格雷旅馆是剩下的四家律师学院之一，成立于1370年，是律师生活和学习的场所。这是南广场一号。维多利亚女王期待的作家查尔斯·狄更斯年轻的时候在这里当事务员工作。 Gray’s Inn is one of the four remaining Inns of Court, founded in 1370 as a place for lawyers to live and study. This is 1 South Square. Victorian author Charles Dickens worked here as as a clerk when he was young. Several of Dickens’ novels include scenes set in Gray’s Inn. 广场的尽头是历史学家和政治家弗朗西斯·培根的雕像，他在这里生活了五十年，直到1626年去世。作为大法官，他被认为给英国法律制度带来更大的公平和公正。然而，他自己被判贿赂，因此被罚款四万英镑，并被监禁在伦敦塔。 At […]

Hearing a few weeks back of an upper-intermediate level Chinese course organised by the Chopsticks Club, I made arrangements to attend a ‘taster’ session. This taster confirmed the class as being the right level for me, and so I decided to continue with the course for its remaining five sessions. Homework for the following class […]

Tuesday’s London Mandarin Learners Meet-up session involved participants introducing themselves to the group. One of us turned out to be a ‘swing’ dance instructor. This brought to mind another of Su Shi’s poems – Butterflies Lingering over Flowers

  Living not that far from the centre of London, it is relatively easy for me to get into town to attend regularly at the London Mandarin Learners Meet-up group. Here I get to meet up with others to attempt translation from Chinese into English of a piece of text. Last time we tackled a […]