Archive for September, 2010

Business Chinese – 她疯了不成? – Chinese School

Monday, September 27th, 2010

【她疯了不成?】

Mary:  There’s just one 1) catch. Zina asked me to let you know.

玛莉:         只是有个难题。吉娜要我让你知道。

Elvin:  What?

艾文:         什么?

Mary:  She 2) promised that we’d be ready to start 3) tracking the Stars.com web site by the end of next week.

玛莉:         她承诺我们会在下星期结束之前,准备好开始监控Stars.com的网站流量。

Elvin:  What!? It’ll be a 4) miracle if we’re ready by the end of the month! Is she crazy?

艾文:         什么!?我们在月底前能准备好就是奇迹了!她疯了不成?

Mary:  Yes, I think she is just a little bit crazy.

玛莉:  对,我觉得她是有点疯。

Elvin:  Crazy is too kind. 5) Insane is more like it. Nuts! Wacko! Psycho!

艾文:         疯这个字还太仁慈。说是丧心病狂还差不多。神经病!怪胎!心理变态!

语言详解

A: Do you believe in life after death?

你相信来生吗?

B: No.  I don’t believe in miracles.

不。我不相信奇迹。

be more like it.…倒还更贴切】

当我们在形容一个人或是一件东西的时候,常常在大家七嘴八舌之后,却还是不够传神,没有点出精髓,这时若你想到了绝佳的形容方法,你就可以用上这个句型…is more like it.“……还更贴切。”

A: Jane is a little shy.

珍有一点害羞。

B: A turtle hiding in her shell is more like it.

说她是缩头乌龟还更贴切。

That’s more like it.这句类似的话也很常用。这句话的使用时机是当对方的表现终于让你有了满意感觉,你可以用这句话 That’s more like it.“这才像话嘛。”给对方一点小小的鼓励。

A:  After ten weeks of ignoring us, the boss finally said he’d give us both a raise.

在对我们不理不睬十个星期以后,老板终于说要给我们两个加薪了。

B:  Now that’s more like it.

这才像话嘛。

1) atch  (n.) 诡计,难题

2) promise (v.) 承诺

3) track (v.) 追踪,监控;此指track the web site“监控网站流量”

4) miracle (n.) 奇迹

5) insane  (a.) 精神错乱的;其后的几个字都是用来形容此类情况:nuts  (a.) (俚)疯的:wacko (a.) (俚)怪里怪气的;

6)psycho (a.) 心理变态的。

Chinese Podcast – I Visited the U.S.A. Last Month – Learn mandarin

Monday, September 27th, 2010

M: Dàjiā hǎo! Huānyíng nǐmen dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML

S: Wǒ shìStuart. Right, everybody say with ML, ‘today we learn Lesson 75’.

M: 今天我们学第七十五课 jīn tiān wǒmen xuédì qī shí wǔ kè.

S: Hén hǎo.

M: Stuart, 今天我们学什么? jīn tiān wǒmen xuéshénme?

S: How about more practice with shàng and xià? And we’ll see if you guys at home can guess how to say ‘last month’ and ‘next month’.

M: I’m sure they will.

S: First, dì yī, remember how to say ‘month’ in Pǔtōnghuà? 没错。月, yuè YUE yuè.

M: One month, 一个月 yī ge yuè.

S: How do you say ‘ 2 months’? méi cuò. 两个月 liǎng ge yuè.

M: Now say, ‘last week they went to England – yīngguó’. …. Duìle. 上个星期他们去了英国 shàng ge xīngqī tāmen qùle Yīngguó.

S: Now say, ‘next week they go to America – Měiguó…. Right! 下个星期他们去美国 xià ge xīngqī tāmen qù Měiguó.

M: Now guess how to say, ‘last month I went to England’. … 恭喜,答对了!上个月我去了英国 shàng ge yuè wǒ qù le Yīngguó.

S: And now, ‘next month I go to America’. 答对了!Answer is right! 下个月我去美国xià ge yuè wǒ qùměiguó.

M: And now, do you know the word for ‘year’? It’s 年 NIAN nián, nián, 2nd tone, nián. Can you guess how to say ‘last year’ and ‘next year’? Try.

S: We fooled them, ML! I bet most of you said something like xià nián and shàng nián. Wrong! Cuò le! Bú duì.

M: Yes, ‘last year’ is 去年 qù nián, qù nián . It’s the same qù as in wǒ qù, I go, wǒ qù. So, qù nián, literally something like ‘gone year’, qù nián, last year, qù nián.

S: And ‘next year’. Just like in ‘tomorrow’, which is míng tiān, we say 明年 míng nián. Easy. Míng nián.

S: That was a nice break! We’ve learnt, ‘last year’, which is ….?

M: 去年qù nián.

S: And ‘last month’.

M: 上个月 shàng ge yuè.

S: And, ‘last week’.

M: 上个星期 shàng ge xīngqī.

S: And what is ‘next week’?

M: Duìle! 下个星期 xià ge xīngqī.

S: And next month?

M: Méi cuò! 下个月 xià ge yuè.

S: 很好。So now it’s time for you to join in our short Q & A session. Remember, Last year we all went to England, last month to the US, and we came to China last week. Yī èr sān, kāishǐ.

M: 去年你去了英国吗 qù nián nǐ qù le yīngguó ma?

S: 是的,去年我去了英国qù nián wǒqù le yīngguó.

M: 上个月你去了美国吗 shàng ge yuè nǐ qù le Měiguó ma?

S: 是的, 上个月我去了美国shàng ge yuè wǒ qù le Měiguó.

M: 你上个星期来中国的吗 nǐ shàng ge xīngqīlái Zhōngguó de ma?

S: 是的,我上个星期来中国的 wǒ shàng ge xīngqīlái Zhōngguó de.

M: And, time to have a rest. xiànzài wǒ men xiàkè.

S: Zàijiàn.

Chinese Mandarin – Magnificent Mexico marches on – Chinese News

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s Ambassador to China, addresses the ceremony.

Chen Duqing, China’s deputy commissioner general for World Expo 2010, addresses the ceremony.

performance at the ceremony

performance at the ceremony

Officials visit the China Pavilion.

Officials visit the Mexico Pavilion.

Mexico celebrates its National Pavilion Day today with a gala performance at the Expo Center.

Themed “Living Better — History and Future,” the Mexico Pavilion features a Kite Forest combining colorful kites and green grass.

The kites, in a kind of fantasy setting, symbolize aspirations for a better life. The site contains a large public green area, which represents people coming together for a better life and environmental protection.

The pavilion showcases Mexico’s history and culture dating back to the Mayan civilization.