ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

I have a friend.  She came from the Czech Republic .  We got acquainted through playing racquet ball.  After she got her PhD in Economics, she moved to Washington D.C. to work for IMF (International Monetary Fund). 

She was the one who introduced me to the book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera.  Whenever I saw the book lying on the bookshelf, I would think of her.  I used to visit her whenever I was in D.C.  About 1 1/2 years ago, she moved to Ethiopia , teaching Economics at the Addis Ababa University .  It is hard to keep in touch and I miss her terribly, especially the games with her. 

It is all about me

Nouns:  Plural vs. Singular

Sometimes, you might wonder why we can modify a plural noun with a singular noun.

I want to jot down my feeling after reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.  The intensity of the book is so high that I dreaded reading it for its heaviness and depressiveness.  It sucked away every ounce of my breath, leaving me drowning and clutching for a straw.  What it described is mind boggling.  I usually don’t like reading novels like this as there is already too much stress in my life to bring on something that is so upsetting.  Some of the story lines were pretty excruciating to read on.  It is not easy to finish the book without having an array of emotions.  The part about Sohrab is especially saddening.  I was flooded with emotions at the bathroom scene.  The words “For you, a thousand times over” overpowered all my senses.  This feeling I got, similar to that I had while reading “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, is just as disturbing as it is unbearable.  However, I wouldn’t say that this book is comparable to “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and I wouldn’t say that I would recommend reading this book.

From literature standpoint, one would argue that there is not much of a literary value in this book for its plotting too schematic and transparently contrived.  The writing style is full of repetitions with as many clichés and as much foreshadowing as is humanly possible, which overshadows the compelling layers of metaphor.  The story was told in simple brush strokes, void of fancy verbiage and brilliant phrases.  

This is a novel about humanity, friendship, honor, betrayal, loyalty, acceptance, redemption, social stigma and bravery.    

十年修得同船渡 百年修得共枕眠的英文怎麼翻譯?

十年的修為才能碰到一次搭同一艘船的緣份，

By now, you might have noticed the clock and the temperature displayed on my blog.  I thought that it would be interesting for you to get to know more about me, in addition to how much time that I have devoted to answering people’s questions, probably every waking and sleeping moment.

Right now, as we speak, it is 4:15 pm.  I am getting off from work.  By the way, I work from home on Fridays, so I can start work early and end it early.  Furthermore, I don’t have to take too much time off from taking the kids to the doctors’.  You know how it is with little children.  They are magnets to virus and bacteria.

When to use a comma?

A. Use commas to avoid confusion. 

This is a book read by someone who has been asking English questions in my blog.  Just from the few examples provided by that person, I believe it to be a good book even though I did not read the entire book.

What I like about the book is the concept that it is trying to convey, which is what I have been preaching all along.  

A friend of mine

Recently I got a complaint email from someone I befriended while I was interning at Corestates Bank in Philadelphia 18 years ago.  It is somewhat amazing that we still keep in touch with each other after so many years.  After the internship, I have never been back to Philadelphia .  Time really flies.  I do occasionally think of the succulent lobsters on South Street and the bars near Delaware River .   

My son and the Children’s Hospital

Since my son was 6 days old, he has frequented the emergency room of the Children’s Hospital.  Maybe I am somewhat exaggerated.