A rare delicacy

A post that is meaningful to so very few people...

yesterday, after a year of trying, I found a shop in Baiyin that sells baked beans. Just cheese and bacon left to find, now.

On one page (addendum)

I inadvertently missed out the most impossible* one of all.

5. At this time tomorrow __________ the museum.

a) we're going to visit
b) well be visiting
c) we'll visit
d) we're to visit

If you can pick between those four answers your better at this language lark than I am.

(* And yes, I know "impossible" is supposed to be one of those adjectives that you can't put "more" or "most" in front of. I don't buy it. Never have. It's just more bad advice.)

On one page

I have a student who comes to me for private tutorials on Sunday afternoons. We often go through questions from his books that have left him puzzled. Today was especially interesting as it seemed to feature the full range of impossible to answer Chinese questions. Frankly it's the worst book I've ever seen.

Here is a sample of questions which all came from the same page and the reasons that I think they are ridiculous.

Remember that for any question there is only ONE right answer.

 

Choose the correct answer

 

3. Because the situation in that country __________, all the foreigners are leaving.

a) is getting worse b) has got worse c) was getting worse d) had got worse.

 

Clearly both a) and b) are correct.

 

4. What about going to the match tonight?

  Why not？And I __________ my friend with me.

a)       am taking b) have taken c) take d) would take

 

The only one that comes close to fitting is d) but  it doesn't sound right and isn't logical. The best answers "can take" or "could take" aren't there at all.

 

8. I __________ Beijing tomorrow. Do you know when the earliest plane __________?

a) leave for; takes off

b) am leaving for; takes off

c) leave for; is taking off

d) am leaving for; is taking off

 

I'm fairly sure they want b) but all four answers are perfectly normal idiomatic English.

 

9. How long __________ here?

  I'm not sure?

 

a)       do you stay b) are you staying c) would you stay d) did you say

 

Both b) and c) could fit depending on the circumstances in which the question was asked.

 

10 Tom, you __________ books about.

 

a)       have always thrown b) always throw c) are always throwing d) always threw

 

All of the answers form perfectly grammatical sentences, albeit with slightly different meanings.

 

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the indicated verb.

 

12. The students took eight subjects this term. They __________(take)  six subjects next term.

 

I can think of at least four immediately without even considering the possibility of modals  (take/will take/are taking/will be taking)

 

13 At this time tomorrow we __________(have)  a meeting.

 

Again several forms spring to mind

 

14. Tom didn't go to school today. He __________(not go) tomorrow, either.

 

Ditto

 

17. My friends came over last night. They __________(come over) tonight too.

 

And that, as I say is all from one page of the book. No wonder my poor student was having a hard time figuring it all out. He made a lot of careful notes which he said he wants to show to his Chinese English teacher. I wonder what the reaction will be.

The Inland Revenue Always Gets Its Man

No one knows my address in China. I haven't told anyone what it is yet. I don't actually know it myself.
And yet somehow the Inland Revenue (that's the UK equivalent of the IRS for anyone in the US who doesn't know) managed to get not one but two letters to me yesterday. They sent them to the address of the head office of my agency where someone forwarded them to my local administrator who came round to deliver them in person.
Normally I don't like to get envelopes with "her Makasty's Revenue and Customs" printed on them but in this case I was rather pleased as the first one was informing me that I was due a sizable rebate on overpaid tax and the second one was informing me that it had been paid.
I was expecting it to happen but I hadn't expected them to track me down and tell me. They are a bit like the mounties. They always get their man.

Anyway, that's by-the-by.
Here, for anyone that might need to contact me while I'm in China, are the details of how to do it. 

Print a copy of the picture below.
Make sure it's nice and legible.
Securely tape it to the letter, parcel or whatever that you need to send.

Add

Robert Hale
Foreign Teacher
Middle School Number 11
Baiyin
Gansu Province
China

Send it by a trackable method. The post office will be able to advise on the best method but it must be trackable as quite a lot of post to Chinese addresses goes missing.

Cross your fingers for a couple of weeks and I'll email as soon as I get it.