The containment system had been designed by the greatest minds in the country. Keeping the animals in their pens were twin layers of barbed wire fencing with enough electricity surging through them to stun a herd of elephants. Cognizant of the dangers of reliance on the public grid, the park was powered by an off-grid system with enough reserve battery charge to keep the park operational for a week in the event of national disaster. Practically every potential security weakness had been rigorously guarded against, save for one....
palafx
said on October 27, 2011
In his off time, he develops the popup chinese website.Single strangest lesson title, btw.
maxiewawa
said on October 28, 2011
Did Echo 老师 compare the inconvenience of Gmail being blocked to 便秘? Or is she referring to another bian4 mi4? Is this a common expression in Chinese?
Xiao Hu
said on October 29, 2011
@Maxiwawa,I think that Echo was saying that it's like Gmail itself was 便秘. I've had the same experience myself. Sometimes Gmail is fine, then suddenly things go horribly awry. Most notably the friends list can't connect. This meas that I can't chat on Google Chat, what's more, even if it momentarily connects it will inevitably, just like they mentioned in the podcast, lose connection at the most inconvenient possible time. For example, at the precise moment that a friend from the States tries to contact me, the chat window appears with a message, "Hi! Long time to see!" Then I try to respond and sure enough...BAM! Suddenly it disconnects. Later I receive a message in my email from my confused friend wondering why I'm suddenly being so unfriendly. 唉！Because of this, I haven't chatted on Google chat in over a year!没办法！
Echo
said on October 30, 2011
@maxiewawa & Xiao Hu,Hahaha, yes, I said 便秘. Exactly like you guys said -- that's how I feel when I use gmail in China without vpn.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
Xiao Hu
said on October 30, 2011
@Palafx,Don't you mean in his spare time he hacks the PopupChinese website? 他才不要把他的黑客技术浪费在网站发展上。
zjv5002
said on November 1, 2011
I'm not too familiar with using 以 as a stand-alone preposition; are there some common usages or situations for use that commonly feature 以？ I can look at the dialogue's third line and understand how it's working in that sentence, but don't really know how to employ it myself. Thanks gang. Oh, and great, great lesson.
Echo
said on November 1, 2011
@zjv5002,You can think 以 as 根据 (according to). Here are some examples for you:以他的中文水平，HSK6级没问题。以你的表现看来，你已经喜欢上她了。Do you understand these two sentences?--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
holoway
said on November 2, 2011
Thanks for addressing this! It's often not explained well (even in grammar books) I realize I'm being a bit nitpicky- but for those of you translating this I think "based on" not "according to" is a better translation of genju for the context provided in these sentences. Thanks!
zjv5002
said on November 2, 2011
@ Echo, The first sentence, yes; the second, I'm not quite sure. @ holoway, I agree. 以 seems like it can express "according to", but in most everyday situations what we'd probably mean is "based on".
holoway
said on November 3, 2011
@zjv5002The second sentence can also be translated using "based on" for yi.for example a possible translation might be the following:Based on your facial expression it's obvious that you already like her"
Echo
said on November 3, 2011
@zjv5002 & holoway,Yeah, "based on" sounds good too.holoway, your translation was 90% correct, just one problem: 表现 means the way people behave; 表情 is facial expression :)--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
Xiao Hu
said on November 3, 2011
@Brendan & Echo,Isn't the Chinese word for VPN, well, a Chinese word? I thought it was 威批恩。不是吗？
