2008 in Quotes | 年终妙语连珠

2008 in Quotes 年终妙语连珠


I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and the equity.
- Former Federal Reserve Chairman on the 'flaw' he has discovered in his governing ideology.


I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack'....I didn't anticipate war.
- President George W. Bush


I think -- I'll have my staff get to you.- John McCain, when asked how many homes he owned
You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.
- Barack Obama talking about Repulican plans for government reform.


There's no question about it Wall Street got drunk. It got drunk and now it's got a hangover.
- President George W. Bush, speaking at a private event in Houston about the growing financial crisis.


You always find out who's been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach.
- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett


The fundamentals of our economy are strong...
- John McCain campaigning in Jacksonville Florida the day that investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy.


The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq.
- President Bush in an interview with ABC World News.


A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.
- Warren Buffett, in an opinion piece published in The New York Times.


No way, no how, no McCain.
- Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention


It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is.
- Senator Hillary Clinton quoting a supporter's letter while on the campaign trail.


We're hitting our stride now
- Sarah Palin three days before her ticket went down to defeat in the presidential election.


It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
- President-elect Barack Obama victory speech


What did you expect us to do? Respond with a catapult? ... We punched the aggressor in the face. Did you expect us to wipe the bloody snot off our faces and bow our heads?
- Vladimir Putin on criticism over Russia conflict with Georgia over the South Ossertia region


Take it from me, elections matter.
- Al Gore, who lost to President George W. Bush eight years ago amid a dispute over the vote in Florida.


It's very nice to be a normal person for once, I think this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get,
- Prince Harry on the anonymity of being a soldier in Afghanistan.


Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.
- Nelson Mandela praising Barack Obama's presidential victory


He may be human but he's from a different planet…a different galaxy.
- Russia's Alexander Sukhorukov after the 4x200 meters freestyle relay which provided Michael Phelps with Olympic gold number 11.


We have sort of become a nation of whiners.
- Phil Gramm, economic advisor to John McCain in an interview with the Washington Times where he described the country as being in a “mental recession.


They started it and they walked away.
- Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang on Microsoft's decision to suspend merger talks.


That all belongs to the past just as Sovietology does. Sovietology, like paranoia, is a very dangerous disease, and it is a pity that part of the U.S. administration still suffers from it.
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the expansion of NATO.


The world just got a little less funny.- George Clooney on the death of comedian Bernie Mac's.
We made an offer, we made another offer ... We moved on.
- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on speculation that Microsoft might renew its bid for Yahoo.


I can see Russia from my house.
- Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.


If you've got a squirt gun in your pocket, you may have to take it out. If you've got a bazooka and people know you've got it ... you're not likely to take it out.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson while asking Congress to approve an unlimited, temporary line of credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


Get ready for a schadenfreude festival on Wall Street.
- Barry Ritholtz, director of equity research at Fusion IQ on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's reported involvement in a prostitution ring.


There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk.
- Apple CEO Steve Jobs


Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the prospects of the Detroit Three automakers winning a government bailout.


Mother, moose hunter, maverick.
- Opening line of Republican convention video introducing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.


I think he is a transformational figure. … His is a new generation coming ... onto the world stage, American stage.
- Former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell, endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.


There is no reason not to be a pirate.
- U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet


My grandfather was born a slave, so for me to see this happen means that there is hope for America. This took more than just black and Hispanic votes. This was America coming together.
- Vanessa Ford, 49, who works for Coca Cola.

I am not a monster.
- Austrian Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered her seven children


I'm just a plumber. I just want to get on with my life and do my job, I'd prefer to do that without people camped out on my doorstep.
- 'Joe the Plumber' Wurzelbacher complaining about press coverage after he was mentioned by both candidates in a presidential debate.


We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. It is more important to have good priests than to have many priests.
- Pope Benedict, addressing the pedophile priest sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the American Church.


We don't like being here asking for this.
- James Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase on the credit crunch


Mission: Not accomplished.
- GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, seeing a congressional bailout along with the other top 3 Detroit automakers.


2009 is not going to be better than 2008.
- Ford Motor Chief Executive Alan Mulally

2007 in Quotes | 2007妙语回顾

2007 in Quotes

Why don't you shut up?
- Spanish King Juan Carlos to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance... We're still dancing.
- Charles Prince, Citigroup CEO, July 9

He's fresh, he's new, there's something about him that's Google-like.
- Google employee Nicole Resz on Barack Obama

In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country.
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I'm going back to work right now. This is just the beginning.
- Al Gore after winning the Nobel prize

I'm a fairly wide guy... I tend to spread my legs when I lower my pants so they won't slide.
- Sen. Larry Craig

I will redeem myself. I have to.
- Quarterback Michael Vick after pleading guilty for his role in a dogfighting case

That giant ATM you've been living in has just shut down.
- David Wyss, chief economist at S&P

I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.
- Bush comments on the prison sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby

The efficiency is still low but I am quite sure that it will work in humans.
- Scientist Shoukhrat Mitalipov on cloned monkey research

We cannot afford this war.
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

We hope that our actions to stabilize the financial markets and the economy will help the credit crunch we see now.
- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

America can count on France in its battle on terror.
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy

I guess I'm like any other political figure. Everybody wants to be loved -- just sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved.
- President George Bush

I'm determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars in judiciary and the executive and the parliament.
- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf

No one is going to believe anybody any more.
- Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, on CDOs

She has a very practical approach to fashion and a great sense of occasion
- Buckingham Palace as Queen Elizabeth named to fashion top 50

I don't think they are piling on because I am a woman. They are piling on because I am winning. - Hillary Clinton on her Democratic rivals

The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me. ... Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.
- President George Bush

There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball.
- Slugger Barry Bonds

Horses are pure of heart and noble in spirit -- they can't lie and they can't steal.
- William Husson, State University of New York, on Barbaro

The struggle in Iraq may be hard, but this should not be a time for despair.
- President George Bush

From one end of his life to the other he sat in solemn thought and left so much to read, so many pages with ideas that come at you like sparks spitting from a fire.
- Jimmy Breslin on Norman Mailer, who died Nov. 10

The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate.
- Cuban leader Fidel Castro

The royal family must have ice water in their veins.
- Mohamed al-Fayed, the father of Princess Diana's lover

There were tenors, and then there was Pavarotti.
- Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli on Luciano Pavarotti, who died Sept. 6

The role of the investment banks in this process cannot be overstated. They are facilitators and earned fees at multiple stages in the process.
- Richard Neiman, NY's acting banking superintendent, on the subprime meltdown

Figures of Speech | 英语修辞

Figures of Speech

Figures of speech are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech.

1) Simile (明喻): It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. To make the comparison, words like as, as...as, as if and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. For example, As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

2) Metaphor (暗喻): It is like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated. For example, the world is a stage.

3) Analogy (类比): It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses comparison on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance.

4) Personification (拟人): It gives human form of feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes to inanimate objects, or to ideas and abstractions(抽象). For example, the wind whistled through the trees.

5) Hyperbole (夸张): It is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis. For instance, he almost died laughing.

6) Understatement (含蓄陈述): It is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement. For instance, It is no laughing matter.

7) Euphemism (委婉): It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. For instance, we refer to "die" as " pass away".

8) Metonymy (转喻): It is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the mane of one thing for that of another. For instance, the pen (words) is mightier than the sword (forces).

9) Synecdoche (提喻): It is involves the substitution of the part for the whole, or the whole for the part. For instance, they say there's bread and work for all. She was dressed in silks.

10) Antonomasia (换喻): It has also to do with substitution. It is not often mentioned now, though it is still in frequent use. For example, Solomon for a wise man. Daniel for a wise and fair judge. Judas for a traitor.

11) Pun (双关语): It is a play on words, or rather a play on the form and meaning of words. For instance, a cannon-ball took off his legs, so he laid down his arms. (Here "arms" has two meanings: a person's body; weapons carried by a soldier.)

12) Syllepsis (一语双叙): It has two connotations.

In the first case, it is a figure by which a word, or a particular form or inflection of a word, refers to two or more words in the same sentence, while properly applying to or agreeing with only on of them in grammar or syntax. For example, He addressed you and me, and desired us to follow him. (Here us is used to refer to you and me.)

In the second case, it a word may refer to two or more words in the same sentence. For example, while he was fighting , and losing limb and mind, and dying, others stayed behind to pursue education and career. (Here to losing one's limbs in literal; to lose one's mind is figurative, and means to go mad.)

13) Zeugma (轭式搭配): It is a single word which is made to modify or to govern two or more words in the same sentence, wither properly applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in different senses. For example, The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. (Here noon is not strong enough to burn)

14) Irony (反语): It is a figure of speech that achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense. For instance, we are lucky, what you said makes me feel real good.

15) Innuendo (暗讽): It is a mild form of irony, hinting in a rather roundabout way at something disparaging or uncomplimentary to the person or subject mentioned. For example, the weatherman said it would be worm. He must take his readings in a bathroom.

16) Sarcasm (讽刺): It Sarcasm is a strong form of irony. It attacks in a taunting and bitter manner, and its aim is to disparage, ridicule and wound the feelings of the subject attacked. For example, laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps break through.

17) Paradox (似非而是的隽语) : It is a figure of speech consisting of a statement or proposition which on the face of it seems self-contradictory, absurd or contrary to established fact or practice, but which on further thinking and study may prove to be true, well-founded, and even to contain a succinct point. For example more haste, less speed.

18) Oxymoron (矛盾修饰): It is a compressed paradox, formed by the conjoining of two contrasting, contradictory or incongruous terms as in bitter-sweet memories, orderly chaos and proud humility.

19) Antithesis (对照): It is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve emphasis. For example, speech is silver; silence is golden.

20) Epigram (警句): It states a simple truth pithily and pungently. It is usually terse and arouses interest and surprise by its deep insight into certain aspects of human behavior or feeling. For instance, Few, save the poor, feel for the poor.

21) Climax (渐进): It is derived from the Greek word for "ladder" and implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity, like the steps of a ladder ascending evenly. For example, I came, I saw, I conquered.

22) Anti-climax or bathos (突降): It is the opposite of Climax. It involves stating one's thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous. For instance, But thousands die, without or this or that, die, and endow a college, or a cat.

23) Apostrophe (顿呼): In this figure of speech, a thing, place, idea or person (dead or absent) is addressed as if present, listening and understanding what is being said. For instance, England! awake! awake! awake!

24) Transferred Epithet (转类形容词): It is a figure of speech where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify to another to which it does not really apply or belong. For instance, I spent sleepless nights on my project.

25) Alliteration (头韵): It has to do with the sound rather than the sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same sound at frequent intervals and since the sound repeated is usually the initial consonant sound, it is also called "front rhyme". For instance, the fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed free.

26) Onomatopoeia (拟声): It is a device that uses words which imitate the sounds made by an object (animate or inanimate), or which are associated with or suggestive of some action or movement.

Spring Festival | 春节

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees.



The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.


Spring Festival Overture （春节序曲）/ click to watch 点击观看

Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.

• On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job's tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.


• The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.


• After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing the New Year in".

Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. What's more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.

Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.

Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.

The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the "reversed fu" is homophonic with "fu comes", both being pronounced as "fu dao le." What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.

People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu" and "doufu," mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.

Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure.

Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher, one year after another." The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.

The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.

China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, although they have different customs.

Find more, please visit Chinese Culture

2006 in Quotes | 2006妙语回顾

2006 in Quotes

I’m the decider, and I decide what is best.
- President Bush, announcing the secretary of defense would not be replaced, April 18

This is not a clash between civilizations. It is a clash about civilization.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, March 21

The devil came here yesterday. And it smells of sulphur still today.
- Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said, referring to President Bush

We can only protect liberty by making it relevant to the modern world.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair

We want peace but do not fear war.
- North Korea's foreign ministry

Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman.
- Pope Benedict quoting from a 14th-Century Byzantine emperor on Sept. 12

I know we've made tactical errors - thousands of them, I'm sure.
- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, March 31

I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology. - Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, April 11

I firmly believe that the war could have been avoided.
- Kofi Annan the outgoing UN Secretary-General on the war in Iraq, Nov. 21

You walk the halls here, you rarely see a picture of a woman, a statue of a woman.
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi on becoming the first woman Speaker of the House

Go to hell, you and the court! You don't decide anything, you are servants of the occupiers and lackeys!
- Saddam Hussein in court

Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife.
- Rev. Ted Haggard who resigned after a male escort’s accusations

You look at it on television or in the newspaper, and it doesn't even begin to capture the magnitude of it.
- Bill Friend, 80, upon visiting New Orleans

I knew in my heart I was ready for a change and a new challenge.
- Katie Couric

I wish I wasn't… There is nothing good that comes out of that.
- Bill Gates on his ranking as the world's richest man

It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the (congestion) charge like everybody else and not skive out of it like some chiselling little crook.
- London Mayor Ken Livingstone

I swear by God we shall not rest from jihad until we...blow up the filthiest house known as the White House.
- A recording, believed to be from Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Nov. 10

Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying.
- Jack Abramoff said in the April edition of Vanity Fair

He is somebody who divides, who throws little bombs -- rhetorical bombs into rooms -- and he seeks to tear people down.
- Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez

Dear Aunt, let’s set so double the killer delete select all.
- A computer failed to recognize 'Dear Mom' in a Vista speech recognition demo on July 27

I am recovering at a satisfactory pace.
- Fidel Castro in a message to the Cuban people, Sept. 5

You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.
- George W. Bush, Sept. 6

I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google (maps).
- George Bush

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.
- John Kerry

I am not a bigot.
- Mel Gibson apologizes after drunk-driving arrest tirade

I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. - News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch after scrapping an O.J. Simpson special

These claims are part of a propaganda campaign against our country by evil nitwits Uzbekestan. - Sasha Baron Cohen responds as Borat

We didn't see any ships for months. [Now] we're recovering, sleeping a lot, and eating well.
- Lucio Rendon, one of three Mexican fishermen rescued after 11 months at sea

That episode was a lapse of judgment on my part.
- Fed Chair Ben Bernanke regrets comments made to a reporter

You can't keep the Web out... Most of our stuff is there already, it's just pirated.
- Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons on China

I think the whole consultant group should be flushed into the East River and no value loss would ever be seen by man.
- IAC/InterActiveCorp. CEO Barry Diller on compensation consultants

Howard Stern "gets paid a lot of money… I wish you could get the talent for less money. That would be really cool. But you just can't get it."
- Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin

Very few business executives are out there talking about the benefits of trade and very few politicians have enough knowledge or courage to try to educate the public.
- Jim Owens, Caterpillar’s CEO

That's the greediest bunch of people I have ever dealt with, without question.
- Ron Gettelfinger, president of UAW union said of Delphi Corp. talks

The bastards got me. But they won't get everybody.
- Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko

I don’t think she's emotionless. I think the business of her expressing emotion is deeply private. - Helen Mirren on Queen Elizabeth II

OPEC is not determining the price... This cartel abdicated the pricing power to the futures market.
- Shokri Ghanem, Chairman, Libyan National Oil Co.

No, sir!
- Defense nominee Robert Gates, when asked if the U.S. was winning in Iraq

We know that trans fats increase the chance of heart attack, stroke and death, and they don't have to be there.
- NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden

The new anxiety is the global struggle against terrorism without mercy or limit.
- Prime Minister Tony Blair

Every individual has the right to a fair trial, even people accused of crimes of the magnitude that Saddam Hussein faced, and this has not been a fair trial.
- Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International

I am a man before anything else.
- France's Zinedine Zidane, sent off in the World Cup final for headbutting Marco Materazzi.

I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level.
- U.S. ski team's Bode Miller, who left the Turin Olympics without a medal

I probably did take my new found freedom a little too far.
- Britney Spears, Dec. 7, in a posting on her website

(The Ochs-Sulzberger family) has no intention of opening any of our doors to the action that is tearing at the heart of some of the other great journalistic institutions of our country.
- NY Times CEO Janet Robinson, Dec. 6

No one can guarantee that any course of action in Iraq at this point will stop sectarian warfare, growing violence, or a slide toward chaos.
- Iraq Study Group

The current approach is not working and the ability of the United States to influence events is diminishing.
- Lee Hamilton, co-Chairman of the Iraq Study Group

It hasn't produced any Bob Dylans, it is not going to produce a James Taylor or a Joni Mitchell. It produces crap.
- David Crosby on the state of the music industry

I'd just like to say this: The speaker of the House is a chick!
- Actress Maria Bello, referring to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Amazing Grace | 奇异恩典

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd[saved] a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas[It was] grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd[relieved];
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ'd[believed]!

Tho'[Though] many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis[It is] grace has bro't[brought] me safe and thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The lord has promis'd[promised] good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shin;
But God, who call'd[called] me here below,
Will be forever mine.


奇异恩典
奇异恩典 何等甘甜/我罪已得赦免/前我失丧 今被寻回/迷失今得看见
如此恩典 使我敬畏/使我心得安慰/初信之时 即蒙恩惠/真是何等宝贵
许多危险 试炼网罗/我已安然经过/靠主恩典 安全不怕/更引导我归家
将来禧年 圣徒欢聚/恩光爱谊千年/喜乐颂赞 在父座前/深望那日快现

German Special | 德语

Part 1 第一部分
Survival German 生存德语

Du singst nicht mehr - You are singing no more
Zwei Bier bitte - Two beers, please
Haben Sie Chinesisch Frühstück? - Do you serve Chinese breakfast?
Spielerwechsel - Send him off
Tor! - Goal!
Hast du meine tolle Unterhose gesehen? - Have you seen my fantastic underpants?
Wo wohnen Sie? - Where do you live?

Yes / No - Ja / Nein
Thank you very much - Vielen Dank
Excuse me - Entschuldigung
Can you please help me? - Können Sie mir helfen?

What is your name? - Wie heißt Du/heißen Sie?
My name is ... - Mein Name ist ...
Do you speak... - Sprechen Sie ...
I don't speak German - Ich spreche kein Deutsch
I don't understand - Ich verstehe nicht
I am lost - Ich bin verloren.

Is there a good restaurant here? - Wo gibt es hier ein gutes Restaurant?
Where do I find the next bar/pub? - Wo ist die nächste Bar/Kneipe
Give me the bill please - Ich möchte gerne zahlen
Do you take credit cards? - Nehmen Sie Kreditkarten?

Where is the stadium? - Wo finde ich das Stadion?
Where is the bus station (train station)? - Wo ist der (Bus) Bahnhof?
Where is the subway / tram? - Wo ist die U-Bahn / Tram?
Where is the airport? - Wo ist der Flughafen?
Where can I park? - Wo kann ich parken?

Is this the right turnstile for me? - Ist dies das richtige Drehkreuz für mich?
How far is it? - Wie weit ist es?
near (close) / far - nah / weit
left / right - links / rechts
straight ahead - geradeaus
Is it in walking distance? - Kann ich zu Fuß gehen?

Help! - Hilfe!
I need help - Ich brauche Hilfe
I need a doctor - Ich brauche einen Arzt
I am in a lot of pain - Ich habe starke Schmerzen
I am injured - Ich bin verletzt
I was robbed - Ich wurde bestohlen

Where do I find a hospital? - Wo ist das nächste Krankenhaus?
Where is the nearest police station? - Wo ist die nächste Polizeistation?
Please call the police - Rufen Sie bitte die Polizei

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Part 2 第二部分
Uncivilized German 不文雅德语

Fick dich! - 跟fuck you同义,更厉害点的就是 fick dich ins Knie!!!
Leck mich! - 去你妈的,更厉害点的就是leck mich am Arsch.
verpiss dich! - 滚蛋
du kannst mich mal! - 大意也是去你妈的
Arschficker/Schwuchtel - 臭同性恋
Wichser - 混蛋

Schweinehund - 王八蛋
Spasti - 傻*
Oberspasti - 是Spasti的升级版
Schwein - 猪，色狼
Arschloch - 混球儿
Trottel, Idiot, geistig behindert - 傻瓜,白痴

Du bist voll behindert! - 你他妈有病
Sau - 母猪，混蛋

Arschloch - 传统德国人表达最痛恨心情的骂人语Arschloch是粪便排泄的地方，就德国追求卫生的程度而言，那则是天下最赃从而也是最坏...地方。所以，你可把此骂街语理解为中文中任何最严重骂街语言，也不过分。

Mutterficker - 德国高中，高校学生中逐渐使用的粗话
Hure - 骂某女为婊子
Nutte - 骂某女为婊子

Schlampe - 骂某女人是婊子。也是很粗的话Schlampe不太严重，更不止是女人，常骂人没条理，很近的朋友也会说的
Hurensohn - 骂某男是婊子生的，类似与英文的son of a *****，也是很严重的骂人的话
Hurentochter- 骂某女是婊子生的
Schwanzlutscher - Schwanz本意为尾巴，引喻为男生殖器，lutschen是“吸”，“吮”的意思。这也是骂人的
Misgeburt - 骂某人为畸形儿
Miststueck - 下流卑鄙的家伙

Mistkerl - 坏蛋
Mistfink - 下流坯
Misthund - 畜生
Bastard - 骂某人为杂种, 此字与英文拼写亦同
Schwuchtel - 骂某男为同性恋，或男中废物
Hosenscheisser - 直译为“裤里的粪便”，是很坏的骂人的话

Schwein - 骂某男为猪
Sau - 骂某女为猪
Feige Sau - 骂人为懦夫

Bloede Kuh - 骂某女为蠢妇 乘车，某女从里座往外走，不慎踩在外座某女脚上但没吭气，外座女勃然 怒骂曰：“Man sagt wenigstens Enschuldigung, bloede Kuh!” 人至少应说句对不起， 蠢货!

Schweinehund - 猪(样的?)狗
Unmensch - (简直)不是人

Klugscheisser - 充大尾巴鹰，“什么都知道”的人
Arschkriecher - 拍马屁之人
Arschgesicht - 骂人长得丑
Alte Ziege - 骂女人
Arschficker - 骂男同性恋
Pisskerl/Dreck/Drecksack - 均与粪便有关，骂人混蛋

Alter Sack -骂人老不死的，老不正经的
geiler Bock - 骂人色眯眯的 Bock乃雄畜，geil则是性欲旺盛

竭尽刻毒的骂人的句子Du Hurensohn von Tausendvaeter! 意为“你，一千个父亲生出来的杂种”。想象一下中文小说里“你个千人骑，万人压的破烂货”等骂人语，不难想象出人类思维同源之处

Moege der Blitz dich beim Scheissen treffen!
“让你在拉屎的时候雷打到你(屁股上)！”听到这句骂人语。笔者亦忍俊不禁。国语亦有 “天打五雷轰”之语，但诅咒有余，逗笑不足

Dumm! Dummkopf! - 笨蛋
Unsinn! das ist unsinnig - 荒唐

So ein Schwachsinn - 弱智
Schwachsinnig
Wahnsinn! Wahnsinnig - 愚蠢
Idiot - 白痴
Arschloch! - 妈的
Dir ist nicht mehr zu helfen! - 没救了

Ich habe noch keinen Menschen getroffen, der so dumm wie du ist.
Du bist dumm wie Stroh - 笨得要命
Bist du verrückt? - 你疯了
Bist du geisteskrank?
Du Feigling! - 胆小鬼
Du Angsthase! ängstlich

Blödmann - 混蛋
unrettbar - 不可救药
Zur Hölle -下地狱
Zum Teufel - 见鬼吧