Online Class Notes (Jesse)

Vocabulary

looking forward – excited about the future
expecting – think sth in the future should / will happen
eg. I’m looking forward to getting a higher salary / to a higher salary
eg2. I’m expecting the lockdown will end next week / I expect the lockdown to end soon because the government said it will.

Grammar

we will back to normal – we will get back to normal

it is because our boss – it is because of our boss

we don’t have many work – we don’t have much work / we don’t have many things to do 

i have plenty of times – I have plenty of time 

look in = search
look for = search for
eg. I can’t find my keys. I will search my house. I want to look for my keys / I want to search for my keys.

another = an other – just any 1 other, maybe there’s more…
the other = the other = 1 obvious one 

a / an
a + AEIOU
an + others
eg. I have an apple
eg. I have a ritual

We have been watching several movies in this way and we watched the The Davinci Code yesterday and we found that it was hard to follow because it had a religious cultural background and there were a lot of information related to this background,so we didn’t really get some points of the story/we were not quite understand.I will read some comments/reviews later.

We have been watching several movies in this way and we watched The Davinci Code yesterday and we found that it was hard to follow because it had a religious cultural background and there was a lot of information related to this / it background, so we didn’t really get some (points) of the story/we didn’t quite understand some of it. I will read some comments/reviews later.

Laba Festival is not as famous as other festivals like Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival ,so maybe a lot of foreigners never heard of it. Though I known Laba Festival is the start of Chinese New Year celebration and what we will do on this day，I realized that I didn’t know any history about it when Jesse asked me.Therefore I searched some information.
Make long store short ,it was written that there are two stories which are created and affected this festival. One is about the origin of Laba Festival and another is about how the Buddhist culture integrate into this festival.According to the ancient book named LiJi 《礼记》we learned that in ancient time,Laba festival was created by an emperor to show the appreciation to eight deities for agriculture and asking blessing.Our ancestors held sacrifice and to worship with cattle,lambs and also grains.And along with the emperor’s idea,an ritual was worked out and of course he set a specific time to held the ritual every year.This custom was then passed down and practiced by every dynasty later.Another story is when time came to the Han dynasty that is around two thousand years ago,during which Buddhism was introduced to China and stories about Buddha Sakyamuni became popular in China.It was said that Sakyamuni had been suffering for a long time and got extremely week until a milkmaid offered a bowl of milk rice congee to him,so he regained enough strength ,and because of this thing/matter ,Sakyamuni was enlightened suddenly and eventually turned to Buddha.It is therefore the Laba congee is served on this day.
Beside this,it is also believed that Laba Festival was created by a divine farmer named ShenNong who lived in the three sovereigns period(around five thousand years ago).
Anyway,the date of the two events is the eighth day of the twelfth month in the Chinese calender,afterword,the Laba ritual and the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment emerged in(formed into?) one holiday and they both influenced(affected?)Chinese culture and became more and more rooted in China.

Laba Festival is not as famous as other festivals like Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, so maybe a lot of foreigners have never heard of it. Though I know Laba Festival is the start of the Chinese New Year celebration and what we will do on this day，I realized that I didn’t know any history about it when Jesse asked me. Therefore I searched for some information about it.
To make a long story short ,it was written that there are two stories about how this festival was created. One is about the origin of Laba Festival and the other is about how the Buddhist culture was integrated into this festival. According to an ancient book named LiJi 《礼记》we learned that in ancient times, Laba festival was created by an emperor to show the appreciation to eight deities of agriculture and ask for blessings. Our ancestors worshipped them by sacrificing cattle and lambs, and giving grain as tribute. And along with the emperor’s idea, a ritual was worked out and of course he set a specific time to hold the ritual every year.

This custom was then passed down and practiced by every dynasty later. Another story is when time came to the Han dynasty that is around two thousand years ago,during which Buddhism was introduced to China and stories about Buddha Sakyamuni became popular in China.It was said that Sakyamuni had been suffering for a long time and got extremely week until a milkmaid offered a bowl of milk rice congee to him,so he regained enough strength ,and because of this thing/matter ,Sakyamuni was enlightened suddenly and eventually turned to Buddha.It is therefore the Laba congee is served on this day.
Beside this,it is also believed that Laba Festival was created by a divine farmer named ShenNong who lived in the three sovereigns period(around five thousand years ago).
Anyway,the date of the two events is the eighth day of the twelfth month in the Chinese calender,afterword,the Laba ritual and the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment emerged in(formed into?) one holiday and they both influenced(affected?)Chinese culture and became more and more rooted in China.