iWorth's Blog:

Cangue the European name for the Chinese tcha, Kia or Kea, which is an instrument of punishment formerly used in China for petty criminals, similar as a portable pillory; consists of a heavy wooden collar enclosing the neck and arms. The board of the cangue was not fixed to a base, and had to be carried around by the prisoner. The word "cangue" or Cang, is French, from the Portuguese "canga," which means yoke, In contemporary Standard Mandarin Chinese it is called a 木枷 "mù jīa", or a 枷鎖 "jiā suǒ". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangue http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Cangue http://webspace.webring.com/people/lp/pillory/chinese.html

Veriegation in plants, usually to be found in foliage, provides an element of variety within the garden and is popular with dardeners very often as a means of brightening some otherwise gloomy or dar corner. Brought about by a chlorophyll deficiency in the main, variegated plants have in recent times been avidly collected by enthusiasts. If there is any danger in this, then it lies in over-planting. Much greater harmony over overall will be found where plants with variegation are used sparingly, perhaps singly, or as part of a carefully thougt out, colour-themed border. All combinations are inclined from time to time to revert to plain green. Where individual leaves, or even whole stems or branches, do revert, then these should be cut out immediately they are first spotted.

I can't believe it, I have been mixing up these two words, and no spelling checker can mark out the mistake: At a later place, I may write "See bellow", and even sometimes 'in or to a place that is lower', I will use "bellow", too. When I type the double 'll', I look at the word, hesitate, and wonder that 'below' and 'bellow' are same words, just one is American English, another is British English. "Ah, never mind!" I said to myself.

The procedure for marriages in the Church of England is slightly different from civil method. The traditional method used by most couples is the publication of banns. The banns are published by being read aloud during the service on each of the three Sundays before the ceremony. You do not have to be a member of the church to be married there but it is usual for the couple to attend the church on at least one of the three occasions when the banns are read. You can get more details from either a religious minister who is authorised to conduct marriages or the local registrar of marriages. This marriage banns from " Isle of Wight Family Trees ", Banns of marriage between William Dashwood and Mary Ann Harden Widow October 1857 It looks so simple, a ready-printed receipt, the minister only needed to fill in the name and date. Then read aloud during the Sunday service. This is the banns of same-sex marriage , reading out at at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto...

Libel is any written or pictorial statement that damages a person or an organization. Posting libellous statements on the Internet, including online forums, BBS, blogs, instant messagers and mobile texts, can result in legal actions against the poster. In many countries, Libel is not a criminal offence, so you can't be sent to jail for it. However, you can be sued for damages in civil court. But in China, libel can be 'made a criminal offence' if nvolves "state secrecy issues". University of Oxford sets up a  project on Libel law and the internet in China , about more than three hundred media libel cases and their court rulings are being examined through analyzing the law, court cases and rulings. As many as seven  bloggers have been detained  over claims that a 25-year-old woman, Yan Xiaoling, had been gang-raped and murdered in Fujian province, southern China. Three of these — Fan Yanqiong, Wu Huaying and You Jingyou, known online as He Suoge — have been ...

When 'mean' is used as a verb, sometimes followed by the preposition 'by'. This structure often puzzles me. Compare: What does 'hermetic' mean? What do you mean by 'hermetic'? These two sentence are equivalent. But we may say, 'hermetic' in the second sentence, the questioner might somehow know the meaning, but not sure the meaning in specific context. Once upon a time, when Confucius paid a visit to Lâo Tan, they talked about benevolence and Righteousness. If you have some background of the Confucianism and Tâoism, you might have known that these two sages held different views of benevolence and righteousness. So, Lâo Tan asked Confucius, 'Let me ask you what you mean by Benevolence and Righteousness.' Here he actually know these words literally, and had different meaning in his own thought. But he wanted to make them clear when Confucius used them. We have another example, What do you mean by waking me up at this time of nigh...

Appear can be a link verb, used to say how things look or seem. It is used in similar ways to seem , but is less frequent. Seem can be used to talk both about objective facts and about subjective impressions and feelings. Appear is mostly used to talk about objective facts. Compare: The baby sees/appears (to be) hungry. She doesn't want to go on studying. It seems a pity. Seem is often used with like. This is not normal with appear . Seem can be used in a special structure with can't. This is not possible with appear : It seemed like a good idea. I can't seem to make him understand.