Bike and tree A boy left his bike chained to this tree when he went off to war in 1914. He never returned, and over time the tree grew right through the bike. 98 years later, the bike is still there. It's pretty amazing how things evolve over time.

Cultural influences on the lifestyle and architecture in Mekong Delta in Vietnam Hi, I'm currently doing a civil engineering research project on cultural and political environment in Mekong delta. Basically my question is: how did and do these two factors influence the local human environment such as the way of living and construction style. For example, the waste management, the distribution of the residency, the farming local people do, the education they receive and the house they live...Much appreciated if you can give some ideas.

How do you define "KnallerFrauen"? I know this comedy is super hot in China. However I found its Chinese name is not so accurate after I watched Martina Hill's interview with Deutsche Welle. So, what does "KnallerFrauen" literally mean? Thanks.

"Drive someone up a wall." Is this phrase used a lot?

What do you think of abortion and same-sex marriage?

I'm doing a research project on western feminism, which I found quite complex. Like, in Australia, many people are trying to legalize same-sex marriage and in the States, abortion is still a controversial topic. So what's your opinion on this kind of issues?

Do guys call a girl dude? Or do girls call a guy dude? ...in different English countries especially Australia...is it common? what does it mean in some specific situations? what do you think of that?

"Do as you would be done by." How did this proverb come?

中國語言趣談 在網絡上看到一篇文章,想跟大家分享...
中國是個地廣人眾的國家，文化多元，語言差異大是其一大特點。筆者試將“吳、粵、閩、官(普)”這漢語族的四大成員，與常接觸的外語比較。
筆者有一次聽到法語人小聲對話，覺得非常像兩個上海人在竊竊私語，於是開始學習法語。法語的35個音素中，有30個和上海話中完全一致，其餘也多有對應音素。而普通話等方言對得上僅在17以下。法語和吳語的共同點有，有濁塞音和不送氣清音對應，沒分清前後鼻音的習慣，沒有雙母音，單母音豐富，重音在後一音節，都是高語速的語言，而且都被認為是種優美好聽的語言等等。
普通話拼音是主要根據德語的拼寫制定的，當然用濁音字母表示不送氣清音屬於首創。因為我對德語並不熟悉，所以用同屬於日爾曼語族的英語比較。由於吳語音素多而且全，所以吳語與包括德語、英語在內的各種外語對的上的音素明顯較普通話等方言多。但是普通話和英語、德語有較多相像點，比如：主要是送氣音清音和不送氣對應（普通話是不送氣清音、英語是濁音），分前後鼻音，有雙母音，單母音相對少，重音多在前面音節。此外，普通話和英語皆來源駁雜，因此普通話的許多讀音和古漢語的音韻結構差異大，而英語則拼寫很不規則。
為什麼法語和吳語語音面貌有這麼多相同點呢？我總結有兩點。其一：我國江浙地區和法國處於最對稱的地理位置上。分別在亞洲的東端和歐洲的西端，太平洋的西海岸和大西洋的東海岸，大陸海岸線的中段，海洋性氣候。其二：有相似的歷史。江浙沿海商周時期原屬於化外之地，與中原文化、民族皆有差異，是秦國最後佔領的地域，以後北方戰亂，遂引來大量北方和各地的知識份子，於是吳語保留了許多古漢語特色；法國古稱高盧，被凱撒大帝攻破後成為羅馬最大的行省，法語屬於羅馬語族，頗得拉丁語真傳。
而中國北方和日爾曼語地區也有兩個共同點。其一：我國中國北方和德國地理位置對稱。其二：中國北方長期被滿蒙統治，因此今日北方語語音面貌受北方遊牧民族影響較大，而日爾曼民族歷史上也是遊牧民族。
一位操閩南話的新加坡華人說起，他第一次接觸日本人是二戰中，當時聽他們報數覺得和閩南話幾乎一樣。閩南語和日語確有很多相似點，比如：閩南語僅有/b/、/g/、/dz/三個濁音，日語僅有/b/、/d/、/g/、/dz/四個濁音音位；閩南語和日語都不分/f/、/h/，閩南語和日語都無(ü)/y/這個音素。閩南語和日語都是歷史上受吳語影響較大的語言。
最後談粵語和韓語。粵語和韓語都是(z),©,(s)和(j),(q),(x)不分的語種，不分(f),(h)，古漢語的“日”母字皆歸入(j)聲母，都分(p),(t),(k)三種促音韻尾和(m),(n),(ng)三種鼻音韻尾。

i am sat here? In which part of English-speaking world do people say "i am sat here"? Any difference from "i am sitting here"? Do you say that?