Reply Wed 6 Apr, 2016 09:10 am
Many times in China, we could hear "colorful life", but our foreign teacher told us that it's actually a chinglish expression. But our English teachers use this quite often. So,does "colorful life" really a chinglish way of expression?
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timur
 
  2  
Reply Wed 6 Apr, 2016 09:48 am
I don't believe it's a Chinglish expression.

I seem to remember reading the expression in English books from the 1800's, though I don't have a link right now.




Quote:
The meaning of colourful life

Life is beautiful and yet life is not a bed of roses. Though it is full of ups and downs it has many facets of blessings and successes.

To some people, life is hard, cruel and merciless. These set of people see life as punishment throughout their entire lives. They therefore resigned themselves to fate, believing all is finished. To them, nothing that they do can ever be good. They take delight in committing crimes and maiming others to avenge their ill-fortune. They lost every sense of direction and most times, some of them go as far as committing suicide, just to escape the injustice life has meted out to them.

But there are those who see life as a challenge, a channel of discovery and innovation, a prospect for success and a gateway to wealth. To them life is sweet, colourful and kind. No matter the situation these people find themselves, they keep pressing on, believing in a cause, a cause to succeed and get the most out of life. No wonder an adage says, “Where there is life, there is hope.”

The will to succeed or fail lies within an individual jurisdiction. You can live life to the fullest with utmost satisfaction and fulfillment if you determine with all your mind, body and soul to succeed. On the other hand, life can be miserable to you if you take everything for granted and wait on fate to play itself out.

Setting of goals and strategic plans that will strive no matter the odds which may move against you is one of the basic things needed to get the best out of life. These goals which must be result oriented, should be followed up consistently even if things seem blurred or unyielding at first.

Also, the mind is the centre of everything. It controls your thoughts and beliefs. A focused mind has never fail. A positive mind helps one to discover his talents and potentials. Great men and women, both living and dead, had their minds focused on something and nothing deterred them from achieving their dreams. Each of them had a belief, should I say faith, which they held onto, they nurture the belief, focused all their attention and live on it. And today, we have benefited in one way or the other from their inventions and great ideas.

Life is a challenge. And for anyone to succeed in life, he must be ready to show the stuff he is made of. He must be ready to sacrifice his time and build up his mind frame toward success. What is happening in our environment should not influence or affect us in our daily quest for success in life. Instead, we should control the happenings around us.

Life is so easy, yet many people rush and miss what they want to achieve in life. Don’t rush in life. Take one step at a time. Each step should be properly planned before being launched. Steady, balance, mark and shoot. And before you know it, the sky will become the beginning of your success.

All the great men of today, has one way or the other tasted the other side of life but they did not cower. Instead, they were renewed to redefine their goals; they ride on with faith, believing in their potentials, focusing their mind on something, knowing fully well that in every black cloud there is always a silver lining.

I take life to be very simple and do you know what? Life is to be enjoyed. What about you?
roger
 
  2  
Reply Wed 6 Apr, 2016 11:08 am
@HELLODemi,
It's not unusual to hear "He has a colorful past". It usually means he had legal problems, brought on by himself.
saab
 
  0  
Reply Wed 6 Apr, 2016 11:42 am
The different colours are often used in expressions so does colour
colourful and colourless
to give colour to
a highly coloured report
to see someone in his true colours
with flying colours
to paint in dark/bright colours
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ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Wed 6 Apr, 2016 11:48 am
@HELLODemi,
What is the context?
HELLODemi
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 Apr, 2016 07:49 am
@timur,
Thank you for your reply, it helps me a lot.
0 Replies
 
HELLODemi
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 Apr, 2016 07:51 am
@ehBeth,
Does "colorful life" really a chinglish way of expression?
HELLODemi
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 Apr, 2016 07:53 am
@roger,
Thank you for your example, it's clear now.
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 Apr, 2016 08:01 am
@HELLODemi,
No, "colorful life" is a completely normal English expression.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Thu 7 Apr, 2016 09:10 am
@HELLODemi,
It is context-dependent. It is a phrase that is used in English but that doesn't mean it's always used correctly by EAL/EFL students.
0 Replies
 
 

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