User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Finance Segment on TV
February 23, 2009 at 7:47 AMHi bababardwan
I don't think it's VERY commonly used, but maybe it's commonly used in conversation. At least it won't hurt you to remember this usage. In a sense, these tricky expressions are much more important for us foreign learners, cause it's usually difficult to get the meaning right without knowing it beforehand.
Posted on: Finance Segment on TV
February 23, 2009 at 6:55 AMJapanese people often figuratively say "塩漬けにする" (pickle/preserve with salt) when referring to keeping holding "unsellable" below-par stocks. Do you have the same expression in Chinese? I've found the one "把股票腌起来" (yan1 qi lai2) on the Internet, but I don't know if it's commonly used, I think, probably not.
Posted on: Finance Segment on TV
February 23, 2009 at 6:12 AM出乎意料 (beyond expectation) has another version, i.e. "出乎意料之外" that is also used in the same sense. This is a rather self-contradictory word, and probably grammatically incorrect, but it's actually sometimes used by native speakers.
There is another well-known "contradictory" phrase in Chinese. The adverb "好不" surprisingly means "very", so 我好不高兴 is NOT "I'm not happy", but "I'm very happy". More confusingly, both "好容易" and "好不容易" means "manage to, with difficulty".
P/S 出乎意料之外 is probably made by confusing 出乎意料 with 意料之外 (beyond expectation).
Posted on: Expired!
February 23, 2009 at 2:46 AMHi bababardwan
I think I know the answer to paulinurus's question, but the problem is that I don't know how to properly say it in English ....... In this sense, I'm very much looking forward to seeing his answer.
Posted on: Taking it all off
February 23, 2009 at 2:17 AMHi rjberki
That's very right. Actually, I have two magnifiers at home, but not a big wallet, unfortunately.
Posted on: Intellectual Property Lawsuits
February 23, 2009 at 2:11 AMHi doezeedonats
The character 模 (mo2, mu2) is a multi-reading character (多音字), and in the case of 一模一样, "yi1mu2yi1yang4" is the authentic one, exactly speaking, however as is often the case, a lot of people prounounce it "yi1mo2yi1yang" today.
For your information, 模 (mo2) means "pattern, mimic, copy", and 模 （mu2） "casting mold". And therefore both "mo2" and "mu2" make good sense in this chengyu. Thanks to your good question, I've got a new piece of knowledge this morning!
Posted on: Taking it all off
February 23, 2009 at 1:50 AMHi rjberki
汉语大词典 (12 volumes, 1993) is the largest Chinese dictionary published in China as of today. It contains about 22,700 index characters and 350,000 words, including a lot of arcane words. For the record, 现代汉语词典 lists 65,000 words. But please be noted that 汉语大词典 doesn't contain "因特网", "笔记本电脑" and "手机", of course.
It's priced 1,980 yuan (RMB), say 300 USD. You can get it at a bargain price of 1,673 yuan on the Internet. There are some cut-down versions of this dictionary. For example, the three-volume version (small font) is priced 680 yuan, and incredibly ONE volume version (super small font!) is 198 yuan. I don't feel like buying "small-font" dictionaries.
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20399475
http://baike.baidu.com/view/52045.htm
P/S. 汉语大词典 has a fault. It shows pinyin for every index character, but not for entry words. I don't know why the editors and publisher cut corners in such a great project.
Posted on: Taking it all off
February 22, 2009 at 1:02 PMI wear glasses, so let me show this useful (?) phrase, which can also be used for 帽子 (mao4zi).
把眼睛摘下来 （ba3 yan3jing4 zhao1xialai）
take off one's glasses
Posted on: Taking it all off
February 22, 2009 at 12:57 PMHi reigau
I don't know how many words Wenlin dictionary lists, but anyway, I believe that it contains a lot of "extremely rarely used" words and definitions! None of my dictionaries, both modern and classical, shows the definition "go to the regions north of the Great Wall". I evny you for having such a big dictionary. I want 汉语大词典 (12 volumes in total) !!
Posted on: Finance Segment on TV
February 23, 2009 at 8:04 AMHi christine30550
没错儿！ 谢谢你，我差点忘掉这个句子的用法。