Sunday, August 31, 2008

THe sea of my hometown




It's my pleasure to do something helpful with your Chinese(Part 1)

Some of my blog friends are interested in learning Chinese, so I decide to write a series of articles about the language of Chinese. I'm not a teacher, so I'm not professional. Nonetheless, I'll still try my best to teach.

Chinese characters just like a picture to draw. To learn it well, you should learn how to speak them. So you must learn Pin Yin, or phonetic transcription to speak the characters. Pin Yin is a very very important tool for learning Chinese. Take me as an example. You know, there are many accents in English, and Chinese is without exception. And the accents of Chinese are even more complicated. Compared to mandarin, the Chinese of Hong Kong sounds really different, just like a foreign language. I can't say that accent well. And my hometown has its own accent, my parents speak mandarin with a heavy hometown accent, while my mandarin is so good that no one can tell whether I come from north or south. In addition, the Taiwanese just speak mandarin with only few words different.

Almost every Chinese learn mandarin with Pin Yin as a start. I did it, too. Having a good master of Pin Yin is the key to correct your speaking. Only read characters according to Pin Yin can I remove my hometown accent. The only reason why some Chinese can't speak mandarin is that they don't learn Pin Yin well, so is the case of my parents.

In a word, the better you master Pin Yin, the better you speak mandarin.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

When Panda Sneezes

The Opening Ceremony gave an answer to the question" Which is more important, looks or talent?"

(Yang Peiyi left, Lin Miaoke)
To give an answer to the question "which is more important, looks or talent? ", we will do some psychological analysis and some social practice to get statistics. That's a reading matter for adults. However, when we refer to the children's, we are always saying that talent is more important.After all, the world of children is still pute.

But, the Beijing opening ceremony told us which was. At the first sight of the nine-year old girl Linmiaoke singing, I guessed it was lip-synch since she gave a bigger part at performing instead of singing. And a news on how can she be chosen just let me feel more doubtful, because it seemed that the director was choosing an actress not a singer. An article of a mainstream website confirmed it. It was not a simply lip-synch, the voice was not even hers. It came from a girl 2-years younger than Lin, whose name is Yangpeiyi. When asked if she feel a pity not appearaning at the stage, she gave a quite adult-like-tone answer."I'm satisfied with my voice appearing at the opening and that's enough." I wonder it's just an old head on young shoulders or she's been given directions by someone else.

Back to the question of "which is more important,looks or talent?" Some scholars will continue to go further study and discussion. You can still see some articles from teen-reading material saying "Looks is not important" and teachers will instil this idea into their students volubly. However, it won't work to these two girls and their fellows any more. The society has given them a unforgettable lesson for life when they haven't been adults.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Missing My Dog

Wake up, sadly, I dreamt of my dog again. She passed away nearly 4 years. A lovely one-year old dog. I have never dreamt such a sad dream. Here is the dream.

I played with my dog in the mountain. ( My hometown does have a lot of mountains, and this is the most normal scene where I can play with my dog afer her death.) All of a sudden, a huge polar bear ran at me. I was scared away while my dog jumped at the bear and bit its neck. But she is so small to face such a big monster. The bear smacked her heavily onto the ground with its big pawl. I stopped, and saw the bear snapping at her neck. It was bleeding. And my dog just looked at me without a blink. The bear disappeared, I ran to my dog, siezing her firmly with my arms and cried heavily for my cowardice.

My dog died at her second summer when I was grade one at high school. She was poisoned by the porridge mixed with rat poison outside my house when she sliped out of the door secretly . At that time, I was living in another house nearby my school which is a long distance away from my house by the sea where my dog lived. She lived with my parents. I went home once two weeks just to see her. when she was dying, my father is the only person who is with her. I was miles away. Father said she cried with mouth full of saliva when she was dying. He gave her a buria at sea... Two days after her death, just the day I would come back home to see her, Father told me her death. You know, what was my feeling at that time. I had nothing to do just cried. When I returned home, I looked for her everywhere, burbling her name, and collected her hairs from sofa to bed, all the evidence that proved we were together once. I put all her hairs into a iron box with the only two photos of her.

I miss her.

The Oldest Rock Painting in China




The General Cliff Rock Painting (将军崖岩画) locates in Haizhou district, Lianyungang(my hometown, not the same district). It is the oldest rock painting in China, the first rock painting found in the Southeast coastal area, and the only rock painting which reflects the content originally adored by tribal society of agriculture. It is Important Historical Monuments under Special Preservation.

The Story of My Chinese Name

My name is "陶旭". "陶"means pottery; "旭" means the rising sun at dawn. To tell you the truth, my name is not thought of by my parents, it was named by my grandpa by mistake.

I have a brother, who is two years older than me. When he was born, my farther had thougt a pair of names already: "陶治" and "陶冶". You could think it looks like the same at first sight. Pay attention to "治" and "冶". "治" means management; "冶" means to smelt, and "陶冶" is a ready made word which means to exert a favourable influence (on a person's character,etc.) I think it's a good idea but before my mother give birth to me, she just disagree with the idea. She think "冶" sounds like "野" which means rude or wild. At last, my mother give my brother and I names: "陶明辉" and "陶明锐". You can tell that there is only a difference at the last chatacter. The first name "陶" is just like "Cook" of "David Cook", it comes from your father's name. The middle name "明" is to show your position in the family hierarchy, and it's not compulsory,cause you can see many two-character name. The last name "锐" is just like "David" of "David cook".

My brother's name is "陶明辉",which is used till now. However my name isn't "陶明锐", my grandpa mistooke it. It happened at the day of registered permanent residence for my cousin and I. He was so drunk that exchange my last name with my cousin's...Thank goodness! My new name sounds not really bad, so my parents had to just receive it. Isn't it very dramatic?

An open letter to Pever --- my way of making friends

Hi,Pever:
I am a Chinese student study in BUAA(Beijing University of Aeronaut and Astronaut,北京航空航天大学). I don't known whether you will receive this e-mail because I find your information from your blogger which you haven't write anything for more than one year. The reason why I write this e-mail to you is that you are interested in China, you learn Chinese, and you are in the Air Force, a field quite familiar to me for the character of my university.
In a word, I'd like to make friend with a person like you. It's really cool to be in the Air Force, seeing the planes taking off and landing. Although I study in BUAA, my major is Software Engineering which has little with military affairs. My sister's family moved to Florida, I miss her very much. My parents want me to study abroad to expand my horizon. My sophomore is just finished, I have only one year to improve my English. There are so many things I should prepare for graduate admission examination such as GRE, TOFEL. But it's so boring to recite words like daguerreotype, deactivate...So I think making friends with Americans maybe could ease the pain somehow. I like to make friends with everybody who has a kind heart and wants to communicate to share thoughts and ideas.
I am a shy person to strangers and very talktive to friends. I like to try different things. This summer vocation, the Beijing Olympic Games was held just near by where I live---BUAA, whose gym held the Olympic weight lifting Games and where the first gold medal of China was born and I watched some of the Games like the basketball game between Iran and Argentina. Although I am not a volunteer for the Beijing Games, I am always having a warm heart to people all around the world. My girlfriend, who is a volunteer for Beijing Games introduced three Korean visitors to me. It's the first time to visit China for all of the three girls who live in Soul. I really think it a pleasure to me to guide these girls around Beijing. I guided them to eat Chinese troditional food, go shopping, and some of famous universties of China like Tsinghua. I can feel very satisfied when looking at their smiling faces.
I lived in a seaport at my youth. When I was a child, I often went to the beach looking at the Pacific Ocean and feeling the moist wind from the sea. I wonder what's the world is like at the other land. Can I make friends with them. So I made a drift bottle,with a message saying" My name is Taoxu, I come from China, can I make friends with you?" I threw it with great efforts and prayed someone could pick it up. When I grow a little older, I know at the other side of the Pacific Ocean is a nation called America. So it's easy to understand why I am so happy to guide the Korean travellers. I think they are just the guest at the other side of the sea. And these days, in order to communicate with them well, I begin to study Korean all by myself. I can pronounce almost all the Korean although I don't know the meaning of the words. However, English is the language I learned from primary school. I have enough confidence to communicate with Americans. I think English is a language easy to begin but hard to conque, and Chinese is just the oppisite case.
Pever, you and I are of the same age, I think you are sunshine through the pictures. If we become friends, how happy I would be when I come to American a year later.
It's quite weird and somehow embarrasing to write this e-mail just like a resume and autobiography. And one thing concerns me is that I am not sure if you'd like to make friends with a guy you even don't know. If my concern is true, please just forget my e-mail that bothers you.
Best wishes!祝你万事如意!


John

Thursday, August 28, 2008

My high school












My university---BUAA










Beijing Olympic Games









During this summer vocation I stayed at University for the coming Beijing Olympic Games. BUAA( Beijing University of Aeronaut and Astronaut ) held the weight lifting games. And that is just the place where the first golden medal was born. My roommates and I watched some of the games, including the basketball game between Lithuania and Croatia, and also the game between Argentina and Iran. Those photos are just taken there.

My Hometown






My hometown locates by the Pacific Ocean. It's a seaport called LianYungang. The city faces 3 moutains and 1 sea. So it's not strange that you can see the moutains and the sea. My house just locates by the sea. I can feel the moist wind when I open the window.

cold jokes

1. A banger was put into the fridge, he felt very cold. Then, he saw the other one beside him, and comforted himself a bit, saying, " you've been so cold that all of your body is covered with ice." Then the other one said:" I am ice-lolly."

2. One day, Little Joe looked at her aunt's face saying" Your face looks like a juicy peach." She was very happy hearing these words and asked:" Why dose it like? " Little Joe answered: " It's hairy."

3. There was a match whose head itched, so he scratched his head and it burned. He went to the hospital and the nurse tied up his head. From then on he became a cotton swab.

4. Question: Don't women feel hot wearing bra in the summer?
Answer: You'll feel hotter when they take off their bra.

Difference

This is the scene in the library at Harvard University at 4:00 am...difference.
1. This moment you nap, you will have a dream;
this moment study, you will interpret your dream.
2. I leave uncultivated today, was precisely yestoday perishes tomorrow which person of the body implored.
3. Time the study pain is temporary, has not learned the pain is life-long.
4. The study certainly is not the life complete. But, sincecontinually life part of - studies also is unable to conquer, what butalso can make?
5. Studies this matter, lacks the time, but is lacks diligently.
6. Thought is already is late, exactly is the earliest time.

Happy birthday to my blog-----RabbitCanFly

August 28th,2008 is my blog------RabbitCanFly's birthday.
I write this blog to improve my skills on compostions in English.
Now I'm going to Grade3 in the university, and I plan to go to Ameica for further study two years later. The mark of CET-6 is 546, my writing just got 74 points. OMG. So I creat this blog to improve my English writing and by the way make friends.
Good luck to my blog!