User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: How're You Doing? 得
July 11, 2009 at 4:42 AMHi jenny and chiongzibide
Actually the character 泳 has a tendency to work as a noun in modern Chinese, like the 泳 in the words such as 蛙泳 and 仰泳, although the character has long been regarded as a verb "swim" in Chinese. That said, I still don't think that 游泳 is a "V + O" structure word. 游泳 has the same structure as that of 攻击, for example, which consists of two similar verbal characters 攻 (attack) and 击 (strike, hit).
Posted on: How're You Doing? 得
July 11, 2009 at 3:34 AMHi bababardwan
跳舞 has the "V + O" structure (just like 开车 or 结婚/离婚), where 跳 is a verb "dance, leap" and 舞 is a noun "dance", so you can say 跳一个舞，跳过一次舞，and 跳舞跳得很好. This type of words are a little difficult for us foreign learners to use properly.
Posted on: How're You Doing? 得
July 11, 2009 at 3:06 AM菲尔普斯游泳游得很快。
This example is very interesting. Actually, 游泳 is made of two verbal characters, 游 (swim) and 泳 (swim), which means that the word doesn't have a "V + O" structure. So it should be "游泳得很快" (not 游泳游得很快), but my grammar books also show examples such as "游过一次泳" and "游泳游得很好". By the same token, can you say 学习学得很好/学过一次习 or 摇晃摇得厉害？ Ummm, I don't think so.
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 11, 2009 at 2:28 AMHi wallaby
I agree. So-called "relaxed education policy" in 90s really spoiled Japanese children. "No rote learning" doesn't automatically lead to development of creaive skills of students. Confucius said, "过犹不及也" (過ぎたるは及ばざるが如し、The last drop makes the cup run over.), and this wisdom is very true not only for Chinese and Korean education system but also for Japanese one. I think rote learning is important especially in learning foreign languages.
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 1:25 PMHi dagah
启禀，皇上。
qi3bing3, huang2shang,
Your Imperial majesty, I report you that ...
匈奴已经突破北方边境。
xiong1nu2 yi3jing tu1po1 bei3fang bian1jing4
Xiongnu have already crossed our northern border.
这不可能！
zhe4 bu4ke3neng2.
It's impossible!
匈奴 (Xiongnu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiongnu
Posted on: Traveling around China
July 10, 2009 at 1:00 PMHi tvan
艰难困苦、玉汝于成 (Adversity makes a man wise.)
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 12:44 PMOne of the things that surprises me the most here in China is that there are almost no "club activities" at primary, junior high and high school. There are only sporadic activities such as an interclass football competition, for example. So in China, school is virtually a place only for studying, which automatically means that school is just a dull place for underachievers. More surprisingly, most Chinese junior high and high school students must study for three hours or so at school in the evening every day.
P/S. I hear the same is true in South Korea.
Posted on: 小太监进宫三
July 10, 2009 at 11:29 AMHi guys,
Here is the link to the web page "皇宫嫔御制度", which explains in details about traditional Chinese 侍寝 system. And the excerpt below is the most hilarious part in the explanation. It's just worth reading.
http://www.mifang.org/do/qb/p24.html
晋武帝开创了后宫万人的历史纪录。由於宫嫔数量太多，晋武帝最初也头痛于到何处过夜。后来，发明了羊车，用羊车载着他在后宫的小路上漫游，羊停到谁的门前，就由谁来侍寝。宫嫔们都盼望皇帝的羊车在自己的门前停下。这时，便有聪明的女子显示智慧了，她们用竹叶插在门前，把盐汁洒在通往门口的小路上，引诱羊舐着盐汁，顺路走到门前，吃门上的竹叶，于是，车子就停了下来。从此，羊车成了后宫的传世宝物。南朝宋文帝乘羊车经过诸嫔妃房前，羊总在潘淑妃的门前停下来，舐地上的盐水。文帝见到潘淑妃，感叹地说，"羊都为你留连，何况人呢？"潘淑妃由此爱倾后宫。(excerpt from 皇宫嫔御制度)
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 2:41 AM备考 (bei4kao3) = 准备考试 = prepare for exams
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 11, 2009 at 11:39 PMHi zhenlijiang
Even I know about high school dances in US "very well" through some American movies such as Back to the Future, hehe. I can't dance well, but at least I won't have a heart attack if I attend a high school damce party in US.