It's be a while (a long while) since I last visited this site. It appears that there are not many "interesting" postings here that could arouse active discussion. So, I am calling the usual heros in this site to come out and share new and interesting thoughts with us.

Let me start with one:

Recently, as I was chatting with a person over the net, the person said something like this: "I would give anything to be able to speak and write good English."

I replied : "Would you give up your soul?"

In the movie "Bedazzled", Elliot Richards (Branden Frazer) soul his soul to the Devil (Liz Hurley ) in exchange for his wishes. (Funny movie, I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh).

So, again, would you sell your soul to make your wish come true?

Hi, Felix,

It is good seeing you here. Like you, I have not visited this site for a while. Somehow, I got myself over-committed. Unfortunately, I do not watch too many movies, and am not aware of the the details of "bedazzled". With that said, as far as the visitors of this forum are concerned, speaking and writing good English is obviously extremely important, and I would say selling his or her soul in exchange for that purpose is probably worth serious consideration. I remember in one of the scenes of the "Home Alone" movies (I cannot remember which one), the mother declared that she would "sell my soul to the devil" in order to get transportation to find his son who was left lone. To most of us in this forum, having a good command of English is at least as important as finding one of our sons, especially considering the fact that the mother in the movie has as least three sons, right? Just kidding!

I will be visiting China in July. While I will probably not be able to go to Beihai, I will land in Beijing. If you are still in Beijing, would you be interested in having a lunch or dinner together?

lateblue

if your ideas can exchange money , why not ? what is the value of your soul if you keep inside?

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Excellent idea! I am now based in Shanghai but travel quite frequently to my Beijing HQ. Let me know when you will be there and I will try to arrange my schedule to meet yours.

Lunch or dinner sounds great, but finally getting to meet one of my heros is simply ecstatic...although I would not sell my soul for it. Not for now, at least

Please send your trip details to ongkahleong@hotmail.com. Thanks.

原帖由 silanshenwei 于 2010-6-11 05:17 发表
In conclusion, here were talking about movies not about English~~~I aways confuse why so many Chinese pursue English and give up the their mother language -- Chinese。。。。

Wrong conclusion...the movies were examples to elaborate the question "would you sell your soul for anything?"

I do not think there is any Chinese (in China) who would give up his/her mother language to pursue English. At least, I have not encounter one yet. Many good people I know wish to learn English as a second language.

Having said this, there are dialects in various China regions that are in danger of "extinction". The young generation are now good Putonghua speakers but many of them are not fluent in the dialects of the regions that they are brought up in. What do you think of this? Should we "save" these dialects?

""Bedazzled" reminds me of another movie"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus",which is Heath"s last movie...