不到长城非好汉－八达岭

不到长城非好汉……我乘缆车算不算？

那次在居庸关长城腿软之后，不是很愿意去第二次，觉得有点浪费钱。但既然家人也难得到了北京，不和他们出游，又说不过去。

想到八达岭长城，可以选择包租车，参加旅游团的一日游，或搭公车自由往返。那天我们是从德胜门车站搭公车919号路往八达岭。919号路还分三条路线，两条搭直通车分别抵达八达岭不同的车站，第三条是慢车。

先说重点，待会儿再叙述搭公车的体验。

听说八达岭长城有一段被称为“好汉坡”，乘缆车可以直接到达，从其他入口登长城就必需慢慢登上去。不过我也没亲眼目睹什么“好汉坡”啦，因为胆小，只走了大约200米，前一段是斜坡，接着是梯级（请看以下照片）。对我来说太陡峭了，还是不愿意冒险。往上登只是气喘，往下走还得应付头晕，更不想为了逞威风，提早让膝盖受伤。

说到膝盖，很多人对“走楼梯”有误解，认为“下楼梯”比“上楼梯”容易，就经常以“下楼梯”作为运动之一。其实在“下楼梯”时，膝盖所承受的压力是体重的三倍，不好好保养会使膝盖损伤还会影响脊椎。

虽然天气晴朗，但回看照片，没拍到心目中宏伟的长城，可能是傻瓜相机不够好。能再度登长城，瞧瞧这世界奇观，小女子我已经很满足啦。

 

北京，八达岭长城　2009年6月23号

Eat yourself!

Speak Good English Movement

Here is the link to the “Eat yourself” video which i blogged about previously.

 

Recently, the newly crowned Miss Singapore World was laughed at for extensive use of bad English. Some commented that her teachers should be blamed for not correcting her. I disagree. Teachers can teach and correct students but it is ultimately the onus of students to refuse bad English. For some reasons, they refuse good English and stick to their own discourse.

The video above illustrates how we adults influence kids. If this is the way we speak to children, how can we expect them to grow up speaking good English? When children speaks bad English, we send them for tuition. This is a really bad cycle. 

“You do your homework already?”  should be “Have you done your homework?”

“You come home what time?” should be “What time are you coming home?”

“Where you put the keys?” should be “Where did you keep the keys?”

Here’s the link to Ris’ interview that was ridiculed.

I’m sorry…i laughed too, it is pretty obvious that she was nervous and was trying very hard to conceal it… Ris failed to answer the interviewer’s question “How do you wear animal prints? Not everyone can pull it off…It can come across as a bit trashy…”

Ris,”you know Khaki, Khaki green?…you can pull it off with Leopard preens and erm Zebra preens…Yah(?)” [Relieved look]

The good thing is, she gained a lot of attention from it.