There’s good news for all the e-bookworms out there. The New York Public Library released an app today that allows anyone with a library card (and an iOS or Android phone) to “borrow” any of the 300,000 e-books in the collection.
It’s called SimplyE and will allow you to read books on your phone, but beware, there might be a wait list for some popular titles, including the Game of Thrones series. (Check out the Harry Potter books, quick!) The online collection will continue to grow, and there are Kindle and web browser versions in development. But, for now, take a break from Pokemon Go and read to your digital heart’s content.
If you think learning Chinese is hard now, how about mastering English pronunciation via Chinese characters in the mid-19th century?
Last week, a Chinese collector living in Chengdu showed off an old textbook that was apparently used to teach Chinese people to speak English during the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). A note printed on the book reads, “Emperor Xianfeng’s 10th year of reign,” which would be 1860, Chengdu Business Daily reported.
The book contains helpful phrases such as, “You want cheap go buy other man,” “Tomorrow I give you answer” and “Very much this silk.”
Along with words of wisdom like, “Don’t stop half way and fail” and “Don’t answer at random.”
Above the English phrase is its meaning written in Chinese characters, meanwhile below the phrase is a series of nonsense characters that were apparently meant to help students phonetically pronounce the words above in English.
Obviously, China has come a long in way in 150 years. Earlier this summer, the city of Hangzhou published a pronunciation guide ahead of the G20 summit to help allow residents to greet foreign visitors. The “English made easy” booklet included 100 English phrases along with Chinese words accompanying each sentence which attempted to imitate the sound of the original English.
For instance, “Welcome to Hangzhou” became “wai-kan-mu tu Hang Zhou” and “Hangzhou, the most beautiful city in China” became “Hangzhou, mou-si-te, bu-you-te-fu si-ti yin qian-a.)
Though finding Atlantis may still be a pipe dream, these lost sunken cities of the ancient world, long submerged in the depths of their surrounding oceans, provide enough mystery and wonder to whet your imaginations….. For more, please visit the following link:
Inside Facebook, the work to enter China runs far deeper.
The social network has quietly developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, according to three current and former Facebook employees, who asked for anonymity because the tool is confidential. The feature was created to help Facebook get into China, a market where the social network has been blocked, these people said. Mr. Zuckerberg has supported and defended the effort, the people added.
For more, visit this NY Times link: Add commentDecember 11th, 2016
The moment a groom asked the 6-year-old child of his bride to be his daughter for life at their wedding has gone viral (video below).
Diogo Bolant, 37, surprised the young girl, named Isadora, at the wedding with her very own ring to bind them together, the Daily Mail reports.
The moment was captured on video and shared to Facebook. It has been viewed more than nine million times in just one week.
“I want to ask you something,” Diogo says to Isadora during the wedding ceremony in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo. “Do you agree to be my daughter forever?”
Of course the little girl said yes without hesitation.