User Comments - changye

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changye

Posted on: Relativity
March 18, 2008 at 1:46 PM

Hi accorigan, Anyway, I am afraid that scientific vocabulary Chinesepod can offer you would be far from enough to satisfy your need, therefore let me introduce you one of my favorite websites featuring science topics in Chinese. Technical articles are generally much easier to understand than literary ones are. I hope that combining Chinesepod and other useful sources would enable you to make faster progress in learning Mandarin. Good luck! http://tech.sina.com.cn/discovery/

Posted on: Relativity
March 18, 2008 at 8:22 AM

Hi bazza, I think your answers are excellent, except for the first one. Your explanation in the first answer is basically very correct, unless you are on the USS Enterprise or other extraordinary advanced spaceships often appear in Sci-Fi novels or movies. Amazingly, they are usually equipped with artificial gravity generators. I am sorry for my nitpicking, but I believe that henning, an undisputed respectable trekky, would certainly butt in sooner of later, even if I did not. Anyway, good job, bazza!

Posted on: 葬礼安排
March 18, 2008 at 7:32 AM

亲人去世时的悲哀在哪个民族哪个国家都一样， 只是世界各地在风俗习惯上就有些不同而已吧。 日本人主要按佛教或者神道传统办丧事的同时， 文化多样化导致举行基督教葬礼的人越来越多。 在当代日本提前安排后事的老人渐渐多起来了， 比如有些人生前在殡仪馆存钱为自己准备葬礼， 我健在的父母早就买好墓地墓碑很高兴的样子。 他们俩曾对我说过几次死后不想给孩子添麻烦。 我到中国以来最惊讶的事情之一就是医院附近 一般都有好几家寿衣店虎视眈眈等待客人上门。 患者死亡后家人就能买到必要的东西确实方便， 但我不得不觉得中国人的想法还是有点太实际!

Posted on: Dublin
March 18, 2008 at 2:21 AM

Hi liayi and evahui, I am not so sure, but it is said that in the 16th National People’s Congress (2002), the slogan “有中国特色的社会主义” was officially modified as follows; “中国特色社会主义”. As you can see, the two characters “有” and “的” had been deleted from the original slogan. I cannot effectively explain the subtle difference in nuance between the old slogan and the new one, but somewhere I have heard that the CCP displayed their stronger confidence in the Chinese-style socialistic system than ever by altering the famous political slogan.

Posted on: Relativity
March 17, 2008 at 12:05 PM

Hi goulniky, You are right. The speed of time varies depending on the situation. Some biologists say that time flows faster for small animals with rapid heart beating than for large animals with slow heart beating, which is why the former live shorter lives than the latter. Of course, this phenomenon is more a matter of biological metabolism than a matter of time in physical sense. Let me tell you one more example. I still remember that I felt time flew very slowly when I was running gasping for breath in school-sponsored marathon races. Time was really slow for me at that time. According to the theory of relativity, the faster you travel, the slower time flows. Wow, I am so proud of the fact that I proved the epoch-making physical theory by myself when I was only a high school student with serious math allergy. Joking aside, the bottom line is that you can (relatively) easily apply Einstein’s famous theory of relativity to everyday things figuratively. On the other hand, I still find it very difficult to apply superstring theory to, for example, excuses for being late for the office. The newest T.O.E., theory of everything, is so mathematical and abstract that it is not easy even for science-minded people to use it as a topic or joke in daily conversation, which should be one of the reasons why the theory is still not so well known among ordinary people.

Posted on: Dublin
March 17, 2008 at 3:20 AM

It seems that 健力士 is the official transliteration of Guinness, not 建力士, although both of them make good sense anyway. I love beer too! http://www.zbggw.com/pic/xf/yl/200601/2890.html http://www.cmic.zju.edu.cn/cmkj/web-ggwa/found/2-zpxs/f2_c/f2_c_1/2_c_1_3_11.html

Posted on: Dublin
March 17, 2008 at 3:12 AM

Having heard “都柏林”, I somehow associate it with 赌博(du3 bo2)林, or gamble woods. I don’t believe that a lot of Irish people are secretly engrossed in illegal gambling in the forest.

Posted on: Relativity
March 17, 2008 at 1:10 AM

In addition to kien’s comment, it might be fun to learn a lesson featuring divorce negotiations between a Chinese wife and foreign husband, or vice versa. I believe that some of YOU would find it very helpful to alter the gruesome situation to your advantage! Furthermore, applying some scientific theories to costly and cumbersome legal process could facilitate smoother settlement, such as Generous Relatives theory (not General Relativity), Shoestring Budget theory (not Superstring theory), and so on. Good luck!

Posted on: Buying Batteries
March 16, 2008 at 9:03 AM

If you cannot find a 9v battery, connect six 1.5v batteries in series. You can certainly enjoy 9v excitement!

Posted on: Relativity
March 16, 2008 at 7:49 AM

年轻的时候我是一个非常讨厌数学的理科生。 像走钢丝那样我每次数学考试都差点不及格， 还不敢相信我这种人也勉强从工业大学毕业。 然而我在校内作文比赛里得过好几次一等奖， 这个事实恰恰证明我高考时可能选错了专业， 怪不得我现在从事着与自己专业无关的职业。 我父母曾开玩笑说他们白交了我四年的学费! 但是不管怎么样我好歹也算一个理科毕业生， 我还是很喜爱看科学特别是天文学方面的书， 对一般相对论或者超弦理论等话题很感兴趣， 为了获取最新信息每天访问国内外有关网站。 很可惜我天生对算术数学的过敏仍是老样子， 比方说我每次在公司碰到充满数据的文件时， 我对老板满面笑容地说我是文科生怎么办呢?