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”。
