浪迹天涯

REcently i read an article whose titile is "who is to save Chinese". by 恒沙. The author first traces the decline of Chinese in modern age, quoting such figures as 余光中，白先勇and 余华 in warning us of the desolete situation Chinese is faced with. The degradation is attributed to both internal and external casues. On the one hand, there is external shock from western langauge, consequently, our Chinese has been severely shaped by European langauges. Meanwhile, Chinese people's self confidence and self awareness are plummeting, so much so that we voluntarily give up our use for it. in one word, it seems as if we would have to abandon it for good, as was advocated among some radical Chinese intellectuals, " 汉字不灭，中国必亡”。

But, as a matter of fact, we need not make such a fuss of the problem. Truely Chinese has been heavily adapted with the popularity of English, and more and more Chinese people cannot use the langauge skillfully and correctly. Looking at English, we may also find its own problems. It is far from immune to influences from outside. We find in English such elements from Chinese, Japanese, French, Russian. Today's English is no longer the English Charles Dickens used, let alone Shakespeare. Familiar to those westerners are expressions like "Long time no see." "although...but" "Becasue...so". When so many Chiense are stubbornly adopting our mode of thinking in speaking English, the latter is forced to make changes accordingly.

When looking back at Chinese, we may feel soemwhat upset that too many people cannot use the langauge well, but that is all the reason we should strengthen our acquistion of it. With government's promotion policy, i think such problem can be improved.

fortunately, the author is not pessimistic about the langauge either, for he proudly acclaimed the strength. 汉语汉字充满动感,充满感性信息，更接近生活与自然. so, we have reason to believe that the langauge will not extinct.

When we go back to the title "Who is to save Chinese?", we can surely reply, hundreds of thousands of chinese people are to protect it from such outcome.

i no longer teach that advanced course this semester, thus deprived of the interest to maintain my blogg, for i worry there would not be so much attention to it. it is quite some time since i came here mysefl.

but i do find it a way to be in touch with my students. so, whatever the course, i shall be here more regularly than now, hoping that the site can be of use to those students with initiative.

In the text, George Orwell felt sorry for the simple and poor funeral that went on in Marrakech. but he failed to realize that a funeral for a moslem is just that simple. please refer to this page for the brief introduction. http://lbbfbb987.blog.163.com/blog/static/13824939520105943238834/

As a rhetorical device, anticimax is show humor, satire, greatly amusing readers. today when i was surfing the net in Yahoo news, i hit upon one article Did Obama dye his gray hair away? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110121/pl_yblog_theticket/is-obama-dyeing-his-hair#mwpphu-post-form) It revolves around the visit of Chinese president Mr Hu Jintao to the States. The first paragraph of the article goes like this.

The visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao has provided the nation's pundits and politicians with plenty of serious talking points. From the potential threat posed by China's increasingly sophisticated military to the impact that Beijing's monetary policies have on the U.S. economy, there is no shortage of weighty issues. So it may be no surprise that, after Wednesday's White House dinner for Hu, the question spiking interest on the Web is about … Obama's hair.

It is funny to observe that the write notices an unappropriately tiny detail, Obama's hair.

NOnetheless, it is due to this unappropriacy that this article is impressive. inevitably there are fierce attacks on it for such trifles. but it does provide one good example for my lesson. hehe

摘要：this is a paper composed by an undergraduate. whose sourse in undetectable. It is for your reference to learn that you, too, can write such analysis.　查看全文

When i was young, i remember  a campus song by luodayou, whose name is Childhood. the word goes like this 池塘边的榕树上,知了在声声叫着夏天. Ever since then, the image of rongshu was deeply rooted in my mind. i have a desire to see rongshu for it is. Yet, it is not grown here in tianjin. this time i was able to see the tree in guangzhou. finally my dream was satisfied.

I love Southern China ---mostly, in my imagination.

Ever since i started reading, i have read stories, seen movies, heard radio programs about Southern China. All these have built up a Southern China in my mind: there are songs going on; there are girls who pick lotus flowers in tiny boats; there are boys, brave and helpful; there is the southern accent, soft, tender, but beyond understanding; there are streams, flowing in and out of villages where housewives do their washing by river banks; there are moutains with thick trees; there are unnamed fruits. there is 黄果树瀑布、苍山洱海、泼水节、刘三姐、糌粑、米酒、梅雨、月光下的凤尾竹... What is more. there is love, there is love story performed by those beautiful, diligent, artitistic girls and handsome boys... 

all these had lured me to go there, to pursue them.

nonetheless,  reason told me to refrain from so doing. they are, after all, starry eyed illusions, existing never in reality, but my heart only. Therefore, all i can do, and should do, now is to turn on my computer, log onto those beautiful websites,  seeing my dreams come true in those marvelous pictures. still, deep down, i tell myself to hang onto my dreams, forever

江南好，风景旧曾谙，日出山花红胜火，春来江水绿如蓝，能不忆江南。

Going over students' writing in CET, i cannot but sigh at the fact that there are too many poor writings.

You might remember that this year, the title of writing "Due attentions should be given to spelling". What surprised me in the very begining is that a large number of students are confused about the part of speech of "due", mistaking the adj for a verb, thus such sentences as "we should due attention to spelling" appear on a regular basis in many articles. Worse still, "we are due attention to..."

Ridiculously, students make mistakes with spelling while pointing out others' mistakes. So many words have been coined by the candidates, like "foreiner" (foreigner", "preffer" (prefer), "morden" (modern), "importent"(important), and numerous others.

Although many spelling mistakes do not interfere with understanding, we, as learners of English, had better avoid them, after all, we write to communicate, and the principle of communication is to reduce barriers whatever to the minimum, spelling mistakes included. we need to smooth out the way for readers when we write something.

What follows is webpage about spelling mistakes that i roamed into. it is for your reference.

http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001005112

finally, i hope you to avoid any such mistakes in your writing.

I am by no means a football fan. i had given up watching football match for quite a few years ever since I got despair with Chinese football Team. Any mention of this team is an insult to my ear. My disappointment with Chinese team makes me seldom get excited with football teams whatsoever. I do know rather little about teams today, and all my knowledge is second handed from my son, another pseudo-fan. His favorite team this year is Spain. According to him, Spanish team has the teamwork that he loves. Besides Spain, he also supports other Southern American teams, Brazil and Argentina included.

I had not spent even on minute watching the world cup until the night before last, when Brazil was fighting the Nederland. My son predicted with certainty that B would defeat N with 3:1. It is his idea that B has those stars while N not. I, on the other hand, out of sympathy for the "weak", bet on the N. As the match went on, i was getting excited while my son upset. when the N scored its second goal, my son left in frustration, (partly in anger and partly out of consideration of work the next morning).

The defeat of Brazil strengthens me in my conviction that the seeming strong may not be as unbeatable as it appears. so the next morning when Argentina was fighting Germany and my son again forecast 2:1 in A's favor, i counted with G's favor.

As it turned out, Germany scored the first goal within the first three minutes. This, nonetheless, did not make my son worried, for he trusts A will fight back. Unfortunately, until the start of the second half, there was no improvement with A's performance. My son knew that the matched would be doomed for A.  Again, he left when Germany scored the second goal. and i hanged on till the end of match.

This experience fills me with confidence that i have some "gift" for predicting football match (secretly, i know i have none and i shall never make a football fan).

I feel sorry for my son, after all, those teams that he supports fail. but i pray that Spain will get the champion, not because it is the best team, nor because i know anybody with the team, but because my son supports it and it is my son's favorite team. I hope Spain win the match simply because i love my son and I want my son to feel well. Good or bad, who cares? my son's feeling is most important. hehehehe

 

the other day, a student of mine sent me very beautiful picture of 泸沽湖. when i clicked open the file, sweet music flew out of peaceful and soothing blue pictures--that native song of bright moon shining in the sky. it is a song i used to sing before i had found what myself to be. This time, the song made me nostalgic of the "sweet, old times" when i dared to sing at will. what is better, as the music went on, pictures rolled out one after another of the exotic scene.

Back when i was younger, i had read so many fairy tales of Southern China. There, there would always be numerous romantic, marvelous places and people. the love between young men and young women had lingered on my mind for such a long time that to marry a young girl of that type had been my boyish dream. I might have had a strong southern China complex due to those miraculous tales.

the pictures and music once again reminded of my child fancies. in an urge, i pictured myself roaming in the scene. Nonetheless, my reason tells me not to do so. for i know too well that, with modernization, with industrialization, with tourist development, all those innocent scenes have been spoiled and ruined. i know that when i do there, i may find that money will be luring people to do what will make me regret going.

thus i tell myself to sit down, to shut myself in my study, to appreciate those pictures, the sweet music, and to let my imagination soar as it goes. Once again, i am lost in my dream.

What an enjoyable day.