User Comments - si1teng2

Posted on: Donating Remains

Interesting, Chris. Is the phrase "donating remains" commonly used? I've never come across it in England or in the States. A quick web search of 'donating remains' calls up pages with 'body donation' instead. Only one site (in Ireland) uses the phrase "donation of remains". Also, in the lesson, it's used to refer to organ donation, which sounded odd to me. Do you ever use it in that sense?

Posted on: Donating Remains

The English title of this lesson is confusing. In English you would most likely say 'donating organs' or 'donating your body to medical science'. "Remains" usually refers to a dead corpse, or to skeletal remains (not to living organs). So the title has a vaguely gruesome feel. I was reluctant to click on the lesson! 

Posted on: Cosmetics

Thanks for diversifying the accents in this lesson! Very helpful for training the hear to understand all the variety we actually hear most of the time. Standard accents are very clear and articulate, but not the way most people speak. More please! The more variety we get here, the better prepared we will be to understand the accents we encounter 'outside the Pod'! :)

Posted on: Get "Famous"

Did Ryan ever tell us which part of England he's from? My guess is somewhere near Liverpool? (I also hear deliberate Americanization and something else I can't place.) Apologies for the obsession with your accent, but it sounds like a unique blend that inspires speculation!

Posted on: What Goes In....

哈哈！真可笑！

Posted on: The Marks are Out!

In the Supplementary Vocabulary of the Traditional text pdf, 適合 was written as 適郃. I've looked up several dictionaries to see if 郃 is listed as a variant of 合, but this appears to be incorrect. 

Posted on: "在 时间" and "中"

Welcome, Ryan! I agree with mikeinewshot. Great to hear a new voice. 加油! ...I hear a mix of accents: a hint of northwestern England? plus something else I can't place (European?).

Posted on: Preparing Traditional Chinese Medicine

Interesting that you missed the preceding sentence: "This is a relatively early systematic description of published research from a single journal related to TCM and other natural products." Further on: "The proportion of research focusing on TCM and natural products published in CMJ is not large and varies greatly from year-to-year." The purpose of the audit: "In conclusion, this audit demonstrates the extent of TCM and natural product research published in CMJ." In other words, it was an audit of one specific journal that does not specialize in TCM, not a conclusion about the efficacy of TCM.

There is plenty more research out there, in particular identifying the active compounds in the herbs, some of it done in the States and in Europe. I've come across it in the past: it wasn't that difficult to find. I'm sure you're capable of finding it without my assistance.

If you're genuinely open and interested in understanding concepts such as 'yin' and 'yang' and how they function, this requires immersion in Chinese philosophy. It also requires a radical shift in style of thinking, which itself takes time and patience to acquire. If you're not open, that's your own business (not mine). So good luck to you, either way.

Posted on: Preparing Traditional Chinese Medicine

The herbs themselves contain potent phytochemicals, many of them used in Western medicine. This is the origin of almost all ingested medicine (including Western manufactured drugs: drug companies attempt to reproduce and modify single chemicals at a time at precisely measured concentrations). Their usage and efficacy have been tested practically, and documented (with greatly varying degrees of reliability) over centuries. As with all traditional medicine, not all of the health claims can be substantiated by scientific methods, but many of them are. Don't take my word for it: you can do some research yourself (it is possible to find reliable reports from reputable medical researchers online).

However, regarding superstition: Because the potency of plants seems mysterious from a pre-scientific perspective, traditional medicine tends to develop with religious and spiritual explanations. While traditional practitioners may not distinguish between the two, that doesn't meant that we outside observers shouldn't. I wouldn't allow this cultural fact to influence whether or not to take 中药 seriously!

Posted on: 玉林狗肉节

Or vegan: I was recently shocked to discover the cruelty involved in producing my favourite dairy products! (I am neither vegetarian nor vegan, but the more I discover about the extremes of cruelty, the more I realize what I have to do if I really want to live without causing unnecessary suffering.)