DAILY PHOTO: Japanese Forest, Eco Park, Kolkata
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Author Archives: B Gourley
PROMPT: Successful
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
Ron Burgundy, because he’s a legend, and the legend continues.
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PROMPT: Neighbor
What makes a good neighbor?
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be… plus, has good judgment about when to call the cops.
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DAILY PHOTO: Tribal Museum at Eco Urban Village
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DAILY PHOTO: Jain Carvings at Gwalior
PROMPT: First Time
What could you try for the first time?
My problem is that I’m old enough that all the low hanging fruit has been consumed, meaning most “first times” involve a serious time investment. For example, I’d love to go skydiving, but you can’t just jump out of a plane, you have to either watch a safety video or sabotage a plane. All for a five-minute experience. And if you don’t want to do it with a stranger strapped intimately close to you, you need to do probably watch several safety videos and practice pulling a cord over and over again. [Question: They sometimes ask if you’d like a male or female massage therapist when you get a massage, but I’ve never heard of being given the option when tandem skydiving. How come it’s ok to be homophobic, or hetero-phobic, in one instance, but not the other? Just asking.]
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AUSTRIA LIMERICK
There once was a man from Austria
prone to coffee house nausea.
“Our cafés are held dear,
but I can’t go near…”
said that lonely, skinny man of Austria.
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BOOK: “Golden Treasury of Quatrains and Octaves” [i.e. 千家诗] Trans. by Xu Yuanchong and Xu Ming
Golden Treasury of Quatrains & Octaves by Xu. Yuanchong (translator)My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — China Translation Corp
This is the bilingual (Chinese-English) edition of an anthology of Tang and Song Dynasty poems commonly known in Chinese as 千家诗 (it has a much longer formal title,) which was jointly translated by Xu Yuanchong and Xu Ming (no relation.) The book is organized into four parts by the form of poem: 7-character line quatrains, 7-character line octaves, 5-character line quatrains, and 5-character line octaves. The anthology includes poems by Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Jia Dao, Ouyang Xiu, Yang Wanli, Su Shi, and many other important Tang and Song poets — from Emperors to Hermits. That said, while the aforementioned Chinese title suggests there are works of a thousand poets involved, that’s an exaggeration. (And that’s probably all the better. While this was the golden age of Chinese poetry, going that wide into surviving poetry might involve hitting the dregs.)
Each entry has a title, byline, the poem in Simplified Chinese script and pinyin (Romanized phonetic script,) an English language translation, notes in Chinese, and a line or two of commentary in English. All but the seven-character line octaves take up just one page per poem. (Seven-character line octaves take two pages per poem.)
This is a great anthology. There’s an introduction to give insight into what approach the translators took. They stuck to rhyming verse to emulate the originals in form, but more can be learned from the introduction.
I’d highly recommend this anthology for poetry readers.
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BOOK: “Chinese Grammar Wiki BOOK: Upper Intermediate” ed. by John Pasden
Chinese Grammar Wiki BOOK: Upper Intermediate by John PasdenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — AllSet Learning
This is the third and final book in this series. It’s a straightforward grammar that’s easy to use and well-organized. The book contains basic rules in a concise format, examples, and any exceptions or points of confusion that may exist. With examples, it presents the Hanzi (Chinese characters,) pinyin (Romanized phonetic script,) and English translation adjacently. (This is a feature that I don’t like in readers, but which I find useful in a grammar.)
If you’re trying to learn the basics of Mandarin Chinese in Simplified Script, this is a useful series. I can’t speak to how good it is or isn’t for someone who intends to take the HSK tests, but for my purposes it was just what I needed with not much more (no extraneous information or complications.)
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 