@ Henning

Yea you're right. China Unicom will be selling the "real" iphone. The big news is the new iphone rival! The new "Ophone" (the name kills me) is supposed to be expensive, but there is a discount if you sign up with the China Mobile 3G network.

This article explains it better than I do, and I had to read it twice just to figure out who was selling what.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/172076/china_mobile_iphone_killer_will_not_be_cheap.html

On another cell phone marketing note- China Unicom's ads have definitely seeped into my subliminal. I can't get 3G生活 out of my head!

More effective than products made by Mennen.

@henning - Brendan is too hard to please. I actually have a soft spot for China Unicom. Even if their coverage isnt as good as China Mobile, I bought a wireless Internet card from them a couple of years ago that gave unlimited Internet access at 56k speeds anywhere in Beijing.

It was great. 120 RMB a month for Internet anywhere and everywhere. A total bargain!

打 过 去 is a bit confusing. Is it a set phrase for calling someone back?

@Gail - I think its a good question whether that's the most natural way to say call you back. My ears perked up on the phrase 打过去 too, mostly because I'd always instinctively veered towards using 回来 for back.

What is the more natural way to say it? Are there any common expressions we're missing that mean the same thing?

One last thing on spies. I met a man a few years ago who told me he had spent time in China in the 60s. He was a white man (probably in his 70s at the time we spoke) and I told him that I had read that there were not any Americans in China during that time. He said he portrayed himself as a Russian. So he was an American, acting as a Russian. He said he still gets a yearly visit from a certain government agency telling him that he cannot talk about these things because they were still considered classified. So I can see why foreigners in China still get asked this question.

Brendan, Dave, 非常感谢你们把，“出口” 这个行业破坏掉啦！我原来想去中国做进出口但是现在呢？由于这节课别人问我，“你做什么工作”这个问题，如果我回答，“我做出口”的话，人家肯定会知道我就是间谍啊！

啊。。。说流嘴了。。。啊，人家会知道我根本不是个间谍并且我做的行业根本不是进出口的。。。

Xiao Xin 你好，

哪里哪里啊！我的中文不是很好。哎，又犯了新手的错误，国语比俄语容易啊！;)

很高兴认识你。我现在住在加州但过了几个月我要去重庆住了。我现在的打算是做一个英文老师，因为老师的工资比较高而且工作量比较轻一点。我当过演员，主持过中国过年活动，而且参加过中华才艺大赛的预选赛但因为我在舞台上把歌词忘掉了所以我没有通过而去北京和大山和爱华参加大赛。其实我的梦想是在中国出名儿。

这七年我认真的学习中文，我希望2010年我能够在中国找到幸福的生活。

你住在哪里？你是南方人还是北方人？你的名字很像，“小心”这个词。你是男的还是女的？你做什么工作？（你要记住大主则哦！）

小新，

我在这边认识很多北方人，沈阳人啊，铁岭人啊，长春人啊，哈尔滨人，等等。其实在洛杉矶台湾人和北方人比较多但是北京，上海和天津人很少。

我也觉得这个网站的气氛很轻松幽默。我原来是个不折不扣的 Chinesepod.com 粉丝而且我绝对不会用其他的教材，那样的话像对伴侣不忠似的，我满脑子就是 Chinesepod.com，不过慢慢我越来越喜欢这里。尤其是因为在这边有 Echo，还有 Brendan。我虽然有时候觉得 Brendan 的态度有点太讽刺但我还是觉得他蛮厉害。特别是因为他5年之内能够当一个专业翻译者。我啊，已经学习国语快8年了但是我还是没办法做一个专业翻译者，佩服！

我要去重庆住是因为我是辣椒大王而且我很喜欢重庆的环境还有生活节奏。OK。。。我承认主要的原因就是在重庆有我的爱人嘛！现在呢，我满脑子就是她的！呵呵，原来爱情的力量大呀！

@Echo

谢谢你的建议，我一定要看的（撒哈啦的故事）这个小说。我常常读网站的文章还有一份杂志叫，“读者“ 的文章。很久以前我试图读托尔金的，《哈比人》和 《魔戒大王》但难度可真高因此我一直读第一页并没有经过到第二页。我觉得《读者》的内容才适合我现在的水平吧。

我本来的规划是2004年去中国住不过当时的状况不适合我去中国但现在呢，我百分之百准备好了成为一个侨民。

关于我爱情故事，我和对象是在你们的竞争者的网站认识的。很久以前她把她的电邮址留在留言板上，为了提升自己的中文水平我发给她一封信。我们俩交换了几千信。我开头觉得她是个非常好的好人但没有对她有感受。渐渐我意识到她的内在很美。她原来在云南生活，有一天我收到她的信说她要坐火车去重庆玩，过了几天四川发生了2008年四川大地震，我以为震中是在重庆。我马上把信发给她疑问她怎么样。几天过去但一直没有她的消息，我非常的担心她的！我告诉自己不要着急她也许不能上网而已。说实在的那时我以为她这的死亡我感觉如果她死亡的话我心里没办法忍受这样惨重的损失。我我没办法说明我心里的感受是什么样子的。

有一天早上我上班登录我的信箱谢天谢地有了她的信！她的信说她已经回到云南了而不要担心她的。我看到这个消息我就哭了！那时我恍然大悟我对她的感受很深！

我考虑很久我该不该告诉她我的感情？过了几个月我终于下决定，永远不告诉她。

好几个月我约会女孩可是一直没找到一个适合我的。而我总是想，“哪儿可以找到一个像我笔友那么好的女孩？“

我终于做出决定，无论结果如何，我必须得告诉她，否则我以后不能原谅自己。

我想了很久才鼓起勇气告诉她我喜欢她。我发那封信的时候什么感觉都没有，我没有出汗，手没有发抖，完全是很安心的感觉，很奇怪。

And the rest as they say is history.

@Echo

你说的一点都没错。我对她揭示我的感情时我就是这么想的，如果不是图的话我肯定会失败了. You'll never succeed if you don't try. 对不对？

"国防语言学院"-Funny to hear it included.

@murrayjames,

对！

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com