ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

It's late and I am tired and sleepy but I still want to share with you a word I just thought of.  My brain is fried and I can't think much at the moment.  I will talk about why I thought about that word later.  In the meantime, please click on the link to my article for illustration of what "hypocrite 偽君子" means.   https://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/9313344

The last time I posted an entry was about 2 years ago.   I don't know when I will post again.  It's hard to find the motive to write.  By the way, according to my daughter, Taylor Swift is a very famous singer.  So I am adding a link of her song "The Last Time".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuijXg8wm28&ab_channel=TaylorSwiftVEVO

I hope you like it.  

放馬後炮 (的人) (v.) play Monday morning quarterback (n.)  a Monday morning quarterback

About Covid-19 situation in Taiwan, I have something to say.  What's important now is to move forward and fix the problem. It is so easy to be a Monday morning quarterback (to play Monday morning quarterback), passing judgement and criticizing it after the fact. Can you do any better beforehand? We will never know, so why uselessly dwell on the past? Let's take this as a learning experience and make it better in the future. At least this government has helped its people to live a normal and COVID outbreak free life for more than a year where others from all over the world suffer from COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year. What's there to complain?

It didn’t come as surprise as I watched the Chinese diplomats condescending to vulgar behaviors by tongue lashing Blinken for more than 20 minutes to top Biden Administration officials in their first meeting, setting the stage to exploit President Biden as they did Barack Obama. 

Beware! If you give the Chinese government an inch, they will take a mile. 
Don't let the camel get his nose under the tent!

 C’est si bon (French) 真是太棒了: It’s so good! 

Since it is new year, I should write something more positive.  I talked about C'est la vie last time, so I should probably introduce another French phrase this time:  C’est si bon

By the way, did I mention that my daughter learned French for about a year and my brother-in-law got his Phd in France? Anyway, that’s all my connection about the French language.  My daughter likes a French yogurt a lot, not the Greek yogurt.  The name of the French yogurt is Oui, which means “yes”.   Oh, on the subject of yogurt, my son likes Greek yogurt and I like the Icelandic yogurt.  French yogurt is more on the sweeter side. My daughter likes sweets.  Greek yogurt is more on the sour side, while Icelandic yogurt is in between with a more rich and creamier taste. Okay, back to C’est si bon.  What would be considered “C’est si bon”?  I want to keep thinking positive.  C’est si bon, the first wave of vaccination has started.  It looks like that we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.            

It's the first day of a new year.  I should probably write something more positive.  However, the past year has rendered me helpless, leaving me feeling c'est la vie.  Nolens volens, I felt that we were left willy-nilly to accept the selfish and self-centered actions of others.  So, our school will reopen in January with grades K-8 returning to in-person learning full time and grade 9-12 alternating between online and in-person, all under reduced social distancing rules to less than 6 feet and with elimination of any limitation to room capacity.  Our school still gives the students an option to choose to continue online learning.  As COVID-19 is still out of control with new strain more infectious and limited vaccines available, I can’t believe the approach the school is taking.  But then, many parents probably have reach to a point where they can no longer tolerate their children having online classes at home, without any supervision.  In addition, some children just can't adapt to online learning. Anyway, the US has never really taken COVID-19 seriously enough even until now.  C'est la vie. Life goes on.

Here, I used a few new words. I will explain them in detail below.

c'est la vie (French) 人生就是如此;這就是人生: such is life; that’s life. 

A dab hand:

To describe someone who is really good at cooking, we can say that he is a dab hand at cooking.  

I feel so embarrassed to be an American, learning that so many American corporations gutlessly succumbing to Chinese for the money.  “It’s more than a little ludicrous for everyone from Ted Cruz to Beto O’Rourke to suddenly hand the NBA and the Rockets the tab for American toadying to authoritarians in Beijing.  (Shelly Jenkins, Washington Post, "Don’t be mad at the NBA. Hundreds of U.S. companies have sold out to China’s regime", 7 Oct. 2019)

Indeed, all these American corporations bowing obsequiously at China are nothing but lickspittles.  The title should not be “Don’t be mad at the NBA”.  It should be “Get mad at the NBA and all those toadies who cannot wait to curry favor with the Chinese” instead. 

柯文哲的政治精算 Ko Wen-je's political calculation

I kept thinking about what the best word would be to describe 柯文哲.  He doesn’t look like a fence-sitter (牆頭草) to me.   A fence-sitter is someone who does not make decisions or take sides because he or she doesn’t want to offend either side.  He definitely is NOT that type of person.  He has his own agenda from the start.  He is very good at manipulating people and giving the false appearance of being honest or sincere.  You can definitely call him phony, double-faced, or a back-stabber or a double-dealer who practices the work to people's disadvantage behind their backs.  Then I found the world “political chameleon”.  Wow!  That’s the perfect word to depict him.  A political chameleon (政治變色龍) is a person who changes their opinions or behavior according to the situation.   

狐貍露出尾巴

Give oneself away

Let the cat out of the bag

The phrase “rose-colored/rose-tinted glasses/spectacles” is used to describe an optimistic, cheerful way of looking at things. 

When one looks through rose-colored glasses, things may look rosy but far from the truth.  He might be too optimistic, looking only on the bright side.  In reality, things might be worse than one can imagine.

只看到事物好的一面；過於樂觀地看待問題

I recently stumbled on an article regarding fate.  There is no such thing as a coincidence in this world, only the inevitable. 世上沒有偶然,只是必然

However, philosophy isn’t a subject I want to dwell upon.  What I want to bring up here is the phrase “when stars align”.   It might seem a quantum leap to jump from inevitability to star alignment.  Anyway, they are all somewhat related to fate.  When will the stars align?  The actual answer is probably “Never”, not even once in a blue moon.  When stars align, it would be highly unlikely, unexpected and impossible.  So, it must be fate if the stars align.命運使然  

代理 (主管, 首席執行官) Acting (Chief, Superintendent,CEO)

Example; Before we hire a new CEO, John Smith will be the acting CEO for Genetic Biotech. 

指定人: 被指定履行職責或角色的人   

蓋棺定論 :  Set in stone

變數 :  Variables

Nothing is set in stone.  There are still a lot of variables out there for you to become the next chief operating officer

I am gradually getting back to blogging, though not fully engaged.  I started reviewing some of my old articles and added some more comments and more information on why I wrote them.  Maybe I can regain the fun of blogging again and do more.  

Oh, it happens to be New Year's Day.  I will write something for the occasion.

裝聾做啞:  假裝耳聾口啞。形容故意不理睬；裝做不知或不懂；或故意置身事外。

Pretend to be deaf and dumb; pretend to be deaf and mute; play ignorant; play dumb; remain aloof; turn a deaf ear

填鴨式教育

Spoon-feeding education

I was just talking to a friend about the difference between Eastern and Western education.  Eastern education system tends to provide a more passive way of learning where students are hand

2 1/2 years have passed since my last entry on this blog.  I am sorry to keep you waiting.  It has been hard without much motivation to write.  Anyway, since I like to whine, I will talk about whining.

發牢騷 -  Whine

Is it good to whine?  Sometimes, it is good to whine to get things off your chest, so you can be done with it and not get bogged down.  However, constant whining gets you nowhere and is unconstructive.  Instead of fixing issues, you are wasting your time whining. 

過河拆橋 - 每日一辭(英)

Better print out this news. Just in case you have the need in the future.

I don't know why "Dismantle the bridge after crossing it" (過河拆橋) came to my mind.  Maybe because I don't trust that Ministry of Foreign Affair would really honor this for civilians. 

玩弄於股掌之中- 每日一辭(英)

玩弄於股掌之中

Twist around one's finger / Turn around one’s finger / Wind around one’s finger / Wrap around one’s finger