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當前位置： Language Tips> Columnist 專欄作家> Zhang Xin
This year's NBA playoffs have produced numerous pulsating, close-fought, down to the last second contests.
Reader question: In your article (The graduate - who is he?), you used "college students". Why not "university students"? Is there any difference between a college and a university?
Another Question, this time from a young government employee:
"In one of my translation works, I came across this sentence: 我們部門今年招入4名大學本科生。至此，本部門大學本科生人數已達10人，研究生2人。
Sunny writes: Yesterday, when I was doing an exercise in New Concept English 2, I got confused with the word "folk".
Last week, we examined the English idiom "Birds of a feather flock together", which means that people who are of similar backgrounds and interests tend to stick together and become friends, or tend to become friends and stick together, whichever comes first. Today, let's examine friends and friendships in reply to a reader question.
Question: In this sentence - Liberal Democrats flock together - what does flock together mean?
A question from a Chinese soccer fan:
"This morning, Barcelona beat AC Milan in a European soccer match. 'Barcelona took a step towards the Champions League final when a Ludovic Giuly goal earned them a 1-0 win over AC Milan at the San Siro stadium in their semi-final, first-leg match on Tuesday,' Reuters reported. My question is: why is it described as a 'first-leg' match? I am a soccer fan. I know what it means in Chinese （首回合）. Why is it called 'first leg' in English, instead of 'first round'?"
Today being Monday, it's a good time to answer this question from a reader over an event that happened on a certain Monday in the recent past.
Benson, who identifies himself as a salesman, writes: "I read an article on www.yahoo.com but don't know what the meaning of the phrase 'taking no chances' in the following paragraph is. Please help.
This question from a Yao Ming fan from Shanghai:"I watched Yao Ming hurting his foot in a game Tuesday morning on TV. Later, I read a report that said Yao had suffered a 'season-ending' injury. What does "season-ending" mean?"
Meli writes in from Sydney, Australia:"The term "海歸" has been one of the most popular terms in the press recently. However, I couldn't find a translated version of it from on-line. Do you have any ideas?"
Huier writes (Names and locations are concealed for no apparent reason): "i happened to see your opinions to others in chinadaily. and i begin to realize that i also have some problems to you, expecting that you may give me some advice.
