Question

Beijing has started a battle to get rid of “Chinglish” (Chinese English ) . The “Language mandarins” of Beijing have decided that Chinglish is a disease for China’s modernizing claim and must be obliterated before the city hosts the Olympic Games in 2008 .

A road sign on the Avenue of Eternal Peace （Chang’an Street ）, for example , advised : “To Take Notice of Safe ; The Slippery are Very Crafty ,”a warning that the sidewalk was slippery . Another sign in a Beijing park reads : “Little grass is smiling slightly , please walk on sidewalk “.

Li Honghai , the city official in charge of the battle , said : “Linguistic perfection (语言美)is becoming increasingly important with the rise in the number of the foreigners flowing into the city .”

However , not everyone shares the disdain （蔑视）of the Beijing government for the mixed language . “The choice of words is pretty much . One can either choose the verbs ,adverbs , nouns or whatever one likes ,” explained one Hongkong linguist on an Internet website .

So many examples exist that several Internet sites have been set up to collect Chinglish phrases . Many come from English instructions on packages such as a candle marked with “Keep this candle out of children” and a model boat―curiously named Posh Sailboat―which means “Please don’t place it in dusty play .”

If the battle against Chinglish is successful , Chinese will also turn their attention to the English―language versions of newspapers , which play an even more important role in teaching right English.

 

Answer 1

ABAC