Subj : Re: Some funny stuff To : mark lewis From : alexander koryagin Date : Fri Jul 06 2018 22:01:01 From: alexander koryagin Hi, mark lewis! I read your message from 24.09.2013 11:52 ak>>> Yesterday, a Polish customs station was paralyzed by a Russian ak>>> truck loaded with matreshka dolls. ml> ml>> one needs to know what matreshka dolls are for this one to make ml>> sense and be funny... ak>> Do you think that there are many people who don't know what a ak>> matreshka doll is? IMHO, it is as well-known as vodka. ;-) ML> i think, without looking it up, that they are those dolls within ML> dolls... And there are record breakers. ;-) ak>>> It's difficult to search for Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Especially ak>>> if he is not there. (A new Chinese wisdom from Alex Ko :)) ml>> ?? the use of "search for" in this one is not right... one can ml>> always and easily search for something where it may or may not ml>> be... instead "find" should be used... It's difficult to find Bin ml>> Laden in Afghanistan. Especially if he is not there. ak>> Yes, probably it sounds clearer. Although, for speaking practice, ak>> I can note that if we derive this phrase from the original one ak>> (about a cat and a dark room) we can find out that it is indeed a ak>> difficult task to search for anything in the complete darkness. So ak>> we have two difficulties: ML> hahaha... actually, there in the darkness, it is easy to search ;) ML> O:) It isn't there! ;) ak>> 1. Searching in the darkness (for something) is a difficult ak>> business. ML> i have to wonder what a blind person would say about that ;) Can he say something more different than me? In the darkness we will both search by groping. Well, I will probably turn on a flashlight. ;=) The main problem I will have is the possibility of searching in one place many times. Well, I can mark my path with chalk, writing everywhere that Alex Ko was there. When a sapper checked mines in a mine-strewn field he does something like that. ak>> 2. It is an especially difficult business if the something we a ak>> looking for is absent in the dark room, where we are searching. ML> absolutely true when it comes to finding the object of the search ML> :) _Finding_ is an optional part of any searching process. ;) You can easily find your object if you stumble against it. ML> is possible that both mean the same thing in the original language ML> or there was simply no concept of one or the other and the ML> translators simply took the most direct translation instead of ML> working with the context... Yeah, there are many ways to cook the cat. ;) Bye, mark! Alexander Koryagin fido7.english-tutor 2013 --- ifmail v.2.15dev5.4 * Origin: NPO RUSnet InterNetNews site (2:5020/400) .