In Kunming’s Zhuanxin Market (篆新市场) a market stall is using my book (A Dali Sketchbook) as an ad to sell Dali cheese (乳扇). Just amazing – a Yunnan market seller using an Englishman’s book to sell Yunnan cheese to other Yunnanese. I couldn’t be more proud.
‘”Welcome to Fletcher Island! This is the isle where the wildest fantasies will come true! Be a hero for one day, find the spouse of your dreams, or discover fabulous treasures!” The guide, an elegant man in a white costume, welcomes the newcomers while native girls offer garlands of flowers and motion the tourists toward open coaches. “Please come and visit our estates, take a tour on our flying carpets, and enjoy your time at the many inns on the beach! Welcome to Fletcher Island!”’
“Amazon fined for sending packages to North Korea”
Cartoon for World ECR magazine
This is so cool – a market in Kunming is using my book as an ad. Yunnanese using an Englishman’s book to sell local cheese to other Yunnanese. I couldn’t be more proud!
Also … A bookshop in Kunming (大象) is asking various authors to list their favourite books. I’m working on mine, but here’s my sister’s (a botanist) and my dad’s (a computer programmer):
(more…)The Feed is embedded wetware which lets you access anything online, anytime. And your function, having been granted this incredible gift, is to consume.
‘The other was a good sale at Weatherbee & Crotch, which, by this time, I had probably missed. It was too bad, because I would have like to have been able to take the opportunity to check out these great bargains, for example, they had a trim-shirt with side pockets that I thought I probably would have bought, except it only came in sand, persimmon, and vetch.’
hài qún zhī mǎ
害群之马
lit. a horse that brings trouble to its herd
fig. troublemaker, rotten apple, black sheep
字面：危害马群的劣马。
比喻：危害社会或集体的人。
“害群之马” means the horse that harms the herd, a horse whose makes the all the other horses unhappy. So, “害群之马” means someone who causes trouble for or brings shame on the group.
For example: “This kid is a right tearaway – he’s a real ‘害群之马’!”
In English, someone who causes their family embarrassment or shame is called a “black sheep”. For example, “He’s such a troublemaker! He’s the black sheep of the family.”
有一群马在原野间自在地休息着，但其中有一匹马总是捣乱，搞得大家都不开心，这匹马，就是他们之中的“害群之马”: 这个成语指那些在群体里捣乱、破坏大家团结的人。
在英语里也有类似的说法，那些让家庭或群体蒙羞的人，就被叫做“黑.”，“black sheep” 例如，“He is the black sheep of the family”。
