The Taiwanese superstar's performance in The Green Hornet had not been well received. But as the singer stretched out for his afternoon massage, he was finding it hard to care. Because nothing Variety did could take away the fact he was now partying with Cameron Diaz on his new private yacht. Compared to the music industry back home, Hollywood was a breeze. Although it did make him wonder what other ways he might have to cash in on his celebrity....

Note: we don't want to call this the ultimate advanced listening test, but we're pretty sure we heard Echo cackling to herself while putting it together. So you've been warned. If you're learning Chinese you should find this hard. Really hard. But it's a new office favorite and hopefully you won't mind listening to it a few times. The repetition pays off, and you never know when you need inspiration for gift ideas. Good luck!
 said on
March 13, 2011
Just for the record, this test is probably the most evil thing we've ever done. I checked the transcript and edited the audio and still only got 8 out of 10. So good luck folks, because I think you'll need it....

 said on
March 13, 2011
Bwa ha ha ha~~~

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 14, 2011
Working through the dialog....it is hard but that's fine. This pretty much feels like sitting with native speaker friends where I often will only catch bits and pieces. I'm extremely happy to have a complete transcript of the dialog . My subscription is up pretty soon. The transcript and audio (minus any English) are pluses in favor of renewing.
 said on
March 15, 2011
Pretty silly lesson.... Too bad the characters in the PDF weren't annotated. I can follow 80 percent of the conversation but I can only read 30 percent of the characters. This means I have to look up ever character I don't recognize; a painful way of learning.
 said on
March 16, 2011
great lesson :)
 said on
March 18, 2011
LOVED it!
 said on
March 23, 2011
The first time I heard this audio file I thought they said 邀请 (perhaps because I thought that word fit there for inviting someone). However, after I read the transcript and then listened a second time, I thought I heard 有请。 When is the most appropriate situation, therefore, to use 有請 vs. 邀请? Could 有請 have been replaced in this dialogue with 邀请 (this is from the opening section of the dialogue)? Thank you in advance for clarifying this difference and helping me improve my Mandarin.
 said on
March 23, 2011
@yulia23,

你可以说“邀请”,不过,“邀请”更强调“邀请某人做某事”,所以一般用“邀请”的时候,都需要说,邀请某人做的事情是什么,比如,“我邀请他来参加我的婚礼”,“他邀请我出席会议”等等。所以,“邀请”在这个地方不如“有请”。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 31, 2011
@Echo, 合毖大哥, 戴维,

哈哈哈哈!剧本写得太好了!Brilliance! Sheer brilliance!

 said on
March 31, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

哈哈,不是写的剧本,是我们的演员现场发挥的。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 1, 2011
@Echo,

真的?我差点不相信!真的是演员现场发挥的吗?那两个演员是谁啊?太厉害了!我肃然起敬了!
 said on
April 1, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

对,周杰伦是秦,女孩儿是我们的一个新演员姜。他们都是专业的主持人。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 6, 2011
@Echo,

那秦很厉害!我听这个播客好像已经一百多次了而且每一次都笑起来,就是因为秦。新来的女的主持人的声音很好听。我希望将来可以多一点听她演的播客。我觉得这个播客最令人难忘的招牌台词就是,“我们要向传统say no啊!这种不环保、不低碳、不绿色、不节能的方式”

呵呵,传统手工的擀面条方式怎么不低碳不环保呢?
 said on
April 6, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

哈哈,传统擀面条的方式费时费力嘛~~哎,说得我有点儿想吃面条......

我最喜欢“霍霍霍霍,霍霍霍霍”那个部分 :D

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 9, 2011
@Echo,

我平时在我朋友的家给她家人做批萨吃,但我不能老实说我爱霍霍霍霍,霍霍霍霍把一天的精力全部花在擀批萨饼上哦!上次给他们做批萨我的腰,后背,手臂都疼痛了。我要跟 周歌一样向传统SAY NO! 只不过到目前为止没有双节棍擀批萨饼机!怎么办呀?唉!
 said on
April 10, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

哈哈,那你就把做披萨当成锻炼身体吧,又能运动,做出来的东西又能吃,一举两得嘛~~

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 2, 2011
@Echo,

我可以想象我的一举两得会是什么样子的, 霍一次吃一口又霍一次吃三口又霍一次吃一大碗结果呢?一天的经历全部都花在长一大游泳圈上。你要知道我这个人一点自控力都没有,我爱面如命!
 said on
June 3, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

哎呀,你让我超级想吃面,特别是炸酱面,呜呜呜,这儿买不到炸酱面用的酱。我上次买到了一点儿麻酱,做了一次担担面,好好吃。

你爱吃什么面?

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 5, 2011
@Echo,

我爱吃的面很多!杂酱面啊,牛肉面啊,豌杂面啊,担担面啊,凉面啊,拉面啊,什么的。只要是辣辣的就行了。哈哈,我朋友很想帮我减点肥所以她建议我下午要是吃东西千万不要吃米饭因为碳水化合物太多了,可是啊,面也属于粮食。对于碳水化合物这个问题,吃面和米饭不是一样的道理吗?米饭和面都含有很多碳水化合物和淀粉嘛!不是吗?

哈!这里的小吃可多了!上有天堂,下有成渝也!;)
 said on
June 6, 2011
@Xiao Hu,

哈哈,我也喜欢辣辣的面 :)

对于减肥,我实在是没什么经验,因为我的体质是怎么吃都还是很瘦...我觉得多吃自然的食物,不吃零食、垃圾食品,也不喝饮料是有帮助的。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 11, 2011
The vocab words are not playing when I click on the little icon to the left, other than that this lesson is incredibly good, and really funny.

I'm curious... who came up with this idea and wrote this script? Very very creative indeed!
 said on
June 11, 2011
@drummerboy,

Sorry, we'll get it fixed.

Hahaha, our voice actors came up with everything when they were in the studio. This podcast makes me miss 炸酱面....

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 11, 2011
@ Echo

哈哈。。我今天中午刚吃了一碗炸酱面和一盘水饺。。。猪肉茴香馅儿的。好吃极了!
 said on
June 11, 2011
@drummerboy,

啊啊啊,住口!住口!!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com