Category: Theocratic

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Science Technology Theocratic

fēnzǐ jùhé tǐ

fēnzǐ jùhé tǐ ((fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard thing} → [molecular] 分子) (jù·hé assembled · {closed → [combined]} → [polymerized] 聚合) (tǐ body 体 體/体/躰) → [(protein) molecular machine]) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “A Microbiologist Explains Her Faith”. It turns out that this microbiologist is from Taiwan, so this article may especially be of interest to Mandarin-speaking people. In this article, microbiologist Yáng Fènglíng ((Yáng {Poplar (surname)} 杨 楊) (Fèng·líng Phoenix · {Tinkling of Jade Pieces} 凤玲 鳳玲) (microbiologist interviewed in g 1/14 p. 8–9)) explains:

English:

A professor of biochemistry in the United States published a book arguing that the molecular machines in living cells are so complex that they could not have originated randomly. I agreed. I felt that life must have been created.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Měiguó (Měi·guó American · Nation’s → [USA’s] 美国 美國) yí (one 一) wèi ({place of a} → [mw for persons] 位) shēnghuà (shēng·huà {living → [bio-] (abbr. for shēngwùxué)} · {transforming → [chemistry] (abbr. for huàxué)} → [biochemistry] 生化) xì ({tied (things)} → [department (in a college/university)] 系) jiàoshòu (jiào·shòu teaching · {conferring → [instructing]} (person) → [professor] 教授) xiěle (xiě·le wrote · {to completion} 写了 寫了) yì (one 一) běn ({root or stem of a} → [mw for books, etc.] 本) shū (book 书 書), tā (he 他) rènwéi (rèn·wéi identifies · {(it) to be} (that) 认为 認為) huó (living 活) xìbāo (xì·bāo tiny · wombs → [cells] 细胞 細胞) zhōng (within 中) de (’s 的) fēnzǐ jùhé tǐ ((fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard thing} → [molecular] 分子) (jù·hé assembled · {closed → [combined]} → [polymerized] 聚合) (tǐ bodies 体 體/体/躰) → [(protein) molecular machines]) rúcǐ (rú·cǐ {are like} · this 如此) fùzá (fù·zá {turned around → [complex]} · mixed → [complex] 复杂 複雜), jué ({being cut off} → [absolutely] 绝 絕/絶) bù (not 不) kěnéng (could 可能) shì (be 是) pèngqiǎo (pèng·qiǎo {having bumped into} · {being coincidental} → [by chance] 碰巧) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {given birth to → [produced]} · {given birth to → [caused to exist]} → [brought into being] 产生 產生) de ({’s (things)} 的). Wǒ (I 我) tóngyì (tóng·yì {(had the) same} · thought (about) → [agreed with] 同意) tā de ((tā him 他) (de ’s 的) → [his]) guāndiǎn (guān·diǎn {looking at → [view]} · point → [viewpoint] 观点 觀點). Wǒ (I 我) rènwéi (rèn·wéi identified · {(it) to be} 认为 認為), shēngmìng (life 生命) bìdìng (bì·dìng certainly · {(it) has been set} 必定) shì (is 是) bèi ([passive signifier] → [got] 被) chuàngzào (chuàng·zào initiated · {made, created} → [created] 创造 創造) chulai (chu·lai out · {to come} 出来 出來) de ({’s (thing)} 的).

As shown in the above quote, the Mandarin version of this article (which, perhaps because it’s from an issue of Awake! magazine, provides the option to show Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)) uses this week’s MEotW, “fēnzǐ jùhé tǐ ((fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard thing} → [molecular] 分子) (jù·hé assembled · {closed → [combined]} → [polymerized] 聚合) (tǐ body 体 體/体/躰) → [(protein) molecular machine])”, to translate “molecular machines”.

Polymers and Crystals

The Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcard” for “fēnzǐ jùhé tǐ ((fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard thing} → [molecular] 分子) (jù·hé assembled · {closed → [combined]} → [polymerized] 聚合) (tǐ body 体 體/体/躰) → [(protein) molecular machine])” specifies that this expression—for example, as used in the above-mentioned Awake! article—refers to a molecular polymerized body that is a protein molecular machine because proteins are polymers made up of amino acid subunits (monomers), but apparently, as summarized in the Wikipedia article on molecular machines, artificial molecular machines that are crystalline exist, or have been conceptualized, in addition to those that are polymeric:

A wide range of applications have been demonstrated for AMMs [artificial molecular machines], including those integrated into polymeric, liquid crystal, and crystalline systems for varied functions

Inspiration and Attribution

As the above-mentioned Wikipedia article on molecular machines summarizes, biological molecular machines have served as inspiration for artificial, or man-made, molecular machines:

Biological molecular machines have been known and studied for years given their vital role in sustaining life, and have served as inspiration for synthetically designed systems with similar useful functionality.[source][source]

(This kind of human imitation of living things in nature is called biomimetics, or biomimicry. More examples of this can be found in the section of the Was Life Created? brochure entitled “Who Designed It First?”.)

If one came across an artificial molecular machine, one would undoubtedly conclude with certainty that it had been intelligently designed—something that tiny yet exquisitely complex and functional obviously could not have developed by chance! As microbiologist Yáng Fènglíng ((Yáng {Poplar (surname)} 杨 楊) (Fèng·líng Phoenix · {Tinkling of Jade Pieces} 凤玲 鳳玲) (microbiologist interviewed in g 1/14 p. 8–9)) concluded, the tiny yet exquisitely complex and functional biological molecular machines that inspired humans to create artificial molecular machines similarly must have had an intelligent Creator.

Categories
Culture Language Learning Technology Theocratic

xīndé

xīndé (xīn·dé heart · {got/obtained(’s things)} → [(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.] 心得) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

One of the publications that is now recommended to be used on Bible studies is the Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命)—(Hù·dòng {Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive] 互动 互動) (Shì (Type 式) (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) (Kè·chéng Lessons · Procedure → [Course] 课程 課程) → [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)]) (Enjoy Life Forever! (lff)) book. An outstanding feature of this book is its extensive use of the post-paper technology of video, which enables information to be presented much more vividly than could be done with paper. Also, at this time, one of the unique features of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus video transcripts. These can help us Mandarin field language learners to analyze and understand the Mandarin speech used in the many videos referenced in the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book. This in turn can help us make more effective use of these videos while participating in Mandarin Bible discussions using this book.

This week’s MEotW, “xīndé (xīn·dé heart · {got/obtained(’s things)} → [(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.] 心得)”, occurs in subtitle 44 of the transcript for the video for lesson 11, point 4 of the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book:

English:

You can better relate to the brothers’ and sisters’ comments

because you’ve read the material yourself, and I can comment too.

Mandarin:

43
00:01:41,503 → 00:01:44,799
📖 📄 📘 Tíqián (Tí·qián {carried (hanging down from the hand) → [raised] → [shifted to an earlier time]} · ahead → [beforehand] 提前) yùxí (yù·xí {in advance} · {having reviewed} → [having prepared] 预习 預習), jiù ({(I) then} 就) néng (can 能) cóng (from 从 從) dàjiā (dà·jiā big · family → [everyone] 大家) fēnxiǎng (fēn·xiǎng {divides → [distributes]} · {enjoying of} → [shares] 分享) de (’ 的) yàodiǎn (yào·diǎn important · points 要点 要點) huòyì (huò·yì {capture → [obtain]} · benefits 获益 獲益),

44
00:01:44,799 → 00:01:47,343
📖 📄 📘 wǒ (I 我) yě (also 也) néng (can 能) fābiǎo (fā·biǎo {issue → [utter]} · express 发表 發表) zìjǐ (self 自己) de (’s 的) xīndé (xīn·dé heart · {has obtained(’s things)} → [(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.] 心得) tǐhuì (tǐ·huì {bodily → [personally]} · {has come to understand(’s things)} 体会 體會).

Morphemic Breakdown and Interaction

The morphemes in “xīndé (xīn·dé heart · {got/obtained(’s things)} → [(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.] 心得)” are probably quite familiar to even beginning students of Mandarin—“xīn (heart 心)” means “heart”, and “dé (get; obtain 得)” literally means “get” or “obtain”. When we put these two simple and well known expressions together, though, they mean “heart got/obtained(’s things)”, and we end up with an effective meaning that’s greater than the sum of its parts: “(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.”

(By the way, note that the sister quoted in the video said that advance preparation helps her to be able to effectively share her xīndé (xīn·dé heart · {has obtained(’s things)} → [(things) learned from work/study/experience/etc.] 心得). As Mandarin field language learners, we may especially benefit from advance preparation so that we can more effectively use Mandarin to share with Mandarin-speaking people the things our hearts have learned. Yes, as boring and unglamorous as it may seem, our Mandarin abilities can be significantly enhanced by good old preparation and practice!)

Matters of the Heart

Going back to “xīn (heart 心)”, which means “heart”, it’s good to remember how important the heart is to our Mandarin field ministry. While the mind has much to do when one is learning Mandarin for the Mandarin field, and while some like to focus on how much knowledge of Chinese characters their minds have soaked up, the MEotW post on “xìnxīn (xìn·xīn believing · heart → [faith; confidence] 信心)” points out the following about speaking to Mandarin-speaking people about spiritual things:

The Mandarin culture and language correctly recognize that the heart is deeply involved in spirituality. In fact, as mentioned in Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty), one of the expressions that the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible uses to translate the English word “spiritual” is “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit [→ [spiritual]] 心灵 心靈)”, which is a past MEotW. This expression literally means “heart spirit”.

So, let us not be quick, in our pride, to dismiss talk of the heart as sentimental nonsense. As expressed by the Mandarin expression “àixīn (ài·xīn loving · heart → [love] 爱心 愛心)” (a past MEotW), we love with our hearts, and as God’s Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, if we don’t have love, then any knowledge, skills, abilities, etc. that we have, and that we may be proud of, are meaningless.

Serving in the Mandarin field—or any language field, really—is not just a matter of sharing knowledge and applying language or other mental skills. As this week’s MEotW reminds us, it’s also about sharing our hearts and the things our hearts have learned. And as we age, even if our physical and mental abilities may not be what they used to be, we naturally come to have more and more experience and heart lessons to share. Let us Mandarin field language learners apply ourselves out of love, not to glorify ourselves or anything like that, but so that we can share with Mandarin-speaking people the valuable things that Jehovah has helped our hearts to learn, in a way that they can tell is from the heart.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Culture History Language Learning Science Theocratic

chuán

chuán (boat; ship; vessel 船 船/舩) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

This week, we are revisiting “chuán (boat; ship; vessel 船 船/舩)”, an expression that was featured in an early Expression of the Week post on the tiandi.info blog. (If you need login information for the parts of tiandi.info that require it, request it by email, and include information on how you learned of tiandi.info and/or what group/cong. you are in.)

As shown in the image below, the first printing of the Insight book (on p. 328 of Volume 1) included a section regarding the Chinese character for “chuán (boat; ship; vessel 船 船/舩)”:

P. 328 of Vol. 1 of the first printing of the _Insight_ book (1988), with a section about “船”

However, this section on this Chinese character no longer appears in current versions of the Insight book. Why might it have been removed?

Murky Speculation

Several years after the above-mentioned tiandi.info post was originally posted, I appended the following update to it:

Note that the section about the Chinese character “船 (chuán)” that was originally in the Insight book, Vol. 1, p. 328 is not present in the more recently published Chinese version of the Insight book.

Perhaps it was eventually decided that the origins of Chinese characters, which have been used for thousands of years, are too murky to do anything more than speculate about. I myself have recently become convinced that Chinese characters in general have been over-glamourized by the world.

It’s also worth going over an interesting, well-researched comment that the tiandi.info post mentioned above received. (Thanks again, Ed!) Here are a couple of excerpts from it:

The Insight article isn’t the only place in the Slave’s writings that the reference to this Chinese character appears. It originally appeared in the article “Chinese Characters—Why Are They Written That Way?” in g84 8/8 p. 23 [Here is a link to that article. Note that in addition to mentioning “chuán (boat; ship; vessel 船 船/舩)”, this old article unfortunately repeats the Ideographic Myth. Also, it conflates language with writing, when actually, linguists understand that language primarily has to do with speech.—ed.], which ended with the caveat, “The similarity between the thoughts behind many of the Chinese characters and the Bible record of man’s early history is nothing less than remarkable. Although the evidence is only circumstantial, it is, nonetheless, fascinating to think that there is a possibility that the Chinese [characters contain Biblical concepts].”

The article was written in response to the book The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language, which had been published only a few years earlier. This book is full of fascinating parallels between Biblical accounts and elements that appear to comprise certain Chinese characters.

There are many resources available these days even to English speakers that contain scholarly research into the meaning and origins of Chinese characters. During the course of learning the language, I have made it a hobby to investigate some of these. I have to say that, based on what I have discovered, I disagree with the coauthors of Discovery of Genesis. In fact, there is a web site that has existed for several years for the purpose of rebutting these claims. While I don’t know the author’s motive for putting up the page, it does seem to have logical arguments.

…

For an alternative to Zhongwen.com, you could try looking up 船 at this site. (Disclosure: this web site is run by me.)

Truly right-hearted people won’t be stumbled if we share accurate knowledge from the Bible with them. But in any case, it’s best not to get too involved with matters of speculation that could be of interest to us but not have a direct bearing on God’s word of truth.

Sound vs. Meaning

The Raccoon Bend website page mentioned in the above quote contains some technical points such as the following:

A typical error made…is to analyze a semantic-phonetic compound as though it were compound-indicative (which they refer to as “ideographic”).

In other words, some mistakenly treat a character component that indicates sound as if it indicates meaning. The information at the Chinese-Characters.org link that the brother quoted above provided indicates that doing that with “船” seems to be what led to the story of “vessel + eight + mouths/persons”, when this character should actually be understood as being made up of the components “vessel + [phonetic (sound) component]”.

Stories vs. the Truth

As humans, we naturally love stories, since our minds use stories to make sense of the world around us. Also, stories add or reveal meaning or significance regarding things that these things would lack if they were not part of a story. However, not all stories are true. And while even fictional stories can help to reveal deeper truths about life, like Jesus’ parables did, false stories can take us farther away from the truth, if we let them. As the apostle Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3, 4:

For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the wholesome teaching, but according to their own desires, they will surround themselves with teachers to have their ears tickled. They will turn away from listening to the truth and give attention to false stories.

While Chinese characters sometimes have appealing stories attached to them, let us make sure that we don’t let mere love of a good story take us away from the truth in any way. While naive tourists may be easily misled by appealing but false stories, as literal or figurative missionaries in the Mandarin field, we have a responsibility to serve God and our Mandarin-speaking neighbours “with spirit and truth”.—John 4:23, 24.