Writing guide 1 (Translation) "The New Oxford Guide to Writing (Sep 2004)" "Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Jul 1995)" "A Rulebook for Arguments (3rd ed.)" Last year, I noticed those books from a blog and purchased them from England right away. The blogger, Mr. Siu(蕭愷一), is a celebrated English teacher in Hong Kong. The following passages are the introductions of those books, which written by Mr. Siu: 1. 最全面的寫作指南 - The New Oxford Guide to Writing (Sep 2004) 這是我讀過最好的寫作指南。覆概範圍極全面：由用字，造句，段落，以至整篇文章的組織，寫作的策略，修辭等等全都有教。書中滿是文學例子，而且作者文筆極佳，用字優雅，所以這本書本身已是學英文的好材料。 作者：Thomas S. Kane 出版社：Oxford University Press (Translation) 1. The most comprehensive writing guide - The New Oxford Guide to Writing (Sep 2004) This is the best writing guide I've ever read. Its coverage is very comprehensive - from diction, making sentence and paragraph, to the organization of the entire entry, writing strategy, rhetoric, and so on. There are plenty of literature example within. Moreover, the author's writing is very good and full of elegant diction. Therefore, the book itself is a good resource for learning English. Author: Thomas S. Kane Publish: Oxford University Press (To be continued.) (Mine is 2010, white background and blue words on the cover.)

My poor English writing is misunderstanding, please help! As a curious young man, I am favor of logic and all kind of knowledge. Sometimes, I am not open enough to accept different opinion and start to argue. When I looked into a meaningful writing yesterday (in this site), I noticed a great comment talking about how to accept the differences of each other. It is wise and straight into my heart. In that post: Someone said that discuss with religious and political people about something they don't know is not wise. A man answered: "You know that was always the advice that I was given. But nowadays I find if I want to get to know people, to really know what they are passionate about, what they feel good and bad about - I want to discuss those things that they care about rather than the weather, or the latest fashion - who cares about that." I can't agree more. So as to be a good audience, I make a conclusion (or new version) of his word, for a response and expressing my positive attitude of it (just like repeating what your friend have just said right after he finished his talking) : "Although we don't believe in something, we can still respect and listen to someone who believe in those things. Accept the differences, there is no need to change another people's beliefs. For doing that, people can get along with each other. I love that." Somehow my poor English expression make it looks like a rude disagreement and misunderstanding of the man's talking. I feel very sorry about that. I will never make this kind of mistake in my mother language. Please, please show me what is the better way to write this agreement. Maybe add quotation marks upon "Although we don't......people can get along with each other."? Thank you very much.

The seven ways for observing people by Zhuge Liang (Translation) Zhuge Liang (181–234) was a chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era. <Wikipedia, Zhuge Liang> As a great and brilliant chancellor, Zhuge Liang was well-known for recognizing and promoting person with ability. I am going to translate his seven says of observing people: 夫人之性，莫難察焉，善惡既殊，情貌不一。 Character of man is hard to observe, 有溫良而為詐者；有外恭而內欺者； There are tame people cheating in the dark; there are people who looked polite but dishonest inward; 有外勇而內怯者；有盡力而不忠者。 there are people who looked strong but timid; there are diligent people betraying their lord. 然知人之道有七焉： Yet there are seven ways to know people: 一曰：問之以是非，而觀其誌。 First, ask them philosophic dilemmatic problem to see their values. 二曰：窮之以詞辯，而觀其變。 Second, make them speechless through argument to see their response. 三曰：咨之以計謀，而觀其識。 Third, discuss your strategy with them to see their knowledge. 四曰，告之以禍難，而觀其勇。 Fourth, tell them there is a disaster coming to see their courage. 五曰：醉之以酒，而觀其性。 Fifth, fuddle them with wine to see their nature. 六曰：臨之以利，而觀其廉。 Sixth, give them benefit to see they are honest or not. 七曰：期之以事，而觀其信。 Seventh, confide a job to them to see their credit. Postscript: It is not a easy job to translate Classical Chinese to English literally, because there must have distortion of rhythm and connotation. Please forgive my poor vocabulary. If you wish, you may help me to make it better and more elegant. Thank you.

Is it an indirect object? "I live with my parents." My friend told me that "my parents" here is an indirect object. Is it an indirect object in English? Can indirect object appear alone without direct object?My friend told me that "my parents" here is an indirect object *in German*.

Did Confucius really talk about replacing live burial sacrifices with representational figures? In fact, Confucius have said, "始作俑者 其无后乎". In English: the first man who invented representative figure, doesn't he has no child? That question means, "If you have ever care about other human beings, you will have known that human-alike figure is not the thing you should put in grave. Because that figure represent human, not represent stone or wood." He hates using people or sth like people to sacrifice so much. He thinks that is not "Ren". He also think that is wasting money for making refined representative figure. "孝" should present in heart. If you only let old parents eat and drink their fill, what is the difference compared with feeding animals? But somebody (not majority) thinks that "始作俑者 其无后乎" is not a question, they believe Confucius meant that, "the first man who invented representative figure, I damn you have no child!" Therefore, they believe Confucius likes live burial sacrifice, representative figure is not enough. Most people consider that thought is ridiculous, so do I. Reference (written in Traditional Chinese): http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/blog.ce.cn/html/32/101932-422386.html

Today's writing 1. 「仁內義外」(I was explaining the difference between Ren and Yi to a friend.) Basically, Zuyi gave the right answers, moreover: Ren --> bond with blood relatives Yi --> bond with people but not blood relatives In Confucianism, family is far more important than friends, bosses, strangers, etc. So you don't judge your family right or wrong, if you do so, you are not being a good man because you are not being Ren. Example(from Wikipedia-Ren): "In the Lunyu there is a parable about a man named "Upright" who reported his own father to the authorities after he discovered that his father had been stealing sheep. This would seem to conform with "right" behavior as the obligatory thing to do when you discover a thief is to report them. However, Confucius commented that such an act was in fact not correct. The relationship between a father and a son is more important than the laws or conventions regarding theft of property so the "righteous" thing to do according to Confucius would have been for the son to not report the crime." They are base of Confucianism, however, It is never the end of being a good man. Both Ren and Yi can be expanded to higher moral level. For example, Ren can expand to bonding with other people--"Love your fellow man". 2. Writing thoughts A: Jazz music is good. B: Yeah, most people just notice things on the beat, we seek and enjoy the things off the beat. A: I see why you said that the finish of this wine is long and dry now, thank you. B: Most people were impressed by the first taste of wine, they needed to change the way of tasting intentionally in order to feel the after taste(finish).

Seeking earnest language exchange partners ( English <--> Chinese )

Hi everyone, I am a language lover and I take learning English / teaching Chinese seriously, if you think you are ready to be a earnest and inspiring student or teacher like me, please post your own introduction with no hesitation:

Hi there, I am Kalmarr, from Hong Kong studying in a Taiwanese university.

My father is Hong Kong people and my mother is Taiwanese, so both Cantonese and Mandarin are my mother tongue. For the special atmosphere of learning in Hong Kong, I have masteries of both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. And for my passion for literature, I also have masteries of Modern and Classical Chinese. 

Things are good when taken in moderation, therefore, I always appreciate various subjects writing with aesthetics and rationality. If you are a curious Chinese learner, no matter what level you are, I would love to meet you here, give you advice sometimes and share my interests(playing music, wine and food tasting, writing, baking, etc.) with you. 

Cheers, 
Kalmarr 

Seeking earnest language exchange partners ( English <--> Chinese )

Hi everyone, I am a language lover and I take learning English / teaching Chinese seriously, if you think you are ready to be a earnest and inspiring student or teacher like me, please post your own introduction with no hesitation:

Hi there, I am Kalmarr, from Hong Kong studying in a Taiwanese university.

My father is Hong Kong people and my mother is Taiwanese, so both Cantonese and Mandarin are my mother tongue. For the special atmosphere of learning in Hong Kong, I have masteries of both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. And for my passion for literature, I also have masteries of Modern and Classical Chinese. 

Things are good when taken in moderation, therefore, I always appreciate various subjects writing with aesthetics and rationality. If you are a curious Chinese learner, no matter what level you are, I would love to meet you here, give you advice sometimes and share my interests(playing music, wine and food tasting, writing, baking, etc.) with you. 

Cheers, 
Kalmarr