The other day my phone had been unable to be connected. I had thought it accidental and quite sure not due to arrears. Unluckily today I couldn’t dial out again. Now I was certain that something must have been getting wrong and I must find it out immediately. So instead of going to work, I first headed for the branch telecommunication bureau seeking a solution of the problem. The clerk told me my phone card had outlived its usefulness. Then I had the old card replaced by a new one with the number unchanged, which cost me ¥ 16 plus my ID being shown.

I couldn’t help reading the novelette February
from which the film I saw is adapted. I was almost carried away by the author’s
brilliant literary talent.

觀罢影視讀原作，才氣縦横摄魂魄。

I was still absorbed in the work near midnight.
What a heroic and unyielding martyr the writer is!

夜半陶醉猶不輟，壯哉捐軀志難奪。

After plastering the cleared kang this morning, on my way to our flat I went to the place where I used to pay for heating supply, which is near the boiler room behind the central school. Unluckily a man there told me the fee collecting has been suspended at the spot and I have to go to the newly-built housing estate a few miles away west of our town paying the fee. After lunch I headed for the charging office by bike. Because I didn’t know exactly where it was, I asked the way several times before reaching the building. But it was closed to my disappointment.

The fallen frost darkened the cabbages in
the garden. Soon they are brightened up by the rising sun.

霜旣降兮蔬葉蒼，沐秋陽兮復生光。It gets somewhat piercingly cold with the winter
approaching. All the pedestrians in the street are dressed in deep-colored clothes.

寒氣凛冽冬迫近，街上行人盡青裝。

Mother strongly opposes me to lend the large sum asked by late wife’s sister the other day. I agreed to her request on the phone without any hesitation. I just told her I need some time to prepare for it. My current deposit is short of the requirement. To satisfy her demand I must withdraw some of my fixed deposit. She has ever been one of our benefactors for helping us with the construction of our bungalow. But when I think of her spending money lavishly and inability to pay back, I have to take back my promise. I can’t lend the money accumulated by stinting ourselves.

Why did a Teachers’ Day come into existence？It’s a demonstration
of respect to the job of explaining moral principles and imparting knowledge.

何為而設教師節？尊傳道兮重授業。Some villains among the teachers take this
favorable opportunity of making ill-gotten gains.

中有小人逞奸邪，借機搜括以滋孽。

Overcast the whole day. Drizzly for a moment in the early morning. The cool weather aroused me to reading aloud English again after the suspension of two days running.
Owing to the booming economy of our country, the beautiful foreign girls are attracted to marry us Chinese. However, in the 1980s the Chinese girls were proud of marrying foreigners. Now the tide has been reversed. Even the Nobel Prize Committee has begun to treat Chinese with increased respect.
At night the network speed slows down because more netizens are on line than by day. Just like the traffic jam in the rush hour.

After passing the examination and verification
of the relevant departments, the martyrs’ children can be
recommended for admission to some colleges connected with the public security
system, so long as they have received nine years of compulsory education and
not been over twenty-two years of age by the time of taking the college entrance examination.
The universities not only exempt them from charge of tuition but grant them a
monthly allowance as a return for their sacrificed parents. After graduation,
they will be immediately assigned to work in corresponding departments.

如果是烈士的子女，接受了九年义务教育，而且在高考的时候年龄没有超过22周岁，相关部门通过审核之后就可以保送，这些孩子会被送到公安系统相关的大学，大学期间不用付学费，而且每个月有补助，也算是给烈士们一个好的交代吧，毕业之后会安排到相应的部门直接工作。

How magnificent the World Cup is！

壯乎哉，世界杯！The winner is wild with joy and the loser dispirited.

勝者狂兮敗者頽。In the meantime, their followers in the audience are happy
and depressed respectively.

觀者隨之喜或悲。Unexpectedly, the former champion is
knocked out of the elimination competition retreating home.

昔之王者忽早歸。Suddenly, a new force comes to the fore
fighting for the prize.

却見異軍來攻擂。

Tomorrow will be the first day of Greater Snow, the 21st solar term. The temperature dropped sharply today and was forecast to fall to -21 ℃.It reflected one of the weather features of this period of winter. On my return home from school, I moved the cabbages into the house at once.
Q6: It is usually easy for you teachers to conduct a class, isn’t it?
A: At a well disciplined class, we seem to deliver a lecture for two periods a day on average, i.e. one hour and a half of speech. At a badly disciplined class, we seem to have a row with somebody, quarreling one hour and a half a day. Would you have a try?
Q7: You teachers are highly paid, aren’t you?
A: We all see teachers attend the civil service examination for becoming government employees. Have you ever seen any public servant enter for an examination to be a teacher?