User Comments - changye

Posted on: Toilet Types

A dirty squat toilet is better than a dirty western toilet, as long as there are places to put your foot.

Posted on: Toilet Types

In China, you are supposed to face the door when you squat over the toilet, but it's the opposite in Japan. So what you "expose" when someone accidentally opens the toilet door in China is different from that in Japan. From a standpoint of security, Chinese style is much better than Japanese one. Conversely speaking, it may be said that Japanese society is safer than Chinese one, hehe.

Posted on: 金字塔销售

大概是十来年前的事儿。有一天我高中时候的一个女同学突然来电话说，她想来我家玩儿。我当然很高兴地答应了，因为她是我们高中的校花，既很漂亮又很温柔，当时很多男生（包括我）都崇拜她。但是有点奇怪，我们毕业已经二十多年，她怎么突然和我联系？

无论怎样，那时的我根本就没有理由谢绝校花的来临。这就是一辈子难得一次的机会。我还记得这个好消息让我老婆很不高兴。第二天，我的校花就到来了。可是又很奇怪，她怀里抱着很多东西。到底是什么？说不定是礼物。但我不好意思接受那么过分的好意，怎么办？

其实我完全误会了。校花带来的东西并不是礼物而竟然是安利产品，她来访的目的当然不是见二十多年来未见的同班同学而只是推销安利厨房用品。结果，我不得已只好买了一个很贵的不粘锅。老婆显得更不高兴。更倒霉的是二十年前身材苗条的美人已经变成了一个胖乎乎的中年阿姨。

我美丽的青春回忆在哪里？枯萎的校花走了之后老婆对我说了一句话，"活该"。我愿意承认我把一切想得太美了。这苦涩的经历给了我两个宝贵的教训。一个是"做传销使你丢朋友"，另一个是"好花不常开"。我的青春偶像...... 《何日君再来》？

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Hi green_leaf

I just found the same explanation both in 新华字典 and in 现代汉语词典. Looks like 么 is kind of a 多音字, which could be pronounced as something like "me/mo/ma", because it's usually placed at the end of a sentence and pronounced with rather obscure 轻声 (neutral tone). Maybe "么 （ma）" is a rather colloquial usage. Thank you for the precious information!

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Hi green_leaf

Thanks a lot for your clear explanation about 设计/格式 and comment in Chinese that is full of useful words such as 版式，框架，and 样式. Incidentally, the 要么? （= 要吗？） is completely new to me. Is this used in standard Chinese? Or is it merely a variant of pronunciation "yao ma"?

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Proofreading (校对，jiao4 dui4) is important. I once found a date misprint in a calendar here in China. At first I just couldn't believe my eyes.

Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉

Hi james234

把我的爱情还给我

This is a perfect example of 把 - structure! I also love Teresa Teng. "你怎么说" is one of my favorite Karaoke songs. Actually, the lyrics of songs by Teresa are very educational for Mandarin learners.

Posted on: Welfare Lottery

Hi tarcy

我猜得对，怪不得你中文写得那么好。其实我挺喜欢读你写的文章，很希望你以后在这儿多发帖子！

Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉

Hi james234

I'm very sorry to have confused you. On second thought, I don't feel that "我把一个苹果吃了" is a natural sentence. In this case, saying "我把这个苹果(or 这一个苹果)吃了" is much better, perhaps.

That said, I just found another intriguing example on the net. "如何把一个苹果卖到一百万元" (how to sell an apple at a million RMB). I think this is natural Chinese. The 一个苹果 in this sentence is not a specific apple, for example, placed in front of you, but merely represents an apple in the general meaning.

How to use 把 properly is a rather complicated problem for learners, however, at the same time, I guess it might be less complicated than we might think. It seems some learners, me included, often make things more complicated than they really are. We still don't have a clear conclusion, but anyway, let us enjoy the process of learning by trial and error, which is a very good excuse for still not having a correct knowledge about Chinese grammar, haha.

Posted on: 金字塔销售

中国人口这么多，而且中国人很善于做买卖。中国当然就是个最适合传销的国家。但是加入金字塔销售一定要三思而行。犹太人的一句格言说，“你想丢朋友就借钱给你朋友”。这个经典箴言可以改为“你想丢朋友就做传销”。这个销售方式虽然叫做“无限连锁制度”，可是你亲戚朋友的人数还是有限的。