The house of Babel

From

2008年5月28日、ハリウッド女優のシャロン・ストーンがこのほど、四川大地震を「（中国への）報い」と発言したことについて、実際に彼女が語った 「karma」（カルマ）という言葉を、インタビュー内容を伝えた香港メディアが誤訳したのではないか？と、台湾のニュースサイト「NOWnews」が伝 えている。

今月24日、香港メディアのインタビューに答えたシャロンは、チベット仏教の最高指導者ダライ・ラマと「交友関係にある」と話し、続いて「今回の地震は『カルマ』かしら」と述べている。【 その他の写真 】

「NOWnews」によると、香港メディアが「カルマ」＝「報応」（報いの意味）と訳したのは非常に極端で、「カルマ」の実際の意味について、「『業』を 指し、『善業』『悪業』のどちらも含む」としている。また、シャロンはインタビューで、被災地に救いの手を差し伸べたい気持ちも語っていたという。

しかし、すでに「報い」発言の影響は世界規模に拡大し、間もなくクランクインの米中合作映画「人魚帝国」からの降板が決まったほか、長年イメージキャラク ターをつとめるファッションブランド「Christian Dior」でも、シャロンと境界線を引く動きを見せている。（翻訳・編集/Mathilda）

When I was a little, we barely had food to eat. Sometime we had to eat sweet potatoes everyday until I threw up. If you only eat a little bit that, you would feel delicious. But if you took that as your main food, you would feel heart burn. At that time, I hardly had any candies. There were some Chinese hawthorn trees behind our house. When spring came, it blossomed. Sometime I just went to the mountain and make a little straw from some plants and suck some honey from the flowers as the bees did.
You know, in China, there are a lot of kids really need transfer factor plus because most of them have nutritive disturbance problem.

Grammar is the study of describing how words and their component parts combine to form sentences. Sometime if you want to make a perfect sentence from the grammar you made, you would find that the meaning of the sentence is something both funny and annoying.

If you are trying to machine-translate some languages just according to the grammar rules, you are just doing garbage research.

The ideal way is to combine semantic information or semantic meaning with grammar rules.

I think it is a very good idea to have college scholarships. You know, everybody was not born in a same family. Maybe there are some people who need not worry about money or do not care about money. But we know that some people were born in some poor family, who even has to worry about where the food is for the next day. To give anybody a fair chance, it is very good to have scholarship.

One character is in my brain forever. This character is 的, which is a character has more than one pronunciation.
It was the time when I was in elementary school. In some exam of Chinese subject, I racked my brains to try to figure out what the pronunciation was for the words “的确良”.
Before that exam, I remembered so clearly I did not know this word.
After the exam, I went back home. My mom told me,

你 穿 的 就 是 的确良
nǐ chuān de jiù shì díquèliáng

I finally understood that there are three kinds of pronunciation for that character.

的  [de] (From nciku)

* 1. 用在定语的后面 used after an attribute ; to
* 2. used to form a noun phrase or nominal expression
* 3. used after a verb or between a verb and its object to stress an element of the sentence

eg 我的书包(my bag)

的  [dí] (From nciku)

* 1. true ; really eg 的确
* 2. taxi eg 打的

的  [dí] (From nciku)

eg 的确良(dacron ; terylene)

的 [dì] (From nciku)

* target ; bull’s-eye

eg 中的

In Chinese, there are many words with multiple pronunciations. I did not find such phenomena in English. That was interesting.

Loving being beautiful is the nature of human, especially for ladies. But the difficult thing is to find the right cosmetic for every unique user. In the first some months after I came to USA, I felt very frustrated with face and skin. You know, that was a completely environment for me. I did not what kind of cosmetic fit me. And I did not have so many friends here so I even could not talk about that with other people.
Fortunately, there is Beauty For Life Quiz to support such kind of people now.
It is said that the Beauty for Life quiz matches information about your age, appearance, beauty regimen, lifestyle, and body image with facts and images that can show you how to look your best throughout your lifetime.

I think in every language and dialect there is the subjunctive mood, because there is no beauideal person in the world. Everybody would do some mistakes in some time. When you did some wrong, normally we regret and think if I were given different condition, I would do that better.

In Chinese, typically there are 假如(jiǎrú)、如果(rúguǒ)、要是(yàoshì) to express the subjunctive mood.

如果上天能够给我一个再来一次的机会，我会对那个女孩子说三个字：我爱你。

如果非要在这份爱上加上一个期限，我希望是——一万年！

如果我没学日语,我的英语肯定比现在好得多。(If I had not studied Japanese, my English level should be much better now)

如果我是你,,,(If I were you,,,)

The funny thing is that even in different version of the same speech, the conjunction for the subjunctive mood are almost the same.

In my hometown, we like to say 要是,,,  ,,,就好了。

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大话西游台词之东西南北版 (From 大话西游台词之东西南北版_读书频道_新浪网)

原版

曾经有一分真挚的爱情放在我面前，我没有珍惜，等我失去的时候我才后悔莫及，人世间最痛苦的事莫过于此。你的剑在我的咽喉上割下去吧！不用再犹豫了！如 果上天能够给我一个再来一次的机会，我会对那个女孩子说三个字：我爱你。如果非要在这份爱上加上一个期限，我希望是——一万年！

天津话版

说借话可是那阵了，有一份倍儿真的感情摆在我眼皮底下，我倒霉催的，愣没当回事，等没了吧倒醒过闷来了，唉没法儿啊，世界上最点儿背的事儿也就借意思 了。你拿刀片子赶紧在我脖子上拉吧，肉呼嘛？！不过如果老天爷能再让我来一回的话啊，我跟你说我豁出去了!我非跟那闺女说仨字儿： “我耐你！”如果非死乞白赖要在前面弄个头的话啊，我估摸着大概齐是一万年?

东北话版

曾经有一轱辘贼啦纯洁的爱情搁在俺的面前，俺没希地答理，不知咋整的，就整没了，俺觉得，俺这辈子最窝囊的事就数它了，如果上天容个空的话，俺想对那个女娃说： “俺稀罕你。”如果非要整个头的话，俺希望是一万年！

江苏南通话版

吾有阵子，有个乖乖珑地咚的太的爱情盛在吾前头，吾个死人呀，吃了乌龟虚了呵，怎么就不晓得珍惜呀。世界上个死人最逊的篙子就是路个篙子了。姑娘，你也 知道，吾很逊但是吾很好呢。哎呀。反正我现在是么混么混后悔的不得过呀，吾也晓得你现在看到吾眼睛眉毛就长了，所以说你弄个刀儿砍了吾个颈项拉倒了撒！你 说好不好撒！！！

湖北话版

伙计，窝给你硕个事塞，原来有一个蛮真蛮真的感情放到我们前头，我当时茂晓得珍惜，你家说我勺不勺！那好的东西不晓得留倒，看早好了了，等窝墨起来的时 候，他，你妈的，就茂看到了，假如天老爷，再把我一个机会，窝肯定会对那个姑娘芽唆。窝爱你家，如果非要加个日期——一望年！

北京话版

想当初有一段儿啵儿真的感情落我跟前儿了，哥们儿我竟然牛逼烘烘地没给丫当回事儿，您说我孙不孙子？直到那个妞儿跟人家跑了，我这才琢磨过味儿来：我真 他妈是个大傻×！！(操，你丫那刀片儿落我脖子上半天了，到底什么时候帮我放血？？？）如果能再原谅一次我们这些失足青年，我会跪在丫面前再装一次孙子， 保证吗儿好听说吗儿： “媳妇儿，哥们还是想泡你丫的！！”如果今儿个非要让我在哥儿几个面前表个态，给丫加上一个所谓的时间状语:——哥们，那您说一万年成吗?

上海话版

勒拉老早老早以前格辰光，有一份老真诚格爱情放勒吾面前，吾眼睛戳黑特了，把自家捣糨糊，呣末爱伊，世上最窝心、最悲脆格事体啊就各能了？侬格刀快点放 勒我头颈高头，开下起好来！！八古老梯牙能够娘吾再来一记阿哎物？吾会得得各儿小姑娘刚，我爱侬！如故要来了咯个爱上夹个辰光艾子，吾希望是一繁 年！！！！！！

重庆话版

那二年子，有那么巴实的一mol感情摆在老子面前，老子居然没有甩它的。等老子一想过来啬，他龟儿的居然完都完了！！！！恁个世界上最不安逸的事也就摆在眼皮子下头了。不过如果老天爷再给老子一个机会的话，老子一定会对到她说：“老子爱你！”

四川话版

内年，有个很安逸的感情摆在老子跟前，老子居然没张死它。等老子想起来舍，他妈的居然就没得喽！！！咋子世界上最不爽的事也就摆在这眼皮子底下了。不过如果老天再给老子一个机会的话，老子一定会给他说：我爱你。

客家话版

安九以前有只七佬，涯磨气好好珍惜，到头来今正晓后悔。假杀老天爷奔多涯一次机会喂话，涯会讲：涯安中意鱼。又假杀爱呵厄也加只期限厄话，涯芒系一万年！

Are you afraid of spicy food? I am not.

I was born in Hunan Province, which is famous for spicy food. People in Hunan have spicy red pepper in any food. Parents feed their babies with spicy food as well as alcohol. Somebody do not eat so much if there is no spicy food. It is just like my father, if there is no alcohol, he will not eat so much.

People always use the three characters 怕(pà )辣(là) 不(bú) to describe the differences between the three provinces that are famous for spicy food.

I was thinking how many different meaning you can get from the three characters.

怕辣不? Are you afraid of spicy food?
怕不辣. (Somebody) worries about that the food is not spicy enough.
不怕辣. (Somebody) is not afraid of spicy food.
不辣?怕. It is not spicy? I am afraid of that.
辣不怕. The food was spicy for me, but I did not get scared.
辣.怕不? It is spicy. Are you afraid of that?

Wow, it was so amazing.

I almost got messed up by ELS and ESL.

The thing is this. I was looking for some way to get into American University. For foreign people whose native language is not English, you know, you have to have TOEFL score.

And I knew recently there is conditional admission for foreign students. It means that, if you did not have good TOEFL score before you came, you can do this conditional admission. After you came to USA, you can study English.

In this point, I was messed up. Do you think which one was combined with the conditional admission? It was ESL, not ELS!!!!!!!!!!!!

ESL is English as a Second Language.

ELS is English Language School.

So I tell you, Be careful.