Does it help to improve English as a Chinese if spending years abroad as a grown-up? My experience told me the answer would be yes, but not in Listening comprehension! I met lots of frustrations when I just arrived Australia. I could not even catch a word from conversations between local people, in spite I got band 7 in IELTS listening. I watched TV every day and tried to avoid to contact with my countrymen, and did not help my listening to everyday English. Reading, writing and speaking improved significantly. Now I am able to write down my idea without much thinking, and able to think in English. I am not anxious to start a conversation with native speakers any more. As for reading, I can read English much faster, as fast as my first language when I was a high school student. Listening is the hardest as a grown-up, maybe because my ear has tuned to Chinese sounds for decades, not for English sounds. On the contrary, my son mastered Listening in a year. He could catch all the words he knew. He acted as my interpreter, to translate English from local accent to the accent that I could understand!

Which sex has more advantages, men or women? The answers are quite complicated. Depending on the enforcement of rules and the development of technology. In future, women will prevail in all areas except in gangs and police. By their fairer looking and non-violent nature, people of both sexes like to be served by women. As a result, female sales clerks tend to attract more customers; parents are more happy to have female teachers. Women singers and TV hosts are more popular.Besides, their inborn resistance to pornography and video-games, girls often achieve higher scores in schools. More than 50% of bachelor degree holders are women in developed countries. The status of women can be used a measurement of one country's equality and social justice. Then what men's choice will be in face of women's pressure? I come up with two options. First, destroy the social order, restore those lawless old times. Second, do the sex change to women, which is one of privileges of being a man. After all, cutting of a part is much easier than making one!

Confused by a sentence from a children's picture book! Sergent Murphy was busy putting parking tickets on cars WHEN, SUDDENLY, WHO SHOULD COME RUNNING OUT OF THE MARKET BUT Bananas Gorilla. He had stolen a bunch of bananas, and was trying to escape. The above words are from a picture book for children. The words written in capital letters are the part that I can not figure its meaning out. All those words are 'easy', but it is hard to guess when putting together.

it is raining at/on the beach? which is more natural one? what if it is raining at/on the sea?

'No thanks' to Scottish independence! Tomorrow will be a day that decide the Great Britain's fate. Scotland is going to vote about their own country, which mean if the result is 'yes', the once great world power will lose one third of its already far diminished land. I am not an English, but the weakened Britain without Scotland really makes me nervous. I has been put so much energy on learning English; I hate to see the birthplace of English to become a tiny country. In spite of other countries like US still use English. If Scotland's breaking away makes it, the Scottish may choose Scottish as their national language. that will be a big setback to the status of English.

what is the opposite phase of 'long long time ago'? at the start of the kid story, I usually say ' long long time ago', but this morning I wanted to make up a story supposed to happen in the future. And I got stuck. Should it be 'long long time after', or ' long long time later', ' long long time from now'....?

what the difference between ' there be' and 'have' ? when speaking, i often confuse about the choice between 'there be' and 'have'. for example, 'There are plenty of plains in Australia' or Australia has plenty of plains ?