新春伊始 美中关系 高天滚滚寒流急

choi

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VOA Chinese, Jan. 3, 2010.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/US/20100103-US-China-Relations-80534167.html


My comment:
(a) The VOA report is largely based on

John Pomfret, U.S.-China relations to face strains, experts say. Washington Post, Jan.. 3, 2010.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/02/AR2010010201751.html?sub=AR

Note:
(a) tranche (n; "French, literally, slice")
Pay attention to the pronunciation, due to its French origin.
(b) triumphalism (n): "an attitude or feeling of victory or superiority: as a : the attitude that one religious creed is superior to all others b : smug or boastful pride in the success or dominance of one's nation or ideology over others"

(2) There is a huge gap between China and Taiwan in terms of daily use of Chinese language. The VOA report simply cites two poems as if they are familiar to readers. In fact, most if not all Taiwanese would not know either 红杏枝头春意闹 or 冰雪料峭刺骨寒. Just now I checked, and found the former was from Song Dynasty's 宋祁．<玉樓春>, while the latter may just be a phrase in Beijing or China (definitely not a poem by ancient Tang or Song poet). (The climate in Taiwan  is subtropical--ordinarily there is no snow or frost on the plain; the feeling of 刺骨寒 is unknown to us.)

(3) A poll conducted in Taiwan about 1 1/2 months ago showed that much more Taiwanese place their confidence in Pres. Obama than in Taiwan's own president Ma Ying-jeou, when it comes to the well-being of Taiwan. So, yesterday I was taken by surprise by the strident tone of American arms manufacturers. See

Jim Wolf, U.S. business group accuses Obama of shorting Taiwan. Reuters, Jan. 1, 2010.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100101/pl_nm/us_taiwan_usa_arms_2

Note: short (identical to "shortchange"--both being transitive verbs): "1 : to give less than the correct amount of change to 2 : to deprive of or give less than something due : CHEAT"

All three definitions in this posting come from www.m-w.com.

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