Some useful "buzzwords" that you will easily find in Chinese newspapers..

"和谐社会"   he2xie2 she4hui4, the  "harmonious society": one of the six "must-dos" of the Chinese 11th Five Years Plan; typical of the Hu-Jintao administration: development is not only about GDP growth,not an indiscriminate but a sustainable development; economic growth must help to build the “harmonious society”.

"科学发展观" ke1xue3 fa1zhan3 guan1, the new "scientific viewpoint": a new “scientific viewpoint” of the  development process is adopted in order to “build a scientific and technological innovation system with Chinese characteristics”: modernization, which is the main purpose of the 11th Plan, goes along with science and technology. This “scientific viewpoint” is the latest slogan of Hu-Wen administration.


Does anyone knows the chinese characters for this expression: "yiren weiben", "putting people first"?

"谈何容易" : 说起来容易，　做起来难 !

"形影不离" : 友情很深两个人从来不分开

"一见钟情" : 一见就互相爱

"知足常乐" : 容易满足的人最快乐!

"半途而废" : 做事要坚持到底，不要中途停顿,否则从前的时间就白白浪费

always correct any mistake please ^-^

other interesting chengyu at:

www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2005/12/21/my-chengyu-top-ten

Here there's a "chengyu dictionary": you type in the chenyu and it gives you infos about it! meaning, examples and story behind! ^^ :

tool.httpcn.com/phrase.html

T1)"Ching-chong-ching" Stage (No Study)

In this stage, Mandarin sounds like crazy nonsense noises.To the native English speaker, these noises are truly bizarre. The notion that these noises make up a real language akin to English is ridiculous to people in this stage. It is the natural stage to be in when you can't speak Mandarin and do not have much meaningful contact with Chinese culture. The majority of non-Chinese (especially non-Asian) people will be stuck in this stage for their whole lives.
It doesn't take much to get to the next stage. One semester of Chinese classes should do it.


2) "OK, it's a Language" Stage (Beginner)

At this stage, the learner has become a "learner," and has relinquished the notion that Chinese cannot possibly be a real language. In this stage the learner recognizes a number of common phrases and vocabulary words, and can usually make himself understood in the most basic communication scenarios. His pronunciation, however, is still quite horrible. Tones are a complete mess, and he has not yet started to get a handle on the Chinese "r" or "y", or on the distinctions between Mandarin's "x/sh", "q/ch", and "j/zh" pairs. Many foreign teachers living in China that "can speak some Chinese" are in this stage.
It takes hard work to get to the next stage. It can be accomplished through years of university study in the West, but the process is much accelerated by study in China.


3) "I'm speaking Chinese!" Stage (Intermediate)

Through hard work, a careful ear, and meticulous self-criticism, learners can arrive in the third stage. In this stage, not only has the pronunciation of pinyin's consonants (r, y, q, j, etc.) been acquired, but tones have been brought under control as well (see "Process of learning Mandarin's tones"). This is not to say that the speaker does not ocasionally screw up a consonant or get a tone wrong. But he is well on his way now. One danger at this stage is that by the time the learner gets to this stage, his comprehension should be pretty decent as well, and because few foreigners make it to this stage, the learner can get a false picture of his "mastery" of Mandarin. Even if the learner is not overly pleased with himself, it is also easy to become complacent in this stage, as basic communication is no longer a problem. At this level, what is not understood can usually be worked around or explained in Chinese. This stage can last for a long time, as pronunciation and tonal errors are slowly reduced, fluency is increased, and vocabulary is expanded.
To make it to the next stage, a lot of hard work and self-criticism is necessary, as long as prolonged, intense exposure to Chinese. Everyday exposure is not enough.


4) "I'm just speaking Chinese" Stage (Advanced)

In this stage, the learner is not in the least surprised by his improved communication abilities because he got there through hard work. Learners who make it to this level can most likely read and write as well, because of the level of dedication involved. Also, learning advanced grammar patterns and expanding vocabulary is most efficiently accomplished through extensive reading in Chinese. You know for sure you're in this stage when the only new vocabulary or grammar patterns come to you through reading or the news. At this stage the learner should have a lot of Chinese friends, but these friends no longer feel the need to compliment the learner's Chinese because it's just become so obvious at this point. For the most part, they treat you like you're Chinese. Friends who might have once said, "you can't understand because you're not Chinese" will now reconsider that view. The learner understands everything that is said to him, and can express almost everything as well. What's left for the learner at this point includes learning vocabulary of questionable usefulness (the names of the more famous hydrocarbons in Chinese, or of Western stars' Chinese names, for example), working on expressing the most abstract concepts, and developing a sense for Chinese literature and poetry.
To get to the next level requires extreme dedication (obsession?) and probably some kind of formal coaching as well. Tones have already been completely mastered, but overall sentence intonation may still require a little work to be perfectly natural.
 

5)  "Pretty Much Chinese" Stage (Native-like)

At this point, the learner's Chinese pronunciation and vocabulary are probably better than half of China's. She/He's probably living in China, has a Chinese girlfriend/boyfriend and has no intention of leaving China.


This is how i feel inside right now:

广告 guang3gao4: advertisement
挑剔 tiao1ti: picky, fussy
蝴蝶 hu2die2: butterfly
爆米花: bao4mi3hua1: pop corn
牛仔裤: niu2zai3ku4: jeans
短信 duan3xin4: sms
闪光 shan3guang1: flash (photography)
自动 取款机 zi4dong4 qu2kuan2ji1: bancomat (ATM)
噩梦 e4meng4: nightmare
彩虹 cai3hong2: rainbow
真人真事 zhen1ren2zhen1shi4: true story
银河 yin2he2: Milky Way
风流星 feng1liu2xing1: shooting star
摇滚 yao3gun2: rock'n'roll
鸡尾酒 ji1wei3jiu3: cocktail
街头艺人 jie1tou2yi4ren2: street artist
T-恤 xu4: T-shirt

Some useful words; mainly foreign "loans" :D

动画片 dong4hua4pian1: cartoon
卡通 ka1tong3: cartoon
幽默 you1mo4: humour
索尼 Suo3ni2: Sony
诺基亚: Nuo4ji1ya4: Nokia
博客 bo2ke4: blog
黑客 hei1ke4: hacker
比萨 bi3sa4: pizza
必胜客 bi4shen4ke4: Pizza Hut
巨无霸: ju4wu2ba4: Big Mac
星巴克 xing1ba1ke4: Starbucks
伊妹儿 yi1meir4: e-mail
三明治 san1ming2zhi4: sandwich
麦克风 mai4ke4feng1: microphone
拉拉队 la1la1dui4: cheerleader
朋克 peng2ke4: punk
比尔盖茨 bi3er3gai4ci2: Bill Gates (O.O)

feel free to correct any mistakes ^^

Picasa software Easter Egg:
if you launch it and press Ctrl+Shift+Y some teddy bears will appear on the screen. You can actually move the bears dragging them with your mouse O.O

"The Finnish Road Administration maintains some ice roads during winters" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_road#Finland)
Now, "Ice Road" means that you will be actually driving on top of a frozen lake O.O. This can be ordinary for Finns but definitely not for an Italian girl :O
We must admit that crossing a frozen lake covered in snow by car is definitely not everyday routine :D
The Ice Road in the picture goes across Lake Pielinen from Koli to Lieksa in Eastern Finland. Wiki (and also many websites I visited) says ice thickness must be at least 40 cm (16 in)
If you decide to do that, keep in mind overtaking other cars is forbidden and maximum speed is 50 km/h (31 mph).