User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 10, 2008 at 8:58 AMHi goulniky, You are very clever. Your comment is just what I expected. Please click on this link. Blog “Sinospilice” by John. http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/12/16/filthy-delicious
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 10, 2008 at 3:15 AMThe character 烫 (tang4) has several very important usages. Now, I’ll go back to ironing my dog’s clothes. 1) 这汤(tang1)很烫(tang4)。This soup is very hot. 2) 我的舌头被烫了。I burned my tongue. 3) 我烫小狗的衣服。I iron my dog’s clothes. 4) 我烫头发了。I got a perm.
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 10, 2008 at 2:35 AMHi Nicolas, Just for the record, "奥运会" is the shortened form of 奥林匹克运动会, perhaps.
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 9, 2008 at 7:37 AMHi auntie68 and nicolas, 主席 (zhu3 xi2) chairman 酒席 (jiu3 xi2) banquet, feast 首席 (shou3 xi2) seat of honor Let me join your discussion on “席”. You can also find those three words with the same meaning in Japanese, but inconveniently, they all have the same pronunciation and accent, i.e. “shu-se-ki”. Consequently, this sometimes could causes confusion, for example, “主席が酒席の首席にお座りになりました”, which means that the chairman has sat in the seat of honor at the banquet. In particular, some Japanese people, me included, apt to mistake 主席 for 首席. p.s. I have never seen a complementary yukata on a train….., have you?
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 9, 2008 at 5:28 AMHi casie, 抢凳子 is very popular in Japan. And that is one of my favorite games, especially when playing it with young pretty ladies like you. Sorry, a bit nasty joke by an old man!
Posted on: 似曾相识
February 9, 2008 at 5:17 AMHi aert, My chubby dog, Patricia or Patty, has already forgotten how to howl, maybe before her birth, but she still can bark bravely only when an unfamiliar MALE person comes into my apartment or a stranger is coming to the door. She can distinguish footsteps of me and some of my friends from that of other people. Two years ago, my downstairs neighbor was burgled in the daytime. The neighbor and I were all away from home at that time. And she came back home earlier than me to find some dubious men hanging around the doors of both apartments. She also heard Patty barking furiously behind the closed door. The burglars ran away as soon as they saw my neighbor, but it was too late for her. Only her apartment was already in a total mess. She still believes that Patty’s loud barking certainly prevented the burglars from breaking into my apartment. I agree with her. Until then, I did not know Patty was a watchdog! I have a copy of "中国音韵学研究 (Etudes sur la phonologie chinoise)" , but it is still in brand-new condition, unlike yours, because I have never read it yet! Karlgren stayed in China and studied old Chinese for two years when he was only 22 years old. I hear that he taught English when he ran out of money. How great!
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 9, 2008 at 2:04 AMHi cacie, Thank you for a useful and interesting expression. Maybe I can say 今天我坐板凳了. Who do you think will 坐地板 next ?
Posted on: 似曾相识
February 8, 2008 at 9:52 AM我家胖乎乎的小狗宝贝平时很少吃亏， 而且虎视眈眈地等待着机会占小便宜。 比方说她老忘掉自己刚吃完饭的事情， 整天表现还没吃饭或饿得要命的样子。 她早上散步的记忆也保持不了几小时， 一到下午就又开始要求我带她去散步。 她还年轻所以并不是患了老犬痴呆症。 我的小狗跟既视感这个现象没有缘分。
Posted on: 似曾相识
February 8, 2008 at 4:06 AM我读外文的时候经常有似曾相识的感觉。 碰到了生词但我还是觉得好像在哪看过。 我赶快查辞典后果然发现在该单词下面 划着一条线就意味着这是我查过的单词， 又意味着这个现象并不是真正的既视感， 只不过是我差劲的记忆性惹的笑话而已。 有些单词我怎么也记不住但是反过来说， 难记的单词每次让我享受很新鲜的感觉。
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 11, 2008 at 3:44 AMTo be neutral, or not to be, that is the question. The neutral tone sometimes confuses me. For example, how should you pronounce “打算” (da3 suan4, da3 suan), “知道” (zhi1 dao4, zhi1 dao), and “意见” (yi4 jian4, yi4 jian) ? I guess that it is probably up to you, and some words are in the transition to “neutral ization”. Sorry, here are more confusing facts for you. There are some cumbersome words, of which meanings change depending on their tones. “妻子 (qi1 zi)” is “a wife”, but “妻子 (qi1 zi3)”, a literary word, means “a wife and children”. “地方 (di4 fang)” means “place”, but “地方 (di4 fang1)” is “local or rural”. How enjoyable! I have heard that commonly-used or everyday words more likely to be pronounced in the neutral tone. This is understandable because you can pronounce them more easily with less effort by using the neutral tone. In that sense, the number of “neutralized” words might gradually increase as time goes by.