Mira Sorvino

I wanted to do something far from my intellectual and physical home, so I went to live in Beijing for eight months and took Mandarin Chinese.

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Pu Tong Hua

English is simple, it flitters from the tongue,
It means what it says when all’s said and done,
No matter how we say it, stress it or declaim,
In English it always means the same, same, same!

Chinese is difficult, your ‘Pu Tong Hua’,
Is drawn in little pictures that go back so-o-o far,
And every one’s a concept, with no strict meanings
Making it impossible to delve your gleanings.

As often as I study, and try as I might,
I can’t get your xiang xing’s or qing qing’s right.
There isn’t any gender; there isn’t any tense,
So how can your past, present, future, make sense?

Then when I’ve mastered some simple Chinese
You say: ‘That’s fine – but it’s Wenzhou-nese,
Nobody in Guangzhou, Wuhan or Beijing
Would understand a pennyworth of what you’re saying! ’

Every city’s dialect differs from the main,
Canton-ese, Shanghai-nese, nothing is the same.
Beijing has its Mandarin, the old ‘Pu Tong Hua’,
But it’s not what you’ll hear in a Wenzhou bar.

So don’t look for sympathy with adjectives and pauses,
Proper nouns or pronouns, adverbial clauses,
Your cousin’s not your brother, and a ‘she’s’ not a ‘him’,
But how do I tell you in your old Mandarin?

4 April 2006

poem by David Lewis PagetReport problemRelated quotes
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Learn Chinese July 11th,2012

LEARN CHINESE July 11th,2012
By
James Bredin

If it was Gaelic they were speaking I might catch a word or two,
But Toronto has turned Chinese and I don't have a clue,
So I think I should learn Mandarin and then we can get along,
I don't know; but is that the language they speak in Hong Kong?




I just looked it up on the Internet and found out to my surprise,
They have more than a hundred languages so I can't improvise,
Has an English-speaking Canadian ever learned Chinese?
Which is easier to learn - Mandarin or Cantonese?




Years ago, I thought of becoming bilingual and learning French,
But Canada is has gone multicultural down a communication trench,
And now I have to find out where they teach easy Chinese,
And maybe eventually, I can pretend I'm Cantonese.

July 11th,2012

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All roads lead to Beijing.

Chinese proverbsReport problemRelated quotes
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From Nanking to Beijing, buyers are never as smart as the sellers.

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Three Wives Of A Mandarin

Lawful wife.

There is still some wine left in the chalice,
And the plate that’s served is nests of the swallows.
Since the birth of time, the legal spouse
Is respected by her mandarin-husband.

Concubine

There is still some wine left in the chalice,
And the plate is served – duck: fat and heavy;
Should a mandarin be deprived of children -
Concubine is needed for a mandarin.

Maid

There is still some wine left in the chalice,
And the plate is served - preserves and marmalade.
Why the two of you are in his house?
Every night a new woman he desires.

Mandarin

There is no more wine left in the chalice,
And the plate that’s served is hot red pepper.
Silence! O you: bunch of silly blabbers,
Dare you laughing at the poor old mandarin.

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John Perry Barlow

I personally think intellectual property is an oxymoron. Physical objects have a completely different natural economy than intellectual goods. It's a tricky thing to try to own something that remains in your possession even after you give it to many others.

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Our policy for the last many years has been to deter the Chinese government in Beijing from ever coming into the position where they thought they had enough leverage over the U.S. to cross the Straits of Taiwan.

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Physical

I wanna take you baby
I wanna take you out
I wanna wine and dine you
Oh I wanna twist and twist and shout
I want you hot in my arms
So soft on my bed
You get the key to my heart
Oh when you wear that sweet dress
But youre too physical physical to me
Youre just too physical physical no to me
I want your rough house baby
I want this right in your ear
You let me feel your danger
I let you make this feeling clear here
I want the touch of your charms
The heat of your breath
I wanna say all those things
That would be better unsaid
No
But youre too physical physical to me
Youre just too physical oh
Youre too physical for me
Youre too physical to me
Youre really jus- just too- just
Too really f**k no
Youre just too physical
Youre just too physical
Too f**king physical
No no no no no no no
Oh youre too physical
Just too physical
Just too
Performed and produced by:trent reznor
Written by:adam ant

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Physical

I'm saying all the things that I know you like
Making good conversation
I've gotta handle you just right
You know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant
Then to a suggestive movie
There's nothing left to talk about
Unless it's horizontally
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
I've been patient, I've been good
Tried to keep my hands on the table
Oh it's getting hard to hold me back
You know what I mean
I'm sure you understand my point of view
We know each other better
You've gotta know you're bringing out
The animal in me
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
(Physical) I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
(Get physical)
(Do you hear me)
(Mmm, yeah)
(C'mon)
(I know you want me)
(Physical)
Woah, yeah
Physical, physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
I wanna get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk

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Esther Dyson

From the business point of view - not to overstate it - intellectual property is dead; long live intellectual process. Long live service; long live performance.

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I feel very sorry for the one or two North Korean defectors who were caught by Chinese police while entering South Korean or foreign embassies in Beijing, but their arrest drew the whole attention of the world.

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When I Have Bouts With Depression

I can get depressed.
The 'whoa-is-me'
Down low funky kind!
The kind that collects ever depressed feeling
Stored in my memory.
You know...
The kind that changes facial expressions?
The kind a man doesn't want to turn on the bathroom light,
To shave!
I've had those days.
My ex-wife use to say,
I was going through a monthy crisis!
As if my living through her 'experience'
Increased my joy!

When I have bouts with depression...
They seem to come right after I have paid a bill!
My mom use to say...
'Be happy you can get your bills paid.'

Of course she also use to tell us...
'Be happy with what you have.
Think of all those starving Chinese children! '

Well,
One thing has been made certainly clear.
Today...
Not one Chinese child have I ever seen starving.
And there are at least three Chinese restaurants,
A few blocks from where I live!

And now they own this country's debt!
That's part of why I can get sometimes depressed.
I took four years of college French.
When I went to Paris a few years ago...
I didn't understand a thing they said!
Plus there are boiled eggs in every sandwich they make,
It seems.
And they drink wine like I can dwon a bottle of juice!
But those Chinese...?
They've got it going on!
From being masters of the sea...
To discipline, clothing and obviously economies.
The only thing they have not imported yet...
Is their language!

And I guess that's why I am of late depressed.
Because I am beginning to realize,
How closely their language is associated...
With the Egyptian hieroglypics!
And all that has to happen now...
Will be the young folks figuring out,
A way to put all of this crap to rap!

'You're not having a good day,
Are you? '

I'll get over it!
Did you see the Olympics?
Beijing did a great job, huh?

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Six months after that, I left Taiwan, first for Hong Kong and then for mainland China, where I spent another three months studying still more Chinese and generally kicking around the country.

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Transparency is not the same as looking straight through a building: it's not just a physical idea, it's also an intellectual one.

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Talking Iwth A Stranger

he says he is in china
teaching, then he says
not teaching only,
he is researching on the
roots of language,
mandarin he speaks
and bisaya too,
a man of the world
from the island
where i live
and call
home,
he is a stranger and i tell him my name, my work,
i show myself with what i write and he takes time to read all
until
he sees something wrong and he corrects it,
my choice of words
my spelling, the do's and dont's in poetry in writing a letter to a friend
in composing an eulogy
a song of departure
a poem of regret, the last thing he says was that he once fished
and that the sea has become his home, and then
i knew him, but i will not tell him who he is.

it is enough that we have become friends.

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The true traveller is the one urged to move about for physical, aesthetic, intellectual as well as spiritual reasons.

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The world cannot continue to wage war like physical giants and to seek peace like intellectual pygmies.

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Physical Presence

I leave as I enter
another boy caught in-between
now all I can muster
are whispers to your screams
don't you remember
how you eased my disgrace
don't you remember
the love you saw in my face
perfected in silence
a physical presence
perfected in silence
a physical presence
I sought affection
but now I realize
a cold rejection
the movement in your eyes
but I can remember
when you shook against me
I can remember
when I saw what love could be
perfected in silence
a physical presence
perfected in silence
a physical presence
ain't what she did
it's the way that she did it
when I couldn't give
only she could forgive it
ain't what she did
it's the way that she did it
as long as I live
it's for me to re-live it . . .
silence . . .
part of the answer
is that there's really no escape
part of the answer
is that life can have such perfect shape
don't you remember
all the nights you shared in my disgrace
don't you remember
that the love that filled this empty space was . . .
. . . perfected in silence
a physical presence
perfected in silence
a physical presence

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Chinese Style Olympia 2008

How great it was in Beijing Olympia
Wisdom and Intellect are it answers.
Used a lot of capitals and manpower
Most sports performed in a bird’s nest
Swimming sports were in a water cubic

Our concept was ‘one man, one dream’
Every body may have the same dreaming
No matter you are Chinese or guests
Bring the same heart to look for success

The starting day performed marvelous shows
Men and women made shapes of symbols
One day by one day different races were in safe
Chinese athletes happily raced with guests

Both the Chinese and the foreigners were happy
American athlete seemed like a swimming jet
He made excellent results gained 8 gold medals
Frog’s style swim champion is a Japanese king

Grouped winner named by the youth of Chinese
American athletes have won world’s success
There were many new and young athletes born
Different races were greatly gaining high results.

Competition was not the main purpose
Chinese needed the world’s united friendship
It’s why we build a nest you comes together
Let the peace forever consists for a whole world

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We wanted to be in great shape, we wanted to be able to cope with zero gravity, we wanted to be able to cope with accelerations and decelerations and so on. So all of us trained so that we were probably in the best physical condition we had ever been in up until that point.

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