Whac-A-Mole 打鼹鼠

I got it from the Wall Street Journal Asia Edition.

http://chinese.wsj.com/gb/20070709/ffe173313.asp?source=channel

This is the description from wikipedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-A-Mole

I still have difficulties in understanding spoken English

There are two major issues in this problem: vocabulary and accent. I am stil in process of accumulating the vocabulary, and I believe I am getting better now. The accent is a hard problem. Comparing to whites, balcks have stronger accents. Besides this, they use a lot of slangs and speak very fast. It is a hard time if you listen to a guy speaks so weird. The solution for this is simple: listen to radios and  TVs. I believe that practice makes perfect, and I will be used to the southern accent after long time practicing. One evidence is that I am better in understanding spoken English now than the period I came to U.S. last year.

New bulbs are better

Bought 3 engergy-saving bulbs in Wal-Mart tonight. I think that is soft white, which is better for eyes.

Decal, the parking license

This is the new word I got today. The Police Office on campus requires all cars to use this decal on the front window in order to show that this car is legal to park here.

<--- 美国传统词典[双解] --->
decal
de.cal
AHD:[d¶“k²l”, d¹-k²l“]
D.J.[6di87k#l, d!6k#l]
K.K.[6di7k#l, d!6k#l]
n.（名词）
A picture or design transferred by decalcomania.
贴花图案：贴花转印的图画或图案
A decorative sticker.
贴花纸：一种装饰用的胶粘物

Aug 27

In response to....

...came into being.....

MPG

It simply means Miles Per Gallon.

Salad

What is salad?

词意

A dish consisting of green, leafy raw vegetables, often with radish, cucumber, or tomato, served with a dressing.
沙拉：由绿色有叶生菜制成的一道菜，常加有萝卜、黄瓜或西红柿，并加调味品食用。

A cold dish of chopped fruit, meat, fish, eggs, or other food, usually prepared with a dressing, such as mayonnaise.
凉拌食品：由切碎的水果、肉、鱼、蛋或其它食物组成的凉菜，常配有调料，如蛋黄酱。

A green vegetable or herb used in salad, especially lettuce.
沙拉蔬菜：沙拉中使用的绿色蔬菜或食用植物，尤指莴苣。

A varied mixture:
杂烩：各种混合物

词源

Middle English salade
中古英语 salade
from Old French
源自 古法语
possibly from Old Provençal salada
可能源自 古普罗旺斯语 salada
from Vulgar Latin *sal³ta [from feminine past participle of] .sal³re [to salt]
源自 俗拉丁语 *sal³ta [] 源自穝al³re的阴性过去分词 [撒盐]
from Latin s³l [salt] * see sal-
源自 拉丁语 s³l [盐] *参见 sal-
<注释>
The wordsalad may have come to us from Vulgar Latin, the chiefly unrecorded common speech of the ancient Romans, which is distinguished from standard literary, or Classical, Latin.The word takes its origin from the fact that salt was and is an important ingredient of salad dressings.Hence the Vulgar Latin verb.sal³re, “to salt,” from Latin s³l, “salt,” in the past participial form .sal³ta, “having been salted,” came to mean “salad.” The Vulgar Latin word passed into languages descending from it,such as Portuguese (salada ) and Old Provençal ( salada ). Old French may have borrowed its wordsalade from Old Provençal. Medieval Latin also carried on the Vulgar Latin word in the formsal³ta. As in the case of so many culinary delights, the English borrowed the word and probably the dish from the French.The Middle English wordsalade, from Old French salade and Medieval Latin sal³ta, is first recorded in a recipe book composed before 1399.
Salad 一词可能源于俗拉丁语， 一种区别于文学拉丁语和古典拉丁语的古罗马平民使用的无记载语言。该词有其起源是因为盐是沙拉调料的重要成分。因此从拉丁词sal ，“盐”的过去分词形式 Salata （“被加过盐的”）使俗拉丁语动词 salare “撒盐”转化为“沙拉”一义。 由此俗拉丁语词传入多种语言，如葡萄牙语(salada )和古普罗旺斯语( salada )。 古法语中的salade 一词可能来自于古普罗旺斯语。 中世纪拉丁语salata 也来自于该俗拉丁语。 因为有如此多烹调的乐趣，英国人从法国人那里借用了该词及这道菜。来自于古法语的Salade 及中世纪拉丁语 sal³ta 的中世纪英语中的 salade 一词被记载于1399年以前编的一本菜谱里。

<特殊用法>
apple salad
苹果色拉
caesar salad
凯萨色拉, 西泽民凉拌菜
chicken salad
鸡丁沙拉, 鸡沙拉
corn salad
菜用结页草, 野苣(拌沙拉用)
field salad
作沙拉青菜用的匙形菜叶
fruit salad
水果色拉
mixed salad
什锦色拉
mushroom salad
蘑菇色拉
potato salad
马铃薯沙拉
Russian salad
俄式凉拌菜
tomato salad
番茄色拉
vegetable salad
蔬菜色拉

Food Websites

American Foods

http://www.salad-recipe.net/index.htm

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/main

Cuisine of the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_the_United_States

Basic American Foods

http://www.baf.com/

Chinese Foods

http://shipu.keko.com.cn/

就餐礼仪

http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2005-01/20/content_2486092.htm

目前，国际交往日益频繁，吃西餐的机会越来越多，所以知道一些西餐礼仪是必要的。

    进餐就座要听从主人的安排。坐姿要正，背部贴住靠椅背，将餐巾平铺在膝上。摆好的餐具不可任意移动，刀、叉、盘不能互相撞击而发出声响。右手执刀，左手拿叉，不用刀而用叉时，也可右手执叉。使用刀时，刀刃向内；中途放下刀叉时，刀刃相内，刀叉成“八”字形分别放在盘上。刀叉放在一起，表示用餐完毕。吃面条时，不可用叉去挑，而要用叉卷起面条吃。喝汤时要轻，不要发出声响或咂嘴。吃食时，须闭嘴、细嚼、慢咽。汤上来后，可取面包，涂上牛油或奶油，用右手撕开送入口中，不能对着面包直咬。吃肉食时，要切一块吃一块，用叉送入口中，切勿一次切完或不切就用手拿着啃。吃鸡腿时，用刀叉剔去骨头，将鸡肉一块块地切着用叉送入口中。已经进口的骨头（肉骨、鱼刺），不能直接吐入盘内、桌上、地下，应将骨、刺吐在叉上，再放入盘中，吃整条鱼时，上面的鱼肉吃完后，不可翻过来吃，应用刀叉将鱼骨去掉，再吃反面的肉。

    在餐桌上还有许多忌讳。如，不能在餐桌前化装、擤鼻涕，最忌讳的是打嗝。如控制不住打了嗝，要欠身道歉。用餐时，不能抽烟，俟上过咖啡表示用餐完毕，方可抽烟，用餐过程中不可中途离席。

    顺序(中英文对照);

    问：一套正式餐具包括哪些物品？

    答：一套正式餐具包括：

    座席盘，其花纹要正对着就餐者。

    黄油盘，放在左侧的餐叉前。

    葡萄酒杯，按照大小排列好。

    吃沙拉用的叉子，假如主菜之后上沙拉，就摆在盘子左侧。

    吃肉菜用的叉子，放在吃沙拉用的叉子的左边。

    吃鱼用的叉子，放在吃肉菜用的叉子左边，因为它要先用，所以应放在左边的外侧 。

    吃沙拉用的餐刀，放在盘子右边。

    吃肉菜用的餐刀，放在吃沙拉用的餐刀右边。

    吃鱼用的餐刀，放在吃肉菜用的餐刀右边。

    抹黄油的餐刀，斜放在盛黄油的盘子上。     

    汤勺和/或水果勺放在餐刀外侧。

    吃贝类用的叉子，如果有贝类食物，叉子就放在汤勺外侧，这是放在右半边唯一的餐叉。

    餐巾。

    餐刀的刀刃总是对着盘子。

    问：摆放餐具时怎样摆放酒杯？

    答：要根据酒杯大小摆放，以免小酒杯被大酒杯遮住：

    喝水用的高脚杯要放在盘子右侧 ，正好位于餐刀前方。

    喝香槟的杯子放在水杯右边，离它有点儿距离。喝红葡萄酒或白葡萄酒用的杯子放在喝水的高脚杯和喝香槟的酒杯中间靠前一点儿。

    喝雪利酒用的杯子或放在葡萄酒杯的右边，或放在其前方。

    酒杯可以沿一条斜线排列，左边最远处放喝水用的高脚杯，右边最近处放喝雪利酒用的杯子，酒杯不应该堆放在一起。

    问：非正式的餐具摆放同正式的餐具摆放有什么不同？

    答；对于非正式晚宴的餐具摆放，每样东西都相对少些。所上的菜道数少一些，摆放的银器也因此少一些。在非正式的、上三道主菜的晚宴上，餐具的摆放包括：

    两把叉子：一把放在盘子的最左侧，吃主菜用，另一把就放在盘子左侧，吃甜食或沙拉用。

    盛菜的盘子；在客人坐下时不应摆在桌上。

    沙拉碟：摆在叉子左边。

    黄油碟；摆在叉子前边。

    主菜餐刀：紧挨着放在盘子右侧 （吃牛排、猪排、鸡或猎鸟时可用牛排餐刀）。

    黄油刀：斜放在黄油碟中。

    两把勺：一把甜食久放在餐刀右侧，一把汤久放在甜食勺的右侧。

    喝水的高脚杯：放在餐刀前边。     

    葡萄酒杯：放在喝水的高脚杯右边稍稍靠前一点。

    餐巾：摆放在刀叉之间。

    问：当我面对着一排餐具时，我总是拿不准该先用哪一副。我应该先用哪一副呢？

    答：对于用哪一副刀叉，绝不应该有任何问题——那是再简单不过的了！你总是应从离盘子最远的那副餐具用起。

    问：用餐完毕后，我应把刀叉放在哪儿？

    答：用完主菜后，要把刀叉从左前方至右后方并列斜放在盘子中，把柄要稍微伸出盘子边一点。

    问：正式晚宴应以什么顺序上菜？

    答：通常以下列顺序上菜：

    第一道菜可以是汤、会锦鲜果、甜瓜或贝壳类食物（蛤肉、牡蛎、虾）。

    第二道菜应为鱼。如果第一道菜上过贝壳类食物，那么这道菜就可以省掉。

    第三道菜为主餐，一般为烤肉或烤禽，以及蔬菜。

    第四道菜为沙拉。

    第五道菜为甜点。

    第六道为咖啡，且一般咖啡不上餐桌。

Need to work more now

Since the summer session is over and I just have one job, I need to work more to keep myself balance. When I check the expenses spreadsheet, I realized that I applied so many services, and every one of them needs money to pay for. Therefore, the only choice I got is to  work more.

老美的受教育程度还是挺高的

        这感觉是由好多件事得来的。

        第一，在大学里可以见到各个年龄段、各个职业的人，他们都是主动来接受教育的，班上也没有人因为他们的年龄或是职业而对他们另眼相看。总之一个感觉：平等。如果要再加一个注释的话，那就是：不歧视。

        第二，警察不是混混，受教育的程度也不差。这学期的课程注册好之后，我发现课表上有一个我从来没听说过的建筑，叫个什么ACC Building。我在校内地图上翻了半天也没找到这幢楼到底在哪。我记得当时是在Computer Lab上班，恰好校内的一个警察在里面上网。我想，校警应该对校内的建筑比较了解吧，问他应该没问题的。我给警察在我的电脑上演示了一个，表明没法找到那幢楼，警察就直接在Google Maps里给我把校区找出来了。我一看，嘿，还挺熟练的嘛。到底不像中国警察那样全是混混，或者说穿上制服的流氓。

       第三，不是我亲身体验的，是我听到的和感觉到的。老美上过大学的人很多，因为上大学的机会很多，选择很多，资金的解决方式也很多。

       当一个国家绝大部分的民众都受过大学教育的时候，这个国家的整体素质就上去了。我们在这方面还有很长的路要走。当然，这个问题并不是三两下就能解决的，也不是由单一的因素造成的。也许，我们只能慢慢等了，谁让我们没有决定自己命运的权力呢？

The new semester will be started tomorrow

Well, another hard time. Yes, hard.

 

Tomorrow should be a busy day. First, I have to work in the Computer Lab, that is the last day of this job, and I should do well in order to finish wonderfully. This will last from morning to 4 pm. Second, I still have to help another collegue to close in Java City. This will last from the end of my Computer Lab work to  7 pm. What a busy day.

披萨 Pizza

披萨

这条是来自英文维基百科的 Pizza

在学校的Cafeteria吃过几回披萨，期间还动手做了一回，感觉这东西简单但是味道还真不赖。由于我没有烤箱，只能吃现成的了，自己是做不成了。

How do I use these web browsers

Maxthon 1.6      The default browser for its maximum compatibility.

Maxthon 2.0      Just for its File Snifer function. Do not use it for regular surfing.

Firefox               Kind of major browser, just for text sites.

Opera                For pictures simply because it is very fast in loading those contents.

The World         Just for sina Blog.

 

Look, I have so many web browsers, and they serve me in different respects, although I need to change among them from time to time.

If you cannot delete a folder?

The answer is simple: use Nero or ACD See. Why the folder cannot be deleted? Because the file name is corrupt. Therefore, these programs are very useful in maintaining your computer.

The lowered car insurance premium

A good news for today is that my car insurance premium has been lowered to less than $500. I thought this trend would continue if I can keep myself off from accidents, however, the insurance manager told me that this is the least possible premium discount, and there would be no lower premium according to this company's policy. Maybe I can change the insurance later someday.

The experience of unexpected "active windows"

I installed thevirtual CD-ROM program last night. However, the significant changes made some mistake on the comptuer, and all the programs were freezed while I was using it, I had no choice but to restart. After that, I saw the message says that my copy of windows was activated for the first time, but the recent significant change requires an activation for this copy. God, I thought messed it up. And I was scared of losing the correct copyright information of this copy of Windows-although this copy is legally obtained by my uncle. To solve this problem, I tried to use System Restore, but failed. Finally, I followed the Internet Activation and solved this problem. isn't that strange? I have not get the point so far.

Took eye exam today

The exam took my $45. And my left eye is nt as good as the right one. However, the overall performance is  not bad. And the shopkeeper said that I can get credit if I buy galsses from that store. Unfortunately, I do not want to have glasses so far. Why? Maybe the impression of the glassed people is weak, sick, or something like that. Money is not the issue, because health is much more important. Before I leave, I got some hints for protecting eyes. Nevertheless, I have to use my eyes in order to finish the processes set to establish my bright future.

The fancy movie: The Lord of The Rings

I downloaded and watched this fancy movie in this weekend. Although this is probably a science fiction movie, I still think the pace of the plot is too slow. It should be faster, at least as fast as Arnold Schwarzenegger (His last name is really hard to spell. Let me do it again, Arnold Schwarzenegger).

I can watch the good movies in recent years according to this speed.

However, I realized that I do not need to download so many movies because the online version is available in many video websites-of course, I mean the mainland websites. Since the property protection laws are not strictly followed, pirated products can always find their place to live. And, the question is: it is good? To the sellers and us, it is good, because they can make money from selling these products, and we can get the latest movies, musics, and games for the least payment. Contrary to this, it is very bad to copyright holders. They invested so much money, spent so long a time on the programs, but almost lose their business just because of the piracy. Furthermore, the piracy is harmful to our nation's business potential in the long-run, although it satisfies the short-term demand and supply, and benefits both the sales part and the purchase part. This is a hard issue. Anyway, being pressed by the U.S., our government is moving forward to follow the copyright protection laws strictly, the purchase of the Microsoft Windows operating system is the evidence.

One more feeling. We can see online movies on our websites, but we cannot see them on the websites in other countries or regions simply because they have strict copyright protection laws.

PS: I like surfing on the wikipedia for the detail of everything. Recently, I will search it for the issue of understanding English, I think that consists of the origin of English language, the people who speak English, the region it is used, and the branches of this language. That should be funny. Also, that is helpful to establish my fast reading skills since I need them badly-maybe for all the days I stay in America.

New Words from The Lord of The Rings

Heir, means the offspring.

Nasty, 下流的.

Beyond Count

This is a phrase that describes that the amount of something is too big and it is hard to clearly count. I got this word from The Lord of The Rings.

保持一颗平常心去参加考试

       很简单的一个话：没什么大不了的，不会因这次考的结果而影响我。我还是我。我只能比以前更好，不能不如以前。

       放松心情，最大限度地发挥自己的能力。

描述性格内外向的词

Extroversion 外向型

Extroversive

Introversion 内向型

Introversive

为什么说美国的生活简单？

       最初听到美国的生活很简单这样的说法我还不是很理解，不都说美国的生活很丰富吗？怎么会简单呢？在这里待的时间长了，慢慢地理解了这种说法的真正含义。

The plan and credit hour

Talk to the academic advisor today and discovered that I still have to take four more business elective courses to graduate. Although my credit hours are high enough to satisfy the requirement for graduation, I still have to take these courses because those are needed on the checklist no matter how many credit hours you got. The only word I can describe is "Damn".

 

Living in America is not easy. I am sure I realized this so far. And this feeling will be more explicit in the coming semester. I registered five courses for the Fall Semester, two for first session and three for second session. Since all the business courses are tough, I am sure that the life will be tough at that time.

 

In addition, my former plan was based on the condition of eight courses, now I have to modify the plan to satisfay the lattest update-although I do not want this update at all. In the coming semester, I have three important issues: classes, CLEP exams, and work. These fill my time schedule very well, and I do not need to worry about the "free time", which can be used to think about the "loneliness".

Driving in midtown is "exciting"

I drove to Perimeter Center West today. This was for the route purpose. Since I will take the test next week, I have to be familiar with the path from my home to the test center. Today is the time to practice.

 

I almost missed many turns along the road. When I finally got the correct place, I decided to run around that place for one or two times in order to know both sides of that way. I did it, and got some points in driving to there. It was indeed "exciting" to drive along the car stream.....

 

Sweating makes people tired. Me, too.

Behaviors generated from culture

An interesting scene common in our school is Korean people sitting around the table and keep their feet on the chair. I thought I know the answer of this scene and tried to exaplain it to my American classmates and co-workers. The reason is, Korean people do not use chairs in their traditional culture. Why? Because they do not have a structure that needs chair. Their wooden floor is a few centimeters above the ground, and they sit and lie on the floor instead of sitting on chair and sleep in bed. Therefore, their way of "sitting" is generated from their culture, more specificlly, it is generated from their way of sitting at home.

 

Although the tradition is well maintained in the youths' behaviors, some later generations and young families began to westernize in living customs, which is an important part of the national culture.

关于GMAT考试的信息点

• GMAT是能力考试，不是语言水平考试
• Critical Reasoning考的不是逻辑，是事物或因素之间的关联性（或相关性）

Installed RealPlayer 11 Beta Today

The latest version is good in appearance because it is similar to the Windows Media Palyer 11, and the style is cool.