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“The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”

— James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name

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“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”

— Doris Lessing, The Four-Gated City

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Rest in peace, Matthew Perry. Thank you for Friends, Chandler Bing, and the never-ending source of comfort humor.

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“We survived. You and I. And those who survive have a duty. Our duty is to do our best to keep on living. Even if our lives are not perfect.”

— Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

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“I used to toy with the notion that when we die we find out what our lives have amounted to, finally. I’d never imagined that we could find that out when somebody else dies.”

— Anne Tyler, The Beginner’s Goodbye

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everyone shut up ive been struck by the simple beauty of ordinary life

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is it so bad to want to kill everyone at all times

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organised my laptop, cleared my table, and began some research for a phd

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KINNPORSCHE (2022) Mile Phakphum Romsaithong as KINN Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat as PORSCHE

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Be aggressive with love!!!!!! Show it! Scream it! Feel it! Go nuts with it. Why not

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“I feel changed. Like, say my mind is a sweater. And a loose thread gets tugged at, pulled and pulled until the sweater unravels and there’s only a big fluffy pile of yarn. You can make something with it, that pile of yarn, but it will never be a sweater again. That’s the state of things.”

— Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers

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“Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before. And although you are physically by yourself, the haunting Demon never leaves you, that Demon being the knowledge of your own terrible limitations, your hopeless inadequacy, the impossibility of ever getting it right. No matter how diamond-bright your ideas are dancing in your brain, on paper they are earthbound.”

— William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade (via wordsnquotes)

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Accidentally colour coordinate with the book I’m currently reading🥰

#zadie smith #on beauty #bookblr #books #summer #summer colours #studyblr #me #mine

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《山河令》 Word of Honour (2021) ⌘ Episode 34

我跟你说，上次和老怪物喝酒的时候，我其实心里面挺难受的。我怕你……我怕你命不久矣，怕你不认我，怕我不配做你的好兄弟。但眼下都好了！来，你陪我喝酒，我们干杯！

Let me tell you, that previous time when I was drinking with the old monster, I actually felt very awful. I was scared that… I was scared that you didn’t have long left to live, scared that you wouldn’t recognise me, scared that I wasn’t worthy to be your good brother. But now, everything is all good! Come, drink with me, let’s toast!

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A Resource for Reading Practice: The Chinese Reading World

I wanted to share a resource for reading practice that I stumbled across recently. It’s called the Chinese Reading World, and it was a project led by the University of Iowa.

The site was put together from 2005 to 2008, so it’s not super up to date. However, there is a ton of content! Everything is sorted into 3 levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. 

Each level has 30 units, and each unit has 10 lessons. The lessons begin with a vocab pre-test, then there is a reading with some comprehension questions. Lastly, there is a vocab post-test, which is the same as the initial test (at least for the lessons I’ve done so far). There’s audio for each lesson text, but unfortunately it can’t be streamed—you have to download it. There is also an achievement test at the end of each unit.

My experience has actually been that I already know all the words on the vocabulary tests, but the reading passages contain other words that I’m not familiar with.

So far, the readings I’ve encountered are not very long. This is nice since reading longer pieces can be frustrating at times. With shorter readings, you can just read 1 or 2 on some days and read more when you have more time/patience. I believe the readings are taken from Chinese newspapers.

Also, every unit has a theme. With 90 units total, there are bound to be themes that interest you. Example unit topics:

Directions and Asking Direction 方向和问路

Sports and Outdoor Activities 体育和户外运动

Chinese Music and Musicians 中国音乐和音乐家

Chinese Minorities and Local Customs 地方习俗和民族风情

Chinese Sports and Olympic Games 体育和奥林匹克

Contemporary Chinese Literature and Writers 中国当代文学和作家

The 3 levels also each come with 5 proficiency tests. They seem to be based on vocabulary knowledge, so expanding your vocab is clearly a huge focus of this site. The only thing I’m unclear is about is I’m not sure exactly when the proficiency tests are meant to be taken. After completing all units? Or are they spaced out so you are supposed to take test 1 after the first few units, test 2 after the next few, etc.?

I’ve started working my way through the advanced section this week. With 300 advanced lessons alone, it really feels like I have an infinite number of articles to go through!

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ISAAC HENDERSON in HEARTSTOPPER ↳ for the lovely @malyen0retsev

#I’m Isaac