源说，非洲起源说和爱尔兰起源说。现在通过对史料的考正中国是才石头剪子布的真正起源。“石头、剪刀、布”作为猜拳的一种，在中国早有文献记载。《全唐诗》录诗《招手令》，以用比喻手法生动描绘了类似的游戏。[1]根据明人謝肇淛所撰的《五雜組》一书，猜拳的传统可以追溯到汉朝的手勢令。明李日华《六研斋笔记》载云：“俗饮，以手指屈伸相搏，谓之豁拳，又名豁指头。”在明清小说中，记载更多。《红楼梦》第六十三回写云：“彼此有了三分酒，便猜拳赢唱小曲儿。”《水浒传》第一百零九回写云：“猜拳豁指头，大碗价吃酒。”清朝人赵翼有诗云“老拳轰拇阵，谜语斗阄戏"。[2] 中国人和韩国人一般都叫“石头、剪刀、布”.而日本人则叫做“石头、剪刀、纸”，与美洲、欧洲的叫法相近。这个事实说明“石头、剪刀、纸”是从中国传入日本以后再由19世纪的日本传入欧美的。台灣人的臺語式玩法，也是以纸代替布，與日本較近。
Posted on: Earlier and Later than Expected: 才and 就
August 16, 2009 at 3:11 AMHi victor_n
Here are my translations. (1) is the same as yours.
(1) 他今年才学会游泳。
(2) 我等他的电话等了一上午，他下午一点才打电话来。
"他不会参加比赛" should be translated as "He (probably) won't take part in the contest." In the case you want to say something like "He won't take part in the contest because, for example, his doesn't have enough technique/skill/time/money etc.", you can say "他不能参加比赛".
Posted on: Traditional Chinese Medicine
August 16, 2009 at 2:55 AMHi bababardwan
As you said above, 小王 is not necessarily a child. If the guy "王" is younger than you, you can call him 小王. It's just a matter of comparison. If you want to make sure that 小王 is translated as "Mr. Wang" without context, you should use "王先生" instead of 小王.
Posted on: What's Your Job?
August 15, 2009 at 11:19 PMHi wuttae and tvan
值班 is "on duty", and the word is often used when you're talking about "shift work", "night duty", and "holiday work". 值班 can be used for all kinds of workers/people, including doctors, teachers and even students.
Posted on: 沙漠寻踪五
August 17, 2009 at 11:51 AM从今天的对话来看，名过其实，麒麟人不像我想像的那么厉害。他们肯定没有拯救地球环境危机的力量。麒麟人，你们该下课！