Hi fellas and girls. I am back ultimately and, briefly.
In the past months I do find my speed of reading is getting vastly smoother and quicker, the volume of my vocabulary is extending, both to a level that I have never reached before.
1 year ago at this time I was reading English magazines, internet materials and other contents for sheer reason of learning this language. But now I could claim I read mostly for reading itself.
I finished reading The Fellowship of Ring (purchased with $1.00 on Abebooks) in 2 weeks at my spare time and found the poems, and all the names mesmerizing. Last week I reopened Julius Caesar after the halt in winter and was quickly drawn into it. And no need to mention I finished a issue of Newseek per week and a National Geographic (I consider the best magazine on earth) every month. Later on I will have dozens of Stephen King's horrors, more Shakespear, more LotR, American constitution as well as Declaration of Independence, Nostradamus' The Centuries lining on my English reading list.
Well it's just a brief look-back at my "performance" so far in this year in which I am harvesting crops grown last year laboriously. Thanks in a great part to all the people who once helped me with my language to every extent, and also to myself, to whom I feel joyful for his determination and his self-proclaimed(^^ yeah that's true so far) triumph in learning an alien language.
And I will keep on learning, and searching.
JB, from "Middle-kingdom" :wink:
Some questions as usual (I have to keep this thread alive, don't I?
)
1. What is a "bull session"
2.
Quote:Antony: .....
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
It's a great piece.
But see:
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war
Is it a sarcastic saying or something like that?
And:
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
No ideas about this.
3.
Quote: Cassius:....
Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better
Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.
Can't fully understand this cried by indiginant Cassius.
Thank you
I think you have a firmer grasp of the language than most of us, JB.
Good job.
JB -it's been a joy helping you from the day you arrived here...You know, I can't even remember your original name. To me you were always JB.
Please drop in and visit when you can.
Hi, ^JB^! Nice to see you!
You know guys. It has really been my privilege being here.
(But perhaps you have missed my second post in which I raised a number of questions immediately after the first? :wink: )
I was trying to let someone else have a turn,,,
a bull session is an informal meeting where one "shoots the bull"...talks about unimportant things
That's pretty cool
And what about Shakespear? I think I might need some help from LionTamer. Hey Tamer, are you here?
:wink: Okay never mind.
When I was reading NG these days I came across this sentence: "I'm
being silly." I take pains to translate it into Chinese. But it turned out very difficult. Although I can "feel" the meaning, I still can't make it into proper alternative, to say, I don't understand it.
Thank you.
Hi, ^JB^!
As nobody seems to want to come to your rescue (maybe I'm being silly here :wink: ):
My prefered definition of 'silly':
A person playing a role of a clown but surprising everybody with smart and thoughtful comments and analyzes in different situations where the person finds it suitable. These persons are often overseen as regular harlequins but are not to be underrated.
A) The definition of this word can´t be explained, you´ll have to see it for yourself.
Then you have an awful lot of definitions here:
Silly
Francis, I am sure you've missed the point. I'm sorry, I should emphasize more on "being". (And I am so sure that I will be really silly if I don't know how to translate it).
For why purpose did the writer place "being" here?
As 'silly' is not his usual condition or way of acting, he wrote 'being' as an emphasis to his present and specific behavior, like a transitional state...
At least, I think so...
Ahh ,that makes sense, especially thinking of "ing" here. So it's like saying "I am silly now although I was not silly in the past and I may not be silly in the future." ....
I think that's it :wink:
Some more:
1. what's a "yo-ho view"?
2. I am translating an article on Newsweek, which intrinsicly discusses how to achieve democracy and political developments by regarding Bush administration's rash and aggressive policy toward Middle East in general and Iran in particular, to my fellow students. The title baffled me a lot: "Cutting a deal with Iran". How to understand "cut"? Is it just "reach" or "conclude"?
THank you
Sorry about Shakespeare...it is beyond my abilities.
yo-ho....misspelling?
cut a deal...when you negotiate a conclusion...used especially in court cases.
panzade wrote:
yo-ho....misspelling?
Misspelling? Then what do you think it shall be? (I'm sorry that I can't find the source now. But I am sure I have met this word or something alike twice)
But thank you all the same
I've never seen the word yo-ho
Let's wait for the third time I meet that word like yo-ho then
Here'a a thought JB...if it was yo-yo view,,,it would mean a view that's changing from one extreme to another...a yo-yo is a toy that winds and unwinds
